[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

FOX SPIRIT

I’m hardly motivated by money but when there’s 10,000,000 ¥ on the line you’re not thinking about the money but how your life will fundamentally change. To put it into context that is two years' worth of income. So, no. It’s not about the money. It’s about securing a nest egg for my Abuela.

It’s tempting enough to chase an urban legend. I’d have a better chance of finding a sewer gator in New York than stumbling onto an authentic Yokai. But there is a very real possibility of someone masquerading as a fox spirit — quirks bring life to myths that would have died as just that; myths.

The people behind them, however, are very real. And while I may not earn the full reward for bringing in a person, I’m hoping the compensation will be worthwhile.

Night fell an hour ago. A few people lost their nerve before stepping into the forest. It’s almost poetic. A fear of fears. But if the reports are true, these illusions cannot harm you, which means, that between the fox spirit and I… it is they who should be afraid.

---

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

[attr="class","body"]The stars blurring by in the dark overhead. The crunch of leaves and grass and kindling beneath her sprinting feet. The wind in her hair. The livewire in her veins. Sure, she’s come a long way from that terrified, furious, screaming wretch that tumbled out of the shadows thinking it had lost everything that mattered. But on nights like this, there’re no ghosts wailing at her heels. No failures heavy on her shoulders. No vengeful enemies and their shitty threats, clawing at her back. Just the wind, and the dark, and her. She’s nothing and everything, shadows and the wild, thought and feeling, and she’s free.

Somewhere back beyond the trees, there’s lights, and home. A warm body waiting up for her, first aid kit at the ready, tea on the kettle, a bed half-empty. But that’s hours away.

Right now, there’s the forest. There’re footsteps in the shadows, someone breathing between the trees. She’s not hunting, these aren’t her preying grounds, but there’ve been whispers lately. Rumors about some vulpine spirit in the night, hiding among the branches. And there’ve been people — most of ‘em young, some of ‘em greedy, all of ‘em stupid — searching for proof or something, ‘cause there’s been talk of a reward.

Well. She’s not the only scary thing out here in the dark tonight, but she is one that won’t bite - much. A little spook never hurt anybody (probably) — and if it happens to be a fox-shaped spook, creeping from one tree’s silhouette to another, that sends ‘em running home? Even better.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

[newclass=.body b]color:#5a43d2[/newclass]

[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

You can’t see it in my eyes but the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention. My hands glide into my satchel — as long I’m moving you can’t tell they’re shaking. My fingers roll over a small box. Matches. My lighter is broken. I know better than to leave my home unprepared. And if you think I’m not ready to set the forest ablaze to smoke out an alleged apparition, you’ve miscalculated the lengths I’d go to protect the people I care about. As their protector… I must live.

The fox isn’t the only silhouette in the forest. Tiny, black bunnies litter the field. It makes the mistake of stepping onto one as it dissipates “Not an illusion, are you?”

Fwoosh. A struck match falls onto a rabbit. It ignites and sets off a chain reaction as flames roar to life. It might be a spirit, but even the soul can burn. God created Hell for a reason. Let’s consider this an early introduction.

---

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

[attr="class","body"]It had to be fire. 

God, she should’ve expected that the kind of idiot who’d wander out here in the middle of the night would also be the trigger-happy kind — and now it’s biting her in the ass. Who the hell turns bunnies into dynamite? What kind of quirk is that? And who does it in the middle of a forest!?

She doesn’t scream — does NOT yelp either, fuck you very much — but she is reeling, backpedaling. No shadow in the world is a friend to light, much less the sudden, loud, and burn-y kind. The forest, her peace and freedom; all of it’s ablaze, now, thanks to this idiot. They’re surrounded by kindling, whether or not this human bastard took that into account, and now—

Now she might just have to kill this crazy son of a bitch.

Either that, or get him and his stupid, stupid quirk under control before he sets this whole forest on fire. One thing the flames have done is throw the world into sharp contrasts, black shadow and burning light — she’s out of the shadows like a bat out of hell, hair loose, eyes bright reflective pinpricks of neon violet. Even with ears ringing and vision spotty, she’s lunging for his neck. Let it never be said that Yaoyao Suzui is the type to play nice.

---

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

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[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

Strength is not determined by the size of one’s frame. I’ve pinned feral hogs in humid Florida heat. Density is so much more important than size. So, it’s not that she’s bigger than me. But when she lunges the Earth trembles beneath each step. When she swings her arm she fans the roaring flames — the licks of which pale to the neon-violet fire in her eyes.

She’s inches away. And it would only take two of her fingers to snap my neck.

I hesitate. There’s too much...

But all the mass comes with a price. She’s slow. Despite my mistakes I’m able to sidestep her. As I lay my eyes upon her body, I can feel my lips fall to the sides of my face and my forehead wrinkle.

“You're no fox.” I glance at the trees ablaze, searching for a sign of anything amongst the wildfire. “I don’t have time for you.”

---

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

[attr="class","body"]Oh, so it’s not just the quirk that’s stupid. He’s stupid. Great. Fantastic. An idiot with an idiot quirk — that just might be even more dangerous than a capable bastard with a stupid quirk.

Plus he’s fast. Annoyingly fast. But with the flames closing in and the blinding lights pounding away in her skull, she’s got no time to waste. The shadows around ‘em are inconsistent, flickering deep ’n dark one second and overtaken by licks of fire the next. Too much, too disorienting, too there and gone to anchor and pull any shadows to bolster her. But something needs to get this fire under control. Fast.

“You -- DUMBASS!” She roars across the crackling fire, the twigs and branches snapping as it climbs and spreads. Something’s rolling in — fog or smoke, she can’t be sure and she doesn’t — can’t afford to — care. “Foxes? Be serious, asshole, there’s not gonna be any foxes left around here to give a rat's ass about if you don’t cut this shit out!” Fire lashes at her ankle. She hisses. It burns. “We're surrounded by wood, you idiot! Turn it off, damn it, before you bring the whole fucking forest down around us!”

It’s not desperation in her voice, not yet, thanks. More than anything, she’s pissed. What the hell is she gonna tell her baobao if she lets this moron burn down her stomping grounds? He’s gonna fret about her nighttime escapades for weeks. Even more than he does already.

---

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

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[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

She loved to waste my time by making impossible demands. And it was only when she couldn’t snuff my life that she asked me to snuff the flames. She didn’t love the forest, she hated the fire. And her one track obsession, the fear that ruled her, ignored the mist that engulfed the area. What is this? Images flickered amongst the wavering mist and smoke. They blended into a single scene that manifested behind her.

Kei. I know him. But I don’t know the purple-haired girl on her knees. Nor am I familiar with the shadows that strike her down. This is the fox, but it isn't from my mind.

“The fox… ” Little did I know what was happening behind me. The largest tragedy of my life — arguably the only tragedy that I’ve ever faced — replayed itself from my perspective. A mother struck down. A father struck down. The darkness encroached until a man lifted him up from the shadows. Tanaki Yagi, his father’s best friend. And the man who picked up where his parents left off. “It’s behind you.”

I was so, so wrong.

---

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

[attr="class","body"]“Likely story. Turn off the fucking fire—“ The hell is THAT? There’s no prickle at her spine to warn her of danger at her back, and she’d have heard something if an actual fox was anywhere near ‘em. Whatever this kid thinks he saw doesn’t matter, though. She’s way more agitated by the scenes playing out in front of her, at the stranger’s back — a man and woman being struck down, darkness, another man picking up what looks to be the stranger-? Either she’s hallucinating, or-

Wait. That urban legend people’ve been following into the forest. That was a fox, wasn’t it? One that could make you… see…

A fog. Old fears. Old insecurities. Old regrets. Failures.

Only she doesn’t know any of the people she’s seeing right now. None of this is familiar to her. Not the reflection of the stranger working himself ragged, studying like it’d kill him not to, like the world might end if he doesn’t get good enough. Not the flight, away from everything he knows to the Tokyo skyline, to a village, to an old lady with a familial resemblance and the same eyes as his own.

Except that’s not true, is it. She knows exactly what that’s like. She knows working herself to the bone, knows burning yourself up for a chance at the strength to protect the only thing that matters, knows pushing away everything and everyone else in the process, knows convincing yourself that the sacrifice doesn’t matter if it makes you capable enough.

But if those memories aren’t hers, does that mean—?

---

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

[newclass=.body b]color:#5a43d2[/newclass]

[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

My damned self-importance. I thought the fox would target our psyche. I was prepared to relive every awful experience I had been through. Not just the night I lost my parents, but the grueling day-by-day routines I found closure in. Instead, I was exposed to her’s. And with her eyes fixed behind me, I couldn’t comprehend the horrors of being known.

But those concerns faded as I was taken into another world. I was not only shown visions, but it’s domained injected itself into my anterior insular cortex. It forced me to feel.

First there was the endless pursuit of strength. For what reason? Loss. It was always loss. Someone had died and even though I could feel the pain of that hurt, a different kind of hurt than I had felt but one that cut just as deep, I didn’t know who it was. Or the family that was pushed away in the process of it all.

Next, there was a boy. He was familiar. I’ve heard about him… their relationship was quick enough to suss out. So was the guilt that followed. Another failure on her end and another traumatized loved one — a fear of touch. The ability to obliterate a life with a finger… Can’t blame the guy.

The same girl. Alive. Afraid, but alive. And the monstrous shadows that followed her. We spiral into those shadows into a distant observer. There is no sensation, no feeling. It’s a life without all the wondrous things a life entails. Including pain.

It’s freedom from a laboratory. A shadow coagulates into a child and thrashes against a chamber. A man with a clipboard scribbles something. I look over to what he’s writing but it’s incomprehensible. Much like his face.

Then a woman. A mother, I presume. There’s a familiar sensation. At least, that’s what I think the presence of a mother feels like. It’s been too long to remember. A child coos, is carried away, and the world goes dark.

When I come to the images are gone. So is the fire. But Yaoyao’s still here.

“There. Turned off the fire.” A lie. But if she couldn’t figure out the mist did it, and by extension the fox, then I’d take the credit. “It’s getting late. Think I’ll head home.”

I wasn’t interested in talking about what I saw. Or hearing what she saw. If it was as abstract as my visions were, then I’d be lucky. She seemed to have more attitude than brain cells.

“You chasing the ten million yen, still?” Might have to stop her after the fox saved us. If a creature like this mindfully exists in the forest, then I want to keep the ecosystem intact. One less thing I’d have to worry about with Wela.

---

𝕐 + 𝕐

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

[attr="class","body"]If those memories aren’t hers, then that means—

She whirls around. Comes face to face with the scenes from her nightmares — her baobao, horrified, blood and viscera surrounding him; the mangled remains of monsters. That haunted look in his eyes. The way he’d recoiled from touch, terrified of hurting anyone the way he destroyed that thing; even though he’d done it out of desperation. Even though he’d done it to save the lives of himself and the rest of those ungrateful, insignificant assholes who’d always either ignored him or treated him without half the care he deserved.

All because she failed to do the one thing she was good for—

No.

Lavender wisps, weak amidst the flickering illumination granted by firelight, manifest like wings from the air, covering her eyes. She only doesn’t jerk because she knows what it is. Doesn’t mean she has it in herself to resist it, though. Not this time.

… You didn’t fail us… you were trying your best…

… Yaoyao, you know what he’ll say if he hears you thinking like that again, right…?

She swallows, hard. The lavender apparitions don’t vanish until all the flames’re out - she can tell, ‘cause the heat’s not nearly so oppressive anymore. Still. Can’t quite bring herself to open her eyes, though - not until the stranger starts yapping again.

Rahul Thapa, that gentle voice offers. A transfer student… he’s a third year, Yaoyao. His quirk isn’t fire… I heard it was bunnies.

Huh. Well. Fuck. She should say something. Apologize, maybe? Fat chance. He still started that stupid forest fire, the idiot. But - screw this, actually. She’s rattled enough, not that she’ll show it, that she doesn’t even wanna try at a pretense of conversation right now. To hell with all of this. She’s going home.

“I wasn’t out here for the stupid fox. Mind your own business,” She snaps, and then she’s gone — shadows between the trees again, fast as her feet can carry her away from the wannabe arsonist and whatever he thinks he knows.

---

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

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[Fanthes]

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✨EVENT SUCCESS!✨

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✓ Mysterious hallucinations and attempted arson! Where will it all lead?! 25 tokens have been converted into exp for Yaoyao as requested! [break][break]
Playboy - 600 // 675[break]
Yaoyao - 250 // 300

+ 75 TOKENS!

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Tag: 𝕐 + 𝕐, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

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