Chapter Text
One day in the summer heat, a six year old boy, with short hair and eyes the color of teal, was lost in the forest of the mountain god, said to have spirits among the plant life and shadows. The sound of cicadas ring in the boy’s ears. After searching for an exit for so long, he became too tired to move and curled up in the shade of the trees. He feared that he'd be stuck in the forest and teared up just a bit from frustration and loneliness.
“Hey! Kid!”
The young boy raised his head to find a teenage boy hiding slightly behind a tree wearing a kitsune mask, covering his entire face, hair the color of lavender adorning the sides of his face and it's long enough to brush against his shoulders. He looked to be around 17.
“Why are you out here alone?”
“Ah! It's a person!” the kid shouted as he gets up. He starts to run towards the teen. “I'm saved!”
The teen lets out a shout of surprise and dodges the 6 six year old, leading to the boy falling flat on his face in the grass. The boy pushes his upper body from the ground and shakes his head to get rid of the grass and leaves in his hair, giving the teen a deadpan stare. The teen utters out an apology and after a beat of silence, he asks, “You're a human child, right?” The kid gives a hum of confusion.
“If a human touches me, I'll disappear.” the lavender haired boy states calmly. The kid lets the sentence linger in his head a bit. “If a human…? Then you're not a human?”
“I'm… something that lives in the forest.” the teen fidgets for a bit.
“What?” the boy quickly changes his mood from confusion to excited curiosity. “Then… you're one of those spirits?”
Then as quickly he changed his mood, the boy went back to confusion. “But, what do you mean by disappear?”
After a few moments of silent staring, the kid reaches out to try and touch the teen, but the other backs away from the hand. The boy tries again, getting up from his position on the ground and once more, the teen moves away. The two end up in something like tag, the six year old boy being “it”. The boy tries one last time, giggling a bit before getting hit in the head with a small branch that the teen pulled out suddenly. The boy is on the ground once again, sporting a hurting head and making incomprehensible noises of pain. “Y-You’re really not human after all… N-No human would hit a kid like that!”
“To disappear means to be obliterated.” This regains the kid's attention back to the teen. He looks at the taller boy as he sets his gaze to where the edges of the trees meet the sky. The masked boy continues, “That's the spell that the mountain god placed upon me. If I get touched by a human… that's the end.”
The teal haired boy understands and gives an awkward apology. “Here, kid.” The teen offers the branch to the kid, “Grab the other end of the branch. You're lost, aren't you? I'll lead you out of the forest.”
The six year old grows happy and excitedly goes to hug the teen before he gets hit with the branch again. The smaller boy rolls around on the ground in pain and the teen exasperatedly scolds him, winded by the sudden action he had to do to stop the kid from hugging him. The boy gives an apology while in pain.
The two are on their way out to the entrance of the forest, walking down the stone stairs with the shrine monuments on both sides and the stone gate covered by seals. Spots of sunlight are scattered throughout the area all in part of the multitude of trees around them. Both are together connected by the branch and the smaller of the two chuckled a bit. “It's like one of those date scenes you'd see in books and movies.”
“Well, it's not a very romantic one…” the taller one said back. The teen looked at younger one, noting that he had to take two steps for one big step of the stairs, and goes back to looking forward. “You… aren't afraid.”
The teal haired boy looks up at the teen in a questioning gaze. “Of what?” he asked. After a moment, the teen dismisses his previous statement.
The sun is setting by the time they reach the entrance. The lavender haired boy gives out directions to the mountain path and. gives a simple bye to the kid.
“Are you always gonna be here?” the kid asks. “If I come back here, can we meet again?”
“This is the forest where the mountain god and spirits live,” the teen flatly spoke as the wind picked up slightly. “Set foot within, and you'll lose your way and be lost forever. You shouldn't come here. That's what the villagers say, right?”
The small boy smiles at the teen. “I'm Ephraim. You?” The boy gets a long silence from the masked teen. Growing a bit uncomfortable, Ephraim speaks, “Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow with a thank you present! Bye!” As he turns and runs to the path, the taller boy speaks. “It's Lyon.”
Ephraim soon stops and turns around, only to find Lyon already gone. Moments pass and Ephraim continues to go to the path. He's soon found by his father and gets scolded, but Ephraim doesn't mind. He thinks of a present to give to Lyon while his father reminisces of his past in this area, something about sneaking out on summer nights to go to a festival in the forest, he thinks.
As Ephraim lays in his bed, he remembers what Lyon said before their proper introductions.
“This is the forest where the mountain god and spirits live. Set foot within, and you'll lose your way and be lost forever.” These words echo in his mind. Staring at the wood ceiling, he can almost make out a face in two of the boards. Slowly, tiredness is getting to him and he soon rests, having a dreamless sleep that night.