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Glancing at the map on his phone, Gorou wondered if he put the right address in. Considering knowing that Itto was the type to spend his time with his gang members or in jail, Gorou was surprised to see a rather nice looking home. It almost looked like it belonged to an upper middle class family or something. Clearing his throat, Gorou pressed the button for the call button by the front gate while a bag of treats rested in his left hand. The surrounding neighbors seemed to be missing or kept their distance. Some even gave Gorou odd facial expressions as he stood in front of the Arataki household.
“Yes?” An older female’s voice came from the intercom, startling Gorou as he was almost expecting to hear Itto’s excitable voice come from the intercom instead of an old woman’s. It made Gorou wonder if he might have messed up the address or something.
“Oh, good morning ma’am.” Gorou greeted the intercom. “I’m ah, looking for Arataki Itto’s residence. Do I have the right location?” Gorou asked, hoping that this wasn’t the right location and that Gorou could simply contact Itto in order to get the right location. If that was the case, Gorou would have to make sure to send this woman a lovely basket as an apology for inconveniencing her.
“Oh, you must be one of Itto’s friends. He said he was expecting someone.” The woman spoke, surprising Gorou even more that Itto was actually pretty well off despite his looks. “Come in, come in. The gate should be unlocked.” The woman continued, a buzz from the locked gate could be heard, allowing Gorou to enter. “Itto should be out back. Just take a left and follow the wall. You can’t miss him.” She instructed before turning the intercom off before Gorou got the chance to thank the woman.
Walking along the stone pathway, Gorou was surprised with how well maintained the property was. The plants seemed to be flourishing and the only bugs that they had besides pollinators were onikabutos. The different sizes and markings on each bug was amazing. The docile ones seemed to be snacking on bits of sap from the trees while a few of them seemed to be fighting each other. Pausing to look at the two beetles trying to flip each other, Gorou was a bit surprised at the fighting skills that they had. There was a smaller onikabuto who seemed certain that he could take on the bigger one, charging head first towards the larger opponent. In a way it reminded Gorou of himself, always charging head first into things without ever really thinking about the outcome.
Just as the smaller onikabuto reached the bigger one, the two seemed to bash their long horns against each other, almost like they were sumo wrestlers. The smaller one was seemingly gaining the upper hand, until the bigger one was able to give the smaller onikabuto a single thrust that caused the smaller beetle to land on his backside. The larger onikabuto stood there, gloating its’ victory while the smaller one seemingly whimpered away. Gorou watched as the small one disappeared into the leaves, only to be startled by someone chuckling.
“Aren’t they great?” A male voice came, causing Gorou to turn and see that Itto was standing on the stone path, but looked different than the first few times that Gorou saw him. Instead of the ripped jeans and Ms. Hina concert shirt, Itto was wearing formal slack pants and dark red buttoned up shirt. The usual long wild hair was now kept back into a long ponytail. A black blazer rested on Itto’s shoulders, making Gorou wonder if the Itto he first encountered just didn’t have any clean laundry or if maybe this was Itto’s father.
“The onikabuto’s.” Itto added, walking over towards Gorou. “Despite going up against a larger opponent, the little ones with the most fire under their belly will always try their best to win.” Itto continued, causing Gorou to snap out of his daze like state. “Though sometimes they can surprise you and win against a bigger opponent, and that’s when you know that they have that certain fire that inspires you to do anything you want to do.” Itto finished, picking up the winning onikabuto and letting the thing scurry up the oni’s arm.
“Oh yeah?” Gorou finally chimed in, finding his words that had been lost. “I almost didn’t recognize you.” Gorou admitted, feeling his cheeks flush for a second. “Oh, and I brought you something.” Handing over the bag of a limited time baked goods that was to promote Ms. Hina’s cakes, Gorou felt a bit under-dressed compared to how done up Itto was. “Did I come at a bad time?” Gorou asked, shoving his hands into his jeans.
“Oh? Psh.” Itto remarked, taking the bag from Gorou with a big grin on his face. “I always have to dress this way at Grandma Oni’s place.” Itto explained, peeking inside of the bag to see the cake. “No way! Is this Ms. Hina’s specialty strawberry whip cream cake? I’ve been dying to get my hands on this!” The excited tone in Itto’s voice caused a small smile to land on Gorou’s face as his tail started to wag behind him. “Grandma oni will love this as well! Come on in, I’ll get the tea started for us.” Itto remarked, making his way towards the side door.
“What the hell? Why does he look so good all dressed up like that?” Gorou panicked in his mind. If it wasn’t for the way that Itto spoke Gorou would have seriously thought that Itto all dressed up like that was an older brother or fatherly figure. The high ponytail and the suite did look good on the oni, so maybe their training won’t be as bad as Gorou initially thought that it was going to be. But there are still a few things that they needed to work on.
Following Itto into the house and removing his shoes, Gorou made his way towards the voices that lead to the kitchen. Peeking inside, Gorou was surprised that this grandma oni wasn’t an oni, but rather a human being. Despite her wrinkles, she seemed to be looking after Itto like he was her own flesh and blood. The way that the two seemed to banter in the kitchen, mostly when Itto was trying to take a bite out of the slice of cake that rested on the plate, only to have his hand smacked by the old lady caused a small snicker to leave Gorou’s lips. This caused grandma oni and Itto to look at Gorou as they just noticed that he joined them.
“So, you’re here to teach Itto how to be a proper gentleman?” Grandma oni asked as she sat down at the table. “And it’s part of a deal for him to be able to go on a date with an idol?” She continued to asked, her hands moving to rest on her lap under the table while the kettle was trying to heat up.
“Yes ma’am.” Gorou replied, trying his best to be courteous. “Ms. Hina’s manager figured that Itto should be rewarded for his bravery for not only rescuing me in my time of need, but for also rescuing Ms. Hina from potentially being kidnapped.” Gorou explained. After all it wasn’t every day that someone would be able to go out on a date with a celebrity like Ms. Hina.
“I see…” Grandma oni remarked, glancing towards Itto who was already halfway into eating his slice of the cake. “Well, even though Itto isn’t my biological grandson, I do care for him as if he was my kin.” The woman remarked, reaching a hand over to pull on Itto’s ear as a stern warning not to eat like he normally did in front of guests. “However this oni is very stubborn and does things his own way most of the time. But that doesn’t mean he’s not a hard worker. When he wants something, he’ll do whatever it takes to get it. Just like if he loves someone enough, he’ll protect them.” She added, letting go of Itto’s ear as the oni reached up his right hand to rub the reddening ear.
“Don’t worry ma’am. I am doing this as a way to repay Itto for looking out for Ms. Hina and I.” Gorou remarked, trying his best to keep up the friendly appearance. “I will try my best not to be much of a bother to you and your home.” Gorou added, giving the old woman a bow out of respect.
“Surprised you’re really respectful towards Grandma Oni. Or did you do your research on her?” Itto remarked, causing Gorou to look up at the oni with a puzzled look on his face. This only caused Itto to chuckle a bit as he licked the strawberry colored filling off of the fork with his tongue pressed against it tight enough to leave the grooves of the fork on the oni’s tongue.
“Research?” Gorou asked, his ears flicking back in confusion as he tilted his head a bit. This was the first time that Gorou even heard of someone like Grandma Oni. He wasn’t even really sure why anyone would carry a name like that in the first place.
“Yeah! Grandma Oni here used to be a real hell raiser. Despite being a human, she was so wild as the wife of a yakuza leader that people thought that she was an oni in disguise.” Itto explained before biting on the fork before watching the dread form in Gorou’s eyes, all the while Grandma Oni sat there patiently with a smile on her face. Almost like she was reminiscing about her past life. “That’s why we call her Grandma Oni. It’s only fitting that she could handle the likes of me. Raising a real oni since she didn’t have many kids of her own.” It was almost like a bragging right at this point.
“Just because I may be getting old doesn’t mean I can’t still put you in your place.” Grandma Oni remarked, causing Gorou to wonder if he was getting himself into something he couldn’t get himself out of. “Now, after we enjoy this delicious cake, I’ll leave the two of you alone. But if you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask. I’ll be doing a few chores around the house.” Grandma Oni spoke, seemingly switching back to being a normal elderly woman instead of the spunky nature she had seemingly let slip.
After enjoying some tea with the cake, the two men had made their way back to Itto’s room. Upon entering, Gorou was greeted with various posters and other merchandises of Ms. Hina lingering around Itto’s room. There were different styles of Ms. Hina figurines locked behind a glass case with some color changing lights around it. The posters were still in the plastic covering that came with it, though a few of them had Ms. Hina’s signature on the little corner of them that Gorou didn’t even remember signing. Though thinking back, they probably had used the specialized ink blocks to mark them with Ms. Hina’s signature since Gorou complained about signing so many items. There was even a Ms. Hina body pillow that laid on the bed that was still a mess. Along the wall was a shelf that had every single one of Ms. Hina’s CD’s. There were some that were clearly fake ones as Gorou didn’t remember doing spicy content ones.
“Wow, I guess you really are a Ms. Hina fan, huh?” Gorou commented, making his way towards the small table in the middle of the room. Sitting on the floor, Gorou pulled out his phone to make sure that he wrote down some things that they had to go over before the date. One of the items was crossed off that read “Find an outfit that will go well with the date.” As Itto moved to sit on the bed, Gorou glanced up at oni who looked even bigger compared to before. It was almost like Gorou was like the little onikabuto earlier, however Gorou was not going to back down.
“Oh yeah, I spent a lot of time and money on my collection. I even got stuff that has never been seen before of Ms. Hina. Did you know that she even did a bikini calendar? I didn’t even think that those were in print!” Itto remarked, moving to pull out said calendar from under his bed. “I mean, I knew they made a seasonal one for the general public, but this one is so scandalous that I couldn’t let just anyone see it.” Gorou didn’t know if he should feel embarrassed that someone photoshopped Ms. Hina into such poses or be embarrassed that Itto actually believed that there was a Ms. Hina sexy calendar.
“Perhaps you got ripped off? I’ve never seen or heard of them doing a sexy Ms. Hina calendar before.” Gorou remarked, a small smile landing on his face as he couldn’t believe this actually happened. Then again, most people would buy into something like that since Ms. Hina was the hottest ticket out there.
“No way, the guy assured me that it was the real deal.” Itto added, tossing the calendar towards the table. “It even has the Ms. Hina stamp on the back.” Itto continued, watching as Gorou carefully took the calendar to look it over. As Gorou turned it over, it was clear that the calendar had been a fake one. The cover was from the original holiday calendar, but the inside had been gutted and replaced with the fakes. “See, has the stamp right there.”
“Did you even match the back to the pages?” Gorou asked, seeing the confused expression landing on Itto’s face. “The pages on the inside don’t line up with the back cover images. See?” Gorou explained, showing the differences to the oni. It was clear that Itto had been scammed into buying something that was a fake. It was hard not to feel sorry for the oni as Itto buried his face into his hands.
“500.000 mora down the drain for a fake…” Itto muttered, making it seem like his world had been completely crushed. Here he was, thinking that he was saving Ms. Hina’s image and yet he was scammed by someone pushing the fake like it was the real thing.
“You spent that much on a fake?!” Gorou asked, shocked mostly at the price that Itto spent on it. “The regular calendar only costs 5,000 mora.” If Yae knew about this, she would have probably personally hunted down the man and make him rethink his choices. “Well, I guess that sets the date budget then…” Gorou mumbled, figuring that if he paid the amount that Itto spent on the fake, it would make some difference.
“So um, I want to see how much you know about Ms. Hina. Then I will be able to assess how much you know and figure out where to go from there.” Gorou spoke up, figuring that he might as well change the subject to brighten the oni’s mood a bit.
“Oh trust me, there’s no one who knows more about Ms. Hina than I do!” Itto spoke up, the winning grin landing back on his face. “I know that she is the fifth daughter of her family. She loves helping people out by giving them advice. She loves to write in her spare time. Loves sweets more than anything but can’t have too much as it will make her sick. She can’t have onion based things because it’s poisonous to her. She loves mountaineering and traveling.” Itto started to ramble off a fair amount of things that were more of a reflection on Gorou than Ms. Hina, but it was supposed to be based off of someone, so why not have the one who is Ms. Hina in the physical body? “But most importantly, she is able to understand people. She gets to know her fans and can see that they really do have their own struggles. She’s kind hearted, beautiful, and loves her fans back just as much by pushing herself to do all the gigs she is handed. Just so that we get a chance to admire her.” The last part seemed almost somber than anything else.
“When I was at my lowest,” Itto continued to speak, his smile no longer there and his real emotions seemingly showing. “When I was a nobody. A simple outcast because I was born an Oni from the red clan, her music touched my soul in a way that no music ever could.” Itto continued, moving to cross his legs while sitting on the bed. “The worst was when I ran away from home…” Itto continued, glancing away from Gorou as he started to tell his story.
~~~~~~
The rain had been pouring harder than it had all that year. A monsoon started to hit landfall. As the last remaining members of the original Arataki gang were leaving, Granny Oni was left with only Itto to keep her company. With no real heir to take over the gang’s name, the members saw no need to linger for an aging woman. She may have commanded their respect at one point, but now that she took in a oni child, she was just as much of an outcast as Itto was.
“I’m sorry ma’am, but with the boss gone and you’re raising a demon by yourself, we just can’t take that kind of responsibility. We don’t want to be around when that thing gets strong enough and decides to devour you.” A man spoke with a stern expression on his face. “That thing will only bring you nothing but misfortune. Surely you don’t expect us to simply follow that monster because of the old man, do ya?” The man continued, though Granny Oni offered him a frown, disapproved of what the man was saying about Itto.
“Look, I’ve known you most of my life. But bringing a demon in here, and raising it like it was your grand-kid,” The man continued, glancing towards the door panel where Itto had been hiding. “The gang and I just can’t support it.” The man finished, glancing back at Granny Oni who looked as if she was on the verge of tears.
As the wind started to pick up and the sound of the rain hitting the clay tiles was the only sound in the house for what felt like an eternity, Granny Oni took a deep breath to keep herself composed. “Then leave.” She spoke sternly, leaving the man in front of her bewilder. “Leave and never come back here!” Granny Oni shouted even louder, making sure that the man knew that this was her final answer.
“Granny, are you-” The man started to speak, hoping to at least convince the woman to rethink her decision. But instead he was greeted with a harsh slap across the face. Looking at Granny Oni with a shocked expression, the man placed a hand against the red mark that was starting to form on his cheek.
“I said leave!!” Granny Oni shouted even louder than before. It was clear that she was trying to keep herself collected, but the tears made it hard to watch the man as he got up to leave. As he left the side door open to blow in the wind, Granny slowly made her way towards the door to slam it close. As she struggled to close it, Itto came up behind her to give her a hand. Seeing the long nails reaching out towards her in the darkness, Granny Oni stumbled sideways, almost knocking over the plants that rested nearby.
Itto looked at her with a concerned yet puzzled expression on his face, but as soon as he noticed the fear in her eyes, it was clear that she was still scared of him despite taking in the oni. “Granny….do you believe what they told you?” Itto asked, his voice somber. “Because you know that I wo-” Itto tried to speak in a calm voice, but he was quickly interrupted.
“I don’t want to hear it from a monster like you!” Granny shouted, only to gasp as she realized what she had just said, quickly covering her mouth as she saw the pained look on Itto’s face. “No….Itto- I…” Granny tried to quickly track her statement, but the damage was done. Before she could even say anything more, Itto pushed the side door wide open and ran out into the rain.
With the sound of bare feet slapped against the pavement, Itto ran as fast as he could away from the only house that would take him in. Where he was heading to didn’t matter, he just needed to get away from the one who betrayed him like so many others. It was clear that no matter where he went to, he was going to be seen as nothing more than a monster.
By the time that Itto finally stopped running, he found himself back in front of his old house. Most of it had been burnt from the fire, but there were still a few rooms that he could use as shelter from the rain. Grabbing the police tab on the front doors, Itto wanked them off before heading inside. The smell of smoke still lingered inside the empty house. Making his way back to what was his old room, Itto wandered inside before stopping at a small bed. Looking down at it, the oni wondered if things would have been different if his parents were still alive. Sure they had to live deep in the woods and away from humans, but at least he wouldn’t be the only monster around.
It was only when something hit his head that Itto was taken out of his train of thought. Looking down, a small white bean stood out among the charbroiled floor. Glancing towards the direction that it came from, there was a blinding flashlight being pointed towards him with three small figures lingering behind the light. As soon as his eyes adjusted, Itto noticed that it was three young boys who used to bully him relentlessly when he lived here, that were standing there with bowls of beans in their hands.
“I thought we told you to get out of here you damn demon!” One of the boys shouted, throwing more beans at Itto, causing the oni to flinch. It wasn’t long before the other boys started to join in with the first boy to throw more beans towards Itto. “Get out of here you freak!” The boy shouted, followed by laughter as they watched Itto try to defend himself against the bean attack.
“Yeah! No one wants a filthy monster like you hanging around here!!” The second boy added, laughing as he threw more of the beans. As the beans scattered around Itto, it was getting harder and harder for the oni to breathe. With the sounds of his gasps becoming more audible, the boys didn’t seem to care as they threw whatever beans they had left at defenseless oni.
“Hey! What are you boys doing in here?” Came a male voice, causing the boys to look towards the door and gasp. Before the male could walk closer to the boys, the trio took the bowls that once held beans in it and threw it at the man’s head before they ran away. With the boys out of the way, the man headed towards the room that they seemed to occupying and discovered Itto hunched over, trying his hardest to catch his breath. Reaching up to the radio on his shoulder, the man had called for an ambulance.
Everything afterwards seemed like a blur. The next thing Itto knew was that he was back at Granny Oni’s place. The monsoon had passed, and the radio was put on like he always had it when falling asleep. Opening his eyes to the barren walls, Itto felt like his body weighed heavier than when he was normally sick. The soft sound of a piano drifted towards his ears at first before an angelic voice seemingly sang to him. Turning his head towards the radio, that was the first time that Itto heard Ms. Hina’s voice. It was when she was brand new, a fresh new idol who was going to make waves in the music industry. In that instant, Itto would be hooked with everything that Ms. Hina did.
Before he knew it, Itto was so engrossed with Ms. Hina that he was convinced that she was there to rescue him. He would do everything that he could to protect her. Just seeing her up on stage, the lights flashing and making Ms. Hina glow, Itto was falling in love with her. It was too much to ask to even go out on a simple date, and that he was fine with simply watching her from afar, but being able to see those eyes glance up innocently at him while shaking Itto’s hand, it was hard to deny that it caused his heart to swell up. To Itto, Ms. Hina was everything.