In the darkest parts of the famed suicide forest of Japan, a place commonly thought to be uninhabited, a few choice curse words echoed through the night. The pasty white walls of the research facility kept in these areas, though very well hidden, were anything but soundproof.
Some thought it a poor choice to hide such an important facility where it could be easily discovered, but if the rumors of the most horrendous forms of evil didn't keep people away, surely such colourful language would do the job.
Inside the facility, in a room placed in their back of the building, every window was closed, but through the pleated blinds, a faint light source was still visible like the stars in the sky.
The keeper of that facility was working late again. Having left moments ago to see what had triggered his trap, his blazing red hair was still dripping with rainwater, crystal droplets falling softly upon his mahogany desk illuminated by the light of a single lamp.
At times, the young Zoologist Cross Marian regretted his life choices.
Even with his hands covered with leather gloves made for this specific job, he still felt the infantile Tengu's piercing fangs in his skin.
Despite the wild creature's efforts, though, the man wouldn't let it free.
Unfortunately, after a thorough inspection under the lamp, he snarled angrily when he realized that the baby tengu's bite was the only thing unique about it.
At his desk, the man let out a heavy sigh, once again pulling its small fragile wings from its sides in hopes of seeing anything out of the ordinary in its bushels of soft red feathers packed in between the folds in its leathery skin.
Like most things in Cross's life, he was met with bitter disappointment.
The tengu he had caught a few hours previous, a very small bird like creature with human child like qualities, was nothing more than a perfectly common red mountain tengu. It wasn't even all that good looking of a tengu, either.
He wouldn't have been surprised if it was abandoned by its parents simply because of how ugly and useless it was.
If it had been show quality at least, he could have sold it on the black market for some kind of price.
Unfortunately as it stood, this in his hands was not an undiscovered species nor any new specimen, so the Organization would not pay him anything for his time and the man who had already worked half his life away would go without food for another day, yet again.
It was only through the discovery of interesting or brand new specimens that he was payed any sort of money for his time, but these days there were so few successes, he began to wonder if there was anything left to discover.
Running his free hand through his wet hair to pull it from his face, he began to sigh through clenched teeth.
This late into the night, he also began to wonder if the Organization was run purely by his vengeful ex lovers who were doing their very best to force the man into submission by legal starvation.
It seemed very likely at the time, but deep down he knew these were just the thoughts one acquires after three too many cups of coffee consumed in the late hours.
The little bird still had yet to release his hand. It just remained that way with consistent pressure in its jaw, glaring up at him with bulging violet eyes. Even if it was old enough to see anything past its wingspan, he still wouldn't have been intimidated.
Cross, despite his better judgment, found himself feeling a great amount of a hate and displeasure for the creature, a member of a critically endangered species.
He thought that perhaps, even though the creature wouldn't get him money from the organization, it could assist him in other ways instead.
Some recipes for cooking chicken still remained in the bottom of his desk doors and, considering it for a moment, he realized that tengu were birds just like chickens.
Perhaps he would have this creature for supper.
It was better than nothing after all.
He rose from his seat, bird in his steadily tightening grip with the fullest intention of cooking the creature up for a nice meal.
It was probably about three in the morning, but he didn't care. He was having a late supper, and that was final.
But his intentions were dashed from his mind when, upon rising, he heard the distinct recognizable sound of his office door slamming open against the adjacent wall.
The man had lived alone for many years so his heart skipping a beat at the ensuing fear was entirely justified.
He may or may not have let out a sharp shriek, but he most definitely released his tight grip upon the baby Tengu on reflex and the creature sprung to life, immediately fluttering its little wings till it was out of sight.
The man let out a harsh curse before jerking towards the door and the person he knew full well was standing in the doorway before roaring in the loudest of voices.
"Mana, I swear on all that is good and holy-!" He yelled, meeting the gaze of the Onmiyoji in the doorway who just smiled in response before lifting a finger to his lips to silence the Zoologist.
Said Onmiyoji, Mana, lived in the temple a mile or so away and came to visit occasionally. Much less visit, much more just break in.
"Don't yell, Cross." He replied before walking into the room he had not been invited into, "It's far too late for that."
"I will yell, you absolute-!" He snapped before choking on his words and soon composing himself, "I locked the door."
"And I thought demons were warring in this old place from the ruckus I heard." Mana smiled politely as he pulled from his robe pocket a single twisted white hairpin for Cross' inspection, "I knew I had to perform an exorcism, so I had to find my own way in."
At this point, the panic subsided so Cross' body lost its tension. His exhaustion finally caught up to him and he realized just how tired he was. Without further ado, he sat himself down on his chair with a heavy sigh and a finger to his temples.
"You're too much…" He growled.
"I'm just aware of my responsibilities." The Onmiyoji replied as he brought himself behind him, and began to pull a second item from his silken robes of white, "Just as I am aware of the fact that he only yell like that when you are hungry."
Cross glanced over to see the item his longtime friend presented before him.
A single crimson apple.
"You can have it." Mana said.
Of course this action led Cross to look at the hand that held the fruit.
As usual, the hand was nothing but skin and bones, thin and spider like like the hand of a corpse.
Leading up, the wrist and forearm were no different. Deathly thin, the leathery skin clinging to brittle bone for dear life much like the person who that skin belonged to.
His chest was covered by his silk robe, but Cross knew there was nothing but ribs. The collarbone led to the neck and soon to the face where, aside from the gaunt and sunken in features, he observed there to be heavy dark rings under his friend's eyes.
In addition to not eating, he also hadn't been sleeping. As expected, Cross thought.
Mana had been having extreme bouts of insomnia since the accident happened a year ago. The accident that took what was most important to him, still haunting him to this very day.
That accident was probably the only reason why Mana played a bitter person like him nightly visits; Because the silence, the empty space, the loneliness was just too much for him to handle.
For a moment, the Zoologist felt a pang of pity, but he ignored it.
"I don't need it." Was Cross' eventually reply, "You eat it."
"But what do you have to eat in this old place?"
"I did have something!" He bit back, "But you let it free when you broke into my house!"
Mana looked offended, shocked, disturbed at the accusation like he hadn't done things like this a thousand times before.
"What?" He gasped, "No I didn't!".
"Yes you did!"
"Where?" He cried as he began to search around, twisting his head here and there, everywhere to search for the creature he let loose, "Where is it?!"
"Its long gone now." Cross replied as he turned his back to the man, returning yet again to his desk cluttered with paperwork collected over the span of several restless nights, "Don't waste your energy looking for it."
He was fully prepared to forget about it and spend the rest of his night buried six feet under by paperwork and alcohol.
Cross took hold of his pen and the first piece of paper he could find, not caring what it was and prepared to do it, not caring about the steady migraine that he knew was coming to claim him.
That was how his night was going to go until he heard Mana speak up yet again.
"Cross?" He asked gently from the far corner of the office, "Is this what you were talking about?".
Cross paused before turning his chair yet again.
He quickly caught sight of his friend kneeling in front the fake tree hr put in the corner so that it wouldn't obstruct his work.
Mana's movements were soft and gentle, like he were trying to be quiet in order not to scare something.
But what was the question.
Upon walking over and kneeling beside Mana, Cross made the realization that what the Onmiyoji was asking was correct and a vengeful rage pooled in his stomach.
It was in fact, exactly what he was talking about.
Roosted serenely upon the evergreen leaves of plastic was that same red tengu infant he had caught a few hours previous. It had just been sitting there in his office, sleeping like it were intending to taunt him.
It slept like a dog, its small body curled up like a dogs and its crimson wings pulled over its head to block out the light. With its human like face out of sight, it just looked like a normal bird.
Cross had half a mind to pick it up and cook it then and there but before his mind could register the command, Mana interfered.
Mana's hand shot forward and, before Cross could protest, took hold of the creature and pulled it close to his chest.
"No, don't!" He began, but it was too late.
The small creature shrieked and blood began to drip upon the wooden floorboards. Its jaws had clamped onto Mana's wrist, tearing the flesh deeply.
Despite this, Mana did not let it go. He didn't even so much as flinch at the sudden injury inflicted, but rather just kept his eyes fixed upon the small struggling creature and never loosened his grip. Not even once.
Cross remained perplexed by this action.
He held it gently, but tightly so it couldn't escape.
He held it like it were a wild animal, and yet lovingly like it were a pet.
He held it like it were a stranger, and yet with the intention of knowing the creature better.
Its struggles were eased. Its movements became less ragade. Cross watched as the creature, slowly but surely, fell into a deep sleep in his friends palm.
Several moments passed before a single word was spoken again.
It was Mana who spoke. The words were a quiet, barely audible muttering but Cross heard.
"You were going to eat this?" He asked, eyes stuck like they were glued still, seemingly staring into space as he stroked the creature in its peaceful slumber.
"Well, of course. There's nothing else here and there's really no use for a Red mountain tengu."
"But…. What if it's a white tengu?"
"What, white?"
"Yes…"
"That would be impossible. You know that as well as I do. White tengu don't exist."
"Hypothetically, Cross."
"... Well, I'm sure I'd get a fortune for discovering one… but it's red."
"Yes… Its very red and quite small, to…."
"It was obviously abandoned, and tengu are the sort of yokai don't mature physically until they mature mentally, you know…."
"No… I didn't know that."
It was then that the Zoologist began to see by the sudden drop of the man's head and sinking posture rust Mana was beginning to fall asleep just like the little bird in his arms.
Part of Cross was relieved to see this as it meant his insomnia was wearing off but the other part of him was concerned.
"Hey," He warned as he steadied Mana with a hand on his shoulder, "Don't fall asleep here."
"It's not white yet..." Were the man's words, blurted suddenly and whispered dreamily like he were half asleep already, suddenly meeting his eyes with a serious expression, "You can't eat it…."
A silence followed but Cross quickly brushed it off the nonsense as the usual late night thoughts as he pulled the man to his feet.
"Yah yah, okay," He replied as he stood, "But you gotta get home. Can't have them thinking I abducted you or something."
Mana complied, albeit a bit hesitantly when he pried the creature from his arms and gentle placed it in the birdcage he kept on his desk.
After latching the cage, Cross promptly walked his friend, to the best of his ability, to the door. It was more or less a failure as Cross was practically half asleep, as well.
On the way, Cross made sure to curse just how big this nearly abandoned facility was but he arrived at the entrance sooner than he would have thought.
"Now make sure not to fall asleep on the way, you idiot." Cross snapped, "I'm not about to walk you to the temple in this weather."
"I won't." Mana whined quietly, smiling knowing it was just Cross' way of telling him to be safe, "I won't."
Cross had the decency to watch him walk out the doorway into the pouring rain, but before he did even that much, he paused.
"Cross?"
Cross groaned, "What is, Mana?".
" Y-You know those stories?" Mana began, his voice almost entirely muffled out by the heavy rainfall, "Those stories about the… white tengu?"
"What about them?"
"N-Nothing, don't worry about it." He muttered as he proceeded into the night, "I'll be coming back to see him tomorrow."
And with those final words, he was gone.
After a few moments, Cross the Zoologist realized two things.
One, a completely useless red tengu was now an important part of his chamber inventory. He really didn't have a choice in the matter.
Two, Mana did not take his apple back.
A bitter laughter rang throughout the darkest parts of the famed Suicide Forest of Japan, so quiet that even the lurking spirits could not have caught it.
(It's late. Imma sleep.)