A light breeze blew through the trees of the surrounding forest of the mountains. The air had a placid calmness to it, quiet besides the rustling sounds of the leaves every time the wind swept through. Within these mountains and acres of forest that lined the landscape, there lay a small clearing and a small house with a pond wrapping around the back of it. For miles around, it is the only habitation in those mountains. Within the house, lived a young man, who looked to be relatively normal despite being an Ajin. The Ajin started out gradually popping up within the general population of the kingdom. They possess a great and terrifying power of controlling an entity they can summon, which people are calling black ghosts along with being immortal. If they're slain, they will simply stand back up again. Kei Nagai is the lone inhabitant of the house in the mountains and a feared Ajin. He guards the area heavily with his ghost which can be seen from time to time roaming idly through the woods. If it hears one sound of a potential intruder, it'll go charging in that direction. Kei rarely had to venture to the outskirts in order to guard his territory. Therefore, the kingdom and surrounding villages left him alone. He even had his ghost set up signs and barbed wire along the border where the mountains began. Kei enjoyed his peaceful life. It may be seen as boring and lonely to others, but to him, it was perfect and gave him complete serenity.
Outside of Kei's safe haven, the kingdom outside of the mountains was changing. The current king who had been ruling for many years had suddenly passed away, and a man by the name of Lord Satou had taken over the main palace along with his own group of advisors which resembled more of a rag tag team. Things were slowly escalating into a turmoil as he was passing new policies and laws specifically on Ajin. Satou wanted any known Ajins to be rounded up and relocated to an Ajin area in the palace.
"It's for safety reasons. It's for the safety of the Ajin of course. I'm aware of the attacks and discrimination against them." That was his reasoning behind these new laws and was met with thunderous applause.
Kou Nakano lived in a village near the mountains. He had heard a few stories about the lone Ajin that lived up in those mountains: the one everyone feared. He found himself staring at the nearby mountain as he walked through the small town on an errand. His day was going along like it usually did. He'd probably share a few drinks with the land lord later and maybe go visit the girl that always winked at him when he went past her house. He wore the same goofy smile he did when he thought about it when his vision suddenly went dark as he fell onto the ground hard due to a shovel promptly colliding with his skull.
When he came to, he found himself in the middle of the woods in some sort of camp. He was in some sort of wagon, but his wrists were tied together behind his back, making him groan when the rope rubbed the skin there raw. His vision was still a bit blurry as he was still coming to, blurry figures slowly coming into focus.
"He's an Ajin. I swear! I've seen him looking at things that aren't there. He's just strange in general," a young woman's voice said.
Kou felt his heart sink when he saw that the person turning him in was the girl that always smiled and winked at him.
Figures..
"But he's not a known Ajin? You can't just say someone's strange and immediately jump to them being an Ajin." A tall man with dark slicked back hair sat at a make shift desk with papers in front of him. He glanced over at Kou with some interest.
"I saw him fall off the roof of a rather tall building, Mr. Tanaka. He laid still for a moment then got back up. It wasn't natural," she said quickly.
"Fine, test him," he said to a guard, motioning to Kou.
"W-wait, let's not be hasty," Kou stammered, wriggling and trying desperately to break free.
Just when the guard pulled out a sword, Kou managed to sit up and get on his feet and was about to make a run for it when the sword was plunged through his chest. A gurgling choking sound came from his throat before his eyes rolled back a few seconds later. His hands desperately clung to the blade tightly until they were bleeding, blood running down it and dripping form the handle. Instead of trying to pull it from his grasp, the guard simply let go of the sword and let the other slide it out. Kou was still for a moment before he suddenly gasped for breath, still clutching onto the sword.
"So he is an Ajin. Alright, arrest him and put him in the cart with the others," Tanaka said with another motion of his hand.
Kou soon sprung onto his feet, using the blade of the sword to cut through the ropes tying his wrists together. He looked around frantically, trying to think up a way he could possibly escape or where he could go. Lord Satou's kingdom stretched far and wide. It's not like he could really go anywhere without being pursued. He'd be a registered Ajin now.
The mountains! The one place they won't go.
Without further thought, Kou bolted in the direction of the mountains. The lone thought in his mind was simply getting as far away as he could. The mountains had its own dangers, but that was the furthest thing from his mind right now. Anything was better than being captured with the other Ajins.
"After him," Tanaka said simply, sending about five guards.
Even when Kou made it into the mountain forest, they still chased after him. Kou was busy whipping his head back to look behind him, making sure they weren't getting too close. Suddenly, the wind was nearly knocked out of him as he collided with something very tall and solid. It took him a moment to open his eyes and gasped as he gazed up at a tall shadowy figure standing over him. However, its gaze was taken off of Kou at the arrival of the five guards that stopped in their tracks.
"Intruders.." it muttered.
"Uh, look, I'm just running away from them. See, there's this Ajin hunt going on.."
"Shut it," it snapped at Kou and started to walk towards the guards.
All of their faces had turned pale as they slowly backed up away from it.
"Why don't you just fuck off already? This is the part where you run away" it hissed and lunged at them, claws out and ready.
As soon as it moved, they took off screaming and running in the other direction. Kou breathed a sigh of relief and slowly got back on his feet.
"Wow, you're amazing..uh, whatever you are," he said with a goofy grin but took a few steps back when it turned towards him. "Uh, I swear I'm not here to like take over your land or anything."
"Is that so? Then why are you here, and why were you being chased by those guards? Usually, people know better than to trespass here."
Kou jumped when he heard another voice behind him and saw a boy around his age with short dark hair and vibrant scarlet eyes walking over from behind a tree.
"What are you doing in my mountains?" he asked again, crossing his arms.
