Title: Kuchisake-Shonen: The Slit-Mouth Boy
Genre: horror, romance, hurt/comfort, drama, supernatural
Rating: T+ for language and strong violence
Pairings: JohanXJudai
Summary: Legend holds that several years ago, a suburban town was terrorized by a man whose beautiful face had been grotesquely disfigured with a Glasgow smile, also known as a Chelsea grin. Roaming the streets wearing a long red ski parka and carrying large scissors, the man would approach his young victims and, while removing the mask, ask if he was pretty. The victim's response, if it were the wrong one, would almost always lead to their violent death. Now, one by one, teenagers and young adults are disappearing again. As teachers and officials desperately begin to investigate, a panic begins to build as the man returns for some unfinished business and the town's dark secrets are exposed. But, the man's dark reign of terror might be over just as soon as it begins when he meets a young man who completely captivates his heart.
Me: All right, everyone! After watching bits and pieces from the Japanese horror film "Carved", Lucy and I wondered, "What would it be like it Judai and Johan were to meet the Slit-Mouth Woman?"
Lucy: But then we wondered, "What is Judai were a Kuchisake spirit?"
Me: And lo—the legend of the Kuchisake-Shonen began! We hope you all enjoy it, this tale of Judai's revenge, and his feelings for a young man who he falls in love with!
The Slit-Mouth Boy: An Urban Legend
The legend of the Kuchisake-Shonen came many generations after the Kuchisake-Onna. One version of the story says he was a prince in the 1600s who was married to a particurally hateful princess. The prince was very popular with the ladies, and some versions of the story say that he may have cheated on his wife once or twice. The princess, feeling jealous that her husband got more attention with the ladies than she did with the men, attacked him and cut his mouth to his ears, screaming, "No one's gonna think you're so handsome, now!"
Other versions say he was the male lover of a slave trader. Disgusted by the way his lover was treating the slaves, he snuck down into the cages and set them all free. Angry that all the money he would've got for the slaves, the slave trader cut the boy's mouth to his ears as punishment, letting him bleed to death.
But the most common, and most accurate, version of the story goes as such...
His name was Judai Yuki and he was a student at Academia High School. Stories say that he was very attractive and very easy to like, and it was because of this that a horrid fate would befall him.
He didn't do too well in school, and he had a reputation for being a bit strange—but all the girls, smart or ditzy, fell in love with him on sight. The rest of the male student body became extremely jealous of him.
One boy in particular, Setsuko, grew angry as well as jealous when his girlfriend Iris left him to ask Judai out. Not that it mattered, since Judai turned her down for reasons no one knew.
This angered Setsuko further; how dare Judai steal his girlfriend and then turn her down?
Calling Judai aside one day after school, Setsuko attacked him and cut his mouth to his ears, leaving him to die on the ground. As he ran away, he yelled, "Now who's gonna think you're beautiful?"
Hours later, Judai awoke, but he was no longer human. He wandered around the town in agony, trying to hide his deformity from the peering eyes of Domino, Japan. He then came upon a strange boy named Jim, an odd hedge warlock who stitched his bleeding wounds up. Unfortunately, Jim wasn't skilled enough to fix the cuts completely, so Judai still sported vicious scars in the shape of a Cheshire smile. While he weeped, Jim told him that he had been turned into a demon, and then asked if he knew of the Kuchisake-Onna. Judai had heard of her—she was a mysterious spirit who wandered the night with a surgical mask who asked children and teens if she was pretty and then revealed her wounds when they answered. It was then that Jim informed Judai that he had been transformed into a demon, as the Kuchisake-Onna did, and that he would forever be known as the Kuchisake-Shonen. Though he cried when he found out, Judai eventually came to accept this, and contemplated his revenge on the man who'd forced this fate on him—Setsuko.
Weeks later, after mysteriously vanishing, Judai returned to school.
Everyone was pleased to see him, except for Setsuko, of course. He's alive? But how?
But there was something strange about Judai.
His nose and mouth were covered by a snow-white surgical mask, and his features—his eyes and his body—were sharper and more defined that before, making him seem to be glowing. This lured people to him like never before, even Setsuko's girlfriend Iris once again, who forgot that he had turned her down once upon a time.
After school on that same day, Setsuko dragged Judai to the roof once again, angry and embarrassed.
"How are you still alive?" he shrieked. "You should've bled to death!"
Judai shrugged and shifted his hands like a child. "As well you nearly caused," he said with a tinkling laugh. "But that's all water under the bridge now, my friend. I forgive you. You were just jealous, as you should be."
Setsuko growled. "I see I didn't do my job right. You're still beautiful."
"Am I pretty?" Judai asked, sounding confused.
Whether he answered because of his own conviction or from some strange supernatural conviction that came from Judai's beautfiul new and strange appearance, Setsuko would never know.
"Not pretty," claimed Setsuko, against his better judgment. "Beautiful."
Grinning like a cage himself, Judai tore the mask away, revealing his ruined mouth. "How about now?"
Setsuko opened his mouth to scream, but Judai was too quick. He drew a giant silver pair of scissors and cut Setsuko's mouth up to his ears, like he had done to Judai so many weeks ago. Once the Chelsea grin was firmly settled on Setsuko's face, Judai pushed him off the side of the building, calling down with a laugh, "Who's gonna think you're beautiful?"
They found Setsuko at the bottom of the school later that day, Judai nowhere to be found. Setsuko's mouth was torn into a huge grin, but his eyes stared at the heavens in terror.
Despite getting his revenge on Setsuko, Judai's deformity never went away. The scars were smaller and much less frightening than those of the Kuchisake-Onna, though they were frightening in their own sense, but they never truly left.
And so, Judai Yuki continues to wander to this day as the Kuchisake-Shonen, seeking revenge for his deformity, taking it out on those who answer his question wrong, as Setsuko had so many years ago.
Me: Wah! Poor Judai! Setsuko deserved what happened to him! NOTE: We will update this as soon as "City of Demeter's Tree" ends, which it will in a little while, as we plan to update it as soon as possible.
Lucy: And for everyone wondering, Johan will appear in Chapter one, which will happen just after the Preface, which is happening after this urban legend!
Me: And the original inspiration of the story, the Kuchisake-Onna, will appear in this story!
Lucy: But is she the villain, or is she an anti-hero?
Me: We're going to tell you all this—the Kuchisake-Onna does try to kill Johan, but will she keep this up, or will she see the light and become someone new instead of a killer?
Lucy: To find out what will happen next, review nicely and we will update!