Hakkōda Mountains, Aomori Prefecture, Japan
Present Day
January 19, 2019
Snowflakes dancily fluttered downward onto the Japanese mountainous region of the Hakkōda; cool and crisp as every other winter, coating the ground with a soft, thick blanket of pure white snow and covering the trees of the forest, making them look like tall, shapeless snow sculptures. Now, this lovely scenery wasn't entirely devoid of any life. For in fact, therein lies a secret world beyond our natural plane of existence. A realm beyond the laws of physics. Full of wandering spirits, ghosts, goblins, vampires, monsters of legend and other mythical creatures that roam around in the absence of light and even the presence of evil.
Humans fear what they don't understand, but fear is only of the essence. Some supernatural forces prefer to wreak havoc on the mortals, endanger their lives, cause mischief and the like. But some prefer to say scarce from the humans. But apart from all that, a young boy in a greyish-white kimono outfit roughly around the age of 12 or 13 with short black hair scurried through the snow, having no issue maneuvering his feet through the thick sheet of snow in the ground, leaving tracks behind him. The chilling winter air had no effect on him as he moved around the area, looking for something in particular or someone.
It took him only a minute or two to spot another set of tracks in the snow with feet different from his own and this brought a smirk to his face. I have you now, he thought to himself triumphantly. He knew this would be a dead giveaway to whoever he was after at this moment. The tracks lead him over to one of the snow-covered trees. But this did not dissuade him, for he knew this had to be the perfect hiding spot. Casually, the boy pretended to look uninterested and ready to turn around and leave before he lifted a foot into the air and brought it down extremely hard, so hard that it created quaking seismic activity in the area he was in. The sudden powerful quake caused the snow to fall off not only that one tree, but about nineteen of the other trees within the earthquake's radius. There was a smallerboy hiding in the tree about younger than the first boy adorned in a red kimono, black hair tied into a bun. The vibration caused the boy to fall right out of the tree and onto the ground as he glared at theboy in the greyish attire.
"Thought I'd find you here." He grinned boastfully.
"Damn it, Akami!" grumbled the younger boy in rage, returning to his feet. "I thought we agreed nopowers!"
"I couldn't help myself." Akami remarked. "Also, are you sure you weren't trying to cover your own tracks quite literally?"
"Fuck you!" Hideo cursed in annoyance.
"Hey, language, little bro." said a new, older voice. There stood their older brother, Suko, who had black hair that was also tied into bun, but allowed the rest of his long hair to low downward and had on a wafuku-samurai hybrid with a chestplate-like armor made of sticks and twigs. He wielded two katanas and he was also barefoot.
"I thought we taught you better."
"Don't blame me, blame this guy for cheating." complained Hideo, pointing an accusatory finger at Hideo.
"I played a fair game." Akami remarked cheekily.
"Well, now that two morons are finished, mom wants us back at the cave. The sun's coming up in a minute and she'll freak if we stay out after sunrise." Suko replied, twirling his staff around before taking a massive leap toward the high branch of a tree a few feet from his two younger brothers.
"It's not like we'll burn up like vampires." Akami called out to him in a matter-of-factly.
"Just don't tell her that." Was the final thing Suko said before flying off onto the currents of wind.
Akami and Hideo soon followed afterwards, not wanting their mother to worry about them. But let's talk more about their relation. They only thing they have in common is their mother. They are all born of the same mother, who has had romantic encounters with other men in the past, both mortal and supernatural alike, but she's only had four pregnancies so far. Akami was the second born whose father was a Shinto god and his birth was the result of an unexplained religious ritual.
Hideo is the youngest of the four. His father was a formidable samurai part of the Beetle Clan, given the title of the Beetle Warrior. Their other brother, Yoshi, was born third. There's nothing too serious to be said about his father and how Yoshi was even conceived to begin with. But one thing for certain is that he was a folk hero. Now Suko, on the other hand, was the firstborn and the eldest of all of them. His father is left a mystery and none of them are certain who he was. Their mother won't even speak about it, saying that he wouldn't understand.
It was near morning when the three finally arrived at the cavern high in the mountains where they lived. The light that illuminated the cave inside like a natural lantern was from the campfire which was slowly diminishing. There was their other brother, Toby, sitting there in front of the fire. He had on sometraditional Japanese garb of his own and his black hair was done up an unkempt fashion. He looked up to see his brothers enter the cave.
"There you guys are. Mother was getting worried, you know, and I was running low on excuses." He told them as the three sat with him around the fire.
"Well, that saves you the trouble, doesn't it?" remarked Suko.
"I've been telling her that one of you got caught in a ditch while the other was trying to cut himself free by chewing his leg off and the other-"
"Please! Spare me the details." Akami facepalmed.
"We get it. Mom wouldn't stop asking questions. Sometimes I think she worries too much." replied Hideo.
"And she can hear you from afar." said a gentle, feminine voice from behind them that belonged to their mother who was none other than the spirit (or yōkai) named Yuki-onna, also known as the "snow-woman" according to Japanese folklore. It is said that she is the vengeful spirit of a woman who perished in a blizzard and is often associated with the winter season. As beautiful as she was frightening, her eyes can strike fear into the hearts of mortal men. And despite her inhuman beauty, she has been known to kill off unsuspecting victims.
"It's because you boys are all I have." Yuki-onna explained as she floated over to them, revealing herself from out of the shadows. And there she was in all her serene glory; pale, smooth skin, long raven-black hair that forever flowed on the wind and a greyish-white kimono dress as tattered as it was on the day she passed onto the next world. As the light shined on her approaching form, she was still as ghostly as possible with claw-like fingers and long, sharp nails like the talons of a bald eagle.
"I love you boys too much. I'd know not what to do if anything were to happen to any of you."
"Same as always?" Yoshi answered rhetorically, earning him a glare from his brothers.
"But seriously, nothing bad can actually happen to us out there in the daylight." Suko told his dear mother.
"I'm aware of that. It's just that I don't like being alone." replied Yuki-onna.
"Well, I just wish that wouldn't have to lazing around in some cave our whole lives." replied Hideo. "For once, I'd like to be out there where humans wouldn't have to have a reason to be afraid."
"But the mortals do fear creatures like us and they always will. It's a fact of life." Their mother confirmed a bit strongly to support her opinion.
"Is that why you've slaid humans, mom? Is that why they fear you?" Akami asked his mother. Now this left her silent and deep in thought. Of course, she couldn't deny the truth. She was what she was and that was left unchanged. But it was always never a good subject to discuss with her sons. So shedodges the question and gives Suko a smooch on the forehead.
"Time to rest, boys. You need your strength." She replied as she went around to kiss her other sons good-night before she floated upwards and vanished from sight, leaving a small gust of icy wind in the process. Suko gave Akami a firm stare for bringing such a subject up.
"Good job. Way to end a conversation." He sighed.
"I know it, you know it and she knows it. What's to deny anyway?" shrugged Akami in defense.
"You know how self-conscious she is about that." Hideo chastised, giving him a smack on the arm.
"Then wh-" Akami was about to retort something back when Suko interrupted.
"You heard her, time to rest. We'll discuss this later." After that, he blew some snowy air onto the fire, blowing it out completely with one blow and then all four boys flopped onto the ground to get some shut-eye. Now because they weren't fully human and only part-spirit for the most part, they still needed sleep and food, but air wasn't anything to them. As for Yuki-onna, while it is true that she has slaughtered tons of people en masse, she wasn't truly evil as far as her personality goes. It's only a force of habit and she deeply cares for her children no matter what.
Tokyo, Japan
The following night in a lower section of the city of Tokyo, a young woman was walking along the sidewalk towards home after stepping off of a bullet train where she found herself in the mostly dead parts of the neighborhood. She had earbuds in, listening to pop music in attempt to distract her mind from the sketchiness of the district she was currently in, but she knew that the place where she lived was about two blocks down the road so won't have to worry.
However, for some slight reason, she kept getting the strangest feeling that she was being followed. The volume was not so high up and even with the music blasting in her ears, she could also hear the soft sound of footsteps coming from behind her. The girl darted around, pausing her music and took one of her earbuds out to look behind her, but there was nobody in sight. Not a single person. The entire block was dead and silent and she was literally the only one out at night.
The girl shrugged this off, deciding that her mind that just fooling with her since it was late and she was the only person out here in this junkyard of a neighborhood. She continued her walk down the block so she can get home and in to bed for the night. She left her music off, though, as she was still somewhat certain she wasn't alone and wanted to be ready for possibly anything.
After a few moments, she heard it again, only a bit more closer this time. She whipped her head around as the footsteps stopped once more and she yet again saw that there was still no one there at all.
"ええと、こんにちは？" She called outward to whoever it could be. "誰かがいますか？"
No response. It could be anything. Maybe some kid pulling a sick prank on her, trying to get a reaction out of her so he can film her reaction. Maybe it's some creeper attempting to stalk her. Regardless, the girl didn't have the time for this and resumed her walk, now starting to feel on edge at this point. She took her earbuds out and stuffed them into her pocket, not wanting to listen to music anymore.
She tried to distract her mind and calm her nerves down when all the sudden, the footsteps came again. This time, they were running and getting even closer now. The girl didn't turn around and instead, she raced down the sidewalk in terror, trying to evade the supposed assailant or stalker. The unknown person gained on her fast and she needed to find someplace to hide. She hopped over some fence into an alleyway and entered through a door.
The door led into a decrepit old bathroom. She flipped on the light to see that it still worked. Placing a door to her ear, there were no more footsteps or any more sounds. Breathing a sigh, she believed that she had finally shook the maniac and took a moment to relax herself. After all that, she now suddenly had to use the bathroom. After using the toilet and flushing, she approached the sink to wash her hands.
Suddenly, she instantly froze and her throat ran dry when she felt a cold pair of hands gingerly grip her shoulders. Slowly lifting her head up and looking into the mirror, she could almost scream when there stood a strange young woman about three years older than her with long black hair and wearing a surgical mask. The girl jerked right around, wondering who this mysterious woman was. Then she spoke in a loving voice.
"私はかわいいですか？" She asked.
Although terrified, but not wanting to offend the stranger, the girl gulped and nodded her head, unableto breathe a word. The woman seemed pleased by the answer, though narrowed her eyes skeptically. That's when she lifted a hand up to remove the mask from her face and the girl screamed, suddenly feeling sick.
The woman's face has a gaping Glasgow smile across her mouth. Her lips sliced open from ear to ear, revealing her bloody teeth and tongue hanging out. The girl tightly held her mouth closed with her hands to prevent herself from both screaming and gagging.
"私はかわいいですか？" asked the woman again, her voice now raspy as if she was choking.
Now shaking, overcome with fright, the girl shoved the woman aside as she ran over to the door to make her escape, but somehow the door was locked. The woman rushed over to her, slamming her hands on the door on both sides of the girl, forcing her to face the woman, who asked the same question again with annoyance and eager impatience.
"私はかわいいですか？"
"はい？" The girl hesitantly answered, hoping to appease this psychotic woman into leaving her alone.
But then, the woman raised her hand into the air to reveal herself clutching a pair of scissors, making the girl let out a blood-curdling scream of terror before the woman brought the scissors down and in a swift motion, she slashed the girl to death, cutting off her scream and splattering her blood all over the walls and the mirror. She repeatedly stabbed at the girl's neck and her face with the scissors before stopping and letting the girl's body drop lifeless to the floor.
And as the woman unceremoniously wiped the blood from the scissor's blades, it should be known that this particular woman was known as Kuchisake-onna, translated into the "slit-mouthed woman", amalevolent figure in Japanese ghost stories as she is the spirit of a woman dating back to the Edo period whose husband was a samurai. After she was caught cheating on him, her husband angrily slashed her face with his katana, giving her the grisly scar she has now. Legend has it that she goes around, bringing unsuspecting victims into a no-win conversation where she asks them if she is beautiful or not. Regardless of the answer, she slaughters them with her scissors.
"Wow. Nice one, mother." said another girl's voice. The stall door creaked open to reveal a young girl with a thick figure and short black hair and mascara. She wore only a tattered old hospital gown with a few blood stains to cover up her nude body. This was Kuchisake-onna's daughter, Yanagizawa Rin.
"I was half expecting her to toughen up. Oh, well." Rin spoke with a sly smirk as she examined the corpse, kneeling down to find her iPod in her pocket.
"She certainly was a pretty one. Almost makes me cry with jealousy." Her mother replied with a teasing voice, now speaking fluent English.
"Well, looks like she won't be winning a beauty pageant any time soon." joked Rin before she and her mother shared a good laugh. Rin held up the iPod, selected a song in the girl's iTunes app and played it as she held one of the earbuds to her ear to take a listen. "Hmm, so she's a fan of J-pop. She was, anyway."
Rin turns the iPod off and stores it between her breasts for temporary safekeeping. "A little somethingto remember her by."
Then she and her mother both left the bathroom, leaving the dead girl behind and phased through the fence she scaled earlier when Rin was making those footsteps to terrify her before. After about a few hours of walking through a woodsy landscape, Suko appeared before them, hanging upside down from a branch in a tree high above the ground.
"So how are things? A fresh new kill, I presume?" asked Suko with a knowing smile.
"Wouldn't you know?" Rin smirked, amused. "Of course, my mother did all of the work."
"Pish posh." Kuchisake-onna brushed off innocently.
With a smile, Suko flipped himself off the branch and did a twirl mid-air before landing safely on theground before Rin.
"Was she a runner?" He asked.
"Hell yeah, she was." nodded Rin. "I think she almost pissed on herself as she hauled ass toward that bathroom. Makes a lot of sense."
They both giggled as Suko and Rin both came together into a loving embrace and kissed. As it should be known, these two were obviously lovers to the end. After the kiss, they broke apart and Kuchisake-onna was even smiling cheekily behind her mask, enjoying seeing her daughter having found her one true love.
"So anyway, I came to tell you that me and my brothers received this earlier today." Suko explained, before reaching into his pocket and pulled out a small scroll of ancient paper.
"What is it?" asked Rin, lifting an eyebrow.
"I don't know. It appears to be a letter. A bird flew in and dropped it before us inside of our cave." Suko handed her the scroll and she opened it up to see that it was, of course, written in perfect Japanese.
"It's some kind of note." She said before reading it aloud. "'Greetings younglings, I am proud to inform you that you've been chosen to join us in our world where beings like you can live out perfect lives and blend in with the humans.'"
She turned the note over and it now read, "'For further instructions, burn this note.'"
Rin and Suko both looked at each other with surprise and perhaps even fascination while Kuchisake-onna seemed a bit shocked and confused.
"'Younglings'?" She recited with bewilderment.
"Rin, go get the others and tell them to meet us back at our cave. This has to be important." Suko ordered.
"I will." She nodded, obeying his command and disappearing into the night with her mother in tow before he lifted himself up into the air along the wind, flying back to the cave while thinking this over. Blend in with the humans? Could this finally be there moment? Either way, whoever sent this note and whatever it could mean, it was just too good to pass up.