Chapter 10: Shokutaku, the Town of Cannibals (Kosei)

My body felt heavy, but I forced my eyes to open. Was it wrong of me to hope for the roof of the Dream Suite at this point? But alas, it was wishful thinking when I saw the roof of a person's main room.

"You may have endured their madness, but can you survive a trial that'll make your stomach churn in disgust?"

I groaned in frustration. Solis really wanted me to suffer before I reached Mira. What other towns could she potentially send me to? I tried to sit up, but my head hit wood. My eyes widened at the horrifying realization.

"... we either find something or build a casket…" Arisu's voice echoed in my head.

I was stuck in a casket. I was about to panic when the lid opened, revealing a boy with red choppy hair and storm-colored eyes.

"Well, well, I didn't expect to find a live one. But then again, we haven't had a live one in months."

"Who are you?" I asked, determined to not give up my name this time. The boy above me smirked.

"Hikari Akuma, mayor of Shokutaku. You came from Kyoki, and yet you retain the majority of your sanity. It's rather impressive." He stepped aside and kicked the makeshift casket, not only making one of the walls fall off, but also making it easier for me to get out of the makeshift coffin. I let out a shaky breath, trying to calm my nerves even though I knew how pointless it was.

"I highly recommend that you stay inside for the time being. It's rather chaotic at this hour."

I wordlessly nodded, adhering to his advice. But since I was facing away from him, I wasn't able to see his expression. I have no idea why I listened to his carefully crafted words. I looked outside a window and saw some red flowers surrounding Hikari's home. They seemed to grow haphazardly and they all looked rather flat. Some patches were darker than others, which seemed normal. I've seen and breeded dark red flowers before.

I could smell something cooking, and my stomach rumbled. I was hungry, and I needed to eat, despite the fact that I was in the dream world.

'Shokutaku…,' I thought to myself. Arisu mentioned this place before I got knocked out. 'Right. They send bodies here.'

"H-Hey, Hikari. What is your town known for?" I asked, mentally scolding myself for the stutter. In the other room, I could hear his response. "...Peaches. Why?" There was hesitation in there, which raised a red flag for me. Hmm..

Maybe I should sneak out of his house to see what his town looks like. I left the window and headed for the door when it smacked me in the face.

It was the atrocious smell of rotting meat, combined with the metallic scent of blood. I had to plug my nose and breathe through my mouth. Silently, I opened the front door and stepped outside. The smell was even worse now. I reluctantly let go of my nose to properly breathe. And now that I was outside, I realized that the red on the ground weren't flowers at all, but actually pools of blood. Even worse, I could see why he told me to not leave. There were a lot of corpses scattered about; some were near human houses, which I noticed that there were significantly fewer here than in Kyōki.

A familiar person stood across from me. Solis simply stood on the other side of the river, looking worse than the last time. Her hair was all over the place, and some of it appeared to have been cut by force. Her clothes were still patchy, but now there was some dark red stains that led my thought process down to a dark place. I tried to block it, but it remained there, festering and growing out of control.

"Ah, yes. There's the reaction I was hoping. The way you're trying to stop yourself from completely processing this, yet slowly starting to is exactly. Us humans are terrifying when we want to be. We're greedy, selfish creatures who take advantage of any scenario we happen to be in. That includes the people held in here, isolated from the rest of this world."

There was something in her eyes that was unlike the calm madness from before. It had been replaced with a hunger I've never seen. Seeing this town's dream state had ruined my appetite, so why? Why was I getting hungrier? Something in my core was stirring, waking up and slowly overtaking me.

"Ah, yes. The animal instincts of man. You're just as eager as the prisoners of Shokutaku. Here," She tosses a silver axe at me, the blade away from my face, somehow. "But I wonder, would he accept your betrayal? Look behind you."

Like a fool, I did, and my voice caught. I forced myself to swallow and shakily asked in horror. "Ch-Chief?"

The wolf before me had his paws tied behind his back, and his snout was bound with bloody rags. I had never seen such fear in his eyes. I immediately dropped the axe and glared at Solis.

"I am tired of your games, Solis. You said that we'd be in Mira's dream, and yet I'm stuck in a town that I have never heard of. Take me to Mira. Now." I had to fight the snarl in my voice.

She took a step back in -could it be shock?- and pouted, as if she was a child getting her candy taken away. "Fine. You're no fun, Kosei. I was hoping to break you here, since I failed to do so in Kyōki. But you must be curious on what this town is known for, right?"

I gave a slight nod, confirming her assumption. Hikari's hesitant response had raised a red flag, but what Solis said raised many more.

"Shokutaku is known as 'The Town of Cannibals.' Anyone who dares to eat another Human or Animals is sent here, to forever feed on what is considered forbidden. Why else would corpses be sent here?"

Hikari Akuma- Light Demon

Shokutaku- Cannibal