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Stories of the past

Summary:

Kazumi muses about a legend he heard once.

Work Text:

Kazumi had grown up in the rural parts of Houkto. When he was younger and work on the farm was going slow, his grandfather would tell him stories about daemon eating creatures called makamou that had once inhabited northern Houkto long ago, during the early Warring States period.

His grandfather and his tiny musk deer daemon described makamou as yokai that were corrupted by the separation of their daemons, similar to the children who'd been kidnapped and taken to Bolvangar years ago. The daemonless youkai rampaged through Houkto, causing chaos and killing humans, witches, and youkai alike. The Makamou leaders were said to come from another universe.

Humans who traded away part of their connection with their daemons for the ability to turn into monsters and fight using sound arose to protect people. The common people called them Oni. The Oni were feared as much as the makamou and normal youkai were, at first. When Kazumi had asked why, his grandfather told him that sometimes, heroes aren't always appreciated by the people they save, even if they do all they can.

The Oni eventually destroyed the makamou leaders and a few years later, the makamou had disappeared entirely.

Kazumi asked him whether the Oni still existed. His grandfather's deer daemon had snorted and chuckled before merely saying, “Maybe they do. They might not like modern cities. Too noisy for them.”

Riku would challenge the other farm kids’ daemons to see how much they could change or mix together animal forms so that they looked like makamou or youkai daemons (a game that Kazumi and Riku usually lost, but they still had fun doing it). Kazumi also led the other kids on “quests” through the woods near the farm to hunt for Oni.

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