Setsuna is a quiet girl living with Grandma whereas her parents were drowned in a tsunami when she was an infant. When she finds Grandma devoured by a demon, Setsuna finds a mysterious hole inside a bush in the middle of the forest, and once enterin...
Setsuna was almost home from her walk from the beaches near her town, Coral Bay. A place where the sun was lightly blazing, the wind flowing in the breeze, the seagulls squawking like sirens and the sea's waves crashing amongst the rocks and washed up on the shores. It was a rather calm feeling to most people, or so, most thought.
13 years ago came to a tragic accident nobody expected. Setsuna was only a few months old during the time but when she was being held by her mother, then Grandma. Looking at her, she saw her and Father enter a boat, and sail away into the unknown. For only a short time, it was the very last time Setsuna ever saw Mother and Father again; as the clouds set into the sky, the waves grew violent. All of a sudden, miles away from the boat was a wave unlike no other. It was the size of a mountain, almost touching the sky. The people on the boat were horrified and panicked since it might create a flood near the town.
Grandma gave Mother and Father a look of determination. And in her vow, she promised Mother that she'll take good care of her granddaughter for better or worse. As the tide grew higher and stronger, the wave flushed down onto the boat with a sudden bang, the drops of water, spitting violently onto the people's faces.
All of it brought Setsuna great pain and didn't know what to make of it. As the hours pass through the day, Setsuna walks up a hill whilst holding a bag of groceries in one hand. Passers who drove in cars have asked her many times if she needed a lift and she shrugged it off by saying that she doesn't need one because she lives up the top of the hill with Grandma. It was tiring having to walk, yes, but Setsuna didn't complain much about it.
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Finally, around an hour or so from coming back home, Setsuna made it to the top of the hill and saw the old cottage she'd call Home.
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She opened the door, closed it, walked into the dining room and places the groceries on the table. Standing by the kitchen sink was Grandma as she was washing out the vegetables for a salad.
"Did you get the fresh fruits and bread, Setsuna?" She asked.
"Yes, Grandma," Setsuna replied, her mood feeling neutral as ever.
"Seems like the good luck had got you good, dear. Why don't you sit down and have some tea?"
Setsuna sits down, thinking long and hard. She replayed the day her parents died in her head but focused more on the waves and their tide. As an infant, there wasn't anything that stood out to them unless it was an object. But on that day, she knew or thought that she'd seen something. When that tsunami hits the boat her parents were on, she saw - but couldn't make out - a shadowy figure behind it controlling the tsunami. Setsuna wasn't sure, but it seemed like the figure wasn't from this world.
"Your tea's ready," Grandma said, placing it on the table.
Setsuna got up, sat at the table, and drank her tea. Grandma looked at her face in dismay but brightens her mood to sound a bit cheerful.
"You have that look, dear. I've seen it before. Is something bothering you, Setsuna?" She asked.
"Not at all," Setsuna replied.
"You can tell me anything, darling. You can't be kept in a small box forever."
Her granddaughter sighed and sips her tea. Setsuna looked at Grandma feeling like she knows what thoughts she has in her head already.
"Grandma. Can I ask you a question?" She asked.
"Go on," Grandma replied.
"That tsunami 13 years ago... did it happen on purpose or did somebody know it would be there in the first place?"
"What do you mean?"
"If I'm 100% correct, and I know most babies would hardly remember a thing, I looked closer into the tsunami and there was this... shadowy figure - I don't know what he looked like - but he seemed to be controlling the tsunami causing the accident. When it crashed onto the boat that my parents were in, it disappeared."
Grandma was surprised by this. Looking down at her tea, then at Setsuna, she smiled and stood up from her seat.
"Come. Get to bed. There's something that I want to tell you." She said.
~
In Setsuna's small bedroom, Grandma sat beside her granddaughter tucked in bed.
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"This happened over 100 years ago. 106 to be exact. During the Taisho era, there laid a castle in Coral Bay called Eden. A place where people were protected and good-natured. Eden Castle had a queen, Kotoha Hashibira and her son, Prince Inosuke who was a demon slayer. One day, when he was around your age, an army of demons came by on the fresh human soil and demanded the castle to be theirs. The Queen did not allow it, so there came a war between Eden and the demons led by Muzan, the most powerful immortal demon in the world." Grandma explained.
"What happened to the castle?" Setsuna asked.
"They tried to overthrow Kotoha and gain the power of Eden themselves. There was a magical power being held there. Inosuke thought it would be brave to fight Muzan."
"He went to go and fight Muzan all by himself?"
"His mother disposed of the idea, but he didn't care to think. He fought Muzan, but as he grew weaker, he realised what he was up against. So, Muzan granted him a deal - he'd call off his army if Inosuke were to leave the palace."
"How was that fair?"
"With no choice, Inosuke agrees to his request, only to be tricked by Muzan. Instead, he used his magic powers and covers his head with a boar's mask. Muzan binds the cursed mask so that it would never come off and removed him far away from the palace, never to be heard of again and almost wiping his existence and memory away from him and Eden Castle. In the end, Kotoha was tricked to believe that her son was dead and eaten by a demon, and Eden Castle was never the same ever since."
Setsuna could imagine that time in her head. The war, demons lurking, Eden Castle, Kotoha and Inosuke, Muzan. The only thing playing on her mind is what Inosuke would look like as a person - the boar's head coming off and revealing an ugly or handsome face. It became a burden. She wonders where he is now despite him being a legend and something worth believing or not.
"Legends aren't always as they seem to be, Setsuna," Grandma said.
"Grandma, wasn't there any way that Inosuke's curse could be broken?" She asked.
"To my knowledge, no. Magic has its ways of doing things. There's no telling in either he's dead or alive at this point."
Grandma stood up from her stool, places it in a corner and heads for the door. She looks back at Setsuna and smiles.
"Everybody needs a bit of healing, Setsuna, just like you." She said. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Grandma," Setsuna replies.
Grandma turns off the light and closes the door. Although Setsuna stayed wide awake, thinking about the tale and the aftermath of the war between Eden and the demons. It was hard to shrug it off.
Where are you, Inosuke, and what happened to you? Setsuna thought whilst looking up at the silvery moon before drifting off to sleep.
