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...
The next day, Setsuna went outside the garden to inspect, grow and pick out the fruits and vegetables. She also needed to water the plants as Grandma has gone out to get more flower seeds for the green shed. As Setsuna had gone back to fill the watering can again with a hose during the afternoon, she looked at the clock. It's been over an hour since Grandma has left the house. After all, the hill was steep, but she may be having a chat with one of the locals or returning favours to some. Either way, she continued doing the housework - cleaning and scrubbing the floors, washing the dishes after lunch, checking on the planets and resting.
Another hour passes. Tired of boredom, Setsuna goes upstairs and comes back with a small pen and paper. She writes:
I'm just going to the beach. I'll be back before dinner - Setsuna.
Setsuna places the note on the table and heads off down the hill and on the bridge. Once she made it to the beach. The warm sand beneath her feet filled her with comfort and security - once close to the shore, she lays on the sand and closes her eyes whilst letting the waves from the ocean fill her ears. But the sound turned into crashing and howling wind; the shady figure Setsuna saw in the tsunami as a baby came into her head, which made her gasp and shudder.
The sky was already growing dark. Setsuna wonders how long it's been since she was asleep, so she got up and walked back to the house. Grandma's probably at the house now, worried, she thought once she's up the hill. But when Setsuna reached the top of it, she goes to open the gate and look up at the house.
The front door of the house was ripped out.
Soon, Setsuna grows worried and scared. She walks over to the door very slowly and examines it. There, the door was marked with claws as big as a leg - Setsuna wondered about Grandma telling her about the story of Eden Castle and Insouke and thought that what she told her would inconveniently come true; what if the boar's head infected Inosuke that allowed him to become a demon was around the area looking for prey?
Setsuna wanted to run and hide, but the urge to enter the house wasn't to be ignored. Swallowing her fear, she slowly crept into the house and grabbed the long, brown broom that stood near the stairs. Setsuna prompts herself in a half-scared, half-brave fighting position. Then, the sound of a low-level crunching noise stops in her tracks. It came from the kitchen. Making a few steps towards the door, Setsuna takes a deep breath and looks through the kitchen - and to her horror, an image was so disturbing not even she could speak.
In the kitchen, an odd-looking creature was munching and chewing... on Grandma.
Her body has a massive hole being ripped out, revealing her organs, the blood that dripped from her mouth and body and her eyes dead open. The "creature" began devouring her livers, kidneys, pancreas and ribcage, chewing on it, then spitting out the bad bits from it, even some of the bones. Setsuna was horrified and couldn't even scream because her Grandma was dead, and the monster would come after her next. Slowly, but silently, she goes back to the front door and makes her way to the garden, crying.
She went into the garden shed and crouched down in a corner, her head buried in the depths of her legs, crying. She was alone. Her mother, then her father, now Grandma. It was never meant to be like this, no she'll be next.
"Oh, Grandma! Not you, anybody but you." She whispers, trying her best not to be too loud for the monster to hear.
But the monster, however, did catch her scent and proceeded to follow its prey. Setsuna felt like she would shrink and disappear into nothing. Then, she remembers what Grandma had told her: You can't be kept in a small box forever. Those words, made Setsuna raise her head, and wipe her tears.
"I'm not scared." She said.
All of a sudden, the sound of fast scattering made her jump and look around. The creature was there, he found her. Setsuna gripped onto her broom as tight as she could; then, she calculated a plan in her head, even if it resulted in getting her killed. Scrambling to the top of the shed, the creature smashed the glass on it, its hand randomly scratching at the air and trying to grab Setsuna. Setsuna used the broom and began to whack at the hand. Its claws were gripping onto it, but Setsuna slapped it off and made a run for it.
Racing out of the shed and into the garden whilst trending on the fruits and vegetables, Setsuna didn't dare to look back. Through the woods, twists and turns, and after a few minutes hiding behind a tree, Setsuna had thought she'd lost it. But her scent is stuck to its nose, making it harder to hide. Opposite her was a deep hole that was camouflaged by bushes - she'd never come across it before and wondered why it was there in the first place. Although, a little flicker of light was showing, making Setsuna gasp.
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The creature heard it but wasn't entirely sure where though. Crawling towards its entrance, Setsuna saw the long passageway dark and gloomy, yet very mysterious. Checking to see if the creature was around, Setsuna went inside the tunnel and kept crawling and turning her head in case the creature did find her.
"This is weird. I've never been here before. It'll probably lead me to the forest again, I'm sure." Setsuna said to herself.
As she proceeds further down the tunnel, the bigger it got from her view. Then, she realised how slow she was getting and looked down, then up again. She stood up, wondering if her head will hit the hard soil, but it didn't. Instead, she had been shrunken down to the size of an ant and gasped at the horror of it.
"Did I just shrink or am I the same size?" Setsuna asked herself.
She looked back at the passageway as it grew darker and proceeded to go forward in case of the creature intended to go after her again. When she turned around, the flickering light at the end of the hole shimmered, blinding her. Setsuna put her hands in front of her to block the light when she saw the swishing of the trees and birds chirping melodies. Removing her hands from her face, Setsuna saw huge leaves swaying back and forth. She walks towards them, and, using her hands to move the leaves out of the side, Setsuna came out of the entrance and saw the most magnificent sight she'd ever seen.
