Seventh Moon

Monster

[Basashi - raw horsemeat eaten as sashimi; Rebasashi - raw beef liver sashimi; Well, introducing Urokodaki here, only younger and maskless. I badly wanna know what his face looks like.]

It is only now that I started to truly regret not putting in much effort in Akaza-san's lessons. I decided to protect my family, but have no idea how to go about it. Besides, what can I even do to a fellow demon? I think Akaza-san said that we are physically unable to off each other. I don't know, my memory's still fuzzy.

My brothers came back pale-faced. That is to be expected when you come across a mutilated body. "Animal attack." Was all Yori said before going off deeper in the house, Yusuke shuffling in behind him. The mood in our house changed drastically, and I can sense that this reopened some wounds and brought back painful memories.

Yuichii-nii's death was ruled as an animal attack – how that animal got in was not something they really pondered on. Rumors flooded the town about how that same animal from eight years ago was back again. The timing of my reappearance couldn't have been worse. It's not like my family told everyone I was back, still, I'll be a secret they'll be keeping.

Later that day, I found myself accompanying a distraught Yusuke. My youngest brother is more shaken than the others, and I can't help the urge to comfort him. We used to be very close. Despite the five-year age gap, you'd find him following my heels almost everywhere. I know you're not supposed to have a favorite sibling, but he's mine.

"It reminds me of that day, nee-chan. The day you and nii-chan..." his tear-brimmed eyes darted to the floor, prompting me to cradle his cheeks in my hands. Looking at him this close made me take note of how much he's changed. I'm not so surprised I didn't recognize him before, though there are still some features that stayed the same – like his eyes.

I blanked out. What can I even say to him? I understand how he feels? Everything's going to be alright? Maybe words weren't even needed. I wrapped my arms around my brother, showing through actions what I can't say with words.

I might physically be three years younger than him now, but he's still my baby brother. After he calmed down, we got to talking more. He told me the story about how he and his fiancée met, and how excited he is to start their life together. This somehow made me feel left behind, but I'm still happy for him. Very happy. Yori found us and joined in, just us three trying to put what happened earlier away from our minds.

I've been with my family only for a day, yet it already proved how difficult it is to hide the truth from them. "Why won't you eat?" My mother asked. A perfectly good and reasonable question. Instead of even attempting to explain, I instead opted to request for something different to eat, "I'm sorry if this is too much, mother, but I've been craving rebasashi... or maybe some basashi." Those meat sashimi's are technically what I've been surviving on... maybe eating only sashimi would be okay, even if it won't be bloody.

My mother set out right away, looking for beef liver or maybe even some horse meat to make into sashimi for me. I feel a little guilty about making her take these extra steps, but maybe this is better than telling her the daughter she's so happy to have back is a monster.

Once the sun set, I tried to look for the wandering demon. I don't think this is a particularly strong one... it's a hunch that I can't shake off. I also needed to feed – and I have to do it as far away from here. It's not neighborly to steal livestock, after all. The rebasashi was fine, just not enough. I found my meal at a patch of forest on the outskirts of town, near the mountain which was my original destination.

Clearly my looking for the demon proved to be useless for another person was eaten. The body was left out in the streets this time, making every person in the village fear for their lives. That meant people closed down shops while the sun was still up, people went indoors earlier and not many will be seen walking around outside.