Found (Obi x Reader)

Right of Passage: Begin

We have a right of passage in my village. It only applies to the Chief's children, and because he and my mother had 6 of us, it will be an interesting year.

The tradition goes, when all of the Chief's children are above the age of 16, they will set off on the first of the year and have 1 week to collect their bearings. After the week is up, the village's best hunters (which are chosen during the week of absence) will set off hunting the children.

The children have to evade them for the entire year before returning home on the last day of the year. The child who returns on that day will be chief. Of course, the hunters are not set out to murder the children, simply to bring them back where they will stay in the village until the chief is decided. This tradition is called the green.

This is because green is the color of new crops and spring. Green represents the new and this is the choosing of the new leader.

It has never happened before, but if there are multiple children who return on the last day, the village chooses who they want to be led by. It was our modern day democracy.

It's something I've looked forward to ever since I learned of it. If you're the last one that means you have tact, strength, and perseverance. It's an ingenious way for the future chief to prove themselves.

Tomorrow is the festival that will send me and my siblings off. Of my 5 siblings I am the 2nd youngest.

The eldest is Alice, she is my only sister. Following her is Daichi, Jiro, Hiraku, and me. After me, the youngest who turned 16 this year, Kenta.

I'm gonna have to write this down at some point

This test is designed to give the eldest an edge, because before this tradition the oldest was always the chief. Unfortunately because the oldest is not always the best fit, that had to change.

As I lay in bed sleep seems impossible. This is what my whole life was aiming towards. I can either become the chief as my father before me, or live the rest of my life as a disappointment.

There are no rules against staying in the village after being found by the hunters, but it is rare for someone to. It is an unspoken code of honor to leave. Staying is almost as if you're challenging the rule of the new chief.

I know this is the last night I will be able to sleep peacefully, but that seems unlikely. I've never left the village before and the thought of leaving excites me to no end.

. . .

It was bright, I open my eyes and sigh. The light was shining through the small gaps in the roof into my eye. I had just fallen asleep.

I drag myself from bed and get dressed into the traditional garb. I would change before I left, but that wasn't until midnight.

I leave my house to the center of the village, where most people spend their mornings washing their laundry in the small stream that flows through. The village was built around a great river, but it eventually shrank into the steam it is now. It is also unsuitable to drink now, it is used for laundry and brought in buckets to houses for bathing and cleaning. To drink we must go into the woods to a small river that comes from a waterfall not too far away.

That river is where I am headed now.

"Good morning, y/n."

"Good morning, brother." Hiraku, the 4th, if anyone must beat me in the green I would prefer him. He is kind but also strong. He would make for a great leader. "It is a perfect day to start the year, is it not?"

"Are you okay" It is winter and the air was freezing, but he isn't questioning me because I said it was nice weather.

I gave a short laugh, "yes, I just felt that when wearing this get-up I should act the part."