The little stories of the fox people

They are heading north of the village, where the mausoleum has been located since the dawn of time.

Reiko observes around her while holding the arm of her brother. Since her memories returned, she can take the magnitude of changes in her village, whether it is at the defensive level or well-being.

They approach the mausoleum. The guards open the doors. The scene is like unrealistic for Reiko; she may have walked next to it many times, but it’s only now that she observes said building.

“I don’t remember the last time I went there.”

“It might well be your first time.”

But… it might not… have been… their first time…

A few years earlier, in the village of Yonamine, where the fox people reside, long before the tragedy where they lost their parents. Seika and Reiko prepare for the commemoration of the dead.

Seika wearing a red kimono for the occasion stays with their father, waiting for his sister before going to the festival.

“As I said, here are some tickets for you two. I trust you, take a mask for your sister too and let her choose. Don’t rush her. You know how terrifying your mother can be.”

“Yes, I know, Father. I am a big one now!” exclaims Seika.

Their father smiles and gently places his hand on Seika’s head, who has the ears that wiggle.

Meanwhile, their mother is dressing Reiko in the bedroom, out of sight.

“Don’t open your eyes.”

“But! I really want to see it!”

“I’m almost done.”

“Quickly! Quickly! Mother!”

Reiko manages not to move too much, then their mother moves her gently, putting her hands on her shoulders to put her in front of the mirror.

“You can open your eyes.”

Reiko opens her eyes; she sees herself in a mirror; she is wearing a sparkling white floral kimono. Her long, golden hair cascades on her back. She turns on herself; she sees small blue ribbons tied to her hair. Her ears lift, and a big smile freezes on her face. She turns and bounces while looking at their mother.

“It is too pretty!”

“You are also pretty!”

Their mother kneels and embraces Reiko. Her tail moves slowly; she loves to have hugs from their mother.

Back in the main room of their house, their father and Seika turn their heads as they see them arrived.

Seika opens her eyes wide seeing how beautiful her sister is in her kimono. Their father smiles.

“You are beautiful, Reiko,” says their father.

“Thank you! Father!” she exclaims, blushing.

Their father places his hand on Seika’s shoulder in order to get her attention. He clearly sees that he is lost in the beauty of his sister.

“Seika, I trust you, have fun, all right?”

Seika and Reiko nod their heads. Before Seika takes his sister’s hand and takes her to the festival.

Outside, night fell; lanterns were placed here and there to light the village. The first thing that Seika does is to take Reiko to the mask merchant so that they choose a mask together.

“Good evening children, I think I have never seen you before, I am Takumi, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you! I am Reiko!” exclaims Reiko.

“Nice to meet you,” says Seika.

“So, are you here to get a mask?”

“Yes!” exclaims Reiko.

Seika shows two tickets to the merchant. The merchant smiles maliciously and takes them.

“Perfect! Choose well!”

He looks at them to see what their eyes are on.

After a while, Seika chooses a red demon mask that goes with his red kimono. While Reiko always hesitates. He is impatient, but he remembers the words of their father. He turns his gaze towards the merchant; he sees that he has two tails. Seika wonders when he will have his second tail.

A few moments later, Reiko turns to his brother while holding out a white fox mask. The same one as the fox goddess wears.

“What do you think of that one, big brother?” exclaims Reiko.

Seika is surprised by the mask, and seeing his sister’s big smile, he can’t help but smile.

“It is very beautiful.”

The merchant claps his hands and continues to smile mischievously. Seika is not reassured by his smile.

“Well, have a good time, children! And don’t run if you wear your mask on the face! It would be a shame if you fell and broke these beautiful masks… Who knows… Spirits may haunt the masks.”

“Yes!” exclaims Reiko again, all smiling.

They move away wearing their masks on the face, Reiko holding the hand of her big brother. Seika looks behind him; he sees the merchant giving masks to other children and adults with this same worrying expression.

Walking in the festival, Reiko hops while holding the hand of her big brother. A few moments later, Seika’s ears rise, he sees a small group of children, and especially Satomi, a friend of Reiko.

They move forward before Reiko and Satomi notice each other. Reiko puts her mask on the side of her face and runs towards Satomi to grab her hands, they jump together.

“Reiko!”

“Satomi!”

“How pretty you are! Your white kimono is beautiful!”

“You too! I love your pink kimono!”

The two children, Aoi and Daichi, who were next to Satomi, go towards Seika in admiration.

“Your kimono suits you very well!” exclaims Aoi.

“With your mask, I would think I saw a true red demon!” exclaims Daichi in turn.

“Your outfits are very good too!”

They look at each other. Daichi is wearing a black kimono with a raven mask, while Aoi is wearing a brown kimono with a wolf mask.

Meanwhile, other children approach the group. They stop near Seika; they talk together before Seika leaves with his friends, leaving Reiko with her own.

Meanwhile, other children approach the group. Oda and Ishida stop near Seika.

“Hello Seika!” exclaims Oda.

Seika turns around.

“Oh! Oda! Ishida!” he exclaims in turn.

“Are you ready for the festival?” asks Ishida.

“Of course!”

“So, let’s go!” exclaims Oda.

Seika and his friends leave, leaving his sister’s group alone.

The group, composed of Reiko, Satomi, Aoi and Daichi, begins their festival tour taking pancakes, treats and other festival delights. They have fun at the stands before their venture takes them not far from the mausoleum.

Aoi looks around him before seeing the doors of the mausoleum open. He walks in front of the others before stopping while looking at them.

“Does a test of courage sound good to you?” he asks.

“A test of courage?” replies Reiko.

“Enter the mausoleum, go as far as possible and return.”

“We can’t!” exclaims Daichi.

“Are you afraid?”

“No, but our parents are going to scold us for sure…”

They look at Daichi and smile at him. They know he is afraid to enter the mausoleum.

“So, let’s go!”

The four advance towards the entrance, Aoi leading the way, Reiko just behind, followed by Daichi, who trembles and, finally, Satomi, who observes him.

The interior is gloomy; the lights of the lanterns barely lighten the entrance. With the wind, the lanterns move, which gives a play of shadows on the walls. They look around them; they are not reassured by the gloomy atmosphere, not a single noise.

Aoi looks behind him; he can see that no one is reassured.

“Wouldn’t it be better to go out now?” asks Daichi.

Aoi reaches out his hand.

“O oddess, illuminate us!” he says.

A ball of light appears in his hand illuminating the surroundings. Reiko has her ears rising, and she looks at the ball of light.

“How pretty!” she says.

“Since when do you know how to use magic?” asks Daichi.

“It’s the only spell I know how to use…”

Aoi has a lot of trouble maintaining this simple light.

They continue to descend and arrive at the first intersection. A corridor on the left and another on the right, the staircase continues on its descent.

“Is it a labyrinth?” asks Satomi.

“No, it’s a mausoleum,” replies Daichi.

Aoi looks around him.

“In any case, it looks like that,” he says.

Their venture leads them to the second intersection. Reiko trembles despite being reassured by Aoi’s light. Then, suddenly, Daichi screams, Reiko, frightened, hugs Aoi. Aoi blushes and turns to see what’s happening. Satomi seems to also be frightened.

“Who stepped on my tail?” exclaims Daichi.

“Sorry…” replies Satomi.

However, the scream didn’t seem to stop, as if someone was continuing Daichi’s scream. They all start looking around with their ears wiggling at the sound.

“What is this sound?” asks Reiko in a trembling voice.

“Do not worry, I’m here.”

They continue to look around them. Aoi, who is starting to get scared, has more and more difficulty maintaining the ball of light.

Then Reiko jumps, she screams. The others look in the same direction as Reiko. They all see something that looks like a specter. Daichi screams in turn and flees in the opposite direction.

“Wait!” exclaims Aoi.

But by moving to stop Daichi, his ball of light goes out. Reiko releases Aoi; she looks at the specter again and runs away, going down the stairs.

“Reiko! No!” exclaims Aoi again.

He decides to pursue Reiko.

Satomi finds herself alone in the darkness. The cries resound around her as if she were surrounded by specters. She is on the verge of tears.

Then, at one point, nothing more.

“Aoi? Reiko? Daichi? Where are you?”

She looks to the right, she no longer sees the specter, she looks to the left where Daichi has gone, then in front, the staircase that descends where Aoi and Reiko have gone. She puts her arms around her. The tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She turns and sees the light coming from the top of the stairs. She decides to come up to the surface slowly but surely, trembling with fear, hoping not to encounter this specter again.

Aoi arrives at another intersection; he looks around before his foot gets caught in something. He uses magic again to create a ball of light. He sees that it’s a sandal, he thinks, reminding that Reiko is wearing the same ones, he starts panicking more and more. He thinks he hears a noise coming from below. He goes down then sees a blue ribbon hanging on the walls of the staircase. This time he is sure he belongs to Reiko. He panics and fears the worst for her.

Satomi manages to leave the mausoleum. She is crying; she looks around her and sees two guards. She runs towards them and snuggles against one of them. The guard Kudo, seeing her tears, kneels in front of her.

“What’s going on Satomi?” he asks.

“M-My friends…”

The guards are waiting.

“I lost my friends…”

She sniffs, trying not to burst into tears.

“Where were your friends the last time you saw them?”

“In the mausoleum…”

And she cries again. The guards lose their smiles and look at each other. Before looking towards the direction of the mausoleum, they see that the doors are wide open.

“I’m going to go get some lanterns,” says guard Dan.

“Fine, I’m waiting for you here.”

The other guard takes Satomi in his arms to reassure her.

“Don’t worry, we will find them.”

And Satomi cries in his arms, trembling with fear.

A few minutes later, the two guards descend into the mausoleum, one of them holding Satomi’s hand. The latter feels better. She is now worried about her friends, but reassured to be with the guards.

Then they hear a noise coming from above. They turn around; Satomi gets scared.

“What is it?” she asks.

“Someone just closed the doors of the mausoleum, nothing to worry about.”

The guards look at each other and turn their heads down the stairs. They haven’t seen the other guards at the doors of the mausoleum. Guard Dan doesn’t like the situation.

They continue their walk and arrive at the first intersection. Guard Dan checks the left wing then the right wing of the level before going back to them.

“Nothing,” he says.

“So, can you tell us where you separated from your friends?”

“At the next intersection…” replies Satomi timidly.

The guards look around them once again before the group resumes their march.

Arrived at the next intersection, Satomi snuggles against guard Dan and hides her face against him, trembling. The guard looks at her and gently caresses her head.

“It’s my turn, is that it?”

“You have to believe, I am a bit busy.”

He sighs and decides to go into the left wing of this level.

He continues and sees a body on the ground; he is small. He begins to be afraid. He approaches and places the lantern on the ground.

“Are you all right?” he asks.

No response; he gently approaches his hands towards the body; it looks like Daichi’s description. He turns him and sees white filaments all over his face and a spider. He gets scared and falls on his buttocks, but manages not to scream.

He takes a deep breath and sets the spider aside before removing the cobwebs. He places his hand on Daichi’s mouth; he breathes. The guard is relieved and examines him. He concludes that he fainted when he saw a spider. He takes him in his arms and lifts it before taking the lantern in hand. He finishes inspecting the left wing.

Guard Dan gets impatient, as he doesn’t see him yet. He begins to wonder if nothing happened to him, which does not reassure Satomi.

“This is where the specter appeared…” says Satomi.

The guard watches her.

“Really? Don’t worry, we’re here.”

“Maybe the specter attacked them?”

The guard freezes before smiling at Satomi.

“Don’t worry, there is no specter.”

The guard starts to be nervous before seeing the other guard arrive. Seeing Daichi in his arms, Satomi comes to.

“It’s about time!”

“Daichi! Is he all right?” worries Satomi.

“He just passed out,” answers the other guard.

They observe each other before guard Dan looks away. This does not reassure guard Kudo.

“Can you check the right wing?”

“Ah!” exclaims Satomi.

“What’s happening to you, Satomi?”

“It is in the right wing that the specter appeared…”

The guards look towards the right wing.

“I see, wouldn’t the specter look like this?”

Satomi also looks, her ears rise, she tilts her head and sees the specter again; she throws herself against the guard. Both smile.

“It’s an optical illusion, a play of light. Look more closely you will see an extinguished torch, a mask set with blue jewels and a big spider web,” he says.

With this information, Satomi looks again, little by little, the specter transforms and ultimately disappears, leaving room for the stated objects. Then she looks at them.

“The specter doesn’t exist?” she asks, intrigued.

“No, there is no specter here. Even if someone thinks otherwise,” says guard Kudo.

“Very funny, these are the stories of the old Yonamine. They are frightening,” answers back guard Dan.

Satomi smiles and has her tail gently wagging, then her gaze goes towards Daichi; she hopes he is well.

“On the other hand, what is this mask doing here…” wonders guard Kudo.

“Surely the guards of the mausoleum that they forgot it here.”

“You are surely right. But this strange purple glow hardly pleases me.”

“Stop trying to scare me!”

Satomi begins to laugh softly. However, for the guard Kudo, he is sure to have seen this strange purple glow.

Reiko found refuge in a corner somewhere; her foot has been hurting since she lost her sandal. She is afraid, and with the darkness she fears not seeing her parents again.

She hears a noise, she cries, and her ears stand up before crying again.

“Mother… Mother… I’m afraid… It’s all dark…” she murmurs.

She remembers her mother’s words, that the mask repels evil spirits. She puts the mask on her face. She curls up against herself, her tail around her and her ears lowered against her head.

A few moments later, she hears noises approaching her, she is scared, she tries to stop making noise, but she cannot stop crying, her heart beats faster, she knows it, something approaches her. Then a shadow appears just in front of her, light illuminates its face, she sees a wolf. She screams again and the wolf howls at her.

A few minutes earlier, Aoi arrives again at an intersection; he looks left then right.

“Reiko… Reiko…”

As he spins around, he drops a metal saucer; it resonates in the mausoleum. Then he hears a scream, he jumps, but he thinks he recognizes Reiko’s voice.

“Reiko!” he exclaims.

He is not reassured; he puts his wolf mask on the face. He steps forward, his hand making the ball of light in front of him, the other hand holding the sandal and the ribbon. He swallows while trying to find the courage to move forward; his heart beats wildly. He approaches the noise; he finally sees Reiko trembling in a corner. He gets on his knees, puts down the sandal and the ribbon on the ground and places his hand on her shoulder. The latter screams and loses consciousness.

“Reiko! Reiko!”

He doesn’t know what to do; he looks around him. She doesn’t move anymore, and he doesn’t understand. He feels like the specter is here. He starts to panic and turns towards her.

“Reiko! Can you hear me? Talk to me!”

He didn’t notice that she lost consciousness. He shakes her and panics more and more; he begins to think that the specter really attacked her. He looks around him once again.

Then his ears rise, he hears footsteps, he turns towards the origin of this noise. One hand with the ball of light, the other trying to protect Reiko. His heart is beating fast; he is scared and begins to think that they will never see the others again.

Back with the guards, Satomi has calmed down. However, she remains snuggled against the guard Kudo, holding Daichi in her arms before the guard Dan comes back after checking the right wing.

“Nothing.”

“You see Satomi, no specter.”

Satomi nods before a noise is heard, coming from the depths of the mausoleum.

“What was that noise?” she asks in fear.

“One of your friends got scared, forgive me, but we will move forward fairly faster.”

The guard Dan takes Satomi in his arms. The guards with the children in their arms quickly descend the stairs towards the origin of the noise. Other cries are heard, they approach the source, they start to see light, but it is not natural light.

“Someone is using magic, be on your guard,” whispers guard Dan.

He places Satomi on her feet and puts her behind him, the lantern in front of him, holding Satomi’s hand. He gently approaches the light; the other guard gently follows them while looking around him.

A few moments later, the guard’s ears rise when he sees two squatting children. He is not sure that it is them; one of them seems to be aggressive.

“Aoi, Reiko, it’s you, isn’t it?” asks the guard.

Satomi looks shyly at the first child before recognizing Aoi’s brown kimono and wolf mask.

“Aoi!” exclaims Satomi.

Aoi has his ears that rise when hearing Satomi’s voice; he understands that she has gone to ask for help.

“Satomi! How is Daichi?”

“Unconscious, but he will be fine,” says a guard.

“And Reiko?” asks Satomi.

“I don’t know, she’s not answering.”

The guard leaves Satomi with the other guard and approaches Reiko. He notices that she is breathing and understands that she has fainted.

“Was she unconscious when you arrived?”

“No, but when I arrived, she got scared. I’m sure the specter was there!” exclaims Aoi.

The guard hits him on the head with the edge of his hand before sighing.

“Ow! But why?”

“She became afraid, because she thought she saw a wolf with your mask. There is no specter.”

“And for the cry that we all heard?”

“Had anyone shouted just before?”

“Yes. Daichi.”

“So, it is only his echo that echoed everywhere in the mausoleum.”

“So, there is no specter. But we all saw a specter!”

“It was an illusion created by objects. I was able to verify it myself,” says Satomi.

And the silence was Aoi looking straight into the eyes of Satomi with his mouth open below his mask.

After a while, Aoi lowers his head and has his ears fall over his head; he feels stupid. Now that he has calmed down and knows that Reiko is doing well, he begins to have tears in his eyes.

“There are no other children here than you, aren’t there?” asks a guard.

“No,” answers Satomi.

Aoi shakes his head. The guards look at each other and smile.

“So, let’s go, I’ll take Reiko on my back.”

Aoi looks at the ground then notices that he left the sandal and the ribbon on the ground.

“Ah!” he exclaims.

His little scream makes the group jump.

“Something wrong, Aoi?” asks the guard.

“Reiko’s sandal and ribbon,” he says.

The guard smiles.

“I will put them back to her.”

After redressing Reiko, the guard gently places her on his back and takes the lantern in hand.

He looks around him then the other guard.

“It’s good for me.”

“Same.”

“So, let’s go.”

The guard having Reiko on his back opens the march, followed by Aoi and Satomi, who hold his arm with both of her arms. Finally, the guard carrying Daichi closes the march.

The group arrives at the doors of the mausoleum; they are closed. The guard in front knocks on the door. A few moments later, the doors open, the noise resounds and a whistle is heard behind them. Satomi looks behind her, frightened, followed by Aoi, who is not reassured.

The guard behind them sees their expressions and smiles at them.

“It’s just the wind due to the opening of the doors,” he says.

Satomi looks at him again and nods. Aoi’s ears rise hearing reason, and he says nothing.

A guard on the other side looks at them surprised.

“What are you doing here?” he exclaims.

“It seems that the children saw the open doors and took the opportunity to go on an excursion there.”

“Oh! I had forgotten to lock the doors, lately, they open all alone… As if spirits were playing a prank, I will ask for it to be repaired.”

The group leaves. Aoi is sad about how the test of courage went. For Satomi, she is reassured to finally be out with everyone.

Several minutes have passed since they left the mausoleum. Daichi remains lying at the care station. He is fine. But he hurt himself when he fell. Satomi and Reiko are hugging each other; both are sad to end the party like this. For Aoi, he remembers again and again what happened; he really thinks that the specter exists.

A few minutes later, the parents of each one arrive one by one. Reiko has her ears, which rise upon hearing her mother’s voice; she turns her head and sees her. She runs towards her and snuggles against her while crying.

“Mother! Mother! I was so scared… I’m sorry, I dirtied the beautiful kimono…”

His mother caresses Reiko’s head.

“It’s not a big deal, my dear.”

His father looks around him, but he does not see him.

“Where is Seika?” his father asks.

“I don’t know where big brother is.”

His father sighs and begins to walk around the care station.

Around, people watch what is happening, Seika and his friends approach the care station.

“What’s happening?” asks Oda.

“I don’t know,” replies Seika.

“Seika!” screams a voice.

Seika jumps and turns around. He sees his angry father arriving at them.

“Where were you?” exclaims his father.

“With my friends?”

“Have you thought about your little sister?”

Seika jumps again. He fears that something has happened to her.

“Did something happen to her?”

“Yes! Now, you follow me!”

Seika panics and follows his father.

Meanwhile, Satomi is waiting for her parents. Sitting on a bench, she looks around. She sees Aoi being lectured by his father; he has tears in his eyes. Aoi’s mother apologizes to Daichi’s parents.

She turns her head and sees her parents arrive. She immediately understands that it will be her turn.

Arriving at the care station, Seika looks around him; he sees his sister being comforted by their mother. Then, his gaze rests on Aoi, his ears rise, and he understands that he is the responsible person seeing Aoi’s mother apologize to her mother. He runs towards Daichi for explanations.

Seika and Reiko’s parents reassure Aoi’s mother. Their father looks around him and sees that Seika is not by his side. He sees him arguing with Aoi; he fears the worst and runs towards him, just in time to avoid a fight between them.

“I tell you that I saw a specter!” exclaims Aoi.

“And you were afraid of leaving my sister all alone!” exclaims Seika in turn.

Seika’s father takes him in his arms before the first punch lands.

“Seika! You stop now! That’s enough!” he yells.

A silence is made.

“Now we’re going home, we’ll all talk about it at home!”

Seika’s father holds his hand firmly as he goes towards them.

They are speaking with the guards. Seika looks at his sister; he can see that she is sad. He looks around him, he sees Aoi, he is crying. Then, turning his head towards their father, he sees the mask merchant looking at them. He always has this purple aura around him, but in addition, he wears a misshapen and strange mask, each eye looking in a different direction. He quickly looks at Reiko to see if she is looking at the same thing, but she is busy snuggling up to their mother. He looks again in the direction where he saw the merchant, and nothing; he no longer sees him.

After a few moments, the parents of Seika and Reiko thank the guards before returning home.

Upon returning home, Reiko calmed down, and she holds their mother’s hand with a big smile. Behind, their father smiles upon seeing Reiko’s smile. Seika continues to feel guilty and continues to have his head lowered.

Upon entering it, their mother goes towards the kitchen to prepare a tea for everyone; she tells herself that the children will have trouble falling asleep.

“Reiko, how was the festival for you?” asks their father.

“Incredible! I loved it!”

He puts a knee to the ground to keep up with Reiko.

“Really? Did you have fun?”

“Yes! It’s thanks to big brother!”

She removes her mask and smiles at their father.

“And he gave me this beautiful mask! I love it!”

Their father looks at Seika, who seems to be surprised before turning his gaze towards Reiko.

“Wasn’t it hard to choose the mask?”

“Yes! They were all beautiful! But in the end, I chose this one!”

Their father nods before placing his hand on Reiko’s head and caressing her head.

“So that’s perfect,” he says.

Seika sees Reiko smiling and her tail moving gently. He ends up smiling.

He looks at their mother and walks towards her. He puts his hands on the edge of the table and looks up at her in the eyes. She smiles at him and hands out the cups. He brings them to the table and places them on it. He looks up and freezes.

Outside, through the window, he sees something in the shadows, under the moonlight. He is not sure, the wind picks up. And he feels as if he’s seeing the mask merchant again.

“Seika?” asks their mother.

He looks again towards the window; he sees a kind of big, distorted mask with different heads. He freezes and looks at their mother again.

“Mother! Mother! Mother!”

A gust of wind makes the window crack slightly. Seika runs towards their mother and snuggles against her.

He begins to cry against her. Reiko looks at him and tilts his head without understanding. Their mother looks at the window and sees nothing.