2touched.
Chuuya is 11 years old when he gets lost in a forest, but it's alright because there's an annoying spirit living in the forest to save him. [Hotarubi no Mori e AU, Soukoku Week 2017 day 7 – free day]
Warnings: None.
It's not required that you need to watch the movie to understand.
Rating: K
Word Count: 1460
A/n at bottom.
"It's rare to see you so excited, Chuuya," Kouyou smiled as she watched him dash out of his room and set his luggage bag. "Are you sure that's everything?"
"I'm not excited, Ane-san," Chuuya grumbled. "And yes, I'm sure."
"Don't forget to listen to Hirotsu-san. Have a safe trip, Chuuya." Kouyou drew close and hugged him.
"You don't have to worry, Ane-san. I've been going there every year after all."
.
It was said that spirits lived in the Forest of the Mountain God. One hot summer day, 11 year-old Chuuya ended up wandering in the forest and getting lost.
It was a bit too late to regret his decision. The sound of cicadas and various insects clashed together in a dissonant harmony as Chuuya attempted to find his way out.
He was lonely, tired and scared, and it took all his self-control not to burst out crying. It felt like he has been walking in circles, but he carried on, searching for an exit or a person.
Just as he was about to give up, he saw a silhouette of a man in a distance.
"It's a person!" Chuuya laughed. Forgetting his tiredness, he ran towards the man with his arms outstretched. He was saved!
Instead of colliding with a solid, warm body, Chuuya seems to collide with something else entirely, stopping him mid-run. The other man gets the worst of it, getting flung backwards away from Chuuya and landing on his backside, dropping a long piece of rope.
Stunned, Chuuya can only stare at the man. He wore the strangest clothes – the brownish trench coat, beige pants and dress shirt underneath his black vest could pass as normal if Chuuya passed by him on the street, but no one wore that kind of clothing while in a forest. Strangest of all were the bandages wrapped around his arms and neck (Chuuya was willing to bet that his entire body beneath his clothes was also wrapped in bandages) and of course, the fox mask on his face.
Chuuya was about to apologize, but was cut off by a brusque voice. "Who are you to interrupt my suicide? You're a human child, aren't you?"
Suicide? So that's what the rope is for. "I'm Nakahara Chuuya! And yes, I'm human... Does that mean you're not human? Who are you?"
"...I am something that lives in the forest," he said.
"You're one of the spirits?" Chuuya asked. At the lack of a reply, Chuuya stretched his hand out to grab the mysterious man, but the man dodged.
Chuuya repeated his actions, chasing after the man who just dodged every time. The only time he managed to get close, he was whacked with a piece of wood instead.
"Oww!" Chuuya cried. "You're not human after all! No human would hit a child like that."
The man had the gall to laugh. "Chibi-chan, if you do manage to touch me, I will disappear. Then there will be no one to guide you out of the forest."
"You'll disappear?" Chuuya asked wide-eyed.
"Yes. To disappear, to be obliterated. That's the spell the mountain god placed upon me. If I get touched by a human, that's the end for me." The man sounded strangely happy at that idea.
"Indeed, my dream all this time is to disappear after getting hugged by a beautiful lady!" The man continued, "Isn't that a lovely way to die, chibi-chan?"
"You're strange," Chuuya replied. "Besides, if you wanted to die so much, why did you dodge me just now?"
The man lifted his hands up in a what-can-you-do? gesture. "I thought you would have noticed already. The first time you charged at me, you bumped into a force field, didn't you?"
The man sighed dramatically as Chuuya nodded. "Indeed, the mountain god is cruel. He doesn't want me to achieve my suicide so easily, so he set up the force field so that no one can touch me. The force field will only be nullified only if I touch someone or get touched by someone by accident."
"So even if you tried to touch me, or I try to touch you, nothing will happen?" Chuuya asked.
"We'll be repelled by the force field. Does that count?"
"Then why were you trying to hang yourself just now? Can you die by normal means?"
"Nope, I can't. But I like trying to kill myself, if only for the thrill~!" The man laughed at Chuuya's bemused expression. "Come on, chibi-chan. Take hold of the other end of the rope, I shall guide you out of the forest. You're lost, aren't you?"
"...thank you," Chuuya said as he grabbed the other end of the rope.
For every step the man takes, Chuuya needs to take two, no thanks to that man's annoyingly long legs.
"This feels like a date, right, chibi-chan~?"
"Don't be disgusting!" Chuuya cringed. "This is so unromantic."
"You're not scared?" The man's sudden change of topic puzzled Chuuya.
"Of what?"
"...Never mind," the man shrugged. "If you go straight, you'll hit the mountain path. Bye, chibi-chan~!"
Had time passed so fast? The Sun was already setting. It lit the man's hair, turning the black-brown into brownish gold.
"Chibi-chan, you won't forget me, will you?" the man whined. "I'm always here. Won't you come back and keep me company? It's so boring here by myself."
Chuuya frowned. "Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful to you for leading me back here, but this is the forest where the mountain god and spirits live. What if I lose my way? I shouldn't come here."
"That's what the villagers say, isn't it?" The man laughed as the wind around them rustled leaves. "But you'll still come here to visit me, yes?"
It's strange for a man whom Chuuya has only newly met to be able to read Chuuya so well.
"I'll be back tomorrow with a thank-you present!" Chuuya grinned. Abashed, he started to run away.
"My name is Dazai," the man's – Dazai's - voice called. Chuuya halted and looked backwards, but Dazai was already nowhere to be found, leaving only the setting sun behind him.
.
The Sun dyed everything a beautiful golden yellow and the sound of insects accompanied him as he made his way back home.
"Chuuya!" He looked up and saw a man in the distance.
"Hirotsu-san!" Chuuya dashed towards him guiltily.
"You idiot," Hirotsu scolded. "If you go into the forest alone and get hurt, what are you going to do?"
"I'm sorry, Hirotsu-san," Chuuya apologised sheepishly.
It was lucky that Hirotsu didn't seem to hold onto his anger for long, and Hirotsu even let Chuuya hold his hand as they made their way back home.
"Hey, Hirotsu-san," Chuuya asked as he tugged at Hirotsu's sleeve, "Is it true that there are spirits in the forest?"
"The mountain god's forest..." Hirotsu considered the question for a moment. "Who knows? That's what they say."
At Chuuya's inquisitive look, he continued. "When I was little, I had hoped that I would be able to meet the spirits. My friends and I would often enter the forest. I have never met any, but I did feel like I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
On summer nights, you could hear the sounds of the river coming from the forest. Now that I think about it," Hirotsu scratched his beard, " Higuchi said she and her friends went and had fun at a summer festival in the forest, but there's no way the villagers would hold a festival in the forest. Whose festival could that have been? Perhaps they snuck into a festival for spirits, but who knows?"
That night, Chuuya stared at the ceiling as Dazai's words rang in his ear.
"Chibi-chan, you won't forget me, will you?" the man whined. "I'm always here. Won't you come back and keep me company? It's so boring here by myself."
He pulled up the blanket and went to sleep.
"Chibi-chaaaaan~, you really came!" Dazai tried to hug Chuuya but was flung back by the force field instead.
"Of course I did," Chuuya said irritably, "I promised to give you a thank you present, didn't I?"
"You did, but I didn't think you'd really come back," Dazai said happily.
"And why did you try to hug me just now when you knew that the force field would fling you back?" Chuuya grumbled.
"Eh? What's wrong with trying to kill myself?" Dazai asked.
"Everything is wrong with that statement," Chuuya sweat-dropped, but Dazai just laughed.
"Come along, chibi-chan. I know of a place where it'll be cooler. Don't worry, I will see you out of this place again," Chuuya thinks he can hear a smile behind the mask. "Come along, then."
Against Chuuya's better judgement, he follows.
a/n: this was supposed to be a one-shot but i ran out of time whoops
it's probably ooc as well...
but thank you for reading this! leave a review if you'd like :))