Deep within the confines of the Suzukoya no Mori forest, Ichika Sato sat silently amongst the two hundred year old beech trees and breathed in fresh air like she never had before. A running creek cut through the forest with a hurried determination. The wind danced merrily all around her as she rested her weary bones and held on tightly to the problematic solution to her dilemma. Her grandfather’s dying words were simple, find the great sorcerer Fumihiro and ask him for help in ridding us of an ogre in our village. The ogre being the very creature that had brought him to his final moments.

            Ichika’s raven black hair caught in the wind as she turned the glass jar with the amber stained concoction in her hands and contemplated the harshness of her newfound reality. Not one day ago, her life had been so simple. Not one day ago, her grandfather Akira was alive and breathing. That oni, that ogre had to be dealt with. No matter the costs. Her sub-conscious found itself trapped in a spider web of emotions as it tried to wiggle its way back out.

            The day before- Ichika had just come in from the bonsai garden having finished her leaf reduction on several maple specimens that belonged to her grandfather. The house was eerily quiet she noticed. It was very dark on top of that. Usually the house was well-lit and full of life from her grandfather and his many bonsai projects. Trees of all sorts of different shapes and sizes could be seen everywhere. Now, it appeared empty. This worried her honestly. She called out to him; her voice piercing the darkness.

            “Sofu?” Ichika said, trying her best to keep her emotions in check.

            There was no response. She tip toed through the house.

            “Sofu? Doko ni imasu ka?” she asked worriedly.

            A loud crash echoed from within the house and caught her by surprise. It sounded like something had fallen in one of the bedrooms. She quickly rushed toward the noise and soon realized the floor was littered with trees still in their pots. The noise itself ended up drawing her into her grandfather’s bedroom. Tears welled up and beat down the ducts of both her green eyes.

            Akira Takahashi, fourth generation bonsai master and father to Ichika’s mother, could be seen doubled over in pain on the floor. Ichika ran to his side and looked him over. His entire body was covered in claw marks that ran very deep into his flesh. His clothes were torn to shreds. There had been some sort of struggle from the looks of it. The bed was in complete disarray. Things had been knocked off the nightstand and onto the floor. A burst of air swept around them and Ichika looked toward the window. There before her eyes was the culprit. What she saw, she didn’t expect, for it wasn’t a man. It was a creature of sorts. Freakishly large compared to even the bulkiest of humans. It boasted three very prominent horns with sharp points. The flesh that clung to its bones was the color of amber and decorated with hairy moles that circulated its disgusting body. The thing stood stock still staring at her with its mouth open wide exposing jagged teeth that had seen better days. In its hands it held her grandfather’s most prized bonsai, a three hundred year old Japanese boxwood that had been passed down through the family.

            “Get back here devil!” You will pay for what you have done!” she yelled at the creature. All it did was offer an all too creepy smile and then it disappeared out the window.

            Ichika tried to act fast; she removed two throw pillows from the bed and placed them on her grandfather’s stomach in an attempt to stop the bleeding. He stared up at her with those soulful and wise eyes of his. Only if those eyes could speak, they would speak volumes to her.

            “Sofu? Stay with me. You can’t leave me like this. What happened? Tell me what happened.”

            Akira gave what little energy he had left to speak to her, “My child, my precious child. You must protect us all.”

“From what?” she asked. “What was that hideous thing?”

Akira warned his beloved granddaughter, “That thing was an oni. He goes by the name Hibiki and he is a holy terror. Someone must have summoned him. If there is one, there are usually more to follow. The entire village could be in danger.”

“An oni? I don’t understand. They are the stuff of nightmares and folklore. I remember as a child you would joke that if I didn’t finish my chores, you would send an oni out to get me. They are ogres, sofu, ogres don’t exist. What we just saw was a clever thief in a costume.”

“Understand this, they do exist. You cannot go this path alone either. Go to the forest and there amongst the beech trees you must pray. Find the great sorcerer Fumihiro and ask him for help in ridding us of an ogre in our village. I pray no more will follow.”

Akira’s body began to seize and blood spewed forth from his mouth like a volcano on the verge of erupting. Ichika cried as she frantically tried to save his life. Her grandfather let a half smile come across his face as he clasped her right wrist.

“Promise me, magomusume. Promise me you will do this.”

Ichika stared into his gray, almost lifeless eyes, “Yes, sofu. I promise. I will find Fumihiro.”

“Thank you, my child. Find him and find out what my life was worth ending it for.”

With that he slipped from this life with a final breath and entered the next. Ichika wailed now. She fell on her grandfather’s lifeless corpse and cried until she could cry no more. All of this had happened so fast. She never really received the chance to process what was actually happening. There would be plenty of time for that later. She could mourn her grandfather by keeping her promise. Find Fumihiro, the great sorcerer. It was time for a trip into Suzukoya no Mori.

Reverently, she took a mangled white sheet from the bed and draped it over Akira’s body. The least she could do for the moment. She then went to the bathroom and got herself a much needed drink of water. Pull yourself together, she thought. If this is real, you need to remain strong. Your emotions will just get in the way.

The hike into the forest was all too surreal.  Ichika’s grandfather, the one man who had cared for her most of her life was now gone. On top of that, he revealed to her another side of this life that she had no clue about. The supernatural. Granted, it was a very short lived revelation but it was a revelation all the same. If oni truly existed in this world, what other creatures were there? Why had Hibiki killed her grandfather? Was it over the bonsai? If so, who had sent him? She had no clue but hopefully she would find out in due course. Maybe the great Fumihiro would have all the answers? Only if she were that lucky.

Adventuring further and further away from all of humanity, the newfound savior, Ichika of Higashinaruse, found herself in a barren area surrounded by the ancient beech trees of her childhood stories. Sitting on the ground, she pulled her multicolored spotted dress over her knees and closed her eyes. Her mind was a raging torrent of many thoughts. She needed to relax. Free herself. The oxidized air slithered into her lungs and she allowed herself to drift away from all the drama. It was time.

“Fumihiro! Oh great sorcerer of these ancient woods, I call out to you for your help. My village is in danger. Please, come to me. I beg of you.”

She sat there listening for a brief moment with her eyes closed. The sounds of the forest penetrated her ears like two samurai locked in a deadly battle. The many smells of the Earth tickled her nostrils. From the worn soil beneath her to the decomposing leaves to the damp moss that grew at the trunks of trees, it allowed her the clarity that she very much needed.

She repeated herself, “Fumihiro! Oh great sorcerer….”

“Who dares to disturb my slumber?” a powerful voice interjected as if it came from within her mind. Ichika froze, unsure of what to say.

“My name is Ichika Sato and I come from the village near here. My grandfather, Akira was just killed by an oni. He told me to seek you out and solicit your help.”

“Akira Takahashi?” The voice asked. The echo of it still came from within as opposed to outside directly in front of her.

Keeping her eyes closed, “Yes that is him. Please, where are you? I need your help.”

“Open your eyes child,” the voice was no longer in her head.

Ichika slowly opened her eyes and there before her stood the elderly visage of an aging man with hair as long and as black as her own. He wore a simple gray robe with a hood over his head.  From the looks of it, his deep brown eyes could see right through the best of people.

“Great Fumihiro! Thank you for gracing me with your presence. This has all been too much to bear. Sofu was killed by the oni known as Hibiki. I think it was over a bonsai. I am not really sure. I just know I need to find him and put an end to his existence before he becomes a threat to the rest of the village.”

Fumihiro removed his hood and moved toward her carefully. His gaze sliced the tension in the air and once he reached Ichika, he placed a hand upon her head. She finally felt a little more at ease.

“Your grandfather was a very wise man. He sheltered me many moons ago when I came down to the village during a terrible storm. He thought me a simple beggar at the time. I never forgot that kindess.”

“Sounds like something my grandfather would do.”

“I will help you with your oni problem. Just bear in mind that these are nasty creatures. If this Hibiki stole something from your grandfather, someone summoned it to do their bidding. Where there is one you can usually find more also.”

“Okay?” Ichika asked. “What can you do to help me?”

Fumihiro raised his hands high into the air and looked to the heavens above. His deep brown eyes rolled backwards into their sockets. Lightning kicked up and then shot down to the great sorcerer as a giant ball of energy. He pulled it down to the ground gracefully and with one wave of his hand it transformed. What lay before them now was a large glass jar of amber color liquid.

“What is that?” Ichika asked curiously.

“The answer to your problem,” Fumihiro replied. “Take this liquid. Walk due west until you come across a running creek. Once you are there, remove your shoes and drink the liquid. There is only one thing in this world that can kill an oni, you have to become one.”

“You surely can not be serious! I am not becoming one of those things. There has to be another way.”

“I assure you there is no other way. Drink the liquid and I promise you, as long as you are pure of heart, the effects will only last for twelve hours. You will develop the senses and the strength that you will need to track Hibiki and bring him to heel.”

“What if I am not pure of heart?”

“Then after the twelve hours have expired, you will not change back. I can see the turmoil inside you. It tears you apart like a pack of fierce lions. You have a choice to make. I hope for you and your village it is the right one.”

Suddenly a cloud of wispy gray smoke formed and encircled the great sorcerer. Ichika watched as it swallowed him whole and disappeared in the depths of the forest. Now she was alone with nothing more than her thoughts. Here goes nothing.  She arose from the ground and seized the glass jar of liquid that was the answer to her prayers. After that she walked due west in the direction of the running creek. She walked in the direction of the place where she would decide on something that could change her very existence on this Earth.  

Ichika found the running creek and had long since taken off her shoes. The day came and went. She sat there in silence staring out into the distance. The moon loomed overhead smiling down on her favorably. Her thoughts consumed her over the course of the evening. Unable to move, life just sort of flashed before her eyes.

The next day came as the moon lowered herself into her otherwise worldly bed. This allowed the all mighty sun to greet everyone with bountiful rays of light that always put the moon to shame. Mother Nature awoke and shook Ichika out of her daze and reminded her of the ill fated decision of which she had yet to make.

Over the course of the evening she had pondered over this quite extensively. She weighed every single pro and every last con. Was there anything else to really go over? Hibiki had slain her grandfather. This vile creature deserved to die. She still had friends and other people she cared for down in the village as well. What if he went after them? What if there were others? Like her grandfather and Fumihiro had both warned. As the running creek cut through the woods with a hurried determination and the wind danced merrily around her, she knew there was only one choice here. She had to take the chance. Even if she wasn’t pure of heart, she made a promise to her grandfather in his final moments.

Without further hestitation, Ichika unscrewed the lid to the glass jar and tilted it back to her mouth. She drank and she drank and she drank some more. The whole jar took her about five minutes to down and once she finished, boy oh boy did she feel sick. She hunkered over and brought a hand to her side as a sharp pain kicked at her brutally. Then it came all too forcefully- the change. The wind stopped dancing, the creek stopped running and all sounds just sort of ceased to exist. Ichika fell onto her side and writhed in agony. Her body was transforming. There was no doubt about it, she could feel it. So much electricity ran around inside her. Her senses were becoming heightened. She closed her eyes and prayed to Buddha, God, Allah or whoever was up there that if they were listening, that they watched over her. She had found Fumihiro and sought the solution to making Hibiki pay for what he had done. Her eyes opened and they were as black as the hair on her head. Her mind was altered but for the better.

The ancient beech trees of the Suzukoya no mori forest called out to her now. She heard the whispers of bygone years. They only said one thing to her now. Run. Run like you never have before.