[CHAR] Realism no Mononoke: An Urban Fantasy RP

Characters:

[Raineh Daze]

• Name: Ibaraki Akari
• Age: 16
• Gender: Female
• Race: Oni
• Appearance: She's definitely on the short side... and the completely flat side. Akari is one of those highschool students (technically) that everyone eagerly mistakes for a middle school student.
• Personality: Everyone expects an oni to be brash, confident (at least until defeated), and rowdy. At the very least you expect them to be loud or somehow aggressive. This is all completely untrue of Akari, who is happiest communicating with everyone via technology rather than in person, and would much like to be back in her room undisturbed. Even when you get past the extreme shyness by enough association or shared interests, she's still meek, worried about her own strength, and disturbingly skittish. With an extra irrational fear of samurai, which is definitely a bit odd for a girl who's worn traditional clothing every day of her life except the one week she went to school.
• Abilities: Akari is a shockingly powerful oni, for someone that has had no reason to exercise her natural abilities to any extent. Despite her unimposing physique, there are very few people who are going to be winning if it's simply a contest of pitting strength against one another. She's about as difficult to seriously injure; blunt force is mostly useless without some serious strength behind it, and simply cutting her often requires magical assistance or massive force. Plus, like her mother, if it's not cut off entirely it will doubtless heal fine, and losing limbs would be more of a (physical) inconvenience than life-threatening.
  Although she hasn't any practice at using it, Akari has inherited Ibaraki's affinity for Heat--not just heat in the direct sense, but heat as a driving force for changes. It's this affinity that led Ibaraki-douji so easily to shapeshifting, and allows for just reattaching missing body parts later. She's also inherited the ability--or some would call it a mystic scar--common to all of the famous oni's relatives: Lost Arm. So significant was the injury that, even now, her entire extended bloodline has the ability to summon a single phantom arm.
  You know, if two arms isn't enough for hitting things.
• Skills: None of any particular use! She's actually rather clumsy, which is bad because of the strength that comes from being an oni. This also extends to a tendency to trip on things and fall down stairs, though that's more disorienting and worrying for people watching rather than actually dangerous to Akari.
• Equipment: "Mum said I should bring an iron club if something dangerous happens..." She also has a phone, "a little spending money" day to day--that is, enough money that anything of interest to a sixteen year old oni is fine--and a perfectly-accurate seeming ID that nevertheless claims Akari to be an adult, because oni and alcohol are inseparable.
• Brief Backstory: As her name attests, Akari is closely related to the Ibaraki-douji. Extremely closely; Ibaraki is her mother and Akari doesn't have the faintest clue who her father is. This, in and of itself, makes her the closest thing a rowdy bunch like oni can have to royalty--and also, with the benefit of being born into an extremely small family that has had a thousand years of practice avoiding danger and past banditry, used to the wealth that implies.
  Akari spent most of her childhood in a very traditional home, essentially secluded from the non-supernatural world, and told all the supernatural stories one might expect. Of course, the viewpoint was skewed--the role of hero and villain constantly inverted, with the samurai and exorcists vilified for going after oni that were only acting according to their natural desires and compulsions. Given the obvious problems that a supernaturally strong child with some innate drive to prey on humanity could fall into, this also meant a distinct lack of school attendance.
  They moved to a more modern house, one actually positioned conveniently for school, when it was time for Akari to start middle school. After attending for a few days, she just... stopped, the ease with which she had accidentally hurt someone in sports and the pressure of pretending to be human--on top of her own limited experience with so many people--just overwhelming the young oni. Although she's somewhat kept up with the schoolwork, a large amount of Akari's time has instead found itself devoted to popular entertainment--light novels, anime, and so on.
  Ibaraki is hardly someone one would expect to be an experienced parent... or skilled at addressing this in a manner more appropriate than "fight it out", which would hardly help in this situation, so she's been trying to find someone that might help... or at least get Akari to socialise more.

[Rune_Alchemist]

Itsy Bitsy spider

Name:
Shimizu Kaori
Age:
Forever 18~
Gender:
Female
Race:
Jorōgumo
Appearance:
Oft, Kaori appears as a young girl of highschool age. All the better to get closer to her preferred playthings with. Possessing a near supernatural beauty, dressing in elegant kimono's when not attending school. Typically, she wears short cut black hair typically tied into short tails at either side of her head and possesses Heterochromia, perhaps lending a bit more to her appearance. Just ignore the fangs...and the occasional yellow and black spider leg coming from under her kimono. That's just your imagination.

Personality:
When one thinks of a Jorogumo, they most likely envision a seductress of some sort - and Kaori certainly lives up to such an image...save for the fact she much prefers snacking on adorable little girls. Playful, lascivious, and exceedingly affectionate and intimate to anyone she likes all for the purpose of getting someone to let their guard down so she can have a quick afternoon snack. Make no mistake, she's a predator and if it wasn't for someone proverbially holding her leash, she'd likely become a threat again to people very, very quickly.

For the most part, generally, Kaori is a friendly little if somewhat troublesome and impish spider much preferring to be friends rather than enemies or rivals. However, while she is quick to show physical and intimate affection to the girls around her, she is quick to fall into a rather listless, broody, and falling back into old habits if such affections aren't returned by those around her especially after repeated rejections or just going for so long without it...and this is her totally, definitely, valid reasoning for having her spider friends take stealthy panty shots or her propensity to grope and tease the women around her.

If, perhaps, you manage to upset the spider enough to make her angry...be warned, she's just as cruel and cunningly intelligent as the myths say.


Abilities:
Kaori is not the most directly combative youkai out there. She's certainly strong and impressive when compared to most humans, but she does not have impressive strength like the Oni or many other supernatural abilities.

Notably, Kaori is able to produce extremely fine, extremely sticky silk that has durability similar to steel. A very flexible, tough to cut substance that she uses to ensnare, bind, or otherwise trap foes. Sharp enough to cut if enough force is applied and she makes them just thick enough. Can produce quite a bit in a short amount of time, if needed.

Aside from the silk, she also possesses extremely potent venom. Delivered often via bite if she gets close enough to a foe, she can inject quite a large quantity in a very short amount of time. In small doses it does nothing more than to put one into a somewhat drunken, feel good state. Larger doses however, erode the body. Loss of motor control. Hallucinations. Weakness. It is not otherwise lethal, though, unless the dosage is fairly large or sustained exposure causing the body to eventually just fail.

She can also speak with, and control most arachnids. She has a rather extensive intelligence network and generally is aware of what is happening in the city. A spider swarm can also be both rather terrifying and difficult to combat, if one gets swarmed...oh, and the spiders can vary in size in fact and a few can breathe fire if she raises them right and they can grow to be fairly large, too.

Skills:
Perhaps unsurprisingly she's really good with domestic chores. Cooking, Cleaning, sewing, basic first aid...she's picked up quite a few miscellaneous if not overly helpful or relevant skills in her lifetime.

Equipment:
Clothing made from her own silk. Durable stuff. Ask nicely and she might make you some. She'll need to do a fitting, though. Be prepared to get touched. A lot.
Does a legion of spiders count?
Brief Backstory:
About five years or so ago, a girl from an all-girls school went missing in the city. A tragedy, really, but there wasn't much to suggest anything supernatural about it or otherwise. Six months later...her family would find her, dazed, confused, and not remembering anything at all about the past six months but otherwise uninjured and unharmed...for the most part. Yet, a week later - another tragedy struck. A second girl went missing.

And this, would be a certain spiders MO for the foreseeable future. Far from eating or hurting them, no, she had other uses for them. Eventually she'd change her methods ever so slightly. Expand out from the school to others. Even have a bit of fun with the older women, occasionally, if they struck her fancy. Eventually though, she would get careless. Despite having her spider friends get rid of evidence, cover her tracks, and generally make sure she only showed up or appeared at night, eventually she would indeed leave a trail of some sort.

At first, she thought the person coming to deal with her was going to be some boorish Onmyouji, and was prepared to simply kill and eat them if they were some dumb guy, or perhaps, keep them around longer if they were a cute girl that struck her fancy. Fortunately, for the both of them Tomoko was the latter. To say Kaori almost fell in love at first sight was an understatement. Why was this adorable thing out fighting Youkai? Why was she putting herself in danger? Such things were so veeery dangerous, and if it had been any other spider, she'd probably just have been eaten alive!

She tried her best to get the girl to see reason. See that if she just stayed here with her, she'd be all nice and taken care of the rest of her life...but alas, it was not to be. After an admittedly short confrontation because Kaori couldn't bring herself to genuinely harm the other girl, she decided that fine, if she wasn't going to let her take care of her here, then she could go with her and take care of her anyways.

She let the girls she had collected over the past year go, promised to be a good little spider and enrolled in the highschool with Tomoko.

Alas, if only it was an all girls school...

[VitaVitaAR]

• Name: Suzuki Tomoko
• Age: 16
• Gender: Female
• Race: Human(about 88% human, according to her)
• Appearance: A petite girl with pale blonde hair and green eyes. Due to her small size, youthful looks, and less mature figure, she is mistaken for younger then she actually is. Her right arm appears to be bandaged, and her left leg is a mundane, albeit very well-made and effective, prosthetic.
• Personality: Suzuki Tomoko is highly intelligent and capable, to begin with, something she takes a fair amount of pride in. At the same time, she is also incredibly eccentric. She has no doubt in her own capability to solve problems(or create a sufficiently believable explanation for a problem if solving it does not seem like something she can do) for youkai and humans who are involved with youkai. She seems to have little concern for manipulating others in this light, provided it puts their minds at ease if she cannot manage a more concrete solution. Tomoko also has no issue effectively emotionally browbeating others to assist her. She is well aware of danger, and will use the threat of danger to herself in order to get others to assist her. After all, allowing a small girl with only one arm and one leg to walk into danger would be wrong, wouldn't it? At the same time, however, she has an utter lack of concern over danger to herself, cheerfully walking into life-threatening situations with confidence. Perhaps this is because she usually has some kind of plan to tackle a given situation, or perhaps she's just that confident in her ability to think on the fly. Tomoko is fairly energetic and outgoing individual in spite of this manipulative nature, quite friendly to most humans and youkai she comes across. She enjoys being praised, will do things just for the sake of looking cute or what she thinks is impressive(posing like a magical girl when 'summoning' spirits can't possibly be necessary, right? Right?), and is generally rather odd in terms of many of her behaviors. She can also be rather competitive, and clingy if she takes a special liking to someone. She is also rather unconcerned by the loss of her right arm and left leg, deeming it a worthwhile loss for her current position. Finally, Tomoko is also rather blunt when she wants to be, holding back not a single punch when it comes to such matters.
• Abilities: Tomoko's position as the Intermediary between Humans and Youkai permits her some different capabilities. To begin with, she is capable of touching and perceiving the intangible. Spirits with no form are like physical objects to her, and she is capable of interacting with them as easily as she can any other object. Additionally, youkai can recognize her instantly on sight, effectively so they know who to talk to. She is also capable of onmoyodo, especially in terms of anti-spirit and anti-youkai spells. This extends to things such as exorcisms and spiritual barriers, as well as some basic invocations. She doesn't really need them to contact spirits, given her nature, but she thinks it looks flashy.
• Skills: Tomoko is highly intelligent, excellent at deduction. She is also very capable of spinning "potential truths" as she calls them, based on what information she has. She is also more capable of fighting then some would expect, largely due to her nature as the Intermediary between Humans and Youkai, though someone truly skilled would likely overcome her effectively.
• Equipment: Tomoko's right arm no longer exists. The bandages are actually a replacement, inscribed with a variety of spells on the inside. This replacement is far stronger then the rest of her body, capable of harming more powerful youkai much more easily. She cannot feel anything with it, in spite of its supernatural nature. Her left leg, however, is an ordinary prosthetic. It does allow for sufficient movement to walk normally even without a cane, though her family insists she use one. When strained too much, it will come off on its own to avoid Tomoko harming herself. She also carries numerous ofuda in a bag in order to carry out exorcisms when necessary.
• Brief Backstory: In most respects, Tomoko was an ordinary girl for most of her life. While her family was from an onmyouji bloodline, they were fairly lax and taught mostly the basics. So in terms of her life experiences, there was little that was out of the ordinary. That is, until she reached ten years old in age. On a day out with her family, Tomoko suddenly disappeared. Four years later, she reappeared, having been granted status as the Intermediary between Humans and Youkai in exchange for her right arm and left leg. Concluding this was a worthwhile trade, she has pursued this duty with gusto for the next six years, even recruiting assistants through dubious means in order to increase her effectiveness.

[AzureKnight]

Lazy Floof

"Hey guys, I was thinking that afterschool we could hit up the local ramen shop, maybe grab a bowl of miso along with a bit of ichigo daifuku? No? ...Dammit fine, I'll come along."

🎐 Name: Nishiyama Shuichiro

🎐 Age: 18

🎐 Gender: Male

🎐 Race: Kitsune

🎐 Appearance: Kitsune are known for being attractive beings that are easy on the eyes while in their human form, and Shuichiro is no exception to this. A young man of average height, he is often see wearing casual clothes that's trending with the current fashion or the standard school uniform. When in his yokai form he dawns traditional formal robes, along with his sheening white tail.

🎐 Personality: Upon first glance, people would think that Shuichiro is one of those pretty boys who's adept at all he puts his mind to. In reality, his actually a lazy slacker who mainly dedicates his brain power to frivolous endeavors, which is reflected even in his schoolwork. Still, despite this, those who get to know him on a more personal level will find a more intellectual and thoughtful side that befits what his kind is known for. In addition, he gets easily bored, and he unfortunately usually attempts to quell said boredom by way of mischief-making.

🎐 Abilities: The young kitsune possess many of the common powers afforded by his race: shape-shifting, possessing access to innate spellcasting, and increasing physical capabilities. He manifests his spellcasting with the use of ofuda scrolls and magatama beads, along with letting loose blue fox fire to burn away complications.

🎐 Skills: Shuichiro is very in tune with nature and is able to sense subtle changes in the environment. Being able to detect changes in the atmosphere, sensing the feelings of animals, and feeling the lifeforce of plant-life around him. He can also be thought of as a snack eating champion, being able to stuff his face full of junk food more than any of his peers. How he's able to munch away so much food while still maintaining his slender frame is anyone's guess.

🎐 Equipment: His most notable gear are packs of ofuda talismans that he always carries on his person, along with a magatama necklace that manifests when he enters into his yokai form.

🎐 Brief Backstory: Shuichiro spent much of his early life in the forested countryside, showing many aspects of his lazy yet mischievous personality even then. Stealing food and pulling pranks on unsuspecting hikers and sleeping campers.

One day while prowling around, he happened upon a campsite some shmuck had left unattended. With a devilish smirk on his face, his makes his way over to ransack the site. He'd at least stick around from the shadows to see the look of shock and frustration on the face of the person who's camp he raided. Unfortunately for Shuichiro, his plan didn't quite work out. The camp was actually one that belonged to an old, but powerful priestess who could easily see through the fox's tricks. Easily incapacitating him, Shuichiro despaired as he prepared to meet his fate. However, the old woman saw that the kitsune wasn't so much a threat as just a little brat who needed a nudge in the right direction. She opted to spare Shuichiro's life as opposed to taking it, sensing a kindred spirit within the fox.

After seeing that he had a genuine interest in the human world, she decided to take him as his guardian to further teach him how to appropriately interact with human folk and the in's and out's of their society. Although, his less savory traits hadn't mellowed out quite yet.

Eventually, he found himself enrolled at Miyama High School. He would find himself being approached by an odd girl by the name of Tomoko, who offered him to join the Occult club. It sounded interesting, so he thought 'eh, why not?' Besides, it's not like he had anything better to besides sleeping in class...



"Alright look, I know it's fluffy and all, but my tail is off limits. Get me? Although, a pack of bonito flakes might change my mind~"

[Vega7285]

Name: Kiyohara Homura
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Appearance:
Full character artwork is pretty huge, so it just gets a link.
Homura is, at least appearance-wise, a fairly unassuming young lady high school student. She doesn’t dress to stand out, most of the time, wears glasses, and has long black hair with very visible white streaks in it. Take your best shot, she’s heard and deflected them all, by now. Homura is usually seen carrying a shinai bag. Its contents vary between practice weapons and her actual one, depending on the circumstances.

Possession mode appearance
When possessed by her sword, Most of Homura’s hair turns white, and the streaks that were already white instead take on a luminous red hue.

Personality:
Homura, despite her name, is a cool and collected individual. She tends to remain calm in most situations and isn’t the sort to back down from a threatening opponent. She is polite, kind, and dutiful, and takes her training seriously. Her somewhat detached approach to life can easily lead to her being “spacey”, and it’s not altogether inaccurate. She’d miss quite a lot if she didn’t have a second set of eyes watching out for her.

Homura’s life isn’t all training in kendo to inherit the family’s style and continue the family business as a youkai hunter. She enjoys anime and video games in her spare time, and plays some sort of otome game on her smartphone almost religiously. When particularly nervous or flustered, she has a habit of messing with her glasses, usually cleaning them.

Vermillion Harvest Moon (Mizuki)
Although “only” a sword, Mizuki deserves her own entry as well. She tends to view Homura with parental concern, and is often the one who has to warn her wielder of impending danger, especially of the supernatural sort. She’s not above a considerable amount of sass when she does, either. She seeks to understand humans through combat, or so she claims. Of the two, she’s often the more aggressive one, though beyond rattling in her sheath of her own accord, these aspects tend to only manifest when possessing Homura.

Abilities:
Homura herself is a more or less ordinary human, with the physical abilities one would expect. Also she has myopia, not that it’s a useful ability.

Her family has been youkai hunters for generations, and she trains in the family martial and exorcism arts. She can write talismans, but she has little to no talent for imbuing them with actual power. She does have a knack for things relating to her own body. She can enhance her own balance and lighten her body, to remain sure-footed in any situation, and stand on surfaces that otherwise would not support her. She can also leap exceptionally long distances horizontally or vertically.

Homura’s sword, Vermillion Harvest Moon is a tsukumogami. It has lived, and fought, for generations, and carries volumes of experience in combat. As a youkai weapon, it’s also quite dangerous to youkai and spirits of various sorts. It is also perfectly capable of speech, even when not possessing someone.

Through contact, the sword can possess someone to act as its wielder (or, perhaps,to wield their body as an extension of the weapon). In the case of the youkai hunters of the Kiyohara family, ancient blood contracts render this possession into more of a collaboration, where the youkai hunter is usually still in control of their actions, and merely benefits from essentially becoming a half-youkai while under its effects, gaining increased physical capabilities.

Skills:
Homura is training in her family’s form of exorcism arts, primarily using swords or unarmed strikes. She’s as good as one would expect for someone raised in a dojo.

She can follow a recipe and cook well enough, and is also quite good at making tea. Decent calligraphy skills, from making talismans and charms. Reasonably adept gamer.
Equipment:
Vermillion Harvest Moon - The Kiyohara family’s heirloom katana, and a tsukumogami in its own right. The spirit of the sword tends to go by the name “Mizuki.”

Smartphone, glasses, stockings, etc. If it’s the sort of mundane thing a teenage girl would have, she probably has it.

Brief Backstory:
Homura is an ordinary girl, her family just has an unusual job. They’re youkai hunters, and have been for generations. In the modern day, the true calling is hardly as important as it used to be, but that certainly doesn’t stop the passing down of the old traditions.

Homura began training from a young age at the family dojo, learning the ways of a youkai hunter. She didn’t necessarily understand why she had to go through such harsh training, but she was in no position to question it, either. She’d never even heard of a youkai terrorizing anyone outside of fairy tales. Or maybe some of those bedtime stories were family history? Regardless, while there might still be a need for youkai hunters, both the hunter and the prey have gotten subtler and adopted modern methods of living. Her family runs a cafe.

As the current heir to her family’s style, Homura wields the family sword, a tsukumogami blade. Given the state of her hair, she’s definitely had occasion to do so in the past, as the longer one remains possessed by the sword, the more of the victim’s hair turns permanently white.

While she avoided the repeated attempts of her high school’s kendo club to recruit her, she was given an offer she couldn’t refuse, when it came to the occult club.

[Pyromania99]

Tanuki

• Name: “Yamada” Shina
• Age: 427
• Gender: Female
• Race: Tanuki
• Appearance: Shina’s normal appearance is a very well endowed woman with short brown hair. While going to school, she basically keeps the same appearance but makes herself shorter and slightly younger looking.
• Personality: Shina is a fairly materialistic and fun having Tanuki. She has fun while making fun of people, but also has fun while making money. The majority of what she does is fueled by her desire for money, fun or entertainment of some sort. And it’s not difficult to truly entertain her. Many would probably think of her as "selfish" or "an asshole" and they'd probably be right. Making enemies was as natural to her as making friends and sometimes it depended on the day which was easier.
• Abilities: As a Tanuki, Shina has the tricky ability to shapeshift. And she makes almost excessive use of it. The one tell-tale sign of Shina is the little leaf hair ornament that stays on her regardless of her form in some way.
  
  Tanuki tend to have luck on their side. Enough so to the point that Shina herself tends to take risks that a normal person wouldn’t even consider.
• Skills: Shina developed quite a few practical skills over time. Sleight of Hand, monetary prediction…. Though, perhaps not the best home-maker. Especially recently as she lets her money do the talking for her in that regard.
• Equipment: Other than her hair pin, nothing in particular.
• Brief Backstory:Since the Edo period, Shina has been an active agent in the acquiring of funds. Swindling, selling exotic goods and other magical items… Whatever she could so long as she could have a legitimate sale or try making a fool of someone. As time went on and she stepped into modernity, she started to change tactics with changing times. Instead of swindling and such for money, she did it solely for entertainment. Instead, for her profit, she made a diverse investment portfolio and succeeded fairly well.
  
  Now, she spends a more quiet life. Trying to fit in with the people and pulling some mostly harmless pranks every now and then between starting businesses by investing in them while she heads some more… Mystical shops in particular.

[Octo]

Zashiki Girl

Name: Hina

Age: 674 (looks ~13 at the oldest)

Gender: Female

Race: Zashiki-Warashi (Chopirako Class)

Appearance: A young-looking girl that very obviously does not belong in high school, though insists that she’s just very short for her age. She has long brown hair, and tends to wear traditional clothing that makes her stand out quite a bit. Hina has a light and a beauty that is unimpeachable, as expected of a top-class Zashiki-Warashi. The smile on her face is perpetual, the smile in her heart is not.

Personality: Though she acts friendly, and is often genuinely playful, there’s a deep darkness in her heart at the very edge of perception. She tends to look down on Humans, despite nominally getting along with them, and plays pranks often. Sometimes, however, what she thinks is funny and what others think is funny are two different things.

Abilities: Hina is able to bless and curse others at her whim. She has some control over how powerful these blessings or curses are, though they can be made more powerful through offerings. A great enough offering may allow her to bless or curse someone to an immense degree for an entire lifetime. Hina can become tangible and intangible, can walk through nonmagical walls and obstacles, and is capable of flight. Anything she wears or holds can become intangible with her. Hina does not need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe. Biological factors, such as disease and poison, do not affect her. She also cannot get drunk, even if she would like to. She can still eat and drink if she wants, but it doesn’t do anything on its own.

Skills: Hina has been around for longer than most Youkai, which gives her a bit of a leg up. She’s learned a lot in her years, but only about things that seemed fun. She won’t learn anything boring! She can cook well, and is very good at almost any game on the planet. She’s an origami expert, and is surprisingly good with computers as well. She’s the best at cartoon trivia, and knows a good amount about other Youkai too. She’s also good at drawing and writing, and publishes manga online.

Equipment: Hina keeps a big pile of offerings and treasures in a locked room of the clubhouse due to her deal with Tomoko. Most of it is junk, but chances are if someone needs something weird and/or mundane, Hina can find it in her treasure room.

Brief Backstory:
“So… that’s what the bitch was protecting,” said the long-haired man, scowling down at the baby on the ground. It was crying, smothered and choked in the cold of the February rain.

“We… we can’t. You’re not going to kill the child, are you?” the short-haired man replied.

“The Ashikaga made it pretty clear. Look at those adornments, and tell me the kid isn’t important. No nobles. As many as we can find.”

The short-haired man approached the baby, and examined it.

“It’s a girl,” he said, trying to swallow his disgust, hoping the long-haired man would be dissuaded.

“Then it won’t be missed,” the long-haired man said, pulling a dagger from his belt.

The short-haired man shook his head, and turned away.

“I can’t be a part of this.”

“Then be silent and leave. Go imagine how honorable you are elsewhere, while I take care of all the tough business.”

“You’re a monster.”

“Better a monster than allowing yet another generation to fall into the horrors of war when that girl grows up looking to stake a claim.”

“You… could leave her. Here. Like this. She’ll pass eventually. You don’t have to-”

“Now which of us is being cruel?”

The short-haired man sighed, and went off to find a shovel nearby. As he began walking, the crying stopped.

“I’m so, so sorry, kid,” he muttered, “you were born under an ill omen, at a bad time and place. That’s all. You didn’t… do anything wrong.”

Hina knew, from the very beginning, that the darkness in the Human heart could surpass the cruelty of any Youkai. Blood in the soil. A mother and daughter, ripped asunder and reunited in death. A house built on a foundation of flesh and bones. Hina awoke in the sitting room of a just-married couple. Her first guests. They imagined that she was just a cute neighbor girl that came over often to play, only realizing in the years to come that she never aged. They had been offering her snacks and sweets, even when they didn’t know she was a spirit, and that good will paid off. They bore an unequivocally healthy child, who went on to become a truly renowned samurai. This boy came back to the house, and started his own family, paying reverence to his childhood friend and guardian spirit, Hina. Each generation, however, that reverence would wane. The children would forget their old friend when they grew up. A spot that was once designated for offerings would instead be used for archiving mail. Then, converted into a litterbox for a cat. Eventually, it would be torn out for a luxuriant add-on that no one would thank Hina for, despite her blessings.

It was not over a short time that Hina felt herself come to resent Humans, even though her genesis was a true act of demonic cruelty from a very Human heart. She wanted to care for her families, because she was never given the chance to do so as a person. But they kept treating her worse and worse. They’d take what they wanted, and then forget who gave it to them. Offerings would dry up and, when she wanted to pull a prank for attention, they’d call a priest and attempt to exorcise her. However, she was one of the longest-lived Zashiki-Warashi in Japan. It would take more than that to get rid of her, and she had gotten fed up. The cruelty. The insult. The young master would never have stood for this treatment, yet his descendants were a gaggle of overprivileged ignoramuses. Hina left that house, she was powerful enough to beak that bond and strike out on her own. The hundreds of years of fortune turned into misfortune, and the entirety of the household imploded in a matter of days.

Thus, Hina went on a rampage. She’d take up new residences, give the families immense fortune, and then depart and turn it into a curse. This led to a bizarre series of strings of good luck in a small area, quickly turning catastrophic, all among unrelated persons and families. To call it a challenging case for a young supernatural investigator would be an immense understatement. Hina was not just any Zashiki-Warashi, she was an unnaturally vengeful one with a grudge, and she was always moving around. Her behavior was odd and unpredictable by any stretch, and the only way to get ahead of her would be to look out for people who seemed unnaturally lucky, determine whether they lived in a feasible area given where the previous incidences occurred, and then go to those houses and determine whether or not there was a supernatural entity there and, if there was, determine whether that entity was capable of doing all the things it seemed to be doing. It was lengthy, required hours of research and legwork, had a ton of red herrings, and occasionally it would be too late once Hina was tracked down, already having moved on. Even so, she was eventually cornered. However, Hina didn’t want to fight, and suggested they play a game instead. Tomoko won (likely by cheating) and offered Hina a spot at her club. Because Hina had been caught, she thought it seemed right to go along with the girl. Maybe it would be a fun club. Besides, Tomoko said she would give Hina a space to keep offerings. Finally, a little respect.