Okawa was a small rural town in Japan.

As a small town famous for its farms and the quiet and peaceful environment, it was normal for the days to pass without anything interesting happening. Here, news about a theft could be a topic of conversation for weeks.

It was so peaceful, that some of its inhabitants hoped for something to happen; so they can find something to distract themselves from their ordinary daily lives.

Precisely because of it, the students from class 2-D of Okawa High School found it strange when two of their classmates failed to come to class.

When the teacher at charge learned about it, he asked some of his students to visit the two siblings after class and lend them the notes about the day’s lessons.

So, when the bell ringed signaling the end of classes, most of the students belonging to 2-D decided to go together to visit the siblings and ask them about the reason for their absence.

Tekoa Kei was between the students that went to visit the siblings.

Between jokes and games, the group took around twenty minutes to reach the place where the siblings lived.

It was a small farm, filled mainly with vegetables and some tubercles. It was located a bit away from the town, and not many people lived near here. The closest house was at least half a kilometer away.

When the group of students reached the farm, they noticed something strange.

… There wasn't anyone around the farm.

Normally, at this time of the day, it was normal for the siblings’ parents to be outside the house, tending the farm and checking if something was wrong with the vegetables.

… But they could not see any of them.

Despite finding it strange, the group did not pay it much attention. They might have been inside the house due to some reason after all, or maybe they went to the town to buy something.

So, the group simply decided to go inside and knock the door.

But while they were walking, Tekoa Kei stopped walking suddenly while wearing a strange expression.

Kazuki, one of his classmates and his best friend, saw it and walked towards him. In a concerned tone, he asked.

“Is anything wrong?”

Kei did not answer immediately. He put a pensive expression and shook his head while smiling wryly.

“Nothing, I thought that I heard someone speaking to me. I’m probably imagining things.”

“Is it so? What it said?”

“I’m not sure.” He answered hesitantly. “The voice was strange, as if coming from everywhere... If I'm not wrong, it said 'run'."

“Run...? Pfff... Hahaha… What is it? A horror movie!? Hahaha...” His friend laughed.

Kei made a forced smile and shook his head. “Don’t laugh at me, I told you that it was just my imagination.”

“Hahahaha! I think that it’s better if you stop seeing so much anime!”

Kei ignored his friend and sighed tiredly. He then shook his head and ran briefly to catch up with the rest of his classmates.

When they reached the door, one of the classmates extended his hand ready to knock it.

But at that moment, the door opened alone.

“Huh? Is it open?” He said.

“What happened?” One of his classmates asked.

“I don’t know. It was open when I tried to knock.”

Kei frowned seeing it and gave a shout. “Rei! Nana! Are you there!? We came to visit you!”

But nobody answered.

“How strange…” Whispered a girl.

The students finally noticed that something was wrong, and serious expressions appeared on their faces. Kei furrowed his brows and looked towards the interior of the house.

“Are we going inside?” Asked a male classmate.

Kei hesitated briefly and signaled to his best friend before answering.  “Kazuki and I will go. The rest of you stay here in case something happens.”

Seeing the other students agreeing, Kei signaled to his friend to follow him and walked inside the house.

Slowly, they walked towards the living room while calling for the siblings.

But when they advanced a few meters more, a strong smell assaulted them.

The pair immediately changed their expressions.

Though they were not experts in crimes, they knew that something was very wrong when the noticed the strong smell of blood coming from the living room.

And when they entered the living room, their thoughts were confirmed.

… Because the entire place was dyed in blood.

The walls and floor were covered in blood, and human parts could be seen lying around. The place seemed like a scene from a horror movie.

“Ugh!”

Frightened, the two friends suppressed their desire to throw up and left quickly. But before they could recover, they heard a cry.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

The cry came from outside the house.

The expression of the two turned ugly, but before they could go out and ask what was happening, more cries came from outside.

“AHhhhhhhhh!”

“RUN!!!”

“Help!!!”

When they heard it, Kei and Kazuki were stunned in place.

A feeling of fear-filled them and the scene inside the living room appeared in their minds again. Kei quickly suppressed the terror inside him and began to run outside to see what was happening.

But at that moment, a voice sounded in his mind.

‘RUN!’

It was a strange voice, different from any voice he heard before. Kei got the feeling that the voice embodied the feelings of all the living beings around him.

Shaking his head, he ignored it and continued running. Currently, he could not afford to think about it.

Without hesitation, he opened the door and came outside the house.

There, he saw it.

A strange fox, at least two meters tall, was eating a human arm while stepping in the body of one of his classmates.

And around it, three bodies more laid dead.

An expression of fear appeared on his face. He could see some of his companions running away while others did his best to stay out of the fox’s sight.

Cries of help and sobs of pain filled his ears.

Before he could react to the situation, the fox looked towards him.

Kei then saw it.

The pleasure in the beast’s eyes, the hunger behind its gaze, the desire to entertain itself using the lives of his classmates.

And at the next instant, the beast was before him.

Kei instinctively jumped aside. Maybe due to good luck, he was able to evade the fox's claws.

The claws destroyed the place where he stood a second ago, and created a hole in the ground with the attack.

Kei quickly stood up after evading the fox and grabbed a stick lying around. He then tried to run away from it.

The beast, however, laughed to his clumsy attempt. With a growl of pleasure, it jumped again towards Kei.

But at that moment, something changed.

When Kei was about to give up and resigned himself to die, the voice from before returned.

But this time, he understood clearly what was the source of it.

The trees, plants and small animals around him were whispering.

And he understood their words.

‘Take our power…’ They said.

Kei felt the power of the world flowing through his body. A refreshing sensation filled him, and he got the feeling that the monster attacking him was not as strong as he thought before.

So, following his instinct, he swung his stick.

And then, a wave of light illuminated the surroundings.