***Following Kyo’s story in Tokyo during the 5 years gap when Micah went missing***

Everything seemed different the moment you open your eyes the next morning after a break-up. You could only look to the empty side of your bed, knowing that his warmth won’t fill that space again. You could look to find two toothbrushes in the bathroom where the brushes met one another like they were about to kiss which reminded you that there used to be a presence other than yourself in this place. But now, it was just you alone.

“I should have just eaten him!” Kyo complained as he picked up one of the toothbrushes and swiftly threw it away into the dustbin. “Useless human,” he complained again. “You’re lucky I really did have feelings for you.”

But life must go on. It would not make much of a difference anyway. Better to end it now than later. In one more year, he would be called back to ‘die’ at Brackish Ville anyway. This identity, Kiyoharu (Kyo) Takako, would no longer exist by then. And that guy, his ex, Kyo wouldn’t even know how old that guy would be by the time he went through rebirth again. Anyway, with human’s fragile life, sometimes it would end way too early. So, breaking-up was nothing. It was even necessary. And it was probably for the best. Since Kyo did have feelings for him anyway, perhaps it was best if that guy could go ahead and live a happier life out there somewhere somehow with someone else. He thought to himself silently that he should not hold any resentment towards his ex.

Besides, now that his ex is out of the picture, he could go ahead and venture into the night to look for new prey to play with. He hadn’t tasted human’s flesh in a while and he was bored anyway. He should go out to play. Tokyo is the best city to find entertainment. There are so many hidden entertainments here. To name a few, what fantasy do you have? Tentacles? Transvestite? Threesomes? Orgy? You name it. If you look at the right places, you’ll find just what you’re looking for.

And that night, Kyo found just what he was looking for.

At a red-light district in Shinjuku, Kyo found himself in a hidden, secretive night-club called ‘Woof’. He heard that this night-club fulfills the fantasy of people who wish to have sex with monsters or inhuman fictional characters from anime. It is perfect for him. As a monster himself, he knew all too well that this is the best place to let go of his human’s skin and become the real him. He is, after all, an ancient monster that has no name. The story of his existence was passed down from mouth to mouth yet no one knew of his true origin, especially the origin of his predecessor like Dominic which was the eldest among them. They have no actual shapes. They just become whatever image that the human’s minds find to be the most frightening to them.

But there was one form that he favored the most since ancient times. It was one of the well-known yokai in Japanese folklore called futakuchi-onna. Though he was not a woman in this form, the fear people possessed for the female version of monsters and ghosts alike were quite peculiar and he favored the taste of this fear. The smell of this kind of fear was delicious and even the flesh of the humans who possessed such fear tasted exquisite. Kyo missed the taste so much and he has not had such a meal in centuries. When was the last time he was in Japan anyway? Heian period? Kamakura period? He could not remember.

As he was lost in his own thoughts and excitement for what’s to come, he didn’t notice the pair of eyes that had followed his movements since his entrance into the club. Kyo had forgotten that he was not the only monster in this world. He had entered the territory of another monstrous being. And as ancient and powerful as he thought he was, he might just not be able to go against this much younger other being.

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*GLOSSARY:

Yokai = Japanese monster

Futakuchi-onna = Two-mouthed woman

NEXT UPDATE: 2022/12/05