(no subject)

[spacialeyes]

The Spirit Day festivities only picked up pace as the night went on. Music mixes with laughter, lights colour the sky and keep the stars company, and smiles warm the air-- And as much as Yuuto enjoys this kind of happiness, it is overwhelming. He can't shake the feeling that he doesn't belong here. For how many years did he watch Spirit Day from the gap in a door? For his entire life, Yuuto has been a spectator. Standing in the crowd as a participant... feels strange.

"You have to stay inside, Yuu-kun. If anyone saw you, it would be trouble."

"I know that you want to play, but people will ask questions..."

"If we let Yuu-kun make friends, then what happens to the other kids when he disappears?"

"It's only going to hurt people if they lose him. It would be better if he stayed away."

It feels wrong. No matter how much he talks to his new friends or wanders the festival, Yuuto can't shake the feeling that he doesn't belong here. He's neither a kami born from faith nor a human born to love. He's something else. A sad secret. A source of shame. A curse. The type of thing that belongs behind closed doors. A beloved monster on a short leash, hurting people with his existence.
Still, he wants to make this his new normal. Even if it's stressful, he tries to stand in place and watch from within the crowd.

Until the air around him begins to feel like static. It's heavy and painful, making the strings of space feel like knives that dig into his soul. It somehow feels loud, like there's a pounding in his ears, but he knows what he hears isn't a mortal sound.

He remembers it from taking Dazai and Inaba back in time. It's the feeling of that thing. The one that Akutagawa said granted a wish for Yuuto, too. It's the creature that takes spirits and corrupts their wishes into curses.

Yuuto glances back at the festival. Spirit Day. A day when spirits are being celebrated by the people of this city. It would be a disaster if even one of them turned into a Rumor, but something tells him that one would be generous. With so many spirits gathered, it would be easy to corrupt a whole crowd and turn the happy holiday into chaos. Breathing in deeply, Yuuto turns his spacial senses 'on' before taking off towards the strange feeling.

It isn't hard to track down the source.

Hidden in the shadows of a nearby wood, That Thing watches the festival with a crooked smile. Their body is like the dark sky, faintly glimmering with stars, and twisted in unnatural angles. Their eyes, white like starlight, carve into their darkened form and a wide grin cuts across their face. When they make eye contact with Yuuto, he feels a wave of dread wash over him. In his hast to find the Wish Maker and prevent them from hurting the spirits, he's forgotten a key problem: He's a Rumor, isn't he? One of their Rumors.

Their grin widens when they see him, as if to acknowledge this fact. And in a mocking voice, distorted like broken strings on a violin, they laugh to him:

"Fou~nd you~. Have you had your selfish fun, Yumeno Yuuto?"

His blood runs cold. He wants to run, but his feet are rooted in place. But when he senses that he can't escape, Yuuto stubbornly turns the threat right back at the Wish Maker: He uses his power to cut them off from the rest of the festival. Their time and space are out of sync from the rest of the world, pulling like a rubberband that will certainly snap back to hurt him when he releases it.

But it's a calculated mistake. If he's going to confront this thing, then Yuuto doesn't want for anyone else to get involved. He can isolate the Wish Maker from the present and, in doing so, take away its ability to turn others into Rumors. In this way, even a weak and pathetic kami like Yuuto can protect the festival.

"You mean that I've found you." Yuuto corrects firmly, forcing out his fear and focusing on his courage, "And sure. Let's have some selfish fun. You've got a lot to answer for."

It's not the response that the Wish Maker is used to. They tilt their head at a nasty 90 degree angle.

"No... It does make sense. You were broken into pieces when I last saw you. So this is how you are when your soul is healed:" The confused look turns back to a sneer, "Stuupid and reckless."

Yuuto holds his ground, eyes narrowing more darkly at the insult. Even he has more creative ways to hurt his spirit, so the words are easy to brush off this time. He can't move, can't physically twist space with his hands, but all Yuuto needs to manipulate spacetime are his thoughts. He tries to focus on the being in front of him, testing the space around them for information on its form.

"That's right. I'm a stupid, reckless idiot. But I'm not the one who walked into a trap." It's a lie, but he keeps a confident tone. If he's good at anything, it's lying. "You aren't leaving this space without answering my questions. If even then at all!"

The space goes quiet. Two stubborn beings, staring each other down. Then the Wish Maker slithers closer, stretching their body tall and dragging their head to Yuuto's level. Clawed fingers caress his cheeks, forcing his glowing pink eyes to meet their own starlight white. Even so, he meets their chaotic amusement with a firm frown and matching glare. Even as a horrible screech for a voice seeps from their twisted expression:

"It's a mutual trap then... Because I was looking everywhere for you. I've waited so long for your curse to spread. But all good things have to come to an end, don't they, Yumeno Yuuto?"