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He’s there, again.
Shiki uses her finger to move the branches enough to make a gap for her to peek through. There’s not a lot alive now - winter has claimed mostly everything, coming through and killing everything off. A thick layer of snow covered the shore, and ice spread out from the shallowest points. Ice hadn’t covered the entire lake in many years. That fact didn’t stop it from trying.
She squints. Amongst the blinding white of the snow, he stood out like a sore thumb. Not that it would be hard. The lake was hidden in the middle of a bamboo grove. Not many humans knew of its existence.
And if they did - well, they wouldn’t for long.
Shiki grits her teeth, drawing her hand away and slipping back down under the water. She makes sure to signal her departure with a loud slap of her tail.
If he wanted to get sick by sitting outside in freezing temperatures day in and day out, he could.
She can smell him.
Rather, she can smell his tea. He cradles it to keep him warm. It’s ten below today, his breath mingling with the steam of his drink in the air. Shiki presses her front to a rock as she studies him carefully. Clawed hands scratch at its surface as she holds on.
What was wrong with him?
Hadn’t he heard of the stories? More and more humans had gone missing in these woods. Red dyed the snow banks that lined the lake’s shores. Policemen, too afraid to dip into her domain, skimmed the water before deciding it was a string of animal attacks.
Didn’t he know what would happen if he kept sitting here?
He raised his cup up, blowing on the surface before bringing it to his lips. Warmth spread to his cheeks, a rosy red that ran up his face. He closed his eyes, raising his shoulders and sighing. Snow fell on the frames of his glasses, cold tightened its grasp on him - yet, he seemed the happiest man in the world.
Shiki grasped at the rock even tighter.
The redness of his cheeks. It was gorgeous. That red.
She would not get any more visitors with him around; she was hungry. It’d be easy. He was practically asking to be killed by her.
She could spread that crimson.
Shiki pushed herself off the rock. Her shoulders were growing cold in the winter air. She descended back down again.
He could wait if he liked.
Spring brought with it rain and runoff, causing the lake to grow in size. Shiki appreciated the extra space, extending her tail out and exploring the sections she had been unable to investigate with the summer’s dry spells. The river widened just enough for her to swim through, opening up new opportunities for game, and she ate well for the first time since winter.
The rain did not stop him however.
He crouched, umbrella in one hand, watching the surface of the lake. Any tiredness she would expect wasn’t there.
She didn’t understand him. Humans were just another thing to hunt - they had their bait. Their endurance would run out. Any regular human would have given up after the second day, or after a week if they were particularly committed to the task. He had been haunting her lake for an entire season.
Shiki crawled in between the weeds, mud covering her belly and grass sticking to her forearms. In the summer she would be unable to do this, the clay of the lakebed would trap her unless she dragged herself out. She could watch him from here for the time being.
This was the closest she had been to him. Unconsciously, she held herself completely still, lest her restlessness moved the cattails.
He was…unique. Unique in the sense that he was perfectly normal. Black hair the colour of the night. His glasses would slide down his nose before he would realize and push them back up. His clothes gave no indication of anything interesting (from what Shiki knew of how humans accessorized).
No other human joined him in this watch. He sometimes spoke to himself, but sparingly - chastising himself when he dropped something, humming some song that would get stuck in her head.
Shiki pressed her palms into the lakebed. What was it about this human? Why couldn’t she just…?
No.
She wanted to. She wanted so desperately to give him what he wanted. He wanted to see her.
They would deliver. They would show their face.
And then they would kill him.
Eat up that gorgeous expression.
“I want to speak to him,” her mind told herself.
And sometimes, Shiki didn’t have control over her mind.
Summer came in on a dry spell. Perhaps that’s why it was alright. Shiki made excuses - the lake had all but dried up completely, making it difficult for her to find any place to hide from humans. If she had been smarter, maybe she would have taken the river up to the bigger lake, so she could swim comfortably with her family. Where she could rest.
But he wouldn’t be waiting at that lake.
“Yo, human,” Shiki says, slinking up to the shallows.
He raised his head from where he had been looking, his eyes widening. Shiki smirked - so they had successfully slipped past him. The summer reeds were in their adulthood, providing good cover if they needed to dip back down. They also acted as good cover.
Today, Shiki didn’t want to hide. They opened their mouth to show off their teeth, used their hands to move so he had a good view of their claws.
Run away little human. Before we kill you.
“It’s you!”
He broke into a big smile, fumbling off of the rock he was sitting on to get closer to where Shiki was stalking. He got as close to the water as he could without getting his shoes wet.
Shiki blinked in confusion.
The hunt of a human had become second nature to Shiki. All they needed to do was find the bait that would trap the prey. Once they drew close enough, they would reveal their deck.
Most humans’ faces would twist into realization when they saw Shiki’s claws and teeth. They would make the connection - the string of ‘accidents’ were by their own hands. They would dine on the fumbling movements and the terror.
What was up with this human?
“I knew I saw something last winter!” The human continues. His eyes stay transfixed on Shiki’s own. Something twisted and turned inside them.
Did this guy seriously have a death wish?!
“To be honest, I’m surprised that you showed up. I thought you hated me when you slapped your tail down in January.” He’s talking, not waiting for their response. His face is full of joy.
“I wanted to meet you,” Shiki explains, “I finally pushed myself to talk to you.”
Shockingly, his smile grew wider, “I’m Kokutou! Kokutou Mikiya!”
“Shiki.”
He blinked, cocking his head to the side, “Just… Shiki?”
“We are just Shiki.”
She would kick herself for her actions that night. Why had they done that?
Now there was an expectation. Now, he would come in every day and expect to talk to her. They should have just killed him.
However…
She looked up at the rock he had been sitting on. She drew her tail up to her chest, curling herself up into a ball. Her fingers played with her scales.
She did want to see him again.
However…
That would make it harder not to kill him.
August is hot and humid, with the bugs screaming for anyone who can hear. Thankfully, with it comes more tourists, more dumb humans to trap. Shiki is careful, however. She hunts near the river, away from the spot Mikiya sits.
They should kill in front of him. So he got the hint.
…They don’t change their hunting grounds.
He keeps on coming, day in and day out. Some days they talk, mostly she visits him out of her own curiosity. On others, he continues to talk to himself until she can’t help it and joins him. It’s an odd comfort, talking to him. He is far more complex than any human she’s known. Far more pleasant than any of her family.
On warmer days, he dips his feet into the water when they chat. He’s young, but she could tell that from his face. He rambles on and on about classmates, about school being out for the summer break, about the homework he has to get done. Shiki doesn’t understand any of this - but she finds herself listening. If anything, it’s something to pass the time.
“Have you heard much about the murders around here?” Mikiya asks randomly one day, as he’s eating some round food that Shiki hasn’t one-hundred percent figured out just yet.
Shiki pauses. She had been playing with a weed, twirling it around her finger and making ties. She looks over to him, “The police have been here a couple of times to investigate.”
“Yeah, I remember one time I had to avoid a barricade to come and sit by your lake,” Mikiya comments, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
Shiki frowns, “And yet you still came?”
“Well of course! I wanted to see you!”
How…how did he not know? How was he not able to connect the dots?
“They said it was an animal attack, however I’ve never seen an animal cut through a body like that.” Mikiya adds, “Oh, I have a friend in the police.” As if that was the detail that Shiki was caught on.
“Do they have any leads?” Shiki asks instead.
He cocks his head to the side, taking a bite of the round-food item. “I don’t think so, it’s hard to keep track of all of the animals here. I heard they might start putting tags on them though.”
Shiki pushes herself away from the shore, slinking back into deeper water until she’s mostly underwater. He jumps up in response, splashing the pants he rolled up to his shins.
“Shiki? Is everything okay?" He looks down, "Sorry…is this not appropriate?”
She drops down so it’s just her chin that’s above the surface, “I just don’t think we should be discussing murder when you’re eating.”
He glances in between his food item and her and chuckles softly, “Haha, right.”
What was wrong with him? Why would he bring up such a subject?
She swam off before he could complain.
Summer grasped on tight for as long as it could. It was good for them - they ate well, dining on the tourists that came for the fall colours. The water was still warm, and Shiki spent their days trapping humans in the river. Due to a certain individual, winter was dry for them last year. They would make sure they were full for the season.
Shiki’s ears twitched. They peeked up above the water. A human stumbled around in the darkness, clearly lost from their camp. A smirk spread across their face.
Perfect.
Blood mixed with the dark waves. Their claws were slick, coated in red. Splashes of crimson dotted their face and hair. Delicious, delicious -
Snap!
A crack rose from their daydream. Carefully, they lifted their head, their eyes cutting through the darkness to see the culprit.
Mikiya watched them back in horror.
Shiki’s smirk grew.
Perfect.
“Yo, human,” Shiki called, pushing themselves off the corpse and drawing a hand out, “Come talk with me.”
With a start, he dashed off into the night.
He’s there, again.
Shiki was confused. He had seen them eat. He had seen them covered in a human’s blood.
October had sent a chilling wind through the grove, killing the leaves with it and littering the floor with death. Summer had tried its best, but the snow and the cold would return soon.
She had known he had a death wish since the beginning. She fought with her mind, wrestled for control. She was hungry. She didn’t know when she could eat again.
But more than anything - she was frustrated.
“Why are you here?” Shiki asks, popping out of the water with a big splash.
Mikiya is sent backwards, crashing into some leaves. He opens his mouth to speak, but she cuts him off. She rises up on her palms, her shoulders above the water.
“You saw what happened last night. You saw the truth - yet you’re back.” Her voice raises, her hands digging into the dirt. Her entire body feels hot. How many times did he need to get it over his head that she-
“I didn’t see you do it,” Mikiya explains, “I…I don’t believe you did it.”
“What?” she barks, furrowing her brow.
It doesn’t faze him. He sits cross-legged and leans forward. “I don’t believe you killed that man.”
Her frustration boils over, and quick as lightning she reaches out, grabbing onto his ankle. “Don’t come back - if you value your life.” She lets go, using the force to push her back into the center of the lake.
“If you do, we’ll kill you.”
She’s almost happy when she doesn’t see him by the shore the next morning. When she comes back from dining on fish, he hasn’t arrived either. As the sun dips down, she sighs, thankful that he had listened to her warning.
Almost happy.
She misses his presence. He’s calming. He’s a door to a world Shiki can never experience.
And also.
They wanted to kill him. They wanted to see that expression of betrayal, how delicious it would have been to realize that his belief meant nothing to reality.
She’s about to settle into her bed when she hears familiar footsteps, careful and quiet but nevertheless it’s him. Rage runs through her. They take over.
They wait until he’s at the shore. They grab at his ankle, pulling him down onto his back and dragging him into the lake.
He kicks and kicks, thrashing his body. Mikiya tries turning his body, grabbing onto the dirt, anything to keep from being pulled to a watery grave. “Shiki! Please!” he calls out, as if he would get any other answer. As if they hadn’t been patient.
Shiki is calm. None of his movements are enough to keep him from his fate. They pull, letting his own desperation tire him out. Their claws scratch his skin and the smell of blood floods their senses. From behind his glasses, Shiki soaks up the stricken look on his face.
They slither up, pinning him down with his tail. Their body presses against his chest, their claws at his throat. Water droplets fall onto his frames. Red swirls between them, spreading out into the water.
Shiki looks down at him.
Mikiya looks up at them.
No.
No.
What do you mean, no? Isn’t this what we want? Isn’t this what we told him we’d do?
“You’re…you’re beautiful,” Mikiya coughs. He’s smart enough not to move but to breathe. The rise and fall of his chest is the only thing that reminds Shiki they’re not done. “I…I love you, Shiki.”
No.
No.
No.
Don’t do it.
We don’t want to kill him.
What? Of course we do.
No.
Shiki withdraws the claws. He’s warm. Despite the water, despite the night’s chill.
He’s so warm.