Chapter 02: My Story

My name is Jokara Kowai. As of right now, I'm 8. Yeah, not 15, or whatever age they usually enroll in UA. You'll see why soon.

I didn't originate from this city. I came from a tribe. My tribe lives far on the wild outskirts of Japan. We are hunters, as well as nomads. We don't have ranks or anything like that, but we do have job designations, such as hunter, gatherer, shaman, elder, stuff like that. The women are generally the ones who are gatherers, while the men are generally hunters. Shamans are healers/doctors, and operate using herbs that our gatherers find during their expeditions. Elders are our "Wisemen", who decide on things that happen in the tribes. The male children have a "coming of age" ceremony, where they are given a spear and/or bow along with arrows tipped with poison, and are sent out to hunt an animal, kill it, and bring it back to the tribe, and upon success, they will be accepted as a hunter, and will be allowed to do more than before their proving. (This is based on a real tribe here in South Africa. They are called the Khoisan. They are hunter-gatherers, and it is true that women are generally gatherers while men are generally hunters. I know that they have shamans, and I'm pretty sure I remember learning that they do have elders who help in decision-making for the tribe)

Eventually, it was my turn to try and prove myself. So, they did the standard. They give me a spear, a bow with around 15 poison-tipped arrows, and sent me out. I decided I was going to try and play it somewhat safe, so I set my sights on a buck. (I don't know if there are buck that live in Japan, please just roll with it.) I found one after a 2 hour walk in several different directions, and I managed to pierce it's skin with an arrow, allowing the poison to seep into it's body. Now, what the hunters do in this case is follow the poisoned animal slowly until it's either dead or too weak to flee, in which case they mercy kill it to put it out of it's misery. So that's what I did. I kept following this poisoned buck as it ran away. This buck was extremely resilient, so the chase lasted for days.

On the second day of chasing the buck, it made it's way into a forest/hill type area. I had never seen this area before, and I had never heard of any stories of it from the hunters who recall their trips. However, I was fixated on catching this buck, so I put that thought aside and followed it into the forest.

Unaware of 4 feline-themed Heroes watching me.

The buck eventually dropped onto the forest floor after an hour of trudging through this new environment. It was still alive, in pain, so I mercy killed it by impaling it through the head with my spear, which had been covered in dirt and moss throughout the hunt. I knelt and wished for the buck to have a peaceful next life, before going to hoist it on my shoulder to take it back to my tribe to show that I had proven myself.

As I went to grab it though, the exhaustion from the 2 and a half day hunt caught up to me all at once, and I collapsed on the ground. Before I was completely out, I heard semblances of words being yelled out.

???: -Oy...et..lodge!!

I woke up what must have been 7 or 8 hours later, because when I came to, it was dark out. Not only that, but I was in some kind of room. I was in a bed, and the room was primarily made of wood. Before I could think further, a blonde haired woman wearing a mainly blue outfit came into the room.

???: Oh, you're awake. That's good. When we found you, you looked like you were about to die from exhaustion. We rushed you here and patched you up.

I didn't know who this woman was, but upon hearing that they went out of their way to patch me up, I knew they didn't have any malicious intent. After all, the only types of people who would heal someone that they had intentions to harm instead of just doing away with them, are idiots, no exceptions.

Me: Um..thanks. What's your name?

Pixie Bob: My name is Pixie Bob!! I'm part of the Hero team, Wild Wild Pussycats!!

She seemed...very flamboyant when it came to herself and her team. Strange name, but there could be much stranger. Besides, I would assume it has to do with her feline-themed outfit.

Pixie Bob: Me and my team saw you when you entered our forest. You were tracking a buck, which seemed to be limping. What's up with that?

So they saw me as soon as I entered their forest. Either they have lots of people scouting the area, or they have someone who is skilled in tracking people.

Me: I was hunting it. I was conducting a "coming of age" ceremony.

When I said that, she looked confused.

Pixie Bob: No offense, but, what kind of family decides that hunting is an appropriate ceremony for coming of age? There's supermarkets, ya know?

Me: What's a "market"? Is it some kind of beast? Is this "Supermarket" a much more powerful relative of it? How come I have never heard of this creauture?

She looked like someone had just told her the funniest joke in the world and told her not to laugh, but also looked very worried at the same time.

Pixie Bob: Kid, are you alright? Where did you come from?

I was confused at her dodging my valid question, but I answered her regardless.

Me: I am from the Kaguya tribe. What tribe are you from? Are you from the Felina clan? They do worship felines in that tribe, and base their lifestyle off of them, after all.

She put her hand on her forehead, turned around, and took an extremely deep breath. Was there something wrong with what I said? Was it rude to ask other people about their tribes unless you were friends with them?

She turned around after a few seconds of deep breaths, and looked at me with a serious face.

Pixie Bob: Kid, I'm going to ask you a few questions, and I want you to answer me honestly. Can you do that?

I nodded my head at her, something that made her smile. I wonder what part of my simple action gave her so much joy?

She showed me a picture of some sort of grey, rectangular...thing? It was very tall, and had blue-ish or clear squares on parts of it.

Pixie Bob: What do you think this is?

Me: A strange creature. Maybe it stays in one spot and waits for prey to walk past it, and then it attacks them.

Pixie Bob looked to be shaking, her cheeks puffed out, and she was letting out a strange sound from her nose. Like she wasn't trying to let something out. Did I say something wrong?

Pixie Bob: That's...a skyscraper. It's a building.

Me: A... building? What's that?

Pixie Bob: ...Just think of a much bigger hut. And made of cement, along with other things to support it.

I still don't get it, but I'll go along with it.

Pixie Bob: Alright, kid, I'm going to give you an option. Would you like to stay with us and discover new things, or would you like us to take you back to your tribe?

I thought very hard on this choice. I wasn't old, yes, but I heard countless of my tribe members talking about wanting new experiences, not just hunting, gathering, and traveling for their whole lives. I didn't want to have a life of nothing but that. I wanted something new. Something else.

Me: I choose to stay with you.

She smiled at me. I don't know what made her so happy about it, but it's nice to see others smile from your actions, so I didn't think further on it.

Pixie Bob: Well then, I'll have to have a talk with the others about how we'll explain you to others. For now, just get some more rest. You still need to recover a lot of energy that you spent on that hunt.

And that is how I find the world outside of the wilds, and how I met my current family. The Pussycats.