4 Mass Gathering

"I wish I could say no... but the voice says I must."

"What voice?" Naomi fiddled with her entangled hair.

"Never mind, it's nothing."

They were both seated at a small round wooden table; eating from what appears to be a very large wooden bowl. "Who made this?" Naomi looked inside the bowl, "my dad's name is carved into the wood on the side." Kuoka leaned towards the bowl. "Oh it is..."

They both sat silent for a second, mesmerized by the contents of the bowl: chives, corn shavings, chicken wings and a mysterious soup beneath. It was red, creamy and steaming hot; there were visible ripples in the soup, when there shouldn't be any.

"You said your mother made this?" Kuoka grabbed a large wooden spoon, and scooped up the soup into another small bowl. "For the winter, yeah... but I never expected something so big." Kuoka took a small sip of the soup, "oh, this is good, tomato?"

"It definitely tastes like tomato. I didn't know you could make it this way, I should learn the reci-"

He woke up in the middle of the field, "wha-" A familiar voice called to him; he looked back and saw Naomi's father beckoning to him. "You FINALLY awake?" He yelled. "I could use some help, the rest are busy with their own things."

Kuoka walked up to her father, "what is it?" Her father made his hand flat and pointed it downward repeatedly, seemingly to call him over. Kuoka entered through a cloth that was hanged at the entrance to prevent the elements from entering.

"Naomi?!" She was lying on the ground, motionless and pale. 'Is she dead?!' He thought in his mind, but couldn't tell at first glance. He frantically panicked and grabbed her father's collar, "what happened?!" Her father bit his lip, and looked away.

"I found her in the middle of the field; like how you were, when you woke up." Kuoka couldn't remember a thing, why was he asleep in the field? "There has to be an evil curse; set by the gods, near here... that's the only explanation."

"Evil curse? Are you sure your head is ok?! Your daughter is dead infront of you!" Naomi's father bowed his head in apology. "She's alive, but it's the reason why I have to say these words that disturbs me." Kuoka scratched his head, "at least she's alive then." Her father stared at him.

"Kuoka... you don't remember?" He looked puzzled and afraid. "Remember what? Wasn't I asleep." Her father stood straight and continued staring at him. He walked to Kuoka, "you did this... you strangled her in the field." His face struck with horror... "there has to be a mistake, what do you mean, I strangled her?"

Kuoka quickly looked back at Naomi, who was lying in bed. She had red marks in the shape of 2 hands, between her neck. "It wasn't me!"

'No, it was you... it was you!' Kuoka shouted in his mind, until he realised what had happened. He stopped himself when his arm reached out to grab a nearby knife. 'I'm so sorry... it wasn't on purpose, I swear! ... what?' He thought he was talking but wasn't. He thought he stopped himself but didn't, and when he came to.

The lifeless body of an old man was the only thing left in that room. Kuoka picked up Naomi's half-dead body, and ran back to his home. Covered in blood.

The villagers thought it to be an animal's blood, but when he was carrying Naomi. They figured the Naomi household had been attacked while her father and mother were away. So they did nothing, "what a great child he is."

"Saving Naomi? I know, I wish my grandson could do that too... instead I have to keep working in the fields."

"He's pretty fit, for a 19 year old at least." They all thought that Kuoka had already handled things, so they left him to his own devices and tended to their fields.

Kuoka slammed the doors to his home, wide open and rushed upstairs. He tended to her while laying her on his bed. "No, no no. How could this happen, why did this happen. Why did this happen?!" Just then, his mind went blank.

But before he could do anything, his mother stopped him.

She loudly sighed, "I knew this would happen one day... but to my own son? I've made an irreversible mistake." Naomi had just woken up, to see Kuoka holding a sharp knife being held up by his mother's hands. "Run!" She screamed, and Naomi quickly ran off... back home.

"How am I going to cover up this one... I know!" She injected Kuoka with an unknown substance and dragged his body to the basement.

'She's laughing at me... Naomi, she's laughing.'

The next morning.

"Did you hear? Kuoka's mother said that Naomi's house was attacked by a wild boar and her father was killed... did you hear anything?"

"No, I only remember that Kuoka was bringing her to his house."

"Kuoka must've saved her from the boar, too bad her father didn't..."

"He was already too frail to work."

The villagers discussions were interrupted when a bird dropped from the sky; with an arrow through it's chest. "Kuoka, you're really skilled with the bow!" Naomi clapped. "I know right? I guess I just have a natural talent for archery, and basically everything I do!" Kuoka boasted. "Kuoka... you're acting weird today."

"And what about you? Your father been doing well these days?"

"There was supposed to be a mass gathering of villages because of that 'Conscription' thing right? I'll have to be on my best behavior in order to appease the king!" Kuoka pinched his chin. With enough force to tear his skin off.

Kuoka's mother had told all the villagers not to speak of the incident. At least not infront of Naomi. And from that day onward, there was something called 'Naomi watchtower' and it had been built, seemingly overnight.