Something Interesting

*****

It's been seven years since Yuuka came to this outwardly mundane world. And for the record, she is thriving.

"Great work everyone! See y'all tomorrow!" Yuuka waved back enthusiastically to her clubmates and got various rendition of farewells in return. She left the Theater Clubroom with much excitement, having perfected her lines and choreography for their upcoming play to be held at the end of the month.

(And as expected, Yuuka landed herself the lead role, the Fairy of Spring who gets abducted by the Underworld King. She is pretty sure that it was supposed to be their Club President's rendition of Hades and Persephone as he loves anything about mythology.)

Smiling to herself in good cheer, Yuuka hiked up her adorably purple backpack with many cool pins up her shoulders and started her jaunt home with the usual prep she exuded. She had another awesome day after all, she must at least spread the good vibes in the school's dreary hallway with crawling goopy beasts.

The sight of her very bright self was enough for the goopy and wacky beings to come scrambling away, innately recognizing the biggest predator at their vicinity with what instincts that they have.

But really, what can they even do when Yuuka had already decided to spread her great mood to her fellow students? She greeted every schoolmate and teachers with a friendly smile as she walked past them and exchanged a few words to those she knew while also casually exterminating the negativity incarnates with her utter positivity. By the time she left the middle school building, potent Sky-Cloud Flames had done its job and the gloomy and haunted atmosphere of the school after late club hours had turned for the better.

It can even be said to be homely and warm to an extent, such as the nature of Yuuka's Flames in reflection to her mood.

Yuuka would only ever do this type of stuff when she wants to share the positivity, after all, it would be useless to do it everyday when those creatures would appear again after a day of school. She had long since concluded that these creatures are made from human negative emotions, an accumulation of them if you will. And as an empath, Yuuka could understand that schools, hospitals and corporate buildings are brimming with these creatures.

It's not that hard to deduce really, stress, anger, anxiety, depression, sadness and the lot are common occurrences at these places, so it's not surprising that these places are their common haunts. But as someone who can actually see their ugly mugs, it's quite a bummer. Especially when she's having a great day, their presence gives off bad juju that affects the mortals around her, and sometimes it can be even detrimental to their well being.

An example of this was when the Itadori's neighbor, Sayu-baa suddenly became depressed and almost committed suicide. The perpetually cheerful old lady had a particularly malevolent whispering blob perched on her shoulder that Yuuka didn't bother to eliminate until the last minute, before she could do the unthinkable.

Yuuka had been curious about the effects of the blobs who hang around people for long periods of time and it seems to have different endings depending on the blobs.

Those who always whisper negative things to its chosen human's ears often cause depression. The ones that scratch, bite, or strangle can either cause disease or can actually physically hurt a human.

But at the end of the day, it all depends on how strong the negativity was within those creatures. Its level of Evil Aura™ equals to its level of power, and as of yet, Yuuka had never seen a blob that doesn't die with just a flick of her Flames. Heck even a single flare is enough to exterminate the buggers off.

Yuuka continues to hum under her breath but the moment she steps onto the soccer field, she feels it. 

Honing her fine tuned senses, Yuuka let her feet carry her towards the source of the almost negligible malevolent energy. She had never come across this presence before when she had run parameters around her new school before the start of the school year. But as ominous sounding Karasuno West Middle was – with the crows and all – her new school building had been as typical as any educational establishment brimming with preteens and their hormones.

The sudden dot on her radar points Yuuka to the back of the school near the school shed where a tiny shrine of sorts was allocated. Rounding a corner, she smiled as she caught sight of the tiny shrine, old and decrepit looking with wood decaying and smelling of misery, dried paper and… soap?

She had never thought of it, but the last part of her observation was certainly odd.

And in Yuuka's books, anything odd is bound to be entertaining.

The thing inside is calling, calling and calling. Yuuka does not know what it calls for or what it is even calling. But whatever it is, the compulsion to take it is subtle and muffled, if not, sealed.

The immortal hadn't bothered before to look inside the contents of the old thing, but because of current developments, her curiosity had been peaked.

So, with no ounce of hesitation for what could be theft or vandalism of school property, the pink haired girl opens the hatch of the shrine and retrieves an innocuous rectangular wooden box made of smooth cherry wood. It was oddly clean with no specks of dust and grime despite its holder being moss covered with a dusting of cobwebs. Careful as to not exacerbate the old structure it came from, Yuuka closes the latch with light, fleeting touches.

Brushing off the grime from her hands, she pockets away the box on her soft yellow hoodie before trudging her way home with a skip.

She can't wait to find out what it is!

*****

At the dead of night, Yuuka slips out of her room's window without a sound, wearing her favorite yellow hoodie over her pink pajamas and carrying the wooden box that she extracted from the shrine. She climbed up to their roof and proceeded to jump from roof to roof with nary a sound.

In her head, Yuuka plays that one Naruto battle song for the heck of it, it only fits her current endeavor of sneaking out to the local forest in secrecy.

She's about to play with something dangerous that could probably murder tons of people, hence her going out somewhere secluded. And with the local forest that no sane person would go to in the middle of the night, it's the only viable option Yuuka has to sate her curiosity. 

Plus, if it's something that does murdering, Yuuka has a huge chance of surviving the ordeal. She hasn't tested yet if she was as immortal and eternal as she was before. Can't really test that, because what if, even with the slim chances, does die? Jii-chan would be lonely and left on his own and would be really, really hurt if she did die. Her mortality is still up for debate and Yuuka is not going to risk it, though her healing prowess is the same as before.

But whatever this thing is, Yuuka is still stronger than it.

She finds herself in the middle of the forest in no time, alone in the dark, creeping shadows of the far-reaching crowned branches of the tall trees that made up the local woods that is the trademark of Sendai being the City of Trees. The ambiance alone lent to the idea of what Yuuka is about to do, the air itself holding its breath from anticipation and trepidation.

Yuuka shrugged off the alarm bells that her intuition kept telling her on what she is about to do, an easy enough task with the bolt of excitement coursing through her.

Now, if her instincts and the Voice of the World had made such a fuss, then what she is about to unleash must truly be something dangerous that might actually endanger her. 

How novel and exciting!

So without much fanfare, Yuuka took out the thing from the wooden box and ripped the ancient looking talismans away and she is greeted by a,

"Finger?" Yuuka surveyed the appendage in her small hand, the length of the digit surpassing her own and might have come from a larger man or a larger creature. "A mummified finger?"

But whose?

The finger itself is an angry purplish-red, tipped with a wicked long nail and is as big as a pen in her palm.

Out of curiosity and impulse, Yuuka brings the finger to her nose for a good sniff and only ends up confused. Because it smells like,

"Soap?"

How strange. It certainly does not smell rotten, just plain old boring clean smelling soap.

But as innocent these observations are, the appendage leaked malignant energy like no other, far more potent than the ugly blobs that Yuuka is now detecting to be coming closer to her station in a rush.

Huh. The thing she is holding is attracting the Uglies to her in droves, some she could tell were stronger than the common one she encounters daily.

…ere, come here, come here, come here. Obtain powe– ough me! Here, here, here!

Finding out that it can project thoughts did not surprise Yuuka one bit. She wouldn't even be surprised that the owner of the finger turns out to be some sort of demon.

Huh, now that's an idea.

Yuuka stayed still as the army of ugly blobs circled around her, watching them, observing them with great interest. Their inner thoughts were loud and clear, their hearts – do they have one? – broadcasting the intent to own the thing she was holding.

MiNemiNEMInEmINemInEMiNE—

The creatures chant, guttural with want and greed. It's so noisy that Yuuka is starting to get annoyed.

Looking at the mummified finger, Yuuka suddenly had a funny idea.

"You guys want this?" She raises the something into the air, watching in glee as their 'eyes' follow it.

The thing releases an even viler aura, as if to help her entice the creatures more to take it.

Vaguely, she can hear someone laughing at her ears with a dark promise.

"Then go get it."

Yuuka chucks it a good distance away from her, watching in fascination as the whole forest held its breath before it all came down into chaos.

The uglier blobs are fighting over something , trying to keep ahold of something for themselves while the smaller ones watch on from a distance.

The something they were fighting over has Yuuka's full attention. The aura of it just screamed malevolence and evil™ that her whole body can't help but break into hives.

Yuuka decided then and there that she would have that for herself, so without hesitation, she threw her preteen body into the fray, uncaring to whatever monster blobs she tramples in her haste.

Well, there goes my plan to simply observe.

It may seem abrupt to an outsider, but oftentimes Yuuka's decisions hinge on impulsivity, instincts, self-interest and entertainment. And right now, she is changing her mind on letting the blob have something of their own to see the result, now she wants it for herself, in a primal 'Oh How Interesting You Are, I want You For Myself' way.

A burst of potent Orange-Purple-Black flames later sees Yuuka standing by her lonesome, the Flames were controlled and swiftly cut off before a rookie mistake can come to fruition by setting the whole forest on fire.

Staring at the thing again, still soaked in malevolence and evil™, she shrugs and Yuuka follows the direct opposite of what her intuition tells her.

…

…

…

Yuuka eats it.