Flower Night Stroll Side Story/2

Witching Hour
Summary	A red night. A time for demonic encounters.
Characters	File:Portrait-Child.png Child Tsukimi Dango Resident
Background Music
It was the time of the night parade of ghouls and goblins, monsters and mutants. The so-called witching hour. All humans had their doors shut tight, with perhaps faint flickers of light coming from inside buildings, and the occasional pair of curious eyes sneaking a peek outside. As the nights grew longer on Sakurajima, as the curtain of dusk descended, there was sometimes an eerie mist that would spread through Kabukicho. And those pairs of eyes that gathered here, flashing in the darkness with a soul-devouring gleam, as well as the abnormal forms of the bodies those eyes belonged to, lent a hint of mystery to Kabukicho. It even gradually replaced the boisterous and bustling oiran parades of yesteryear. Legends say that those “people” who appeared in the heavy fog of the witching hour possessed a power that no “human” ever possessed.
File:Portrait-Child.png Child	Older Brother! If you go out during the witching hour, you’ll be eaten by “those things”!
Before he’d taken two steps out the door, Tsukimi Dango’s sleeve was wrapped up in the grasp of a little hand.
Tsukimi Dango	...Oh?
The child nodded with full certainty, his little face full of concern for Tsukimi Dango. *Clip* -- *Clop* -- Not far away, there came the sound of wooden shoes striking the ground. The lamps that were lighting the avenue all went out one by one, practically in time with the sound of these footsteps, and the cracked doors of the people that were sneaking peeks outside all closed up tight. Tsukimi Dango turned his head back and looked at the boy shrinking behind the door in fear like a ball of dough.
Tsukimi Dango	If you’re that scared, why did you still call out for me?
File:Portrait-Child.png Child	I couldn’t just stand by and let Older Brother get eaten up by “those things”! After all, you look so weak!
Tsukimi Dango	Those things?
File:Portrait-Child.png Child	Yeah! Mommy said not to say the name of “those things” out loud! Or else they’ll come to the sound of your voice! Older Brother, get inside, quick.
Tsukimi Dango didn’t resist the child’s tug, allowing himself to be pulled back into the room and have the door shut on him. He patted the child on the head.
Tsukimi Dango	Why do you think “those things” are so scary?
File:Portrait-Child.png Child	Because! Mommy said! If I don’t listen! “Those things” will snatch me and eat me! They love eating little kids the most!
As if thinking of something funny, Tsukimi Dango struggled to suppress a laugh, but the child continued on, desperate to convince him.
File:Portrait-Child.png Child	It’s true! Mommy said, it was them that ate the moon and the day time! They ate up the moon, then they started eating away at the day time too, so it’s gotten shorter and shorter. Um... Actually I don’t know what the moon looks like... but Granny said that the moon is real pretty!
The child’s seriousness sent Tsukimi Dango into a bit of a daze, until the child tugged on his sleeve again and snapped him out of it. *Clip* -- *Clop* -- But before he could say anything, the sound of the advancing footsteps cut him off. He flashed a genial smile and tousled the child’s hair.
Tsukimi Dango	The moon really is very pretty.
File:Portrait-Child.png Child	Huh?
Before the child understood what Tsukimi Dango was saying, Tsukimi Dango suddenly pulled open the door as the child looked on in stunned fright.
File:Portrait-Child.png Child	O- Older Brother! What are you doing?! Close the door, quick!
Tsukimi Dango gently shrugged off the child’s hand and put on a mask that he had been holding. The simple rabbit-face mask looked extra spooky in the flickering lamplight and the mist outside the door. But the looming silhouettes behind him made the child backpedal and fall on his bottom in fright.
Those eyes behind Tsukimi Dango gleamed an almost scarlet red. The child peeked once through the crack in the door, and just that one peek scared him so bad he couldn’t sleep soundly for over a month. The child sat in shock on the floor, looking at what would be considered a gentle smile on Tsukimi Dango’s face, except that to the child right now, even that smile was frightful.
Tsukimi Dango	I’ll get it back.
Without even a touch from Tsukimi Dango, the wide-open door closed on itself after he left. The child on the floor sat with his mouth agape, staring in the direction Tsukimi had gone in, when a woman’s voice sounded in the room behind him.
Resident	Jiro-- Are you sneaking a peek again!? Are you trying to give yourself nightmares?! Go get in bed now!
File:Portrait-Child.png Child	...Mommy! I think, I saw them...
Resident	There you go with that nonsense again! Get in bed now! Or I’ll give you something to peek at!
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