Uma Musume Pretty Derby is an anime about racehorses. Tangentially. The premise is that real-life racehorses get reincarnated as teenage horsegirls - that's human girls with horse ears and tails - who then proceed to have secondary careers in the girly sports anime genre. Regardless of their gender as horses, they all become teen girls. (I know.)
I do not think the premise of this anime was developed with O Holy Thunder in mind. O Holy Thunder is 17.2 or 17.3 hands of violent, spiteful, should-be-castrated old steeplechaser. While we may admire Thunder - whose muscles are like dachshunds wrestling in a silk bag - for his racing prowess, he has no other redeemable qualities or attractive habits. He tried to eat Killie's fingers. He temporarily ate Killie's teeth. He tried to kill a groom. He technically counts as toxic waste. His horse passport implies that he's possibly actually a sort of crocodile. With other Irish-bred horses the suffix (IRE) is meant to separate them internationally from conflicting international records (name registries are specific to countries) but in Thunder’s case, it's just because there wasn't room to write (WRATH).
I am not sure what he'd make of being reincarnated into the position of "catgirls-but-they're horses" and forced to talk about "friendship."
Unfortunately, Thunder is internationally famed for landing on his feet.
i have seen people do this and all times the result was bad. so poll on best US states, by region. first of, the place i call home, king of fall, NEW ENGLAND
Kusuriuri and the Inn Keeper: ろくろ首 (Rokurokubi) — Kusuriuri x gn!reader
Chapter 2 The strange medicine seller searches through the inn
word count: 2k
warnings: three part series! kind of slow burn, mention of a relative's death, slightly graphic details of death (mention of blood, wound, lifeless body, knife/razor; can be skipped by ignoring the italicised paragraphs)
a/n: i'm so sorry for taking such a long time for this part, but thank you so so much for enjoying my fic! i really didn't expect this much love, and i really hope you enjoy!!
m.list | chapter one | chapter two | next chapter
“Is it wise to stay in this room?”
Your voice was calmer and levelled, the thud of your heart beat was still a little stronger than you liked, but the rhythm was steady.
The hands on your lap fisted gently as you looked at the medicine seller sitting across from you, only a paper lantern placed at the centre of everything. The light illuminated his sharp features, highlighting the smile he was giving you.
“Well… I do need to kill the Mononoke…”
“Is it not unsafe to stay here?”
“The barrier would… protect us.”
You hummed, staring at the blank ink of the talismans.
“You are…” You raised a brow at him at his pause, at the way he observed you with that sparkle of amusement that he seemed to hold dearly when talking to you. “…Quite calm now.”
“Well… everything feels so ridiculous now,” you sighed softly.
“Ridiculous…” he murmured, repeating your words. He chuckled at that, slow and deliberate.
He glanced up at the corner of the ceiling, watching the eyes morph into existence in the talisman, blinked close, yet dispersed back into blankness. You followed his eyes as well, shivering at the sight, but you simply straightened up when his next words echoed in the small room.
“Tell me about… your aunt.”
You hesitated, clenching your hands into fists that felt too clammy against your fingers.
“What exactly would you like to know?”
A shadow passed over the room, the moonlight covered by the grey clouds above the inn.
“Her death… at first, perhaps.” His eyes narrowed, though the smile remained. “How did she… die?”
You swallowed thickly. “She was…”
Another pause.
“She was murdered.”
Ring.
“By who?”
Your chest heaved, the steady rhythm increasing as you inhaled… and exhaled, inhaled… exhaled, inhaled and exhaled, inhaled, exhaled—
Ring… ring… ring…
Kusuriuri glanced once more at the ceiling, this time the talismans snapping open its eyes, enveloped in its bright red colour. Slowly, he placed his focus on you once more, smile vanishing at the warm hue of the lamp’s light reflecting the perspiration on your temple, at the light in your eyes dimmed as you kept your gaze on the floor.
“…Her husband.”
Your hand shot out to support yourself, grounding it on the wooden surface that felt too warm under your touch as you looked up at him. The heaving of your chest slowly evening out.
“My aunt was killed by her husband.”
Clank, clank, clank…
You jolted, a heavy thud of your heart ringing in your ear. Your eyes zoomed in on the pairs of sabres and rows of teeth shaking, the mouth desperately wanting to be clenched shut as its pupils flickered around madly. Kusuriuri quickly took it out from the cushioned box, clutching it tightly as he looked up at the ceiling, observing the scale tilting towards the centre.
“Ho…? ‘Husband’… not, your uncle?”
“Well… they were remarried…” you murmured, fidgeting with your fingers. “Quite recently. I was yet to be comfortable calling him my uncle.”
As your focus trailed back towards him, you let out a small yelp when you realised he was seated right in front of you, sword on his lap, staring right at you. The ringing of his scale subsided, yet they were still all directed towards the centre of the ceiling, and the talismans glowed with its eyes widely opened.
His head tilted to the side story, eyes thinning as he stared at your nails peeling layers of skin off of your cuticles. He slowly placed a hand over yours, fingers wrapping around your cold touch. “How… did she die?”
Blood. Your screams. Lifeless eyes.
Petrified to the spot, your hands started to shake, tears welling hotly that burned painfully.
“I-I don’t know…” you whispered, clenching your eyes shut. “There was just… there was just so much blood, I-I couldn’t—”
A soft gasp escaped from your lips when you felt cool hands press against your cheeks, cradling your face, making you open your eyes to look up at Kusuriuri who watched you with an unreadable expression. His thumb caressed the tears away, almost methodologically—starting from the tip of your eyes, right under your lower lashes, and finally at the dark bags underneath your eyes.
You tightened your hold on his kimono and in response, his fingers delicately rested at the back of your head to pull you closer until your forehead touched his chest. You let the steady rhythm of his heartbeat and the patting of his hand on your back calm you.
“I’m sorry,” you whispered softly.
“There’s no need to, worry about me…” He placed a finger under your chin, featherlight, to tilt your head up at him. “But I’m afraid, the Mononoke won’t… wait for you.”
Ring, ring, ring, ring…
“I thought the barrier would protect us!” you hissed, panic making your words shake at the edge.
“The Mononoke is… stronger, then expected,” he said, narrowing his eyes up at the incoming threat.
The talisman broke at the centre and the shadow reached out to the two of you, wispy black smoke swirling to form a shape, almost like a head with an elongated neck.
You flinched at the sight, holding him tighter.
Immediately, Kusuriuri faced his palm towards the broken barrier and his talismans dispatched, rows of it covering the broken spot. Your heart raced as you watched the paper turn bright red in an instant, changing its colour in waves—the Mononoke was circling around the ceiling.
“It is not safe to stay here,” he said, helping you up. “The Mononoke is focused on this room.”
Standing up on weak legs, you asked, “Then where to?”
“I need the Truth and Reason.” He met your eyes, and your heart fluttered at the intensity of his gaze. “I need you to lead me to your aunt’s room.”
You felt the blood rush away from your face at his words, taking a surprised step back. In response, he took a step forward, his hand on your back insistently heavy.
“I-I can’t…”
“We have to.” He took another step forward until your chests touched, so close that you distantly smelt the bitter herbs and incense once more. “Fear will take you nowhere.”
You pressed yourself close against Kusuriuri’s side, clutching onto his kimono sleeve with one hand, and the other squeezed his palm that he lent to you. If it weren’t for your fearful frantic heartbeat numbing your senses, your heart would have fluttered for the way his cool hand felt warmer against your cold ones, his callouses gripping onto your softer ones to remind you of his presence. Glancing up at him, you saw the lamp illuminate his pale skin and sharp features, admiring the way his blue eyes was set forward in great focus.
Tearing your gaze away from him, you looked around the hallway, noticing the lines of talismans around the walls and ceiling.
“Please take them off by yourself,” you muttered, tugging at his sleeve slightly.
He chuckled softly. “Your concern is my talismans, on your walls?”
A faint blush bloomed on your cheeks. “I need something else on my mind.”
“Is it no longer, ridiculous?”
Feeling your face heat up too warm to your liking, you didn’t reply to him and instead pressed a little more closer to him, hiding behind his shoulder.
He let out a snickering huff before snapping his eyes towards the ceiling. The talisman’s colour swished like a wave, going back and forth above the two of you. His hand around you tightened.
“Run!”
Gasping, you followed after him. Your footsteps were frenzied but seeing the wooden plank across the door, you ran ahead of him slightly, hand still intact with his, and removed it off of the hook, and slid it open. The two of you entered the room, and Kusuriuri closed it shut, dispatching another row of talismans until it covered every surface of the room—the walls, ceilings, floors.
You crumbled to the ground beside him, the fear and shock of the event making your limbs shaky and weak, but most of all, at the familiar sets of furniture around the very room that causes your throat to clog up and goosebumps to rise on your skin.
Kusuriuri crouched beside you, his hand on your back, the other cradling your jaw as he tilted your face up at him. “Are you all right?”
Nodding with a frail set of breaths, you swallowed the vile down and steadied yourself by placing your hands on his shoulders. Leaning in, you closed your eyes and rested your head against his chest—inhaling, exhaling—to try to calm yourself.
Meanwhile, Kusuriuri looked around the room, only lit by the small, single lamp beside him. It seemed like it was the biggest room, with minimal furniture. At the centre, two futons were still spread across the floor. Clean. No trace of blood. And most of all, the room smelled like fresh rain from the morning, the sweetness still lingering in the air.
Feeling you shift, he watched you carefully lean away from him, hands lowering from their clutch on his kimono.
“Do you… change the air, quite often?”
“Every day, at the hour of the sheep,” you answered, eyes avoiding the futon.
“Do you enter this room any other time?”
You shook your head.
He slowly sat properly next to you, coming close to your body. His hand still rested on your back as he guided you so that the two of you were facing your backs in the centre of the room, and noticing your hand fidgeting nervously, he wrapped his own one around yours once more, face inching closer as though to wipe away any invisible presence you feel in this room.
“Tell me exactly how she died,” he said, voice soft yet firm, coaxing you to open up.
You sucked in a breath, meeting his eyes, chest soft heaving as another surge of anxiety and panic rushed in. His cool hands gripped tighter around yours, grounding you.
“To kill the Mononoke.”
“To kill the Mononoke,” you repeated, nodding absentmindedly. You looked up at him from under your lashes, fingers trailing up towards his skin slightly, feeling him shiver slightly—the inhumane man feeling human under your touch. “You’ll be there, right?”
Kusuriuri’s eyes widened slightly but he returned the nod. “I will.”
Taking a deep breath, then out, you straightened up and finally let your eyes land onto the futon.
“It was midnight, and I woke up because of a scream…”
Blurry vision welcomed you, the moonlight bright that night. Your mind was still groggy, and couldn’t wrap around the scream properly.
Thunk!
The muffled yet loud sound jolted you fully awake, and you sprung up from your futon, frantically looking around the corners of your room. Quickly lighting up a lantern, you ran out of the room towards where you thought the noise came from. Standing in front of the door to your aunt’s and her husband’s room, you knocked on the wood rapidly.
“Auntie?” you called out, loud and full of worry. “Are you okay? Did you hear the noise?”
Silence.
You felt your breathing become erratic, lungs not filled out completely with air, hand shaking. Choking on a sob, you opened the door carefully, vision becoming blurry once more as hot tears started to fill in.
The blood was everywhere. Spreading across the thin sheet and seeping into the wooden floor beneath, trickling to every crevice.
Imperceptibly you heard your own footsteps as you approached the lifeless bodies. Faintly, you heard your own knees hit the floor as you crouched next to the lifeless bodies. Slowly, you felt the warm blood puddle around your own legs as you stared at the deep blooming camellia on your aunt’s throat.
The sharp metal of the razor that seemed to have pierced her throat was lodged at the side of her husband’s neck, his hand still ghastly wrapped around the hilt.
Clearly, you felt your own throat reverberate as you screamed, tears cascading in waterfalls as you burrowed your face into your hands.
Kusuriuri cradled your face with both hands, thumbs caressing the tears away that flowed too much. His brows furrowed deeply at the translucent sound of the bell on his scales that echoed in the room.
“The truth has been gained.”
Clink.
the hour of the sheep (hitsuji-no-koku; 未の刻) refers to midday (2:00~3:00 pm), opposite to the third quarter of the Hour of the Ox. Changing the room's air during that time is believed to be the best time to wash out the bad energy due to the strong yang (陽) energy.
