Because it occured to me, both due to the thread with @thathermitwiththehairpin and being mentioned in something I reblogged earlier, there are some notable cats in Mayohiga.
The one that was mentioned in the reblogged drabble was one of the older cats, Morgana. And yes, the name does come from were you think it does.
In this case, however, Morgana is an old, female cat. She’s had many litters in her time, and is quite a wise and experienced cat, especially for simply being a cat. Chen would not be surprised if Morgana ended up becoming a youkai rather than dying.
Morgana is one of the most trusted cats in Mayohiga, both by Chen and the rest of the cats there, and is undisputed as the leader when Chen is not around. Due to her old age, however, she is no longer able to help with the hunting, and has developed stiff joints, which Chen gets her medicine for.
Despite this, she is still a respected member of the commuity in Mayohiga, and is often the one to sort out disputes and keep the cats under control a little when Chen isn’t there.
Hi!! :D May I request a crossover between UCI and Mayohiga please? :D Thanks!
Admin Notes: The music in Mayohiga is actually my favorite! Ahaha, but I’ve heard that the real stray house is just a place people go to when they spirit away. Ku ku, if it’s a place for humans to get lost in, can escorts really lose themselves there too? Eh… well, maybe all Oni have to go through Mayohiga in order to enter the Underworld… -Admin Hirahara
“… … …Hey, where are we going?”
“Somewhere good.” The light footsteps of a mother and her son could be heard as they walked hand and hand up the rocky pathway leading to a shine in the mountains. The young boy had on new clothing - dark blue like his own azure eyes. As the two ascended the stairway slowly, the stone lanterns came to life one by one, lighting the way back down. The atmosphere was quiet, and there was no one else but the two.
“…Is it far from here?”
“We’re almost there.” They slowly continued before the son stopped to look back down the mountain.
“The festival was quite fun - wasn’t it?”
“…Yeah, I guess so.”
“There’s also next here too, right?”
“…Yeah, of course.” They continued walking before the son spoke again.
“Would we be able to come next year? And also receive some new clothes again?“
“Yes… if you be a good kid.” The mother smiled a sad smile at her beloved son, although it was hard for the young boy to understand.
“Really? Then, I’ll be a good kid! I won’t get these clothes dirty either.“ The boy promised.
“…Yes.” The mother nodded, continuing the lead the way.
“The festival - was quite fun.”
—
“Mo…ther…? Where did you go…?” A lonely boy in blue sat alone on the steps of a stone stairway, the lanterns lighting the path back down, but nothing lit his way up. He had been crying, but no one was there to see. Gently, around him, he felt a warm wind blow, carrying the fluttering white leaves. “What are these…?”
“Hey, come here. Come to me.” The boy jumped when he heard a voice calling him from further up the stairs. A ghostly looking woman was standing there, almost floating.
“Old lady… who are you?” The boy asked.
“No one in particular,” she smiled.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere good,” the old woman stretched out her hand for the young boy to take. Without thinking about it, the boy smiled and took the woman’s hand, and together, they ascended the steps of the stone walkway.
The old woman lead the young boy to a strange room, where she placed some onigiri in front of him. “So, we’ve arrived. Come and take it easy now.”
“Where is this?” the boy asked, looking around. “Where’s mother?”
“Not here,” the old woman shrugged.
“She’s… not here?”
“There’s no such thing as a mother here anymore.”
“Then…” the young boy stood up. “I’m going back home.”
“Child, you can no longer return home,” the old woman sat him back down. “You belong here now.” She pushed the onigiri closer to the young boy. “Now, be good and have some. And don’t leave this room.” She turned around, but just as she closed the door, the young boy watched her give a horrifying grin. “Unless, that is, you wan’t to be eaten.”
When the young boy tried the door, it was blocked, and he couldn’t leave. The onigiri were tempting, so he debated grabbing one and really taking a bite. However, just as he reached for one and put it to his mouth, he heard a voice whisper.
“That’s right, that’s right! It’s no time for eating!” A lantern was flickering on the wall, beckoning him to walk over. “Take one of those balls and put it here!” The boy looked to the table, and found three resin balls. He took one in his hand and placed it into the lantern. To his surprise, his shadow grew longer, and he began talking.
“Yo, nice to meet you!” a mouth appeared to move. “Surprised? I’m Kage-kozo!” The boy blinked, unable to say anything. “You want to get out, right? I’m a nice person, so I’ll help you out!”
“Thank you,” the boy nodded.
“Naturally,” Kage-kozo nodded. “First, make sure you don’t eat anything here. If you do, you’ll never be able to return!” The young boy looked at the onigiri in his hands. It was a good thing he was stopped before he ate it. For good measure, he saved it away in his pockets for later.
“Second, the creatures here who find you will eat you. However, the ones who hide will not harm you.” The shadow continued. “Finally, if you ever need to call me, just hold the resin ball near a marked lantern like you just did. I’ll be able to come out and assist you.” The shadow looked to the door. “Now let’s get this thing open!” In an instant, Kage-kozo slipped under the door and removed whatever was blocking the way.
“Bye bye!” The shadow waved before disappearing to nothing. Once again, the young boy was all alone. When he tried the door, it opened, and he hurried into the hallway. There was a wooden rod lying on the floor, which he decided to take with him just in case, strapping it to his side. As he passed by an opposing door, he could here two women chatting to each other.
“There’s a delicious looking boy here,” the first voice said. “I hope this time we can eat it.”
“A Rokurokubi’s guarding the stairs. He won’t try to escape.” The second voice sounded pleased.
“Isn’t that guy a glutton, though?” the first voice complained. “First he eats oil, but now he might eat the boy.” The conversation continued but the young boy didn’t stay to listen. At the far end of the hallway was indeed a guard standing wait. He didn’t want to test his luck. However, on the opposite side of the hall was an oil lamp that smelled rather fishy. He blew it out and let the scent carry over to the Rokutokubi, before hurrying to hide back in the room.
When he came out, the youkai had extended his snake like neck and was very distracted by the oil in the lamp. The young boy took this chance to escape by quickly running into the room that was next to his. It was a grand bouquet room, where five tables and five seats were placed. At the side, there was a smaller table with some aburage. For good measure, the young boy took it. The Rokutokubi was still enjoying himself with the lamp, so the boy hurried up the steps in which it was supposed to guard.
There was a Jizo at the turn of the steps, in which he paid no mind to at first. However, he found himself stuck in an endless loop when he tried to get to the next floor. “…Maybe the Jizo wants an offering…” The young boy decided, holding the onigiri in one hand and the aburage in the other.
“The aburage! Leave it here!” A voice called out, startling the young boy. He shook his head more out of fear than anything else. “Okay, okay! I’m sorry for being mean. I’ll let you pass, okay?” To that, the azure eyed boy nodded, leaving the aburage for the Jizo while pocketing the onigiri again.
Hurrying down the stairs, the boy noticed that there was a person hiding under the stairs, but from the looks of it, he was sleeping. He decided to check and see if there was an exit in the room, only to be startled when he passed a discarded doll on the ground.
“Ahaha!” The thing laughed loudly. “You fell for it! Hitotsume! Hitotsume! Wake up!” The one eyed man under the stairs sprang to life at that. The boy, panicked, ran to the furthest room - a bathroom - and frantically tried to find a place to hide. It was a small place, so there really wasn’t anywhere he could really fit in. There was an ofuda posted on the wall, and when the boy went to touch it, a ghost of an old man came out.
“Oh my, you looked troubled,” the old man looked sympathetically at the young boy. “Alright, I’ll hide you away just this once.” There was a flash of light, and the next thing the boy knew, the Hitotsume was inside the room, although he didn’t notice the boy at all. When he left, the old man undid his concealment. “Well now…” he nodded, fading away again.
When the boy left the bathroom, the youkai was back under the stairs, asleep. The Warai Bukuro was still discarded on the floor, but it gestured to the young boy.
“Hey, it was just a prank, okay?” He chuckled. “I promise! I promise!” The boy didn’t really believe him. “Hey, so how about we make a deal? I gotta be put away in storage, see? So take me there, and I’ll give you something good!”
“You won’t alert the other youkai?” The boy asked to confirm. The Warai Bukuro nodded, so the child took the doll along. The other hall had a cat guarding it, but the doll was insistent that that was where the storage was. The by decided not to go near for the time being. He returned to the hallway with the stairs, and picked the door to his right. It was a kitchen, one he was sure had talking in it a few minutes ago.
The kitchen was empty now, so the boy entered and looked around. There was a memo on how to set the tables for the banquet, and a small basket on the table. For now, he ignored those, wondering where the storage room could be. Instead, he ended up exiting the house completely, ending up in some back yard with a well and a small pond.
“…rin. Sutton-ton! …Kororin, Sutton-ton!” A faint singing could be heard from the far corners of the yard. To the young boy’s surprise, there was a deep hole near the garden wall. As he peered down, the doll in his hands laughed.
“Smells like beasty things running around down there!” He grinned. “Mm smells good!” On accident, the boy dropped the onigiri from his pocket down into the hole.
“Omusubi kororin, Sutton-ton! Omusubi kororin, Sutton-ton!” A cheer could be heard down in the hole. The young boy decided to take the chance and jump down the whole. To his surprise, it was a den filled with mice people, who were singing and dancing. When they saw the boy, though, the shrieked and scattered.
“No wait! Please come back!” The young boy begged. One of the mice stopped, and examined the boy.
“Oh! A human!” He greeted. “That’s a relief. What are you doing down in our hole?” The boy did his best to explain the situation, about how he was trapped in the mansion and just wanted to get out. “Eh? You want to leave? That’s too bad. We’ve got everything down here like food and water. But if you’re really intent on going, we won’t stop you.”
“Thank you,” the boy nodded. He was about to head up the ladder when one of the mice called to him.
“Hey hey! If you need our help, let us know!” The chimed. “The others may not like danger, but I like having a lot of fun!”
“Well…” the boy thought back to the cat. “There is something you could do…”
—
The mouse helped the young boy clear the cat away. Whatever happened to the mouse… the boy didn’t know. However, now he could return the Warai Bukuro to it’s shelf. In return, the doll let him take the Oni mask that was hanging on the wall. With it on, the other youkai didn’t suspect him of being human anymore. For good measure, the boy also took the coiled rope that was on the floor, not knowing when it would come in handy.
He entered the study next, where the story of Izanagi no Mikoto, where it spoke of how he escaped Yomotsu Shikome. There was nothing else to see in the room, so the boy left to investigate the other rooms. In the first guest room was a youkai, requesting for water.
“Nanashitarou, I want water,” he complained. The young boy didn’t have a choice but to retrieve some from the well. However, it was impossible to move the actual bucket, so the boy went to get the small bucket from the kitchen and tied the rope to it, dropping the bucket into the well. Along with water, he also retrieved a small ornamented comb.
After giving the water to the man, he was thankful, but said nothing more. Confused, the young boy left. He wandered around before he found himself in the front garden, where a small hole burrowed to the rich soil below. It was just large enough for the rod to go in, so he placed it into the hole. It miraculously became a tree, in which a single peach grew. The boy picked the peach, keeping it well hidden in his robes.
After that, he wondered if other people could be fooled with the Oni mask as well. He tested it by knocking on one of the doors across from the kitchen. “Who is it?” Came a call.
“It’s…” The boy started. He didn’t really know how to answer, but suddenly remembered that the guest youkai had called him. “I’m… Nanashitarou.” A pause followed.
“Oh yes, come in!” To his relief, the boy was allowed to enter. In the room were many youkai, all gambling away. When they saw the boy enter, they welcomed him kindly and invited him to play Cho-Han Bakuchi with them. When the boy replied that he had no money, though, they offered to let him try the game out.
“If you win,” said one of the youkai, “we’ll give you some money. If you lose, you’ll just have to run us a small errand, okay?” The boy agreed, and played five matches with the youkai. He lost, though, although he felt that it was okay. The youkai asked him to retrieve some alcohol for them, and gave him the Alcohol absorbing robe.
“Just return here with it full of sake, and you’ll be good to go. There’s a huge party in one of the rooms, and I’m sure you’ll be able to get some alcohol from there.” The young boy had no choice but to dangerously wander into the large banquet room where he heard laughter from all those times before. When he entered, a happy youkai gestured for him to come over.
“Come on, come on! It’s time to drink, so drink!” He forced the boy to drink alcohol. Luckily, thanks to the robes, he didn’t feel intoxicated at all. Finally, the youkai let him stop. “Well, you’re small, but you sure can drink!” He laughed and let the boy wander around. In the corner of the room, he found a strange letter of some sort, and stealthily took it.
When he returned the robes to the youkai, they were pretty much done playing with him. Thanks to the letter of invitation, though, he was able to enter the “Master’s Room”, where he found a small key on the table.
“Where does this fit?” The boy asked out loud, before vaguely remembering the small chest in the room he was first in. When he returned that way, the first Rokutokubi was still enjoying the oil, and he slipped back into the room. When he opened the chest, he found a new yakata in it, and on it was stitched a name.
“Kiri… shima?” He asked, before blinking and remembering. “That’s right. My name is… Kirishima.” How could I have forgotten…? The boy touched his head.
“Hey hey,” he heard the lantern whisper. “It’s me! Kage-kozo!” Kirishima held up the resin ball to the lantern again. “You got your name back? That’s great!” There was a pause. “You know, I’ve always wanted to get my name back too…” There was a pause. “Oh! Hey, I’ll let you in on another hint, okay?”
“Sure,” the boy nodded.
“Okay, so listen. You gotta make sure to return everything once your done, or else you can’t leave this place. So make sure you don’t take anything with you that you don’t need!” With that, the shadow waved goodbye again. There were still a few more things Kirishima felt he needed to do before he could leave, so he hurried back to the kitchen, and read the memo once again. The arrangement for the banquet. He remembered that room and went to go place the tables as instructed.
When everything was in it’s place, a room suddenly opened up, pushing something out of the way. Inside was a simple Kudzu sash, which the boy took along with him. As he went to return the bucket to the kitchen, he noticed that there was some sort of draft coming from the fireplace.
“Another room?” He wondered. For good measure, he drew more water from the well and threw it on the fire. It was instantly put out, and while it cooled, he put the bucket back in it’s place. The stove did lead to a secret room after all, and he found in it a single paper lantern and a talisman. He couldn’t read it at all, but he decided to show the Kage-kozo.
“You called me?” The shadow asked before looking down at the talisman. “Eh? What’s this?” A pause. “Eh? It’s… it’s my name?” The shadow slowly began turning back into the shape of a human. It was a girl in an orange kimono, with brown hair hanging at her sides. “Oh… that’s right. My name’s not Kage-kozo. It’s Yuume.” She smiled when she remembered, looking up at Kirishima. “Thank you for returning my name. Now I can finally leave this place.”
Before the once shadow began to disappear, she offered Kirishima one more word of advice. “Better give me the resin ball too. That way, you won’t have to carry it around.” Kirishima handed her the ball, which disappeared from his hands in an instant. “Okay, well.” She nodded. “Good luck.”
—
Kirishima put the Oni mask back in the storage. He had the sash, the comb, and the peach left. Like the story in the study, these things would surely come in handy. Without anything else holding him back, he hurried out the door. “Farewell,” he whispered, hurrying along the stone path.
As he fled from the house, many people were yelling at him and trying to catch him. In the chase, Kirishima threw the sash, creating a great grape vine that distracted some youkai. He then threw the comb, where bamboo shoots began growing. Finally, to scare off the remaining youkai, he threw the peach. Safely, the azure eyed boy made it to the exit, not giving he mansion a second look.
Kirishima’s legs felt heavy, and his sight was terrible. He didn’t know where he was going, not seeing any of the familiar paths around him. As he continued, he was surprised to see instead of his village, a quiet town that lead up to a large manor at the end. Without really thinking about it, he knocked and entered the new building.
“Hm?” When he stepped through the door, he was greeted by a tall man with crimson eyes who was smoking a pipe. “A child?” There was a pause before the older man grinned. “Oh, I see, you just came from Mayohiga, didn’t you?”
“Mayo…higa?” Kirishima asked. The man shook his head, gently kneeling to get on eye level with the boy.
“A lot must have happened. I’m sure you’re very tired.” He patted the boy on the head. “Come, I’ll let you stay here and rest. You’ve got a huge job coming, so it’s best you get your strength back.” For some reason, Kirishima felt like he could trust this man. He took the man’s hand and the two walked down the hallway together.
“I’m Rokkaku,” the crimson eyed man introduced. “I’ve been waiting for you to come, Kirishima.”
I think I might as well re-create the entire game in RPG Maker VX Ace. I could have tried manipulating things in RPG Maker 2000 if only there was a way to, for example, manipulate character names through variables, but... unfortunately commands such as \N[1] don't seem to work in the "Change Hero Name" command, making it utterly impossible to do anything with the main character's name other than fixed strings or things inputted with kana. (If this kind of thing comes up with Oshichiya too, I might as well do it for that game too).
(Also, if the main charater's name was not a concern, strings could always be stored as a series of numbers, each number in a separate variable, making it possible to pretty much emulate anything you'd want to do with strings, like inputting passwords... but here, it concerned changing the main character's name, which is why this is necessary...)
Update: eventually, but for now, I'll just get rid of the parts of the game where you input a name... it is a little unfortunate though.
