Ai-less Whumptober: Day Twenty-three - "Obsession."
Fandom: Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun
Main Characters: The Entity, Amane, and Tsukasa
Word Count: 1,043
Summary: Amane and Tsukasa are more entangled with the Entity than they could possibly know.
Trigger Warnings: child abuse, implied/referenced murder, and canonical violence/death.
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Being a God is a lonely existence. People adore and fear and worship you, but it all rings hollow. Soon the altars sit empty, falling into disrepair, and the sacrifices turn to meager scraps unbefitting a dog, let alone something as glorious as a God.
The Entity could feel the coming absence of its most devoted followers before the last sacrifice was made. It was unlike any God before it, for it wouldn’t be lonely while it rotted away. For instead of taking life, it, for once, had given it.
Two children, if such beings could be classified as such, took shape within the twisted, blackened void. Little balls of light that the Entity named Tsukasa, partially after its old friend, the moon God. And Amane, after the sun God who once let the Entity roam freely.
The two tiny beings weren’t anything more than tiny balls of light, bouncing around like sugar-high children, but the entity loved them all the same.
“Children,” the entity would say, voice weak from the idle and slow-declining worship each week, “gather close.” It feared, one day, that an exorcist would come take them away, or worse, exorcise them.
But its children would listen, huddling close to their maker; their mother.
One day, though, while peering over the edge of the well, the Minamoto clan attacked. The Entity put up a fight. Its tentacles took out some of the lower-level staff, but with its weakened state, it was no match for several exorcists at once. It did its best to shield its children, sinking down into the abyss of the well.
A burst of energy was shot down the well, hitting its babies. The well was sealed shut, leaving the entity alone and grieving the loss of its children. And for years, it stayed like that.
A couple hundred years later, a new family moved into the house that was built over the well.
The Entity had long since reassigned itself to a fate worse than death - grief with no end in sight, alone and forgotten - when it heard a prayer from the lady of the house.
“Please, I beg of you, whoever will listen, grant me a child. I’ll do anything.”
The Entity answered the prayer at once. It may not have the energy to recreate its children, but a mortal woman could surely spare some. After all she did say anything.
But human children are a lot different from the little balls of light that the entity once proclaimed as its children, and human children can’t be snapped into existence. At least not with the amount of power the entity now possesses.
It waits patiently for nine whole months. It watches from the cracks in the walls and listens through thin flooring as the couple decorates a nursery. One of everything fits nicely in the space, because they don’t know yet that there’s two.
The Entity prepares in its own little way. It wouldn’t be able to welcome both its children home so soon. That would go against the woman’s prayer, but she did say a child. And it’s only natural that The Entity would expect payment in return.
It decides that Amane, being the older of the two, will come home first. It pains it to watch its child wither in pain, coughing and wheezing and crying out, but it can hardly wait to hold him in its arms again. To hear his laughter and feel his joy.
But it’s the younger one, Tsukasa, that comes home first. It’s touching, and The Entity can’t help but accept the proposal.
It keeps its child safe, or as safe as its child was under its care all those years ago. It continues to gain power and influence, with every sacrifice. Tsukasa grows quieter with each sacrifice, and The Entity grows restless, trying to appease its child with new toys and candies.
But deep down, it knows that Tsukasa misses his family. His fake parents and his brother that would join them sooner rather than later.
Tsukasa goes back, and takes The Entity along. It’s not the best plan, nor is it a plan that the God favors. But it's better than watching its youngest child wilt, waiting for his brother to join them.
It punished Amane when he murdered his brother, rightfully guessing something was amiss. It kept him close, both angry and terrified that it might lose him too. The Minamoto clan had cost The Entity its children for a second time in a row. And it would be damned if it ever let the remaining pieces of its family go.
Amane soon became Hanako, under the supervision of a green haired girl, and Tsukasa came back as his yorishiro.
The God kept careful watch over its children, now powerful enough to properly care for them.
A readjusted uniform there. A careful hand, er, tentacle running through their hair. And whispered reassurances in the quiet of an abandoned school bathroom. Its tentacles catch Amane’s tears as they fall, because no matter what atrociousities its boys might commit, they’re still its babies.
But like any God, desperate for power and attention, it needs sacrifices. And its only mode of getting those sacrifices is by using Amane.
A whispered rumor, and suddenly, people were practically lining up to make wishes to “Hanako-Kun.”
It takes and takes and takes until the school is abandoned and rebuilt a courtyard away. It rages, taking most of its anger out on Amane. For once, it can’t find it within its heart to be forgiving and merciful. It hits and kicks and taunts and blames everything on Amane. It calls him names and tells him he deserves to be stuck there.
And once it calms down, it doesn’t say sorry, because it's a God. And Gods don’t humble themselves. Amane doesn’t expect an apology either. He knows he’s done wrong, and he has no one else to keep him company. He endures the humiliation just for the barest hint of murmur, comforting him late at night.
The Entity will continue to comfort him, not because it feels a sense of pity or even duty. But because it wanted this; to keep its children close.
