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"Mei!" Akio's boyish voice called to her through the door. "Just a moment!" She called back, soon appearing with a camera in hand, Aoi holding the mic attachment. Akio turned heel and walked to his car, opening the back door for Mei as her hands were full of camera. Aoi sat in the passenger seat, dusting off the microphone and handing it to Mei to attach to the camera. Akio soon started the car and began driving off towards the forest nearby. Asphalt soon turned to gravel, then to packed dirt as they made their way through the winding woods. When the road grew too narrow for the small car, they pulled it over and began hiking up the trail.
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The video started, and a girl's voice began speaking "This is Mei Tsukishima, Akio Murakami, and Aoi Saito's World History project. Our subject is-" she was cut off by an enthusiastic teenage boy, "Ghost stories! One in particular in fact," he continued jovially, "It's about a man living in these very woods, just up ahead." Another girl, Aoi, began speaking "Apparently, he even has a cabin" from her amused face you could tell she didn't believe it. "It's probably just an old hunting lodge" Akio Mei supplied helpfully, earning a baleful glare from Akio.
A jump cut later and they were deeper into the woods, Aoi in the front, then Akio, then the camera-bearer, Mei. "It says right about here is where people start seeing him, the ghost," Aoi said. She then went on to detail how ghosts relate to world history, etc etc. Just as she was finishing up, the mic picked up on the distinct sound of a leaf crunching, and the camera, meaning Mei, jumped. "It-it's probably just an animal!" Akio said, looking frightened nonetheless. Suddenly, a man, who looked like he was in his late 20's or early 30's, came into view. Mei audibly sighed in relief. Akio turned back to look at the camera, "See! Just a man!" Aoi glanced back, an unreadable expression on her face.
"What are you three doing here?" the man asked the three high schoolers, he looked startled to see any other person, odd. Aoi introduced them and said why they were there. The man looked like he may laugh or cry, it was impossible to tell which one. "I'm Rin Okumura" He introduced, and some recognition sparked in Akio's eyes, "Like Yukio Okumura the demon slayer?" He looked hopeful, Mei quietly scolded him, letting him know that was just a fairy-tale. As he pouted childishly, Rin laughed, "Actually yes, exactly like him, he was my brother after all" Aoi, Akio, and presumably Mei stared at him incredulously, "He died like-almost 300 years ago! No way!" Aoi said incredulously. Rin simply laughed and said "You'd be surprised, come with me"
After sending glares at each other, Akio shrugged and followed Rin. The camera cut out to show another scene, a cabin coming into view through the trees. "So if Yukio Okumura was actually your brother, then are you a ghost?" Mei asked. Rin looked incredulous for a moment before bursting out into slightly manic laughter. "No! God no, ghosts aren't real!" Aoi looked confused before Akio asked, "Then how was he your brother?!" Rin glanced at him before grinning mischievously, "Do you know about demons?"
At two head shakes, and a camera shake, Rin looked somewhere between relief and shock, "Well, demons, like actual demons from hell, are real! You have to be injured by own to see them, though, and then treated for temptaint" By now Rin was opening the door to the small lodge, letting each student inside. Mei set the camera on something out of view, giving it the perfect angle of the living room, and part of the homely kitchen. "What's temptaint?" Akio asked as she did so, looking thoroughly confused. "Well, temptaint is like when a raccoon bites you and you have to make sure it didn't give you rabies, Basically demon rabies" Aoi and Mei nodded in understanding as they sat on the deep blue couch, Akio joining them after peering curiously at a sword hung up on the wall.
"What's that have to do with you being a ghost?" Akio asked, the others thought he was being rude, as evident on their faces, but Rin just nodded in understanding before saying, "Demons live much longer than humans do, and I happen to be half-demon!" He explained, then pointing to his elf-like ears and fangs sticking out through his teeth. He then did an even more unexpected thing, a tail, his tail appeared out of nowhere, apparently having been blending in with his black pants.
"I'm about 200 years old at this point, give or take" he wobbled his hand side to side, tail swaying to the side as he sat down. "About?" Akio said, startled, Rin only shrugged, "I stopped counting when I realized I wasn't going to look older than 20 for the next 80 years, at least I don't look like a teen anymore" he huffed the last part quietly, looking exactly like an annoyed teen. Aoi nodded slowly before asking, "If you don't mind me asking, who are the people in those photos?" she pointed below the camera, presumably at the photos.
Rin stood up and grabbed one, flashing it to the camera. It showed a group of teenagers, he and his brother at the center, the rest fanned out. He then grabbed another one, a family photo, of him, his brother, his husband, presumably, and their daughter, looking no more than 12. He sat back down and stared wistfully at them before speaking, "That's my brother Yukio. The one I'm hugging was my husband, Ryuuji Suguro, and in between us was our daughter. The group one is everyone who was in the exorcist cram school with me, my brother was our teacher."
The three teenagers made 'o''s with their mouths before the camera cut to Rin serving them all delicious-looking food. Mei tried a little then asked, "Did you learn this from your 100 extra years?" at this, Rin laughed, "No, no, I learned how to cook when I was much much younger. Younger than you three, even! I used to cook the meals in the monastery I grew up in, made me feel good" he looked quite proud of himself, then asked, "Hey, what year is it exactly?" Mei, Akio, and Aoi all looked startled before Aoi replied, "2046?" hesitantly. Rin blinked a bit before saying, "Huh, I'm 203, man I remember feeling old at 16!" he suddenly looked as though he aged all 170 years he didn't look, "Man, I need friends" he had said it as a joke, but it was obvious he meant it. Akio then said, "Go to a club? No one'll believe you're any older than like, 28"
The camera cut again, this time to them all outside, Rin cuddling a small cat sidhe, "His name's Kuro," he was saying, "He was my dad's familiar, er, my adopted dad's familiar" the cat meowed at him before he looked incredulous at it, "No! Of course I don't know how to make dad's Silvervine Sake! I'm not an old man like him- wait I am, " the editor had clearly bleeped out him saying fuck, "you Kuro!" at this, all on camera laughed, much to the cat's chagrin.
The screen cut out once more, this time to the words "Thank you Rin Okumura for making this possible!" With the group photo of him with his cram class underneath it, as well as one from that day, with the teens, Rin, and Kuro all sitting on the porch of his cabin. Next, the words, "We'll bring some sake for Kuro next time!" showed up underneath.
The presenters bowed before taking their seats as their classmates clapped, some chuckling at the sake comment. The teacher, Mrs. Keneko, also clapped as she took the small USB out of her computer and passed it back to Mei. "Well done you three, who would've thought that 'ghost' was actually just an old, old, man?" This caused the class to laugh quietly.
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