Doodle Champion Island Journeys!

27.

Lucky's first impulse was to punch herself in the face.

What's with me entering the wrong house today?? She internally screamed when she realized that whatever building she was in was not a locksmith. Not that there were that many houses here on Oni Island, and there were just two remarkably large ones. And in a gamble of fifty-fifty, Lucky was unlucky enough to flip to the wrong face of the coin.

The house, like any other buildings here, had walls made of crimson clay, the kind of native material that could only be hardened by heat instead of breaking apart, and had the ability to keep the interior cool in this sulfur-hung environment. The roof was made of multiple layers of hay stacking into a thick blanket. It wasn't a bad design, actually, because although the air was suffocatingly hot, the smoke and ashes from the lava pools had covered the sky, so it was the kind of humid heat rather than burning hot. But this house looked more like a bakery than a locksmith. Bizarre, for Lucky could've never thought that Onis would enjoy the sweet, soft taste of bread.

A weight set was seen in the far left corner of the house and a bed on the right, next to a cupboard full of grinded spices, flavouring syrups, and kitchen napkins. On the left corner next to the door were baskets of wheat and a stone grinder. On the other side of the door was a big table white with flour, and lay solely on it was a rugby-ball-shaped bread, along with its original model. It was amazingly detailed that Lucky could've thought it was a real ball, had the not aroma given it away. There was a square pit in the middle of the house, firewood cracked in red hot flames. A clay pot was hung on a metal string from the ceiling above it. The backdoors were opened, but instead of viewing the Right Horn of Oni Island, it opened to the Rugby field. Faraway, the head of the Oni King lay in solidified magma rock, a sinister smile cracked on his face like always, though it seemed to widen as the head turned rusty red in the final lights of the sun. From the eyeholes and the mouth, a golden glow radiated, as if hiding away ancient treasures of gold. A couple pairs of wings spread on the skies of the Demon Realm, but Lucky realized that they were no ordinary birds - no birds could fly in that lighting, that heat, and no birds had that large wingspan - they were yokais. Their eerie itsumade-itsumade cries sounded bloodthirsty, but Itsumades were a mere kind of creature in the Doodle world, hence never really lived up to their bad reputation depicted in mortal fairytales. They just - like any other yokais - looked like a fusion of many aspects of many mortals and of nature that somehow worked together.

The owner of the house was a Red Oni. Like all Red Onis, he had a sturdy build of fat and muscles, and wore a sole piece of loincloth around his waist, though he looked significantly smaller than the Champion, and his belly was less sumo-like. His two horns were shorter, less sagged, and if anything, they looked like cute cones adorned on his squarish skull. His skin was of baking red instead of lava red, and his face features looked much softer and kinder. Even his stuck-out fangs were small and seemingly more rough than threatening. And he heaved a heavy sigh.

"W-what's wrong?" Lucky couldn't help but ask.

The Oni didn't seem to flinch. He kept his eyes closed in his own train of thoughts, unfazed by Lucky's sudden appearance:

"Being an Oni is tough. Everyone is always so scared of me."

"Well. I am not," Lucky said with a smile, "You Onis look cool and strong!" You even look cuddly yourself, she thought, but as if she'd say that! It sounded so weird out of the blue. And besides, the feline had no idea if that would insult an Oni. Better not try. She would not forget how her heart went thudding in her throat when she first saw the Onis at close quarters yesterday, just about this time around in the Demon Realm. But a good challenge of fair-play sport eased that feeling and replaced it with excitement. After all, mortals, yokais, and kamis alike, they had perks and weaknesses of their own.