Revelations

Everyone froze in place, with their hearts beating fast as a hummingbird. Mr. Hoshino hugs everyone, even Takumi.

“What I have done, I hope you all will forgive me.” Mr. Hoshino exclaims.

“Dad, what's going on?” Sakura whimpers.

“I…I made a…deal to give us a better life. All the money, this house and our status is from it. But it was from something not human.”

“Hiro, what are you talking about?” Hitomi asks her husband.

“An oni helped me, and I had to help it. All of the ukiyo-e around this house contained actual trapped yokai’s. I planned to sacrifice them to the oni to leave us alone, but something went wrong.” Hiro says sobbing.

Everyone is in disbelief hearing his claims. Sakura and Hitomi are full of tears like Hiro. The family, including Takumi, hug each other.

At that moment, Takumi remembers he has the camcorder still in his hand and turns it on. Going to videos, he selects a previously recorded video.

“Mr. Hoshino, all of the upstairs ukiyo-e had nothing in them. Please take a look.”

Takumi shows him and the rest of the family his evidence. Mr. Hoshino looks terrified as Takumi’s claims are correct.

“Oh no. No no no no! They’re all out?!” Hiro yells.

“Dad, just how many of them are there?” Sakura asks.

“We have 60 on each floor. So about 180.”

Hearing that number makes everyone speechless.

“The thing is, I was supposed to offer them all up to this oni, but the damn guards ruined it. They’re all dead.”

“Mr. Hoshino, what happened in the basement?” Takumi asks.

Mr Hoshino pulls out a red Talisman with the face of the same oni Takumi saw in the living room earlier.

“This brought all our luck, all because I found this in the top roll of that oni’s ukiyo-e. I kept hearing his voice promising wealth and our protection, as long as we did all he wanted. But tonight, I failed to bring him his promise of 400 yokai’s.”

“Hiro, why didn’t you tell us?”

“I wanted to give everyone a better life. All those art deals gave us a better life and my task of finding art containing spirits. I had to give him not only the art pieces but also some people’s sanity.”

Sakura steps back, looking at her dad with shock.

“Dad, what do you mean by that?” Sakura says straight to Hiro’s face.

“What’s been happening on the news, the oni feeds on people’s mental sanity to thrive. It fed on it while I gathered the yokai’s.”

Sakura looks at her dad with disgust while Hitomi looks disappointed.

“Mr. Hoshino please tell us exactly what happened in the basement. What caused all of this?”

“Takumi, it was supposed to be a ritual for me to beg for more time. I placed out all markers, symbols and had the guards stand by with talismans to keep it at bay. But it wouldn’t accept my pleas and took all of them.”

Bam

“Hiro Hoshino! Offer yourself now!” Said by a booming and unknown voice.

Hiro steps away from his family towards the voice.

“Leave my family and my daughter’s boyfriend alone! They have nothing to do with this!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. My hunger won’t take only you now!”

Rumble

The house shook with the power of a high magnitude earthquake. The family and Takumi all fall to the ground as the end felt like a collapse was imminent. Takumi takes the camcorder and begins filming the events. He looks around, seeing nothing unusual through the camcorder.

Thud

Hiro faces the direction of the noise and sees nothing.

Takumi's eyes are wide open on what he sees through the camcorder. A 10-foot-tall oni, red skinned, red eyes, and a wearing tattered tiger loincloth, is phasing through the wall like a ghost. Crawling, its face looks straight at Hiro with pure anger.

“Mr. Hoshino! Get away from the wall!” Takumi yells.

Hiro looks behind, confused.

“It’s an oni! Sakura, get back!”

Sakura looks in his direction, seeing nothing.

“Sakura, Hitomi, get to the A/V room! It wants me for now, but please use that camera to protect yourself! I don’t want you dead to suffer from my sins.”

Hitomi grabs Sakura and Takumi away as Takumi sees the oni grab Hiro. Now floating in midair, Hiro looks on to his unseen perpetrator.

“Just take me and let my family and Takumi leave. It’s not worth their lives.”

The rest manage to get upstairs and make it to the room, with Sakura hugging her mom.

The oni smiles and begins to chuckle.

“Ha ha ha ha ha. I don’t think your family will want to even leave this place as well. Let’s say a majority of the yokai are having fun.”

The oni points to the tv, it turns on as a news report stating numerous deaths, disappearances, and attacks are occurring.

“This just in! Ora is reporting numerous fatalities with the Japanese government implementing a strict curfew. Um, we now have reports that Tokyo is suffering a blackout and more disappearances. Everyone please remain…”

At that moment, the female news reporter sees something not seen by others.

“What? Please don’t kill me!”

“I…I think you’re a beautiful woman. Please leave me alone!”

The reporter cries and screams as the station goes off the air.

Hiro is speechless with Japan now a playground for all yokai.

“Why are you doing this? You only wanted me and the yokai.”

The oni chuckles.

“You deluded soul. I never wanted a bunch of yokai to eat. All I needed was enough to make Japan the haven it once was before.” The oni says with enthusiasm.

“What?!” Hiro yells.

“This island once belonged to us, and I was its ruler. But you humans decided to make it your territory and banished all of us, even killing many. Do you have any idea how it feels to become a damn picture and be gawked at?” The oni exclaims at Hiro.

“I didn’t think so. But I’m not going to kill you now. I’ll play with you on what true suffering feels.”

The oni grabs his head, and its immense strength feels like a crushing blow to Hiro’s head.

“Aaaaghh!” Hiro yells out, as Hitomi covers Sakura’s ears and Takumi hugs her.

“We’re going to have plenty of fun.” The oni mockingly says.

Crawling away, the oni takes Hiro and phases through the wall with him. Now stuck in a house with no exit, the trio are visibly shocked as they recollect their thoughts on the recent revelations.