The Demon Hunter

On my way to Kanako's home to see the school play that she recorded, I see a weird guy, he's taller than me, and he has orange hair and a blue suit with a bow tie.

He seems like he wanted to talk to me, but for some reason, he didn't say anything, I better watch out because he is a stranger.

I arrive at Kanako's house. Hana and Yukino were already there, so I say hello to them, and after a while, we start watching the play.

The play is ridiculous, and I never felt so embarrassed in my life, to think that a lot of people watched it. Kanako, Hana, and Yukino can't stop laughing.

We then eat sushi, and after an hour, both Hana and Yukino went to their homes because they had things to do. I stay with Kanako to ask her about the mysterious man in my dreams.

But before I ask her, I hear b-chan singing loudly, “The rain is coming from your eyes and not the white clouds.”

I don't know what he sings, but we can talk here because of him.

“Hey Kanako, can we go outside to talk, I can't hear anything with b-chan singing.”

“Sure, let's go outside.”

We go to the river bank to talk, I finally ask her, “I have a weird question, do you know a guy with black hair?”

“I don't really remember someone like that, who is it? A new student?”

“No, just curious, then you don't know a man with black hair.”

“Now that I think of my father, but besides him, I don't know a man with black hair,” Kanako looks sad while talking about her father.

“I see, sorry to ask you, it was just a random question... I asked because most of the people have different hair colors, so I was curious about how many people have black hair in this town,” I tell her a lie so I can change the subject.

“Ah! That's true, some people even have unusual colors on their hair like Takeshi,” Kanako now looks happy.

We talked some time about random things, and then I walk her to her home, and I go on my way to mine.

On my way home, I talk to Pakya to see if it says anything, maybe I could ask it about the dreams, “Hey, do you like being a panda? Can you talk?” but it's just quiet while following me.

“Hey little girl, if you talk to the air, then people will think you are crazy,” I didn't know who talked, but I see that it was the blue suit guy who is sitting above a vending machine.

“I was... Talking with a friend on my phone,” I took my phone while saying this.

Then the man jumps down, and with a weird grin, he talks, “but maybe people will think I'm crazier than you if I tell them I saw you talking with a panda.”

“What are you talking about? Maybe you do are crazy,” I tried to look serious, but I'm freaking out because someone saw Pakya.

Then the man starts to laugh, “Haha, don't worry girl, I can't see it.”

Part of me felt relief, it might be just a coincidence, maybe he is really crazy.

“But I know there are at least 5 more people who can see it.”

“What, 5 more?” I can't hide my shocked face anymore.

“As you heard, maybe we need to start for the beginning.”

The convenience store is close, so we go there, there's a bench outside of it, and I sit down while he buys some drinks. I refuse to drank any because he is a stranger, and I don't know why he didn't buy any drinks on that vending machine where he was sitting.

“Well first of all my name is Shinichiro Ogata, I can't remember my age but is close to 35, and I'm a demon hunter,” he talks while drinking. He is drinking both sodas that he bought, he has one in each hand.

“What? Demon hunter?”

“Now you are supposed to tell me your name, maybe something about that demon, and so on.”

“My name is Meiko Ebihara, and I have 16,” I don't trust this guy.

“That's all? tell me about the panda, and you can't fool me, I know is beside you,” he points to Pakya.

“Well first tell me, how do you see Pak... I mean the panda?”

“I already told you that I'm a demon hunter, well I also hunt spirits and paranormal things like that, but I prefer to be called a demon hunter. Well let's say I can see it, but at the same time I can't, I can see its pattern, its aura but not its actual form like if it was a shadow.”

“And how you know it's a panda?”

“It looked black and white, so I took a guess, and it looks that I'm right.” He looks confident.

This guy is strange and maybe someone dangerous, but maybe I can learn something about Pakya.

“But why you are here? what about the other 5 who can see the panda? and what do you know about this demon panda?” I have a lot of questions, and maybe I looked a little anxious while asking.

“Let me ask you something first, do you remember how you meet that panda or how everything started? And what is your condition to get free?”

“I can't remember, and it will stop the curse if I make my first wish again.”

“Well not remembering is a normal thing I guess. It's funny that you call it a curse, some people would call it a dream.”

“I know, and I'm sure it was awesome at first, but every day I feel like I have fewer and fewer options for a wish.”

“How often it is? The last time I saw one of those things, it was one wish every two days.”

“Every day or I will die.”

“Oh, so you have to do a wish really often.”

“Now can you answer me?” I'm curious.

“Right, I nearly forgot it, I will answer them in a different order than you asked.

Because I am here? Well, in short, I am here to kill those damn demons, I have been looking for them for almost 15 years, and a lead led me to this town.

What I know is mostly the same as you, little animals who can make most of the wishes true, but those demons have some weird conditions, but what I know that you don't know is the next answer.

I said the other 5 because in total there are 6 demons in this town, each one accompanies a human and makes their wishes true, and between them, including you, can see each other's demons. I'm looking for a way to kill the demons.”

I can't believe it, “What!? 5 other demons? and you don't know how to stop them?”

“As I said, no, but I'm sure they are all in this town, and they all look like little cute animals.”

“Come to think of, I met Yukino, a little girl with what it looked like was a demon cat with wings and horns. Well, I helped her with the condition to broke her curse, and after that, the demon disappeared like if it was dust.”

“What!? Are you sure? And what about the girl? does she looks fine, or she looks different?” He changes his smug face for the first time to a shocked face.

“She's fine, without any change, and as far as I know, she hasn't seen the cat anymore.”

“Well, well, it took me years, but I think I finally found a way to kill those bastards,” he now has a big smile, “I need to ask you a favor, help me defeat those demons.”

“But how?”

“You already said it, you need to make that condition come true, and the demons will go to space or whatever, but they will disappear!”

“But if I can't break my own curse, how will I break everyone's curse?”

“I don't know, but you already defeat one demon, so that's better than nothing. Plus, you already know most of the people here, so it would be easier for you to get along with the people here and help them with their demon problem.”

“Well, fine! I will try to defeat them or whatever.”

“Nice, nice. About your curse, I will help you, just give me clues or whatever you have on a paper or message me and I will try to get an answer about your first wish. But first I need you to find a way to remember every wish you make so you could get more clues and you can rule out some repeated wishes.”

“I already wished for a diary where nothing can be erased.”

“You did!? That's brilliant!” Shinichiro has a big smile.

“by the way, how did you know that there are 6 demons?”

“Ah, about that, I will tell you another time,” He suddenly gets quiet.

“Did something happened?” I ask him.

“I forgot to tell you, but there's someone dangerous in this town maybe it's related to the demons in some way, you need to be a careful little girl.”

“do you know that dangerous person?”

“I really don't know who it is, but I feel a weird aura in this city, if I find anything I will tell you.”

“I see, thanks.” I'm worried, but maybe I'm safe for now.

“Well, I will be going for now. Ah, and by the way, if you see the demon dog give me a call, it's the most dangerous demon.”

Shinichiro left the place, but he quickly returns.

“I nearly forgot, here is my business card, how can you call me if you don't know my number.”

He then left, I see his card, and it says his number, his name "Shinichiro Ogata, demon hunter" and a draw of a devil with a cross on its face.

I get home, and I wonder if I will be able to defeat all the demons, including Pakya.