Public Opinion

The night was young, with the sun just starting the set, the lithe body of a small Bakeneko and the large muscular body of a shrouded Paralogos could be see skirting across the countryside in hot pursuit of a local town. The two had visited the town previously during the day in order to locate misbehaving children or evil-hearted adults. It was their mission to reform these individuals through fear or pranks, whichever worked best.

The duo quickly slipped into the shadows of a small collection of cottages looking into the cobblestone center of town. The moon was slowly beginning to rise, its light reflecting off of the rudimentary clock tower that sat at the edge of town and the small fountain that lay in the center of it all. The home’s windows were starting to be lit as the night grew dark. Families could be seen milling around their homes with the aide of candles and lanterns.

Tomatsu pulled the hood of his cloak down, and peaked inside a window, seeing a young boy would had just pulled his sister’s hair because she wouldn’t share her pudding. “I’m glad our track record of hitting the right homes is perfect. I’d feel kind of bad picking on someone who didn’t deserve it.” Tamao adjusted his blue oni mask and nodded in agreement. “We’re basically professionals in something we do for fun of course.”

The pair waited a little longer, making sure to have eyes on all the members of the household before finally slipping into the boy’s room through his window. Climbing through windows was often an issue for Tomatsu because of his size, but after investing in body butter the process was made much easier. Once inside, the duo found their respective hiding places. Tamao was small so he could fit anywhere he pleased, choosing to hide among the toys in the room. Tomatsu’s options were far more limited, but thankfully there was a closet that could fit him, with some hanging clothing providing some extra disguise. Down the hallway the duo could hear shouting and then crying. Perhaps the parents had intervened in the children’s squabbling.

Moments later the bedroom door creaked open and the paunchy boy had wandered inside. He turned and slammed his door closed before toddling over to his bed and climbing into it. Tomatsu and Tamao sat motionless for just passed an hour before they emerged from their hiding spaces. The two gave each other knowing glances and started the scaring process. Tomatsu dragged his sharp claws across a board he had brought in with him. The sound was just loud enough to make the child stir but not wake up anyone else in the house. The name of the game was the be sneaky. After a minute of scraping, the boy tossed his blankets aside and wearily looked around his room. His foggy vision passed over the large maroon shadow looming over his bed and instead focused on the small blue masked cat that was growling at him. The boy jostled awake, surprised by the small fierce creature approaching him. Tamao growled dramatically at the kid, he was really playing himself up. The boy turned around out of fear, attempting to grab a pillow, only to find himself face-to-face with Tomatsu’s toothy grin. The boy’s mouth hung agape with shock and silent terror. Tomatsu rose his hands above his head and growled at the boy, causing him to tumble out of bed.

“Oh my, look what we’ve found! It’s a naughty misbehaving brat! The tastiest of them all!” Tomatsu took a step forward, not breaking eye contact with the boy as he fumbled around on the floor. “Naughty children who attack their sisters go straight into the soup pot!” Tomatsu exclaimed, watching the boy as he started to understand. The boy was halfway under his bed, quietly whimpering about how it wasn’t his fault and how he was really a good kid. Tomatsu rolled his eyes and pretended to tromp around the room as if he didn’t know where the kid had gone. “Oh man, where’d e go? I can’t punish bad kids that I can’t see.” The large logos turned and winked at his companion as he slowly bent down and lifted the bed frame up. No matter what artificial material is was made from, the Oni Logos’s strength was more than enough for it.

Tomatsu sneered at the boy, “BOO!” The boy screamed and ran for the door. Not wanting to be undone, Tamao swiped at the boy, feigning an attack. Distracted, the boy ran into the door, causing a loud THUD. The kid slid down onto the floor quietly and lay there, still. Having put the bed frame back in place, Tomatsu stepped forward to inspect the kid. “Looks like he bumped his head, however, he’s breathing so he should be fine in the morning.” He knelt down and gently picked the boy up. “You outdid yourself Tamao.” The cat was grinning ear to ear, having taken his mask off to get a better look. “You’re one to talk, you big ham.” Tomatsu had just finished re-tucking the boy into bed, taking care to straighten his blanket and reunite the pillow that had fallen onto the floor. “Good night little monster.”

Slipping out of windows was always easier than getting into them. There were no furniture, toys or Knick knacks on the ground to worry about. After one more double-check to make sure everything was how it was before they got there, the duo moved on to their next target. “Looks like our next visit is to a man who like to steal money from the needy.” Tamao narrowed his eyes, recalling the details from earlier in the day. “Yeah, he totally stole that pot of donation money. We can’t let that slide so easily.”

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The next morning the town awoke to a peaceful morning, the birds were chirping, a few real flowers were opening up their petals, and the townsfolk were gathering in the market square to buy their morning ingredients and sell precious goods.

The paunchy boy groggily rolled out of bed, taking a moment to rub his head before remembering the night before. Hastily he ran out of his bed and into the kitchen where his mother was preparing breakfast. “Mom!! Mom!! There was a monster in my room! It had big scary horns and teeth!” The boy’s mother regarded him, confused. “Tommy I’m sure you just had a dream. I didn’t hear any monsters last night.” The boy, flustered, tugged on his mom’s dress again. “But Mom!! He was there!” The boy’s mom rolled her eyes and took the boy’s hand, “Try not to worry about the monster too much sweetie, we have work to do this morning.”

As the duo walked outside, they noticed a small commotion in the square. One of the wealthier members of the town was outside with his pants down, screaming about being attacked by an ogre. When people asked what he meant, as he was hastily trying to pull his trousers up, a small bottle of alcohol fell from the back pocket. This caused many to raise their eyebrows. The man continued to sputter, insisting that an ogre and a small goblin broke into his house and assaulted him, despite not having any physical marks on his body.

Down the road, farther away from the square, sat a small collection of shacks. Their residents had just started waking up when one of the logos that lived with the humans there exclaimed, “Our box! Our box!” A few of the other residents came to inspect the donation box, finding that instead of the poultry amount of money that was in it the night before had been compounded with more wealth. Enough to buy the small niche community meals for a week. Beneath the box sat a baggy with fresh beef jerky, wrapped in large leaves.