Soul || KNY x Reader

010 ≈ The Dumbassery Has Reached Its Hopeful Peak

"Follow the yellow-brick road," You sang softly as you walked down the path that led to the Final Selection mountain. "Follow, follow folLOW, FOLLOW, FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD! WAIT, WHERE'S MY MASK?!"

You whirled around, intending to head straight back to the mountain when something flew off your head and fell.

". . . oh. Damn, I'm stupid."

Picking up the kitsune mask, you started walking again, continuing to hum the song.

It took about a day of alternating between walking and running to reach the mountain. At first, you didn't realize that you had reached. All the mountains that you had crossed looked the same, so you were just planning on walking until you spotted the wisteria.

"Maybe I should have taken a nap," You muttered, narrowly avoiding a puddle of mud. "Eh, I'll just sleep later."

You could feel yourself getting more and more drowsy so, to make sure you didn't end up passing out while standing, you focused on the ground. Because of that, you didn't notice the flowers that were starting to hang from the trees, walking into a bunch of them.

Immediately, you panicked.

"There's a demon!" You brought out your sword and blindly swung, stumbling back until you fell on your butt. You pointed your sword up just to see purple flowers hanging from the tree, almost glowing in the late afternoon light.

". . . Mom, you gave birth to a dumbass."

You got up and dusted yourself off, feeling reassured despite the tomfoolery you displayed. At least you knew that you were on the right path.

Near to where you found the wisteria, you found an old staircase leading upwards. At the top of the staircase, there was a clearing with a stone pathway leading to the edge of the clearing. At the far end, two white-haired people were standing, wearing purple flower-patterned kimonos. Each of them had a small ribbon tied to their hair, one was red and the other was green.

Eh? Isn't it supposed to be Kiriya and Kanata? Why's Hinaki and Nichika here? Is it because it's a year earlier? Maybe they were doing it before and next year was Kiriya and Kanata's first year?

The difference in kids made you curious, but you didn't spend much time thinking about it, because all around the courtyard were kids in various colored kimonos and haori with swords. Some also had scars on their faces which just made them look even cooler.

Damn, now I kind of want a scar on my face. It would look so cool, especially if I know I got it from fighting. You shook your head, lightly smacking yourself. I'm being insensitive. They probably went through a lot when they got those scars. It doesn't matter if they look cool or not.

Since it was the afternoon and the trial started in the evening, you made your way to a tree where no one was near, slipped off the sword sheathes, and got comfortable against the trunk of the tree.

Then you took a nap.

You woke up when someone kicked your leg.

"Huh?" You blearily said, rubbing your eyes. "Is it time for it to start?"

Opening your eyes, there was no one there. The clearing was completely empty except for Hinaki and Nichika, who were slowly approaching you.

"The Final Selection has started," Hinaki said.