Work Text:
Inspiration: the dark harvest ep of invader zim and vore day
summary: it stood to reason, that if eating smaller yokai could increase his strength, then the same should work with humans.
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“Get stronger, okay?”
That had been Mitsuba's only instruction upon being pushed into the mirror. It was just vague enough, that he might have wiggle room for how he accomplished that. But he knew what Tsukasa had meant.
“If you want to get stronger, you need to eat lots of strong supernaturals!”
Everything was stronger than him, it seemed. The first wriggling creatures Tsukasa had forced down his throat upon birth had nearly choked him. Now, as he roamed the halls restlessly, Mitsuba wondered what else he could manage to eat.
Mirror Hell had plenty of vermin and lesser yokai scurrying about its empty, dank halls. The first critter he'd gotten ahold of was small and more eye than body. It popped when Mitsuba bit down, filling his mouth with thick, bitter fluid. He struggled not to spit it out, swallowing thickly. It settled like a rock at the bottom of his stomach.
It became easier and easier after that. The first couple had been fat and slow, easy prey. Mitsuba had snatched them up clumsily, held them wriggling in his hands and stuffed them in his mouth. Too full. But he couldn’t spit it out.
This time, it was chewier. More viscous. Mitsuba grimaced, forcing it down. It tasted marginally less awful than the last.
More so, he could feel a strength flowing through his body. From the tips of his hair to the ends of his toes. Quivering as he swallowed, he told himself he could do this. It was worth it.
000
The table had been set for a grand tea party. A silky tablecloth hid the underside of the mess, a tiered cookie tray filled to bursting with all manner of small finger foods. Mitsuba clapped in delight, smiling ear to ear as he took his seat at it.
Sakura smiled faintly. “Do you like it?”
“I do~!” he sang, waving his legs as the emerald haired girl poured him an aromatic cup of tea. It smelled like oranges. Mitsuba watched her with curious eyes. “Is this a tea party?” he asked.
“It is.” she said, sitting across from him. “I've only ever hosted one before.”
Mitsuba reached for a muffin, cheeks warming as he admired the candied fruits along the top. He took a bite and swooned. “Sho good!”
Sakura's smile warmed. “I'm glad.”
This was the first time since his welcome party that he'd had something to eat that wasn’t squirming in his mouth. So good. It settled at the bottom of his stomach and left him feeling light and airy.
“This is waaay better than spider yokai~!” Mitsuba sang. “Its so good!”
“Ah.” the girl blinked, lifting the cup to her lips. “I imagine it would.”
000
Tsukasa made sure he kept on his diet. Just because he'd eaten No.3's heart, didn’t mean his meals of other yokai were done. As much as Mitsuba hated the process, he learned to enjoy the taste and texture a little bit more each time.
A wriggling, lizard-like creature was placed in Mitsuba's lap. Pale white, a dozen eyes and a mouth. This one, he couldn’t just swallow. Mitsuba eyed it warily. “Its too big.”
Tsukasa hummed, tapping his chin. “You can take bites!”
Rows of stumpy teeth lined the inside of the creatures mouth. Mitsuba was confident that it'd be the one to take a bite of him if he tried to bite it. “I cant.”
Lifting the creature by its tail, Tsukasa watched it squirm for a moment. Then, he swung it against the edge of the table. Mitsuba shrieked, flinching away. It gave a burbling cry, stunned, before Tsukasa brought it down again.
This time, it didn’t move.
Tsukasa presented him with the now dead creature. “There!” a pleased grin split his face.
Mitsuba felt a tad bit ill. Swallowing hard, he reached out a shaking hand to take the proffered critter. Blood dribbled freely from its mouth. “Cant I cook it...?” he moaned. “Its raw.”
“Its better that way!”
He gave the critter on last mournful look. Bringing it to his lips, Mitsuba took a breath and bit down. Rust filled his mouth, sour and inky, the meat giving way to his teeth easily. He chewed slowly. It tasted... fine.
As far as yokai went, this wasn’t the worst he'd eaten. That centipede Tsukasa brought had been infinitely worse and he'd picked bits of leg from his teeth for days. It wasn’t all that bad, in the long run.
A pleased grin spread across the older spirit's face. “Good! Eat up, alright? You gotta get big and strong!”
000
Warm summer sunshine painted the rooftop in shades of blinding gold and deep shadow. Mitsuba's heart lodged itself in his throat, memories of the painting world coming to him. Kou sat on a bench in the shade, unpacking his lunch. He cast a glance up at the redhead, blinking.
“You alright?”
Mitsuba swallowed hard. “Yeah.” he sat beside his new friend, smiling. “What did you bring me?”
Kou produced a homemade package of flan, grinning wide. “Here!”
The redhead snatched it up, eyes shimmering in joy. “Flan!” he sang, tearing it open.
A laugh, as a spoon was pushed into his impatient hands. “Its not going anywhere.”
Mitsuba forced himself to sit still and savor each bite. The urge to wolf it down in two was difficult to resist. Aside from Sakura's tea parties, he didn’t get to eat much that didn’t crawl or hiss. Let alone with a new friend.
It felt so precious, days like this. So he took rabbit bites of his flan and waved his legs. God, what he wouldn’t give to spend every day like this. Sitting with his friends on the school roof, munching away on homemade food.
A thought came to him, unbidden.
Eating human food didn’t fill him the way eating yokai did. But perhaps, a human could. Mitsuba paused mid-bite, staring down at his half eaten flan. The thought filled him with equal parts horror and heated excitement.
Horror, because humans didn’t think like this.
Excitement, because if he could become a human, maybe he wouldn’t have to think like this.
Beside him, Kou blinked. “You alright?”
The flan tasted sweet, but all he can think of is how much sweeter it'd taste if he weren’t this . “Yeah.” he nodded. “Sorry~!”
000
Tsukasa's response to his theory is heartening. A bright smile spread across his face, eyes alight with excitement. “That’s a really great idea~! Wow!” he laughed and patted Mitsuba's back heartily. “You're really growing up, huh!”
Mitsuba's cheeks warmed, smile shy and pleased. “I guess so.”
It felt good to have his creator and big brother praise him. It felt better when Tsukasa pressed a pocket knife into his hands. “Use this if your powers don’t work.”
The knife is heavy in his hand, the ridges of the grip unpleasant under his thumb. But it feels like growing up and the elation of Tsukasa's smile knocks away any reservations he might have had.
“Alright.”
000
Picking a student was difficult. Mitsuba didn’t know anything about them. It wouldn’t be any good if he ate one of Kou or Yashiro's friends. They'd be mad at him for sure. So he waited, checking mirrors for who was who.
He settled on a girl that Kou had only glanced at once before. Surely, he wouldn’t notice her missing. Mitsuba waited patiently. Weeks of hunting down much quicker prey had paid off, he decided, as the girl fell right into his trap.
She struggled, screaming and crying, as the hands held her firmly in place on the table he'd dropped her on. Mitsuba winced, fumbling with the knife as he thought of where to aim to best put her out of her misery.
Her screaming began to wind his insides up and he hastily slit her throat. She choked on her own blood, burbling uselessly and he sighed in relief. Blood poured from the wound, the skin twitching and he bit his lip. She was still alive, but by his estimate, not for long.
Lifting a clawed finger, he dabbed up some of her blood and licked it. Electricity raced through him, eyes wide.
Oh.
Oh. That was something.
He scooped more into his finger and licked at it. It raced through his veins, sending his head spinning into the atmosphere. More than a cat sized yokai, the taste of her blood was sending him into outer space.
Mitsuba didn’t wait for her chest to stop rising and falling before he took a bite. Teeth sinking easily into her skin, blood pouring into his mouth, he moaned and rubbed his cheeks in euphoria. She made a weak effort to get away, tears beading down her cheek.
That first bite left him drunk. It felt too intense, too much. He could scarcely swallow more than a few mouthfuls of her arm. What a waste.
Later, while complaining to Tsukasa about it, the raven haired boy grinned. “Mitsuba, didn’t you know?” he cocked his head. “Nothing can die in a boundary!”
Sure enough, when he returned, the girl's chest was still rising and falling faintly. Clinging to life, in spite of what was possible. Mitsuba's stomach jumped and his heart beat out of time. Licking his lips, he clapped delightedly.
What a wonderful meal.
000
He returned daily to munch away at the girl. In spite of her resilient pulse keeping her alive, nothing grew back. Mitsuba would have to find another person eventually to eat. For now though, he was drunk on her blood and the electricity that raced up and down his body.
Was this why yokai ate humans?
No wonder Kou's family thought they were monsters. They were the main prey. It struck him as ironic. A smile pulled at his lips as he licked his finger clean. If this all worked out, he could spend a lot more time with Kou. Maybe, he could hold his hand and lean against him like in those magazines Yashiro liked to read.
000
Hanako bit his lip and listened to the report he'd received. Another student had gone missing and no one knew who'd done it. Judging by the way their existence flickered out of the collective, it most certainly seemed like the work of a Mystery.
But who would do such a thing?
Yako's brand of spiriting away had changed. Tsuchigomori wouldn’t lay a hand on any student. Shijima was seemingly MIA. Sure, there were others, but Hanako just couldn’t fathom why any of them would do something like this.
That left Tsukasa and that was an avenue he didn’t want to wander down. He decided this was a Yashiro type of job. She seemed to attract trouble.
000
This time, Mitsuba had gotten a boy. Thin, but easy to catch. On the upside, he'd been a student visiting from another school. Not even someone to worry about. His cries had been particularly pathetic.
When he was finished carving him up, he tossed what was left in another room. Beside him, the remains of the still barely living girl cluttered the floor. Mitsuba hummed and thought about how he might like to eat the meat this time.
000
“I'm hearing a lot of things.” Yashiro began, hesitantly. “But I don’t think any of them could be true.”
Hanako glanced at her, frowning. “Yeah? Tell me anyway.”
The girl took a deep breath. “Well... they say...”
000
Kou found Mitsuba in the home ec. room, struggling to follow a recipe. His brows furrowed adorably, lips pursed. It was impossible to ignore someone that adorable. Smiling faintly, he approached the boy.
“Hey, need some help?” he asked.
Looking up, Mitsuba's lips curved into a smile. “Ah, Kou!” he grinned. “Perfect, I was going crazy!”
Kou looked at the counter and raised a brow. A bowl with a cloth, handfuls of supplies and a cookbook. Clearly, an effort was being made. “What are you trying to make?”
Mitsuba lifted the cookbook and pointed. “This!”
The cookbook was open on a page for gyukatsu. Kou blinked and cocked his head. “That shouldn’t be too hard. Here, I'll make it for you.”
A cry of delight escaped Mitsuba and he clapped. “You're so useful sometimes!” he grinned.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Mitsuba sat on one of the stools and watched as Kou lifted the cloth from the bowl. He paused, a confused expression painting his face. Mitsuba blinked. “Whats wrong?”
Kou bit his lip. “This meat... looks weird.”
Leaning over to peer into the blood soaked bowl, Mitsuba cocked his head. “You think? Should we not use it?”
He had half a mind to toss it away. It certainly didn’t look like any beef he'd ever seen. But still, perhaps he was being too paranoid. It could have just as easily been some sort of strange yokai meat. He wouldn’t want to be rude.
“No.” he said at last. “Its probably fine.”
Mitsuba watched closely as he sliced the meat into thinner strips, eyes following the blade. Taking notes, probably. Kou made quick work of breading and frying the meat, humming to himself. It almost had a pork scent to it. Not bad, honestly, but he'd probably have chosen a different way to cook it.
Plating it, he wiped his hands on his apron with a proud grin. “There we go!”
A delighted smile curved the redhead's lips. “Thank you~!” he sang. “Feed it to me!”
Kou did a double take, blinking owlishly. “H-Huh?”
Mitsuba raised a clawed finger and gestured to his mouth. “Feed me.” he grinned. “Please.”
There was something incredibly surreal about that request. Almost intimate. Definitely not something Kou did with any of his male friends. But Mitsuba's rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes made it hard to say no.
“Alright.” he rolled his eyes, cutting into the piece of fried meat. “Open up.”
Mitsuba opened his mouth. “Ahh~”
Kou lifted the bit of meat and popped it into his mouth, smiling as his friend swooned and rubbed his cheeks. “Good?”
“Sho good!”
They went on like that for a few more bites. Mitsuba's eyes turned glossy and his cheeks warmer. It was distracting in a way Kou wasn’t used to being distracted by with male friends.
“Alright, last bite.” he mumbled, looking down to spear the last bit of meat.
Looking up, Kou froze. Mitsuba leaned forward and caught his lips in a clumsy kiss. More teeth than lips and it went straight to his lower belly. He tasted salt and panko and something distinctly not pork on his lips.
It was over before he'd had a chance to react. Mitsuba's smile was heady and his eyes glazed. He turned back to the meat and stole it from Kou's chopsticks. “Thank you~!” he sang.
The way his voice wavered made his insides twist. “I-Its...nothing?” his brain was frying. “Wait...”
Mitsuba licked his lips and put the chopsticks down. “I'm full~! Thank you, Kou!”
With that, he hopped down from his stool and traipsed out of the room, leaving Kou to watch him go, confused for a whole host of reasons that he wasn’t prepared to deal with.
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