Oni

A 6-year-old girl woke up in the middle of the night. She wasn't sure why she woke up, but she wasn't as sleepy anymore.

As she walked downstairs, she heard some clapping noises that got louder as she got closer. She went to the fridge to grab some milk but heard her mum make a sound as if she was hurt.

She left the milk carton on the kitchen bench and approached her parent's bedroom.

They left the door agape. She could smell smoke coming from in the room.

"Ahh, you're lucky you know? If your wife was any older, we'd have to make you pay the debt in worse ways." A man said with a lewd voice.

She slowly opened the door and was surprised to see several men dressed in black suits and pants in the room with her parents. They noticed the door opening.

A man who was as old as her father was standing behind her mum who was bent over the work desk. Her nightgown was pulled up above her breasts.

Her father was forced down on the bed by two men with a hand covering his mouth. They also held his head in place, and they forced his eyes open by stretching them apart with their fingers. The father looked at his daughter in shock.

"Daddy?" The little girl said.

The mother turned her head upon hearing her daughter's voice.

The man with his butt out turned around and groaned.

"Please, please don't let her see this. I'm begging you. Please!" She whispered.

"Gorou, get the kid out of here." He said irritatedly.

Gorou exhaled a whiff of smoke as if he was sighing.

"Yes, boss."

Out of everyone in the room, Gorou was the only one wearing a high school uniform.

"Aimi. Everything's okay. Mummy and daddy are just playing a little game with some friends." Her mother said with a reassuring smile.

Gorou led Aimi outside to the living room.

After the door closed, clapping sounds continued resounding through the house.

Aimi stood still looking down with a sad look on her face.

The air got awkward.

Gorou took a drag and then spotted the milk carton on the table.

"Want some milk?" Gorou said as he exhaled.

***

Hikaru was bent over holding onto the barbell on Gorou's throat.

"You're not very smart are you?" He said.

Gorou's face was turning bright red. He tried to kick Hikaru, but his legs could barely reach and when it did, there was hardly any force.

When he tried that, the barbell was pressed against his throat harder. If he wasn't concentrating on the barbell, it would crush his windpipe.

Hikaru's black eyes were like that of a spider, creepily gazing into his eyes, waiting for his life to be snuffed out.

Whereas Gorou's eyes were like that of a cornered lion.

"NGRRR!"

The bar raised.

There's a story about a woman summoning berserk strength to save her baby under a car by lifting it which weighed over a ton. It's almost become common knowledge.

Scientists call this hysterical strength. When one unlocks the power to exert more strength than they would in an emergency.

Gorou's body limiter has been loosened although not to the same extent as Hikaru, who has total control over his body.

Hikaru's feet were rising in the air as he was being lifted.

Although Hikaru was very strong, when pressing an object down, the maximum downward force is limited to the weight force. Unless there was a wall on Hikaru's back, he couldn't press 200 kgs of force onto Gorou.

Gorou was about to drop the barbell to the side when two grey slithery tentacles popped out of Hikaru's back and grabbed onto the poles of the bench press equipment. The barbell lowered to his neck again as Hikaru reeled himself in.

Gorou was turning pale as he starved for oxygen.

He looked at the tentacles coming out of Hikaru's back with fear and confusion.

"Now you know how the trick is done," Hikaru said smiling.

'What the hell are you!' Gorou thought but couldn't say.

Hikaru looked in his eyes for a moment before saying "Want some milk?"

Gorou's eyes widened.

He suddenly remembered that time when he went debt collecting with his father several years ago. There was a couple that had almost paid their debt but was short of a few.

He remembered saying the same thing to a little girl that Hikaru said just now.

Was this revenge for all those years ago? Is Hikaru a vengeful spirit? An Oni?

Despair came across Gorou's face.

Hikaru became satisfied with that.

He lifted the barbell and then brought it down to Gorou's neck.

*Crack*

Gorou's throat and spine were pulverised.

His arms dropped lifelessly from the barbell, and he stopped moving. However, Gorou was still conscious.

His eyes slightly moved around to look at the room and then at Hikaru who smiled when he saw this.

Hikaru no longer bent over and went to Gorou's feet. He began assimilating Gorou's lower body.

Gorou saw his legs getting sucked into Hikaru's stomach.

'Stop! What are you doing to my body!'

The moment his spinal cord was broken, the brain stem could no longer transmit nerve impulses to his heart to get them beating nor could he breathe.

Although Gorou was clinically dead, he could still be resuscitated.

After ten seconds of having his neck crushed, Gorou finally blacked out.

***

There was silence between the muscular year 12-student and the little girl in her red pyjamas except for the humming of the microwave.

When the microwave started beeping, Gorou who was leaning on the kitchen bench opened it and took out a cup of milk.

He passed it on to Aimi. She took the cup but didn't drink it and stared at the milk inside.

"It smells… fruity," Gorou said.

"It's peach fragrant milk," Aimi spoke up, surprising Gorou.

"Ah- alright. It smells really nice."

"I can't smell it because of the smoke." She said.

It didn't sound like a complaint, but it obviously was.

Gorou killed his cigarette in the wet sink and then flicked it into the bin. It was almost done anyway.

"Better?"

It wasn't like the smoke in the air disappeared the moment he snuffed his cigar but Aimi said nothing. She just sipped on her milk.

"Uh! Uhhh! Yes! Harder!" Her mother yelled from the bedroom.