Motohama Hirosuke didn't know what was happening.
One moment he was dipping his feet in the Kikuchi River, enjoying the small amount of time in the year when his Daughter and Grandson came to visit, the next he found himself sitting underneath the shade of a canopy of trees, his arms tied behind his back, as a Demon straight from hell towered over him.
Was he dead? Was this how he entered the afterlife? Was this unspeakable monster that stood over him none other than the Great King Enma, Ready to judge his soul?
"If I knew I was going to die today, I would have prayed to Buddha ten times!" Hirosuke thought to himself, his mind having trouble coming to terms with the sight in front of him.
The monster had raw red skin as if its entire body was burnt by scorching steam. Six bestial legs descended from beneath a grotesque torso, belonging to animals he simply could not recognize. Its arms and back were covered in hairy black fur, like those of a monkey. A slit spread horizontally from his belly button, opening slightly with each breath leaving its overweight body, revealing rows of teeth, its stomach had a mouth of its own. And worst of all, as Motohama weakly raised his head to look at the face of the monster, he saw no neck, only a small blob of raw red skin on top of the grotesquely overweight torso, with nothing more than a pair of eyes. The head had no mouth or nose, no ears or hair, only two eyes, looking down at him as if he was a meal, ready to be devoured.
Motohama Hirosuke closed his eyes and prayed to Buddha, to Izanagi, to Amaterasu, to Enma and Izanami, to any deity he could think of.
Not a prayer to keep him safe, or for his afterlife to be one of fortune, but a prayer for his Grandson, who must have watched him collapse on that stone beside the Kikuchi, the only witness to his death.
"I am sorry, Ken, It seems I won't be able to give you the gift I prepared..." Motohama Hirosuke whispered a silent apology as he lowered his head and readied his soul to be devoured by the monster that stood in front of him.
"GRANDPA!!!" Only to open his eyes in shock as the voice of his grandson sounded out from behind him.
"Ken?" Hirosuke turned his head around and watched on with stunned silence as none other than his grandson, with a glowing light emanating from his chest, with tall grass and broken twigs sticking to his clothes, ran up and stood between him and the Monster.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!" He heard his grandson yell at the monster, but he was confused, how could his grandson come here? Wasn't this Meido? Wasn't he about to be judged? Why was Ken here? He didn't understand.
Motohama Hirosuke decided it would be better to simply close his eyes and ignore the world around him, perhaps this entire thing was a simple hallucination.
Yes, a hallucination, that made sense to him. And so, with no need to worry, Motohama Hirosuke laid on his back and went to sleep
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Motohama Ken wasn't thinking about how he was going to save his grandfather, nor was he thinking about how he was going to take down the monster that towered over his grandfather.
Instead, all Ken could think about was "How hard do I need to throw this rock to make it hurt really bad?"
He did not think, he leaned down, picked up a pebble from the ground, covered in in the light from his Sacred Gear, and threw it at the monster.
The glowing pebble flew through the air like a firework, sparks of light escaping it as the Sacred Gear started wearing off after leaving Ken's body.
The question was now would the rock hit the monster before the Sacred Gear left it, or would it return to a simple rock?
And as the rock passed through the monster's chest as if it wasn't even there, the answer became clear.
"You dare attack me?" The monster's stomach rumbled, the mouth on its belly moved its lips as it talked, the rows of teeth filling its maw quaked and shuddered in anticipation for the new meal that stood in front of it.
"Fuck you!" Was Motohama Ken's eloquent and mature reply as he threw another rock at the monster, the light from his Sacred Gear wrapping around the rock as it left his hand, flying into the large target that was the creature's mouth.
"Ow! I'll make you pay for that!" The monster growled, slamming its long arm onto the ground with a roar, kicking up a cloud of dust in the process.
Motohama Ken, on the other hand, already figured out what was going on, and this cloud of dust was all the proof he needed.
Especially seeing as no dust entered his eyes, and he was breathing perfectly fine.
"You're a fucking Illusion!" Ken yelled at the monster, "Your chest isn't real, that's why the rock flew through you! But something inside your mouth is!" He balled his hands into fists as he started walking closer to the monster, The tattoo on his chest glowing with bright light as white roots and vines started spreading from around the Moth on his chest towards his arms, glowing with power as he exited the illusion of the dust cloud and stood before the false monster.
"Stand back! Or I shall devour these Yokai!" The monster yelled as it took a step back, its multiple legs almost tripping against each other as it tried to gain distance from the Human Teenager.
Ken looked to the side, watching a group of Yokai cowering behind some trees, their looks resembled those of regular humans, but from their heads extended a pair of stalks with eyes at the end, like those of a slug.
"Please don't eat us!" The Yokai all cried in unison, their eyestalks quivering in fear as the Monster's hand hovered above them.
Ken, however, simply turned back to the monster and punched the mouth in its stomach, feeling his arm disappear into the Illusion's body and smack against something hidden underneath.
"Ow! Why did you do that?!" The monster's guttural voice was replaced with a nasally sound, the monster disappearing soon after to reveal a blue-skinned Yokai with a tuft of white hair growing from the top of its head and a pair of horns extending from the sides of its head.
The Yokai was holding its cheek, a red spot starting to grow from where Motohama's fist impacted with its face.
"You kidnapped my Grandfather!" Ken yelled at the Yokai, the glow from his Sacred Gear starting to dim as what was supposed to be a climactic battle to save his family turned to be over with a single punch.
"I was trying to scare him! I wasn't going to eat him or anything!" The Yokai retorted, rubbing at its injured cheek, "Do you really think I'd eat an old man like him?!"
"I don't know you! Maybe you would have!" Ken yelled at the Yokai, his shout causing the blue person to take a step back, "You think this is funny or something?!"
"..." The Yokai looked away, "Kind of, yes."
Ken punched him in the face once more.
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"Thanks for calling this in, Motohama-san," A man covered in feathers with the head of a sparrow wearing a Shin-Corp uniform told Ken as he and some other Agents dragged the cuffed Yokai away.
"Yeah, Sure." Ken mumbled as he looked away from the Tengu, "My grandpa's going to be alright, right?"
"Of course, He won't remember a thing," The Tengu nodded to Ken, "From his perspective, he simply fell asleep near the river and all of this was nothing but a dream,"
"Good." Motohama Ken muttered, "Thanks for coming, by the way."
"Of course," The Tengu smiled at the younger agent, "It's our job as Shin-Corp to deal with incidents like these. I'm just surprised the local Kami didn't know about it."
Ken paused at that. The Local Kami of Kumamioso, the deity that watched over the local shrine.
According to Susanoo's lessons, these local Kami are in charge of protecting humans from harmful Yokai. And while the most harm the Yokai that was just arrested did was scare Motohama Hirosuke, that should have still been enough to take prior action.
"Hey," Ken turned to look at the Tengu, "Can you pass a request for me?"
"Sure, What is it?" The Tengu Agent asked.
"I want my Gear, and a Warrant," Ken told him.
"A warrant for what?"
"...I want to investigate the local Shrine," Ken said, "The Kami didn't do his job, I want to know why."
"I'll see what I can do," The Tengu told Ken, "Good bye," And with a flap of his wings, he flew straight into the air and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Ken turned away from looking at the small cloud of smoke, and stared at his fist, clenching and unclenching it as the roots from his Sacred Gear slowly receded from his arms, focusing back onto the Moth over his heart.
He let out a tired sigh as he dropped his fist to the side, his hand flopping tiredly against him, "Come on Grandpa, let's get you home," He whispered before he moved to wake up Hirosuke.
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The Motohama Summer Solo Mission isn't over! Something is still wrong, and it's up to supernatural detective Motohama Ken to fix it!
Did you know? There are only 26 named Yokai in all of Highschool DxD, which is preposterous to me, seeing as the story takes place in Japan most of the time, and yet the Japanese faction, both Shinto, Buddhist, and even just random Yokai, play such a small part they barely appear! It's insane!
The Yokai are:
Yasaka and Kunou from the Kyoto Yokai Faction.
Nurarihyon, Magari, Retsuza, Kumowatari and Fujimai of the Kanto Yokai Faction.
Bikou, the current Zhu Bajie, and the current Sha Wujing, who are Members of Vali Team.
Salamander Tomita, a Kappa from a Short Story, and the Golden Horn and Silver Horn Kings, two Yokai who fought against Vali Team in the "Wolf's Emblem" short story.
There's the Yuki Onna, Christie and Stephanie, who appeared in Oppai of Tennis short story, and the Issei SOS short, where they are both contracted spirits working for Kiyome Abe.
There's also the original Zhu Bajue, Sha Wujing, and Sun Wukong, who are all former Yokai who have ascended and became a Buddha.
There's Koneko, Kuroka, Ni and Li, who all reincarnated as Devils.
And finally, for the Oni, we have Ura, and most important of all, Ibaraki Doji, All we know about these two is their vague appearance, and that they both formed a pact with Akeno after she returned to the Himejima Clan to continue her training.
Overall, I am incredibly disappointed with the Canon Yokai in Highschool DxD, but to be fair, the character writing is one of the series's weakest parts. It's a simple Shounen Power Fantasy where you can turn your brain off and enjoy watching the good guys win all the time.
But this is also a reason why I'm writing this story, Someone needs to give these two-dimensional cardboard cutouts of characters some actual personality, because nobody else but me seems to give the Yokai any love!
Hope you enjoyed!