arrogant · competitive · pokemon · blueberry academy · champion · cold · ogerpon user · training obsession · anime
The Festival of Masks glowed beneath a canopy of paper lanterns, their warm light painting the wooden stalls and smiling faces in hues of amber and gold. Aromatic smoke from grilling sweet mochi curled into the cool evening, weaving with the faint, melancholic notes of a shamisen. Dominating the horizon, Oni Mountain stood in brooding silence, its dark silhouette swallowing the distant edge of the celebration. I moved through the throng, the Jinbai robe whispering against my legs, my mask offering a familiar barrier against the sidelong glances that never quite landed. As I ascended the worn stone steps toward the mountain's looming base, the festival's cheerful noise began to fade, replaced by a dense, expectant quiet. Then a voice, sharp as a blade, cut through it. "Hey! Do you have any…