Can You Hide? (Quest)

[Tsumiko]

“One... Two... Three...”

The cheerish voice of a young woman started counting, her voice carrying a melodic charm to it that dared to be ignored. She stood facing the wall of a tower in the fair world of mischief, the hands covering her eyes as she called out the numbers. A wide grin spread across her lips. Playing hide and seek was going to be so much fun!~

“Four... Five... Six...”

She continued counting as she mused on where her new young playmates would choose to hide. There were six in total, four boys and two girls. They approached her first, wanting to play a game. They said it would be up to her what game they played, and so the songstress picked their current game. None of them wanted to count, though, and so that left her with the task of being seeker. That was fine. She didn't mind. But she warned them that if she had to be seeker, she was going to add in a fun little twist.

“Seven... Eight... Nine...”

They were so excited to see that she had planned for them, and ran off immediately after Tsumiko covered her eyes. Their giggles and cute whispers faded with their tiny footsteps. None of them could have been any older than seven or eight. It was such a wonder that six little cuties were out and adventuring without any sort of supervision. Either they didn't have them, or their parents were idiots. Either way, it wouldn't matter in the end. Every soul is bound to a destiny that it cannot escape. Whether their parents were around or not was irrelevant.

“Ten! Ready or not, here I come!~” Tsumiko sang out, turning around to scan her field of view with wide, excited eyes. Her grin had spread from ear to ear as she took slow steps forward. Behind her, her fingers were laced to give her that air of innocents as she looked all around.

Strolling by the roller coaster's entry point, the songstress hummed in delight as she seen the rear end of one of the little boys peaking out from around one of the corners. He was curled up on the ground, likely covering his head. Making quiet steps up behind him, and sure enough, the kid had his little hands on the back of his head as his face kissed the ground. Stifling a giggle behind a hand, she made to break the news to the kid that he had been found. Unfortunate for him...

The world was big, but Tsumiko took her time in finding each child one by one. Walking and looking around in a calm state of bliss, she was in absolutely no hurry. There one child that hid near the carousel, somehow ignorant enough to believe that sitting on one of the spinning horses was a good idea.  Another sat on the ground, against the cotton candy stall. The little girl was stuffing her face with the fluffy pink treat. She was such a sweet thing, that little angel. On the ferris wheel, a brother and sister sat side by side as the attraction made one round after another. They were more than just disappointed as the ride stopped, the songstress standing in wait for them at the bottom with a sweet smile. There was a small bit of pink fluff on the corner of her lips.

The final child lay in wait in the large circus tent, nestled between the round platforms in its central stage. With how long it took the songstress to finally get to him, it was no wonder the poor dear was beginning to drift. He head was gently resting against his knees as he sat curled up against the platform, and he was trying so hard to resist the call of sleep. But try as he might, his heavy lids were just too much and closed. Tsumiko found him like this, the soft sound of his breathing catching her ears. A hand placed itself at her lips as she gave a silent giggle, striding over to him. When she stood before him, she crouched down and hugged her knees with one arm. The other was raised to gently stroke the smooth skin of his cheek. Children were so untainted, body, mind, and soul. It was so... delicious.

The child stirred a little, twitching a little when touched. Sleepy, half-lidded eyes peered up at the silver-blue haired woman as she softly smiled at him. “Found you~” she said in a hushed, soft tone, tipping her head from one side to the other. The boy tilted his head up a little, trying to feign being awake. The woman turned to sit beside him, gently petting his hair as she pressed his small body into her side. It didn't take much longer for him to drift off back to sleep, ushered on by the soothing lullaby the songstress hummed for him.

With a final stroke of his hair, Tsumiko smiled down at him. “Sweet dreams, little one,” she whispered, leaning down to kiss the boy's forehead. Where her lips made contact with his skin, something dark rooted into his face. The kid’s skin started blackening, a plague washing over him. In his sleep, he began convulsing. His body began turning to stone, the blackness cracking and chipping at an alarming rate. Soon, the boy was nothing but gray sand in her hands.

Standing up with a smile, the woman dusted off her hands, brushing away the gray that remained on her clothing. That was the last of them. All six of the little darlings had been found. This was, sadly, the last game of hide and seek any of them would play.