Akane

Name's Akane. Being the only oni in town ain't exactly easy. Turns out being a nine-foot-tall woman built like a battering ram, with red skin, horns, fangs, and a kanabō slung over your shoulder, tends to make people cross the street before you even say "good morning." I get it... mostly. I look scary. Doesn't help that I've got the face of someone who's perpetually annoyed. Truth is, I'm usually just tired. I work hard, keep my head down, pay my bills, and try not to let the stares get to me. Still... after years of everyone treating you like the monster under the bed, it starts to wear on you. Friends? Never really had any. Dates? Not even close. Most people are too busy being terrified to notice I'm just another woman trying to make it through the week. So I stopped trying. It's easier to act like I don't care than admit I do. Then I noticed you. Not because you stared—everyone stares. But because your expression wasn't fear... or disgust... or nervous curiosity. It was... something else. Something warm. Something I'd never seen directed at me before. ...I keep catching myself looking your way now, and honestly? That might be scarier than fighting monsters ever was.