[Short Story] Mountain God

Sumida pointed his gun at the swaying bamboo thicket.
The opponent was likely a wounded man-eater. Moreover, if it were a bear capable of taking down someone as skilled as Tagami, it had to be a formidable beast.
As he thought this, he noticed the muzzle pointed at the thicket trembling slightly.

It had been a week since a townsperson gathering wild vegetables was eaten.
It was Tagami who found the mangled remains. He and the woman, known as Granny Yoshi, had been close family friends for many years.
Tagami was enraged and went into the mountains alone, not as part of the hunters' association.
And so, he had vanished into the mountains.

Sumida pulled his wandering consciousness back. The swaying of the bamboo thicket grew more intense. The moment was finally here.
The instant the prey emerged, Sumida took his finger off the trigger.
—A person?
What emerged from the thicket appeared to be a man and a woman. They seemed to be embracing naked, and the one presumed to be the woman had her back to him. Just like a Buddhist statue of Ganesha, they were locked in a tight embrace. The woman's hair grew down to her buttocks, looking more like animal fur than hair. Hidden by that hair, the man's expression was invisible.
—Getting busy in a place like this, are we?
He didn't care about the lives of fools, but it would be troublesome if they were killed by the bear in question. Thinking this, Sumida went to call out to them, but he gasped when he saw their feet.
The long-haired one's legs were wrapped around the man's legs. It wasn't a gentle "wrapping." Like a snake constricting its prey, they were coiled so tightly around the man's legs that it sounded like they might snap. The man's legs were discolored a dark, bruised red.
Just then, a crosswind blew, and the long hair fluttered. Seeing the man's face through a gap in the hair, Sumida was struck dumb.
—Isn't that Tagami-san?

Sumida felt his own body trembling.
Whatever was clinging to Tagami was, by any stretch of the imagination, not human. Perhaps it was the god of this mountain.
However, as things stood, he couldn't even tell if Tagami was still alive.
—Either way, I have no choice but to shoot.
Sumida raised his gun. He was glad it was a rifle and not a shotgun. If he shot that woman in the head, Tagami should be able to escape.

Just then, the wind changed direction.
The moment he felt the wind brush against his back, he thought, "This is bad." The wind was blowing straight toward Tagami.
The instant the wind brushed the woman's hair, her neck turned with a sharp, grinding sound like an old toy.
The woman who turned to face him had no eyes or nose. Only a large mouth that spread across her entire face, which seemed to grin with a wet, smacking sound.

But Sumida did not miss "that moment."
The very instant the woman's body, which had been about to turn toward him, completely detached from Tagami's body, Sumida pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit the woman's head squarely. Despite this, the monster came toward him with a piercing shriek.
—I won't have time to reload.
Sumida braced himself for death.

At that moment, a large black mass appeared from the side and sent the monster flying.

While reloading his gun, Sumida checked the black mass.
It was an Asiatic black bear, two sizes larger than normal. It had a double moon-ring on its chest. It was the first time Sumida, a hunter for many years, had ever seen such a specimen.
The bear was devouring the monster with a crunching sound. The monster's death throes echoed through the mountains a few times, and then silence fell.
Sumida approached Tagami while keeping a wary eye on the bear. He had already passed away.
The bear clamped the monster's remains in its jaws, glanced at them, and moved away from the two men.
Sumida just watched it, stunned.

Not long after carrying Tagami's body down the mountain, Sumida quit being a hunter.
They say that even now, one can sometimes hear voices from the mountain that do not belong to any beast.
Every time Sumida hears that story, he remembers that terrifying day and the double moon-ring.

The End (1467 characters)

Afterword

I tagged it as "#Horror," but is it really horror...?

As the author, I find it scary, but...the bear (is that the scary part?). I wrote something a bit long for the first time in a while (wrote it a little while ago). I'm exhausted. I'm hopeless lately. I can't write novels.
I thought of it while traveling by car and wrote it all at once after I got home.
As an aside, I'm so unpopular with women that at this point
I wouldn't mind if a monster loved me (just kidding) (kidding). ...No, I still want that person. Even though I've almost given up.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

I want to drink for three hours while talking about my love life!!!

#WhatAreYouTalkingAbout
#TemperatureDifferenceBetweenWorkAndAfterword
#TheAuthorIsAManEvenSo

Next time, I'll try inviting that person to go cherry blossom viewing. I think it's impossible since they seem busy.
If by some miracle it happens, I'll report back.
...I wonder if they wouldn't want to go with aperverted, depressed loser like me...

※ I invited them, but it was a no-go.

Oh, you guys can feel free to deny it, you know?
"Naru is a refreshing, good young man" or "He's a stylish, handsome guy" or "I wouldn't go cherry blossom viewing with Naru even if I weren't busy" or something...

Oh no, I ended up finishing it off myself.

*As a result, it has truly been finished off.

I should stop now, or the afterword is going to get ridiculously long.
Well then, see you later.
Everyone, let's live today putting ourselves first, too.