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“Is it on?”
The camera shook. A knob is turned, a button is pressed, the video stilled. Kirishima and Kaminari’s faces fell into focus. Sero did his best to hold the camera straight.
On this particular night the moon shone high, but its stars were snuffed out by thick tree-coverage. If not for their flashlights, they would be in total darkness.
“Yeah it’s on. Say something.”
“Something,” Kaminari said.
“Smart ass.”
“You guys ready to go hunt for a bigfoot?” Kirishima said with a toothy grin, shining his flashlight back and forth. “You know he’s out here somewhere!”
“Isn’t bigfoot in America?” Sero asked.
“That’s what he wants you to think.”
“Yeah, you know a guy like bigfoot can go wherever he wants,” Kaminari added with a sure nod. Sero rolled his eyes.
Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero had all decided to come out to the woods that night to look for the mythical Bigfoot. If they actually expected to find anything was a whole other question, but it was still October and they wanted nothing more than to head into the woods and scare themselves senseless. It was all in the spirit of Halloween after all!
“Let’s go!” Kirishima said.
They started to make their way further into the woods, far beyond the entrance. They were careful to stay on the trail, but aside from that they were going about on their own volition. They didn’t care how far they went or how late it got, they simply walked. And as long as Sero could keep the camera rolling, they didn’t have a reason to care.
“So, you really think Bigfoot’s out here?” Sero asked as they went, pointing the camera here and there. You can only record the same two backs for so long.
“If he is we’ll find him!” Kirishima said.
“How does one find a Bigfoot?”
“You look really hard,” Kaminari remarked as he pointed his flashlight at a bush. He swore he saw it move, but a second glance-over proves otherwise. He continues on. “He’ll probably leave tracks, right? Look for really big footprints.”
“But it’s so dark out here,” Sero said. He glanced down at his own feet. Without a light it was hard to even make out his shoes.
“That’s quitter talk!” Kirishima exclaimed.
“I’m just being–”
“Wait wait, did you hear that?”
All three of them came to a stop. Flashlights went every which way. Sero zoomed the camera in on the trail in front of them, a path enveloped in darkness. They weren’t quite sure what they were looking for, but they kept their eyes open anyway–
Something snapped behind them.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!”
“WHAT!!”
“HOLY SHIT!”
Kaminari jumped first, Kirishima jumped next, and Sero was a hand away from dropping the camera as they all stumbled forward, tumbling over themselves and each other. Breathing: heavy. Heartbeat: pounding. All three of them turned a ghostly white. What was there, out in the blackness? A monster, perhaps. Bigfoot? Something dangerous, something willing to put up a fight. The mere concept was terrifying.
Then the silence came and passed, and all that could be heard was the steady hoot and holler of the night.
“O-oh...” Sero sighed, steadying the camera. “Is it gone?” Kirishima had a hand over his heart, and Kaminari’s face was frozen in horror.
Maybe they’d just overreacted.
“I’m sure it was nothing!” Kirishima assured, forcing a smile despite his heartbeat. “No big deal guys, it’s just the woods. There’s nothing dangerous out here.”
“Except Bigfoot.”
“Right, Bigfoot. How about we go find the guy?”
“Yeah,” Kaminari said as he bent over, hands on his knees, breathless. After a moment he stood upright, running a hand through his hair. “Let’s hurry up and find something so we can get out of here. It’s getting late.”
“Lead the way,” Sero ushered, camera snug in-hand. Kaminari hesitated to take a step forward but Kirishima, faking-it-or-not, continued his way down the trail with an aura of confidence. Perhaps it was that confidence that convinced Kaminari and Sero to follow him further into the woods, lead by nothing more than their flashlights and their wits.
“So, what are you going to do when you find Bigfoot, Kirishima?” Sero asked, zooming the camera in as far as he possibly could on Kirishima’s face. Kirishima flashes a toothy grin that hardly fits into the frame.
“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it.”
“Seriously? You haven’t even considered it?”
“Well, you never really know until you meet him, right?”
“Eh, I guess.”
“Do you think I could get a picture with him?” Kaminari asked, only half-joking.
“He might break your legs first."
“Why do you have to be so morbid, Sero? The people watching this are going to think you’re a total weirdo.”
“Who’s going to want to watch this? All we’ve done is scare ourselves.”
“Hey, to the right kind of person that’s comedy gold!”
“I guess. But still who’s–”
A branch snapped.
They all tensed, bodies frozen in spot. There was a moment of silence before Sero stuttered, “D-did one of you step on a twig?” They all looked at their feet.
“I didn’t.”
“Not me!”
“Then what–” The words start to leave his mouth but never quite find their way. Suddenly the bushes rustled, the wind howled, the scene grew even more ominous, and while their minds told them to run their bodies refused to budge. That’s when they saw something rise up – some monster – out of the brush, draped in brown fur, humanoid in nature but beast in form.
They stared on in shock, disbelief, and fear.
The creature let out some disgruntled, croaky roar that shook the trees. And just like that they were running, bolting, scrambling over themselves. Sero dropped the camera, Kirishima lost a shoe, but neither of them cared. The situation was life or death and they’d much rather have life over a $30 pair of shoes.
They ran and ran, yelling, screaming, panicking, without ever bothering to look back. Once they’d gone, disappearing down the trail, the creature laughed.
“Some heroes,” the creature said as it bent over and picked up the camera. With its mask removed, its features could be made out. Monoma shook his head. “Class A is so gullible.”