On the path between the villages, the red oni ran as fast as he could, crying loudly and trying to escape the beans the children were throwing at him.
He ran for a long, long time, until he had left the bean-throwing children far behind. Still, he kept running desperately.
He wasn't running to his own home. He was running to the blue oni's house.
As he ran, he cried.
As a brave oni, the red oni was afraid of nothing.
He dared to walk alone through the wilderness and challenge hilichurls that blocked his path.
He dared to face slimes alone.
He could build houses.
He could grow crops.
He could do anything that humans could do.
Even things humans couldn't do, he would find a way to do.
But beans—he hated beans. Beans were what all oni feared most, and the little red oni was no exception.
And so, crying loudly, he ran to the blue oni's house.
He didn't understand.
He was a kind oni. He never bit people, and he never hurt humans.
He never played tricks on them either.
Why had those human children thrown beans at him?
The more he thought about it, the sadder he became.
The more he thought about it, the more wronged he felt.
After running for a long, long time, he finally reached his best friend's house.
He ran into the house, crying loudly.
"Blue, Blue... it hurts so much. I just wanted to be friends with them, but they threw beans at me!"
"Why?"
"How can I become friends with humans?"
The red oni ran into the blue oni's house crying and saw the blue oni drawing in the corner.
At the same time, the blue oni saw the red oni crying loudly.
He quickly helped him to a cushion and made him sit down.
But the red oni still couldn't stop crying.
He kept crying.
To comfort him, the blue oni took out some freshly made rice balls and a watermelon he had been saving, placing them in front of the red oni.
He poured him a cup of tea.
"Red, stop crying."
"Here are your favorite rice balls and your favorite watermelon. Eating them will make you feel better."
But the red oni wasn't hungry at all.
He just sat on the cushion, sobbing loudly.
He kept shouting, "What did I do wrong? Why did they throw beans at me? How can I become friends with humans?"
The red oni hadn't forgotten the teachings of the oni elders.
Wherever they settled, if they wanted to live peacefully and help the oni survive, they had to build good relationships with the humans around them.
They had to become friends with humans.
Only then could they change people's prejudice against oni.
Only then could they remove people's hatred of oni.
Only then would the nearby humans stop throwing beans at them.
The red oni had already experienced the pain of being pelted with beans. So not only did he not give up on becoming friends with humans, he wanted it even more.
He didn't want to be pelted with beans ever again.
Seeing the red oni crying so hard, the blue oni brought out his most precious rice balls and watermelon, but still couldn't stop him from crying.
So he racked his brain, trying to come up with ideas for the red oni.
After thinking for a while, the blue oni looked at the watermelon, the rice balls, and the steaming tea on the table, and suddenly had an idea.
People feared and hated oni because of some unfounded rumors.
If they could break those rumors and show humans the kindness and hospitality of oni, wouldn't that improve relations between humans and oni?
The blue oni looked at the red oni, who was still crying loudly.
He suddenly patted the red oni's shoulder and said comfortingly, "Red, stop crying. I've thought of a good way to help you become friends with humans."
Hearing this, the red oni immediately stopped crying.
He looked at the blue oni with a mix of excitement and confusion. "Blue, what is it? I knew you were the smartest. You'd definitely think of something!"
The two young oni had very different personalities.
The red oni was warm, kind, cheerful, and active.
The blue oni was smart, reclusive, preferred solitude, and often came up with clever ideas.
Hearing the red oni's question, the blue oni thought for a moment and said, "In humans' minds, oni are very, very bad. We're man-eating monsters. That's why they're so hostile toward us."
"So if we want to become friends with humans, we have to change the image of oni."
The image of oni being very, very bad had been around for a long time.
Even the villagers in nearby villages would use oni to scare crying children into silence.
The red oni asked in confusion, "Then what do we have to do to change the image of oni?"
The blue oni thought for a moment and said, "I have two methods. One is conservative, and one is radical. Which one do you want to try first?"
The red oni looked confused. "Two methods?"
He couldn't even think of one method, but the blue oni had come up with two!
Truly the blue oni.
The red oni said happily, "Let's try the conservative method first."
He didn't know what conservative or radical meant.
Either way, if one method didn't work, he could try the other.
The blue oni said seriously, "The conservative method is to stay home and wait, to welcome people to your house."
The red oni said pitifully, "But ever since they found out that was an oni's house, they've never dared to come near it again."
"They don't even dare to rest at my house anymore."
The red oni felt very wronged.
He had never bitten anyone or done anything bad to humans.
Yet humans threw beans at him.
The blue oni said seriously, "Make a few signboards with kind invitations on them, inviting villagers to visit your home. Put them up in the nearby villages at night."
"And put up a similar sign in front of your house."
"Tomorrow morning, when the villagers are curious, they'll come to your house. Then you can invite them in and become friends with them."
This method was very simple and direct.
It was to use the red oni's warmth and kindness to change the villagers' hearts, to show them the red oni's goodwill.
But the blue oni knew in his heart that this method would still be a little difficult. It would likely fail in the end.
But to comfort the red oni, he still let him try.
Even if it failed, there was still the more radical method.
Hearing this, the red oni was overjoyed.
"As expected of Blue, the smartest oni in the land! I'll go prepare the signboards right away. You can help me write the kind invitations."
"Invite humans to my house."
"Oh, Blue, let's put up a sign in front of your house too. Let humans come to your house as well."
"Then we can become friends with humans and never have to be afraid of being pelted with beans again!"
Not only had the red oni stopped crying, but he had also jumped up with joy.
But the blue oni lowered his head and said, "I... I only need Red as my friend."
(A/N: I can see everyone wants to make Zhongli cry. I do too... After finishing the blue oni story, I'll probably start with Azhdaha, or Guoba, or Guizhong, and gang up on Zhongli. Let Zhongli taste the pain Ei has been through!)