After hearing the blue oni's idea, the red oni was overjoyed.
He immediately stopped crying.
Not only that, he pretended to be an adult oni and patted the blue oni on the shoulder.
He laughed loudly. "Hahaha, Blue, don't worry. Once I become friends with humans, I won't abandon you!"
"I'll bring you human delicacies."
"I'll also learn human games and play them with you."
As he spoke, the red oni was already imagining their future life.
Living in harmony with humans.
Restoring the glory of the oni.
It was their duty.
Hahahaha, if the oni elders could see what he and Blue had achieved, they would surely praise them.
In his mind, he could already hear the elders' voices of approval.
He couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Suddenly, the blue oni slapped him on the shoulder, snapping him out of his daydream.
"Red, since you've decided, go ahead and do it."
"Remember, make plenty of wooden signs so that all the villagers in the surrounding villages can see the invitation."
If this method worked, they wouldn't need to use the more radical one.
The red oni said happily, "Alright, Blue. I'll go cut down some trees right now and make lots of wooden signs for you to write the kind invitations on."
With that, the red oni grabbed an axe from the blue oni's house.
Without another word, he rushed out and went to find some sturdy trees to cut down.
Behind him, the blue oni watched the red oni's excited figure and couldn't help but sigh.
As his best friend, he truly wanted to help the red oni become friends with humans and integrate into human society.
But in the eyes of humans, the image of oni being very, very bad was deeply ingrained.
Ordinary methods might not be able to remove human hatred toward oni.
They would try this method first. If it failed, they would have to use the more radical one.
The blue oni really didn't want to use that method.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the hill, after running out of the blue oni's house with an axe, the red oni immediately found a big, thick tree and started chopping at its base.
Thud, thud, thud—
The sound of chopping echoed through the forest.
It scared away nearby beasts and birds.
Even the villagers who had come up the mountain to chop wood heard the red oni's chopping and came over to see what was happening.
When they saw the red oni with his red body chopping down trees, they were startled.
An evil oni chopping wood?
How dare an evil oni steal their timber!
How infuriating!
"Damn evil oni! How dare you chop wood on the mountain without our permission?"
"Should we teach him a lesson?"
"Make him suffer and learn the rules around here!"
"Teach an oni a lesson? Who's going to do that?"
"Sorry, I have urgent business at home. I'll be going now. You guys teach that evil oni a lesson for me!"
"I just remembered, I have urgent business too."
"I'll be going now. You guys teach that damn oni a good lesson for me!"
The villagers discussed among themselves.
But unfortunately, although they were furious, none of them dared to step forward and stop the red oni from chopping wood.
They just made up excuses, shouldered their firewood, and hurried away.
None of them dared to go near the red oni.
And so, relying on his natural oni strength and unrelenting effort, the red oni spent an hour cutting down two large trees from the forest.
Following the blue oni's instructions, he found an axe and a saw.
He used these tools to cut the trunks into sections.
Then he tied a section of wood with rope and dragged it home with all his might.
Then the second section.
Then the third.
It wasn't until he had dragged all the timber home that he collapsed onto the ground and gasped for breath.
Oh man.
Chopping wood was such hard work.
It was exhausting.
But bringing the timber home was only the beginning. There was still so much work to do.
The red oni had no time to rest.
After only a short break, he scrambled back to his feet, ran inside to drink some water, and got back to work.
He used a saw, an axe, and all kinds of tools to split the timber in half.
He turned them into wooden planks to write his kind invitations on.
And so, the red oni worked almost the entire day.
By the time the sun was about to set and the evening glow appeared over the forest, he had finally turned all the timber into signboards.
He was completely exhausted.
This was not work for an oni. It was killing him.
Seeing the sky growing dark, he knew he had no time left. He had to finish writing all the invitation signs before nightfall.
So he carried the finished planks to the blue oni's house and called out while catching his breath.
"Blue, Blue—come out quickly!"
"I've made lots of invitation signs, just like you said. Once you write the kind invitations on them, I can deliver them to the human villages."
Though he was nearly dead from exhaustion, looking at the fruits of his labor, the red oni felt very happy.
Hearing his calls, the blue oni slowly came out and saw the mountain of wooden planks piled up in front of his house.
He was stunned.
He had only told the red oni to cut down some trees and make planks to write the invitations on.
But he never expected this fool of a red oni to have made so many in just one day.
Looking at the red oni, who was almost dead on his feet, the blue oni was deeply moved. He couldn't help but sigh.
Foolish red oni.
What a fool.
He was truly willing to risk his life for the sake of befriending humans.
Beside him, seeing the blue oni come out, the red oni was overjoyed. He wanted to take the blue oni's hand.
But he was far too tired.
In an instant, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
A faint smile still lingered on his lips.
The red oni said weakly, "Well, Blue, is this enough wooden planks?"
Looking at the red oni's excited expression, the blue oni couldn't bear to scold him.
He sighed and said, "It's enough, of course it's enough. Rest for a while. Let me write the kind invitations on these planks."
"Once the villagers see them, they'll start to change how they see you."