>>5805768You try to draw your hand away in shock, but you can’t move.
The Rice Thing swells in size immediately and lets out a low, reverberating groan as its black eyes expand and meld together, before opening up into a bizarre maw with more eyes hidden inside. Every plant in the nearby paddy goes rigid, standing completely straight up as if an electric current passed through it.
Masami has the instinct to leap away. She’s saying something but you can’t hear her. You find yourself unable to move, capable of doing nothing more than rigidly spasming your muscles like you’re controlling your body like an unskilled meat puppeteer. Figures are dancing in the edge of your vision, you see the ghostly silhouettes of unknown ninja clashing, spurts of red gushing from spectral wounds and falling into the water of the rice field, to be drunk by the grass.
The thing looks at you.
It waves its tendrils at you.
It finally sinks back into the water, merging with it and fading away.
The ringing in your ears eventually stops and you realize you’re walking through the rice, knee deep in water as you stagger forward to some destination you can’t remember.
You immediately stop and look around. In the distance you can see Naoki and Hotaru still walking with Kenji, though Hotaru is watching your behavior with a slightly worried expression. Masami is further in the distance, just wandering through the fields keeping an eye out. It was like you had never called to her at all.
>Reaction to the Rice Thing.>1d100 to COMPREHEND. 