Chapter 4

So I was at work, standing behind the counter and the day seemed to be dragging. Barely any customers and it was date night and I was counting down the hours, the minutes, the seconds, the nano seconds...alright you get the point right? It had been 3 days and I had a date with a creature that could eat me in like 5 bites. Part of me wondered if I should have rethought that plan.

“Come on. Can’t this day go by any faster.”

Maki decided to drop by just to say hello on her way home from school.

“Kazu! Are you working hard? Don’t be slacking off.”

“You brat. Go home.”

“What are you making for dinner Kazu.”

“Sorry sis, can you make dinner for yourself tonight? I have...somewhere to be. I’ll be home late.”

Maki grabbed me by the collar and pulled me close so she could whisper in his ear.

“Kazu. Kazu. Are you going to see that tall girl?”

“No clue what you’re talking about. I just have something to do.”

“Riiiiiiiiight.”

“Anyway, can you let go of my collar? You look like you’re going to kiss me.”

The little brat kissed me on the cheek and ran out of the store.

“Ugh. At least she killed some time. Damned brat.”

Even though the shrimp can be a pain in the ass at times, she came at the right time. She took my mind off the clock for a while. It seemed like only minutes later when it was quitting time. As soon as the clock hit 5PM I was out the door. It was probably 5:00:01. I raced home to load my bag for my “date”. Still wasn’t sure what to call it so in my head it was a date.

I ran home that day as usual. I was pretty sure I broke the sound barrier or at least the ‘little sister thinking I must be crazy for running in the front door and slamming it’ barrier. I took off my shoes and flew up the stairs to my room to get ready.

“Let’s see. Got a bunch of sneakers for her to try. Pretty sure these clothes are not going to fit her though. She’s not thin like the urban legend and she really is like 8 feet tall or more.”

I started to head downstairs and then realized I forgot something. I made an offhand comment to Maki and she thought I was joking so that was good. Didn’t want her to realize I was planning to groom a monster. That would have been an awkward conversation.

“Hey Maki, how would you brush the teeth of a monster?”

Yeah that would have went over well. Anyway, I headed back upstsairs to my bathroom to grab scissors, clippers, toothpaste, toothbrush and soap. Still didn’t know how I was going to groom her. I also threw a towel in the bag and then realized I should bring a few towels since she was sooooo tall. And the thickness. Damn she’s thick….anyway.

“Snap out of it Kazu, gotta go.”

I ran back downstairs and said goodbye to Maki.

“Hey sis, take care of the house okay?”

“Kay!”

I shook my head knowing that the shrimp just gave me her ‘I’m being a brat’ response.

“I’ll be back late.”

“Kay!”

“Just don’t burn down the house….”

“Kay!”

“Ugh! Alright I’m out shrimp.”

“Kay!”

Since she wasn’t giving me much of a response except that, I grabbed one of her teddy bears that was near the door and threw it at her as I ran out the door.

“Hey! You jerk!”

So I ran off to the vault for my rendezvous with the bank vault creature who really might be Hachishakusama. But as I got closer to the vault, I realized I left my light on my desk.

“Crap! I forgot my headlamp. I’ll have to figure something out. Maybe my phone?”

I finally made it to the vault but when I reached for the door, I started to feel really nervous. I actually grabbed my chest because my heart started racing and what happened next didn’t help matters.

“What am I so nervous for? Not like she’s going to eat me, right? At least I would hope not. I thought I made a decent impression and it seemed like we got along. I think.”

I turned the handle on the outer vault door and pushed it open. Since I didn’t have my headlamp it was extremely dark. I stepped into the vault and closed the door behind me.

“I’m finally back. Now let’s see where she is,” is what I thought to myself before biggest the scare of my life.

I heard something coming at me very fast. Loud, heavy steps that were getting closer and closer. So of course I did what any human would do. I ran.

“Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuman! Huuuuuuuuuman!”

What the vault creature doesn’t realize is that in the absolute dark of the vault, her running towards someone like a wild animal can be pretty scary. Especially when all you really see are red eyes and hear what sounds like a freight train.

“What the hell! It’s the monster! Save me!”

The creature stopped in her tracks.

“Huuuuuuman?!!? Youuuu still think of me as a monster?!”

When I heard that, I tried to stop myself from running but I fell backwards and curled into a ball.

“Huh?! Stop right there!”

I reached for my phone and shined it towards the creature.

“Oh my god!! You scared the hell out of me!”

“I knew it. Youuuu’re still afraid of me,” she said as she dropped down to her knees, looking like she was going to cry.

“No. That’s not it! I don’t have my light with me and an extremely tall body is coming at me with super heavy steps, screaming huuuuuuuuuuman!! That would scare anyone. Haven’t you ever seen a zombie movie?!”

“What’s a movie, huuuuman?”

“How long have you been locked in this vault…”

I walked towards her and grabbed her hand to lead her back to the main area of the vault, which had the most space.

“Come with me.”

The creature got up and followed my lead. I felt like I just punished my little sister or something. She would sulk the same way sometimes.

“Huuuuman, are you mad at me?”

“No. Not really. Though my heartrate is sky high because some big mons-- shar--- female creature came running at me like a freight train.””

“I apologize huuuuman. I guess I was a little bit excited. I didn’t think youuuu would really come back. Not like anyone would be stuuu--- nice enough to come here just to see me. Not even back when they locked me in this thing.”

“Was she really about to say no one was stupid enough to come here? Though she wouldn’t be wrong. Was kind of stupid.”

“What about the family that was hiding you? Didn’t they come to see you?”

“They never came here once the townpeople took me from them. I think maybe they were happy they didn’t have to hide me anymore. But that was so many years ago.”

“Well it is kind of out of the way. Maybe they had a reason?”

The creature bowed her head as if she was deep in thought about that possibility. But I think part of it was her trying to put a brave face on the situation so I tried to console her.

“Hey. I’m here now so let’s not think about that.”

“Even though youuuu know I could eat youuuu?”

“Would be easier if you stop telling me that.”

“I will try.”

There was a crate nearby so I took a seat on it and pointed to one of the rice sacks.

“Can you sit over there?”

“Why over there?”

“I just want to be able to look you in the eye. You’re so tall and I always feel like I’m looking to the sky.”

“Ummmm...I guess that’s okay.”

She got up and went to take a seat on the rice sack. I was thinking it would kind of be like a bean bag and she’s always on the hard ground. But I forgot something...she is HEAVY. When she went to sit on the rice sack, rice shot out everywhere. The sack was demolished and she ended up on the floor anyway.

“Just how much do you weigh?!”

“Hey!”

Since that plan went up in flames I decided to move on to the next phase of my plan. A little grooming. So I put my hand out to her and said…“Give me your foot.”

She recoiled before asking. “You’re not going to try to chop off my foot for scaring you right?”

“No! Why would I do that?

“The other huuuumans always said they would punish me if I was bad…and usually they would say they would cut my foot offI guess I kind of...”

She started to tear up while I was digging through my bag for the clippers I brought with me.

“I promise you I will never try to hurt you. You did scare me half to death though. Just put your foot on this crate okay?”

“Ooookay. I apologize huuuuman. I guess I have trust issuuuues when it comes to huuuumans.”

I pulled out some of the sneakers I had in my overstuffed bag and a tape measure. I started to unroll the tape measure to try to measure her foot.

“Wow you have really big feet and look at those nails. My sister was right about the clippers.”

Then I proceeded to pull the clippers out of my bag and started clipping her toenails. They were really long and harder than a human’s nails. Was kind of surprised they didn’t break the clippers.

“Huuuuman, what are youuu doing?”

“I’m clipping your nails. You make it sound like you never did this before. Didn’t that family take care of your skin or your hair or your nails?”

“I don’t remember doing anything like this before.”

“Well I have something for you but you can’t wear them with these long nails.”

“Youuu have something for me?! Really?! No one has ever given me anything before...”

“Just stay still okay?”

The creature started giggling. You could tell that she was excited.

“Huuuuman will you tell me what they call youuuu?”

“You mean my name? Sure. It’s Kazuhito.”

“Kazuuuuuuuhito.”

I tried but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing at the way she pronounced the letter U..

“That thing you do when you pronounce U is kind of cute.”

The creature smiled and turned her head to try to conceal her blushing.

“That’s still a lot of sharp teeth…”

In my bag I had a bunch of different sized socks since I wasn’t sure what would fit her. I finally found one that would fit and put it on her left foot since I already clipped those nails. I also put one of the sneakers on her. Time to move to the right foot.

“Ok that’s one. Give me the other foot.”

She put her right foot up on the crate and I started clipping the nails on her right foot.

”What is this that you put on my foot?”

“Have you never seen sneakers before?”

“I have not Kazuuuuhito.”

“Why don’t we try this. Just call me Kazu.”

“Kazuuuu. Kazuuuu. Kazuuuuuuuuuu. Kazuuuu. Kazuuuuuuuuu.”

“She can be kind of cute for a whatever she is. But damn, she has some big feet. Well everything on her is big. Didn’t think it would be size 18 though. Good thing I went big. This is a good start. She seems much more friendly than she was yesterday. Maybe it’s a good time to ask some questions.”

“Sooooo. Do you have a name? Unless you want me to call you shark…”

She snarled at me before saying “...do youuuu want me to eat youuuuuu?”

“Hey! I’m just kidding but you know my name so I should know yours right? Especially if I come back again. I’m sure you want me to call you something other than monster or sha----?”

“YOUUUU’LL COME BACK AGAIN??!? YAY!”

You could tell the creature got lost in her thoughts. She started rocking back and forth like a pendulum and saying my name over and over. Almost like a child who just got a new toy.

“Kazuuuuuuuuu. Kazuuuu. Kazuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.”

Since she was so overjoyed, I took this chance to call her shark one more time. Probably stupid on my part since she really could eat me but I thought we were good at this point.

“Hey. Shark. Did you forget my question?”

This time she didn’t just snarl at me, she snapped at me like she wanted to bite me. Now THAT was scary as hell.

“Don’t call me shark! I’m not a shark! I’m not a shark…”

The creature started to shed a few tears. I thought I might get away with light teasing since she was in a daze of happiness but I was wrong. So wrong. I tried to comfort her but I’m not exactly the best at that.

“Hey. Don’t cry. I’m sorry I called you shark. I was just joking.”

“Kazuuuu. I don’t know my name. I don’t even know if I ever had a name…”

“I’m sorry. I…”

Since I had no clue what to say I just put my head down and started to put the other sock on and the other sneaker. I was really at a loss for words. It was then that I picked my head up and looked at her and I could see the tears rolling down her face. I felt like such a jerk. All I could do was pull out a towel I had in my bag to wipe her tears.

“I didn’t know that bothers you so much. I’m sorry. Since you don’t remember your name, maybe I can give you one?”

“Reawwy? Why would youuuu do that for me? I’m just some big scary monster who could eat youuuu.”

“I really wish you’d stop saying that.”

She just let out a somewhat muffled grunt.

“You’re not a bi---. Ok you are kind of big and you might not be human but everyone deserves to have a name. At least I think so. You don’t want me to call you monster right? And I know you don’t want me to call you that other name...”

She stared at me and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. It was just a blank stare really, which turned into an awkward silence. Then after about a minute she finally said something.

“I think I can trust youuuuu to give me a good name.”

“Kaiju!”

“Stuuupid Kazuuuu!!!!!”

...and with that, the creature pushed me right off the crate I was sitting on. I landed on my side. Luckily I protected my head. Holy crap, she’s strong.

“Ow ow ow! Okay okay okay. I’ll stop joking.”

I picked myself up and got back on the crate. I will not mess with her like that again. She seems like she could pick up a bus. So I put the focus back on the sneakers.

“First, I want you to stand up and try walking.”

The creature stands up and starts to walk around in her new sneakers.

“Kazuuuuuuu. These sneaker things are astounding.”

“Ha. We really need to update your vocabulary. But I’m glad you like them. I have something else for you too but let’s take care of giving you a name first.”

“If youuuuuu give me another monster name youuuu’re going to end up like the sack of rice.”

I looked over at the exploded rice sack and the rice scattered everywhere.

“Yeah, now is not the time to tease her.”

“There is a story about a yokai or maybe she’s a monster. At least that’s what most people call her anyway. It’s kind of a newer story so there isn’t much info. Anyway...”

“Crap. I said monster didn’t I…”

With that I got into a defensive position just in case she was going to push me again or really try to pop me like that rice sack.

“Continuuue.”

“You’re not going to attack me?”

“I should but I want to hear the story. Tell me the story Kazuuuu. I hope it’s a good one.”

“Ok. Her name is Hachishakusama. She’s very tall, just like you. In some drawings and stories she’s beautiful though there are stories where she’s pretty scary and some where she’s an ugly monstrous creature. I always thought of her like the beautiful woman that some people draw, she would have to be the way the story talks about her. It’s what we call an urban legend or a myth. These stories get passed down from generation to generation and may be changed along the way since people want to try to tell the story their way. Imagine a tall woman, like 8 feet tall, wearing a white dress and a white hat. Sounds like she would be an elegant beautiful woman right? And look at what you’re wearing. A white dress and hat. But here’s why she’s called a monster. She ate kids. Never bothered with adults though.”

“Why would she eat kids? There is much more meat on the adults. If it was me I would have ate the adults first and then the scrawny kids.”

“Ummmm…”

“I mean they have more meat right?”

“You are right but do you really eat humans?”

“Kazuuuu, I think that story might be about me. Youuuuu said she’s like me right? And you found out about this place by reading something right? Then she’s tall, she has the white dress...but I’m not beautiful. And….”

“I think you are... Even with those giant teeth.”

I grabbed her hand gently at this point because I thought it might be the right thing to do. I don’t have much experience with women and here I am with this one. Though she is part monster or whatever.

“After seeing you I had a feeling that you might be her or closely related to her. I read monster stories all the time and the one about her has always stuck with me. It’s why I’m here. And obviously you’re not human, especially with those teeth. What if I call you Hachiko? Short for Hachishakusama. You’re very much like her, at least the way I think of her. Whenever I read that story I see her as a beautiful woman, she would have to be since she lures kids in right?”

“Y-y-y-youuuu think I’m beautiful? “Youuu’re not joking again right? Youuuu don’t want to end up like that sack.”

“I mean it. Think about it. Would I still be here right now if I thought you were an ugly monster? I would have ran home that first night and never come back.”

“Youuuu did run.”

“Hachiko, you’re scary when you run after someone.”

“Hachiko?!?!”

I didn’t even realize I called her by the name without her saying okay. She started to blush as she has been given a proper name for the first time. The family she was living with didn’t even give her one.

“Kazuuuuu. Kazuuuuuuuuuu.”

“I guess that means you like that name. Now turn around and lean back towards me. I want to take care of your hair, okay?”

“My hair?”

“Yes. Your hair. It’s a mess. Can I cut it a little and get these twigs and stuff out of your hair?”

“Wow! Youuuu would do that for me? That family who I stayed with would do it for me once in a while but not very often. The older girl would treat me better than the others. She taught me stuff about how women should act and look.”

“At least there was someone who took some time to do these things. I know it doesn’t mean much but I’m sorry you had to go through all that you’ve been through.”

“But it’s not youuur fault Kazuuuu.”

“I know. But humans can be so stupid sometimes.”

Hachiko turned around and leaned back so I could start taking care of her hair. I started to pull out the twigs and brush it as much as I could. It would probably take a few brushings to really get all that stuff out. Since we kind of think we know what or who she is, I decided to ask her about the eating humans thing.

“Hey Hachiko, do you really eat humans?”