A Buff Toy Maker

I find it hard to focus on work when your best friend is judging your life decisions.

“Honestly,” Naoki was saying, a grin on his face, “Toys, Riku? You could’ve asked for almost anything and you picked toys.”

It was almost as if he’d said this seven times already.

“You know me well enough to not be surprised.” I smirked back at him. “What, are you jealous?”

“Of the little baby toys you can’t even sell? No way!”

Baby toys?!

“Okay, first off,” I started, grabbing the last box of the shipment to take to the front, “it’s not just ‘baby toys’.” I felt movement from my shirt pocket.

Looks like she’s waking up.

“Second,” I continued, “I don’t need to sell them. Toys are already cool enough on their own.”

I set the box down near the register, my eyes looking around the store. It never ceased to amaze me how one place could be so wondrous. An amazing line-up of toys sat on the shelves, each organized into colored areas ranging from traditional to foreign to everything in-between. Honestly, if I weren’t on the clock—and alone—I’d probably be playing with some of them. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d played with the trinkets on display, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.

“Mommy, mommy, come on!”

I blinked my thoughts away to look at the two customers coming in. The woman wore a patient smile in her gray eyes, letting herself get led by her child. She was the very picture of a happy parent, the love in her eyes as endless as her daughter’s energy. The child had slight waves in her black hair, her own silver eyes wild with an excitement so contagious, I found myself just as elated. That joy only grew once she saw me at the register.

“Woah, mommy!” she exclaimed. “It’s a living action figure!”

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about kids working here, it’s that they have no filter, whatsoever.

Ignoring Naoki’s choked laughter—and swallowing my own—I smiled at the child. “Pretty sure I’m human. What can I assist you with?”

“Do you have any action figures, but girls?” I pointed her in the right direction, watching the pair to make sure they made it without issue.

“Children are very loud,” said a little voice from my pocket. One giggle later, and the little doll had pushed her way out of my pocket to float nearby.

Kitsune, or Kit, as I’d named her, was the only one of my toys of her kind. Her seven tails had their own unique tips: one for every color of the rainbow. Her light pink fur made me want to reach out, but I couldn’t do that—no matter how fluffy it would be under my fingertips. The only ones who could see Kit were the people she let see her, and I was pretty sure that two random customers weren’t on that list. Naoki was, though, and he jumped at her voice.

He turned to me, speaking quietly so the customers didn’t hear. “I swear, she always scares the crap out of me. You don’t have any more living toys like her lying around, do you?”

“I wish. Guess Kit’s destined to be an only fox.” If I did, I’d have an army. Just imagine it—talking cars, laughing slinkies!

Naoki frowned. “That’s such a shame, though. It would be awesome in a movie. Night of The Living Toy Triumph. Americans would eat that up.”

“Americans?” I scoffed. “I’d be first in line.”

“And I’d be right behind you.”

And he would, too. Naoki was great like that.

The child came back holding a hand-held mirror with a trending character on it. “How much is this?”

She opened the mirror, and I saw myself through it. My black hair was ruffled—something that I blame Naoki for. From here, I could see my nametag tagged with the store’s title: Dazzling Wonders. My stature did, in fact, make me look like an action figure—a result of my father’s emphasis that I exercise regularly. The sea-green in my eyes staring back reminded me that I hadn’t answered the girl.

Her mother frowned. “Sayuri, are you sure that is what you want? I could get you something bigger than this. We’re going to be there for many hours.”

The girl turned to me, smiling. “I’m going to mommy’s work today! She works at a big government place! The one super close to here!”

“Really?” I asked with a smile. “Well then, I agree with your mother’s question: are you sure a hand mirror will keep you from being bored?”

“Yes!” she said with a beaming smile. “I’m sure!” Suddenly, her eyes caught on a decoration near the counter. I took my time, letting the mirror move slowly from my hand to the scanner.

Just in case.

“What’s that?” she asked her mother.

The woman smiled. “That is a lucky cat, little heart.”

Sayuri groaned. “Mommy, I told you not to call me that!”

“But that’s what you are.” The mother smiled at me. “We’ll take the mirror.”

After I’d packaged their item, Sayuri took the bag with a blindingly precious smile. “Thank you, Mister Buff Toy Man!

“Sayuri!”

“What, mommy? He is one. . .”

Ah, kids: incredibly precious. . . and brazen as hell.

“Rikuuuu! Is it time to go yet?”

I chuckled. “In a minute, Kit. I just gotta lock up.”

“I’m so glad I don’t work second shift anymore,” Naoki commented. “That felt longer than normal.”

Then why did you stay here for it?

“Ooooh, Naoki,” Kit cut in as I put the keys away. “You gots a liking for Riku!”

Naoki rolled his eyes. “Not like that, Kit.”

“So you do like him!”

“No, I. . .”

The banter went on as we walked along the streets of Kyoto. I smelled the gyukatsu wafting from a restaurant first, reminding me how long it’d been since I’d had some. Then I saw the late afternoon scenery of my beautiful city. The buildings stretched taller than I could ever reach, a reminder of just how small humans were. We could spread from here to the next galaxy, yet were all little dots compared to the height of Japanese architecture. Locals and big spenders—I mean, tourists— walked the streets of these structures to enter shops.

As we exited the shopping area we were in, I started to see solo vendors selling whatever they could to passersby. As someone working in sales, I could respect the hustle. I saw little trinkets on pop culture characters. My eyes fell on artwork of the magical symbols only Researchers could see. They looked blurry from here, and I knew I would see clearly if I focused. But why bother with that? It had nothing to do with me.

The government building that Sayuri had been referring to was right around here, just on the outskirts of the shopping area. A sound from above had me looking to the sky, where I saw a small plane in the air. The green flag it waved labelled the pilot as a Teleporter.

Good afternoon, Mister pilot.

“Isn’t it getting a bit late for a training run?” Naoki asked.

I frowned. “For those daredevils? Probably not. I’m sure he’s just trying to get some extra training in.” We watched the light play with the shades of blue on the plane as it flew before we lost interest and forged on.

We were getting closer to the residential area, passing first through a set of long-abandoned homes. You could tell it’d been awhile since the properties had been used from the level of decay the places were in. Broken pieces and abandoned objects lay silent on the properties, watching us pass them. Frankly, it’s sad to see items that used to be dear end up left behind like that. As we walked, I saw a new graffiti that read Taihen Advocates with a symbol of justice.

Kit frowned. “Riku?”

“Yeah?”

“I thought you said those protesters were against wasting resoorce.”

That was a complicated subject.

“It’s ‘resources’,” I told her. “And they are, but that graffiti was probably made by someone outside their group.”

She cocked her head in heart-melting cuteness. “Why? Isn’t hurting the houses wasting the resource they have?”

She was so sweet.

“That’s a bit of a hard question,” I told her. “Let’s not get into that right now.”

A loud noise stole our conversation away. In surprised unison, we all looked back to see what had caused it, but the smoke made it impossible to see. I thought for a second that a fire had started—Maybe a restaurant on some upper floor had caught it— before I realized where it had come from:

The government building.

As I saw the silver structure burning under what had to be a planned assault, I remembered Sayuri and her mother. I pictured her chattering happily to her mom. I imagined the collision coming, throwing her back suddenly. I envisioned the force of the blast slamming her against something hard, knocking the little mirror out of her hand. I thought of how scared such a little girl might be.

Without a second thought, my legs were in motion, and I was bolting towards the fire.