Mon’s Magical Accident Saturday

Weekends at the Tanuki burrow are usually fun.

And by “fun,” I mean absolute pandemonium. Breakfast is always: cousins wrestling, dad yelling about the forest tax increase, auntie arguing with the rice cooker, and Grandpa stirring a pot of soup that smells like swamp but tastes like heaven.

But this Saturday? Grandpa looked straight at me over his bowl of bubbling tanuki miso and said, ‘Mon. You’re coming with me today.’

The entire burrow froze. My oldest cousin froze mid-air while jumping off a shelf. The pot froze. The soup began boiling harder out of fear. 

When Grandpa picks you for an errand, it means one of two things, first, great honor, second, great danger. Sometimes, both. And me, despite not being the oldest, is regarded the most responsible one, so I am always first to get roped in.

‘Where are we going?’ I asked, grabbing my magician hat automatically.

Grandpa pointed one paw toward the mountain road.

‘We’re returning something I borrowed.’

My siblings gasped. In Tanuki language, “borrowed” means “stole on purpose with personal justification.”

So I asked, ‘Um. What exactly did you “borrow”?’

He waited until we were out of sight before showing me. Grandpa pulled something from his sleeve. A small bell. It glowed softly with a strange silvery-blue light. I blinked a few times to process what I was seeing.

‘Grandpa… is that a ghost bell?’

‘Yup,’ he said cheerfully.

‘…Did you take it?’

‘No,’ he said, patting my head warmly. ‘YOU did.’

My soul left my body. ‘WHAT?!’

‘Your hat swallowed it last month.’ Oh NO.

There is a difference between magical creatures like us, and ghosts. Yokais tend to be alive, just like humans and animals. Yureis aren’t.

Oh NO NO NO. My hat does steal things by accident, but…

‘Why didn’t you tell me?!’

Grandpa shrugged. ‘You forgot. And I didn’t want your parents blaming you. So I said I borrowed it.’

My chest tightened. Grandpa covered for me?

Before I could say anything, he added calmly. ‘But now the spirit who owns it is waking up. It wants the bell back.’

Woohoo! Great… Perfect amount of doom for a Saturday.

We walked through the forest, leaves crunching under Grandpa’s old sandals. Birds scattered. Trees bowed. Spirits hid. Grandpa has that effect on everything.

Finally, we reached a small, abandoned shrine swallowed by ivy. The air felt colder here, like someone exhaled sadness.

Grandpa placed the bell in my hands.

‘Offer it properly. With manners.’

‘I have manners,’ I whispered.

‘Then use them.’

But right then, a cold wind blasted out of the shrine hall. The shadows shifted. Something made of smoke and eyes drifted forward, hissing.

‘WHOOOO… STOOOOLE… MYYYY… BEEEEELL…’

My hat and soul trembled. My knees inverted.

I did what any responsible tanuki child would do. I hid behind Grandpa… Who shoved me right back forward.

‘Mon. Show respect!’

‘I CAN’T BE RESPECTFUL WHEN I’M TERRIFIED!!’ I shrieked.

‘Bow,’ he commanded.

I bowed so fast I nearly headbutted the ground.

‘S-S-SORRY! W-WE RETURN YOUR—’

As I dipped my head, my magician hat fell off.

Everything around me instantly got sucked into the hat. Pebbles, leaves, half the moss, A WHOLE STONE LANTERN.

Even the spirit paused.

Grandpa sighed, rubbing his face. ‘Mon, control your hat.’

‘I CAN’T IT’S PANICKING.’

Grandpa grabbed the bell, shoved it back into my hands, and instructed fiercely.

‘Offer it like a gentleman magician. Remember what your father taught you.’

Father taught me nothing about gentlemanly behavior. He’s where my troublemaker tendencies came from to begin with… But I nodded anyway. I raised the glowing bell with trembling paws.

‘W-Welcome back… honorable… ghost… Mr. Bell… sir…’

The spirit froze. Then eyed me up and down.

Please dont eat us. Please dont eat us. Please dont eat us.

Slowly, it extended a smoky appendage, touched the bell, and let out a long, aching sigh.

‘It… is home…’

Grandpa smiled proudly. ‘There we go.’

The spirit dissolved back into peaceful mist, warm and relieved.

The forest brightened. Birds returned. Even the stone lantern plopped back out of my hat like a very confused potato. 

I collapsed on the ground, trembling. ‘Grandpa… I died. I died at least eighteen times.’

‘Nonsense,’ he said, patting my head. ‘You were very brave. And dramatic. Just like your father.’

I puffed out my chest. That… actually sounded like a compliment.

We started down the path when I heard a soft humming from around the bend.

Familiar…

‘That sounds like—’

Mutsuki-sensei appeared, wearing normal clothes, hair tied in a loose bun, and carrying a grocery bag filled with mochi and tofu.

He blinked at us. ‘Mon? Tanuki-sama?’

Grandpa waved lazily. ‘Ah, the Kuroyanagi boy. Still running from your problems?’

Sensei looked like he inhaled a peanut by accident.

‘GRANDPA, STOP!’ I squeaked.

Grandpa shrugged. ‘What? He has that exact look. The “my father wants me to be a government weapon but I want to be a gentle flower” look.’

Sensei became BRIGHT PINK. I wanted the earth to swallow me. Grandpa stepped closer, peering at Sensei’s face with narrowed eyes.

‘Hmph. Still the same fragile aura. Needs more rice. And fiber. And naps.’

Sensei coughed violently. ‘I… I sleep enough!’

Grandpa poked his shoulder. ‘No you don’t.’

‘GRANDPAAAAA—’

I am trouble at school yes, but it is cringe to see your family being the trouble to your teacher.

Then Grandpa made it worse.

‘And maybe a girlfriend.’

Sensei nearly dropped his tofu. He caught it by magic before it hit the ground.

I started dying inside again. ‘PLEASE STOP TALKING.’

Grandpa nodded to himself. ‘The shrine maiden is nice. Good bones.’

Sensei’s soul visibly left his body. My one followed suit.

I grabbed Grandpa’s sleeve. ‘WE ARE LEAVING. NOW.’

But Grandpa bent down, kissed the top of my head, and whispered. ‘That boy is soft-hearted. Don’t tease him too much. He means well.’

Then he shuffled off humming old tanuki songs.

‘Mon just had a yurei encounter just now.’ He said as he was slowly disappeared into the forest. ‘If you’re a teacher now, give him moral lesson or whatever.’

Sensei, flustered beyond repair, ran a shaky hand through his hair.

‘Your grandpa is… intense.’

‘He’s very… traditional,’ I managed.

Sensei laughed. A tired but sincere one. Then he knelt down to my height.

‘Mon?’

‘Yeah…?’

‘Did you really face a spirit today?’

‘Yes.’ I puffed my chest again.

‘And my hat ate half the shrine.’

He smiled, brushing leaves from my hair. ‘You did well. Really well.’

Something warm spread in my chest. Like courage. Or love.

‘I wasn’t able to face a yurei until I was 11 years of age.’ He started. ‘You managed to do it in half that age!’

He looked proud.

‘Sensei?’ I asked. ‘Are you scared of Grandpa?’

‘Terrified,’ he replied honestly. ‘I remember he was one of the yokais who stood up against the government years ago and promoted that yokais and humans are equal.’

‘I did not know that!’ I exclaimed. Grandpa is now more cooler in my eyes!

‘Yes. He was probably the first yokai I’ve seen back in my youth.’

‘Sensei is also old.’ I giggled.

‘I… guess I am…’ He scoffed then laughed.

‘Was grandpa scary?’

‘He could be.’ He said, while looking away. Probably trying to remember.

‘Did you run away from him?’

‘No. Your grandpa has an outstanding personality.’ he said softly. ‘He stood up for what’s right. But that doesn't mean he must terrorise humans just to get his way.’

Sensei nodded to himself. ‘Some things are worth standing for.’

It felt… big. Like a grown-up meaning I didn’t fully get, but almost did.

Before he stood up, he added, ‘You’re brave, Mon. Braver than you think. You are just like your grandpa. Bravery isn’t not being not scared. It’s doing the right thing anyway.’

My throat tightened. My hat warmed on my head. I didn’t expect being likened to my grandpa was a compliment but it made me really happy.

When I went home that night, I drew in my journal for Maria:

Me holding the glowing bell. Grandpa laughing loudly. Sensei looking sparkly and confused.

And I wrote:

‘Today I almost died, but Sensei saw the best in me, so it became a good day.’

Then I added a sticker of a magician hat.