Welcome to the World of Spirits

 Minoru’s eyes glimmered in awe as he took in the sights around him, each step slow yet steady. He had found himself strolling down the travertine trail, admiring the night market on such a festive night.

As he passed by several villagers dressed in yukatas and other traditional clothes, Minoru began to notice many of them had unique characteristics such as a pair of wings or a small tail. His focus was lost when he bumped into an individual.

Turning to apologize, Minoru lost his words as he found himself face to face with a walking egg around his height with two long orange legs protruding below similar to plastic chopsticks. The front of the egg had a yellow beak between its two beady black eyes that stared back at Minoru as if awaiting an apology.

“You need to watch where you’re going,” Saki let out a sigh as she grasped his hand and pulled him to the side. She gave a quick apologetic bow to the egg-like being before tugging Minoru along. “Come on, I’ll lead you.”

“W-what was that?” Minoru asked in a hushed tone as they strolled past a few game attractions intended for kids.

“An Apolocheep,” Saki explained, “They’re usually quite docile and helpful. A lot of the manual labor done around here is actually by them. You better not piss one off. They could snap you in half like a twig.”

Minoru shuddered upon pondering the thought although he was curious how such beings would rip him in half without arms. His daze was soon interrupted as a burst of fire erupted before him followed by loud applause.

To the side of one of the stands, a small crowd watched in awe as a fire dancer performed a show in the center on the smooth dirt ground. Moving his hands as if he was moving a stringed puppet, a bright orange fire in the shape of an eastern dragon danced around his head, circling around the man’s body. Gliding into the crowd, the flaming beast floated above each of its audience members before pausing in front of Minoru. It circled around his head twice before flying back to its master, leaving a yellow trail behind that faded away. As the fire dancer struck an arm into the air, the bright dragon swerved up into the air before breathing out an intense blue flame, spewing out like a fountain before the fire exploded into a colorful array of vibrant fireworks.

“You’re getting distracted too easily, Minoru,” Saki giggled as she admired his mesmerized face similar to a child’s. Giving her a sheepish smile, Minoru finally continued forward behind Saki. The two of them soon arrived in front of a gray building tinted blue with two small streams flowing out from its walls and into a small pool filled with colored fish and seagrass.

“What is this place?” Minoru asked as Saki hopped upon the beige steps leading up to two wooden doors.

“It’s a clothes shop,” Saki told him with a smile. “We can’t walk around in such tedious attire.”

Minoru glanced down realizing he was still in his plain school uniform. But he wouldn’t have called it tedious.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” He asked, earning a giggle from the silver-haired girl.

“Nothing’s wrong with it silly,” she declared, “but don’t you want to be in something more comfortable?”

“I’m comfortable enough already,”

“Oh, come on!” Saki dragged Minoru forward with both of her hands as the store’s doors swung open, revealing a spacious interior filled with hanging dresses and colorful fabric. “I guarantee no place has more fitting clothes than here!”

Seemingly without a choice, Minoru allowed Saki to pull him inside before the doors delicately closed behind them. As some of the festival’s sounds faded away, the air glistened with floating white sparkles as if they were miniature stars that filled the room with a soft tinkling sound similar to windchimes echoing in the air.

Saki ran around eagerly, admiring each silk attire displayed throughout the store while Minoru strolled slowly behind her, staring at the wondrous establishment. There didn’t seem to be a visible light source yet the store was sufficiently illuminated while giving off a calm aura. Thin pearl marble pillars lined the corner of the store with golden beads wrapping around the base. In the center of the store was a small white fountain with a stream of blue water trickling down from the roof through a glass dome ceiling. The moon seemed to be aligned at the center of the dome, casting down a spotlight upon the fountain and nearby clothes.

“Minoru, try this on,” Saki shoved a set of neatly folded navy clothes into his chest.

“Where am I supposed to change?” He asked as he held the set between his hands. Saki pointed behind him towards a set of changing rooms, each with a soft yellow curtain hanging in front as well as a low wooden gate for complete privacy.

“I’ll wait for you out here,” Saki said as she lightly shoved Minoru forward. The young boy glanced over his shoulder at her before walking over to a changing room, brushing the curtain aside as he did.

The wooden gate made an audible click behind him as Minoru found himself sealed within a light brown room with a full-body mirror framed on the opposite wall. A small white shelf hung to the side for him to place his clothes on while he got changed.

The set of clothes Saki had handed to him included a matching pair of black shorts and a T-shirt that was wrapped in a blue yukata with a dark red obi draped on top. Minoru slowly changed into this new set of clothes before examining himself in the mirror.

Saki was right. This store’s clothing was surprisingly comfortable. The soft fabric felt like Minoru was laying in a fluffy bed with a light blanket draped over him. The navy-blue yukata matched well with his brown hair and the edges of his clothes seemed to glow slightly as if covered in bioluminescence.

Satisfied with his appearance, Minrou smiled lightly as he unlocked the gate and stepped out of the changing room. Glancing around, he couldn’t find Saki standing around where he had left her. There weren’t many people and it wasn’t like the store was densely crowded with clothes. It should have been easy to spot her in the starry store.

“Minoru, behind you,” Saki called out as she tapped his shoulder twice. As Minoru turned around, his eyes were met with a vibrant red yukata laced with white ribbons around the edges. A yellow obi was wrapped around her waist as Saki stood there with a beaming smile on his face. Taken aback by how pretty Saki was, Minoru stared at her in the new attire with an enthralled gaze.

“How do I look?” Saki took a step back and gave him a twirl. She gave him a playful smirk as the long sleeves hung down at her wrists. “Is it cute?”

“V-very cute,” Minoru managed to mumble out as he held up a hand to hide his blushing face. “You look really pretty in it.”

“Is that so?” Saki beamed as she glanced away excitedly. “Thank goodness.”

As the two of them returned back outside of the festival, Saki giddily pointed down the path as she shot her head back at Minoru.

“There’s a fishing stand ahead!” She said as she grasped Minoru’s hand to drag him forward.

“Hey, slow down a bit—” Minoru sighed as he tried not to trip over his new sandals.

Saki immediately kneeled down upon arriving at the fishing stand, her eyes beaming as she stared at the fish in the small glass pond. Minoru stood beside her, slowly bending down to see what she was so excited about.

Rather than regular fish the water contained a mix of green and blue aquatic creatures that resembled small miniature dragons. They appeared almost like a combination between a sea horse and a catfish with some white whiskers, a wiggly tail, and two small reptilian hind legs. Occasionally, some of them seemed to breathe out a light mist that gently sparkled in the water before dissipating. Saki gazed at each of them intensely before glancing at Minoru.

“Let’s catch one!” She stated eagerly with her fists clenched. “Hey, mister! Can we get two nets, please?!”

The bearded man with a white bandana around his head handed Saki two small bamboo nets with paper mesh as she dropped two bronze coins into his hand. Saki handed one over to Minoru before she pulled up her sleeves.

“First try!” She shouted as she swung her net swiftly into the pool. However, the dragon-like fish immediately swam out of the way, avoiding the net. Taking a deep breath, Saki began to take the matter seriously as she swiped her net furiously in the pool. However, each of her attempts failed drastically.

On her final attempt, Saki dived her net deep under a fish. Her eyes beamed as she lifted the net, seemingly going to capture the fish. But just before she could do so, the fish struck forward, breathing out a sharp beam of water that tore the paper mesh down the center. Frozen in shock, Saki trembled slightly in place.

“Minoru…” She gazed over at her friend with teary eyes, defeated by her lack of talent. Minoru chuckled lightly, amused by Saki’s trouble before he turned his attention to the dragon-like fish.

Delicately, he lowered his bamboo net into the water, barely causing a ripple in the pool. Minoru kept his hand still as he observed the fish swimming by. A small blue dragon fish seemed to become interested in the net as it paused to observe it. Slowly it got close to his net, swimming toward it cautiously. Once it was close enough, Minoru slowly scooped his hand up and gently lifted the fish into the net and out of the water.

“Minoru!” Saki’s eyes beamed once again with delight. With the fish successfully caught, the stand’s owner gave Minoru a plastic bag filled with water for him to transfer the fish over.

“Here you go,” he held out the bag containing a blue dragon fish calmly swimming within.

“Really? Can I have it?” Saki asked even though her hands were basically itching to grab it.

“Of course. You wanted one after all,” Minoru assured her with a smile. Saki happily accepted the gift as she held the bag up in the air, staring at the fish under the starry night sky.

“Thank you, Minoru!” She grinned as she held the fish close to her chest. Her attention was soon captured by an alluring smell as she turned her head to sniff the aura.

“There’s some takoyaki!” Saki deduced as she ran ahead. Minoru shook his head at her wild behavior. While this side of her was sometimes annoying, he had missed seeing her act like this.

“You have quite a cute girlfriend,” the stand owner said as he brushed his gray beard with a hand.

“Girlfriend—” Minoru was slightly taken aback by the statement. He sheepishly placed a hand on the back of his head.

“Ah, I see. So it’s like that,” the old man noticed with an understanding nod. “Good luck to you then.”

“Minoru! Come on!” Saki shouted back for him to follow. She waved an arm in the air, holding a stick with some dango on it while her other arm contained two boxes containing takoyaki and yakisoba. The plastic bag containing the blue fish sat on top.

“I’m coming!” Minoru called back. He quickly gave the man a polite nod before leaving the stand. The old man chuckled quietly as he stared at the young couple with knowing eyes.