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As a small business owner, Kochi enjoyed his work, consisting of making coffee, potions and serving guests. Travelers everywhere enjoyed his coffee. Mages were jealous of his potion-brewing skills. For an average Joe like Kochi, it is unexpected of him to have extensive knowledge about magic and potion-brewing. People said that his coffee is laced with a spell to make his customers come back for more. But Kochi denied it - it is simple, aromatic coffee for his fellow customers, who are coffee lovers. He takes pride in making good-quality coffee without any magic involved.
Of course, the art of magic, and potion-brewing has a series of trials and errors, just like making coffee. One day, Kochi found himself trying a new potion formula before opening hours. He woke up early, so might as well experiment a bit before serving his customers once again.
Kochi diligently followed the recipe, but there was one problem - the amount needed for each ingredient was not stated. The paper was ripped, because of his negligence - he accidentally tore it while tidying up things. And he must have thrown away the torn part too.
All he could do was to wing the proportions. He tried to guess the proportions from his potion-brewing and selling experience.
So he did, but something went wrong.
The flask started to heat up. It boiled, without any source of heat. The flask got warmer, and before it could burn him, Kochi placed it on the stand. Despite that, the boiling did not stop. It only got worse. Kochi had no idea what went wrong. Actually, he knew - the proportions were clearly not correct. It was all his fault for not having the full recipe.
The flask cracked, spilling all the contents within, then releasing a gust of mist. Amidst the mist, Kochi’s vision was blocked, and eventually, he passed out.
What happened?
When Kochi regained his senses again, he was on the floor. Staring directly in front of him, was a huge pillar. A wooden, rectangular pillar that looked awfully familiar. It reminded Kochi of the legs of the tables in his shop.
Then, why did it feel so big?
Everything got bigger?
Or he shrunk?
Kochi did not know. All he could was to get up and walk around. It was still his shop, but everything seemed strange. Familiar, yet unknown to Kochi. He was sure he was still in his own shop, but then…
A huge foot appeared in front of him.
He almost got squished by this big foot, like a cockroach all humans hated from the bottom of their hearts.
“Did Kochi oversleep again?”
“I don’t know, but he never oversleeps for that long.”
“Thank goodness you own a spare key to his shop.”
Kochi recognised the voices. It was his friends. Shintaro, his old friend from the same hometown; Juri, his most loyal customer and the person he entrusted the spare key of his shop to. He only trusted Juri enough to give him the key anyways. Shintaro was too carefree and unreliable.
One thing was sure - Kochi shrunk. Seeing Shintaro and Juri being gigantic told him that.
“Hey! I’m here!” Kochi screamed as loudly as possible.
His friends could not hear him.
“Heyyyyy!” Kochi screamed again, from the top of his lungs.
The wind chimes rang again. More people came into the shop.
“Out of business today? What a disappointment.”
“Should we wake Kochi up?”
“No, just let him sleep. He would get angry with us if we wake him up.”
He also recognised these voices. Taiga and Jesse, in that order.
“Guys! I’m right here!” Kochi screamed again. He could feel his voice straining.
“Oh, I found Kochi.”
Kochi could see Shintaro crouching down, staring at his small eyes with his big and round ones. Shintaro pointed at the very small Kochi, which made all of them burst into laughter. While laughing, Shintaro gently picked Kochi up from the ground and placed him on the counter, where he was seen by everyone present.
“How did this happen?” Jesse asked, still laughing his guts out.
“I was trying on a new potion formula,” Kochi explained, “but I didn’t know the proportions and… I guess I messed up.”
The rest of them were gradually recovering from laughing too hard.
“Well, is there a way to undo this?” Juri asked. Kochi shook his head.
“Then what? None of us here knows magic, or make potions,” Shintaro shrugged. The rest of the boys looked at one another in disbelief.
“I’ll have to sit here and wait for it to be undone,” Kochi sulked, “it won’t last long, I wish.”
“I’m sure it will wear away in a few hours,” Jesse said, but he was still laughing.
“Someone should help him,” Shintaro proposed, “and I shall. I know him well.”
Juri shook his head. “Don’t pull the ‘hometown buddies’ card. You’ll just derail from your quest because the fish in the market looks extra fresh, or something,” Juri said. He stood straight and proud, with a grin on his face. “I can go find my friend and undo it for Kochi,” Juri suggested.
“But your friend lives a few centuries away!” Jesse cried, “by the time he came, the spell probably already wore off!”
Juri sighed. Jesse was right. But what was the ‘a few centuries away’ description?
Taiga did not even bother caring about the solution. All he did was to continuously poke Kochi in the face. He seemed to enjoy it, but Kochi found it annoying, especially when Taiga’s index finger took up his whole face. He grabbed Taiga's finger and bit on it. Taiga flinched and stopped poking a very annoyed Kochi.
“What can you do, anyways?” Shintaro asked loudly.
“I can make a potion!” Jesse said with pride.
“You are NOT making a potion. The last time you did that, you turned Sora into a lizard!” Juri rejected Jesse’s suggestion almost immediately.
“What’s going on?”
Another guy entered the store. He is a handsome man, with silky black hair, his bangs covering part of his eyes. The rest of the boys were grateful to see him here.
“Kochi shrunk.” Juri informed the man of the situation.
“I see.” the man raised his eyebrow, “I don’t believe you guys.”
“Evidence is here!”
Without any notice, Kochi felt that he got picked up by two huge hands. He had to remind himself, this is not the Final Destination. He is not being abducted by Master Hand.
(A/N: Super Smash Bros. reference. You're welcome.)
The hands belonged to Shintaro. He held Kochi between his two palms, then unfolded the tiny Kochi in front of the skeptical man’s eyes.
Kochi could do nothing but pull out a cute face and pose.
“I believe it now,” the man sighed, taken off by Kochi’s sudden cute expression.
He always makes this face when I come.
The man shook his head, then grabbed Kochi by his collar, away from Shintaro’s hands. He placed Kochi in a small front pocket on his shirt. Kochi felt shy that this man suddenly claimed him, but he had no choice. He was extra small, and he could do nothing.
“I don’t trust you guys with Kochi,” the man sneered.
“And what makes you trustworthy, Hokuto?” Juri asked.
“I don’t laugh at this poor guy.” Hokuto glared. Jesse and Taiga, who were still giggling, immediately stopped. Hokuto stormed out of the shop, with Kochi in his front pocket.
“What is with him?” Juri sighed, as he could only watch Hokuto leave.
The other boys did not stop Hokuto. They trusted him, too.
He would be smart enough to find a way to undo this spell.
“Where are we going?” Kochi asked. No response.
“Do you know a way to undo this spell?” Kochi asked another question. No response either.
Kochi sighed. With a flick of the wrist, he added an enhancement spell to his voice, so he could speak loudly and Hokuto would be able to hear him.
“Where are we going?”
“Oh my god, you almost gave me a heart attack.”
Too loud.
“Anyways, I’m just bringing you around, and wish for luck,” Hokuto explained.
Meanwhile, with a small chant, Hokuto amped down the enhancing effects of Kochi’s spell.
“You don’t know either? I expected that,” Kochi sniffed. Hokuto could see that he was upset about being small.
Or, whatever happened that made him into this size.
“It’s okay. As long as we’re away from those idiots, you will be fine,” Hokuto said.
Not worth seeing Jesse turning Kochi into a lizard…
“Do you not like them?”
“No. I never said that.”
Hokuto was a frequent customer of Kochi’s shop. He enjoyed coffee there, and would purchase a lot of potions from him. Kochi knew that Hokuto was an avid traveller - he would always have his bow and arrow with him. The potions are most certainly needed to assist him in his endeavours.
Kochi has always helped Hokuto get out of injuries with his healing potions, so, this time, Hokuto felt that he had to repay Kochi’s favours.
Also, it is totally not the fact that Hokuto has the biggest crush on this average Joe who owns a shop in the countryside.
Actually, Hokuto accepts that he has a crush.
As the duo trekked through the busy market, Kochi constantly told Hokuto to stop and buy things for him. Hokuto did not like spending money for someone else, but he obliged and bought all the coffee beans and weird ingredients Kochi demanded.
“What do you need human teeth for?” Hokuto asked. He was surprised that it is legal to sell human teeth to other humans, and more importantly, Kochi asked for them.
“One of my customers demands their coffee with one, all the time,” Kochi replied, with the brightest smile on his face. He had transferred from Hokuto’s pocket to his hands, full of goods. He sat, happily, on a bag of coffee beans.
“You have the weirdest customers. Last time, I sat opposite to a guy with the face of a crocodile! I could not even raise my head,” Hokuto complained.
“I’m sorry, but otherwise, the only seat available is the toilet,” Kochi teased.
Hokuto kept the complaints to himself. Anywhere by the putrid toilet, full of waste of irresponsible humans and other kinds alike. He could not help but to admire Kochi’s persistence to clean the toilet daily.
Hokuto got back into the shop and placed the goods on the counter. Juri was still there, but the rest were gone.
“So you became Kochi’s dear errand boy.” Juri winked at Hokuto.
“Yes, and what about it?”
“Why don’t you tell him about that?” Juri mouthed out the sentence.
“Like hell I would,” Hokuto yelled, and left the shop with Kochi in his hands again. Juri just watched them leave, without saying anything extra. He could see that Hokuto enjoyed time with Kochi, and Kochi only.
How was he not flustered?
For two days, Kochi followed Hokuto around - placed in the little front pocket of the adventurer's shirt. Kochi himself never went anywhere outside the shop, and the area surrounding it for so long. Everything was so fascinating to him. Hokuto would ensure that Kochi was safe - from wild animals, or from humans who could not stop staring.
The rest of the group seemed busy.
Perfect. None of them will bother Kochi.
Kochi felt uneasy. He was not used to not working. All he could was to sit around and watch Hokuto doing all the work.
When night fell, Hokuto went back to his little hut, and placed Kochi in a jewelry box. It has cushions, so it felt like a (very) small bed.
Kochi found Hokuto to be oddly nice. He would always show a face of disgust whenever Jesse or Shintaro says something stupid. He rarely talks to Taiga, as if Hokuto had a grudge towards him. Juri is okay. Kochi only saw a glimpse of cheerful, chatty Hokuto through his conversations with Juri in his store.
Kochi considers himself lucky. Hokuto does talk to him a lot...
But that does not explain why he is so nice to him, or the reason he stepped up to help him.
"Are you comfortable?" Hokuto asked.
Kochi snapped back to reality. "Yes! Yes, I am," he answered.
Hokuto threw a small handkerchief to Kochi. "Use this as a blanket. We'll continue our search tomorrow."
Kochi still did not understand.
Day three. Kochi was still small.
Both Hokuto and Kochi were clueless. Despite Hokuto's effort to ask others (in which, he disliked), he never got an answer.
Both of them were tired and wanted to give up.
It was already the afternoon, so Hokuto found a nice place to relax - a grassland. Just him, and Kochi, extra small edition. The sky was blue, with a few clouds here and there. Kochi laid on top of Hokuto’s arm, and admired the clouds.
“That one looks like a sheep,” Kochi said, pointing at one of the clouds.
“Are you a child?”
“Yes. I feel smaller.”
“Not in that sense, Kochi.”
Kochi led out a laugh. A genuine, happy laughter. It sounded like music to Hokuto’s ears that he subconsciously cracked a smile.
This aside, he did see the resemblance. Well, all clouds look like sheep, so Kochi was not wrong.
“When is the spell going to wear off?” Hokuto asked.
“No idea,” Kochi said, “but I enjoy being carried around by a handsome adventurer.”
Is this guy, seriously, flirting with me?
“Handsome? Carried around? What are you, a damsel in distress?” Hokuto snarled.
“No, just a regular shop owner who got shrunk.”
He is flirting with me.
The duo was met with awkward silence for a while. Kochi admired the clouds, while Hokuto began to feel sleepy.
"You're working so hard for me," Kochi sighed, "yet, I could not do anything to help you back."
There was no answer from Hokuto. When Kochi took a good look of him, he had fallen asleep.
With the cool breeze in this grassland, under the persistently blue sky, Kochi grew drowsy too.
They eventually fell asleep, next to each other.
When Hokuto woke up from his nap, the sun was already setting.
He checked his pocket watch. It was almost 5.
Hokuto felt something heavy next to him. When he turned his head, he saw Kochi - his sleeping face, right in front of him.
He was no longer small - Kochi was finally back to normal size. Seemed that the spell wore off.
Curse that it took a few days.
Kochi was sleeping soundly. Hokuto wanted to leave without him, but he could not.
His heart was telling him to wait for the boy to wake up, but his body approached closer.
He found himself being drawn to this boy's face. This cute face.
Oh, to kiss his cute cheeks.
Hokuto shook his head. No, not kissing someone.
But Hokuto really wanted to.
Kochi’s body moved a little. He was regaining his senses.
His eyes finally opened, welcoming a full sky of clouds and hues of blue, purple and slight red. Kochi found Hokuto, right next to him, with a startled expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kochi asked.
“You’re back to normal,” Hokuto said.
Kochi blinked at Hokuto. Clearly, he doubted Hokuto’s words for a second, but then, he realised that he was at eye level with Hokuto and he did not look big at all. Kochi cracked into a bright smile.
“I’m back!” Kochi jumped.
“Now, now. Should we head back?” Hokuto calmed him down.
“Not yet.” Kochi sat back down. Hokuto felt that Kochi was staring at him intensely. He squinted his eyes a little, but Kochi’s eyes were literally glowing - he could not resist for longer. He looked like a puppy, asking for a pat or a treat. Hokuto swore, Kochi never stared at him, or anyone, like that.
“What do you want?”
“For you to finally admit that you like me.”
He knew? He knew all along?
“I would never,” Hokuto denied. Kochi could see right through Hokuto that he was lying.
Kochi heard about Hokuto ranting to Juri about him for way too many times.
He grabbed Hokuto’s hands. It felt rough, but it was a pair of hands full of warmth.
Hokuto’s face turned into a light shade of pink. He turned his head to the other side, trying to hide his blush, but of course, he could not.
“Come on. Say it," Kochi demanded, "you like me~"
“Fine. I like you.”
Hokuto said that in the softest voice possible. He gave in. He could not take this for longer.
Kochi was the one who asked for Hokuto’s confession, but he got flustered too. He immediately let go of Hokuto’s hands. The two men sat opposite of each other, their faces as red as apples in an orchid. Both of them wanted to say something, but they could not open their mouths.
“So, I…”
“You go first.”
“No, you.”
Hokuto cleared his throat. “Thank you for helping me all the time.” He expressed his utmost gratitude towards Kochi.
“And I want to thank you for being honest and making this day better,” Kochi replied.
He smiled again. It was always that stupid smile that got Hokuto.
It is this stupid, but radiant, lovely smile that got Hokuto falling in love with Kochi.
“You’re welcome.”
They got closer to each other. Naturally, their hands intertwined, without a single doubt.
Never thought that an incident like this would bring them together, under the setting sun.
Kochi did not feel like he needed to say something more to Hokuto. His message was received, loud and clear.
Hokuto, a handsome and capable adventurer, liked him. That was the best thing he had ever heard from Hokuto.
Hokuto initially felt shy confessing his feelings, but not anymore. He dreamt of holding Kochi’s hand. Hell, he even thought of kissing him!
And he finally did. One of the two, at least. The two sat together, with Kochi’s head on Hokuto’s shoulder, and watched the sun set.
Hokuto checked his watch.
The sun is setting at a rather early hour.
And the best way to enjoy this moment is with someone you love.
You and I, under the sky, at 5:01.
Epilogue
Back at the shop, there was no one, and the door was locked.
Hokuto immediately left after he dropped Kochi off by the shop. Kochi did not like it. He wanted to spend more time with Hokuto, but it seemed that he was busy. Kochi, all alone, unlocked the front door to the shop. Everything was unmoved. The shattered flask was still on the floor.
Kochi immediately cleaned up. It took a while, but Kochi felt good about not being small again.
Being small would be a once-in-a-life experience and it shall stay this way.
Moreover, he shared a moment with Hokuto. What more could he ask for?
When rummaging his pockets, Kochi found something unexpected.
It was a piece of paper. A note from someone. Out of sheer curiosity, he unfolded the paper, revealing a message inside.
Meet me at the market tomorrow afternoon.
Let's go on a date!!
- Hokuto
Kochi smiled. He never expected Hokuto to write in such a cute manner.
He knew, whatever and wherever the date take place, Kochi would enjoy evert single moment of it with Hokuto.