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The night of the Tanabata festival was off to a flying start. The staff was crabby, the crowd was packed like sardines, the games were the same as they were at every festival, and the food was... Well, the food wasn't bad, actually. But after her third helping of okonomiyaki, Yuka was over the novelty of it. After she and her friends were separated in the crowd, they yelled out at each other to meet in the gardens in an hour's time. It didn't seem like long, but boy was it stretching, even after only ten minutes. Festivals were cute and all, but she was in the mood for something different. Something more exciting.
To waste some time, Yuka crossed over to the edge of the festivities, in a patch of the park that wasn't decorated for the event. Few people strolled across, mostly elderly participants that wanted to avoid the buzz of the crowd. She walked around until she found her favourite spot; a tall tree with a long stretched out branch, perfect for sitting. She'd been climbing it since she was a child. Granted, it was no easy task in her yukata. She climbed using the knicks in the tree that were the perfect size for her feet. It was like the tree grew with her. When she got to her branch, she perched herself upon it and enjoyed watching the festivities from afar.
She tried spotting her friends, to tease them later for what they did, but they were too difficult to spot amidst the sea of pastel yukatas. This is why you go with bright colours, ladies! she thought to herself. She almost thought she spotted Izumi from behind, walking along with Mitsuru Numai, but that wasn't possible. Sweet little Izumi would be scared half to death of those delinquent boys.
Just as Yuka prepared herself to climb down the tree again, her hand brushed against something fuzzy, and she nearly screamed. She turned to face the animal, object, whatever it was, and saw that it was only a doll. Some child must’ve left it behind. She placed the doll in her lap and gave it a curious glance. Her curly locks of black hair were ratted and tangled with twigs and leaves. Her ‘skin’ had several markings. Well, she was a well-loved doll by some aggressive child, that much was clear.
Just then, Keita Iijima was passing beneath the tree, unaware of the girl sitting above his head. He stopped beneath the tree and rested against it. He was one of those classmates that Yuka hadn’t given much thought to until recent times, when they sat next to each other during a field trip.
Yuka watched as he muttered to himself, and got what she considered a funny idea. Slowly, she stretched downward with the doll in her hand, just behind Keita, until the doll was level with his eyeline. Then, she gently smacked the back of his head with the doll’s legs so that he would be greeted with her busted up face when he turned around.
Keita's head spun around and Yuka immediately got her anticipated result: he let out a loud shriek, which sounded a lot like when a girl encountered a serial killer in the horror movies Yuka liked to watch.
Keita instinctively jumped backwards, tripping on the uneven ground and landing on his butt. "What kinda demon are ya?!" he cried out, hiding his face behind his arm. "Please don't hurt me!"
Yuka couldn't hold back a laugh. She wanted to keep up the prank a little while longer, maybe add a spooky voice and tell Keita he only had seven days left to live or something - but she just couldn't keep a straight face up in the tree.
"Relax, Iijima," she said instead, grinning as she made her way down the final branches and jumped off the one lowest to the ground. "The closest thing to a demon here is me! This," she waved with the doll. "Is just a cute little doll I found in this tree."
"Cute?" Keita repeated in disbelief, pushing himself back up. "Cute where? That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen! And I had a toe infection last Summer!"
Yuka clicked her tongue. "Riiiight. Beautiful mental image!" She was also a little fascinated by the fact that he didn't question the fact that she had just been hanging out in a tree. She figured maybe he was used to even weirder antics. "Anyway. Once you look past her kinda ratty hair and scratches and stuff, she's adorable in a murdery way."
"Uh huh," Keita didn't sound convinced. He kept rapidly glancing from the doll to Yuka and then back to the doll, as if expecting it to... Do something. "Ya couldn't have found something that was adorable in just... an adorable way?!"
"Aw, c'mon! I know you're dying to give her a big old kiss!" teased Yuka, bringing the doll to Keita's face.
Again, he shrieked and jumped a foot back. "I'm gonna tell that doll the same thing I tell my grandma-- You wanna kiss me, ya gotta pay up!"
"Just a smooch! C'mon! She likes you!" laughed Yuka, getting a good kick out of Keita's repulsion. She began to chase him, holding the doll out.
Keita bolted, surprised by how fast Yuka managed to run in her festive sandals. When the doll got close enough to nearly peck his lips, Keita grabbed her and chucked her towards the tree, where she hit the trunk face-first and fell to the ground, rolling over a few times until she landed at his feet. For good measure, he gave her an extra kick, making her hit the trunk again.
"You shouldn't have done that..." warned an old-sounding voice that made even Yuka shriek. The two jumped back, turning to face the old woman that was talking to them. She was hunched over, using a cane to steady herself. "That doll is possessed with the spirit of Chichi, an orphan that drowned in the swamp. She's said to curse those who disturb her peace."
"Chichi? That old kids tale?" asked Yuka, taking an interest. "I didn't realize we were in the company of somebody so famous!"
"I wouldn't joke if I were in your shoes, young lady. That spirit shows no mercy."
Keita frowned as his brain caught up to what the others were talking about.
The legend of Chichi was one of very few legends they had in Shiroiwa. In such a small, ordinary town, not much ever happened. There was, however, a swamp in a small, wooded area behind the park, where parents always warned their children not to go.
Tired of kids not listening and getting home all dirty and muddy, parents began telling their children the cautionary tale of Chichi. Like the old woman said, Chichi was an orphan (Shuya had once insisted she had lived in the same orphanage as him before, though many years before) and had one day been playing too close to the swamp. She had tripped in and gotten hurt, unable to stand up as the swamp immersed her fully.
Legend also said Chichi had stayed behind to haunt anyone who came close, out of fury that her peers who had been out in the woods with her stood by and did nothing as she died.
"It's not... true though?! Is it?!" Keita blurted out, suddenly staring at the doll with eyes wide with fear.
Yuka snorted. "If it is, I hope Chichi remembers which one of us called her cute and which one of us slammed her against a tree!" she joked.
Keita wiped some sweat away from her forehead. "No, c-come on! That's not fair! I was only messing around!" he forced a nervous grin. "Like you do with, uh, pals!"
"Suuuure," Yuka nodded, crossing her arms. "Hey, old lady, what kind of curse does Chichi do to those who disturb her again?"
“Those who disturb Chichi will find themselves suffering the same fate. You’ll soon come to your end as nobody around you does a thing to stop it! Or you’ll get aggressive diarrhea so bad that you’ll shit yourself to death.”
“WHAT?!” screamed Keita. The latter sounded more terrifying, more chilling. It was simply too plausible. “I can’t shit myself to death, Nakagawa! I just can’t! Ya gotta help me! Don’t be like Chichi’s lame friends! Be a pal!”
“The young lady is also at risk. Disturbing Chichi’s peace includes moving her from the spot which you found her…” the old lady warned. With that, she turned around and added a final warning, “You have until the end of the festival to make amends…”
With that, she was gone. Yuka, although just as creeped out, still tried to make light of the situation. “They’ve gotta be paying that old lady to scare festival goers. I don’t think old Chichi would choose to possess this cheap doll. She’d choose something higher quality, at least!”
“Nakagawa, please!” begged Keita. “We gotta make it up to her somehow. Y’know, like undoing the trouble we caused! If I shit myself to death, the guys will never let me hear the end of it! A—And she said you’re at risk, too! That’s not how ya wanna go out, is it?!”
Yuka crossed her arms. "I have been dangerously close after some questionable sushi... And I guess it wasn't exactly fun. Okay, fine, let's make amends! If Chichi is mad about not having any friends who had her back, then I guess we will have to just show her what true friendship is!"
Keita nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Yeah, that's right! We gotta show her how great people can be so she doesn't wanna kill us and all!"
They both looked down at the doll for a moment. Keita definitely didn't want to touch it, so Yuka knew she had be the one taking responsibility here. Sighing, she picked poor Chichi back up and dusted her off.
"Okay, girl. What do you wanna do first?" she asked. Not really expecting an answer, she looked up at Keita instead. "She looks like she'd enjoy music, doesn't she? We can show her the traditional dance show. It should be on right about now!"
Keita groaned. "That's so boring though! When I tried to tell Utsumi you guys should all do break-dancing instead, she just ignored me!"
Yuka laughed at the mental image of her and her friends suddenly breaking into modern dance. "Yeah, it doesn't quite fit the festival vibes. Next time you should tell me and not Yukie, I would totally have tried to sneak it in somehow," she snickered. "But come on, can't you imagine Chichi doing a little dance to some classic music?"
Keita looked at Chichi like he didn't want to imagine her moving at all. But finally he relented.
"... I guess. Whatever it takes for her not to burn me alive!"
With Chichi safely in her arms, Yuka started off through the crowd, Keita not far behind. They cut lines, weaved through tightly-packed spaces, and almost knocked down a few patrons along the way. Time was way too critical for manners. Yuka wanted to get everything done within the hour, otherwise her friends doubting the folklore may offend the possessed doll and they'd have to start all over again!
They made it just in time to watch the dance gain energy and attract a larger crowd.
"Does she look like she's having fun?!" asked Keita.
"We just got here!" replied Yuka.
As the dance and music got bigger and bigger, Yuka considered if this was enough to satisfy Chichi.
"I think she wants to dance, too!" yelled Yuka, straining to be heard over the noise. "C'mon! Grab one of her hands, and we'll make her dance a bit!"
Keita looked at the doll with a mix of fear and disgust.
"Ew, I don't want to touch it -" he began, before seemingly realising that this was probably just the kind of thing that would piss off the spirit even more. "Ehh, I mean, sure... We can do that..."
Yuka wondered if it was fair to say that a boy being freaked out by a haunted doll gave her the ick. Not that she was considering dating Keita in the first place, but she hadn't realized just how much of a scaredy cat he was! At least his terrified expression was kinda hilarious.
They held Chichi up between them, letting her swing back and forth.
"I think she wants more speed! Let's do a little circle!" Yuka suggested, pulling on Chichi and effectively the doll.
Keita had no choice but to follow, as they spun around. "Is this really for Chichi?! Or are ya just trying to make me hurl?!" he asked, dizziness washing over him.
"Ew, not on my yukata! You better hold it in!" Yuka demanded, slowing down the pace slightly. "I just think we have to make this really fun for her, right?"
Keita sighed, twirling the doll enough to make her do a loop.
Yuka snickered. "If this was a real kid, I think you just killed her."
"Well, this one's already dead!" Keita pointed out. "Who doesn't love a loop?!"
"Hey, yeah! If she's already dead, maybe she won't mind a little craziness. Y'know, it's so limiting to be alive when you think about it!" concurred Yuka. The logic was a bit bonkers, but then so was a possessed doll.
With the help of the teens, Chichi put on the performance of a lifetime... Or, afterlifetime. As the traditional dance came to an end, the performers took a bow and applauded the teens. Keita and Yuka panted and took a bow of their own.
"You've upset Chichi, huh?" a man in the crow asked.
"How'd you know?!" asked Keita, catching his breath.
The man eyed the doll with a raised brow, as if to say it were obvious. "If I may offer some advice--- A friend of mine upset her at a Tanabata festival ten years ago, but the curse still got him... Because he refused to buy her a yukata for the occasion!"
"Huh? A yukata?" asked Yuka. "We don't have enough time to make one for her!"
"Nonsense! There's a booth that sells doll-sized clothing for the children who bring their dolls!" the man explained. "Buy her one, and she'll feel like she belongs!"
The man left before the two could argue against it. They felt doubtful. "A yukata for a doll is pushing it... Dontcha think?" asked Keita.
"For all we know, he probably works there and makes a cut!" added Yuka. "But then again..."
Still, they stood there, wondering if that may be the key to saving their lives.
"This is really gonna cut into my comic book money! Why'd ya have to go and drag me into this stupid mess, Nakagawa?!" grumbled Keita.
"I never asked you to kick her into a tree trunk!" she retorted.
Keita drew a deep breath. He tried to forget all about his own responsibility here. But he knew he wanted to make sure they didn't get haunted for life! "How expensive could it be, anyway? Dolls are tiny!"
"Yeah! As long as we still have enough cash for takoyaki and ice cream later, it's gonna be worth it. Come on, Iijima! Let's go shopping."
They walked against the crowd on the main path, pushing their way through in order to get to the clothing stands. The music and chatter still filled the air around them. It could have been a peaceful and fun evening, if not for the situation they found themselves in. Well, Yuka was pretty sure none of this haunted stuff was real anyway, so she wasn't too stressed about it. At least not yet.
They found the stand selling the tiny outfits and both gasped in unison as they looked at the price. 6000 yen?! It might not be unreasonable considering the yukatas looked homemade and as beautiful as life-sized ones, but still... That money could have bought a lot of takoyaki.
"Hey, if you get this, I'll buy you dessert after," Yuka coughed into her sleeve. Keita stared at her.
"Ya think I got 6000 yen on me?! Girl, what about me screams rich?!" he asked.
"Well, if you want any part of you to scream alive... I think you should fork up what you do have!" Yuka said innocently.
Unfortunately, the inside of Keita's wallet corroborated his story. He barely had enough to cover half, let alone the full sum. "Ya see what I mean?"
"I guess I can get the other half, and we'll mooch food off our friends later," sighed Yuka. Not that she didn't plan to do so already, but she was hoping she'd only have to as an extra little treat, not everything! "Alright, we'll take that red one. It really brings out her bloodshot eyes."
The booth owner brought them the yukata, and reached for the doll to help them dress her but stopped herself when she got a good look at it. "Ah. Thank you for your purchase. I dress the dolls for the children, but between the two of you, I'm sure you're capable," she explained, laughing nervously.
"Yeah, no worries. It's a bit of a cursed doll situation we have going on here," explained Yuka. "Wouldn't wanna get you caught up in it, too."
"As a complimentary bonus, I'd like to include this comb," said the booth owner, slowly sliding it across the counter. "A girl may dress pretty, but if her hair is not done, it won't make a difference."
"We gotta do her hair now, too?!" grunted Keita. But he calmed himself quickly. After all, he'd already spent all of his money and danced in front of a crowd. How hard could combing some doll hair be? "Ah, hell. Why not? I got this ribbon on my finger we can tie in it, too. I was tryin' to remember somethin', but I already forgot what it was."
"We're gonna need to get it wet to make it easier to comb," explained Yuka, as the two walked away from the booth. Yuka carried the doll, and Keita carried the yukata. "We'll dress her once we're done. She'll look so pretty; she'll never curse anybody ever again! Maybe her soul will even move on!"
"Do ya think she'll take it one step further and bless us instead of cursing us?!" Keita asked hopefully.
Yuka tapped Chichi's back lightly. "I think that's too much to ask. I doubt evil spirits are even capable of that," she said thoughtfully. "It would probably turn out to be a curse in disguise."
"Hey, ya don't think wetting her hair will give her like PSTD or something? Considering how she died?" Keita pointed out with a frown, as the two looked for something to wet her hair with.
Yuka didn't correct his attempt at diagnosing her; he tried! She figured that's what mattered. Instead, she shook her head. "Not as long as she can tell we're doing this to help her, surely! Having someone doll you up, pun intended, is pretty different than drowning!"
"... It's not like you've drowned before! How can ya be so sure?" Keita asked.
"Well, I have been dolled up," Yuka informed him, pointing to her current bouncy hairstyle as if to prove a point. "And it feels pretty good! Oh, see, that's the perfect place to do it!"
She moved her finger from pointing to her hair and instead pointing it to the direction of the goldfish swooping game.
Keita gulped. "Looks preeeetty close to drowning to me," he mumbled, but he still changed his direction towards the stand. "I think she's more pissed at me than you, so why don't ya give her the bath?!"
Coward, Yuka thought with a slight smile. She sighed. "Yeah, yeah! Leave the actual work to me."
The pair tried to be sneaky as they approached the stand, not wanting to get chased away by the man running it (who already looked like he wanted to pack up and go home), but he discovered them anyway. Apparently moving slowly towards the stand wasn't as stealthy as they thought. Squinting, he looked from Chichi to them.
"Oi, kids. What's that thing?"
Yuka placed Chichi behind her back, shrugging. "What thing?" she asked innocently. "We just came to scoop some fish, old man!"
She nudged Keita's shoulder swiftly.
"Eeh, yeah, we love... scooping!" Keita nodded repeatedly. He took out his last 100 yen which Yuka had mercifully let him keep when they bought the yukata earlier. "Just give me your cheapest poi!"
Yuka hoped the vendor would be too busy watching Keita, making sure he didn't cheap by using his hands or something, and would take that moment to wet Chichi's hair.
Keita, who loved most games, actually seemed to focus on what he was doing too.
"Hey, Nakagawa. If I get the biggest fish, will ya join me for pizza sometime?!" he asked suddenly.
Yuka, who had been about to subtly dab Chichi's head into the water, almost fell in herself from the question. "Huuuuh? Where did that come from? Are you getting caught up in the romantic mood of the festival and demonic curse situation?!"
Keita, for the first time since he had seen Chichi that evening, seemed to smile earnestly to the fish. "Didn't hear a no!"
The vendor rolled his eyes. "Good luck, kid. You wouldn't be the first to try that. No one is skilled enough to capture Fattie."
"No one until now!" yelled Keita. He made a big show of splashing the poi into the water, chasing after Fattie with a precision of a predator shark. Yuka got so caught up in the antics that she forgot her own mission and watched in amazement.
"Woah, you got this! You got this!" she cheered, watching as Keita closed in on the fish.
"Of course I do! I'm no chump!" he snickered, scooping the fat fish onto his poi. He lifted it into the air, with a yell of triumph, and plopped it into the bowl. "WOOHOO! I'm the victor! What's my prize?!"
"The fish. That's how this game works, kid," answered the vendor. "Let me bag him up for ya."
Keita handed over the bowl to the vendor, laughing triumphantly at his win. "Didya see that, Nakagawa? Did y--" He stopped when he looked to see her still standing there, a grin on her face. "Ain'tcha forgetting something?!" he yell-whispered.
"Am I? Oh, shoot!" she cursed herself. "Okay, uh, I have an idea. Just stand there and do nothing."
"Way ahead of ya."
When the vendor finished bagging the fish, it was Yuka who reached forward to grab it. As she did, she intentionally let Chichi drop from her grip and fall into the fish tank. The goldfish scattered to opposite ends of the tank as the doll sunk to the bottom.
"Oopsies!" Yuka played innocent. "My bad! I'm so sorry! Let me just get her out of there!"
Keita watched her retrieve the doll in horror. They went from dampening her hair to damn near drowning her all over again. "We're dead," he whispered, pale as a ghost. "That's it. We're dead."
"I ain't gonna kill you kids, but I am gonna tell you to get the hell out of here!" yelled the vendor.
Keita grabbed the fish bag, and the doll yukata, and bolted off. Yuka quickly gave Chichi a shake as she held her above the water. "Sorry, again, mister! Have a swell night!" And then she ran off to find Keita, who had seemingly disappeared into the crowd.
"Are you trying to run away from us?" Yuka called after him, still shaking Chichi slightly in the air. "Slow down!"
When she still couldn't see him, she called louder: "Iijima!"
She wondered if he would turn out to be one of those deadbeat men abandoning their families in the future too. Though their cursed doll hardly counted as a child.
"Psst," Keita called out to her from behind a tree off the path. "Over here!"
Yuka raised an eyebrow. "Tell me you're not hiding from the doll!"
"No, from the goldfish guy! What was his problem?! It's like goldfish scooping isn't even his passion and he's really just here for the money!" Keita muttered.
"Yeah, imagine..." Yuka joked. Not that 100 yen per scoop was a big moneymaking business anyway. Maybe he secretly did love the goldfish.
"Anyway, I got Fattie!" Keita beamed, holding up the plastic bag. "I bet Chichi was impressed too! Check out your best friend, Chi-chan! The scooping champion!" Keita bragged, for once addressing the doll directly. He was starting to seem a whole less scared.
Yuka pushed the doll towards him. "And she's nice and clean-ish too!" She added. "Things are really shaping up. Aaaand I was thinking; since you're the one who pissed her off the most, probably, you should be the one who gets to comb her hair. It's only fair you get to apphease the most!"
Yuka wouldn't mind being the one to do it, but she figured Keita's attempts of grooming might be entertaining to watch.
"Me? Comb her hair?" Keita swallowed back, but tried to play it off. "Heh. That's girl's work. I'm already being generous enough to lend my ribbon and all my money."
"Girls work?" Yuka clicked her tongue, unimpressed. "I'd never buy a prized pizza for a boy that uses a term like that."
"Wait! I was kidding! Just gimme the doll!"
Once Chichi was in his hands, Keita felt a new wave of nerves. He tried to handle her as gently as possible. He sat at the base of the tree and tried combing out a section of hair, the worst looking one with a big twig caught in it.
"Uh, y'think maybe she'd like a nice buzzcut?" asked Keita. "I think she could make it work."
"If you buzz her hair, I think diarrhea will be the least of your worries."
"Got it..." he mumbled, nervously continuing his work. Yuka did what she could to help, by breaking knots off into sections with her fingers.
"Jeeez. She's in worse condition than my Barbies were after I played hairdresser with them," Yuka sighed, holding out a section of hair for Keita to brush.
"Do ya think she liked... Lived in that tree?" Keita asked, having to use some force to comb out the messy section. "Or do ya think she just appeared now, cause you were there?!"
Yuka figured what probably happened was that someone had either put the doll there to creep someone out, or maybe a child had found it somewhere else and then ended up discarding it at a random place. But she shrugged.
"She probably recognised you as the perfect victim!" she joked. "Or maybe she's looking for a new home. Like your bed?"
Keita glared at her for even suggesting it, the comb almost dropping from his hand. "N-No way! My room is way too messy and smelly for a girl like her anyway! She'd be way happier with you!" he retorted.
Yuka chuckled. "Kinda sweet that you think my room is any less messy," she hummed. "Probably less smelly though."
"Anyway, I think when we get her all fresh and into her new outfit and stuff... Some little kid might wanna adopt her?" Keita suggested. The hair was finally beginning to straighten out, and actually even looked kind of soft.
"You wanna pass the cursed doll onto a child?" Yuka asked. It would be a little hilarious. She probably wouldn't stop him.
"She won't be cursed anymore by then! It's a win-win situation, for Chichi and the child!" Keita insisted. "And, you know... Us!"
“I guess that’s all a doll might want; being loved by a kid, I mean,” mused Yuka. The idea was a risky one but it might work. Of course, it all depending on how Chichi turned out. As it was, she was still pretty rough. And possibly, still pretty cursed.
They combed through half of her hair and started on the second half. It was a funny sight; half of her hair straight and soft and the other half a ragged mess, but between the two off them, they managed to tame the unruly locks. Then, they used Keira’s ribbon to give her an elegant half-up half-down hairstyle that was popular with girls at the festival.
“Lookin’ good, Chichi!” exclaimed Keita. “I got no idea how to deal with this yukata do that’s on you, Yuka.”
“I usually get my mom to help with this,” admitted Yuka. “It’s a workout!”
She pushed the dolls arms into the sleeves and wrapped the yukata in place. She tied the himo first and then wrapped the obi around her body twice and struggled a moment to secure it. Once everything was in place, she set Chichi down so that she and Keita could get a good look at her.
“Hey, not bad. She’s actually a nice looking doll!” exclaimed Keita.
“Yes she’s quite a doll, isn’t she?” laughed Yuka. Then, she noticed something. “Hey…”
She lifted Chichi and looked closely at her face. Her eyes, which were crimson before, were now a deep brown colour.
“Her eyes!” exclaimed Keita, noticing the same thing. “It’s working! She’s happier… Right?!”
Yuka could hardly believe it. If this really was some elaborate prank, how could they have made that happen?
"Yeah, she's pretty much smiling at us right now," Yuka agreed. Which was kind of true. She had always had a small smile on her lips, but before, it just happened to look slightly... evil. Now, with her more soft-looking eyes, she looked beautiful.
"And some of her scars and scratches and shit are gone from her face, aren't they?" Keita pointed out.
Yuka chuckled. "Eh, I think that was just dirt. The fish water must've taken care of it," she shrugged.
They watched the doll quietly for a moment. Neither one of them had children, obviously, but the feeling must have been close to the one parents felt watching their child thrive. She was turning into a beautiful and hopefully kind creature.
"Okay, she's been dancing, goldfish scooping, got a new outfit... Now what?" Keita asked, breaking the silence.
Tapping her chin softly, Yuka pondered for a second. "How about we help her write a tanzaku wish? Something like I don't want to be a demon anymore," she suggested.
Keita nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Yeah, I have a pretty important one for myself too. Let's go do that!"
Since it was still early in the night, the tanzaku line was short. It was only a five minute wait for a turn. Yuka carried Chichi, the same way one would cautiously hold a newborn baby.
“Well, Chichi, you’re about to be one free spirit. How about that? You must be pretty jazzed!” she said to the doll.
“I’m practically jumping into the air and kicking my feet together,” answered Keita, as if she’d been asking him.
They got to the front of the line and picked out the paper for their wishes. Yuka took Chichi’s hand in hers and began to write, for the dolls sake.
I don’t want to be a demon anymore!
Re-reading it, she realised there was a good chance it was gonna freak out plenty of festival goers that didn’t know the context but ah well! As long as Chichi got her wish in!
Keita's shaking hand was scribbling down his wish quickly. It felt urgent to get this down on paper:
I hope Chichi doesn't kill me!
Exhaling deeply, he was just as quick to tie the tanzaku wish to the tree.
"Wow, nothing about school or anything? Or any luck with girls?" Yuka teased him.
"I got my priorities straight, Nakagawa! Who cares about that stuff when my life is on the line?!" Keita asked in disbelief. Then after a second's thought he added: "Not that I need any luck to score girls. Still got your attention, don't I?"
He shot her what Yuka assumed was a wink (but looked more like a nervous twitch) and an awkward attempt at finger guns.
"Mmm, totally. Because this counts," Yuka hummed.
She lifted Chichi up and used her tiny hands as much as possible to tie up the wish. She thought she could see her smile widening, but surely that was all her imagination.
"What about you? What are you gonna wish for?" Keita asked Yuka curiously.
“Huh? I already did my—“ Yuka cut herself off when she recalled that she had only done Chichi’s wish, and not her own. She handed Chichi to Keita, who held her out a few feet in front of his body, still frightened by her.
She quickly jotted a wish on her slip:
I wish for us to have plenty more laughs together in the future!
And then, she hung it up, beside Keita’s.
“I dunno about you, but I don’t consider this much of a laugh,” joked Keita.
“I’m keeping it lighthearted incase you offended Chichi with your wish,” explained Yuka. “Girls can get sensitive when you’re all scared of them killing you, y’know!”
“Eh, no, can’t say I would know. The only lady I thought might kill me is my mom after I smashed some ugly vase that she kept claiming was a family heirloom. I still think she just got it at the market, though.”
They were walking away from the tanzaku stall, a much larger line beginning to form behind them. They arrived at just the right time, it seemed. The rest of the festival crowd was a bit lighter than it was before. As a lot of the activities for the youngest of the children were coming to an end, a lot of the families were clearing out.
“I guess we should go place Chichi back where we found her,” said Yuka. “I’m almost gonna miss her!”
"Yeah? I guess she wants to go back to her tree or whatever," Keita agreed reluctantly. "Or, y’know, we can do what we talked about? Give her to some kid? She's looking pretty cute and non-evil right about now."
He hesitated for a moment, his eyes moving towards the playground area of the park, where some kids were currently hanging out. Those kids looked just a little too old to relaly be interested in a doll, but he had another idea.
"Like, we could put her on the swings or something? And give her a push or two before we ditch her. If she didn't have any friends in real life, maybe she's never had fun like a kid before, either!"
Yuka wondered if Chichi would consider Keita's current comments offensive or not. She covered her barely visible ears just in case.
"It's not a bad idea," she had to admit. "Then after, you can give me a push too! It's been ages since I've been on the swings!"
“Heh, I could easily push you both at once! I’m strong!” bragged Keita. Never mind the fact that the doll weighed two pounds at most.
As they approached the swings, some of the bigger kids began to laugh at the teenagers for carrying around a doll.
“Ignore the haters, Chichi! That’s part of being a kid!” said Yuka.
She sat on a swing, with Chichi on her lap, to kill two birds with one stone. Keita got behind the two, gripped the bars tightly to pull them back a few inches, and then gave them the biggest push he could muster, nearly tripping over his own feet in the process.
Yuka grinned, holding on tightly to Chichi with one hand, and quickly realizing she should hold onto the rope of the swing with the other. Keita was giving them some considerate speed.
"Guess I underestimated your strength, Iijima! This is way faster than I remember it being as a kid," she laughed as he gave it another push.
Keita seemed encouraged by this compliment. He didn't get many, after all. "Yeah?! You think I'm like top five strongest dudes in class?"
"Weeell, I wouldn't go that far. Maybe square off with someone like Kawada or Sugimura or Numai, and we'll see?" Yuka chuckled. She imagined if he ever tried, he'd be more dead than Chichi.
"I think I'll stick to proving my strength through swing pushing. There's stupid and then there's stupid," Keita joked back.
Eventually, the speed slowed down, and Yuka stopped the swing with her feet. She knew it was getting to that time when she was supposed to regroup with her friends in the garden anyway. They wouldn't believe her even if she told them what her evening had been like so far.
"I guess this is it, Chichi," she sighed, sounding almost nostalgic as she looked down at the innocent doll.
“Man, I almost wanna tear up. It’s been real, little Chi,” said Keita. He made a big show of wiping away a pretend tear. If Chichi came back again to haunt those who didn’t appreciate her, he sure as hell didn’t intend to be one of them.
“We’ll leave you right on this swing where we had our last beautiful memory together!” said Yuka, straightening out the dolls yukata and some stray hairs as she posed her on the swing. Once content with her position, Yuka turned back to Keita. “What a night!”
“No kidding. But hey, I know who I’m calling next time I piss off a spirit!” he replied.
“Well, it better be your mom cause I can’t do this again!” joked Yuka.
They had began walking away from Chichi now. Both of them did want to throw a final glance at her, but they managed to resist. Especially when two of the girls who had been hanging at the playground suddenly sprinted towards her.
Get yourself a nice, new home, Chichi, Yuka thought, a small smile on her lips.
Keita continued the conversation as they walked.
"Ya think my mom could do this? I mean, yeah, my family did go through kind of an exorcism situation once, but my mom wasn't really the one to solve it. It's a long story. It all started when I was in 2nd grade - "
"- Yeah, that's cool, Iijima," Yuka said as she glanced at her watch. "I really have to run, though. If I leave the girls waiting, I have to explain why and what I've been up to, and I don't wanna give Chisato and Izumi nightmares again. We watched a horror movie starring a posessed doll once and they almost cried."
Keita felt strangely disappointed as Yuka ran away to join the girls. After his night began with a petty argument with his friends, during which he stormed away, appeasing a ghost with Yuka was the most fun he had all night, and he knew it couldn’t get any better from there. But Yuka would still have a good time with her friends and probably forget about their silly adventure.
That tanzaku she wrote was about the doll after all, I guess... he thought pitifully to himself. He was silly to think, or maybe even just hope, that it was about him.
But, to his surprise, as Yuka ran to the gardens, she turned around halfway to smile and wave at him. That was more than the doll got!
“Hell yeah! Take that, stupid doll!” Keita whispered to himself victoriously. With a goofy grin, he eagerly waved back.
Back on the playground, a group of rambunctious girls were examining the pretty doll they found on the swings. Aside from a crack or two, and a strange fish-like odour, she seemed practically new.
“She’s mine!” yelled the girl who saw her first.
“No, she’s mine! You have too many dolls!” yelled another.
As the girls fought over Chichi, tugging at her from both sides, her arms popped out of their sockets. The girls shrieked as they were sent crashing into the sand.
“This is all your fault, Taiko-chan!” yelled the first girl.
“Hey… Mei-chan… Were her eyes always red..?” asked the second girl.
Terrified by what they’d done, the girls dug a hole in the sand and buried Chichi’s body. They tossed one arm into the trees, and the other into the bushes, desperate to hide the evidence.
“If only she’d been left in her tree…” whispered the same elderly woman that warned Yuka and Keita earlier that night as she strolled by and shook her head.