Archive of Our Own

        A flurry of pink and green flashed before Karrie’s eyes as she was tackled to the sandy school soccer court. Her body, pinned under Xavier’s weight, froze as they grabbed her arms to get at her phone.

        “Hand it over! Hand! It! Over!” they demanded, eyes wild with rage.

        Karrie froze, her curled hair frazzled and face pale from fear as Xavier dug their nails in and pulled, forcing her to let go. The contents of the phone she was guarding revealed themselves—an image of Xavier, pulling quiz answers from a file in the teacher’s lounge, surrounded by their small group of friends.

        The sight caused a rush of piping-hot adrenaline to flood her veins, and her fist flew, landing square in the middle of Xavier’s nose.

        A loud crack pierced the air.

        From there, everything was a blur. Xavier let out a cry. The phone fell to the ground. She grabbed it and ran, her heart in her throat.

        The last thing she remembered was Xavier calling after her. Although she didn’t look back to see their face, their tone alone was enough to send shivers down her spine.  

"Go ahead! Show everyone your proof! It won't matter when I can just make it all. Go. Away."

        Those words still festered in her head the next day, as she lay stock still on her futon, clutching the small knitted baby cap and safety blanket she was just a tad too old for.

        “...Xavier’s right, aren’t they?” she whispered to the objects in her hands. “...it…it doesn’t matter. Does it?”

        Ever since they showed up to school with their new Yo-kai friend—a Wazzat named Rags—nothing she did mattered. When Karrie tried to report Xavier’s bullying to the principal, they wiped his memory. When Karrie tried to answer questions in class, they wiped her memory. When Karrie tried to tell people that Xavier was the one who tripped the fire alarm the other day, they wiped everyone’s memory. If she tried to tell someone that Xavier had been cheating on their exams…they would wipe their memory.

        She turned to the side and stared at the Yo-kai Watch next to her pillow. A brand-new Model U, a gift from her family. She picked up the watch with her right hand, and her tired reflection stared back at her from its face.

        Grazing her fingers across the glass caused a baseball-sized, pin-like object to emerge from it and fill her left hand. This watch was filled to the brim with features meant to give her an edge against powerful Yo-kai…yet, she barely stood a chance against a regular human in a one-on-one fight.

        It was useless. She was useless.

        Karrie clutched the pin tightly as frustration bubbled in her chest…only to sigh and weakly lob it at the floor. With a hollow plunk and a poof, it was gone.

        …Well. She was already awake. She might as well head to school.

        Snapping her fingers, she created a spark of magic that turned into a small orange will-o'-wisp. Her surroundings illuminated by its soft glow, she neatly tucked her safety blanket under her quilt.

        “You stay there,” Karrie said before placing the pastel green baby cap nearby. “And you keep him safe,” she added, before finally standing up, putting on her clothes, and exiting through the front door.

        The only one awake, aside from her, was her grandpa, kneeling on the porch outside and enjoying a very, very early cup of tea. Beside him, a one-eyed radio played soft jazz, bopping merrily to its own tunes. As she walked past, her grandpa’s eyes widened in surprise.

        “Hey, kiddo, what’re ya doin’ up this early?”

        Gently closing her hand to extinguish the ball of light, Karrie paused before putting her Yo-kai Watch on her right wrist. “School,” she said.

        “School don’t start for a few hours, you’ve got time.”

        Karrie didn’t respond and kept walking. Her grandpa called after her–might’ve even used her name–but she kept chugging through her route. Get to the bus stop. Ride on the bus. Walk to the train station. Ride the train. Walk to school.

        Springdale Elementary was just barely open by the time she got there. Other students were trickling through the gates, choosing to loiter with their friends before classes started. Karrie walked to her classroom alone.

        Something smacked her in the back of the head, interrupting her path. She looked down; a clump of fleabane¹ sat on the ground. Her chest stung as laughter rang out from a group of girls in the near distance.

        This wasn’t new; she had grown wise to the intended gesture of hurling flowers at her that made their home near public toilets. Even still…the flowers themselves were quite pretty. Each flower featured delicate white petals that protruded from a golden center, resembling a miniature sun. It was a shame, she thought, that people used such beautiful flowers for cruel mockery.

        Plucking the roots away from the stems with her fingers, Karrie weaved the flowers into a wreath in silence while she walked. Over and under. Over and under. Over and under.

        By the time she reached her classroom and sat in her seat, a lovely daisy chain sat in her hands, wrapped around her fingers. Smiling at her handiwork, she gently put the chain in her bag, reached for her books and–

        Chomp!

        Her head snapped to the front of the room. Mr. Guerra, their math teacher, was standing at the front of the room with a blank expression on his face, while Rags gnawed away at his brain.

        “...where’s the attendance list?” Mr. Guerra asked, fumbling around the podium much to the chagrin of the class, low rumblings of discontent filling the classroom.

        “Again? Seriously?”

        “This is the third time this week…”

        “Don’t we have a test in a few days?”

        Karrie’s hand reflexively grazed the watch’s face, causing a pin to manifest in her hand to her shock. Panicking, she shoved it back into the watch.

        Don’t intervene. It won’t matter.

        Her eyes then turned to Xavier.  They had a splint on the bridge of their swollen nose, hunched forward, and their hands folded over their mouth. She gulped.

        Don’t intervene. It’ll just make things worse.

        The school day continued as hectic as it began. Students forgot their answers to the teacher’s questions, only for Xavier to swoop in and help. Teachers would lose their place in their textbooks until Xavier redirected them. All the while, the class grew more frustrated with the staff, and more impressed with Xavier’s supposed proactivity. Karrie remained ever so silent.        

        Finally, the clock struck 12 for lunch. And with it, the chaos came to a pause as class 5-3 took the time to prepare. Rearranging desks, lining up for the cart, and being sure to serve Mr. Guerra his meal. Although Karrie helped with the preparation, she ultimately remained seated as her aunt had packed her lunch: rice, natto, seaweed snacks, and a boiled egg, all in a cute but cheap plastic bento box.

        Around halfway through the period, Xavier suddenly got up and left, using their injury as an excuse to leave the room. They then tapped Rags’ brim, and he–after doing a quick double-take–followed suit.

        Hm.

        Karrie’s brow furrowed, her concern rising above her prior feelings of hopelessness as she rose out of her seat and poked her head out the door. They were on their phone texting just as a student approached them in the hall, one that, as far as Karrie knew, was not one of their close friends.

        “Hey, I got your text,” said the student so quietly that Karrie had to strain her ears to hear them. “You really…you really got the keys?”

        “You bet.” Xavier’s much louder, stronger voice made Karrie jump in shock. “But first,” ‌– Xavier held out their hand – “Pay up.”

        The student put a few hundred yen in their hand, and Xavier put some papers in theirs. The student’s face lit up.

        “Thank you!!” they cried with relief. “You’re a lifesaver!”

        Xavier gave the student a finger gun and winked. “No problem!”

        The student ran off, and Xavier walked in the opposite direction, taking out their phone again to text another student. Rags stared down the corridor until the student was out of sight, then followed Xavier’s path.

        “Wow. Rags didn’t know you was gonna help your friends get money!” The Wazzat spoke with a slight lisp that gave some levity to his deeper voice.

        Xavier gave Rags an annoyed glare. “This is mine.”

        Karrie’s eyes widened and her fingers curled, turning her knuckles white.

        “Oh! Okay.” Rags accepted the statement without further question…then kept talking. “...So… Rags been. Doin’ good? Yeah?”

        Xavier kept walking, not really looking at Rags at all, and focused on their phone. “...uh-huh.”

        “And, um. Xavier said that, if Rags did good, then we could go to the myoo-see-um after school…so, can…can we…?”

        “What – no, I didn’t say that.”

        “...Oh.” Rags stared at Xavier for a bit, confused, before shaking his head and continuing with a dreamy grin. “Well, Rags still really wanna see the biiiig T. rex skeleton, and–”

        “What are you, five? That place hasn’t updated its exhibits since I was a kid; it’s not worth the price.”

        Rags’ dreamy expression shattered in an instant.

        “Besides,” Xavier continued, “I have band practice after class, then I have an acting workshop…”

        Rags’ face contorted a bit as if he was thinking, before lighting up like he had an idea.

        “I love you!!” he blurted out, interrupting Xavier.

        “Oh – uh.” Xavier gave Rags a glance and a flat “I love you too” before continuing. “Then I have to meet with Skye after that for her ‘surprise’, whatever that means–”

        “Xaaaavierrrr…” Rags drawled, leaning into Xavier’s cheek, forcing himself to look as sad as he could. “I love you so much!!”

        Xavier’s eye twitched. “...We’re. Not. Going,” they replied through gritted teeth.

        “…oh,” he muttered.

        The sound of the bell interrupted the conversation. Rags lit back up.

        “Yay! Break time!” he said.

        Rags turned to move back towards the classroom, only for Xavier to suddenly grab him, stopping him dead in his tracks.

        “Hold on.”

        “Hm?” Rags’s eyestalks flopped backwards to look at Xavier’s face, and he frowned. “Did…did Rags do a bad thing?”

        Xavier paused, eyes darting back and forth as they thought about what to say. Then, they smiled and moved to put Rags down on the wall opposite the classroom door. “Why don’t you…take a break, while I go hang out with my friends?”

        “B…but…” Rags looked down, brow furrowed in confusion. “...but Rags is a friend…”

        “My human friends,” said Xavier, eye twitching slightly before making a circular gesture with their hand. “Besides, you can do whatever you want. You could even go to the museum by yourself!” They bent down at the knees to look Rags in the eyes. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

        As Karrie furrowed her brow and leaned in to hear Rags’ response, the bell rang. Students stampeded past her like cattle, swiftly shoving her against the wall. She wheezed, and stars danced at the edges of her blurry vision.

        Suddenly, she could breathe again. As her vision returned, she noticed the classroom was empty; even the teacher had gone. Peering back out through the door, Rags was now alone and was staring vacantly at the floor.

        Karrie looked left. No one was coming. Right. No one was there either. With the coast clear, she slid out through the door frame and sat down across from the lonely Yo-kai, who finally looked up.

        “Rags!” cried Karrie. “Are—are you okay?”

        The Wazzat stared blankly through her for a moment before turning away from her. “Rags not talkin’ to snitches,” he scoffed.

        “O-oh.”

        “And if – if Rags was talkin’ to snitches,” Rags continued, “he’d – he’d say, that Rags wanna be left alone!”

        “I’m…sorry,” Karrie said. “I just thought you seemed upset about something.”

        Rags’ eyes widened with panic. “Upset? Rags not upset. Why’d Rags be upset? Nothin’ t’be upset about. Tha’s crazy moon talk.”

        Karrie recoiled, her right hand jumping up as if she’d touched something hot. “…uh—” She barely formed a thought before Rags kept going.

        “Rags can’t be upset at a friend. Rags never upset at a friend! So Rags not upset! Rags stop talking now!”

        Rags literally held his tongue again once he finished talking, squeezing his eyes shut as if trying to block Karrie out of as many of his senses as possible. Karrie’s expression, initially contorted in bewilderment, softened, and she lowered her arm to lean in slowly.

        “Is…is that really how you feel?” Karrie asked, her voice almost a whisper.

        Once again, Rags put his tongue back in his mouth and opened one eye, then the other; both of his normally swirled pupils were perfect circles. His blank stare bored through Karrie for several seconds before he spoke again.

        “Yeah. Rags feel…” Pause. His smile faded. “…Rags feel…” His gaze turned to the floor, thinking. “…Rags…feel…” The Wazzat went quiet.

        Karrie remained still and let the silence marinate. Maybe she said the wrong thing? She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it as Rags’ breathing quickened and the green felt of his body slowly turned the same shade of red as his nose.

        She definitely said the wrong thing.

        The Wazzat’s soft breathing turned into deep, exaggerated huffs. If he had ears, they definitely would’ve been steaming.

        Karrie opened her mouth again, but Rags beat her to it—he screamed at the top of his lungs and threw himself to the ground.

        “S’NOT FAIR!” he cried, squirming and rolling around the floor. “Not fair, not fair, not fair—!” Rags gasped deeply. “Xavier promised we’d go to the myoo-see-um if Rags did good, and now we not goin’ at all!! And—gasp—and Xavier don’t even wanna spend time with Rags durin’ break time!! S’ not fair! S’ just…! Not…!” Rags’ anger melted into sadness as he broke down in sobs. “….faaaaair!!”

        Karrie pressed her knuckles to her lips and frowned, crawling on her knees to move towards the red and green puddle of tears in front of her.

        “…Rags sorry…” he sobbed. “Rags not—sniff!—s’posed to get all angry…Xavier—hic!—didn’…mean to…they jus’ been angry, ever since they fell n’ broke their nose…”

        So that’s the story they’ve been telling, she thought with a furrowed brow. “No, you’re…you’re right to be upset.”

        “…really?”

        “Mhm.” Karrie paused again. She didn’t want to poison the well against Xavier, especially since it seemed like Xavier treated Rags well…it wouldn’t hurt to ask, perhaps. “…Is…is Xavier nice to you?”

        “Yeah...” Despite the sobs, Rags didn’t hesitate to answer. “Xavier lets Rags eat lotsa memories and thinks m’cool…”

        He’s easily made happy, Karrie thought with a small smile. “So, I’m sure they’ll make it up to you, s-somehow.”

        Rags rolled over on his side and faced away from her.

        “…Rags still got no one to play with…”

        Karrie’s mouth gaped, and she nervously reached out to touch the Wazzat’s side.

        “Y-you can meet me at the library, if you want,” she said. “You don’t have to do anything with me. You can just. Sorta. Float around.”

        Rags turned to look back at her, eyes widening…before giving a small huff and turning to the wall.

        “How does Rags know Karrie isn’t lying? Or, or tryin’ to…to…” Rags’ eyes darted about as he stammered, “To get Rags in trouble!”

        Karrie flinched. “Wh-why would I do that?”

        Rags’ indignation melted away quickly after that. “…Rags…not sure. But, Xavier told Rags not to… …” He paused for a moment, before suddenly jolting upwards. “...no…Rags can go! Cause, Xavier told Rags, he can do wha’ever he wants!”

        Karrie’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. “They–they did??”

        “Yeah!” said Rags. “...Why’s Karrie makin’ faces?”

        “Um, uh, no reason–! You’re, you’re fine.”

        Rags blinked once, then smiled. “Okay!”

         Karrie nodded in response. Getting back ‌on her feet and to the classroom, she packed her half-eaten lunch and her books into her bag, picked it up, and turned to leave when–

        “Hi!”

        Rags had materialized next to her. She screamed and fell backwards into her desk, barely catching herself with her elbows.

        “H-hi! Sorry I…”--she straightened herself out and scrounged up her things–”...Aren’t you gonna…go…to the library?”

        “Why’d Rags wanna go without you?”

        He must not have understood what she said earlier.

        “W-when I said ‘meet you there’, I meant…you could go. And I would, like, m-meet you. There…”

        Rags’s smile faded to a frown. “...Why’d Rags wanna go without you,” he said, staring blankly through her.

        “I–um.” Karrie paused, a bead of sweat rolling down her face. “...I guess. We can go together, if that’s what you want.” So long as Xavier doesn’t catch us, she thought.

        “Yay!" Rags cheered.

        Leaving the classroom, Karrie made a sharp right and headed upstairs to the 3rd floor. Her eyes darted back and forth, searching for signs of Xaiver. All she saw, though, were students she didn’t recognize in the hall laughing, joking, and playing co-op games on handheld consoles they had snuck into the building.

        The sound of humming just below all the chatter told her that Rags wasn’t lagging too far behind.

        Thankfully, the library was a short walk from there, right at the end of the hallway where the 3rd-year classrooms sat. Walking past the librarian’s desk, she parked herself on a seat next to a nice, bright window that gave her a view of the outside. As she set up her books and her lunch, she saw Rags enter the room out of the corner of her eye. His mouth was agape with wonder.

        “...wow. Rags never been here before,” he breathed, taking a few seconds to look around before heading towards some of the reading students that were sitting on the little peppermint-colored island sofa by the corner. Plopping next to one of them, he stared upwards at their face. “Hi!” he chirped. “What’cha readin’?”

        Obviously, the student didn’t answer since they couldn’t see Yo-kai. Rags, undeterred, continued.

        “How d’you read with no pictures?” Rags asked in earnest. “N’ so many words? Rags not smart ‘nuff to read that much…”

        Rags trailed off, making room for an answer. The student just flipped the page.

        “...Okay! Thanks for talkin’.” Rags then got up and sat down next to the second student on the island sofa, who was reading through a much bulkier textbook. “Hi! What’cha readin’?” he repeated.

        Karrie’s face fell to a frown as Rags engaged in a second, much longer, one-sided conversation. The topic of said conversation hopped around violently from the book, to a strange dream Rags had, and then to Xavier, before finally looping back around to the dream.

        His behavior felt…familiar.

        “…and sometimes, Rags wonders if he were to eat his-self, would he get bigger, or smaller?” Pause. “Or, or if, if light is so fast, where does the dark come from? Or…or…”

        Rags trailed off and stared into nothing for a moment, before getting up and heading towards the door.

        “Ah!” Karrie yelped and got out of her seat. “Where are you go–” Karrie stopped herself as Rags suddenly froze. His face screwed up in thought for several seconds, before he turned around and floated back into the library. Then, just as he was about to sit down, Rags suddenly got back up and headed for the door again. Then the seat, then the door. Seat, door, seat, door, seat, door...

        “...uh…uhh…uhhh…!!” Panicking, he was now stuck in a loop of circling the same area of the library, over and over.

        Karrie made a small grunt of confusion before scurrying out of her seat and reaching her arms up to block the Wazzat’s path, catching him like a football. When she turned the hat to face her, his lip was quivering and his eyes were sparkling with tears.

        “Wh–?! W-what happened? What’s wrong??” she asked.

        Rags sniffled. “Rags wanna get lunch, but Xavier always tells Rags who’s mem’ries to eat. But,” he sighed, slipping out of Karrie’s grasp and falling to the floor. “Rags can’t bother Xavier right now...” The act caught Karrie off guard, so the most she could muster for a moment was a soft “oh”.

        “Why don’t…why don’t you just…” She paused, thinking. “…Why don’t you just choose on your own?”

        “What??” Rags gawked at her, terrified. “But–but that’s a grown-up choice!! Rags not smart enough for a grown-up choice!”

        “...A…grown-up choice…??”

        “Yeah! Xavier said that a grown-up choice is…um…” Rags paused for a moment. “Like–oh–like buyin’ a new bike! Or, or taxes…”

        Karrie cracked a nervous smile and corralled the young hat back to her seat. “R-right…I-I think I can try to help, if you want.”

        She had no idea how to help. She could barely help herself, and she barely even knew Rags, but…

        Karrie stared down at him, and Rags stared back, eyes glittering expectantly for her response.

        Maybe…just maybe…she’d try.

        “Well…what do you notice when you eat memories?” Karrie asked.

        “…what does Rags…notice? Golly,” he muttered, looking down. “Rags don’t really notice much of anythin’ at all…”

        “Sure you do! You ask a lot of questions.”

        “So?”

        “It means you’re curious!”

        “Oh!” Rags paused. “…Rags not sure what that means.”

        “It means you like learning,” said Karrie.

        “Oh!!” Finally, that seemed to click. “Rags do like learned-ing!”

        “Now you get it!” Karrie chirped. “So, let’s try again; what do you notice when you eat memories?”

        Rags hummed. “...Rags notice…that mem’ries got different flavors, and–and the flavor, d’pends on the type of memory it is. Rags’ favorites are the happy ones, ‘cause they all sweet n’ soft…”

        “Mhm, keep thinking...”

        “When people are doin’ stuff, Rags get more mem’ries out of ‘em,” he continued.

        “Yeah…!”

        “So—so Rags gonna find somebody that’s doin’ stuff, and take as many memories as he wants!!”

        “Yeah—W-wait, wait!!” Karrie leapt out of her seat just as Rags turned to leave. “There’s, there’s something else you should know!”

        “Uh?”

        “See how some students have those really big books?”  Karrie asked.

        “The ones like yours? Yeah, why?”

        “They’ve come here to study, so if you take their memories, then they might…f…fuh…”

        Rags furrowed his brow.  “Fuh-what?”

        “F-fuh…f-f…” Karrie swallowed, before breathing out the dreaded word forming in her throat. “…fail…”

        Rags gasped. “But, but…mem’ries are…s’posed to come back!” His confusion quickly turned to indignation. “Yeah, they—they come back! After a while!”

        “…well, losing memories still sets someone back by a lot,” Karrie murmured. “...they have to do a lot of work to catch up. And their memories might not come back before the test, so...”

        Rags’ gaze turned downward as he sorted through his thoughts. Then he perked up. “…Rags understand! Big books are bad!”

        Before Karrie could question him, Rags flew off and peered over the shoulders of the other students in the room. He was mumbling the same mantra to himself the whole time.

        “Big books are bad…big books are bad…”

        Karrie’s eyes widened. He’d found his own way to remember what she’d said. That was…actually really smart! In his own way, of course.

        She watched as Rags froze, staring right at the first student he talked to. His eyes grazed over the text, then he leaned over to try and peek at the cover. Karrie couldn’t see exactly what it was from here, but luckily for her Rags didn’t keep his thoughts to himself.

        “…pretty stars…with a pretty moon…oh, and a li’l prince!” he chirped, pausing to swipe his lips with his tongue. “Don’t look too school-y…”

        Having made up his mind, Rags snuck up behind the student’s head, opened up wide, and…

        Chomp!

        Karrie flinched as the student's eyes glazed over and a light blue fog poured from Rags' eyes. He chewed and chewed away until he had eaten his fill, at which point the seal between the student's head and his lips broke with a pop. A long sigh of relief followed.

        “Tasty…” Rags drawled before floating over to Karrie and lying down on the desk next to her textbook.

        Karrie turned to face him, before looking at the student. Her eyes widened with worry as–like a switch had flipped in their brain–they came to. They looked down at their book.

        “What page was I…” they flipped through the book a bit and groaned. “I just read this chapter, I swear…”

        Karrie’s expression of shock turned to a smile. No screaming, no crying, just mild frustration!

        “Rags, you did it!” she whisper-yelled, waking the hat up from the beginning of a nap.

        “Huh–what–wha’ happen??” Rags stammered.

        “You did it! You made your grown-up choice!”

        “I did?” Rags blinked a few times and sat up. “...I…I did! Rags, Rags did it! All by his self! Thank you!!” He looked down bashfully. “...thank you…”

        Karrie’s eyes widened. “...oh, I…I guess I got lucky, this time,” she said, twiddling her thumbs.

        Rags frowned. “...why?”

        “I’m normally not…good at helping others,” she admitted.
        
        “But Karrie’s been helpin’ Rags this whole time!”

        “Stuff like this is easy,” she replied. “There’s…bigger problems out there.”

        Rags looked down at the floor, thinking. “You said…you said that when Rags takes mem’ries away, they ‘set someone back’,” he muttered. “…is Rags a bigger problem?”

        Karrie felt her stomach drop to her feet. “Th-that’s not what I–!”

        “Was Rags not doing the right thing?” Rags asked. “Rags just wanna help Xavier, Rags didn’t know…” He looked down, big blobby tears falling to the floor. “…Rags didn’t know…”

        Karrie bit her lip. Rags wasn’t even wrong. It’d been days since they’ve made progress in class. Days. His powers were the sole reason she’d felt so helpless.

        …no, that’s a terrible way to think. He’s still a kid, right? Of course he didn’t think there’d be long-term consequences; he was just following someone else’s lead. Xavier’s lead. Xavier was the root cause of this.

        But telling him would just make him even more upset. It would start a fight, and they’d be back to where they started. She should bite her tongue and—

        And…let Rags believe this is his fault?

        Karrie’s face grimaced, and Rags took notice. He looked up at her.

        “Is, is Karrie mad…?” he sniffled.

        Karrie took a deep breath. “No. This…this isn’t your fault. I think…”

        One more look at the Wazzat. One more glance at the tears that warped the turquoise swirls in his eyes.

        Here goes nothing.

        “I think Xavier’s going about this the wrong way.”

        Rags froze. “…what?”

        “I…think.” Stand your ground, Karrie. “I think…they’re wrong.”

        Rags’ expression shifted, staring at her wide-eyed like she’d kicked him. Karrie flinched, fully expecting Rags to jump her…then, he looked down.

        “Maybe…maybe Xavier did mess up.” he muttered. “…Maybe, maybe this is all…this is all a big mistake! Xavier would…Xavier would never wanna hurt anybody on purpose!”

        Karrie looked at her hands for a moment, then back to Rags.

        “I’m sure…I think, once they’re calm…if there’s anyone they’d listen to, it’s you.” Karrie placed her right hand between Rags’ two eyestalks.

        “And—and Rags knows better now! Rags knows how to make grown-up choices!” The Wazzat turned bashful. “…thanks, Karrie.”

        Karrie’s hand pulled away, and she looked off to the window. “…yeah…it’s nothing, really.”

        Ding…dong…!

        Karrie and Rags got up at the same time. “The bell!” they cried.

        They both rushed for the door, and Karrie exited into the hall first. As she turned to go back up the stairs,

        “Wait!!”

        She turned around to find Rags hovering in the doorframe, still looking bashful. Confused, she turned back and approached him again.

        “…Rags wanna…Rags wanna give you something,” he whispered. “But you—you gotta keep it safe! Okay?”

        Karrie stammered and held out her hands. “Ah, I, uh…s-sure!”

        Rags stared blankly at the hands for a moment…before opening his mouth and sticking out his tongue. A saliva-covered Yo-kai medal fell into Karrie’s hands.

        “Happy birthday!” he cheered.

        Karrie’s hands trembled. Her first Yo-kai medal. Her first Yo-kai friend. Was this happening? Was she dreaming?

        “…you’re…you’re giving me…but…but I…” Her voice cracked. “I don’t—I don’t know if I…”

        “Karrie was real nice to me, and Karrie played with Rags when he was sad, and Karrie taught Rags to make grown-up choices!” Rags swayed back and forth. “Karrie helped Rags lots and lots…so Karrie…Karrie can have it.”

        Before Karrie could say anything else, the Wazzat slathered his massive tongue across her cheek and giggled before flying away.

        “Buh-bye!!”

        Karrie waved back before going back to staring at the medal in her hands.

        A metal coin with a silvery frame surrounding an image of Rags against a mottled background of pinks and reds. Rags himself was mid-blink, smiling a bit wider than he probably should have been. She laughed. It was cute.

        In the bottom right corner of the image, pale white runes sat inside a yellow nametag. She ran her finger over them to read them. “Wazzat”, it read. It was real. This was real.

        She’d finally changed something.

        Gently placing the medal inside the inner pocket of her bag, she headed back to class, a smile curled on her lips.

        Maybe…maybe there was hope for her after all.

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