Before the rest of the week could happen, though, the very first day had to end. And it was still not over after Yae and I parted ways when we got to our homes.
“I’m home...” I had heard her say to her mother who was not the least bit fazed by her daughter suddenly gaining over 60 cm. I guessed that was to be expected who worked in a job that had Reduction and Magnification used on a daily basis.
It honestly felt lonely to be unable to do that at my own house. The fact that my house was a fair bit bigger than the Asano family’s actually made it feel more empty when I opened the door to the empty home.
“I’m back, huh?” I muttered to myself. There was nobody around to hear it. The old man and my mother were both going to be out for another long while. That was to be expected considering their jobs that made them fly around the country so much.
Well, this was the life of a protagonist in some anime or manga, I joked. I had gotten so used to not having anyone at home that it wasn’t too much of a problem for me. I simply fell into my normal routine of washing my face and changing out of my uniform so I could then lounge around until I got hungry enough to go make dinner.
I wasn’t lounging around at all, though. I ended up lugging several bags full of groceries home.
“I can’t believe I forgot to check the cabinets before I started frying. I should’ve realized I used too much when I was craving fried shrimp last time… Well, at least there was a sale today... ”
As I had promised Yae, I had started making her lunch. When I got changed into my casual clothes, I threw on an apron, rolled up my sleeves, and got to work. When it came to Yae, she was definitely my number one priority. I made the rice, the side dishes, and even the miso soup. The only issue I had, however, was that an important item was missing, preventing me from making the main course. I hadn’t bothered to check the cupboard before I started, and learned my house was out of cooking oil too late. I had to leave home and go to the store.
I shouldn’t have bought so much though. My arms were aching from the weight of everything I bought. The sun was starting to set because I had taken my time walking home.
Ring! Ring!
As I turned off from the main road and into our neighborhood, my cell phone rang to the tune of the first single of an idol I liked.
“Hm…? A call?”
Putting one bag down for a moment, I pulled out my phone. Looking at the caller ID, I saw the name was listed in my address book as ‘Kaa-san’. This was not my mother. There was no way she would call after all. I sighed as I answered the call. “Hello. This is rare, Akagi. Why are you calling me?”
“Wow. Last name basis there, Tou-san? I’m guessing someone’s nearby?”
Kasumi Akagi, the ‘mother’ to my ‘father’ in terms of how we nicknamed one another, was the one who had called me. I wasn’t exactly happy to have my fellow health committee member call me because that typically meant more work like how she had come to talking to me about replacing Matsu during lunch earlier that day.
“I’m outside. I’m walking home from the store,” I replied. “Don’t tell me there’s another problem you need me to take care of.”
“... Well, I did tell you I’d call if there were problems, but no. I wanted your thoughts on this old urban legend,” I heard from over the phone.
Purposefully, I slowed my pace and started to glance around. Morino lived in my neighborhood so there was a chance that Akagi, being her best friend, would be nearby. I didn’t see anybody, so I strained myself to pick up the bags I had put down with the hand that was already carrying things. I continued on my path, making a left turn towards the neighborhood playground. It was empty, so I took a seat on the bench overlooking the swingset and chatted with the girl.
“Urban legend? Oh. So I take it your club finished,” I frowned. Besides being a member of the health committee, Akagi was a fan of the occult and a member of such a school club. I always questioned how they had been able to become a club with so few numbers.
In any case, I understood what kind of call this was now. Akagi enjoyed sharing urban legends and ghost stories with others. This was one of her usual calls to try and scare me by practicing her storytelling skills.
“Yup yup!” Akagi’s cutesy voice really did not fit the subject she loved to talk about. “Earlier, Fumika-chan tried telling this story to Micchan but she wasn’t scared at all. I want your opinion on it.”
Considering I was used to phone calls from Akagi, I doubted I’d be scared too. Still, I allowed her to tell her tale. “So what’s it about?”
With my permission, Akagi’s sing-songy voice became serious as she started. “Have you ever heard of Hasshaku-sama?”
Hasshaku? I was aware of stories like the kuchisake-onna, the slit-mouthed woman, but the name actually didn’t ring a bell to me. This was a new one Akagi hadn’t told me of yet.
“No. Not at all.”
“I see…,” she drifted off for a moment. “As you can probably guess by the name, Hasshaku-sama is eight shaku tall. Around 240 cm.”
That was certainly a tall height. When I left Yae earlier, she was around 220 or so centimeters, so she was getting there. I silently listened to Akagi’s description of the tale she had read.
According to Akagi, Hasshaku-sama had the figure of a naturally tall woman with long dark hair, often depicted with a white sundress and a white wide brimmed hat.
The story was simple. A young boy visited his relatives in the countryside and encountered such a woman. At this encounter, the young man heard her laugh in a strange well, a distinctive ‘popopo’ sound.
“They say if Hasshaku-sama takes interest in you, you’ll die in a few days,” Akagi continued, adding more and more details to the tale.
The woman was said to be able to mimic his family’s voices to try luring him out. He had to escape or else he would be killed.
“The villagers helped him leave the village. And because Hasshaku-sama was bound to the land, the boy was safe,” Akagi and targeted the young, children in particular.
Safe, huh? I stayed silent, waiting for the occult club girl to continue.
“However, many years later, after the boy’s grandfather passed, he didn’t return. The boy, now a young man, was still afraid of what had happened all those years ago,” she stated.
I had been correct. The story wasn’t over. Akagi told the tale. Soon after, he received a phone call from his relatives. Hasshaku-sama was a landbound being, but what was keeping her bound? The answer was Jizo - a circle of Jizo statues had been built around the village to keep Hasshaku-sama within.
“They told him the impossible had happened. Of all of the Jizo around the village, one of them broke - the one pointing towards his house. Even to this day, the boy fears hearing the ‘popopo’ of Hasshaku-sama… looking for him… calling for him...”
It was an interesting tale - a youkai-like urban legend that targeted the young, children in particular. I wondered where the occult loving girl pulled the story out of and if there were any other variations. Most of the sorts of tales Akagi told me were by word-of-mouth so I was curious if this was the original or had she added or removed some parts in her telling. I opened my mouth to ask Akagi that question, but before I could start, a voice spoke up behind me.
“Popopo...”
I felt a presence behind me after Akagi wrapped up the story.
“Akagi… this again?” I frowned. I did not turn around, but I could tell something had shown up behind the park bench.
“Is something wrong, Tou-san?” I heard through the phone.
I frowned. Though I heard Akagi’s voice through the phone, I did not hear it behind me. She was not the one who had suddenly snuck up on me.
“Popopo~”
It wasn’t Akagi’s cutesy voice.
I sighed. If I were younger, I might have gotten spooked. I wasn’t exactly terrified in any way now though. The biggest problem, I felt, was that I knew the storyteller well.
“It’s not a bad story, but I guess that old urban legend isn’t exactly a big deal anymore with Reduction and Magnification so common nowadays,” I hung up the phone and tilted my head back so I could see behind the bench. I continued talking. “So they actually approved you girls getting taller too, huh?”
Behind me was one girl who fit the description of Hasshaku-sama Akagi had given me. Clad in white sundresses and wide brimmed hats with their hair let down and free of their usual accessories was one of the two occult club members - Akagi’s best friend and accomplice: Morino.
It seemed that they were allowed to be Magnified as well. Standing up, I confirmed that Morino was 8 shaku tall. I was just under Morino’s chest height.
“Such a dull reaction. You saw this coming, huh, Touya-san?” Fumika Morino frowned. “We lost again, Kasumi-chan. We still couldn’t scare him.”
Running over from outside the playground park, I spotted another girl in a white dress. I recognized her immediately as the Kasumi Akagi I knew… or rather more than that. Akagi, who was Yae’s height, looked 60 cm taller than me.
“How’d you know?” Akagi frowned.
“The moment you told me the height, Kaa-san, I figured it out,” I forced a smirk. It was a little unnerving to have a pouting Akagi looming over me.
“Muu… ” Akagi huffed as she slipped on the green armband she was supposed to be wearing outside while Magnified. “And I got these dresses and everything ready for us to surprise you, too.”
“So we were too heavy-handed and messed up,” sighed Morino. “Well, we were planning on ambushing you at your house, but because I spotted you outside, we had to change things up.”
“Well, I’m at least surprised to meet you two around my neighborhood like this,” I told them. “And sorry, but it’s not scary when you two look pretty good in those dresses. It’s fresh to see you with your hair down, Morino. And Kaa-san, I don’t think I’ve seen your bare arms before since you usually wear long sleeved clothes.”
“What the heck… Spouting those natural compliments so easily…” At my compliment, Morino immediately turned her head away. She took out her spider-web patterned scrunchie to pull her hair back into her usual ponytail. “This was just for a prank. Don’t think I let my hair down for just anyone.”
“T-Tou-san, don’t look at me like that,” my compliment made Akagi’s cheeks turn pink. She wanted to hide her arms now that attention had been drawn to them.
To be able to be flustered so easily, the two girls were surprisingly simple. I did know Akagi was somewhat self-conscious about showing skin, but Morino’s reaction was a lot more defense than I expected. At the very least, it bolstered my confidence to know I could fluster my classmates who were two heads taller than me.
“It’s not that easy to scare me, you two,” I said and picked up my shopping bags from the park bench. “You’ll have to try harder next time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my bento for Yae.”
“Hm?”
Yank!
“Huh? Whoa!” Before I could walk off. Morino outstretched her hand and grabbed my right hand. Morino was actually trying to pull herself towards me, but the opposite happened due to our weight difference and I was pulled towards her.
“Hold up there, Touya-san,” Morino held me firmly against her. It suddenly became impossible for me to move forward because she was holding me back. I could feel her chest pressed up against the back of my head. “You have two girls who came to see you, and you’re just going to leave us for Yae-san?”
“Hey, let go.”
Akagi joined in, grabbing my left arm and pressing her body into it. “That’s right. We didn’t come here just to try scaring you. ”
“Akagi!” Though I wasn’t scared of the ghost story earlier, I was actually frantic being manhandled by the two Amazonian girls.
“Why are you shouting so much, Tou-san? Kaa-san’s just worried you’re not taking care of yourself properly. That’s why we came to visit,” Akagi referring to herself by her nickname and taking on the concerned tone jokingly would have sounded cute, but her height actually made her seem motherly.
“I know that’s not the real reason.”
“Actually, Tou-san,” Akagi told the truth when she forcibly put two things on my arm. First, she forcibly slid a blue armband up my left arm. Second, she snapped a metal bracelet to my left wrist. “Sensei told me to give you these. She forgot to hand it to you earlier. Yanase-senpai told her you lived near Fumika-chan, so they told her to bring them to you.”
“What are these?” I couldn’t actually move my arm while the girls held on to both of them, so all I could do was turn my head. I spotted identical words written down on both items. “Magnification Caretaker?”
“You and Asano-chan are a designated pair, so you have to wear this too,” Akagi explained. “The armband’s just for identification, but as for the wrist band, I’m not really sure what it is. We also have to go deliver a Magnified one for Asano-chan too.”
“I see. So that’s why you were in the neighborhood. Thanks then,” I thanked them for taking the time to run an errand for the school nurse. I hoped that would get them to ease up on the physical contact, but that did not happen. “Um… you two can let me go now.”
In response to my words, Morino and Akagi moved in unison, snatching the heavy bags of groceries out of my hands. They had no trouble lifting with one hand the heavy bags I had been straining my muscles to bring home.
“Don’t worry, we’ll help out, Tou-san,” giggled Akagi as she lifted the grocery bag up above her head, far out of my reach. “We saw you earlier. You looked like you were having a hard time. Let Kaa-san take care of you~.”
Now I was certain Akagi was taking advantage of her height to poke fun at me. Though she called me ‘Tou-san’ like a father, she was certainly treating me like a child. The fact that I couldn’t reach the grocery bags even while jumping made that clear to me.
“Touya-san, how about letting us hang out for a bit? I think it’d be a good idea to fix the shift schedule anyways since Shinohara-kun’s out of commission. It’d be easier to discuss this in person, wouldn’t it?” Morino gave another reason for them to tag along. She did the same as Akagi when I targeted her. Both girls were playing keep-away with me.
I sighed. I was unable to get my groceries back and Morino did have a compelling reason. In the end, I gave up.
“Fine. But no one’s home. I’m sure you know how bad that can be right?”
“Oh, we’re not worried, Tou-san. It’s not like you’ll be able to do anything to us like this, right?” Akagi waved off my warning, confident in her strength while Magnified.
Honestly, I was the one who would be worried given the current situation. Though it wasn’t because I was being strung along by these tall girls.
I sighed. “Feels like I just got caught by two youkai women here.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be good,” chuckled Morino.
“Popopo~” laughed Akagi.
I groaned as I started walking to my house. With Morino and Akagi holding my things, I couldn’t exactly go home without them. They followed me slowly behind, sometimes stopping because their strides were longer than mine, making them catch up to me by accident. I hoped not to catch any attention as I had a flower in both hands walking with me.
“Touya-kun?” “Touya? Fumika-san? What are you doing?”
Unfortunately, I did. As I rounded the corner, I was spotted immediately by my neighbors who were watering the flowers in the pots in front of their house. I didn’t need to turn my head to see who had spoken up. It was obvious enough who they were.
“Hey there, Yae-san!” “Hello Asano-chan! Oh, is that your mom? Hello ma’am.”
Yae and her mother had seen us.