Week 7 Story: A Spirited Vixation

“Seriously, this ain’t healthy, and besides, it’s nearly closin’ time!”

“Who cares?! We’re all dying anyway!”

The drunken sobs of the young, suited man carried across the interior of a bar in the Kabukicho district of Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward, where moans of leisure and lasciviousness permeate the air, surrounded by commercial conduct.

The inebriated in question goes by Takashi, and alongside the arduous and lengthy years of office work, he endured the loss of his relatives one by one. For this reason, he developed a cynical and fatalistic worldview, only consolable by the luscious release of liquor.

Tonight, Takashi drowned his sorrows alone for the passing of his mother, the last of his parentage.

“Penny for your thoughts?” came a voice from Takashi’s right, suddenly.

Lifting his head revealed a girl with slim brown eyes and cheek-length auburn bangs, accompanied by a peculiar fashion sense: striped stockings with sneakers trailing up to a pair of jean shorts, beyond which lie a white tank top and…an unzipped orange hoodie? With…horns?

“None of your business, Miss.” Takashi said, immediately casting his eyes back to his drink.

“Not much of a social butterfly, Suits?” the girl asked with a smirk.

The bartender then interjected, “He’s always like this. Ever since his grandpa passed, he’s always come here to rant about the ‘inevitability of death’ and drink himself silly.”

“You don’t say?” The strange girl muttered, resting her chin in between her index and thumb, mumbling in thought. After no longer than two minutes, she smiled and began to tug Takashi’s arm.

“C’mon, I wanna show ya somethin’ neat!” The girl muttered teasingly.

“Butt out, lady! I’m busy!” Takashi struggled and shouted against the girl.

“Yeah… Clearly.” Was her sarcastic response. “Come on, I promise it’ll take your mind off all this death crap.”

“And it’s closing time.” The bartender added.

Whether it was his wanting to humor her incredulous proposal or his drunken state of mind, Takashi didn’t know, but for some reason, he felt compelled to follow this girl.

“Fine,” Takashi relented, “But don’t pull any funny crap, lady.”

“Trust me, this’ll blow your mind.” The hooded girl exclaimed. “By the way, my name’s not ‘Lady,’ it’s Mayu. Now let’s go!”

Mayu dragged a stumbling Takashi out into the bright, bustling streets of Kabukicho and into an alleyway. The two wandered through the winding maze of walls for what felt like hours before stopping in a considerably darker part of town.

“Okay, what gives?” Takashi complained, “All I see are empty buildings and dirty streets. Whatever happened here doesn’t matter since no one here is alive.”

Mayu smirked, baring sharp canines seductively. “That’s all you see? I think it’s time you ‘saw’ from another angle.”

“What’s that supposed to- Mmmph?!“

Takashi’s lips were immediately silenced by Mayu’s own locking with his, causing her hood to fall off and a pair of fuzzy ears and tail emerging on her body. Suddenly, a dizzying warmth slipped along his tongue and up to his head, causing his eyes to shimmer.

(Kabukicho Gate at night by Ons (April 6th, 2006), taken from Wikimedia Commons)

What happened next shocked the shit-faced strain out of Takashi’s brain as, seemingly by magic, the dark, desolate urban scene turned lively and lit with the commotion and cuisine of the living.

Except the people didn’t look living, they looked transparent, with wardrobe choices traversing generation upon generation. Some people had injuries, others physical symptoms of illness. Otherwise, the scene appeared no different from a normal town.

“W-W-What the hell is this?! They all look…” Takashi screamed.

“Dead?” Mayu giggled. “That’s ‘cause they are. That kiss? I slipped a little magic fox fire into your system, and…well, I think the results speak for themselves.”

“….. Why?!”

In this moment, Mayu latched her arm onto Takashi’s. “Oh, stop your worrying, Suits! Live a little! It’s not every day you get to meet dead spirits!”

Through the night, Mayu took Takashi around the district, sampling the dishes prepared by the dead and listening to their stories. Some recounted final moments before being murdered, others described deathbed times or battlefield incidents. Whatever the case, all seemed to possess regrets, yet kept within the jubilation prevalent.

At one point sitting in the district’s plaza, Mayu issued a proposal to Takashi…

“So…there’s this hotel here…”

A vehement “No!” was Takashi’s rebuttal.

“You really do need to live a little.” Mayu coyly remarked.

Turning to Mayu irritated, Takashi asked, “Why do you keep saying that? What do I need to ‘live a little’ for?”

“After all this, you still don’t get it,” Mayu sighed, “it’s always sad when the dead know more about living than humans.”

“What would some sad spirits know…more…about…” Takashi trailed off in confusion, before his eyes widened in realization.

“Looks like you finally got a clue, Suits.” Mayu solemnly said. “Not every spirit goes to heaven or hell. Some just…live, tormented by what they didn’t do while alive. Still, they try to make do with what they have here, in this little slice of heaven.”

“And you brought me here because…” Takashi trailed off.

Mayu remained silent before replying, “I’m not gonna lie to you and say death’s no big deal, obviously, it is. But it pisses me off when the living use that as an excuse to not try. Especially when girls like me live for hundreds of years, and you really need to fill the time…”

The two just sat, unsure of what to say, until Takashi spoke up.

“Well…I don’t know much about ‘living a little’, but…” Takashi then turned to Mayu with a gleam of hope in his eyes, “Maybe someone who has can help?”

Mayu took in Takashi’s words before smiling and locking arms with him again. “Well, I guess I can spare a little more time with you; the night’s still young, and the dead don’t sleep ‘til morning! Hey, maybe that hotel is still open!”

For some reason, Takashi felt this girl would be the end of him.

But maybe…that was all right. Because both were smiling.

Author's Note

Okay, so the concept for this is pretty damn wild since it actually takes elements from several stories. Both from the Japanese and Chinese.

Takashi's fatalistic beliefs stem from The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die, chronicling a man's journey for an elixir of eternal life due to his fear of death. I chose to interpret the fear of death as a reasoning that human action is futile since everyone dies in the end. I pair this with the plot element of contact with a world of the dead stemming from The Night on the Battlefield to construct the message for the story: everyone has regrets about what they can't do while alive, so we have to live it to the fullest extent.

Mayu's character draws on various elements of Asian myths about foxes. One of the many supernatural powers granted by a fox's fire to a man in Fox-Fire is the ability to see and interact with the spirit world, which I use as the vehicle for getting to the conflict. I also researched some elements of Japanese fox spirits (kitsune) to create Mayu's unassuming and provocative countenance; kitsune do have portrayals as tricksters in Japanese culture, which I used to create her playful attitude, and her seductive tendencies and clothing stem from interpretations of kitsune as seductresses.

I took the sensual tone and modern environment combination in two ways for two reasons:

1.  The red-light district of Kabukicho give the message a more striking contrast against the gritty feel of the city, as well as gives the story a modern space to make it more relatable.

2. Mayu's personality makes her unassuming and mysterious until her reveal at the end, which is taken from kitsune gaining supernatural powers after living for hundreds of years, gaining a new tail for every century alive.

Because of how the characters drive the story, I decided to try a new writing style where the message is conveyed by reading into the characters actions and words. This proved troublesome when trying to write the resolution, which I'm still somewhat bitter over due to the 1000 word limit, but I'm happy I didn't leave this idea behind from Week 6 and managed to tie it into this week as well. I hope you enjoy and that I can improve writing in other styles.

Bibliography

Mythology & Folklore Chinese Fairy Tales, stories taken from Wilhelm's Chinese Fairy Book

Mythology & Folklore Japanese Fairy Tales Unit, original stories by Yei Theodora Ozaki  

Wikipedia research on Kitsune, Fox spirits, and Kabukicho, Tokyo