Tales of Ogawa: Tunnel

*Takes place in the same story universe as Mecchen House*

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“Are you still afraid of the dark, Toshi?”

It was the first thing my friend, Yu, had said since we found our seats on the Shinkansen.

My mouth full of the last bit of rice from my bento lunch, I swallowed and responded, “Uh…why do you ask?”

Yu produced a pamphlet from his pocket and announced, “This line goes through the longest underground tunnels in the entire region. Deep dark tunnels.” He gave slow, careful emphasis to the last part with a smirk.

Across the aisle, Fumiaki folded his arms and noted, “For all of five seconds, I bet.” On the other side of him, Kenzo tapped a beat on his armrests and stared out his window.

Setting my lunch aside, I told Yu, “It’ll probably be fun.” I had no real expectation of that. I’d known Yugoro (whom everyone just called “Yu”) all my life and he knew well how scared I was of the dark.

Our parents were friends before we were born and friendly rivals with our competing convenience stores across town from one another. Though we played together as babies, my first memory of Yu was when he convinced me for an entire month he was actually a girl. He always had a girlish demeanor, radiant violet hair which he kept long, and vast blue eyes with white-cap edges, so it wasn’t a hard lie to sell.

For a time, I even had a weird sort of crush on him.

Brushing back his sleek, shimmering hair, Yu said playfully, “We’ll seeee…” I had every expectation that he would try something like he did during our first train ride together. We’d come to a long tunnel and I heard a rustle beside me. I reached over to feel Yu’s seat and there was no one there. My mind racing, I feared he’d been seized by spirits in the darkness and I was next. As I started to cry, he bounced up and startled me with a laugh. Sure, he gave me a hug but he still kept laughing.

I had years when I didn’t want to play with Yu at all. My parents always told me he was like that because he was an only child and wanted someone to play with. It didn’t seem fair that I got teased by my older brother and sister on top of Yu’s games.

Still, when I was really sick as a kid, Yu was the first one to visit me in the hospital (although mostly to sneak into my bed to tickle me). We were together all through elementary school and into high school, although Yu got quieter when his family fell on hard times. I got into university quite a ways away from home while Yu stayed nearby. We still talked online but not as much.

I still had no idea why I thought of him first for this trip. I took a regular train back home with two of my roommates who’d agreed to come along, Fumiaki and Kenzo. This train would take us west to Ogawa along the East Sea where my grandparents lived. I’d only visited a long time ago but it was supposed to be beautiful with a local comic convention over the weekend and plenty of historic shrines.

Fumiaki came because he said he was interested in the convention and he’d never been this far west. I surmised he mostly came along because he was still suffering from finals and needed to relax. From a locally-famous family of economists, he’d fallen short in inheriting their skill. Beneath his sensible, reserved demeanor, I could see him trembling even after long baths and quiet sessions on his computer.

If Fumi sometimes made me think of a spring wound beyond its threshold, then Kenzo was clearly a wire bending whatever ways it liked. I never saw him keep still, nor did I ever see him sleep. He was always scribbling something, humming, or suddenly baking the oddest things. His family ran a bed and breakfast in the northern countryside, and he provided entertainment in the lobby until he decided to “give university a try for a bit”. The fact Fumi and Kenzo got along was always a surprise.

I leaned over to look out the window on Yu’s side. Before it passed behind a cloud, the sun shared a glow with Yu’s snug, off-white top and spilled onto his silvery jeans. He sure could manage fashion well enough to confuse a few girls on our way to the station.

Across the aisle, Fumi kept on his dark blue, buttoned overcoat despite the warmth of the cabin. His brown hair lay in a careful dome around his head, looking more like a decades-old woman’s cut than I ever had the heart to tell him. Kenzo’s orange-tinted golden hair was cut similarly, though it was much fuller and fluffier. The fact it looked neat was more a confluence of happenstance than any intention on his part.

Not that I was in any position to talk about that. Born with hair that Yu called “green tea mochi”, my mother urged me to let it grow long. As a frail rebellion, I often let whatever state I found it in at morning persist for the rest of the day. The edges flared off like open scissors and the ends split and curled past my neck without touching it. What someone might’ve once called sideburns were verdant, creeping vines.

Despite that, I’d dressed up in what felt like an old school uniform of mine, with broad swells at my shoulders and stiff lines along my pants. It was under “orders” from my family for the sake of my grandparents. I desperately hoped I wouldn’t have to be dressed up for the whole trip.

Leaning back, I watched the cityscape zoom past. Pale apartment high rises shifted into view and were gone. Bright billboards flashed for a moment. And we floated over under and overpasses full of cars which felt like they were standing still. Small houses scattered about gave way to a river bridge with a lighter rumble to the tracks. Staccato blasts of trees, walls, and sides of buildings left me bored as I settled into my seat and pondered playing a word game with Yu.

He tapped his lip curiously and began, “Yumeko.” It had to be things and not names (no plurals) but I allowed it because I knew the Yumeko anime series rather well through Fumi, who cast a bitter stare.

If ever I needed to tear apart the series for any reason, I had a long list of Fumi rants about its predictability, poor art, and declining quality since the second season. His passion definitely raised my eyebrows despite his claims of not watching it “that much”.

“Koala.”

“Laughter.”

“Error.”

“…Orbit.”

“Itch.”

“Chain.”

We went on for a while. It was actually rather fun. Some of them were tricky because I couldn’t cycle back with the same thing on consecutive tries. Yu’s voice, with its energetic rise and fall like a burst of excitement made each new word feel like an enjoyable challenge. It contrasted with how Fumi spoke. For him, it was as though each word was honed to a finely-crushed powder. With Kenzo, some words out of his mouth didn’t even feel like words at all with the sing-songy way he projected them.

For a while, I thought Yu had forgotten or put aside the darkness tease. But, as our game was winding down, he blurted out, “Oh! I caught a sign. We’re not far from the first tunnel. Better hold on, Toshiii…don’t want a tunnel ghost to snatch you away…”

I gave a little frown for Yu but felt my legs stiffen as the walls around the train loomed higher. The lights were on in the cabin, so I knew there was nothing to be worried about. Just a few seconds. Nothing to be afraid of at all.

When the darkness came, I’d been expecting it. I took a breath and looked over to my side. I expected Yu to scare me or be hiding or something. I could barely see Yu’s face as the lights above us flickered. His face hung slack and his eyes were wide with fear.

I turned to catch what he was looking at. A black mass loomed in the aisle. I saw only red marks where eyes should’ve been. In the air, there was a sickly smell of decay.

I expected the lights to come up and the vision to be flashed away as a waking dream or a swift nightmare. Instead, my only vision was of the mass lingering in half-night. I could sense Kenzo’s music silenced. He growled at Fumi and they fought about senseless things. Their yells grew louder, like feral pain. On my side, I looked at Yu and every bitter feeling welled up in my throat like a never-ending soreness.

“Why don’t you just shut up!?”

Yu glared at me and answered, “Me? How about you? You have everything. All I have is fear and pain. You deserve to be teased! You deserve all of it!” We pushed against each other. We fought like we’d never fought. I hated him. The little brat. He never stopped messing with me! Is that what a friend is supposed to be? I have no friends! I have nothing!

In the deepening darkness, I felt like a mouth was opening, ready to swallow me from the inside out until a girl’s voice cut through the darkness.

“Hey! Assmuncher! Yeah, you! Big and ugly. Let them go NOW!”

Standing at the front of the cabin was a teen girl in a brown and red school uniform. She leaned her head towards the black mass and told it, “Unless you’d like me to bury you…”

The mass growled and turned towards her. Even in the near-night, her short, sandy-yellow hair shimmered and her determined, brown eyes glimmered like the soil around my mother’s garden when the light caught it. She had to be a goddess.

She struck first with a blast of twinkling sand from her fingertips. The mass darted back, its arms evaporating. It howled and jumped on the ceiling. The girl dashed forward and struck the ground under it. The floor quaked with a sudden tremor as the creature flailed to hold on.

The girl grinned and said, “You’re not very smart, are you?” All around, the horrible smell had been eaten up by a rich, earthy fragrance almost like perfume.

Slipping to the back of the cabin, I tried to turn to see but I felt like my body was caught in slow motion. The two of them vaulted back to the front. The girl settled and crouched on the floor as the mist beast leapt at her. She smirked to herself and held her hands out. A large, ethereal rock appeared between them. As the creature touched it, it howled like it was passing through acid.

It cowered on the ground and the girl brought the rock around on top of it with a crushing blow. Still, it slipped out of her grasp and crawled around, reduced to a dog-shaped mass. Bright, hungry teeth appeared and gnashed all across its body. It spoke with several small voices roaring together, “I will eat you…”

The girl made a fistful of stones and retored, “Eat this!”

They fought on, back and forth, with the girl clearly winning until she staggered into a corner, out of breath. Only a few grains of sand trickled from her palms. The beast chuckled and said, “Big talk, little girl. Now you die…”

It confidently approached her as she dipped her head and coughed. It was right on top of her when she put a hand out. She panted and said, “I may be low on one-liners, but you are…so very dumb…”

Deeply snarling, it asked, “Oh? Why’s that?”

She gave it a look and said, “Because you things never see a trap…”

Suddenly, a blast of water hit the creature from behind as the girl rose up and hit it with another shot of sand. Emerging from the shadows, there stood another girl. Her long hair was as blue as any sea and her twinkling eyes shone like bright seaweed. She held a ball of water and dumped it on what remained of the creature. It screeched and a hollow-eyed, lizard-like mass dashed away. Then, the monster looked right at me.

Before I could respond, it leapt into my mouth and squirmed down my throat. I coughed and gurgled like breathing in smoke. No matter what, I couldn’t expel it. The girls gave an awkward look to one another. I threw my head back. I couldn’t see anything.

I thought I heard the creature talking again but it felt far off.

Then, all was quiet for a moment. I heard the blond girl’s words cut through the depths as she told me, “You’re going to be fine.”

I felt them both touch me. They felt warm like a beach memory from long ago and a soothing dip in a hot spring. The monster melted inside of me and I felt the hollow spaces filled by their presence. I didn’t want it to end. Despite the energy, despite the feeling, a great and relaxing sleep came upon me.

When my eyes finally opened, the two girls were talking back and forth. The blond grimaced to herself and quietly told the other, “Do NOT tell Katsumi about this.” The blue-haired one put a hand behind her head and nodded calmly before saying, “She looks alright.”

I had no idea what they were talking about but listening to them was a radiant joy. Two goddesses so close to me. I watched them with my eyes darting down when they glanced over. The blond approached me, and I failed at resisting nervousness.

She crouched before me. Her figure was like that of a pop idol. She cleared her throat a few times and looked me in the eye.

“Soooo…ummm…I’m not sure how to tell you this….oh, I’m so bad at this. Uhh…you might want to look down.”

What an odd thing to say. But I did as she said. The first thing I noticed was that my clothes had changed but just a little. My jacket felt like a different cut. And my blouse underneath had a very silken feel to it. Blouse? Was that right? My pleated skirt seemed a little short, showing off my slender, soft legs…Oh. There was a rise to my chest and underneath…

I immediately blushed and pressed my legs together, which only made me blush even more. The blond goddess pressed her hands to her cheeks and muttered, “Yeaaah. Sorry about that. It’s kind of a side effect.”

Only about half of what they were saying was getting through. Even what happened to me didn’t bother me too much. I felt my longer hair. It really did seem like vines now.

I managed to ask her, “So, you didn’t intend this, Goddess?”

Immediately, the blond Goddess winced like she’d been struck and gave a quick frown. I worried I’d said something wrong. She sighed and told me, “We had to stop that nasty thing from destroying you. It was the only way. Now, this could be a temporary side effect. Or…uh, let’s not go there…”

The blue-haired Goddess leaned over and whispered, “The bubble is closing…”

The blond waved her hands and murmured, “Naturally…okay. Not much time…” She started to blur but I sensed she was writing something. Light spilled in from all corners….I blinked against the brightness.

An instant later, all the air seemed to rush back into the cabin. The lights were on. We were through the tunnel. A faint fragrance of the Goddesses remained. I looked to my left. Yu was there with tears around his eyes. He wiped them away and blinked a few times before looking at me. He gasped.

Across the aisle, I heard sounds from Kenzo and Fumi. The music had stopped from Kenzo. It didn’t even take a look down for me to realize I was still a girl. I tried to breathe normally.

I didn’t feel bad. I didn’t feel scared. I felt warm all through my body. I felt refreshed. I felt strong. I looked over at Yu with a calm smile. There was a slight softening of his face, but he was still definitely a boy, unlike myself.

I told him, stumbling for a moment with my new voice, “I…I just…umm…Yu-chan. I just wanted to tell you…I like you. I care about you. I even had a crush on you when we were young. I just…sometimes feel so on edge because you’re always messing with me. Sometimes it’s fun but sometimes I just want to enjoy being with you without worrying about what you’re going to try next…” It was what I’d wanted to tell him for a long time. Somehow, in that moment, the words came to me easily.

The others were silent, and Yu’s mouth hung open. Slowly, softly, tears dripped from his eyes and he wrapped his arms around me and said, “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. You’re my best friend. You’re the best friend I could ever imagine. You make me so happy. I just…I’m sorry!”

His arms scrunched me, reminding me of how much my chest had changed. I let him stay there until he gave an embarrassed look and moved his arms.

Fumi asked, “What the heck is going on?” as Tenzo just brushed a fingertip across his chin with a frown. I could only offer a shrug and say, “Umm…I’m not entirely sure myself. But I need to use the restroom…”

Once Yu let me go and wiped his eyes, I fussed with my skirt and stepped carefully over to the restroom. I nearly picked the wrong one.

The mirror reflected a new face, although one that didn’t feel too different than the one I knew. I should’ve screamed or freaked out but the therapeutic calm from before was still with me.  

My hair, which now dangled down my back, looked a little brighter but still rich in green tones. The wrapped up feeling of my bra beneath my blouse and the new weight it contained gave me a concerned shiver. My figure was but a shadow of the Goddess’s appearance, though still obvious at a glance.    

I still looked like I was dressed in formal clothing but made for a girl instead. I couldn’t imagine what my grandparents might say. I took a deep breath and realized there was a paper lump in one of the tiny pockets in my skirt. I felt around and pulled out a crumpled bit of white paper. I smoothed it out.

In heavy ink was elegantly written, “You can find us here. Sorry again! ~Jamie and Keiko~” followed by a series of instructions for how to get from the Ogawa train station to some place called “Mecchen House”.