It was a beautiful spring morning as Noel walked the now familiar path to school. It had been over a week since her arrival in Tokyo, and though it had been a stressful one, what with learning the ins and outs of life in Japan. For one, the crowds were almost overwhelming. Noel had never seen so many people packed in a place like this in her life! It was easy to get pulled in with the crowd and dragged past her destination, but she had learned to navigate through the hustle and bustle of Tokyo to reach her school. And all on her own too. Well, Aunt Jillian did show her the way on her first day. On that morning, they were almost separated by the sheer amount of people walking to work. 

Noel asked why so many people were walking when they could drive. Her Aunt had chuckled. "They could if they wanted, but it's a lot easier and cheaper to either walk or take the train to work. Plus, it’s good exercise!"

"Do you take a train, Aunt Jill?"

Jillian nodded and pulled out her wallet. She opened it and showed her a black and white plastic card. "This is my commuter pass. I go to work the same route every day, so I got myself one of these. I can go anywhere on the approved route with it. Here."

She handed Noel the pass. It was small and had a lot of writing all over it. None of it made sense to Noel. Which was odd. Maybe because she and Aunt Jillian were speaking English? That was what they were speaking now, right?

"How big is Tokyo?" she asked, making sure to do so in English.

Jillian smiled, "It's pretty big. Huge, actually." she said—Noel was sure she was speaking English. "But the special wards of the city are united by train."

"The what?"

"The special wards," Jillian replied, "Tokyo is so large that it's divided into smaller sections. Each of them is kinda its own city. There's Shibuya and Chiyoda, near the center of the city; those are the most famous; you've also heard of Kita on the edge of the city. 

At the time, Noel didn't understand any of the words Jillian had said.

"So, where do we live?"

"This is Minato."

"Minato?" Noel was glad it was simple; she could remember that.

Jillian nodded, "That's right, it is usually more expensive to live here, but the Kuboues are kind enough to let me stay here in one of their houses for cheaper."

"Why is that?"

"They’re my landlords, very kind people. They were my host family when I studied abroad, and we’ve been close ever since."

"That’s still no reason to let you live in their expensive house for cheap."

Aunt Jillian walked in silence for a moment. She seemed to be pondering what to say next.

"The Kuboues are good people who’ve run a successful business for decades," she finally said, "but they didn’t have anyone to share it with."

"You mean they didn’t have kids?" Noel asked.

Jillian shook her head, "It’s not that they didn’t, Noel. It’s that they couldn’t."

Noel stopped and instantly regretted it as the person behind her ran into her. After a few moments of profuse apologizing from Aunt Jillian, they continued on their way, Jillian keeping a grip on Noel’s wrist to drag her along. Noel was too preoccupied with thinking about the behavior of the elderly couple for the past few days. 

"That explains a lot," said Noel. 

"Yeah," was all Jillian said in response before turning left into what Noel now knew was the schoolyard.

"Well," said Aunt Jillian, "There it is, Yamata Junior High." 

Noel looked up, she didn't know what to expect, but given the strange and colorful buildings she had seen in Tokyo, she was a little disappointed to see a large concrete building that reminded Noel of a cinder block with windows.

"That's it?" Noel asked.

"That's it," Jillian said simply. 

Aunt Jillian checked her watch. "Alright, I have to be at work. You’ll be on your own from now on, but I'm sure you'll find some friends to walk with you!"

She sounded certain, but Noel was still walking by herself a week later.

She glanced down at her new school uniform and noticed that there were still crumbs from breakfast on the bow tied around her neck. Noel mentally scolded herself, she had been careful as she ate, but old habits die hard, she guessed.

Out of all things about living in Tokyo Noel found it hard to accept, the hardest was that she had brand new clothes now. Growing up poor meant that a brand new anything was something of a luxury to Noel.

Her parents had done their best to provide her with everything she could ever need, just nothing new.

Not that she didn't appreciate how hard her dad had worked to provide for them, but the idea of owning something that had only ever belonged to her still made her head spin.

 She had almost fainted when Aunt Jillian first walked her into her new room and opened the closet to see it filled with clothes.

"I had Auntie get everything ready," she had told her with a huge smile. She meant Mrs. Kuboue. It seemed Jillian had her own special name for her. "I told her the kind of things you liked and, bless her heart, she set all of this up, just for you."

Noel had been speechless. She looked around her room. Just for her?

She had a bed. She’d heard from her Aunt that the Japanese liked to sleep on something called a futon, but there was a bed. She looked around in awe, unable to express the flood of emotions that welled up inside her.

But she tried, "This is too much for me." she said, turning to face her aunt. Aunt Jillian smiled at her.

"Yeah, I know, but you know what? I thought you and Danny deserved to be spoiled a little for once. So, accept it." She winked.

Noel still felt a little guilty to have so many expensive things all to herself. She looked back at the bed, her bed, again, on it sat a line of stuffed animals, ranging from tiny white blobs with cutesy smiling faces, to large animals, also with adorable grins. How had Jillian known that she adored cute things?

"I tried to get Auntie to use my card to get everything ready, but she insisted that she pay for it," she heard her aunt say, "she told me, 'I never had any children to spoil before, and now you've given me two? It's my pleasure.' So, what was I to do?"

Noel turned in shock, "Mrs. Kuboue paid for this?" Her guilt increased, now directed at her rejection of Mrs. Kuboue’s request to call her Granny. 

Her Aunt shrugged, a little guiltily herself.

"Well, not everything. I managed to talk her down to half, I don't know if you noticed, but Auntie Kiri is the kind of person you don't say 'no' to. So, I count myself lucky I got her down that far.

"But I did make sure to get you this."

She walked over and slapped her hand down on a large desk sitting against the wall. Noel stared, she had never had her own desk before, and not even her parents had one. They had done all their work at the dinner table, which was nothing more than a fold-up card table.

But her eyes wandered to what was on the desk. Of course, there were books and school supplies arranged on it, but they focused on the neatly folded uniform in its middle.

She walked forward without thinking, slowly picking up the four pieces of the uniform. A button-up shirt, a divided red skirt, a ribbon, and some sort of sleeveless dark blue overcoat. She had run every article through her fingers, feeling the sturdy material, marveling in how clean it all looked, not a fade, hole, or stain to be seen. It had instantly become one of her most prized possessions. 

Noel finished brushing the crumbs off her precious uniform and continued walking past the Kuboue's home, where Danny and the elderly couple sat waiting for her to pass by. They all waved at her—Danny throwing his whole body into the action—Noel waving back with the hand that carried her school bag. She headed towards the end of the block, joining the small group of morning commuters. 

It was then that she heard a loud clack behind her. She turned and looked down at her feet. Something glittered gold in the morning light.

She bent down and picked it up. As soon as she touched it, her fingers began to tingle. It was a pen and a pretty fancy one at that. It was gold-colored, wrapped in two silvery bands, and topped with a shiny blue orb.

Noel looked around. The people walking past her paid her no mind.

"Excuse me, did anybody drop a pen?" she called. Nobody answered or gave her more than a glance as they walked past her. She looked back down at the pen. Her father had told her never to waste anything, especially if it was free.

So, she shrugged and pocketed the pen. Of course, if anybody asked for it, she'd give it back. But hey, free pen! She crossed the street and resumed her walk to school. 

Noel's school wasn't too far from her house. She quite enjoyed the walk. Back in Davenfield, she had always taken the bus to school, accompanied by all the kids. They were mostly boys from the trailer park, all of whom enjoyed teasing her about her family. They didn’t quite understand why Noel’s family were considered freaks; they had probably learned it from their parents. They probably didn’t even know about the curse, just that strange things like a rain cloud floating over Noel’s head, even indoors, happened to her. Nobody understood that it wasn’t her fault, but they hated her anyway. 

A weirdo like you? Never in a million years!

Pain began to creep into Noel’s head at that memory, making her skull pound. The hand that held her bag hurt because she was gripping it so tightly. Noel took a few deep breaths, trying to focus on her walk. The sidewalks of her neighborhood were lined with carefully maintained trees that Aunt Jillian called ginkgo trees. Noel had never seen trees like these before with their beautiful fan-like leaves. Noel didn’t have a TV growing up—and even when they got one, she barely even watched it—so she entertained herself by collecting things from outside, whether leaves, flowers, rocks, or even bugs. She, unfortunately, had to leave most of her collection behind but knowing that she could start over with plants and animals she had never seen before made up for her disappointment. 

She had tried to start her collection off with a cute little beetle she had found a few days ago, but her Aunt had refused even to let it in the house. 

"Why do you have to like those creepy things! Girls are supposed to hate bugs!" she said shrilly. 

"Aw, it’s not creepy. It’s cute!" Noel teased, "You’re hurting its feelings." 

"Cute?! I don’t care. It is not coming anywhere near me. Go throw it outside. Now!"

Noel had begrudgingly done what she asked, but she had anticipated this already and caught two more beetles which she hid in her school bag. She didn’t care what Jillian said. Noel didn’t find it weird to think bugs were cute. 

Noel scanned the base of each tree, looking for a perfectly preserved ginkgo leaf to add to her pressing book, but no luck. She glanced behind her to see if she had missed any choice specimens and stopped. What the…

Noel did a double-take, staring at the empty sidewalk behind her. She looked forward. There was nobody there, not a soul. The one thing Noel was sure about Tokyo was that there were a lot of people. The odds of her ending up completely alone on the street were so low that it was borderline impossible. Noel looked around in all directions. There was no one, not a single person walking across the street or driving their car on the road. It wouldn’t bother Noel so much if there also weren’t a familiar feeling that something was about to happen. It was a feeling of worry that preceded almost every unusual event that had ever happened to her. Sometimes, she’d even wake up with that feeling. She hadn’t this past week. In fact, nothing extra unusual had happened this week besides the language thing. Maybe the curse was building up stock for something extra special.

Noel stood there for a full thirty seconds, waiting. Waiting for whatever it was to show itself to her. There was still no one to be seen. What would it be this time? Would it be like the time she was attacked by random objects falling out of the sky? Or like the time she was only able to speak in reverse? She had no idea, but the curse never delivered anything good. Nothing was happening. The street was still and quiet. 

Noel realized that she was holding her breath in anticipation and exhaled slowly. With it went her initial tension. Maybe she was just being paranoid. She’d had the feeling before with nothing happening. This was probably one of those times. Or perhaps the empty street was the curse just giving her a chance to relax. She had no idea, but nothing would be solved if she just stood there, plus she would be late for school. Noel took a tentative step forward, then stopped, looking around. Nothing. She took a few more steps. Again, nothing happened.

Noel sighed. She was just being paranoid. She resumed her walk, shaking her head. She started glancing at the trees again to look for good leaves until a noise grabbed her attention. Noel froze, shoulders tense, as she looked around for the source of the noise. It was a high-pitched wailing, like a kid screaming, which was growing closer. She looked to her right, then up towards the sky, where she thought the yelling was coming from.

She squinted, trying to make out anything past the glaring morning sun. Then, out of nowhere, something soft hit her in the forehead with enough force to send her falling back. She hit the ground, the contents of her bag scattering across the sidewalk. 

Noel sat up, rubbing her forehead, looking around to see what had hit her. She felt something moving on her skirt. Looking down, she saw what looked like a ball of grey fluff, almost perfectly round, lying on her lap. Two legs that could have belonged to a bird stuck out in the air, and a pair of white wings splayed at its sides.

Noel didn't know what to make of it. Was it a poor bird trapped in hair? Or was it some kind of stuffed animal?

Noel looked around. Maybe the kid that she heard before threw their toy away. But the streets were still empty. Looking back down at the thing in her lap, she mustered up the courage and gave it a good hard poke.

Through the soft, fluffy fur, she could feel some warmth. The fluffball moved, and a pair of whiteless brown eyes opened up within the tangle of hair. It blinked a few times, then focused on her face.

It was alive!

Noel shrieked, the thing shrieking back. She jumped to her feet, the thing jumping off her and darting into the trees above her.  

Noel stared at the spot where the creature had disappeared.

She was considering climbing up after the thing, even willing to risk dirtying her uniform to do so, when it reappeared on one of the branches, looking down at her, watching her carefully.

At a second glance, the thing seemed kind of cute to Noel. A leaf from the branch above it fell on top of the creature's head, making it jump. The leaf fell to the ground, both of them watching it fall. Noel looked back up at the creature, who ruffled its fluff, and shook its wings, then turned around to look at her.

Noel felt her cheeks slightly burn as excitement filled her. She had been wrong: it was absolutely adorable!

She held out her hand to the thing, hoping to feel the fluff again. The creature backed away a bit to avoid her touch.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you," said Noel softly.

"I hope not!" the thing shot back in a high, childish voice, "You have no idea what I had to do to get here!"

Noel's jaw dropped. Words failed her as she stared at the thing in the trees. It definitely wasn't a bird.

The thing turned its body to look Noel up and down, finally fixed its beady eyes on the right pocket of her skirt. A mouth opened among the fluff as it said: 

"You have something of mine, don’t you, girl?" it said. 

"What? What are you talking about?"

 "What have you got in there?" Its eyes were still glued to her skirt.

Noel looked down at her skirt, then back up at the creature. Her cheeks went red. Oh, so it’s like that, is it? Aunt Jillian had warned her of lecherous men who might try to grab her under her skirt on trains or in crowded areas. Still, she never suspected that this little fluff ball would be one of them, not that there was a crowd, but she guessed it just made it easier for it to do— whatever it was it wanted to do. Not that she thought that the puffball could do anything to her, but if it was some manifestation of her curse, then maybe it had something dangerous hidden under its fur. Noel stood up, brushed off, and adjusted her skirt. Then she gave the creature a defiant glare.  

"That’s not something you should be asking a girl, now is it, you pervert?" she said.

The thing tilted its head at her, confused, "pervert? What are you—?" Then its eyes widened as it looked at Noel with horror. "Eingh de Sah! No! In your pocket! I’m asking what’s in your POCKET! Why would you even think that I—" It interrupted itself, blinking rapidly. "Wait, you speak Ezzi?"

Oh no, not again... She had been speaking another language without realizing it. And some weird, perverted fluff ball with wings was talking to her about something in her pocket. This was not the kind of day she had hoped for! But no, her stupid curse had to do its stupid thing and ruin her stupid life! Again! It was all so…stupid! Her headache was coming back. It took Noel a second to realize that the creature was speaking to her again. She ceased her internal freak-out to listen. 

"Imagine that, a human girl knowing perfect Ezzi! What are the odds? It truly is Urzuran’s blessing!"

 "Uh... sure," said Noel. The creature obviously meant her no harm—for now—so she cast her mind around for a question to ask it. She settled on the obvious "what are you?" but she decided to ask a politer variant.

"Do you have a name?"

The thing brightened at the question. "Yes, I do! I’m Azrath," he said with a bow, using his wing like an arm to punctuate it. "Servant of the Great Urzuran! Ready and willing to fight evil in His name!"

Noel was not impressed. "Uh… Good for you," she said flatly, "he must be very proud."

Azrath looked at her, "What’s that supposed to mean?" he said, slightly offended. 

"Nothing," Noel said, raising her hands defensively, "I’m just trying to picture someone like you ‘fighting evil.’" She emphasized the last two words with finger quotes, then she giggled. 

"It’s not a laughing matter, child," Azrath said, puffing himself up pompously, "Thanks to Urzuran’s grace, I am here to defend Earth from the evil Ahngreel!"

Noel, who had crouched down to pick up her scattered books, laughed again, "Ooh, how scary. They can’t be that bad if Oozereen picked you to fight him."

"It’s Urzuran. God of Eziro. Protector of Life." There was such rapture in his child-like voice that Noel rolled her eyes. "And, for your information, the Ahngreel are a vicious race of monsters who love fighting and violence more than anything. They are a considerable threat."

"If you say so," said Noel as she continued to gather her things.

Something flew past her head to land on the ground in front of her. It was Azrath, who stood atop her work journal, staring at her with its beady eyes. His voice squeaked indignantly as he said, "I’ll have you know that I am a skilled warrior who has served in Uzuran’s Peacekeepers for many years. If there is anyone capable of defeating the Ahngreel, it is I. Why is it so difficult for you to grasp that?"

"I’m sorry," said Noel, who gave him an amused smile, "I’m just having a hard time taking you seriously. I mean, I can’t imagine you as a warrior when you’re so small and have no arms." An image of Azrath dressed in a knight’s helmet popped into her head. How could anything this cute be a warrior?

Azrath sputtered, "N-no arms? No arms!? Of course, I have arms, child! They're just numb from a long journey, that's all!" Noel had no idea why Azrath kept calling her "child" when he himself sounded younger than her.

But she wasn't deterred. "No, you don't! You’re just a puffball with wings and chicken legs!"

Azrath swelled angrily, his fur growing slightly darker, like a storm cloud. Stop being cute if you want me to take you seriously!

"I am not a ‘puffball.’ How dare you call me that!" he whined.

"I’ll prove it to you!" said Noel. She fished in her pocket to find the compact that her aunt had given her to try to encourage her to be more "lady-like." Noel hadn't even bothered to open it.

Something fell to the ground with a clack as she pulled the compact out. Noel looked down. Oh yeah, the golden pen. She reached down to pick it back up, when suddenly, Azrath was on top of it.

"Ah-ha! Here it is. It—It..."

Azrath stared at the pen, then turned back to Noel.

"What’s happened to the hilt?" he asked. 

Noel was confused. Hilt? Like a sword?

"You know that's a pen, right?"

Azrath stared at the pen, muttering to himself:

"Fascinating... Assuming the girl had nothing to do with it, it would appear as though the hilt's Eingh caused it to blend into the environment. Or is this what they call Earth magic?"

He paused, appearing to jerk his body towards the golden pen. He tried this three more times before giving up and turning his head left and right as if looking for something. Noel could figure out what he was trying to do. 

"I told you, you have no arms. Look." Noel opened the compact and placed it on the ground in front of Azrath, who was scarcely bigger than it. Azrath stared into the compact's mirror for ten seconds, his tiny eyes and mouth wide with shock.

"What’s… happened to me? Eingh de Sah, I really am a puffball."

"See?" Noel said. Her initial wariness of Azrath was melting away. "Wait, that’s not what you usually look like? What happened to you?"

Azrath shook his entire body, which Noel took as a no. 

"All I know is that I was normal when I left my home, and now I’m like this," he said. Noel could hear his voice quiver. "I saw that your world was in danger, but all worlds are separated, so to get here, I had to travel a perilous way to reach Earth, and I guess… this is the consequence of that."

Noel wasn’t sure what exactly he was talking about, but she had a sneaking suspicion that maybe the curse was partially to blame. After all, anybody could be affected by it as long as Noel played a role in it eventually. When she was six, and the curse had begun to manifest, there had been a girl in the grade above her who was said to be one of the sweetest girls in town, part of a nice family and all that. Well, she wasn’t nice to Noel. It was like a switch flipping. One moment, she’d be helping the teacher carry books, the next, she’d be yanking Noel’s hair, calling her names no child should ever know, then go straight back to sweet. Her parents were shocked to hear that she knew such awful language and pulled her from school.

Noel hadn’t realized what had really happened until it happened with someone else. She wished she could apologize to the girl, but Noel had never seen her again. Bearing the curse herself was one thing but bending others to its will was too much. That was one of the biggest reasons people hated her. But it wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t.

"Is… Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked. 

Azrath sighed and shook his body again. "You’re very kind…uh… I’m sorry, I forgot to ask you your name. 

"It’s Noel."

"Noel," he repeated, "No, you’ve done your part by keeping the hilt safe. But I don’t want anyone involved in this." 

"But—" 

Azrath interrupted her with a smile, at least what looked like a smile to Noel. It was hard to tell under his fur. "Don’t worry about me. The hilt’s power will be more than sufficient to restore me to my original form. Thank you again for keeping the hilt safe, now if you’ll excuse me."

He glanced down at the hilt and began to take off with a flap of his wings. 

"W-wait, don’t go!" Noel cried. 

He paused midair, "I have to. It’s for your own good," he said disapprovingly, "You’ll be in terrible danger if you’re involved. Farwell, Noel." He began to fly further into the air, then stopped again. 

"What’s wrong?" she asked. Azrath began to flap his wings harder, but he didn’t move higher into the air. Or he can’t, Noel realized. Something invisible was pulling him back.

Noel thought it might be her curse again, but then Azrath said, "The hilt’s too heavy for my Eingh. I can’t… pick it up."

Noel had heard him say that word before; Eingh. But she was sure it was another one of those words that her curse couldn’t translate. 

"Or maybe it’s not the hilt but my Eingh itself." Azrath stopped struggling and landed on top of the pen, gripping it with his talons. "I guess my transformation was a bit too much of a shock for my Eingh to handle. Not to worry."

That last statement seemed to be more of a vain reassurance for himself than for Noel. Her heart went out to the little guy. He was really in over his head; Noel could relate. Azrath flapped his wings again, lifting off with the pen clutched in his talons. 

"Ah-ha, here we go!" He smiled at Noel, "Well then, goodbye for real, Noel."

"Wait," Noel cried again, but too late. Azrath had already flown away through a ginkgo tree.

Noel stood there looking up at the branches where Azrath had disappeared. She had no idea what to make of anything that had happened in the past two minutes. "Just ignore it and move on. Hope for a better tomorrow," she quoted out loud, then she sighed. She could ignore it all she wanted, but that didn’t stop her from worrying about Azrath. Noel finished picking up the rest of her belongings. Then with one last look at the sky, she turned away from the trees and continued her walk to school. As she did, the crowds returned gradually. What a stupid curse.