Michael Meets Toshi In a small apartment located in San Antonio, Texas, a young man is getting ready to go to work. He was a slightly chubby man with scruffy blonde hair and sideburns. He wasn’t really fat, but he also wasn’t very fit apart from a slight bit of muscle. He wore a light blue shirt, a black hoodie, jeans and black and white shoes. This was Michael Witherburn, also known as “Mike” to his friends. ‘Another day, another bit of hard labor for cash. That’s life for you,’ he thought with a smile as he headed off.
20 mins of driving later, Mike parked his red car outside of a Best Buy. As he headed inside, he was greeted by a young woman. She had short black hair and a cute face with freckles. Much like him, she was also wearing the employee uniform. As she stood at the register, she then greeted him with a wave and a smile. “Hey Mike, ready for another great day?”
“About as much as the next person to walk in here.” With a casual smirk he then said, “You’re as upbeat as ever, Elizabeth.” Even though they were friends, he just couldn’t resist teasing her a bit.
“It’s Liz. Call me that again and I’ll smack you so hard, your mom won’t even recognize you.” Her bright smile and cute tone completely betrayed her harsh words. “At any rate, there’s a bunch of people here looking for appliances. Time to put on your usual charm and sell some stuff.” Michael then looked to see that she was right. All over the store were tons of customers to work with. Teenagers looking at games and phones, adults checking out the appliances and furniture, and old people looking for gifts for their grandkids. As a Merchandising Specialist, he lived for busy days like this.
“Let’s do this thing.” He then headed off to help all of them. The rest of the day could best be described as “exhausting.” If people weren’t asking him tons of questions, then they were either being cranky or obnoxious. What kind of person gets all bent out of shape just because the store ran out of amiibo figurines? As the time came to clock out, Michael decided to hang out with Liz for a bit before heading home.
“Boy what a day,” he said as he wiped his forehead. “I can’t wait to go home and relax.” Liz nodded in agreement, a large frown adorned on her face. “Tell me about it. Bratty kids getting on my nerves, rude pricks yelling at me, and all the weirdos trying to flirt with me.” She knew she was pretty, but that didn’t make the lousy pickup lines and insufferable arrogance any less annoying. In an effort to calm down she then asked, “So any plans for the rest of the day?”
As they walked to their cars, Michael flashed a wide grin as he remembered what he had waiting for him at home. “Yeah, I got a package in the mail before I came to work. Mom and Dad sent me a souvenir.”
“Another one? Sheesh, isn’t your apartment starting to get crowded with all that stuff in it?” Michael’s parents were globetrotters who loved to travel every once in a while. And almost like a family tradition, they would always bring him a souvenir from wherever they went. Some of the items they sent included stuff like flags, posters, hats, & talismans. And candy, of course.
“Hey, I don’t have that many souvenirs.” He pouted for a moment, but began to smile once again. “Besides, you know how much I love foreign stuff. Why do I think I learned how to speak more than one language?”
“So helping customers is easier for you to do, thus gaining more money because of how useful you are?” Liz teased as she raised her eyebrow.
“Hey hey hey, I didn’t think of that until after I started working here…” He then looked away with a sheepish grin. “Though you gotta admit, it was a good idea.” He chuckled to himself and bid his friend farewell as he drove home. Upon getting into his apartment, he then picked up the package he received from its spot on the kitchen counter. Upon opening, he then found a small vase inside the box. He then brought it near the couch to get a better look at it.
Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was dark blue with white flowers painted on all sides of it. It was almost a perfect circle, and came up to his knees in terms of height. “Man, this thing’s beautiful. I should probably call Mom and Dad and tell th-WHOOPS!” In a rare bit of clumsiness, Michael dropped the vase onto the floor. As it broke, a bright flash of light flooded the apartment. “What the-!”
*CRASH* *THOOM!*
When the light faded, Michael looked around to check for any damages. To his surprise, nothing was destroyed or damaged. His surprise only deepened when he saw what was now on the floor. Or rather, WHO was now on the floor. A person around Michael’s height was sleeping among the shattered remains of the vase. He had on a green floral printed kimono, sandals and reddish-brown hair. The biggest surprise however, was the fact that this guy had the ears and (rather large) tail of a raccoon.
“Wha- Where did this guy come from?!” Michael asked to no one in particular. ‘Whoever this guy is, he’s clearly Japanese. And those ears and tail look WAY too real to just be part of a costume…’ As he thought this over, his guest began to stir. Letting out a yawn, the tailed figure opened his emerald green eyes to see he was in an unfamiliar place.
“何？ ここはどこ？ この場所は何ですか? (What? Where am I? What is this place?)” the man said in confusion and fear. Realizing he probably only spoke Japanese, Michael decided to respond in kind. “落ち着く。 私の名前はマイケルです。あなたは私 のアパートにいます (Calm down. My name is Michael and you’re in my apartment.)” Seeing his ‘guest’s’ confusion, he then said “友だちの名前は？(So what’s your name, friend?)”
Remembering his manners, the tailed man then responded with “私の名前はトシ、マイ ケルさん (My name is Toshi, Mr. Michael.)” Toshi then brought his hands together and gave a respectful bow. “解放してくれてありがとうマスター (Thank you for freeing me, Master.)” While the smile he gave was warm and friendly, Toshi’s words made Michael feel incredibly uncomfortable.
“(First of all, don’t call me master.)” Michael liked to be respected as much as any other person. But one thing he didn’t like was being called ‘Master.’ From what he had seen, people who were called that tended to be insufferable, arrogant jerks who believed that they could do whatever they wanted without consequence. The thought of being called the same thing as people like that sickened him. “(Second, how did you get in that vase in the first place? And third, what’s with the ears and tail?)”
Toshi nervously scratched the back of his head, and his tail drooped as he began to tell his story. “(Well, I was on a walk through the forest when I ran into a monk at a temple. He saw my ears and tail and assumed that I was evil. He began chanting and the next thing I knew, I was trapped in that vase.)” Remembering that Michael had just freed him, Toshi gave another bow to his master. “(As for my ears and tail, I’m what you would call a hanyou. My mother was a beautiful human, and my father was a proud tanuki. I hope you aren’t ashamed or disturbed to know me or my heritage.)”
Toshi looked away with his ears falling down, his sadness and shame clear as day. He was sure that Michael would want him to leave and never come back. It had happened many times before, and it always hurt when it did. People would scream, calling him a freak and an abomination, and some would even try to kill him, all because of what he was. So when he saw Michael’s eyes widen in surprise, he got ready to hear his words and then prepare to leave.
“(Your half yokai? That’s… that’s… AWESOME!)” Michael couldn’t believe the incredible luck he was having today. The vase was pretty and great for decorating, but this was even better. “(I’ve heard a lot of stories about yokai, and I’ve always wanted to meet one).” He then got in Toshi’s face with gleaming eyes, and a wide smile on his face. “(So what powers do you have? Can you shapeshift, or sense the presence of other yokai?)”
Surprised by the praise and excited questions, Toshi blushed as he tried to stammer out a response. “(W-well I can shapeshift, but my tail always sticks out. And unfortunately, I c-can’t sense other yokai.)” He felt very flattered by how interested Michael was in him. He had never met someone who thought of his half yokai nature as anything other than trouble. “(I-I’m not sure what ‘awesome’ means, but it sounds rather nice. Thank you for your kind words, Master. So do you know where exactly we are, and how long I was in that vase?)”
Annoyed that he was ‘master’ again, Michael decided to ignore that for a minute to answer the two questions. “(Well, we’re in San Antonio, Texas, a place in the United States of America. And according to the letter that Mom sent with the package, the vase is over 100 years old. Wait, Toshi how old are you?)”
“(Hmm, I’ve heard of this ‘America’ before. It should be an interesting place to see and live in. As for my age, given what you told me about the vase, I’d say I’m currently 170 years old.)” Seeing Michael’s look of surprise, the hanyou sheepishly chuckled. “(From what I remember hearing in the vase, they speak another language here in America. I don’t suppose you could teach me how to speak it, could you? It might be helpful in the future.)”
A big toothy grin stretched across Michael’s face as he flashed a thumbs up to his new friend. “(Sure thing, pal. It’ll be difficult, but I promise I’ll help you out. Let’s get started!)”
One Month Later…
Michael returned home to his apartment after another hard day at work. Opening the door, he saw Toshi folding laundry while watching tv. His roommate’s fuzzy brown ears perked up at the sound of the door opening. Turning to look at him, Toshi smiled at his friend.
“Welcome home, mast- I mean Michael!” His English was perfect, an impressive feat for anyone human or otherwise. The two of them chocked this achievement up to being a result of Toshi’s incredible learning ability. After only two days, he had gotten greetings, farewells, and common phrases memorized rather well. The tailed man was smarter than they both thought, not that they were complaining. “How was your day at work?”
“Hiya Toshi. Pretty good, just really busy. How about you?” Michael responded with genuine interest.
“My day was fine. Your neighbors are lovely people. They taught me a new recipe to try out for dinner tonight.” Toshi smiled as he reached for another shirt to fold.
“Look dude, I appreciate you keeping my place tidy, but don’t you ever get bored spending all day inside?” Toshi mostly stayed in the apartment unless they needed more groceries. “Don’t you want to get out there and see more of the world? My friend Liz has been wanting to meet you ever since I brought you up at work.”
Looking around the room with rapid eyes, Toshi became uncomfortable. He knew he needed to interview with people more. But he was scared that people would judge him more than they did already. Sure, some people questioned him about his kimono or tail when he went outside, but they were easy to ignore. This time however, that might not be the case. “Well…”
A sudden hand on his shoulders made him jump with shock. He saw Michael look him in the eyes with concern, and knew that his friend only wanted to help him. “Ok, I’ll try. Let’s go…” As the two friends headed out to see what they could with their day, a feeling of unease came over them. But they knew that they had each other to get through the day when things got tough. After all, what’re friends for?
Here it is, the introductory story for my characters Michael Witherburn and Toshi. For the Japanese in this story, I used Google Translate so sorry if it's not very good. Let me know what you think of the story and characters.
