Things were cooling off. Fall was in full swing now, the leaves turning a beautiful brown and red. It had been a little while since there had been any big events, something he had become thankful for. Hato was able to settle into dorm life pretty easily and Lawrence was extremely thankful that she could change into a dove to sleep. It was a lot easier than giving yet another full sized person a place to lay down.

Today was, regrettably, the day things would change from the normal droll life however. Once again, something was coming. The thing is, that something was smaller than the normal every day Youkai. What he saw was a small armadillo Youkai rolling around campus. It had arms and legs and all just like a human, but was able to retract them and roll around. So weird.

After seeing it around campus for a day or two, Lawrence decided to approach it and ask what its problem was so he followed it until there was nobody else around and…

“Hey, what’s your problem?”

“P-problem? I-I don’t have any problems!”

“You look like you’re lost buddy.”

“L-lost! No no n-no! Not at all!”

“Really, is there something wrong?”

“Y-you aren’t trying t-to mug me?”

“Mug you? Youkai don’t have money.”

“Oh, well yes. Actually I am looking for my lost possession.”

“What is it?”

“I lost my glass!”

“Glasses?”

“No, my glass! It is a small, rounded piece of glass I had treasured for a long time. I could look through it and see the most wondrous things.”

“Well where did you lose it?”

“It was knocked out of my hands around here, somewhere on campus. I fear that the Chisai may have hidden it though, as tricky as they are.”

Oh, ok. Chisai. Something else he had no idea about. Oku might know though.

“So if the… Chisai took it, could they have moved it off campus?”

“Oh no, Chisai are mischievous, but they do not intend harm. They most likely moved it to a place within close proximity of where it was dropped. They intend for me to find it, they just want to laugh at me until then…”

“Alright, let’s take a look around then.”

“You’ll help?”

“Yeah of course.”

“Why thank you young human!”

With that they began to look around campus. It was a pretty damn large place to look around for a simple small piece of glass, but if the Chisai wanted them to find it eventually it would definitely turn up. And it did. The only problem was that it was inside the back pocket of a scary looking guy with jet black hair and a sour expression.

“There it is! B-but that human has it…”

“It’s no problem, I’ll just… humans can’t see it can they.”

“No, as it is a Youkai item.”

Great, if he tried to take the glass the dude would think he was getting groped by another guy.

This was a tough one, but he finally decided to fake a fall.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get it back.”

With that, he walked away from the small Youkai and up behind the scary looking guy who entered the library. Lawrence ran to the elevator and went to floor four, to try to get ahead of the guy. Once he started going downstairs, he realized that the guy had stopped at floor two… So he followed him again.

To the physics building; a failure.

To the journalism building; a failure.

To the cafeteria; an enormous failure.

Everywhere he seemed to go it seemed like the guy was avoiding him. Finally classes were over and the it seemed like he was leaving campus. Lawrence thought that this would be much more difficult if he had to find the guy again, so he determined he was going to be forced to approach him. It was while he was waiting for the bus.

“Uhh, hi.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“What is it.”

“You have… something that belongs to a friend of mine. In your back pocket.”

“Oh this.”

Amazingly, he picked the Youkai’s glass out of his back pocket and looked at it.

“So you can see it. I saw some of those things carrying it through campus and knew it was one of theirs.”

“Yeah, thank you for picking it up but… you can see it?”

“Sure looks that way doesn’t it.”

“Well, if that’s the case could I have it back? The Youkai that lost it is very scared, that is his most precious possession.”

“Oh really.”

With that a malicious smile came across his face.

“I guess he would care if I did this then!”

With a grunt the guy threw the glass down, and it shattered into a dozen pieces. Lawrence was horrified.

“Y-you..”

“By the way, my name is Mark, and I’d suggest you never talk to those Youkai ever again. You might think they care about you. That is just a lie, they play with what they find interesting then throw them away. That is all they are.”

The bus pulled up to the stop and Mark got on.

“I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

Thus Lawrence was alone with the broken shards of glass on the ground. His heart raced. That Youkai’s only possession… But what Mark had said, could it be true? Hato and Oku weren’t just toying with him… right? He picked up the glass and with cut hands went back to the place he had left the Youkai.

When he showed it to the Youkai it looked a little angry.

“Did you drop it?!”

“No, the man that had it could see Youkai as well. He smashed it.”

“He s-smashed it! W-why!”

“I have… no idea.”

“But it’s alright. See?”

The Youkai took the glass in his hands and put the pieces together. When the pieces touched they fused back together as if they had never been broken apart.

“You don’t think I haven’t dropped it a few times do you?”

“It’s fixed?”

“Completely! With that, I thank you!”

The armadillo touched Lawrence’s head, and a memory seeped into him. The armadillo was out in a field, when a young couple walked out, hand in hand. They were young, it appeared to be their wedding day. Next time they came out they were middle-aged, the man looked ready for retirement, and the next time the man was in a wheelchair. The woman pushed him a little sadly, but the man handed her an old mirror. It must have been something he had given her years ago. They left once again. The last time, it was only the woman. She looked into the mirror, and dropped it, head in her hands. The armadillo had always gone near them when they had visited. The woman left, still crying, and the armadillo never saw her again. After a long time, the Youkai finally went to the mirror and picked it up. It still held the warmth of those two in it’s frame. He could see their entire lives in that mirror.

“With that my lesson is simple. Learn to treasure the large things like the woman treasured her husband. But also learn to treasure the small things. The mirror was with them for their entire lives. It meant much to both of them, and sometimes the little things can be even more important than the big ones. Learn to treasure both.”

When Lawrence came back to the real world, the armadillo took his hand away from his head and turned away.

“Thank you again young human!”

With that, the Youkai bounded off into the darkness. The Youkai’s memory was a sad one, but all Lawrence could think about was Mark. What he had said. He hated Youkai, but why? What had caused his hatred of all Youkai. Perhaps hating one, but all of them? He wanted to know. He wanted to try. He had known nobody that could see Youkai, although he hadn’t been able to see them for his entire life it was a large chunk of it. He would definitely try to find Mark again.

Once he got back to the dorm, he found that Hato was on his computer again. She’d really tried to become techy since living with him, and could do most of the normal things that a human could do on a computer, besides typing quickly. She was still pretty slow. Of course, Oku was still in his bed sleeping. Upon his entrance Hato greeted him.

“Hello masterrrrrr!”

Once she saw his cut hands she began to fuss over him.

“Where did you cut your hands like that! Don’t you know you need to disinfect those immediately!”

“I met another human that could see Youkai today.”

“You what! Ow!”

This finally brought Oku up out of his bed, and she hit her head on the ceiling she shot up so fast.

“You met another human that can see us? How?”

“I helped a Youkai who had lost a mirror. He had it, but for some reason he hates Youkai. He smashed it. Luckily it could fuse back together but… he hates all Youkai.”

“I wonder why master… could it be a Youkai hurt him in the past?”

“Most likely. There are evil Youkai you know. One of them must have tricked him pretty badly.”

“So what do I do?”

“What?”

“Should I talk to him?”

“Why do you have to do anything?

“Bu-”

“If the idiot hates us so much you should have nothing to do with him, right?”

“Well… I still want to make sure he doesn't hate you guys for no reason.”

“Why?”

“Why should you hate someone that doesn't deserve it?”

With a sigh, Oku got down from the bed.

“Seriously, what's your reasoning for doing this.”

“I care about you two, so you can't all be evil, right?”

She looked up at him with inquisitive eyes, but the only response he gave was a small shrug.

“Don’t worry, I won’t go out of my way to look for him. If I see him I’ll talk to him but otherwise I won’t do anything.”

“Just don’t get yourself hurt, idiot.”

Lawrence arrived at school the next day with both Oku and Hato, who seemed at least ready to learn. He was off to his math class with Hato, and Oku started on her way to the psychology class she sat through.

“Alright time to get to work.”

“Work? What do you mean master?”

“I didn’t really want to tell her, but I was going to go out of my way to find the guy from yesterday. I can’t leave this alone.”

“Are you sure he isn’t dangerous?”

“Angry maybe, but I don’t get the sense that he would do anything physically to anyone. He’s hurt, not homicidal.”