Paul stood in the restroom of the small supermarket in the local town. He didn’t really need to use the rest room, as such… but his brain had finally caught up with events and he was having a moment.

It had been the sheer ordinariness of the supermarket that had undone him. This morning he’d had breakfast with a Kitsune, been shown the sort of workshop that it had to be said, was his dream … and now here he was, in a supermarket. He’d been reaching for the fried tofu when he’d seen the advert for Marmite flavoured crisps… and the emotional bubble had popped.

It had been a mad few weeks, and now he found himself living in a Shinto temple, with a bunch of mythological neighbours. And yet, he was somehow supposed to function in places like supermarkets too?

He was, as said, having a moment, one where he was seriously doubting his sanity and wondering if just perhaps, he’d hallucinated the whole thing. It was the rational explanation of course.

He stood in front of the sinks, which he absently noticed looked like something out of a school, and splashed water on his face. Suddenly, there was a high girlish giggle behind him.

For a moment, Paul froze… he had gone into the men’s rest room... hadn’t he?

He slowly looked around, but there was no-one there. Frowning he turned back...and blinked. Standing behind his reflection in the mirror was young girl, dressed in a bedraggled, soaking wet, white, grey and black school-girls uniform. The only colour to her was the dark red bow-tie thing she was wearing around the collar of her blouse. Her face was corpse white and her long black hair hung over her face. Her lifeless off-white eyes peered at him between the bedraggled rats tails of her hair.

Paul leaned back, surprised, and the girl, or apparition, leaned forward. The glass of the mirror rippled like water as she came through it, entering into the room.

“Um.. excuse me miss! This is the mens toilets, you know?!”

The ghastly figure paused… and Paul thought he saw a faint flicker of a human reaction.

“Is there something I can help you with, perhaps?”

The girl used her hands to part her hair and stare at Paul. He was sure now he could see confusion in her eyes. She opened her mouth, revealing shark-like teeth and blackened gums.

“DoOoM!”

“Ah...anything else?”

“Death!”

“I see… well, sorry but I’m afraid I’ve other plans. I have to get back to the temple and prepare a feast for Inari...”

The girl stared at him with a bewildered look now.

“Fearrr Meeee!”

Paul sighed…

“Nope. Sorry. Can’t help you there. I know, would you like an ice pop? They gave me an extra one and if I try to eat it I’ll just get a headache.”

The ghost... at least he was fairly sure she was a ghost now, clambered through the mirror the rest of the way, and smiled at him.

“Oooh! What flavour?”

“I’ve lemon or watermelon and strawberry, which would you like?”

“Can I have the watermelon and strawberry please!”

Paul dug into the freezer bag and produced the ice-pop for her. The rather less frightful apparition pulled the wrapper off eagerly and started sucking on the treat.

Paul took out the lemon sorbet ice-pop, unwrapped it and sucked on that meditatively for a moment before asking.

“So, if it’s not an indelicate question, why are haunting the restroom of supermarket?”

The ghostly girl sighed.

“It wasn’t always a supermarket, it used to be a school.”

“Ok, that explains the uniform I suppose… but why haunt here?”

“I died here, drowned when my bullies shoved my head into the toilet and flushed it. My hair got sucked in and I was stuck.”

“Geeze! That’s terrible! Kids can be horrible little savages can’t they?!”

“Yeah… I avenged myself though. Haunted them until they killed themselves. I thought that would let me rest, but I was still stuck. I don’t know why.”

“Unfinished business maybe? I’ve heard that’s sometimes a reason.”

The girl shrugged.

“Maybe. I don’t know… my memory is not very clear. I feel there was something, but I can’t remember what.”

Paul nodded slowly.

“That’s pretty awful. So you’re stuck here then, in this restroom?”

“Oh, no, I can go anywhere, well, anywhere I can walk to in a single night. Once the sun rises I’m usually back inside the mirror again. But... what’s the point? Most people can’t even see me. You’re the first person in years… I… I’m sorry I tried to scare you.”

“Oh, that’s ok. It can’t be very nice for you after all, and I’m sure I’d have a few issues to work out if I was in your situation.”

“Oh! Now I feel terrible! You’re so nice and I was all scary, or tried to be. Um, why weren’t you scared?”

“British for a start, and I just inherited the temple up on the other side of the mountain… the one with a goddess asleep under the altar, you know? I think I’m still in shock a bit, or just not that freaked out in comparison.”

“Oh… that explains it. I thought I was out of practice!”

“Oh no, no. I’m sure if I’d been just another person I would have been terrified, really! You did an awfully good job of being a ghastly, ghostly spirit.”

The girl beamed at him and giggled, a faint stain of colour creeping into her grey-white cheeks. Paul smiled, then looked thoughtful.

“You know.. I just had a thought. I’m holding a sort of ‘get to know everyone’ party up at the temple, on the night of the new moon… would you like to come?”

“Really? But.. it’s a long way to walk...”

“Hmmm. Oh! I know! If I recall correctly there is a bus that leaves from the stop outside of here, just after dark. You can take that. It’ll only take an hour, and you’ll have plenty of time before daybreak and you find yourself back here.”

“But… how would I pay for it?”

Paul raised an eyebrow at her.

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“I thought you said most people can’t see you? Why would you need to pay?”

“Oh no! No, I couldn’t do that! It would be wrong!”

Paul blinked in surprise, and then shrugged. Well, he supposed, some habits really did die hard.

“Alright, well. I tell you what, I’ll loan you the bus fare, you can pay me back when you get a chance, ok?”

The girl nodded eagerly, then drooped a bit.

“But, I can’t take anything back with me through the mirror.”

“Awkward. Ok, I’ll just hide it in the tank of one of the toilets, how’s that?”

“That’ll work! I’ll see you in… two days time, right?”

“Three days to the next new moon. I’ll make sure a place is set for you. Anything in particular you’d like?”

The girl sighed...

“I... I’d really love a cheeseburger! I used to have those when I was feeling sad, and they’d make me feel happy.”

She sighed again, wistfully smiling at happy memories. Paul nodded to himself mostly, living or not, she deserved to be happy, especially after such a tragic end.

“Ok then. I’ll pick up some cheese slices and ground beef on my way out, and I will cook a special hand-made cheese burger just for you.”

The girl flushed bright red, looking more alive by the second. She giggled and ducked her head.

“Thank you! Thank you very much!”

“You’re welcome. Oh, what name should I write on the wrapper?”

“Wrapper? Ah… Aimi Takeuchi. Thank you, again!”

“My pleasure, you are my guest after all. If you want an authentic cheeseburger, then that is what you shall have! Ah… would you like fries with that?”

Aimi giggled, blushing, and nodded.

“Yes please! Ahh... can I have a large Coke-cola, please? Thank you!”

“Ok..” Paul grinned slightly, and hamming it up replied. “You order will be ready in three days miss. Thank you for ordering at McDonald’s!”

Aimi bent double laughing, looking perfectly normal now, aside from the rather out-of-date uniform.

“Oh! You sounded just right! Thank you, that brings back so many happy memories.”

Paul smiled at her.

“Glad I could help. I’ll hide the bus fare here, and I’ll see you in three days then.”

“Yes, indeed! Thank you.. I feel happier than I have in years! I’ll see you soon.”

“Looking forward to it.”

Paul watched as she scrambled back though the mirror, turning to wave before entering one of the mirror toilet cubicles. Paul blinked, and shook his head, before he went and hid bus fare for Aimi in the cubicle she’d exited through.

He stared at his reflection, and then shook his head.

“You, Paul old chap, have got yourself into one heck of a strange pickle… still, at least the natives are friendly once you get to know them. So far anyway.”

Paul watched his reflection for a moment, just in case it did anything he hadn’t.. but it was just a reflection. He shrugged, and went to buy the ingredients for cheeseburgers, wondering if there was anywhere in town that sold McDonalds style cardboard boxes, or if he’d have to make his own.

It was almost nightfall by the time Paul returned to the temple. He paused in surprise when he reached the bottom of the stairs up. The stone work had all been cleaned, the right-hand fox statue that had fallen off it’s plinth was back where it belonged. The weeds were all gone, and the stone steps themselves had been set straight, mortared into place, with the cracked ones replaced by whole ones.

It was almost as good as new, although he could still see the faint hollowing where countless generations of feet had worn away the steps. Paul frowned, in fact, all the stones steps showed the same faint pattern of wear, with no sign of fresh new ones. He wondered if any of them had in fact been broken, or if the replacements had been made to match. He studied the Inari gate itself, which although it had been cleaned, still lacked a coat of paint.

Shaking his head, he started to make his way up… but he was no more than two steps the other side of the gate when Shoko-san appeared, as if out of the air itself.

“Welcome back! That was a long shopping trip! Would you like me to help carry those bags?”

“Thank you, please… and it certainly looks like I’ve been gone awhile. How did you get all this done while I was away? It ought to have taken days, at least.”

“Oh, magic! Also, some of the damage was illusion, so it wasn’t as bad as it looked. But I had a lot of help too!”

Paul nodded, and then blinked as Shoko picked up rather more bags then he’d thought her capable of carrying.

“Huh.. well.. I’m glad you did. It’ll make delivery easier for a start. Tomorrow we’re getting a new fridge-freezer, plus propane bottles for the cooker. I picked up the replacement hose for that. So, it would be helpful if you could get the kitchen clean while I set up solar lighting and clear a place for the party.”

“Ok! I can help! Umm, Paul-san… you said the wiring in the kitchen needed fixing?”

“I did, the electrician for that arrives in the morning and the new fridge-freezer will be here in the afternoon. Along with a bunch of food for the party.”

“Oh, you have been busy!”

Paul nodded… then grinned.

“Hey Shoko, do you like pizza?”

“I do! But, we’ve no cooker yet…?”

“Ah, but we do have a camp fire, or will have shortly, and I bought a pizza stone.”

“A stone pizza?”

Paul laughed at Shoko’s puzzled expression, shaking his head.

“No, no... a pizza stone. It’s a heavy ceramic plate-like thing. You put it in a camp fire to get hot, then take it out and cook pizza on it. Only, I had no idea what sort pizza you like, so I bought a packet of pizza bread bases, and the makings for toppings and sauce. That way you can pick and choose.”

Shoko grinned, and then closed her eyes and stood on her tip-toes inhaling deeply before exhaling with a sigh. Paul watched her in fascination. Now that she wasn’t hiding them, it was interesting the way her ears and tail telegraphed, or more properly semaphored, her mood. Right now, she seemed excited.

“Hey Shoko-san, what’s got your tail fluffed up?”

“Oi! Don’t be rude, talking about people’s tails like that!!

“Ok, ok… so?”

“Can’t you feel it, Paul-san?”

Paul tilted his head, looking puzzled at her. Then closed his own eyes and tried to see if he could sense anything. A girl of his prior acquaintance, who claimed to be a witch, had once described Paul as having the psychic ability of an especially dense house-brick… but what with one thing and another, he wouldn’t have been too surprised if he’d sprouted some sort of mystic antenna or something, overnight.

“Umm… I don’t know what’s pinging your radar, but all I can feel is my sore feet, and the sun on my back.”

Paul thought that Shoko’s sigh sounded rather excessively exasperated.

“Hey, you know I never claimed to be some sort of Mystic Master or Great Sage, you know!”

“I know, but you can’t feel that tingle? The spirit of the temple is waking up, and I think it likes you.”

“Spirit of the temple? Like a ghost?”

“Idiot! No… everywhere has a spirit, a soul, made up of the dreams and wishes of everyone who lives there or used to. The older somewhere is, the more power it has. But when somewhere is abandoned, at first it’s sad and lonely, that’s why empty places feel so alone. Then as it’s power lessens hopefully it falls asleep.”

“Hopefully? What happens if it doesn’t?”

“Very powerful spirits, that can stay awake too long, eventually go mad with loneliness… some of them, the really very bad ones, get angry. They... feed. on people’s emotions, to stay awake.”

Paul shivered.

“Ok, that does not sound good. Am I to take it, that the rather famous suicide forest near Mt Fuji is one such place?”

“Yes. That has been a bad place for.. oh.. centuries… everything avoids going there.”

“Brr! Ok, lets change the subject… I take it the spirit of this place is friendly?”

Shoko-san nodded rapidly and enthusiastically.

“Yes! She’s very nice. I look forward to meeting her again!”

“Right, and she’s not the same as the Goddess who sleeps here?”

“Nope! Different people! Oh! Inari woke briefly, she said she’ll try to be here for the party!”

“Oh… great… What the heck do I cook for a Goddess?”

“PIZZA!”

Paul laughed, shaking his head.

“You just said that because you want some..”

“Nuh-uh. Inari likes pizza too. Lots of garlic and p-p-perr-”

“Pepperoni?”

“Yes! That’s it.”

“Ok… looks like I’m going to be cooking a Goddess sized pizza or two then. Oh, that reminds me. I invited someone from town.”

“A human?!”

“No, a ghost, or spirit... or at least a deceased human anyway.”

“You met a Yūrei? Where?”

“Funny that, it was the restroom… Apparently the supermarket used to be a school, and her bullies shoved her head into a toilet and drowned her and she’s… been haunting… Er, Shoko what’s the matter?”

Shoko’s tail was standing straight up like a bottle-brush, and he could actually see her hair lifting off her scalp as if it was being charged with static electricity.

“H-H-Hanako-san!!!”

“Oh, you know her then?”

“Yes! She’s a Yūrei-onryō. A ghost or vengeful spirit.”

“Hmm, she did mention haunting the bullies that drowned her until they committed suicide.”

“And you invited her here!?!”

“Well, yes. She stopped doing the whole ‘Doom! Death! Fear me!’ thing after it became obvious she wasn’t scaring me… in fact, she was positively pleasant when I offered her a spare ice-pop I’d been given as a freebie. Nice girl really, once you make the effort to get to know her. Likes cheeseburgers, which I guess in the era she died, was probably a rare treat for her. She said it was her comfort food basically… So of course I thought I’d invite her here and offered to make her one myself. She’ll take the bus here. I gave her the fare. I mean, normally people can’t see her, but she didn’t think boarding the bus without paying was right, so… Umm. Why are looking at me like that Shoko-san?”

Shoko seemed to be rather taken aback, and was looking at him with ears flat and her mouth hanging open.

“You… you talked to her?!”

“Well yes, why wouldn’t I? I mean, I’ve been talking to supernatural things for a couple of days, apparently, and she seemed like a nice enough kid once she stopped trying to scare me. She’s got a nice laugh, and after she got some colour back in her cheeks she looked pretty normal actually.”

Shoko-san sat down on the edge of wooden veranda with a thump.

“She... laughed?”

“Well, it was more of a giggle, and she blushed a bit. She’s a teenage girl under the whole ghost thing after all.”

“Did you flirt with her, Paul-san?!”

“Does offering to make her a cheeseburger myself count?”

“Oh yes! Most definitely! Offering to cook someone’s favourite food counts!”

“But, I was just being nice… I mean, it was a joke, pretending she was ordering it from a McDonald’s. Aimi seemed so happy.”

“Whaaat! She told you her name?”

“Well, yes, sort of. I asked, so I’d know what to write on the wrapper, like they do when you... Umm, you’re giving me that look again. Did I do something else wrong?”

Shoko-san shook her head.

“No Paul-san. You did everything right! For all the wrong reasons!”

“Ok, you’re going to have to explain because I don’t understand why this is a big deal.”

“I can see that. Ok, Hanako-san is a vengeful spirit, fuelled by rage and pain. To get her to stop you have to make her happy, remind her of pleasant things or something. Because she is a wandering ghost, one who died violently without proper ritual offerings, or if they were disturbed in some way, then you have to placate her by feeding her, usually her favourite foods.”

“So, giving her a choice of which ice-pop?”

“Would be enough, and then you offered to make her a cheeseburger, and asked what name to put on it, making it hers… Did she give you her family name too?”

“Er.. yes. Why?”

Shoko-san nodded.

“Ok… that and you gave her money to get to you, yes?”

“Er, yes, I hid it in the toilet tank where she drowned so she… ok now what?!”

Shoko was looking at him as if she couldn’t quite believe what she’d heard, as she shook her head slowly.

“Oh Paul-san! Are you sure you’re not a priest or a magician reincarnated?”

“How the heck would I even know that? Why?”

“You placated her, fed her, got her to give you her full name, and then left her money at the place where she died, so she could come to you!”

“So?”

“So, she’s yours now! Idiot! You have a contract with her, she’s bound to you, because of the debt.”

“But, I told her she could pay me back when she got the chance... and it’s just a few yen bus fare!”

“No, not the money. You gave her back herself. Who she was before she became a ghost. She owes you her soul!”

“Oh! Umm… this isn’t a bad thing, is it?”

“Well, depends if you think having a murderous spirit of vengeance as your devoted servant is bad?”

Paul sighed, and sat down next to Shoko-san.

“I screwed up, didn’t I?”

Shoko-san leaned against him, one small arm going half-way around his waist.

“Maybe yes, maybe no… helping people is never a bad thing, but then you’re responsible for them afterwards.”

“Ok. Well, I guess if I ask her not to hurt people or scare them to death?”

“Might be ok… at least you did a good thing helping her be more herself.”

“Yeah, I guess. She really was, or is, a nice kid. She just had a very bad thing happen to her and she lashed out at those that hurt her. Just... as soon as I saw her I had a gut feeling that she wasn’t a bad person fundamentally. So, I just treated her like I would anyone else.

“Yeah… you should perhaps listen to your feelings more. You did do everything right, after all! You are a good person Paul-sama. Foolish, but good. And you don’t know what you don’t know, but you do know more than you think!”

“Thanks...I think. My head hurts now trying to figure that out. Oh well, What’s done is done, might as well get the shopping away and food on for dinner… I have pocky and I brought ice-cream because I thought you’d like an extra treat!”

“Oh! Chocolate, strawberry or vanilla?”

“There are more flavours than those three Shoko-san!”

“There are?!”

“Yup, a whole world of them… and the supermarket has these little six-packs of tubs of all different flavours, of which I bought two, so you have dozen to choose from for a start.”

“Eeee!!! THANK YOU!!!”

Shoko flung herself around Paul’s neck, knocking him sideways, laughing as they both went sprawling in the late afternoon’s golden sunlight.