What just happened?

Think Kazuki, think! Hmm… Let's see...

I was thrown off the side of a hill; then I collided with a girl’s arm, and now, for some reason, I’m able to move again. But why?

I looked at the girl in front of me, and despite my vision still being distorted, I was able to make out her hand, which was emitting a bright purple glow. Was the impact that severe? No, there wasn’t an injury that could cause a hand to glow like that. Was that glow what restored my ability to move?

And speaking of which, how could I even be certain of that? How could I be sure that I wasn’t hallucinating? I needed to try again.

Hmmm. Just lean—and roll—forward! It worked! IT WORKED! I can now… roll? Well, it’s a start, at least.

Could this be a chance for me to start anew, a chance to actually experience a new life, and…

I paused, and I took a look at my surroundings. Even though I was in a fairly large clearing, I could still see countless trees in every direction. And I was sure that within each and every one of them, there was a desperate soul crying out for help, just like I did.

I couldn’t leave them behind. I couldn’t ignore their pains… their cries… their worries. I had to help them. But how? What could I do?

It dawned on me in that moment—that hand! If it could restore my movement, then maybe it could do the same for everyone else! But in order for that to happen, I first had to convince that girl to help me.

I turned back toward the girl, but to my shock, she was nowhere to be found. Did she vanish into thin air? No, that couldn’t be possible, could it? Though, if she was some sort of witch, then could that very well be what happened? Suddenly, I saw a glimmer of purple light shining from behind one of the trees. It had to be her! I just needed to get closer.

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I tried to roll forward, but I ended up falling on my side. It was going to take some practice for me to get used to this. But in the meantime, I had to stay focused on the task at hand.

Alright, let's just take this one step at a time. One step on my left side, then a step on my right side, and my left side again, then my right side again, and so on. Although this wasn’t the most efficient way to move, it would suffice for the time being.

As I approached the tree, I took a turn to my right in order to circle around it. And as I started to encircle it, I began to catch sight of the girl, who was towering above me, though this was most likely just a product of my own miniscule size. Strangely, the girl was huddling in a fetal position, with her eyes closed tightly and her teeth clenched.

I stopped moving when I was directly in front of the girl, and after a brief pause, she slowly began to open her eyes. But as soon as she got a look at me, her eyes widened. She pulled back, but in doing so, she hit the tree behind her with her hand.

The tree started to shake. It suddenly pulled its roots out of the ground and positioned them around itself, almost akin to legs. And not a moment later, the tree quickly bolted toward my right, disappearing into the woods and leaving behind a trail of its own broken branches.

At the same time, the girl fell backwards, collapsing onto the ground. She lifted up her head and glanced at me before she started crawling backwards. Strangely, whenever her glowing hand touched the ground, it would sink slightly, as if the earth around it was as soft as sand.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to bring you to life, little green thingy!” She stuttered. “P-p-please, don’t hurt me!”

She appeared to cower in front of me, holding her hand out as if to shield herself. And seeing this confused me. What could I even do to her? Tap her lightly? Throw myself into her? How would I even do any of that? Perhaps she was referring to when I collided into her earlier, but how was that relevant to right now?

“What are you talking about?” I heard the girl say… to me? Wait a minute—she can hear me. She can hear me! Finally, after so long, someone can hear me! Was it just her, or could anyone hear me now? That’s a question I could try to answer later. At the moment, I had to focus on the task at hand.

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I wobbled closer to the girl, her presence towering above me. And—as I did nearly a year ago for another powerful being—I tried to make a good first impression. Hopefully, this encounter won’t end the same way.

“Hello,” I started to ‘speak’. “My name is Ishikawa Kazuki, and…”

I paused and looked around me for a moment before continuing.

“Thank you for saving me, young girl. But now, I beg of you, could you please help me save everyone else?”

I awaited her response, hoping that she had heard my pleas. But to my surprise, the girl in question just stared at me. Her mouth trembled, yet she failed to utter a word.

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I asked her again. "So will you help me, or no?"

“W-why me?" She responded.

I turned myself in the direction of her hand, which she seemed to take notice of.

“Wha-Oh, you mean my hand?” She responded. "It's not supposed to be like this. Something stuck itself to my hand! And no matter what I do, it just won’t come off!” She pulled at her arm and started to scratch at it. But it didn’t seem like anything happened as a result, as she let out a disappointed sigh.

“Well…” I continued, “Whatever that ‘thing’ is, it saved me.”

“How?” she asked.

“I’ve spent the past year trapped in a motionless body. But your hand allowed me to move again. However, there are so many others, within every tree, every rock, and every blade of grass, that are also desperate to be free. Unfortunately, I… I am unable to help them. But you can. So, can you please help me save them?”

I waited for her response.

“I… I’m sorry.” she answered. “I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

“So, is that a no?”

“It... it is.”

“Hmm… Very well. Then I guess I will stay here as well.”

“What?” she exclaimed.

“Until you agree to help me, I will remain here with you.”

“Are you sure?”

I paused for a brief moment.

“Yes, I am.”

She let out a resigned sigh. “Ok,” she responded. “Just please don’t create any problems while you're here.”

By this time, the sun was starting to set, and the girl began to lay down to sleep. However, even as the world around us darkened, the girl’s eyes remained open and alert.

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“Um, little-green-thingy?” The girl soon asked.

It seemed like she had already forgotten my name.

“Just call me Rock for right now.”

“Ok… umm… Rock?”

“Yes?” I responded.

“I can’t sleep,” she whimpered.

“You know, I’m probably not the best person to get sleep advice from right now.” I admitted. “I haven’t slept in about a year.”

“Can you tell me a story?”

I looked at the girl.

“Well, I’ve never really…”

“Please?”

She stared at me with puppy-dog eyes. Internally, I sighed to myself. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. After all, it's not like I’ll be sleeping tonight anyway.

“Fine. I guess I could.”

She smiled.

But which story to tell? After all, there were so many to choose from.

I looked at the girl, curled up in a little ball, and combined with the green that was contaminating my vision, she almost looked like a melon, reminding me of an old folktale. Ok. This story. This one will do.

I turned toward the girl.

“Here is the tale of Uriko-hime, the Melon Princess.”

I began to narrate the story:

Once upon a time, an old, childless couple found a melon drifting down a nearby stream. They cut open the fruit, and inside of it was a baby girl. They named her Uriko-hime, the melon princess. The two raised this baby into a beautiful young lady, and her hand was requested for marriage, which the parents happily accepted. As the parents went out to prepare for the wedding, they left Uriko-hime alone at home. They warned her to be careful of any stranger knocking on the door.

The girl’s eyes began to close.

But that night, a yokai, Amanojaku, appeared in front of her house and asked her to open the door. She paused, but eventually she cracked open the door, just a little bit, but this was all the yokai needed to slip through. It killed her and then wore her skin as its own. And when her parents returned, they were unaware that a demon had replaced their daughter.

“What!” The girl sat up in alarm.

“I’m not finished yet. Don’t worry, this story has a happy ending.”

She laid back down.

“Now, continuing with the story”:

But on the day of the wedding, a nearby bird called out with Uriko-hime’s voice and revealed itself to be her reincarnation. And with Amanojaku’s deception foiled, the two parents, along with everyone else at the wedding, beat the yokai to death. Shortly after, Uriko-hime became human once again and lived happily ever after.

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After I finished telling the story, I looked toward the girl, who by now had fallen asleep. And as the final glimmers of sunlight sank below the horizon, it was dark once again. And yet, I felt a rush of excitement. After all, this had been an incredible day.

But then something strange caught my eye. Just like earlier, the girl’s hand was partially submerged into the ground, which began to glow around her. I wobbled toward the aforementioned hand to see what was going on. And to my surprise, the ground underneath her hand had given way to some form of webbing, glowing purple just like the girl's hand. But even stranger was that if I got close enough to this webbing, I could faintly hear the sound of groaning.