"Why do I have to babysit her?" Kyoko riled against her stepfather, Koki. "Kyoko," Koki sighed in an exasperated manner. "Maria needs someone to keep an eye on her?" Koki pleaded. "What about what I want to do?" Kyoko fumed. "You don't even bother to ask me anymore?" She stumped into her room, and slammed the door. In the safe haven of her bedroom, she plunks down on her padded stool in front of her vanity table. In front of her were photo albums of articles clipped out of newspaper, all of them along the vein of Mysterious Disappearance of Local Woman, along with pictures of a weary looking woman identified as Sanae Mogami.
Kyoko glanced through the album dejectedly, as sound of a small weeping child can be heard in another room. Koki Takarada, her stepfather had married her mother, Sanae, just short of two years ago. Kyoko grew up without a father, had welcomed not only a father figure, but a chance to have a little sister. Maria Takarada, whom lost her mother to an airplane crash, had also looked forward to having a sister. Even if, she felt that Sanae could never replace the mother she lost. The mother she still grieved for six years later. Sanae Mogami was happy for a little while, and then the melancholy set in a year ago. That's when the arguments started, and Sanae moved into the guest room. She had quit her job at the accounting firm. After that day, everything changed. Sanae would lock herself in the guest bedroom for days. Kyoko assumed most of the household duties such as cleaning, sweeping, laundry, and cooking when she wasn't in school, studying or at her part time job at the hamburger place. Then, one day while Koki had another late day at the office, Kyoko came home from her after school job, to find her mother's room empty, and a luggage missing with some of her things. At the head of the bed, on the desk were Sanae's wedding ring and a note that said, "I can't do this anymore."
The ensuing days was a whirlwind of detectives coming in and out of the house, kind neighbors with gentle words of encouragement, Koki burying himself with work at the office, and Kyoko reassuring Maria, it wasn't her fault that Sanae had gone missing. Then, everything settled back into a familiar rhythm. Kyoko would get up early in the morning and get Maria ready for school. She then, would get herself to school, work and home. Some days, Koki would be home for dinner, but most of the days, he would spend his days and nights at his office. Kyoko stopped reading the newspaper or watch the news by then. Maria became a moody and introverted child, fraught with guilt for the loss of not only her mother, but also Kyoko's mother, too.
"Kyoko, we need to talk." said Koki pleadingly, while knocking on her bedroom door. Kyoko balked at the sound of her stepfather's words, yelled at the door, "Leave me alone, and go do whatever you want." Koki with furrowed brow, and spoke like a man lost, . "I have given Maria her dinner. Make sure she goes to bed at a proper time and make sure she brushes her teeth."
"You don't even try anymore." Kyoko cried while open the door to an empty hallway. Koki had beaten a hasty retreat to his office in the commercial district again. Maria can be heard sobbing loudly in her room across the hall. Maria had missed her father so much that she pleaded with him to stay; since he is only home once or twice a month now. Now, her beloved sister and her father had parted after exchanging harsh words.
Kyoko marched into Maria's room, "Stop crying! There is no need for you to cry." Kyoko yelled at Maria, "If you don't stop crying. I'll… I'll… I'll wish you to the Goblin King." Maria froze at Kyoko's threat, and bawled her eyes out even harder. "I don't wanna…I don't wanna…be wished to the Goblin King." Kyoko was at the end of her very thin and very overworked rope. All the fears, frustration, and stress of having to take on the care of a child, all by herself, when she is still a child herself. Where is the father she needed? Where is the mother she needed? She leaned heavily against the wall of Maria's bedroom, bordering on tears herself. She slipped down the wall crumbling to her knees. She threatened, "If you don't go to sleep right now." She can hear herself escalating her voice to her once adored sister. She got up off the floor, and turned away towards her bedroom, "Then, the Goblin King deserves you." Maria's sobbing turned louder, as she turned off the light, forgetting that Maria is afraid of the dark. "I wish the Goblin King would come and take you away," said Kyoko under her breath, as she stepped into her room.
The rain that was outside the window turned into torrential downpour and the she heard a transformer by the driveway popped and sizzled. "Maria," she called out as she hurried towards Maria's room. "Maria!" she called. There was no sound from Maria. The house was eerily quiet. She rushed into Maria's bedroom and turned over Maria's blanket. There was no Maria. Kyoko frantically called out Maria's name in hope she's downstairs. Maria had disappeared. Just then, the howling winds bursted open the French door to the balcony of Maria's bedroom. A flicker and a flashing of bright light, a man rose from the dimness of the shadow. Kyoko, shield herself from the battering wind and sheets of rain, called out to the strange man. "You are the Goblin King, aren't you? And, you have my sister."
The tall man, regal in bearing, dressed in finery befitting a royalty in dark wool jacket and a heavy silk jabot on top of fine linen shirt, stepped into the room, unaffected by the wind or the rain. Kyoko shrinks back in fear. The man, looked down from his height and sneered at Kyoko, "What if I am? What would you trade me for?"