The birds chirped on the branches that faced the window pane. Warm morning sunlight teased his eyelids to open. A nice alarm clock to his ears.
After a long while of simply listening to his surroundings, the spirit lifted his hand and felt the mask on himself. Averting his eyes downward, he sighed in disappointment to see that he still had the same black robe on for clothing. Not wanting to get up the spirit turned over, a little sad at the fact he had still stayed the same. Then something occurred to him. He felt different. More solid, was the correct term for him to use. "Wait... I can hear and see better... and..." He suddenly got up with a start, throwing all the blankets to the floor. Stumbling out of bed in the confusion his mask instantly came off and dropped a few feet away from him. The spirit stayed in that awkward position, stunned, staring with wide deer eyes at what had been his face for who knows how long. "AAAAAHHHHHGGG GRAAANNNNYYY!"
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"NoFace?!" Zeniba immediately put the scarf down and made her way upstairs. "What's wrong dear?!" She opened the door to his room to find that he was in a panicked state. He kept on blabbering non-sense, holding his mask to his face, appearing to be having a strange conversation with it and pulling up his sleeves, as if proving to the mask what was happening. It seemed like he was hyperventilating and having a heart attack at the same time.
The spirit ignored Zeniba even he was the one who called her up. The mask that fell off of his face sent him into hysteria. It was his face for goodness sake! Anyone would be alarmed if they just stared at a part of their body that just so happened to come off. NoFace put his hand up to his now "new" face and felt the same rubbery substance the rest of his "new" body had. He pinched at it, felt slight sting and recoiled back, hitting his head on the wooden bed frame. The spirit bent down at the pain and rubbed the sore spot. Pulling the blankets over himself he curled into a ball on the floor. He wanted to return to being a blob. "Why is it hurting everywhere!?" the spirit groaned. NoFace felt a hand to his shoulder and he tried to get up but slipped on the sheets and made a face plant right into the blanket, and the hard floor. When he lifted his head up, there were soft tears in his eyes, his lip wobbled and pouted. "G-granny... hick... Why am I like this? My face is melting..." He sniffed loudly and got up facing the witch. She stayed silent with a look of... amusement?
Zeniba couldn't help but snicker inwardly at how charming NoFace was. It was like a Lolita inside a full grown man's body. The awkwardness when he found out his new form and those cute tears that fell just because he tripped and hit his head. When he got up she was able to fully see his new form. And truly an eye-candy he was. His moderately long layered hair slightly covered the top of his eyes stylishly and ended at the base of his neck. Eyes that shone amethyst purple stood out against his pale complexion, and so did the two purple tattoos just below and above his eyes, matching the marks on his mask. And even with the dark robe on, she could tell he was physically fit... and tall. She was at least two human heads smaller than him. Shaking the thought away she clasped her hands together and cackled. "What a nice form you took, NoFace! Didn't expect it, to be honest."
The other spirit pouted, his eyes glistening. "I only asked to be tall, dark and handsome, because I remembered a story you once told me... But granny... my body is totally different! Look!" NoFace lifted the black robe up and as soon as it went past his knees Zeniba turned around frantically. "It's not like before! And I can also talk too!" The witch put her hands to the sides of her burning face, trying to block out any sign of his frame. "NoFace! Put the robe down! That is highly inappropriate, and would definitely be bothersome if you did that in public too!" The spirit wiped the last of his tears with the cloth and let the robe drop to the floor once again. Hearing the thump of the black fabric she finally allowed herself to turn back around.
He was pulling his arms in from his robe sleeves and began to lift it up again. "What are you doing?!" she squealed. NoFace gazed at her innocently. "It's heavy..." Zeniba sighed and left the room saying, "I'll get you a pair of clothes to wear for now. When you're done changing we'll meet downstairs for breakfast." At this his stomach growled a bit. NoFace stared at it with amazement. "Whoa."
She shook her head in mirth and left to her chambers. The drawer next to the window opened by itself, but only dresses and feminine clothing floated out. She checked in her closet too but it was filled with only her stuff. "There's got to be something in here..." Finding nothing she exhaled and waved her finger. Another drawer unlatched itself and a navy blue material with simple black patterned designs of trees hovered in the air. More fabrics came drifting out of the drawer, and with a wave of the hand, did the cloth sow and fix itself a beautiful kimono with grey inside clothing and slacks. The kimono folded itself into a neat pile and landed on her bed.
"Next for sandals," Zeniba smiled knowing that she was doing that timid spirit a favour. It was sad enough that he was always put in difficult situations; but not knowing who he was in the past really made the witch feel deep empathy for him. In her closet she was able to find one pair of black pointed slip-on sandals. Taking the clothing, she made her way back to his room.
NoFace gazed at himself through the reflection in the window. Oh how he wished he had put a mirror in his room now. Slowly he pulled the robe away from his face and looked down. "What kind of body is this...? Legs... and what is that..?!" NoFace only wished that he would be tall, dark and handsome, not some weird extra part of his body that somehow made him blush red. He knew what most human-like spirits looked like: legs, arms, a torso, a head, and maybe even hair. But he never saw this part of the body... was it a mistake in the spell? Not wanting to look at it anymore he released the robe. Despite the cool weather he felt sticky and simply wanted to change out of this black robe. This robe that had been his body since the beginning of his time. NoFace didn't know if he should keep it or not. Might as well keep it just in case. With this thought in mind he took off the clothing and his stomach growled again. "I must consume food," the man said to himself. "My stomach looks to lean, and hard." Tapping his abdomen he made his way to the door with his robe and mask hanging loosely on his hands.
As soon as he was about to touch the knob the door swung open to reveal a very stunned Zeniba. "Aaack! NoFace!" Though she didn't see anything it was still aggravating to see him half naked in spite of her warning. She flung the clothes to his face and shut the door, making her way downstairs.
He gazed at it for a good ten seconds before actually getting dressed, a bit excited to wear something other than his usual skin.
When the spirit finished dressing after much difficulty, he stared at his reflection through the window again. This time with his navy blue and grey kimono. But somehow he didn't feel complete. Grabbing the mask from his bed he strapped it on his face. The mask stayed the same, but he smiled at the comforting feeling, and this time the holes in the mask weren't empty. His small but charming beam and his amethyst irises filled what used to be an empty void. Slipping on his pointed sandals, he too, began to walk to breakfast, but not without tying the bag of jewels onto his waist. He didn't forget about the gift granny gave him.
The smell of freshly baked yogurt cake filled his nose and his mouth watered a bit. Taking a seat, milk tea was served by an invisible servant and so was his yogurt cake – his favourite. NoFace lifted up his mask and began to dig in. Zeniba sat at the end of the table also enjoying her morning cup of tea. "So, NoFace." He looked up from his food, face full at the cheeks. "Yes, granny?"
"You plan to find yourself, and by going to the bathhouse?" NoFace gulped his food and nodded. "Yes, that's the only place I remember from my past. Perhaps I can get answers as well. Also, I am grateful that I am in this form, this way I'll seem like a guest there." He finished off with a bow of his head, his eyes staring contently on the patterns of the table cloth. Zeniba sipped on her tea. "Well, I guess I can't call you NoFace anymore, now can I?" NoFace looked up in confusion. She continued, "You are still quite infamous at the bathhouse and it would be wearisome if you were found out. What shall your new name be?" They both thought long and hard at this. You could practically see the smoke that steamed out of NoFace's head as he pondered on his name.
Then granny lit up at a suggestion. "How about Hansuke?" He peered at her with bright eyes, curious at the identity and gave off a small dimple. "What does it mean?" She smiled back and said, "It means 'helpful friend.'"
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As soon as they both finished eating breakfast, NoFace and Zeniba made their way to the Swamp Bottom station. He carried a small canvas bag strapped along his shoulders which held the necessities Zeniba thought would be useful to him in the future. NoFace didn't check what was inside yet. His diamond sack was tied to his waist and the man crossed his arms into the yukata, feeling the delightful wind. The mask stayed on the side of his head, still comfortingly there but not in the way. Zeniba then created a paper bird out of thin air and it hovered magically by NoFace's side before eventually slipping into his bag and out of sight. "Be careful not to be influenced by bad spirits, NoFace. I wouldn't want you eating them now would I? Also, the bird is only for safety purposes. If you so happen to want to renew your spell, just call out, and I'll do something about it." He nodded silently and turned as the train stopped by. Handing the ticket to the shadow-man spirit, NoFace climbed aboard. But he stayed at the door and waved at Zeniba as she did the same. "I hope you find yourself, Hansuke!" she called out whilst the train began to tread on. The spirit quietly replied, "I will."
With that he took a seat on the train and looked around. This was the very same seat that he, Sen, Yu-bird and Boh rode on a while ago. He truly had yet to thank the young human girl for being nice to a spirit like him.
It was almost dusk by the time he awoke from his nap and the train called out to the stop he'd been waiting for this entire time. Once the doors opened the spirit stepped out and walked into the so-called theme park. The lamps were beginning to light up and he perked up at a few interesting foods. The only actual change he had were the pink diamonds; then the spirit suddenly remembered. With his fist still closed he pretended to get something from inside his sack, then formed gold from his right hand. Taking it out, he gave one gold chunk to the shadow spirit and took two fried squids. It frantically reached for it while others joined to see what it received. They peered at the back of the mystery man then back at the gold chunk.
He continued to walk on, munching on his treat and finally reached the beginning of the bridge. Other spirits passed him while he simply stayed put. It genuinely was a beautiful sight: the bathhouse had its lights on and the glowing lamps were lit different colours. Looking at the spirits around him, they were just like the previous years, with different shapes and sizes. Yet it was more welcoming, seeing them go inside from a different point of view; and also the fact that they noticed him as well, some taking looks as they passed. He touched his mask on the side of his head for encouragement. Taking a deep breath, the spirit once known as NoFace, and now presented as Hansuke, took his first step on the bridge.
Hey peeps! Thanks for waiting to read this chapter and it was really fun writing this. Questions? Please review if so ;). Also, should I continue to refer to the spirit as NoFace, or should I now call him Hansuke? Thanks to all my supporters even if there aren't many, I enjoy reading what you write for my story, especially lengthy reviews. Keep updated for the next chapter!