The Art of Nakazaki

At the side of a little quaint coat shop, standing next to its white-planked wall that faced another next-door locale, a figure stood in its shadow, unseen by the neighborhood's blissful and free-spirited residents. While hidden in the shadows, the figure was still rather large, so the darkness could only do so much to hide him. But nevertheless, he was confident that he had nothing to worry about. The people who lived in the city block he was in were more appreciative of the arts.

"This'll be easy-peasy," Hiro said to himself with quiet confidence as he matched out of the shadows. He was already a large turtle himself, but his size was slightly exacerbated by the hippo suit he wore. He sincerely felt confident that no one would find a hippo mascot walking around in Nakazakicho weird at all. This neighborhood was, after all, a haven for anyone (human anyway) who didn't fit the standard metropolitan mold. Hiro could only hope his hippo suit was as hip as the youthful hipsters who made their home here.

Hiro marched in the narrow street that divided the little shops and cafes, every one of them refitted from old maintained houses of the traditional island design that survived since World War 2. A lot of the front windows were decorated with songs and posters of different colors, and the spray-painted graffiti at on the walls of some of the houses were just as colorful. Now as for why Hiro was there specifically, he heard there was a new shop that opened in the neighborhood about a month ago, so he thought he'd check it out.

He was going around the corner of a random scented candle shop when he found himself in the line-of-sight of a group of teenage hipsters standing around in front of a spray-painted mural. They sounded like they were having a good time. From what he could see through the mask, it seemed that the group was praising one particular individual who was responsible for the piece.

"Nice job! How'd you put those colors together so well?" one of the hipsters enthusiastically asked the artist.

Another hipster seized the moment for a second round of lauding. "Yeah! That's a real eyecatcher right there! I sure wish I had your talent…"

From where he stood, Hiro was quite impressed with the work as well, both in the intricate attention to detail in the image and the way the multiple colors were blended together so well. He thought about taking notes to use as tips for Mon if he ever felt like redecorating the lair with his spray paint. He focused his attention on the hipster artist receiving praise: it was a teenage male, wearing a light cotton dress jacket that looked somewhat like a cardigan, a light scarf hanging around his neck, dress pants, casual sneakers, a pair of large square glasses, and a sporty cap on his head.

Hiro decided he should keep moving to avoid drawing unnecessary attention, though he couldn't take his eyes off the hipster's artwork for to it being that impressive. He hoped to silently give the artist his praise, but fate had other plans when he heard the sound of a decorative plant crashing to the ground at his feet. Hiro inwardly cursed his own lack of sufficient stealth practice – it was getting old.

The group of hipsters swiveled around to spot the hippo mascot standing just meters away from them, catching him in the middle of trying to sneak off to who-knows-where. Both parties stared for a second or two with wide eyes.

"Nice costume," one of the hipsters complimented, albeit with a bit of bewilderment.

Hiro was just as lost for words. "Uh, thanks?" he answered behind his hippo mask. He sedged a foot in the direction away from the group, not wanting to risk complicating things further by continuing a conversation. He would've kept right on walking if it wasn't for an extra comment made by another hipster in the group.

"I wonder if mascots are becoming a thing this year. The turtle breakdancers in Dotonbori were really impressive, but that was just one animal-themed thing. To think there'd be more like it…"

The hipster who created the mural painting made an effort to seem more grounded. "Well," he interjected warily, "How about we just go easy on the guy for a bit? It's probably a coincidence anyway unless a third animal mascot shows up." He turned to face Hiro. "You can go, man. Nice meeting you."

Hiro was relieved at this human's sensitivity, encouraging him to wave as he walked away.

Things didn't go the way Hiro hoped once he reached the candle shop.

Somehow, he didn't think through that the shop may or may not be built to accommodate his hippo costume's large size – getting through the door was only the first struggle. But once he got past that, here he was: a hippo in a candle shop. Even if he was careful about how he maneuvered his round costumed body, he still had to contend with the mask's extended snout that threatened to knock over the smallest of shelf products if he ever tried to take a closer look. He barely dinged a nearby scented candle jar on one of the nearby top shelves, prompting the cashier present to look at him like an accident waiting to happen. Hiro didn't want to cause any more problems by trying to be a regular shopper. He was only here to browse the new additions.

"Sir, I don't mean to interrupt," the cashier came around the corner of the counter, "but could you maybe take your mask off?"

Hiro froze as he realized the impending impossibility of fulfilling such a request. He fumbled around in his own head for some way he could get around this dilemma. "Uh, kan'nin," he answered in an attempted innocent-sounding voice while holding his hands up. "I'm kinda in a hurry for a party, so I'm just trying to find a good gift." He braced himself, hoping the other person would buy his story.

The store employee nodded, seemingly expressing understanding of the reason the shop had a customer who looked the way he did. "Well, okay sir. Seyakedo, masuku o hazusukedo chibi tto mo jikan ga kakaran tte kakushin shi ten nen. It's just for safety reasons."

Hiro got ready to insist once more, but decided against it. At the very least, he tried to make his way back to the store entrance before the human could get a chance to assert more drastic measures. "Well, okay. That's true," he conceded. "I think I actually wanna look for something else." His heel was right at the doorstep. "O jikan o otta yaki ōkini."

He got ready to turn around and leave, but jumped when he found himself face to face with an approaching customer. Both himself and the human in front of him let out a yelp of fright, and without Hiro realizing it, he ended up rapidly backing up into a neighboring shelf of candles. Even worse, he realized too late that he did so, only becoming aware the moment he felt his back thump against the shelf and heard the loud clattering of wares.

"Shimoutta," Hiro screamed internally, though his words came out as a whimper in reality. As predicted, a small glass jar containing a lavender candle fell right off the shelf and smashed on the floor with a tinkling shatter.

That alone did it for the store worker who had tried to reason with the hippo-disguised turtle. "Shinjirarehen!" came a flabbergasted huff accompanied with two balled fists on the hips, "I'm sorry for imposing, but I really need to ask you to take your mask off!" When Hiro remained too frozen by his fear to do so, the human matched right over to him with wide rapid strides. "Sir!" The worker didn't have to go far as the customer whom Hiro bumped into had mutual feelings for the matter.

"I'll handle this!" the customer huffed and swiftly clasped both hands on Hiro's hippo mask, ignoring Hiro's squeaky protests coupled with his own arms flailing in an attempt to prevent the other person from taking it off. But it was all in vain as Hiro could not grab and hold his mask down in time, resulting in the yanker pulling the hippo head off in elastic speed that effectively sent both falling onto the floor.

Both Hiro and the two present humans were staring at each other in silence, the humans appearing more stunned than Hiro was frozen in place. The big red-masked snapping turtle had his real head exposed to the two humans in the store with him, and he had no idea how to navigate around this pickle. He was hoping they would both assume him to be a person going for a nested costume approach. He still didn't want to say anything that would worsen his situation. Double or nothing…

"Uh," the store worker squeaked, "what…mountain are you from?"

Hiro felt his entire throat hitch, partially wondering in rapid speed about what kind of question he was just asked. He was too busy contemplating both his opinion and answer to notice the other human slowly raising up a phone, getting ready to record the spectacle.

"Hey bud! There you are!"

All three looked back to find the source of the voice that suddenly graced their ears, with Hiro seeing the same hipster artist from earlier standing over him at the front door of the store.

"I've been looking all over for you! You can't be going out on the streets in your costume and makeup like that! Come on, we're gonna miss rehearsal!"

Hiro had no idea why this guy was back and acting the way he was at the moment, but he wasn't going to say anything. Instead, he allowed the artsy human to grab him by the hand and pull him upright and away from the other two people in the store before things got worse.

Before they left, however, the guy made sure to hand some yen bills over to the store worker, apparently apologizing and paying for the candle that Hiro just knocked over by accident. "Sorry man, I'll take that candle."

The store worker looked uncomfortable, still thinking what the hipster was doing looked rather awkward. But without further hesitation to perform store service, the candle was placed inside a bag before being given to the hipster, glass cracks and all.

The hipster had pulled Hiro away from the little store and found a nice hidden spot behind another renovated house. The guy then clasped Hiro by both his arms, holding him in front while looking upward at the turtle's eyes.

"Bud, whoa!" he said to Hiro with restrained excitement, "Are you what I think you are? A walking talking turtle?" He wouldn't stop smiling gleefully the whole time. In fact, he leaned in closer to Hiro's face as though he tried to examine it, himself looking ever so curious.

That made Hiro arch an eye ridge, his expression of fearful nervousness changing to observant inquiry, coupled with confusion. "Wait. You're not freaked out by me?" he asked warily. "You know I'm not human, right?"

The hipster tilted his head and gave a relaxed half-smile like he heard the most boring but normal question in the world. "Yeah, I know," he answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's not like we're still living in the 9th century after all. Besides…" He turned back to notice the rest of his friends who were with him earlier approaching him from behind, as though they were catching up to him from a long run.

"There you are," one of them said once everyone was close enough. "We were wondering where you went." The group directed their attention to the unmasked Hiro next to their friend. "Is that the hippo guy from earlier? Kare wa…chigatte mieru."

Hiro tensed again, anticipating that the other humans surrounding himself and the hipster would soon figure out the truth and freak out accordingly. But seeing their lack of negative response in the next several seconds served to confuse him even more. "Hey," he began hesitantly, "are you not okay with how I look?"

The hipster's friends looked at each other and the hipster himself before letting out a casual giggle. "Oh, that? It's nothing particularly earth-shattering." A motion of a hand pointed to the hipster who was right next to Hiro, the one who rescued him from his store predicament. "Roto here's had us hanging with him for months before we settled down with him as our new normal." As if on cue, the hipster street artist identified as Roto gave a little wave, as if to say 'This is me, nice to meet you'.

Now Hiro became even more confused. "New…normal?"

Roto's friends beckoned to him with a nod. "Is it safe for you to do the honors?"

"I think we're hidden well enough," Roto answered. Reaching into an inner pocket of his jacket, the human artist took out a small brooch and tapped it with a thumb like a button. To Hiro's amazement, a cyclone of light swirled around Roto's body, surrounding and enveloping him completely before dissipating just as quickly.

Hiro's eyes widened. Standing right in front of him, the human named Roto was no more, instead replaced with something that looked somewhat like a human but was pale-skinned, barefoot, blonde-haired, and was clothed in tropical vegetation.

"Whoa," Hiro gasped, pointing at Roto, "You're a…a…"

"Yup, that's right," Roto nodded. "I'm a Yokai."

Hiro's eyes remained wide, switching back and forth between looking at the Yokai and his surrounding human friends. "But…how…why…?"

Roto the Yokai shrugged his shoulders yet again, smiling rather apologetically while exchanging a side glance with the group of human youths next to him. "Well, you did hear that I hung around these guys for months. When we first met, they reacted pretty much the same way you are, only that time, it was louder and more kinetic – which made sense."

One of Roto's friends opted to add to his words. "When we first found out he wasn't human, we didn't just think it was freaky. It felt totally unreal."

Another friend chimed in. "But after Roto worked his butt off calming us down and explaining himself over the next week or two, we all kept in touch with him long enough to decide that life was much better knowing he was here."

A third friend capped off the explanation. "Thanks to him, it was 'goodbye, boring human life' and 'hello, magical slice-of-life' from that point on."

Roto couldn't help but awkwardly sweat a little at the subtly bombastic flare in his friend's words. "Well, it wasn't easy trying to make human friends anywhere in the world, let alone here. Like, imagine if I tried the same thing in Tokyo, or something…that'd go over well."

"Well, it wouldn't be too much of a shock there actually," Hiro gave his own input after hearing enough of the others' explanations, "considering where most of our fiction's big-names come from." But he immediately shook his head clear when he realized he digressed, refocusing on Roto. "But wow, that's cool that you're a Yokai! I thought I wouldn't find any out here in Osaka, just underground."

"So you know about Saikyōkai too?" Roto, along with his friends, worded in gentle bemusement. "Well, we're not that different from you and other humans. Even we know not to stay home all the time."

Hiro wished he could take off his hippo costume so he could properly shake hands with Roto, but given that it was too cumbersome and time-consuming to do, opted for a bow instead. "Well, it's really cool to meet you! I'm Hiro." The tails of his mask hung from his neck as he bent over.

"Likewise," Roto bowed back.

Once that pleasantry was over with, Hiro then got right back to curious-mode. "So, what kind of Yokai are you? What part of Japan are you from?"

Neither Roto or his friends answered Hiro immediately, but looked at each other with a somewhat lengthy silence before they let out a sputtered laugh. Once he finally got his bearings again, Roto told Hiro:

"Dude! I'm from Greece!"

That statement definitely made Hiro feel more than a little bit embarrassed, if his faint recoiling of a hand coupled with a tense smile was any indication.

As the conversation continued, Hiro got to learn that there was more to the Yokai than just the name. After all, not all Yokai, or whatever they are or called elsewhere, come from Japan.

Hiro was sure Roto would be in for a surprise once he revealed himself to him as a mutant.

Nakazakicho is a neighborhood in Osaka's Kita Ward, next to the subway station of the same name. It's surprisingly quiet and relatively secluded despite being surrounded by busy metropolitan areas, particularly neighboring the Umeda business district. It is one of the few parts of the original Osaka cityscape to survive being firebombed in World War 2, so it looks less modern and more traditional, giving an old-town flair evocative of past eras. While it's initially populated mostly by older folks, it's recently become a haven for artists and hipsters of the youth generation. Dozens of trendy cafes, vintage shops, plus other small independently owned businesses and even art galleries make their home in this neighborhood. A good number of buildings serve as canvases for any artist wanting to practice and show off their skills, shown in painted murals and sculptures around many corners. One could say that it's an indie's paradise.

Dialect Translations:

Kan'nin (かんにん): "Sorry" | Standard: Gomen (ごめん)

Seyakedo, masuku o hazusukedo chibi tto mo jikan ga kakaran tte kakushin shi ten nen (せやけど、マスクを外すけどちびっとも時間がかからんって確信してんねん): "But I'm sure it wouldn't take any time at all to just change from your mask." | Standard: Demo, masuku o hazusu no ni sukoshi mo jikan ga kakaranai to kakushin shite imasu (でも、マスクを外すのに少しも時間がかからないと確信しています)

O jikan o otta yaki ōkini (お時間をおったやきおおきに): "Thanks for your time." | Standard: O jikan o itadaki arigatō (お時間をいただきありがとう)

Shinjirarehen (信じられへん): "Unbelievable!" | Standard: Shinjirarenai (信じられない)

Kare wa chigatte mieru (彼は違って見える): "He looks different."