It was soft and plump.
Even in his usual form, people were always surprised when he told them his age, saying he looked like a child, so maybe he had rounder cheeks than the average male around his age. But in his current form, those cheeks were clearly squishy, and he found them pleasant to touch.
The most noticeable scrape he’d gotten was on his right cheek, but Shino had taken care of it, along with the other scratches, while they bathed, clucking his tongue the whole time.
Masamichi recalled how they had both been stark naked as Shino had made him sit on a small chair in the bathroom and kneeled in front of him. It had been a while since they’d gotten out of the bath, but the vivid images made his cheeks flush.
“The skin on your young cheeks is so elastic and stretchy that it’s like a joke,” Shino had said, pulling on Masamichi’s cheeks and making him cry out, “Ow!” as a small way to relieve his pent-up anger. As he did, he washed away the dust that was stuck to Masamichi’s cuts with hot water and carefully licked the wounds that were still fresh.
After savoring Masamichi’s blood to his heart’s content, he’d used a little of his magical power and, looking like it was a big hassle, quickly healed the wounds.
“Was this how you made my wounds disappear when we first met?” Masamichi had asked.
Shino had held his hand over the last remaining wound on his knee and said bluntly, “It was much more complicated then. I had to regenerate everything, starting with the bones that had been broken and shattered.”
“Oh, that’s right…! I remember now. Sorry.”
“You’d better be. The other small cuts are a pain. You heal them yourself.”
With that, Shino had licked the blood off his finger and poured a generous amount of body soap on a towel. “Let’s get rid of Kagiroi’s stink from your body,” he’d declared…
“You rubbed so hard with that towel that my skin stings all over,” Masamichi couldn’t help saying honestly as he plopped down on a cushion.
He had always thought the cushion that Yoriko had made by hand was too small, but now it seemed awfully big. The tabletop was also high when he sat down.
I really have become tiny.
“It’s because you so carelessly got Kagiroi’s smell all over you. I even applied moisturizer to your skin, didn’t I?”
“I really do appreciate that.”
It was depressing that as soon as he tried to say something complicated, his pronunciation suddenly became unclear. Masamichi slumped down in defeat. Shino was clad in casual sweats; his hair was still damp, and he had put away the tape measure and headed downstairs to the shop area.
He soon returned carrying a paper bag.
“Whatever. We’re having dinner now.”
With that, he placed the bento boxes he had gotten in Kanazawa on the table.
One large, flat paper box had a picture of a fish and the words TROUT SUSHI on the top.
The other box was packed full of something square wrapped in bamboo leaves.
“Trout fish… Yum. And what’s this other one?”
“Bamboo leaf–wrapped sushi,” Shino replied. “I kept seeing sushi at the train station and bought it, figuring it must be good.”
“I see. Oh, we need tea! I’ll go, and… I guess I can’t make tea in the state I’m in.”
Masamichi had started to get up as usual and sat back down, dejected. Shino snorted.
“Maybe you can manage with a step stool, but you’ll only make my job more difficult if you get scalded with boiling water or something. Never mind. Just stay seated.”
“Ngh… Sorry.”
“Here. You can get this ready.”
Before going to the kitchen, Shino placed a small, lightweight paper bag in front of Masamichi.
“What is it?”
Masamichi opened it and found what looked like monaka—bean jam–filled wafers—labeled TAKARA-NO-FU, which meant “Treasure Wheat Gluten.” It was much lighter than popular sweets and made a dry, rustling sound when he picked it up.
Although Masamichi’s body was now that of a child, he fortunately still had an adult brain.
He was thinking clearly and felt that he hadn’t lost his knowledge and judgment at all.
I recall stories about characters like that in anime or manga, but now that I think about it, it’s certainly better than the alternative, where a child becomes an adult.
Strangely convinced that things could have been worse, Masamichi used his small hands to clumsily open the paper card attached to the wheat-gluten package.
He read the instructions. It seemed this was a fancy product that had the ingredients for a clear soup tucked inside the wheat-gluten wafer balls.
“Ah! It’s an instant soup! That, I should be able to manage.”
Feeling a little better, Masamichi jumped up. He was surprised by how tiny his steps were, but it was a small tea room, and he quickly reached the cupboard.
The low cupboard was easy to approach even with a child’s body, and the soup bowls that he and Shino always used were lightweight lacquer—light enough to handle with a child’s hands.
“…Oh.”
He noticed something as he stood there holding two stacked bowls firmly in his hands. He looked up at Shino’s back on the other side of the cupboard—which seemed much higher than usual—as the specter was in the process of putting a kettle of water on the stove.
Shino has to be taken aback by what has suddenly happened to me, but is he being considerate, giving me something to do so I won’t feel totally useless…?
Not that Shino would ever admit it. But even with a much smaller body and so very few tasks that he could perform, Masamichi felt much more at ease, knowing there was something that he could still do.
Even if it’s something as simple as bowls of instant soup.
He felt so miserable and pathetic that he wanted to cry, but that wasn’t going to help.
After being Shino’s servant for nine months, Masamichi had gone through a variety of experiences that were both unreasonable and mysterious. Even with his timid nature, perhaps his heart had become a little stronger.
I’m glad I could at least prepare this soup. Though, of course, I have to depend on Shino to boil the water for it.
Masamichi returned to the table with the soup bowls after casting a grateful glance at Shino.
He stacked three cushions and sat on them like a chair so he could be more comfortable, then went about preparing the instant soup.
First, he broke the seals on the small packets and poured the powdered stock into the soup bowls. Then he pressed the center of the crispy, fried wheat gluten to make large holes, although it was a challenging task for his tiny fingertips.
The first one didn’t go well. He ended up making a very ugly hole in the center, so that would be his soup. His second try wasn’t bad. He managed to make a clean, gourd-shaped hole in the gluten.
He could see the freeze-dried green onions and tiny, colorful pieces of wheat gluten packed inside the hole. It was adorable, like a miniature playhouse.
Shino soon brought a whistling kettle to the table and poured boiling water into the holes that Masamichi had made.
The green onions, seaweed, and cute little morsels of wheat gluten came flying out the holes, and the wheat-gluten exterior that had served as a container for the ingredients slowly softened.
“It’s beautiful,” Masamichi remarked, but Shino returned to the kitchen without reacting and returned with a tray carrying the tea utensils.
“Drink the tea after it’s cooled down. Hot tea would be too much for a child,” Shino said as he placed a teacup in front of himself and a small mug before Masamichi, whose eyes widened in surprise at his master’s consideration. He’d brought him a mug with a handle so he wouldn’t burn himself.
“…Thanks.”
Again, Shino didn’t respond, since specters weren’t in the habit of greeting or reacting to people’s expressions of gratitude.
Shino opened the paper wrapping and deftly sliced the circular sushi with the knife that came with the package. He placed a slice shaped like a pizza on his and Masamichi’s plates, then added a piece of the bamboo leaf–wrapped sushi alongside them.
“Eat. Kagiroi stole your chi, didn’t he? You’re very weak.”
Seated on a stack of cushions, Masamichi immediately stiffened when Shino pointed that out. His young face froze with regret.
“I’m sorry.”
It was a blunder for which he could make no excuses, having a specter other than his master steal his chi. He clenched his tiny fists around his petite knees, prepared to have Shino scold him.
But although Shino was curt, he responded without particularly seeming angry.
“As a human, there is nothing you could have done against Kagiroi. It’s good enough that you remained alive.”
Masamichi was surprised that Shino wasn’t lecturing him. Shino pointed to his plate and said, “Never mind—just eat. The only way for a human to regain the chi taken from them is to eat and sleep. Don’t neglect to make the efforts that you’re able to make now.”
“…Okay.” Truth be told, Masamichi had no appetite at all, but he reached for his chopsticks since it was his master’s order. “Oops.”
The long chopsticks for adults were difficult to use with the hands of a child.
“Ngh, I can’t do this. I’ll eat with my hands.” Masamichi reluctantly picked up the trout sushi and took a bite. “Even my mouth is small…!”
The bite he thought he took and the amount of food that entered his mouth were completely unmatched. Although he had shrunk, the experiences he had accumulated over many years resulted in muscle memory, and the imbalance made him extremely uncomfortable.
But fortunately, his taste buds had apparently remained unchanged.
The rice, seasoned to achieve a strong, sweet vinegary taste, was pressed tightly together with the thinly sliced trout, and it was easy to eat, even with his tiny hands.
“This is great,” Masamichi said in earnest, and Shino nodded as he also grabbed his trout sushi and gobbled it up.
“When Tokifuyu first made me his apparition, I couldn’t use chopsticks, either, so I threw tantrums and broke dozens of them. I still don’t mind eating food with my hands like this.”
As he munched on the trout sushi like a squirrel, Masamichi widened his eyes when Shino suddenly started telling him about the past.
“They had chopsticks back during the Heian period?”
“They used willow chopsticks at the time. Tokifuyu got busy burying the chopsticks I broke at the base of the willow trees in the garden.”
“Like a funeral?”
Shino grinned and nodded.
“Yeah. He’d exaggerate, saying he would at least allow the poor chopsticks that couldn’t fulfill their roles to serve as nourishment for their counterparts.”
“You thought he was exaggerating…? I can understand how he felt. Tokifuyu was a kind person, wasn’t he?”