In a previous post, I said I would post descriptions of the stories I made in high school. I thought I'd start with the short story ideas. The first four ideas are about spirits/yokai. Then there's three more short stories before the story prompts. Many of the titles are temporary.
Index:
- Arrogance
- Growing Together
- Spirit
- Disconnected
- Heartstrings
- Children of the Library
- Our Song
- Story Prompts
Arrogance:
One day, Nari was walking home from school and sees an elderly woman collapse. He goes to help her. However, it was an act caused by the yokai who possessed her. The yokai now possesses Nari, and Nari loses consciousness.
This yokai was originally traveling back home when it got caught by a more powerful yokai that eats humans. The yokai is made to work for the human-eating yokai by possessing humans and leading them to the forest where the human-eating yokai is.
Nari and a group of others who are possessed are lead to a forest. When they regain their consciousness, they see the human-eating yokai. Only humans who are possessed by spirits can see other spirits. A group of exorcists comes and saves them (exorcists are possessed by a very weak spirit so they can see other spirits). The exorcists lead them to their place, so they could exorcise the spirits possessing them. However, the yokai possessing Nari doesn’t let go of him.
The yokai doesn’t let go of Nari because it needs to possess a human to go home. The yokai’s home is in the mountains and someone placed a barrier so spirits cannot pass through the barrier; however, a yokai can pass through if they possess a human.
Nari goes back to his regular life, but he can now see spirits. Nari saves another yokai from being bullied, and the yokai tries to repay Nari. The yokai gives him edible flowers and follows him around. Nari has a regular check up at the exorcists' place and talks to one of the exorcists in charge of his check ups; Nari talks to him about his problems, and the exorcist gives Nari advice.
Nari is a rather closed and private person. He appears to be cold and arrogant. He gradually learns to look at and understand other people’s situations. This allows him to talk to the yokai possessing him and work out a deal.
This story was inspired by Natsume Yuujinchou and a random day dream of someone waking up in a bus by himself during a sunset. The only company is the bus driver who may or may not be human.
Growing Together:
Suzume’s mother did not make it in time to the hospital when she was pregnant, so she went to the nearest building with her husband. They went to a shrine to have help delivering the baby. Suzume was born with a very weak spirit; she would die if nothing was done. Spirits gathered around in curiosity and one yokai helped her. He possessed her and gave her a lot of his spiritual energy to strengthen her spirit. Suzume soon got better. However, if he left her, Suzume would fall sick again, so the yokai had no choice but to continue possessing Suzume. This allowed Suzume to see spirits; however, she couldn’t see the yokai possessing her.
The yokai who helped Suzume used to be human. He died at a shrine and a very powerful yokai took pity on him and turned him into a spirit. The yokai watches over Suzume and sort of views her as a daughter.
This story was inspired by Hotarubi no Mori e.
Spirit:
Yuuto can see spirits. There is one particular yokai named Ryo who follows him. Ryo wants to posses Yuuto but needs Yuuto’s permission or else Ryo would be forcefully rejected. Ryo tries to convince him by saying that if Yuuto agrees to be possessed, he could fight all the people he dislikes. Yuuto ignores Ryo, but they end up having a companion-like relationship.
Every yokai has to possess a living being in a given time frame or else they’ll disappear. The more spiritual energy a being has, the more powerful a spirit feels. This is why Ryo is attracted to Yuuto. Since Ryo cannot possess Yuuto, he possesses Yuuto’s cat.
Yuuto’s classmates tell him that he’s full of good luck because people who were feeling negative become refreshed after meeting him. This is because Yuuto removes the harmful spirits from them.
Eventually, Yuuto becomes possessed by another yokai. This yokai only influences his thoughts and forces Yuuto to focus on the negative parts of his life that he wants to avoid. He receives help from Ryo and is able to face and accept these parts of his life.
Disconnected:
There is a boy who feels very tired and feels as if there is a veil over his brain. He feels as if his mind is not completely aligned with his brain and any words pass through his ears; he finds it very difficult to concentrate. One day, he realizes that his conscious/spirit is disconnected from his body. He meets a spirit who explains the situation, and the boy befriends him. The spirit guides the boy to try to find a way to get back to his body. The boy makes a deal with the spirit, and the spirit controls his body. He realizes that the spirit has been manipulating him the entire time.
This was inspired by the disconnected feeling I sometimes felt that lasted for a few months. I felt like there was a veil over my brain and that my mind and brain wasn’t aligned. I’m not sure why I experience that.
Heartstrings:
There are people who can manipulate “heartstrings”. Heartstrings are broken through emotional pain or stress. Some heartstrings are able to repair themselves over time while others need help. Those who need help to repair their heartstrings go to the people who can manipulate heartstrings. Manipulators cannot manipulate their own heartstrings; they can see their own but cannot heal it. There are good manipulators who only intend on healing, but there are bad manipulators who don’t repair the heartstrings; they focus on negatively influencing people.
The protagonist is able to manipulate heartstrings; however, her own heartstrings are broken. She keeps her broken heartstrings a secret. She travels from town to town and offers to repair other people’s heartstrings.
This story was inspired by Hearts For Sale by Miyuli.
Children of the Library:
The library is a place full of magic, and occasionally favors certain children who are then called “Children of the Library”. The library grants them the ability to use its magic and travel to different places. However, people discriminate against the children of the library. Sometimes, people send out a “wolf” to catch the children.
Theo’s parents are librarians who made a library. There are rumors that the library is alive. Theo spends most of his time in the library and even stays overnight. One day, Theo was walking home from visiting his grandmother’s house and meets someone who calls himself the wolf. When he sees Theo, he chases after him. Theo uses the power of the library and accesses a book, which transports him to Elizabeth’s garden. Theo is loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood.
Elizabeth lives in a place where children of the library are heavily discriminated against. Her town banned libraries from being built; however, Elizabeth’s parents built a mini library in their home. When someone found the library, Elizabeth’s house was burned down. One of her relatives told her parents that she was cursed. Her parents ignored them, and they moved into their second house with a library hidden in their greenhouse. Elizabeth is loosely based on the Three Little Pigs.
Eventually, the wolf meets Elizabeth and Theo. Elizabeth is also a child of the library. They use the library’s power to travel to Nathaniel’s town. Nathaniel attends university and is also an informant. He keeps his identity as a child of the library a secret. He has a good friend named Lilian who is not a child of the library, but she knows his secret. Nathaniel temporary houses Elizabeth and Theo. He is loosely based on The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
The wolf meets Nathaniel, Elizabeth, and Theo; however, the wolf lets them go. Nathaniel reveals that he and the wolf used to be friends when they were younger. Nathaniel used to be a shepherd and often talked to the wolf, whose name is William, to pass the time. One day, his sheep were missing, and he never saw William again. Nathaniel eventually talks to William and learns that William is also a child of the library and people are using his abilities to capture other children of the library.
This story was inspired by pictures of gigantic, fancy, and magical looking libraries on tumblr. Then I noticed the “wolf” appears in multiple fairy tales.
Our Song:
Haruto Ito is a first year university student majoring in music. In school, he is known as an otaku because he is a vocaloid producer. One day, Chihiro Hanasawa, one of the most talented singers in the grade who won multiple singing contests, asked to listen to some of his music. A few days later, Haruto discovers that one of his favorite utaite covered a song of his. Chihiro approaches Haruto again and asks if they could collaborate in the future.
Some of his classmates were jealous of the attention Haruto was getting. When their teacher asked someone to volunteer to sing, they suggested Haruto while thinking Haruto was poor at singing and just delusional about his attraction towards music. Haruto was a pretty good singer, and Chihiro happened to stop by and listen. She suggested that Haruto become a utaite (someone who covers vocaloid songs). Haruto quickly gains popularity online partly because of Chihiro’s help.
There is an open mic event at school, and Chihiro and Haruto sign up. Chihiro encourages Haruto to make a new song for both of them to sing. There is a sudden onslaught of negative comments on Haruto’s videos making fun of his singing. The negative comments combined with the mocking of his classmates influenced Haruto to say that he doesn’t want to sing anymore. When Chihiro tries to consult him, he snaps at Chihiro and tells her that she doesn’t have to worry about this since she’s always been good at singing. She slaps him and walks away. Haruto learns more about Chihiro from her friend, and he apologizes to her.
They make up and create a song just in time for the event. The two perform a beautiful duet with someone filming it for them to post online. There is a large support from the live audience and the online audience.
This story was loosely inspired from a dream I had. The duet song I imagined was something like “Aitai” covered by Hanatan and Pokota.
Story Prompts:
There is a witch who is afraid of heights and is shown how fun flying could be by an angel.
Fairies hold dandelions like an umbrella. Their goal is to spread the seed of the dandelion. If someone were to go up to them while the dandelion still had its seeds, they could be granted a wish as long as they spread the seed of that particular dandelion.
Inspired by these photos.
People are allowed one wish to come true in their life. Most people waste their wish in their childhood by wishing for trivial things. People sell jars containing stars they captured. These jars of stars can make a wish come true even if someone used their one wish.
Partly inspired by the third photo. The other part is based on the belief I had as a child that you are only granted one wish except on special occasions (birthdays, shooting stars, etc).
There are gigantic jellyfish floating above the ocean. They protect the ocean from humans who intend to pollute its waters.
Inspired by the first photo.
