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Japanese Tourist Trap

It was a warm, breezy summer afternoon, the sun beating down from the blue sky full of large puffy white clouds. Clyde sat down at a bench to the side of the road leading to Nara's majestic Tōdai-ji temple complex, his head down upon his smartphone as he read his friends' posts on Facebook and commented on a few of them. Of course, he had made a few posts of his own, musing about the temple he had just toured and even posted a few photos of his adventures.

Giving his eyes a break from the small reflective screen, he switched his attention to the constant stream of people walking and talking past him. Some minded their own business, while others gawked and even pointed at him as they walked. Clyde had long since learned to ignore them; in such an ethnically homogenous country such as Japan, foreigners were already not a common sight for most people, to say nothing of Black foreigners, which Clyde was. Though once they got past his skin, most people he encountered were very nice and friendly, if not overly curious. He loved talking and interacting with the locals, and overall meeting new people wherever he went.

This was not his first time visiting Japan; he had traveled to the island nation thrice before, and this was the first in which he spent it in the Kansai region. The truth was, he had always had an interest in Japan. Like many others, it started with their media: video games, anime, and manga; through those and especially the latter two, an idealized image of Japan formed in his head during his teens. However, as he got older, he grew less interested in the entertainment and more into Japanese culture itself. It truly was a beautiful nation, with many cultural and historic landmarks, such as the Tōdai-ji he sat outside of, which he had just finished touring. Touring with a new friend he had made the day after he had arrived in Osaka, and who showed him around the city that day.

In actuality, he was sitting on the bench because he was waiting for the return of said friend, who had left to use the restroom. It had been almost fifteen minutes, but perhaps there was a line, he speculated.

As he played around with a table tennis game on his phone, he noticed two young school-aged boys approach him. They must have been around 8 or 9 years old. They both stared curiously at him--perhaps even in astonishment--before whispering to each other, shooting glances at him all the while.

'These kids are talking about me,' Clyde thought to himself. While he normally would ignore this, it was hard to do so when they were right in front of him.

After talking amongst each other for a little bit longer, the boy on the right took a step forward and then, in completely broken English, said, "You raiku rappu?"

It took all of Clyde's willpower to not laugh in the child's face. He had long since gotten used to people making assumptions about him solely due to his race; it was just a fact of life as a Black person in Japan.

That said, he did indeed like rap music. He did not want to let the kid know that, though.

"No," he answered back with a shake of his head, and then focused back on his phone in hand. Afterwards, he could hear the two boys conversing with each other in Japanese, quite loudly in fact. Perhaps they didn't know, but while he was not yet completely fluent in the language, he knew more than enough to take care of himself, and thus, he could understand them quite well.

"He said he doesn't like rap!" the boy who talked to him told his friend, sounding shocked at this false information.

"But I thought they all liked rap!" his friend exclaimed. "What should we ask him next?"

"What about where he's from?"

"No, that's boring. Think of something else."

"Um... What about basketball? ...How do you say that in English?"

"Uh... 'Basukettobaru'?" the boy's friend guessed, said in the same broken English, no less.

The first boy approached him again, and began to speak, but before a sound could leave his mouth, he was interrupted.

"You boys, get away from that man!!" ordered a female voice in Japanese, with an Osakan dialect; it was a voice that Clyde recognized.

Both boys were taken aback by this sudden rebuke, shooting guilty looks--not unlike that of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar--in the direction of the voice before running off.

Clyde turned his head and partially his body towards where the commanding voice had come from, and indeed, it was his friend Mitsumi, a resident of Osaka City. The petite, attractive young woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair and dark eyes was clothed in a plaid shirt (colors a mix of burgundy, navy blue, and white) completely buttoned up except for the one at the collar, thigh-high jean shorts that left most of her pale legs exposed, and tan flip-flops; the latter he had been especially delighted to see after his borderline nagging. Overall, it was a casual style perfect for a day such as this, and she completed the ensemble with a pink purse with a long strap slung over her left shoulder.

He gave her a friendly smile, which she returned in kind with blushing cheeks. "Thanks for getting rid of them," he said in English as he stood up. "I would have, but that would've caused a scene."

"Yes, I understand," she said, also in English but with an accent; she was still learning the language, but had a decent grasp on it and insisted that they spoke English to each other as much as possible. "That would not have been good. But you could have told them to leave."

"I don't know if they would've listened. ...But forget them. Where should he go next?"

"Hmm..." Mitsumi looked towards the sky as she pondered his question over in her head. "How about the Kasuga-taisha?" she said as her eyes returned to his face.

"Sounds good. Where is it?"

"To the south. I think it is twenty minutes from here if we walk."

"Alright. Let's go."

Departing from the path to the temple's main hall, Clyde and Mitsumi walked down the side of the road, chatting about various things all the while as they bypassed many pedestrians walking to and from the temple or elsewhere. Their path took them through Nara Park, where more people stood around talking or watching the wildlife. They had explored the park before touring the Tōdai-ji.

As they trekked, Clyde and Mitsumi constantly shifted from subject to subject, from the various variety TV shows that were on the air to talk of their first day together, in which they visited Osaka Castle, the Shitennō-ji shrine, the Kaiyukan Aquarium, and other landmarks within the city, before closing out the night at Dōtonbori. She teased him over how, the day prior while sightseeing in Kyoto, he insisted upon seeing the world headquarters of video game giant Nintendo; of course, he knew that he would not be allowed inside, but just taking pictures of the exterior was enough to brag about.

"After the shrine, you wanna get something to eat?" Clyde asked, as they neared their destination.

Mitsumi nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea. I know of some... restaurants? Is that right?"

"Yeah, that's the word. Anyway, you know this area better than me, so I guess I'll let you take the lead."

Mitsumi smiled. "Leave it to me, Kuraido-kun!" She said with bubbly enthusiasm.

"I guess it's pointless to tell you to stop calling me that," Clyde said, her nickname for him having since grown on him a bit. "...Mitsu-chan." He teased, which made her giggle.

Soon, they made it to the path leading directly to the Kasuga Grand Shrine's entrance, with handfuls of people pouring to and from it as well, some of them clearly tourists as well.

"Here we are," Clyde said. "Lots of people here as well."

"It's a very popular place," Mitsumi stated. "It's... what am I trying to say... rivered?"

"'Revered'?" Clyde suggested.

"Yes!" She excitedly exclaimed. "Anyway, it's revered as one of the greatest Shinto shrines in the nation."

"Oh, sweet. What else can you tell me about it?"

"Well..."

The two walked towards the shrine as Mitsumi recited everything she knew of the history of the shrine, that it once belonged to the powerful Fujiwara family, and that it had been torn and rebuilt many times in its history. She also mentioned that a few times a year, all three thousand lanterns in the shrine would be all lit at the same time, during the Setsubun Mantoro and Obon Mantoro festivals, in February and August, respectively; unfortunately, Clyde would not be able to see it during this trip. As they trekked along the long path leading to the shrine, Clyde took pictures of the surrounding area, full of trees in which he could see deer roaming about. There were also many stone lanterns aside the path, and at one point, he had Mitsumi use his phone to take a picture of him standing before a line of them.

More people were congregated at the main shrine, and among other things there, there was a statue of a deer sitting down, which Clyde snapped a photo of with his phone. According to Mitsumi, deer were once considered sacred animals, and remain a protected species on the grounds. They wandered around the area, chatting more about the shrine and occasionally changing the subject to other things as well. When he planned the trip, he was fully prepared to take in the sights of Kansai alone, but he was happy to be able to share his time with a new friend.

After paying the entry fee, the two spent a considerable amount of time exploring its interior as well. Clyde was marveled by the regal, historic structures of the shrine, and the interior contained even more lanterns, many of which hung from above. Again, he took several pictures inside, not only of the building, but even some of the employees; shrine maidens, if you will, considering their traditional get-up. One even posed in a picture with him, which Mitsumi took; he urged that she got in the picture as well, but she refused each time; it seemed she was rather camera-shy.

Eventually, they arrived at a garden, full of wisteria flowers. Far ahead was another female shrine employee, who like the others dressed up like a traditional shrine maiden and appeared to be several years younger than the 25-year-old Clyde and Mitsumi, perhaps even still in high school. She stood beside a transparent box, inside which were a bunch of rolled paper slips.

"Do you want a o-mikuji?" Mitsumi asked him.

O-mikuji were slips that supposedly told one's fortune. It could be good or bad, but the outcome was completely random. Normally, he wouldn't waste his time or money on such things, but in the spirit of the culture, he figured, why not just this once?

Approaching the box together, Clyde took a brief look at the contents, before turning to address the maiden, in Japanese, "How much for one?"

"Two hundred yen," she replied.

With a shrug, he dug out his wallet and pulled out a 200 yen bill, before handing the note to the young woman. She opened the lid and reached her hand inside, picking one out at random and then handing it to him. She then smiled and bowed, saying "Thank you very much, mister."

"You're welcome," Clyde replied.

"Oh, and I must say," she added, "you two are a very cute couple."

Clyde and Mitsumi exchanged stymied glances between each other; he could see some rosiness in Mitsumi's cheeks as she worked out in her mind the right words to say.

"W-we are just friends," Mitsumi chided. "Please don't make assumptions about things like that."

"I'm sorry, miss. That was inappropriate of me." She bowed again, this time in apology.

"It's okay," Clyde told her. "Don't worry about it." In truth, Clyde did not mind the assumption, but it seemed that such things embarrassed his friend. He found that trait of hers a bit endearing.

"What does it say?" Mitsumi asked, looking at the roll of paper in his hand.

He unfurled the paper, revealing the text that had been written upon it in black ink. A bulk of it was in kanji; Clyde had to admit that his knowledge of kanji was not exactly the best in the world. However, the hiragana still told him the general gist of the fortune. For its general blessing were the characters "dai-kyō", which meant "great curse".

"Whoa, it says I'm cursed," a somewhat intrigued Clyde said to Mitsumi in English, who seemed to be taking the fortune more seriously.

"What!?" she exclaimed in worried shock. "That's not good."

Reading on along with Mitsumi, he saw the characters "negaigoto" and "usemono", essentially meaning the wish or desire of someone, and something being lost, respectively. Putting it all together, it sounded as if something would be stolen from him. Whether it was something tangible or not was ambiguous.

"You're going to lose something..." she muttered in an apprehensive tone.

He smirked amusingly; he was not one to fall for such superstitions anyway.

"This is a pretty wild fortune," Clyde said, before deciding to play along with it. He switched over to Japanese and started to talk to the maiden. "I'm from Detroit, so I can imagine something like this happening to me."

The maiden looked shocked to hear this; Detroit's sordid reputation had preceded it, even though Clyde knew that certain parts of the city were not as bad as the media had painted the city as a whole.

"If you want to negate it, you can tie it to a tree," the maiden told him, before pointing towards a tree in front of her to her left, behind Clyde and Mitsumi. Said tree already had a large number of o-mikuji tied to its branches; it seemed that the people there were a superstitious lot. Either that, or like him, they did it just to partake in the culture. He didn't mind either way.

Perhaps it was arrogance on his part, but Clyde decided to forego the negation ritual. Mainly because he wanted to keep the slip as a souvenir.

"I'll be fine," Clyde told the maiden. "Whatever happens, I'll deal with it when the time comes."

Both the maiden and Mitsumi were stunned upon hearing this.

"Are you sure, mister?" the maiden confirmed.

Clyde nodded. "Yes," he said as he shoved the o-mikuji into his pocket. "Thank you, miss." He bowed to her, which she did in return.

He walked away from the maiden and the box, with Mitsumi at his side. She was still rather frazzled that he did not choose to save himself from whatever ill fortune awaited him in the near future.

"But it did not tell you what you would lose!" Mitsumi ranted. "Are you sure you want to take that?"

"I've been through worse in my life," Clyde said. "Like I said, I'm from Detroit. I grew up in the bad part, saw people get robbed or worse. Even got into trouble a few times myself. But I survived all of that, went to college, and got a good job, and I have a nice house in the suburbs."

"'Suburbs'? How do you mean?"

"Kōgai." Clyde figured that the Japanese equivalent of the term was enough of an explanation for her.

An expression of realization formed on her face. "Oh I see. But... I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Nothing's going to happen," Clyde said as the two of them stopped on the side of the path; he gave her a reassuring smile. "Trust me."

She stared at him for a few seconds--her brown eyes lit by the sunlight gazing into his own--before smiling back. "Okay, I trust you." He was glad to see that she was calm again, and her warm, sweet smile was one thing about her that he enjoyed seeing.

"You really do have a cute smile, you know that?" Clyde told her. "I'm taking a picture of it!"

"No!" She shyly blurted. "...If you want to take a picture of me so much, then you can take my feet." She looked down at her bare feet in her flip-flops. "Why did you make me wear these?"

"I didn't 'make' you wear them, I just suggested it," Clyde said as he actually prepared to pull out his phone. "And I think you have cute feet, too." Activating the camera, he focused the lens downward at her pale feet, particularly on her unpolished toes and the straps of her sandals with the brand name Havaianas imprinted on them in raised text.

"I should have worn my walking shoes. These sandals are not good for all of this walking we're going," she complained in Japanese, before swiping at his phone before he could take the shot. "S-stop!" she bashfully ordered in English.

"But you just said I could take a picture," he teased.

"I didn't mean it!" She pouted as she folded her arms, her cheeks once again red.

Clyde chuckled as he closed the camera app and put his phone away. "Alright, alright," he yielded. "By the way, what's your shoe size?"

"Twenty-three," she answered.

"Ah." That was clearly by Japanese standards; he could not think off-hand how that converted to US sizes, but he estimated that she must be around a 5 by US shoe standards. Pretty small, which was not unexpected.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just wanted to know. Anyway, where else have we not gone yet...?"

Resuming their walk, they explored the shrine for a while longer, while also speaking with some of the other visitors and tourists, some of whom also believed the two of them to be a romantic couple, much to Mitsumi's chagrin. Clyde wondered who those assumptions were working her up so much; though perhaps deep down, she wished for it to actually be true. Not that he would have minded if the situation was different, but a long distance relationship was not something he was willing to get involved with. Still, though, both of them had a great time within the shrine's grounds.

Having exited the Kasuga Grand Shrine, Clyde and Mitsumi arrived back onto the main road. He pulled out his phone to check the time: 4:47pm, it read. Still quite early, considering.

"I want to show you something," Mitsumi said as the two of them walked down the sidewalk.

"What's that?" Clyde asked.

"It's a place that I really like. In the... uh, woodland."

"The woods? I thought you thought of a place where we can go to eat."

"We can do that after."

"...Alright. Where is this place?"

She grinned. "Follow me."

Now with Mitsumi leading the way, the two walked along the road, chatting with each other all the while. Clyde tried to pry more information out of her about why exactly she was leading him to the woods, but all she would tell him was that it was a beautiful, peaceful place, and that she wanted to share it with him. He was eager to see the woods for himself, but there was a small part deep within that was suspicious, and in the back of his mind the words on the fortune he had received earlier flashed back, that he would meet with a curse and would lose something.

He wondered... Was the fortune talking about Mitsumi? Was she planning to rob him? No... Not her. He knew that such a nice woman did not have it in her, nor would this 5-foot-5, petite young lady be able to overpower him, a 6-foot-1 young man who though not exactly a star athlete, he still had a bit of muscle on him and he visited the gym at least twice a week. There was nothing to worry about, one way or the other. He put both those thoughts and the fortune out of his mind; he was clearly overthinking it. It was simply prewritten text prepared perhaps days ago. Any one schmuck could have gotten it in his stead.

The path they took led through winding and branching trails, until they eventually left the paved trail and trekked into the surrounding trees. Clyde took more pictures of the growth around him, of the trees of course but also of the deer that roamed within. Most of them went about their own business, while others fled once they caught sight of the two of them. Such graceful creatures, he thought.

The grass and dirt crunched beneath their shoes as they kept walking, Mitsumi leading him further and further into the woods. Before long, he could see no sight of any path or road around him, nor could he see the world outside of the forest. Above, the leaves of the trees obscured much of his view of the sky, its large white clouds still present. Aside from the cries of birds and insects, the place was quiet, almost serene.

Mitsumi finally came to a stop. "I like coming here to think," she said as she looked around. "It's far from all the noise in Osaka and Nara Kōen."

"Yeah, it's a really nice place," Clyde said. "If you ever wanted to get away from people and be one with nature, this is the place."

Mitsumi turned around, facing Clyde. "Yes, it's really far away from people... No one will disturb us, Kuraido-kun."

Clyde blinked in peculiarity. "Wait, what do you mean?"

She blushed as she stepped closer to him. She shyly dropped her head down towards the ground, before she took hold of both of his hands in hers. By then, it was clear what she was aiming towards, and what the purpose of this diversion into the woods was. To be frank, he wasn't all too surprised.

"Now I get it," he said as she pulled her face closer to his, standing on her tippytoes to do so. "But you know I'm going back to America in two days, right?"

"Yes, I know. But it does not matter. I just want to be with you right now."

"Alright, Mitsu-chan." Clyde allowed her soft pinkish lips to press against his own.

Their arms wrapped around each other, embracing each other as they made out in the otherwise quiet forest. He would be lying to himself if he said that he did not think of the possibility of a short-lived fling with Mitsumi, though due to her shyness, he did not think it would actually happen. Just getting her to wear her flip-flops had been enough of a victory for him.

Mitsumi briefly pulled away, her cheeks awash with blush and her mouth curved into a sheepish smile as her dark brown eyes gazed right into his.

"I have never done this before," she said. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

"There's always a first time for everything," Clyde said, brushing a bit of her hair to the side of her forehead. "As long as we don't get caught."

She eagerly grinned, before pulling him to a nearby tree and resuming their kiss. With one foot pressed up against the tree behind her, her hands remained wrapped around his waist. He rubbed his right hand up-and-down alongside her milky left leg. It was clear what was going on; they had both given in to their carnal desires.

It would not be his first fling, either; Clyde had several other such casual encounters while in Japan during his previous trips, with locals, expatriates, and even other tourists. While it made it sound like she was just another tally on his personal wall, Mitsumi would just be the latest in the line of women that he had bedded while in Japan. Or perhaps, in this case, "wooded"; he was not sure if, due to the proximity to the shrine, they were still on what was considered sacred ground, but his libido told him to disregard it. They were so far in that no one would see or perhaps even hear them; though he hoped that Mitsumi would not be too loud. He had to admit that doing it with her on the forest floor held a sort of forbidden thrill.

Clyde began to unbutton Mitsumi's shirt as their lips were still locked, starting with the second-highest button, the top one having since been unattached. His heart began to race, as he felt a bulge in his crotch. His mind wanted it, and his body wanted it. He was definitely going to deliver.

He unbuttoned the second after, revealing part of the white undershirt she wore. He knew what exactly he would do to her: he would lay her on the ground, kiss her whole body, suckle on her toes--of course; he had to do that--eat out her vagina, have her suck his brown manhood, and then finally plow into her. He had it all pictured in his mind, and just thinking about what would soon be coming made him even harder.

He went to unbutton the fourth down on her shirt. He would not rush the sex, either. He wanted both of them to enjoy this perhaps-taboo show of lust deep in the woods. After all, it was-



"Ugh..." Clyde pressed his hand against his forehead, in an attempt to pacify the headache he was feeling. He could feel something solid against his body below him, as if he was laying on the ground.

He wondered what had happened. The last thing he remembered, he was making out with Mitsumi in the woods near Kasuga Shrine, and then he suddenly blacked out. Perhaps it was divine intervention from the Shinto gods at their lewd and perhaps disrespectful display? No, he thought. That's ridiculous. So, what was it?

As the throbbing pain in his head faded away, he opened his eyes, and was met with a terrifying sight: the forest had gotten bigger. Not only bigger, but wider. He quickly stood to his feet, looking at the woods around him. The already-large forest seemed to go on for miles over his perceived horizon, and the already-tall trees stretched up even higher into sky. The tuffs of grass in the dirt were more like bushes compared to him.

"What the hell...?" Clyde said, rather concerned.

"Ah, you have awoken," spoke Mitsumi's voice from behind; however, much louder than he had grown accustomed to.

He turned around, expecting to see her face. Instead, his eyes met with her sandal-clad feet, both of which were as big and long as buses. Horrified, he craned his head upward, past her pillar-like legs to her shorts, then to her shirt--rebuttoned back to the way it was before their bout of lust--and then finally to her cute face, high over him like the top of a tall office building. Leaning back against the same tree as moments before, she looked directly down at him, but instead of the demure, sweet face he had grown accustomed to or one of worry or concern, she wore a more serious expression.

"Mitsumi...?" Clyde called. "What happened? What's going on? Why is everything so big?"

"This one has a lot of questions. But I guess that's expected," she said in Japanese, her tone now much more cold and harsh than he had known it before; both her words and her change of tone tipped off alarms in his head. She switched back to English as she started talking to him. "I think I can tell you the answer with one thing. I made you small."

Clyde could not believe what he had heard. "WHAT!? Are you kidding me?!"

"No, I don't kid. Look for yourself; I made you 8 senchi; I can't remember its English word." She folded her arms. "I am happy this worked out. I waited for three days, but I was at last able to get you."

"Wait... Days? Have you been planning this all this time?"

"Yes. The, uh..." Mitsumi let out a frustrated sigh, before speaking in her native Japanese. "The moment I caught sight of you in Osaka, I knew I had to get you. So I introduced myself, put on this cute shy girl performance to make you think that we were friends and even trust me, trust me enough to let me bring you into this forest." Then in English, "All just to my plan." She smirked.

Clyde's mouth dropped in sheer disbelief. He could not believe that Mitsumi, of all people, had been deceiving him all this time, and that for her, this had been nothing but game to see how long it was before he let down his guard. The sweet Mitsumi that he had known until now had all just been a manufactured persona; this darker Mitsumi that towered over him was her true self. He wished that he could have been able to detect that something was off about her beforehand.

Then, the o-mikuji fortune flashed in his mind, the "great curse" and his loss of something to another's desires. Was it possible...?

"W-why did you do this to me?" Clyde nervously asked.

She didn't answer. Instead, she unfolded her arms and pushed herself away from the tree and took a few small steps towards Clyde. Clyde backed away in trepidation, fearing just what this maniacal Japanese woman had in store for him.

Then, she lifted her right foot from the ground and held it high over him, giving him a clear view of the slightly-worn treads upon her flip-flop's sole. He did not marvel at it; he immediately turned and bolted in the opposite direction, just as the foot fell down and hit the ground behind him.

He fled in terror, trying to get as far away from Mitsumi as he could. However, she was just too big, or rather, he too small. Any distance he ran would be covered by her with only a single step. Her foot's shadow appeared around him again, and he dodged it again with a sharp turn, her ped kicking up dirt as it stomped on the ground.

Five more times, Mitsumi attempted to stomp him into the ground as he scurried along the forest floor, and each time he avoided meeting such a fate, if only barely. He could not believe what was happening; that the meek Mitsumi was actually trying to kill him in cold blood. He wanted to kick himself for even following her into the forest.

He leapt out of the way as she stomped down again, landing on the ground besides her foot. He looked upward to the giant woman above him; there was not a hint of remorse on her face at all. She coldly looked back down at him with disdain.

"Please..." Clyde began to beg. "Don't kill me. I'll do anything, just don't do this."

She pulled her foot back, and then kneeled down to bring herself closer to his level. He stood up, his body shaking in sheer terror. If there was a time for him to negotiate the terms of his life, this was it.

"Give me your money," she ordered, as she brought down her hand and opened her palm. "All of it."

Clyde grumbled as he pulled his wallet from his pocket and opened it. He retrieved every single bit of his cash: 70,650 yen in paper bills. Had robbery been her motive all this time? He could not believe that she had befriended him and nearly engaged in sexual intercourse just to get his money. Carrying the money in hand, he walked to her waiting hand and placed the stack onto its pale skin.

With the tiny bills in her hand, she lifted it from the ground and then, with her other hand, pointed her index finger towards the palm. Clyde was astonished to see a bolt of bright light shoot from it and it the palm, and soon after, he could see the ends of the money hanging over the sides of her hand. So that was how she shrunk him, he thought; she literally used magic, which was mindboggling enough that such a thing existed.

She counted through the cash, and after seemingly being satisfied with her haul, pulled her purse in front of her, unzipped it, and stored the bills inside.

Superstition or not, it seemed as if the o-mikuji fortune had hit its mark. He was starting to wish that he had tied the paper to the tree in the garden after all.

But what really stung was the strong sense of betrayal he was feeling. He knew that he should have been warier when she led him deep into these woods, but even if he did reject her proposal, how long would it have been before she inevitably made her move? Truly, he had completely misjudged Mitsumi, and had literally paid the price for it.

"Do you want my phone as well?" Clyde asked, angry and humiliated.

"No, you can keep it," she answered as she closed her purse and returned it to her side. "I don't need it."

"So, are you going to make me big again?" he asked.

"Mm," she mumbled. "I suppose..."

Great, he thought. Though he was now without cash, he at least still had his passport and other identification, and he could contact someone about what happened. He wanted to tell the authorities exactly what happened to him, but figured that her ability to shrink matter was a detail that was better off left unsaid; it was not like they would believe him, and it would hurt his credibility.

Additionally, that it was not like he could pursue her; it seemed that her method of shrinking caused unconsciousness, and by the time he would wake up, she would be long gone. Not to mention that she could simply just shrink him again. But he wondered if she would be willing to expose her powers if he confronted her while there were people around? Then again, with her penchant for deception, it was possible that she would play the crying victim and paint him as the bad guy; it would not even be hard for her to do so, as the people would assuredly believe one of their own over a foreigner, a Black one at that. It seemed she had it all planned out.

Even though nothing would likely come of it, he would have no choice but to report this crime to the authorities, as well as her name and appearance. ...If "Mitsumi" was even her real name.

"Okay, you ready?" Mitsumi asked as she pointed her finger at him.

"Just get this over with so I can get out of here," Clyde said, contempt in his tone.

There was a bright flash of light, and then darkness.



Clyde awoke again on the forest floor, once again with a headache, albeit a duller one than before. Even with that, all he had on his mind was getting out of the woods and reporting the crime as soon as he could, then making arrangements to return to the United States as soon as possible. Quickly regaining his bearings this time, he opened his eyes, expecting things to be as they were before the shrinking.

However, what he saw shocked him. Not only was the forest still gigantic, but it seemed to have gotten even bigger, perhaps about four times bigger. The same was the case with Mitsumi, who still kneeled over him, wearing a proud smirk on her face hanging above. He quickly shot to his feet, a mix of both horror and outrage festering within his core.

Mitsumi had not restored his height; the lunatic had made him even smaller than before.

"What the fuck!!!" Clyde shouted. "You made me smaller?!"

"That's right," she said in a smug, nonchalant manner.

Clyde had lost himself to rage. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"Hm? I don't know what that means, but my mind is right here." She pointed her index finger at her head.

"Change me back to normal!!" Clyde angrily demanded.

She shook her head. "No."

"You crazy bitch!! You're just going to leave me like this?!"

Unfazed by his insult, Mitsumi laughed a bit, taking amusement in his indignation. "Yes. Let me tell you something, Kuraido-kun." She said her nickname for him in a mocking, patronizing manner. "You are not the first I have made tiny. Back at my home, I have many men just like you."

Clyde's mouth dropped in disbelief. "What!?"

She brought her index finger down and lightly nudged him, which to him was enough to knock him to the ground. Before he could get back up, the very same finger pressed onto his chest, pinning him against the dirt. Clyde struggled, shoving and pushing at her massive column of bony flesh, but to no avail.

Her face flashed an evil, toothy grin. "Oh yes. Same as you, I tricked them by being friends with them. The foreigners were really easy. That is what I like most about you. You are all fools." Again, she started speaking the following in Japanese: "That's to say nothing about my fellow Japanese men. Some of them are so lonely and pathetic that they'll throw themselves at any woman who speaks to them. I have a lot of them, but while the foreigners fear me, some of the Japanese men treat me as a goddess. Even when I'm stepping on them." She cackled devilishly.

"You kill them?!" Clyde shouted. "Why?!"

She shrugged in indifference. "Sometimes they disobey me, or make me angry," she answered, still in Japanese. "Sometimes, I just kill them because I feel like it. I would pick one or more at random, put them on the floor, and see how long they last before I ultimately stomped them to death. I especially love crushing the foreigners, but I have to show moderation. Japanese men are very easy to replace, but foreigners, not so much."

"Wha...?" This woman was clearly unhinged to many degrees. He feared what fate would befall him, especially as she refused to restore his height.

Remaining in Japanese. "Though I don't have any Black foreigners in my collection. You guys are not easy to come by." She slightly increased the pressure her finger was applying to his chest. It was minute, but it was enough to send a searing pain through his chest, and he screamed as he felt his ribcage and organs bend and squeeze under the weight. She found mirth in his cries of pain, her lips curving into a wicked smile. "I love hearing you all scream. It's my nectar."

Clyde's comparably-tiny fists beat at her massive finger as he continually hollered in agony. Of course it was to no avail, as she kept up the pressure. His eyes started to water from the pain, and it felt as if his organs would be pressed out from his orifices.

"I would love to add you to my collection," Mitsumi said. "Like I said, I don't have any Black men."

Mercifully, her finger lifted off of his body and she pulled her hand back. Remaining on the ground, Clyde inhaled and exhaled heavily as he recovered from her assault, clutching his chest all the while. He stared up at her face, clear hatred in his eyes while her eyes, dark just like her soul, merely looked down at him with apathy.

"So, that's it? I'm going to be a prisoner of yours forever?!" Clyde shouted.

She briefly closed her eyes, as if she was thinking about something, and then shook her head as her eyelids rose back up. "No. It's true that I've never had a Black man in my collection. ...But it's also true that I have never killed a Black man. It's an opportunity that I don't want to pass me by, and I want you to be my first."

Clyde's mouth dropped agape in terror. "What!! No, please!! Wait!!"

"It's why I made you 2 centimeters tall. Large enough for me to feel you, but small enough to compress easily and leave behind a tiny, unnoticeable mess."

"Please don't!!" Clyde begged.

"I'm sorry, Clyde," she said, saying his name in perfect English around her Osakan Japanese, "but the thought of treading on you is just too tempting. I can't resist it any longer."

"Mitsu, please!!" Clyde frantically pleaded. Even though she had tried to stomp on him earlier, he had assumed that it was her way of scaring him into giving her his money; this time, she seemed dead serious in killing him. "Please don't kill me!! I'll do anything!! ANYTHING!!!"

She smiled evilly. "Good. Because all I want from you right now is to let me crush you under my foot."

"Mitsu!! Mitsu!!!" Clyde continued to call and beg as she stood up to her full height; seeing just how huge she was compared to him drove in the magnitude of his situation. Even before, she was already big, but now she was colossal. To him, she was truly a titan of a woman, while he barely rose higher than the sole of her flip-flops.

It seemed as if he truly had been cursed.

"Before I end this, I have to admit to you, Clyde," she said. "I did have fun with you these past three days, and you did help me develop my English. To that, I have to thank you. Had I have been a different type of woman, I may have even fallen in love with you."

"MITSU!!!" Clyde shouted, having little hope left that she would show him mercy.

"Now, if you even want to have a chance of saving yourself, there's one thing you can do for me." She grinned wickedly, and then said the English word: "Run."

There was nothing more that could be said. It was clear that she would not listen to his pleas to spare his life. She truly did intend to squash him like some kind of bug in this forest, and considering just how big she was, should he even bother trying to run from her?

His legs had started moving before he could even answer that question for himself. They had started to carry him away from the gigantic young woman, giving it their all as they worked to have Clyde escape with his life.

He heard Mitsumi giggle, before her left sandal-clad foot came down to the side of him. Shrieking in fear, he shifted his direction rightward to run from it. Soon after, her right foot blocked his path. He made another turn, just as the foot pulled back. He looked behind, only to see the same foot returning for him, the sole of her flip-flop coming down from above. He yelped as he hastened his pace, escaping the shadow just as it fell upon the ground.

During the prior round of stomping, she had lifted her foot up into the air before her attempts at crushing him; now, she was simply making small, casual steps in her efforts to rend him asunder. It truly showed just how insignificant he was to her.

Like a cat with a mouse, Mitsumi prolonged this as much as she could, almost-deliberately avoiding the tiny man by stepping in his path, or just narrowing missing him as her foot came down. Clyde knew that she could have easily killed him a long time ago if she wanted to, she was clearly getting a thrill from watching him struggle to survive.

"What's wrong?" Mitsumi coldly taunted, once again in her native tongue. "You said before that I have cute feet, but right now, you're running from them in terror. Don't you like them? Why don't you want to get a closer look?"

"Mitsu, stop!!" He yelled, thinking nothing about her feet at the moment except to avoid them. "Please stop th-" Before he could finish, he tripped and fell, just as her right foot too began to fall. He quickly got up and ran to his right, just barely escaping the deadly ped as it stepped down behind him.

During his minutes-long frenzied effort to save his life from her crushing steps, Clyde thought back to the much happier days before. Of all of the places he and Mitsumi had toured together: Osaka Castle, the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, Tennōji Park and its zoo, the Tō-ji temple in Kyoto, Nintendo's HQ--and particularly her ribbing of him for it--Kyoto Art Center, the Nara National Museum, the Tōdai-ji, the Kasuga Grand Shrine, and others. She was by his side through all of that; they shared laughter, meals, experiences, and even lust with each other. She was a very kind, friendly, down-to-earth young woman whom he would have loved to have been in continued contact with after going back to America, maybe even seeing if there was a romantic future if their stars aligned again. If things were different, he may have even been proud to have called her his wife someday.

Alas, everything about the Mitsumi that he had befriended was but a ruse, a concocted effort by her to not only shrink him, but to take his life away underneath the very feet that he had indeed admired. Taking his life... Losing his life to her desires... Just like what the fortune had said.

Her left foot stepped down right in front of him, so close that he could not stop himself from crashing into it. Laying on the ground, he looked upward, towards Mitsumi's face high above. She still wore the dark, cruel face of her true colors. Seeing no trace of the friend he knew within those eyes of hers made him shudder.

The same foot then lifted from the ground, the heel of its sandal hanging downward while her toes held the thong, and moved it above him. He got up and resumed his flight for his life, running out from under the shadow before it had its chance to smash him. He continued to scramble on the forest ground, continually dodging her feet as they made more efforts to actually get him this time; it seemed that she was truly and finally going for the kill. One by one, Clyde very narrowly avoided becoming a stain on the bottom of either of her flip-flops as they continually fell upon him. His body was being pushed to its limit; he did not know how much more he could take before she finally claimed his life.

"I must say," Mitsumi spoke in Japanese, while Clyde tiredly scurried out from underneath her right foot just as she trod down. "You have lasted longer than I had expected." She attempted to squash him again with the same ped, watching as he once again avoided meeting his fate. "I suppose that it is your strong will to live. That's not surprising, and I don't blame you." Again, her foot just barely missed him. "What human would not want to live for as long as they can? It's basic human instinct."

Clyde kept running for his life. The whole situation was just too much to take in. He was supposed to be having a great vacation in the land of the Rising Sun, and until then, he was. He never in his wildest dreams expected that he would be looking death right in the face so soon in his life, and that it would take the form of a young and pretty Japanese woman, one who towered over him like a regular-sized human would an insect.

The stamping came to a pause. He expected her to keep attacking him, but was relieved to turn and see that she was simply standing above him, watching him run on the ground before her feet. Was it a reprieve, or an omen? He wanted to use the time to catch his breath, but he knew that that was not wise.

"However," she continued, "I also have a basic instinct. The instinct of a predatory animal that has its prey in sight, the meal that will sate my appetite."

She took small steps as she followed after him, her footsteps a reminder of her sheer power.

"Mitsu!!!" Clyde cried back to her as she slowly chased him, more than keeping up with him with her slow gait. "MITSUMI!!!"

Mitsumi grinned. "Hahaha, even now you call out to me, as if it will save you. Sorry Clyde, but now, I think it's time that this predator had its meal."

She was right behind him, and her left foot casually stepped down far to his side. Then, once again, he was caught in the shadow of her right foot, and he looked up just in time to see the tan foam sole of her flip-flop falling upon him.

"NOOOOO!!!" Clyde yelled as he tried to once again avoid it, but his body was past spent.

"Goodbye, Clyde," Mitsumi said in English; the last thing Clyde heard from her before the sandal descended, hitting his body and pushing him into the dirt.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!" He screamed as he felt the weight upon his body increase by the ton, and then--as time seemed to slow down--he felt his body compress, break, and burst under the immense pressure. The pain was excruciating; he screamed his lungs out until they were filled in with blood, which filled his throat. Every bone in his body snapped, every organ squeezed and burst, and even his head forced to the side by the weight flattened. Images of his life flashed before his eyes, though one recent experience stood out: him receiving his o-mikuji fortune.

Clyde's sheer agony seemed to go on for eternity.

...In reality, it only lasted less than a second.


"Ah..." Mitsumi delightfully sighed to herself as she heard and felt Clyde's tiny two centimeter body breaking beneath the sole of her flip-flop against the hard dirt; with a wet, squishy crunch from underneath, her foot completely settled on the ground, bringing an abrupt end to the man's screams as well as his life.

It was a sensation that she loved, the feeling of a once tall and strong man not only reduced to the size of a bug, but being killed as easily as one. For her, it was the ultimate high. She only wished that she could have felt him burst against her flesh, as with her other victims at home, but she did not want to get dirt or droppings from the forest on her feet; a real shame, she thought. Luckily, the shoes that Clyde had convinced her to wear were thin enough for her to feel most of it.

She wasn't finished; she very slightly lifted her heel as she grinded her foot upon the unfortunate foreigner and tourist who had fallen into her web. Her toes tensed as she slowly ground Clyde more and more into crimson dust, pulverizing what had used to be his body into a fine red paste upon the bottom of her sandal. Even as she could not feel any more of his bones--or at least, his bones from the dirt--she kept up the motion of her foot, in her mind reliving that climatic moment where she finally claimed her kill after his futile efforts to save himself.

Finally, over two minutes after his death, she ceased her foot's grinding, and relaxed it. She removed her foot from the spot upon which Clyde's life had been brought to a violent end. Indeed, it was violent; as she kneeled over it, she could see that everything about the tiny man--flesh, bone, cloth, and even specks of metal from his phone--had been melded together into nothing more than a red stain in the dirt. A stain that, while already beneath notice, would eventually dry and completely hide any evidence of the fire of his life literally being stamped out. After all, his was not the only life whose light she had extinguished in this forest.

As Mitsumi marveled at what used to be Clyde's young, handsome form, she thought back to the o-mikuji fortune that he had received, stating he would be cursed.

She smirked. "Tying the o-mikuji to the tree would not have saved you, Clyde," she said to the dirty red splatter, Clyde's grave.

After giggling, Mitsumi stood up and began to walk away, to return to the main park. Going back the way she had come from may have roused suspicions, as some they may have observed both her and Clyde journey into the woods. She instead decided to go the opposite way; if anyone did ask, she would say that he got a sudden call and had to leave.

As she walked, she thought back on Clyde, and the admittedly fun time they spent together. True, he was the first Black foreigner that she had encountered; she almost regretted that she squashed him at all and that she instead did not elect to bring him home with her. ...Though even with his rarity, she doubted that he could compare to her White-skinned foreigners, especially her golden-haired ones. Still, having a Black one in her collection was something she looked forward to, and after today, she was confident that another one would eventually fall into her grasp; it wasn't a matter of if, but when.

...Suddenly, she got another craving for bloodshed. Yes, soon after she returned to her house, she would pick out one- no, two men, and tread upon them; this time without shoes, of course. She could already picture them fleeing in terror, trying in a futile effort to save their own skins. The only question was, which two should she pick?

This thought was interrupted as her stomach growled. Before she even returned home, she had to address another kind of craving; she would get herself something to eat. Thanks to the copious amount of cash she had taken from Clyde, she could really treat herself to a feast. ...And perhaps meet a someone new to deceive and eventually shrink as well.

Mitsumi heard a rustling in the grass to her side, and turned to see a deer approaching her. It was a young one, with large eyes and an impressive brown hide. Rather than run from her, it stepped closer to her as it stared at her. With a warm, friendly smile, she rubbed the deer on its head, before leaving it behind to continue on with her exit from the forest. The young deer kept watch as she departed through the trees.



[THE END]

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