Ohayooooo! It's your favorite member of the Struggle Club, Yoko-chan! Come to check on me again, eh? Do you have a crush on me or something? Eh, eh?

...Eh? No?

...

You didn't have to be so blunt about it... I have the heart of a maiden, you know! You should be letting me down gently.

Okay, I know what you're really here for. You want another one of Yoko-chan's amazing tales of how she ended up where she is now, right?

That's what I thought! I only do this when I'm escaping reality, after all!

So, I'm going to start by talking about one of my hobbies for when I get really lonely. It's kind of like people watching! But like, instead of just sitting around and staring at them like some kind of weirdo voyeur, I like to pretend that I'm part of their group to fit in. Last time I did this back home, there was this group of girls celebrating their college acceptance letters and they all went out for ice cream. So like... I went into the parlor too, sat at the next table over and pretended like I was celebrating with them! They never realized I was there, but it still felt like I was a friend! I talked about what kind of college I wanted to go to, and it almost lined up with something one of the girls said, so it was like they were talking to me! Ah, good times...

...

...

Eh?

Why do I feel like I'm being judged?

Anyway! I think I'm finally becoming a little numb to all the people looking like they're from some kind of fairy tale or movie. I really needed something to take my mind off of the swelling and the itchy itchy feeling in my hands from those buggy bites, so I decided to put on my famous Yoko-chan brave face and entered society once again! Of my own volition!

It was pretty fun! There's this big marketplace near the river I was sleeping by, and it was full of all kinds of people! I found a human enough looking mother and son together, so I followed behind them and pretended to be the eldest sister. Our clothes didn't match at all since I'm still stuck with my old burned ones, but that's what suspension of disbelief is! There were some people selling nice clothes, but I was not going to resort to stealing! Yoko-chan is not and will never be a thief!

But, see, I needed money. I don't want to wear these same rags forever! So, I worked my brain to the limit and came out with my smartest idea yet. This was a market, duh. I'd just sell something! And I just so happen to have magic paper that never runs out! See, see? Wait... I should make it simpler, I don't want to confuse people with my leaps in logic. So... money, right? People don't just give it to you for free. You need to trade it for something, like work or some stuff. And I got one stuff that never unstuffs. Remember my magic paper from last time? It never ever runs out. Trust me, I tried to see if it would. I pulled out so much paper. Like, too much. I had this big pile of it, but I wasn't really paying enough attention and almost fell into my campfire. Thankfully, I just missed it and landed on a rock instead. But my shoe got too close and started to burn, so of course I kicked it off. Right, I'm down a shoe now.

It just... I didn't mean for it to land in the paper pile. It was an accident! Eh... But it made this really really big fire and I got scared and ran away. Then I kinda got lost in this marketplace and so I did my pretend game and... I think we're caught up on that part.

How did I get to this again? The fire and... eh... paper... The mar- Yeah! The market! I decided to sell paper to make money! Then I could buy some of those beautiful clothes I saw around! A flawless plan, right? Right? You can praise me now if you can't help yourself. I'll wait.

...

...

Thank you! So I started pulling out a lot more paper. It was really good paper, so I knew everyone would want some, so I had to get a lot ready for the rush, so I worked really hard. I pulled and pulled until my arms were begging me to stop. I think it was almost a whole minute! Eh... a bunch of the paper got blown away by the wind, but I still had a nice stack ready! I was almost ready to start my new enterprise! It's just... I forgot I needed a stall. How was I supposed to sell things without a proper stall? Everyone else had one, and I'd look silly without one!

I needed a stall right away. Nobody would care if I used one that nobody else was using, right? Right! That's just simple supply and demand. This is a market, they respect that kind of thing! I grabbed my stacks of papers and went to go look for an empty stall! By the way... I didn't know paper could be so heavy. Has anyone ever tried lifting paper weights?

Okay, so maybe- MAYBE I pulled out too much paper. Because, like, I couldn't really see where I was going with all those papers stacked up in front of me, and... Eh...

I walked into someone.

I made a weird noise that I'm grateful nobody heard and fell over onto the ground and papers went freaking everywhere! It was like snow, but square! I was so caught up in the marvel of it that I forgot about the guy I walked into until he said "Who threw that paper at me!?" in a loud mean voice that made me freeze up on instinct. Everyone around us cleared out like right away.

It was this really big man with blue hair and a bone on his face. He kept looking around giving people dirty looks to try to find out who caused the Paper Incident. I've unintentionally avoided people enough to know that this was a time to intentionally avoid someone, so I tried getting up, but my knees slipped on some of the papers lying around and it made me face plant on the ground. I don't know if he heard me or something, but he started walking over my way.

Okay! So! Please don't make fun of me, because I've already told you I have bad survival instincts, but... Eh... I froze up and just buried my face into the ground. I could hear him taking each step like it was counting down my demise... But then, like... He started... sniffing? Like sniffing in the air.

So then I was thinking "Wait, he hasn't noticed me yet? Wait, he's sniffing? Wait, can he smell me?" I was super surprised because normally even dogs don't notice I'm there. But I was super duper extra surprise shocked when he said- out loud for anyone to hear- "There's a woman nearby."

Like HUH!? Blue Bone Face, why are your instincts so sharp in strange ways!? He couldn't even see me and didn't know where I was exactly, but he... just knew there was a woman around? What is this guy? I eventually got back up and saw him still sniffing at the air. I think he was really confused? Or not, I couldn't tell. I heard him muttering "Ghost babe?" and then he- he freaking reached out and started- he was groping at the air!

Ew! Gross! Yeah, Blue Bone Face was a pervert and trying to grope Yoko-chan!

I got big heeby jeebies being there so I backed up, but he started following me somehow!? He was still sniffing at the air kinda randomly, so I knew he didn't actually see me or anything, but I didn't want one of the people who could somehow notice me to be someone like him! I kept backing up more and more but he was fast and kept getting closer. It was so scary! Like a horror movie! He was the crazy killer rapist man coming at me in HD 3D!

Then when he got close enough that I could reach out and touch him, my back hit something waist high and I flopped over into it. I felt my foot hit his jaw on the way over and it REALLY hurt! It was like kicking a rock! I think my ankle got twisted or pulled or my foot broke or something, because it hurts really bad right now. I don't even know if he felt it.

Eh... There's not much story to tell after that. I fell into a cart and fainted from fear. So that's where I am now! When I woke up, the cart was moving. Now I'm more lost than I ever have been, and I don't know how much I can walk right now, and I have no idea where we're going... but at least I'm away from that pervert! Positives!

It's decided. As soon as we stop, I'm going to try to find a doctor. My hands are swollen and itchy and purplish from the buggy bites and my foot might be broken and I'm scraped up and I probably have a cold from the rain and I've been having really bad tummy issues from eating buggies and- I am going to get on my knees and cry when I find a doctor and beg for them to help me. That worked with Mr. Tsukuda! If I make a big enough ruckus, then maybe they won't be able to ignore me.

Yes, things... are going to be okay, Yoko-chan! Staying optimistic is crucial for being in harsh unknown environments!

Okay, that's it for Yoko-chan's story time! I hope next time we meet, I'll be in a much nicer place!

...

...

...

Wait, hold on... How was anyone going to buy my paper if they didn't see me!?

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Pub: 06 Mar 2025 09:18 UTC

Views: 187