Numamushi A Fairy Tale by Mina Ikemoto Ghosh

Author:Mina Ikemoto Ghosh
Format: epub

HUMANS WERE A DIFFERENT MATTER. Humans liked names, more than Numamushi had expected.

Mizukiyo presented Numamushi one morning with a series of symbols on a sheet of paper.

“In case we have visitors, I want you to learn this.” He tapped each symbol, one by one, as he read them off. “Mizobata Jasuke. Now, your turn.”

“Mizobata Jasuke. What does that mean?”

“It’s your name. Your official name,” Mizukiyo amended when Numamushi hissed with confusion. “It’s the one I put down to make you a part of human society. Mizobata: you share this with me. It means that if someone hurts you, they hurt me too, so I can bite them back for it. Jasuke is for you. If someone comes looking for the Mizobatas, but they want you, not me, this is what they’ll call you by.”

Numamushi considered the symbols Mizukiyo had given him. These were his. He took the paper to hoard in his closet but also asked, “What’s wrong with Numamushi?”

“It’s not a name people would expect my little brother to be called by.”

“So?”

“It helps to have at least one name that fits with people’s expectations. Other people, who aren’t your family or friends, might need it to call you.”

“Why would other people need to call me anything?”

“They can see you now, can’t they?” Numamushi nodded. His ability to go by unseen to humans hadn’t disappeared entirely, but it was weaker since Father had gone. Numamushi had to work harder to hide himself with his own power now. “Then, just in case, I’m giving you this name.”

“In case of what?”

“Well, if something happens to me—”

“It won’t.”

“Now, Numamushi—”

“I said it won’t. You’re not going anywhere.”

“This name will protect you when you’re seen by others,” Mizukiyo said without raising his voice, but the mirror gleam in his eyes brightened in a way that made Numamushi want to find a stone and hide beneath it, “so when we have visitors and my students come round—”

“What students?” Because for all the days Numamushi had been there, not a single calligraphy student had come by the house.

“—when my students come round,” Mizukiyo jabbed the paper with every word he spoke, “I will be calling you Jasuke, and they will know by this name that you are protected by me, and, if they are good humans, that you should be protected by them too.”

“That’s not fair.”

“What have names to do with fairness?”

Numamushi folded his arms. “What do I call you when your students come round? How do I protect you with a name?”

“You can call me…” Mizukiyo seemed taken aback. If Numamushi didn’t know better, he’d think he was nervous, even scared, “…Niisan, if you wish.”

Big brother. “Will that protect you?”

“It might. In a fashion. Though I wouldn’t deserve it.”

Numamushi peered into Mizukiyo’s face. Then he pushed a sheet of blank paper towards him. “Write it down. I want to learn what that word looks like too. Niisan.”

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