Chapter Text
Sixteen-year-old Mariko Tachibana was sweeping the stone floor at the front courtyard of the Kaiju Shrine. Her long brown hair was no longer in the pigtails she wore when she was two, but it was accessorized with red-and-white paper ribbons. She wore a plain white kimono with a brilliant red hakama over it, along with the traditional tabi socks and zori sandals. Occasionally, she would stop and look at the sky, then continue sweeping.
“I still wonder if those monsters were all a dream…” Mariko sighed to herself, sweeping some leaves to the side.
Mariko has vivid, yet faint memories of herself as a little girl wandering into a world filled with monsters. She was actually afraid of a monster in particular that was a reptilian chimera of sorts, having a lizard-like body of sorts that moved like a snake, hands and feet like a gecko, the crest of an iguana, and the camouflage powers of a chameleon. But then she crossed paths with two friendly monsters—one a walking eyeball, and the other a big, fluffy, and cuddly kitty—who befriended her and helped her defeat the evil lizard monster.
But monsters weren’t real, were they?
Mariko dismissed the adventure as nothing more than a vivid childhood dream. Yet it kept recurring in her mind. She grew up to be fascinated by monsters and tales of monsters that went bump in the night. She even visited a café in Tokyo with a colorful monster theme, the Kawaii Monster Café. And yet, Mariko still questioned if the dream was just a dream or not. When she turned thirteen, she discovered she could camouflage into the background, just like her former monster that she believed emerged from her closet every night. Up to this day, she has not once told anyone about her powers—not even her parents knew. Maybe the monster Mariko was afraid of was none other than herself? Talk about cliché…
The stone grounds were swept clean, and the sun was just beginning to set. Mariko looked out into the distance, and then glanced back at the torii gate behind her.
Mariko was at home, watching television. Flipping through the channels, nothing interested her, be it a show about ninjas, a show about four schoolgirls talking about random nerdy stuff, or a show about three random spies living together as a family undercover to stop a dictator. That is, until a robot movie caught her attention. On the screen were two robots, one all white and high tech, and the other a mobile dumpster, standing in what looked like a shipyard on fire.
“Directive?” the white, egg-like robot asked.
The dumpster robot showed off his trash compacting abilities. Mariko was intrigued, and decided to stay on that channel. That is, until her mother called her over for dinner. Tonight, it was hamburger steaks with rice and vegetables.
“So, did you see any monsters today?” Mr. Tachibana asked.
“Not really, Dad,” sighed Mariko, “At this point, the only way I’m gonna see some monsters is either at the Kawaii Monster Café in Tokyo, or at the local youkai parade. Speaking of which, I should start planning my costume for it. Should I go as the one-eyed umbrella, or a kitsune? Maybe a nekomata, I’ve always been a bit of a cat lover.”
“It’s still so interesting that you got over your fear of monsters by playing pretend with those monsters,” Mrs. Tachibana remarked.
“I was specifically scared of a giant lizard-like monster,” Mariko clarified, “I can’t help but recall this dream where I met a cyclops and a fur-covered beast and they helped me fight against the lizard monster. And since then I’ve taken an interest in monster lore and such.” Mr. and Mrs. Tachibana laughed along with Mariko. The family continued to eat their dinner. The parents talked about their day, while Mariko just daydreams about her monster friends for the umpteenth time.
After a relaxing bath, Mariko had put on a fresh set of pink and lavender pajamas and was brushing her teeth so they would be nice and clean for the next day. Once she finished that, she bid her parents goodnight and went to her room.
However, Mariko did not go to sleep immediately. Since she had on a new set of pajamas, she wanted to see if she could camouflage into their pattern, since she had the chameleon powers of her former closet monster from her toddler days. Sitting up, she tried to concentrate her energy and focus into making her arm take on the sleeve pattern. After a few seconds, it worked! Mariko tried again, and this time made her entire self take on the pajama pattern. The girl giggled to herself. She then stood up against a wall, which was decorated with flower patterns, and not only did she take on its pattern, she vanished entirely, along with her pajamas. After a moment, she reappeared in from of an anime poster depicting a white-haired half-youkai boy with a giant sword and a dark-haired schoolgirl by his side. Mariko had taken on the pattern of the poster, but quickly reverted back to normal.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this,” Mariko told herself, “Well, now it’s time for bed…”
As Mariko tucked herself into her bed, her closet door—a white door sparsely decorated with pink and lavender flowers—seemed to open by itself. A faint light shone through the door, and even fainter whispers could be heard.
“Huh?” Mariko sat up catching sight of the ajar door.
Curious but cautious, Mariko got up out of bed, putting on her fuzzy hot pink slippers. She didn’t recall her closet having a light. And those voices? They sounded too many to be just her parents talking, unless her father was on the phone or something. The girl picked up a baseball bat, and slowly but surely, made her way to the closet door.
Has someone broken in and is hiding in here? Mariko wondered, Hope I didn’t leave the window open…okay, here goes nothing.
Just inches away from the closet door, Mariko gulped, a cold sweat running down the back of her neck as she trembled. Was there a secret intruder hiding in her closet? Does her closet have a light she’s never used before? So many questions, but there was only one way to find out. Mariko had braved monsters before in her dreams, but this was reality.
Alright, this is it! Mariko tightened her grip on the baseball bat with one hand. Summoning all her strength, she reached for the doorknob and swung it open, then gripped the bat tightly with both hands as she dashed in.
For the best case scenario, Mariko was fully expecting to just run straight into the wall of her closet and fall back upon impact, upon which her parents would enter the room and ask what happened and she would need to come up with an explanation that didn’t sound weird. Instead she found herself in a room surrounded by strange creatures, including a giant slug-like creature with a cardigan, horn-rimmed glasses, and a clipboard, two small horned creatures with blue hard hats, an orange/yellow-furred monster with one horn, a small green being whose body was an eyeball with a mouth, arms, and legs, and finally, an imposing beast with purple-polka-dotted blue fur and two horns. They all stood speechless at Mariko, who was frozen still with her baseball bat.
After what seemed like forever, the blue beast stepped forward and asked one simple question: “Boo?”
“Kitty!” Mariko dropped her bat and ran into the arms of the blue beast, giving him the tightest hug possible. It was at that moment that Mariko realized that it was never a dream. It was always real. Her monster friends were real all along.
However, that also meant that the evil lizard monster was real too. But it didn’t matter, since she had gotten over her fear of him a long time ago, and was just happy to be reunited with the monsters that protected her and befriended her.
“Oh, I’ve missed you so much Boo!” the blue beast remarked.
“We have a word for such a feeling where I’m from,” Mariko started, “Hisashiburi, it means something like ‘it’s been a while’ or ‘it’s been a long time’. You say it when you see someone you haven’t seen in ages.”
“Well, Hisashiburi to you too,” the blue beast smiled, “Anyway, my real name is James P. Sullivan, and I’m the CEO of Monsters Incorporated. You may call me ‘Sulley’, or you could stick with calling me ‘Kitty’, I don’t mind either way.”
“How about Sullivan-san,” Mariko asked, “I’d like to be polite.”
“No need for formalities,” Sulley explained.
“Okay, I’m fine with either ‘Kitty’ or ‘Sulley’ then,” Mariko affirmed, “And…oh, I think I remember…you, the walking eyeball, you’re Mike Wazowski!”
“Hey, you remembered my name!” Michael Wazowski, the green eyeball monster, was excited upon hearing that Mariko remembered him too. Mariko gave him a hug as well.
“Sorry, I don’t know the rest of you,” Mariko sighed.
“I’m George Sanderson,” the orange monster introduced himself.
“We’re Needleman and Smitty,” the monsters with hard hats spoke.
“And I’m Roz, head of the CDA,” the slug-like monster finally slithered forward, “We’ve been trying to reach you for a while now, because we believe you’re the only one who can help us with a special case in the human world.”
Mariko was silent for a moment. “You have a mission for me?”
“Yes, should you choose you accept,” Roz spoke.
Mariko contemplated this for a moment. So much was going through her head, be it her thoughts, emotions, and the fact that monsters were real. Not to mention that those monsters were trying to get in contact with her. Mike and Sulley were holding red and blue pills, waiting for what their old friend was going to do next.
Taking a deep breath, Mariko calmly approached Roz.
“How can I be of help?”