Fox-Masked Guardian Spirit

Fox-Masked Guardian Spirit (狐面の守り神) alternatively "Komen no Mamorigami", is a one-shot web comic written and illustrated by AidaIro.

The comic is distributed by 3 Under B Step (3号館B階段下) and can be viewed online for free.

Description
Translated (English) = All children belong to god until they turn seven.

"Until the day you turn seven and become a child of the humans, I will protect you." Original (Japanese) = 七つ前は神のうち

七つを過ぎて人の子になるその日までは、 ぼくがきみを守るよ

Story
It begins with a fox-masked boy sitting by the front porch. He is approached by a young girl excitedly running towards him, she calls the boy "Kitsune-san". She shows off her new Kimono to Kitsune-san, saying that she was told by his father to wear it when they go to the shrine tomorrow. "Her name is Yuki, an energetic child with a lovely smile, and for that reason, ever since she was born, I have always been by her side."

- The Fox-Masked Boy

Yuki tells Kitsune-san to stand up, she reaches for his hand, handing him something, and kisses his masked face. With a mask on, there is no telling what his expression was. Yuki playfully asks if it surprised him, and shows a matching pair of bracelets. Kitsune-san lays in silence as Yuki adjourns and tells him she has to hurry back to her mother. As Yuki leaves, he pauses and touches his mask. Shima, a ghost cat who follows the fox-masked boy around and seemed like it had lived for centuries, asks what he was grinning for. The boy removed his mask and embarrassingly denies it. Shima then counts on the many weird statements it heard from Yuki, saying things like "I like you" or "Let's get married" even though they've never spoken before. He smiles in embarrassment, which prompted Shima in anger. Shima then asks why he hasn't talked to her yet. He replied and said it is embarrassing, which again prompted an annoyed reaction from Shima. "The person I must protect. But aside from my duty, I like Yuki. With a reasonably well-off family and parents that dearly love her, she's an innocent girl due to her free upbringing. Contrary to her name, "Yuki," being by her side brings warmth."

- The Fox-Masked Boy to Shima

Shima asks if he is planning to leave without saying a word, reminding him that Yuki is turning seven tomorrow meaning his role will be over too. He smiles and emphasizes that he doesn't know where to go after fulfilling his role. He concerns that he wouldn't be able to stay in this warm place any longer, but even if the worlds they are from are separated, he will continue wishing Yuki happiness.

He and Shima went back to Yuki. Seeing her asleep, he tucks her blanket and wonders if he'll be parting with Shima as well and jokingly says he wouldn't mind if Yuki ends up missing him a bit. Then suddenly, he heard a loud noise coming from the other room, Shima's parents arguing, talking about selling Yuki to a brothel to solve their financial issues. He asks Shima what a "brothel" is and was denied a response, telling him that he should give it up, telling him to not bother with unnecessary things, but he pursed and kept asking, prompting Shima to finally answer. "Shima explained all of it to me. Somehow this family had accumulated a large debt. Until now it seems they managed to keep up their appearances by selling their belongings, but that too, was approaching its limits. Brothels, or the so-called human trade. It was apparent that the plan was to sell Yuki off the red-light district. By working there, her parents' debt can be paid off — A not so uncommon practice of selling your daughter in this era."

- The Fox-Masked Boy

The boy was in shock when he heard the full situation. Shima makes a point and says it would have been better if he hadn't asked. He thought to himself that he as a guardian had failed to notice a shadow creeping nearer, and even if he had noticed it he wouldn't have been able to do something about it. He tears up asking if Yuki can't be happy anymore, he thought to himself that the one who'd been protected like a small child was him all along, and that he was given a right and a privilege, not a duty. Shima attempts to comfort him, assuring him that it would follow Yuki as he leaves to act as a replacement since Yuki had also taken good care of it. The boy mentioning Yuki says that he doesn't think he's strong enough to always live bearing a wish that can never be fulfilled.

It's a new day. Yuki wakes up hearing a call of his name. It was Kitsune-san. He removed his mask, which surprised Yuki. Kitsune-san offers his hand, telling Yuki to go with him. She paused for a few moments, then she accepted his hands saying one word, "Okay." Her mother knocks on the door, calling for Yuki to wake up. She saw a scene that horrified her, and shouted for her husband. Yuki is seen on the ground, lifeless. Shima calls on the boy's name, Saza. The fox-masked boy's real name was Saza. He says that he was happy that he was able to protect Yuki, and he says that he would give Yuki his place. "The same happiness. The same thoughts. Which came first, which came after? I don't know anymore, but... With this, it'll be alright... We repeat this endlessly. As long as I am me, and as long as you are you."

- Saza, as he disappears into the next life

Shima, who is the only one left, reiterates how foolish all of this is, saying that it doesn't change anything at all as over and over they keep repeating a cycle of endless rebirth. For the cat's centuries of existence, it has seen this occur so many times, Yuki becoming a guardian and Saza becoming the human, then Saza becomes the guardian and Yuki becomes a human. Over, and over.

Fox-Masked Children
Born to this world as guardian spirits for human children until they turn seven. Officially, they're not yet gods, but are paired existences with the human child they're meant to protect. If they fail to fulfill their role and allow that child to die, the fox-masked child will vanish along with them. Once the human child has passed the age of seven without incident, the fox-masked child will have fulfilled their role and return to their patron deities, where they will finally be acknowledged as a god in their own right.

Yuki & Saza
Paired existences who are always born in this world with one being a human child and the other as a guardian spirit. Yuki and Saza are their names when either one is born as a human. The one born as a human child already has their fate decided and will inevitable fail to escape misfortune. But due to their strong feelings for each other, as one is unable to accept the other's future, they've unknowingly switched roles and been reborn many, many times. As for which one was originally a human child and which one was a guardian spirit - even Shima doesn't know.

Author's Commentary
Aida & Iro gave a few statements for the reader after the comic ended. Aida = "Thank you for reading to the end! "Fox-Masked Guardian Spirit" was made 2 years ago as my first collaboration with Tokunyan. For this reason it's a work I'm emotionally attached to, but on reread it's painfully full of flaws. Why wear a yukata on a Shichi-go-san shrine visit, why are the long sounds this extended, and why is the line spacing this wide... there's too many to count, but it was a work we put everything into making, so despite that we're really happy you read it. Thank you once again! Shima is a very purrty cat."

- Hana (Aida), Translated

Iro = "Two years ago, huh... It's quite moving. Now that I think about it, I feel like this is the only short story work we have. I remember having trouble over how to make the story fit within a limited page count... but that just made it harder to understand, didn't it. We did try to explain in all sorts of ways, but we still received questions like "I don't get it!" so perhaps this page can help answer them. The main basis of the story is "Shichi-go-san." In ancient Japan, few children were able to survive past the age of seven, so there was the phrase, "All children belong to god until they turn seven." Simply put it, it was believed that they were not human children but god's children until they were seven, as their souls were unsteady and could easily return to god. In order to protect the children, there was a custom in the past: when they were born, paper cut in the shape of humans were placed onto household Shinto altars and served as their guardian spirits until seven years passed when the children's souls would be firmly fixed in the human world. For the children who were able to turn seven without incident, they'd go to return their guardian spirits to the patron deities on their shrine visit, and in exchanged for the end of their divine protection they would be welcomed into the human world... and so, from this ceremony of Shichi-go-san, this story was created. I love things like folklore but I'm bad at research, so I have nothing but admiration for the knowledge left behind by predecessors. If anyone knows of a good book, please tell me."

- Tokuna (Iro), Translated

Characters
The Fox-masked Boy =

The Fox-masked Boy
The boy who stays by Yuki's side as the fox-masked guardian spirit in this tale. Has never spoken to Yuki and gets embarrassed easily, but she cherishes her immensely. Saza is the name he's given when born as a human, so technically he doesn't have a name this time around. As a human child, Saza is bit livelier than when he's a guardian spirit, and he doesn't hesitate to talk to Yuki. Yuki =

Yuki
The girl whose existence is paired with Saza's. This time, she lived as a human child until right before she turned seven. As a human child, Yuki is a fairly ordinary girl who is innocent and a little precocious in some ways, but as a guardian spirit, she is calm and speaks little. Shima =

Shima
A ghost cat who's lived for centuries. Met Yuki and Saza while it was wondering in all sorts of places and is interested to whatever ending they might have someday. Doesn't budge from its role as an observer as it won't tell the pair things or interfere in major ways. But perhaps because such feelings have rushed forth after watching them repeat this so many times, it secretly frowns upon the wasted rebirth cycle of these two for making the same choices no matter how many times they're reborn.