Chapter 19: The Ghost Commits to Results

Chapter 19:
The Ghost Commits to Results

 

AFTER CLOSING the drugstore, I found myself relaxing in the living room.

I could hear Noela and Mina in the bathroom. “This has become something of a problem for me, Noela.”

“Mina squishy. Not there before.”

“Eek! Don’t touch me!”

What the heck are they doing?

Noela hopped out of the bathroom, her hair still wet. She smelled like good soap. Mina followed her.

“Master?”

“Hm? What’s up?”

“Mina get big.”

“Uh…”

I peered at Mina, but she didn’t seem any larger to me. No matter how hard I stared, I found Noela’s words hard to believe.

Mina tilted her head toward me, drying her hair with a towel. “Is something the matter, Mr. Reiji?”

“Why would you say something like that, Noela?”

“Here, Master. Look.”

Drawing close to Mina, Noela quickly pulled the ghost’s hem all the way up—completely revealing her panties, of course.

Swish! Mina hurriedly pulled her dress back down. “Wh-wh-what’re you doing, Noela?!”

“Showing Master.”

“Well, don’t!”

“No show panties, Mina! Show squishy tummy.”

“I don’t want to show him that, either!”

Well, “squishy tummy” certainly helps explain, I mused.

“I know Noela’s saying you gained weight, but I honestly don’t think that,” I told Mina.

“Really?” She flashed me an easygoing smile.

“No, Master! Mina hiding lots.” Noela poked Mina’s stomach.

Mina slumped. “She’s right, unfortunately. I am hiding lots, Mr. Reiji.”

Hunh. So, ghosts can gain weight? I suppose, if Mina can give herself a physical body, it can change like anyone else’s. “Does your spirit body gain weight?”

“No,” Mina replied. “I’m guessing this is because I’ve spent much more time in my physical body.”

“I’m not sure there’s much you can do about it,” I said. “You can’t leave the house, and you don’t exercise, so…”

Noela and I frequently hiked through the woods to gather ingredients, so neither of us lacked exercise.

“I want to lose weight, Mr. Reiji,” Mina said with a serious expression. How rare.

“I see. So, you’re going to diet, then? Good luck!” I patted her back encouragingly.

Mina fidgeted, pushing her index fingers together. “Um, Mr. Reiji? If you don’t mind, could you, um, make a treatment for me? I’d certainly appreciate it.” She looked up shyly, like she was checking my reaction.

Weight-loss meds, eh? My medicine-making skill could make something that’d help her drop pounds. But…

“What is it, Mr. Reiji?”

“When it comes to dieting, there’s no such thing as a shortcut. You have to put in the work yourself.”

Mina clenched her fists. “I-I know… But there isn’t a woman in the world who doesn’t dream of losing weight easily! Right, Noela?!”

“Noela no gain weight.”

“Traitor!”

Fwoof. Fwoof. Noela’s tail wagged victoriously.

Mina cleared her throat. “There are exceptions to the rule—like Noela—but most women suffer over this! I’m sure if you made weight-loss medication, they’d buy tons! I can be your guinea pig! I promise I’ll take it, no matter what!”

Talk about getting fired up. “Fine, I get it. How can I say no after all that?”

“Yay! Thank you so much, Mr. Reiji! I’ll wait up till you’re done making it.” Mina hugged me tightly, overcome with joy. The impatient Noela latched on to me too.

I gently smacked Mina’s head. “Don’t expect too much.”

At the end of the day, it’s up to her to do this. I hope she gets that.

I peeled the two girls off me and headed for the laboratory, but Mina trailed me. “I’m going to help!”

Noela scoffed. “Mina have work, right? Chores. Do those.”

The werewolf girl came with me instead. Tired after her nice, warm bath, she flopped over my lap, lay down, and fell asleep. She gripped her tail, sleeping soundly.

“So much for helping out,” I grinned, beginning my work.

I grabbed some herbs I’d dried ahead of time, boiled them, and wrung them out. All that was left was to add a floral or fruit flavor to make the remedy easier to drink.

Shake, shake!

And the process was complete.

“Perfect. It’s done.”

 

Kuchikun Juice: Stimulates metabolism. Makes burning fat easier.

 

Mina would need to drink the kuchikun juice daily; I made about a week’s worth.

I took a sip myself. “Not bad at all.” The aroma was quite pleasant, and it tasted a lot like fruit juice.

Mina trotted in, excited. “Is it done?! Are you finished?! Yay!” She grabbed the bottle of kuchikun juice.

Talk about crazy-good timing. I bet she was watching from outside the whole time.

I explained how the kuchikun juice worked, though it didn’t seem like much of my explanation actually reached Mina’s brain.

“Just to be clear,” I said, “you won’t suddenly lose weight just by drinking this.”

“I know, I know! I have to put the work in myself.” Downing the drink, she sighed through her nose, satisfied. “Now Noela won’t squeeze my tummy anymore!”

Man, I really don’t think Mina needs to lose any weight, but… I touched her stomach gently. Yeah, it’s soft.

“Eek! Wh-what’re you doing?!”

“My bad, my bad. Mina, do you really need to diet? Personally, I think having some meat on your bones is a good thing.”

“It’s not! Too much meat and I’ll become a ceiling blimp.”

Is that really what’d happen? I certainly preferred someone soft over someone bony and hard, but this was Mina’s call.

 

***

 

After I made the kuchikun juice, Mina drank a bottle daily, as instructed. It was less a medicine and more a lifestyle product, so I imagined the effects would differ from person to person.

For the hell of it, I drank the juice too. It was a simple enough thing to try—and hey, the more people testing it, the better.

Throughout the week, I noticed that my body went through some small changes. It seemed like a little flab around my stomach vanished. The problem was that, since I had no scale, there was no way to confirm it.

I took my shirt off. “What do you think, Noela?”

Noela nodded. “Different. Master little thinner.”

“R-really? For sure?”

“Juice amazing. Master worked hard.” Noela patted me on the head for my effort.

It wasn’t like I’d really aimed to lose weight, but it was still cool that it worked out that way. I’d never believed in all those products that said you could lose weight just by doing one thing or another. But maybe I was wrong.

The real question now was how it had worked for Mina.

“Hey, Mina, how’s the kuchikun juice working for you? I lost a little weight.”

“Really? Congratulations!” Mina beamed. “In that case, I’m sure I must’ve, too!”

Investigator Noela raised her index finger and poked at Mina’s stomach.

“Well? Well?! How does it look, Noela?”

Noela hesitated.

“I just went through the week without really thinking about it,” Mina added, “so I have no idea how much weight I lost!”

Noela shook her head quietly. “No difference.”

Mina froze, expressionless. She blanched as if she’d been told she had three months left to live.

Noela kept poking Mina’s stomach. “Squishy, squishy.”

“Nooo! Why?! Even Mr. Reiji shed pounds! Why is it just me who didn’t?!” Mina looked at me with tears in her eyes.

Hey, come on, now. No need to cry.

“The kuchikun juice was supposed to make me lose weight!”

“No, no. Like I told you, that’s not what that juice does. It just supports your weight loss. Uh…wait.” I hesitated. There was a shelf underneath the sink where we put snacks and treats customers gave us as thank-you gifts. “Did you…?”

Mina, you dummy! I bet she snacked all this time because she thought she’d lose weight anyway! I opened the cupboard doors, only to find that half of the ten-or-so snack boxes that should’ve been there were gone.

“Mina, you’ve been snacking like crazy, haven’t you?”

“I-It’s not just me! N-Noela’s been snacking, too!”

Zoom! Just like that, Noela was gone. I wasn’t going to get angry at her, but I guess she thought otherwise.

I turned to Mina. “Look, I’m not mad about the treats being gone. I’m upset that you snacked during your diet.” Since she was always in the house, there was no way she’d lose weight if she ate like it was no biggie.

“I-I want to lose weight easily,” Mina scowled.

“Dieting ain’t that easy,” I responded, although it wasn’t like I knew enough about diets to make a blanket statement like that. “Mina, do you actually want to lose weight?”

“Of course I do!”

“Okay, then. Since you can’t go outside, let’s have you lift weights. And no more snacking.”

“Ugh…”

“You aren’t that halfhearted, are you? You’re serious about dieting, right?!”

“Uh-huh! I-I’ll do my best!”

I put together a light weightlifting schedule for Mina, and she began another week of drinking kuchikun juice. Needless to say, she didn’t snack this time. Noela helped her exercise, and Mina made her way through what she described as a “stoic” week.

Investigator Noela once again poked Mina’s stomach. “No more squishy-squishy.”

“Mr. Reiji! Noela! I did it! I did it!”

Mina clasped our hands and spun around, clearly thrilled. And really, the changes I’d had her make weren’t that severe—just cutting out snacking and lifting weights for about the same amount of time I usually exercised. That kuchikun juice really did work well.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Reiji!” Mina exclaimed. “It’s all thanks to you and the juice you made!”

It was worth making that kuchikun juice if it meant seeing Mina so happy.

Sadly, tragedy struck only two weeks later.

“Mina squishy-squishy.”

“Nooooo! Again?!”

She’d rebounded. At the end of the day, it’s all about committing to results.