The Love of a Doll

Kamiyashiro Aiko turned into a doll. A filthy doll that no one could see. She didn't know whether dolls were alive. All she knew was that she kept growing weaker, until she didn't even have the strength to chase away stray cats. If things continued this way, she would disappear from the world. She needed human affection. She needed more strength. So, with the last of her strength, she struggled to grab hold of a human boy and gazed at him pitifully and innocently. "Excuse me, could you like me? Even just a little. Please, like me." * Suguru Geto found her while visiting a shrine with his parents for their first shrine visit of the New Year. A filthy doll had been abandoned in a corner. It was so conspicuous, yet none of the people passing by could see it. So he picked the doll up and took her home. The doll told him her name was Kamiyashiro Aiko. She had been abandoned because no one loved her. The doll named Aiko said to him again and again: Suguru, could you like me a little more? I need more love. I want to grow up. Suguru, the love you've given me isn't enough. I need more, so much more... At last, one day, nurtured by his love day after day, the tattered doll that had once fit in the palm of his hand grew into a girl who looked just like a human. Then she said to him, with innocent delight, "Suguru, now I can go out by myself." Suguru was silent for a moment, then slowly curved his eyes into a smile, giving her the same smile as always. He gently stroked the black hair of the girl in his arms and murmured unhurriedly, "Don't say silly things. Aiko, do you want to turn back into that filthy doll everyone abandoned?" "No one in this world will ever love you more than I do." "So you can't leave me." Theme: Humans need love to grow up.