[Pirika Library] Aya and the Forest Fluff (Kogurumi)

1

At the foot of a mountain, there was a small village called "Coconut Village."

On the outskirts of Coconut Village, there was a dim forest.

The villagers never went near that forest.

Because
a big monster lived in the forest.

2

It was a hot summer day.

A girl came to Coconut Village.

The girl, who looked great in a straw hat, was named "Aya."

Aya had come to visit this village with her mother to see her grandparents.

3

"Aya, I'm so glad you came."

When her grandparents saw Aya, their hearts softened and they couldn't help but smile.
Pure white fluff drifted up from the smiling grandparents.

The fluff seemed to be floating away somewhere.
Curious about where the fluff was heading, Aya followed after it.

4

"Aya, where are you going? It's dangerous to go alone."
"It's okay! I'm just going to explore a little!"

Ignoring her worried mother, Aya followed the fluff.
It seemed the fluff was heading toward the forest.

There wasn't just one piece of fluff.
Many pieces of fluff were flying into the forest one after another.
Aya stopped in front of the dark forest, but she gathered her courage and stepped inside.

5

｜When she went deep into the forest, there was a big, white, furry monster sleeping there.
The moment the fluffy, dancing down touched the monster's fur, it vanished in a flash.

Aya asked the monster with curiosity.
"I'm Aya. What are you doing here?"
The monster stared at Aya with its large, round eyes and let out a yawn, "Phew-aa."

"I am a Fluff who lives in this forest.
I'm all furry, so on hot days like this, I lie down in the shade and wait for the 'down of kindness' to come."

6

"The down of kindness?"

The Fluff said to the puzzled Aya,
"It's the down that is born when humans feel kind.
My body is made of the down of kindness."
Saying that, the Fluff slowly stood up and made a red flower bloom from its left hand.

"This is a flower that bloomed from the down of kindness I received from your grandfather and grandmother earlier. I'll give it to you."
Aya was very happy to receive the red flower from the Fluff.

7

"Wow! Thank you, Mr. Fluff! I'll give you this in return."
Aya took off the straw hat she was wearing and winked at the Fluff.
The Fluff nodded and slowly lifted Aya up.

"Here you go. Now you'll be fine even on hot days."
A small straw hat sat on top of the big Fluff's head.

8

"It suits you so well!"
"Really? Thank you."
The Fluff, who had always been all alone, felt happy because of Aya's kindness.
"Mr. Fluff, let's play together!"
From then on, the two of them played, forgetting the time, just like old friends.

After a while,
a voice calling for Aya could be heard from outside the forest.

9

"Aya, where are you? It's time to come home."
Her worried mother had come looking for her.

"I'm sorry, Fluffy, I have to go home now."
Fluffy felt sad at Aya's words, but immediately smiled and said, "See you later."

Seeing Fluffy's sad smile, Aya didn't want to be separated from Fluffy like this.

10

"That's it! Fluffy, come to the village with me!"
"Me, to the village? But I'm hated by the villagers."
"It's okay! Because Fluffy is Aya's friend."
Seeing Aya's smile, Fluffy felt a surge of courage.

Fluffy decided to head to the village with Aya.

"Mom! This is my friend, Fluffy!"
Aya waved to her mother, who was waiting outside the forest.

11

Seeing Aya in Fluffy's hands, her mother was startled and let out a loud cry.
"Eek! Let Aya go!"
At that voice, Fluffy hurriedly put Aya down.

"Someone help! It's a monster!"
Her mother screamed, clutching Aya to her.
Hearing the screams, the villagers gathered and began attacking Fluffy one after another.

Fluffy, subjected to the villagers' fierce attacks, protected himself so desperately
that he didn't even notice he had dropped his precious straw hat.

12

"Stop! Fluffy is Aya's friend!"
Aya tried desperately to stop the villagers.
However, she was held tight by her mother and couldn't move.

"Stop! Please stop! Stop it..."
Aya cried out with tears streaming down her face, but her voice did not reach the villagers or her mother.

Seeing Aya's tears, Fluffy's chest ached painfully.
"I'll go back to the forest..."
Fluffy began to walk dejectedly toward the forest.
On the way, he noticed his straw hat lying on the ground, but Fluffy did not pick it up.

13

"Don't ever come back, you monster!" Thwack
"You village plague god!" Thwack
"Stay in the forest all by yourself!" Thwack

As the Fluff heads toward the forest, the villagers hurl terrible words at it.

Along with those words, black smoke appeared with a puff.
The mass of black smoke soared into the sky and turned into a large, billowing rain cloud.

14

Flash! Rumble, rumble! Pouring rain!

The sky lit up, and lightning struck from the billowing black clouds, causing heavy rain to fall.
The rain grew more and more intense, continuing to pour down.
Because of the intensity, the soil and sand on the mountaintop began to crumble.
Before long, it turned into a massive landslide, flowing vigorously toward the village.

By the time the villagers noticed the landslide,
the debris had already reached the forest at the foot of the mountain.
It was already too late to stop the landslide.

15

"Oh no, it's all over..."

It was at that moment, when every villager had begun to give up,
that a large white wall stood in the path of the landslide.
It was the Fluff.

Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Fluff's pure white fur was dyed brown in the blink of an eye.
The fur, having absorbed the landslide,
began to peel away from its body one after another.
The Fluff's body gradually became smaller.

16

Eventually, when the rain stopped and the landslide subsided, the Fluff was nowhere to be seen, with only a little bit of brown-stained fur remaining.

"Fluff! Fluff!"
Aya called out the Fluff's name desperately.
However, there was no reply.

Aya noticed a straw hat lying at her feet.
Picking up the straw hat, Aya burst into tears.

17

Seeing Aya crying loudly, her mother, as well as her grandfather and grandmother, shed tears.
The villagers also shed tears, grateful to the Fluff for saving their village.

Poof
White fluff danced up from Aya.

Poof, poof, poof
It wasn't just Aya.
Pure white fluff danced up from her mother and the villagers as well.

18

The many pieces of fluff flew off toward the forest.
Inside the forest, the fluff piled up one after another and eventually became a single white tuft of hair.
It looked just like a little fluff-ball.
Aya wiped away her tears and approached the white tuft.
When Aya gently placed her straw hat on top of the tuft, a red flower sprouted and bloomed from it.

Aya spoke gently to the red flower.

"Welcome back, Mr. Fluff."

The End

Author: Kogurumi
Illustrator: Kigurumi
Text: Cossy

——————————————————

Hi there! It's Kigurumi!

Thank you all for reading.😊

I've gone ahead and generously released this picture book, which is scheduled to be exhibited at
Bungaku Free Market Tokyo 40 (to be held on May 11, 2025).

How was it?
The picture book by Kigurumi and Cossy.

I think it will feel different
if you hold the actual picture book in your hands!
Please come and read it at BunFes Tokyo.🥺🥹
All you good kids, come shake my hand at Tokyo Big Sight!

From here on is a bonus.
🎉Dankichi and Naomi's Bonus Corner!🎉

As for the behind-the-scenes story of the picture book production,
I think Cossy, who always loves hearing about other people's production stories, will take this opportunity to tell you about his own.

So, I will share
a few little extra stories.

I drew many illustrations while making this picture book.
Some of them didn't make it into the book.

It would be a shame to keep them locked away on my iPad, so I thought I'd show them to you all here.

It's like the blooper reel that plays during the end credits of a Jackie Chan movie, right?
I love those.

You can only see them on note!😏

Pretty good, right?
I'm glad I could show them to you here.😊

The illustrations used in the picture book were also redrawn several times.
My partner Cossy and I hada fierce battle
repeated meetings to clash our ideas, and we revised the illustrations and text.

That's why I drew several patterns for 'Moku-Moku-san' who appears in the story.
It took a while to get the OK.😓

This is it.
↓

That's all!
That was the bonus corner! 😆

There might be some minor revisions in the actual picture book.
I'm looking forward to meeting those of you who will be at the Literature Flea Market!

I won't get overwhelmed by the crowd this time! Yeah! ( •̀ㅂ•́)و

Here is the article my partner Kossy wrote!
I forgot to paste it 😆