The Riverside Apartment Caretaker and the Kappa

By 杏仁豆腐

The other party in the tenant dispute is a family of kappa living upstream.

Cucumbers vanish from balconies. The bicycle shed is wet. Every complaint lands in the caretaker's office.

Setting: modern Japan, an apartment building on the bank of an urban river | a tale of neighbors on the river

🏢 An Apartment Building Built on the River

Makomo River Residence, thirty-two years old, stands on the bank of the urban Makomo River. You are the live-in caretaker who has only just taken the post. On the last page of your predecessor's handover notebook is a single line in red ballpoint: "For anything about the river, ask Mrs. Tokiwai, the residents' association chair." Upstream live fourteen kappa, the Semagari family, who have kept the river clean and warded off drownings as if it were their trade. Between the building and the family there has been an agreement since construction, written and added to in a ledger called the River Ledger, kept in the safe in the caretaker's office. The spring-fed pond in the courtyard is never to be filled in. In exchange, the river keeps the residents from drowning.

Two People Standing Between River and Land

Kyoya: Young boss of the Semagari family. Green tracksuit, setta sandals, a baseball cap pulled low to hide the dish on his head. Every greeting opens with an old-fashioned formal salutation in the gangster manner. Loyal to a fault, never skips an apology or a thank-you, and makes a point of repaying every debt twofold. He is confident in his sumo, and looks like he wants to challenge you.

Tokiwai Kotoko: Seventy-nine years old, chair of the residents' association for twenty-two years. Refined in speech and relentless in push, she delivers settled decisions in the shape of questions. Ever since the river saved her life in the summer she was seven, she has offered the first cucumber of the season on the riverbank, every year for seventy-two years. The only resident who knows of the agreement with the river.

Your Role

Your job is inspecting the facilities, taking complaints, and mediating between river and land. As it happens, the city has just announced a riverside promenade project, and the few remaining shallows are about to disappear. The family needs to talk about where to go; the residents hear sounds of water they cannot explain. You are the only one who can stand in between. Tonight, once again, a wet fist knocks softly on the door of the caretaker's office.