Coco bandicoot walked up the path through a lush forest. It was only hours earlier when she and her brother went to explore the sights and wonders of Japan that she had heard of an elusive hidden village, a place that was said by locals to be where spirits and various yokai would travel to and gather every evening after dark. Few dare to travel and see for themselves, but that’s what coco’s gonna do. She admit that she didn’t feel like doing work while her and her brother were traveling to Japan, but she did want to visit various spots during her stay and anything that involves yokai is worth checking out.
At last coco made it to the entrance and entered the village through the large gate she noticed something amiss. The whole place was empty, not a single other person in sight. Strange she thought as she walked through what looked to be a marketplace.

“Strange, where is everyone?” Coco wondered as she looked around the place.

She didn’t search long for Up ahead was another person. But it wasn’t a local, this person looked familiar.
It was Nina cortex, the niece of a certain dr and a rival of coco’s. Coco was annoyed to see her again, but also curious as to what she was doing here as well.

“Nina?” Coco’s voice made the metal-handed goth jump before she turned around and saw for herself.

“Oh it’s you,” Nina said both relieved and annoyed. “For a second there I thought it was a dumb animal or something, but it looks like I was half right.”

“Very funny. What are you doing here?” An annoyed coco asks.

“Duh, I’m here sight seeing with the rest of my friends,” Nina said. “they’re out at some weird anime museum or something so I decided to walk through the forest, searching for some of those yokai everyone’s blabbing about, and that’s when I found this place. Looks like I’m not the only one thinking it’s weird that this place is practically deserted.”

“Yeah, it’s strange. Helloooooo! Anyone here?” Coco called out hoping that someone would hear them, but no answer. Nina called out next.
“Hey! Two lost teenage girls who could use some help here!” Still no answer. Nothing but the howl of the wind and windchimes swaying. “Where the heck is everyone?” Nina ponders.
“I don’t know, maybe we’re the only ones here,” coco replied.
“Maybe this tourist trap is closed,” Nina guessed.
“On a Tuesday?” Coco replied. “It’s not a holiday or anything. maybe there’s people in the buildings. We should go check it out to be sure.”

But Nina wouldn’t go on account of her empty stomach calling out. The two realized they skipped lunch today. “How about after we find something to eat first?” Nina checks out the market stands looking for food.
“Well I got some chocolate energy bars and wumpa juice in my bag, that should tide us over for now…” coco trailed before she saw Nina standing before a stand with wide eyes. Coco follows her and sees what she sees. It was a huge spread of what is the most delicious food they’ve ever seen!
Pork slices, roasted mini chickens, oblong-shaped dumplings, meat rolls, shiny red apples, cucumbers, steamed carrots and what sorta looked like crab legs. Needless to say, it all looked appetizing and irresistible.

“Well ain’t that just the oddest bit of luck, but I’m not complaining. Let’s eat!” Nina took a plate and serving chopsticks and started piling on as much as she could.
“Uh Nina?” Coco said suspiciously. “Don’t you find it a bit suspicious that there’s a spread of freshly made food out in the open in an abandoned town?”
“The staff are probably on break and made this in advance, like they knew we were coming.” Nina said as she sat down, grabbing a nearby kettle and pouring a cup of tea before digging in.

“Come on blondes, take a load off and enjoy some grub.” Nina said as she grabs a pork roll.
“Not if these was the last bits of morsels on earth-oomph!” coco was interrupted when she found a pork roll stuffed in her mouth. Chewing it up and swallowing it, her eyes widen as her taste buds dance with delight.
“Wow, this is delicious!” Coco said as she grabs a plate and piles on her fill. “I suppose we could take a little lunch break, it’d be such a shame to let all of this go to waste.”

Coco let her suspicions rest for now and indulge with Nina. The two girls sit there stuffing their faces, juicy pork rolls and chicken, crunchy apples and veggies, dumplings dripping with grease or broth as they slurped them down, gorging on whatever they get their hands on, taking sips of tea and water in between. Forgetting about finding help and getting back to their respective parties, the girls only focus on their lunch. But then on her third helping, Coco suddenly snorted.
“Whoa pardon me,” she said and snorted again.
“Do you mind?” An annoyed nina said. “I know we’re pigging out, but no need to sound like a pig.”
“Sorry but I…oink…can’t help it for some reason.” Coco snorted and shifted in her seat. With Nina, she felt something in her lower back. Something poked out. It was small and curly, like a pig’s tail. The same thing happened to coco as she grew a curly tail of her own. A chill ran down her back as she heard something behind her, it sounded like a low moan, almost ghostly. Half of coco had a bad feeling that something strange was going on, but the other half of her wanted to keep eating. The more the two ate, which they couldn’t stop, the more they changed. Their hands and feet into trotters, their ears flopped, their noses grew into snouts and their bodies fatter. Oblivious to what was happening, the two continue to feast using just their mouths to gorge like actual animals instead of chopsticks. It wasn’t until coco felt another chill and heard another ghostly moan. There was definitely something weird going on here and she didn’t want to stick around.

“Ok, there is definitely something wrong here! Come on let’s…” coco stopped and saw her trotters. Gasping, she looked down and finally got a good look at herself. Grabbing a plate and looking at her reflection, the face of an orange pig greeted her. That was her face, her snout, coco was a pig! She screamed and dropped the plate, it shatters into pieces, getting Nina’s attention.

“What the heck are you screaming about-Oh my god! you’re a pig!” Nina saw for herself.
“So are you!” Coco points a trotter back. But Nina was too busy laughing at coco to notice. “This is no laughing matter!”
“But come on, you look ridiculous!” Nina snorted and fell off her seat. “I always thought you were a little pig-headed, but not literally until now!”
“Oh ha ha, very funny,” coco pulls her up and the two try to make a run for it. “I think we better get out of here.”
“What?! We can’t leave without finding a way how to reverse this! I don’t wanna be a pig for the rest of my life!” Nina panics but hears that same ghostly moan. a figure in the distance moves closer to the two. It looked like a ghost but black and wore a white, humanoid mask. Needless to say, this didn’t look like a friendly local. “Uh, coco?” Nina tried to warn her.

“What?” Coco turned around and saw the ghostly being, The last thing the two girls saw before everything blacked out.

What happened to the two? Well the good news is that they got to see some real life yokai and spirits. The bad news is that the village’s spa got two new employees…