Taro Shinjyo stepped through the door of the log cabin and filled his nostrils with the scent of the place. It didn't smell too bad. No dead animal stench. No mold odors. No poop smells. The place had possibilities. He flicked the switch to the right of the door and was surprised when the light bulb in the middle of the room sprang to life.

Though the interior was small, it looked neat and tidy - but old. The dingy ornate paneling covering the walls was depressing. It reminded Taro of the 1970's karate movies he used to watch with his dad. "Yech!" He took a look about. A small gas stove off to the left. A sleeper sofa off to the right... facing an old tube television set. Didn't people know that those things went out of style years ago with the advent of LCD sets?

"Hmmm." Next to the TV stood a stack of VCR tapes. But where was the VCR? "Duh! Check under the TV, bonehead!" he said to himself. He opened the cabinet and there it was! Didn't these people know that nobody played VCR tapes anymore? Even DVDs were out of style. He wondered what they had for music here? Vinyl records? Eight-track tapes?

A red plastic VHS tape box caught Taro's eye. It was the second in the stack. He pulled it out and examined the case. That was odd. There was a message scratched into it. He tilted the box toward the bulb and squinted to read the barely readable message. "DO NOT VIEW THIS TAPE!" it said in large letters. He looked lower and made out some smaller letters: "If you view this tape, a girl with a really big knife may come out of the TV set and kill you!"

"Yeah, right!" Taro opened the box and extracted the equally red video tape cartridge. "What a load of bull." But he was intrigued. So he popped the red tape into the player and turned on the TV. After some static, the video stabilized and started playing. It showed the image of a very pretty Asian girl with shiny long hair down to her waist, dressed in black pajamas, looking through a closet.

"What should I wear?" the girl said... to nobody in particular. She was probably talking to herself.

Taro waited for the next thing to happen. The girl was actually very cute so his eyes remained glued to the screen.

"Well?" The girl turned and faced the camera. She put her hands on her hips. "What would you like me to wear? I can't keep these pajamas on forever!"

Taro laughed. This was fun.

"If you don't tell me what to wear, I'm going to come over there and cut your heart out. I'm serious!"

What a crazy video. But the girl was so pretty it was hypnotic. Who was she supposed to be speaking to? Was her mother off-screen standing at the door or something? Nothing was happening so Taro shouted at the set. "I think your schoolgirl uniform would be sexy!"

The girl in the video giggled and smiled. "Well it's about time you said something! My school uniform it is!"

Taro's heart nearly stopped. "Were you talking to me?" he finally managed to gasp.

The girl, who was now stepping out of her pajama pants, laughed sweetly and said, "Of course I was talking to you! Do you see anybody else around here?" Taro's mouth dropped open as the pretty girl turned her back to him and removed her pajama top. Now wearing only her panties, the girl turned to face him with her arms crossed over her chest. "Do you mind?"

"Huh?" Taro was still in shock.

"Turn around dummy!"

"Okay, sorry!" Taro turned to the wall. "Let me know when it's safe, okay?" Taro waited patiently for a few minutes as the video played.

He jumped and yelped when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. When he turned, there stood the girl, in real life, looking very cute in her school uniform. "It's okay now," the girl said with a pleasant laugh. "You can turn around."

Taro looked on in disbelief as the girl walked over to the stack of video tapes and studied the titles. "Have you ever seen this one?" She turned and showed Taro the tape's cover. It was a movie called 'Spirited Away'. "It's one of my favorites. I think it would be really fun if we watched this one. Is that okay?"

Taro just nodded his head.

The girl winked at Taro. "Excellent answer!"

When the girl removed the red tape from the VCR, the image of the empty bedroom disappeared into static. She pushed in the new tape. It started automatically.

The girl, now smiling brightly, skipped back to the couch and plopped down next to Taro. "I'm sure you'll like this," she said. "It's very good."

Taro looked over and smiled at his pretty companion. "Hey," he said. "If I didn't tell you what to wear, what would you have done?"

The schoolgirl looked over at him with a sweet smile, accompanied by dark, cold eyes. "You read the box... didn't you?" She turned back to the movie. So Taro did, too.

It was an animated film. Taro's companion giggled as she watched the little girl character complain from the back seat as her parents were driving to their new home. "It's about a girl that gets taken from one reality, and is transported into another. It starts slow, but it gets much better further in." The girl pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as she watched.

Taro couldn't take his eyes off of the girl. "You're very pretty," he finally managed to say, "in a scary sort of way". He considered asking her if she was real but decided against it.

The girl turned, blinked a few times, and giggled. "I think you're kind of cute, too." She dropped her legs, scooted over next to him and rested her head on the stunned boy's shoulder. Then she continued watching the movie.

Taro took a deep breath. Then he put his arm around the girl.

Again, the girl giggled sweetly. "Don't you think you should buy me dinner first?"

With his free hand, Taro pulled the cell phone out of his pocket. "Is American pizza okay? I saw a Dominos on the way over here. And they deliver."

"I like jalapenos and pineapple," the girl replied while keeping her focus on the show.

"By the way, my name is Taro. Taro Shinjyo."

The girl turned toward her new friend and extended her hand. "Ryoko. Ryoko Asakura."

"Do you live around here?"

"Please don't ask me too many questions," Ryoko replied with a sigh. She moved a little closer to Taro and pulled his arm a bit more tightly over her shoulder. "Let's both be quiet and enjoy this movie. It's very good."

"Okay," Taro replied. They watched the movie together in silence.

After ten minutes, Ryoko turned to her new friend. "Okay, rule change," she said with the sweetest smile and a giggle. "Ordering the pizza is allowed!"

"Okay," Taro said as he dialed his phone... realizing that he really liked this very strange girl... though now he really wished he would have suggested a swim suit.