The Fall 2024 Light Novel Guide

Ayakashi and the Fairy Tales We Tell Ourselves

What's It About? 

When The Ayakashi Come Out And Play!

When Haruka Kitazawa bumps into the enigmatic Ayako Towada, her life veers down an unexpected course. Ayako introduces Haruka to her nephew, Takumi, a seemingly aloof classmate nursing a unique and uncanny secret. Takumi and his aunt bear an unusual gift—the ability to perceive ayakashi, spectral creatures that straddle the boundary between this realm and the one beyond.

As Haruka and Takumi grapple with their newfound reality and their burgeoning relationship, they must learn to draw strength from each other and those around them to confront their most profound fears and insecurities. Amid the turmoil of adolescence and the mysteries of an unseen world, they strive to chart distinct paths and transform the messiness of youth into their own fairy tale of self-discovery and empowerment.

Ayakashi and the Fairy Tales We Tell Ourselves has a story and art by Kosuzu Kobato with illustrations by Meij. English translation by Dawson Chen. Published by Cross Infinite World (September 30, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

Middle school is hard enough without throwing past trauma into the mix. Haruka was left painfully shy after a head injury as a little girl, and having recently transferred middle schools certainly isn't helping. She's made friends with a couple of girls in the class, but her real solace comes from her dog – and it's while walking him that she meets the Towadas, Ayako, and her nephew Takumi. While visiting them, Haruka discovers that she can see the ayakashi that flock to their house, and while there's nothing that straight out says that this is because of that head injury as a child, it's hard to imagine that it isn't. Similarly, although the text never says that she's been given this as a gift to compensate for the trauma, it really feels like that's the case. It's a gentler form of what we often see depicted as chuunibiyou because, for Haruka and Takumi (who was born with the ability to see ayakashi), the creatures are really there.

A key component of this sweet single-volume story is the fact that the ayakashi look different to everyone who can see them, and this says a lot about the people themselves. Ayako sees them as zashiki-warashi because they fill the house she shared with her late husband and she views them as protecting that happiness. Takumi, who resents the way his power made him an outcast in his immediate family, sees them as goblins, harmless but awful-looking little monsters. And to Haruka, they appear to be stoats, soft, furry little animals who bring her comfort and warmth, because that's what she's been craving in her life. The longer Takumi spends with Haruka, the implication seems to be, the more the ayakashi will change their form for him because Haruka's love of the stoats she sees (she names them “oaties”) begins to change Takumi's view of his own talent. It's a nice metaphor for the teenagers' growth, both in themselves and towards each other, and Kosuzu Kobato does a beautiful job of keeping it on that symbolic level without overstating.

If you've been reading shoujo-adjacent light novels for a while, you may recognize Kosuzu Kobato's name – she's had numerous English language releases in the last few years. There's a very good reason for that: she's a talented author, and that makes her concerns mentioned in the afterword of this book (that foreign audiences might not fully understand the ayakashi) a nonissue. The ayakashi forms a symbolic element in this coming-of-age story and guides Haruka and Takumi without becoming trite or corny. The novel ends with the two teenagers still mid-journey, but it's a hopeful ending, showing how they're going to continue to move in a positive direction. Nothing is truly resolved, but Takumi is more comfortable with himself, and Haruka is starting to expand her world. It's warm and gentle because that's what both protagonists need it to be – and maybe what we readers need, too.