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Confronting Aunt Yoko
Johannes Faustuz confronts his aunt Yoko about his uncle’s garden. - Uncle Heinrich made the garden with a pond for his father-in-law to enjoy while he visited Kiel from Hiroshima; over the years, three things were brought over from Japan: a Kappa egg, a Garappa egg, and an infant Hyōsube attached to an eggplant. Yoko’s father had hopes that either Hansel or Hannah would befriend the Yōkai and become a doctor as a reward for doing so. Neither grandchild wanted to do anything about the Yōkai, thinking they only existed in Japan and not wanting to be doctors (Hansel ended up being a nurse while Hannah became a chef). - Overhearing and being fascinated with stories of the Yōkai, a little 3-year-old Johannes Faustuz often visited the garden pond with a jar of pickles in hand, tossing them into the water; he’d get excited seeing each of the floating pickles suddenly sink below the surface. But one day, the boy fell into the pond trying to lean in closer to see the pickles disappear. Unable to swim yet, Johannes Faustuz cries out for help. A green shelled creature pops up to help the boy swim to shore; the boy offers what’s left of the pickle jar to the creature before it dives deep into the water; Yoko’s father arrives to scold him for seeking the Yōkai and leaning towards the water carelessly. Ever since, Johannes Faustuz would occasionally leave behind a jar of pickles nearby the pond. The creature was obviously the Kappa, and because he was offered pickles over the years, he tells the other Yōkai to not cause him any trouble. —