(Discontinued )
(Work Dated: May 24 2021)
The streets of Shikagami City have a secret.
To save themselves from paying their severe debts with their soul to a Verdish Goddess of the Underworld, a desperate restaurant mascot has to help a Junhic fox...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Mornings lend a special elegance to the Selene and the avenue. You're fond of watching the waters sparkle in the gentle golden sun as you clean the shop windows. The air is fresh, crisp and cold in October, and joggers had already begun dwindling in numbers. You spray more liquid on the golden letters naming the restaurant on the glass. You have scruples against using water in washing the dust off, but you assure yourself that the river hasn't frozen yet.
You catch Himeko walking towards the storeroom with a huge pot through your shadow. Your breath clouds up the glass and you wipe it off. There's the tattoo of a yellow, nine-tailed fox peeping from underneath her sleeve. You wonder why you hadn't noticed it before, and why it caught your attention all of a sudden. You rack your brain and remember a smoky visit to the Junhic Temple in the park roughly a month ago. There had been foxes, ones with nine tails as well, found in pictures. That was it about that memory; you had escaped an accident and had returned home. Then, why was the tattoo so magnetic to your eyes and thoughts?
You enter the Silver Koi restaurant and head towards the kitchen. You can smell broth simmering on stove top already, giving a homely feel to the kitchen. Himeko is busy chopping up greens at lightning speed and pushing them aside.
"Good morning, silver koi," she greets you without turning around. She quickly skins the carrots, and turns to slicing them up.
"Hey, mornin' chef. What's for breakfast?" you pipe as you enter the kitchen. You swipe a carrot coin from the cutting board and chew on it as she moves on to get other ingredients. You manage to make out stuffed dumplings served with greens and egg noodles from the chef's culinary jargon. One good look at the broth helps you see the rice dumplings boiling within the waters.
"Hmm, we're out of mint, basil and coriander again," she informs you, as she returns from the store-room to check on the dumplings. "Honey, could you go and buy some at the grocer's? Just ask them for the usual herb supply for Silver Koi and to add the money to the tab-"
"And let me guess, we haven't paid the tab yet," you say. Himeko fixes your slouch with a stern look.
"Okay, okay," you give in, as she hands over her car keys.
"You do have a driving licence on you, don't you?" she asks as she stirs the pot. Delicious, white dumplings rise and fall beneath the waves of broth, making your stomach rumble helplessly. You regret having skipped breakfast.
"I do, mom," you reply. Himeko smiles without looking up, and prods the dumplings to ensure their uniformity. Seizing the opportunity, you shoot her a question.
"That's a nice tattoo you've got there; I've seen one of those at the Shrine in the park."
"Like this one? Nah kid, that must've been a Tseni, a white fox. This one right here," she says, pulling back her sleeve to give you a full vision of the yellow, nine-tailed fox posing alongside melon flowers, "is called a Yinhi."
"What's the difference between the two, aside from the obvious colour differences?"
"White foxes symbolise love and home, yellow one symbolise prosperity and luck, and red ones symbolise protection against evil and power. And I swear, my Yinhi hasn't been bringing me any luck."
Something begins to tug at the base of your head, and for the life of you, you can't remember why or what. You rub your neck, watching Himeko fish and drain the water from the dumplings. A shrug from your shoulders forcibly clears your mind and urges you on for business.
