Konda Village was a small coastal settlement on Narukami Island.
Though summer had already arrived, the late-blooming sakura were flowering more fiercely than ever.
Even the morning sun seemed drunk on their color, while the clouds stumbled low across the sky.
Rosy clouds and a blazing sea of sakura piled up at the ends of the mountains, their colors rich and gentle. Below, waves rolled in and softly washed against the shore. By dusk, even the sound of the surf had grown tender and unhurried, like a lyric poem moving to the slow rhythm of an afternoon breeze.
After the thunder departed, storm clouds gathered over every corner of Inazuma City. Only the wind through Konda Village retained a trace of gentleness.
Not long ago, Kiyono's Tofu Shop had reopened.
This was very, very good news.
To the people of Konda Village—especially the older generation—this plain, timeworn little shop held a special place in their hearts. Before His Excellency the Pillar General rose to renown, he had made his living here.
The taste of the Pillar General's tofu had long since seeped into the villagers' memories, becoming an irreplaceable part of the taste of home.
Kiyono's Tofu Shop was open today as well.
"Rinse the tofu we prepared yesterday. Get the udon ready too... Don't slack off, and don't sneak any food."
Kiyono Raimei went on and on. Age had made him a light sleeper, so he always rose very early. He pushed open the window, and clear, spotless sunlight poured in from every direction. Clad in a pale, old-fashioned kimono, he stood amid the morning light, his body seeming to dissolve into it.
He took out some tobacco, carefully rolled it in paper, and lit it with a fire striker. The ember brightened as he drew in a breath.
"No..." Yae Miko said lazily. "No smoking. It'll shorten your life."
"Time to get up, Miko," Kiyono Raimei told her. "The customers will be here soon."
"Mm." Lady Fox gave a tiny yawn, her fox ears drooping beside her cheeks. She forced her eyes open and turned her face away from the glare. "Morning, you old bastard who won't die."
"Morning," Kiyono Raimei said. "Baka fox."
Time to get up.
Rinse the prepared tofu. Wipe down the tables and stools. Make the udon with care—the one indispensable ingredient in Kitsune Udon. Then slide open the wooden door and hang the red lantern that meant they were open.
And so the day began.
The sun had only just broken over the horizon, yet more than a dozen customers were already waiting outside the shop.
Most were elderly villagers.
Clad in old kimonos, they shakily lifted pieces of plain tofu with their chopsticks and placed them into mouths that had long since lost most of their teeth. They chewed slowly, eyes falling half-shut, as if savoring something from long ago.
Warm tofu slipped down their throats and spread through their chests, turning into a faint current of heat. Color returned to their faces, and they let out soft, appreciative sighs.
"So good..." they murmured. "So good."
It was an old shop, and those who came were old customers.
"Not bad." Standing beside Lady Fox, Kiyono Raimei offered his expert judgment. "But you cooked the tofu a little too long. Your heat still needs work."
Lady Fox ignored him. "Then make it yourself. Quit being a lazy ass."
"I'm retired." Kiyono Raimei took another drag from his cigarette. "You've already learned eighty percent of my craft. I can safely leave the shop to you. I'm the owner and you're the help, so the help should listen to the owner."
"No smoking."
Yae Miko glared at him.
"Fine, fine. I'm stopping."
The old bastard who refused to die stubbed out his cigarette. Leaning against the counter, he began rambling again. Old people talked too much, and this one was particularly hopeless.
"Wake up on time every day. Summer may be here, but Narukami Island still gets cold, so remember to put on another layer. Don't catch a cold... Take good care of yourself. Time really does pass quickly."
He seemed lost in thought. Gazing at Lady Fox, he said softly, "So quickly that even the Baka fox has grown into a young lady. That's good."
...
Running the shop was hard work.
It was nothing like running Yae Publishing House, where she could leave everything to the editors beneath her.
At the tofu shop, she had to handle almost everything herself: how much force to use when grinding the soybeans, where to buy the ingredients, how to speak with the customers—especially the very, very old regulars, whose age often left their speech confused and disordered. All of it had to be handled by Lady Yae herself.
Time truly did pass quickly. The tofu shop had been open again for almost half a year.
It was tiring, but her days were full... full and uneventful.
Their daily life consisted of bickering, making tofu, bickering, and making tofu. In the morning, Kiyono Raimei would tell her, "Good morning again today," and she would answer, "Good morning." At night, they said good night. The sun rose and fell, and the same days came round again.
"Summer is here," Lady Fox suddenly said in a quiet voice. "Doesn't that mean the Lantern Festival isn't far away?"
Kiyono did not answer. It seemed he had not heard her.
Only one customer remained.
He was a very, very old man—the oldest person in Konda Village, more than a hundred years of age. Though time had withered him, his back remained perfectly straight. He had once been a soldier, though he was long retired now.
Before the Pillar Army was dissolved, this old veteran had belonged to its final class of recruits.
The young recruit of those days now had white at his temples. He stared blankly at the pale golden broth, where tender white tofu floated among green leaves. He lifted a piece to his mouth. Then, suddenly, he lowered his head.
"So good. So good," the old soldier murmured.
"The Pillar General once made me a bowl of this tofu. I was lucky enough to taste it. It was so good. The flavor hasn't changed at all. A hundred years have passed already... Time goes so quickly."
Time goes so quickly.
Yae Miko said nothing.
"Lady Guuji..." The old man looked up, his eyes wet and glimmering. With complete sincerity, he asked, "Is His Excellency the Pillar General... still in good health?"
"He's very well. He doesn't smoke either," Lady Fox said quietly. "He'll live for several hundred years more."
"Ah... That's good. That's good." The old soldier nodded. "Several hundred years more."
"It's a pity I'm already so old. I'm afraid I'll never see His Excellency again. Time passes so quickly." The old soldier slowly shook his head. "Do you know where he is now?"
Then the old soldier left. He had finished everything, even the last drop of broth. Perhaps Kiyono Raimei had been right: the brilliant Lady Guuji had mastered eighty percent of his craft, and the tofu shop truly could be entrusted to her.
The final customer was gone.
The sun had set as well.
Kiyono Raimei told her it was time to prepare tomorrow's ingredients.
After a full day's work, she wiped every bowl and plate clean and arranged them neatly in the cupboard.
She set out what they would need tomorrow, poured soybeans into the stone mill, and began to grind.
Kiyono Raimei lit that damned cigarette again. He sat on the threshold of the tofu shop, the last glow of sunset covering his thin back. Smoke drifted from his lips and dissolved into the evening light. Without raising his head, he said to Yae Miko:
"Good evening."
The sunset entered the mill as well. With every creak and groan of the turning stone, time was ground apart together with the soybeans, mingling into pure white tofu. Amid its faint, mellow fragrance, Lady Miko leaned against the mill and slowly closed her eyes.
"Hey, old thing." Lady Fox's ears gradually drooped. Her voice was very soft.
"Tell me... where are you?"
When she opened her eyes, there was nothing on the threshold. Only the waning sunlight lay across the weathered wooden door, the dim lantern merging with the dying sun.
From beginning to end, Lady Fox had been alone in that old, narrow, empty shop.
There was no Kiyono Raimei in this world.
He was only what her longing had made of him.
Thunder crossed the night sky in 0.3 seconds and left behind one clear peal. But once that peal faded, there was no echo. All that single bolt of thunder had left in this world was the memory of those who had heard it.
Lady Fox sat down on the high threshold. She lowered her head between her pale knees, wrapped her arms around her legs, and watched the sunset slowly vanish beneath the sea, her fox ears hanging limp.
"Today was so hard... I'm so tired."
Head bowed, she repeated, "I'm really tired."
"Grinding the tofu, too—I don't have the strength for it. Come with me when I buy the ingredients. If you think I'm doing it wrong, if I overcook the tofu, then do it yourself. Don't just stand there and talk. Don't be like this. I... I'm really tired."
"Running this shop alone is so hard. Don't leave the tofu shop to me. Don't leave everything to me."
Everyone told her how quickly time passed. Every customer told her how quickly time passed.
Of course it passed quickly.
Quickly enough for the little fox to grow into a young lady. Quickly enough that Kiyono Raimei had already been dead for two hundred and thirteen days.
And she had said good morning and good night two hundred and thirteen times.
Leaning against the old wooden door, she said, "Hey, spring is over and summer is here. Once autumn passes, another year will have gone by. You promised. The Lantern Festival is coming... You promised we'd go see the lanterns together every year."
"We were supposed to go together."
"I don't want to do this anymore... You promised me. You weren't supposed to smoke. You said you'd live for hundreds of years..." She clutched at the front of her clothes. "I told someone you would live for hundreds of years. Don't make this Guuji's word into a lie too."
Time passed so quickly.
Lady Fox bit her lip. The sunset's last glimmer slowly disappeared, both at the edge of the sky and in Miko's eyes. The night wind was cool as it brushed lightly against her cheeks.
The warm breeze was picturesque, and late sakura bloomed among the lanes of Konda Village.
There was still so much to do.
She had rested long enough.
She still had to wake early and open the shop tomorrow.
She lowered her head. After a long while, she finally looked up again, as if some life had returned to her. She patted her cheeks, rose to her feet, and took down the red lantern by the door.
Night slowly descended. Dusk gathered on every side, and the burning clouds withdrew to the farthest edge of the sky. Facing the sinking twilight, facing the setting sun, she said good night for the two hundred and fourteenth time.
"Good night, Kiyono Raimei."
That was what she said.
...
He was a young man with long, pale hair.
He did not look very old, nor did he seem to be from Inazuma.
He wore a Liyue-style jacket trimmed in gold. The thin fabric rustled in the night breeze, and the shifting shadows of late sakura petals played across his pale cheek.
Lady Fox stood on the steps of the tofu shop, rising onto her toes to take down the red lantern. The young man stood below. The warm breeze stirred his tousled hair as the sun sank between them. In the distance, the sea shimmered beneath the summer dusk.
The wind shook loose the late sakura. Dark petals scattered through the air like a fragrant, intoxicating rain, coming to rest on Kiyo Seigan's shoulders.
Kiyo Seigan studied the tofu shop with some curiosity.
Or rather, he was studying the fluffy ears atop Yae Miko's head.
Whoa... A fox.
He had heard of the Pillar General's tofu. Since he had come all the way to Inazuma, he had naturally decided he must try it.
Perhaps that was not the only reason. Whatever the cause, he simply felt that he had to visit this shop and taste its tofu.
Unfortunately, after they finally crossed the blockade aboard the Alcor and were received by a man named Thoma, it was already quite late by the time they reached Inazuma.
Worse still, the Kanjou Commission—one branch of the Tri-Commission—had tried to fleece them.
Because of the Sakoku Decree, every foreigner entering Inazuma had to register and obtain a travel permit. The price they were quoted was a full three million Mora.
Miss Lumine and the others were still dealing with the permit. Kiyo Seigan, however, was a born slacker and far too free-spirited to wait around, so he had slipped onto Narukami Island without papers.
Unfortunately, the tofu shop had already closed for the day.
"Sorry, little one." The fox-eared proprietor slid the wooden door shut. "We're closed for today. I need to rest too."
Miko put away the lantern and closed the door.
Oh.
That was unfortunate.
He would not be able to try it tomorrow either—or for some time after that, for that matter. He was here without papers. If the Kanjou Commission caught him, they would probably throw him straight out of Inazuma.
Tomorrow, he would have to think about getting a permit.
Kiyo Seigan's shoulders slumped.
But there was nothing he could do. The owner needed her rest too.
Kiyo Seigan intended to spend this life taking things easy, so naturally he could not force someone else to work overtime for him.
He was a polite young man. Facing the wooden door, he called, "Good night, Miss Fox."
...
Creak—
The wooden door slid open a crack.
Yae Miko paused. Staring at the young man framed by the last light of sunset, she suddenly asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion:
"Little one... have we met somewhere before?"