Chapter Text
“Hey, Nikaido!” Kaiman shouted from around the corner, “the shipment of new dishes came!” He came around the corner holding two boxes on each shoulder.
“Careful with those! They’re expensive!” Nikaido yelled back, holding two more boxes and carrying them into her shop, Kaiman close behind. Once she set the boxes down, she closed the door behind Kaiman while he unpacked the boxes as carefully as he could.
“Why’d you order all these fancy plates and stuff anyways?” Kaiman flipped one of the forks over in his hand, waving it a little.
“They’re not that fancy, they’re just not the crappy plates we had before.”
“I dunno, some of these have some fancy designs on them”
“Okay so maybe some of them are a little fancy.” Nikaido chuckled. “We’ve been getting a lot more customers lately though, and with things having settled down a bit between humans and magic users we gotta be ready for some higher up customers.”
Kaiman shrugged in agreement and kept unloading the boxes. They worked in silence for a few minutes before Nikaido decided to turn on the tv.
“Once you’re done you can have some of the left over gyoza from last night.” Nikaido finished up the boxes she could get without Kaiman and began heating up the gyoza for him. “The new year’s celebration is in a few days, the shop is gonna be packed.”
“You’re staying open for new years?” Kaiman put away the last stack of plates. “I thought you were gonna close up so we can go to the shops and stuff.”
“I will, but I wanna go a little later in the day. Ill probably just close up early.”
Kaiman nodded, sitting down while he waited for his gyoza. The TV played the news quietly in the background, talking about En’s upcoming plans in the sorcerer’s world.
“He’s been trying to get sorcerers to stop practicing here in Hole for awhile now. Hasn’t been going off too well with everyone.” Nikaido set a plate and silverware in front of Kaiman, not looking at him or the TV. “If he did manage to stop it, I feel like Hole wouldn’t quite be the same, ya know? I mean, It’d be great, but I feel like some other thing would just start happening instead.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Kaiman placed a napkin on his lap. “I say whatever happens happens, and we deal with it when we get there.” Nikaido laughed as she served him his food. He immediately began eating, as usual. She muted the TV as she got out what she needed to prepare food before she opened the shop. The bell on the door rang as someone walked in.
“Hey, we’re closed right now!” Nikaido looked over the counter to see Kasukabe walking in
“Oh, its just you… wait, how’d you get in? I locked the door.”
“I have a key.” He kicked the door closed behind him, looking over his shoulder to make sure the open sign was still the right way around.
Nikaido sighed, “Fair enough. Do you need something?”
Kasukabe sat down next to Kaiman. “Just wanted to see if I could get some food to go before I head over to the sorcerer’s world today.”
“Sure thing!” She began cooking another batch of gyoza, this time fresh. “Why you going to the sorcerer’s world?”
“Remember Shin? One of En’s cleaners? Well, we’ve been hanging out since everything settled down however long ago, and he convinced En to let me do some hands-on research in return for giving him whatever findings I make to better understand sorcerer anatomy and whatnot.” Kasukabe reached over the counter and helped himself to a cup of sake. Some time passed as the three ate together. Eventually, Nikaido opened the restaurant after wishing Kasukabe luck in his studies.
The day was surprisingly busy, and Kaiman had to step in and help a couple times. Nothing too interesting happened for the rest of the day. Kaiman began his walk home after helping clean up.
“The end is soon!” A man yelled from the side of the street. He held a sign with weird symbols on it. Kaiman gave him little notice, until he grabbed his hand. “Sir- “
“Hey, get off me!” Kaiman jumped around, “The hell you want?!”
“Are you ready for the revolution?” The man’s teeth were basically falling out right there, and his hair was all but gone.
“The what?” Kaiman relaxed his stance a little after realizing the man wasn’t really a threat. He was a small man with large, scared eyes. He shoved a paper into Kaiman’s hand into a nearby alley without any further explanation. Kaiman looked at the crumpled paper in his hand. He was about to open it and read it, but it began to rain. He shrugged, shoved it in his pocket, and continued making his way home.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, at En’s manor, a meeting was being held.
“I just don’t get why you wanna help the people in Hole so badly.” Shin commented, cutting his steak.
“Because they’re still people, Shin, they don’t deserve most of what happens to them.” En was especially stern that day. “Sure, some of them suck ass, and its not like im trying to invite them all to live here, but I just think after what happened a few years ago with the cross eyes boss, we all have more in common than you’d think.”
Shin shrugged, “I guess. But their lives aren’t our responsibility, just like our lives aren’t theirs.”
“Shin, you’re being a real ass today. You used to live there, you know how it is.” En ate slowly, thinking. After a pause, he added, “Imagine if Kasukabe heard you say that-“ Shin choked on his food for a moment.
“Shut up, that’s different.” He wiped his mouth and cleared his throat.
“How? He didn’t have to save you, especially as a magic user in ‘their world’”. En continued eating.
Shin rolled his eyes. “Fine, you do have a point. I’m just… tense, I guess. Haven’t had much to do lately.” He finished his food and pushed his plate away, just as the door to the dining hall opened.
“You have a visitor, En.” A guard led Kasukabe into the hall, holding a single bulging suitcase.
“Hi!!” Kasukabe waved and smiled, taking in the large room. “Sorry to interrupt your meal, I was just looking for my room and this guy grabbed me and brought me here!”
“Its no problem, Professor.” En set his fork down, only having half eaten his mushroom steak. “Shin, if you’re finished eating, please show the professor to his room and the lab.” Shin nodded and stood up, sharing a glance with Noi, before walking over to Kasukabe and grabbing his suitcase.
“Follow me.” Shin didn’t stop to wait and led Kasukabe out into the hallway.
“Sorry for barging in there, I was just gonna find my room myself-“
“Its fine.” Shin huffed, unlocking a door not far from the dining hall. “This is your room, mine is two doors down if you end up needing anything, and the lab is that door.” He pointed to a large, iron door directly across from them with some suspicious stains on it. He started to leave.
“What’s wrong, Shin?” Kasukabe tossed his suitcase onto the nicely made bed in the room. Shin stopped, glancing over his shoulder.
“Nothing.” There was a moment of silence before he began to walk away again.
“This really isn’t like you.” Kasukabe put his hand on his cheek, thinking. “I mean, yeah, you’re stoic, but you’re not normally this cold to me…”
Shin sighed, “I’m just tired, that’s all. If you want, we can play cards tomorrow.”
“No… no…” Kasukabe thought more, being very showy about tilting his head back and forth. Shin turned around to face him again. “Hmm… Wanna come help me find some… specimens?” Shin perked up, his heart began beating a little faster. He feigned thought for a moment before smiling and answering.
“Sure.”