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Arataki Itto liked the sights and sounds on Amakane Island a lot. The current festival on the island was celebrating, and there’s always something to play or eat. If he was out of money, there would always be something he could do to earn a free snack or get a free toy. Usually a free broken toy, but he doesn’t mind it anyway. He’d give it to one of the kids who lived along the same street as Granny Oni.
There was a small festival tonight on Amakane Island. One of the smaller shrines on Narukami Island was celebrating the feast of its deity and was hosting a celebration to return gratitude to its worshippers. Everyone in the gang was busy for one reason, and Itto was alone. He didn’t mind being alone, but it did feel rather lonely.
Until he saw a particularly familiar fluffy tail swaying to and fro in front of a takoyaki stall.
Gorou jumped the moment he heard a voice yelling for him. He turned around, mouth frantically chewing the hot ball of batter in his mouth, trying to swallow as fast as he could.
What in the blasted gods of all the islands was that oni doing here? He gulped down the takoyaki ball and panted. His tongue was reddened by the heat.
“Doggy general! It’s me! Don’t you remember me?”
Gorou scowled, his ears flicking back. He remembered this oni very, very well. Of course, he remembered this oni. He didn’t like to be reminded of it.
Arataki Itto tilted his head, looking at Gorou with quite the dazed smile on his face.
“If you forget my name, it’s Arataki the Badass Itto who won a bet with the Doggy General of Watatsumi Forces.”
Itto said in one breath and placed his hands on his hips, looking as proud as he could.
There was a long moment of silence. Gorou closed his eyes and sighed.
There was another long moment of silence.
Arataki Itto’s stomach growled.
The stall owner looked a little embarrassed as well. He skewered a few of the steaming balls in a pan, laid them into a box, and handed that box to Gorou. He whispered.
“General, why don’t you give this to your oni friend.”
Gorou blinked.
The stall owner continued to look embarrassed, “He looks hungry.”
Though truth to say, that person was likely worried that the two might create some trouble for him. Thus, it might be better to be generous to offer some free food in case that trouble might happen.
It’s best to adapt to the moment, Gorou thought. He patted the empty stool next to him and waved a hand at the oni, indicating he should sit.
Itto did not look surprised. In fact, he looked as if it was only natural Gorou invited him to eat together. After all, this was the fifth time he’d met the dog general, and he really enjoyed each time he met Gorou. It was difficult to describe, but Arataki Itto just felt warm and extremely happy even next to the pup. If Itto could put it in words, it would be the kind of happiness like getting a sashimi dinner or being able to eat his fill of yakisoba bread.
Gorou sighed again.
He pushed the box of takoyaki to Itto and reached out to pick a skewer from the little box in front of them. The skewer was stabbed with force into one of the sauced balls before the pup stared up at the oni.
“Eat before your stomach gets upset,” Gorou instructed, his nose twitching. He went back to finishing his own box of food.
“Are ya here alone, doggy general?”
“Yes.” Gorou chewed on a ball, staring ahead into nothing.
“Why are ya alone, doggy general? Where are those soldiers who’re always with ya?”
“They went to buy drinks.”
“What drinks?”
“Alcohol.”
“I love alcohol!” Itto declared, shoving two balls of takoyaki into his mouth.
Gorou stopped eating. His fingers held the bamboo skewer tightly, and his hand shook. Slowly, he placed the skewer down into the empty box. He had enough.
This oni won’t shut up.
Putting on his biggest smile, Gorou turned to look at Arataki Itto.
“Shall we go get some alcohol too?”
Gorou’s main aim was to make the oni so drunk that he would just stop talking.
But he realized it was a damned mistake.
Instead of getting drunk, Arataki Itto was just guzzling down jar after jar, bottle after bottle of sake. With each bottle drunk, Gorou’s purse also shrunk.
Gorou slammed another handful of mora on the counter.
“Five more jars.”
The owner stared at the glinting coins on the counter and the dog general.
“I have only three more jars left, Sir.” The man said, pushing back some coins. He stared at the piled-up jars and bottles that both the oni and pup had drunk. Both still looked very lucid, very awake, and not drunk at all.
“Ah!” Itto exclaimed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, “Is there any more? I’m gonna drink everything. Just bring it all out!”
He laughed out of nowhere and tilted the bottle in his hand upside down, “Hehe, doggy general, why aren’t ya drinking? Didn’t ya say no one can outdrink you in the whole camp?”
This was the fourth sake stall, and Gorou counted at least the oni had finished twenty-eight bottles and seven big jars. The more Arataki Itto drank, the chattier he became. He started to ask Gorou about his hobbies, how he liked his rice cooked, or whether he bit his tail when he slept. Gorou answered each question truthfully because he just could not find it in himself to lie, yet when faced with more and more awkward questions, his face grew red, his cheeks puffed, but he answered them anyway. But as he drank more, he didn’t seem to mind the silly questions.
It did take his mind of some of the worries he had earlier about his soldiers. So Gorou drank a bit more and answered more of Arataki Itto’s silly questions, flushing deeply when the questions become pretty shameless.
Yet, Arataki Itto only felt great delight at making the dog general flush.
When Gorou reddened, his ears would flick uncontrollably, and the oni found it very cute.
And without hesitation, Itto reached out, wanting to touch the tip of Gorou’s ear.
Gorou’s hands immediately shot up, clasping his fingers around Itto’s wrist defensively.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to touch your ears, doggy general.”
As far as touching his ears went, Gorou never allowed anyone else except those he was close to touching his ears. Even for his own soldiers, he would only allow them to indulge in sparingly. For one reason or another, he believed that even if there’s luck in touching his ears, that luck will run out if his ears were touched too many times.
“I heard if I touch your ears, doggy general, I might just get enough luck to not get into jail this week!”
Itto declared with a huge grin. He tried to tug his wrist away from Gorou’s tight grip.
“Get…get into jail?” Gorou looked in utter surprise at Itto, “What do you mean getting into jail? Are you a criminal?”
The pup leaped to his feet at once, his grip around Itto’s wrist growing tighter.
“No, ouch, hey, stop!” Itto howled, trying to pull his hand away. His stool rocked, and he almost lost his balance. His elbow hit the wooden edge of the stall counter, and it shook violently along with the empty bottles and cups.
The sake stall owner gasped at the commotion, “Customers! Customers, if you want to fight, please go somewhere else!”
“We are leaving.” Gorou held Itto’s wrist so firmly that the oni was screwing up his eyes in pain. He pulled the demon along, up the slope, his hand fettered to Itto’s wrist, and despite his slight physique, somehow, the dog general displayed the most monstrous strength ever.
Arataki Itto could only follow, and he begged the dog general to let him go. He insisted that he was not a criminal, only that sometimes he ended up in the police station lock-up by mistake.
Finally, Gorou stopped. They stopped under one of the largest sakura trees on Amakane Island. He let Arataki Itto go.
The oni rubbed his wrist where Gorou had grabbed. There were marks on his skin underneath his glove.
“What kind of crimes did you commit? You better be honest!” Gorou folded his arms tightly across his chest. He did look serious. But there was an odd pink stain on his cheeks, and his ears flicked back and forth.
“Look, it’s not even a big deal. Whatever we took, it’s given back anyway.”
Itto muttered. He scrunched his hair uncomfortably. It did not feel good to be questioned by the pup at all. Especially after they seemed to be having fun, drinking, and he really liked spending all that time with Gorou earlier.
“But why were you in jail?”
Gorou took a step forward, frowning at the oni. His close proximity placed extra pressure on Itto, and the oni did not feel too good at all. His heart sank a little, seeing Gorou’s somewhat disappointed frown, and he noticed Gorou’s tail was not swinging anymore. The pup’s tail was just hanging down, as disappointed as the expression on his face.
“Someone has to take responsibility, alright? I’m the leader, so if anything happens, I take the fall, ya know?”
Itto retorted. He realized he sounded a little too loud and backed off, hanging his head. The alcohol was finally getting into his system, and the buzz of it hit the back of his head. His horns ached, and his chest felt hot.
The oni let out a loud sound, breath and all, trying to get that suffocating feeling out from his lungs. Then he realized that Gorou had not replied to what he had said.
Gorou was standing very still. His head hung down as well. His hands were set in clenched fists, and his ears were twitching very weakly.
“Doggy general?”
Itto squatted down, peering up at Gorou’s face.
His mouth gaped open.
“Doggy general, why are you crying?”
“I’m not crying!” Gorou lifted up his face, and his hand moved at once to swipe at his eyes. Wet warmness stained the back of his hand. His tail shook, trembled. He swallowed and let out a very soft sigh, “I’m not crying.”
Whether it was because of what Itto said or that Gorou felt a sudden kindred spirit with the oni, Gorou didn’t know what overwhelmed his heart at that moment. He stopped crying the moment the oni put his arms around his shoulders and gave him a tight hug.
A tight hug and a gentle rub on the pup’s ears with his hands, and he was careful with his nails too. Gorou felt his face smashed against Itto’s chest. It was hard to breathe for a moment, and he slid his hands up, trying to push himself away.
“You don’t have to hug me so tightly!”
The pup grumbled, his tail swaying from side to side. But he let Itto hug him anyway, and he allowed Itto to continue to hug him for a long time.
They stayed like this for a while under that big sakura tree. Below the slope, the festivities still continued, bright and noisy through the night. And as the pink petals floated down, landing on Gorou’s ears and nose, and the oni picked them off the pup’s fur, exclaiming at each petal as if it was a prize he’d gotten, Gorou finally smiled.