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It was a regular, lively night at Mystia’s Izakaya. The night sparrow, along with her friends, were happily serving customers chatting and eating at the Human Village stand. Lampreys were grilled, soup was boiled, ginkgos were steamed, potatoes were fried, and fish were cut. As time went on, more and more people started coming to order, with everyone prepared to handle all of them.
“Misty, cubic kedama ice cream and akatsuki for table ten, lunar dango and fire rat’s robe for table seven, please!” said Kyouko, smiling as she served the foods and beverages. “Got it! In a moment,” Mystia nodded, going over to cook the orders, humming her favorite tunes. “Looks like it’s also going to be a busy night.”
The peace, however, was somewhat disturbed when a peculiar human customer came in. Their face was covered in something which looked like a trash bag to them, but most people had already seen weirder things, so they did not really give them a second thought. All of a sudden, he pulled out a compartment which looked like a one-handed firearm, pointed it towards the air and yelled, “Hands in the air now! This is a robbery!”
The moment the yell rang throughout the izakaya, everyone stopped what they were doing to take a good look at him, with expressions ranging from confused, amused, and carefree. Silence ensued for a few seconds, before they all went back to eating and chatting. Puzzled and mad, the robber shot a round at the air. “Don’t mess with me! I’m serious!” he said, before pointing it towards the owner. “You! Money on the counter now, or else!”
“Hey, Kyouko?” Mystia asked nonchalantly. “Yeah, Misty?” Kyouko stopped her work to answer. “Is this what they call a ‘robbery’?” the sparrow looked contemplative. “Oh! Now that you mention it, I guess that’s what it’s called? Though I remember one of the people at the temple telling me that it was supposed to be threatening,” the yamabiko smiled and nodded, much to the robber’s dislike.
“H-hey! I’m serious here! If you don’t, I’ll-“ before the robber could yell, he felt someone tapping on his back. Turning around and pointing at the source, it turned out to be a customer waiting in line. A customer with red eyes and ankle-length white hair, with paper talismans on her hakama and hair ribbons. “Hey, hey, don’t just go around yelling and pointing that thing at people, that’s no good,” she chuckled carefreely.
“What…? Don’t you mess with me! I’ll show you what happens now!” he frowned, before pulling the trigger and shooting a round through her arm… only for the wound to get fixed with fire. “Huh?” the robber looked confused, before the barmaid suddenly materialized in front of him, gripping the gun. “Dear customer, you could have endangered someone with that. We can’t have this now, can we?” the silver haired maid spoke politely, her kind smile unwavering.
“Wh- let go! Or I’ll…!” he tried pulling the handgun back, only to find himself powerless against her strong grip on it. “I’ll be confiscating this now, thank you very much,” she forcefully took it away, bending the cylinder upwards, as he watched in horror. “What are these people…” he thought to himself, before hearing a cheerful laugh come from one of the seats. “Man, not even I’m crazy enough to mess with them! Hopefully they let ‘em out alive. Right, Reimu?”
“Yeah, yeah... They know better than that. Probably,” the girl sitting across her took a sip of her drink, and stretched. And so, the liveliness came back to the izakaya. Seeing how shockingly strong these people were, the robber started feeling like this was a bad idea. He tried stepping back slowly, before feeling a literal chill run down his spine. Turning around, it turned out to be a moon rabbit. “And where do you think you’re going? There’s a line waiting behind you, you know.” turning her attention towards the counter, Reisen asked, “Boss, what do we do with him?”
“Hm? Oh, just take him to an open seat and ask what he wants,” the night sparrow pondered, before nodding with a smile. “Sure thing,” the purple-haired girl then took the robber to his seat, much to his shame. “I… would like a grilled lamprey. And… sparrow sake,” he spoke his order in defeat, clearly embarrassed more than anything. “Coming up!” Mystia said merrily, humming a song as she grilled a lamprey. And thus, the night became a regular one filled with life as always. It’s a staple of knowledge that you never know what to expect in Gensokyo, and this was no exception.