26 December 2022

Pretty simple section today, but setting things up for how much she will feel out of place later.

Honestly, I’m a bit worried about how I portrayed Nobuhito. I want him to seem odd, but not stand-offish. I also want to make it clear that he’s a bit of an outcast in Ashina society even if it doesn’t bother him much.

When she arrived, she found a warm, inviting inn with an image of a dancing tanuki hanging from the sign post. Inside, she found a rotund, cheerful tanuki behind the counter, and off to the right a handful of other customers milling around the dining area. Among them was a kappa with graying hair, sitting by himself in the corner, sipping tea.

The tanuki gave her a big wide smile. “Welcome, welcome! What can we do for you today?”

“Um, yeah.” Hanako shuffled her feet. “I’m going to need a room for a few days. And I heard there’s someone here who can trade yen for zenni?”

The tanuki’s eyes widened for half a second, but he kept his smile and he gestured to the kappa Hanako had seen earlier. “Nobuhito should be able to help you out. He’s a bit of an odd one; a bit too fascinated with the humans. But he should be able to help you out.”

Hanako thanked him and headed toward the kappa. As soon as she walked into the main dining area, everyone stopped and stared at her, their eyes flickering from her horn to her clothes to her sword. She did her best to ignore all that, though, and sat down in front of the kappa. “Are you Nabuhito?”

The kappa slowly looked up and blinked at her. “Why do you want to know?”

She pulled her purse onto the table and pulled out a few coins. “I… don’t have the right money for here, I guess. I’ve only ever worked with yen, ab the people here only accept ‘zenni’. Could you help me out?”

Nobuhito took one of the coins and examined it closely. He took it in his beak and bit on it, and in wonder he said, “These are real!”

“Of course they’re real.” Hanako’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

The kappa gave Hanako a long, appraising look. “Why did you come to Ashina?”

The question surprised Hanako. “Well, I mean, this is a village for yokai, right? I wanted to be somewhere I belonged, a place to call home.”

Nobuhito tapped the coin on the table. “But you can earn human money. You found a way to live among them, Unless you stole or killed for it?”

Anger flashed in Hanako’s eyes, before she brought it back under control. “I’d never do that.” She rested a hand on her sword. “I was lucky enough to put my master’s skills to use protecting people. But… well, they never really accepted me.” She smiled sadly, then forced herself to cheer up. “But hey, I’m around a bunch of other oni and yokai now, right?”

“Hmm.” The kappa stared at her a while longer, then pulled her purse over and counted the contents. “I’ll give you five fifty for all this.”

Hanako hesitated. Was that a fair deal? She realized she didn’t know enough about the value of zenni to be able to tell. Still, kappa were widely regarded as honest and honorable, so she nodded.

The kappa handed her a different type of coin, and she got up and paid for a room for the next week. She considered going out and exploring the town, but the day’s events had been surprisingly draining, so she locked the door and went straight to bed.

The next morning, when Hanako woke up, her sword was missing. She practically tore the room apart looking for it. The door was still locked, as was the window, so how would anyone have gotten in?

Finally, despondent, she trudged down the stairs to breakfast.

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Current Draft of Hanako’s story (including unposted content)