The ambience of the forest was beautiful.

Birds chirping and flying about from branch to branch. Small animals went about, darting and dashing in between large roots, rocks and grass. All while a gentle wind blew, rustling leaves and scattering fallen ones.

While nature was putting its magnificence on display for all to see, a lone figure walked along a small path leading through. On his head was an old conical hat, with a small, sturdy string-like rope serving as a strap around his chin to keep it from falling off, the hat blocking the sunlight from hitting his eyes as he walked. He had on an old, faded brown duster with some faint streaks of dried blood, a belt that held three small pouches and two wakizashis behind his waist in a criss-crossed position. The duster's first two buttons were undone, exposing a portion of an old black shirt he wore underneath. Around his neck was a necklace made of some red crystal, something that could be considered either very prized or very worthless in the current state of the world. He had on some old, worn-out gray cargo pants and even more worn-out boots, the portions with large holes covered by canvas wrapping.

The man continued walking. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve as he thought about the status of his current errand: delivering some spices to a person in his village.

"Are three bags really enough? Considering how many people eat at the inn, it doesn't seem like enough..."

Eventually, the path led to a medium-sized village. The village itself was located near a few large ricefields, of which the crop was used to feed it and to trade to other villages for a hefty price of yen. The houses were mostly made of wood and stone, with the more "important" ones being made out of much sturdier scavenged materials from the nearby ruins of a city from many years past. From time to time, the villagers and the villagers of other nearby villages would organize scavenging parties to recover materials from the ruins that could be reused to their benefit, such as metal and so on. The job was not without risk, as they would have to deal with the oni and other monsters that lurked about the countryside. The man was one such frequent participant in the scavenging and because of that, he earned a fair amount of yen through selling what he could find. The money was only enough to buy essentials though.

He passed by the main road, eliciting some looks from the people who were going about their business. Many simply did not pay heed to him, some took a cautious look at him, especially at his weapons. Men with weapons were usually of three types, soldiers of the Shogun, mercenaries or bandits. The man himself was a mercenary, although he specialized in one kind of mercenary work: yokai hunting. His weapons did not look like the appropriate materials one would normally use, as many of the hunters would use spears, naginatas or nodachis, but the two wakizashis he held served him just fine.

The man eventually reached a large house after walking down the tree-lined dirt street. Compared to the other big houses that looked like traditional Japanese houses made out of metal scraps, this house looked more like a well-maintained relic of the past, albeit with some minor and major renovations made recently to keep it usable and inhabitable. It was a large, two-story minka*, with a part of the first floor being repurposed as a small restaurant that the man could see was visibly packed and the rest of the house being used as a traveler's inn. The house had a lit smokestack on the right, made from scavenged materials, which was puffing out smoke presumably produced by the fires that lit the stoves of the eatery's kitchen.

He trudged along the stone-lined pathway to the front entrance of the house, the sounds of people talking and enjoying themselves gradually getting stronger with every step. The man's face slowly shaped into a slightly annoyed frown at the thought of having a lot of company. By his own opinion, he wasn't much of a people person. He just wanted to do whatever his current job was at the moment, that was all.

And maybe even get meal or two while he was at it.

He stepped off the stone-lined path and onto a dirt one that split away from it, which led towards the back part of the house. He caught a glimpse of a waitress entertaining two patrons, explaining that if they would like to sit outside instead, due to the amount of guests. The man did not hear the end of the conversation, though it seemed as if they were going to agree.

He continued around to the side of the house. The rest of the path led to a garden in the back, with a part of it leading to a shoji* that served as the entrance to the kitchen. A few wooden crates, some broken but most intact, were strewn around the door. Sacks of solid waste was piled in a rectangular fenced area. Not far off was a large compost pit.

The man approached the door. The sound of the patrons was getting louder again, now joined with the helpers of the kitchen barking orders and the clanking and hissing of pans, casseroles and food being boiled and fried. Just as he was about to slide it aside, the door slid open, revealing a young girl. She had short, shoulder-length black hair, with a purple ribbon tied on her right. She was dressed in a faded pink short-sleeved kimono with a floral design, a lower knee-length faded red hakama and rubber slippers with socks on. The hakama was stained with multiple splotches of oil and other condiments or ingredients.

She was carrying a crate similar to one of the ones laying around the back. The man noted that her initial surprised expression suddenly turned into an annoyed frown.

"Hiroshi-san. You're...here..." she said as she frowned at the man, whose own expression turned into an embarrassed smile.

"O-Oh. Takara..." Hiroshi said as he pushed his hat off, letting it fall onto his back as it was held in place by the string around his neck, exposing his head of slightly messy graying hair and his very dark complexion.

"I...uhhh...I brought the spices Mirai-san asked for-"

"Mirai-sama!" Takara suddenly called out as she turned around, still holding the crate. "Hiroshi-san is back from Sakimi!"

"Well, that was very nice of you, Takara," Hiroshi thought as he sighed.

Soon after, the owner, a much older woman clad in an elaborate yet very worn-out kimono, rushed through the kitchen. "Ah! Hiroshi-kuuun!" she called out, barely missing a server as she weaved in between the cooks and stopped beside Takara, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder as she regained her composure.

"I'm sorry! One of the town chairs is having their birthday today, so I had to personally manage everything..." she said as she caught her breath.

Upon closer inspection, Mirai's kimono was very unusual as the sleeves were wrapped around her forearms and held in place by small ropes tied around them to prevent them from swinging around. It had two slits on the lower portion that revealed her shapely legs to allow her to run and the obi was so tightly wrapped around her waist that it accentuated her ample chest. Her black hair was quite long, tied in a low ponytail that extended to her lower back, though it looked slightly unkempt. It did not detract from her beauty, though.

"Um...shouldn't I be apologizing? I took way too long and now you can't use these spices since you're already cooking..." Hiroshi said as he scratched his head.

"Oh, well that's fine. We didn't really need all of them. Murasaki-san doesn't really like his food spicy and all," Mirai said to him as Takara wordlessly plopped the crate she was carrying on the pile and went back inside, leaving the man and woman alone.

"Really? I guess my mission wasn't a complete failure after all..." Hiroshi said as he untied the burlap pouches filled with spices and handed them to Mirai.

"Hey. There's always tomorrow, you know! Now why don't you come inside?" she said to him as she slowly pulled him inside. "I'm sure you're veeery hungry after that long trip!"

Hiroshi resigned himself as Mirai ushered him to a two-seater table near the busy kitchen. He himself was a frequent customer of both the lodging and the food. He had stayed at Mirai's for as long as he could remember, as many previous towns' usually rejected him despite his contributions to their safety since he would always come around drenched in monster blood and because of his loner attitude and his intimidating appearance (Resting bitch face) which always made people mistake him for a bandit. The current town he was in at the moment, Yufuki, was more accepting of him. Mostly since the place had a steady supply of water from the nearby river that also passed through the ancient city ruins that he could use to take a bath and wash his clothes with and because they needed all the hunters they could get due to being so close to the ancient city, which itself was crawling with oni and yokai.

"So Hiroshi-kuuun! What would you like from the menu today? It's on the house~!" she cheerfully said to him as she presented a scroll that served as the menu.

"What? Really? Oh no no no, I can't not pay you..." Hiroshi said as shook his head and looked down in embarrassment. Mirai considered him her longest customer, and because Hiroshi himself was...well...homeless, he offered to run errands for her to make up for his long stay in addition to the usual weekly fee he paid.

The first time they met was when he encountered her at the market area of the town. He just arrived from one of the other villages when he passed by the market and saw a woman buying crates of meats, vegetables and fish that was just too much for one woman to carry. Of course, he offered to help and it was upon the arrival at the inn that he discovered that she was the owner.

Hiroshi enjoyed staying at the place, but he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed with how Mirai treated him. The two had gotten rather close since he arrived, due in part to him always helping her, but he believed that he didn't deserve such special treatment as he always thought of himself as just doing what anybody would.

"It's fiiine! I'd recommend you get the house special!" she told him, still holding the scroll. Hiroshi looked at her skeptically.

"The 'house special'? I didn't know you served something like that."

"You dummy, it's always been on the menu! It's just that no one's ordered it for a while..." Mirai said as she nudged him.

"Well, okay then. What's the house special?" Hiroshi asked after he sighed. He didn't notice Mirai's lips curve into a particular kind of smile as she suddenly leant closer to his ear and whispered:

"You're looking at it~"

Hiroshi's eyes widened in surprise as he leaned away from her. Mirai suddenly broke out into laughter.

"I'm just joking, Hiroshi-kun!" she said in between giggles. Hiroshi looked away from her as he scratched his head.

"What the hell...?" he muttered as the woman caught her breath.

"But seriously, Hiroshi. I'm not leaving until you order something, you know. A man's gotta eat!" she said as her voice suddenly turned into a more serious tone. Hiroshi shrugged.

"I'm beat right now, and I can't really decide so...errr...surprise me, I guess?" he said as leaned forward, crossed his arms on the table and put his head down on them.

"If that's the case then sure! I'll get you the best food for today! Rest well!" she said as she went back into the kitchen. Hiroshi slowly dozed off, unaware that Takara was watching them from the stairway to the second floor.

"Mirai-sama...out of all the men...why did it have to be this guy?"

Minka - name for a traditional house in Japan

Shoji - the Japanese sliding doors

Author's Note:

For those of you wondering where the Servants are, they're already present in the story. ;)