The sights and sounds were incredible. In every direction, Nanami could hear messengers offering food or announcing games. Even now, she and Mizuki stood in front of a food stall, te messenger pointing towards different types of taiyaki.

"C'mon, top notch quality, plenty of flavours," the messenger listed. She pointed over at Nanami, a daring smile on her face. "Human goddess! Take a free sample!" she cheered, picking up a piece of taiyaki.

Nanami only blinked in surprise, taking the food as it was shoved into her hands. "Um… thank you…" she said silently.

"The familiar with you as well?" she asked, staring at Mizuki, tail wagging slightly. "Half price is all I can offer ya~."

Mizuki's face fell slightly, shaking his head. "No thanks," he declined.

The girl at the stall pouted. "C'mon now, pretty boy, I'm trying to run a business here. I can't give everything out for free," she urged. "If ya ain't buying anything, then go somewhere else, you're holding up the line. Shoo, shoo."

Well then…

Nanami tugged at Mizuki's sleeve, handing him her taiyaki. "You can have mine, I'm not really hungry anyways," she said, beginning to walk away. It wasn't particularly crowded, however, every now and then she would bump into someone, only to be ignored without any sort of apology, most of them being laughing children.

"It certainly is energetic here," Mizuki noted, looking around. "But these prices are unbelievable…" he looked at the price tag on the taiyaki, a look of disbelief on his face. "Paying half of this isn't even mercy."

Nanami laughed with a shrug. "Well, aren't most of these messengers wealthy? I guess it counts as cheap here," she guessed.

Tomoe and Ryukichi stayed behind… I wonder if they were speaking about something…

҉

"Ugh, this place reeks of incense… you're not missing much, Arika."

"So I'm stuck here at a rundown shrine? I'd rather be at a party or festival…"

Akira shrugged, running a hand through his hair, looking down at the festival with small disdain. "It's not as fun as you think, Arika. You're better off," he stated. "Honestly, all this festival is about is a bunch of brats running around and buying overpriced crap."

From what Akira could see, that was exactly it. Nothing had and nothing would change from his previous visits. "Granted, it does lower their defences around here, so that's a plus."

"Huh? How'd you even find out about some festival in the first place, Akira? Why couldn't I come?"

Sighing, the dark haired fox shrugged. "For one, as long as I have proof of being a fox here, they can't do much to me. Plus, it's hard to detect anything when half of your messengers are rolling in money and pleasure," he commented, a bitter smile on his face. "Arika, you're not here for a reason. If I happen to run into someone that doesn't exactly like me…"

"Which is everyone there, no offence."

"You flatter me, Arika. You really do~," Akira laughed. "Keeping that in mind, it'd be troublesome if you got mixed up in it. These messengers don't exactly play fair," he sighed, fussing with his bangs. "Furthermore, the little brat I want out of the way isn't exactly weak."

"But… he doesn't know you, so…"

"Ah, but he might have heard of me from that damned Evil King pal of his," he pointed out.

"Former pal."

"Details, details… you sure have a lot to say when we're not speaking in person," he commented. "Careful with that, I can come back any time I want."

"So I'll take advantage of the distance now~! Say, Akira, do me a favour?"

Akira raised an eyebrow, an ear tilting in interest. "What is it?" he asked.

"Go easy on Nanami-chan and Ami-chan. Don't go overboard like usual, kay?"

"Oho~. That so?" Akira replied. "I don't really think I can agree to thatcompletely. Tell you what: I'll let 'em live."