"Here you go! It's a specialty recipe of mine…!" Miyoi served the platter of food with her trademark, customer-pleasing smile. She didn't have time to feel satisfied about herself, however, as another loud voice asked her for another cup of sake. "Ah, sure thing! Right away…!"
That had been how just about the entirety of her evening went so far, and it was significantly more exhausting than an average day in Geidontei, which Miyoi found herself wondering if she'd prefer to be there instead.
However, Miyoi was about as far away from Geidontei as she could be. She was currently in the thick of a party held in the Former Capital, deep beneath Gensokyo's surface. She was talking, or rather getting talked at , by all sorts of rambunctious oni, tsuchigumo and other assorted youkai, all gathered in one of the many drinking parties that occurred in the place.
Miyoi started to wonder if she could really keep up, and tried to recall how she arrived there in the first place, before remembering she had willingly arrived here. " Oh right, I tagged along with her because I wanted to see more of the world.. ."
"Oi! Miyoi!" Cheerfully calling out to Miyoi from the side was the one person present that she was relieved to talk to. "Come over here for a second!"
Miyoi carefully moved her way through the packed gathering, though she still failed to avoid getting bumped into by several dancing youkai before she made it over to one calling her.
"I'm here-" She began to speak, then realised she had to raise her voice to near shouting levels in order to be heard over all the surrounding noise. "I'm here ! ...I swear, it feels like there's no limit to how drunk these folks can get. You come here often, right?"
"Sure do! I never get tired of this scene." Ibuki Suika answered with a jubilant voice.
The oni sat on a cushion currently by her lonesome, and gestured to the roughhousing crowd of partying youkai like how some people enjoyed the sight of a beautiful garden.
"There's always a party to be had down here. What about you, though? How are you liking the company?"
"It's... a lot! I don't know how else to describe it!" Miyoi thought she could fit in by falling into her reliable waitress habits. When Suika first mentioned the prospect of going to a new place for a gathering, Miyoi prepared a selection of food and drinks to bring along. But the crowd at this party possessed an energy and intensity that was turning out to be more than she could deal with. "I mean, I've hung out with rowdy drunks before, like you for example, but it's like everybody here is at… well, full drunken power all the time! Also a lot like you, now that I think about it."
"You need to have a certain threshold of, let's say, ruggedness , to partake in one of Formal Capital's drinking parties, or else you'll just fall to the wayside." Suika explained with something akin to nostalgia on her face. However, she could tell that Miyoi was having second thoughts about tagging along this time. "But, well… It's not for everyone, I suppose. Sounds like you'd rather be elsewhere?"
"Oh, no no no, that's not it!" Miyoi quickly reassured, waving her arms frantically as she put on a smile. It may have been true that she was slightly afraid that one of the partiers might devour her, or inflict a disease on her for fun, but she didn't want to admit any of that. "I want to explore more places outside of Geidontei, and that's exactly what I've gotten today! I could use the experience anyway."
"I get ya. Though it looks like even when you get out of that pub, you bring the pub along with you. Looks like you just can't help wanting to shove your food and drinks in people's faces wherever you go." Suika commented with a laugh, before taking a swig of her drink.
"Well, I can't help it if I want to show off my specialties!" Miyoi replied with her own laugh, before suddenly gasping. "Hey, that's not Geidontei-brand sake you have there!
"Oh. Well…" Suika nonchalantly glanced over the cup she was drinking from. "I guess it's not."
"Honestly! You'd do that right in front of me?" Miyoi's tone was accusatory, and she was working up her best pout too.
"Oh come on, I already have your stuff whenever I come by the village, don't I?" Suika pretended to sulk, but soon broke into a laugh as she held a hand up in defeat. "Fine, fine. Could I please get one of Geidontei's specialty brews?"
"Right away!" With an exuberant exclamation, Miyoi pulled out a gourd. She was just about to pour a cup for Suika, but abruptly stopped midway. "Ack! I just remembered, someone asked me to bring them another plate of fish! I should go do that first…"
"You know you're not working right now, right?" Suika asked, a little incredulous. "You can relax a little."
"This is the best way I know how to connect with people. Through their stomachs! I'll be right back, okay?" Miyoi promised with her customer-appealing grin before heading back into the thick of the party, leaving Suika to sincerely sulk on her own.
Miyoi continued mingling and serving her dishes to the various drunk youkai. She was getting a little more used to picking out people addressing her, over all the other shouting going on, but it was still a little disorientating, and she muttered to herself about whether there was a better way.
"I don't know if I can keep track of all this, though… Time to rely on the ol' notepad." Leaning into her pub-running habits, Miyoi reached into her pockets for her notepad. However, all she ended up pulling out was a white envelope, and not even a pen to write on its blank side. "Ack, did I leave my notepad at the pub?! Why did I even take this with me…?"
During the brief time she was talking to herself, Miyoi realised she had been crowded by several different youkai, all rambunctiously pushing up against her. One oni cheerfully told her that her sake was amazing, and asked for yet another refill. Another oni then insisted she first sit down with them over some fried meat. Somewhere in the midst of that, there was another youkai behind her saying they're still waiting on that plate of fish…
"Slow down! J-Just wait a moment, all of you…!" Miyoi's own, anxious voice was drowned out by all the loud yelling around her. Overwhelmed and at a loss for what to do, Miyoi fell back on a different habit of hers. "Waaah! Help me, Suika…!"
No longer than a moment passed, before a thick mist appeared from under Miyoi's feet. The mist rose, surrounding her, and Miyoi noticed it looked like the crowd around her was drawing back. She realised a second later that they were actually being physically 'pushed' back by the mist.
The mist congealed in front of Miyoi, and unsurprisingly resumed its shape of Suika. The oni regarded the gathered youkai around them with a small smile, but accompanied by a wicked glint in her eye.
"Oi. Don't any of you go forgetting. This lady here is my date, not your waitress. That right, Miyoi?" Suika looked over her shoulder at Miyoi, who was currently staring at her with wide eyes, full of surprise.
"Woah, your date ? I didn't know that- I mean, uh... Yeah! That's right!" Miyoi quickly nodded and clung to Suika's back and was trying to duck behind her, as difficult as that was with how short the oni was. "Sorry, she comes first!"
"Right. And I was actually just thinking of splitting from here anyway. Let's go." As soon as she said that, Suika took off in another direction without a second glance at the party. Miyoi followed closely behind, and the two left behind the scene.
Once they were far away enough for the sounds of partying and commotion to no longer be drowning out all other sounds, Miyoi stopped walking and let out a sigh of relief. "Wah… That was pretty scary."
"I take it you've got enough 'experience' for one day?" Suika asked, smiling at Miyoi.
"Definitely! I don't want to tell anyone how to enjoy themselves, but those folks need to practice how to be a bit more considerate!" Miyoi exclaimed with an angry expression, shaking a fist in front of her. She calmed down a few seconds later, instead deciding to direct a grateful smile towards Suika. "Thanks for saving me back there."
"No need for thanks. I was probably just feeling jealous or something." Suika offhandedly said, eliciting a giggle out of Miyoi.
"You shouldn't say things like that so easily. I might get the wrong idea."
"I'm not worried." Suika shrugged, before noticing the envelope in Miyoi's hand. "What's that you got there?"
It took a moment for Miyoi to realise that Suika was referring to the letter in her hand. "Oh, this is…"
Miyoi was about to explain how it wasn't really anything, nor was she even sure why she was carrying it with her. But then, when she glanced at Suika, a different thought occurred to her.
"Well, from what I've heard and read, this is something you give to someone, as a token of appreciation, and… maybe some other feelings too." Just thinking about it made Miyoi chuckle to herself as she presented the letter for Suika to take.
"Some other feelings, huh…?" Suika took the letter, looking over it with mild curiosity. She then pocketed it and continued speaking with a bright grin. "Well, if I may be a little greedy right now, I think an even better token of appreciation is if we go get a drink together, just the two of us at Geidontei!"
"I don't think that's greedy at all!" Miyoi happily nodded in agreement. "Well, I'll just be pouring you a drink though. I wouldn't feel good consuming the pub's merchandise for myself."
"No problem. I'll pour you a cup of some of my own speciality sake too!" Suika eagerly suggested, before smirking at Miyoi. "...Unless you're that much against alcohol that isn't Geidontei-brand?"
"I can probably make an exception this time." Miyoi returned a similar smirk, and they shared a brief laugh as they headed for the surface together.