Appetizer 2.9
⸻1⸻
Seven Years Ago…
The early morning rain shower had left behind pools of mud and summoned legions of worms wriggling in the wet dirt and hordes of slugs suckling off the damp grass. Kneeling on the soft earth, unconcerned about staining her sundress, Rindo watched the legless critters with vivacious interest. It was strange that you only ever saw them when it rained.
Plucking a worm off the ground, it wreathed and flexed in her gentle grip as the invertebrate tried to escape. It thought she was going to eat it… and she has definitely thought about it. To most people worms were creepy crawly creatures that they abhorred touching, yet to a bird this muddy patch of grass fielded an all you can eat buffet. Maybe the birds knew something we didn't know. Throughout history, somebody had to be the first to eat something and see if it was tasty. Why not her?
She looked both ways. Large hedges that formed an elaborate design blocked her from sight. The Kobayashi estate had a sizable garden framed by these vegetative walls that could be confusing to navigate. Having spent years playing out here, she had learned to use that to her advantage to shirk her parents and nosy servants. She knew all the best hidey-holes.
The coast was clear.
Rindo tipped her head back and dropped the worm in her mouth. Before she could chew or swallow it, a firm hand snatched the back of her dress and pulled her right off the ground. With the worm hanging from her mouth like a spaghetti noodle, Rindo turned to look at her assailant.
Yellow cat eyes met steely gray ones as cold and unmovable as Mt. Fuji. Those unyielding eyes belonged to the head maid of the Kobayashi household, Takanashi. Staring at the worm dangling from her young charge's lips, her face scrunched in disgust and wrinkled her weathered skin even further. "What are you doing, young lady?"
Uh oh, she sounded mad. Spitting the worm out on the ground, Rindo flashed Miss Takanashi a guilty smile. "Um… nothing…? I was just enjoying the weather. The flowers in the garden always smell the best after it rains."
Takanashi huffed and carried her out of the garden by the back of her dress, like Rindo was a naughty kitten, and deposited her in front of her mother. Kobayashi Junko was not amused by the disheveled appearance of her only child and future heiress. Her judgemental gaze lingered on the brown and green stains that defaced the bottom of the white sundress and then steadily worked her way up daughter's body, focusing on each imperfection—down to the last red hair out of place.
Rindo hated the way her mother looked at her sometimes. It reminded her of how Takanashi looked at that worm earlier. Though what she really hated the most were the fake smiles her mother displayed. Rindo had caught her practicing in a mirror before. Her mother's true feelings were forever obscured by calculated idiosyncrasies.
A smile on her face, Junko ruffled Rindo's hair. "Now, what did I say about playing in the mud? It isn't very lady-like. I was more lenient with you when you were younger, hoping you'd grow out of this ridiculous phase already, but it would appear I was mistaken. You will be enrolling in Totsuki Academy next year." Her hand trailed down the side of Rindo's face, firmly cupping her chin. "You will not embarrass me in front of the heirs of Japan's culinary world, right? My darling Rindo?"
Rindo tried to nod in agreement, but her mother tightly held her head in place.
"You are the heiress of Kobayashi Catering. As such, you will be representing our family business while you attend that prodigious institution. Any action you take will reflect on us. You don't want to ruin our family business, no? Good. Enough of this…this… scrounging around in the dirt or eating things off the ground. All I'm asking you is to please, for the love of God, be normal."
"Yes, mother," Rindo grumbled, looking down at her feet. Once again she was reminded that that woman didn't see her as a child. To her, Rindo was nothing more than a tool to further her own agenda. Like a semi-autonomous limb that Junko lets crawl for a bit before yanking it back whenever convenient.
Junko raised her hand and Rindo flinched. Her mother gently patted her on the head, the rehearsed smile splitting her face as if to say 'see what happens when you listen to mother dearest?'
"I'm glad we understand each other," Junko Kobayashi said, and then turned to her servant, "Takanashi, take Rindo to the bath and wash her, and then have her change into a clean dress. The president of the Hanamura Meat Packaging Company and her son will be coming over for lunch. We must make a good impression."
"Yes, Ma'am." Takanashi bowed and took Rindo by the wrist, leading the girl into the stately mansion. Rindo trudged slowly, dragging her feet. When will she be allowed to have fun?
⸻2⸻
Six Years Ago…
What was so great about cooking anyway? You gather your ingredients and then follow a recipe. Any dummy could do it. Rindo never even wanted to be a chef. Her parents didn't give her a different option. Halfway through her first year at Totsuki's middle school division and neither the curriculum nor the teachers have managed to change her mind yet. If anything they reinforced her negative mindset.
Softly rumbling, the plane dipped below the clouds and unveiled the continent of Australia from behind the white wisps. The land was sepia, a barren place lost in time. From her seat a mile in the air, desert stretched to the horizon. Specks of greenery littered the landscape randomly like it had been added in later as an afterthought.
The airline seats were at least quite comfortable and plush. Traveling on Totsuki's expense had its benefits. It was Rindo's first time flying first class.
The other bright spot of her drab, indifferent school life sat in the seat next to her, giving the armrest a death grip. Eishi Tsukasa was an interesting kid. A nervous wreck, he was best known for driving teachers completely insane with his endless questions and requests for them to critique his dishes down to the last crumb. Despite his admittedly wimpy personality, he could cook like no one else in their grade.
Rindo would watch him cook intently each class they shared, thinking to herself, so that's what it looks like to have a passion for cooking. It was almost enough to make a girl jealous. Honestly, she wasn't sure Tsukasa even saw her as a friend. He might have just been too scared to ask her to leave him alone.
But maybe not. He was the one that invited her to join the Totsuki Middle School's International Research Society after all. Being the weak-willed guy that he was, Tsukasa was easily talked into becoming a member by one of his classmates. All that girl had to do was look at him with a quivering lip and tug on his sense of responsibility to lure to the dark side (i.e. club administrative work). Always the white knight—though Rindo didn't hate that chivalrous side of him.
The International Research Society, or IRS, was a club centered around the study of foreign cuisines, hence the trip to Australia. Every summer break, the club utilized a hefty chunk of its budget to travel to far off lands. It was the main draw of the research society.
After landing in the Northern Territory, their initial few days in the country were rather uneventful. Although she did enjoy chasing the sulphur-crested cockatoos that plagued the area, laughing while the birds flew off in a haze of white feathers; screeching their heinous calls. Most of her time was spent in classrooms, or rarely, in a restaurant's kitchen. And each day they learned from Japanese chefs that were living in Australia. If that was all they were going to do, she might as well have stayed at Totsuki for summer break. At least then she could have slept in everyday.
But everything changed the day that she came through that classroom door. Entering with a swift kick—causing the door to kiss the wall—Rindo met Hana Alouette. Unlike their other guest lecturers, Hana had smudges of dirt staining her jeans and shirt. Plus her hair was a disaster, tangled like pinkish-blonde kelp that washed up on the beach.
She introduced herself, curtly bowing and scribbling her name on the board. Blowing hair out of her eye with a puff of air, she said, "Sorry I'm late. I just got back from Uluru this morning. Now, who's ready to get cookin'?"
She reached into her bag and set a container on the table at the front of the room. Inside the plastic box was a layer of earth and sand, along with a branch. Crawling all over the dried out wood was an army of wriggling white maggots. By sheer numbers, they tumbled over one another like clumsy gymnasts, falling off the branch and landing in the sand. "Come on up and grab a witchetty grub. Don't be shy now! There's plenty for everyone."
"Um… Miss Alouette," Tsukasa said, raising his hand, "Not to be rude, but, uh… can those even be considered food?"
"Can they be…? Ah, jeez." Hana pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. Sighing, she ran a hand through her thick hair. "This is why my work is so important. There is a vast wealth of information deemed unacceptable by mainstream gourmets. I think it's important to convey the cuisine and cultures of these marginalized people to as wide an audience as possible. Let the chefs of tomorrow decide for themselves whether an ingredient should be used or not."
Rindo perked up, lifting her head off the cooking station counter. "So… It's okay to eat bugs? To want to eat bugs?"
"Of course. Alright, anyone hungry?" Hana plucked a grub from the container and held it up for the class. Small legs flailing, it gnashed its mandibles while pinched between her finger and thumb. Rindo was the first out of her seat.
Y'know, maybe cooking wasn't so boring after all.
⸻3⸻
Present Day…
"I'd like to welcome everyone to the first official meeting of the Totsuki Academy Centralized Research Society!" Rindo called out from a podium she dragged out to the front of her personal kitchen. Her audience consisted of Eishi Tsukasa and Shoko Kaburagi. The two sat on small stools set up behind the island counter in the center of the room.
Shoko twisted on the revolving stool and gazed around the kitchen. "Not to, like, rain on your parade and everything, but isn't it kinda weird to have our premier meeting without all the members present. I mean, there's only four of us to begin with. It shouldn't be that hard to wait until Dana gets back from camp. Besides, isn't he the president of the club?"
Rindo stuck out her tongue and made an 'X' with her arms. "As if! We all know that card game was inconclusive!"
"It was only inconclusive after you decided to make it best-of-three."
"Well, it's not like we'll actually decide our club president that way. Who's stupid idea was that in the first place?"
"Uh, yours."
Rindo fell silent, filling the room with a long pause that spoke volumes. Tsukasa awkwardly ducked his head down, unsure of whether he should get involved or not. After a couple of seconds, Rindo continued as if nothing had happened. "Anyway, I think our first club activity should be putting together a small welcome party for Dana once he returns. The Totsuki Training Camp is a right of passage, y'know? We should celebrate our underclassman's achievements; like he's a baby taking his first steps."
"Although you worded it rather patronizingly, the idea does have merit. I wish someone had held a party for me when I returned. My school life after that camp kind of sucked ass for a while," Shoko said.
"I agree," Tsukasa commented, "So, how should we celebrate? Have you already an idea in mind?"
"Yep! We'll make him a dish containing one of these!" Rindo reached under the podium and pulled out a rectangular terrarium, placing it on top. Inside was a handful of hairy tarantulas. Tsukasa and Shoko shivered as they watched the fist-sized spiders slowly creep along the sandy gravel, eight black, beady eyes staring right through their souls. Like all spiders—they could taste their fear.
"Okay, now this seems more like a hazing thing," Shoko replied.
"No, no! Trust me! He'll totally be into this!"
Tsukasa cautiously approached the container, certain that the spiders were going to leap out at his any second. "Are you positive that they're edible? And I don't mean that in the sense of can they be eaten, but rather, should they be eaten. I can't imagine they'd be all that palatable."
"Heh, heh, heh!" Rindo chuckled with her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest, "Oh my dear sweet summer Eishi, like with all ingredients, it's all in the preparation. I'll have you know that fried tarantulas are a delicacy in Cambodia. Why with my expertise, anyone can cook a delicious tarantula dish. Even little Shoko."
"Hard pass." Shoko waved her hand.
"Boo! You're no fun!" Rindo pouted, giving her a thumb's down. However, Shoko ignored it expertly. She was adapting fast to her new role as the 'Straight Man' in their friend group. A tacky ringtone distracted Rindo from her mental ramblings and she pulled out her phone, answering it. "Hello? What! Seriously? Of course we'll come! Don't worry, I'll drive them. Yes with the van! No, it won't break down again. Shut up! Okay, see ya later. Bye, bye."
Finished with her conversation, Rindo hung up her phone and buzzed with excitement.
Shoko and Tsukasa shared a look, with Tsukasa asking, "So, who was that—"
"Nevermind that!" Rindo interjected, grabbing Tsukasa and Shoko by the wrist. "We're going out to eat tonight!"
Their protests falling on deaf ears, Rindo yanked her two friends behind her like dogs on a leash and sprinted out of the kitchen. She was so caught up in her elation that she neglected to notice the man leaning against the wall just outside the door. It was Etsuya Eizan.
"So that was the famed Totsuki Centralized Research Society," the 9th Seat said, watching the three race down the hallway, "The name isn't marketable at all, but they do have star power. Yes, this shall do nicely."
Eizan reached into his pocket and pulled out his own phone. Punching a few numbers, he waited until the dial tone clicked and held it up to his ear. "It's Eizan. Put me through to Caishen Long. Tell him I have a proposition for him. I think he'll be very interested in what I have to say."
⸻4⸻
The table cloth was crisp and white like a field of pristine cotton-fiber snow. An unscented candle sat in the center. Its dulcet flame wavered as people walked by, casting an undulating orange glow from within its glass prison. Silverware was wrapped taut in napkins and set out in intervals congruent with the intricate chairs padded with velour upholstery.
A chandelier hung from the stucco—a thousand glittering blades of glass—illuminating the swirling crown molding and art deco wall patterns that trailed up and down the glossy surface. Gilded framed paintings depicting flowery meadows and ships sailing to port took up their fair share of real estate too.
The Chanticleer was without a doubt one of the finest French restaurants in all of Tokyo. Reservations for a single table had to be requested months or even years in advance. Luckily for Rindo, Hana Alouette happened to know the head chef and owner, Jean Auclair, a former Polar Star resident and Totsuki alumni.
"So this is what it's like to have connections," Dana commented as a server in a suit and bowtie guided their party of five through a crowded dining hall to a more secluded table at the back of the restaurant. Due to the short notice of the invite, the four Totsuki students—Dana, Rindo, Eishi, and Shoko—lacked any sort of formal wear; and instead wore their school uniforms. They felt a little underdressed compared to the three-piece suits and silk gowns of the other diners. "A smart move putting us back here and away from everyone else. He knows you well."
Hana smacked her son lightly on the back of the head.
Once they were quietly seated and placated by a basket of bread and pitcher of water, the server efficiently took their orders, orbiting around the table. The man snatched up their menus with a painted smile and promised their food would be out shortly before scurrying through a set of swinging doors.
"It's so strange that you and my mother know each other, Rin," Dana said, laying a napkin on his lap. Reaching across the table, he poured himself a glass of water. A bead of condensation slowly dripped down the side and soaked into the table cloth. He satisfied his thirst with a long drink.
"The world isn't that big," Hana replied, resting her head on her propped up arm, "You'll learn as you get older that everyone who attended Totsuki—alumni or current students—are connected, like a web of relationships. In a way, it's similar to how people with shared hardships tend to gravitate towards one another."
"Hardships? At Totsuki? I don't think I've encountered anything at school I'd consider a hardship. It's mostly been all fun and games."
Mouth agape, Shoko stammered, "W-W-What are you talking about? You are literally participating in something called the Training Camp from Hell! Half of your gen mates won't even make it to the end of the week. I'd hate to see what you consider a hardship if something like that falls short of your standards."
"What, it's just school. No big deal. Through that 'cook 50 steak diners' challenge did totally suck. So maybe you have a point. It was so boring I could barely keep my eyes open. I could never see myself running a restaurant—serving customers everyday? Yuck!"
"It was too boring… hah. And to think I struggled so much at last year's camp." Shoko covered her face with a hand and ducked her head down, hiding beneath the brim of her black baseball cap.
Pulling the girl into a hug, Rindo patted her softly on the head. "There, there, Shoko. He's just an anomaly. Don't take it to heart."
"Wait, didn't you say the same thing about the camp when we went two years ago, Rindo?" Tsukasa said, innocently. The red haired girl whipped her head around and glared, shushing him with a hiss. He pointed up with his index finger as a memory sprung in his brain. "That's right. You said it was super tedious and a waste of time. And that you'd have to be an idiot not to pass."
Shoko slumped forward, slamming her face on the table cloth. A muttering voice muzzled by the cotton fabric rose up like the embodiment of a broken spirit. "An idiot… I'm such an idiot… I'm friends with monsters… I had almost forgotten."
"Jeez, now look what you did, Eishi!" Rindo shook the boy by his shirt collar. He stuttered an apology as his head bobbled erratically. On the other side of the table, Dana broke out in laughter.
The waiter, carrying a tray of appetizers, stumbled upon the scene. Eyeing Shoko, who still had her face pressed against the table, hesitated for a moment. What was even going on? "I have the gyoza you ordered. Do you want me to come back later, or…?"
Hana sighed. Taking pity on the server, she said, "Just set it down here."
Placing the plate where directed, the waiter was quick to bow and run off. He gave one last uneasy look over his shoulder and vanished into the kitchen. Hana was sure that he was telling all the other staff how weird they were.
Touching Shoko on the shoulder, Hana said, "If it makes you feel any better, I nearly failed myself when I was a first year student."
Shoko lifted her head and half-heartedly smiled. Crisis averted, the party dug into the gyoza.
"Oh yeah," Rindo exclaimed, brushing crumbs off her face, "I just remembered. I brought something I want to show you, Hana!" She dipped under the table cloth for a second and pulled up the terrarium. "Look what I just got!"
"Um… It's a very nice terrarium, Rindo," Hana replied.
"No, see what's inside the terrarium? Pretty neat, right?"
"Uhhh, Yeah. There's nothing inside there."
"...What?" Rindo glanced down at the container in her hands and noticed the lip ajar. It was only a box of sand. She seemed to be missing several sizable arachnids. "Oh, whoops. That's not good. So, on a completely unrelated note, has anyone seen any giant spiders lately?"
Hana hummed. "Did that terrarium have giant spiders in it, Rindo?"
"...Maybe." Rindo's eyes darted to the side.
Slowly drawing air through her nose, Hana released a long sigh. "Okay, okay. Let's try and find them. But be discreet. Hopefully we can catch them without anyone noticing."
"AHHHH! Holy shit! That spider's huge!" A scream rang out from another table. The patron shot out of their chair and scrambled backwards, falling on their butt. A second person screamed, pointing at a tarantula skittering across the elegant carpeting.
"I think someone noticed," Dana said, nonchalantly biting into another gyoza. Hana massaged her temples. This was becoming a headache.
Tsukasa paled as he worried about how this incident could reflect upon their school and his future employment opportunities. A vision of himself in a fancy suit sitting across from a restaurant owner came to mind. The owner cleared his throat and said, 'Your resume is quite impressive Mr. Tsukasa, however, I understand there was an incident in your final year of high school where your friends released numerous tarantulas into a fine dining restaurant? I'm afraid that you're too much of a loose cannon for us to employ. Application Denied!'
"No!" Tsukasa called out, grabbing his head, "It wasn't me! I'm not a loose cannon!"
"Great. Now he's lost it too. God, this is so embarrassing." Shoko hid her face in her hands.
"Come on, Dana! We have to get those spiders back!" Rindo yelled, snatching the empty terrarium off the table and sprinting headlong towards the commotion. Finishing his gyoza and dabbing his mouth with a napkin, he followed her.
"You're in such a rush. What's the worst that could happen?"
⸻5⸻
A few bugs tapped against the glass of the streetlamp, its hypnotic glow a siren song to their instincts. Through the dust and smudges adhering to the plexi surface, the light cast down from the fixture was more muted and hardly reached the cracked sidewalk. Tufts of grass sprouted from the fissures, and ants crossed the distance between them like soldiers skedaddling past no-man land. The arthropods would snag a few crumbs from the white styrofoam takeout containers and dip back to the trenches within the sidewalk cracks.
"I can't believe we got kicked out," Dana said, knees to his chest and sitting on the curb. Absent-mindedly, he drew small circles in the dirt painting the dilapidated sidewalk. You'd think a fancy restaurant would put a little effort into bolstering their curb appeal, but apparently not The Chanticleer. The place glittered on the hill behind him like a gem while he squatted next to the road like trash waiting for pick-up.
"I know, right? Kinda rude." Rindo sat next to Dana, resting her head on the palms of her hands. At her side was the terrarium. All tarantulas were present and accounted for, and a couple strips of tape were added to the traitorous lid. She tilted her head back and locked eyes with Hana. "Your friend is a bit of a jerk. I mean, some spiders crawled on a handful of VIPs—so what? It's not like anyone got hurt."
"What did you expect? The man is trying to run a business. You should be glad that he allowed us to take our order to-go," Hana explained between bites of coq au vin. This wasn't the first time she has suffered the humiliation of being kicked out of a restaurant and forced to eat from a take-out container. Thankfully, it wasn't her son that caused the problem this time. She wasn't sure she could handle another Copenhagen Incident.
On Hana's left and right were Shoko and Eishi. The three of them took up the entirety of the park bench, leaving Dana and Rindo on the ground. They had lost the popular vote: Rindo because she caused the incident, and Dana because Hana said so. A belated punishment for the ruckus he conjured at the training camp that culminated in his upcoming Food War.
"Well, at least we're not banned," Shoko said.
Tsukasa nodded. "My record remains unblemished. My hireability has escaped yet another scandal."
Shoko gave the 1st Seat a funny look. "Uh, What?"
"Oh, nevermind that last part," Tsukasa said, and directed his attention towards Dana, "I was a bit surprised to hear about your Regimental Food War. It's scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, is it not? Unfortunately, Rindo and I have an important meeting with the other Elite Ten Council members regarding the upcoming Fall Selection that day. So we won't be able to make it."
"Eh? No way!" Rindo exclaimed, "Let's ditch it, Eishi!"
"I'd…really rather you didn't. Please."
Shuddering, Shoko hugged herself. "I can't even imagine doing something like that while at Training Camp. Is there a limit to idiocy? I don't think you're quite there yet—but seeing as how you went out to eat instead of perfecting your recipe for tomorrow—you're well on your way, my friend."
"Hey! The real idiocy is turning down a free meal. Am I right?" Dana held out his hand and Rindo gave him a high five. "Especially at an expensive restaurant."
"Who said your meal was free? I expect you to pay for your share," Hana stated. She then turned to the others and added, "You guys don't have to though. You're good."
"You jerk! And after I stood up for you too! Just appalling. Like, seriously."
"Like I need you to do that for me! It's a parent's job to look out for their kids, not the other way around."
"I feel like I'm missing some context. What's going on?" Rindo asked.
"The only reason I even got into that Food War was because Subaru Mimasaka was belittling you and calling you a failure," Dana said, confronting his mother, "I wasn't going to let that slide! When people bully me or call me names, I can usually brush it off with a laugh or banter back, but I will never, ever allow someone to insult you."
"Damn right!" Rindo roared, her fire burning into a blaze of righteous fury. She jumped to her feet and threw her fists to the sky. "Hana Alouette is an incredible woman. Besmirchers deserve to die!"
"Yeah!"
"Dumbasses, that's too extreme," Hana muttered, sounding annoyed. Though if someone were to look close, they could have seen a small smile on her face. For a long time, the idea of having people willing to get so mad on her behalf was a novel idea—a daydreamer's fantasy. She still wasn't quite used to it. "You damn brats, you're getting too carried away."
"What the heck do you think you are doing, Dana!?" Rindo exclaimed, and grabbed him by the wrist; the terrarium secured under her other arm. The vice grip was so tight that the blood flow to his hands was stifled and left his extremities tingling. In a typical fashion, now considered a common sight at Totsuki, Rindo stormed off while dragging Dana behind her. "Now's not the time for relaxing with a nice meal! We have a Food War to prepare for."
"Jeez, slow down, you gorilla! I'm gonna fall over," Dana whined, barely getting his feet under him. The jagged sidewalk tripped him and he stumbled forward. With but a minor hitch in her gallop, the red-haired girl continued her stride; pulling Dana across the ground like a sandbag. "Why are you so damn strong? Stop already!"
"I'm not about to let some punk think he can say whatever he likes about Hana! You need to utterly demolish him in the arena, or else! We can't waste anymore time!"
Hana, Eishi, and Shoko watched the pair leave with varying degrees of bewilderment. Rindo shoved Dana into the passenger seat of her recently repaired catering van and then sped off, the vehicle blowing an evil cloud of black smoke into the night sky.
"I didn't get a chance to say this earlier, but thank you for being friends with my son," Hana said, unexpectedly. Her eyes remained trained on the rusted, white van until it rounded a corner and vanished into the Tokyo ether. "He can be a handful. At every school he had ever attended before Totsuki, the other children found him too weird or abrasive. As a mother, I was beginning to worry for him."
"Oh, um, this is kinda awkward. I've never had someone's mother thank me for befriending there kid before. So I don't really know what to say," Shoko replied, "You're welcome, I guess? Though I wouldn't worry too much about him making friends. From what I can tell, his brand of weirdness fits right in with the others at this school."
"Yes, I agree. He has made quite a few friends in the short time since he came to this school. And among students of every year too, which is a little unusual. So, in that way, he's doing better than average," Tsukasa added.
"You're good people," Hana said, giving the two a hug, "By the way, you both are going to need a lift back to school, right? 'Cause I think your ride left already."
…Rindo. Tsukasa sighed, "Yes, please."
End of Chapter
⸻Author's Note⸻
Sorry, I accidentally lied to you all. I promised that the Regimental Food War would be in this chapter, but I got distracted. This whole chapter was supposed to be the preamble leading up to the food war, but when I reached 7k words and was only a fourth of the way through the planned chapter 2.9 I decided to cut it and package it as its own chapter.
To those of you that dislike slow paced, borderline meandering stories, I apologize. I can't seem to help myself when it comes to these 'slice of life' chapters. Though when you're reading what is essentially the first draft of a manuscript, it's expected to be a little bloated and scatterbrained.
Facetiously Yours,
A Horseshoe Crab
Chapter Word Count: 5,059
Arc Word Count: 47,862
Story Word Count: 103,883