Munching away through a daifuku Myouga washed the mouthful down with a gulp of tea. "Straight to the point, huh? Well I didn't really think about it much as a kid. I sorta ended up as an arcanist because I wasn't very good at anything else. My parents run a clothing shop in the city, but I didn't have much artistic talent with embroidery or sewing. Aside from studying and magic, there weren't any other things I was particularly skilled at. My handwriting was horrible, my drawings made people freak out, and no matter what I cook it ends up looking the same. I wasn't very athletic either, and tired easily too." Stuffing the rest of the daifuku into her mouth she was moving onto another one. While they ate, one of the dried persimmons on the plate started moving, as a small creature resembling a living dust bunny tried to stealthily sneak off with it.

"My handwriting's legible now! But sometimes it's still messy. Those dolls over there? That's my doll collection! Aren't they cute? It's fun to see all the different clothes and hairstyles people give them. I even have ones made for special events too–like those twins in red with the bowl cuts. These dolls are a specialty here in Ataiyo." She then leaned over and whispered to Allyria, "And sometimes, they even have a secret compartment inside." Clearly what Myouga considered 'cute' was very subjective.

"Yeah, they're really, um, cute!" Allyria lied, something she did often (though usually better than just now). In all honesty, she had always thought that dolls were horrendous, but Myouga's creepy lookalikes took it to an entirely new level of terrifying. She tore her gaze away from the toys, and took another delicate swig of tea.

So, she liked dolls; somehow that didn't really surprise her - the arcanist seemed to be into all sorts of crazy things! Although, the siren didn't know how she could possibly turn that into leverage, should her new friend betray her in any way, but her parents! If she could get Myouga to show Allyria her parents, they would be the perfect insurance! With another sip of tea, she began:

"So, when should we go see the city? Oh, you could say hello to your parents too!"

The urge to smirk her other signature smile was almost to great, but she couldn't let Myouga see her true colours so soon. She always acted like she was good, and her 'friend' always seemed to believe it…

Myouga sighed and waved dismissively at the other's suggestion. "Naah, that's no fun. Besides, they're always busy with work anyway. I'm not allowed to touch delicate stuff in there 'cause they're worried I'll set things on fire or something. Oh oh but I do know somebody else who we can visit! There's a general store in the commercial district that sells all sorts of stuff. I know the owner, too!" She hadn't paid her friend a visit in a few weeks ever since she started working on her experiment, and now was the perfect time to do so. Plus, she could even give the excuse of promoting his business.

Looking around as if anyone would hear, she then whispered quietly. "Oh and if anyone asks, you didn't hear it from me…but they say that particular store and some of the other stalls on that street are…haunted. People who've seen it say it sometimes shows up during the day, pretending to be a child window shopping or acting like a mannequin. It walks without making a sound, and likes to come up behind them, then…" She left the last bit omitted as to imply something. "You're not scared of ghosts, are you?"  

Allyria giggled again. "No, I'm not afraid of ghosts." Although she was skeptical that there were actually ghosts there, she was all the more intrigued. "We should definitely go!" She added with a smile.

After taking a final sip of the tea Myouga gave her, she began: "When I was little, my friends and I would sneak around the village, especially the abandoned parts, looking for ghosts." The half-human smiled fondly, remembering when they'd get into trouble with parents and neighbours alike. "We never actually found any of course, but it was still fun. One time we thought we did - Romeo started crying and I ran off - it was my other best ffriend, Lysander, who found out it was just some old woman's cat!" She let out another laugh, one much more genuine and slightly deeper than her trademark chuckle. 

Growing up up in a small, old fashioned village with purple hair and an inhuman mother made it hard for her to make friends. Alas, she always had Lyser and Meo, no matter what. And now they wer gone, just like her parents. The siren's life was literally one disaster after another, though she was never sad: the past is in the past…

"So, when do we leave?"

With the last bite of dried persimmon eaten and both tea cups empty, Myouga's sweet tooth was momentarily satisfied. The story of Allyria with her two childhood friends getting spooked by a cat was something most kids would experience at that age. She herself was just as mischievous and curious as the lavender-haired girl was then, perhaps even more so now than before. Though in Myouga's case, she was the one doing the spooking rather than vice versa. Growing up with a defect from birth made her different from the other oni children, with the difference gap becoming more apparent as she got older. She had always been short, the shortest out of everyone. She was even shorter than her parents when they were only average height. Thus she was always at a disadvantage at playing catch or sports when the ball flew over her head, but she soon learned to sneak the ball out of others' hands while they were distracted. Even as an adult, people still had a tendency to treat her as a child which was always strange to her when they showed no issue in recognizing adult halflings and dwarves. She was even taller than them too!

Her train of thought returning to the topic at hand, she commented: "Oho, so it was the cat then? I wouldn't be surprised at that, after all what if it was an enchanted cat? Everybody knows cats are magical. They're smart so who knows what they do when nobody's looking? In Nisshoki, cats with two tails are always like that. But it has to be a very old cat for them to have more than one tail." Not wanting to go off onto a tangent on ghost stories yet, the arcanist grinned when the girl asked when they would depart. "We'll get going straight away! I'll have the portal open before you can clap your hands twice!" Using her index finger, she pointed at the wall and drew the shape of an oval in the air. Seconds after, a swirling portal like at Jasumin Lake appeared. The colors rippled and moved, as they showed a distorted image of a city with people dressed in kimonos walking along the streets with wooden buildings and paper hanging lanterns. The sound of a busy market filtered in through the gateway as people went about their business.

As usual, Allyria was almost envious of how Myouga could just open a portal to wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted. She was excited to go to the town though; she had never been there. And just the idea of there maybe being a ghost made her feel like a seven year old all over again. What if it was a real ghost? She'd have to track down her childhood friends and tell them, and then she'd have to show them and maybe, just maybe, they could all be together again. With every passing second she just grew more and more like excited. She glanced at Myouga, remembering how she had to go second to close the portal, so, the purple haired teenager just jumped through…

The portal opened into a busy street, with horse-drawn carts and the more fanciful wooden sedans of the wealthy clattered by. This was in the heart of the commercial district of the city, as rows of hanging lanterns fluttered in the breeze above shops. Some of them had symbols on them, others words. The noise and melting pot of various scents and sights was an entirely new experience compared to the typical marketplace. Women walked by in silk kimonos holding parasols to shield their unblemished skin, and men clad in less colorful attire went about their business. Myouga was right behind Allyria as the portal vanished behind them, now having changed her clothes into a red kimono with floral holly plant embroidery. The smell of something savory caught the attention of her nose, which she made a note to pick up some grilled squid skewers before going back home. After eating something sweet, she wanted something salty. Some would think it was strange, but wouldn't that explain the popularity of rice crackers? Lightly sweetened on the surface, with a savory saltiness from soy sauce right after before the entire cracker melted in your mouth.

They were standing right in front of a storefront with a wooden plaque in some kind of foreign script beside a door. A stand selling noodles in large lacquer ware bowls with all of its stools occupied by customers was right across. The smell of soup broth and pickled vegetables was unmistakable. "We're here!" Myouga cried as she pulled open the door. A bell tied to the top of the door jingled as it moved, announcing their arrival. Inside was a neatly arranged general store, with a tall counter for customers to finalize their purchases and display shelves for various packages and things in boxes. There was a group of wooden mannequins against the back wall where kimonos were displayed for men, women, and children. Bolts of cloth rested on the shelves adjacent to them, organized by color and pattern. There was a little bit of everything here, but nothing particularly unique. Simple tea sets were on free-standing display tables, canisters of different tea varieties were shelved beside balls of twine, and glass jars of peculiar candies wrapped in rice paper were at the clerk's counter. At the sound of the bell, a voice called out: "Welcome, please have a look around!"

The voice came from a tall, dark-skinned man with wild messy hair tied back into a short ponytail. A pair of pointed horns protruded from his forehead through his bangs as his eyes narrowed into a sharp gaze when they came into view. Contrary to his voice tone earlier, he did not look happy to see them. Myouga paid no heed to the man's obvious discontent as she cheerily bounced over to the counter and flopped her arms onto the surface. "Hello~ Long time no see right buddy? You wouldn't happen to have any new sweets in stock Mr. Storeowner?" The man crossed his arms and gave a fierce glare at the little arcanist smiling at him with a silly grin on her face. "Oh it's you. I should've known something was up when you stopped bothering me at work. What do you want, Myouga? I don't have time for your monkey business." He looked over at Allyria with scrutiny.  

Allyria was, doubtlessly, in awe at this amazing city. She muffle a light giggle behind her black sleeve (which stood out mercilessly against the bright colours all the other women - even Myouga - were wearing), wondering what her friend had done to make the shopkeep so mad. As she watched the exchange of words between the two, she thought how could anyone not love her stupidly hilarious antics. Maybe she tore the shop up looking for the ghost? Maybe she tore the shop up whilst prentending to be the ghost? Maybe it was something al little more personal?

She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw him glare bitterly at her. She didn't know whether to let the arcanist sort it out, or whether to intervene and make the man a little happier. Darting her eyes to Myouga for a second, then back to the strange shopkeeper. I'll let her sort it out, and if we get into any trouble, I'll try and charm us out.

"Aww Yabashiraaaa~ you're so mean! I just came by to say hi since I've been staying cooped up at home the past few weeks. Plus, I'm promoting your business!" Myouga whined to the oni. Yabashira didn't seem convinced by her offer of goodwill, and grumbled under his breath. "What exactly have you been doing in there anyway? Your parents asked me about you saying something about traveling and goldfish. You better not be doing anything illegal or shifty–just because I've known you for years doesn't mean I won't call you out on it." Myouga responded by pulling out a small piece of white polished stone carved in the shape of a wolf. "Here, I got you a present! I know you like dogs so I got one just for you!" As she grinned, he looked at the thing suspiciously, and reluctantly pocketed it. "You paid for that, right?" It was very clear that he did not have the best impression of the arcanist, emphasized by the mention of being well-acquainted with her for quite a while. However he was more upset about her being here than disliking the gift.

"Of course I did dummy, I wouldn't steal from vendors!" she pouted, puffing her face up at him. "Oh, so stealing from people who aren't vendors is completely fine?" Yabashira snipped back. Myouga looked away innocently, casually putting her hand behind her head as she wiggled back and forth. "You said it, not me. Anyway, it's made from a pretty stone called howlite in that new place called Sidhiel. I sent you a postcard when I was there! The plants are a magical bluish color like in Feeorin, minus getting lost and attacked by fairies. The population's pretty homogeneous though, like almost ninety-nine percent elf. I drew a few sketches of the architecture to send back to the mage's college for the other professors to study later. The stone's only found on that island, which is pretty neat. They wouldn't let me drink anything at their restaurants though! Can you believe that?! I went to order some of their spiced wine but they wouldn't give it to me! They even kept treating me like a kid!"

Myouga pouted again, while Yabashira was about to say something only to close his mouth before the words came out. He then followed up saying: "Doesn't that happen to you every time you try to order drinks at a tavern?" "Yeah, but only everywhere except here. Oh right, I almost forgot! Silly me, this is my new friend Allyria! I met her at Jasumin Lake today!" Turning to Allyria she continued, "Allyria, this is my buddy Yabashira! He runs the haunted general store, and he's the same age as me!" "It's not haunted!" The oni protested. "The only thing that haunts this place is you!" Myouga then leaned over towards him with a finger to her mouth. "Shhh…you can't say that! That's supposed to be a secret!"

Allyria gave the man a pretty smile, although she was disappointed Myouga was the ghost (despite the fact that she knew it was her all along). "Hello," To put it simply, she didn't really know what to say. "Yabashiro, is it? It's really nice to meet you!" The siren couldn't help but feel as though  he didn't like her very much, which she got a lot, given her strange parentage. Still, it would have been nice if he was just a pleasant as the arcanist was  when they first met.

Then she started to think, how old actually is Myouga? Obviously not a child, if she drinks spiced wine. Obviously not super old, or she would probably look super old. 

"Hey, Myouga, how old actually are you?" It likely sounded quite rude, to abruptly ask someone how old they are, alas, she was curious - and when did Allyria ever worry about other people's emotions?