Cherry Blossom Evening Party

[wipingallout]

You have received a private message:

Throughout the week, Hamuko has messaged the vast majority of people she's met so far - and eagerly invited them to come meet at Inokashira Park starting at 5pm.

⋆🌸₊˚⊹♡❀˖°🌸⋆

You're invited to an evening sushi-party-turned-hanami-picnic-party! I've organized a bunch of cognitive chefs and performers to come to that park on the listed date/time.

I've sent this to you because you were part of one of the three teams that helped with fighting Fatalis or rescuing Falcon and Wolf (or are Falcon and Wolf themselves!!) - we've all busted our butts a lot lately, so I think we deserve to have something nice together too!

Of course, the party is open if you have any +1s or more. But before spring turns into summer, let's celebrate what we've all accomplished together!




.🌸˚𑁍.ೃ࿔*:･

The Venue...


Inokashira Park has a lovely river and trail and a phenomenal collection of cherry blossom trees. They're in the tail end of their season, filling the air with petals like snowfall.

In a large open area, Hamuko's arranged a ton of picnic blankets for people to claim and sit down on, though each blanket is HUGE to accommodate people sitting with as many people as they can handle! There are cozy pillows for sitting on too, stacked neatly to be borrowed.

There's a truly humongous row of tables laid out with an impressive amount of sushi presented. With a few trucks nearby, it seems there's a few sushi chefs making fresh platters of it to lay out through the night.

Similarly, there are food carts along the trails if you're not in the mood for sushi and would rather have some more traditional fare like dango, taiyaki, matcha, takoyaki... it's got the place lively and smelling fantastic! There's sake for the adults, and some cherry-blossomed themed mocktails for minors.

🌸𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖🎐

Activities

There's a few set out activities besides just chowing down and socializing or walking along the lantern-lit trails under the cherry blossoms! Inoshikara Park has always had cute little swan pedal boats or regular rowboats for 'rental' (not that money matters here).

The area is SO pretty, perfect for taking pictures to have as keepsakes. There's even a booth to claim a yukata and privately change into it, if you want to go the extra mile!

Finally, in lieu of a traditional band or modern concert, Hamuko has picked out a large set of speakers connected to a small karaoke stage and screen - menace the party with your sing-along! Get a little boost to your Guts!!

Comments

[dollmaxing]

"He doesn't leave much of an impression over the phone. But he got himself arrested to protect the Phantom Thieves - that seems like the sort of reckless sense of justice that someone would act on."

She nibbles at the tuna, staying out of Zenkichi's reach.

1/2

[unit_8910_wolf]

Yeah he...he barely has any context about the phantom thieves aside from their working members and their basis of operation. Even then...he has never met them in his life. Oh, how much he would have scoffed at their justice- maybe even envious of their work. Like cheating.

In another life. Maybe.

"He's..." He starts before stopping right away. Can't learn his damn lesson, can he? Biting the hand that feeds him...he knows his day as an inspector. The sheer naviety of it all- thinking he would have everything under control one day.

He finishes the last of the sushi as well, now considerably full. He has half a mind to still follow this woman around, just to get a read on her when she does slip but his thoughts are held off when he picks up on someone else walking in on them. Heavy, an adult man's footsteps and he knows only two of them. Inevitably, his head turns to the new comer as he jumps a little at the way the man suddenly turned to him. Alert.

[takutomaruki]

When he had met eyes with Ichinose far earlier, his expression had grown serious. Careful. Contemplative as he always was, his plate filled to the brim with assortments as he was about to make off with the sushi as well- only to find most plates suspiciously empty.

He wandered up to the sushi table with a plate in hand, blinking at the tension so thick you could slice it into sashimi. Zenkichi’s entire body was tight with leashed fury, still chewing on eel like it had insulted his ancestors, and Ichinose looked ready to either bolt or brain someone with a serving platter.

Maruki gave a bright, painfully earnest laugh.
"Ahaha, wow...!" he said, a little too loudly. "You two are getting really... into the food, huh?"

He edged closer, very much like someone trying to approach a feral animal.
His smile strained at the edges but held.

[dollmaxing]

"Spite must go really well with sushi!" Ichinose cheerfully chirped, relaxing now that Maruki was back. "Zenkichi here has been eating well. Best take advantage of a good opportunity, right?"

Not that she really cares. She sneaked a few maki rolls and retreated to Maruki's side, putting him in between her and Zenkichi and enjoying some of her takoyaki.

"I shouldn't talk too much, since anything I say seems to just anger him."

[unit_8910_wolf]

The mention of his first name makes his eyes widen in anger- visibly feeling uncomfortable at the fact that the woman tainted his name like she's tainted everything else in the world.

"I would theorize that the birds just stop singing whenever you speak, Ichinose. Speaking of which, its Wolf to you-? Keep my first name out of your mouth. The audacity you hold, I swear to god you are insufferable as is even when you aren't hovering in EMMA's belly."

Maruki allowed himself to stand between the two of them, wincing as Zenkichi only had a slightly more offensive frame but even then- he wasn't intimidated. Not that the man wanted to intimidate him, given how annoyed he looks.

"I didn't know you were such an avid fan of sushi, Zenkichi-san," he pointed at the plate. "Though its a shame...not much of it is left for the others."

"You'll live without it," he rolls his eyes as he finishes the last piece and sets the empty plate on the table next to them. Like hell he feels much sympathy for Ichinose or for the man who's harbouring her. Birds of a feather flock together, don't they?

[dollmaxing]

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, with every bit the tone of someone who was completely not sorry, "the Thieves would always call you either 'Zenkichi' or 'Gramps' when we talked. You would know, you saw all of the emails."

It didn't change that he didn't want her to say shit to him in the first place, let alone using his given name, but she didn't really care either way. It hadn't crossed her mind before, she just spoke of him the way Futaba would address him all the time in emails, and if that made him mad? Then good. Fuck him.

"Go easy on him, Maruki. He lives in a post apocalypse - once he's back home it will be a long time before things are rebuilt well enough that he can enjoy food like this."

[takutomaruki]

Zenkichi didn’t rise to the bait this time.
Didn’t even twitch.

He just stared at her with the unimpressed deadpan of a man who’d fought wars bigger than her ego—and didn’t have the time or patience to indulge petty needling anymore. Or so he thinks.

"Yeah, well," he rasped, voice low and even, "the Thieves probably got to call me that ‘cause they earned it. You?"
He gave a lazy, sardonic tilt of his head. "You’re just background noise."

Maruki blinked once, took stock of the tension crackling between them, and offered an easy, practiced smile—the kind you wore when you were two steps ahead of a workplace meltdown about to happen over the copy machine. Or even before your colleague and your boss.

"Background noise, huh?" he chuckled warmly as he turned his head to blink at her deliberately, like they were all in on the joke. Are you insane? "Well, background music’s what keeps a party lively, isn't it?"

He expertly held onto his plate with one hand as he picked up a few skewers of takoyaki with the other, pretending like Zenkichi's LED wasn't blaring red.

No panic, no stammering. Just smooth deflection.

"Speaking of lively..." he continued, gesturing with his chopsticks, "Now that I think about it you two are seriously putting the rest of us to shame. I’ve never seen sushi disappear this fast. You should be proud! True warriors of the buffet."

"Seriously?" Zenkichi huffed- like he was being harassed by an actual parent. "Are you seriously doing this?"

[dollmaxing]

Warriors of the buffet? Aww. He really was trying his best, wasn't he? Ichinose relaxed a little, eating a takoyaki so she had a bare pick in her hand, too.

"En garde!" she joked, brandishing her pick at Maruki like the world's wimpiest knife and laughing lightly, jovially. Like 'Wolf' wasn't even there.

1/3

[takutomaruki]

Maruki blinked, briefly caught off guard by Ichinose's sudden playful energy.
For a beat, it was clear he hadn't expected her to actually joke back.

He chuckled and gamely lifted his own pick in defense.

"Ah! A duel!" he declared in mock alarm, crossing his takoyaki skewer against hers with a half-hearted, clumsy parry. "Mercy, mercy!"

The skewers tapped together with the most pathetic little clack.

2/3 (think maruki will approach him seperately. don't think zenkichi would stick around for long)

[unit_8910_wolf]

Zenkichi watched the whole thing, feeling his brain short-circuit for half a second.
It was...strange.

The way she laughed, easy and genuine, felt wrong on her.
Like it didn't belong to the same woman who’d twisted entire worlds into cages.

Huh.

Maybe Maruki was doing something to her. Or maybe this was just what happened when you let a monster steep in an echo chamber long enough.

Either way, he wanted nothing to do with it.

Akane’s voice crackled softly into his ears or his system, almost immediate.
"Dad? You okay?"

He adjusted the collar of his Yukata, muttering back, "Yeah, kiddo. All good. Just..." He exhaled through his nose, watching Maruki and Ichinose poke at each other like overgrown children. "...getting some air."

"She seems a little too drunk. Wonder what's up with her."

He shifted his weight, the faintest scrape of sandals against wood, about to make his quiet exit—

Only for Maruki to pivot, nodding at a sake bottle in one of the adjacent tables.

"You sure you don't want to stay a little longer, Zenkichi-san?" Maruki offered with a friendly smile. "Once you're done eating, there's plenty more to drink. Wouldn't want you missing out."

There was a beat of hesitation.

The invitation was gentle. Open. Like Maruki was used to pulling stubborn, hurting people back into the fold without making them feel trapped.

Zenkichi’s fingers twitched once, faintly remembering easier days—the clink of glasses, Maruki's grievances with the process of his surgery or discussing the developments of his Rumi's hospitalization. Both of which had met its tragic end.

He shut that door before it could even open.

"Nah," he said gruffly, giving a small, dismissive wave. "Forget about it. Just keep her in line."

It wasn't personal.

(Or maybe it was. Just a little.)

He turned on his heel, hands shoved into his sleeves, the edge of his yukata catching the breeze as he slipped away from the table.

3/3

[takutomaruki]

Maruki just watched him go, unbothered, before calmly turning back to Ichinose with a soft sigh.

"Well," he glanced back at her. "That was...something."

[dollmaxing]

"He always reacts poorly to me any time I seem even slightly outside of this image he has of the other Ichinose," Ichinose explained, rolling her eyes and pausing to eat another bite of sushi.

She looked at Zenkichi's retreating form, seeing the fire leaving him. Chewing, a bit, in thought.

"If he's disheartened for the night, you don't have to rescue me again. You can catch up with Hamuko-chan, and I'll go check on Morning."

[takutomaruki]

Ichinose’s explanation only seemed to sadden him more. He felt awful for both- Ichinose didn't deserve to have someone fight tooth and nail to be forced into the mould of a doll, a title that she clung onto like it was her lifeline. The anger will only make things worse instead of better.

It was so important for people to be kind. And just.

That said...he sympathised with Zenkichi. Who wouldn't be? If he came across that burglar in this world, regardless of how much good will he held, regardless of his motivations and passions; he couldn’t erase that imagery of how he lost everything that mattered to him.

And Zenkichi lost. More than anyone deserved to.

When Ichinose offered him the deal to seperate he answered a beat later, brows relaxing from their relentless furrowing like he was just pulled out from his deep thoughts.

"No, no, I didn't even do anything. You handled yourself really well." Quick not to take any credit, he waved his hand in dismissal. "That said I will...go ahead and do that." It was so obvious from his expression and the way he followed Zenkichi’s retreating form that he wanted to speak with him again. They did fight and drank alongside each other before all of this- maybe he could salvage a bridge?

So what was he waiting for? With the way his eyes turned to Ichinose like a puppy, he was still waiting for that slight confirmation.

[dollmaxing]

Ichinose followed his gaze to the retreating Zenkichi, then back to Maruki. The man seemed like such a people-pleaser, he probably couldn't let something like that lie, could he? He'd been so deeply tormented by how some people hated him, here, for what other world versions of Maruki had done.

It was pitiable. She pitied him. But she also could relate, a little bit.

With a waving gesture, she nodded towards Zenkichi. "You better hurry, then, before he goes home."

[takutomaruki]

Oh, how glorious of a sight Ichinose would witness as she would see the man lit up- brows hiked up as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment at how obvious he was being. "Um, surely he wouldn't just leave his daughter-" he stops, holding off on that pretend statement. What's even the point of lying.

His plate...he will probably have to ask Azathoth to save up on it if he keeps wandering around with it.

"Thank you," he smiles softly as he pops in some of the dango into his mouth while stepping back. "I am sure it won't even take that long, I know he's a bit of a drinker and he can afford to put his guard down a little. As a treat. " And also just for the sake of making sure he and Ichinose can make it out safe and sound from the party (he can only ignore the slight cracks- hand prints??- on the plate that man just left behind for so long.)

[dollmaxing]

"Good, let him have fun so he's not stewing over things," she agreed, though it wasn't so much out of empathy as practicality. If Zenkichi wasn't glowering, miserable and fixated on her, then he won't get worse. And if Maruki can mend the bridge, then it ought to prevent a raid on the Palace too.

"Come get me later when it's time to go~"

[takutomaruki]

A doll...right. Maruki grinned ear to ear, glad that she was going along with the ride. It would have been callous otherwise, trying to make peace between two parties who wanted nothing to do with each other.

"Sure will. Say hi to Morning from me too- I just hope he's doing alright," Once he was done with his plate, he set it aside and simply let Azathoth’s tentacles do the talking, quickly peaking in through the gaps of his sleeves to fully save up on some of the food in its infinitesimal space.

"See you soon then-!"