The Very Secret Diary of Fuu. Samurai Champloo. 700 words. No spoilers.
For kate_nepveu, who requested "excerpts from Fuu's diary."
“October 29. The guys have been so bad at getting work lately that I worried that I’d have to dip into Momo-san’s sunflower seeds or starve to death, but today we had a lucky break. A sweet old lady I bumped into at the market said that I reminded her of her daughter when she was younger.”
Jin paused in his reading. “Sweet old lady?”
Mugen peered over his shoulder. “Does she mean that hag who wanted us to-“
“So she invited us to a dinner party she was throwing. It was great! The food was all seasonal for autumn. I had rice with chestnuts, sweet new rice, fried oysters, salt-grilled mackerel, matsutake mushrooms in broth, mixed stew, cod baked with miso, roast shimeji mushrooms flavored with yuzu, simmered eggplant, grilled eel over rice, baked sweet potatoes, miso soup with mushrooms, and persimmons and nashi pears for dessert.
I noticed that Jin wasn’t eating any of the eel, and I asked him if eel had so many bad associations for him now that he’d never eat it again. He stared at me over the rims of his glasses, and just when I thought he wasn’t even going to answer, he said, “Hmm.” I took that as a yes, so I ate his share.
It would have been a perfect night, except the guys got in some kind of trouble, as usual. I’m not really sure what it was about-“
“She means our job?” said Mugen. “She means when we intimidated the daughter’s fiancé?”
Jin stared at Mugen over the rims of his glasses. “I intimidated him. You almost killed him. Which would have broken the contract.”
“Not my fault the wimp couldn’t take a punch.”
“Or twelve kicks to the kidneys with metal-soled geta?”
Mugen grinned. “That too.”
Jin returned to the diary. “I ended up sitting next to the sweet old lady who invited us. She kept warning me about handsome men with cold hearts-like I’d ever have anything to do with Jin! But when I told her that, she warned me about flashy men with hot tempers- like I’d ever have anything to do with Mugen, either!”
“I’d never have anything to do with that nagging, flat-chested little brat, either!”
“Anyway, there was some kind of brawl, but it was over soon. But a while later the daughter came running up crying. Her fiancé had taken off from the party, and he’d left a note that said he’d been cheating on her and running up gambling debts, and he was fleeing the town to escape the debt enforcers. He didn’t leave a forwarding address. What a jerk! Still, I guess it was better for her to find out now than after the wedding. The party broke up after that, but the sweet old lady gave me a bag of persimmons to take with me, so it worked out all right.”
Jin stopped reading aloud, and began to scan ahead in silence.
“What? WHAT?” Mugen poked at him.
Jin stepped out of range of Mugen’s finger and cleared his throat. “But now I regret sharing those nice persimmons with a pair of guys who’d do low-down things like read a girl’s diary while she’s in the bath. Why don’t you write your own diaries, instead of peeking at other people’s? Or if you’re too lazy, I’ll do it for you.
The Very Secret Diary of Jin: Today Fuu gave me a persimmon. I know what a sacrifice that must have been for her, because she loves food so much, and it was her last one-and the best. It was tangy and ripe, the essence of autumn. It was so good, I almost thanked her.”
Mugen let out a rather unmanly cackle of laughter at that.
Jin gave him a look that could kill at ten paces, then continued, “The Very Secret Diary of Mugen: Today we stopped at an onsen over a natural hot spring. I got into a farting contest with the sulphur bath. The bath won. V. depressed. Stupid bath.”
“That bitch!” Mugen snatched the diary from Jin and hurled it across the room.
Momo-san leaped out of the way, flew at Mugen’s face-Mugen ducked-then sailed out the window, emitting outraged squeaks as he went.
“Hmm,” said Jin.
“October 29. The guys have been so bad at getting work lately that I worried that I’d have to dip into Momo-san’s sunflower seeds or starve to death, but today we had a lucky break. A sweet old lady I bumped into at the market said that I reminded her of her daughter when she was younger.”
Jin paused in his reading. “Sweet old lady?”
Mugen peered over his shoulder. “Does she mean that hag who wanted us to-“
“So she invited us to a dinner party she was throwing. It was great! The food was all seasonal for autumn. I had rice with chestnuts, sweet new rice, fried oysters, salt-grilled mackerel, matsutake mushrooms in broth, mixed stew, cod baked with miso, roast shimeji mushrooms flavored with yuzu, simmered eggplant, grilled eel over rice, baked sweet potatoes, miso soup with mushrooms, and persimmons and nashi pears for dessert.
I noticed that Jin wasn’t eating any of the eel, and I asked him if eel had so many bad associations for him now that he’d never eat it again. He stared at me over the rims of his glasses, and just when I thought he wasn’t even going to answer, he said, “Hmm.” I took that as a yes, so I ate his share.
It would have been a perfect night, except the guys got in some kind of trouble, as usual. I’m not really sure what it was about-“
“She means our job?” said Mugen. “She means when we intimidated the daughter’s fiancé?”
Jin stared at Mugen over the rims of his glasses. “I intimidated him. You almost killed him. Which would have broken the contract.”
“Not my fault the wimp couldn’t take a punch.”
“Or twelve kicks to the kidneys with metal-soled geta?”
Mugen grinned. “That too.”
Jin returned to the diary. “I ended up sitting next to the sweet old lady who invited us. She kept warning me about handsome men with cold hearts-like I’d ever have anything to do with Jin! But when I told her that, she warned me about flashy men with hot tempers- like I’d ever have anything to do with Mugen, either!”
“I’d never have anything to do with that nagging, flat-chested little brat, either!”
“Anyway, there was some kind of brawl, but it was over soon. But a while later the daughter came running up crying. Her fiancé had taken off from the party, and he’d left a note that said he’d been cheating on her and running up gambling debts, and he was fleeing the town to escape the debt enforcers. He didn’t leave a forwarding address. What a jerk! Still, I guess it was better for her to find out now than after the wedding. The party broke up after that, but the sweet old lady gave me a bag of persimmons to take with me, so it worked out all right.”
Jin stopped reading aloud, and began to scan ahead in silence.
“What? WHAT?” Mugen poked at him.
Jin stepped out of range of Mugen’s finger and cleared his throat. “But now I regret sharing those nice persimmons with a pair of guys who’d do low-down things like read a girl’s diary while she’s in the bath. Why don’t you write your own diaries, instead of peeking at other people’s? Or if you’re too lazy, I’ll do it for you.
The Very Secret Diary of Jin: Today Fuu gave me a persimmon. I know what a sacrifice that must have been for her, because she loves food so much, and it was her last one-and the best. It was tangy and ripe, the essence of autumn. It was so good, I almost thanked her.”
Mugen let out a rather unmanly cackle of laughter at that.
Jin gave him a look that could kill at ten paces, then continued, “The Very Secret Diary of Mugen: Today we stopped at an onsen over a natural hot spring. I got into a farting contest with the sulphur bath. The bath won. V. depressed. Stupid bath.”
“That bitch!” Mugen snatched the diary from Jin and hurled it across the room.
Momo-san leaped out of the way, flew at Mugen’s face-Mugen ducked-then sailed out the window, emitting outraged squeaks as he went.
“Hmm,” said Jin.