Welcome to Gaia! ::

Masato jumped up on one of the wrought iron chairs next to Gilly and wrapped his tail around his legs after Gilly pulled the chair out and watched the waiter set a second menu down before politely excusing himself and going back inside, giving them time to decide on their order. It was very busy inside and their fall promo attracted a lot of customers. Fortunately, they were the only ones outside for now and Yggdrasil was a bit out of the way, so Masato could talk to Gilly without revealing his magical nature.

"Thank you, Gilly-san," Masato thanked Gilly politely for pulling a chair out for him and asking the waiter for a second menu. Masato's eyes scanned through his menu after he flipped it open with his paw and immediately found the jager schnitzel and the apple strudel before Gilly asked him how he knew the place and asked him if he'd been to Mahora before.

"I haven't been in Mahora very long, to be honest. Only a few months since I'd been traveling all around Japan running from the Koga hunter-nins, even going into Iga territory in the Kansai region just to lose them prior to coming here. However, a few months is enough for me to find every good place to eat in this place. A fox has to eat, right? And I'm too proud to raid trash bins or beg for scraps. Killing small creatures for food and eating them raw was never my thing either. However, of all the places I've eaten at...err...stolen food from , Yggdrasil is the best. I wouldn't have brought you here if it weren't," Masato said before smiling at Gilly. "You'll love their steak and desserts. I strongly recommend it and their apple strudel is heavenly. You may also want to try their schlagobers. It's rich coffee with whipped cream and ground cinnamon sprinkled elegantly up top. Perfect with their desserts and good for keeping the chill off you as well."

"Say....Gilly-san. If you don't mind me asking, where are you from originally? Or where did you live before coming to Mahora? Aside from not being entirely human, you seem quite different from most of the people here. Not that it's a bad thing. I actually think what makes people different makes them more interesting," Masato asked Gilly while tilting his head slightly and one of his ears twitched involuntarily. Everyone had to come from somewhere and perhaps Gilly had an interesting story about her home or at least where she was from.

Masato chuckled as Gilly tried reading the menu in German before casually correcting her pronunciation. "Don't worry, Gilly-san. German takes a bit of getting used to before you can speak it properly. I had my tongue tied in knots before I got it right, but I can teach you. And your cooking is enough to turn even the most hardened food thief around, believe me," Masato told Gilly while smiling. "And I've had to be fast since they turned me into what I am. Faster than my pursuers at the very least, but all my skills are at your service from this point forward," he said in response to Gilly's next remark. He then listened to Gilly speak about having been born in Japan, but growing up in New York. Masato had been to nearly every corner of Asia, the American West Coast, the Magic World, and even parts of Europe but he had never been to New York. He continued listening to Gilly's story as she spoke fondly about growing up in New York with her grandfather, but her tone darkened as she spoke about her mother's suicide and not exactly being on good terms with her father.

"I'm sorry about your mother," Masato said with his ears drooping a bit. "I saw what she did when I tapped into your mind and it honestly shocked me, seeing it from your perspective. As for my father...well...I never knew him. He died just days before I was born...killed by Iga ninjas and my mother soon followed. I was actually raised by my grandparents and some close family friends, so I can empathize. I love my grandparents dearly and all those I grew up around and helped to raise me were like family to me. Family isn't just those who are related to you by blood. It's those who care about you most, who strive hardest to provide for you, and would risk life and limb without fear to protect you." And it was true. Many of the children in Masato's village were orphans from the generations-long war with the Iga and other hostile clans and they were like blood to each other.

"That's what family was to me and many of the children who grew up in my village...we were all brothers and sisters in a sense and every one of the adults was like a parent. If you were among us, we would have taken you in and welcomed you as one of our own." Masato paused for a second while looking towards Yggdrasil's entrance. The waiter should be back pretty soon. "There are people like that for you here, Gilly. Many would risk their necks to protect you or shed blood for your sake from what I've seen. And I'm no different," Masato said before his right ear twitched and he heard footsteps towards the door.

"Oooh...the waiter is here!" Masato exclaimed almost comically before he shut his trap just in time and acted like a normal pet that couldn't speak. The waiter apologized for making them wait and then took out an order slip and a pen before asking them if they had decided what they wanted. Masato, while swishing his tail happily, put his paw on the steak as well as the apple strudel on the menu while Gilly stated her order. She had good taste judging by what she said and he was almost certain she'd get more after tasting the quality of the food there.

Masato laughed with Gilly, holding his chest with his paws and rolling on his back; his hind legs gyrating for a few seconds while waving his right front paw at her before sitting back up, shaking his head, and chuckling. "That was great! We really should do this more often," said while smiling and sitting up straight. "I am not going to forget that look on his face for a very long time," Masato said while chuckling again.

"And don't worry about my parents or your grandmother. We'll see them all again one day and I'm sure they'd hate to see us miserable about their loss. Until then, I think they'd want us to be happy and have as much fun as we possibly can. And today is the perfect day for such!" It most definitely was. Their food came several minutes later and Masato silently slipped a pair of 100-yen pieces under his paw out of nowhere as a tip to the waiter. The waiter gave him another strange look or surprise before looking at Gilly again quizzically, suppressing the urge to stutter and ask if she trained him to do that or if Masato was some sort crazy sentient fox creature from his sister's favorite fantasy novel.

"Most demons you see are part of or spawned from the original third that were cast down from heaven...or what's left of them," Masato spoke after the waiter left and happily chewing and swallowing a piece of his steak. "And demon-kin are their descendants. I agree with your grandparents' reasoning. Many of those original and ancient demons are irrevocably evil and beyond redemption, but the same doesn't necessarily hold true for their descendants," he spoke again before eating another small piece of steak. "It's not like they chose to be the way they are and neither did all those half-youkai children who were born after the Youkai War broke out years ago. They don't deserve the prejudice and hatred that their own people and humans deal out against them. They deserve a fair chance as much as anyone else."

The Koga clan, practically blind to race and color, actually took in many half-youkai children who had been abandoned by their own tribes and cast away by their mothers or fathers. Ayame was one of them. The circumstances behind her birth were particularly grim and previously thought impossible...a spawn between a hone-onna who maintained her human form long enough for a human male to actually impregnate her before she sucked the life out of him, leaving him as nothing more than a pile of brittle bones and dry ashes. She abandoned Ayame in the woods shortly after she was born and a group of Koga scouts found her, thinking she was a human child until they brought her back to the village. But Masato didn't care what she was and while some others feared her, he still loved her like no other to this day.

Masato, between bites, watched Gilly eat and saw she loved her food. That put a smile on his face and he was glad his owner was enjoying herself before a waitress instead of the previous waiter arrived with their apple strudel and Gilly's schlagober, setting their orders in front of them and politely asking Gilly if they needed anything else. Gilly seemed to be in her own happy little world with her food like a skilled machinist trying to reverse-engineer a fantastic new machine she found. Masato merely waited for Gilly to answer the waitress while he smiled at her with his eyes closed and his tail swishing behind him.

Masato, with his eyes closed and smiling, nodded silently at the waitress while swishing his tail happily. He was quite full, though he wasn't sure if Gilly was yet. Gilly, while smaller than your average human male, could easily put a man to shame in terms of her appetite and capacity for food. He also noticed it was already afternoon and most of the students and other customers were leaving to go back to their work stations and clubs while the Yggdrasil staff thanked them for coming.

A thick steak with gravy and a serving of apple strudel...more than your average fox ate in one sitting. Masato waited to see if Gilly wanted anything else on top of what she just had.

Masato smiled as the waitress petted him and watched Gilly finish the rest of her order and pay the bill. "Anytime you're ready," Masato responded to Gilly as she got up to leave and he hopped off his chair after her, following right next to her. "There are two more days left on their fall promo and if you like, we could come to eat here again tomorrow."

Masato was glad Gilly enjoyed herself and it pleased him to see his new owner happy. However, if he remembered correctly, classes were now finished and Gilly like many other students could be heading to their respective clubs and extra-curricular activities. The Mahora university baseball team walked past them in a line, joking and laughing at each other as they finished eating and left for practice. That got Masato to wondering. "Hey, Gilly-san. Which club are you part of?" he asked curiously while padding lightly over the stone tiles beneath them.

He had never been part of a school club before or even been to a club meeting while growing up, unless you'd consider a ninja team a "club" or the rigorous and often brutal training sessions under Murata-sensei at his village club meetings. However, he figured Mahora's clubs and their activities were a lot more tame, but no less interesting.

"Three clubs at the same time? Wow. You sure have a lot on your plate," Masato paused as he saw a small group of people coming their way, but spoke again as soon as they were out of earshot. "I could easily see why you joined the Cooking Club and the Library Exploration Club sounds quite interesting...but the Art Club?"

Gilly answered his question and clarified right off the bat. Now Masato understood, especially with regards to the demon problem in the lower reaches of the library. "You could say the same about the war between the Koga and the Iga, but think...what would happen if my side stopped fighting? What would happen if people like you, your grandfather, and Ian stopped fighting? To me, the consequences of either would be unthinkable," Masato spoke as he walked next to Gilly, looking around and listening to make sure there was no one around while he did.

"Every war has to end. The winter at Stalingrad must have felt like forever to the Soviets defending the city, but they broke the Nazis' backs and sent them running once spring came. The siege of Leningrad lasted much longer, but the brave defenders never wavered or broke in their resolve and the outcome was the same. They knew what was at stake. The demons you, Ian, Zoreken, and many others fight against fight for selfish pride, personal gain, and to bring humankind under the iron hand of slavery...we fight for our friends, our homes, our freedom, and families. So long as we're not the 'Nazis' in this conflict, we will continue winning. Blood will be shed, sacrifices will be made....but it will all be worth it in the end. Some things, no matter how long or costly, are just worth fighting for," Masato spoke like someone who had seen such things first hand. And he did.

Masato's father died to give him and the other people of his village a chance to see tomorrow and Masato himself shed much blood to do the same. It was when they became the "Nazis" in the war against the Iga that he tried stopping them and was branded as a traitor by those too blind to see what they had become. It was hard to be a good soldier in a rotten war. However, since he became Gilly's pet and magical familiar, he had a new war and a just cause to fight for.