Chapter Text
“Nani is this?!? Nya-nya-nyaaaa!”
Raku-chan jolted awake after a terribly foul smell assaulted her petite nose. Where am I, nyaaaa? She seemed to be in a wide open field of flowers, bordered by twisting oaks. I don’t recognize any of these plants, desuuuu. As she looked around the grassy field she lay in, she felt the slightest whisper of wildflowers nuzzle her legs.
“Nya-hahaha nya-ha ^o^!!”
“Having fun there, stranger-chan?”
“Nya!”
There! Coming from behind the towering wall of trees that had blocked her vision before, Hitoshi-san stood, smirking sugoilly in front of a donkey-drawn cart. In the cart was…the source of that foul smell, big ol’ lumps hidden beneath a many-stained cloth. What looked like hundreds of flies were buzzing above it. Yuck.
“Hitoshi-san! Watashi is so glad to see you~ desu! Where are we, nya? Why do you smell so bad? Desu!”
“Do you not remember, Raku-chan?”
“¿Qué? Remember what?”
For a second, Hitoshi-san’s brash smile faded. His bronze eyes avoided Raku-chan and his hands turned stiff. Raku-chan… He hesitated before opening his mouth.
“The truth is…”
“The truth is that we do not know how we got here. Nya.”
“Koneko-chan?!?!
Koneko-chan’s calming voice sounded from across the field. She strode towards Raku-chan and Hitoshi-san, her wine red hair fluttering behind her in the wind. Unlike Hitoshi-san, her eyes gazed directly at Raku-chan, resolutely promising her best tomodachi that her words are true. Koneko-chan took Raku-chan’s hand.
“Now that we are together, nya, we should look for the nearest town. We can find out where in Japan we are.”
Hitoshi-san gestured to his cart.
“I don’t think we’re in Ameri…Japan anymore. I found this cart overturned on the side of the road. This kawaii donkey was guarding it. He looked ragged, like he hadn’t been brushed or taken care of at all for a while. Luckily, he warmed up to me after I found some berries to bring him.
“Anyway, when I investigated inside the cart, it seemed to belong to some kind of merchant, but their products seemed very odd…”
By now, Raku-chan was totally absorbed in her new donkey friend. The pair were rolling in the wildflowers together, both with the same expression of pure joy on their faces. Let’s hope donkeys don’t carry rabies.
“What was their cargo Hitoshi-san? And why is the smell of it so unpleasant?
Once again, Hitoshi-san looked away from a neko girl. This time, though, his eyes were squinted rather downcast.
“The cargo was…the meat and bones of a dragon…nya, rawr.”
“......Ah. You are right Hitoshi-san. I do not believe we are near our home. But…where are we, nyaaa?”