Purple-Faced Peng

A heavy silence fell over the room as we all stared at the bowl of natto that Peng had just… regurgitated? That sticky, fermented beans sat there like they'd come straight from a convenience store.

Peng tilted its head, staring at the natto. One second passed. Two. Three-

It pecked at a single bean.

The change was instant. Peng's face turned a deep shade of purple, the color spreading from its beak to the top of its head. And then... nothing. It just sat there, purple-faced and unblinking.

"Ugh, Kuroha?" Uncle Huang's voice cracked. "Is your companion going to be alright?"

"I think so?" But my mind was racing. This was exactly how it happened before. Peng somehow producing that daikon keychain. Now a bowl of natto appears, another piece of my past with Inorin.

Could Peng be connected to my Lobak somehow? Uncle Huang had said Lobak comes from what you desire most. And what I wanted more than anything was...

I glanced at the purple-faced penguin. It hadn't moved, but it didn't seem distressed either. Just... purple.

"Peng should be ok," I said, taking my place at the table. No point dwelling on it now.

"Alright then!" Uncle Huang clapped his hands together. "Time to bring in the guest of honor, Kanon!"

Right on cue, the door burst open and in stumbled Kanon, her arms flailing as she tried to keep her balance. A villager guided her forward, barely containing his laughter as she almost tripped over her own feet.

"I can hear you all giggling!" Kanon yanked off her blindfold, her cheek flushed. "And I know exactly what this is for!"

"HAPPY COMING OF AGE!" The room erupted in a chorus of cheers.

I joined in a beat late, my voice cracking. Shit, did that sound too forced? But Kanon just beamed at everyone, even as she waved her hands in protest.

"This is too much! A simple dinner would have been fine, not this whole..." she trailed off as her eyes landed on the flower arrangement in the back. Her mouth dropped open. I had to bite back a smirk watching her face light up like that.

"These flowers..." Kanon walked over, reaching out to touch a particular bloom. "They're absolutely beautiful!"

Gran Gran's voice cut through the appreciative murmurs. "Bah! Where is that sleepyhead Jiko? And Ten? It's not like them to be late."

"Actually..." One of the villagers raised his hand. "I saw Ten heading toward the mountain ruins earlier today. Seemed kind of odd..."

Gran Gran clicked her tongue. "That foolish girl! Running off to the mountain ruins to search for Combers, no doubt. Always trying to make Kanon happy with her favorite flowers. And with all the Rust prowling around there these days..."

Uncle Huang pushed himself up from the table. "Well, I can't do anything about Ten, but I can at least drag Jiko's sorry behind here." He waved off the concerned looks. "Don't wait on us. Foods getting cold! I'm sure those two won't mind if you start without them."

"Uncle Huang is right!" Kanon chimed in, though I caught the slight worry in her voice. "Everyone worked so hard on the food. We shouldn't let them go cold waiting around."

The villagers didn't need to be told twice. A chorus of "Thanks for the food!" rang out before they dove into their meals.

I stared at the steaming bowl of rice in front of me, but my attention kept drifting to that damn bowl of natto. God, I hated natto. The smell, the texture, everything about it was gross. But...

"Fuck it," I muttered, reaching for the natto. Two years without Inorin's cooking, even her punishment meals were sounding good. My fingers were inches from the bowl when-

CRASH!

The wall exploded inward, sending splinters and debris flying every where. Ten's body tumbled through the new hole, coming to rest in a heap on the table.

Chunks of wood and rice rained down. I wiped sticky grains off my face, trying to make sense of what was happening. The hut now looked like someone took a wrecking ball to it.

"Someone help!" Uncle Huang's voice cut through the settling dust. He was hunched over another villager whose leg was pinned under a fallen beam. Blood trickled from a gash on the villager's forehead.

Ten's grunt then drew my attention. She pushed herself up from the destroyed table, blood dripping from... holes? What the actual fuck? Her body was full of punctures, each one oozing red.

Ten, the Heavenly General who had knocked me out with a single hit, was… bleeding? Who could possibly-

Ten's hands shot up, roots erupting from the floor in a twisted wall. Dozens of arrows slammed into the barrier with enough force to shake the hut's remaining walls.

What the actual fuck? Those arrows had appeared out of nowhere. No whistle, no snap of a bowstring. My ears weren't that bad, were they?

I snatched up one of the arrows that landed by my feet. The shaft felt wrong in my hand, like it was made of oil.

These are-

That's when I saw him. Jiko crouched on top of Ten. But this wasn't the bow boy I knew. Black liquid dripped from his old wound, splattering the floor with each step. His eyes, usually warm amber, now burned with darkness.