>"Meth cookers must have used a Method that wasn't finished, leaving their goods half-baked. Good thing for us that Luna's cooking is reliable."
>"The village headman called meth cooking a 'decadent practice'.", Luna points out. "Doesn't sound like he liked what they were cooking to begin with!"
>"Decadent?", Star looks thoughtful. "How bad can it be? Like fish offal with a side of natto?"
>Luna retches a little, not taking kindly to the mental image Star is providing to her: "Okay, yeah, probably something like that..."
>"I wonder how you win a Taiko contest? You can't feed and groom them, can you?"
>"You can if it's a taiko drum tsukumogami, though!", Star says and giggles.
>Let's have a look at that one, and then the free services story.
>Taiko contest to begin tomorrow evening
>If you've recently travelled the eastern road, you may've noticed that a new structure has appeared by the roadside not too far from the easternmost edge of the village proper. This is the temporary stage for the taiko contest that will be held this evening. Two weeks ago, the Village Taiko Society announced the contest, which aims to provide spectacular taiko performances for visitors, of course, and also to foster friendship between taiko groups. Both humans and youkai are allowed to enter as contestants. While this may sound a little unfair to humans, it should be taken into account that the contest has two kinds of performances that will be judged by five taiko drum masters: group and solo. According to the Village Taiko Society, no taiko groups consisting of youkai have entered the contest, if there ever was any to begin with. Makoto Matsumoto, a member of the taiko group Gensokodo, is confident that his group will attain victory in the group performances, and also believes that humans do have a chance to enjoy success in solo performances, despite the presence of a few very capable youkai:
>"I heard the Horikawa lass is participating. Yes, her patterns are out of this world, but I don't think she can quite match the passionate stage performance of a Gensokodo drummer!"
>Lastly, the reward for the first place for both types of contest is a meager sum of money and a special prize that will be revealed on spot.
>Mahjong parlor offers free services for its customers
>Mahjong parlors have always been the go-to places for those seeking a chance to make a small fortune through this game of skill and moderate amount of luck, and now it appears that they can also be just as good places for getting 'tired and emotional', provided you have enough funds to play. The village's very own mahjong parlor, 'Rain Dragon', recently began to offer free drinks for its customers. Emiko Ichikawa, the current owner of Rain Dragon, explains:
>"Well, you enter the building, and we'll find a table for your and your companions, or alternatively, if you're alone, we'll seat you at any open table. We'll start serving free drinks to the table once you've got a game going."
>In addition to the occasional free service such as this one, Rain Dragon has also arranged events in the past.
>"Might as well admit that we are scraping the bottom of the barrel for clients at this point, eh. Although I would still prefer that the people who just desire to get wasted stick to actual drinking establishments, as the primary purpose of Rain Dragon is to function as a mahjong parlor. Inappropriately behaving individuals will be swiftly ejected from our premises.", Lady Ichikawa tells.
>However, she is not expecting even the premise of free drinks to attract more customers to her business:
>"People just seem to keep thinking that the parlor is a seedy business and a gathering place for criminals. Despite our best efforts to convince them that Rain Dragon is only a place for decent people, I keep hearing this negative stereotype being reinforced in daily conversations while out in the streets of the village. It can't be helped."
>_
