“So, I’m hauling the clay that they used to make the dohyo?” I blink and try to hide my excitement.

  Norimoro nodded his head and took a drink of his sake. “Yes, as long as you can promise you’ll have it there within the month and you won’t lose any of it.”

  The man wore dressier robes than I had seen so far since I had been here. Much more formal than I was used to seeing, and compared to Nakayasu’s plain gray robe with nothing underneath, he looked like royalty. He wore loose gray pants and a black shirt with an outer black robe. There was white trim and a braided rope with a charm that looked like a shrine at the end of it that held his outer robe in place. He had a crest on the shoulders of his robe that looked familiar to me.

  It was almost like a five-pointed star with a thick circle around it. Instead of being actually star shaped, though, it was made of two thick lines that went in the shape of a star. In the middle of the star were small, plain white dots.

  I set down my chopsticks and finished the bite of pork I was eating before I waved my hands and shook my head a little. “Me and Betsy will get the clay there in no time and it’ll be safe and sound.”

  “His ox is a lightning spirit beast,” Nakayasu confirmed with a nod around a mouth full of noodles.

  Norimoro frowned at Nakayasu’s table etiquette, but then looked back at me. “Very well then. For now let’s just eat some dinner and get some rest. I’ll have the people make sure your wagon can carry it and we’ll get you loaded in the morning.”

  I nodded and slurped the rest of my broth, trying not to groan at how good it was. The slightly spicy, fatty, umami bomb it was might have been the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth. I set my bowl down and smiled around the table. Norimoro still looked disapproving, but he didn’t say anything.

  The sumo association official stood and gave a slight bow to the three of us. “I will be off. I have a room at the inn here. Maikeru, I will meet you in the square in the morning?”

  I smiled and nodded, even gave him a thumbs up, which he looked at confused until I answered. “I’ll be there.”

  He smiled and nodded his head and then turned and left through the door Noritame was holding open for him. He slid it shut just after the man left and then came over to the table to clear dishes.

  “He’s a friend of mine. When he said he needed a shipment of the clay but needed it quicker than usual, I thought of you,” Nakayasu looked at me with a grin.

  “I appreciate it. I’m a big fan of sumo, so it’s neat I’ll be transporting the clay they use for the ring. They only use a certain kind of clay, right? Only made from somewhere around here, I’m guessing?”

  Back home, that’s how it worked with Grand Sumo. I wasn’t sure what was so special about the clay they used, but I know they only got it from certain regions in Japan.

  Nakayasu chuckled and nodded his head. “Yes, that is correct. Our village is small, but we are known for our tea and also our clay.”

  I blinked and looked over at Amber with a raised brow. “You were quiet. What does all this have to do with you going with me? I was kind of hoping.. Uh…” I looked over at Nakayasu and he just grinned and gave a knowing wink.

  “Well, hopefully I won’t have an extra seat,” I finished and thought of Niku riding with me.

  Amber frowned and looked between me and Nakayasu.

  The man simply raised a hand to stop her. “Fret not Kohaku. My friend has a separate carriage that brought him here and he’ll be heading back in the morning. You’ll be in that carriage and he’ll take a much more leisurely pace than Maikeru will set, I’m sure. That way, you can explore a little and see if you can find anything interesting.”

  Amber smiled and even clapped a little. “Thank you, that’s good to hear.”

  Me and Nakayasu just sort of shared a look, but I understood her excitement. It’s not like I didn’t nerd out about certain things as well.

  “Oh shoot, I should have angled to try and get front row seats to the tournament since I was bringing the ring,” I frowned.

  “Wait and how much I was going to get paid.” Shit, I was bad at this.

  Amber just gave a little snort and Nakayasu tried to hide a smile while taking a drink of his sake.

  “It’s no matter, you’ll meet with him in the morning. I’m sure you’ll be able to negotiate something very good for yourself since he has the Emperor’s backing, and he wants it quickly. You can demand a little more as a cultivator with a spirit beast driving, I’d think,” Nakayasu said with a confident nod.

  I nodded my head and couldn’t hide my grin. Hopefully, I’d make enough money to pay the Cove Garden Retreat for the wagon they were building for me.

  “Alright then, I have rooms for you and Amber at the inn. The innkeeper is loving all the business they’re getting this week. As for ox, Noritame will get something worked out so she can get taken care of,” Nakayasu instructed everyone.

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  Without a word, I watched Noritame move seamlessly to his new job of ox caretaker and marveled at the man going about whatever task his master gave him. Not even a word or a question and I wondered how much Nakayasu paid him to be such a faithful attendant. I looked back at the old farmer and smiled before I finished up my glass of sake.

  “Excellent, thank you. So, uh, can I ask what this place is?” I looked around the well kept building.

  “It’s my home in town. Sometimes it’s a pain to have guests come to my manor outside of the village since it’s so far. Much easier to make sure they have their own lodgings here in town and can have their own privacy away from me and my attendants. I sometimes stay here if business runs into the night or I have an early morning appointment here,” he explained.

  “Makes sense,” I replied.

  He nodded and stood and walked over to the door. The old man wasn’t shy about taking his time to close up his robe, showing his skin and the loincloth. The hell was it with old guys showing off in the locker room and, well, everywhere else, apparently?

  Amber pretended not to notice and excused herself to the bathroom before the old man stood up. Must have been that she expected what was coming. Ah well, it’s not like Nakayasu was a disgusting guy; he was mostly in shape from his years of working in the fields. If anything, he just had a bit of a dad gut from being older and having taken more of a manager role in his success.

  He walked me over to the door and opened it for me. “Remember, just tell them who you are and they’ll show you to your room. It’s all been taken care of,” he told me.

  I nodded my head and thanked him before leaving the house. I hadn’t even walked five feet till there was a snake hissing and rattling a tail at me. I let out a very manly yell of surprise, definitely not fear, and stepped back towards the door. The snake didn’t move, it just kept its beady little eyes on me and then it stretched out its back like it had a hood.

  “Hey don’t!” Amber shouted from inside and came running out.

  “Wait, no be careful, there’s a cobra or something out here,” I tried to stop her. “.. or a rattlesnake?”

  She ignored me and just ran to the snake, laughing.

  “No, it’s just David Hisselhoff. He’s a hognose snake, definitely none of the ones you’re thinking of. He’s harmless,” she said and lifted the snake up. It slithered around her shoulders and rested a head on her left shoulder to stare at me.

  Nakayasu stepped from the doorway and gave a bit of a chuckle. The farmer crossed his arms against his chest and looked at me.

  “I don’t know about harmless, that thing is a spirit beast probably on a par with your Betsy. Except he’s a creature of illusion,” he said with a shiver, and went back inside after shutting his door.

  I just stared at her and then at the snake. A blink. I gave her a simple “Okie dokie then” and then walked off towards the inn.

  “What, hey… come on. It’s just a snake. Are you scared of them?”

  She came after me and followed me across the village square. I wanted to stop and say goodnight to Betsy, but it seemed like they had gotten her to a barn or something already. I frowned and waved it away. She’d be fine. I trusted Nakayasu and figured he’d know to keep her well. After all, if they didn’t, she’d probably gore them or something. Plus, I was really looking forward to sleeping in an actual bed.

  I reached the inn and opened the door for Amber, who was trailing behind me holding her snake.

  “No, I’m not scared of them. Sorry, I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep much getting here and adjusting to everything and I haven’t had a proper bed in weeks.” I closed my eyes and rubbed the bridge of my nose.

  Amber pulled me away, and the door fell closed.

  “Hey,” I tried to protest, but when I opened my eyes and looked at her, she looked worried.

  “You’ve been here a few weeks?” She asked me, frowning.

  My mind reeled, and I shrugged. “Uh, yeah, about that, I guess. The days start to blend together, doing what I do. I’m not even sure what day of the week it is, to be honest. Friday?”

  Amber clicked her tongue and shook her head. “They have different days here, but you aren’t really wrong. It’s Ryoku, what they call Friday.”

  I nodded my head and shrugged. “Yeah, it was January back home when I got zapped or whatever.”

  “I’ve only been here a couple of days,” she muttered, more to herself than to me.

  I looked her over and put a hand on her shoulder. “No worries. We’re dead anyway, right? Or well, we died I mean. Then whatever happened…” I waved my hands around all mystically.

  She blinked. “I died?”

  “Hey did you meet this skeleton guy in tattered robes?” I looked to the ground in thought. “I went to a rest area one night and I’m not sure if I dreamt it, or… but I think he was a god?”

  I felt Amber move away from me and I looked up to see her leaning against the wall of the inn, trying to stop herself from falling down. I moved over and tried to grab her by the shoulders and told her. “Hey now, it’s alright. We’re here now and we’re alive.” I shrugged.

  “Yeah but…”

  She was on the verge of hyperventilating, and I tried to hold her steady. Her knees must have given out because suddenly she was dead weight. I looked into her brown eyes and grinned. “It’s okay.”

  “But we’re dead? I thought we entered a portal or something,” she said in between heavy breaths.

  The snake was coiling tighter around her shoulders and it stared at me. I think it was narrowing its eyes at me again. It was turning back into the cobra rattlesnake mix I saw earlier and it was hissing at me. It thought I was hurting Amber.

  “Uh, Amber? I’m gonna need you to snap out of it real quick. Your, uh, snake… Harry. Barry?” I couldn’t remember what the hell the snake’s name was again. I was overcome with uh, manly adrenaline and ready to fight.

  I couldn’t put Amber down. I wasn’t sure if she was up to standing on her own two feet yet, and I didn’t want her to fall on the ground like a sack of potatoes. Although, that might be the best way to stop the snake attack that was imminently approaching.

  I let out a very manly yelp just as the snake went out for a strike. Amber could stop it for me, however. She seemed to have snapped out of the daze she was in and grabbed a hold of the snake while she yelled out its name. “DAVID!” The snake seemed to calm itself once more when she grabbed hold of it and yelled its name.

  “Daviiiiid, that’s it. Thanks for stopping it. I would have had to tie it in a knot or something like in the cartoon Robin Hood movie,” I said as she got the snake back under control.

  She snorted, and I narrowed my eyes at her before I asked. “Are you well now?”

  “No, we’re not done with this conversation, but I’m tired. Let’s go inside,” she said and pet her snake David Hisselhoff.

  “If you say so,” I said and let her go. and reopened the door so we could get our rooms and go to bed.

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