Feed the Dragon Something New or Be Dinner novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Letter

Kagiro stood in the pantry doorway with a lantern in his hand and flour on the toe of his boot.

He was looking at the flour bin.

"Daigo said the rice had run low," he said slowly. "I came to count the sacks."

"You're a terrible liar."

"I have had little practice at it."

He set the lantern on a shelf, and his eyes came back to her face.

"Whose letter is it?"

Riko sighed and sat back on the barrel.

"My mother's. In Saitama. She runs a ramen counter with six stools."

"She thinks I'm dead or I've left her, and I can't tell which she'd hate more."

"The door opens at the equinox."

"Yes."

"Then you mean to go."

"I don't know," Riko said. "That's the truth. I haven't decided."

He was silent for a long moment.

The lantern light picked out the scale-pattern on his forearms, and the scar through his brow.

"You should go," he said.

She stared at him.

"There are people there who can taste your work," Kagiro said, and his voice was level and awful.

"Your mother. Customers. A world where a cook is thanked for what she makes."

"Kagiro."

"I cannot give you that. I can taste your skin. I cannot taste your cooking, and you are a cook."

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