Mentioned Characters: Momiji, Parsee

In a world of iron and steam, the hashihime, Parsee Mizuhashi, serves in the Night Parade as a youkai shrine maiden. What's the Night Parade? A band of youkai led by the oni. Parsee is one of them, and together, they're making their way toward the promised land.

Momiji Inubashiri is a white wolf tengu who joined up with the Night Parade. She shares the oni's goal of finding the New Land of the Oni. Right now, she's putting her skills as a white wolf tengu to good use, serving as a police officer.

In the Underworld lies a place for spirits to rest. When Momiji's patrol route took her there, she found Parsee watching over it. "Everything quiet down here?" asked Momiji. "Nothing to report. How about you?" replied Parsee. "All clear on my end." Their exchange was brief and devoid of emotion. It's not that they disliked each other. They just kept things strictly professional. And so, their conversations never went beyond routine reports.

After finishing her report, Momiji turned to leave. But after just a few steps, she staggered, hit by a wave of dizziness. Parsee rushed over. "Why don't you take a break?" Momiji didn't think twice and sat down on the spot. Before long, she let out a quiet sigh and started venting. "It comes with the job, sure. But lately, I've been running into trouble non-stop." Parsee listened in silence. As a shrine maiden, she understood that was part of her job.

Parsee listened till the end, then decided to tease Momiji a little. "Being a puppy police officer must be super tough." "Hey, I'm no puppy," Momiji shot back. But she soon realized the tension had slipped from her shoulders. "Thanks for listening. I feel a lot better now." Parsee simply replied that she'd be happy to listen any time Momiji was feeling stressed. Then, Momiji pulled out a small snack from her pocket and offered it to her. "I sometimes eat these during breaks." It was her way of saying thanks. Parsee eyed it suspiciously at first, but took a bite anyway. "Not bad... for a puppy treat." Momiji chuckled at Parsee's teasing as she popped a snack into her own mouth. And so their break continued.