“Good! We have a rare delicacy tonight. We caught it fresh, up in the mountains!” The other women clap. “We were going to eat it ourselves, but … we thought to share with you. To officially welcome you to the fold. We have seen you so many times now, we thought it would be nice to get to know each other … to become friends?”

“Okay. Sure! Nothing wrong with that.”

“In that case, please.” The first woman reaches forth and removes the lid. “Dig in!”

The Yokai looks down, expecting a delicacy. A scream chokes her. Arranged in a ring of green leaves with a carrot flower on its belly is the biggest baby the Yokai has ever seen. It is fast asleep but wheezing, twitching, as if sick. The harsh transition of light makes it squeeze its eyes, then blink and stir.

The second woman sighs. “Uh-oh, now look what you’ve done. You’ve woke it up.”

The first shakes her head. Long wisps of her red hair litter the table. “No, no! This is good! Now it will thrash and scream in her mouth. A much better dining experience.”

“All that chasing after it will be worth it, then. Ooh, tell us how it tastes! Go on, tell us!” The fourth woman’s dress sleeves wriggle as if her arms are boneless. The others follow suit.

Suppressing the icy shudder that runs down her spine, the Yokai clears her throat. “There’s clearly been some kind of miscommunication here. Once again, I find myself having to explain that I don’t eat people. Especially not babies.”

“Oh, come now, you silly thing. You eat everything! What are you waiting for? Don’t you want to be big and strong again? And besides, this isn’t ‘people’! He’s barely a century old.”

“I don’t eat people,” the Yokai snaps.

“Now, now, sister, you must explain it to her,” the third woman raises her sleeves toward the Yokai. “It’s not like it’s a human child! That’s bona fide Konaki Jiji. Aged, but well-preserved. It must be the fresh water up around the lake. Nice and healthy.” The women all nod.

The fourth woman reaches across the table and pokes the baby’s inner thigh. “This one’s good and plump, too! That’s a rarity these days. Go on, better start before it goes back to sleep. Oh! We should ask, do you know how use chopsticks on this one?” They all laugh at an inside joke the Yokai does not understand. “Ah, just teasing! You wear such a … unique disguise. I just had to throw that in there. Now, start with the toes and work your way up. It takes a while for the endorphins to run through the whole body, but you should begin to taste it by the time you reach the thighs.”