“OH!” everyone points at them both. The Yokai throws her head back, laughing, as the human-faced dog hands her the shochu bottle with a grandiose gesture. She takes a pull, to the delight of everyone at the table, and hands it back to the dog.

“Ugh!” he says. “That’s it. No more for me. I’m drunk.”

The Yokai fakes a gasp. “Are you bowing out? That’s not like you.”

“You’re nuts, girl. This shochu is hard stuff! I still don’t get how you can keep knocking it back. Tastes like tanuki piss.”

“Hey!” someone shouts from the dais. “If I’d pissed in that bottle, Jinmenken-san, you’d know it!” Everyone laughs.

“Waiter!” the Yokai raises a hand. Something shorter than the table whom Zaniel cannot see comes bobbing through the surrounding crowd. “Got any umeshu? Some of us can’t feel our taste buds anymore.”

“One bottle of umeshu for the honoured guests, coming up!” A pair of gremlin-like fingers rise above the table and snap. In a poof of smoke, a giant cask appears on the table.

The rabbit and mouse dive at it, but the Yokai is faster. She snatches it. “Now, now, children. Behave yourselves. Everyone will get a turn. Tanuki-san, Shika-san, put the shochu down before you spill it, please. You know what happens when you fight over things. Thank you.”

They play another round, counting all the way to a suspenseful “roku” before the Yokai and the old tortoise three seats over shout “nana” at the same time, and in so doing, lose.

“Well, that was interesting,” Zaniel forces a grin. He inches his chair closer to the Yokai. This is his chance. “Um, can we talk somewhere? Just for a minute? There’s something I want to ask you.”

“You sure you don’t want to play?”

“He can’t,” the rabbit insists.

“Takenoko takenoko nyoki ki!” the others sing.

“Ichi!” the Yokai shouts, distracted.

“Ichi!” the deer shouts a second after.

“OH!” Everyone at the table throws up their arms and points at the deer. “You lose!”

Zaniel hears a loud gurgling sound. “Is anyone else hungry?” the Yokai inquires. “Where’s the waiter? Can we get some food?”

“No food!” the animals shout. “We finish the umeshu first!”

“Aw,” the Yokai folds her arms and pouts. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

Zaniel clears his throat. “I was just saying —”

“Ooh,” the deer bats its long eyelashes at him. “Is this a private conversation? Can I join, too?”

“No,” Zaniel says.

“Hey, wait a minute,” the mouse points at the Yokai. “Is it just me, or have you gotten bigger?”

“Maybe,” she replies. “So? What of it? And isn’t everything big to you?”

“Good point. Hmm, too much umeshu, maybe. How about we switch it up?”

The human-faced dog kisses its teeth. “You just don’t want to get the runs, Nezumi-san.”

“Well, yes, that’s true. But come on, who does?”

“Touché.”

“Takenoko takenoko nyoki ki!” the serpent and badger sing.