The next frigid morning found Eva returning to the brewery at the crack of dawn, a bit of nightly mist still not quite dissipated. She’d had to sit through a few stern words from Touya for not eating the Bento he prepared. But after explaining the whole situation, he just sighed, and in the morning she did find a new one for her in the fridge as he had said.

The day started not quite like the last one, as people went straight to work after getting changed. Eva once again teamed up with Asahi to tend to cooking some rice . As today he had less to explain about how to do things, they soon began to chatter the time away with small talk. Mostly centering about Eva. Where she came from, why she’s in Japan right now, what she finds so interesting about brewing alcohol to study it in college and many similar questions filled their morning.

“So will you join us again for lunch today?” Asahi asked as they began winding down again as the morning made way for noon.

“Well you see.” Eva began, before trailing off for a moment. “I caused some disappointment when not eating the Bento yesterday so..”

“Ah I see.” Asahi said with a few quick nods. “Well there’s some nice spots to enjoy your lunch in the park not far from here.” He continued before launching into a rapid fire set of directions Eva barely kept up with.

Once they had a break, Eva grabbed her lunch after changing, and instead of trying to recall the directions Asahi gave her, she relied on her magical sense of direction to find the park he had mentioned.

The cherry trees around her had already lost some of their leaves, but with the clouds hugging the mountains around her it all added together for a very nice image of autumn. Sitting down on one of the benches scattered around, the Kitsune was quite glad there was no cold wind today, and made a mental note to try and figure out kitsunebi before winter arrived.

Opening the Bento, Eva could understand why Touya had been more than a bit annoyed she hadn’t even opened the one from yesterday. She was greeted by an Onigiri shaped like a fox head with little nori whiskers, eyes and nose resting before a body of a large Korroke[1] and with four paws cut from carrots, with all of it resting on fine strips of nori.

Picking up the Onigiri, Eva took a big bite out of it. Expecting it filled with pickled plums, or maybe some fried fish like the young Tanuki usually prepared them, she was quite surprised by the sweet taste of anko[2]. Putting what was probably meant as a small dessert back down for the moment, she instead picked up the golden brown Korroke and took a bite.

While she enjoyed the taste of potato and meat, she failed to notice Ayami sitting down next to her.

“Enjoying your lunch I see.” She said, causing Eva to choke on her mouth full of food for a moment in surprise. “I came looking for you to talk about this afternoon. I assume correctly that your nose is still as sharp as a foxes, even when you appear human?”

“Ye- Yes.” Eva said between coughs to clear her throat again. “Why, are you asking?”

“Because I will then need you to do something a bit more complex than simple menial labor this afternoon.” Ayami explained before taking a small bento out of her bag. “If you are up for it that is. Usually sake breweries wait for multiple days to make sure the Koji has fully taken hold in the rice.” She began to explain between bites of cold fried tuna. “But with my keen nose and long experience, I found a spot earlier than that where it has taken just enough hold to in the end create the aromas I desire, without also leading to some I personally dislike.”

“And I come in where exactly?” the Kitsune inquired as she moves on to nibbling on her carrots.

“Well, if you can tell that state as well, We’ll be able to check the rice twice as fast.” She explained. “Once you are done with your break, come find me in the back room where the koji infused rice is stored.”

She then got up, still holding her bento in one hand, and slowly left the Kitsune to enjoy her lunch without waiting for a reply.

Once she finished her lunch and had changed into work clothes again, Eva headed where she had been told to go. The elderly cat youkai was already there waiting for her, with a few of the wooden boxes filled with rice set aside with a set of chalks in white and red prepared nearby.

“Now let’s see if you can do what I hoped for.” Ayami says as she indicates the three trays of rice. “Try and tell the difference between these three with just your nose.”

Giving just a silent nod in response before swallowing nervously, Eva stepped closer and closed her eyes. Giving each box a few good sniffs, she did pick up on a slight difference, but as she began to reply, she struggled to fit it into words. Though in the end she settled on, “The one on the right is kinda lacking this earthy nut like smell. The one on the left has it but only a little bit, and the middle one has it the strongest.”

With a smile on her face, Ayami gave a quick nod before turning the boxes around, revealing a red mark on the middle box, and a white one on the one on the left.

“Good, now come help me go through these. The ones with the very faint smell we mark in white, the strong ones in red, and those with none are left unmarked.” She began to explain. “Then in a few hours, everyone who knows the recipe can just grab the right ratio of wwhite and red marked ones to create the final taste we want to create here.”

Nodding as she was handed a piece of red and white chalk each, Eva stepped over to the left side of the room, before she and Ayami began to go through all the rice in here over the next hour or so.