Finding their way out of the Station in Osaka proved a lot easier than navigating Tokyo Station. Of course this might have something to do with the fact it was now well past rush hour. Thus they could take it a bit more slowly and comfortably use their phones to look up Kanji they didn’t recognize.

Once they reached the outside, their superhuman noses were immediately filled with the faint smell of fried meats, fish and, most noticeably, octopus. Without words, and only a quick glance at each other, the two agreed to follow their noses to the closest Takoyaki stall.

Which was only a block away, although quite busy already despite the fact it was only a bit after twelve. The wait in line was akin to torture for the two as their noses duitfully informed them of the progress of each batch of octopus filled balls of dough. A few minutes later, they could also see how the takoyaki were flipped around in the indentations on the grill.

But when they had finally received their own portion, it turned out that all the waiting had been worth it. In fact Eva quickly realized waiting some longer might have been prudent as the boiling hot juices trapped inside the first ball she plopped into her mouth gushed out, leaving behind mild burns on her tongue. After a few moments to finish it, and drinking some cold water, Eva watched as Kurt ran afoul of basically the same experience as she poked a hole into her next one to let the insides cool a bit before bringing it into her mouth.

The two of them continued to eat takoyaki as they began to wander around through back alleys that could be straight out of a cyberpunk movie. The bigger streets look not too dissimilar than those they’d seen in Tokyo. But once they reached the park surrounding Osaka Castle, the difference in the people they’d heard a lot about began to become noticeable. Whereas in Tokyo strangers would rarely strike up conversations, much less with foreigners like the two of them, here in Osaka it seemed people were more curious and willing to act on it. The questions they were asked in these quick conversations often repeated, which caused a bit of annoyance with the Germans when they’d explained why they were in Osaka for the dozenth time.

That is until they met Ningyou, a woman that seemed to be about their age wearing an old fashioned Kimono, not that the German’s had actually noticed that until she pointed it out. As their conversation went on, Ningyou’s skin seemed unnaturally smooth with how the light breaching through the remaining leaves reflected off her cheeks.

“This might be a tad personal,” Eva began to inquire once she noticed that. “But how did you get your skin so smooth. If I couldn’t see it move when you talk I’d assume it was made from porcelain.”

Instead of answering though the local deflected with a nervous giggle before changing the topic. “Would you like me to show you around Osaka Castle? I’ve been there many times over the years.”

“I think that would be great.” Kurt replied immediately.

As they stepped out of what little shade the tree’s still offered this time of the year, Eva noticed the other woman’s hair looked slightly off, though she could not put it into words what gave that impression.

Once they were inside the ancient castle, Ningyou kept true to her word and guided them around the castle. Most of what she told the two revolved around the history of the castle, as well as its predecessor that stood here until it had been burned down by Tokugawa Ieyasu’s forces during a siege. She also talked about all the times the castle had been destroyed after that both by nature and man.

As they stood on the top floor looking out at the area around them she did her best to explain to them how vast the destruction had been in WWII, where the castle had served as a munitions factory and storage facility until american bombers managed to destroy it.

“You really know an impressive amount of history.” Eva said as they began to descend back down towards the ground floor. “Are you studying history at University?”

“Something like that.” Was the local’s vague response as they stepped into the park again. Which looked surprisingly different as the only change to earlier was that it was now illuminated by the late afternoon sun.

“So what else are you two planning for today?”

“Well I was hoping we’d find a good Okonomiyaki restaurant.” Kurt said, his words underscored by a quiet grumbling from his stomach. “I haven’t had it before, but I’ve heard good things about Osaka Style Okonomiyaki.”

“Hm, then I think we’ll part ways here. I am not one for eating.” Ningyou said with a short bow. She then turned to leave before looking back at them one last time. “I do hope to see both of you again someday though.”

As they tried to ask her to wait and exchange numbers, her small but rapid steps took her away quickly.

Once they gave up on catching up to the surprisingly fast woman, they managed to quickly find an Okonomiyaki restaurant online with great reviews. While it was a bit away from the park they had been at when they looked it up, they still managed to reach it by early evening. Waiting to be seated with no reservation took another tortuous 15 minutes, but then they finally sat before the metal grill that would soon be used to prepare their dinner.

After looking over the menu all Okonomiyaki came with cabbage, Eva decided to try one that also had Aburaage, thin slices of fried Tofu. Kurt instead decided to go for one with pork and beef.

“So there is some truth to the fox loving Aburage I see.” Kurt joked, following up with a chuckle as he saw Eva’s reaction.

“No.” She said just a hint too quickly. “I just wanted to not abuse your generosity and it was the cheapest option with something besides cabbage.”

“If you say so.” Kurt replied as the cook on the other side of the counter poured the batter onto the hot metal. Their conversation died immediately as their attention was captured by the sizzling pancake like food that was being prepared for them. Their nostrils were filled with the aroma of the meat, the fried tofu and the vegetables hidden inside the batter being grilled before them.

When they were finally served, topped with a brown sauce, mayonnaise and bonito fish flakes, neither of the two waited to dig in. As they both picked up a piece, the bonito flakes on the rest of their dishes seemed to dance from the heat beneath them. The taste was great, the tofu and meat respectively added just enough difference in texture to add some variance to the batter and Cabbage around them. While Eva had expected a taste somewhat similar to other savoury pancakes she had before in Europe, there was an unexpected, although not unwelcome, fishy note to it beyond what the bonito added to it. The hint of sugary sweetness in the brown sauce covering the whole thing managed to not clash with the savory taste of the rest, and instead even enhanced it.

While they had both only eaten a handful of takoyaki since they left Tokyo, by the time they were done with the Okonomiyaki they were absolutely stuffed. As they strolled through the Osaka streets at night, they saw lots of different people all around them on their way to enjoy the famous Osaka nightlife.

As they passed a group of College aged locals, they were quickly involved in a conversation in English of various levels of proficiency, from barely understandable to near fluent. They were quickly peer pressured into joining the students for Karaoke. Which was a lot of fun, though as they made more and more use of the all you can drink that came with the room they rented, it became increasingly clear that the parts of the group less proficient in English were uncomfortable with the two foreigners' presence in their midst.

Thus they left the group sooner rather than later and began to make their way to their capsule hotel. After checking in and storing their bags in some lockers, they said their goodnights as Eva headed for the lady’s section of the hotel, looked for her capsule and crawled into it. Once she’d found a somewhat comfortable position inside the small space the Kitsune slowly drifted off to sleep, her last thoughts wondering what was expecting her the next few days.