The inns turned out to be separate "branches" on different floors. The higher the floor, the higher the price, since the rooms had a better view. As I had guessed, each of the fruits on a branch were individual rooms. Naturally, there were also fruits of different sizes. My dad booked a suite on a lower floor that had two rooms with an attached kitchen and living room. It was far more lavish than the inn at Nevda Town and I winced as I imagined how expensive it had to be. Surprisingly, my mum didn't say anything though.

We walked along the wide corridor to the door leading to our suite and then had to climb down a short winding staircase to access the room itself. It was roomier than I expected, with large windows showing the outside. I ran to them and looked down, amazed at the view.

"Wow, with such a view, I can't imagine how the higher floors must be like," I remarked. "This is already close to ten floors, maybe?"

"The branches are set further apart than the floors on Earth," explained my mum. "So each floor is about twice the height at least."

"Cool. What's the name of this place again?" I asked, turning around to look at my dad.

"Toshi City," he said with a smirk.

Masa and I gave him a blank stare before exchanging glances and shaking our heads. That had to be a pun, right? Toshi sounded like the Japanese word for "city". But City City was a ridiculous name.

"Look at your faces. Just wait till you guys visit Machi Town and Mura Village," snorted my dad.

"Wait, wait, you're being serious? Were the city planners just feeling lazy or something?" I asked. "And I thought you didn't know Japanese?"

"I do know some words," he insisted. "Your granddad was the one who named himself Masamane after all."

Huh…so I guess that was where my otaku inclinations came from. Could that even be hereditary? No, no, I was going off track here. Somehow I kept having more and more questions whenever I spoke with Dad.

Fortunately, my mum interrupted our conversation to remind us of our plans to go shopping and have dinner.

Masa didn't say anything, but he had a slight smile on his face as he played with Tsume. The bird would have to stay in his bag again, but at least we could sneak some vegetables to him. We weren't exactly sure of the chick's sex, but used 'him' for convenience sake. I was expecting the bird to have a distinctive odour since hoatzins were known for that due to their unique digestive systems…ok, to be frank, they stank, but there had been no signs of that so far. Maybe it was due to some fantasy physiology or Tsume was actually just a different type of bird that resembled hoatzins?

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I continued to ponder over those questions as we went to browse the street stalls. The aroma of the food being sold was so appetising that we couldn't resist buying some from the first stall we came across. They were selling some kind of fried noodles wrapped in the large leaves of a cabbage-like vegetable. Unlike the usual noodles we were used to, these ones were thicker than even udon. I tried a mouthful and to my surprise, they were far softer than they looked. It matched well with the crunchy leaf it was wrapped in. The sauce was somehow sweet, savoury and slightly spicy at the same time without feeling too overpowering.

In short, it was delicious, and I wondered whether the sauce was sold somewhere around here. We'd have to keep an eye out for it. The noodles didn't seem to be made from either wheat or rice, and when my mum asked the seller, she was told it was made from corn. Huh. I guess our worlds were more similar than I thought. On the other hand, maybe it just had the same name and was a totally different plant?

I then caught a glimpse of some grilled corn being sold at a neighbouring stall. Well, that answers the question, I guess. Masa secretly passed some of the cabbage leaf to Tsume, and from the sounds he made, he was also enjoying his snack.

We continued buying anything that looked interesting and enjoyed the food as we walked down the street. There were meat skewers, more stalls selling the cabbage-wrapped noodles, some kind of savoury pancakes with various toppings and even what looked suspiciously like onigiri rice balls. Was this place some kind of alternate Japan or something?

The non-food stalls sold clothing and various knick-knacks as well as accessories, although I didn't see any weapons for sale. Come to think of it, we hadn't seen anyone carrying weapons, or even a shield. It hadn't struck me at first, since that was the norm we were used to back on Earth, but this was a fantasy land, wasn't it? Where were all the mercenaries? Surely not all of them had a Void or used elemental magic?

Puzzled, I kept observing the people we passed by and wasn't looking too closely about where I was going. Naturally, I soon bumped into someone. A very large someone. I had to tilt my head way up to see his face. Uh oh, was this going to turn out like some kind of typical encounter with bullies upon entering a new town?

I flinched as I met the eyes of the tall man, but his fierce glare turned to a genuinely concerned expression. "Are you all right, Miss?" he asked in a deep voice. "Sorry for bumping into ya. I guess I wasn't looking where I was going."

"N-no, I was the one w-who stumbled into you," I blurted out, a blush starting on my face. W-why was it turning out to be some kind of otome game scenario instead? Oh crap, Masa was right there staring me, wasn't he? And my parents were totally enjoying my embarrassing moment. Grr.

Forcing my mouth into an awkward smile, I waved at the still-intimidating fellow and moved to the left to get out of his path. Unfortunately, he also stepped in the same direction and we nearly bumped into each other again. Great. Thanks for making things even more awkward, big guy! Can I just dig a hole and hide myself in it right now?!