FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Walking around town, it seemed that even this place hasn't changed. There was still the old candy store, the crafts shop, and even the old mini-grocery. Going further, there was a place with red paper lanterns hanging outside, which if I'm right, was Raimon. From what I heard from my parents, the place was originally a bar, but then they expanded their menu so they could have business even at daytime. The menu wasn't anything too special, but the food was good nonetheless. They also had electric grills on the tables for whenever customers would order yakiniku or okonomiyaki. The funny thing about this restaurant was that with all of the beastmen in the village, the owner and the staff were human.

"Welcome!" the Old Man said as I went in.

"Ah, yes. Um, I'm looking for Ooshima."

"Oh. So you must be the guest of honor then. That tiger rented out the whole place for the day."

"Yeah..." I said in a bashful tone. "Wait, rented out?"

"There's no need to get embarrassed! Look, two of your friends are already at the back."

The Old Man led me towards the back and there, I saw two beastmen sitting at a table. One was a purple-haired husky with a lean build, him wearing a black tank-top and jeans. The other was a somewhat thin black cat wearing a white buttoned shirt and grey pants. From the looks of it, I could guess that it was Kouya and Shin.

"Kouya, Shin-kun!" I said. "It's been a while!"

"Yo! Long time no see," Kouya said.

"Yeah. It has been a while," Shin-kun said in his seat. "You could've sent us letters, but I guess something like this is enough to make up for it."

Like always, Shin-kun had a sharp tongue, the cat never holding back any verbal punches. He could've at least eased up on me a little though.

"Wasn't there something else?" the Old Man asked. "You two must've been so excited, sitting there for two hours now."

The three of us fell into an awkward silence as the Old Man left us there. If they were waiting for me that long, then I should at least apologize for making them wait. Before any of us could even speak Tora already arrived at the scene, the tiger puzzled as to why we were so quiet. One thing that I was still wondering about was Tora renting out the whole place. As it turned out, every single one of them pitched in so they could throw the party. The Old Man also said it was requested by the carpenter's son, which I could only guess was Tatsuki, or Tatsu-nii to some of us.

"Well, now I feel a little bad about this." I said. "Sorry for all having you do all of this so sudden, Tora."

"Don't apologize. I'm more than happy to do this," Tora said.

Kouya winked. "That's right. No need to apologize to Tora for anything."

Tora frowned at the husky. "And what do you mean by that?"

Before Kouya could even retort, a brown-haired little wolf wearing a blue hoodie arrived. Judging by the peppy way he greeted all of us, I could safely guess that he was Shun-kun. He was always a hyperactive little fella, never failing to greet us with a smile every time we met. I had a bit of relief though on his arrival for two reasons: one, he managed to stop Kouya and Tora from having an argument, and two, there was finally someone who was smaller than me.

"Hey, Shun-kun!" I said, ruffling the little wolf's messy hair. "Have you been a good boy these past few years?"

"Stop it!" Shun-kun said, laughing and wagging his tail. "Oh! Hiroyuki-san. Do you still play video games?"

"Sure do!" I turned away and mumbled to myself. "Well, that's what I mostly did when I'm bored..."

"Then, would you like to play again like we did back then?"

"You bet! I still have an old score to settle with you."

"Yay! Finally I can play with someone again!"

Shun-kun apparently spent most of his free time playing video games. Not that it was bad, but he should at least also try going out to get some fresh air once in a while. And that was also something I could say to myself when I get back to the city. The little wolf defended himself by saying that Tatsu-nii and Kouya also take him out to play or go somewhere when they were free. Now Tatsu-nii taking him out was one thing, but Kouya? Never thought that the two got so close. Then again, it was a long time since I left.

"Kouya-niisan's so cool!" Shun said. "I wanna be like him!"

Kouya blushed. "Do you even know what you're saying?"

The tiger laughed. "Kouya's such a good big brother right? Kouya-oniichan! Kouya-onii-"

Tora's little skit came to an abrupt stop when someone landed a chop on his head. Turning a little to the left, the arm belonged to a larger, round-figured brown bear wearing a blue jacket with a white shirt underneath, the collar revealing a lighter-shaded patch of fur on the bear's chest. Noticing the familiar scowl on the bear's face, I thought that it was no other than Juuichi-san. And if I was right, the black-haired Labrador with almost-closed eyes wearing a school uniform was Kyouji-san.

"Tora, you're being rude," Juuichi-san said to the tiger.

"Hiroyuki! Long time no see!" Kyouji-san said. "Have you been fine?"

"Juuichi-san, Kyouji-san! Long time no see! I'm doing fine."

Juuichi turned to me "Looks like you are. I had a club meeting today. But I tried to make it here on time."

Ah, some things didn't change huh? Juuichi-san was still doing judo, and Kyouji-san soccer. Not like it was a bad thing. Even if it was under a layer of fat, I could definitely notice Juuichi-san's developed muscles. His large chest was also one dead giveaway, if I could say so myself. In contrast, Kyouji-san's build was leaner, but some musculature could be noticed. Despite the differences, they both looked good enough to make feel a little embarrassed about my - I hate to admit it - pudginess.

Kyouji-san also introduced me to his junior. The guy was a young lion, some inches taller than Shun-kun and wearing a blue shirt with the soccer team's logo on it. Introducing ourselves to each other, the lion's name was Soutarou and he was a high school freshman. He had a bit of an accent on him, but that made him rather adorable. And it seemed like Kyouji-san was saying things about me to him.

"Pleased to meetcha, Nishimura-san!" Soutarou-kun said. "I've heard all sorts of things about you from senpai."

"Nice to meet you too, Soutarou-kun. And I hope those things Kyouji-san said weren't too bad."

My conversation with Soutarou got interrupted when someone came in the restaurant and hollered a greeting. The guy was a stout-looking green dragon with blue hair that resembled spikes, him wearing an unbuttoned worker's jacket. From the way he moved and spoke, not to mention the fact that he towered all of us, there was no mistaking that it was Tatsu-nii. And when I said he was big, he was B-I-G.

"Hiroyuki! You're here!" Tatsu-nii said with a smile. "You don't know how much I missed you! Looks like you haven't even grown a bit. Are you sure you're eating right?"

"Ah, Tatsu-nii! Nice to see you again! And I did grow, you know. It ain't fair coming from you."

"What happened, Tatsu-nii?" Tora asked. "We were already here hours ago."

The dragon bowed his head. "Sorry about that. The old man had me do some extra things for work. He could take it easy on me once in a while, you know?"

When I asked about the job, Tatsu-nii told me that after high school, he went to work with his dad as an apprentice. He could've done it after junior high, but it was his choice to finish high school before doing so. Even as a kid, he had always dreamed of being a craftsman. We recalled the time when we broke our toys and he would try to fix them, provided that we treated him to something after. To those that were beyond fixing, he treated us instead.

"Anyway, eat lots today and don't be picky! Fill up on meat. I'd rather have veggies and fish," Tatsu-nii said, followed by a laugh.

"Like a true Japanese, huh?" I said. "But I really have grown! And no, not just my gut."

Even though I was pudgy and spent my past summers being lazy, I did gain some measure of growth on my muscles from all those part-time jobs I did. Carrying those boxes of new stocks for convenience stores was no joke, especially for the end-of-month deliveries. Oh God, those end-of-month deliveries! I felt my back ache just from remembering it. And I would rather not mention the time I worked for a fishmonger; icy crates, that's all I would say.

My lamentations aside, Tatsu-nii made an excuse for his large belly, saying that it was normal for their species to get larger bellies upon reaching adulthood, the dragon blushing as he defended himself. Tora taunted him and poked his belly, inviting me to do it also. When Tora stopped, Tatsu-nii asked if everyone was all here.

Looking around, it seemed like Kounosuke wasn't here yet. That tanuki always did have a habit of being late since elementary. Every time Botan-sensei would ask him for an excuse, he would always make up a convoluted story which had us laughing like crazy and him getting hit by the teacher.

But what he lacked in punctuality, he made up for craftiness. I recalled a time where we all had our homework submitted and when his wasn't there, he slid it in the stack of papers when the teacher's back was turned. Just as we were talking about him, Kounosuke arrived and came bolting towards us. The tanuki wasn't wearing anything too fancy: just his glasses, a yellow jacket with a white shirt underneath, blue pants, and a camera hanging on his neck. Did he get into photography while I was gone? This should be fun to hear!

"Oh, it seems like everyone's here!" Kounosuke said. "Is that you, Hiroyuki? Long time no see!"

"Hey, Kounosuke! Seems like someone got real fat since I last saw him," I said, sticking my tongue out.

"Heh! I could say the same to you."

"You're lucky we haven't started yet," Tora said. "What's the excuse this time? A karakasa chasing you?"

The tanuki frowned. "No! Geez. You just can't let that go, can you?"

"When Botan-sensei gave you the biggest lump you ever had, how could we?" Tatsu-nii said.

"It won't kill you to try being early for once," Shin-kun said.

The tanuki scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah. I'm working on that. Anyway, Hiroyuki! What's it like in the big city?"

"E-Eh?!"

Kounosuke pulled out a notepad. "You're here, so I can finally get a lot of info. Don't hold back. Tell me everything! Man, I'm so jealous of you right now! What's the news? What's hot and what's not?"

Tatsu-nii patted the tanuki's shoulder. "Come on. I know you're excited, but let the guy relax for now. We can ask all the questions we want later, alright?"

The tanuki excused himself and urged me to answer his questions again later, to which I agreed in exchange for a souvenir. He always lived at his own pace, hence the instances of tardiness. But that was one thing that made him so interesting. One time when all of us were bored to death in the playground, he saw a caterpillar crawling on the ground and decided to follow it. With nothing else to do we decided to see what was up and later on, saw the little crawler make his chrysalis. Not only was it a great sight, but it also gave us an idea of what to write for one of the assigned homework for the following day.

Kyouji-san coughed. "Now that everyone's here, we should get started."

Soutarou smiled. "Finally!"

"Tarou, don't tell me you just came for the food?"

"I didn't mean it that way..."

Pulling a seat, Torahiko had everyone gather around the tables to find their places, him wanting me to sit next to him. Tatsu-nii called for service, ordering meat and drinks which had the rest putting on concerned looks. I questioned the need for alcoholic drinks as most of us weren't even legal age yet, me and Tora being seventeen. Juuichi-san and Kyouji san were older, but from the looks of it, they weren't the type to drink alcohol. Tatsu-nii was the oldest of us so the drinks would probably be just for him. Looking at it, this might be a great opportunity to see how Tatsu-nii was when drunk

Before I could sit, I had to excuse myself first to go to the bathroom. That bus trip was a long one and I forgot to use the one at home. Tora pouted at me because of this, and Juuichi-san suggested to sit next to him, much to the tiger's displeasure. Shin-kun poked fun at me, but I was too much in a hurry to retort.