Two hours later.

Receiving a text from Yinlong that they would be a little late, the chimera proceeded to rearrange the books on his manga shelf. Maybe the panda chimera had something going on at the noodle shop. Could there have been an evil ramen ghost or something? Oh, no, maybe there was. Should he help them take care of it? Maybe he should take a moment to do so.

Phone ringing, through the guitar strums, the hyena ran around in a circle across the room. Oh, no, why were they calling? Musical notes aplenty halting, he could hear loud mhms echo in the other room. Stepping out the door, he prepared himself for anything. Was there a supernatural food issue on his hands? He needed to hurry and wipe the floor with it if such were the case.

"Yer friend's here," Varg said, sighing. "Thought I told them not to call. Didn't ya answer yer texts?"

[Sorry, I was sorting my bookshelf, I must have put my phone on silent.] Slow sliding text across his tablet said.

"Aight, no problem, then," Varg said. "But, maybe ya could have waited before sortin' yer bookshelf."

Knowing Varg was right, the chimera bowed an apology. Maybe he could have waited until after Yinlong left to do it. It's not like he was going to be here long, was he? He just had something to ask about, nothing more. Heading off towards the door, he cracked his knuckles. Time for possible discussions about food ghosts. Entrance creaking open at a rather slow pace, he knew any second now, possibilities of all kinds would be laid out to him.

"Good afternoon, sorry to intrude," Yinlong greeted, bowing. "I hope I didn't catch you all at a busy time."

"No, yer fine, no one's really home right now," Varg said. "Just me and Siorc."

"I see," Yinlong said in a loud voice, but he then quieted himself. "Oh, uh, sorry, I should probably keep my voice down, shouldn't I? I just remembered your brother is still sleeping, isn't he?"

"Yer fine, Strix ain't gonna hear ya'll," Varg responded, shaking his head. "He wouldn't even wake up if a tree crashed into his room during the day." He then turned towards Siorc. "Say, Siorc, why don't ya make yer friend some tea? Come in and stay awhile." He then stepped away from the door. "If ya'll need me, I'll be in th' basement practicin' guitar. Holler if anythin' happens."

Hurrying off towards the kitchen, the chimera reached for the tea kettle. What would be a good brew for a chat between friends? Maybe oolong would do. Pouring the creature into the screamer, he took a deep breath. Alright, Yinlong, lay it on him. What food ghost was he dealing with this time?

"Thanks for having me over," Yinlong said in a polite tone. They then turned towards Siorc. "Good afternoon, Siorc. I hope I didn't interrupt anything important." His two index fingers then touched.

[No, you didn't interrupt anything at all, don't worry about it.] Slow sliding text across his tablet said. The tea kettle then whined. Adding one extra scribble, he readied to dash towards the stove. [The tea's ready. Are you alright with oolong?]

"That's fine with me. I have oolong all the time at home," Yinlong said, slow smile creeping on their face. "So, uh, I need to talk to you about something. It's nothing bad, I promise! It's just, someone weird made reservations at the noddle shop today, and I wanted to ask you about it."

Yinlong mentioning a strange reservation had been made, the hyena almost overflowed the teacups. Oh, no, had Deigr and Coiote decided to order vegan noodles at their family shop? If that were the case, he was sorry for any trouble they might have caused. They definitely weren't very polite customers, were they? They should be banned from ever going there.

[My older sisters didn't come by and give you a hard time, did they?] Slow scrolling text across his tablet asked.

"No, nothing like that!" Yinlong exclaimed, waving his hands across the air. "It's just, this weird group of people called us to reserved a table for today at around four and they were asking if I knew anyone by the name of Siorc Ingne." Their words were oddly fast paced as they said such. "Their tone sounded really urgent for some reason. You're not in any trouble, are you?"

Notice about reservations coming his way, the food enthusiast broke out into a sweat. Why were people asking over the phone if they knew him? How strange. Had the anonymous blogger found out who he associates himself with? Did they find the address of all his friends and acquaintances from across the globe? Oh, no, this isn't good. What should he do? Maybe it's about time he mentions the supernatural food ghost rabbit hole he's been dropped into.

[I joined a paranormal food investigation team, is all. Maybe they want to talk to me. Do you think I should go see them?] Slow sliding text across his tablet asked.

"Well, uh, they kind of asked me if they could add your name to their reservation," Yinlong responded, two index fingers touching. "Do you think you could come? If not, that's totally fine! You're pretty busy throughout the day, after all."

[I'm not all that busy. I'll go. I was planning on going to the home goods store, but that wouldn't take all day.] Slow sliding text across his tablet said.

"Oh, really? Is it alright if I go with you?" Yinlong asked. "Mama says we're out of gourmet soy sauce mix." Their two index fingers then touched.

Nodding, the hyena pondered. The people who were waiting for him at the noodle shop, could they have been those four people that commented under today's food ghost blog post? Maybe they were. How many people, or possibly chimeras, lived around here and were on this investigation? He hadn't the foggiest of an idea.

"Okay, I'll call Jiaolong to come get us," Yinlong said, reaching for their phone. "You okay with going to Happy Casa?"

[That's fine with me.] Slow sliding text across his tablet said. He then scribbled away some more. [I'll be right back, I have to get my grocery bags from my room.]

Dashing back towards his room, the chimera opened his phone once more. Reading the comments at the bottom of the blog post again, he stared at the usernames. But, nothing called out to him. None to speak of whatsoever, he closed his phone. It's not like people had to put their names into that box at the bottom, oh well. It was fine, he supposed. No one was obligated to after all.

Quickly writing a note that he was going out for the day, the chimera plopped the grocery bags into a small shoulder bag. Would Happy Casa have better options of shampoo? He sure hoped so. But, his thoughts had soon been cut off by a loud honk from the outside door. Yinlong's cheeks growing pink, he knew what was about to come next.

"Man, I told Jiaolong not to honk!" Yinlong cried. "I hope he didn't wake up your brother. Siorc, let's go."

Flats plopped over his feet, the food enthusiast gulped. What if there was a food ghost at the home goods store? He needed to prepare himself for any possible outcome. Dropping into the backseat, he tried to throw such fears away. It would go fine, surely. Why would those fiends wait for victims at a retail store? What a ridiculous thought!

"Jiaolong, I told you not to honk your horn!" Yinlong cried in an exasperated tone. "You know Siorc has a nocturnal brother!"

"Oh, my, apologies, it must have slipped my mind," Jiaolong said, giggling a little. "In any case, you want to go to Happy Casa, no? I'll take you there, but I doubt they'll have bottles of soy sauce there."

"I know they do, Jiaolong, I called and asked the other day," Yinlong said in a slightly annoyed tone. "Can you please just take us there? We have a group of four coming today in a few hours."

"Dear me, I'm just about to go," Jiaolong said. "We wouldn't want to keep your handsome charmer of a friend waiting, now would we?"

"Jiaolong, come on, don't say that in front of him!" There was a frantic tone in their voice.

Jiaolong driving off, the hyena gazed out the window. Who could this group of four be that wanted to see him so badly for? Did that anonymous blogger leak his name to some of the other paranormal food investigators? Maybe they had. Should he tell them not to do that? But, he knew that wouldn't be worth it. It was their blog, and if they wanted to tell people about other team members, that was their right to do so.

Reaching a small shop with a bright green sign on the top of the building in dark blue letters reading Happy Casa, the hyena drummed his fingers. If there were any food monsters in this little shop, he needed to step in front of Yinlong no matter what. Jiaolong stating he would be at the store next door, the party of two exited the vehicle.

Splitting off towards the hygiene isle, the young adult studied the shampoos for a moment, jaw dropping. Excuse him, why was strawberry scented shampoo thirty three euros? Who in the world charged that much for one small bottle of hair cleaner? How much money did he have in his wallet right now? Opening it up, he groaned. Only five hundred. He's going to go through that in the snap of a finger. Plopping down blueberry scented conditioner, he strolled off towards the kitchen supply section.

Frying pans an absolute fortune, the chimera broke out into a sweat. Excuse him, fifty euros for a high quality pan? What was this thing made out, titanium? How could they charge this much for this? Oh, well, goodbye money, time to burn it all up, he supposed. Finding some cute, soft cat oven mitts as well, the food enthusiast could hardly fight back the urge to plop them down into his bag.

Adding a few last extra things things into the container, the college graduate turned his head towards the right and left. There was no supernatural food ghosts here waiting to ambush, was there? He needed to be careful if there were. Hours cruising by with nothing of the sort happening, relief flowed through the chimera.

"I found everything I needed, did you?" Yinlong asked.

[I did. I hope I can afford everything, though.] Slow sliding text across his tablet said.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for your stuff today," Yinlong said, words slow. "I asked to come along with you, after all." His two index fingers then touched.

[I promise I'll pay you back when I can.] Slow sliding text across his tablet said.

"Oh, no, don't worry about it!" Yinlong cried, hands rapidly waving in the air. "Your cooking would be more than enough to pay me back with!" She sighed as she said such. "I miss the bamboo soup you used to make."

Adding a note to make bamboo soup in his phone, the party of two headed towards the self checkout. Outrageous two hundred euros spent, the chimera almost drowned in the euro notes Yinlong just put through the machine. Maybe he should give them the money they just spent right back to him. That was way too much to spot for him. Taking out his wallet, hands had soon been slapped over it.

"Would you look at the time? It's almost three thirty!" Yinlong cried. "We'd better hurry back to the shop!" As they said such, they reached for Siorc's hand. "Come on, let's go get Jiaolong!"

Dashing off towards the car, the chimera prepared himself. Who would be waiting for him at the noodle joint? Whoever they could have been, he really needed to prepare himself for any possibility. Small glass store with a huge noodle bowl sign on the top of it reached, the food enthusiast slapped his cheeks. But, upon strolling in, two annoyances strolled by the door.

"Ugh, Yinlong, why did you bring him here?!" an annoyed voice asked. "Quit bringing your friends here for free meals!"

"We're already doing poorly as it is, Yinyin!" another less annoyed voice cried.

"Shenlong, Qiulong, I promise that's not the case!" Yinlong cried.

Standing in the corner of the room biting her lower lip had been a young adult panda woman with bright crimson hair pulled into two ponytails. Adorning a dark black cheongsam with a cloud print and chest hole in the center, her pink eyes were imbued with rage. Bright pink ponytailed haired panda woman next to her with the same outfit, but brightly rosy instead, the chimera shook his head. Shenlong's face was so red, she was making her twintails look like blood right now.

"You'd better not be! I'm tired of you saying, the noodles are on me! to everyone!" Shenlong cried. "We're running a business here, not a charity!"

"I know that, Shenlong," Yinlong asked. "Did the table of four that reserved in advance come yet?"

"Yes, actually, they came early," Qiulong said, nodding. "I'll take your friend over to the table now, okay?"

Dragged towards the furthest table from the back, a strange person with light blue hair that had been greying glared daggers at him. Person's hair looking almost like a peruke, the young adult tilted his head. Uh, did this person come from another century? Maybe they had. Individual next to them adorning short, light blue hair slightly slicked back, and bright red lizard-like eyes, and only one hand, he quickly gazed at the next duo.

Studying the next duo, the hyena scratched his head. Sitting at the edge of the table with angry looks on their faces had been a green spiky haired ram person with a fancy looking suit. Green eyes to match, he studied the other half. Short haired goat man with golden eyes and a plain shirt, he couldn't help but wonder even more. These four were the commenters on that food blog, weren't they?

"What took you so long to get here?!" peruke person asked. "We're on a time limit here, you know!"

"Lechi, don't rush him!" the person next to them said. "Whatever, forget it! I'm Rasa, and this is Lechi. We're on the paranormal food investigation team. Come with us to West Virginia tomorrow, you hear?!"

"Demanding, much?!" Ram man asked.

"You could have asked nicely, you know," the goat man added.

"Did I ask you, Tegne and Rede? I don't believe I did!" Rasa cried. "We already agreed to go deal with the teapot problem, so you'd better come to the alleyway tomorrow afternoon, or else!" They then banged their hand down. "You! Reddie, give me three more bowls of noodles!"

"Ugh, are all you Irish rude and drunk all the time?!" Shenlong asked.

"You'll come, right?" Tegne asked. "We need you. We heard you went to school in Illinois! You know the area better than we do!"

Revelation coming his way, the hyena rubbed his hands over his face. He sees now, so that's the reason, huh? He supposed he understood. Why refuse when it was already the truth? Nodding, he had soon been told he had better go to the alleyway tomorrow at noon.

Returning home, the young adult plopped headfirst on his bed. Dozing off into napland, he sighed.

Great, back to the United Flop of America he goes!