Toki Alley Tales

Toki Alley Tales is a Book Collection found across Inazuma. It can be assembled by finding all the Torn Pages for each volume.
==Gameplay Notes==
* Assembling all the Torn Pages grants the .
==Vol. 1==
Prologue: The Tanuki's Oral History of Inazuma
They say that in the past, before the fragile and short-lived mortals had crossed over the sea to these lands, Inazuma was once a land that belonged to the tanuki.
Lazy and fickle by nature, the tanuki never worried about tomorrow, nor did they carry today's troubles with them through the night. During that period, the land of Inazuma was a cozy paradise for the tanuki and every day was a fun-filled festival.
At least, that's what the tanuki elders say.
Later on, the kitsune arrived by sea, forcing the tanuki into a great war that lasted first for 800 years and then for another 800 years, with both sides suffering heavy casualties, until eventually the only option was to hold peace talks. The tanuki are a stubborn bunch and to this day still don't admit defeat, but the fact remains that they ceded the giant Thunder Sakura to the kitsune.
But the kitsune are a crafty and cunning bunch too, and equally skilled in the art of shape-shifting. It is said that in that great war, as a consequence of the constant switcheroo trickery, many poor souls became completely disoriented and could not for the life of them keep track of who was who — eventually forgetting even who they were, what they were, and which side they were supposed to be on.
Thus were the hapless mortals born. The product of bewildered youkai.
This tale and many others were told to me by the tengu who likes to boast.
==Vol. 2==
Yoichi's Tale
The tengu's name is Yoichi, and she lives in Hanamizaka on a small side street called Toki Alley. She rents a shop there that sells alcohol, and lives a leisurely existence.
I say "leisurely." That's putting it nicely. "Completely and utterly chaotic" would be a more accurate description.
In theory, someone who enjoys alcohol enough to start a business selling it should know a thing or two about it. This applies as much to youkai as to humans.
But to be absolutely blunt, Yoichi has terrible taste in alcohol and has no business sense at all. Worst of all, in all her days in the human realm, she has never ridden herself of her awful tengu habits. Sometimes she will get drunk and stir up trouble among other youkai or kidnap human children and parade around all night at the festival, causing total chaos. Other times, she will barge into a theater, with no regard for the atmosphere, then casually strut on stage and start beating up the lead actor... the list goes on.
If it weren't for her senior status among the youkai and her extensive connections in human society, I suspect Yoichi might have been dealt with by some hero or other at the foot of a mountain long ago.
But the youkai and human folk of Toki Alley see her quite differently. Even the Great GongenIn - beliefs, a is believed to be a manifestation of Buddha as an indigenous kami, appearing to guide people towards salvation. has never given her serious punishment, because she has never caused any major trouble.
Though haughty and slovenly by nature, as a "great youkai, set apart from the common folk" (her own words), Yoichi isn't greatly attached to worldly possessions. Any money she comes into is spent swiftly on alcohol — or else on novels from Yae Publishing House, which she skims through halfway before promptly defenestrating them. As a result, her home is not what you would call "domesticated" — quite the opposite, in fact.
Simply put, she doesn't have any worldly possessions of sentimental value... the sole exception being the golden paper fan she wears on her waist.
The Great Tengu are a race of youkai that travels to many different worlds, and it's not at all uncommon for them to adorn themselves with battle trophies that have an interesting backstory. Such is the case for this paper fan.
On a moonlit night, a drunken Yoichi, her shirt collar wide open, began bragging to me about its story...
She said that in one of the many worlds she had traversed, she took the form of a haughty young male archer, serving under an equally haughty shogun. Under that shogun's command, she, — or rather, "he" — had proudly shot down countless opponents, including big-bellied mortal samurai and crafty tanuki ninjas. Even the jikininki, are flesh-eating demons or oni. Their English name comes from . despite their bulky figures, were no match against a single shot from Yoichi's bow.
"Hahahahaha! You are truly a great soldier! Your vision is keen like lightning, just like the Great Tengu!"
At that age, the conceited shogun tended to laugh in a loud and obnoxious manner, which was most unseemly.
After that, Yoichi made numerous contributions for the shogun, executing many monsters and unfortunate mortals. It goes without saying that she probably made some of the stories up. But what she truly became renowned for was the final battle of that world, a world in which she spent a hundred years.
In that naval battle, the shogun and rebels braved storms to wage bloody warfare between the straits. The monsters numbered at least eight million, maybe eight million more than that, while the mortal samurai must have numbered in the tens of millions. In terms of casualties, the headcount cannot be known, but what is known is that 800 thousand ships sank in the course of the battle. Yoichi reached this staggering tally with my assistance as she was vomiting up a bellyful of wine by the window.
As is typical of so many stories about bitterly fought wars stuck in stalemate, brave heroes from both sides mowed down their enemies like blades of grass, painting the sea blood-red, while the rival generals stubbornly refused to back down, preferring to stay locked in intransigence than to withdraw their troops and head home to get a good night's sleep.
Finally, on one cold moonlit night, a small boat slowly floated out from enemy lines. A lone figure stood on the boat, swaying like a reflection in the water. Beside the figure was a shimmering flagpole with a paper fan at the top. It gave off a golden glow in the moonlight.
"Argh, ARGH... I am furious, furious! This blatant provocation cannot be tolerated!"
The shogun squinted his eyes, saw the golden fan in the distance, and instantly flew into a rage.
Yoichi couldn't understand why the shogun's self-esteem was so fragile, but was too lazy to empathize with the petty mortal sense of dignity. At that moment, she... no, "he," fixed his keen tengu gaze on the floating figure in the boat.
What he saw was a woman, and an altogether different one than Yoichi.
Moments later, a single arrow flew across the moon and tore apart the night sky.Reference to the feat of at .
"Haha, great!"
Soon, the shogun's shouting was drowned out by the cheers of the army.
"If those two old-timers find out what they have lost, they'd probably be so angry they'd rupture their spleens!"
Yoichi let out a conceited and mischievous laugh. She was drunk. The Great Tengu had a certain twinkle in her eye, of the rather repulsive variety, that she made no attempt to cover up.
What had happened was that as the arrow flew through the air, Yoichi had already spread out her giant wings and flown across the strait, snatching the golden paper fan and the bewildered beauty holding onto it as she passed over the boat. She then took the opportunity to push over the insufferably loud-mouthed shogun, and flew away from the battle.
A perfect tengu snatch and grab.
It was just a shame that...
"Well, you know what happened, she was a neko. means "cat." In the Japanese version of this line, Yoichi says , which roughly translates to "Granny Cat," wherein is an informal (and typically derogatory) way of referring to an old woman. She scratched me to pieces..."
Yoichi stuck out her tongue and sighed with exasperation.
"Oh right, it's snapper season! You should take some back with you."
"Hmm? The stingy Great Tengu has a heart?"
"I meant for that woman!"
Seeing the threatening gaze from the greatly tipsy Great Tengu, I hastily gathered the remaining snapper in my arms and left.
==Vol. 3==
Osen's Tale
I left Yoichi's house and followed the winding alley for a while, then turned into a narrow street to arrive at that old lady's home.
When the night is pitch black and the moon has climbed its peak, the neko awaken from their slumber.
It is said that neko who have lived up for hundreds or even thousands of years can easily take on the form of a young woman, tempting people into doing funny and foolish things or chasing innocent travelers out of some sense of spiteful vengeance. But that's just the stuff of mortal imagination.
In fact, the bake-neko only take on the form of young women when they're especially angry. Most of the time, the prefer to take on the form of an older woman, partly because it matches their crafty and cantankerous nature, but also because they can use old age as a disguise, portraying themselves as gentle souls to poor unsuspecting passers-by.
"Hey, that's not free!"
At the sound of the voice, I raised my head to see a young woman sitting on the eaves, as if she'd been there for a while. Her face was obscured by the shadows, and all I could make out was something resembling a smile on her face and golden-green light reflected by her eyes. Moonlight flowed from her semi-exposed shoulders down her dress, trickling through the gaps in the hem of her skirt and outlining her long slender legs with porcelain-white luster. She has absent-mindedly playing with a kendama in her hand.
Yep, the old lady was definitely furious...
"Tut-tut, you're late again tonight."
"Of course, s—sorry."
Mosquitoes kept bumping into the paper lamp, causing it to flicker lethargically in response.
As the moon shone down, a humid wind arose. Before long, it had brought the cicadas' cries to a stop.
With her hair flowing down, the lady turned the spinning wheel with a perverse smile on her face. It was quite terrifying.
Now, despite my being a tanuki on friendly-enough terms with the tengu to sit and drink with them, even I have to be on my very best behavior around the bake-neko. So, I promptly prostrated myself and apologized profusely for my transgression.
"Never mind, never mind. Since the snapper is still fresh, you can get up."
With great difficulty on account of my rotund tanuki form, I resumed a normal seated position. The young woman slowly transformed back into an old woman, who had a kindly but strange smile on her face.
"Thank you, Auntie Sen."
Call me Osen!In the Japanese version, the narrating tanuki calls Osen , wherein again means "old woman." Because it is written with proper kanji, it does not carry a negative connotation like Yoichi's version () did, and the tanuki additionally adds the honorific suffix to further denote its respect. Nonetheless, Sen insists that the tanuki call her , using the polite honorific prefix instead.
I was relived.
But something still felt off.
"Hahahaha, anyway, how's that fool doing these days?"
With a slurp, Osen swallowed one of the fish whole, including the tail.
As for the story of how her fate became intertwined with that of the Great Tengu, the facts can only be described as farcical. We have already heard the ridiculous tales from Yoichi's perspective, but the bake-neko tells a completely different story.
Osen wasn't born in our world, but one where mortals were much more savage.
One night, in a bamboo forest, the young Osen was captured by a wandering monk. After passing through many hands, she was eventually sold to the shogun and became some sort of "Obake-neko."
She has few memories of those days beyond wondering why the high-ranking officials of the mortal world enjoyed annoying her and playing with her. Every day, she was driven to scratch her enemies to pieces, or forced to play boring games which only they seemed to enjoy.
This went on for such a long time that any normal person would have been driven to madness. But youkai live such long lives that they have far more patience than mortals.
Later, when her shogun and the rebels' shogun started fighting, Osen transformed into a ninja.
"This is where the story gets even more boring..."
Osen squinted her eyes as she said this, letting out a huge yawn that stretched from ear to ear.
On the night of that naval battle, the shogun thought of an ingenious scheme...
The shogun ordered Osen to transform into a beautiful young woman and stand on a small boat with a golden fan to humiliate the rebels so that they dare not approach. Even if they did, the bake-neko would teach them a brutal lesson.
But of course, Yoichi was standing amidst the ranks of the rebels...
"But of course, that fool suddenly stood up and starting ranting and raving about shooting down the fan with a single arrow."
Then the Great Tengu...
"... Slipped and fell, landing in the ocean with a great splash."
The old woman's feline face failed to stifle a smile, and erupted into jeering laughter.
"She was so drunk that night that she though the seas were the stormiest she'd ever seen.
In fact, the moon shone calmly and coolly, and there was not a trace of wind."
"But it'd been a few hundred years since I'd seen someone so entertaining. So, to save her the humiliation, I stifled my laughter and took the paper fan down myself... Then, a roar of cheers came from their fleet. Just thinking about it amuses me to this day."
Next, the Great Tengu unfurled her giant wings and leaped into the air, like a cloud covering the moon, and swooped down towards the beautiful woman...
"A flurry of arrows later, and she fell into the sea looking like a hedgehog. I couldn't keep a straight face any longer and started laughing uncontrollably."
Laughing raucously, Osen dragged the ill-fated tengu from the sea, put her in a headlock, and flew over the fleets from both sides, laughing maniacally and causing both generals to lose their tempers.
People says she flew over eight ships in a row,Reference to the feat of at . then disappeared into the night. The feline youkai's laughter could be heard for more than three days after the battle has finished.
"I couldn't stop laughing, so I scratched her as hard as I could... But the sorry state she was in made me laugh even harder, and the harder I scratched, the harder I laughed, hahahahaha..."
The neko transformed into an old lady and laughed uncontrollably.
"Afterwards, she brought me to this world and treated me like I was some kind of trophy!"
The old woman pursed her lips as her face transformed into that of a sulky young woman. But this looked quite comical, because her cheeks were still flushed bright red from having laughed so hard she could barely breathe.
"I am NOT a trophy!"
"Hmm, now that I think about it, that's probably the whole reason why she doesn't dare to visit me herself."
The elderly female with feline features and the face of a young woman sighed gently, then smiled a cunning smile once more.
"You should go. Leave the door open, and come back on the the next full moon."
"Also, don't forget to take this raincoat over to our old friend."
==Vol. 4==
The Tale of Granny Ame
After leaving Osen's house, I turned left, then right along a winding alley to a damp courtyard, and arrived at Granny Ame's home.
In the elegant courtyard, even the cicadas' chirps were silenced. There was only the quiet trickle of water droplets in the suikinkutsu, accompanied by the rhythmic thumps of the shishi-odoshi.
Long ago, in the mountains and forests where youkai could lead carefree lives, the lady who could turn mist into rain was a good friend of the tanuki and kitsune.
Naturally, us youkai are vastly different from mortals. We don't have complicated troubles that plague us, nor do we have things like status or class. But in the mountains shrouded in mist and rain, the soft-spoken Ameonna always managed to gain more respect and adoration.
It was later, when everyone had submitted to the Great Gongen. Good times came for mortals, and youkai either lived in seclusion at various places, or were subjected to destruction and suppression... It was then that Granny Ame moved to Toki Alley. As a token of sympathy, the Kitsune of Grand Narukami Shrine, Lady Guuji, gave her this mansion.
What kind of loss and sorrow led to Lady Guuji takins special care of Granny Ame? I'm really curious.
Stopping briefly in the courtyard, I watched the crescent moon swaying in the pond, as her voice rang gently in the cool night breeze.
"My apologies to have kept you waiting for so long."
When I turned around, I saw Ameonna standing by the door. She was bathed in pale moonlight, her long white dress shone with a dewy sheen, but her young and slender figure exuded a melancholic aura of a bygone era.
So, I looked down and hastily handed over the raincoat that Osen passed to me, not daring to look directly into her pale gray eyes.
It is rumored among mortals that the eyes of the sorrowful Ameonna will take on the marble gray-white hue of a drowning person. Those who dare to look directly into these woeful eyes will be lost forever in the incomprehensible fog of rain.
Of course, that's just a silly legend among mortals, but the basic etiquette like "Don't look into the eyes of the sorrowful Ameonna" is indeed an unwritten rule among youkai.
"Thank you."
Granny Ame's voice was as soft and gentle as ever, like morning dew in the mist.
She didn't invite me in, nor did she share her story.
All I was handed was a wooden box, but that's all I needed to know.
So, while the moon was bright, I quietly left the courtyard.
==Vol. 5==
The Tale of Gonbei
Gonbei is 76 years old and is the only mortal living in Toki Alley.
He was a farmer, a samurai, and a craftsman.
The box in my hand is his handiwork, its smooth black lacquer surface inlaid with an iridescent mother-of-pearl. This was a craft he learned from the fishermen of Watatsumi Island.
"Thank you for your hard work."
The old man in front of me bowed his head deeply.
Although I privately thought that this was the way mortals were supposed to behave towards youkai, I still felt a twinge of pity for his melancholy.
According to Gonbei, contrary to popular legend, he was once close friends with the Ameonna who roamed the mountains and forests.
It's just that, Gonbei, who was a teenager at the time, was trying to bring rain to the drought-stricken fields of his hometown. He thus heeded the village elder's words and went to the mountains to seek help from the Ameonna.
At that time, Granny Ame was no longer young and was keenly aware of the many changes in the world. But the beings of the mountains and forests are always more simple and naïve, compared to mortals.
Hmm, what happened later? The young Gonbei made the unspeakable mistake of deceiving the beings of the mountains and seas. Although to this day, he still insists that his deceit was to save his hometown.
And his village did have a rare harvest year because of the heavy rainfall.
After that, Gonbei, who was deeply ashamed, avoided the mountains far away and came to live in the city for a long time.
"I'm so sorry." The elderly mortal bowed his head, but did not take the wooden box.
I left his house, before the moonlight was shrouded by dark clouds.
==Vol. 6==
Break Time
They say that in the past, before the fragile and short-lived mortals had crossed over the sea to these lands, Inazuma was once a land that belonged to the tanuki. Lazy and fickle by nature, the tanuki never worried about tomorrow, nor did they carry today's troubles with them through the night. During that period, the land of Inazuma was a cozy paradise for the tanuki and every day was a fun-filled festival.
At least, that's what the tanuki elders say.
Later on, the kitsune arrived by sea, forcing the tanuki into a great war that lasted first for 800 years and then for another 800 years, with both sides suffering heavy casualties, until eventually the only option was to hold peace talks. The tanuki are a stubborn bunch and to this day still don't admit defeat, but the fact remains that they ceded the giant Thunder Sakura to the kitsune.
But the kitsune are a crafty and cunning bunch too, and equally skilled in the art of shape-shifting. It is said that in that great war, as a consequence of the constant switcheroo trickery, many poor souls became completely disoriented and could not for the life of them keep track of who was who — eventually forgetting even who they were, what they were, and which side they were supposed to be on.
Thus were the hapless mortals born. The product of bewildered youkai.
I wandered through the winding streets and alleys, while recapping the long-held stories of the tanuki clan. In the end, I didn't find a restaurant that was still open.
I guess this means it's time to go back. With this in mind, I stood up and stretched my back in front of Uncle Kitsune's soba stand.
Just then, a familiar scent came from behind—
==Notes==
==Trivia==
* According to the message left on the Hanamizaka Bulletin Board by Hiratsuka, this copy of Toki Alley Tales is the only extant copy of the book.
==Other Languages==
==Change History==
==Navigation==
de:Geschichten aus der Tokigasse
es:La novela de la Calle del Ibis
fr:Contes de l'Allée Toki
id:Kisah Gang Toki
ja:朱鷺町物語
pt-br:Contos da Rua Toki
ru:Рассказы улицы Токи