Waco Ioka

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, volume 4, sees the opening of Aoi's restaurant, Yūgao. General Manager Akatsuki, whose attitude toward Aoi improved in volume 3, is helping Aoi with getting ready. Two of the waitresses, Oryo, the demoted young proprietress, and Katsuga, are also helping. Even the young manager, Ginji, Aoi's direct boss, is helping. Aoi thanks them with food. The whirwind demons who are security show up to eat some of it.

A future subplot is introduced through mention of the Star Festival two months away. Apparently, it's a big deal at Tenjin-ya. They take part in the big celebration held at the demon's gate. Gintengai is the shopping street between Tenjin-ya with the Rock Door Lodge. That street takes part in the festival as well.

Kijin, the Ōdanna, master of Tenjinya, and Hachiyo of the Northwest, shows up. He still considers Aoi to be his affianced bride. He offers to treat her to some of the local specialties in Gintengai. She's reluctant, but Ginji talks her into it. The Noppera-Bo sisters get Aoi ready for the outing, as usual. The hair ornament they give her this time is an ogre mask.

The first stall we see is sweets stall run by Ishiyo, a bean-washing demon who makes scrumptious hoshigae rice cakes. Next they meet three-eyed Osono and her three-eyed baby. Osono is a tea vendor. Aoi manages to impress Kijin at Osono's shop.
From Osono, Aoi learns that the Gintengai Women's Association is all abuzz with the news that she's marrying the Ōdanna of Tenjin-ya -- and to watch out for jealous girls.

Rokosuke, a long-necked demon from Mizumaki farm (where there fruits and vegetables Aoi uses are grown) mentions sensing their cucumbers' spiritual power coming from Aoi. She wonders about that.

Kijin takes Aoi and Gingi to eat the famous fire chicken tempura. Aoi eats a lot of it. She also learns a little more about how Ginji came to work at Tenjin-ya. Following that, they pray for Aoi's restaurant's success at the Demon's Gate Shrine.

Aoi has prepared a banquet for Lord Matsuba, the Tengu we met in volume one, and other Tengu. Unfortunately, the three Daruma apprentices to Tenjin-ya's head chef are bent on spoiling Aoi's chances for success. She no sooner cleans up their mess than an assassin shows up. A suspicious reader, which I am, will start to wonder if someone is behind all those failures at that cottage and what the motive might be.

Sasuke the Whirlwind demon helps out, but gets wounded. Aoi insists on taking care of the wound. The Gardner/security guard is happy to be rewarded with his first taste of potato salad. (Peewee shows up and is much taken with the fact that Sasuke is green, just as the little kappa is.)

As they converse, Aoi learns that Sasuke, who had lived and worked at Tenjin-ya since birth, used to play pranks with her grandfather.

Sasuke goes to Kijin with the assassin's knife and shows him the warning that was wrapped around it.

The Tengu come for the opening baneut in early May, Lord Matsuba is so taken with the food that he wants to live there with Aoi -- or take her home with him.

Yūgao restaurant's success is not assured. In fact, it's losing money (acts of sabatoge don't help). This leads to Ginji and Aoi being summoned to the front office of the fearsome financial manager, Sir Byakua. Unsurprisingly, while Sir Byakua is busy tearing Ginji and Aoi new ones, we learn he couldn't stand Aoi's grandfather, Shiro. He's more than slightly vexed that Aoi is trying to work off Shiro's debt instead of marrying the boss as she was supposed to.

As the volume ends, Oryo comes to Aoi about a problem customer. Will Aoi's delicious boxed lunch save the day?

I can hardly wait for my budget to allow me to buy volume five!… (meer)

Kakurio Bed and Breakfast for Demons volume 3 opens at the cottage that our heroine, Aoi Tsubaka, hopes to turn into a casual restaurant. After checking on Oryo, still bedridden with the fever she came down with in volume 2, Aoi finds a box.with that lovely cut-glass bowl she was looking at in the last volume. Yes, Kijin bought it for her even though she most ungraciously rejected his offer.

Aoi walks in on a big argument between Akatsuki, the general manager, and his younger sister, Suzuran. The two tsuchigumo (spider demons) are in their spider forms. Suzuran wants to go back to Utsushiyo, the human world, even though Shiro Tsubaka, whom she loved dearly, is dead. Akatsuki is against it.

Aoi asks Kijin about the quarrel. He tells her. About 30 years ago, Akatsuki was trying to help Suzuran who was ill. This was back in Utsushiyo, where they were born. Aoi's grandfather, Shiro, took care of them until he brought them to Kijin and asked the ogre to take care of them. Shiro used to come to the Kakuriyho capital to listen to Suzuran play the shamisen, but he hadn't visited in ten years. Suzuran saved money to buy a pass back to Utsushiyo. She has her pass.

The next morning, Aoi finds Akatsuki outside in his spider form because he lost too much energy in the fight with his sister to take his human form. She takes the humiliated spider demon to the kitchen. Oryo feels well enough to be up and wants something to eat and Aoi decides to make the same thing for Akatsuki. He turns it down even though Oryo tells him that Aoi, as Shiro's granddaughter, cooks food that can restore their spiritual powers.

Aoi brings an ice cream parfait to Suzuran, who tells her more about her and her brother's backstory. It's not a happy one. They are the only survivors of their once happy family. We learn that both Suzuran and Aoi have something they wanted to do for Shiro that was left undone.

Aoi bullies Akatsuki into taking a drink that restores his ability to take human form. He is not grateful. (Unsurprising, given how Shiro was harder on the brother than the sister.) Aoi insists he reconcile with Suzuran before she leaves.

Aoi also talks with Ginji and tells him about the ayakashi who fed her when she was little. She wants to find that ayakashi to give thanks for saving her life. Ginji suggests that she might meet it should she continue working at Tenjin-ya.

Aoi's cooking is already catching on with the staff. The whirlwind security guards show her their human forms for the first time when they smell what she's grilling.

Akatsuki does show up to have Aoi teach him how to make boiled Chinese dumplings the way Shiro did as a gift for his sister. It seems Oryo, Ginji, and the whirlwinds got him to come. During the lesson, Aoi learns more about her grandfather. It seems likely that Shiro taught her how to cook the flavors ayakashi love so she could survive them.

Akatsuki softens just a little toward Aoi, but of course he has to yell at her when he tells her to address him by his name.
(He's left-handed, so Suzuran can tell he made some of the dumplings even though he ordered Aoi not to tell her that.) Suzuran thinks of Aoi as a sister because they were all reared by Shiro.

Ginji and Kijin have a conversation about Aoi. Kijin doesn't want to tell Aoi some truth because it might interfere with their marriage.

Suzuran is ready for her trip, but that jerk fabric demon, Tannnosuke, Lord of the Yahata-ya from the last volume, isn't willing to give her up. I enjoyed his argument with Akatsuki.

Kijin asks Aoi to take the Ox carriage and guide Suzuran to her destination while Akatsuki is busy fighting with the fabric demons. He promises that if she guides Suzuran, she may open her restaurant when she returns..

The fabric demons attack the flying carriage. Tannnosuke sends a long love letter that definitely crosses into stalker territory.
The girls make it to the rock gate. Aoi looks at a signboard that shows which destination is open on which day of the week and realizes there are more places to go than the human world. (Personally, I would skip Hell.)

The girls visit Shiro's grave. Each fulfills that she had left undone for the old scoundrel. Suzuran puts in a good word for Kijin to Aoi.

Aoi has shopped for ingredients she can't get in Kakuriya. On her way to the demon gate she meets Peewee, the smallest of the kappa she used to feed. The other kappa left and didn't take Peewee with them, so Aoi invites him to come with her. Peewee accepts.

Yes, I am still enjoying this manga.… (meer)

Volume 2 of Kakuriyo Bed & Breakfast for Spirits picks up where volume 1 left off. Aoi Tsubaka has made it back to the cottage that where the failed casual restaurant was. She hears a thud. It's a Tengu, a mountain god/spirit, the one who had been fighting with Tenjin-ya's head chef at the end of volume 1. Aoi brings the drunken Tengu into the cottage and feeds him.

The Tengu, Lord Matsuba, loves Aoi's cooking. It reminds him of the dishes his human mother used to make. As it turns out, Aoi's late grandfather, Shiro Tsubaki, once saved Lord Matsuba's life. The retired Tengu gives Aoi the Tengu fan he promised Shiro. He also suggests she come with him to Mount Shumon and marry one of his sons, then he will repay her debt. She turns down his offer, saying she needs to clean up her grandfather's debt. Aoi does accept the fan. (Interestingly, Lord Matsuba tells Aoi that Shiro hated the kind of cooking ayakashi favor. Yet that was the way Shiro taught Aoi to cook. Seems as if Shiro reared Aoi to be Kijin the Ōdanna's bride.)

Lord Matsuba suggests Aoi open a casual restaurant, saying he would be a regular customer. Ginji, the kitsune young manager, agrees. They'll need to get Kijin's permission, though. Kijin orders Aoi to wait in the cottage.

There, Kasuga, the raccoon ayakashi in charge of guests' shoes, plays Miss Exposition, just as she did in the last volume. She warns Aoi that the fact she was able to mend relations with Lord Matsuba will make the management staff even more suspicious of her than they were already.

Kijin takes Aoi for a ride to the capital of Kakuriyo in Tenjin-ya's newest sky-ship/tour boat, the Kaikaku-maru. We get a one-panel view of just how big Tenjin-ya is. During the ride, the three faceless Nappera-bo sisters bath and dress Aoi as they did in the first volume. It is Kijin himself who places the crimson crystal hair ornament he gave Aoi in her hair.

Kijin tells her that the crystal will eventually open up into a Camilla before the petals scatter. Aoi will have to repay Shiro's debt before that happens. Aoi is reminded of 'Beauty and the Beast' -- and she's not pleased.

Aoi is given a demon mask to disguise her humanity from the ayakashi/yokai crowd who would otherwise eat her. Kijin shows her a Yohto cut glass shop and offers to get her something to thank her for her help with Lord Matsuba. Aoi firmly believes that there's no such thing as a free lunch and turns his offer down.

Next, she's taken to The Ogre and the Spiked Club, an exclusive restaurant Kijin likes. Aoi is enjoying the food when a beautiful, popular geisha, Suzuran, comes to play the shamisen for Kijin. Suzuran is the sister of Akatsuki, the general manager at Tenjin-ya. Kijin thinks of her and her brother as if they were his grandchildren. Akatsuki hated Shiro and hates Aoi because she's his granddaughter. Suzuran loved Shiro and is pleased to meet his granddaughter.

Aoi is separated from Kijin after they leave because someone slams into her and knocks out her hair ornament. Other bad things happen that cause Aoi to be unmasked. Good thing Aoi has the Tengu fan with her.

As it turns out, Oryo, the snow woman/yuki-onna who is the young proprietress at Tenjin-Ya, has followed Aoi. She really hates the human. While they're arguing, Suzuran runs past them.

Suzuran has been sold to the young Lord of the Yahata-ya Kimono shop. That fabric demon/itto-momen is a notorious womanizer. His retainers, also fabric demons, are chasing down Suzuran. There's a bit of a battle, but our ladies and Kijin get away.

Oryo is in BIG trouble for playing hooky. That one-eyed demon who is the proprietress reprimands Oryo, as does Kijin.

Aoi is back in the cottage when Kasuga brings a feverish Oryo, some medicine, and a one-volume encyclopedia of Yokai medicine to Aoi. Why? Because Oryo is hated by the other staff. Kind-hearted Aoi cares for the ungrateful Oryo. Still, the yuki-onna unbends enough to tell her sad backstory to Aoi. It does explain why she is so devoted to Kijin.

There's a nice short story at the end where Aoi tells Ginji about the tempari kappa she used to feed back in the human world, especially the smallest, PeeWee.

I enjoyed volume two even more than volume one.… (meer)

Volume One of Kakuriyo, Bed & Breakfast for Spirits sets the stage for the series. Aoi Tsubaki is a college student who had been reared by her feckless, womanizing grandfather, Shiro Tsubaki, who died about a month ago. Shiro was able to see ayakushi (a type of Yokai, or supernatural creatures). He had great spiritual powers (which doesn't mean that he was a saint -- the man fathered children all over Japan). Aoi has inherited them.

Aoi's mother abandoned her at an orphanage because of Aoi's powers. Shiro may not have met the normal standards of a fit person to rear a child, but Aoi loved him. She soon learns that her grandfather did something that will impact her life.

Aoi meets a hungry ayakashi sitting on the steps of a torii. She gives the spirit her lunch. That good deed will lead to Aoi being sent to Kakuriyo, the spirit world. She meets the hungry ayakashi. He is Kijin, also known as 'Ōdanna', a high ranking ogre. Kijin is the master of the Tenjin-ya, a bed and breakfast inn for Spirits. Even with two horns and crimson eyes, he's quite handsome. That doesn't mean that Aoi is thrilled when he tells her she's his bride.

Back when Shiro was a young man, he incurred an enormous debt (roughly one million dollars) at the inn because hewent on a drunken rampage. Given the choice of working off that debt at the inn or being eaten by Kijin, Shiro proposed that his future granddaughter with the strongest spiritual powers would become Kijin's bride. Aoi is the only one of Shiro's granddaughters who can see ayakashi, so she's the only candidate.

Aoi doesn't want to marry an ogre she just met, so she proposes working off the debt herself. Kijin accepts -- if she can get a job at Tenjin-ya. She has to get the job herself.

Most of the inn's staff, especially the general manager, are against the marriage. One of them, Ginji, a nine-tailed fox, shows her kindness. He also explains things to Aoi. Kijin is a Hachiyo, one of the eight ayakashi who manage the eight domains of Kakuriyo that connect to other worlds. Kijin is in charge of the Northeast domain. If Kijin is the senior master of Tenjin-ya. Ginji is the young master. He tells her about the other major positions and what kind of ayakashi fill them.

Aoi starts looking for a job the next day. Not only is the young proprietress unwilling to hire Aoi. she ordered another manager not to hire Aoi. Akatsuki, the general manager, hated Shiro, so he hates Aoi.

Aoi wanders around until she finds an empty shop in the courtyard. She meets Ginji again there. He tells her it was a popular tea-house, but closed after the manager left. Every business started in that building has failed and the staff would get injured. The most recent business was a casual Japanese restaurant, so there's food in the building.

Aoi is hungry and asks if she can cook something for Ginji (and eat some of it herself). He agrees. This is a food-themed manga, so we get to learn how to make the dishes Aoi makes. Good thing she has the power to operate the magical small appliances. Ginji is impressed with her cooking. Seems Shiro taught Aoi to cook the light and sweet flavors that ayakashi like.

Ginji offers to let Aoi sleep in the back room of the failed restaurant. As we learn, Ginji has known Aoi since she was a little girl. Aoi remembers a masked ayakashi who was kind to her when she was a child. Could Ginji be that ayakashi? If he is, he's not telling.

There's a brawl going on inside the main building because a retired Tenju among the Tengu having a banquet got drunk and insulted the head chef's cooking. (The head chef is very good, but refuses to vary the menu. Some guests find the food boring.) That retired Tengu the Hachiyo of the Western fortress. That means he's the same rank as Kijin.

This volume does not end happily, although no one dies. I enjoyed it so much that I've ordered the next three volumes.… (meer)