Part 2: Cherry Blossom Banquet

Overview

It is the spring of 1814. The restaurant Tsuruka is gaining much popularity after its chef, Mio, won the prestigious cooking competition. One day, the owner of Tsuruka, Taneichi, employed young Fuki to be the attendant for customers' shoes. Mio could fully empathize with young Fuki, who was an orphan and yet was courageous enough to survive on her own. Around the same time, the famous novelist Seiemon started coming to Tsuruka. Even though Seiemon criticized Mio's cooking each time, he always returned to the restaurant daily. Remembering the words spoken by the samurai that had last seen Komatsubara, "Tokei no Ma", Mio was very tempted to ask Seiemon the meaning of the words!