Runaway lunells

Alright, thanks to Shibani's great work, they now had the blessed spring water and Dan would be able to make mochis out of it, just like his master Kashi used to. Let's hope this brings him good luck and gets Murmur to show into his dreams! But... Shibani still felt that we could add something more to make it even more special, so that the chances would be even higher. Even though that would require him to skip nap time, he would do anything to help Dan achieve his goal. And... He could sleep for a whole week on his pillow pile at the back of Dan's mochi shop after the Lunar Year celebrations – Dan could not refuse that to him after all that – so that was only even more reason to help him!

Shibani thought that some black sesame seeds could add a nice taste to the mochi, however none of the stores had any of it left at this time of the year... But! Of course!! Hutch! He uses black sesame to tame the Imps! Perhaps he could lend some to Shibani.

Shibani thus decided to head to the Imporium. As he just barely arrived on site, he heard some noises as if someone, or something, was messing around. He heard some annoyed sounds too. Hutch's voice. Shibani opened the door of the Imporium and saw Imps wandering here and there, pushing items from the tables and shelves, playing like crazy little kids after an overdose of sugar. Hutch was overwhelmed and that was such a rare thing to see. Shibani did not know hot to react. When he saw the Imps he first thought were going awary, that was nothing compared to what he saw next. Hutch was being fooled around by a bunch lunells. Some would bother him while others would take advantage of that to try to escape. Hutch managed to grab one but Shibani made the mistake to lie down too much on the entrance door and it made a terribly slow creaking sound that did not go unnoticed. First, the scare of it made Hutch let go of the lunell that he had finally grabbed, in an exasperate, desperate sigh. Sigh which quickly turned into terror as he realised that the lunells realised that the door to an easy freedom had been opened! Hutch desperately screamed at Shibani to close the door but the un-expectancy of being screamed at froze him where he stood, shocked, before he got his motion back and finally closed the door, but... Too late... Three lunells had already made it out. Hutch was so exasperated!! He had tried so hard all day to keep them inside, to get them back in their cages, and now three were out... How was he gonna do... He was so overwhelmed but still, he stood up straight and took a minute to ask the reason of Shibani's presence – and cause for the running away of 3 lunells – here. Shibani, feeling very embarrassed and not knowing where to put himself, quickly explained that he wanted black sesame seeds for Dan's mochis to give them a little something special, but that only Hutch had some at this time of the year. Hutch, exasperated but not unkind, agreed to give Shibani some sesame seeds if he could help him deal with the lunells, especially the three who got out.

Shibani agreed gratefully, and the two started packing up nets, leashes and cages as they headed outside, making sure the inside lunells were secure enough first.

Where were those lunells... It was so dark it was hard to see, but thankfully Hutch had these amazing flashlights that would beep at the sight of an Imp. And after a few minutes wandering around... There!! In a tree! A lunell!! Shibani called out to Hutch but he was too far on the other side of the garden to hear him. The lunell was so high in the tree, how was he gonna do... He could climb but... He would probably just fall back down on his butt before he could grab even an inch of the lunell. Think Shibani, think... What could you do... How... And then..! A spark!! He thought about earlier, how, when he went back to Dan's dango shop to give him the spring water he took a bit of dango that he thought well deserved in exchange for his service – no, that was not stealing even though Dan had no idea about it. What was even better is that, this wasn't just plain dango but strawberry!! Sure, it would turn the lunell pink but... Then they could just give it back some black sesame dango and it would be all black again, back to its roots! Shibani put the light back on to the lunell, to make sure it was still there. It was about to fly away when it started smelling something that seemed to interest it. Shibani had just taken out a small piece of the dango and was holding it in its hand. The lunell got closer but stop mid-way, being hesitant. "Come on, please... Come on..." ,thought Shibani, "just a bit closer.". As the Imp seemed too hesitant to get close to Shibani's hand, Shibani decided to put the piece of dango into the cage, trying to somehow hide the fact that it was a cage. He never thought it would work but, he had no better idea for now. He hid behind the tree and waited about 20min before the Imp finally made a move. Slowly... Slowly... It was getting closer to the cage. And... Finally!! It went in!! Shibani quickly pulled a thread that he had previously attached to the cage to close the door, and... Here it was! The lunell was captured!! He was so happy he rushed to Hutch to show him his successful hunt, though Hutch got a bit upset at him that he turned the Imp pink!! They were not supposed to eat these colourful, tasteful dangos while on the work of being tamed! But well... He could not get too mad either seeing the happy proud face of Shibani. Hutch himself had captured a lunell too, so just one was left.

They searched for more than an hour for this last one, when they realised that it was perched on top of the Imporium. That was not going to be easy to get it back, but... With lots of efforts and great ideas – and sweat and intense exhaustion at the end of it all – the two managed to lure it and capture it, taking the three runaway lunells back into the Imporium, making sure that there was no more ways for them to escape their cages at least until the end of the Lunar Year celebration, so that they would calm down and be dealt with more easily.