The explosion was loud, a sharp bang that echoed through the narrow street and rattled the glass windows of the nearby bakeries. A cloud of bright, shimmering blue smoke filled the air above us, raining down tiny, sparkling particles that vanished before they even touched the cobblestones. I stood there, completely frozen, my neck craned back as I watched the remains of the box disappear into nothingness. My heart was pounding against my ribs from the sudden shock of it all. I looked down at the girl, expecting her to be just as terrified as I was, but her reaction was the exact opposite.
She let out a massive, booming sigh of relief that seemed to deflate her entire body. She wiped a thick layer of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and then immediately began to laugh. It wasn't a normal, quiet laugh; it was a loud, boisterous, and slightly manic sound that filled the morning air. She jumped to her feet with a burst of energy that was almost startling, brushing the dirt off her simple dress with frantic, quick motions. Her eyes were bright and darting around everywhere, and she seemed to have more energy than ten people combined.
"Whoa! That was close! Like, super, super close!" she shouted, waving her arms around in the air. "If that had gone off on the ground, we would both have had blue hair for a month! Or no hair! It's a toss-up, really, depending on the stabilization of the internal glass vials! But hey, you're alive, I'm alive, and the street is mostly still here!"
She suddenly lunged forward, grabbing my hand and shaking it with a grip that was surprisingly strong for someone who looked so small. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, her head tilting from side to side as she inspected me like I was some kind of interesting specimen she had found in the woods.
"I'm Hinashighi!" she announced, her voice full of a chaotic, friendly power. "Hina-shighi! Remember it, because I'm probably the most interesting person you're going to meet today, even in a town full of people who think they can cook! And I am so, so, so sorry for almost blowing you into the next province! It was totally an accident, but accidents are just unplanned experiments, right? Still, you look like you've seen a ghost, or maybe just a very loud box! I have to make it up to you! I absolutely have to!"
I tried to get a word in, to tell her that it was fine and that I was the one who bumped into her, but she didn't give me a single second of silence. She was like a whirlwind of personality, her words coming out in a rapid-fire stream that was hard to follow. She adjusted a pair of thick, round glasses that I hadn't noticed before, pushing them up the bridge of her nose with a quick flick of her finger.
"You look hungry!" Hinashighi continued, not waiting for me to confirm or deny it. "People who get almost exploded are always hungry! It's a scientific fact! Or at least it's my fact! I'm buying! I'm buying everything! This whole day is on me because I dropped my very volatile, very fragile, very expensive project right at your feet! Come on! Don't just stand there like a statue! Statues don't eat, and this town is literally built for eating!"
Before I could protest, she grabbed my sleeve and started dragging me down the street. Her energy was infectious, but also completely exhausting. She was pointing at every shop we passed, giving me a running commentary on the quality of the wood used for the stalls or the chemical reaction of the sugar being heated in the pans. She was a total nerd, rambling about things that I didn't fully understand, but she said them with such enthusiasm that I couldn't help but listen.
"Look at that stand over there!" she yelled, dragging me toward a vendor who was just setting out a tray of golden, fried dough rings. "They use a specific type of oil that has a high boiling point, which makes the outside extra crispy while the inside stays fluffy! It's basic thermodynamics, really, but they call it 'magic'! Can you believe that? Calling physics magic? It's hilarious!"
She bought six of the dough rings before I could even reach for my pouch. She handed me three of them, and they were still so hot they burned my fingers, but the smell was incredible. She shoved a whole one into her mouth, talking even as she chewed, her eyes wide behind her thick glasses.
"So, what's your name? Wait, don't tell me, let me guess!" She squinted at me, tapping her chin with a finger. "You look like a... a Steve? No, too boring. A Maximilian? No, too fancy. You look like a Sogha! Yeah, definitely a Sogha! Am I right? I'm usually right about these things because I observe patterns!"
"Actually, it is Sogha," I managed to say, feeling a bit weirded out that she had guessed it correctly.
"Ha! I knew it!" She did a little victory dance in the middle of the street, spinning around and nearly hitting a man carrying a crate of eggs. "Sogha it is! Well, Sogha, prepare your stomach for the ride of its life! We've got meat pies to conquer, and I know a place that does these steamed buns that are so soft they feel like eating a cloud, but a savory cloud with pork inside! Isn't that a great concept? Savory clouds!"
For the next several hours, Hinashighi took me on a tour of the town that made yesterday's food spree look like a light snack. She was buying as many food as possible for this day, dragging me from one end of the market to the other. She knew every shortcut, every hidden alleyway, and every vendor. She was chaotic, jumping from one topic to another without any warning. One minute she was talking about the density of the noodles in a specific ramen shop, and the next she was complaining about the structural integrity of the town's main bridge.
She was an absolute nerd about everything. When we stopped for some grilled sausages, she started explaining the exact ratio of salt to spice needed to preserve the meat without ruining the texture. When we got some cold fruit drinks, she went on a ten-minute rant about the evaporation rates of different liquids in the morning sun. She was constantly moving, constantly talking, and constantly feeding me.
"You're not eating fast enough, Sogha!" she chirped, handing me a massive stick of candied fruits that were glowing in the sunlight. "The sugar is going to crystallize if you wait too long! Crystallization is the enemy of enjoyment! Did you know that? It changes the mouthfeel entirely! And mouthfeel is 60% of the culinary experience, according to my most recent data sets!"
I was already starting to feel full, but Hinashighi seemed to have a bottomless pit for a stomach. She was eating everything we bought, her energy never dipping for even a second. She told me stories about her "experiments" that usually ended in something catching on fire or turning a strange color. She was clearly brilliant, but she was also completely all over the place. She would stop in the middle of the street to look at a bug, and then immediately start running toward a bakery because she smelled cinnamon.
"Oh! Oh! We have to try the seafood crepes!" she shouted, her glasses sliding down her nose again. "They use a batter that is fermented for exactly twelve hours! Not eleven, not thirteen! Twelve! It creates these tiny air pockets that catch the sauce! It's engineering, Sogha! It's delicious engineering!"
As the day went on, the town became crowded and loud, but Hinashighi didn't seem to notice. she just pushed through the crowds with a big smile, her energetic personality acting like a shield. She bought me a giant bag of spicy crackers, a box of cream puffs, a tray of grilled oysters, and a strange purple drink that fizzed so much it tickled my nose. She was being so nice and so sorry about the box incident that I couldn't even be annoyed by her constant talking.
"I feel bad about the box, really I do," she said, finally slowing down for a moment as we sat on the edge of a stone fountain. She was swinging her legs back and forth, holding a half-eaten skewer of grilled mushrooms. "That was weeks of work. But seeing you enjoy this food makes it worth it! Well, seeing me enjoy this food also makes it worth it! It's a win-win! Or a win-win-win if you count the vendors who are getting all my coins!"
She laughed again, that same wild, loud laugh. She was a total mystery. She dressed like a commoner and acted like a crazy person, but the way she talked about the world was so technical and detailed. She saw things that I didn't see, like the way the steam rose from the pots or the way the stone streets were wearing down in certain spots. She was a nerd in the truest sense of the word, obsessed with the "why" and the "how" of everything around her.
By the time the sun was starting to reach its highest point in the sky, I was leaning against the stone fountain, feeling like I might never need to eat again for the rest of my life. My arms were full of bags that Hinashighi had insisted I take back to my friends at the inn. She was still standing, looking like she was ready to go for another ten rounds. She looked at me, her eyes twinkling behind her glasses, and she finally seemed to calm down just a little bit.
"You're a good listener, Sogha," she said, her voice dropping to a normal volume for the first time all day. "Most people just run away when I start talking about thermodynamics or the molecular structure of gravy. But you stayed! You're a trooper! A hungry, slightly exploded trooper!"
"I didn't really have a choice, did I?" I asked, laughing a bit. "You're pretty hard to say no to, Hinashighi."
"It's a gift!" she chirped, doing a theatrical bow. "Or a curse! My neighbors usually go with curse, but they don't have good taste in food, so their opinions are invalid! Anyway, I should probably go. I have to go find a new box and some more glass vials. And maybe some more volatile liquids. The lab isn't going to blow itself up, you know!"
She started to walk away, waving her hand over her shoulder. Her energetic, chaotic energy followed her like a trail of smoke. I watched her go, thinking about how strange this town was. One day I'm eating burgers with Euphyne, and the next I'm being dragged around by a girl who throws exploding boxes into the sky. It was never a dull moment with this group, even when we were supposed to be on a serious mission.
She stopped suddenly and turned around, walking backward for a few steps. She had a very strange, knowing look on her face, different from the manic energy she had shown all morning. She pushed her glasses up one last time and grinned, a look of pure intelligence shining in her eyes that made me realize there was much more to her than just being a "nerd."
"Oh, and Sogha?" she called out, her voice carrying clearly across the distance. "Don't worry too much about the king. You'll find him when the time is right. Just keep your eyes open and your stomach full! And remember, if you ever need someone to explain the exact resonance of a mana crystal..."
She winked at me, her smile turning into something much more serious and impressive.
"You know I'm a master of mana research."