Nar Yakushi

(https://youtu.be/-5R9CrRkELo) Up before the sun begins to peek over the horizon, Nar prepares himself for another early day at his restaurant. He's as careful as can be when getting ready. He doesn't want to wake Amy, or Kishi up early. Shower, brush teeth, clothing, breakfast. An everyday routine by now. Nar's been working the 4 AM shift for over a year now. After his father was diagnosed over a year ago, he wanted to make sure his son would be able to take on all the duties of the restaurant if he passed away. Nar had desperately hoped it would never come to that, but unfortunately, it did. Now, he wakes up at 3 AM, 5 days a week (only an hour later on Sundays), for his 4am-2PM shifts at his restaurant. Not that he minds. He'd still do this, even if his father were still here.  Try as he might, sometimes Nar isn't as quiet as he wants to be with his morning routine. Around 10 minutes before he needs to leave, Nar hears the babbling voice of Kishi coming from his room upstairs. Going up to investigate, Nar finds the little colt stood at the edge of his crib, shaking the bars in an attempt to get his parents' attention. Putting a finger up to his lips, Nar signals for Kishi to be quiet. "Shhhhh. It's veeeeerrry early, sport. Mama needs her sleep." His voice is soft, and quiet. With Kishi's room being fairly close to the master bedroom, Nar doesn't want to risk waking Amy up. Kishi reaches up towards his father, and is quickly scooped up. As soon as Kishi is in his arms, Nar notices the smell coming off of him. Ah. Time for a diaper change. He places Kishi on the changing table in his room with great care. The little colt kicks his feet for a bit before Nar is able to calm him enough to get to work.  One changed diaper, and a thorough hand washing later, Nar puts Kishi back to bed, and sets out for work.  The early morning air is cool, and refreshing on Nar's skate to work. A crisp, chilly breeze brushes against his fur. In a way, it reminds him of when he used to live in Vanhoover. Though, it's not nearly as cold, and there's not a flake of snow to be seen right now. On top of that, it's going to jump up to about 80 degrees by about 1 PM. So he plans to enjoy this cool, crisp air while he can. Arriving at the restaurant just 3 minutes late, Nar heads inside to begin prep for today. Alone inside the restaurant for 5 hours, Nar prepares all the ingredients that will be needed for today's meals. He takes out the noodles he started yesterday to finish for today before starting another batch for tomorrow. Raw meats are portioned, and prepared to be cooked. The broths for today's soups  are started, and will be ready by the time customers start coming in at 10:30. It's a lot of work for one person, but Nar isn't about to ask any of his staff to wake up at 3 AM to be alone at the store until 9 AM. Most of his employees are young adults in college, or older folks who need their rest. Plus, he gets to listen to whatever he wants while no one else is here. So he can keep listening to his audiobooks while he works. About an hour before the first opener is scheduled to come in, Nar receives a call. It's just a standard business call from one of his suppliers, telling him about a delay with one of the supplies he'd ordered. Annoying, but not too uncommon. They'll be sending him extra when the shipment comes in to compensate. Thankfully, the rapport his dad has built up with the restaurant's suppliers, and business partners has followed Nar. He's had a pretty productive professional relationship with all the companies, and people his restaurant works with, and it's made running the place much smoother for him. After the call, Nar goes to put his phone away. He pauses when he notices that his home screen background has changed. It seems like a drawing he made, but he doesn't remember doing so. The drawing has two crudely drawn faces, with a name under each. Once is of a filly with pastel blue fur, and white hair. Underneath her are the words "COOKIE. DAUGHTER." The second drawing is of a mare with light orange hair, green eyes, and glasses. The text underneath her drawing reads "AUTUMN. GIRLFRIEND." At the bottom of the screen, in big, bold letters is the word "".  Why do those two look oddly familiar? Like... Like he knows them on a personal level? Nar stares down at the drawing. His mind trying to dredge up any memories about these two it can find. At first, all he finds are memories of Amy, and Kishi. Yet, as he begins to really focus on the memories, they begin to distort. Faces blur, and colors change. Entire scenes dredged up from the depths of his mind changing as they surface. Synapses fire rapidly. Kicking his thoughts into overdrive as he tries to piece everything together.  A memory of a hospital room comes to the forefront. Amy lies in the bed, cradling newborn Kishi. Nar is crying, but... They aren't tears of joy. Why would he not be happy about his own son's birth? Amy's face begins to blur. Her colors shifting as though someone were using some sort of color filter on her. Her form begins to shift before him. Slowly, Amy's form becomes a blur of color, and features. Kishi disappears from her arms. Instead, a little pegasus girl clutches to his hand. She seems... concerned. Nar focuses on the woman in the hospital bed once more. Her form beginning to solidify before him. Orange hair, glasses, green eyes, bat wings. There's a cast on her leg.  The memory hits him like a truck. Realization dawns like that of a divine revelation.

Following a filling breakfast, and a little bit of quality time with his son, Kishi, Nar exits his house for his skate to work for the day.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d_gB3HbcGw) The warm, spring sun rests high in the sky, informing Nar that he's at least 4 hours, if not more, late for opening like he's supposed to be. After all, he's the owner of Yakushisoba now, and he has a duty to uphold his late father's legacy of hard work, and dedication! Wait... No... He doesn't own the restaurant. Does he? His father owns it. Right? No. No. His father passed away from cancer a few months ago. Just after Kishi was born.  Nar pauses his skate, and shakes his head vigorously. There are memories jumbled around in his brain, and he's having trouble figuring out which ones are real or not. After a moment, two faces pop into his mind. Before he forgets them, Nar opens up a drawing app on his phone, and quickly (terribly) scribbles two faces down. Under one, he writes the words "Cookie, Daughter." Underneath the other he writes "Autumn, Girlfriend." Below it all, in big strokes he writes "REMEMBER." A voice from nearby breaks Nar's attention away from his phone. "Mornin' Mr. Yakushi!" A young colt calls out atop his bike. Nar smiles, waves, and greets the little colt by name. "Good morning Astro! Enjoying your weekend?" The young colt slows to a stop nearby to continue the conversation. "Yep! Oh! And happy birthday!" Little Astro beams. For some reason, Nar feels like he has some sort of bond with this boy. As if he's done something important for this boy that helped him in a time of great need. What it is, he can't remember though. Nar ruffles the little colt's helmet, then pats him on the back. "Thanks, Astro. Remember to keep your helmet, knee, and elbow pads on when you're biking!" The young colt nods enthusiastically before he begins to bike down the road again. "Will do Mr. Yakushi! Have a good weekend!" On his skate to work, Nar finds himself greeted by almost every face he sees along the way. Young children beg him to join them for games of four square, and tag. A group of high school boys invite him to a pick up game of hockey at the rec center. People his age ask about hanging out after work, and older folks ask about him coming over for a chat, and some tea. All of which, he must politely decline. Seeing as how he's 4 hours late today, he's gotta stay extra late to make up for it!  Arriving at Yakushisoba, Nar takes a moment to say a little prayer before the plaque honoring his father by the front door. Afterwards, he opens the door to head inside. Instantly, Nar is greeted by the voice of his middle sister from behind the counter. "Only 4 hours late!" Asuka shouts. A cheesy grin plastered on her face. "Sorry, sorry!" Nar says, raising his hands in a gesture of placating. "I must have been really tired after last night." At this, Asuka's features soften. "You were here until 2 AM. I don't blame you." Crossing behind the counter, Nar is pulled into a gentle hug by his sister before she releases him to let him get to the kitchen. Right. He almost forgot that Asuka works here now. She quit her EMS job after dad got diagnosed about a year ago so she could take care of him. When dad passed, she needed something to pass the time, so Nar suggested she come on as co-owner of the family restaurant. Ever since then, Nar has run the Back of House operations, while Asuka handles Front of House. Even if Nar is technically the sole proprietor, he still likes for Asuka to have as much say in the restaurant as he does. Though, she does deffer to his superior experience most of the time. Wait. NO!  Asuka doesn't work here! She's still a paramedic! C'mon man! Snap out of it! This isn't right!  Nar chooses to ignore the little voice in the back of his mind screaming at him. Must just still be a little tired.  Entering the kitchen, Nar is greeted with friendly faces, and some teasing banter from his staff about his tardiness. He apologizes, and informs them that he'll be staying to close to make up for it. Well, that doesn't go over well with the day shift manager, Bo. In his creole accent, he outright refuses to allow Nar to stay to close. Telling him that rest is just as important as work, and that he needs to spend time with his family. Nar tries to protest, but the staff all shut him down. He's leaving at 6 today, and there's nothing he can do to make them change their minds.  Throughout the day, Nar works alongside his staff to prepare meals for their customers. Being the only authentic neighpanese restaurant in Ponyville means they can get quite busy! Even with a full kitchen crew, things are still quite hectic! Even so, Nar makes sure every member of his staff, including managers, get 30 minutes for a lunch break. He only begrudgingly when in turn, Bo demands he at least take a 15.  While sitting in the designated employee break area of the dining room, the front door opens, and two familiar faces enter. Nar's face lights up as his wife, and child make their way to his booth to sit with him. "Hey! I wasn't expecting to see you two at work!" Nar's greeting is met with a kiss from Amy, and Kishi reaching out to be held. However, Amy pulls away before Nar can grab hold of his son. "You need to focus on eating, mister. I know you aren't taking a 30." Amy's tone is light, and playful despite the scolding. "Oh, c'mon!" Nar pouts. "You know how quickly I can eat! I can still finish my food after a little bit of hug time!" At this, Amy wags a finger back and forth. "No buts, mister. You need a full belly for the rest of your shift. You can have hug time after you get home."  With that, Amy slides into the booth across from Nar to chat while he finishes his meal. Once his break is over, it's Asuka's turn to meet with Amy, and coo over her nephew.  After a very busy shift, Nar is practically forced to leave by the night shift manager, Stella. She's an older mare, but not by much. Only in her early 60s, but she's been in the restaurant business longer than anyone else here. As sweet as apple pie most of the time, but more than willing to get mean if it's needed. Usually, directed towards rude customers who abuse the staff. Nobody yells at her babies on her watch!  On the skate home, Nar stops by a local bakery to pick up a surprise gift for Amy, and Kishi. Completely unaware of the homemade cake the two made waiting for him when he gets home. The mare behind the counter talks his ear off the whole time. Seemingly overjoyed that he stopped by. Once he arrives home, Nar is greeted by his wife, son, mother, sister, and a few friends for a surprise birthday party! Thankfully, they decide to keep things nice and relaxed. Even so, Nar finds himself nodding off near the end of it. As Nar sits on the couch, desperately fighting off the urge to conk out with Kishi in his lap, Amy and the others all help to clean up before saying their goodbyes. Nar doesn't make it to the last few guests. He, and Kishi both asleep on the couch together by the time Hiari, Asuka, and Juno come by to say goodbye.