“Devil Ape! My brother! People are talking about you!”
He had been working at Anteiku for a few weeks. Whenever he saw a member of the Apes, they all looked very serious and said something similar.
“You guys know how Devil Ape always loves to be the center of attention!” Koma would tilt his head as if to suggest they must be confused about something, but then his friends would say, “Nah, man!”
“Can you believe Devil Ape’s mopping the floors at Anteiku? Don’t make me laugh!”
Everyone else would nod.
“I was ready to knock some heads for spreading that bullshit! But then I went down to Anteiku and saw him doing that shit myself … Our brother should not be sweeping a café floor!”
They could not control their anger. They stamped the ground.
“That bastard Yoshimura, making our brother work like that! He’s got it coming!”
Their anger seemed to have turned on Yoshimura now. But Koma looked at them sharply.
“Hey, don’t talk bad about Yoshimura.”
Koma’s words only ratcheted up the tension. But he was glad to know that his comrades’ feelings for him were still strong.
“But Devil Ape! My brother!”
Koma looked around at his former comrades, who had come here to beg and plead with him to return. After a long pause, he finally spoke.
“Do you guys know what ‘baking soda’ is?”
“Baking … soda?”
They all looked at each other.
“Is that one of those drinks humans like?”
No, that’s just soda. But none of them were going to deliver the punchline. Koma continued.
“I thought so too at first, but actually, it’s something else. It’s a magical powder that gets rid of even the toughest grease stains.”
They started to get excited.
“You mean those really sticky, greasy ones?!”
“Yeah. But that’s not all. It also has a deodorizing effect, and it neutralizes the smell of sweat.”
“Are you sayin’ it fights stains and bad smells too?!”
“Yes, it also eliminates foot smells from your shoes.”
“Even the smell of feet?!”
Several of them held up their feet. They seemed to know something about having smelly feet.
“Devil Ape, is this some kind of miracle drug?”
He looked at his comrades, in shock at all the things that baking soda could do, and he shook his head.
“Now this is the most surprising part. Humans can eat it.”
“They can?!”
“That’s right. There are different kinds of baking soda, and some of them are used in food.”
He explained that it was what made pancakes fluffy, among other things. Ghouls had almost nothing to do with human foods, but everyone was still surprised by all that baking soda could do.
“Yoshimura told me all about it when I was trying to clean the ventilation fan with two feathers. And he originally learned about it from a human. I thought cleaning was a boring, pointless job too, at first. But there’s a surprising amount to it. It’s not as easy as it looks. And,” he added, “I know some of you have been saying how horrible Yoshimura is for making me do the cleaning. But that’s really just a mark of prestige for Anteiku and Yoshimura.”
When Yoshimura had asked him to clean, Koma had freaked out. He thought that Yoshimura was sacrificing him to improve Anteiku’s standing in the 20th Ward.
“It’s true, Devil Ape, our brother. Everyone thinks Yoshimura’s a real bastard …”
“I know. If one of these other Ghouls who only care about looking cool were in my position, there’s no way in hell they’d do it. But I’m not like that. Mr. Yoshimura trusted me with this mission. This kind of dirty work is no big deal.”
His spirit of self-sacrifice was moving. The other Apes were impressed.
“You’re a good guy, my brother! Still out there doing battle, just with stubborn grease stains!”
Tears fell from his comrades’ eyes as they lamented their own lack of maturity and forward thinking. One clapped Koma on the shoulder.
“Does baking soda do anything for ape tears?”
It was a joke meant to make everyone feel better. And it worked; everyone smiled.
“You don’t have an enemy in the world, my brother!”