Dear author, I am here to gush.
I enjoyed reading this story. The descriptions were really vivid and the pace so good, it felt as if I were reading the script of an episode. A filler episode to be exact. Hopefully you will not be afronted by the comparison... I love filler episodes. And I liked it so well that Sano's issue with the colour pink did not bother me at all (I am one of those who do not see what the fuss is about with Kenshin's pink clothes). Is that constructive criticism? Probably not, being about personal opinions and not writing skills... Oh dear, will this come across as passive-aggressive or something? Maybe I should stop writing now.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is thank you for this story, for all your stories, and for sharing them with us.

I loved this story so much! I loved Tae here, and Kenshin, and oh, sweet Tsubame! This was funny and enjoyable.

That's one hell of a tab. I wonder when they restaurant owners are finally going to let him eat without nagging him to pay.

brittney

Oh man, this story was great! I esspecially loved that curveball (your words) with Kenshin at the end, (Well, there goes THAT bottle of sake) and "Afterwards" part was good as well. Incidentally, I am planning on writing a story called "Drinking Buddies" as well (and it will include everyone's favorite Hermit swordsman mink who love sake). It will have other characters for other anime who are known drinkers, and I had the idea well before I heard about yours, so don't sue me for plagurism when I post it.

Oh wow, this chapter was Evil! It is clearly the best chapter of the entire story. (and for your sake, let's say Tae didn't even know "Fugita Goro" was home at the time)

"Much like the legendary Hitokiri Battousai is to swordsmen the country over, the Zanza was to restaurant owners..." Brilliant. I look forward to reading more of this.

Ha ha! That was fantastic. If I wasn't laughing my head off like an idiot then I was smirking like Saito at his best.

Nice job and very well written. You had some awesome one liners.

I LOVE the ending.

(laughing) PERFECT epilogue, I loved it!

Haha, “It's a shade of pink, I'll give it that."

ROFL at Kenshin's role in the whole business.

Lol, “Damn! I don't suppose you can see a short guy with red hair?”

ROFL, “He has spurned your love for him.”

Sano straightening out the spikes. SQUEE! Especially when it's Tsubame who does it for him.

Geez, that Tsubame is a smart cookie.

I was laughing my head off when Sano was trying to eavesdrop on Megumi.

Looks like the next chapter will be good!

Ahahahaha, "Someone might see you walk into my home, and I'd hate to have them get the wrong impression.”

"Oh look at me, I'm going to attack a ship with my sword!"

This Sano/Saitou/Tokio stuff is hilarious! Though I do find it a bit hard to believe that Saitou would let himself get so whipped, but even so it's fun to read.

Lol, I love the fake order.

ROFL, can it possibly get worse for poor Sano?

The encounter with the yakuza was great.

Wow, impressive, Tae! Beating Shishio in sheer villainy. :p

"Divide karmic retribution"?

LOL, "then sorta gravitate towards the largest disturbance he could find, which inevitably had something to do with Kenshin."

I've noticed that this chapter has several typos, mostly homophones that a spellchecker wouldn't catch.

Yes, you are very evil!

I think they're all pretty in character, here, and even in your parodies (small liberties included.) It's hard to find really well-written Sano-s, and I completely felt the "lovable street thug" impression you were making him project. Tae barely has a canonical character, but here, even from the start, she didn't appear vindictive. And I liked her this way: at the end of her tether, not frustrated and angry, but quietly determined.

Yahiko was comic relief, but around Tsubame he took on overwhelming proportions of three-dimensionality. Kaoru was a bit of a weak link in the chain; she didn't have too much pagespace, but whatever she got, she was one-dimensional; enjoyable, but 1-D nonetheless. The same really goes for Kenshin, because even his smugness is attributed to him by Sanosuke, there's not much active/passive anything on Kenshin's part.

Sano is at his best when he's eliciting reactions from people he sees as a threat. From his drinking buddies to Saito (pretty obvious, but much-awaited!), especially the "can sake make you do that?" The reactions of the Akabeko patrons were really well-done and really convincing; I like how managed to balance laugh-aloud humour, tongue-in-cheek asides, and convincing-ism all at once.

Tokio just came off as a Mary Sue in comparison. She had zero depth, and was more like a shelf ornament. It's old hash to see her cow Saito into submission, and in contrast, Saito rallying against her taking sides with Sano was brilliant. "Ship-thingy" made me laugh for ages (yes, I'm easily amused), and the whole no-I'm-the-more-macho conversation was brilliantly played. And I can't wait to try the "It's just a door" comment on somebody! ::rubs hands evilly in anticipation::

Needless to say, the Akabeko cooks were a highlight.

The final lot of customers was sheer genius, tenfold more unexpected than Kenshin, which in retrospect was a little predictable. (I was completely fooled throughout the market scene, though.) The epilogue was more of a real curveball, especially the gold ingot. I really, really liked how you chose to wrap this up. Especially the idea of beginning with a myth and ending with one, and the Yoshiro-Nori dynamic: the most well-built characters in the entire story. I recommend backshelving fanfiction for original fiction. Seriously!

Typo alert: "destract" in Chapter 6