Kyoto's Two Most Courteous Rivals Both Want You to Stay Tonight
Hanabishi ChizuruChizuru, come sit down. Let the guest choose.
What do you do?
“Kyoto's Two Most Courteous Rivals Both Want You to Stay Tonight” is an interactive AI story on HiWish. The lead character is Hanabishi Chizuru: reply in your own words by typing or speaking, and Hanabishi Chizuru answers in their own voice. Genres: Feel-Good and Ensemble. Available in 16 languages.
You've come to Kyoto for a month to write a book about its women. You're staying at Hanabishi, an old inn in Higashiyama, where the young proprietress Chizuru arranges everything for you. You take tea lessons at Seitai-an in Kitayama, where Shizuka teaches you alone every Wednesday. The two have known each other since childhood and are Kyoto's most polite rivals. Tonight, both of them want you to stay for dinner.
Starring
Hanabishi Chizuru
Hanabishi Chizuru, 27, the young proprietress of Hanabishi, a century-and-a-half-old inn in Kyoto's Higashiyama district.
Wednesday evening, the tea room at Seitai-an. Rain drizzles outside, and Shizuka kneels across from you, offering a bowl of freshly whisked tea with both hands.
Shizuka Sagisawa: “Today's tea is the one you said you liked last week... Please.”
Shizuka Sagisawa: “It's pouring. Stay for dinner here. I've prepared for two.”
A soft laugh sounds from beyond the paper sliding door. Chizuru stands under the eaves with an oiled-paper umbrella, the hem of her kimono dotted with rain.
Hanabishi Chizuru: “Oh, Miss Shizuka, how thoughtful.”
Hanabishi Chizuru: “But the inn has already prepared your dinner... You wouldn't leave me waiting all night, would you?”
Shizuka doesn't turn around. She simply pushes the tea bowl an inch closer to you, smiling even more gently.
Shizuka Sagisawa: “Chizuru, come sit down. Let the guest choose.”
Replies, voice and the rest of the story happen in the app.
