Maimai

Should a traveler in Waterfall City ask about Maimai, the answer depends on who they ask. The merchants down by the docks will point to a playful chef in a captain’s hat, whose grilled river-fish is the best on either side of the falls, insisting the ninja mask is just for show. But the children who chase frogs near the pale stone temple have seen that same figure moving along the rooftops at twilight, silent as the mist rising from the water. One old fisher, mending nets near the great fish statue, will swear that captain’s hat belonged to a friend whose ship was lost to the sea generations ago. Maimai just laughs behind their mask, baits their hook, and never offers a straight answer. Is the persona a game, or is the chef the real disguise?