The story of Gumi and Cici are compiled by 臻宋 on weibo and translated by user emzee#5161 on Discord. Many thanks to both of them.
The beginning[]
December 2005: Little Gumi was brought home by Cici. At that time, there was another cat at home too. His name was Tom. He was Gumi's best friend.
The earthquake[]
Gumi and Cici[]
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Mouse There's nowhere in the world I haven't been! Lemme tell you some gossip about the chef... What? No, it's not because I hate cats! |
| I hear he was abandoned by his master in an earthquake. That's why he's so eccentric! |
May 2008: Due to an earthquake, Gumi and Cici lost contact of each other. (This perhaps was referencing the Sichuan earthquake back in May 2008).
| Chef Gumi Don't bug him, he's gotta hurry back to Planet Mew. He'll find even more friends and cod there. Goodbye, Tom. |
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Tom Bye, everyone! |
As a result of the earthquake (per Animal Restaurant's story), Tom passed away during this incident. In real life however, Tom passed away peacefully.
Impact of the earthquake on other animals[]
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Speckled Pig You know about that earthquake that happened a few years back, right? I have a friend who was trapped in the rubble for days. Miraculously he survived by burning fat, but he ended up as skinny as a rake. |
| He looks much better now that he's lost all the weight. He even got famous! Man, I'm so jealous! But still, there were a lot of animals on the earthquake that weren't so lucky. |
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Paper Bagged Ostrich You know about that earthquake? It scared me to death! |
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Merle Border Collie Yeah, I know about the disaster. |
| Actually, I don't just know about it. I lost my leg in the disaster. I used to have a master too, and I believe he really loved me... but now I'm a stray. | |
| Thanks for the hot pot. It reminds me of when my master was here. I always wish I could go back to those days when he would have fun get-togethers with his friends. |
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Rescue Dog I helped out with the rescue after the earthquake. All of us - both humans and the rescue dogs - gave our all to save more people. I only regret I couldn't save more. |
The start of Animal Restaurant[]
Welcome! How ya doin'?
Want something to eat?
We could use an extra pair of hands for the restaurant's opening. Get him to stay and help!
And so... life working in Gumi's Kitchen began.
Around 2019, Gumi set up Animal Restaurant in the forest successfully and met a bunch of dependable staff. Gumi has since grown up and is now and old cat.
Gumi looking for Cici[]
- Gumi tirelessly draws his memory of Cici on paper often, and distributes these drawings to the restaurant's customers in hope of getting any intel on Cici. The Party Puppy did reply Gumi via post, claiming that the Rescue Dog did recall a girl who looks like Cici. The customer Alpaca also recalls having seen Cici before.
Border Collie[]
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Border Collie Thank you so much. Is there anything I can help you with? |
| Chef Gumi Wait, are you going to the city? You can help me find someone. This is her name. |
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Party Puppy[]
| Chef Gumi I've heard that you have lots of friends. I'd appreciate if you could help me find someone. This is her picture. |
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Party Puppy I'll take it with me and ask my friends. Is this person very important to you? Is she your friend? |
Alpaca[]
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Dori the Promoter Mister Alpaca, you look a lot like the drawing of the animal on this journal page we found. Is this page yours? |
| Alpaca Yes, yes! A girl who traveled to New Zealand on vacation drew it for me. I think it looks just like me! Maybe I accidentally dropped it. |
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- Gumi has a particular affection to instant ramen, and often asks the White-Collar Fox to supply him with instant ramen. This is because Cici's favorite food is instant ramen.
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White-Collar Fox Actually it's pretty dangerous for me to supply you with instant noodles. I've gotta pay attention to the freight train's direction at all times. |
| Buuuut if you pay enough money, I'll keep the goods coming. |
- When the Rescue Dog arrives, he mentions that during the Earthquake, he rescued a girl. The first thing this girl said, upon waking up, is wanting to eat a pack of instant ramen.
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Rescue Dog But there was one little girl I'll never forget. Whem she woke up on the stretcher, the first thing she wanted to eat was instant noodles! There was also a little boy who wanted cola... it's been years. They must be all grown up now. |
- The Reporter, after going to Animal Restaurant, started reporting about the magical place to humans. This also led to more human customers visiting the restaurant.
Gumi and Cici reunion[]
- In 2019, some girl who wasn't too happy with life found out about Animal Restaurant after reading the Reporter's review. This girl is Cici.
- And with that, Cici and Gumi met after 10 years of being apart. Though Gumi is now an old cat, he's glad he finally found Cici before he dies.
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Cici Gu… Gumi? |
| Chef Gumi …M… Master? |
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"Do you know that I've been finding you the whole time?"
"I've spent my entire life time remembering you."
"I have always been waiting for you to appear in my life."
| V · T · E |