Oh man, now I have to go dig out my Antique Bakery volumes and read them again! I do kind of vaguely remember Aunt Eiko, and yeah, Tachibana being Yoshizumi's cousin would perfectly explain Y's romance phobia! (Not to mention all the drama with the "demonic gay" baker.) ^_^

And yeah, your version of Mochimune's research makes much more sense--and shows how scarily thorough/obsessive Mochi can be! I can actually see him going to the trouble of tracking down that assistant Shisa-maker in Okinawa.

But sitting down with, say, a mischievous Kenzaki nephew, and then suddenly feeling like he's about to channel Aunt Ine ...

Noooo! Stop creating OCs that I want to write stories for! ~_^ (Doggone it, that nephew probably is going to turn up in the series one of these days...)