With that, he grinned at me and gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up…but he quickly began packing his things, no doubt because of the cold glare Techi fixed on him.
After he’d retrieved all the forks and towels and food containers, he crammed everything into his big shopping bag. He said goodbye to the kids with a brief, cheerful “See ya!” and vanished back into the forest.
Only once he was gone did I realize that I’d completely forgotten to thank him. How rude of me! It gave me a very good reason to visit the shop, though—I made a mental note to do so. I glanced at Techi, who was still coldly staring at the part of the forest that Rei had disappeared into.
“So…Miss Techi,” I said, “you’re a preschool teacher then? I’m a little surprised. I mean, with the kids working and everything, it’s nothing like the kindergarten I went to. Is this the bulk of your job then? To watch over the kids while they work? That’s very different from how I imagined the job.”
She let out a sigh.
“Well,” said Techi, “there are bound to be differences. We don’t have training courses or certifications here, so the work is pretty easygoing. Speaking of work…what about you? You won’t see any money from the harvest until the autumn. That’s a long way off. Will you be able to afford food with no income? It’s all very well to obsess over a new hobby, but aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Ah, yes,” I replied. “I should be able to manage for a year with no income…maybe even two. Actually, I’ve been dreaming of owning my own home for a while now—one with enough room to build a big warehouse alongside it. I wanted to make that happen as soon as possible. So, ever since I started working, most of my paycheck has gone straight into savings. I’ve led a pretty frugal lifestyle.”
Techi sighed once again.
“I guess you’ve got it all figured out, huh?” she said, with a certain resignation, and returned to her earlier posture—elbows on the table and chin resting on her hands.
The children were back at work, reinvigorated by their afternoon snack, a look of happy satiety still visible on their little faces. And so my eyes too were drawn out to the orchard to watch them.
They really were cute as dolls, working away earnestly with their thick and bushy tails twitching and twirling about. I don’t think I’d ever seen anything so charming. It really was too much.
“This is my first time seeing any up close,” I said absentmindedly, “but… beastfolk really are adorable, huh?”
I hadn’t really meant to say it—it’d just sort of slipped out while I was looking out at the children. But hearing my comment, Techi immediately stiffened and turned to look at me. She was frowning again.
“You mean to say,” she began, “that you’ve no aversion toward us beastfolk? No feelings of disgust or unease?”
I met her eyes and looked at her a while, carefully taking in her bitter glare. I shook my head from side to side.
“I can’t say that I feel anything like that,” I answered. “Anti-beastfolk sentiment is a thing of the past. It feels like a remnant of the Shōwa era…and even among older folk, I reckon people who still think that way today are very much in the minority.
“I’m not up to speed on the latest developments, but universities and other institutes are very engaged with cultural and medical research related to beastfolk. Recently, I even saw an anime about beastfolk airing on TV. What was it again…? Oh yeah, it was all about Aterui, that famous beastfolk hero and a great warrior of the Old War. Now that I think about it…Aterui sounds very similar to your brother’s name, Arurei. Is there any connection? A namesake?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” replied Techi. “Our father loved the story of Aterui, so he adapted the name for his son. We do get TV reception up here actually, so a lot of us watched the Aterui anime. TV dramas are very popular here too.”
She considered what I said for a moment.
“…So, the war is a thing of the past, you say…”
“I don’t know how you might feel about it,” I quickly chimed in, “but the way I see it, we’re only different in culture and appearance. We speak the same language, live in the same country…we’re neighbors now. So no, for my part, I’ve never felt any kind of distaste for beastfolk. As for the war, I guess there are still some loose ends. But I strongly believe that if we treat each other right, we can ensure nothing like that ever happens again. I, for one, want to see the peace between our peoples continue.”
I’d said my part, and I watched Techi in silence, carefully observing her face. Now that I thought about it, in all those summers I’d spent at Great-Grandpa’s house, I’d never so much as glimpsed a beastperson. I guess his cooperation with the beastfolk and this whole pact of theirs must’ve started fairly recently. It was entirely possible that Techi wasn’t yet used to associating with humans.
“Well, you know,” I continued, “all those dramas and anime are made by people who’ve never met a real beastperson before; people who don’t know your culture. Sitting here and actually talking to you in the flesh is a completely different experience. This whole situation is still kind of surreal to me, to tell you the truth. If people on the outside knew what you were really like—if they knew how cute young beastfolk are—I honestly think there’d be a huge demand for child beastfolk to become professional performers.”
All sorts of thoughts ran through my head as I looked at Techi’s face. I glanced up at her chipmunk ears and peered at the bushy tail behind her. Her features were objectively quite beautiful—I doubt many people would disagree. Furthermore, the ears quietly perched atop her head were utterly adorable, and the way her fluffy tail moved around in reaction to how she was feeling only added to her charm. If she ever appeared on TV, she’d become famous overnight.
“Hmph,” she snorted. Her face had become deadly serious. “This whole area is officially part of the Beastfolk-Administered Autonomous Region, a recognized independent territory within the nation of Japan. And yet, to this day, the issue of our citizenship still hasn’t been resolved. Being able to work on the other side of that gate is little more than a fantasy at this point, let alone appearing on TV.
“By the way, you should know that there are equally strict restrictions on people crossing the border into the Wilds. You being allowed to live here is a rare exception, and it’s only because you’re Tomiyasu’s successor and a member of the Moriya family. Don’t you forget it!”
I nodded in acknowledgment and reached into my pocket to take out a handful of leaflets and papers, given to me by the staff on duty at the checkpoint. They contained various precautions, warnings, and information related to life within the autonomous region, as well as lists of prohibited items and behaviors.
I made a note to carefully read them later…at which point, I suddenly remembered the mountain of other things I had to do, starting with unpacking my luggage. At the very least, I’d have to take a bath, find some bedding, change into some clean clothes, and sort out something for dinner. I checked the time on my phone, noticed with a slight panic that it was almost evening, and rose to my feet.
“I’m very sorry to break off our conversation,” I said, “but I just realized how much I still need to get done today. All my belongings are in boxes, I really need a bath, and I still haven’t eaten dinner. Can we pick up where we left off tomorrow?”
She gave me a look of understanding and I thought she was about to say goodbye…when she suddenly slapped her hands together, as if realizing something, and she called out to the kids.
“Listen up, everyone! We’re finishing early today! Pack up your tools and wash your paws! We’re going to help Mikura unpack his things! We’ve cleaned up Tomiyasu’s house plenty of times, so you should have a good idea of what goes where by now. Let’s make it quick—I want everyone home before dark!”
The children acknowledged her with raised arms and a shout of cheerful agreement and rushed all their tools back to the storage shed.
“No, no, no,” I protested. “I can’t possibly ask you to—”
Techi looked at me through narrowed eyes.
“That pile of luggage is huge,” she said. “You’ll be at it forever by yourself. Besides, it’s an old tradition for people to help their new neighbors move in. That’s definitely still the case among us beastfolk. You’re living in our backyard now. So you’d better start getting used to doing things our way.
“…What exactly are you planning to eat, anyway? You know they only let deliveries through the gate on Mondays. Today’s Wednesday—you’ll be waiting a very long time if you order takeout. Your fridge and warehouse are both empty—think you can manage a five-day water fast? Look…if you want to feed yourself properly, that’s all the more reason to get to know the beastfolk way of life, yeah? Anyhow, with the kids’ help, that big pile of luggage will be gone in an hour, maybe two. Let’s go.”
Techi stood up from the bench, swept her backside free of dust and turned tail, said tail swaying behind her as she went. She walked toward the children at the water pipe, presumably to make sure they were all scrubbing properly.
“Th-Thank you very much,” I called out, fumbling my words. “That’d be a great help.”
She didn’t turn around. She merely raised one hand and waved it back and forth in answer. Her tail followed roughly the same movements.
Once all the children’s paws were spotless, we headed back to the house together. With the help of Techi’s little army, we had the place clean and squared away in no time.
As strange as it all was, it seemed the foundations of my new life were starting to fall into place.