Back when people had little means to learn about what went on outside their local communities, there were plenty of people who spent their entire lives without ever leaving their villages. Nowadays, we might think, What did they do when they got sick? but the people who settled these villages deep in the mountains couldn’t afford to think of anything besides getting enough food. Some people back in the day fled to the mountains because land taxes were too high, and there was also a time when you could just keep the land if you cultivated it. However, in the information society, there was a strong tendency for young people to move to cities, either for work or just because they were attracted by a more convenient lifestyle. This village had an elementary and middle school, but not a high school; there was only one medical clinic, and due to the irregular terrain, it was hard to get around if you didn’t have a car.
Pochi and Tama were nice enough to lead the way on our patrol around the foot of the mountain.
Meanwhile, I was checking the roadside with Yuma for illegally dumped trash and such. Suddenly, I thought back to last night.
Wait a minute, can chickens see well in the dark? I’ve heard most birds can actually see decently at night, but what about chickens?
“Hey, Yuma... Can you see in the dark?”
Yuma poked me lightly, as if to say yes. Hens didn’t cluck as much, so it was hard to tell. They do repeat after me like parrots, though it doesn’t seem they can actually understand the nuances of what people are saying.
“So chickens have night vision, huh?”
I looked it up later, and it turned out that chickens were actually night-blind, though there was conflicting information on the subject.
Then these really are unusual chickens...
I picked up litter along the way and put it all in a plastic bag. Technically, I should separate the burnable stuff, but just look at how dirty this plastic bottle is... Just burn it all.
“There’s more trash than I thought.”
“Thought!” Yuma replied, maybe because there was no one around.
Come on, plastic is not biodegradable, so throw it away properly. There’re some kinds that are, but this is just a regular plastic bottle. Oh, I see a cigarette butt there. Give me a break. Thankfully, there wasn’t any trash big enough to qualify as illegal dumping.
I loaded the trash I had picked up onto the bed of the truck, checked the signboards again, confirmed that there was no one around, and went home. Aikawa-san was supposed to come over today, so I left the fence unlocked. I took care to not make it obvious at a glance that it was unsecured so that no one I didn’t know would enter.
For lunch, I had rice with stir-fried meat and vegetables. The vegetables were from Yumoto-san. I’d bought the rice myself, and the meat was just frozen stuff they sold at the general store. I could get fresh meat if I went to the town’s supermarket, but I didn’t care that much.
A meal after a hard day’s work tastes amazing. I wonder if it’s because of the air here. The chickens ate up the vegetable scraps I’d thrown away when cooking, then went outside to look for more food. Sorry for not feeding you well enough.
After lunch, I tended to the crops. The chickens liked to eat grasshoppers, moth larvae, and other things that were harmful to crops, which saved me a lot of work. They were omnivores—they also ate boar innards and various other stuff. That was a rather...shocking sight, to put it lightly.
“Oh yeah, I wonder if they’ll also lay eggs.”
I was thinking I might try searching about that later when I heard the sound of a car. That must be Aikawa-san.
“We’ve got a visitor.”
Pochi went to greet him. It was indeed Aikawa-san.
“Sorry for being late,” he said.
I got a good look at him in the daylight, and he was, in fact, a handsome guy. Yup, he definitely reminds me of that one idol. It looked like his brown hair was natural. I wish I looked good in work clothes too.
I had him park his truck next to mine. The long-haired woman was in the passenger seat, but she showed no signs of getting out of the truck.
“Uh, your girlfriend...?”
“Please don’t mind her—she’s just really shy around strangers,” he said with an awkward smile. She’s shy around strangers, but she still wanted to come with him, huh? Goddamn normies.
For some reason, Pochi was clucking angrily at his truck. This is pretty unusual for him. I wonder what’s up?
“Pochi, give it a rest. What happened?” I asked.
Aikawa-san waved it off. “Oh, don’t worry about it. This always happens. That aside, your chickens are pretty clever, aren’t they?”
Tama raised her head proudly. Yeah, as usual, they seem to understand what we’re saying.
“Well then, please come in.”
“Thank you.”
Aikawa-san had even brought me a gift. Handsome, polite, and sociable? He’s really got me beat at everything. I mean, again, not that we’re competing.
I was still wondering what was up with his girlfriend, but either way, I made us tea and got us some rice crackers. Aikawa-san’s present was a piece of ham—the expensive kind that people give as midyear or year-end gifts.
“Wow, isn’t this really expensive? Can I really have it?” I asked.
“I got a bunch from a farmer acquaintance of mine. Please don’t worry about it.”
“Thank you!”
I promptly put the ham in the fridge with a large grin on my face. The people around here tended to exchange midyear and year-end gifts, so the farmers’ fridges were always chock-full, especially older people who had a tendency to stock up on everything. Probably because they’ve been through times of serious scarcity. But still, canned goods more than two years past the expiration date are a bit too much, I think. Of course, this is just my opinion. You can probably still eat them, but do it at your own peril.
Aikawa-san was busily looking around. “Did you have the kitchen renovated?” he asked.
“Er...?” I cocked my head, not really understanding what he meant.