“Yuma, I’m okay, so you can go play if you want to.”
She cuddled up to me. I have the cutest chickens in the world.
“Sorry to keep you waiting!”
Katsuragi-san came back with massive servings (the kind you’d see in cartoons) of rice with green peas, miso soup, and cucumber salad.
“That’s...quite a lot of food.”
“Sorry, I got carried away again...”
The green peas-to-rice ratio was also crazy—almost the same amount of each. It wasn’t exactly the most balanced meal, but it was pretty delicious.
The topic soon shifted to maintenance of the mountain. “Actually, I pay a maintenance fee and have the villagers come over to take care of the mountain,” she explained. Makes sense—it is pretty hard work.
“I see—so there’s always that option too.”
“Other than that, you could also ask someone from the village to help with simple tasks like lawn mowing.”
True, that’s also a good option. It’s a bit too much to take care of all by myself. I’m impressed that Aikawa-san manages to get by.
I wasn’t too sure if this was even applicable in her case, but I figured I might as well also ask her about animal vaccines.
“I...don’t think I’ve ever heard of vaccines for this sort of animal,” she said.
“Right, I thought so. Not exactly your usual pet.”
“Maybe there are vaccines I can get him. I want him to stay by my side for as long as possible. Maybe I should look into it...”
I’d never heard of vaccines for reptiles. (Have you?)
“So how have things been lately?” I asked.
“Nothing out of the ordinary. I haven’t heard any rumors about my ex since Golden Week, so I’m a bit relieved. Sorry for the trouble...” Katsuragi-san apologized and bowed to me.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad I could be of help.” Besides, nothing had actually happened. Thankfully.
“Um...” She lowered her gaze. “I know I’m being impudent, but I’d really appreciate it if you could come by and check on me every now and then...”
Now, what does she mean by that?
“Well, if you let me know...and I’m not busy or anything...” I mumbled. “I guess...”
“Thank you.”
We were sitting more than a meter apart from each other, with Yuma between us “protecting” me. Yuma paced here and there, pecking at the ground and walking over to Katsuragi-san, who petted her wings, then coming back and cuddling up to me.
Katsuragi-san must be lonely too, like Aikawa-san. That’s all there is to it. I’m sure she has no other intentions.
She handed me a big plastic container filled to the brim with food—just like last time—along with some vegetables. I then returned home. “Getting carried away” doesn’t even begin to describe it; she made way too much food. At least it’s pretty good.
Tomorrow, I’d be visiting Aikawa-san and staying the night. I’m sure I have nothing to worry about...right? What am I even thinking? I must be pretty tired.
Speaking of which, what’s up with Rin-san, anyway? How does a snake even grow a human torso? I’m kind of afraid to find out, honestly.
Tama wanted to stay home again.
“Hmm, I’m not so sure about this... I’ll be staying the night there...”
I was a bit worried about leaving her all by herself for a day.
“Come on, Tama, you should come too,” I tried persuading her, but she ran away—not that far, but too far to go and catch her.
“Tama...”
I tried calling out to her once more and got pecked by Pochi. He’s probably trying to tell me it’s fine, but I’m still worried. Tama showed no signs of changing her mind, leaving me no choice but to give up on convincing her. My chickens were far too strong and fast for me to catch, and I’d even gotten a kick to the face once when I’d tried chasing them around—this had been back when they’d just become adult chickens.
“I’ll leave the house unlocked, so make sure to sleep inside, okay?” The chickens could open doors with their legs and beaks.
I loaded buckets full of crayfish onto the truck and headed over to Aikawa-san’s mountain. Once there, I locked the fence gate, drove up to Aikawa-san’s house, and parked my truck next to his. The snakes came over to greet me.
“Hello, Rin-san, Ten-san. I’ll be staying over tonight. Is it okay if I let the chickens eat bugs?”
Pochi and Yuma immediately stationed themselves in front of me. I already told you, there’s no need to be so wary of the snakes.
“Okay.”
“I don’t mind.”
As usual, I had absolutely no idea where Ten-san’s voice was supposed to be coming from.
“Oh, here—I also brought you this.”
I took the two crayfish buckets from the truck and set them down. I had the chickens catch more than usual since we’d be staying the night. Aren’t there way too many crayfish, though? Maybe I ought to check the other rivers too...
“Sano, nice person.”
“Sano, like.”
“Er... It was the chickens who caught them, not me...”
The snakes seemed to have taken a liking to me—they crept closer, but frankly, the sight of two huge snakes slithering toward me scared me to death.
Just as I was thinking about how to escape this situation, Aikawa-san showed up to save the day.
“Oh, hello there, Sano-san.” Is that a halo I see around his head?
“Aikawa-san, hi... Uh, the crayfish...”
“Wow, you caught this many?! Thanks. Rin, help me carry this.”
Aikawa-san and Rin-san took the buckets and went toward the fields. To my relief, Ten-san followed them. Is it just me, or is that snake getting longer? I’m aware they’re friendly to me, but it’s still a terrifying sight up close. I sighed deeply. “Beware of Wild Animals”? Well put.
“I’m back. Pochi-san, Yuma-san, hi there. Please make yourselves at home.”
Aikawa-san was polite and courteous to the chickens too. I feel everyone around here is pretty open-minded when it comes to pets. The villagers don’t seem too surprised by my chickens either. Are there other households with pets like these, I wonder. Is it even correct to call them “pets” in the first place? Sometimes it feels like they’re the ones taking care of me, as much as it pains me to admit it...
Pochi went off to patrol Aikawa-san’s mountain, and Yuma stayed with me, as always. We sat down in the large room by the entrance. That was when I realized I hadn’t bought anything for Aikawa-san. Crap, why didn’t I remember sooner...
“Sorry, I didn’t bring anything today...”
Aikawa-san looked confused. “What are you talking about? You brought all those crayfish for Rin and Ten. Thank you—they were really happy.” He served us some tea. Today’s snack was cucumber and enoki mushroom salad. The mushrooms had such large caps that I couldn’t tell what they were at first.
“Thank you. Oh...? Are these enoki?”
“That’s right. I bought a growing kit last year and have been growing them at home,” he explained with a smile.
“A growing kit?!” I didn’t even know that was a thing. I was impressed with how Aikawa-san seemed to always be trying new things. The salad was excellent too.
“This is the liquor I told you about...” he said, showing me a bottle. I’d instinctively assumed he was talking about Japanese sake, but it was actually something else—a Chinese spirit in a red box.