“This is Chinese liquor, right? Do you drink it often?”
“No, I just got it as a present. The acquaintance who sold me this mountain invites me to his home in the nearby town every few months, and he gave it to me last time I went over there. He said it was a present from someone who’d been to China on a work trip, but he asked me to take it off his hands since he doesn’t drink alcohol.”
“I see... What is it called?”
“It’s called mao-tai, apparently. It’s pretty strong, so they usually serve it on the rocks or with water.”
“Is this different from Shaoxing wine?”
“Yes, seems like it’s another type of liquor.”
Aikawa-san had also prepared a lot of finger food, so I was looking forward to a fun night of drinks. I took a bath before sunset (he had an open-air bath), and we began drinking.
For food, we had pickled vegetables, fried chicken, and fried fish that he’d caught in the river, as well as dried fish. For drinks, aside from the mao-tai, we also had beer and sake. I really should have brought something...
“This fried chicken is fantastic,” I exclaimed. I looked at Aikawa-san, realizing my blunder, then at Pochi and Yuma. The chickens didn’t seem to mind at all, thankfully.
“Er, my bad. This might have been an insensitive menu choice...” Aikawa-san apologized.
“Oh, it’s okay. I ate chicken meat the other day when I visited the chicken farm nearby. I don’t mind, really.”
“Oh, how was the chicken farm, by the way?”
“They have a pretty good operation running.”
Eventually, the topic had shifted to vaccines. Aikawa-san pondered for a moment.
“Vaccines, huh? I don’t hear much about vaccines for reptiles. And besides...” He glanced over at Rin-san. “Even if they do exist, in Rin’s case it might be, uh, a little complicated...”
“Does Rin-san always look like that?” I asked.
“Yes—she developed her human half about a year after I got her. She’s been like that ever since.”
“You mentioned it just happened suddenly one day, right? Did something trigger it?”
That was what I was most curious about. I doubt this is ever gonna happen, but what if one day I wake up to find that Yuma has turned into a cute girl? I glanced over at Yuma, who was eating vegetable scraps. Pfft, yeah, right.
“Hmm... Well, I’ve given it a lot of thought myself, but... I wonder if that could have been the trigger.”
So he does have a possible idea.
He told me that a year after he’d purchased the snakes, they’d already been around two meters long and pretty thick. The patterns on their scales looked somewhat like the patterning on pythons, but they didn’t quite match. Aikawa-san would often take Rin-san along on drives—Ten-san didn’t like riding in the truck very much.
One day, in N-Town, some women had hit on Aikawa-san. It’s the face, isn’t it? He does look like that one idol. Me? No, I’ve never been hit on. Not even a single time in my entire life. Sigh. Anyway... At the time, Aikawa-san still hadn’t gotten fully over his fear of women brought on by the stalking incident, and being hit on had given him some unpleasant flashbacks, so he’d fled into the truck. The women had come over to the truck, and just when Aikawa-san had been starting to panic, Rin-san had popped her head up from the passenger’s seat, scaring off the women. Relieved, Aikawa-san had hugged Rin-san, and they’d gone home after he calmed down.
“I know it’s pretty pathetic, but later that night, I vented to Rin and Ten, and I mentioned how these people would have probably left me alone if there’d been a woman riding in the passenger seat. But since I was scared of women, I didn’t have anyone who could help me with that. I didn’t know what to do. And then the next morning...”
“Rin-san looked like this?”
“She was sleeping next to me. I was freaked out—I had no idea who this unknown woman was that I’d brought home.”
“You assumed you’d brought her home, huh...”
“I’d had too much to drink the night before, so I didn’t know what might have happened.”
Right, I’m sure if I woke up next to an unknown naked woman—at least, as far as her upper body is concerned—I’d probably make the same assumption.
“I was about to run away when I caught sight of her lower body, which confused me even more.”
“I bet...”
Rin-san was right in front of me, so I obviously knew she was real, but if I’d only seen her in pictures, I’d probably assume she was CGI.
“I only realized it was Rin because Ten was right next to her...and because her eyes were still the same.”
“Ah... That explains my first impression of her...”
Rin-san’s upper body looked like a beautiful woman with long hair, but when I first saw her in the dark, I’d gotten the impression that she looked “sort of like a snake.” Now, I finally knew the reason even her human half seemed snakelike.
We ate most of the food and continued to drink while occasionally nibbling on snacks. The mao-tai was transparent like sake, and I’d heard it was a type of Chinese liquor called baijiu. It was stronger than Japanese sake, but also surprisingly easy to drink, and as a result, I was already pretty tipsy.
“So, I’ve told you my story, but what about you, Sano-san? Why did you buy the mountain?”
“Eh, nothing as dramatic as your story. My fiancée left me, and I got fed up with everything...”
I was pretty ashamed of myself, so I hadn’t told my story to anyone here other than the Yumotos. However, it seemed that the alcohol had considerably loosened me up—plus, it was just the two of us here. It’d just slipped out.
Aikawa-san cocked his head. “Can I ask why that happened?”
“We were engaged and had already arranged everything, just counting down the days... Then she decided, right before we got married, that she wanted to do a study abroad program. I said I didn’t mind as long as she came back in time for the preparations for the wedding... A one-month program is fine... And then...”
I felt tears roll down my face.
“Sano-san, that’s enough. I’m sorry.”
“She...never came back. She said she wanted to study more. That it’s a whole big world out there. That she wanted to go to college abroad... And that she didn’t want to get married...”
The tears just wouldn’t stop.
What am I crying over? I couldn’t really tell how I actually felt about my ruined engagement. Sorrowful? Desolate? Exasperated?
“It must be tough on you,” Aikawa-san murmured.
“I know it might not be a big deal compared to stalking or domestic violence...but why did it have to happen then, of all times? Why didn’t she go study abroad sooner and stay out of my life? Why that timing?!”
If she had quit her job sooner and gone to study abroad or whatever else she wanted, we would’ve never met. Why did I have to get pulled into her orbit?
The tears overflowed nonstop. I couldn’t rein in the kaleidoscope of negative emotions.
She’d chosen to pursue her own dreams instead of a future with me. That’s all right if you want to chase your dreams. Just don’t drag me into it, please.
Aikawa-san set a cup down in front of me.
“Huh?” I asked.
“It’s water. Fresh and tasty.”
I took the cup and gulped it down. It was cold and delicious.
Right, I’d better watch out for dehydration from all the drinking and crying.
The last thing I remembered before passing out was feeling very thankful for Aikawa-san’s kindness and thoughtfulness.