Katsuragi-san seemed to be panicking. I could hear her yelling over the phone, and she didn’t seem to be listening to me. I was wondering what to do when Yuma took my phone from me.
“Yuma?!” Don’t press that button!
She dropped the phone on the tatami floor and pressed the “End Call” button with her foot.
“Yumaaaaaaa!” That was an important conversation!
Next, she picked up the phone with her beak and ran off with it into the room at the back.
“Yuma, hold on! You’re gonna crack the screen! Please give it baaack!”
She went into that room and dropped the phone on the tatami.
“Yuma... Why would you do this...?”
I picked up the phone reluctantly. It did have a protective case, and it didn’t seem to be broken anywhere. I sighed in relief and glared at Yuma.
“I told you phones are fragile, didn’t I?”
Yuma cuddled up to me. She’s so adorable. Wait, now’s not the time for that!
“Now listen here!”
She cuddled even more. Gah, I know she’s doing it on purpose, but I can’t resist it! Okay! I forgive you! Wait, I’m falling into her trap!
“Don’t do it anymore, okay?”
More cuddling. I petted her wings. Okay, I give up. I can’t win. I know I’m spoiling her, but she’s just too cute. Wait! What am I thinking?! Come to your senses!
“I’ll call Katsuragi-san, so don’t interrupt, okay?”
She still kept cuddling me. I called Katsuragi-san again while petting her. I’m really not cut out for this...
“Hello, it’s Sano. Sorry, the call got cut off...”
“Sano-san, sorry for panicking earlier... It’s hard for me to listen to other people when I’m in that state. I’m really sorry.”
She seemed to have calmed down compared to the previous call. Yuma, looks like it turned out for the best. I still haven’t forgiven you, though. Keep cuddling with me.
I could understand why Katsuragi-san had panicked. I was scared of habu too.
“So what you’re saying is that someone might have released habu around here, right?” she asked.
“It’s a possibility. I just wanted to let you know that they were spotted on a nearby mountain. Please be careful.”
“There shouldn’t be any habu around here, right?”
“I’ve never heard of any. Do you think telling Tatsuki-san what they look like might help?”
“Probably,” she replied weakly.
Aikawa-san is bringing the habu they caught to the Yumotos’ place tomorrow, so maybe we should all meet up there. I still need to ask Aikawa-san if that’s okay, of course.
“Well then, tomorrow Aikawa-san, my other neighbor, will be bringing a habu he caught to Yumoto-san’s house. Would you like to go too?”
“Oh, yeah! Sounds good!”
“Okay, I’ll let him know.”
Well, I should probably ask him, not “let him know.” I ended the call and dialed Aikawa-san.
“Uh, so all I have to do is show the habu to Katsuragi-san’s lizard, right...?”
Aikawa-san was still reluctant to interact with young women. At first, I’d been a bit jealous of his looks, but it seemed there were also downsides—even if you didn’t take the stalker incident into account. Perhaps that had just been a trigger. He’d said he never wanted to work a job where he had to interact with people again.
“Uh, well, that and just a basic greeting, I guess.”
“I’ll go with Rin... If something happens, I’ll just say I can’t get close to women because Rin is too jealous. Can you cover for me?”
“Okay.”
Rin-san was also “protecting” him in that sense. That might be a bit rude toward Katsuragi-san, but it is what it is. Aikawa-san still hasn’t gotten over his trauma. I think it’ll be okay, though.
Next, I called Yumoto-san and informed him that Katsuragi-san would also be coming by to see the habu.
“Catching a habu is pretty amazing. Did Aikawa-kun catch it himself?”
“It was one of the large snakes he keeps—the snake caught it.”
“Must be a pretty smart one, like your chickens. A large snake, huh? I’d like to have a look.”
“Er, he’s pretty big, maybe over three meters long. He’s probably impossible to bring somewhere else...”
“Is that so? Ask him if I can go visit him sometime. I wanna see just how big it is!”
“Please don’t tell anyone else about this... You can ask him yourself tomorrow.”
“All right!” Yumoto-san said excitedly. The rat snakes that showed up in the village occasionally were about a meter long—so not that large. Apparently, they ranged from a meter to two meters in length, but they were thin, so that was probably why they didn’t seem so big.
I could understand his curiosity, but there was a need for some degree of courtesy, even among friends. Well, I guess Yumoto-san and Aikawa-san barely know each other, but still. I became worried and decided to call Aikawa-san again to ask about it.
“He wants to come here?”
“Yes, it seems he’s developed an interest in Ten-san. It’s okay if you’re not comfortable with that. I just thought I should let you know in advance so you don’t get blindsided by his request tomorrow.”
“Thank you for the warning.” I could imagine Aikawa-san smiling on the other side of the call.
Before I forgot, I later messaged Katsuragi-san to let her know she could go with us tomorrow.
I feel like I spent all day on the phone. Hmm. I don’t think there’s anything else I need to do today.
Just as I was thinking that, I heard a loud sound coming from the front door. It was Tama, who had just come back from patrol, kicking the glass door. Oh crap, I forgot to leave the door open.
“Sorry, sorry. Tama, stop kicking the door! You’re gonna break it!”
“Break it!”
“Break it!”
Pochi and Yuma chanted in unison.
Please stop! It’s really gonna break...