Come to think of it, Aikawa-san was a hunter, so I guess he has more guests during hunting season...?
“I’m usually all by myself from spring through summer, so it’s nice to have someone come over to give me that extra motivation. Though my mountain is generally closed to other people.”
“Gee, I don’t even know what to say... Sorry for always imposing on you...”
He treats me like this, and all I bring him is a measly six crayfish for Rin-san and Ten-san... What is wrong with me?
“I’m very thankful to you, Sano-san. Please don’t worry about that. Having you keep me company when I go to town means a lot more to me than you realize.”
“But there’s no need for me to go with you anymore, right?”
“Whaaat? Come on, don’t be so cold,” he said playfully.
Sure, I suppose I might as well keep him company if he invites me.
“You know, it seems Rin has taken a liking to Yuma-san. Maybe it’s because they’re both girls, but they got along really well when they were waiting for us in town.”
“Is that so? Interspecies girl talk, huh? We should get together again, then.”
Girl talk between a giant snake and a chicken. I’m curious and afraid at the same time...
“I’m glad your ordeal is over,” I blurted out after a few moments of silence. Is it really over?
“Yes... I can finally live a normal life now... Though life in the mountains is pretty busy,” Aikawa-san gave me a thin smile.
“It really is... I need to do something about all the abandoned houses on my mountains, and I also have to take the chickens to the vet in S-Town...”
“Vaccines, was it?”
“I still don’t know if I can get them vaccines.”
“They...certainly are, uh, unusual pets.”
That goes for both of us.
I spent some time chatting with Aikawa-san and returned to my mountain later in the afternoon.
“We talked about a lot of stuff today...” I didn’t tell him about how I’m feeling about Katsuragi-san, though. Or rather, I pretty much forgot about it while I was there.
“Meh. Whatever happens, happens...”
Yumoto-san came by to drop Tama and Yuma off that evening. Tomorrow, Pochi and Tama would be on duty.
✦ ✦ ✦
Over the past two days, the chickens had patrolled an area with a lot of fields and exterminated snakes. If there weren’t any, great, and if there were, they’d eaten them.
I feel like I’ve seen an idol do something similar on TV. It seems more respectful to the animals than simply getting rid of them. Though I guess that’s a very human-centered way of thinking.
Today, Yuma and I were visiting Katsuragi-san’s mountain. I stepped outside to find a gray, overcast sky that indicated it could rain at any moment. Hopefully it doesn’t—we spend all our time on the veranda when we go to Katsuragi-san’s. Some light drizzle is not that bad though, and it even gives it a nice vibe.
Her mountain was well-kept, since she had people from the village come over and maintain it. The roads could use a little more attention, though.
I brought her some rice crackers that I had lying around at home. I’ve been getting more slovenly about presents. In Aikawa-san’s case, I haven’t even brought him any presents recently. Shame on me. The crayfish don’t really count—I gotta get my act together.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Sano-san. Thanks for coming.”
Katsuragi-san was working in the fields, as usual. I gotta check mine too when I get home. She held a basket full of vegetables—cucumbers, shishito peppers, peas, and the like. Yum, shishito peppers.
“Where’s Tatsuki-san...?” I asked, looking for him. He was resting under a tree near the fields. “Hello there, Tatsuki-san. Is it okay if I let my chicken eat bugs and stuff around here?”
As usual, the dragon cracked open his eyes and gave a slight nod.
“Excuse me—I’ll just go take care of this,” Katsuragi-san said.
“Let me help.” I took the basket from her and carried it to the house.
“Thank you. I’ll make us some tea.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
I sat down on the veranda. Yuma stayed glued to me.
“Yuma, feel free to go play.” She cocked her head and gave me a confused look. Cute. I reached out and petted her. Yuma’s feathers were really clean, since we bathed together every day.
Not that Pochi and Tama are dirty. They take care of themselves in their own way, like bathing in sand or water, and I clean them myself when they get too dirty. Actually, is it even okay to wash chickens this often? Eh, they seem to be doing well enough, so it’s probably fine.
Katsuragi-san came out with tea and snacks, plus a pig-shaped mosquito coil. True—it’s already that time of the year.
“Thank you. Oh, also, I brought this for you.” I handed her the crackers, which she accepted. I’d forgotten to give them to her when I’d arrived.
“Thank you. Please excuse me for a moment. I’ll go make lunch.”
“All right.” Wonder what’s on the menu today.
There was a gust of wind, which felt nice on my skin. I heard a light, airy sound from above me—the noise of a wind chime on the roof. Mosquito coils and wind chimes. Sure feels like Japanese summer. Maybe I should get a wind chime for my veranda too—not that I have much time to wind down and enjoy the sound.
The glass door opened from inside. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” Katsuragi-san said breezily. It looked like we were having somen noodles today.
“That looks good,” I remarked.
“I thought it’d be appropriate with the recent hot weather.”
“Definitely agree. Thank you.”
Other than the noodles, she brought shredded cucumbers, ham, omelet, perilla and myoga for seasoning, boiled shishito peppers, and peas. The noodles had a nice, smooth texture. That reminds me, I think only Japan eats myoga.
“This is really good...”
“Glad to hear it! I’ve got a lot of shishito peppers—would you like to take some with you?”
“Thank you. I’ll take you up on that.” Fried shishito peppers are delicious. Even raw ones are pretty good.
Some ways into the meal, Katsuragi-san blurted out, “Um, so...about that tail...”
“Oh, right, the snake. I haven’t heard anything about it yet. I bet they’re still looking into it.”
“It must be hard to tell from just the tail. Hopefully it’s just a regular snake...”
“Let’s hope that’s the case.”
As with last time, Yuma stood between Katsuragi-san and me, and there was always at least a meter of space separating us. This distance feels just right. Yuma chewed loudly on a cucumber Katsuragi-san gave her. Do all chickens make this much noise when eating cucumbers?
“Um, Sano-san...”
“Yes?” I could feel something out of the ordinary in her tone, which made me nervous. Oh boy... What is it?
“I’ve been living here for more than two years now.”
“Yeah?”
“But I hadn’t met Aikawa-san until recently.”
“Is that so...?”
“Yes!”
I’m just gonna refuse if she asks me to hook her up with him or something. Although Aikawa-san’s stalker problem was more or less sorted out, the trauma from that whole debacle still lingered.
“I’d heard about him, but I didn’t know he was actually that handsome!”
“I... I see.”
“Don’t you agree?!”
Wait, what?
I answered honestly. “Uh, I guess so...? He does look a lot like that one idol, after all.”
“Right?! I was all flustered the other day just being near him. I fall in love too easily, so I have to watch out. It was the same with my ex—he was a scumbag, but he was a real looker.”
“Is that so?”
I see... So you’re all about looks, huh? No, it’s okay. I know that disqualifies me, but that doesn’t depress me in the slightest! No ma’am...
“But I came here to get away from the old me! So...!”
“Yes?” Where is she going with this?
“Sano-san! Please allow me to watch over your bromance with Aikawa-san!”
I was speechless for a long moment. Then, I managed to mumble, “What...?” My what? What the heck is she blabbering about? Are you okay in the head?! Whoops, almost thought out loud there. “Uh...?”
“Oh, please don’t get the wrong idea! I’m not a fujoshi or anything! It’s just...Aikawa-san seems to really enjoy your company. I’m a big fan of male friendships, you see.”
“Uh-huh...” If I was being honest, I had no idea what she was on about, but she seemed really excited to talk about it, so there must’ve been something to it. I didn’t intend to pursue it any further either.
“Well, yeah, we do meet up pretty often, I guess.”
“That’s nice. I’m jealous... Um... Could you tell me more about you and Aikawa-san?”
“There’s not really much to tell you about.”
Is it just me, or is Katsuragi-san getting closer to me than usual?
Yuma quickly stepped between us.
Whew, thanks.
“You go to town together, right?”
“Uh, yeah.” But there’s nothing interesting I could tell her about, I think. “Oh, right—the other day, I slept over at his mountain.”
“Tell me more!”
Katsuragi-san, you’re scaring me. But at least you seem to be enjoying yourself, so that’s nice. I told her about it without going into too much detail.