My mountain had paved roads, so you could drive a car from my house a ways up—to about where the cemetery was. I did have a wire fence down at the foot of the mountain, which I kept locked (Yumoto had a spare key), but they warned me about people who like to break in. How about you stay away from people’s mountains and just buy your own?
So yeah... Being a mountain owner wasn’t easy.
“Well, I did check the signboards just to make sure.”
There were some signboards around. “Private Land—No Entry,” “Beware of Vipers,” “Beware of Wild Boars,” “Beware of Bears,” and so on. They’d been placed where people who might try going onto the mountain would see them. These warnings were true too—the chickens did catch vipers often, and just the other day, they’d caught a boar. I wasn’t so sure about the bears, but I checked the distribution of bears in Japan, and we definitely had them around here. Boy, I really, really hope I never run into any.
I had other signboards too, like “No Illegal Dumping! Violators will be prosecuted.” I’d bought that one from the village office, and I hoped it would prevent any trash-related troubles. There were municipalities that gave these signs away for free, but sadly, the village down there wasn’t that well-off.
“Starting tomorrow, we’re going to be patrolling the foot of the mountain for a while.”
“Patrolling!”
“Patrolling!”
“Patrolling!”
The three chickens sang in unison.
Thanks, guys.
I’d already showered and was thinking I might as well go to bed soon, but then the chickens suddenly raised their heads and ran off to the front door.
“Huh? What is it?”
This had never happened before, so I hurried after them. They were standing in front of the door, and they looked back at me. Do they want to go outside?
“Hang on a sec.”
I quickly changed, put on a jacket, grabbed a flashlight, and went outside with them. Pochi bolted down the mountain at a tremendous speed. Tama came behind me, pushing me to run faster as we went toward the foot of the mountain.
“Hey, Tama! That hurts!” Stop pecking!
I ran along the road, barely able to see in front of me, because Tama kept pecking me from behind. It was like she was saying, You’re the owner! You gotta come with us!
It’s a good thing the road is paved. Otherwise, I could easily trip and get badly hurt, I thought. I could see the road, albeit just barely, thanks to my strong flashlight and Yuma in front of me. Everything else around us was pitch-black. My parents lived in a town, but it was pretty dark around their place too—there was, however, light from streetlights, vending machines, and other buildings. Even then, it was still pretty scary at night, but that was nothing compared to the darkness in the mountains. I realized just how dangerous it was to not have any streetlights.
I definitely can’t drive around here at night relying on nothing but the truck’s headlights. Though nowadays, a lot of cars have really powerful LED headlights, so it’s not as dangerous as it used to be. Uh, anyway...
I ran after Yuma, with Tama following my footsteps and pecking me, until we got near the foot of the mountain. Just when Yuma had finally stopped running, I heard the sound of something heavy being dragged, then a sharp, chain-like sound, and finally, the sound of wings flapping.
Eeeh? What’s going on?
I was about to point my flashlight in the direction the sound had come from to see what was going on, but then I heard a low-pitched voice.
“Rin! Stop it already! We’re in someone else’s home!”
“Huh...?” I murmured.
That was a man’s voice—someone was nearby. I called out to him.
“Excuse me! Is anyone there?!”
“Jeez...”
I could hear him saying something, but I couldn’t quite make it out. Pochi cried out loudly and came to me with his feathers standing on end.
“Pochi! What happened?”
Unlike me and the other two chickens, Pochi hadn’t used the road—he’d come running straight down the mountain, so it was no wonder he was all disheveled. That was also why he’d gotten here way before me.
Suddenly, from the direction Pochi had come, a brown-haired man emerged from the darkness.
“I’m sorry. Do you live on Brook Mountain?” he asked.
What’s a guy like him doing in the mountains? He was a dashing man with a deep voice. This guy’s got me beat in every aspect... I mean, not that we’re competing, but still.
“Yes, I’m Sano, the owner of Brook Mountain.” I made sure to let him know it was my mountain, which made me feel kind of pathetic.
“I’m sorry to disturb you. My name is Aikawa. I’m your neighbor from West Mountain.”
I was dumbfounded. I’d ended up meeting my western neighbor in a very unexpected manner. Immediately, I became nervous.
“N-Nice to meet you... Sorry, I should have gone to greet you when I moved in...”
“Nice to meet you too. Oh, no, please don’t mind. My mountain is pretty steep, after all...”
This is a pretty bizarre situation, isn’t it? Greeting each other in the dark, illuminated only by our flashlights. He actually seems like an okay dude. Not that I had any preconceived notions just because he’s a handsome normie. Nope, definitely not.
I was impressed that even in the dark, I could still tell he was good-looking. His hair was medium-long. I’d heard from the villagers that he was a “flashy guy,” and my first impression didn’t contradict that.
“Uh, so what are you doing here this late at night?” I asked.
It wasn’t that late, strictly speaking, but it was already pitch-black outside. Compared to my family’s place, it felt like nights here came earlier.
“Er... How should I put this?”
Aikawa-san seemed to be having difficulty finding the right words. Maybe it’s some reason that’s hard to talk about.
Then my eyes caught something that shook me to my core.
I shrieked and fell on my rear. Th-There’s something behind him with long hair...
After seeing my shock, Aikawa-san looked over his shoulder. “Ah... Uh, yeah, I can see why you’d be scared.”