I pour some tea and put out rice crackers.
The gift Aikawa brought was ham. Expensive one too, like the ones people would send as a summer or end of year gift.
“Eh? Are you sure I can have something so expensive!?”
“I got a lot from a farmer that helped me, so you can have it if you want.”
“Thank you!”
I thank him with a big smile, and take the ham to the fridge. This village adheres to the custom of sending summer and end of year gifts, so farms always have full fridges. Not to mention that older people have a tendency to stash a lot of things. That might be because they lived through an era when people didn’t have much.
But still, even if they’re canned goods, they really shouldn’t eat them over two years past the expiration date. (That’s what I feel anyway. I think it’s fine to eat things past the expiration date, but it’s up to everyone’s discretion.)
Aikawa is looking around the room.
“Did you remodel the kitchen?”
“Hum…?”
I tilt my head because I don’t really know what he means. And he elaborates, because he sees I’m struggling to answer.
“People used to live in my mountain too, so I’m using one of the homes that was left behind, but the
kitchen had a dirt floor. And it had an old furnace too, so I couldn’t really cook there, so I had it modernized.”
Ah, I get it. Yes, it was common for homes to have dirt floors.
“It was like this when I moved here.”
Apparently the former owners looked after it for as long as they could.
“That’s nice.”
“Yes, I was lucky.”
But this place is pretty big, because it belonged to the head of the village. There are three rooms that are about ten tatami big. I don’t have a lot of things to begin with, so I just clean them with a broom from time to time.
Then Aikawa straightens his back, and it prompts me to do the same.
“I’m sorry about last night.”
“No, me too…”
I ran there because I spotted an intruder. Well, my chickens did. Are they really cockatrices like Katsuragi said? But don’t those have claws?
“I was curious too… Were these chickens on the mountain when you got here?”
It makes sense that he’s curious. I laugh awkwardly.
“No, I went to a festival in the village three days after I moved here, and they were there. That’s where I bought three chicks.”
“Ah, those colored chicks. You don’t see them too often nowadays.”
“Yes. Although those colors are gone by now.”
Aikawa’s expression turns serious.
“Sorry, hum… By the way, did you meet the person living on the mountain east of here, Katsuragi?”
“Yes, just the other day…”
Why did he bring her up? Ah! Is this handsome guy after her? Well, it’s none of my business… But I can’t help but stare off into the distance on the inside.
“Did you see the animal she keeps as a pet?”
Somehow, this became about her pet. I think you can’t really call something that size a pet though.
“Yes, it’s a really big lizard. I think it’s like a dragon.”
“Right? I heard she also bought it at a festival in the village.”
“Yes, she told me the same thing.”
Apparently he heard it from someone else.
Come to think of it, does he also have pets?
“Do you have animals?”
“Kind of… I moved here three years ago, and I bought two small snakes when I first went to the festival in the village.”
“Eh… So they had snakes three years ago…”
“Yes. I checked that they didn’t have poison, and bought them, but…”
He sighs.
“Hum… Is there a problem?”
Did those snakes become giant too? Like pythons and anacondas? They really shouldn’t sell those. What if they ate their owner?
“Well… They seemed pretty big…”
“Like pythons?”
“Maybe close to that, but I really don’t understand why they grew up to be like that.”
“Ahh…”
He seems troubled, but I haven’t actually seen them, so I don’t know. Then he looks at Yuma next to me.
“Your chickens are pretty big too.”
“Yes. I measured them the other day, and they’re about fifty centimeters…”
“And those aren’t feathers on their tails.”
“Yes, they’re like lizard tails. The other day Katsuragi said they’re like cockatrices…”
“That’s it!”
“Eh?”
Aikawa suddenly opens his eyes widely. What’s up?
“I don’t know why, but the animals sold in that festival are all beings of legends, aren’t they?”
“Eh?”
Does this guy like fantasy too? I’m a little taken aback.
“Eh… It’s probably just some sort of deformity…”
I say, and I start thinking about it again. Three chickens with reptilian tails. Maybe they just gather animals with deformities and sell them there.
“That wouldn’t explain it. My snakes…”
He’s going to say they’re not normal either. Are they like those eight-headed snakes? No way.
“Hum, do they have more than one head or something?”
But then he would notice the deformity when he bought them. I can only imagine more tails growing as the snakes grew or something.
But reality goes beyond what I’m thinking.
“…You saw it yesterday.”
“Eh?”
“Long hair, white face…”
“Yes…”
I tremble as I think back to last night. I understand that it was a living person, but it was still a frightening sight.
“And today I brought it on my passenger seat.”
“…Eh?”
Your girlfriend, right? I can still hear Pochi outside going ‘kuaah!’, like it’s trying to intimidate something.
Wait, you don’t mean…
“Eh? You’re kidding?”
Please say it’s a prank.
“Let me introduce you.”
He says as he gets up, and I reluctantly follow.
It’s the middle of the day, but a cold sweat runs down my back. I feel so uncomfortable. What is it about this area?
I’ve never felt so afraid to walk out the front door.
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