Pops said he was going to talk to farmers about that, and call me at a convenient time. It will probably be in two or three days.
That day, I went to buy stuff like meat and eggs, while Pochi pecked at me, and then went back home. I don’t know if it’s embarrassment or what, but stop pecking at me, Pochi. It hurts. I’m glad my work clothes are sturdy. There are no holes in them, but I’m pretty sure there are bruises where I was pecked.
“I hate this rain. How are you doing?”
I check my phone while doing some cleaning, and see that message from Aikawa on Line. Does he know anything about the tiger keelbacks? They’re snakes, after all. If there’s no connection, that’s fine, but I decide to call him anyway.
And he picks up after three rings.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Sano? What is it?”
He sounds polite as always. I tell him about how there are more tiger keelbacks in the village, and how they called me to have my chickens exterminate them.
“Do you know any reason why there are so many of them?”
“Ah… Sano, have you seen the news recently?”
“News?”
Was there anything related to this?
“Do you know about the cobra effect?”
“Hum… When you try to do something but it has the opposite effect?”
“Something similar to the anecdote where that name comes from happened in a nearby village, apparently. The details change according to who you ask, though.”
Basically, it’s like this. To the south of the village, over the mountain, there’s the S town, and in the T town to the east of it, there’s a big house. One of its owners took on the job of exterminating bugs and harmful animals, but he passed away last year.
Then his sons went there to sort out the house, and saw the many snakes the previous owner kept for fun. They were all venomous, so the troubled wife and sons started to release them, a few at a time, in the nearby mountain. This kept going until about last month.
I doubt the person keeping the snakes could have ever imagined his family would do that after he was gone.
This was discovered recently, when a pet shop owner who was friends with the deceased person called them. The sons insist they didn’t know they were venomous, but it’s all very troubling.
“Eh.. So could it be that the reason why my mountain has so many pit vipers…”
“I can’t say that’s not the case, but I do think it’s related to why there are suddenly so many tiger keelbacks in the village. Apparently the deceased caught and kept a lot of them.”
“Do people in the village know that?”
“It wasn’t that big of a news story, so maybe a lot of people missed it.”
“It would be better to just kill them, rather than setting them free on a mountain…”
“Yes. It would be one thing if they were harmless, but with venomous snakes, it’s probably more than a minor offense.”
But apparently it was only on the news that one time. They might have been able to find out more if they investigated it, but without anything juicy to the story, that’s all there is to it. It’s only terrible for us around here.
Incidentally, what’s called cobra effect came from an anecdote that supposedly happened in the nineteenth century, when India was under the British Empire. The British governor hated snakes, so he put out a notice that said anyone who took out snakes and delivered them would be rewarded. Some say it’s actually because those cobras were causing a lot of harm.
At first, people went out to hunt them, but then, some began to breed them. If they were just after the reward, that was quicker and easier. But then the government found out, and stopped offering rewards, so the people breeding them released them.
As a result of all this, the problems with the cobras just ended up increasing.
What Aikawa means, is that they didn’t know how to dispose of the snakes, so they released them, and caused way more harm.
“Rin actually caught a habu today.”
“Habu!?”
Aren’t those venomous snakes found in places like Okinawa? I’ve never heard of them being here.
“I’m pretty sure…”
“I’m lucky, because Rin and Ten can catch them, but who knows when they’ll hurt someone in the village or another mountain.”
“I should tell Yumoto. Thanks.”
Then we say goodbye, and I don’t even know where to start.
I call pops’ place first to ask if they saw it on the news, and he says no.
“It’d be one thing if it was just tiger keelbacks, but habu are trouble. Maybe we should ask a professional to deal with them too, but tell your chickens to be ready to come by any time.”
“All right.”
“Ah, and if it’s really a habu, can you ask the owner of the western mountain to show us? We don’t want any misunderstandings.”
“I’ll tell Aikawa.”
So I call him again, and he asks me to come along when he goes to the village to show it to pops tomorrow. And I don’t have a reason to say no.
I take a deep breath. I had no idea something like that happened. Yuma comes over to snuggle against me, so I pat its feathers.
Animal therapy really does work.
“Yuma, can I?”
I ask, before hugging it. It’s a little damp because of the rain, but it feels nice. Pochi and Tama let me pet them, but not hug them. They’d peck at me hard if I tried. They’re so cold.
“Thanks Yuma.”
“Thanks.”
“Haha, no, you.”
I laugh, and Katsuragi pops into my head. At first I think she might be in trouble too, but surely, that dragon of hers can deal with it. But I should warn her anyway, so I give her a call.
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