Pops’ house is old, so it’s pretty big. From my perspective, it’s more like a mansion. There are a few rooms that would fit tens of tatami, and the whole thing makes me think it’d be hard to clean.
Some people drank through the night and left, while the single men stayed here, like me.
Apparently my mountain neighbor also stayed, but I didn’t know about it until this morning.
It’s hard to get up after drinking so much, but I can’t stay lying down in another person’s house forever, so I muster up the strength to go to the bathroom, and then head to the kitchen to drink some water.
And that’s when I see pops’ wife, and my mountain neighbor wearing a robe. They’re chatting about something.
“…Good morning. Can I have some water?”
Now that I see her in the light, she has a cute face. Is she the same age as me, or younger? She has shoulder length brown hair, and big eyes. I’m sure it’s not normal for a young woman like her to buy a mountain, but that’s none of my business, so I shake that off inside me.
She bows, and I do the same.
“Good morning Shou. Were you two introduced last night?”
“I heard her first name…”
I can’t just call her Miya. She’s taken aback too.
“Ah! Sorry. My name is Katsuragi Miyako. Hum, your mountain is…”
“I live to the east. I just moved a month ago, so I don’t really know anything. If you could tell me some things like how to look after the mountains in each season, I’d appreciate it.”
We both bow, and the older lady smiles as she watches us.
“Here’s your water Shouhei.”
“Thank you.”
The water from the well really hits the spot. By the way, my chickens…
“Ah, where are my chickens…”
“In the yard. I gave them vegetable scraps.”
“I’ll go have a look.”
“Ah, me too.”
Apparently Katsuragi’s big lizard is in the yard too… I’m a little worried about it eating them.
But I had no reason to be. The big lizard is just crouching in the shade. Looking at it in the light, it’s less like a lizard or a crocodile, and more like a western dragon. Where did she buy it? Or was it already living on the mountain?
My chickens are over in a corner catching and eating bugs.
“Hey, Pochi, Tama, Yuma.”
Yuma comes trotting towards me, and I pet its feathers. Did you get bigger? Did those boar entrails cause that? No, it wouldn’t grow in such a short amount of time.
Katsuragi is watching my chickens intently from afar.
“Hum… Excuse me, but their tails…”
I guess it’s obvious for people who would notice such things.
“Yes, they’re not very chicken-like. I also think they’re like reptile tails…”
“I’ve heard that chickens are descendants of dinosaurs, so are they going back to their ancestors?”
Asks Katsuragi while tilting her head. She has a point. They evolved from dinosaurs.
“…Maybe that’s it. Hum… And your big…”
“Ah, sorry. Its name is Tatsuki. It’s big for a lizard. I bought it at a festival stall a year ago…”
So it was also bought at a stall? I’m sure a year ago it was small, and looked like a normal lizard. Wait, I heard she had been living here for a year, but it’s actually been two years.
“Is that so? It was the same with my chickens. I bought colored chicks at a festival stall.”
“Strange.”
“It is.”
We look at each other’s faces with a little distance between us, and smile.
“I think it’s less of a lizard and more of a dragon.”
That’s more appropriate. When I say that, the big lizard opens its eyes a little, and it feels like it nods. It really is a dragon, isn’t it?
“Dragon! Now that’s dreamy. I see, Tatsuki is a dragon…”
Katsuragi sounds really happy. I guess it’s cooler to have a dragon as a pet than a big lizard.
“In that case, your chickens are like cockatrices!”
“Cockatrices…”
Those big chicken monsters? I feel like I’ve seen somewhere that they turn you into stone if you look at them, but an iffy expression forms on my face.
“Ah, sorry. I just like fantasy stuff so…”
“No, they really are like cockatrices. They even have lizard tails. And it feels like they’re going to get even bigger…”
Living on a mountain means food for the chickens won’t be a problem. I get the feeling that they make a distinction between what’s harmful to the mountain and what’s not. For example, they don’t eat worms, but are eating grasshoppers.
“What do you feed it?”
I ask, and Katsuragi looks away.
“Hum… It eats everything. That’s why it’s strange that it’s not attacking your chickens…”
She says very reluctantly.
“Excuse me, but would it normally attack?”
“It does attack and eat things like large birds…”
Uwah, savage.
“Come to think of it, the area around my place is full of pit vipers. How is it with you?”
“Well… It usually catches and eats them…”
Dragons are scary.
“What about boars…”
“I’ve only seen one, but it ran before Tatsuki could attack. I do see deer, because the mountain itself is a gentle slope… And Tatsuki eats them.”
Uwaaah. The dragon is really scary.
“…That’s incredible.”
“Tatsuki, next time you catch a deer, bring it to me. We’ll all eat it together.”
Says Katsuragi, and the dragon opens its eyes slightly, and again, looks like it’s nodding. My eyes stare in the distance. Does it understand human speech like my chickens?
Katsuragi’s mountain is a little taller than mine, but after a steep way down, it has a lot of parts that are gentle like hills.
She also has a house on the mountainside.
We exchange Line contacts, and say goodbye.
Now that I’ve met her, I’m really curious to see who’s living on the mountain to the west.
“Pops, about my western neighbor…”
“Hn… I’m pretty sure it’s a man. I haven’t seen him too much, but I heard he rides around in a mini truck with a long haired woman.
A normie? Go explode.
“…I see.”
I don’t want to see couples for the time being.
But such encounters come when you least expect them, and sure enough, a few days later, I would meet my western mountain neighbor.
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