16-A world with no babies

Norn said, "You know that this world only has a few children in it, right Shinobu? All of the children here are over the age of ten. There are no babies."

"That reminds me, I've never once seen a baby ever since I came here. But is it even possible for a world not to have a single baby?" I asked.

I'd seen young couples who looked like newlyweds, so there's no way the reason is that they weren't going to marry so they couldn't have children, right?

"I don't know when it started, but in this world, women have a hard time getting pregnant. Back then, someone investigated the matter. That, someone, had a mysterious power: he could talk to animals. He'd heard from the animals who lived in the mountains that when mating season drew near, they ate a lot of a certain fruit. That's how he discovered a plant which bore fruits that could raise the chances of pregnancy."

"That person, was he Firks-sama's ancestor?"

"That's right. However, humans couldn't eat that fruit as it was poisonous to us. So that person brought home the seeds of that plant, and through his research, created the breed that we now call the tree of life. He'd removed the poisonous components and increased the efficacy of the fruits by a lot.

From then on, that researcher's family built stone walls to protect the trees of life and managed them. They gave the fruits to couples who've been married for over three years and wanted to have a child.

Since the number of fruits were limited, and to prevent any abuses like tricking women into eating the fruit, then impregnating every single one of them and forcing them to get married, the distribution of the fruits was heavily regulated.

The couple will need to visit the management office where I work to confirm their consent. Only then will the woman be able to receive the fruit, and she has to eat it on the spot. That was how we were able to survive into the present. Until ten years ago, when the trees of life suddenly started withering, and their fruits stopped growing.

Those trees with yellowing leaves that you saw near the south entrance into town are the trees of life. It started with a single tree. Then it slowly spread until, one day, right before harvest, all the fruits fell off.

We didn't know if it was because of a disease or lack of nutrients. We changed the water, the soil, and even the fertilizer, but nothing changed. Even now, we don't know the cause.

We thought of just cutting down the withered trees, but the new trees that grew after the sudden change, even when they bore fruits, were all seedless.

Since the trees were all offshoots from a single tree, their roots are all connected.

We were afraid of injuring the roots and placing more burden on the trees, so we didn't employ more measures.

The result is that we've had no fruits, and thus, no babies born in the past ten years."

Now I knew why this world treasured children.

Because there were no new babies being born, everyone cherished all the existing children and protected them

And the reason all the adults carried around candy and gave them to children was because they didn't want the children to go hungry and hoped they would grow safely.

Norn continued, "Everyone thought that it would be the end of us. At that moment, the gate connecting to your world appeared.

It took five years before safety was ascertained, but when the passage through the gate finally became possible, it was like we'd seen our first ray of hope.

As a test, we encouraged people to move here so we could ask for their opinions on the environment, and we'd adjust as needed. Then we planned to invite women from your world, since they could become pregnant without needing to eat the fruit from a tree of life.

We formalized the invitation to immigrate, created the place where we welcomed newcomers, and if we were lucky, we'd be able to avoid our extinction.

The gate was this world's last hope.

For the plan to be successful, young men like me were tasked to be the ones to welcome immigrants to increase the chances of women from your world integrating into ours.

I'm the youngest in the office, so I was selected. It was my duty to collect information and arrange things so that it would be more desirable for otherworlders to stay.

That's how we met."

I see, so it was like the marriage hunting activities that depopulated rural towns sometimes held.

And the reason Norn was always enthusiastically taking down notes whenever we spoke was so he could make it easier for people from my world to stay here.

"However, the gate started to fluctuate. At first, we thought it was just a one-time thing. That after some time, it'd stabilize.

Besides, we wanted to avoid the possibility of travel between worlds being closed down at all costs.

I've said this earlier, but once travel is restricted, it's unknown when it'll be lifted. If the restriction were only for a decade, it would be fine. But if it took fifty years, or even a century...

We didn't have that kind of time.

The higher-ups decided to hide the matter. I only learned about it when the instability became obvious, and we could no longer communicate with your world.

They ordered me to keep it a secret from you. They said it wasn't certain yet that the gate would disappear, so we couldn't have you unnecessarily panicking over what might end up as nothing.

But it was a mistake to heed that order. If I'd informed you of what was happening then, even though the chances were low, you could've made it to the other side. At the very least, you wouldn't have been blindsided by the gate's disappearance. I would've been able to give you time to mentally prepare yourself.

For our own convenience, we took your home from you. For that, I am truly sorry."

It was a lottery that had brought me to this world. For something that I jumped on just so I could live because I only had 1,100 yen in my pocket, to be the hope for the continuation of their race...

Wasn't it a mistake for it to be me who came to this world?

It would've been better if it had been a doctor, a botanist, or some other expert who came.

I said, "I'm sorry, too. It would've been better if someone more mature and useful than me had come."

Norn immediately denied my words. "That's not true! In the first place, we shouldn't have sought the solution to our problem from another world. We should've poured all our efforts into solving the problem ourselves.

Firks-sama once said that it might be the natural end of our kind. If we were to really die out, it could only be the work of fate.

Of course, we haven't given up. That's why Firks-sama has been traveling all over trying to find something that could replace the trees of life. He hasn't been successful, but he might find it on his next trip. I plan to give it my all as well, despite my poor ability."

So Firks-sama was going to leave for a trip once more. I guess as Firks-sama's knight, Krish-san would be going with him.

I was a little disappointed. I'd been hoping to get to know him better.

"I wish I could do something to help," I remarked.

"I'm grateful that you would say that despite the awful things we've done to you, Shinobu."

Norn's expression softened, as if he was relieved that the long conversation was finally over.

"Oh, that's right. Is it alright for me to keep living in this house?"

Since the plan to entice people to immigrate now became void with the gate disappearing, I was now kinda useless.

Norn assured me, "Of course. This is already your home. I was told to listen to any requests you may have. I don't think this is enough to make up for what we've done, but in any case, please don't hold back and tell me if you need anything."

Even if you say that... there wasn't really anything I wanted.

There were times when I wished I could eat some ice cream, but in this world of everlasting summer, there was no ice. Besides, Norn wouldn't know what an ice cream even was.

"Hmmm, I can't really think of anything."

"Then if you think of something, please tell me anytime."

I couldn't believe the story went from my homecoming to becoming something grand like the continuation of an entire race. I suddenly felt very tired.

Plus, I hadn't eaten anything last night, and I only ate a piece of candy today and drank some hot milk. It must be the hunger talking.

We should eat something to celebrate our friendship being mended.

"Hey Norn, aren't you hungry? I'll treat you to the best meal!"

"The best meal? I look forward to it. Truthfully, I couldn't swallow down my food last night. Now that I'm relieved that you've forgiven me, I suddenly feel hungry."

I'm really sorry. I never wanted you to fret that much.

Now I really needed to let him eat something delicious.

I took out the bin of rice that I'd hulled yesterday from the cupboard.

We'll eat some freshly cooked rice and cheer up. With the freshly pickled cucumbers that I'd made yesterday as a side dish, some egg over rice would be just right. Too bad I didn't have any soy sauce; that would've made it perfect.

Norn suddenly jumped up from his seat and hid behind his chair as though it would shield him and, looking shocked, exclaimed, "Sh-Shinobu, what is that?!"

I blinked. "This? It's rice."

Why was he all crouched and tense, as if he was ready to run?

When I took a step closer with the rice bin in my hands, Norn let out a gasp and backed away and into the wall. Really now, what on earth was wrong with him?

"P-pardon me, but, you don't mean that we're going to eat that, right?"

"? Of course we are. I'll have to thoroughly wash it first before I cook it with water, though."

Norn paled. "Th-that looks like insect eggs to me, are we really going to eat them?!"

"Huh?"

I looked down to the bin in my hands. It was full of tiny, slender, white grains.

Well, I couldn't deny that they looked somewhat like insect eggs from afar, but......

Ah, that's right. These people didn't eat rice.

I explained, "Ehm, this is called rice. It's a staple food of the Japanese. By chance, I saw them being sold at the market after that eating contest. Don't worry, they're not insect eggs, they're what's inside the seeds of a certain plant, okay?"

"At the market? I've never seen anything like that though."

"Wait here."

I had to show him what they looked like with the husk on. I'm sure he'd seen it before; after all, it was something sold normally at the market.

"This is what it looks like before the husk is stripped off."

"......!! Isn't this animal feed?!"

It seemed he was even more shocked now that he'd seen what rice looked like before hulling. Aww, but it was so delicious...

Well, there was nothing to be done with the difference in eating habits. Even I had times when I was shocked by something a fellow Japanese was eating.

Thankfully, I'd yet to encounter food from this world that shocked me.

Oh wait, I have: Pyonkichi. I'd identified him as a pet rabbit, but here it was a popular food ingredient, and Norn's favorite meat.

I'd seen a lot of ravi meat being sold at the market, but no matter how much they recommended it to me, just the thought of Pyonkichi made me unable to stomach the idea.

Thinking of that, I definitely couldn't force someone to eat something. They'd be too pitiful.

"I'll cook it first. You can then see if you're willing to try and eat it. If you really don't want to put it in your mouth, I have some bread here that I can make into a sandwich for you. That one will have ingredients that you're familiar with, alright?"

I urged the still-pale Norn to return to his seat and left the room to wash the rice.

Hmmm, first set the flame to medium heat, then lower it once it boiled, wasn't it? It'd been a while since I've had some rice so I was really excited. I wished I had some umeboshi, or dried anchovies, or seasoned nori.

Or maybe something like instant miso soup. I wish I'd brought some of those with me.

Couldn't be helped. It never popped into my head to bring those kinds of things with me back when I was preparing to move here.

Once the water was bubbling, the indescribably fragrant smell of rice wafted in the air. This was it. This was what I'd been missing. There was really nothing better than rice for a Japanese.

The smell lured Norn in and he came up behind me to peek at the pot. Unfortunately for him, now wasn't the time to open the lid.

He looked on as bubbles escaped from the edges of the lid, full of curiosity. I guess as the fiance of someone who ran a restaurant, he was sensitive to all things food.

"Just wait a little bit more," I told him.

Even after being cooked, though it expanded, rice basically maintained the same form. Norn might pale again if he saw it, so I started preparing a sandwich.

This one had familiar ingredients, so Norn joyfully lent his help. He seemed to like the smoked meat, so I told him how to make it. He was surprised and exclaimed, "So there's that kind of cooking method! The other world's food culture is amazing!"

It'd be great if he were as enthusiastic about rice as he was of this.

As expected, Norn looked repulsed once he saw the moist, well-cooked rice. It was as if he was looking at a ghost, his face spasming as he grew more and more afraid of it.

I told him he didn't have to force himself to eat it, but he said it was his duty to learn more about my world so he would bravely eat it.

I served the well-seasoned pickled cucumbers on a plate and set it and the sandwich on the table. Then I gripped my fork, my face set in resolve.

The moment that I had a bite of my long-awaited rice, my expression crumbled into a silly grin.

It was soft and chewy, with a faint sweetness to it. The inside of my mouth was joyfully exclaiming, 'This is what I've been wanting to eat!'

When he saw the look on my face, Norn squeezed his eyes shut, scooped a small amount of rice and put it into his mouth. As soon as it hit his tongue, he made a bemused face.

"How unexpected. It's delicious. It has a different flavor than bread, but it goes really well with the pickled cucumbers. Though it looks like that..."

With a face of incomprehension at this gap between look and taste, Norn continued stuffing his mouth with rice and pickles. I couldn't help but smile.

Next time, I was gonna buy five kilos of rice.