21-A special gift

Even after Nott and Marco's father came home, I still went to help out at their farm. Apparently, their father wasn't any good at it.

While I thinned out the growing plants, Marco was brimming with excitement as he told me about the event happening on the next full moon.

"Luminescent moss festival?" I echoed.

"Yep! It's almost time for it," Marco replied. "We never got to go before because dad was usually out on his job at this time of the year, and it would have been too dangerous with just mom and us. But this year dad's home, so we'll all be able to go."

Even if you tell me that 'it's almost time for it', this was the first time I've ever heard of the luminescent moss. Just as its name suggested, maybe it was a kind of moss that emitted light?

Marco asked, "Big brother, who will you be going with?"

"Me? Hmm...it's at night, right? It's scary walking alone at night, so I probably won't be going."

"You're not? But I've heard that it's really pretty. Just come with us, and then we'll send you home after," Nott said.

No, Nott, you're still a fifteen-year old kid yourself. I can't have you sending me home.

"I'm still a bit unfamiliar with this world, so I'll pass for now. I'll be living here for a looong time, so there's no rush. There'll be plenty more chances in the future."

"You're not going? How boring," Nott complained. "Then, I'll take you once I'm grown up. By that time, you'll be used to things here, and I'll be a man then, so I can send you home without any worries, right?"

Uh oh. Did he figure out that I was treating him like a child?

Somehow, after their father returned, Nott's changed a little. Before, he would have gotten angry and yelled at me to stop treating him like a kid.

But now he was acknowledging that he was still a child, and he gave off a stable feeling when he declared that he'd be a grownup soon. He was much closer to being an adult now than before when he'd get angry over every little thing.

Maybe he was trying to show his maturity.

Kids sure grew up fast. Now I knew how my grandma's neighbors felt when they kept cooing at me about how much I'd grown.

~

It seemed the luminescent moss festival was a popular annual event; everyone in this world participated in it.

Apparently, the luminescent moss looked like regular moss. It grew everywhere and didn't radiate light. But once a year, on a full moon night, it would release spores. Those spores were luminescent.

The luminescent moss grew plentifully in a field east of town. There, you could watch their colorful spores dancing in the air on the next full moon. All of this, Genett-san explained to me as he sincerely invited me to go and watch it myself.

I asked, "Are there going to be food stands? Will it be a bustling and lively event like the eating contest?"

If it was like the night fairs of Japanese festivals, then that sounded fun. I remember that I used to go to them with my school friends every year.

Takoyaki, ikayaki, yakisoba, crepes, shaved ice !!

My favorite festival activity was goldfish scooping and every year I would always challenge it, but no matter how much I tried, I could never get even a single goldfish.

Just thinking about the smell of takoyaki's savory sauce made me want to eat some. Unfortunately, I hadn't seen a lot of seafood ever since I came here.

The region where I lived was surrounded by mountains, so there was no way to transport fresh fish from the coast. I did see dried fish being sold, though. But more importantly, I didn't even know if octopi existed here.

And I didn't think there was any takoyaki sauce available either.

"No, no. This festival is something you quietly enjoy. You watch the floating spores snuggled up with your family or lover," Genett-san said. "It's beautiful, y'know. I used to watch it with my wife and kids back when I was younger. It's quite romantic, so lots of people choose to propose then."

A proposal, huh...... Suddenly, the image of Couge's panicked face back when we were at Norn's workplace floated in my mind. Was Couge thinking of proposing to Norn at the festival too?

Apparently they'd promised to marry each other a long time ago, but they hadn't really made things formal. So I was sure that was exactly what was going to happen.

Uwah, how nerve-wracking!!

I knew that it was going to be successful, but even I, as an outsider, felt nervous just imagining it.

I'll try going to Couge's restaurant tomorrow to help out and ask him about it then.

The next day, I was so excited that I ended up waking early. After loading up the usual vegetables on Genett-san's wagon, I left for Couge's restaurant.

"Welcome, please sit anywhere you like!!"

"Oh, Shinobu's here today."

I sometimes came over to help out at Couge's restaurant, so the regulars were all familiar with me, and they would greet me every time.

The concept of service water that I'd started was really popular, so the restaurant kept it going.

When Couge was alone in the restaurant, he would bring out a huge water jug and set down some empty glasses beside it for self-service. But when I was here, I would serve the water myself.

The restaurant now had an established customer base. It opened at 11 am, but some customers would even line up ten minutes before opening time to avoid the crowd. It was a wonderful development for the business.

"Three sandwiches please."

"Thank you very much!!"

"I'll take four of them."

"Yes, please wait a moment!"

We'd started selling the sandwiches as takeout lunch, but the fact that you could easily eat it with your hands, and that you didn't need any plates since it was wrapped in a leaf, made it popular even with the dining customers. A lot of them would buy it as a snack.

Couge was overwhelmed and delighted every time large orders of sandwiches came—which happened often. He always bought the sandwich bread by bulk from the bakery next door, and that, in turn, drove the bakery's proceeds up. So the proprietor was really grateful to him and said that if Couge had any requests, he would happily cooperate in creating new products.

That was how the bakery began producing hamburger buns and hotdog buns for the restaurant, and their repertoire kept increasing.

The baker uncle had even asked me to teach him how to make some other things. But when I tried to teach him how to make pirozhki and other kinds of stuffed bread, he disheartenedly told me that despite baking being his strong suit, he couldn't cook.

So he and Couge decided to collaborate, with the baker making the bread and Couge making the fillings. And now Couge was even busier.

Correspondingly, sales skyrocketed. I was sure that now Couge had enough money to buy matching accessories to propose to Norn with.

The Chef's Special menu and the sandwiches were all sold out in two hours. After we cleaned up, Couge made us some tea.

He was just taking a little rest before he had to start preparing for tomorrow. But despite being so busy, Couge still had a smile on his face as he worked.

Obviously, he was happy to be busy rather than go back to the days when his place had no customers at all.

As I drank the tea, I finally remembered my original purpose in coming here today.

Due to the upcoming luminescent moss festival three weeks from now, there was a palpable sense of excitement everywhere in town.

Such an important annual romantic event, it was like Christmas in my original world.

I'd never had a girlfriend, so I'd spent my Christmases going to karaoke with my friends. But some of them who had girlfriends were always busy trying to think up the perfect present so that they could lose their virginity.

"So the time has come for Couge to propose......"

Couge did a spittake. "Bpffftt! Shinobu, how did you know...!"

Oops, looks like I accidentally spoke my thoughts out loud.

Couge wiped at his mouth, red-faced.

I snickered at him. "Genett-san told me that a lot of people proposed during the luminescent moss festival. And didn't you say that you were seriously thinking about taking the next step with Norn? I just put two and two together. So, what are you getting him?"

"I'm not sure yet. I was thinking of bracelets, but it would get in the way of cooking, so... Shinobu, you told me your world also has something similar. What kinds of things do you wear?"

"In my world, rings are typically exchanged between a couple, and they would wear them on the ring finger of their left hand. If I remember correctly, it's because it's said that there's a vein in your left ring finger that ran directly to the heart, so it symbolizes being forever connected to your partner's heart."

I'd heard about it from the girls in class who would talk about such things whenever Christmas was coming, so it was probably true.

"Ohhh, the people in the other world are quite romantic. I want to buy something that's meaningful, too."

"Meaningful, huh. That's a bit difficult."

Two men sat facing each other and started thinking hard. But having no romantic bone in my body, I couldn't think of a single good idea.

"What if you buy something that Norn likes?" I suggested.

"Something that Norn likes? Like ravi meat?"

"No, of course not. Then it would disappear once he eats it."

When I imagined Couge getting down on one knee with a grilled ravi skewer in hand, I couldn't help bursting into laughter.

It would certainly be impressive, in an entirely different way. But seriously speaking, this would be a once in a lifetime event, so we had to make sure everything was perfect.

"If ornaments worn on the hands and arms are no good, then what about earrings or necklaces?"

"What are earrings?" Couge asked.

"They're accessories you wear on your ears. You pierce a hole into your earlobe, then insert a needle through that hole. One end of the needle is decorated with a small gem."

"Pierce a hole into your earlobe?! You guys do such scary things?!" Couge covered both of his ears and shivered.

I'd always thought they were painful too, so I'd never wanted to try them either.

"So we're left with necklaces, then."

"We have those. But wouldn't just a length of chain be too sad?"

"Then just add a pendant to it."

"What's that?"

Apparently, though this world had necklaces, rather than accessories, they were more like bands of precious metal. Wearing them was like walking around with your wealth.

So everyone here hung long and thick chains of metal around their necks.

When porters on long trips lost their money, they would cut up their necklace and sell the pieces off.

I explained, "You attach a jewel or something to a slender piece of chain. My older cousin's necklace had a small metal plate, with her partner's name engraved on it."

She'd also had English words of love or something engraved on it, but being bad at English myself, I had no idea what was written there.

"I could do that."

Couge seemed interested in my idea about the necklace.

He found a piece of paper and pestered me into drawing how it looked. I wasn't any good at drawing though.

"It's a small plate, so if you engrave your full names, you won't be able to write anything else," I said. "If we used letters from my world, your names would start with 'N' and 'K'. Maybe just engrave those? Then you can add a short vow of love."

"A vow of love... Okay, I'll think of something."

It'd be good if only the two of them knew their vow of love. That way, it'd be something special that they shared.

Once that was decided, Couge's expression relaxed. He quickly went to a craftsman acquaintance, told him about the design of the necklace and asked for a rush order.

"Good luck, Couge. I'll be praying for your success."

"Thanks."

I firmly shook Couge's hand before leaving.

I was perfectly sure that Norn would accept, but despite knowing that, I was still nervous.

Because that day would become special and important to the both of them.

How nice. Now I wanted a lover of my own too.