Chapter 147 - Unusual Messengers 2

Hotaru's POV:

Farming magic beans isn't so hard, after all. Really, it's all in the wrist action: how you sort of corkscrew the stalk out of the soil, pluck the ripe beans, and chuck the rest into a bag to be ground into flour. From what I'm told, each beanstalk can only produce a single magic bean in its lifetime, so the whole crop has to be replaced when it's harvested.

So, it's definitely a lot of work, but nowhere near as agonizing as I expected it to be.

The weather is nice, with hardly a cloud in the sky. Mud seeps between the toes of my sandals, sticking under my toenails. If I work hard, focusing on only the task at hand, I can forget about my troubles.

The other ladies like to tease me a bit, but it sure beats lying in bed moping all day…

"Your friend was a real prodigy," one of them tells me while I'm sitting in the shade, eating the sandwich Mina had made me for lunch. Adding, with a wink, "but you're not so bad either."

Hah. I guess no matter what I do, I won't be able to escape from her shadow. Even when it comes to magic bean farming.

Whatever. What's important is that I give it my best shot and do what's expected of me, to express my gratitude toward the villagers for all they've done for me. And, so I don't get beaten again.

Did Noriko enjoy this work as well? But also…

What about Lulu, and all the other Kitsuna that have lived in Stone's Throw for a hundred years or more? Could it be that they've actually been farming their entire lives, and still have these pleasant feelings?

Speaking of Lulu...I miss her already. I wonder what those Kitsuna in black robes wanted with her.

The day ends with all the farming girls taking a bath in the river—an event that I only just barely manage to slip away from, as it is exactly here that I choose to draw the line on my little adventure of trying to "fit in:" because, it should go without saying, it's one thing to see my OWN little fox self naked; but another thing, entirely, to be naked around other people!

There's no way I'll expose myself to a bunch of strangers—especially not when Mina already has such a nice bath back at home!

…

Mina's POV:

I'm just getting started on dinner when Hotaru walks in through the door.

"Oh! I forgot you're...up and about again."

She looks at me with a frown. "What's cooking? I'm starved."

Wow!

I can't believe my ears!

Hotaru's been completely bedridden these past couple of days, finally goes out to work in the fields, then walks in like nothing's out of the ordinary.

He sure is a strange one. But, I suppose I'll play along.

"So then, how'd your first day go?

"Great," she answers as she takes a seat at the counter in front of me, leaning on her elbow with—I swear—a tiny hint of a smile. "Everyone was...really helpful. Which I really didn't expect, after they beat me up so badly the other day."

"You'll get used to it, dear."

"But why is it like that?!" she yelled, then just as quickly grew calm; tilting her head down with a sorrowful look. "Before, I just figured...they all hated me."

"Hotaru-kun…" Without thinking, I'm drying off a plate, turning to stare out the kitchen window. "That's just how we do things around here—healing someone with chi is easy, so settling arguments through violence is no big deal. People will fight each other tooth and nail one day, then shake hands and be perfectly good friends the next."

Out of the corner of my eye, I seeHotaru nodding to himself.

"Uwaaa, I see! It's kind of like that trope of how tough guys become best friends after a fistfight, that you see in so many Shōnen series."

I set the plate down, turning to him.

"Your world is very different from ours, isn't it, Hotaru-kun?"

"Ah! Well, that's an understatement."

"I'd like to hear more about it, if that's okay. You talk about things I've never even heard of before, all the time, so it's got me really curious."

Hehe. Hotaru looks so nervous, right now, like she really doesn't know what to say.

"Umm...I guess I can," she said, scratching herself behind her ears. "I'll start by asking if you know what a book is, and we'll work our way up from there."

"A book?" What's that supposed to be?

"Eh?! You've really never heard of a book before?" she asked, taking a moment to quickly look around the room, her hand held up to her mouth with a contemplative stare, before continuing: "it's true, I haven't seen any during my time here, but it's still so hard to believe…"

I huffed, feeling my cheeks puff out and flush with hot blood. "Tell me already, Hotaru-kun!"

"Uhh…" she paused, like she had to think for a moment, turning her gaze from me. "It's sorta like...a scroll. Only, there's a bunch of them—bound together—all covered in writing, that's combined to tell a story."

"A story, huh?!" I could feel my tail wagging in anticipation behind me. "Like what kind?"

Teehee, what? 

I love me a good yarn, just as much as any other Kitsuna.

You should hear us gossip...

"A story can be anything you want, really," Hotaru went on to say. "It could be about stuff that's actually happened; or, a dream you've had; even a totally made-up world!" She swung her arms around in one huge, excited gesture. "There's really no limit to what stories you can write!"

"That sounds so fun!" I told him, but quickly became stumped as I thought more about it. "Still, how exactly do you do that? How is someone able to move their ideas into a book…?"

"Through the words you write, in your book."

"Words...? So then, what is a 'word?'"

"You don't even know what a WORD is?" Hotaru says, groaning as he buries his face against the counter. "Ack! I guess it makes sense, because you Kitsuna don't go to school."

Heh. Hotaru-kun looks so flustered, and it's adorable.

But now, I'm starting to feel guilty~~

…

Elsewhere, a tense scene is unfolding…

Ceres is hopping from treetop to treetop, pursuing the pair of black-hooded Yako-nin as they're walking along a trail leading out of Stone's Throw village, taking Lulu with them.

Despite her initial compliance, she'd secretly been skeptical of the pair since they'd first shown up.

'They said they were acting on orders from the matron, but was it really true?' she thought to herself. 'I know for a fact that she has bodyguards who dress exactly like these two, but that's just it—

What kind of bodyguards would travel so far away from their charge?

It didn't make sense, but she dared not make any noise until she felt she had a better grasp on the situation; that there were only just the three men working together: the two who were escorting Lulu, and the one who spoke to me. 

I sense some trickery is afoot—more than likely revolving around the outworlder, who bears a close relationship with Lulu, making her a prime target.

But towards what end?

Who are they? What are they intending?

What lengths are they willing to stoop to, in order to fulfill their goal?

Even if they are indeed working for the matron, I have already made my decision to stand against her—to swear an oath to protect Stone's Throw, above all else.

That's why…

I won't let them hurt Lulu!

FWOOSHWOOSHWOOSHWOOSH!

That sound! It's a—

…

Ceres barely swerves in time, mid flight, to avoid a flying giant shuriken that was hurtling toward her—

Coming so close that its dangerously sharp spinning blades slice the protruding hairs of her tail, in passing, just shy of meeting skin and bone, before becoming lodged into a tree with a loud crunching noise of the bark being splintered.

The evasive swerve, however, cost her a trajectory—forcing her into a plummeting roll through the canopy, before her hands managed to take hold of a branch.

Now, as she is hanging from the branch, grinning through her teeth…

She hears laughter: mocking and cruel.

"You...missed," Ceres groaned.

The laughter subsides as she looks up, seeing a black-robed figure perched upon a higher branch, glaring down at her with a single menacing, crimson red eye.

"Your reflexes are sharp, I'll give you that—for a bumpkin Yako-nin!"

As the hooded figure then broke into her wicked laughter once again, and Ceres slowly righted herself upon the branch, she realized that this wild-eyed maniac couldn't have been the same blue-eyed Yako-nin who spoke so calmly with her before…

No. This was a new, fourth member—who must have been waiting until now to strike.

However, Ceres was not easily scared.

"What do you want with the girl?" she spat, clutching her bladed fan. "You're trying to get to the outworlder through her, aren't you?"

"Moron! Is that your first guess?" snapped back the assassin. "'Cuz it's totally wrong!"

Chuckling, she raised her hand—

FWOOSHWOOSHWOOSHWOOSH!

Ceres's ears perked and she ducked beneath the flying giant shuriken, before she even saw it coming; letting out a pained yell just as it sliced through the tip of her right ear, spraying a small flick of blood, en route toward its master's waiting hand—landing, with comfortable ease, into her open grasp.

"Guess you weren't so lucky that time."

Ceres, grimacing through the pain, was already sourly imagining how cross Mina would be with her, later, for allowing herself to be hurt.

"You...bitch…!"