501 Twenty-fourth Day of the Yellow Moon • - Vows

When I came home to Fa, it was only fitting that the sun was about to set at the end of the west, where half of it was.

After finishing the interview for tomorrow, we were going to go through each family's pantry and work on placing name tags on the shelves and pots of ingredients. Today alone we could finish the work at the main house of Fou, Gaz, Ratz and Din, so after tomorrow we were supposed to have a hand in spreading that to the branches and family.

"Hey, what a rushed day."

It has been such a busy day that such solitude popped up.

Anyway, in the morning, he participated in the market in Inn Town. Besides, Gaz and Ratz are such distant houses that it was quite a rare story that I would move around so much.

Big yawning on your table, then descending into the earth, I knock on the doorboard of the house.

The lights are leaking out the window, so it was known that Ai-Fa was at home.

"It's Asta. I'm home."

"Mm-hmm. Soon, we'll be finishing dinner."

To the doorboard, I can hear Ai-Fa.

I smiled sneakingly as I thanked the woods for Ey-Fa's safety.

"I'm going to bring some of the ingredients I've finished down to the cabin, so just give me a minute."

After I heard back from Ai-Fa, "um," I moved to Kamadu's cabin with Gill.

Dry pasta, curry ingredients, and wooden boxes of giva meat cut into them will be stored in the pantry. Then, when I peeked at Kama all the time, I felt like there was still a lot of enthusiasm there.

I guess everything was done on this occasion except for the last finish because there is no one left in the house.

Imagining Ey-Fa cooking alone made me feel somewhat grumpy and happy.

It was Ai-Fa who made the dishes for me and only for me.

Even when I fell ill, I-Fa had asked the Tour-dins to cook. So it seemed to me that I was going to mouth the Ai-Fa dishes - really, since the first night we met.

(Long ago, he used to help me prepare for the feast, but lately, he only got his hands on about carrying luggage. Maybe baking Poitan was your first challenge?

Sarris Run-Fou worried that it might be a very unproductive dish, but I didn't care about any of it. Even if the Giva meat is black burnt or the Poitan is raw, it's the dish Ey-Fa served me. Before that sense of happiness, culinary completeness was secondary.

(... I've been cooking meat since before I met you, so is that rude to underestimate?)

When I closed the doorboard, I decided to go home.

Release Gill from the luggage car on the way and head to the front door with the reins.

When I knocked again and then opened the doorboard, Brave, who was grabbing Giva's femur, looked up at us from the earth.

Gill gets round across the street and I take off my leather sandals.

Ai-Fa was in the upper seat, waiting for me in the usual vagaries.

"It's been a long day. Now that you're done with dinner, sit down."

"Yeah. Good luck with the ai-fa too"

I lay my hips down on the front of I-Fa.

There were plenty of wood plates lined up between us.

But before that, it's a birthday ritual.

When I sat down, Ai-Fa said the word with a rough look and tone.

"I hereby congratulate my family Asta on her eighteenth birthday. I hope that I will continue to live a healthy life as a person who is not ashamed of Mr. Fa"

"Yes, as a family of Fa, I will send a shameless raw to Mother Forest"

I tried to return the words I learned at Limi-Lew's birthday party.

Ai-Fa nods "um," then bypasses the dishes of cooking and comes closer to me.

"I offer blessing flowers. As always, you must follow the path you believed to be right."

"Yeah, thanks"

Mizola flowers with really fine petals were embellished on my chest.

It is the same yellow Mizola flower that Sin-Luu once gave to Lara-Luu.

"Well, let's say we start a celebratory dinner"

Following the words of I-Fa, I chanted the pre meal wording.

It's also my first experience to only incorporate the name of Ai-Fa there. As I chewed on the joy, I slowly glanced at the words.

"Okay, I'll take it. That's a very sumptuous dinner."

"It's a celebratory dinner."

In the meantime, it just seems like this number of items is a big deal.

The main dish is a dish, the soup is a dish, plus a large amount of stir-fried meat vegetables, a raw vegetable salad, and a line up of baked potatoes.

The main course was, naturally, hamburger.

It is, of course, the first time that I-Fa has been able to rub a hamburger.

But for now, the appearance was impeccable, and the solid baking colors seemed really delicious.

Moreover, the hamburger is hung with a reddish brown sauce, accompanied even by a roasted chatch and nenon. The finish is as if I reproduced the hamburger I usually make.

"Wow. Did I really make this by myself?

"... if I don't make it alone, it doesn't make sense to have other humans? Eat before it gets cold."

"Yeah. I'll take that, then"

I decided to take the wooden dish and get it from that hamburger.

The more I look at it, the better the finish. The aroma of sauce based on gravy and fruit liquor also stimulated my hunger and well-being at the same time.

I use a wooden spoon to cut meat from mouth to mouth.

Then the cream-colored cheese flooded with thickness.

This was cheese in gibberberg.

"Shh, that's amazing. Honestly, I didn't think I could make this far all by myself."

"... I thought you should cook what I think tastes best. It looks good, though."

I carried a cheese-covered paté into my mouth, watched by a solemnly faced Ai-Fa.

I guess this is the last dish I finished. Both gravy and melted cheese overflowing from the patties kept enough heat.

Pate even uses properly minced aria, which loosens up in her mouth.

The way the heat came in, the addition or subtraction of salt and pico leaves, and the finish of the sweet and aromatic sauce were all twelve minutes complete.

"Yeah, it's delicious. It was so delicious, I was surprised."

"... don't you think that's too much to say?

"That's not true. It's hard to believe I made this all by myself."

"Well," Ai-Fa smiled for the first time.

He is a very happy, very attractive smile.

"I don't think you can make it that far, but let's believe you're not supposed to be lying."

"Because it's true. I didn't mean to cook Ai-Fa from the start, but that's why I didn't mean to exaggerate, either, is it?

"Well, you're not supposed to allow compromise when it comes to cooking."

Ai-Fa did her hand to her chest and breathed much smaller.

"I put my best effort into that Hanba-gu, so I'd be happy if you thought it was delicious.... I think I'm losing power from my hands and feet."

"I'm glad to hear it. Thank you so much, Ai-Fa."

"Um," Ai-Fa narrowed her eyes.

Just looking at that happy look made me feel so happy, too.

"But really, you've cooked so much. I guess you didn't even ask someone to give you a lift, did you?

"Let's see. You look good. I've seen you make it so many times."

"Wow. I'm not ashamed to put it anywhere."

With a very sweet feeling of happiness, I took up my next plate.

It is a juicy dish, giva soup. It was tau oil tailored because of its aroma and colour, and the ingredients also used Aria, Chacchi and Nennon, as well as Ma Guigo and Shima.

The stock is well sourced from giva meat and vegetables, and there are no deficiencies in the taste of tau oil. When I was in Satoimo, I wondered if the texture of Shima was slightly hardened when I was in Daikon with Ma Guigo, and that wasn't enough to raise my dissatisfaction either.

(Mostly, this should be the first time Ai-Fa uses Ma Guigo or Shima. So this finish is more than enough)

It was a wonderful finish when I refreshed this feeling of well-being that filled my chest. If you compare the excerpts to others knowingly, you won't be inferior to the Fou and Lan ladies who are handy from me.

And the raw vegetable salad was a short cut of Shima and Guigo.

The shape is a lot less dressed, but that doesn't make the flavor go away. A dip of crushed dried kiki soothed with tau oil also had a rustic and relieving taste.

"Really, it's delicious to eat any of them. I'm guessing Ai-Fa was originally clever with her fingertips and talented as Kamado's number."

With that said, I got my hands on the last dish.

It is also a meat and vegetable stir-fry made with various ingredients.

I guess the dish of celebration meant that I used ingredients at all costs. It was even used for Aria, Nenon, Pra, Ma Pra, Rohyoy, Pepe and Bunasimedimodoki.

"Hmm. This looks delicious too"

I put that dish in my mouth with plenty of wood spoons.

Really, the unspoken taste spread through my mouth.

The softness of the tau oil and the sourness of the mammalian vinegar are tremendous.

Now, the sweetness of the sugar was also remarkable.

Those fragmented flavors supported you, creating an incredible harmony - and so on - without the Varcus twitching magic working, I groaned strangely.

"... after all, that was unacceptable to you"

Ai-Fa looked so sorry.

"I don't think it tastes good enough, so I added a lot of things to it, but it didn't get to a satisfactory finish. I'm sorry I let you eat something you can't."

"Yes, no, that's not true. Although it tastes very distinctive."

"So you're going to tell me that you can make no difference from other dishes?

Ai-Fa is frowning at the slice.

"Falsehood is a sin. If you can't, make it clear you can't."

"No! I'm not going to complain about the celebratory dish that Ey-Fa made for me!

"... Then why are you crying?

"This is just Mammalia's vinegar smudged in my eyes"

I chewed up the remaining pla of my core gallopingly and swallowed it dry before letting Ai-Fa laugh at me.

"But well, if I hadn't stood on Kamado in almost a year and I-Fa was that perfect, there wouldn't be any other ladies standing around, would there? So I guess that's it."

"... doesn't that mean it can't be done"

I = fa, I let my lips tuck away.

"When I'm told to go away, I feel unnecessarily serious. Speak frankly without adorning your words."

"Oh, really? Well, uh... hamburgers and soups are too great to be the same person's finish."

"... what's so frank about it"

"Give me a break about this. I'm just happy that Ai-fa made it for me."

Ai-Fa had a shaved face for a while, but eventually took the wood dish back in the way he regained his mind.

Speaking of which, I've always wanted to know how I look, and I haven't eaten a single mouth yet.

Eat a hamburger, scrape the soup, and put your mouth on stir-fried meat vegetables.

Afterwards, Ai-Fa had a bitter look on her face.

"Mm-hmm. I still can't. It makes me wonder how I can cook something so impossible."

"The stir-fry will burn the ingredients if you don't finish it quickly. It's hard to modify the flavor while making it."

"Hmm. This would be how tastier it would be to not use tau oil, sugar, vinegar, etc. Because it's a celebratory dish, and it's the result of using too many unusable ingredients."

That's how Ai-Fa smiled at the calm feeling again.

"With a little more looseness in my stomach, I could have put all this impossible stuff in my stomach and rebuilt it. It was just a hand full."

"Yeah? What happened to the hamburger?

"So just finishing up Hanba-gu's failure made my belly swell a lot. By the time I was able to finish it together, I had failed three times."

That's how I-Fa brought in the creaks and laughter.

"Still, I wanted to have a celebratory dinner together, so I couldn't even fill my stomach any more. Forgive me."

"Forgive me or nothing -" I got stuck in words.

Something hot comes up from behind my chest. She looked a little embarrassed and I couldn't wait to see Ey-Fa smiling a little sweet.

"I'll take half of this unproductive dish, so I'll manage to fit it in my stomach. Even if you can't, you can't just throw it away."

"... of course, leave it behind"

I also resumed my meal while I managed to return that many words.

It's a rare experience for me to try to make my happiness too painful.

But no matter how painful it was, it didn't make any difference that I was happy. Spending time alone with Ai-Fa, that was an irreplaceable happy moment.

When that was finally the end of a happy dinner, further joy awaited me.

After cleaning up the dishes, he left behind saying, "Wait a minute," and Ai-Fa disappeared into the storeroom.

Eventually, when he appeared again, an elongated wrap was held in Ai-Fa's hand.

"Asta, I offer this to you"

"Huh? What is it, this?

"... a birthday, a celebration."

I = fa kneel in front of me and offer me that wrap.

I was supposed to take it while I rounded my eyes.

"What's a celebration... By the woods, you only learn to offer flowers, right?

"But haven't you been offering something to celebrate every time? At first with this necklace, I have dedicated hair decorations and more to my birthday celebrations. Then I will follow your lesson."

So Ai-Fa gave him a smile as if he could not see it.

"I didn't ask for ornaments or anything, but I could still get a lot of joy. Then I wanted to give you the same pleasure. Don't complain, take it."

"Of course, I'm not complaining."

I was still half dreaming, and I had to unwrap that beautiful cloth.

From there emerged a giant cooking knife, housed in a leather sheath.

When I slowly pulled it out of my sheath, the silver light shimmered.

The blade crossing would be more than 30 cm. With a thickness and weight commensurate with its size, it was a brilliant meat cutting knife.

The pattern is also metal and a corrugated pattern is carved for anti-slip purposes. The brilliance of a sharpened body was such that it was inadvertently blinded.

"Ko, this is Jagal's meat cutter, isn't it? Where did you get this?

"Well, a cook named Jan picked it up from Castle Town."

"Ya, to Jan? The i-fa? How?

"... after you went down to the lodging town, you rented a fafafa from a nearby family member to visit that cook named Jan's working quarters. It seemed like your way of trying not to know who you were until the day you handed it over."

That's what I-Fa said, staring at my face.

"You also bought yourself a knife to cut the meat, but you would have used the knife I gave you when removing Gibba's meat from the bone, for example? That is an important figure of my father Gil, but it was originally a knife to pay off branches and cut spreading grass. I thought you deserved a knife to cut meat, and I took it back."

"Well... but this guy would have put a lot of value on it, wouldn't he?

"Hmm. But the price of the horns and fangs of Gibba that I captured was left almost untouched. I had nothing to worry about."

Ai-Fa's blue eyes stare at me in a very gentle light.

"I'd be happy if you used that knife to lump up delicious dishes. Please use it carefully."

"Oh, of course I do. Thank you, Ai-Fa....... thank you so much"

Put that stunning meat cutter in my sheath and I smiled back.

Then Ai-Fa, too, spreads his grin with increasing joy.

Soft silence flashed over the scene.

The feeling of happiness was such that I was about to get my chest stuck again.

Ey-fa is smiling all the time, staring at me like that.

"... your joy is coming through like it's about us, Asta."

Eventually, Ai-Fa said so in a whispering voice.

"You've been so happy, I'm happy too"

"... yeah"

"It's been a year since I invited you as the family of Fa's house. When I first saw you, I thought you were a bad person."

Ey-Fa's voice was whispered very small, but he was not afraid to be heard in a quiet evening.

"But you also seemed very distressed. I lost my hometown, my family, my compatriots, and it seemed more lonely than me. I guess that's why I couldn't leave you alone."

"Yeah."

"But only when, I was saved by you. I was starting to think of you as my real family. I could have believed that meeting you was the guide of the woods and that being with you was the best way to go."

"Yeah, me too, Ai-Fa"

"... I can believe that your word is true. That's my pleasure, my happiness"

Eye-Fa's eyes fluttered to the sieve.

It was thought that the cortical membrane of tears covered Ey-Fa's eyes.

"And you, not only to me, but to the people of the woods themselves, were to squeeze the power of that body. The deed bore fruit, and finally, today, it became the carriage of selling the meat of Giva in the town. There is only one human being who could have foreseen such a fate, such as the people of the woods selling the flesh of Gibba among the people of the town. Talking to Gazran-Rutim, with the help of Donda-Rou, I started doing business in the lodging town for about a year - you're finally going to do such an irreplaceable job, Asta."

"That's because of the power of everyone around the woods, starting with Ai-Fa. Besides, we're still halfway there."

"Exactly. But it doesn't change the fact that you're doing a great job. You are my pride, my joy itself."

Ai-Fa has laid her hands on the floor and embarked on even more.

An eye-fa smile, like half crying, almost approaches the tip of his nose.

"Asta, I... I only have one wish for you"

"Yeah, what is it? If it was my wish, I'd accept anything."

"It's not up to such a detraction. I'm trying to say something that's not fair at all, something I really want."

Still, it's unlikely that I can retreat from the wishes of Ai-Fa.

With that in mind, I made him stare back into Ai-Fa's eyes.

"I wish to live as a hunter. Being a non-hunter is hard to even imagine. But still..."

"Yeah."

"Still, one day - as Lyelpham-Sudra once said, a year later, five years later, ten years later - there may come a day when I think I've finished my job as a hunter. And then..."

"Yeah."

"... could you please welcome me as Asta's companion?

I was supposed to sit on the floor and feel like I was standing.

"Oh no... there's no way I'd say no, is there?

"It's not. I'm hoping to tie you up for a day I don't even know if you're really coming. I'm - I'm hoping I don't want to give you to the other ladies without being prepared to throw away my job as a hunter. Such a shallow story..."

"It's not shallow. 'Cause it's the happiest thing for me to have Ey-Fa say that to me."

Maybe I had a crying look on my face, too.

"I don't care if it's in a year or five or ten years. I'd be happy if I could be the companion of I-Fa. I'm still happy enough, but I'm happier than that."

"... I can believe you're telling the truth"

I = fa smiled and the tears that were stuck in his eyes spilled in its detachment.

I tried to soften those tears with my fingertips.

A strong warmth comes from the cheeks of Ey-Fa, who touched it slightly.

I let him give me the pinky finger of my right hand, with the urge to hold Ai-Fa in his arms.

"Ai-Fa, in my hometown, there's this kind of learning to make promises. Can you give me your finger, too?

"Hmm?" he said, tilting his pinkie, ai-fa coming out his pinkie.

At that supple fingertip, I let my little finger tease me.

"One day, when I think I've finished my hunter's work, I'll give you a wedding. Until then, I'll just wait for Ai-Fa."

"... I swear I will only love Asta from now on"

From Ai-Fa's pinky fingers comes warmth and thoughts.

We certainly shared the same happiness and joy now.

As Ai-Fa said, you can trust the other person, that is the great joy itself.

One day I = fa may decay into the woods.

One day I may disappear from this world.

We were finding supreme happiness so much that there was no room to interrupt such an unfortunate and unsaved imagination.

That's how my full year with Ai-Fa ended here.

Starting tomorrow, what days are waiting for you?

I didn't know that, but we should have been able to take another new step with hope and joy in our hearts.