The Hospitality of Yamaok Village

Now, that night.

Under a star-filled sky that sparkled like multicolored jewels, Emi sat alone and expressionless atop a wooden stage set up at the edge of the square in the center of Yamaok Village.

In the fairly spacious square, there was no one but her.

Occasionally, villagers could be seen peeking at Emi from a distance outside the square, but the moment their eyes met hers, they would immediately hide themselves and vanish.

And the stage where Emi sat.

It was spread with cloth of vertical white-and-black stripes, woven in the village, and though it was spring, it had been decorated with a great many white, chrysanthemum-like flowers brought from who knew where.

For something put together in a hurry, the decoration was remarkably elaborate.

Bonfires burned to the left and right of the stage, bathing Emi, who had been made to change into Yamaok Village's traditional garb, and the decorative flowers in orange light.

Traditional garb, yes, but it wasn't an especially odd-looking garment.

It was a white garment shaped like a one-piece dress, with a cord tied around the waist like a belt.

A mark like a cherry blossom petal was embroidered around the chest.

This was the symbol of Yamaok Village, a pattern that was always drawn somewhere on the clothes the villagers wore.

Still, for all they had in common, the clothes Emi wore were clearly whiter and more beautiful than the villagers'.

<It's probably ceremonial attire>, the voice in Emi's mind guessed.

“I've kept you waiting, haven't I.”

Now, an hour had passed since Emi had been seated on the stage and told to ‘wait here’.

The villager who finally appeared before her was an old man with a white goatee, walking with a cane.

“My name is Megatonkohsuke. I'm chief of this here Yamaok. Emi, was it? Thank you for saving one of our own. You have my gratitude.”

With that, Megatonkohsuke gave a slight bow.

Following suit, Emi bobbed a little bow back.

“I can't say whether it'll suit your taste, but tonight we've laid out the finest feast this village has to offer. I'd be glad if you liked it.”

When Megatonkohsuke then signaled with a glance, the village men began carrying several large platters onto the stage.

Laid out were one whole roast Uguuso and a colorful array of the tastes of the mountains in spring: Fukkinot, Udodon, Tarara, Kogogogomi and more.

Next to something like steamed potatoes, still giving off warm steam, Fukujaa flowers had been added as a garnish, but they were poisonous, so they were only decoration.

The men who had finished carrying the platters hurried off the stage without meeting Emi's eyes, but more than their attitude, what bothered Emi was that only one whole roast Uguuso had come out.

She'd hunted ten, hadn't she.

Where had the other nine gone?

She was deeply unhappy about it, but if she complained here and then got told ‘Oh, we were going to serve those later as another dish......’, it would be embarrassing, so for now Emi decided to keep quiet.

“Well then, take your time and enjoy yourself.”

With that, Megatonkohsuke gave another slight bow and left the village square.

“............”

Once again, Emi was left alone in the square.

<Um, what is this treatment? Isn't it awful?>

The voice in her mind began to complain again.

Ever since entering the village, she had been in a foul mood.

That was because, although the hunter Gonpeter had said he would ‘show her hospitality’, the villagers had been decidedly cold.

It was good that she had been let into the village, but Emi was soon separated from Gonpeter and pushed into an empty hut.

No villager came to greet her, and people kept sneaking glances at Emi through the window, as if she were some wild beast in a cage.

After a while, a sturdy man entered the hut and threw the ceremonial attire she was currently wearing at her.

Without giving any particular explanation, that man simply said, “Put that on, and wait,” and quickly left the hut.

After that, yet again, waiting.

For a long while she sat staring at the square of light the window cast, watching it creep slowly along with the sun.

And around the time the surroundings began to be dyed orange by the sunset, Emi was finally led out to the village square, placed upon the stage...... and then, left there for another hour.

This was in no way how one treated a benefactor.

That was what had the voice in her mind huffing and puffing and complaining, but Emi herself actually had no particular complaint about the treatment.

She had the black hair and black eyes this world loathed.

It was only natural that the villagers didn't want to come into contact with her.

Her experience of life so far had long since taught her to accept it that way.

One could also say she had given up.

“............”

On the stage in the now-deserted square, Emi grabbed one of the steamed potatoes and bit into it.

It looked like a potato, but the texture was gooey, feeling closer to a Chinese yam.

Lightly salted.

The potato's natural sweetness.

“............”

Next, she started on the wild greens, the Fukkinot among them.

The vivid spring greens coloring the table each asserted their own unique fragrance and bitterness, adding an accent to the meal.

Eat the wild greens, then eat the potato.

This sequence, was tasty.

“............”

And one must not forget the main dish, the whole roast Uguuso.

Emi lifted it, bigger than her own head, in both hands and chomped right into it.

Tasty.

Crispy bird skin.

Overflowing meat juices.

The flavor, lightly salted.

Perhaps they had used some spice handed down in the village; a fragrance like shiso filled her mouth.

Tasty.

And it was properly cooked.

Not raw.

Even the feathers had been properly plucked.

In other words, it was properly cooked meat, and tasty.

Just, tasty.

Emi crushed the bones as well, eating bari bari with abandon.

Having eaten properly cooked food for the first time in ages, Emi thought she might try eating something cooked at least once a day from now on.

◇ ◇ ◇

Not even 30 minutes after Emi started eating, she had polished off every last bit of the heaped-up dishes.

“............”

Emi was waiting.

For seconds of Uguuso to be brought out.

But still, far from bringing seconds, not one villager came near Emi, who sat with nothing to do now that her meal was over.

Once again, she was left alone.

“............”

At this point, Emi finally began to feel irritated.

I mean, she'd only gotten one Uguuso.

“............”

She took a deep breath through her nose.

Calming herself down.

At the same time, sniffing out scents.

Searching with her superhuman sense of smell for where the remaining Uguusos were.

“............”

But, it was no use.

The village was overflowing with all sorts of smells, and even Emi's nose couldn't track down where the Uguuso meat was being kept, or whether it had already been eaten.

“............”

Again, she took a deep breath.

This time, it was purely a deep breath to calm herself.

Who cared about Uguusos.

Prey like that? She could just hunt and eat plenty more of them tomorrow.

So she didn't get to eat a measly nine, so what?

Be an adult.

Be an adult, Emi.

They made you a surprisingly delicious meal, didn't they?

Isn't that enough?

Let's just offer those nine as payment for the cooking.

I'm an adult, with a generous heart.

Mentally, anyway.

Guuuuuuu......

Even as she tried to talk herself into it, her stomach was honest, and selfish.

She had only just eaten, yet it was already demanding the next meal.

True, she felt less hungry than she used to.

And yet, that only meant she “no longer got hungry just looking at humans,” and her body still craved vast amounts of food.

“............”

No helping it.

Emi stood up and looked this way and that.

Then, she set her sights on the large number of white flowers decorating the stage.

Oh well, these will do.

Emi began munching on the decorative flowers, musha musha.

The white flowers decorating the entire stage had all ended up in Emi's stomach in less than ten minutes.

But, it was still not enough.

Still not enough.

At times like this, if she'd been out in the wild, she would munch on some tree growing nearby to distract herself from the hunger, but unfortunately, she was inside the village.

She could hardly start munching on the village's houses.

“............”

Emi thought it over.

What should she do at a time like this?

“............”

And the answer came surprisingly quickly.

With one small sigh, Emi hopped down from the stage and decided to return to the hut where she had been waiting until just now.

At times like this, sleep was the answer.

When she pushed the door of the hut, it creaked, kii.

The room, lit by the moonlight streaming through the window, was empty.

She didn't know if this was normal in this village, but there was no flooring, and the earth was exposed.

......But, there were walls, and a roof.

There were no monsters around, either, to attack her in her sleep.

It had been a truly long time since she had gone to sleep in such fortunate surroundings.

Emi flopped down on the dirt and closed her eyes.

And right away, she was breathing softly in her sleep.

The sense of security from being able to sleep inside a hut loosened her vigilance and deepened her sleep.

......Deeply enough to sleep on even when someone came into the hut.

A while after Emi fell asleep, the door of the hut gave a small kii.

The one who quietly entered the hut was a big man with close-cropped hair and thick eyebrows.

It was the hunter, Gonpeter, who had brought Emi into this village and had had no contact with her since.

“......Already asleep, huh.”

Muttering softly, Gonpeter peered at Emi's face illuminated by the moonlight.

He slowly took off his jacket and placed it softly over Emi's body, as she was sleeping without even a blanket.

“......I'm sorry...... so sorry............”

And then, in a trembling voice, he whispered those words softly.

After repeating his apology several times, though no one would ever hear it, Gonpeter went out of the hut.

Then he brought his own blanket from his home, covered Emi with it, and this time, Gonpeter truly left.

Inside the hut, Emi was alone once again.

Only the sound of quiet breathing could be heard.

The night in Yamaok Village deepened quietly.

Seems there's something going on, doesn't it?

And Emi-chan is sleeping like a log, but she's let her guard down completely.

But if she hadn't let it down enough to miss someone coming into the hut, a half-asleep Emi might have taken it for an enemy attack and caused an unfortunate accident, so Gonpeter got lucky.