A Super-Huge, Delicious Watermelon
Jiyu and Yumi's greenhouse adventure was far from over. If anything, it was only just beginning.
Maru stayed behind, busily packing the strawberries the two girls had picked into boxes, while Hana took Jiyu and Yumi by the hands and led them on. They passed the greenhouse bursting with strawberries and stepped into another one entirely.
Hana wore an impish little smile, the look of someone about to unveil a secret.
"This is a crop I've been growing lately! I haven't even shown the staff. You two are the very first!"
"What is it, what is it?"
Jiyu bounced on her toes, hands clasped tight, practically vibrating with curiosity. Yumi, still riding the high of the strawberries she'd just eaten, hung on every word, heart thumping as she tried to settle herself and wait. At last Hana opened the door and showed them what lay inside.
"Whoa!"
"Wooooow..."
Both of them gasped. Watermelons hung in heavy clusters all through the greenhouse. They were so enormous that, with only a little exaggeration, each one was the size of Hana herself, and there seemed to be hundreds of them. The idea that she had grown all of this alone simply didn't make sense.
An ordinary farmer might have managed a crop like that, but Hana was still a little kid. With a body like hers, lifting even one of those melons ought to have been a struggle, and if she ducked behind one, she would vanish completely.
"This is Hana Watermelon Number One!"
Grunting with the effort, Hana hoisted a melon up. Deep green, striped with vivid black, it looked genuinely delicious. You didn't even need to thump it. On looks alone, it was special SSS-grade.
Jiyu scampered over, delighted, and rapped the rind with her knuckles. The sound that came back was crystal clear—clearer than the bright tap of a temple woodblock. Yumi stared, aghast. The only one among them with a fully ordinary sense of scale, she simply could not believe the size or the color.
"What kind of watermelon is this...? It's practically the size of a car tire!"
Hana set the heavy melon down, and it landed with a thud that seemed to hum through the ground. Moving them was clearly more than her strength could comfortably manage, and once you counted how many were hanging inside, dealing with the whole crop would be a job in itself.
Of course, there were plenty of people who would happily take them off her hands. Hand them out to the staff and they'd be gone in a day.
The staff had wondered, more than once, whether the crops Hana grew ought to be sold. That thought died the moment they learned just how much water and fertilizer laced with her hair she poured over them. It was her own hair, so no one could really object to her using it. Selling the harvest was another matter. The strawberries alone would have to go for dozens of dollars apiece—not per pack, per single berry. A single strand of Hana's hair was worth that much. As for the watermelons, even allowing for a little exaggeration, they figured you'd barely break even selling one for a thousand dollars. The staff hadn't tasted them yet. They only knew that Hana was growing them.
"Maru!!!"
Hana shouted. The instant Maru heard her, she came running, sweating, terrified Hana had fallen and hurt herself or that something had gone wrong.
"Hm? What's wrong, Hana?"
"Cut us just one of these watermelons so we can eat it!"
Hana pointed at one of the giant melons. Maru nodded at once and said of course. She'd known Hana was growing watermelons, but she had never tasted one herself, and she was intensely curious what it would be like. If Hana had grown it, the flavor was guaranteed no questions asked. She just didn't know what that flavor would be.
Maru fetched a knife, set the melon on a platter, and cut it into generous slices. Despite its looks, it wasn't hard at all. A few easy strokes and it parted like jelly.
"Wow!"
"Ooooh!"
Jiyu and Yumi cried out at the sight of the cut melon. Whether because Hana had grown it or because it had always been this way, there wasn't a single seed—only glowing red flesh waiting to greet them.
They lifted big slices for a first taste. Even Hana, trying this watermelon for the first time, was dying to know how it would be. It was bound to be good, but she couldn't begin to imagine the flavor.
"It looks insanely good, Hana!"
Jiyu hoisted her slice as she said it. No seeds meant you could just eat, the sort of watermelon even people who hated seeds would love. Plenty of people found seeds a nuisance, after all.
"Nom!"
They took huge bites, and their eyes went wide. They had never had a watermelon like this.
"Wow, Hana, this is seriously delicious! I think it's right up there with the strawberries we had earlier!"
Jiyu kept flashing thumbs-ups, ready to lick the rind clean. Every chew flooded her mouth with sweetness, like eating a bowl of chilled watermelon punch—the kind of sweetness you got from heaping sugar over an ordinary melon. Yumi wasn't usually much of an eater, but right now she was putting it away as if begging everyone to forget that reputation. Anyone who knew the old Yumi would never have imagined her eating like this.
"Maru, you try some too!"
Hana held out a slice to Maru, who was still cutting. The melon was so big she hadn't finished yet, and she was also keeping the knife out of the children's sight for safety. Heart pounding, Maru accepted the piece from Hana.
Hana turned out so many delicious things that this watermelon was unlikely to disappoint. The strawberries were already exploding in popularity; Maru couldn't even guess how popular the watermelons would be. And it was summer now, peak watermelon season. She was certain the demand for cold watermelon in the heat would go through the roof.
"Say ahh, Maru!"
Hana popped a bite straight into her mouth. Maru managed a big mouthful, and she had barely started chewing before she had no choice but to be astonished. Just as she'd expected, the flavor was anything but ordinary. A watermelon this sweet and this refreshing probably didn't exist anywhere else in the world.
Still, Maru had eaten so many of Hana's delicious creations that she had built up a certain resistance—an immunity, you might say. She didn't make a fuss, but she had to speak her honest mind.
"This is really delicious, Hana!"
She said it from the heart. Hearing it, Hana preened, nose high in the air. The plants she grew really were something else. Beside her, Jiyu and Yumi were devouring watermelon without a thought in their heads. It was impossible to tell whether they had come to farm or to feast.
Once the watermelon was gone, Jiyu and Yumi flopped onto the low wooden platform set up beside the greenhouse. Their bellies were round and tight, and the melon had been that satisfying. Watching them rest, Hana wore a contented smile—brighter than any she'd worn before, perhaps because her little try-this, try-this had worked.
"Hey, you two—want to take a watermelon home?"
Maru asked. Both of them shot upright and nodded. Their families ought to try it too, they said. A breeze drifted through, the weather and the temperature just right, and before long Jiyu and Yumi had drifted off to sleep.
Hana was sleepy as well, her head bobbing as she lost the fight to stay upright. Maru carefully lifted her and laid her down, then brought pillows and tucked one beneath each of their heads—Jiyu, Yumi, and Hana. Maru herself wasn't tired, so she sat on the platform to keep watch and pulled out her phone. An hour or two of solid sleep ought to be enough.
Even after that, it was only one in the afternoon, leaving plenty of time to play back at the building. From what she'd heard, they only needed to be home by seven. So Maru jotted a few things on her phone and put it away again.
The strawberries were already packed, but taking watermelons along would need a little preparation. They had to go in the trunk. While the children slept, Maru set to work at a brisk pace. Once they woke she would have to look after them, so now was her chance.
She got up and hauled watermelons with everything she had. Even for her, a grown woman, the weight was enough to leave her straining.