The Magic of Fried Chicken
Once the last of the fireworks had burned out, nothing remained but the black night sky. There had been far too much chicken and pizza for me to finish on my own, so plenty was left over. Maru had eaten beside me, but one grown woman and one child still couldn't polish off a whole chicken and an entire pizza. Even my old self would have struggled to eat that much alone.
Most people are full after a single chicken, after all. I was still sitting on the mat, wrapped in the afterglow of the show, when Maru spoke beside me.
"Hana, shall we come to the next fireworks festival too?"
If there were fireworks this wonderful next time, of course I meant to come. Something this splendid and beautiful — I was confident I'd show up even if I had to set everything else aside. I nodded at her words.
"Yeah! Today's fireworks were really wonderful too!"
"Then shall we head home?"
I nodded again. Maru placed a quick call on her phone, then took my hand.
"Come on, let's go!"
"Don't we have to clean this up?"
I glanced at the mat and the leftover food. Leave all of this behind, and who was going to tidy it? But Maru only smiled at the look on my face.
"The staff who'll be here any minute will take care of it. It's better if we clear out first."
"Really?"
If someone else was coming to clean, there was no need to fuss. I took Maru's hand, and we headed back to the parking lot. There weren't nearly as many cars as before. We were leaving a little late, having lingered on the mat to talk after the show ended. If we hadn't stopped to chat and had left right away, we might even have been the first ones out. Once the festival was over, though, the sight of cars lined up in a long queue left me stunned.
"There are way too many cars!"
In that cramped space, it felt as if everyone who lived in Seoul had gathered in one place. Then again, more than half the country's population lives in the capital region, so whenever a festival is held in Seoul, far more people turn out than in any other city. Too many people, and too little land — that was all it was. If this country had territory as vast as America's, could this many people even gather in one spot? Probably not.
"It's all right, Hana. We can leave by a different way anyway."
When we'd come in to watch the festival, we'd entered through a gate with its own barrier arm, and it looked as though there was a separate road for leaving as well. Just as Maru said, the cars in this lot weren't heading for the festival entrance. They were going somewhere else — the opposite side, I thought, which seemed to have a gate of its own.
"All right, hop in, Hana!"
"Okay!"
I climbed into the car. Instead of joining the crush, we headed the other way. VIP really was different. Rather than a road jammed solid, we slipped out along a stretch that was wide open. This, I thought, was why a person ought to secure a good spot.
Ree-ree-ree—
Cicadas were crying outside. We were on the tenth floor, and I could still hear them, which gave me a fair idea of just how loudly they were screaming. Of course it didn't sound as if they were right beside me. Only the echo reached this high.
"Hmm~"
Maybe because I wasn't going to school, the days felt easy. Vacation really was the best thing in the world. What do people with office jobs envy most? A break that lasts a month, or two. Students don't feel it, but once you join the working world, you start to miss summer vacation.
Even if you use your annual leave, unless the company is a good one, taking a whole week off is pure agony. No — even a single Friday draws looks. Back when I worked, I felt eyes on me every time I took a day off.
It was one of a worker's rightful privileges, and still you had to watch your step. Use your leave too freely, and there was no telling what people would say behind your back. Today, once again, I decided to go tend the farm. Growing crops in the greenhouse was genuinely fun.
Crops that shot up lush and strong from nothing more than being scattered on the soil — something no real farmer would ever believe — filled me with a joy that rose all on its own. If people who actually farmed for a living saw the way I did it, they might well lament.
"Farming is that easy?!"
Farming is supposed to be grueling labor, paid for in sweat and blood, but none of that applied to me. Scatter the seeds, and they grew just fine on their own. They grew so well, in fact, that I was the one left flustered. I was certain I possessed some favorable ability connected to plants.
Of course, I had no real idea what that ability actually was, or how to use it. They simply grew if I so much as breathed, and I didn't know how to control it.
I was changing into something comfortable for the work when someone came into my room. It was Haru, whom I hadn't seen in a while. Watching me change, she spoke.
"Hana, are you off to farm?"
"Yeah!"
There was only one reason I ever went outside. Aside from farming, I hardly left at all. There wasn't much of anything nearby, after all, so unless you drove somewhere, there wasn't a lot to do for fun. I could only wonder how children in the countryside got by.
With the internet, things were at least better now, but in the old days, without computers or phones, there really must have been nothing to do. Once I had my work clothes on, Haru attached herself behind me. She seemed to be planning to come farm with me.
"I'm coming too, Hana!"
I'd meant to give her the slip, but there was no escaping her line of sight. Watching her trail after me, I decided we might as well go together. The more hands on the job, the better, and I resolved to find Haru something suitable to do. Even if farming was easy for me, every single pair of hands was precious.
Rinea had decided to wait at her ease. In a place this thick with the World Tree's energy, there was no reason to be tense. This place was already as good as the World Tree's domain. The proof was right in front of her: the researchers going about their business without a shred of caution.
She watched them — people already so deeply influenced by the World Tree that they had become captives of the mind. It wasn't a fierce enthrallment that shattered the spirit the way brainwashing would, but at this rate, they were nearly there.
Before long she would see the World Tree's incarnate body with her own two eyes. She was desperately curious what form it would take. A stately man? Or a gentle, captivating woman? She didn't truly know the World Tree's sex, but Rinea thought either would be fine.
Sometimes people imagined their god's appearance and carved it into sculpture, yet never before had that form been fixed so clearly, and the thought only heightened her anticipation. In her own world, the World Tree's appearance had never been specified. This time, she would be the first to see it. That, too, was a kind of fate.
While she was thinking this, Rinea noticed an incredibly delicious smell drifting in from outside. How unguarded were the researchers here, to look so thoroughly at ease? The World Tree's influence, of course.
People fascinated by the World Tree's energy had no choice but to lower their guard toward her, a shrine maiden of the World Tree. Rinea was not exactly the same, but she gave off a similar energy.
"Ahh, this chicken is so tender."
"Isn't it? If we're working late tonight, we should at least eat our fill."
Two researchers were tearing into fried chicken right before her eyes. Rinea was spellbound by a delicious smell she had never encountered in her life. For someone who had only ever eaten animals roasted over an open flame, chicken prepared the modern way was irresistibly alluring — a food she simply could not look away from. Her world had spices of its own, but there was no chance they could surpass fried chicken made like this.
She was staring so openly that the researchers seemed to read her gaze and vanished, chicken and all. They must have decided it wasn't quite right to eat it in front of her.
I want to eat it...
All Rinea could do was watch, wistful, as the nameless dish disappeared. If the World Tree had been right beside her, her mana would have been overflowing — and this was food she wanted to steal, even if it meant spending that mana on a spell.