「Is over?」
『Woof!』
After finishing breakfast, Dori and the others sat formally in front of the pot containing the sweet potatoes, waiting.
It seemed like the timing was just about right.
「Let’s take them out of the pot and start planting them right away.」
Dori and Potato happily held the sweet potatoes.
Since it broke into two pieces, there wouldn’t be any fighting over who gets to plant it—
Karaage watched from behind Dori and Potato, looking a bit lonely.
Maybe he thought if someone couldn’t plant it, he’d sacrifice himself?
「Karaage, you’re so kind.」
『Kweh!』
I gently patted Karaage.
He flapped his wings and nuzzled against me, acting affectionate.
I thought the same thing back when I had a chicken named Sasami—chickens are more affectionate than you’d expect…
Well, Karaage is technically a Kakapo (temporary), though.
If he were really an endangered Kakapo, he wouldn’t be in this house right now.
「Papa! Karaage!」
Dori called out loudly, seemingly eager to plant the sweet potatoes.
Karaage and I hurried over.
As we approached the styrofoam box in the yard, Dori and Potato were already ready to plant the sweet potatoes.
I quickly pulled out my phone and noticed a call notification on the screen.
It was a direct call from the mayor.
「I need to take this call. Can you wait for me?」
「Hmm…」
『Grrrrr!』
Dori seemed unsure, but Potato growled impatiently.
They’ve been kept waiting for a while, even with breakfast in between.
「Alright, I’ll skip the live stream. Potato, you’re in charge after this, okay?」
『Yeah!』
Potato responded happily.
I immediately called the mayor back.
After a few rings, the mayor picked up.
「Ah, good morning. This is Morita.」
「Oh, sorry for calling so early in the morning.」
The mayor, as usual, was casual and friendly.
「No problem. What’s up?」
「We’ve finally decided on the stores for the urban development project, so I’ve sent you an email.」
Hearing that, I felt a slight tightness in my chest.
What came to mind was the incident during the briefing.
I don’t remember much from that time, but I heard about it later from Haruki.
Even as an adult, I still ended up causing trouble for Haruki.
「I’ll check it right away.」
I opened the email and started going through it.
「Is this good?」
『Yeah!』
Glancing over at Dori and Potato, they had already finished planting the sweet potatoes and were having fun.
「We’ve judged which stores fit the town, so if any catch your eye, you can check them out on their websites.」
The email contained detailed information about the stores, including their names, concepts, and future plans.
At the end, there were URLs to the companies’ websites.
「I’ll let you know if anything else gets decided. Also, it’d be great if you could pass this on to your friend at the chicken farm.」
It seemed the mayor didn’t have Haruki’s contact information.
I decided to relay the information to Haruki myself and ended the call with the mayor.
I immediately checked the email again, looking for a specific name.
――Sasajima Holdings Co., Ltd.
The company I used to work for.
「Hey hey, is dis it?」
『Matsutake?』
「Sing por it!」
『I’m Matsutake! Yo-yo, I’m Matsutake!』
『You’re loud, you know?』
The whispers from Dori and the others didn’t reach my ears as I was too focused.
「If Yaon is included, shopping will be easier too.」
The shopping mall I usually go to was also listed.
I checked the list twice, but the name of the company I used to work for wasn’t there.
I immediately contacted Haruki.
「Oh, Naoki, what’s up?」
「I got some information from the mayor about the stores opening in the urban development project…」
「Naoki, you okay?」
Does my voice really sound that different from usual?
As expected of my childhood friend—he can tell right away.
「Yeah, I’m fine. By the way, the company you worked at wasn’t on the list.」
「I see… That’s a relief!」
Haruki must have been worried about it all this time.
Ever since the briefing, I haven’t had any more gaps in my memory, and I’ve been able to go about my life as usual.
With this, I won’t have to deal with those people anymore.
Just thinking about it makes the tension leave my body, and I feel a wave of relief wash over me.
「By the way, Sakura and Yuri have been pretty busy since this morning. Are they up to something?」
「Today? As far as I know, there’s nothing planned.」
「I see. Never mind, then.」
「How’s the store coming along on your end?」
「The exterior is mostly done. Now we just have to work on the interior. I’ve already bought the equipment we’ll be using inside, so we should be ready by winter.」
Once winter arrives, the snow will start falling.
They probably want to finish the construction before then.
「Stretch stretch us?」
『Let’s do it!』
『Kue!』
「Stretch stretch!」
『Stretch stretch!』
『Kuee!』
『Yoyoo!』
Dori and the others were all casting their little spell together.
Just in case, I stretched my hand out from a distance too.
From here on, Potato would be the one managing everything.
Since he did such a great job growing the potatoes, he should be fine.
「Alright, I’ll call you if anything comes up.」
「Yeah. You too, Naoki—keep up the hard work with the farm!」
After ending the call with Haruki, I headed over to Dori.
「Did you set up the beds properly?」
「Perfectly!」
Dori held up a thumbs-up.
Did someone teach her that?
「Alright, then. Once Potato gets back, let’s head to the field.」
Potato was probably busy hiding the styrofoam to keep the sweet potatoes from being stolen.
We decided to wait for him before heading out to the farm.
If only I had noticed that weird matsutake in the yard was gone, things wouldn’t have turned into such a mess.
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