Cooking with Wild Game (LN) - Volume 25 - Chapter SS

Bonus Short Story

The Joy of the Rainy Season

“The rain just never stops,” Lala Ruu absentmindedly muttered as she watched the unending drizzle.

Lala Ruu’s younger sister Rimee Ruu was there as well, sitting on the ground with her arms around her knees and staring out at the hazy scene. The two of them were currently just inside the entrance to the kitchen of the main Ruu house. All of the stoves were lit, so even with the door open, they were quite warm. The room had to be hot in order to remove the moisture from the boiled poitan, and keeping an eye on the flames was the only task the two of them currently needed to attend to.

“Ugh, this is so boring! There’s nothing fun at all about just making sure some fires don’t go out!” Lala Ruu suddenly and bluntly exclaimed.

“Ah ha ha,” Rimee Ruu laughed. “But if the sun doesn’t come out, then this is the only way we can dry out the poitan. We have to do this if we want to have yummy food, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know! But standing around like this makes me feel like I’ve got so much energy I don’t know what to do with it all!”

“Then why not play outside?”

“I’d get soaked! Ugh, I wish the rainy season would hurry up and end already!”

“It only just started, though. Do you really hate rain that much, Lala?”

“Of course I do! Nobody likes rain!”

“Huh? Really? I think it’s pretty okay.”

Lala Ruu stared incredulously at her sister’s earnest smile. “Seriously? What’s there to like about rain?”

“Hmm, I guess I’d say...when the rain’s falling, it gets real quiet, and the color of the forest changes. That makes it kind of fun to look at, don’t you think?” Rimee Ruu said, going back to staring at the world outside.

Lala Ruu followed her sister’s gaze. All she could see from the kitchen was the soaked ground and the towering greenery beyond it. The light rain cast a hazy, whitish veil over the area, almost as if the world was covered in gossamer threads. But the soaked ground and tree branches were darker than everything else around them, giving the scene a much starker sense of contrast than it usually had.

The forest of Morga normally seemed to be so full of energy and life, but at times like these, it looked as if it was in a deep, deep slumber. The only sound Lala Ruu could hear was the pattering of raindrops on the roof and the firewood crackling in the stoves. It was almost like the entire world was sleeping. She was gripped by a sudden feeling of loneliness, as if all of humanity had died out, aside from her sister and herself.

“Ugh, this isn’t fun at all! It’s just dreary and tedious!”

“Ah ha ha, you sound like a little kid, Lala.”

“You’re the little one here! Jeez, would somebody do something about this rain already!”

“I don’t think anyone can do anything about that,” Rimee Ruu replied, and then she tilted her head. “Hmm? It sounds like the rain’s getting lighter.”

“Huh?! Really?!” Lala Ruu said, leaning excitedly out the door.

The rain had already been light, but Lala Ruu could tell that it was definitely stopping, and as the last of the droplets seeped into the ground, white sunlight suddenly began streaming down from overhead.

“Wow, it actually stopped! Do you think the forest of Morga heard your wish, Lala?”

“Who cares?! This is great!” Lala Ruu exclaimed, leaping through the doorway and letting the sunlight wash over her whole body.

It was weaker than normal sunlight, no brighter than it would have been at dusk on a clear day despite the sun being near its peak, but it was strong enough that Lala Ruu could clearly feel its warmth on her face and the tips of her fingers.

“What are you two up to? The sun’s out, so hurry up and douse those fires. We need to move the pots outside,” their mother Mia Lea Ruu called out as she exited the main house and started walking over to them. Their eldest brother Jiza Ruu’s wife Sati Lea Ruu was following after her.

Lala Ruu rushed back into the kitchen and together with Rimee Ruu she went around taking care of the fires while the older women carried the pots out front one after another.

“The shadows from the detached structure will get in the way over here. We should set them out in front of the main house.”

Lala and Rimee Ruu each picked up a pot and followed after their mother and their brother’s wife into the wide plaza in front of their house.

The women from the branch houses were bringing their pots full of poitan out to dry as well, along with their laundry and pico leaves.

The young children from the branch houses followed soon after. The ground around the plaza was soaked, but the kids didn’t care about that at all. They immediately started running around and splashing in puddles.

“Oh right, what’s Granny Jiba up to?” Rimee Ruu asked.

“Huh?” Mia Lea Ruu questioned with a tilt of her head. “Our elder is in her room. She should be taking her midday nap around this time.”

“Then I’ll go get her. She’s been wanting to take a walk.”

“Ah, don’t force her to get up if she’s asleep! It’s easy to fall ill during the rainy season, you know.”

“I know!” Rimee Ruu said energetically. She ran into the entrance hall of the main house, and then reemerged faster than you could count to ten, leading the elder Jiba Ruu by the hand.

“Granny Jiba was awake! She said she was just thinking about coming outside!”

“Ah, I see... Don’t push yourself too hard, Jiba. The ground’s still wet even if the rain has let up.”

“Yes, yes, I’ll be careful. Ah, how wonderful to feel the sunlight again.” As she stepped outside, Jiba Ruu’s already naturally narrow eyes narrowed further as she stared up at the dimly lit sky.

Lala Ruu hurried over to join them. Rimee Ruu was still very small, so she was worried that if Jiba Ruu slipped, it could easily result in the two of them falling down together. When she reached the two of them a moment later, Rimee Ruu smiled at her from the other side of their great-grandmother.

“Hey Lala! I just remembered one more thing I love about the rainy season!”

“Hmm? What crazy nonsense are you going to start spouting now?”

“Well, when the sun finally shows itself after it’s been hiding behind the clouds for a long time like this, it makes me feel really happy! If it was bright out all the time, then I’d forget what it’s like to be happy just to see the sun!” Rimee Ruu replied, smiling from the depths of her heart.

Jiba Ruu looked like she was as delighted with the change in the weather as her great-granddaughter was.

Seeing her precious family members in such high spirits, Lala Ruu naturally broke out in a smile of her own.