A few days after having a threesome with the Asakura sisters, December 24th arrived.
In Japan, it’s a day split between normies and not.
Yes, it’s Christmas Eve.
Naturally, Christmas Eve is also exciting in this world.
Anyone who’s wondering who to ask out on a date today is inferior.
The superior ones have secured their schedules with their partner more than a month in advance.
That’s a lie, the truth is…
「 It’s finally time, Hokage! 」
「 Yeah, we waited long…rice is now ready 」
December 24 is the long-awaited rice harvest day.
Even though it was still early in the morning, I had to come to the fields with Mana and Amane.
The rice is in perfect condition.
The golden ears of rice droop down.
The quality’s exceptional from what grows wild.
「 Okay, let’s have some delicious rice for breakfast! 」
Mana raised her right hand.
Then, the monkey army in the back joined in and shouted “Uki!!!”
The monkey army carries a hand sickle in their right hand.
It’s small, monkey-sized.
「 Unfortunately, we can’t eat it yet 」
「 Eeeh?! But I thought it was ready? 」
Mana drops her shoulders.
「 Today’s work is from harvest to dry ing 」
「 Drying? 」
「 Yes 」
Mana tilts her head and points forward.
「 But it’s already dried like ten days ago 」
「 That’s not drying, that’s running water 」
The rice fields had been drained for about ten days.
It’s dropping water, and we do that ten days before harvesting the rice.
The quality of rice varies greatly depending on the timing.
「 So what’s the difference? 」
「 Running water is to dry out the rice, so you can say that it’s the same, but I’m talking about drying it in the sun. You’ve seen it on the TV or in the fields in the countryside, where the rice is dried on wooden poles or something. 」
「 Ah, I think I saw that before 」
「 Really? I don’t remember at all 」
Amane who had been silent so far, speaks up.
「 Anyway, it seems that we can’t eat it right away 」
「 I see. That’s unfortunate. So, when can we eat it?
「 In ten days 」
「 That’s already next year 」
「 That’s how it is. It’ll be on January 3 or 4 」
「 I thought we could eat it right away! That’s too far 」
「 It can’t be helped. Can’t make compromises when eating good rice 」
Saying “And so,” I clapped my hands.
「 Mana, please instruct the monkeys 」
「 Leave it to me! Ah, Hokage, can you show them an example of how to harvest rice first 」
「 Sure 」
I took out the scythe from my waist.
I used it to harvest the rice closest to me.
The monkey army watched it obediently.
I did as Mana told me.
「 It’s like that 」
「 Get it? That’s what you’re going to do 」
「 「 「 Uki!! 」 」 」
「 Okay, let’s start! 」
Mana gave the cue and the monkey army is about to head to the rice paddies.
However.
「 I’ll take care of this task 」
Amane steps in.
She quickly charges into the rice paddy and harvests the rice with a hand knife.
Using a blade that could cut even bamboo, reaping rice was a piece of cake.
「 It’s done 」
Amane looks at me with a cool face, having finished harvesting rice in no time.
Seeing that, Mana, the monkey army, and I were having a stiff face.
「 What’s with this monster 」
「 The hand sickle we all worked hard on ended up not getting a turn… 」
Amane replies with a straight face, not caring about us.
「 I’ll go scout the area 」
「 Y-Yeah, good luck 」
「 See you at breakfast 」
Amane left for the forest after that.
「 O-Okay, let’s have the monkeys dry the rice 」
「 We’re going to use that 」
Mana points at a tree located a bit far from the fields.
There’s a rice drying rack propped on the bar, and so they’re going to use it on that.
「 I’ll show you guys how to do it, but it’s as simple as harvesting. 」
There’s only one point to keep in mind when drying rice
That is to keep the head down.
Apart from that, there’s nothing much to think about.
「 –And something like that 」
I showed them the harvested rice hanging on the drying rack.
Mana clapped in admiration.
The monkey army followed suit and clapped.
「 I’ll have you all do it right away. This is supposed to be handled by humans so the rack might be too high for the monkeys 」
「 That’s true, but these guys will be fine 」
Mana asks “Right?” with confidence.
「 Ukiki!! 」
Rita, the boss of the monkey army, nodded proudly.
「 I’ll leave it to you then 」
「 Okay, do it guys! 」
Mana points at the rice drying rack.
Rita saw that and points at the rice drying rack the same way.
The monkey army started scurrying.
They divided themselves into two groups, one on rice, and the other on the rack.
「 「 「 Ukikiiii!!! 」 」 」
The monkey with a rice plant plunges in.
On the other hand, the monkey on the rice drying rack curls up on the ground.
They seem to do the monkey vault, not the human vault.
「 「 「 Ukiki!!! 」 」 」
The monkey with rice leaped on the back of the other, resembling a vault jump.
Then, they hung the rice on the rack without hesitation and lands on the ground.
「 Their cooperation is amazing. 」
The rice racks were filled in no time.
「 Our monkeys are quite good, fufu 」
Mana covers her mouth with the back of her hand and laughs.
She looks like a Queen in that pose.
「 By the way, Hokage 」
「 Hmm? 」
「 Don’t we need to prepare for when the rice is done? 」
「 Like what? 」
「 Like, making a bag of rice. That’s what people used to do, right? 」
「 Oh, we have that prepared. Also, clay pots for rice cooking 」
「 So fast! When did you have those? 」
「 Quite a long time ago already. Pots and bags aren’t that hard to make 」
「 Really? 」
「 The pot is made the same way as the other earthenware, and the bags can be made with straw and string 」
「 I see 」
「 But it takes a certain amount of skill to make a rice bag 」
「 I wonder if Hokage’s mastered the art of making rice bags? That’s amazing 」
「 Yeah, or so I want to say, but that’s not it 」
「 Huh? 」
「 The handcraft team made the rice bag. Meiko used a picture of a bag in history textbooks as a reference and imitated it 」
「 Oh right! I guess the praise goes to Meiko 」
「 Praise be 」
Meiko’s face came to my mind.
However, I’m imagining her naked body gradually.
The threesome a few days ago still remains in my memory.
I got horny, so I put my hand around Mana’s hips.
「 Hey, Mana, there’s still some time before everyone wakes up, how about we take a walk? 」
「 Sorry, I’m heading back to hideout! 」
「 Eh? 」
Mana waves her hand at me and ran back to the hideout
「 Wait, was it a bad time? 」
I feel like I made a mistake on the invitation.
Then, there’s someone gazing at me.
It’s the perv monkey, Rita.
「 Ukiki 」
Rita’s grinning at me.
Looking around, I saw the monkeys looking at me.
「 Stop laughing, you monkeys! 」
「 Ukikiki!! 」
The monkey army resumed their work in a better mood.
「 Even so, it hurts to get rejected on December 24 」
After making sure that the monkey army finished their work, I returned to the hideout feeling lonely.