>>5538607Kinzou's annoyance ferments, until after four games, he finally wins one. Whether due to a stroke of luck, an inevitability of probability, or Go's mercy, you're not quite sure. With that, his mood lightens up.「You guys just sit here and hang out in the afternoons? Sounds nice.」"Good when it lasts. But during the harvest..." Shou furrows his brow. "You gotta work through the night sometimes to get everything picked. Like, the WHOLE night. It sucks."
「Through the night? You have to take lamps out with you into the fields or something?」Go seems confused. "Nothin' that bad. When the fruit get ripe for the picking, they glow!"「...They glow?」"Yup! That's why we call them 'Red Lanterns'!" Shou chimes in. "You ever feel like wearing yourself out, come during one of the harvests. It looks awesome!" Kinzou senses an obvious ulterior motive, but interested nonetheless, says he'll try to make it to one.
Over the next month, 'the boss' calls meetings several times. Kinzou, as well as most of the lower-level workers, are sent home every time. On those days, Kinzou makes the journey to hang out with Shou and Go, playing a few games of Ousatsu and chatting about the village. They're enjoyable times to observe.
While Kinzou enjoys his youth, Takigi sinks into his work. Recently Kanekatsu has had more errands for him to take care of than ever, sometimes forcing him to work into the night. That, along with the disappearance of his woodcutting machete, put him into a bit of a foul mood. The main redeeming point of the whole situation being, by Takigi's own words, that "at least the job pays well". You inquire as to the nature of the work, and it doesn't seem much different from usual. It's simply that it's become... well, a lot, since the village head has passed. Takigi theorizes that perhaps his coworkers have been moved to other tasks, leaving him with the 'grunt' work. Better than being moved to whatever they're doing, at least.
Tonight, at least, Takigi comes home on time. Apparently he filled out paperwork in the morning, and kept an eye on someone's house from one of Kanekatsu's properties during the afternoon. Absolutely nothing happened at the house he was watching, and he nearly fell asleep. A relaxing day. One Takigi remarks that he wished that he had more of. <span class="mu-i">After a new village head is selected, perhaps.</span> Kinzou passes the remark onto his father, who replies through a mouthful of food. "Aye. Just have to wait for that to be over with. Better sooner than later if you ask me."
