Midyear Gifts

“Ugh, not again…”

I couldn’t help groaning when I saw what the deliveryman had handed me.

Not again. This was already the third time I’d received one.

“Jin-dono? What is that…?”

When I carried the package into the living room, Seram, who had been relaxing on the tatami, approached me.

“It’s a midyear gift.”

“What exactly is a midyear gift?”

“It’s a kind of summer greeting where you send gifts to people who’ve helped you as a way of expressing your everyday gratitude. I get them every year around this time.”

“So there’s such a custom in this world. Isn’t that a wonderful thing?”

“There’s nothing wrong with the custom itself. The problem is that everyone insists on sending the same standard gifts.”

Was it going to be that stuff again? I desperately hoped it would be something different this time.

With that hope in mind, I opened the package, only to have my expectations mercilessly shattered.

The wooden box bore the words “Hand-Stretched Somen Noodles” in elegant calligraphy.

“What a wonderfully smooth box.”

“Of course it’s somen again…”

While Seram curiously examined the box, I hung my head in defeat.

“Somen?”

“Remember the udon we ate at the food court? These are dried noodles that are even thinner.”

“I see. The udon we had that day was delicious. Although these are different, isn’t it wonderful to receive something similar?”

“Sure, I’m grateful to receive them. The problem is that this is my fourth box.”

I showed her the three boxes of somen stored on a kitchen shelf.

“…How much is in each of those boxes?”

“Even if I ate somen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day, it’d take me five or six days to finish one box. And now I’ve got four.”

“…Jin-dono, that is rather excessive.”

“Right?”

I was glad we could agree on that much.

“Still, why does everyone send so much somen? Is there some particular meaning behind giving somen as a midyear gift…?”

“Because somen noodles are long and thin, they’re supposed to symbolize the wish to maintain a long-lasting relationship with someone, even if you rarely get to see them.”

“You’re remarkably knowledgeable, Jin-dono.”

“When you get this many boxes every year, you can’t help wanting to find out why.”

It wasn’t that I was particularly knowledgeable. I’d simply become so frustrated with this almost malicious gift-giving custom that I’d looked up its meaning.

“Still, I’ve got you here this year, Seram. We should be able to get through them faster than usual.”

Before Seram arrived, I’d somehow managed by eating as much as I could myself and giving some away to other people. But with another person in the household, we’d naturally be able to consume them more quickly.

“I am still a young maiden, you know. I have rather mixed feelings about being relied upon for something like that.”

When I looked at her as though she were a dependable mercenary, Seram responded with a displeased expression.

I wanted to point out that she ate even more than I did, so she shouldn’t complain about something so convenient for her. However, saying that aloud might make her refuse to eat the somen, so I decided to keep quiet.

“Hey, Jin! You’re home, aren’t you? My hands are full, so come open the door!”

Just then, a voice rang out from the entrance.

“That sounds like Kaito-dono, doesn’t it?”

“Wait, Seram! Don’t open the door!”

Despite my warning, Seram didn’t stop and slid the entrance door open.

I hurried to close it again, but Kaito stuck his foot into the gap to prevent me.

“Hehehe. You opened the door, didn’t you?”

“Damn it!”

“Jin-dono, why are you so upset? Kaito-dono has gone to the trouble of visiting us.”

Seram, completely unaware of the situation, tilted her head innocently.

“He’s no guest. He’s an assassin sent to destroy us.”

“An assassin!? Jin-dono, have you somehow earned someone’s resentment?”

“Oh, I’ve got a grudge, all right! Last year, Jin used the excuse that he couldn’t finish all his somen by himself to dump a bunch of it on the Oba family! But now Jin has a wife named Seram-san. He can’t use the same excuse this year! So this time, you’re going to accept some of our family’s extra somen!”

With a heavy thud, Kaito placed a box containing thirty-six bundles of somen at the entrance.

“I knew it. You’re here to dump your somen on us.”

“Nope. I’m sharing it with you.”

We weren’t the only household that received somen as midyear gifts. Everyone tended to receive the same thing and end up with more than they could eat, so every year around this time, a battle to unload surplus somen onto one another began.

“So that was what you meant by an assassin… Even though I didn’t know, what a terrible thing I’ve done…”

Finally understanding the situation, Seram dramatically sank to the floor.

We might have avoided this disaster by pretending nobody was home, but once we’d opened the door, it was too late.

Since I’d practically forced my surplus somen onto Kaito last year, it would be difficult to refuse him now.

“Well, we’ve got Seram this year, so we’ll manage somehow.”

Our household now had five boxes of somen sitting around, but with Seram here, we should be able to get through them.

Compared to last year, when I’d eaten three boxes by myself, this was still an improvement.

“Come to think of it, Seram-san, have you ever eaten somen?”

“I have eaten udon, but I’ve never tried somen.”

“You’ve never had it!? Then let’s have a flowing somen party for Seram-san!”

Upon hearing Seram’s answer, Kaito suddenly made that suggestion.

“That’s pretty sudden.”

“It’s summer, after all! This is the perfect opportunity to let Seram-san experience a charming Japanese summer tradition!”

“And what’s your actual reason?”

“I wanna do it!”

“Then do it by yourself.”

“Come on, doing it alone would just be depressing, and setting everything up by myself would be way too much trouble.”

I’d suspected something when he started talking so nobly about Japanese traditions, but apparently, Kaito simply wanted to try it himself.

“I don’t quite understand what this flowing somen is, but I’m certainly interested in experiencing a traditional food custom!”

Although Seram didn’t really understand what flowing somen involved, her curiosity had clearly been piqued.

“…I don’t mind doing it, but do you have the equipment?”

“We’ve got some bamboo at home that we used a little while ago.”

“Then we should be able to set it up. All right, go get it.”

“You got it!”

Cutting fresh bamboo and setting everything up from scratch would have been a hassle, but if Kaito already had some prepared, it shouldn’t be too much trouble.

Before long, Kaito returned in his car and carried the bamboo into the yard.

“Jin-dono, what is this long green plant?”

“It’s bamboo. We send somen noodles flowing down it with cold water, and you catch them with your chopsticks and eat them.”

“Oh, so the noodles flow along this… Just imagining it makes the whole thing sound wonderfully atmospheric!”

While Seram examined the bamboo with great curiosity, something caught my attention.

“…Hey, Kaito. Doesn’t this bamboo look a little damaged?”

“Yeah, I thought the same thing when I pulled it out of the shed.”

Part of the bamboo had deteriorated. It wasn’t as though we couldn’t send somen flowing down it, but if someone asked whether I wanted to eat noodles that had passed over that surface, my answer would be a firm no.

“Does that mean we can’t have our flowing somen?”

Seeing us frowning at the bamboo, Seram looked disappointed.

“No, it’s not all damaged. If we cut away the bad sections, we should still be able to use it.”

“Oh! Then there’s no problem, is there?”

“Except it’ll be pretty underwhelming.”

“Flowing somen with such a short run isn’t real flowing somen!”

Kaito immediately complained when he heard the consequences of my alternative.

It was his fault for not storing the bamboo properly, but preserving bamboo during the summer was difficult.

I supposed there was only so much he could have done.

“Oh? Are you planning to have some flowing somen?”

While we were discussing the problem, Shigeru-san appeared at the edge of the yard.

Since he had a dog with him, he was probably out for a walk.

“We were planning to, but then we noticed that the bamboo was damaged, so we’re trying to figure out what to do…”

“Bamboo? If you need some bamboo, why don’t you use the ones growing in my bamboo grove?”

“Really!? Would that be all right!?”

“Of course. In exchange, I’d appreciate it if you could cut down a few extra stalks while you’re there. Other people might want to have flowing somen too.”

“Understood! I’ll cut a few extra!”

“Thanks a bunch!”

When Kaito and I thanked him together, Shigeru-san smiled warmly and resumed his walk.

“Hmm? What was that about?”

Seram, who was the only one who hadn’t quite understood the conversation, asked for an explanation.

“Shigeru-san has bamboo growing on his property, so he said we can take as much as we need. Now we can have our flowing somen.”

“He owns land? Is Shigeru-dono actually a feudal lord who governs this territory!?”

“No, he’s not a lord. Besides, owning land isn’t unusual around here. Even I own a mountain.”

“My family owns one too.”

“W-what!? Not only Jin-dono, but Kaito-dono as well!?”

When we told her that we owned mountains, Seram reacted with extraordinary astonishment.

Apparently, owning land or a mountain was something truly remarkable to her.

“Is it really that surprising?”

“In my world, only the royal family can own land. Even nobles, despite being members of the privileged class, merely receive land on loan from the royal family.”

Curious about her reaction, I quietly asked her why, and Seram discreetly explained.

Apparently, only the very highest-ranking people in her world were permitted to own land.

Having grown up in a world like that, it was understandable that Seram would be astonished to discover ordinary commoners owning property.