𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 | 𝒌. 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒌𝒆

1. 𝒇𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒊

"Wahh, the view is amazing! The smell of the forest, the breeze from the wind, the sounds of the river flowing on the side, the view of the mountains and fields." You let out a happy sigh and plop your arms back to your side. "This is where I want to stay forever." It was eight am... yes... eight am in the morning. You got to the Hyogo prefecture at seven am from Tokyo and found this random place that was calling to you. "Maybe this can be my safe place," you whisper to yourself.

"Excuse me... What are you doing?" a voice suddenly calls to you. Scared, you freeze, then quickly put on your face mask and hat.

"I-I'm sorry. I will leave right now, sir!" you squeak and bow. As you were about to run away, he grabs your sleeve.

"I didn't say you couldn't be here. I was just asking because it's early and usually no one is here. You can stay here if you want. I'm going to just go to work," he calmly explains with no emotions and walks past you. The mysterious man was wearing a blue shirt with a tight, black long sleeve under it. Along with his top, he wore black pants and brown combat boots while holding a towel and hat in his hands. His hair was light, gray hair with black tips while his eyes looked like melting caramel and--not to mention--he was built pretty well. The thing that stood out to you the most was how young he looked to be a farmer. As you stare, he starts to go to work immediately—totally forgetting about you.

"He's not bothered by the fact that a sketchy looking person is here?" you ask yourself and analyze what he was doing. Unconsciously, you walk towards the field where he was, to take a closer look at what he was doing.

Sensing your figure next to him, he looks up at you.

"What are you doing?" he asks you calmly which catches you off guard.

You hadn't realize how close you got to him.

"A-ah, sorry! I was just curious about what you were doing... What are you doing?" you ask and point at his knife-like tool he was holding onto.

"I'm harvesting the rice," he plainly responds and attempts to go back to work until you speak again.

"C-can I try?" you ask all of a sudden. 'What am I saying?'

"I'm sorry, but you won't get paid doing this," he bluntly responds which makes you sweat drop and chuckle.

"I don't want to get paid; I just want to try it! It looks fun," you honestly say and give him a smile even though he wouldn't be able to see it with your mask on.

"... Fine, but you need to be careful, okay? This isn't a game. This tool is called a scythe. It's a big knife and you can cut yourself," he starts to explain. "You can cut a few plants like so on the stem then place them on this wagon."

"Alright!"

After examining him as he does it a few more times, it's finally your turn to take the scythe.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he hesitates before handing you an extra scythe he had in the wagon.

"Y-yes! If I am doing bad, you can just tell me to stop... uhh... sir," you say and grab the tool from him.

"Okay, please be careful and go slow," he warns before continuing his work.

You take in a big breathe. "Okay.... I can do this."

The man hears you pep talk yourself and glances to see you do your first cut. On your first try, he sees you struggling to cut through the stems of a few plants.

"Maybe try cutting less stems," he informs you as you blush in embarrassment.

"O-okay!"

You try again with only four stems and successfully, you cut across them and hold the stems in your other hand. A grin with satisfaction and success grows on your face. Excitedly, you turn to show the man but see that he had just cut ten to twenty stems in one go.