Rising from the Slum City of Reincarnation in Another World ~ Gathering, Hunting, and Living a Slow Life by Eating

Chapter 98.5 SS3 July 7th “Tanabata Day”

Today should be the seventh day of the seventh month.

In other words, it’s what Japan calls “Tanabata,” or the Star Festival.

Depending on the region, it might be in August due to the lunar calendar.

Locally, Tanabata festivals are held, and bamboo trees are decorated at kindergartens and shopping streets.

On the bamboo, there are strips of paper where people write their wishes.

“So, based on my memories from where I used to live, today is ‘Tanabata.’ Minya, Lania, Ciel, let’s write our wishes on paper.”

“Yes, okay!”

Except for Lania, everyone has recently learned how to write. They can read, but they haven’t practiced writing much, so their handwriting is not very good.

We have a bundle of paper resembling papyrus for scribbling notes, so we write our wishes on them.

There are no bamboo or sasa plants around here, so we use branches from young trees for decoration.

“Is this okay?”

“Yeah!”

“Then, let’s start with Minya.”

“Yes, yes! Mine is, ‘I want to grow up and become Ed’s bride so I can eat lots of meat.'”

As expected from Minya.

“Hehe.”

Minya giggles shyly, her cheeks turning red.

Oh, Minya blushing and acting all bashful like this is incredibly cute.

“Next, Lania.”

“Yes. Mine is, ‘To become Ed’s bride and become the greatest magician in the world.'”

“O-Okay.”

Certainly, being useful as a magician is nice, but wow, aiming to be the greatest in the world? I didn’t realize she had such aspirations. But it’s already decided that she’ll be my bride. Lania smiles and gazes at me. It makes my heart race a bit.

“Next is Ciel.”

“Yes, myau. Mine is, ‘To become Ed’s wife and to become rich so that we can always have delicious tomato soup.'”

Ciel’s family struggled financially. It’s such a simple joy to be able to have tomato soup together. I really want to make it happen for her. Ciel turns her face towards me and giggles with a “nyaha,” showing her cute canine teeth.

“Now, let’s tie each wish to the branches.”

“Yes, okay!”

We tie each wish to the branches, reaching up high.

“Done!”

“Good job, Minya.”

“I did it.”

“Yeah, as expected of Lania.”

“Hehe, myau.”

“Nice, well done, Ciel.”

I praise each of them.

And so, our Tanabata decorations are completed.

For dinner, we had tomato soup for the first time in a while. Everyone said it was delicious.

“Alright, now that we’ve eaten, let’s go outside and look at the stars.”

“Look at the stars?”

“Yeah.”

We usually go to sleep at night, so we don’t often look up at the night sky. The night sky here is a bit different from Earth.

For one, there’s no Big Dipper or Cassiopeia. There’s no Milky Way galaxy either; instead, a reddish river of stars flows across the center.

“In the place where I used to live, on one side of the middle river, there was a star called ‘Hikoboshi, Altair,’ representing a young man, and on the other side, a star called ‘Orihime, Vega,’ representing a young woman.”

“The night sky changes depending on where you are?”

“Well, not exactly, but that’s how it was there.”

“Huh.”

“And they were lovers, but they were separated on opposite sides of the river.”

“Oh no, that’s so sad, myau.”

“Yeah. But once a year, on July 7th, Hikoboshi was allowed to cross the river on the moon’s boat to meet Orihime.”

“That’s great!”

“Yes, so this day is known as Lover’s Day.”

“I see, that means we are all lovers too, yay!”

“Hehe, Minya.”

“Oh, I’m a lover too, myau, definitely myau.”

Everyone starts to crowd around me.