Unripe Persimmons Are Weapons

1,118 words · 6 min read

Translated by Jyzciel

**TL: Unripe Persimmons Are Weapon: This proverb is often used to convey the idea that something or someone that appears harmless or unassuming can still be dangerous or harmful when the conditions are right. Just as an unripe persimmon can be very astringent and unpleasant to eat.**

On the 8th day of my rural life, I decided to make dried persimmons since the trees in my yard were full with persimmons.

First, I prepared about 20 strings, each measuring around 60-70 cm in length, to hang the persimmons. I peeled the persimmons, starting from the stem and removing the surrounding skin, working diligently on the veranda**.

Just then, the man I've encountered before showed up once more.

"Hello, Rinsakura-san." He greeted me with a friendly tone, although his expression seemed grumpy. In his hand, he held a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which he silently handed over to me.

"They're beautiful... Thank you." I said, expressing my gratitude.

The man however, remained silent and his expression remained stern. Concerned, I asked him "What's wrong, Chronos-san?" He didn't respond.

"Is there something you'd like to talk about, Chronos-san?" I inquired, wondering about his unusual behavior.

And with that, he suddenly approached me and sniffed my neck.

"What... What are you doing all of a sudden?" I exclaimed, jumping back.

"Sorry," Chronos replied. "I detected the scent of snakes because my protective barrier was completely broken, and the whole place reeked of a snake's scent. I thought that snake came back... No, it's different this time. A more powerful snake tribe has probably come."

"Uh, yeah, he did come. It seems he came to thank me for helping his son, and that's all." I replied, although I wasn't quite sure why I was making excuses.

Chronos seemed bothered. "I knew it, he came... It just bothers me that they're deliberately leaving traces behind. It feels like they're provoking me." Chronos appeared to be quite agitated, swaying his tail up and down.

I suddenly remembered the words spoken by the giant white snake with a mischievous smile. "Such a feeble barrier isn't even worth mentioning." I decided not to mention that to Chronos. It seemed that relationships among different species might be complicated.

"Are you on bad terms with the snake tribe?" I asked hesitantly.

Chronos replied, "No... we hardly have any interactions. The snake tribe is quite a mysterious species. However, I don't appreciate them coming into my favorite area." Huh? When did my house become Chronos's territory?

"Even though Rinsakura is mine...." He mumbled with a fierce teeth-grinding sound, saying something outrageous.

I blushed so much that you could practically hear a 'bonk' sound. Seeing my reaction, Chronos realized what a bold and embarrassing statement he made.

"No... I didn't mean it like that. Well, not... or maybe I did... I... What am I even saying?" The grown man was left stammering, blushing, and utterly flustered.

"Um, Rinsakura, what were you doing just now? You were in the middle of some task, right?" Chronos abruptly changed the subject, putting an end to the conversation quite forcefully.

"....."

Is it no good after all? -Chronos

With a nervous expression... He lowered his animal ears to the side and peeked at me and the surroundings. I even think he was cute in some way.

"I'm making dried persimmons."

"Persimmons, huh? We often pick and eat things that grow in the mountains too." Saying that, he took a firm persimmon from the basket and bit into it.

"Ah! That's..." I tried to stop him, but I was a step too late.

"It's astringent... It's really... awful..." Chronos groaned, sticking out his tongue in distress from the bitterness and astringency.

"That's a type of persimmon that you don't eat when it's raw." I explained.

"Is this a trap...? This is like a little weapon."

"I'll bring something to cleanse your palate, so please wait." I hurriedly went to the kitchen.

「Nom, nom, crunch, nom」While I'm was peeling persimmons, Chronos was savoring some castella.

"This is delicious... the sugar grains in the brown part at the bottom, they're all crunchy... it's irresistible." He said as he finished one with a glass of milk.

"Phew... I've come back to life."

I was tying both ends of a string to the stems of persimmons, making pairs of two.

"You're quite skilled... I'll help you."

"I'll go boil some water, so can I leave the rest to you?"

"Yeah, leave it to me."

Chronos began the task of briefly immersing the persimmons in the boiling water to prevent mold growth.

"This way, they'll be less likely to grow mold."

"It's quite a delicate process."

Taking advantage of Chronos's height, they hung all of them on the eaves.

"It's quite an impressive sight like this. When will we be able to eat these?"

"Let me see... maybe in about three weeks?"

"I'm looking forward to it." They gazed at the persimmons, appearing quite content.

Seems like he's eager to eat them...

As usual, we've settled down at the dining table to have dinner.

"What's for dinner today?" Are you my husband...? Well, if I don't feed you, you won't leave.

"Tonight, we have chicken and mushroom dashi rice, octopus and green bean mayo salad, and miso soup."

"Oh... looks delicious. Thank you."

Chronos seemed to have no reservations, helping himself to three servings of rice, two bowls of miso soup, and three pears for dessert before leaving. Of course, he also asked for a bento for the next day.

The bento included white rice with braised pork, boiled eggs, broccoli, and red bell peppers, with a slice of castella for dessert.

"Be sure to watch out for the snake tribe in more ways than one. If you let your guard down, they can be quite slippery in various ways." Saying that, he disappeared into the backyard.

Slippery in various ways... What on earth does that mean?

I think your eating habits are more quite slippery too...

Jyzciel~

So, I'm already translating chapter 10 and I just want to talk about the point of view of the story. I've been doing it in hybrid of First and Third Person but it also put me off sometimes. Like wait what? It confuse me sometimes, like why did the author changes this sentence in third person/first person?

So, I decided to just put the whole story in First-person POV. I choose this pov because as you can see, every chapter starts with '*** day of my life in the countryside', so I would just make it like MC's journal or blog or something.

Well that's all for the rant~

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