Popuri

One morning in the quiet farm of Mineral Town, the young farmer Yuto wakes up from the rooster crowing in the coop. He yawns, then stretches his arms out wide to greet the morning. The early spring sun is rising, the air is cool yet refreshing, and the sky is clear without a single cloud. He feels that it’s going to be another perfect day to work in the farm.

As he rubs the cold off his eyes, a pair of arms wrap around his torso. He looks behind him to find his beautiful pink haired wife cuddling him. The morning is cool, so she snuggles against him wearing her night gown to steal his warmth. She stares at him lovingly with her large bright eyes as she greets, “good morning Yuto.”

He kisses his wife, then rests his head against hers. They have been married for about a year, but their love is stronger than the day they said, “I do.” Each and every morning, they spend some time holding each other to bond before starting their day. No matter how many times they do this, Yuto can’t help but to fall in love with her all over again.

Soon enough, they hop out of bed to get ready for another day in Mineral Town. They take a shower together, then Popuri sits in front of the vanity to put her make-up on as Yuto changes into his farming clothes. After Popuri gets dressed, they are now ready to get the day started. They burst out of the house eager to greet the day. Yuto rushes off to the field with his farming tools and checks on the spring crops. Popuri heads off to the chicken ranch to check on her family before going to church. Everything around Mineral Town is at peace, and everyone is happy.

Yuto spends a bulk of the day watering the crops and harvesting anything to dump into the shipping bin. Once that is done, he then goes into one of the many coops he has around the farm. He used to have a barn and stable, but he remodeled them into extra coops to raise more chickens. His wife loves chickens, so his farm became a chicken nursery. He hatches many chicks, raises them for about a season, then sells them to other farms needing chickens. Having so many chickens around the farm makes his wife very happy.

One by one, Yuto rings the bells to let the chickens out into the pasture. With each ring, dozens of chickens and roosters rush out to the grass to find worms to eat. One by one, he checks the condition of each bird out in the pasture. He is happy to report that all the birds living in the farm are strong and healthy. Now that all the birds are in the pasture, Yuto walks into the coops to check on the chicks and gather the eggs to sell or bring home to his wife to make dinner.

His work ends at 3:00pm. The day may be cool, but he has raised a sweat on his brow from all the work he did today. He wipes his forehead with a towel, then takes a look around the farm. The chickens are full and marching back to their nests in the coop to lay more eggs. Once the last chicken returns to the coop, Yuto sees his wife hanging at the gate of the farm from the corner of his eye. He turns around and smiles at his wife who is standing there cheerfully.

On Sundays, Popuri spends time at the church to help carter educate the young children of Mineral Town. He imagines the children circling around her red and green dress playing carousel. She has complained that some of the children play a bit rough and pulls on her single braid, but she loves watching them as their parent’s are hard at work.

“Yuto, are you done? Can you help me out for a while?” called Popuri from across the farm.

He walks up to Popuri and asks, “what’s up? Something happened at the church?”

“Not really,” she answered as she blushes. “Mugi and Elly will be picking up Yu and Mei late today. So we’ve decided to play house at the church until they are ready to get them. We need a dad for our game, and Carter is a bit busy today. So I figured that you could play with us until their guardians come and get them.”

“I don’t mind. In fact, that sounds like fun,” answered Yuto. “Just let me put away my tools and change into something more casual. I’ll meet you at the church.”

Popuri nods cheerfully, then heads back to the church. Yuto heads into the house where he dumps his rucksack full of tools into the bin to get ready. He changes into his yellow hoodie and jeans, then heads off to the church to meet with his wife. On the way to the church, Yuto looks up at the blue sky remembering when was the last time he played house. He remembers that one time when he and Popuri were kids making mud pies, and he had to pretend to eat and enjoy them. Now they are married and playing house for real. He giggles as he remembers those silly moments.

At the church, Popuri and Yuto play the role of parents while Yu and Mei pretends to be their children. Popuri pretends to be a doting mother who tells the children to play nice and not to run around the church. Yu and Mei then run to Yuto and latch on his legs as he pretends to be the fun dad. As the four of them play together, Carter just stands by watching them pretending to be a family. Everyone has so much fun for hours.

Soon enough, it is time for Yu and Mei to eat a snack. They both sit on a pew next to each other as Popuri hands them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a boxed drink, and a sweet treat. As Yu sips on his drink, he finds Mei’s treat resting next to her as she eats the sandwich. He already ate his treat, but he is still hungry for a little more. As Mei is preoccupied with her sandwich, Yu takes this chance to slowly reach for the treat as quietly as he can. From the corner of her eye, Mei notices Yu trying to steal her snack.

She quickly snatches the snack and yells, “this is mine!”

Yu crosses his arms and pouts, “so what? You can share a little, I am a growing boy after all.”

Mei pouts back, then turns to Popuri and yells, “mama! Yu is trying to steal my treat!”

Popuri walks up to the kids cheerfully, she finds them arguing over sweets rather cute and charming. She plays along and says, “now Yu. You already ate your treat. You need to be fair and let your sister have her share of the treats too.”

Yu looks away and responds, “you should yell at Mei too. After all, she never finishes her snacks and never shares. She’s just being greedy.”

Mei then looks at Yu angrily and grunts, “mama Popuri! You should know that Yu still wets the bed!”

“What?” yelled Yu as his face turns red.

Popuri smiles for the kids and says, “Mei, you should know better than to tell stories.” She then turns to Yu and continues, “Please don’t be upset. We’re only playing pretend, so I’m sure Mei didn’t mean it.”

Popuri gasps as soon as she notices Yu tremble with shame. Tears that he is trying desperately to hold back drip from the side of his eyes. She tries to comfort him by patting on his head saying, “are you okay? Is Mei telling the truth? If it is, don’t worry. Some people just-”

Yu then hops off the pew and runs out of the church. Yuto rushes to his wife and asks, “everything okay? What happened?”

“The kids had a little fight, then Yu ran off. Could you please find him? I need to stay here and talk to Mei.”

Yuto nods, then heads out of the church to find Yu. He takes a look outside the church, but he can’t see Yu running off. He looks both ways, but the roads are clear and he can’t find him. He knows that Yu couldn’t have gone very far and he must be hiding. After a moment, he can hear the faint sound of a small boy sobbing nearby. The sound is coming from the forest behind the church.

He follows the sound into the forest and finds Yu sniffling under a tree. Yuto slowly approaches him, then pats him on the head to comfort him. Yu looks up and finds Yuto smiling at him, “hey buddy, what’s wrong?”

Yu wipes some snot off his nose, then answers, “Mei is always so mean to me. I just wanted a piece of her treat, then she got mad and told Popuri that I wet the bed. She didn’t have to tell her that, it was our secret!”

Yuto chuckles for a moment, “sounds like what happened to me when I was a kid.”

“You used to wet the bed too?” asked Yu.

“No, but let me tell you a story.” Yuto then takes a seat next to Yu. He then takes a look up at the clear blue sky as he begins to tell his tale. “When I was about your age, me and Popuri would hang out at my grandfather’s farm. We both loved to play with his animals, especially the chickens. We would often go into the coop to pet and feed the chickens when grandpa wasn’t looking. We had so much fun back in those days.

“One day, we decided to open the coop to play with the chickens, but we forgot to close it and they all escaped around the farm. Grandpa came out and spent all day chasing the chickens across the farm to put them back into the coop. He was so mad, and we were so scared. He asked us what happened, but neither one of us told grandpa the truth that we let them escape that day. We then pinky promised to keep it a secret.

About a week later, me and Popuri had an argument over a toy. We tugged on it back and forth, but she lost her grip and fell down. She wasn’t hurt, but she still cried very hard. I tried to calm her down, but she was so mad that I didn’t let her have the toy. Grandpa came out to see what happened, Popuri told him that I pushed her down and it was me who let the chickens out.

“I was grounded that day. I could have told grandpa the truth, but I just kept quiet. Even so, I was still so mad at Popuri for what she said. I thought that I would never talk to her ever again. She was my best friend, and I felt so betrayed. But later that day, Popuri felt bad and told grandpa the truth. She came to the farm and told him that I didn’t push her, she just fell. She also admitted that she helped let the chickens escape that day, not just me. Grandpa appreciated her telling the truth, so he allowed us to talk to each other.

“Popuri apologized to me for what she did. Of course I forgave her, and we hugged. She even gave me her prized possession, the dorodango. We continued to be friends for the rest of that summer.

“When it was time for me to go home, me and Popuri promised to see each other again. I lived in the city, but I wanted us to still be friends. I promised her that I’ll cherish the dorodango and remember her until we meet again. She then kissed me on the cheek to seal that promise. And from that moment on, we knew that we would get married someday.”

“Wow, that’s such a cool story,” cheered Yu.

“I remember you telling me that you have a little crush on Mei.”

“Yeah, I do like her. But I wonder if she likes me back. When she does mean things, I feel like she doesn’t.”

“You never know. But you’re kids, being mean comes with the territory. You two will fight every now and then, but you must forgive her if you truly like her. Do you understand?” asked Yuto.

Yu nods cheerfully as he answers, “I will!”

At that moment, Popuri and Mei finds them in the forest and walks up to them. Yuto gets up, and stands next to his wife so the kids can talk to each other. Mei looks down shamefully as she tells Yu, “I’m sorry for what I did. I should have kept our secret. Please forgive me.”

Yu chins up cheerfully as he replies, “It’s okay, I am not even mad about it! Lets go back to the church and play some more.”

Seeing that Yu has forgiven her, Mei nods happily. All four of them return to the church and continue to play house. Not too long after that, Elly arrives to pick up her brother Yu and Mugi for his granddaughter. Yuto and Popuri stand outside the church side by side with arms wrapped around each other. Their heads resting against each other as they sigh happily. They both feel that this is a perfect ending to such a busy day.

“Someday we’re going to be great parents,” said Yuto.

“I’m glad you think so,” said Popuri. She then places her hand on her belly as she announces, “I went to the clinic a few days ago. The doctor told me that I’m pregnant.”

Yuto gasps cheerfully, then asks, “really? Are you sure?” Popuri nods. He then picks up his wife and twirls her around laughing and yelling, “I’m going to be a dad!”

And from that moment on, Yuto’s life got so much busier than it ever was. First, he prepares his farm to welcome the newest addition to his family. Then three seasons later, Popuri gives birth to a healthy baby boy. And they all live happily ever after.

The End.