A Spectacular Service! All Pray For A Good Harvest/Story/Chapter Three

Hey, could you bring me some glutinous rice for the mochi?

Y-yes! Ah, oh, the bag-!

Ah… It’s all in a royal mess.

Aaaah… I’m s-s-sorry! I’ll, um, I…!

Hey, no need to apologize. It only spilled on the counter, we can just wash it and it’ll be good as new. I’ll go get the rest of the rice, so can I leave this to you?

Eh? Ah- yes, of course...

Very good! If you run into any other problems, just ask, alright?

Th-thank you very much!

You know… Lord Jizou doesn’t seem like the big scary person we thought he was, does he? We might have had him wrong this whole time.

Yep yep! He helped me out earlier too! Lord Jizou might actually be a really nice person☆!

...Wait a minute.

What’s wrong?

I can’t find the mortar and pestle we need to pound mochi anywhere... They were right here up until a minute ago...

Do you think you left it somewhere and forgot?

No, I’m pretty sure I didn’t...

Something wrong?

Lord Jizou! The thing is...

Heheheh. If you’re going to leave me out of things, all I need to do is give you all a refresher on my superstar awesomeness!

If I pound all the mochi by myself, everyone will definitely be super impressed at me, and-

I see...

Who- who’s there?!

So this is what it was all about.

J-Jizou?! Why are you here?

Haira and the others were going to pound mochi. They were really worried because they couldn’t find the tools they needed anywhere… so it was your fault...

What are you trying to say?! Pounding mochi is the hardest task of them all, isn’t it! So I was gonna do you guys a favour and finish it myself...!

You can’t pound mochi alone, you know? Besides, that rice isn’t even boiled yet.

...Oh.

Don’t ‘oh’ me! You’re the one that brought up the whole idea of a service, you know! I’m really busy, so I’d appreciate if you could hold off on unnecessary intervention and not cause anyone any more hassle!

‘Unnecessary?!’ Oh, just you wait, Jizou!

Ah! Lord Dainichi Nyorai!

Leave him be!

Um, okay...

Jeez, that fool… Whose fault does he think it is that I’m so busy?!

Eep!!! I thought he wasn’t that scary, but I take it back! He’s scary...!

Right… He sure didn’t pull any punches here...

...Hmm.

What the hell! It’s almost like I’m the bad guy here!

Well, plan ‘pound mochi by myself’ was a failure. Why didn’t it go well… All I wanted was to help everyone...

Lord Dainichi Nyorai, this is nothing to get so depressed over!

Ah! That startled me! Ahem - did you need something, Antera?

I saw you go off by yourself, and I got worried...

Oh, is that so. There’s no need to worry about me, though! For I am the buddha who stands above all others!

As you say! You were working hard when no one was looking so you could be of help to everyone, weren’t you, Lord Dainichi Nyorai?

Antera…! You’re really gonna sympathize with me?

Of course I am! Your quiet hard work has honestly moved me to tears!

A little failure like that is just the warm-up for the star’s performance! Lord Dainichi Nyorai’s awesomeness will definitely reach them, I’m sure of it!

Are you for real? I am super touched by your words right now! Antera, you’ve gotten me interested in you!

I’m honored to hear such praise from you! Now then, Lord Dainichi Nyorai, we’ve got to plan our next move!

Absolutely! I’m not the sort of deity who’d be disheartened by a setback like this!

But if we try to do something that’s already assigned to someone else, it’s going to end up the same as before. We’ve got to come up with something new...

The answer is simple, Lord Dainichi Nyorai! We’ll carry out something the others wouldn’t even dream of, something so bewildering it’ll be a mindblowing surprise!

Even Lord Jizou Bosatsu will have to rethink his opinion on your hard work, Lord Dainichi Nyorai!

You’re so right! When you think of me, you think of light, a being so bright I illuminate all existence! I’ve got it. Let’s try making torches next!

Hohoho? Just what I’d expect from you, Lord Dainichi Nyorai! What kind of materials should we make the torches from?

Hm… if we want to aim for a surprise, we’ll need the flashiest materials we can get. Oh, wait a sec… I’ve got a great idea!