Yuki finished her chores early, and headed out to the edge of the property to sit and carve and look out at the valley below. It was a warm April evening, late enough in the year for the snow to have melted and the ground to have dried somewhat. The grass was coming in a rich green and the dogs ran in circles, chasing each other, while the distant hills still caught a bit of golden light from the sunset.
She'd been staring at the riders, off and on, for several minutes before she finally realized they were actual people headed towards the ranch, and not some distant optical illusion.
"Miki! Rii-san! Kurumi-chan! Miki! Rii-san! Kurumi-chan! People! People are headed this way! There's people! They're coming! Miki! Rii-san! Kurumi-chan!"
She was hoarse and out of breath from yelling by the time she made it back to the house; Miki, who'd been the first to hear her, still couldn't make out what she was saying, so they had to wait while Yuki had a drink of water and caught her breath to explain things again.
Three minutes later they stood at the front gate, watching the horses come down the road towards them. Yuri, nervous, kept wringing her apron in her hands; she couldn't help but notice that Miki had brought her sword, even if it was hanging off her back hip, half hidden. Yuki held Miki's hand, while Kurumi held back, her naginata present, but held at a low angle.
"Hello!" One of the riders, a woman, called out to them as she approached; she stopped perhaps ten meters in front of them, climbed down from her horse and bowed. As she did so, her companion, a man, also bowed his head. The four women from the ranch also bowed, but for a moment it struck Miki how alien it seemed; not something she'd done in years.
The woman was in her mid-twenties and seemed to be in good health; she was dressed in the same jeans, cotton shirt and boots Miki and Kurumi favored when they were working. The man was perhaps five years younger, and similarly dressed; he had a short sword on his hip not dissimilar to Miki, but didn't look particularly threatening otherwise.
"I'm Haruka Mitsune; this is my brother Toshiro. It's great to see more people out here, we've been traveling from our home around Ninohe looking for other survivors. We-"
And she stopped because Yuki had run up to her and was hugging her tightly, sobbing silently. Haruka paused for a moment, and hugged Yuki back. "I'm... I'm very happy to see you too," she said. "It's always joyous to meet other survivors."
"Yuki!" Miki cried out, exasperated. "That's not the way to treat our guests..." she advanced towards Yuki, gently peeled her off Haruka, and bowed again. "Our... our apologies, Mitsune-san. You are literally the first survivors we've seen in five years, so we're a little... overwhelmed. Please don't-"
"No, no, no, perfectly understandable!" Haruka waved her hands vigorously. "We've gotten all sorts of welcomes over the years; this is one of the better ones! At least you're not shooting at us. I promise we're friendly, and it looks like you are too, so..."
"Oh... of course," Miki said, suddenly conscious of the sword on her hip. She moved her hand to the handle as if to hide it, then realized that was just calling attention to it, removed it and bowed again, unsure of what else to do.
"So..." Haruka said, "As I said, we've been traveling, looking for other survivors. I assume the four of you live here, are there others, or...?"
Kurumi stepped forward, her naginata held back on her shoulder. "Again, forgive our awkwardness, Mitsune-san. I'm Kurumi Ebisuzawa; this is Yuri Wakasa, Miki Naoki and Yuki Takeya." The women nodded in turn, and Haruka nodded back. "This is everyone - as Miki said, we haven't seen anyone who wasn't infected since we left Tokyo five years ago, and no infected for more than three years. But this place has been a good home to us - we have power and water and we grow our own food, and you're welcome to stay as long as you need."
Haruka bowed again, and smiled. "Well, we won't stay indefinitely, but we would certainly welcome a chance to rest for a few days and get to know you better. And we can pay our way - we've got antibiotics and other goods you might be interested in, plus we can discuss setting up a regular trade route for a lot of things we don't have with us right now."
Yuki couldn't help herself; she leaned in again and gave Haruka another bear hug. "I'm so happy to meet you, Mitsune-san," she said. Haruka was nearly a head taller than Yuki, but kissed her gently on the top of the head and hugged her back. "Me as well, Takeya-san."