When they had finally finished filling up that pot and turning on the heating element beneath it, Eva had hoped for a small break. But instead Asahi motioned for her to follow him as he picked up the remaining rice, and moved over to a nearby, still empty pot.

As they repeated the work from before with a new pot, the sack of rice finally ran out, so about two thirds of the way to filling the second pot, the two walked upstairs to grab a fresh bag.

As they finished up this second pot, one of the more practiced groups of workers was already busy emptying the cooked rice of their pot out into a wooden barrel, lifting it up and out with the help of similar fabric sheets to those Eva and Asahi had been layering into their pot underneath the rice.

“So where do we get a barrel like that?” Eva inquired as she followed her temporary colleague as he moved to check on the rice in the first pot they filled.

“Don’t worry about that.” He assuaged her as he turned back to her and the two picked up the sack of polished rice to carry to a third pot. “That is only for the very first rice of the year. The Boss usually has some of the ladies chew through a few handfuls of it. Then spit it back in the barrel and put it all up before the little shrine we have here as an offering to the Kami.”

“I see.” Eva mumbled, suppressing a sigh at the mental image of how that half eaten rice must stink after a few days. “So what will we do with the rice once it’s done?”

Nodding his chin towards the small set of doors opposite the entrance, he replied. “We’ll carry it over there. Then spread it out on tables before the Koji guys do their thing.”

“Koji? That’s the fungus used to break the rice down into sugar right?” Eva asked between heavy breaths before they dropped down the sack near an empty pot.

“Yeah. They’ve probably practiced all morning already to spread the spores just right.” Asahi replied as he straightened up and stretched his back. “You know, our first batch is only a few minutes away from being done anyways.” He continued while rubbing his chin in thought. “I doubt they’d mind if we quietly watched for a few moments. If you want to, that is.”

“Of course.” The Kitsune said, giving an excited nod. ‘Skipping out on more rice shoveling, and seeing something so integral to making Sake, how could anyone say no.’

“This way then.” Asahi said as he turned to lead the way across the floor. Behind the doors was a set of clear plastic sheets. ‘Probably to keep the air from moving too much.’ Eva mused as they quickly slid through, before Asahi stepped over and exchanged some rapid Japanese with another worker. Due to the distance, and the extra polite phrasing used, she couldn’t quite understand what exactly was said. It gave her a moment to take in the room though. Long tables took up most of the space in the room. To the right was a second door out of the room, covered in the same fashion as the one they entered through. The walls, while still made from the same wood as the rest of the building, had many rubber looking patches. Probably where drafty holes had to be filled.

When the two men were done talking, Asahi bowed then returned to Eva’s side and spoke quietly. “If we stay over in the corner here, we should be good to watch their next few practice attempts.”

Giving just a nod in response, Eva watched enraptured as the other employees took their place besides one of the long metal tables filling this room. One on the right, one on the left of each table. Then, seemingly perfectly synchronized, they all took two steps forward, then gave the empty glass jars in their hands identical looking shakes.

They continued this pattern until they reached the other end of the tables, where they turned around, now having their open jars held over a different table than they did before. Then they took only a single step before shaking, then returned to taking two.

“Satou, you were too early, again.” The man Asahi had talked to began to berate one of the workers. His voice carried disappointment more than anger. “And Yamamori, your steps were too big. Again.”

Eva and her minder watched them go through this another two times, each time followed by new, increasingly miniscule seeming, complaints. But when the first people carried cooked rice in, the duo hastily made their way back to the first pot they filled. They arrived with just a few seconds to spare before Asahi declared the rice done.

Asahi sorted through the tips of the various sheets they’d layered between the rice. Once he had figured out which one was the top one, he indicated to Eva which tips she needed to take a hold of, before the two of them lifted the cooked rice up and out. Taking a few steps apart so the rice wouldn’t touch the floor, the two began to slowly walk back over to the Koji room, where they just dumped it onto a half filled table. As they stepped back again, one of the people that had been practicing just moments before stepped up and spread the pile of rice out evenly on the table, matching the height of the rice already there.

“Now let’s hurry, and maybe we can finish emptying both pots before lunch.”