The sun was barely coming up as they gathered in the kitchen, Ishmael plugged the coffee maker into the generator and made the guys a pot of coffee. Seo took out the white board and wiped it clean. "Let's start fresh guys. Now that we have the water system up, what should be our next step?"

[Seong] Let's see what we can find out in the town.

Seo added that first.

[Haru] We should take Ishmael's small bike cart with us so they can see what we can make for them.

[Mel] Stop back by the large drop site again.

[Kim] Wheels, preferably kid bike size if we're going to be building all these carts, we need wheels.

[Seo] I want that solar system up.

[Haru] Get the rest of the stuff for the chickens.

[Mel] Clothesline

[Seong] We need to inspect the perimeter around the house.

[Sean] Get the outhouse up to snuff and cleaned out.

"Good point Sean. I'll star that one along with the solar and perimeter. What are we still needing; other than food?"

"There's really not much more we need hon, since we don't know how long this is going to last, we have to take it as it comes."

"Sis is right Joon, let's visit the town, see what happens with that and go from there."

"Sounds good to me. Babe what all are you doing today?"

"I want to ferment some of the cabbage and work on canning the rest of the yuzu today. Oh, I need to do an inventory of all the food we have and go through the freezer. So if you can find a propane/gas cook top, that would be a big big plus."

"I can stay and help her."

"Thanks Kim. I think only 3 of us need to go to the other town."

"I'll stay too, I can get sis' laundry line set up."

"Okay, so me, Seong and Haru will go."

"Oh, take this!" Ishmael got up and set 4 jars of jam and 4 of the yuzu jars in a basket. "Now we need to eat breakfast before we do anything else."

Breakfast was simple, congee cooked in broth with some of the canned meat and veggies. While they guys ate, she boiled some water for them and poured it into a large thermos she had found earlier. Ishmael got her go bag and packed the guys some cup of noodles, meat sticks and protein bars. There was enough for both Mr. Tomo's also.

The guys were all out making sure the bikes were up for the trip. Before they headed out, Ishmael went out to Seo.

"Hon, take this."

"What is it?"

"It's my go bag. The gps unit is in one of the inside pockets. Message Sean's unit if there is an emergency. There's cups of noodles, meat sticks and protein bars for you and the Tomo's. Ah! Take the cooler just in case!"

Seong, overhearing their conversation, went to get it. They were just taking two of the small carts, Ishmael's and the one that was constructed yesterday which they hooked up to Haru's bike.

"Oh wow, thanks babe. You're always thinking ahead."

"Be careful, I mean it."

"Come here." Seo brought her in for a hug after putting the pack on. "We'll be fine babe, I have my knife with me and I trust the Tomo's"

"It's not them I'm worried about."

"I know. We'll be back in a couple of hours at the most."

"Okay." Seo gave her a kiss to the forehead as the other two headed out the gate. "Stop and eat on the way back."

"We will babe. Love you."

"Love you too."

Sean was standing back beaming at the two lovebirds. Gate closed, she needed to get started on things. Going back towards the house, she saw Sean smiling.

"What?"

"Love you?! Things seem to be getting serious with you two!"

Ishmael made a silly face at him and went inside where Kim was having more congee.

"This stuff is really good sis!"

"Glad you like it. How's that cut on your hand doing."

"Good! It's starting to close up."

"Okay, I need to clean it, put more antibiotic ointment on it and change the bandage. Last thing we want is for it to get infected." Looking through the first aid kit she found three transparent waterproof dressings, perfect for the wound on Kim's hand. Bandage changed, the three of them began their day. Sean and Kim worked on getting the post holes dug and poles set for a clothesline. There was a bag of quick cement in the garage along with a post hole digger. More good luck for the group.

While the guys did that, Ishmael worked on harvesting some of the vegetables to freeze. One of the cabbages she picked was full of worms. "Eewww!" That, she quickly rough chopped with the knife she had on her and tossed the infested produce to the chickens who were more than happy to have it, even the chicks were picking at it.

The guys made it to the Tomo's at 10am exactly. Mrs. Tomo waved from the balcony to say hello then went back inside with the dogs.  The older men were walking from the back of the house towards the front with their bikes.

"So my boys! I'm glad we are able to do this and that you brought carts!" Abe had a backpack that contained canned goods to trade while they were there.

"Yes, Ishmael gave us some jars of the jam she made and she packed us lunch to eat on the way back."

"Ah! My boy, your wife is truly a blessing!"

The other guys laughed at Kenji; one of the Tomo brothers, for thinking Seo and Ishmael were married. Seo looked back and winked at them. Riding through town, other's waved at them as they were out starting their day as well. Reaching the edge of town the ride would take them almost an hour. The young men had forgotten to bring water but the Tomo's didn't. They would try to save it for lunch.

The morning was pleasant and the trip to the neighboring town uneventful. They only stopped for something to drink half way to their destination; finally reaching the town in less than an hour. As structures came into view, it was similar to Chiba. The one big difference was the presence of solar panels on a majority of the roofs.

"Joon, check out all the solar panels!" Seong was equally surprised.

"I see that. Mr. Tomo is this town run on solar power?"

"Not entirely, they are having some issues with some of the arrays since the power went out. I think there are only a few working systems and the major one is powering freezers in one of the grocery stores where meat is kept for the residents."

"Dude, they have frozen meat!" Haru was surprised and hoped they could barter the jam Ishmael gave them for some of it.

Soon the Tomo's stopped at an area of traditional styled houses and everyone dismounted their bikes. "Sato! Get out here!" 

"Sato? Hey, are you two related Haru?"

"No Seong."

"Ehhh!! What scoundrel is yelling for me?!" Out of one of the sliding house doors walked an older man, older than the Tomo's but still full of life. "Ah! Abe and Kenji! Oh...you've brought visitors!"

The young men bowed respectfully to what they assumed was the town's Elder leader.

"Sato! These young men have been quite the gift to our small town. Look! They are handy and have built carts for bikes."

Sato jumped, slapped his thigh and burst out laughing. "My boys! You have answered our prayers. Most of us that remain here are old and do not have time to build such things with everything else that is going on. Hold on! Yui! Yui! Come quick!"

"What is it you old fool?" Out of the house came a small but feisty old woman who was holding a rolling pin like she was about to knock someone out. "Oooo young men!"

"Enough vixen! Look, they have carts!"

"Eh!!! What do you want for the cart?! Ah! I'll get you some things to trade for it!"

Before the guys could say anything the old woman turned and rushed back into the house.

"See my boys, your skills are desperately needed here in Bepu!" Abe was all smiles that their meeting was a pleasant one so far. Seo took the basket with the jams and presented it to the town elder.

"We brought this as a thank you for seeing us. Please share with the other elders."

"Ha ha haa!!" Sato let out a sharp whistle and soon, two more elders were walking towards them from neighboring houses. Seeing a group of strange young men, one of the Elders was a little weary of them but approached anyway.

[Elder 2] "Sato? What is going on?"

"Look! These young men have brought us gifts."

[Elder 3] "Is that yuzucha!!?!!"

[Elder 2] "Wonderful! Where did you get this from?"

"My...wife made it and asked that I gift it to the town elders."

"Your wife is truly a gem. If I was 5 years younger, I'd steal her from you!"

"Ah Jun shut up! She's a foreigner." Abe was shaking his finger at him

"So! She is a good wife! No young person I know can preserve yuzu like this!"

Yui came through the door dragging two large baskets. Using her butt to push the door open, she shuffled backwards, the other men just looking at her.

"Let's trade young man! Your cart for some frozen oxtails, chickens and butter!" Out on the front deck area, the old woman stood and leaned backwards, hands on her hips to bring her back into alignment again as it popped.

The guys looked at each other. This was unreal, they hadn't been in town twenty minutes and had food, plus the butter Ishmael was wanting.

"Yes ma'am! Thank you so much!" They all bowed to the woman.

"Abe? Where did you find such polite young people?"

"They live in Chiba!"

"My boys, what brings you to Bepu today." Sato was addressing Seong as he looked the oldest out of all of them.

"We heard of the trading market. We were hoping to trade our small bike carts for some meat. We are able to provide both of the towns with carts if we can find more wheels."

The elders looked at each other, smiled and nodded in instant agreement.

"We also wanted to know if you had any news about what was going on?" Seo was addressing the Elders as they all grew silent. Sato had a seat on a stool that was in the corner of the porch and motioned for the others to sit. The young men stood giving what chairs were available to the Elders.

"My boys, things have gotten very bad in the large cities. My son, who is a police officer, left the city to check on us. He had to return to protect his own family. He headed back yesterday. Military is going door to door in some areas asking people to leave their homes and head to the community shelters that are set up. He strongly discourages it as they are not prepared for the number of people that will flood the shelters. Stores have been stripped of food and supplies. Just in Tokyo alone, hundreds have already died in the hospitals."

"I think they are doing that to better control people. People trying to scavenge and wander about the city will only create more of a headache for those in charge."

"I agree Jun." Kenji shook his head in frustration.

One of the other town elders added to the information. "Small towns such as ours and Chiba are on their own.  Luckily we older folks are used to adversity and are prepared to endure this type of situation even through winter. Unfortunately the majority of younger people do not care for the hard, manual and repetitive work that this life would involve and they returned to the city either on foot or on bikes."

The guys looked at each other. Tokyo was no better than the description given by Mr. Thompson. The two towns needed each other, there was no question about that but the Elders were right. Younger people would quickly tire of doing the same thing day in and day out, they had grown accustomed to a fast paced, instant gratification lifestyle.  Doing exciting and different things, having freedom to lounge around; but not now. Even their days had grown increasingly redundant. Get up, make coffee, feed chickens, Ishmael canned and cooked while the guys worked on projects. There was no excitement in that. Plus people were getting desperate as stocking up on food was not part of the Japanese culture, most people were used o purchasing food daily or weekly.

"What do you need to make things easier?" Seo was in boss mode once again.

"The carts you have would be a game changer my boy. It would help us transport goods. We have enough freezers that are working on solar that each household is able to store up meat for their households. It is the extra meat that needs to be traded. What we are lacking are the fruits and vegetables from Chiba."

"And Chiba is lacking the meat from Bepu."

"If we can get enough wheels, we can build the carts, sir." Seong really wanted this to work out for all parties involved.

"Very well. What do you need in exchange for the carts?"

"Meat and butter. My wife is very skilled with preserving food and can store it for us to last through the winter months."

"Well, let this be a start. Yui how much is there that you are giving them?"

"12 oxtails, 2 dozen chicken breasts, 2 bags of chicken pieces, soup bones and 6-1 lb blocks of butter."

Seo was glad that Ishmael had suggested taking the cooler.

"Are these adequate boys?"

"Yes sir, thank you!"

"Good, I see you brought a cooler!"

"Yes, his wife suggested it." Seong gave Seo a wink.

"She sees the future as well? A rare gem indeed. I hope to meet her one day." One of the other town leaders had started to smile now, instead of the somber look he had earlier.

"Maybe at the next market."

"Good. Now, head to the middle of town, you will find our drop site. There is quite a bit so take whatever it is you need."

"Thank you!"

"Stop back by when you have collected what you can."

"Yes Mr. Sato!"

Haru took the tools he had brought and unhooked the empty cart. Seeing a bike against the house, he found out it was Sato's and connected the cart to it while the guys placed the meat and butter into the cooler. All of it just barely fit inside but they managed with some help from Mrs. Sato. Everything loaded up and the cart connected to the leaders bike, the young men were off to the drop site. The Tomo's stayed to chat with the town elders.

"I can't believe this guys. I really can't." Seo wanted to jump around as Sato had.

"I know. Ishmael is going to have a fit when she sees a cooler full of meat and the butter she wanted."

"Yes she will."

"She's also going to have a fit when she finds out you guys have mysteriously gotten married."

"There's nothing mysterious about it. I've already asked her dad. After this is all over with, I'm going to propose to her."

"Good!"

As they reached the town's drop site, they saw spots of colored plastic. Kid toys were everywhere; the parents must have dumped them when their children insisted on taking them with them. The men got busy going through the piles of discarded items. More luck was on their side when they found an area with small bikes. Kids riding bikes all the way to Tokyo would never happen, so their young parents got rid of them. Haru had brought plenty of tools and the guys worked on removing the wheels. Looking through the buckets on Seo's bike, they found some straps to secure them to the cart. Going through the pile some more, they came across a container filled with unopened boxes of the jar lids Ishmael had gotten earlier. Seo, knowing they would be useful, put them in one of his empty buckets and left the container as they were running out of space. As Seong looked on the other side, he found another one of the metal cookers Ishmael had.

"Joon, can Ishmael use this?"

"I think so, let's take it just in case."

"Mn."

They headed back to the elder's house. The small cart loaded down with not only the cooler but 8 pairs of smaller wheels off of the kid bikes.

"I see it paid off for you!"

"Yes. Thank you again for allowing us access to it!"

"Thank you for being willing to build us the carts. How many can you make with what you have?"

"We can make 8 of them. We may be able to drop them off tomorrow morning."

"That would be excellent! Abe, if they can do that, we could come to Chiba and bring our goods with us later that day."

"Excellent, I will let the others in town know."

"Are all of the store owners still in Chiba?"

"No, the cafe, clothing store owner and a few others have left but the small Daiso store owner is still there. along with pharmacy, vet and grocery store.  Ah, Hardware store is still around."

"There are more bikes, we can bring one of our bigger carts back and get more wheels." Seong wanted to keep the town leader's minds at ease.

"Good, I will let the others in town know that if they have any extra bike wheels laying around to put them in the drop site for you. Hopefully we can meet your lovely wife also."

"I will ask her. She stay's pretty busy with cooking for all of us."

"How many of you are there?"

"Six all together."

"Oh my!"

"Well Sato. Me and Kenji need to get these young men back so they can get to work."

"Agreed! Young men, we will have families set aside a portion of what they have in the freezer for you as payment for the carts."

"Thank you sir. If they can not afford to give anything that is quite alright. We will provide them with a cart anyway."

The elders again nodded at the young men.

"My boy, today you have joined both towns into a community. Together we will all get through this."

The young men bowed again and the group headed back to Chiba. They stopped half way once they came to a shaded area and had lunch. The water in the thermos was still steaming hot. Seo used the edge of the bike cart as a makeshift table to prepare noodles. Seong handed out the rest of the goodies Ishmael had packed. There was just enough water for the noodles and with the meat sticks it made for a filling lunch.

"With a wife like yours young man. You guys will be just fine." Abe and Kenji smiled at them as they finished up their lunch.