Shizuha Aki is the goddess of autumn leaves and Minoriko’s older sister. She’s quiet by nature and tends to be slightly pessimistic.

Today, she was busy preparing sweet potatoes for roasting with her little sister.

Minoriko Aki is the goddess of abundant harvests and Shizuha’s little sister. She’s cheerful by nature and gets along well with others.

As Minoriko and Shizuha were roasting sweet potatoes, a red dragonfly, the symbol of autumn, began hovering around them. Perhaps it’d been drawn in by the smell…

The red dragonfly, also known as the autumn darter, is a species of dragonfly endemic to Japan. They hatch on the plains, but in the summer, they travel to the mountains to escape the heat. There, they reach full maturity, before returning to the plains for autumn. As the adult red dragonfly matures, its body color changes from orange to bright right. The shade of red their bodies adopt is particularly remarkable in males.

According to the Chronicles of Japan, Emperor Jimmu once looked down upon the land from up high and said, “”It looks like two akitsu entwined.”” In ancient Japan, they often referred to dragonflies not with the modern Japanese word “tonbo,” but as “akitsu.” And so Emperor Jimmu’s words can be understood to mean “It looks like two dragonflies entwined.”

This led people to refer to the main island of Japan (later named Honshu) as Akitsu Island.

The air was crisp as the Aki sisters enjoyed their steamy-hot roasted sweet potatoes. The red dragonfly flew this way and that, hovering in front of one crimson leaf, then another. The sisters smiled as they looked around and saw an abundance of proof that their season was here once more. Their eyes twinkled with joy and hope as they watched the red dragonfly dance among the leaves.