"GUAHH! Bunch of jerks!"
The blonde-haired girl and the orange-haired boy slumped in defeat, silently enduring the endless tirade from their pint-sized companions
Amika, a 15-year-old girl with shoulder-length brown hair, let out another roar of frustration—her fourth one today. The three friends trudged across the flat plains of Silao Valley. A couple hundred meters away lay the enormous, slumbering form of Silao Grande.
"Amika, you're just gonna end up hurting your throat if you keep yelling like that," said the orange-haired boy, Ayato, shaking his head. He was just as frustrated as she was—their classmates had tricked them—but staying angry for the entire trip would only worsen their already bad situation.
"I-I can't help it, Ayato! Those guys are the worst!" Amika slumped to her knees, her shoulders dropping in disappointment.
Seemingly on the verge of tears, she looked up, her eyes glassy. "They tricked us. They said they were too afraid to participate in the field training since they picked the most dangerous part of the valley—where all the beasts were supposed to be lurking!" She flopped onto her back, staring up at the sky. "So I was like, hey, I can handle the beasts. That's actually what I was waiting for—to finally have a chance to fight a real one. So I said, 'How about we trade field spots?'"
The girl let out another tantrum, kicking and punching the air while grumbling. "No wonder they were laughing when we left. They knew all along this spot has nothing but grass. GUHH!"
The blonde-haired girl crouched down to fix Amika's skirt, which had rolled up from all her kicking and flailing.
"Amika, this field training is designed to give us firsthand experience of what an expedition feels like. Fighting a beast is just one aspect of it. The real challenge is learning how to manage ourselves outside the academy's protection."
The shorter girl just grumbled incoherently as she was pulled up by the blonde-haired girl.
"I know that, Suina, but they tricked us. We were being nice to them, and they just went and did that..." Suina gently brushed Amika's hair, trying to comfort her smaller friend.
"We can't do anything about it. We're stuck here, and we're not allowed to leave our designated location," Ayato said, putting down his bag. He began stretching his back, getting ready to set up his tent. "It's about to get dark. Unless you two want to sleep under the freezing night sky, you'd better set up your tents too."
"But I haven't fought anything yet, and we've already lost an entire day. Can't we look around just a little more?"
The other two sighed in exhaustion. They had already spent hours scouring their assigned area, and there was still no sign of any beast.
Amika threw another fit, stomping her foot in frustration over being tricked. "We did nothing at all! Just kicked each other's butts and got stalked by that dude!"
She jabbed her finger toward a lilac-haired tribal boy, who quickly looked side to side, in panicked, and dove into a nearby bush to hide.
"STOP HIDING! THAT BUSH IS SMALLER THAN MY CHEST! I CAN LITERALLY SEE YOUR ASS HANGING IN THE AIR!"
Amika huffed, arms crossed in total irritation. Not only had they wasted an entire day walking around doing nothing, but halfway through their journey, this weird tribal boy had just shown up out of nowhere—and followed them all day.
At first, the boy ran when he was caught spying, but once he realized no one was chasing him, he just started casually tailing them from behind.
"Amika, don't interact with the locals," Suina softly reminded her. "Our teacher strictly told us not to disrupt their way of life."
Amika scowled. This dude had been trailing them for hours. The whole thing made her uncomfortable. She couldn't even take a piss without wondering if he was peeking.
"Suina, that guy is being a creep. Can't we just scare him a little? Make him run off and leave us alone?"
Suina shook her head, even though she was clearly uncomfortable too.
Ayato glanced at the tribal boy and sighed. "We can't. Unless you want our teacher to ban us from future field exercises, we have to follow the rules. We're supposed to leave the locals alone. Usually, they just follow us from a distance, watching. If we defeated a beast, they scavenge the leftover parts and the core."
Amika grumbled, complaining that even the local boy was probably disappointed in them for not giving him anything to scavenge.
"Ayato's right, Amika. We're just visitors in their homeland. We're the ones intruding on their way of life," Suina said, placing a hand on Amika's shoulder to calm her.
"I know that, but—c'mon! We're supposed to sleep while that dude watches us?!"
Suddenly, an idea lit up in Amika's eyes. She stepped forward and raised her voice at the tribal boy.
"HEY YOU! DO YOU KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND A BEAST TO FIGHT?!"
Ayato and Suina quickly rushed to her side, worry clear in their expressions.
The lilac-haired boy tilted his head, clearly confused by the question at first. Then, after a few seconds, he nodded.
Amika's eyes lit up. Finally! A chance to use her core weapon in a real fight!
Though neither of them said it aloud, Ayato and Suina perked up too. They were also eager for real combat experience.
The tribal boy lifted his hand and pointed off to the left.
The trio turned to follow the direction he was pointing in—only to land their eyes on the enormous, slumbering head of Silao Grande.
In an instant, Ayato and Suina grabbed Amika by both arms, holding her back as she roared in outrage.
"YOU DUMBASS! ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME?! HAVE YOU EVEN LOOKED AT ME? HELLO?! I'M AMIKA! I'M 15 YEARS OLD AND 4'10"! DO I LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO CAN FIGHT THAT THING?!"
Suina and Ayato struggled to restrain the smaller girl. They couldn't afford to let her go—if she actually kicked that tribal boy, they'd all be in huge trouble.
"JUST ONE KICK! I SWEAR, JUST ONE KICK, AND I'LL STOP!" Amika shouted, thrashing while being held down.
A few hours later, darkness had swallowed the entire valley. The three friends had finally given up exploring for the day and set up camp, preparing to eat and rest.
Amika and Suina decided to share a tent, while Ayato volunteered to take the first watch.
Right now, the three of them were sitting in front of their rations, staring at them like a puzzle they didn't know how to solve. Cooking was not a shared talent.
"So… we can at least eat the dried meat. I think it's already cooked," Ayato suggested. "And we can maybe throw the potatoes into the fire and hope they cook?"
They all sighed. Dinner was going to be rough.
Meanwhile, while Ayato and Suina were discussing how to approach their food problem...
Amika was busy munching on sweets in front of the tribal boy.
"Hmm, yummy. I bet you've never tried candy before, huh? Want one?" she said, holding up a sugary crystal.
The tribal boy reached out, only for Amika to toss it into her mouth at the last second with a mischievous cackle.
"Fu... fu... fu... Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to eat it—I thought you didn't want it!" she laughed, clearly enjoying herself.
The tribal boy slowly lifted his hand and gave her the middle finger.
"OI! I don't know what that means, but I can tell that's rude!" she snapped, flustered.
Ayato and Suina just shook their heads. The two had been going at it like this for a while now. Ayato had jokingly said that Amika and the tribal boy were "sharing a brain" since they were too alike when it came to annoying each other. Suina had laughed at the thought but silently agreed.
A few minutes later, the trio stared down at what could generously be called "dinner"—a chunk of dried meat and a burnt potato. Suina's shoulders slumped; she didn't want to complain, but the food was just too sad to look at. Ayato poked the charred potato skeptically, convinced they had burned it all the way through. Meanwhile, Amika was grunting and struggling to rip the dried meat apart with her teeth, using one hand to hold it and the other to yank it—making very little progress.
Suddenly, a delicious scent wafted through the air.
The trio turned toward the source: the tribal boy, sitting a few meters away, cooking over an open fire. A small pot sizzled above the flames, and the aroma made all three of their stomachs growl.
The boy lifted a piece of freshly grilled meat, dipped it into a dark sauce, laid it on some leaves, and wrapped it up with other ingredients before taking a big bite. It looked heavenly.
If someone from in his previous world saw him now, they'd think: Wow, look at that guy, just vibing with a barbecue under the stars in a lush green field.
The tribal boy continued eating, completely unaware—or uncaring—of the trio drooling over his meal.
Amika stood up, clearly planning to approach him, but Suina quickly grabbed her arm.
"W-What are you planning to do, Amika!? You're not gonna steal his food, are you?"
Amika frowned, insulted. "What do you think I am? A savage? I'm just gonna ask. If we don't eat something soon, we'll starve to death."
She pulled away, but Suina jumped in front of her.
"We're not supposed to interact with the locals! If the teacher finds out, we'll be in huge trouble!" Suina whispered urgently.
Ayato added, "And I don't think we're gonna die if we skip dinner."
Their standoff was interrupted by a loud stomach growl.
They all stared at Suina, who blushed furiously and looked away.
It only took a second for Amika and Ayato to realize what happened, and they both snorted softly, trying to hold in laughter.
"S-Stop laughing! I can't help it, okay!? I was too busy finishing the class report to eat anything today!" Suina admitted, covering her face.
Amika shoved past them both and marched toward the tribal boy.
"Hey!"
He glanced at her, gave a nonchalant side-eye, and returned to eating.
Amika puffed up her cheeks in frustration. How dare he ignore her!
"You! Don't ignore a lady whe—" she started, but Suina quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
Ayato crouched beside the tribal boy to meet him at eye level. "Brother, if you'd be kind enough to share your meal... we're clearly not prepared for this kind of survival activity and couldn't find anything edible."
The tribal boy looked at him, then extended a hand—asking for something in exchange.
Amika broke free from Suina and proudly presented her "perfect" offering: the candy she had teased him with earlier.
"Here! You can have this—no need to tha—ow!" Her sentence was cut off as the tribal boy flicked the candy, hitting her forehead with a satisfying thunk.
Before she could yell at him again, he opened his satchel and pulled out an object wrapped in leaves. When he unwrapped it, a dark rectangular item was revealed.
He took a piece and popped it into his mouth to show it was safe. Amika, still pouting, grabbed a bit and cautiously tasted it.
Her eyes widened in delight. Her cheeks flushed, shoulders relaxed, and for once... she shut up.
The tribal boy waved the object toward the others, inviting them to try it too.
Suina sniffed it first—immediately hit by a creamy, sweet aroma—then took a bite. She melted on the spot.
Ayato raised a brow and asked silently, What is this stuff?
The tribal boy grinned. "It's called chocolate. Took me a while to get the flavor right. I made it back when the kids in my tribe were bullying me... but once I gave them this, they made me their boss."
He chuckled at the memory, then looked at Ayato.
"I'll share my rations with you three. And the chocolate too. In exchange... tell me about the world outside Silao Valley."
Ayato looked at him for a moment, then sighed and nodded.
"Fine. Let me tell you about the world beyond your land... where everything is connected by the—"
"ENDLESS FLOW."
End of Chapter 5