Chapter 12: First Adventure into the Forest
"It feels like it's been a long time since I last had real meat..."
Jun could smell the delicious scent of grilled fish, and he felt his mouth water.
Saliva dripped, lips were wet—don't get the wrong idea, okay?
"The grilled fish is ready. Here, Katō-san."
Before meals, Yukino was always gentle, but today she seemed even more so.
"Well then, I won't be polite! I'm digging in!"
Jun immediately started eating a piece of fish.
"Ugh..."
It was a bit hot...
But the sea fish was crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, with a hint of coconut and a deep sea flavor.
It was delicious!
This kind of sea fish didn't have many bones. Jun ate the grilled fish in just three bites.
"How is it?"
Yukino felt very confident in her cooking skills this time.
After she learned the "skilled hands" ability, her cooking got even better.
"It's really good..."
Jun looked hopefully at the grilled fish that was still on the grill.
"I'm glad to hear it!"
Yukino nodded in satisfaction.
"Don't worry, there's more. I'll grill another batch..."
Yukino gave Jun another freshly grilled fish.
"Thank you..."
After eating, Jun, who was now a little full, leaned against the stone wall next to the cave and looked at the sky, which was full of stars.
The sun had already set, and the moon looked like a small crescent.
Although there were many stars, Jun couldn't recognize any of the constellations.
"So beautiful..."
Yukino sat down next to him and looked up at the stars too. This was probably one of the few ways they found to have fun.
"There aren't this many stars in Tokyo... But, are we in the Southern Hemisphere?"
Yukinoshita Yukino didn't see the North Star.
"You noticed too? But there's no Polaris here, and also no Southern Cross…"
Jun rested his hands on his head and leaned back against a rock, with a blade of grass between his teeth.
"Really?"
Yukino didn't know much about astronomy.
Still, she hadn't seen the Southern Cross either.
"This doesn't make any scientific sense... But..."
Jun had already seen many unscientific things over the past few days.
Status, skills, affinities... This game-like panel constantly reminded him—this place was far from ordinary.
"All we need to do is survive, wait for rescue, and a passing ship..."
But Yukino didn't care about those status attributes, so there was no need to mention them and make her worry.
"Mm..."
Yukino nodded. It was getting late, and she started getting ready for bed.
But before sleeping, she needed to make a divider so the grass bed they made would stay separate.
Otherwise, when they woke up the next morning, they might...
Yukino felt her cheeks warm up a bit when she thought about it.
"Yukinoshita-san..."
Jun took the grass out of his mouth.
"Yes?"
Yukino paused her task and turned toward Jun.
To be honest, she was always afraid Jun might lose control someday.
Although she had been feeling less afraid recently, she was still a little nervous when Jun spoke to her.
When she made the bow and arrows earlier, Yukino had planned to use all the materials, but in the end, she kept some and hid them in her pouch.
That day really came.
"Tomorrow, I'll try going into the forest..."
Now that he didn't need to worry about food or shelter, Jun decided it was time to explore the island. He thought his little sister might be there.
Jun felt uneasy just thinking about what his sister might be going through.
"Yukinoshita-san, please stay here and watch over the camp. I'll go alone…"
"Katō-san, you're going to look for your sister?"
Before Jun finished speaking, Yukino interrupted him.
"Yes, besides my sister, I also want to look for other people. There's no way we're the only survivors."
Jun felt it was time to go deeper into the forest.
"Then I'm going too!"
Yukino didn't want to be left alone in the cave.
She didn't want to feel lonely and anxious while waiting again.
"But what if a rescue team or ship passes by..."
Jun tried to convince Yukino to stay.
It was summer. The forest would be full of snakes and insects. It would be safer for a girl in a skirt like Yukino to stay on the beach.
"It's fine. I made a big SOS sign out of rocks on the beach. If a rescue team comes, they'll see it. Besides, they probably wouldn't come anyway."
Yukino thought of the girl with pink hair.
"I'm looking for someone too..."
"There might be venomous snakes and insects in the forest..."
Jun stared at Yukino's pale legs, which were visible under her skirt, and her bare feet, which were touching the grass.
"Katō-san, please don't look at me like that. I made this."
Yukino pulled out a long skirt made of tree bark and leaves from behind her.
"There could be big predators in the forest..."
"Did Katō-san forget something?"
Yukino took down the bow on the wall.
"You couldn't even catch a fish... Who knows, I might end up protecting you."
"Ugh..."
Yukino's sarcastic tone made Jun sad.
Even if she was right, it still annoyed him.
"Then please protect me, Yukinoshita-san!"
When he saw Yukino's determination, Jun stopped protesting. He spoke quietly and angrily, then turned around and ignored the girl who was insulting him.
"Katō-san, are you crazy?"
As Yukino built a triangular divider, she teased him playfully.
"No. Go to sleep early, Yukinoshita-san!"
Jun lay down on the grass bed by himself.
He planned to explore the next day, so he needed to get a good night's sleep.
The night went by with no conversation.
Thanks to the divider, Yukino didn't wake up hugging Jun again.
She breathed a sigh of relief, then got up quietly and left the cave.
Passing by Jun, she smiled at him.
So Katō-san can act grumpy on purpose.
It's kind of cute.
Yukino was feeling cheerful, so she used the embers from the night before to light a fire and start making fish soup.
It was made from sea fish preserved with salt the night before.
"Hm, there's no bad smell!"
After taking the salted fish from the plastic container hanging in the hut, Yukino also cut up some coconut meat.
A delicious bowl of fish soup was ready soon.
"It smells amazing..."
Jun woke up to the smell of the delicious soup.
"Yukinoshita-san, you're already up..."
He rubbed his eyes and walked to the beach to clean his teeth with sea salt and seawater.
"I didn't wake up early. You overslept, and now you're the one who said we'd explore the forest."
"Yeah, yeah..."
Jun didn't want to argue anymore.
His eyes were on the bowl of soup Yukino gave him.
"Yummy..."
After drinking the soup, Jun felt completely refreshed.
The cool sea breeze and the rising sun made him feel relaxed.
Yukino squinted as well. The air on this island was much better than in the city.
[Name: Yukinoshita Yukino
Hunger: 130/130 (Full)
Health: 140/140
Stamina: 130/130
Sanity: 170/170
Affinity: 59
Skill: Skillful Hands (Passive)]
So Yukino's affinity had reached 59. It's no wonder she had been much gentler lately.
But Jun remembered how she had teased him during the fishing trip yesterday. That memory was still clear.
"Huh, just you wait—someday I'll spank you!"
At that moment, the squinting girl felt something cold touch her bottom.
After they packed up, Jun and Yukino brought the necessary supplies and went to the forest.
They brought a few things with them: a sharpened iron knife, a slingshot, a bow and arrows, and a wristwatch. They also brought a small amount of fresh water and cooked fish.
Jun carried the slingshot and the iron knife, and Yukino, who was good with a bow and arrow, carried the bow, arrows, and the watch.
Both knew how to use a watch and the sun to find direction.
"But is this island in the Southern or Northern Hemisphere?"
Since their mechanical watches were still working and the time was the same as it was in the morning, they didn't doubt that it was accurate.
Yukino pointed the hour hand at the sun. In the Northern Hemisphere, the angle between the hour hand and the 12 o'clock mark pointed north; in the Southern Hemisphere, it pointed south.
"Don't overthink it. As long as we pick one direction. Let's say that's north, and over there is south!"
Jun pointed in one direction.
Yukino thought he made a good point and stopped worrying about which way was north or south.
"Watch out for snakes and insects. Let's use a stick to clear the way."
After cutting down two long sticks, Jun led Yukino toward the direction he thought was north.
_ _ _
"Wow, it's huge!"
After going through some bushes, Yukino suddenly saw a spider the size of her hand making a big web between two tree trunks.
She had never seen a spider that big.
She was scared, so she hid behind Jun.
"It's huge..."
Usually, spiders this size lived in caves—why was it here, building a web?
Seeing the web and the spider ahead, Jun also felt scared.
But after noticing that the spider didn't seem aggressive, he started to calm down a bit.
"It's fine... Spiders are usually alone, especially the kind that spin webs. As long as it's not mating season…"
"Katō-san, there's more to it..."
Yukino, hiding behind Jun, pointed cautiously beyond the spider.
"There's no way..."
Jun realized that the area was filled with webs of all sizes, and each web had a huge spider sitting on it.
Gulp...
It wasn't clear who swallowed first—Yukino or Jun.
They were both very scared when they saw this.
"It looks like we can't go this way. Let's go back slowly, and hope we don't bother the spiders that are as big as seabirds..."
"Umm, umm..."
Yukino grabbed Jun's arm tightly.
She was very scared because there were so many spiders. She was almost crying.
The two of them slowly moved back.
_ _ _
Hah… hah…
After successfully escaping the "dense forest" full of webs, Jun and Yukino, now back at their starting point, were out of breath.
It was a bad start.
They had just started their journey when they came across something that was extremely scary. Their faces looked serious.
"Hah... this doesn't make sense. How can there be spiders that spin webs that are that big? They're scarier than tarantulas..."
Jun was surprised to find spiders in this world. They were huge and lived in groups.
It's no wonder there were so few birds in the forest.
"So scary..."
Yukino felt like her legs were still shaking.
"Yukinoshita-san, maybe we should head back to the beach. This forest seems much more dangerous than we thought..."
"I..."
Yukino was unsure.
"No, it's fine! I can handle something like this!"
But she was too proud to accept Jun's suggestion.
"Okay, let's try something different..."
Jun shook his head. He knew the girl was already upset.
Not just Yukino—even he himself…
If it weren't for his sister, he wouldn't want to explore this scary forest either!
Just thinking about spiders that size made his heart race again.
"Let's head east..."
Jun pointed to the east.
Hopefully, east would bring better luck.
"Okay..."
Yukino nodded, and they stepped into the forest once again.
But this time, Yukino obediently stayed behind Jun, even holding on to his shirt.
It was clear that the girl was really scared before.
Luckily, this new direction wasn't as dangerous.
While creating a path, Jun also kept track of their route.
"Wait, I think there are tracks here..."
On the slightly damp ground, Jun found several footprints that were different depths.
"Split hooves... rounded... wild boar!?"
Jun looked around carefully, but thankfully there were only tracks, and no sign of the creature.
"Wild boar?"
Yukino held her bow and arrows tightly in one hand, and she held Jun's clothes just as tightly with the other.
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