７８
We walk briskly through the forest. Kyui followed us the whole time. Kyui will also be in danger if it stays with us but with its smallness, it might be able to escape.
Kyui turned into a tiny bird, flapping its wings as it flew. I think it would be able to fly more easily if it was the same size when it was a bear, but for some reason, Kyui only becomes tiny when it’s a bird. Maybe it likes it, that size.
We can’t catch a ras, we can’t find that bright pink pig either. I can’t find that sweet white fruit that Dole brought, too. We were walking as our empty stomachs made gurgling noises for missing lunch.
Upon casually looking around, the tree was walking. It ‘yoh hoh’s as it walks.
[Haruka. The tree is walking.]
Look, when I pointed at it, he was shocked.
[It’s really walking……]
I don’t know if it’s the tree I saved last time but, I raised my arm and called out to it with a ‘Hey~’. The tree suddenly stopped. looked at me, and raised its branches as if it’s copying me.
[Look, look, we can understand each other.]
[……Hello~o]
When Haruka greeted it and bowed, not only the one that responded to me, but all the trees around it also quickly bowed together.
[Uwaah!?]
[Gehh!?]
When Haruka and I leaned back from the abruptness, the trees also leaned back together. I’m not really sure if they’re also shocked or they were just making fun of us, but it was so amusing that we ended up laughing.
[See, aren’t they nice folks?]
[You’re right. How interesting.]
The forest was gradually getting darker. The sun is probably setting. The redness of the setting sun does not enter the forest, but the darkness falls. When I think that we will end with empty stomachs, I feel slightly disappointed. Even in my previous life, I was hungry.
[I want to eat rice balls.]
When I said it quietly, Haruka spoke as though criticizing me.
[No, don’t say that. I’m also hungry.]
[We used to talk about what we wanted to eat for our last meal, right?]
[Oh, yeah. That used to be a fad. When everyone else was saying that they wanted grilled meat or steak, you would always say that you want rice balls.]
[I love rice balls. I like rice balls that are freshly cooked and smoking hot. Since I like it a little salty, I wet my hands with water and sprinkle them with salt before molding the rice into a ball with my hands. Is it because of the salt seasoning? The homemade one was the most delicious. How regretful. There’s white rice here, right? Since there’s also salt, I should have rolled it into a ball.]
[You can’t. It looks like the rice here is slightly different than over there. Maybe it’s not sticky enough, it doesn’t form.]
So Haruka has tried it before.
[Have you tried it in different ways like molding it while it’s freshly cooked?]
[I wonder…… I can’t really come up with things like that so I gave up when I couldn’t form the rice that I bought from the stall like normal.]
[Is that really the case?]
[It is. Because……]
Haruka must have remembered something, and burst out laughing.
[Wasn’t there also a, ‘What if you can take something to a deserted island’? Was it 3? The things you could bring. Everyone else was saying comics or tv, but yours were a rope, a knife, and a match.]
I remember it clearly. What was that about again? Maybe they were psychological games but we often had those hypothetical conversations in class.
[Naturally. It’s convenient to have a rope, I can cut trees if I have a knife or turn it into a weapon, and what you need the most on a deserted island is to make fire, right?]
[Everyone was thinking about relieving their boredom or loneliness. They thought that if they just sit still like that, help would come. But you were thinking about surviving on a deserted island.]
When I said that, he chuckled.
[There was also a time when you said that there might be no help coming. You understood that you have to be able to do something to help yourself.]
Haruka muttered quietly after his laughter subsided.
When dad and mom hit me, I never wished for anyone to help me. At that time, the absolute sovereigns in my life were my parents. If the two of them hit me together, there was no way anyone would help me.
I sure was such a fool. I should have gone out on an adventure much earlier. Even if I couldn’t go with Haruka, I should have gone on an adventure even by myself first. Because that single small apartment wasn’t the whole world.
But I had no regrets. If the order in my previous life was even slightly out of order, I might not have been summoned to this world. Not everyone who died are reincarnated here. I don’t know what the standards are, but I guess there are conditions. And I satisfy those conditions. When I was killed, buried, found, and prayed for.
I’m glad I reincarnated. I don’t care about the consequences. I’m just glad that I managed to meet Saine. As long as I have even one memory of being loved by someone, I’m fine with that.
I was able to get what I couldn’t get in my previous life. I’m happy with just that.
[A lot of things happened but I’m glad that I reincarnated.]
[I think so, too.]
[Haruka, too?]
[That’s right. I met you again, after all.]
Haruka stopped walking and looked at me. That summer when I was 15 years old, we had the same height. Haruka is currently taller than I am and, although just a little bit, I have to tilt my head to meet eyes with him.
[There were a lot of things I wanted to talk about if I ever met you again. When I was in middle school, when I was in high school, even after I became an adult. There were a lot of things I wanted to chat about during those times, but now I forgot. But maybe, I only wanted to talk to you. I didn’t care what it was about, I just wanted to be able to talk. That’s why I’m very happy right now.]
Smiling brightly, Haruka nodded firmly.
[Yes, truly, I’m so happy to be reincarnated.]
[Me, too. I was happy to meet Saine, but I was also happy to meet you.]
[Even though you forgot me.]
[Uh…… Bu, but, I remembered.]
[Well, that’s fine. Friendship and love are two different things. You can’t weigh which is heavier.]
[Yes. They’re both important.]
It was hard to see Haruka’s smiling face in front of me. Night comes to the forest of monsters.