Yukino gave a small nod, finally conceding the point: “Stone weapons, at least, would be a significant improvement over bare hands.”
Kushida’s smile nearly cracked.
She’d been internally cursing Yukino out for the better part of the last minute.
You absolute ice queen.
Ice queen, ice queen, ice queen.
Natsuyū watched the Yukino-thoroughly-dismantles-Kushida show play out and silently paid his respects.
That girl really cannot escape a cold, sharp-tongued type no matter where she goes.
It’s like it’s written into her DNA.
Ema said quietly: “Should we focus on protecting Natsuyū while he unlocks his abilities?
And scout the area around us?”
“We’re not hungry yet, but hunger is miserable — we should find food and water sooner rather than later.”
At the mention of food, something seemed to flicker across Ema’s expression.
She swallowed, a very faint gurgle escaping her.
Kiana flexed her arm with a burst of energy: “Just give me a job and I’ll handle it!”
Natsuyū looked out at the group.
Through the effort he’d put in, something had solidified.
Even the two problem girls — Yukino and Kushida — had their big bright eyes turned toward him now, waiting for him to say the word.
All that work, and it paid off.
He thought it through and spoke:
“We don’t know what’s out there.
Caution is the priority above everything else.”
“For scouting further afield — Kiana and Yukino are the best options.
I’m sorry to ask, but could you two cover a bit more ground?
If you encounter any living thing — no matter how harmless it looks, no matter what species — do not approach it.
Same goes for plants.
I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
He had good reason to be cautious about living things.
His Charisma stat had a note next to it: All creatures: Hostile.
Probably applied to the others in his group too, give or take.
He’d always been naturally attractive.
As a kid, walking down the street would sometimes earn him unsolicited attention from older women.
At a café, a roomful of female customers had gone quiet when he walked in.
Even in his day-to-day life, his presence had that kind of low-level effect.
If a healthy adult baseline was 1.0 and he was at 1.3, Kushida and the others were probably somewhere in the same range — none of them lower by more than 0.1.
Which meant every living thing out here had a red dot over it on the minimap.
Not a single neutral.
Extreme caution was mandatory.
As for being cautious around plants—
He glanced at the Gothic girl still hanging from the vine-wrapped gate.
That was all the explanation anyone needed.
“Ema, Kikyo — scout the immediate area around us.
If you spot anything that looks like food, mark the location.
Get a sense of the terrain too, especially any water source.
We need to find something to drink.”
“My part — once you’ve all had a look around, I should have a set of basic equipment ready for everyone.”
“Once we’re equipped, we move together to gather food and water.
Keep the risk as low as possible.”
The girls approved.
Kiana threw up a peace sign, jutting her chest out with that full, rounded confidence: “Leave it to me!
I’ll find the water and food!”
Ema showed a decisiveness that ran counter to her delicate appearance: “I’ll take the left side.
Work hard, Natsuyū-kun.”
Kushida pressed her hands together out of habit, smiled sweetly: “Since Natsuyū asks — I’ll do my best.
If Ema’s taking the left, I’ll take the right.”
Kiana planted one hand on her hip and threw the other high: “Then I’ll go right too.
Yukino — the far side of the left is yours.”
“Everyone — move out!
Let’s go~!”
Natsuyū watched the three of them head off in their different directions, then turned to the one still standing in place, eyes aimed skyward.
“Something you want to say to me?
Just us?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.
Nothing whatsoever.
Nothing remotely suspicious about me.”
“Then is there a problem?”
Yukino’s left hand caught her own elbow, and a flawless smile settled on her face: “Your plan is good.
I could have come up with the same thing.”
Natsuyū looked at her.
“What is it you actually want to say.”
Yukino exhaled.
“Haven’t you noticed the flaw in your plan?
This is wilderness.
You’ve accounted for combat strength, you’ve accounted for safety — but you’ve missed the most critical variable.”
“Modern people’s movements follow familiar patterns.
Going somewhere unfamiliar requires navigation assistance, or someone to ask.
There’s none of that here — no map, no one to ask, nothing distinctive to use as a landmark.
What happens if someone gets lost?”
Natsuyū nodded slowly.
“Fair point.”
A small smile from Yukino.
“Then let me accompany one of the others.
I can protect them.”
“Declined.”
Yukino’s smile froze mid-face.
“Why?”
“Kushida and Ema are staying close to the gate.
It’s open ground, good visibility — neither of them can get lost.”
“Kiana has been travelling solo since she was very young.
Crossed country borders as a child.
Her sense of direction has to be exceptional — even if she goes further out, she won’t lose her way.”
“The only one I’d genuinely need to worry about is you.
It clicked.
He looked at her with an expression somewhere between exasperated and amused.
“You could have just said so.
Not having considered your sense of direction is my oversight.
Stay with me — I just need to gather resources; you can explore around me, as long as you don’t leave my line of sight.
That way you can’t get lost.”
Yukino met his stare, tightened her grip around her elbow, held the elegant smile in place, and said with perfect composure:
“I am not directionally challenged.
I would never get lost.”
“Then I won’t stay with you.”
Yukino’s smile finally gave up.
She brushed her hair aside, eyes shifting away, dignity retrieved through sheer willpower:
“…But since you’ve gone to the trouble of mentioning it — for safety reasons, leaving you alone here isn’t ideal either.
Going together is simply the most sensible arrangement.”
“Ha.”
The things people say when they’re embarrassed.
Natsuyū turned his eyes skyward for a moment, then turned back with the patient tone one reserves for coaxing small children: “Yes, yes.
Whatever you say.”
Yukino’s jaw tightened, invisible but there.
“Don’t laugh.”
Adorably stubborn.
He looked at her properly.
Black hair falling in a smooth curtain, clear pale skin, wide bright eyes edged now with the faintest embarrassed flush, cherry-petal lips pressed into a thin line — that perfect face was cute enough to be considered a violation of something.
And her proportions were everything you’d expect — slender, long-limbed, a waist that curved in exactly where it should, every line of her adding to the case that Yukinoshita Yukino was, beyond argument, a beautiful girl.
The one honest shortcoming: the plains were rather too flat compared to Kushida and Kiana.
But still very cute.
Natsuyū smiled: “I just thought you went to a lot of trouble to say something you could have said in one sentence.
Next time — just be direct.
We’re on the same team, we’re supposed to cover each other’s gaps.
I’ll rely on you too.”
Yukino watched him bow slightly toward her.
Something shifted — imperceptibly — in her expression.
Her grip on her own arm tightened.
The graceful smile stayed.
She returned the bow with equal composure:
“Likewise.”
She straightened.
“Let’s go.”
Natsuyū raised a hand.
“Actually — hold on.”
Yukino frowned.
“You have something else to do?”
“I’m going to examine the body.”
The mysterious Gothic girl still hung from the vine-wrapped gate, frozen in her strange, brutal portrait.
Waiting.
To be continued…