“I don’t know what happened to you,” Natsuyū said, “but since you’re stuck on this gate, you’ve clearly run into a problem you couldn’t handle on your own.”
If she could handle it herself, she’d have already broken free.
No one would stay hanging there by choice.
Kurumi didn’t argue the point.
A faint look of approval crossed her face.
She let out a small, pleased sound: “Natsuyū-kun is very observant.”
“Thank you.”
Natsuyū kept his tone easy.
“You can’t move freely right now.
We can.”
“I imagine you want out of here — to get back where you came from.”
“We can work together.
You give us what help you can, we find the way home — or we free you from this gate — and we all leave together.
Everyone wins.”
Yukino looked between Natsuyū and Kurumi, startled.
He was inviting someone who looked like an obvious threat to join them.
Openly.
Without hesitation.
And yet — she found herself thinking his logic held.
His reading of people.
The sharpness of it.
It almost reminds me of Haruno-nee-san.
“What you’re saying makes sense,” Kurumi said.
“However—” She let a pause stretch.
“I don’t believe you have the ability to escape this place.
Even I couldn’t do it — and whatever awaits you at the final stage, even with the best of luck, you’d still lose to the boss waiting at the end.”
Final boss.
Natsuyū’s pulse picked up slightly.
So Kurumi knew.
More than that — she had almost certainly made it to the final stretch before being stopped and trapped on this gate.
She was the real veteran here.
Then she knows exactly what we’re up against.
And her intel is worth everything.
“All the more reason to try,” he said, voice quiet and certain.
“Perhaps we can’t beat whatever’s waiting.
But if we don’t try, the odds go from slim to zero.
A one-in-ten-thousand chance is still more than nothing.”
“We’re all people with reasons we have to go back.
We’re willing to try.”
“I believe the same is true of you.”
Kurumi was a woman of obsession, of conviction — someone who would loop through time a thousand times if it meant a chance at her goal.
Trapped here, she would never stop wanting out.
However small the odds, she’d take them.
Kurumi tilted her head, considering him.
“Your words are very reasonable.”
Natsuyū pressed on while she was warm: “And even if you don’t trust us — trust yourself.
The moment you’re free, you have another shot at the final boss.
That’s better than hanging here forever.”
“Hahaha — you’re bold, Natsuyū-kun~.”
Kurumi’s laugh was the laugh of someone who dressed up as a lady but had never quite left the stage villain behind.
She looked down at him from the vines:
“And what if I kill every last one of you the moment I’m free?
In my eyes, you all look rather… tasty.”
Natsuyū spread his hands.
“That’s a problem for later.
Right now, what matters is getting the intelligence you have and making sure my friends don’t get hurt because we were flying blind.
That’s the right call.”
“Natsuyū-kun — you’ve convinced me.”
Kurumi’s smile was lovely, devastating, and entirely her own:
“I’ll cooperate with you.
Within limits.”
“But you’ll need to give me something in return.”
She’s talking.
Natsuyū quietly exhaled.
“Say it.”
Kurumi pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and smiled gracefully:
“Let me give you two pieces of intelligence as a gift first.”
“One — this world has been corroded by shadow forces.
Shadow creatures are everywhere.”
“When the sun goes down, the shadow force loses its suppression.
The world will fill with them — the darkness will swarm.
You and your companions must find a light source strong enough to survive the night.
Without it, you will be consumed.”
Yukino’s eyes widened.
This world?
So they really had crossed into another world entirely.
What kind of place was this—
But — if Natsuyū hadn’t managed to get this woman talking, they’d have had no warning at all.
They’d have walked straight into the night without knowing.
Yukino looked at Natsuyū again.
His face was still calm — the tiniest compression of his lips was the only tell.
He’s remarkable.
Yukino was proud.
She didn’t lean on people easily.
Natsuyū turned the information over.
Night.
Shadow creatures.
No light source means death.
That was unmistakably Don’t Starve Together.
In the Constant, Charlie — the Night Monster, the Queen of Darkness — hunts anyone without a light source the moment night falls.
“Some of the stronger shadow creatures can destroy light sources,” Kurumi continued.
“You’ll need a great deal of materials to make it through a single night.”
“The second point — before dark falls, find something to eat.”
“Food here contains a degree of power.
It will restore your condition.
Let yourselves go hungry, and your capacities will deteriorate — all the way to death.”
“But be careful — not everything out there is safe to consume.”
Natsuyū nodded slowly.
“I think I understand.
So: gather as much wood as possible, and secure some food.
That gets us through tonight.”
Wood was simple — craft an axe, chop trees.
Food was trickier.
They’d need to identify what was safe.
Hopefully Kurumi was willing to provide that.
“Not quite.”
Kurumi’s answer was sweet, and merciless:
“Ordinary light sources only ward off ordinary shadow creatures.
Stronger ones will tear through them without slowing down.”
That’s a problem.
Natsuyū looked at Kurumi directly: “You said you’d cooperate.
Which means you have a way to keep us alive — otherwise cooperation doesn’t mean anything.”
“Please tell me what it is.”
Kurumi looked pleased.
A warm appreciation behind those mismatched eyes:
“My, my — the more I talk to you, the more I like you, Natsuyū-kun~.”
“Here’s what I need from you: bring me a living creature to consume.
In return — tonight, I will keep the shadow creatures away from you.”
“It must be alive.”
And Kurumi turned those warm eyes on Natsuyū — eyes that held what might have been goodwill.
Or might have been the appreciation of someone very hungry, looking at something very appealing.
She might actually want to consume Natsuyū.
But Kurumi didn’t harm good people.
And actually consuming Natsuyū wasn’t really on the table.
Probably.
Author’s Note:
I want to be consumed by Tokisaki Kurumi.
To be continued…