Word of food spread fast.
Everyone set off eagerly in the direction Ema had pointed.
On the way, Kiana gave her report:
“The terrain on my side opens up into grassland — a few ponds out there.
As for food, I found some rabbits and frogs.
We can go hunt together when there’s time.”
Kiana’s abilities alone would’ve made catching rabbits and frogs easy.
But years of travelling the world had given her a sense for difficult people and a lean toward caution.
Natsuyū was this group’s leader.
Kiana accepted that.
He’d told everyone not to approach animals or plants carelessly.
She knew he’d said it out of concern, and she knew him well enough now to sense that even if she’d brought back a few rabbits herself, he’d probably have praised her.
He was that type.
But after thinking it over, she chose to follow the instruction — no point risking the group’s harmony over something this minor.
Better to spend the energy on scouting.
“Good work, Kiana.”
Natsuyū gave her a prompt thumbs-up.
He watched Ema’s slender figure leading the way up ahead, with Kiana cheekily walking in a straight line right on his shadow, and felt himself relax.
Food.
Water.
Scouting.
All sorted.
Tonight’s shadow creatures — handled, courtesy of Kurumi.
He’d assumed there’d be more scrambling to get through the rest of today.
Instead, his teammates had been sharp about covering the remaining bases themselves.
Having capable teammates is a genuinely good feeling.
A short while later, they arrived at the spot Ema had found.
It was a sun-facing slope of a small hill, not far from the Resplendent Gate.
The berry bushes there had already started to yellow, their plump little red fruits overripe in places, beginning to wrinkle and blacken.
He scanned the area.
The patch was large — roughly a football pitch in area — but the actual berry count wasn’t enormous.
Wild growth, scattered unevenly across the slope.
Animal droppings dotted the soil, and many berries had either fallen or been eaten.
What remained was more than enough for five people to fill up and get through today, though. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
He stayed cautious and Appraised before anyone touched anything.
[Juicy Berry (Freshness 65%, spoils 2 days after picking): Common ingredient.
Consuming: slight satiation, slight hydration.
Note: Rich in sugar and vitamins.]
[Juicy Berry (Freshness 26%, spoils 12 hours after picking): Common ingredient.
Consuming: slight satiation, slight hydration, possible diarrhoea.
Note: Rich in sugar and vitamins — and significant bacterial growth.]
Good.
He had what he needed.
“Everyone pick some of the normally coloured ones — avoid anything that’s changed colour.
Eat a bit if you’re hungry.”
“My ability confirmed the berries are non-toxic.”
He’d originally planned to use Kurumi as a food assessor, running everything by her before eating.
With Appraisal unlocked, that was no longer necessary.
The girls’ faces lit up.
“Yes!”
Kiana cheered and bolted straight for the middle, picking berries and popping them into her mouth on the spot.
Right behind her was Ema — working with both hands simultaneously, left and right, stripping one bush clean in seconds without the slightest hint of hurry in her movements.
You could tell this was someone who knew how to eat well.
Watching her, Natsuyū almost felt hungry himself.
Yukino, who needed food the most, spent time wiping each berry carefully before eating and ended up with the slowest pace of them all.
“Natsuyū-kun — how about I pick and you catch?”
Kushida walked over with her best smile, offering a group-up invitation.
While she did, she held out a single freshly-wiped berry between two pale fingers, angling it toward his mouth, eyes bright and expectant.
He had no objection.
He opened his mouth, bit the berry off without brushing her fingers, and pulled open backpack number two to hold out for her:
“Thanks — Kikyo, just drop them in here.”
Kushida had been hoping for a slightly more flustered reaction.
A little disappointed — she pushed it aside and started picking.
Her smile stayed sunny as she rested a fingertip against her lip:
“Yep.
Everyone gets one in a bit.”
He proudly walked her through the bag’s impossible properties while his left cheek worked at a berry.
Lychee-sized, the skin bursting with sweet juice when bitten — pulpy inside like ripe persimmon — the sweetness fading slowly into a mild tartness.
A decent snack, all told.
Kushida’s eyes went wide when she heard about the stacking and weightlessness:
“Natsuyū-kun is incredible!”
“With these bags, we can take all the berries with us!”
He shook his head, still picking and eating:
“Berry preservation is the problem — pulling everything at once means they’d spoil fast.
Enough for now is fine.
We can’t live on berries anyway, so we’re heading to that spot Kiana mentioned to hunt after this.”
“Natsuyū-kun always thinks of everything.”
Kushida looked at him admiringly — and the next moment froze, because Natsuyū was smiling and holding a berry up to her lips with an easy, gentle “say ahh~.”
“…Thank you, Natsuyū-kun!”
She wrestled down the flutter that had jumped in her chest, composed the little-angel smile she wore so well, parted her lips, let her pink tongue move nervously for a moment, then leaned in carefully and closed her teeth around the berry.
Thump thump.
Her heart rate was up.
She stepped back, reminding herself firmly: he was just returning the gesture.
Nothing more.
She absolutely could not let herself develop any particular feelings over that handsome face and the way he carried himself.
The whole point was to get close to him and use his social pull to get through to the insufferable Yukino.
Nothing else.
Natsuyū took his hand back with a quiet smile.
He suspected the “let’s take all the berries” suggestion had been Kushida performing strategic ignorance to get his attention.
Simple-minded girls were genuinely appealing, in their own way.
But thinking it over — Kushida actually wasn’t all that sharp.
She probably just wasn’t thinking that far.
The genuine article.
Sweet little angel on the surface, dark landmine underneath — and at the core, kind of a simple-minded idiot.
Kushida Kikyo, queen of contrast.