“Woo la la la la…”
Listening to the wild men shouting “Ura!” outside the fence, the people locked inside the bamboo cages trembled and tightly closed their eyes.
Is it time to be slaughtered again?
From their initial crying and screaming to their current numbness and constant trembling, the captives held by the savages had experienced an unimaginable amount of psychological torture.
As the number of occupied bamboo cages in the enclosure dwindled day by day, several of the remaining prisoners had completely lost their minds to insanity.
Many more had actively chosen to starve themselves, desperately hoping to die on their own terms before the savages could eat them.
In their minds, dying of starvation was preferable to going through that unimaginable, terrifying hell.
But today, the savages guarding these “foods” outside the fence seemed quite excited and distracted.
Instead of dragging a person out of the cages to be slaughtered, one of the savages shouted happily and haphazardly tossed some green vines and dark, mud-caked tubers into the bamboo cages.
“So it’s feeding time…
Great…” Kasumigaoka Utaha muttered as she reached her hand through the bamboo slats and picked up a dark, unremarkable tuber.
It looks and smells a bit like a mix between a sweet potato and a regular potato.
Weren’t they only feeding us unpalatable, bitter tree vines before?
How come we get this today?
Kasumigaoka Utaha ignored the dark, dirt-covered appearance of the tuber and gently bit off the tough outer skin with her teeth.
“So sweet!” she exclaimed softly.
It tasted similar to a sweet potato, but even sweeter and much more satisfying.
Sora Ginko and Kasumigaoka Utaha were among the very few people left in this enclosure who still possessed a strong will to survive.
For this reason, they had forced themselves to endure the astringent and bitter taste every single day, swallowing down the unknown vines that the savages threw in just to stay alive.
Many other captives could not accept their degrading status as “livestock” and had gone on hunger strikes.
They simply wanted to starve to death before being eaten.
“Kasumigaoka-senpai…” Sora Ginko whimpered, her voice cracking.
Sora Ginko was starting to feel like giving up; although only five days had passed since the crash, those five days felt like five excruciating years.
“Eat up, it seems these savages have encountered something good today, as they’ve even given us an extra meal.” Kasumigaoka Utaha gently handed the sweet tuber she had peeled to Sora Ginko.
“Thanks…” Sora Ginko whispered gratefully. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Seeing that her senior still held firmly onto hope, Sora Ginko had no choice but to swallow her words of despair and keep going.
“Senpai, if you could also play shogi, you’d definitely be much better at it than me…” Sora Ginko remarked weakly after taking a bite of the dark, unappealing root.
It was incredibly sweet…
This tasted a million times better than those disgusting vines…
“Really?
Then you’ll have to teach me how to play shogi after we get out of here!” Kasumigaoka Utaha smiled faintly as she picked up another “sweet potato” from the dirt floor.
For her right now, being able to eat a sweet potato every day would be the absolute happiest thing in the world.
“Um…” Sora Ginko nodded with a wry, forced smile.
“However, when it comes to teaching, my senior brother is still a bit better…” she murmured.
“That Kato Jun?
I’ve heard you mention him so many times…
If you like him so much, why didn’t you confess your feelings to him sooner?” Kasumigaoka Utaha teased lightly.
“Hehehe…
I like…
what…
I…” Sora Ginko stammered, instantly blushing.
Sora Ginko always blushed furiously whenever this topic came up, which was exactly the scenery that Kasumigaoka Utaha wanted to see to lighten the grim mood.
“Before I’m absolutely confident that I can beat my senior’s sister, I…” Sora Ginko trailed off.
Sora Ginko knew very well that she could never surpass Kato Megumi’s status in her senior brother’s heart.
“Ah…
Kasumigaoka-senpai is making fun of me again…” Sora Ginko pouted, turning her head away with a haughty expression upon seeing the mischievous smile on Kasumigaoka Utaha’s face.
She wasn’t the type who was naturally good at talking to others, but in front of Kasumigaoka-senpai, she always found herself opening up and talking a lot without even realizing it.
“Sorry, it’s all because you’re just too cute at times like this, Ginko…” Kasumigaoka Utaha chuckled softly.
Kasumigaoka Utaha truly believed that if Ginko’s tsundere personality were written into a novel, it would definitely be a massive bestseller.
“What about Kasumigaoka-senpai?” Sora Ginko asked, shifting the topic back to the older girl. This story is hosted at g.com.
“Me?” Kasumigaoka Utaha replied.
“If Kasumigaoka-senpai finally meets that online friend of hers, will she confess her feelings to him?” Sora Ginko asked curiously.
“Well, maybe…” Kasumigaoka Utaha replied vaguely.
The prerequisite is that the other person’s appearance also matches my preferences…
Kasumigaoka Utaha silently added a sentence in her own mind.
Kasumigaoka Utaha was currently in an online relationship, though to be completely honest, it was more of a one-sided crush on her part.
Her online crush was a light novel author, just like her.
Although she had initially disliked the author for writing harem-style light novels that heavily pandered to otaku, after genuinely reading the author’s work, she became irresistibly drawn to know everything about them.
After shamelessly begging her editor for the other person’s private social media accounts, she had boldly made contact with them under the guise of being a junior author seeking advice.
Eventually, this in-person meeting trip was arranged, but unfortunately, the plane crashed before they could ever meet.
It was very likely that the two of them would never get to see each other in this lifetime.
I should have known better than to choose such a remote, far-off location for our first meeting…
Kasumigaoka Utaha shook her leg slightly in deep regret.
The black pantyhose she wore on her thighs were now completely ruined, full of holes and long scratches from sharp tree branches.
After not being able to shower for five whole days, Kasumigaoka Utaha could smell a strange, unpleasant odor coming from herself.
Honestly, it had been so long, and there was still absolutely no news from any rescue team…
Their only way to clean themselves right now was to take those emerald green vines, crush them to squeeze out the plant juice, and then wipe their skin with it.
Although the bitter sap could remove the body odor, it always left their skin feeling incredibly sticky and uncomfortable.
After finishing their rare “sweet potato” feast, Kasumigaoka Utaha and Sora Ginko squatted back down in the corner of the bamboo cage.
Because they had no idea when the savages would decide to feed them again, they had to sit still and conserve their energy and physical strength as much as possible.
Kasumigaoka Utaha’s guess about the extra food was completely correct; the savages had managed to hunt a massive, plump wild boar the previous night.
This particular tribe of wild men, numbering several dozen individuals, was now completely immersed in the chaotic excitement and celebration of hunting a large beast.
Compared to the sour, stringy flesh of those foreign captives, the rich meat of a wild boar was much tastier and far more desirable.
TO BE CONTINUE