“Crack…”
As the burning branch snapped, a small piece of red-hot charcoal popped out of the campfire and landed on the ground.
The faint smell of burning wood pulled Sinshi’s thoughts back from his memories.
He lifted his foot and stomped out the ember, preventing a moment of carelessness from causing severe consequences.
Then, Sinshi looked at the nearly finished grilled carp.
He could feel his mouth watering uncontrollably, and even his stomach began to growl in protest.
After gnawing on berries for a week, he was finally going to eat some meat.
Sinshi picked up a grilled fish, walked forward a short distance, and shouted toward the river, “Agumon, it’s about time.”
“You…
eat…
first…”
Agumon’s head bobbed up and down in the river, relentlessly chasing a fish mixed in among the Magikarp.
He looked like he had absolutely no intention of coming ashore until he caught it.
Standing quietly and waiting for a moment, Sinshi watched as Agumon dove underwater, popped up right in front of the fish, and successfully clamped his jaws around it.
Seeing this, Sinshi blew on his hot food and took a gentle bite of the grilled fish.
The savory aroma of meat gradually filled his mouth.
The crispy exterior and tender inside stimulated his appetite, and he devoured a third of the fish in just a few bites.
The only downside was the abundance of bones.
He couldn’t just recklessly scarf down the meat; he had to carefully pick out the bones with every bite.
Still, compared to his previous “wild berry banquets,” this was fantastic.
Come to think of it, Sinshi recalled that Agumon seemed to swallow fish whole, completely free from the hassle of picking out bones.
He couldn’t help but envy his partner’s digestive system.
With that thought, Sinshi returned to the campfire and reached out to grab another grilled carp to prevent it from drying out and losing its flavor.
But as he extended his hand, he noticed something was wrong.
Agumon had caught a total of four fish.
Sinshi had one in his hand, which meant there should be three left roasting.
But now, there were only two…
Did someone take it?
No, if a person had approached, he definitely would have noticed.
‘Which means it’s most likely a Pokémon…’
Sinshi’s expression instantly turned solemn.
To steal a grilled fish in the few short minutes since he got up to call Agumon meant the culprit had likely been watching him for a while, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.
Were they drawn in by the smoke from the fire or the smell of the grilled fish?
Or were they targeting him and Agumon?
Sinshi didn’t know, but given the short timeframe, the thief theoretically couldn’t have gone far.
He needed to find it as soon as possible to confirm its identity and intentions.
Otherwise, there was no guarantee the thief wouldn’t do something worse after stealing the fish.
If they dared to steal fish today, they might dare to kill tomorrow.
He had to nip all hidden dangers in the bud.
Sinshi quickly opened his system panel.
Within the blue holographic screen that only he could see, he began searching for the information of all nearby Pokémon.
But to his surprise, even after scanning his surroundings, the panel showed no reaction.
He didn’t detect a single Pokémon.
‘Did it run away that fast…’
Sinshi fell silent for a moment.
He waved Agumon over, grabbed the remaining two grilled fish, and proactively approached the edge of the forest.
He walked a lap around the area, trying to close the distance between himself and the culprit to see if he could find anything.
However, the panel only displayed a string of blinking ellipses, showing nothing else.
This instantly made Sinshi’s previously relaxed mood grow heavy.
At that moment, Agumon came over with a fish in his mouth and mumbled indistinctly, “Sinshi, what’s wrong?
Why did you come over here?”
“A Pokémon just stole one of the grilled fish.”
“What?!!”
At the mention of food, Agumon instantly grew agitated.
He had spent a tremendous amount of effort catching those fish to repay Sinshi and fill their stomachs.
He even wanted to taste the leftovers himself, but now someone had stolen it?
Swallowing the fish in his mouth whole and throwing the one in his claws onto the ground, Agumon spoke rapidly, “Quick, tell me where it is!
I’m going to get our grilled fish back.”
“It probably ran far away.
I couldn’t even find a single trace of its escape.”
“Huh?”
Hearing this, Agumon looked toward the forest with deep reluctance.
He was extremely dissatisfied with the thief stealing their food, but based on what he had learned about Sinshi over the past half-day, if he said that, it meant there truly were no clues.
Moreover, having survived alone in the Digital World for so long, Agumon naturally knew that the danger level of a forest skyrocketed at night.
There was no need to take risks, especially without any leads.
“It’s fine, they only stole one.
The rest is still enough to eat.”
Sinshi gently soothed Agumon’s emotions while handing him a grilled fish.
“You probably haven’t had grilled fish before, right?
Give it a try.”
Agumon took the grilled fish but didn’t immediately start gorging himself like he usually did.
Instead, he stared at the fish, lost in thought.
A serious problem had suddenly occurred to him.
If he had immediately returned when Sinshi called him to eat, instead of lingering in the water, the grilled fish might not have been stolen.
And…
most importantly, it was fortunate that the thief only stole the fish and didn’t launch a sneak attack or actively target Sinshi.
Otherwise, Agumon couldn’t even bear to imagine something happening to the friend he had finally made.
He did care a lot about food, but compared to food, he cared much more about his friend—a very important friend, even if they had known each other for less than a day.
If the fish was gone, he could catch more.
If his friend was gone, he would truly be gone forever.
Because of this, Agumon felt a deep sense of guilt.
Even the grilled fish right by his mouth no longer smelled appetizing.
Sinshi stood quietly to the side, watching Agumon hold the fish motionless with a clearly abnormal expression.
Outside of combat, Agumon usually acted a bit thick-skulled or simple-minded.
Sinshi hadn’t expected him to be surprisingly sensitive about something like this.
This couldn’t help but remind him of Taichi Yagami’s Agumon in Digimon.
After his first “dark digivolution” into SkullGreymon, the overwhelming and berserk power caused him to lose control and hurt his companions, leaving him with a severe mental block for a time.
This was not good news.
Perhaps the severity of the two situations was vastly different, but there were plenty of examples where the accumulation of psychological issues eventually led to a qualitative change.
Especially in the modern era before his transmigration, this phenomenon had become increasingly severe.
He had to take it seriously.
Sinshi slowly crouched down in front of Agumon and reached out to pat his shoulder.
“Don’t blame yourself.
You didn’t do anything wrong.
It’s my own fault for letting my guard down because I wanted to rely on your strength.
This is my personal issue, and I should be the one apologizing to you.
I shouldn’t have…”
Before Sinshi could finish, Agumon interrupted him.
“No, you are my most important friend.
Putting you in danger, no matter the reason, means I should be the one apologizing to you.”
Sinshi looked in surprise at the incredibly stubborn Agumon, who was staring straight into his eyes.
After a brief silence, Sinshi lowered his head and gently pressed it against Agumon’s forehead.
“It’s exactly because we are friends that I don’t want to just use your power.”
Hearing this, Agumon immediately tried to interrupt again, but Sinshi’s preemptively placed hand cupped his chin, interrupting his cast.
“So, we both share the blame for this incident.
There’s no need to dwell on who is right or wrong.
I’ll count to three, and if you don’t speak, I’ll take it as your agreement.”
As Sinshi began to count down, he quietly pressed his shoulder against Agumon’s lower jaw and firmly pressed down on his upper jaw with his right hand, directly revoking Agumon’s right to speak.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“Mmph…
Mmph…”
Feeling Agumon’s jaw opening with increasing force, Sinshi simply gave up on his attempt to silence him and let go.
At that moment, an image suddenly flashed through Sinshi’s mind.
It was a trick that said the best way to stop a cat from hissing fiercely at you was to stick a finger in its mouth while it was meowing.
Consequently, the instant Agumon opened his mouth to speak, Sinshi shoved his hand right into it with lightning speed.
“Wu!
Wuwu!”