The sky was gradually growing darker.
The sunlight filtering through the gaps in the canopy shifted from golden yellow to deep orange-red.
The light in the depths of the forest began to fade rapidly, and the temperature slowly dropped with it.
Aoyama quickened his pace.
The sound of the stream grew louder as he followed it back, and after passing through a dense patch of bamboo, he saw the stone overhang shelter again.
From a distance, he could already see the glow of the campfire.
The orange flames danced beneath the stone roof, casting a warm light across the small shelter.
“I’m back.”
Kasumigaoka Utaha was sitting beside the fire, the blank notebook spread across her knees as she held a ballpoint pen and seemed to be writing something.
Hearing his footsteps, she raised her head.
Then her expression froze.
Her red eyes widened, her lips parting slightly.
The calm and lazy composure she usually carried shattered in an instant.
“…Is that a crocodile?”
Her voice rose slightly, filled with unmistakable disbelief.
She put down the notebook and stood up, staring at the reptile hanging over Aoyama’s shoulder.
Its rough scales were stained with blood, and her throat moved slightly as she swallowed.
“Yeah.”
Aoyama took the crocodile off his shoulder and casually dropped it onto the empty ground beside the fire.
It landed with a heavy thud.
“A little over a meter long.
I happened to get lucky and run into it.”
“…Lucky?”
Utaha walked around the fire and carefully approached the crocodile.
Even though it was already dead, its vicious head, rows of sharp teeth, and rough scales still carried an instinctive sense of danger.
Her eyes fell on the steel bar piercing through its upper jaw before slowly shifting back to Aoyama.
“You killed it with that steel bar?
From how far away?”
“About seven or eight meters.”
“…”
Utaha remained silent for a full five seconds.
Then she straightened up, crossed her arms, and stared at him for a long moment with her head tilted.
“Aoyama-kun…”
Her voice returned to its usual lazy tone, but the slight upward inflection at the end revealed her curiosity.
“I’m becoming more and more certain that there’s something wrong with you.”
“Yesterday, you were still sitting in the classroom memorizing English vocabulary.
Today, you’re using a steel bar to accurately smash a crocodile’s head from seven or eight meters away.”
“Be honest.
Did some wilderness survival god possess you?”
“I watched Bear Grylls’ survival documentaries.”
Aoyama remained expressionless as he crouched beside the fire and began preparing the crocodile.
“Bear Grylls?
But I don’t remember those survival documentaries teaching people how to throw steel bars at crocodiles and explode their heads.”
Utaha crouched down as well, hugging her knees.
The firelight reflected in her crimson eyes, making them shimmer with an orange glow.
Aoyama didn’t answer.
He pulled out the broken ballpoint pen from his backpack, removed the ink cartridge, and kept only the hollow plastic tube.
After sharpening one end, he used it as a makeshift skinning tool.
He first cut through the softer gaps between the crocodile’s belly scales, slicing along the centerline and exposing the pale muscles and internal organs beneath.
The smell of blood spread through the air, mixing with the smoke from the campfire.
Utaha wrinkled her nose slightly, but surprisingly, she didn’t look away.
Instead, she leaned closer and carefully watched his technique.
“Have you processed animals before?”
“No.”
Aoyama skillfully removed a bundle of organs, rinsed them clean with stream water, and placed them on a large leaf.
“But I’ve watched tutorial videos.”
“…How much of your life is made up of tutorial videos?”
“Most of it.”
After all, many of those “action teachers” were among his favorites.
Aoyama kept a calm expression as he cut two thick pieces of crocodile tail meat.
He pierced them with sharpened branches and placed them over wooden supports beside the fire.
The moment the meat touched the flames, it began to sizzle.
Fat seeped out from between the fibers, dripping onto the coals and sending tiny sparks flying.
The aroma slowly spread.
It had a unique scent somewhere between chicken and fish, mixed with the smoky charred fragrance of grilled meat.
Soon, the entire area beneath the stone overhang was filled with the smell.
At that moment, Utaha’s stomach growled at the worst possible time.
She didn’t change her expression.
“That was my stomach celebrating the discovery of a new food source.”
Aoyama ignored her and focused on turning the branches so the meat cooked evenly.
The firelight illuminated his side profile, outlining his sharp jawline.
The sweat on his skin had already dried, leaving behind faint traces of salt.
About twenty minutes later, the surface of the meat turned golden brown.
The edges became slightly crispy, and oil continued to drip from the surface.
Aoyama used the blunt end of the steel bar to poke the thickest part and confirmed it was fully cooked before handing the first skewer to Utaha.
“Careful.
It’s hot.”
Utaha accepted it, blew on it a few times, and carefully took a bite.
Her eyes widened slightly.
The change in her expression was subtle, but Aoyama still caught it in the firelight.
“…It’s surprisingly good.”
Only after swallowing did she speak, her voice carrying a hint of surprise.
“It’s much better than I expected.
The meat is tender, a little like chicken, but with a firmer texture.”
“Crocodile meat isn’t bad to begin with.”
Aoyama took a bite himself and immediately sucked in a breath from the heat, but the flavor was genuinely good.
The high temperature had removed the unpleasant smell often found in wild meat, leaving behind only the rich aroma of meat and a satisfying crispy texture.
Although hunger was definitely making it taste better, it was still delicious.
[Consumption Record: Juvenile Crocodile ×1]
[Current Progress: 1/10]
[Ability Unlock Countdown: Consume a total of 10 Juvenile Crocodiles]
[Random Abilities: Stealth?, Visual Protection?, Antibacterial Immunity, Armor Defense, Pressure Perception, Bite.]
[Note: These abilities will continue strengthening as more of the same source material is consumed]
Aoyama stared at the panel thoughtfully.
“Ten crocodiles to randomly unlock one special ability…”
“The ant only gave me one ability, Hercules.
Why does a crocodile have so many?”
“Could it be because I only ate worker ants?”
“The queen ant only has one ability too, which is being extremely good at reproduction.
If I ate one, would I unlock ‘Reproduction’?”
“…”
The image that came to mind was too disturbing.
Aoyama immediately decided that he would never eat a queen ant.
The two of them sat beside the fire and ate in silence for a while.
The campfire crackled, occasionally sending sparks into the dark night.
After finishing her skewer, Utaha used a thin twig to clean between her teeth before leaning back against the stone wall.
She tilted her head upward, looking at the fragmented night sky visible through the gaps in the canopy.
“Aoyama-kun, what’s the plan for tomorrow?”
Aoyama was cutting up the remaining crocodile meat.
He wrapped the portions they couldn’t finish with large leaves, preparing to hang them somewhere with good airflow to dry and preserve them.
Without looking up, he answered.
“Find the road.”
“We fell from the cliff above.
The school bus’s crash path should leave some clues.”
“If we go around that cliff and follow the ridge, there’s a good chance we’ll find where the road is.”
“Once we reach the road, we can stop a vehicle and ask for help.”
“You can determine the direction?”
Utaha turned her head to look at him.
“In a forest this dense, you can’t even see the sun.”
“I’m only avoiding the cliff area.
The general direction shouldn’t be a problem.”
Aoyama hung the wrapped crocodile meat from a horizontal tree branch and brushed the grease from his hands.
Utaha let out a soft laugh.
“You’re surprisingly reliable, my great adventurer Aoyama.”
“Just stay close to me tomorrow.”
She flipped open the notebook to the page she had been writing on earlier and looked over it again by the firelight.
“I finally found a companion who can hunt and navigate.
I’m not stupid enough to wander off by myself.”
Aoyama glanced at the notebook in her hand.
“What were you writing earlier?”
“The opening of a new chapter.”
Utaha’s tone remained calm.
“A lonely girl and a boy become lost in a dense forest.
Then the boy suddenly reveals extraordinary strength…”
She looked at him.
“Guess how the story develops afterward?”
“…When are you going to write a normal romance novel?”
“Normal romance novels are boring.”
She closed the notebook.
Her crimson eyes flickered in the firelight, and the corner of her lips curved into a faint, playful smile.
“The male protagonists in my stories usually have some unknown secrets.”
Aoyama didn’t continue the conversation.
He added several thick branches to the fire, causing the flames to rise again and drive away the cold that had gathered after nightfall.
“Cooh-cooh~~~”
“Caw-caw~~~”
The forest at night was incredibly noisy.
The sounds of insects blended together into a continuous chorus, rising and falling from every direction.
Occasionally, an unknown bird cried out somewhere in the distance before silence returned.
Far deeper within the forest, the movements of large mammals could faintly be heard.
It could have been wild boars.
Or perhaps deer.
“…”
Utaha quietly pulled her shoulders inward and shifted half a step closer to Aoyama without making it obvious.
He noticed the movement but didn’t point it out.
Aoyama took the dry grass and fern leaves Utaha had gathered earlier and spread them evenly across the deepest part of the stone overhang.
He compressed one layer before adding another, repeating the process until the entire area became soft and comfortable.
“Sleep here.”
He pointed at the grass bedding.
“Closer to the inside.
The fire’s heat can reach you, and the stone roof will block the dew from above.”
Utaha stood up and walked over.
She stepped lightly on the grass bedding, and the softness made her eyebrows rise slightly.
Then she sat down and stretched out her legs.
Beneath the torn edge of her skirt, her pale calf was visible along with the dried scab from her injury.
“Aoyama-kun, what about you?”
Her voice became slightly quieter in the firelight.
Aoyama spread out a simple grass mat on the other side.
“You sleep first.
I’ll keep watch for the first half of the night.
Then we’ll switch.”
“Okay.”
Utaha lay down facing the campfire.
Her long black hair spread across the dry grass, while the flames outlined her figure with a warm glow.
She remained quiet for a moment before suddenly speaking.
“By the way, Aoyama-kun.”
“Hm?”
“The thing from earlier…
the condoms.”
She paused.
“You brought back two filled with water during the day.
There should still be several left in the box, right?”
Aoyama was adjusting the position of the firewood when he heard her.
His hand stopped for a moment.
“There are six left.”
“Mm~!”
Utaha dragged out the sound, her crimson eyes staring directly at him through the firelight.
“If Aoyama-kun wants to tonight…
it wouldn’t really be a problem.”
“After all, we have condoms.
In a situation like this, enjoying the moment while we can is also a way to survive.”
Her tone remained composed as she spoke, but her eyelashes trembled slightly.
The small trace of nervousness was perfectly hidden by the flickering firelight.
Aoyama placed the last piece of firewood into the flames, then straightened up and looked at her expressionlessly.
“Kasumigaoka-san, before we have enough supplies, it’s better for us to preserve our energy.”
“Besides, we walked at least ten kilometers today.”
After saying that, he sat down against the stone wall and placed the steel bar within arm’s reach before slowly closing his eyes.
Although…
For a brief moment, he really had been tempted.
“…”
Utaha stared at the man resting with his eyes closed.
She remained silent for a long time before letting out a quiet laugh.
“Aoyama-kun really is still so honest and dependable…”
She turned over, showing him the back of her head.
The words “thank you” that she had wanted to say lingered on the tip of her tongue, but in the end, she couldn’t bring herself to speak them.
The warmth of the campfire surrounded her body, and the softness of the grass quickly brought sleep over her.
Before long, her breathing became steady and even.
“Sigh…”
Aoyama opened one eye.
Only after confirming that Utaha was asleep did he finally relax his shoulders.
The firelight danced across his face, while the night breeze moved through the bushes with a soft rustling sound.
He clenched his fist in the darkness.
The overwhelming strength filling every muscle fiber was still there, almost overflowing.
“Tomorrow, I need to search carefully for that road.”