“I can’t walk anymore...”

While trudging through the forest, never knowing what might attack us next, I suddenly heard Yuzuki’s faint voice from behind. Snapping back to reality, I rushed over to her.

“I’m sorry for not noticing.”

Yuzuki had sat down on the ground and slowly shook her head while glancing back nervously.

“... Do you think we’re safe here?”

There was no real reason to believe that, but I had to say something to calm myself down. I sat down next to Yuzuki and let out a deep breath. I had no idea how many hours we’d been running, but my body had reached its limit. I didn’t think I could get up anytime soon, and on top of that... I was starving.

“Mizumoto-kun, are you okay?” Yuzuki asked, pointing to my left hand. Right, the huge rabbit’s horn had pierced through it. I nervously checked it out and, to my surprise, the bleeding had stopped. It still throbbed, but the pain was manageable.

“... Yeah, it looks like I’m okay.”

I hope it heals on its own. You never know what’s in another world — bacteria and infections are a real worry.

“For now, let’s clean the wound. …Water!” Yuzuki said as she cast water magic onto my right hand, helping me clean the wound. The sting was sharp, but I had to bear it. I managed to wash out the wound, and luckily, it didn’t start bleeding again. It seemed like it was healing faster than normal, but I’ll just count that as a bit of luck.

“Thanks.”

“What’s going to happen to us…?” Yuzuki muttered, her voice muffled as she buried her face between her knees.

Thinking about what lay ahead only led to grim thoughts. Starving to death seemed like the better option compared to being torn apart by some vicious beast. Either way, it didn’t feel like we had much chance of surviving.

“... We’ll be okay,” I said, though there was no real reason to believe it. But if I spoke my fears aloud, they’d feel all too real.

“You’re right,” she said softly.

It was getting darker. It wasn’t so dark that we couldn’t keep moving, but we didn’t have much time left. Ideally, we should have been looking for a safe place to rest, but the idea of such a place existing in this forest seemed laughable. We had been running through flat terrain, with no chance of stumbling upon a cave or anything like that. Our only hope was to remain as quiet and hidden as possible, hoping we wouldn’t be found by any predators.

“I’m so hungry…”

Yuzuki lay down on the leaf-strewn ground, muttering her hunger out loud.

“W-wait, Yuzuki-san, you can’t sleep here…”

You’ll get eaten alive, I thought, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. Yuzuki kept shaking her head. She was at her limit, just like me. While the water magic had helped stave off hunger a bit, nothing could fight off the overwhelming exhaustion.

“Mizumoto-kun… can you stay closer to me?” she asked, her sleepy eyes gazing at me with a hint of vulnerability.

Seeing her trembling body, paired with my own growing sense of fear, I lay down next to her without hesitation.

“I’m scared…”

With those words, Yuzuki gently hugged me, and before I knew it, I was hugging her back.

“It’s okay,” I said, patting her back in a comforting rhythm, even though I had no real assurance to offer. Feeling her softness against me somehow lessened my own fears. Soon, the exhaustion became too much, and I drifted into sleep.

My consciousness slowly started to return.

It seemed brighter than I expected. My left arm felt numb, and as I opened my eyes and turned to the side, I realized there was someone’s face right in front of me.

“Wha—?!”

It was Yuzuki’s face. She was peacefully sleeping, her breaths calm and soft. But what had happened to us? We seemed to be alive, but I was overcome by a strange, indescribable anxiety. I gently patted Yuzuki’s cheeks to wake her.

“Yuzuki-san, wake up!”

“Mmm…”

Yuzuki slowly opened her eyes, and as she recognized me, I felt my own face soften in relief.

“Oh, good morning,” she said with a sleepy smile.

Whoa, she’s so cute. What is happening right now?

As I flustered internally, I noticed Yuzuki’s face turning redder by the second.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Suddenly, she sat up and bowed her head in apology. I slowly got up too, gently massaging my left arm, which had been used as a pillow for her.

“No, really, it’s fine…”

I stammered as I tried to reassure her, all while looking around the forest to distract myself from the awkwardness.

“More importantly… it looks like we’ve made it through the night.”

Birds were chirping in the distance, as they had been since we first arrived. Yuzuki, too, was looking around, coming back to reality.

“Yeah… we might have gotten lucky…”

We were indeed lucky to have survived the night, though if we were truly lucky, we wouldn’t have been abandoned in this forest in the first place. Glancing at Yuzuki’s blushing face, I couldn’t help but think about how absurd our situation was.

“For now, let’s focus on getting out of this forest.”

“Yeah.”

And with that, we both steeled ourselves, determined to find a way through this nightmare.