20. survival story of a melee fighter in a fantasy world

I woke up to the smell of breakfast—not Igasu, but some kind of unidentified pastry. Given I’d broken several bones (though they’d been healed… somewhat) and carried a chest weighing half of what I did for hours, even my eyelashes hurt.

As an act of self-love, I hadn’t slept inside the tent. I wouldn’t have been able to, anyway. Hisui and the rest talked until late hours of the night while I wandered around trying to look for something edible. However, this place was a forest in name only; nary a bush was to be found.

My scavenging wasn’t completely fruitless (pun intended), for I found a bathhouse. A floating, neon sign said BATHOUSE in Japanese and Korovan. Worst case scenario, it’d be an actual bat house and not a misspelling, but by that point I didn’t care.

It wasn’t, though. I took a bath. It felt nice. There were a few other outlanders scattered around.

Sooner than later, I realized that they’d recognized me as Crystalmoon44’s slayer. How, though? I was as featureless as an isekai prot… wait, never mind. I remembered them singling the killer out as a ‘delinquent’, but so what? Surely I couldn’t be the only one with dyed blond hair… or pierced ears… or scars… but the most visible one was on my shoulder? And I’d gotten it after trying to use a dish as a frisbee (I was five)?

Whatever. I wouldn’t stop cosplaying. It was a wonderful KEEP OUT sign…

…yeah…

‘Hi? How are you?’

‘It’s the delinquent! Wahhh!’

‘Don’t worry. I’m a pacifist. What happened to Crystalmoon44 was an accident. I’m actually really friendly and nice!’

‘Oh, really? Let’s be friends!’

‘Yay!’

‘Yay!’

Thus went the imaginary conversation.

Now reinvigorated, I headed back to the group’s headquarters, where they continued to talk long after I wrapped myself in two layers of capes and found a nice tree to nap against. The next morning, they all but dragged themselves out of the tent—well, Aoko and Hisui. Perhaps we’d leave Yukimura behind and have a vastly more productive day as a result. Nice!

While Hisui wore a replica of yesterday’s impractical outfit—purple this time—Aoko now wielded armor: a chestplate, bracers, and what was either a helmet or a hairband. They still used miniskirts and thigh-highs. Nice!

As for me, I’d taken the satchel with the ‘ishidaseishin’ tag before leaving the tent to… camp under the stars… so I’d already seen what today’s generic fantasy outfit would be: a purple tunic, khaki slacks, boots, and another cape for the curious. I’d used both capes to shield myself from the cold and was still freezing.

Tissu was there, too. She sat on a blue log, breathing purple, sparkly flames onto a campfire. When she saw me, she waved, pointed at her mouth, and shook her head. She seemed happier about me grimacing at the reminder than sad about her temporary muteness.

I sat on a red log opposite to her, trying to get my stupid gloves to fit. “Ishida,” Aoko greeted as she walked by. “Good morning. Where did you go last… oh.”

She kept staring at me, so I looked away. “Um. Good morning.”

Hisui walked past us. “Good mo…” she trailed off, yawning. “...mor… oh, basket. Food… what’s in there…”

Wasn’t it obvious that… wait.

Wait.

Oh, shit.

I could smell it, but not them.

I pulled the hood over my eyes immediately, but the damage was done. I’d forgotten about these stupid things. What if I’d changed more and hadn’t noticed yet? Farewell, humanity. Farewell, society.

Correctly guessing why I did what I did, Aoko said, “No need to hide. They’re pretty. Can you also see in the dark?”

I could, actually. How else would I have been able to wander around like that yesterday? I shook my head to give a false sense of security.

“Turtles don’t see in the dark,” Hisui said. She obviated that they didn’t have slitted pupils, but whether Aoko knew this or not—which I strongly suspected she did—would forever stay a mystery. “By the way, Yukimura’s getting changed in the tent right now, so if…. oh, wait, you did that alreadyyyy…” Another yawn.

Tissu opened the basket. I knew this because the sweet scent was amplified tenfold, not because I saw her do it. “They look tasty,” Aoko said. “Is this… breakfast?” Tissu nodded because she couldn’t say yes. “Interesting…”

Hisui sat next to me. She kept nodding off. F-flowers…

As Yukimura finally emerged, he said, “There he is,” and then, “Ishida, give paw.”

He was ignored.

“Hey, are those cakes? Why are we having sweets for breakfast? What are we, Americans?”

“Isami, behave,” Aoko said.

“I will not be silenced.”

“...oh. Oh, no. Oh NO.”

That’s when it clicked: today was Tabletop Thursday. Somewhere amidst the sea of white, thunder boomed. Flowers wilted. Birds stopped mid-flight (did this place even have them). “Oh, yes,” Yukimura—no, Usami69—cooed. “Scream if you must.”

Aoko had her hands on her face, not from fear, but impending secondhand embarrassment.

I had to warn Hisui about this lest she undergo great misery. I swallowed. No stuttering. No vocal filters. I could do this. I could. “Tabletop Thursday is this um thing where um the oh shit fuck fuck fuck.”

Her head fell onto my shoulder. She was asleep.

“Weak,” Yukimura said. “My partner-in-crime, Kohaku the not maid, has…” he trailed off, glanced at me, then clearly smirked under the scarf. “...anyway, is there anything salty? I hate sweets.”

I hid my face down to my nose. To say this gave mixed signals would be an understatement.

“Uh…” Aoko trailed off. “Ishida, do you need help?”

“Y… nn… ff…”

“Isami, while I pour drinks for all of us, could you please help him move Sak—”

“No!”

“O-or not, I don’t know. Sorry.”

Yukimura hadn’t raised his voice, though; I had.

Deep breaths.

In…

Out…

“Aoko, who made you the leader, huh?” That was Yukimura. “You think you’re it because you got loot before us, but you see, while the early bird catches the worm, the late one gets the FEAST. See? Tissu agrees.”

I lifted the hood just enough to see Tissu frantically nod, then hand Yukimura something smelling like a croquette. While her touch clearly lingered as he took it, and he noticed this, he pretended not to. To him, women were but a worthless, carnal distraction. From what I heard, he’d say yes to any girl confessing to him, entertain her for a couple of weeks, then break up. Good aesthetics were that good at absolving sins.

Aoko was no stranger to dating, either, mostly because she couldn’t say no. Those relationships also didn’t last. I’d thought about forcing myself to like her just to get rid of the curse next to me, but her self-sacrifice grated me. At some point, it was no better than enabling.

As for Hisui…

“It wasn’t loot,” Aoko said. “I got these for completing my first quest. You guys didn’t get any because you didn’t complete yours.”

“Gloat if you must. Today is our day. Sakura and I spent the whole night designing our gear .”

“Believe me, I know.”

Aoko, Yukimura and Tissu sat on the blue log, in that order. While Tissu was unable to decipher their lingo, she seemed condescendingly amused nonetheless. The three of them ate while I was a prisoner to carnal distraction and my stomach paid the price. I hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning…

Tissu waved a piece of paper to Aoko, then gestured for her to read it. Aoko did upon swallowing. “Good morning, outlanders. I hope you’re having fun. Today should mark your third day in Korova. If you’re reading this letter, it means that, while you were unable to fulfill your quest yesterday, you’re still brimming with potential. Your group has been selected to disinfect periphery zones. This means that you might face your… oh, my… your first prion, but don’t worry, because an instructor will be there to help.”

“So you?” Yukimura asked Tissu, who nodded, batting her eyelashes at him. “Nice. Where’s Connie?”

“He also left a letter,” Aoko said, then read: “I hope everyone has been well. Due to the amount of… deaths yesterday, our revival center is severely understaffed. You will be under Tissu’s care for now. I’ll try my best to visit you before the end of the day. Please abstain from dying or committing homicide. With love, Connie.”

“It was a violent fetch quest,” Yukimura noted. “Honestly more of a battle royale.”

“Yeah… but the instructor I was with yesterday told us that safe zones get dangerous when infected. By prions, I guess.”

“Infected, huh… by the way, did you go out of the safe zone?”

Aoko shook her head. “The instructor didn’t let us.”

“Hm. Anyway, I guess that means that the forest is getting corrupted.”

“Basically.”

“Or misfolded.” Yukimura was now on his third croquette. Assuming they were rationed, that one was probably mine. “And you said prions look like slimes?”

“I didn’t. That’s just you twisting my words as usual.”

“Shut up. Giant balls. Slimes. Same thing.”

“It took four of us to take down one prion, and that was after the instructor joined the fight, cuz one of the guys on the other squad died.” Aoko was rubbing the leg of her glasses with her fingers. “To be honest… I don’t even know if we should do this or not. I’m not trying to be mean, but…”

“But what, coward? Just say it. ‘Stay back, weaklings’.”

Yukimura actually made Aoko frown. “You know what? Yes. Exactly. You’re not strong enough to face those things. YOU.”

“Since when are there healers on the front lines? Hmm?”

“Isami, have you ever taken a history lesson?”

“I’m talking about this place, not the real world.”

“Not the…” Aoko sighed. “Ishida, please eat something. Please wake Sakura up. Please. I’m counting on you two, and I don’t even know what you guys do.”

“Me neither, and I was with them yesterday,” Yukimura said.

“Not helpful.”

“No, no, listen. The more I try to map out skillsets, the worse it gets. Sakura is a wood fairy, but she summons mushrooms ninety-five percent of the time. Ishida is a turtle dragon thing that supposedly uses earth magic, but only uses phys attacks. How do you define that?”

…yeah, fine, I had to wake Hisui up. I had no idea if she was the sort of person who could fight on an empty stomach or not. But like… would I have to say ‘Hisui Hisui’ until she woke up, or…? Touch…? Or try to use her as a frisbee…

Aoko walked over to us. She handed me a cup with a steaming pink liquid, plus what smelled and felt like a donut. “They taste like tea and a cream puff, respectively,” she said. “I’ll wake her up, don’t worry.”

I shook my head.

“We have to leave soon, though.”

I shrugged with my free shoulder.

Since I had the hood over my face, I couldn’t see most of Aoko, but I didn’t need to. That judgmental silence said enough.

Soon, I chose the worst way possible to wake Hisui—by tapping her other shoulder. Her spatial awareness was infectious, apparently, because I forgot about how close we would be until it was too late.

I wasn’t sure who scurried away faster, but at least that woke her up.

:—<> —:

Compared to that disaster, finding a severed leg felt as we approached our designated culling zone felt like white noise. To me, anyway. Aoko audibly gagged. It didn’t help that some of the bone was sticking out. Even Yukimura looked away uneasily.

Tissu, who had been writing notes for Hisui to read, handed her the latest one, which said: “It’s p-possible that… sorry… possible that it belongs to someone who got eaten… but they’ll get it back once they get revived, so it’s fine… just leave it there. Um. Other teams might try to steal your kills. If that happens, just ignore them. Don’t shield or heal them. Let them die?”

Tissu nodded, hiding behind her sleeve.

Aoko was bone-white and leaning on Yukimura to avoid passing out, but she managed, “That’s—no!”

After shrugging, Tissu skipped into the woods. The foliage seemed to grow denser as we approached the periphery.

Amidst the white grass and trees of primary colors floated a ball around the size of a cat, so black that it made everything around it glow by comparison, and I had to squint. “That’s small,” Aoko noted.

We stared at it.

“Prion?” Yukimura asked.

“Yeah, just… small. Way smaller than the one we fought yesterday.”

It floated and did little else.

“How much smaller?” Asked Hisui.

Aoko used her hands to measure the distance, almost as wide as she was. Meanwhile, the prion continued to float. I wasn’t at all surprised when a human-looking eye popped from it, not just because it was… trite, I supposed, but also due to the person inside.

Were they trapped, or were they…?