At dawn, the sun rose above the horizon.
On the beach, the bonfire, no longer needing more wood, gradually died out.
Next to the bonfire, where the woodpile used to be, only a few scattered twigs and wood chips remained, alongside fire-starting tools like the bow drill. This was thanks to them conserving firewood during the latter half of last night.
After all, they had only gathered wood on the first day, not yesterday. If they hadn't cut extra as a precaution on that first day, they might not have made it through last night.
Mmm...
A ray of sunlight fell upon Nijika's fair cheek, bringing with it a hint of warmth, and it roused her from her already complete slumber.
Rubbing her eyes, she opened them to find she had spent the entire night sleeping on Fumiya Jin's shoulder...
This time, however, she didn't feel too embarrassed. After all, compared to waking up on Fumiya Jin's lap, leaning on his shoulder suddenly seemed like nothing.
But the thought that she might have made his shoulder stiff made her feel a little guilty. She quickly sat up straight and glanced at Fumiya Jin shyly. 'Um... I'm awake. It's your turn to sleep now, right?'
'No rush,' Fumiya Jin shook his head. He got up, went to the fire, and carefully moved a soda can full of boiled water away from the embers with a stick. After it had cooled a bit, he picked it up and placed it in front of Nijika. 'Have some water.'
'You drink it, I'm not thirsty,' Nijika shook her head.
'I already had several servings while you were asleep,' Fumiya Jin said.
'Really?' Nijika asked doubtfully. 'But I was leaning on your shoulder. It must have been hard for you to move... how could you get water?'
'It was difficult for me to move, so it was all thanks to the madam,' Fumiya Jin said, casting a grateful glance to his side, at the madam sitting a few meters away. 'Madam, thank you for your hard work last night.'
The pink-haired madam had indeed worked hard last night.
First, like Fumiya Jin, she had kept watch all night without closing her eyes.
Second, with Nijika leaning on him, Fumiya Jin couldn't move easily, so the madam was the one responsible for tending to the fire all night.
Furthermore, while adding wood to the fire, the madam had brought him boiled water several times. So, Fumiya Jin had indeed rehydrated multiple times.
'You're too kind, Doctor,' the pink-haired madam said with a motherly smile. 'I'm from a mother's generation, yet I'm constantly being looked after by you young people. It's only right that I do these small things for you.'
Listening to their conversation, Nijika realized that Fumiya Jin had apparently really had some water.
She glanced at his lips and saw they didn't look parched at all. In fact, they were moist and looked supple, making one want to take a bite...
Eh, wait.
Nijika Ijichi, what are you thinking!
Nijika's cheeks instantly flushed hot.
She quickly raised the soda can to hide her face and began to drink cautiously...
...
Nijika drank her water.
Fumiya Jin stood up and walked over to the three fish-headed monster corpses.
But before examining the bodies, his gaze swept across the seashore in front of him.
He then noticed numerous fine footprints, or rather, claw prints, in the areas of the beach untouched by the waves.
Most of them only extended a short distance onto the sand before disappearing. Only three sets of claw marks reached the vicinity of the bonfire... left by the three unfortunate souls who had been cut down.
But looking at the dense collection of prints in the distance, it was clear that the number of monsters hiding in the sea wasn't just one or two, or even ten or twenty.
Judging by the combat strength displayed by the three fish-headed monsters yesterday, if there were fewer than ten of them, Fumiya Jin might have been able to slaughter them all—and test whether that mysterious counter on his tachi would change.
But if their numbers reached the dozens or hundreds, it would be a qualitative change from a quantitative one... a force sufficient to wipe out Fumiya Jin's entire group.
Fortunately, they seemed to fear the light and probably wouldn't come out during the day.
Fumiya Jin let out a slight sigh of relief. He retracted his gaze and looked down at the three corpses—or rather, the six pieces of corpses.
These bodies, like that of the curly-haired man, were decomposing rapidly. After a night of decay, the flesh had begun to soften, and a large amount of viscous, dark cyan fluid was oozing from the surface...
A pungent stench emanated from the corpses, the same choking, head-spinning odor that had come from the curly-haired man.
'It stinks...' Nijika, having finished her water, also stood up and came to his side. Smelling the odor, she immediately covered her nose. 'This smell... it's a bit like how Haji's body smelled yesterday... Will it make people sick, too? Shouldn't we get rid of them quickly then?'
Fumiya Jin, however, remembered the corrosive effect the black fluid had when it splashed on the fleshy-faced woman yesterday... which led him to consider certain possibilities.
'This fluid... it might be a treasure.'
'Huh?' Nijika's eyes widened as she looked at Fumiya Jin in astonishment. 'A treasure?'
'Mhm, it might prove very useful,' Fumiya Jin said, a profound gleam flashing in his eyes.
'Hey!!————You're still here, that's great!' a rather distant shout suddenly reached them.
In an instant, the four people near the bonfire were startled.
They turned their heads and looked toward the source of the sound...
There, thirty or forty meters away on the beach, two figures were waving as they walked toward the bonfire.
It was the black man and the chubby guy!
And looking at their current state, they seemed abnormally normal.
There was no blood on their faces or bodies, and their clothes were only slightly disheveled. They showed no signs of injury whatsoever.
The four by the bonfire stared with wide eyes.
These two had been missing for an entire night, without a trace or a sound.
And now they had returned safely, almost completely unscathed? Something wasn't right.
The chubby guy and the black man quickly walked over.
The madam stood up to greet them, looking at them in shock. 'You two... are you alright?'
The two of them nodded.
The black man, with a look of lingering fear, said, 'To be honest, we thought we were dead for sure... I can't believe we made it back alive.'
'What on earth happened? Why didn't you come back all night?' the madam asked.
'Well...' The black man was about to speak when he remembered something. He turned his head and shot a cold glare at the fleshy-faced woman sitting on the ground nearby. 'It's all thanks to this damn woman!! She almost got us killed!'
'How is it my fault?' the fleshy-faced woman retorted indignantly. 'I almost died last night, too!'
'It was you! You were in charge of the torch, but then you suddenly disappeared, and we couldn't see a thing!' the chubby guy also grew angry, pointing an accusing finger at the fleshy-faced woman.
______
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