part1 · 007-ep7

Episode 7: To Live

The next morning.

Ren woke from the cold.

"...It's freezing."

He sat up. His back ached. His neck, too. Small wonder — he hadn't been sleeping anywhere decent.

He'd barely slept the night before. He'd drift off for a little, then wake at some sound. Check his surroundings. Sleep again. Over and over.

"...So tired."

Ren rubbed his eyes. Even so, he stood up.

Sitting still here wouldn't change anything. He had to find food. He needed water. And he had to search for an exit, too.

"...I'm going home. No matter what."

Ren murmured it to himself. With those words alone in his chest, he started walking.

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The first few days were pure misery. He didn't know what was edible. He didn't know which water was safe to drink. He didn't know where the monsters were. He failed, again and again.

"...Can I eat this?"

A plant growing at the base of the wall. Timidly, Ren put a piece of it in his mouth.

"...Bitter!"

He spat it out immediately. He found another plant.

"...What about this one?"

This time it was intensely sour.

"Ugh..."

Ren grimaced. Even so, all he could do was keep testing. He couldn't beat hunger.

Eat a tiny bit. Check whether anything changed in his body. If it was fine, eat a tiny bit more next time. That was how he learned them, one by one.

　　　　　◇

Encounters with monsters grew more frequent, too. At first, running was all he could do. Against small monsters, he used the stone. Against big ones, he fled. Even so, there were times he couldn't get away.

"...!"

A wolf's claw grazed his arm. Blood came.

"Ow!"

Ren fled, practically rolling. He dove behind a rock. The monster came after him. Ren held his breath.

After a while, the footsteps faded away.

"...Haah..."

Ren looked at his arm. The wound wasn't deep. It still hurt, though.

He tore a strip from the hem of his shirt and bound the wound. There was no hospital here. No medicine, either. So he had no choice but to manage on his own.

A few days later. The wound had slowly begun to close.

"...Faster than before?"

Ren stared at the wound. It might have been his imagination.

But.

His body moved better than yesterday. He could walk longer than yesterday. He could bear the cold a little better than yesterday.

The changes were tiny. They were the work of 《Survival Adaptation》. But Ren himself didn't understand that yet.

　　　　　◇

One month. Two months. Three. Time went by.

Little by little, Ren learned how to live in this place. He learned the water sources. He learned the safe places. He learned the dangerous ones. He learned the cries of the monsters.

From footprints, he could gradually tell what was nearby, too. Before sleeping, he always checked his surroundings. When he found food, he stockpiled a little at a time. He stayed away from dangerous places.

And—

he was no longer only running from monsters.

"...Something's coming."

He heard footsteps in the distance. Ren hid himself in the shadow of the rocks. A monster drew closer.

Before, he would have just trembled. Now was different.

The footsteps. The speed. The size. The presence.

He was learning to sense each of them, little by little.

"...Small one."

Ren gripped his stone. The monster closed in.

And—

"Now!"

He threw the stone. The monster flinched. Ren closed the distance in a rush. Brought the stone down.

Wham.

The monster fell. Ren stood there, breathing hard.

"...I beat it."

It had been far easier than before. He could tell. His body was growing stronger, little by little.

And above all—

he was beginning to see how the monsters moved.

　　　　　◇

Half a year. A full year.

Ren was no longer the boy he had been in the beginning. Of course, he wasn't strong yet. From powerful monsters, he still ran. From dangerous places, he still kept his distance.

When he was hurt, he suffered. He still went hungry. He still shivered in the cold.

Even so.

He was clearly different from how he'd started.

Ren had learned to live on his own. Make a safe bed. Secure water. Find food. Avoid monsters.

Fight, when he had to.

Little by little, that had become his everyday life.

　　　　　◇

One night. Ren sat in the shadow of the rocks. All around was dark. Only the faintly glowing moss on the nearby wall lit his surroundings, dim and soft.

When he'd first come to this place, that light alone would have felt eerie. Not anymore. For Ren, it had become one of the things that told him night had come.

Gazing at the light of the moss, Ren hugged his knees.

"..."

A quiet stretch of time. No sign of monsters. Today, he was safe.

Ren breathed out slowly. And, unexpectedly, his parents came to mind.

His father's voice. His mother's smile. Mornings on the way to school. Conversations with Mizuki.

All of it felt like something from the distant past.

"...Dad."

No answer.

"...Mom."

The quiet cave. Of course, no one answered.

Ren lowered his head a little. And murmured inside his heart.

—I'm still alive, you know.

Words that would reach no one.

Even so.

Ren kept living, day after day. So he could go home. And someday. So he would definitely make it outside.

If it was for that.

He'd live today. He'd live tomorrow.

No matter how many years it took—

he would survive, and he would go home.

The fifteen-year-old boy's fight to live had only just begun.