Monogatari Series - Volume 29 - Chapter 1.14

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There were no problems with the distance of my throws or my control, but whether or not the thrown rock would be able to wind the rope around a branch on the opposite shore was another matter entirely.

That was something that required not the skill of a baseball player, but the skill of a ninja.

As for how I went about tackling this minor problem that arose—I continued to throw the rock at the opposite shore, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, until I was finally able to connect my guide rope from this world to the next.

What an ordeal.

If a pitcher were to treat their shoulder like this, it would end up being completely ruined. It would bring about a close to their career as an athlete. From the point of view of an outsider, I might have looked like an evil fisherman plotting to fish with multiple hooks—I was already an evil fisherman that struck a stone against a boulder, so how many more fishing rules was I going to break?

I had better brush up on my fishing rights.

Well, I’d been able to work up a good sweat, and my hair had gotten completely dry, so it was time to perform my high-wire act atop this rope—but no, this wasn’t a slackline.

I could only use it to help me as I waded through this clear stream.

Even though I’d been quite successful in losing weight during my uninhabited island life, this was certainly not a rope that could support my weight. It would probably only serve as a reference so I didn’t lose my direction from the water current.

Perhaps I had no choice but to cross while stark naked… I could fold up my uniform, arrange my one-piece dress into a pouch shape, and wrap it around my shoes to carry it like a knapsack on my back. Yet another thing that was ninja-style.

Though I decided to use my socks for something else.

Because my hands had somewhat lost their sensations from knitting together the rope and excessive pitching, I decided to wear my socks on my hands as an anti-slip measure—and once I reached the other shore, if I happened to touch a lacquer tree, I wouldn’t develop any rashes.

After climbing ashore, it would probably be a bit unpleasant to put my school shoes directly onto my bare feet, especially in an environment where they would easily become sweaty, but if I didn’t keep my hands protected, the fingers of not a pitcher but an aspiring mangaka would end up snapping off.

I’d get tendonitis before even getting serialized. What was the point of getting an occupational disease before even being employed?

Once again, I made my way into the waterfall lake. So as not to fall over, I shuffled forward with sliding feet. I hadn’t noticed when I’d been impulsively bathing earlier, but the sensation was completely different from the lapping of the waves at the nudist beach.

It seemed like I would end up getting careless, thinking that a river like this would be less dangerous compared to the ocean, but I shuddered at the thought that I might slip, lose consciousness, and be swept away. And what if I was swept away to another waterfall downstream?

Grabbing my unreliable lifeline with socks for gloves, a uniform-pouch knapsack, and my harpoon under my arm, my stark naked self began to move forward, slowly but surely—I wondered what sort of person I looked to be, and what it looked like I was trying to do.

From a levelheaded point of view, I would look like neither a ninja nor a fisherman.

There were indeed points in the riverbed that suddenly got deeper, so it was pretty dangerous, but with my timid pace, I was able to safely reach the opposite shore, without even being bitten by alligators or leeches—even my lifeline remained intact the whole way through, fulfilling its purpose splendidly to the very end.

Perhaps it might have even supported my weight as a slackline.

Making sure not to rush, I carefully climbed onto the shore… And starting now, I would have to spend more time on a bed of stone until my body was dry once again.

Since I’d taken care not to get my hair wet this time, it surely would take less time—I could take my time getting a proper rest once I acquired my new home.

“Phew…”

My legs dangled as I began to think.

With this river in front of me, I could say the matter of “water” was totally resolved—when it was time for a squall, I would need to watch carefully to see how much this waterfall lake would swell up. It was quite a luxurious concern to have—I’d come pretty far, hadn’t I?

Moreover, it had now become possible for me to take stock of “food”, “shelter”, and “clothing”—however, the matter of “fire” had made a resurgence, and it was something I needed to figure out as soon as possible.

In such a pleasant situation like this, it would be essential to have deep foresight and planning in order to maintain a fire—there was a fundamental difficulty in lighting a fire due to the high humidity, but also, in spite of the numerous instances in which I’d destroyed nature since my arrival on this uninhabited island, I knew quite well that I absolutely must not allow a forest fire to start, as I’d mentioned previously.

It would release a massive smoke signal, and that might cause a rescue helicopter to come my way. But if I was going to end up being taken straight to the police afterwards, then I couldn’t very well say that I’d escaped from the island.

What use was escaping if I was locked up again?

These days, people referred to leaving a group as “graduation” and the disbanding of a group as “liberation”, but I had no desire to act out a jailbreak chapter right after my escape chapter.

I’d said that Hanekawa-san might do something of the sort, but actually, she probably wouldn’t. Not the present-day Hanekawa-san.

If I was going to make this location my new base, then I would need to come up with some way to manage the fire safely without damaging the forest… Making the same watertight kamado stove with roughly piled-up stones like on the nudist beach had me feeling a bit uneasy. I’d pretended that I’d done a good job, but now, I could say that I hadn’t been able to waterproof it at all.

Instead of facing the risk of starting a forest fire every time I wanted to start a fire, there was the option of giving up on “fire” altogether—as long as I could stave off the next few days with unboiled water and raw fish.

I’d gulped down that much water a while ago, but I wasn’t feeling any signs of stomach pain even now, after all… But what about raw fish? If I treated it like sashimi, it felt a bit too much like high-class cuisine for survival life… Ah, but, I needed to be afraid of parasites in freshwater fish, didn’t I?

In the first place, I still didn’t know if my new home was actually usable—perhaps, from the other shore, I’d mistaken the size of the hollow in the giant tree, or perhaps the tree was suffering from rotting roots.

I couldn’t allow myself to drown in wishful thinking.

Because I’d been betrayed so many times by wishes before.

Now was the time for observation.

Wearing my shoes over my bare feet and putting my uniform back on to protect my sunburned skin, I headed over to take a real estate tour—of course, my socks were still covering my hands. It felt more comfortable than I had expected, so it might be good if I materialized another set. Well, if I were going to do that, I might as well just materialize a pair of work gloves instead—it wasn’t that I exceptionally enjoyed wearing socks on my hands.

The giant tree, having taken root on terrain that was far steeper than it looked from a distance, was even more gigantic up close—and the hollow had an even better layout than I’d hoped for.

Good heavens!

Without even ducking my head and curling up into a ball, I would be able to lie spread-eagled inside!

Even with such a large hole in the middle of the trunk, this tree could continue to spread its branches without withering away… I was truly amazed at the vitality of plants—it wasn’t a yakusugi cedar, so it probably was an exaggeration to say it was at least a thousand years old, but as I stood in front of this tree that looked like it had been alive for a hundred years, I couldn’t feel too proud about having survived for a mere two weeks. I might as well be within the margin of error of zero, or even equal to zero.

If it were me, an even smaller hole in my body would kill me in an instant—

“——!!”

And then, holes really did open up.

Two small holes had opened up in my neck—as if I’d been cursed, with two graves dug.114

From two sharp fangs.