The forest stretched endlessly in all directions—dark trees, glowing moss, ambient monster noises, and the occasional whisper of something legally forbidden by most RPGs.
Haruto stumbled forward, arms limp, soul dragging behind him like a broken balloon.
His shirt clung to his back. His cursed hoodie was now wrapped around his head like a survival turban. His eye bags had upgraded from "mildly tired" to "possessed raccoon."
He wheezed. Gasped.
Then croaked, "H-How… how much longer… do we have… to go…?"
Kohana, walking ahead like she was on her way to a cute café, paused with a finger to her lips.
"Hmm~" she hummed, smiling as if the forest wasn't actively trying to eat them alive. "If we keep walking like this, we should exit the forest in about… eight more hours or so!"
Haruto stopped moving.
Completely.
He stood like a statue.
A sweaty, dying, mildly haunted statue.
"…Eight," he whispered. "Eight… more… hours?"
Kohana glanced at the map.
"Yep! We just passed the Cursed Talking Tree Logs checkpoint."
Haruto's pupils shrank.
Flashbacks hit him like a cursed squirrel barrage.
—A few hours earlier—
"Oi, traveler!""You got nerves walking past us without paying tribute to Oni-chi!""Where's your Log License?!"
The cursed tree logs had anime bandit scarves. One had a wooden eye patch. Another had a fake katana carved into its bark.
They robbed him.
A tree robbed him.
He lost two apples and his cursed rice cracker.
Haruto covered his mouth. "I'm gonna puke."
"It's getting dark," Kohana said cheerfully. "Let's break camp. This is one of the few safe zones left in the forest. I'll get the fire started. You go gather wood, okay?"
Haruto nodded weakly. "Wood. Got it. Something I'm good at. Trees can't hurt me twice."
Ten minutes later—
They did.
Again.
Haruto returned to camp looking like he'd just escaped from a haunted lumberjack convention.
Twigs in his hair. Dirt on his face. One sleeve missing. One sandal chewed.
Kohana blinked.
"…Did you fight the logs again?"
"I didn't fight them," Haruto said hollowly. "I was almost kidnapped. They tried to sell me to a black-market moss ring. One of them offered to adopt me. He called me 'loglet.'"
Kohana covered her mouth.
Not to gasp.
To not laugh.
"You really are a magnet for cursed nonsense, huh?"
Haruto dropped the sad pile of twigs he managed to bring back. "Please light the fire before they come back for joint custody."
The fire crackled gently in the center of their tiny clearing, sparks drifting into the twilight like tiny fleeing spirits.
Kohana had just finished boiling water in a cursed kettle that occasionally giggled.
Haruto sat across from her, wrapped in his hoodie, eyes hollow but peaceful.
Somewhere off to the side, his backpack twitched every now and then, and occasionally emitted ghostly muttering like:
"Why does this world smell like regret and mushrooms...""I swear if you snore, I'll hex your lungs...""Still not over the log thing, loglet..."
Haruto sighed.
"You know, I really thought isekai life would be cooler than this."
Kohana poked the fire with a stick, watching the embers dance.
They sat in silence for a while.
Then she said softly, "...Haruto."
He looked up.
She didn't meet his eyes.
"Why did you… really come here? I mean, yeah, you explained the 'got dropped in by cosmic brat' thing, but…" she paused. "What was it like? Before this. Your world. Japan, right?"
Haruto blinked.
No one had asked him that yet.
He leaned back, staring up at the dark canopy of twisted trees.
"…Honestly? It wasn't much."
Kohana looked up, curious.
"I was a pop idol," he said with a smirk that didn't reach his eyes. "Part of a rising duo. Had a decent fanbase. A chance to go big."
Kohana tilted her head. "That sounds… actually impressive?"
Haruto shrugged. "It would've been. But I got kicked out."
"Why?"
"Because I loved anime more than fame," he said flatly. "Got caught sneaking out of rehearsal to hit a convention. Twice. Then I ranted about magical girls in an interview. My partner said I was 'ruining our image.' Management dropped me faster than a cursed apple."
Kohana blinked.
"…That's… dumb. Like. Their loss kind of dumb."
He chuckled. "Tell that to the internet. Anyway, after that I became a NEET. Lived off savings. Watched too much anime. Bought too many convenience store meals. And then…"
He gestured vaguely upward.
"Fell through a sidewalk into magic survival hell."
Kohana went quiet again.
"…So you lost everything too," she murmured.
Haruto looked at her.
"I thought you were just tagging along to babysit me," he said. "But you've got something, huh?"
Kohana didn't answer for a moment.
Then:
"I don't know what I'm doing either."
Haruto blinked.
She poked the fire again.
"I told myself it was to 'see the ruins' or 'follow the moonstone nonsense,' but… maybe I just didn't want to stay in the village. I felt stuck. Like I'd just wait forever for something to happen. Then you fell from the sky, bit a ghost, and got called Piguto by Grandma…"
She laughed softly.
Haruto grinned. "That is a compelling call to action."
The fire flickered.
The backpack twitched again.
"If this turns romantic I'm haunting the frogs tonight."
Haruto tossed a pebble at it. "Shut up, emotional luggage."
Kohana giggled.
Then looked at him again, softer now.
"Thanks for letting me come with you."
He shrugged. "Thanks for not letting me die to tree bandits."
A moment passed.
"...So," Kohana said, leaning back on her hands. "What kind of so called anime were you into?"
Haruto's face lit up.
"Do you have six hours and a tolerance for magical girl transformation theory?"
Kohana immediately regretted asking this question.
The fire crackled softly. Crickets chirped in the distance. The cursed kettle was finally quiet.
Haruto leaned back, arms resting behind his head as he gazed up at the night sky.
The stars were… stunning.
Like diamonds spilled across black velvet—brilliant, endless, and clear.
"…Thanks again," he said quietly, glancing at Kohana, "for coming with me."
Kohana blinked, cheeks already tinted with leftover blush from earlier.
Then—
"JUST KISS ALREADY, YOU'RE BOTH ANNOYING."
The voice exploded from the backpack like a grenade made of sarcasm.
Haruto froze.
Kohana froze.
Their faces turned bright red in unison.
A long, painful silence followed.The fire crackled louder than before.
Haruto turned slowly toward the cursed luggage.
"…Did you seriously just—?"
Yue's voice cut him off.
"Yes. And I stand by it. The tension is suffocating. Some of us are trying to sleep in this stupid narrative."
Kohana covered her face with both hands.
Haruto grabbed the bag and shook it.
"YOU LITTLE GREMLIN! I'M TRYING TO HAVE A MOMENT HERE!"
"Virgin."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"You heard me. Virgin Maou. Weak stats. Weak game."
Kohana burst out laughing, barely holding it in as she nearly fell over.
Haruto's eye twitched like it was about to file a formal complaint with the universe.
"I'm going to exorcise you with firewood."
"I'm bound to your soul. You'd burn yourself."
He dropped the bag and turned away, muttering curses of his own.
Trying to recover his shattered dignity, he looked back up at the stars.
"…You know," he said softly, "this world has its own kind of beauty."
Kohana, wiping her eyes from laughter, tilted her head. "Huh?"
He pointed up. "The stars. They're… amazing. Like, actually amazing."
Kohana blinked, surprised. "Wait. Your world doesn't have stars?"
He shook his head slightly. "We do. But there's so much light pollution—buildings, streetlights, cities… It's rare to see skies like this. Maybe once or twice if you're lucky. Out in the countryside."
He glanced at her for a second. Then back up.
"I guess... this world has its own appeal."
Before he could finish the thought—
"K. I. S. S. ALREADY AND LET ME SLEEP, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS UNDEAD."
Haruto let out a long, haunted groan.
Kohana collapsed into another fit of laughter, face burning.
Haruto flopped dramatically onto the ground, hands covering his face.
"Why is my familiar the worst rom-com narrator of all time…"
"Because someone has to carry this plot, Potato."