Hideout in Another World: I Tried Building a Secret Base in the Middle of Nowhere

Chapter 3: Pink

The next day, I woke up to the dazzling morning sun. The sudden intense light made me feel like my eyes were burning. It seems like the crack in the rock wall is ingeniously designed to capture the morning sun. I feel sore all over my body from the moment I wake up. In addition to muscle soreness, it’s probably because I slept on hard rock. Nevertheless, I managed to get some decent sleep. My body feels cold, but it’s not enough to make me sick. It’s quite a competent sleeping spot for something I stumbled upon by chance. Let’s call it the Rock Wall Bed.

I recall the memories from before I slept. Come to think of it, I couldn’t remember my own name. I didn’t think too deeply about it yesterday due to fatigue, but it’s quite strange. It’s only natural to think that there has been some change in myself after all.

Suddenly, I became terrified. I wonder if there’s anything else I’ve forgotten…

I can’t remember faces. It’s not just my own name that I’ve forgotten. I can’t remember the names and faces of anyone. I can’t even remember children’s faces.

“No… they’re completely gone.”

I remember everything I’ve experienced so far. It’s just that there are no names or faces of people. In addition… ah, I don’t even know my own age or birthday. However, I should be under 40 considering I got married after I started working, and my child was in college. Still, the absence of faces and names in my memories is quite disturbing…

“This is… this feels like it’s not even my own memory…”

Come to think of it, speaking of faces and names, where’s my smartphone? If I had it, I could confirm both the photos and the names. I usually keep it in the pocket of my jacket. But it’s nowhere to be found…

My clothes are the same as they were at that time, and I still have my bag, and I’m still wearing my watch. I search through my bag again, but there’s no tablet or charger that I should have kept in it. On the other hand, there are stationery, drawings, and snacks. I confirmed them at the pedestrian crossing that time.

This means… only the things that I felt through my senses as my belongings at that time remain…

I can speculate and analyze this situation in various ways. However, in the end, it might all be just a coincidence, and I can’t see any meaning in the current situation. It’s painful and tiring to think about it any further.

“No, let’s think about food. I’m hungry!”

I forcefully shift my focus to practical problems. There’s still more than half of the water I scooped from the lake left in the water bottle. I rummage through my bag for snacks. I’ve been carrying snacks with me all the time. There are six chocolates and four candies.

…I’ll eat just half a piece.

I take out the chocolates from the small packet. A squishy lump that must have melted once and solidified again comes out. It’s hard to split it in half. I gather about half of the fragmented pieces and eat them, then rewrap the rest.

“Mmm, tasty.”

But still, my stomach doesn’t feel full at all. Half a piece for one meal lasts for four days. Clearly, it’s not enough calories. Ultimately, if I don’t find food here, there’s no future.

“But, there are too many dangerous creatures around here…”

Since they’re huge, their whereabouts are easily identifiable. So, I think it’s surprisingly manageable to just hide and run away. But if there are lurking creatures or flying ones, I’m scared of being slow to react. At times like this, it’s best to observe carefully without forcing anything and understand their habits.

However, environmentally speaking, fruits or nuts should be findable. Of course, even if I can harvest them, I don’t know how they will affect my body. Well, I can worry about that after I find them.

“All right! Let’s go look for them…”

My body hurts, but I have to move while I still can. First, I need to replenish fluids and organize my belongings. As I pour water into the cup from the water bottle, I’m suddenly attacked by the urge to urinate. Even though this place is my makeshift bed for now, I don’t want to soil it. Should I go outside the crack to relieve myself?

—

When I return, I lock eyes with a small lizard. It seems like it was just about to drink my water.

“What the…!?”

I involuntarily made a weird noise. It’s a pretty pink lizard, with its mouth half open, staring at me. It’s about seven centimeters long from head to tail. It might be a native of this crack. While the large creatures I saw at the lake felt somewhat insane, I don’t get that feeling from this lizard. After observing it for a while, it somehow looked like it was in trouble, so I involuntarily spoke up.

“If you want, you can have some water…”

I call out to it, and it blinks its eyes, then slowly turns its face back to the cup.

And it brings its face closer to the water, sticking out its tiny tongue and lapping up the water.

“…Isn’t it cute?”

I observed its behavior for a while, but since it didn’t move from in front of the cup, I left it there and started organizing my belongings. Nevertheless, all I do is take out documents and stationery that I don’t need to carry around. I guess I’ll carry around a notebook and a pencil just in case…

As I’m doing this, the lizard, which had finished drinking the water without me noticing, comes closer to me and observes me. It’s getting used to me pretty quickly… It roams between my belongings and goes in and out of my bag.

“After all… it’s quite adorable, isn’t it…”

As I watch the curious lizard’s behavior for a while and laze around, it starts crawling all over my body. I wonder if this guy doesn’t have any poison…?

“All right, let’s give you a name!”

I call out to the lizard playing peek-a-boo from my jacket pocket, and it looks at me. What should I call you? I’m not good at naming things. Based on my experience, the names I spend time and effort thinking about always seem to have a bad reputation. The simpler the name, the better it usually ends up being.

“All right! Your name is… Pink! Nice to meet you, Pink~”

As I call out and watch for a reaction, it lazily raises its hand. …Does this guy actually understand and react? That seems unlikely given the size of its brain. Anyway, regardless of that, I feel like I could get along well with this guy. Although I might end up being poisoned and eaten tomorrow. Well, that can’t be helped.

I just need someone to talk to.

While I’m at it, should I quickly decide on my own name? It feels kind of unsettling not to have one. I look at Pink playing in and out of my pocket as I contemplate.

What word would best represent my current self? Perhaps it’s my second life… Honestly, I can’t come to terms with thinking that my previous life has come to an end. It wasn’t a glorious life so far. Still, I went through my youth quietly, worked clumsily, got married awkwardly, and desperately raised my children as an immature father. I can’t imagine that this situation exists on the continuum of my life so far, and thinking about it makes everything unbearable. I want to scream to be returned to my wife and children, even though I know it’s pointless. In that case, I want to think of my previous life as having ended once, and I want to live this new life positively. In that sense, I’ll consider it my second life… or rather, a bonus life. I’m already at an age where I probably won’t live long in this environment anyway. It wouldn’t be strange if I died tomorrow. So, maybe a bonus life suits me better. Bonus… or maybe Bo-nus. It feels a bit goofy, which suits me.

“Pink! My name is… Bonus! Nice to meet you!”

Oh, it raised its hand again. This guy might actually be smart.

Now, let’s go look for some food.

“Hey, Pink. I’m going to search for food. If possible, come and play with me again, okay?”

When I say this, Pink nods its head up and down, then crawls around for a bit before finally settling in my breast pocket with only its face poking out.

Are you coming along? Well, whatever. Let’s go together.

And so, I begin to move stealthily.

Let’s gradually expand the search area, using the crack and the lake as axes.

“It’s surprisingly small, isn’t it?”

After wandering for about four hours, I have a rough idea of the overall picture of this crater. As a result, there are a few things I’ve learned. One is that there seems to be more harvestable items than I expected. I knew this roughly from circling the crater from the outside yesterday, but it seems the lake is supplied by spring water. There’s no sign of water pouring in from outside the crater. Furthermore, there are several places where water is springing up besides the lake, turning into small springs. Since there are no large creatures here, it’s easy to use this water for daily life. Plants hardly grow around the rock walls, but they become more abundant towards the center of the crater. In other words, the closer to the lake, the more plants there are. And the vegetation is quite rich, with various types of fruits growing. Various creatures gather around the water sources, and the place seems to have become a gathering point for various species due to feces and adhering substances. For now, I harvested the citrus fruits that seemed easiest to obtain within reach. By the way, I used a knife for sharpening pencils to harvest them. I’m glad I’m a fan of wooden pencils. Maybe it’s because of my age, but thick pencils are the easiest on my shoulders.

So, I can use a folding knife. Even in this environment, a knife is really helpful, even for simple tasks. As I hold the harvested citrus fruits and observe them, Pink pops its head out of my pocket and starts sniffing around. When I peel one, the refreshing citrus scent spreads just as expected. This looks promising. Just the scent makes my mouth water. As I think that, Pink sticks its head in and starts munching away eagerly.

“…Well, I guess it’s safe to eat this.”

I take out another fruit from my bag and try eating it. It’s pleasantly sweet and sour.

“Mmm, delicious!”

I feel like I’ve tasted this flavor before. It’s a bit different, but let’s just call it an orange for now. I decide to gather some more. Pink is still happily munching away with its head buried inside. Don’t choke, now.

Through exploration, I’ve learned a bit more about the creatures here. Most likely, the really dangerous large ones don’t primarily inhabit this crater. Except for the crocodile-like ones. Considering the size of the larger species, this crater is definitely too small for them. They seem to come from outside the crater in search of water. Furthermore, they generally act alone. When they encounter each other at the water source, they attack each other like crazy, even if they’re the same species. I saw a crocodile-like creature attacking another of its kind when they met. I wonder how they reproduce… Also, they’re overall quite insane. They’re unusually aggressive and seem to have lost their minds. Their behavior is abnormal for normal animals. However, they don’t seem to pay much attention to movements of smaller creatures. Even when I was observing by the lake, they probably noticed my presence. However, as long as I stayed away and kept quiet, they didn’t attack. Well, maybe it was just by chance… And I found out that there are actually many small creatures like Pink here. However, they seem to live quietly, probably out of fear of larger creatures, making them quite difficult to find. Occasionally, I see small creatures hopping in the distance or moving along the rock walls. On the other hand, I haven’t seen any medium-sized animals like boars, deer, or raccoons so far. Indeed, in this small field, it would be too cramped to breed and form herds. Insects mostly seem to hide, so I hardly see them, but in reality, there are quite a few. Sometimes I see beetles clinging to the bark, squirming around. When I approach trees with flowers, I hear buzzing sounds, which make me feel a sense of fear. I don’t know if they sting like bees, but I’d rather not provoke them. However, it seems there are no insects that make noise at night. And only the birds seem relatively familiar, living freely around the water source. I could go for some grilled chicken. Well, the sun is setting. Should I replenish my water and return to my rock bed? As I approach the lake cautiously, I see the carcass of the hippo from yesterday lying there. It’s incredibly large when seen up close. It’s about the size of a large dump truck. And it smells really, really bad. Can I eat this? It’s half-submerged in water. I wonder if the crocodile-like creatures will come. There don’t seem to be any large creatures around at the moment. I draw water from a distance. I try poking the skin with the knife. “It’s tough. This knife won’t work.” The blade doesn’t go through at all. This knife won’t do. I poke around to find a weak spot, and I notice that only the parts with the feather-like wings on the back are soft. “Ah, here the blade goes through. It looks like it can be cut.” Alright, got two pieces of the wing meat. It’s greasy and slimy. I wish I had some cloth to wipe my hands with. As I’m washing them in the lake, a crocodile pops its head out from the center of the lake. “Waaaah!” I run away at full speed. I thought my heart was going to stop. It’s too scary. Let’s hurry back. Once I return to the rock bed and put down my belongings, I go back to pick up some more branches. Can I start a fire and be safe… It’s scary. A fire at night would attract too much attention, so I’ll pass. Alright, tomorrow. As I sit on the rock bed, exhaustion suddenly washes over me. I can hardly keep my eyes open anymore. I eat the oranges I harvested and go to sleep. I really want to take a bath…