Chapter 195.2
I might be sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong, but I want to try talking to Niki-kun .
Sponsored Content
They probably discussed it among themselves first, but after a short while, their leader, Shin-san, gave the go .
I thanked him and approached Niki .
“I got us some time, so let’s calm down first . By the way, did you make this whole place yourself? That’s pretty amazing . ” [Ryouma]
You can’t get to this secret base without crawling through that tight entrance, but the secret base itself is surprisingly big . The ceiling here is high enough so that you can stand up and just barely not graze the top .
He probably scraped out the mud in between the roots of the trees and cut out roots to make this space . After which he used the cut roots and branches and leaves brought from outside to strengthen the space in between the yet alive roots to prevent mud from flowing inside .
It’s a bit crude, but considering Niki-kun’s age and the fact that he didn’t rely on magic makes this whole thing a huge undertaking .
“I also made a place like this in a forest before—” [Ryouma]
“Shut up… I don’t need your flattery . You didn’t come here for that, did you?” [Niki]
“—I see . ” [Ryouma]
Sponsored Content
I failed to get closer to him .
To be honest, I really did think that he did an amazing job with this place .
“In that case, I’ll just get straight to the point . ” [Ryouma]
“What? You’re just going to ask me to go home too, aren’t you? You said as much earlier . ” [Niki]
“No . Before that I want to talk . ” [Ryouma]
“You want to talk? About what? Me going back home?” [Niki]
“No . I want to talk about you . Weren’t you yelling awhile ago, saying ‘there’s no point since you won’t believe me anyway!’ or something like that? If so, then there must be something that you want to say . ” [Ryouma]
I was just saying things to get him to let out his feelings, but his reaction was unexpected .
He wasn’t looking at me earlier, but now he’s raised his head up and is looking straight at me .
After that he turned his eyes away as if he were at a loss for words . He might be a lot more honest than I gave him credit for .
Sponsored Content
“Why are you asking something like that?” [Niki]
“I just felt like it, I guess .
To be honest, I barely know anything about you, and yet here I am in the middle of nowhere after spending half a day looking for you . I suppose you could say I’ve gone too far to turn back . Anyhow, if there’s something you want to say, then I’m all ears . I’ll listen until the end . If we do that we should be able to understand each other better . At the very least, that’s what I think . ” [Ryouma]
“…Didn’t they tell you? I’m a bad kid who plays pranks on people . ” [Niki]
Yeah, I’ve heard that already…
But, hmm… If he’s saying that with this timing, then that must mean he himself acknowledges his reputation of being known as a prankster to be correct, and if he’s saying that ‘people won’t believe in him’, then…
I thought back to the stories I heard of back in the village .
‘A promise not to prank people other than villagers’ ‘Niki always protects that bottom line’ ‘That’s why he’s let off with just a punch and a light sermon’
Putting everything together… Maybe my assumptions were mistaken .
“Could it be that you ‘never intended to prank anyone originally’?” [Ryouma]
“!!” [Niki]
Niki looked like he didn’t know whether to say something or not… Looks like I was right on the mark .
“In that case, I’m sorry, but I also thought that you intended to play a prank on me this afternoon . I heard a lot of stories while we were looking for you, and there’s something that concerns me . Supposedly, although you like to prank people, you know where to draw the line . If that’s the case, then why did you make an exception today and played a prank on an outsider such as myself?” [Ryouma]
But if that was originally not meant to be a prank, then the story finally starts to make sense .
And if I think back to what happened back then…
‘I’ll give this to you!’
That’s what he said when threw the okuta at me .
“If I were to take those words at face value, then Niki-kun, you were just trying to give me the okuta as a present, weren’t you? Unfortunately, when you threw the okuta, it ended up spraying ink at me .
I don’t know why you would want to give the okuta to me, but… What do you think? Did I get it right?” [Ryouma]
I lined up my conjectures and asked my questions as gently as I could . In response, Niki-kun gradually opened up .
“That afternoon… I saw the slimes at the beach . There were a lot of them and they moved oddly . …But I thought they were kind of amazing . ” [Niki]
So he saw that and thought they were amazing? Well, I guess he has his good points . But right now I should just quietly listen .
“And then… I became a little curious, so I wanted ask about them . But I didn’t know you and I remembered that when a new person comes to the village, mom would give them a gift . So I thought I should bring one to greet you with . ” [Niki]
“Ah, I see . So that’s what happened . But why an okuta?” [Ryouma]
“I thought you’d like it since it resembles a slime . Your slimes have limbs like the okutas, after all . ” [Niki]
“I see…” [Ryouma]
I smiled a little at that .
Who would’ve thought he’d have a reason like that?
But when he puts it that way, I can kind of see it . I mean both okutas and slimes are soft and flabby .
My slimes also extend parts of their body, which do kind of resemble okuta limbs .