Transported to a hyper-realistic RPG.

In the end, I got the Hyoka and then spent one more night on the mountain.

What's that doing?

It's called cooking...

The life of a person is very different from the life of a monster or holy spirit.

One of them would be the food.

Monsters basically eat raw meat, but people use fire and even seasoning.

I know how to cook! A tasty one!

"You knew it well, didn't you?

I was taught a long time ago!

That's true. But the master's own dishes are a taste or two different from those around!

"How is it different?

It's so delicious!

"Yeah, so much?

"Yes!

You're raising the bar really hard, but... what you're making is a miso soup... are you okay? It's Nir.

This is the strongest soup of the master's homeland. It's called Misoshiru.

Mishishoshiru...

The reason why Rikka sounds like a gaijin is because Nilu loves miso soup, which is one of the most comforting flavors that she has made in various ways.

It is not an exaggeration to say that he is addicted to miso soup in the morning.

The Japanese spirit that I instilled in him is steadily growing.

Miso soup is great for getting salt and warming up! We love it too!

But... there's something weird about miso soup in here...

We are right in front of the Goddess statue. It's more of a western style building around it, so it doesn't seem to fit... but then again, Nir doesn't look Japanese... so let's just say it's good as long as it's good.

'Well, we'll make onigiri then!

Onigiri...?

Come to think of it, I've never made onigiri, even though I eat rice.

It would be great if we had some nori (seaweed)...

There it is.

I pull out the nori from my inventory.

Shinya-san's inventory contains everything...

"No, I don't have anything in there, but...

It's not such a handy item like a cat-shaped robot pocket... I'm sure. From Senna's point of view, it's something similar...?

Then let's cook some rice, too!

Recently, Nir's skills in cooking rice have reached their peak.

The amount of charring is also flexible. The hardness of the rice is also flexible. She has become a professional rice cooker...or rice pro for short.

While she was joking about this, the meal was completed.

There is no need to use chopsticks, which is a good thing for the beginner cook, Ricca.

Itadakimasu!

I quickly take a bite of the onigiri.

What's this?

"Phew! How about ......? It's a fried onigiri that is sure to capture the hearts of the foodie boys!

The center of the rice ball is filled with a large, gory, deep-fried ball.

What do you think...

"Delicious!

Of course it's delicious.

Besides, this meat is snowcrow meat. I was curious to see how it tasted. I've never eaten crow meat, so I can't compare it, but I'm pretty sure that snow owl meat would taste like something else, because snow owl meat is horrible.

Because snowcrow meat is terribly tasty.

The original flavor is not that different from that of chicken, but the flavor gets richer and richer with each bite. It has a plump texture with a certain amount of chewiness, yet it is soft enough not to be disgusting.

I've never had top-quality chicken, but the flavor makes me imagine it must taste like this. I'm not sure if it's worth it to use it as a fried chicken.

This one is a salt onigiri and this one is a special Senna onigiri made with miso and green onions.

Specially made onigiri are so good!

"Hehehe! Right? It's one of the few dishes we can make!

Cena is proud to say so.

For once, I can't say anything because it is seriously delicious.

And to accompany the rice ball, the miso soup that Nil made.

Zuzu...

"Woo...it's so warm...

Of course the elaborate dishes are delicious, but these simple and common tastes are also delicious.

You don't eat Ricca?

Nir asks Rikka, who is not easy to touch.

"Onigiri......

Triangular rice ball wrapped in seaweed. Rikka's mind seems to be on tenterhooks when she sees it.

She seems to be remembering something... but her emotions are so jumbled up that it's hard to read exactly what she's thinking.

What's wrong with you?

"...... no. It's nothing.

With a face that doesn't look like that, I grab a rice ball and take a bite.

It's delicious.

You'll be able to get a good idea of what you'll be eating. It's a good idea to be able to have a good time with them.

What turned out to be a thought-provoking dinner was largely successful, and we decided to fall asleep until the sun came up.

'Master?'

However, seeing me struggling to get into bed, Nil calls me with a worried look on his face. Nil is about to say something else, but he shuts his mouth.

Senna said he's going to sleep with Rikka, and instead of listening, he pulled her into the tent.

"Shinya.

...... ah.

Lat, who had been down and quiet, comes up to me on the floor and sits down right next to me, making my fuzzy side into a backrest.

Nil also just sits silently beside me.

Rato can read my emotions, and he's worried about me. Nil notices that I'm acting strangely and stays with me.

Their kindness makes me very happy.

But I still can't sleep a little. Yesterday was no different.

I got into bed, but I couldn't sleep for a while, and it wasn't until the morning came that I finally started to feel groggy.

'I'm supposed to be tired...'

"...... It's about Cena, isn't it?

Oh. ............ Oh. That too.

I can't hide anything from Nil and Lat.

The reason why I can't sleep well is obvious.

It's because Senna almost died.

I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work.

But what is the reality?

In the face of the avalanche, I could do little or nothing, and I didn't even realize immediately that Senna was injured.

I still feel the sensation of Senna's blood on my cheek.

The day before, at the time Lat heard the sound, even if we had taken some measures, the result would not have been much different. There is no doubt about it, and I'm not carrying that much on my shoulders.

But maybe I should have left Senna behind after all. But if she hadn't been there, it would have been a much more difficult climb, and it could have been me, or Nir, or Lat...or someone else who would have been badly injured.

The more I think about it, the more I get into questions that I can't answer. This is the main reason why I can't sleep...

One more thing. There was a big thing that kept me awake.

It was a dream I had yesterday... or rather this morning, when I was beginning to doze off.

When I came to this world, when I lost Sylvie and challenged the underground labyrinth, I had a dream that I hadn't seen in a long time, but it was the same dream. But this time it was more vivid.

'I think I've talked to Nil for a little while now...'

...your...master's...parents?

...... Oh.

I've heard that your master witnessed the death of your parents.

I don't talk about it because I don't trust him...it's not that I don't trust him.

It's a past that I don't really want to talk about, so I unconsciously avoided talking about it.

But I don't know why. ...... Now, I want Nir and Lat to hear that story. I'm sure you'll be able to find it.

I'm not really good with snow.

You'll be able to find out what's going on.

I'm not going to be the only one.

"Shinya! It's been a long time since you've had a trip, hasn't it? Praise my father, but good luck!

"You. Don't force your children to admire you.

What? No?!

"Of course.

Astonishing!

I was in the car with my parents, going on our first family trip in quite some time.

A lot of things have changed since my killing... since then.

I couldn't live in the area, we moved to another place, my dad changed jobs, my mom had a pretty hard time with the neighborhood and work.

I was bullied at school every day, and I think both my father and mother had a hard time at work.

But even in the midst of all the hardship, my father and mother remained exactly the same as they were in the past, which was a bit hard for me .......

If I had been a more sensible and normal emotional person, I might have been happy with their attitude because of the guilt I felt for the incident I caused.

But my emotions were broken, and I just didn't realize it.

I felt so sorry for the two people who trusted and loved my son.

Therefore, I was slowly distancing myself from them...I guess.

I thought the dark treatment I was receiving from the world was punishment for my brokenness, and I didn't want my father and mother to get involved in it...maybe.

But my father is this kind of personality, and he doesn't care how serious I am about it. He would shove his way into my life.

Looking back, I think it was my father's presence that kept me from going bad.

Naturally, my mother was a big part of that.

My mother always gave me the same kind of love that I thought was so heavy, and she always flew to me and hugged me.

At that time, I thought it was hard for me, but ...... my mother was the most sensitive to people's emotions and had the keenest instincts of any of the family members. I'm sure it was a dark and cold time, and that's why she wanted to convey her warmth to me.

Cold is not always a person. I think that's what she wanted to teach me.

It's not that I was rebellious, I didn't get irritated with them, I didn't feel depressed, I just... I'm sorry.

I just...I'm sorry. That's how I felt.

Then my mother and father's vacations and my own coincided, and we had a plan to go on a family vacation for the first time in quite a while.

I don't think we had any money to spare. We weren't living on the edge, but we weren't wealthy by any means.

But as they happily talked about the trip, I couldn't choose a course of action other than to nod my head.

Disappointed in myself, depressed and withdrawn... if I had just done that, it wouldn't have happened. ......

Not so, my broken inner self, I would then be holding a grudge endlessly.

"Dad. You need to look ahead.

I don't want my father's driving skills to be underestimated.

You. I'm going to throw you out the window if you don't listen to Shinya.

"Don't smile and say scary things with a smile on your face?

My father and mother were always like this.

It was more of a flirtation than an argument.

I'd like to say that I've never seen my father actually hurt, but I've seen such scenes a few times. But that was an intense expression of affection...I guess.

I had never seen my parents really fighting, and whenever the mood was right, my mother would come to me in tears.

My dad says horrible things and I need help! And so on.

In fact, they may have been fighting without me seeing it, but at least I never saw it.

Such a family trip with my parents.

To be honest, I was looking forward to it a bit.

I thought there was no way I would ever be allowed to experience such a happy thing...but I was. I thought, but I couldn't help but look forward to it when I went.

It was getting colder, and we planned to go to a colder place to take it easy, even if it was just to relax in a hot spring.

My father drove me there for two nights and three days.

It was an ordinary trip, I think.

I don't know about other family trips, but I arrived at an inn that I was a little excited about, toured the nearby town, and stopped at a store that my mother wanted to visit.

After returning to the inn, I soaked in the hot spring with my father, warmed up in the open-air bath while watching the snow, and then waited with milk in hand for my mother to come out while cooling off.

My mother would laugh at my father, who was drunk, while I tasted delicious food.

It was probably a happy moment for me. No, without a doubt, that was one of the happiest moments of my life.

It was a special day, a family trip, but it was a flat day with nothing to write home about. I didn't even notice that it was a happy thing.

My mother and father had bought a lot of souvenirs, and on the last day, the family car with the three of us was driving down a mountain road as the sun was beginning to set.

My father drove carefully through the snow-covered road to avoid going out of the ruts, while my mother sat in the passenger's seat and chatted with my father about things to keep him awake.

I would sit in the backseat and listen to the conversations as I dozed off, reminiscing about the trip and where we would give out souvenirs when we got home.

The car climbs up the mountain road and goes downhill.

It's already pitch black, and I can't see anything except for the part of the car illuminated by the headlights.

As we drove down the hill, I could feel my consciousness fading.

It was just then that I had a moment of clarity.

From the left side of the path, a deer, I think it was. It could have been a wild boar. Either way, a wild animal jumped out at us.

My father quickly swerved to the right.

If it had been a normal road, he would have been startled...and that would have been the end of it. But it was a snow-covered downhill slope.

The car's tires were out of their ruts and going up and down in a big way.

My slumbering consciousness was quickly snapped back to reality, my whole body went rigid and I felt cold, even though the car was heated.

The car went over the rut, and the front tires were fixed in the rut in the oncoming lane of traffic, facing sideways. And, without slowing down, it slid sideways down the hill without slowing down.

Normally, the view from the side of the back seat would drift backwards, but then the view from the windshield drifted to the side.

The sound of my mother's screams.

The sound of my father gasping for air.

The sound of the car sliding and thudding.

All of this was etched vividly into my memory.

A car sliding in an unintended direction.

Inside our car, a dazzling light enters from the left side.

An oncoming car.

From there on, it seemed to be in slow motion.

Seeing the car sliding sideways, the oncoming car applied the brakes.

However, since we can't stop, the other people can't do anything about it.

Ah. Collision.

I was thinking that in my mind, awfully calmly.

Gun!

There are not many times you can hear such a horrible sound in life.

The sound of metal colliding with metal, crunching and scraping.

The car spins to the right on collision with an oncoming car, the tires blown out of their ruts and the car rolls over.

I couldn't determine how the landscape was moving, my body was floating and falling, swaying from side to side...my mother's long hair was moving in front of me like a living thing.

It was all messed up anyway.

Gun! Gogah! Bekah!

A dull, horrible sound echoed through the car again and again, and I subconsciously held my breath.

Such a time lasted for a very long time.

My neck was swung around several times and my head banged a few times as well.

And then I went to ......

Gosh!

The shaking finally stopped just as the loudest bang echoed through the car.

I was in a concussion-like state, unable to think normally after hitting my head so many times.

My vision was blurred.

"............-uh ......

Blurred vision, the view out the window is inverted, the white of the snow above my head.

My parents' arms, sitting in the driver's and passenger's seats, were hanging lazily and not as strong as mine.

......!

As your consciousness becomes a little clearer, you realize that you hit your head hard and it hurts badly.

'Dad ...... mom ......'

Trying to reach forward, but in the car upside down, caught in the seat belt. I can't move well.

"...eh.........

I try to unbuckle the seatbelt wrapped around my waist, but it doesn't come off easily with a clatter.

Clunk!

I press the button hard and it finally comes off, slamming my body into the ceiling of the car.

'Ick!'

Souvenirs and empty cans found in the car. The shards of broken glass hurt underneath.

...... uh...

"Mom!

My mother's voice that should have been familiar. And yet, I heard a distressed voice, and it sounded like a stranger's voice.

Nearly my whole body is bruised, and it hurts just to move, but it doesn't matter now.

Clatter!

I try to unbuckle my mother's seatbelt, but I can't get it off.

"Damn it! Why doesn't it come off!

"Shinya...

"Mom! I'll help you now! Dad! We have to help Mom soon!

"No... look at ......

I was shaking Dad's shoulder before his weak voice reached me.

A sloppy feeling. It's not the feeling of touching someone. And the warmth of human skin.

Then I noticed for the first time that the interior of the car was filled with a thick smell of iron rust.

'Dad!

"Shinya...

"Mom! Dad!

"I know...I know......... protect your mother...

"Oh no...no! It can't be! Because it's still warm!

"Shinya ...... this sound... you know...?

"Sound? What are you talking about...

My mother told me that I can hear the sound of liquid topping off.

And the distinct smell of fuel...

"There's... a hole in the fuel tank...

"What to do ... and anyway! Let's get mom and dad out of the car now!

I hurriedly crawl out of the broken window.

The broken glass cuts my arms and legs, but it didn't matter.

Gun!

I try to open the passenger seat. But either something is stuck or the door is bent...anyway, it won't open.

Mom!

"Ugh!

I tried to pull her out of the window, but I could barely see her condition.

The front of the car is crushed, and my foot is completely pinned and stuck. The leg is crushed, bones are popping out, and you want to turn away.

Naturally, there is also a lot of bleeding, with blood cascading from the lower body to the upper body.