Easy Survival Life in the Other World~

041 Operation Headhunt

Leaving the food procurement to Mana, everyone else went out to scout new members.

「 This is where the pairs will come in 」

「 「 「 Got it 」 」 」

The pairs will be splitting up in the Asakura cave.

Eri and I are going to the west, where the wild boars are inhabiting.

「 Hokage-kun, were you not bothered?? 」

Eri who was walking silently started to talk to me.

I asked her back with “what?”, then she continued.

「 It’s about when I rejected my pairing with Tanaka-kun 」

「 Not really. I’m sure that you have your reason 」

「 I wanted you to be curious about it 」

Seems like she wants me to ask her the reason.

「 If you want to tell me then you should’ve done it already…so, what is it? 」

「 Ahahaha, that’s kind of you 」

Eri smiled. Then changed it to a serious look.

「 I’m not being conceited here but Tanaka-kun is into me, right? 」

「 That’s no conceit. He’s definitely in love with Eri no matter how you look at it 」

「 But you see, I don’t like him. I like him as a friend, an ally, but I don’t feel any affection the same as the romantic love he has for me 」

I thought so. I tossed back.

「 Everyone can see it too 」

「 If we were in Japan, I would’ve told him that right away. Sorry, but I don’t want to be your girlfriend. But, I don’t know if I could do that in this place. After all, it could make the atmosphere worse, and it’ll hinder our daily life, right? 」

「 I see 」

I get her reason now.

She worries that it’ll affect the team.

She doesn’t want the mood to deteriorate because she rejected Tanaka.

「 Tanaka might hate you because you rejected him 」

「 I don’t mind that. Although, as for everyone else… 」

「 I know. Still, I just want to be clear with it 」

This is my opinion, but I’ll say it just as a precaution.

「 If I’m in Tanaka’s place, then I’d be glad that you tell me your honest feelings. If not, Tanaka or I, the shadow characters, will just hold onto that hope. That ‘someday, you’ll fall if I work hard enough.’ As long as there’s a trace of that possibility, he’ll want it. That’s what I think 」

「 But, it could be a bad influence on the team, right? 」

「 It doesn’t matter. When that happens, then we’ll deal with it. We can’t help it. If you keep the status-quo the same, things will get worse. In this environment, you need to be clear with your whites and blacks. Anyway, if you put the problem for later, then it’ll just increase the damage 」

Eri went “Is that so?” and looked down.

After a moment of silence, she looked up.

「 Hokage-kun’s right, I need to be clear with him 」

「 It’s better that way. I’m also like that, a gloomy person falling in love with just a small kindness of a girl. Tanaka’s going to be hurt at first, but he’ll fall for another soon enough 」