IDENTITY- Assasination Classroom Fanfic (Ft. OC x Asano Gakushuu)

22: The Adventure of Two Blessed Kids

Returning the blanket to Arina, Asano said, "It smells like liquor. Do not overuse Vodka for everything. But thank you anyway."

Beaming at him, she retrieved the blanket, "No problem! Did you sleep well, Asano-kun?"

Asano looked at her as his gaze softened, and for some reason, he did something Arina would never expect from him -- he placed his hand on her head, patting it. This small yet loving gesture reminded Arina of her father, and she stared at Asano in shock, open-mouthed.

"Asano-kun," gasped Arina in delight, "what is the matter?"

Asano sighed and parted his hand away from her head, "Nothing. Let's go, shall we?"

They packed up and left the place. Asano took the lead like usual, while Arina trailed behind. Sometimes she would get distracted by the wildflowers nearby and stop to pick them. Then Asano would remind her to keep moving. However, she'd occasionally run into edible plants and mushrooms. As a result, Asano reckoned that he shall let her be.

They trekked until midday when Arina prodded Asano and said, unashamedly, as opposed to him, "Asano-kun, Asano-kun, toilet! I'm going to the toilet. Hmm, or should I say 'nature toilet'? Anyway, wait for me, okay?"

And she ran away from his sight. Asano stood there gaping in amazement. Part of him admired her for being honest and unashamed, and part of him disapproved of her for the same reason.

Arina made him wait quite a long time. 'Why is she taking so long?' he thought to himself, careful not to picture the image in his head.

Turned out, when Arina arrived, Asano had finally understood why. His jaw dropped as low as one could imagine. Arina didn't return by herself. One hand of her gripping a flower like usual, the other...

"Asano-kun!! I caught us a magnificent meal!" called out Arina merrily.

Asano gawked in both horror and astonishment at a poor snake being punctured from its throat to its bottom end by a wooden stick. Arina acted as though her achievement was just a casual daily act. Waving the snake around in excitement, she ran toward him, showing him a closer look at the snake.

"It's a Mamushi," said Asano in pure shock. "It's highly venomous. Did you get bitten?"

"Of course not," answered Arina proudly. "All I did was just slap its head because it dared to try to attack me and I grabbed it by its neck and punctured it with a stick I found. Yeah, I know I'm skilled."

Asano panned his eyes from Arina's innocent, little face to the dead snake in disbelief. Was this girl for real? Somehow, he felt as though he had taken back some of his contempt spared for her.

"You're probably just lucky this time," said Asano. "And be careful from now on. If you caught one, there's a possibility of plenty more."

"Which means plenty more meals," said Arina airily, smiling brightly.

They cooked the snake and ate it that noon. The same thing repeated like yesterday -- Arina failed to cease her blabbering about irrelevant things, though Asano's reaction to it was much different. He didn't scold or try to fix her, as she was bewildered by his sudden out-of-character.

"Whatever happened to you, Asano-kun?" she said, picking another wildflower, and putting it behind her ear. "You are not so harsh anymore, I reckon. Well! I suddenly think you're fully lovely now!"

Hearing so, Asano swiveled his head at her and smiled, which, Arina returned it to a greater extent -- very cheerfully. She approached him and did the same thing with the flower -- putting it askew over his left ear, as he halted his steps and gazed at her in surprise.