The New Ajin

Chapter Fifteen

"Man I'm hungry," Kou started rubbing  his stomach, "hey, do you have any food?"

"I'll bring you some later," Kei said.

We walked until we reached a clearing in the woods. There was a small cliff that was not so deep near the spot that Kei took us.

"You can wait here, I'll get the food," Kei said. He then turned and walked back into the woods.

"I don't trust him," I crossed my arms. Kou collapsed on the ground and extended his arms and legs, making himself look like a star fish.

"He's getting us food, he must be nice," Kou said, "when was the last time you ate?"

"A day ago?" I was not too sure but now that he mentioned it, my stomach was in pain from emptiness.

"Just relax, everything will be fine now that we found Kei," Kou sounded confident in what he was saying.

I sat down next to him.

"There are a lot of clouds," I said looking up at the sky.

"There sure are..." Kou trailed off.

He soon fell asleep. I sighed and continued looking up. I wonder what Naoki was doing at this moment? Was he looking at the sky wondering where I was?

Time escaped me and when Kei came I had no idea if it had been thirty minutes or two hours.

"Sorry," Kei said, "it took a while to prepare."

I nudged Kou and he shrugged me off.

"Food's here," I said.

Kou sat up and looked around until he found Kei, "finally!"

He placed the bag he was holding on a large rock we used like a table. There was two waters and three boxes of rice balls.

My stomach growled just looking at them. Kou grabbed two rice balls, one for each hand and started taking bites out of them.

I was more hesitant and looked at Kei. What did he benefit from helping us?

I don't know if Kei just didn't realize I was staring at him or if he just didn't care.

I picked up a rice ball and took a bite. It automatically cured my hunger and I continued eating. It did not fast any different from any other rice ball I had. The mushrooms made his rice balls better than other ones I had tasted.

"It's nice and quiet here, right?" Kei said suddenly.

"You didn't drift very far, huh?" Kou said. I continued eating letting Kou do the talking with a full mouth.

"They suggested you might have left the country on tv," Kou continued saying.

"Yeah, I didn't even leave Tokyo Harbor," Kei had a ghostly smile on his face.

"How are you surviving?" Kou asked.

"Someone called Yamanaka-san is letting me live in her home," he looked at Kou before looking forward again, "I finally got a hold of a safe zone. Nobody knows my face if I move just a little into the countryside."

That's what I should have done. But now I had to be dragged into the whole Sato situation. I know too much to do nothing.

Kou continued to bite into the rice balls as if he was wolf that hadn't eaten anything all winter. I made a face and took a bite of my rice ball.

"Are you even listening?" Kei asked Kou.

Kou nodded his head, "yeah, yeah."

"Nakano-kun," Kei said, "are you really planning to fight with Sato-san?"

"Huh? Why?" Kou monetarily stopped eating.

"Unlike me, the media has not exposed you two after being chased by the government. You two have a better chance to live a quiet life. More than I do. But you'd still fight?" Kei asked.

All I wanted was for my life to go back to normal. To snuggle in Naoki's bed. To punch the old punching bag at the gym. To be the Undefeated Champion. That's all I wanted. I let Kou answer since our response would be the same.

"I have to," the look in eyes were serious. I nodded my agreement.

"I see," Kei looked at the stick he had placed into the ground earlier. He had made a line in the dirt then stood the stick up.

What was he doing?

"That's something I don't understand," Kei said.

"Huh?" Kou looked confused. He then grunted and grabbed his stomach.

A throbbing pain, a million times worse than hunger, exploded in my abdomen. My vision became hazy and I could not focus my eye sight.

The rice ball.

"Ibotengutake mushrooms. You see a lot of them around here," I heard Kei say.

I tried backing away but I did not have full control of my body.

"They're delicious, but poisonous," Kei continued saying, "poisoning symptoms appear about 20 minutes after consumption."

That's why he put the stick there.

"Abominable pain, vomiting, hallucinations, seizures, disorientation,  and finally, unconsciousness," Kei said.

I fell on the floor and grabbed at the dirt to pull myself away from him.

How could I let myself get poisoned?

Why didn't I listen to my instincts?

"There are ways to immobilize an immortal," Kei said.

I looked at Kou and he looked at me.

"I finally found a safe zone," he said, "the ones I can't let free is you two."

From what I could tell, Kei was looking at Kou. With all my energy I took off my bag and pulled out my gun.

Death was like a do over button.

I aimed the gun at Kou's head. Shot.

I put the gun in my mouth. Shot.