𝓝𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓼 𝓦𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷 𝓞𝓾𝓻 𝓖𝓻𝓪𝓼𝓹𝓼 || кαмαвσкσ тяισ χ яєα∂єяѕ

Chapter 7 : Little Help

(A/N) : I truly apologize that the last chapter was quite long. It used to be a two-part chapter, so I decided to add them as a whole when editing this book.

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"Oh, we can pick these up for later consumption."

The girl stopped on her track abruptly before leaning down on one knee, inspecting further upon the handful amount of wild mushrooms she and her partner came across just now. "I didn't even expect us to find these here. Although, I'm not complaining. We can roast them later, too."

Tanjirou followed suit, yet his head was tilted slightly out of confusion after he bent down beside her, "(L/N)-san, how did you know that these are edible?"

"I've eaten these mushrooms before and I've also read about them quite a bit. They're quite distinguishable if you know which ones are which. Picking wild edible mushrooms in general have certain conditions, though."

Her hand subconsciously rub against the fleshy-rounded cap of one of the mushrooms, as if she's trying to recall the knowledge she'd embedded into her mind for as long as she could remember.

However, Tanjirou only looked at the girl beside him in confusion upon hearing her confession. Just under what kind of condition did she have the opportunity to have a bite of these wild mushrooms??

She only continued to speak further though, as if her words just now about consuming fungis that are found in the wild are normal for someone to hear, "the book I once read said; 'they need to be carefully gathered so that we can minimize our disturbance in their environment'. Also, if we want to start gathering these, we should pick out some good quality ones.. Like that one right there," her finger then pointed at a certain mushroom around the size of her palm—not too small yet not too big either, "we can pick some more up as long as they're not soggy, wilted, nor mushy in texture-wise."

Tanjirou's brunet eyes now reflected curiosity, but more toward the person herself who's talking right beside him now. He only nodded in response though, giving her the cue to continue.

For as long as they've been partners together, he had never once heard the girl being particularly talkative in any certain topics before. He'd tried several times bringing up different things to lighten up the mood, but judging by all her monotone replies by far, Tanjirou concluded himself that perhaps she didn't like having small talks to begin with—especially not with a random person who have asked her out of the blue to work together to survive in this kind of environment.

So, learning this new side of the girl that he once thought was particularly silent is kind of.. Amusing, in a way?

"..We shouldn't take all of these in one go, though. It's already a miracle in itself that we found these mushrooms in this kind of place, so it's best to leave some behind."

After that, there was like a scoffing expression written on the girl's face, but she was swift to avert her attention back to the task at hand. Tanjirou could only brush it off upon knowing that he couldn't just question it, nodding in agreement with her previous statement instead just as the girl took out her blade to cut a few stalks of mushrooms using it.

Seeing her actions made Tanjirou confuse all over again. But, as if the girl could read his mind, she gives her answer right before he even manage to speak.

"It's.. actually better to cut the mushrooms by the stem rather than to pull them directly out of the ground."

Tanjirou then nodded again, now giving away an all-knowing smile—mostly to himself—with the fact that he could identify a certain emotion emitted from the girl's heart as she explains whatever things she knows to him. It was small and faint however, so even with this knowledge, he wasn't sure if it was truly what she felt or if it was his nose playing tricks thanks to the environment around them.