Chapter 1

As summer vacation approached, I stopped by an art supply store on my way home from school and then went straight to my teacher's house to put away the new art supplies I had just bought. Then, I was going to start painting.

I opened the new paints I had bought with this week's lunch money and faced the canvas.

...Today was the first time I was going to try oil painting.

Since I started high school, I had been given lunch money, and with that, I could finally buy oil paints and other art supplies.

Throughout junior high, I had only drawn with pencils. My teacher had once offered to buy me supplies, but I felt too guilty to accept. I was already borrowing a room in their house, so I couldn't cause any more trouble.

So, the only supplies I could use were the pencils I insisted were writing tools and the one notebook I had been given at school (which my parents didn't know about), the back of unused printouts, the ground and tree branches, and concrete floors and rainwater. That was it.

...And now, with the start of high school, I had added to my possessions "the art supplies I could buy with the 2500 yen given to me each week for lunch."

It was never really free. But, it was surprisingly fun.

At first, I only had colored pencils and drawing paper, but eventually, I bought a complete set of watercolor supplies. ...The watercolors I used in elementary school had been thrown away, so I had to buy new ones. I had never even known there was such a thing as watercolor paper until my teacher introduced me to an art supply store I had never been to, and just being there was fun.

After I started using my lunch money to buy art supplies, I gradually accumulated more tools. After the watercolor supplies, I bought acrylic paints, intending to buy back the ones I had used in junior high.

Then... now, I was finally starting to use oil paints.

First, the easel. Then, the canvas. I bought brushes and a palette, oil, and today, the paints.

...I had always wanted to try oil painting. I was interested because I had never used the materials before, and more than anything, I was a little envious of the art club members in junior high and the new high school I had just entered, who were painting with oil paints.

"Ah, you finally have all your paints ready, don't you?"

I was struggling with the oil paints, holding an old art textbook and a reference book, when my teacher came in.

...My teacher was a different kind of adult from my parents and the people at school.

Because, even when I was drawing, they never got angry.

Not only did they not get angry, but they even lent me a room in their house. They even pulled out old art textbooks and reference books they had used in the past and lent them to me. My textbooks had been thrown away, so I had always been using the old textbooks I borrowed from my teacher to draw.

"Togo, are you skimping on your lunch money again?"

"Yeah."

My teacher laughed, exasperated. This was a common occurrence. But, my teacher never tried to stop me.

"Really, you're quite something. But unfortunately, humans are creatures that die if they don't eat."

Saying this, my teacher placed a glass of barley tea and a plate of boiled rice cakes in front of me.

"These are leftovers from last New Year, but they are a proper source of energy. Carbohydrates. If you don't mind, eat them. And contribute to the consumption of rice cakes in my house."

"Yeah, thank you."

At my teacher's house, I sometimes received "energy sources." It felt wrong to borrow a room, store my belongings, and even receive food, but the rice cakes were unavoidable. Because my teacher didn't like rice cakes. If I didn't eat them, they would never disappear from this house.

And then, soba noodles. My teacher, with a grim expression, would boil them and make me eat all of them, saying, "They've been sent again this year." My teacher apparently didn't like soba noodles. When I ate soba noodles, my teacher drank the soba broth. It was definitely bad for their health, but I didn't stop them. My teacher didn't stop me from skipping lunch, so I didn't stop them from drinking the broth. That's the kind of relationship we had.

"Also, eat some vitamins. This year's harvest is quite good. Thanks to you."

Then, my teacher placed a plate of cherry tomatoes in front of me. These cherry tomatoes were picked from the garden behind the house. I knew this because I helped take care of them.

More than ten cherry tomatoes were piled up on a small plate.

...Looking at that small red hill, I somehow stopped eating.

"Oh, Togo, you're not eating? You don't dislike tomatoes, do you?"

"Yeah."

I placed the ceramic plate with the cherry tomatoes on the table next to the canvas.

"I want to draw."

My teacher laughed, looking happy and delighted.

"Haha, that's right, that's right. If you want to draw, I won't stop you. Just make sure to eat after you finish. 'Thank you for the meal' is an important culture."

"Yeah."

While I started sketching, my teacher sat in a random chair and watched me intently.

"...I said humans are creatures that die if they don't eat, but conversely, humans can also die without eating in front of food. I sometimes feel like doing that myself."

Then, they laughed again.

"You must have that kind of nature too. Even if you're about to die, you won't stop drawing, will you?"

"Yeah."

That's the kind of nature I have. Just like my teacher, I am the same.

"I won't stop."

Even if I was stopped, scolded, or had all my tools thrown away... even if it was useless, I would still keep drawing.

"Even if I die, I won't stop drawing."

******

Chapter 1: I Won't Stop Drawing, Even If I Die

******

I woke up groggily. I felt like I had a dream, but I couldn't remember it. I had heard that dreams are a way to organize memories, but if I forgot them, it must mean I had completed the organization, right?

"...This is definitely not organized."

But when I woke up, I realized something.

Probably, my memory organization wasn't complete, and not only that, but my entire memory might have been erased.

Because I had never seen such a forest. Where was this?

The forest was just a forest. Endlessly a forest.

Looking up, the leaves rustled in the wind. The countless leaves on the branches were green, translucent in the sunlight. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, illuminating the fluffy soil characteristic of the forest.

...Where was this?

There was no such forest near my house. I lived in a high-rise apartment near the station, so there was no such vast forest in the neighborhood.

So, did someone move me while I was sleeping? For what purpose? Or was I a sleepwalker and came here on my own? But it was an odd place to come by foot. There was no such place within walking distance.

...And... where was I before I came here? Was I really at home?

No matter how I thought about it, something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.

But... well, it's fine. I felt like thinking about it here wouldn't lead to anything.

I decided to just walk and think about it later.

I walked. And with the first step, I realized I was wearing shoes.

They were the shoes I wore to school. And when I looked closely, I was wearing my school uniform. Black pants, a white shirt, and a gakuran. All of them were ordinary, nothing special.

Well, I almost always wore pajamas when I wasn't in my school uniform, so it only meant that "I was in the middle of the day before coming to this forest"...

...Well, it's fine. At least I wasn't naked.

After walking about 100 steps, I noticed... plants.

"There are so many plants I've never seen before..."

Finding so many unknown plants after just 100 steps was strange. What did this mean?

This was a big deal. It was definitely strange.

Plants that didn't seem to be in any plant encyclopedia were growing. If this wasn't a dream, it might be a world-changing discovery.

There were bell-shaped flowers that looked like they were made of milk glass, with glowing orbs inside like tiny light bulbs, acting as lamps. If someone said, "This is a lampshade," I would have believed it, but these were growing from the ground.

There were also giant mushrooms that felt like stone. If someone said, "This is a table," I would have believed it. What were they made of? Stone? They definitely didn't feel like shiitake or enoki mushrooms...

And there were flowers that danced when they heard music. What was it called? Flower Rock and Roll? The real flower version was growing and dancing wildly to the sound.

...It was definitely strange.

It was more than just "I woke up in an unknown place" or "Maybe I'm a sleepwalker." It was a different level of strangeness.

...Could I have come to a different world?

"Trouble... I'm in trouble..."

I was definitely in trouble. I was suddenly in an unknown place. This was definitely something science couldn't explain. I was really in trouble.

And to make matters worse, I had no memory of how I got here, so I didn't know how I ended up here.

That meant I couldn't just do the opposite of what I did to get here to return, so I had no clues to get back to my original place.

It was a hopeless situation, but...

...Well, it's fine. I didn't know why I was here, but I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't find my way back either.

If I didn't know, I had to do what I could do now.

Otherwise, I felt like I would die from being lost.

First, I needed to assess the situation.

I was in an unknown forest. The green was beautiful. The air was fresh.

There were strange plants, but there were also plants that seemed familiar. The vegetation felt incredibly random. What was this?

And as far as I could see, there was only forest. I didn't know how far this forest extended, so I should start by trying to get out of it.

I would look for a settlement. If I found people, I would ask for help. I wasn't good at talking to people, but I hoped I could manage.

If I didn't find people, I would at least look for food and water. This place looked like a forest, so I might find spring water or fruit.

If I couldn't get out of the forest by the end of the day, I would need to find a place to sleep. I didn't want to camp out, but...

...With that, my plan was set.

I would walk and try to get out of the forest. If I found food and water, I would secure them. If I couldn't find a way out after a certain distance, I would prepare to camp. Okay.

I walked. I just walked.

And I found nothing.

...I couldn't find water or fruit. There was nothing I could do about it.

I was getting a bit hungry, so I thought about trying to eat one of the dancing flowers I saw earlier, but it said, "I don't taste good," so I didn't.

...I, this was the first time I talked to a flower in this world. I would have preferred to talk to a human.

Well, thanks to the dancing, talking flower, I realized this was definitely a different world, so it wasn't a complete waste... maybe.

But I wanted a more substantial result.

After that, I kept walking through the forest but found no food. And, as expected, I couldn't see a way out of the forest. Maybe I was walking in the wrong direction.

...I was getting very hungry. They say hunger is the best spice, but that only works if you have food. Without food, it's just a stimulant.

...When was the last time I ate something?

I couldn't remember when my memory started to fade, but the last thing I ate was...

...I couldn't remember. I really couldn't remember when I last ate. It might have been more than a day. I felt like it was. This hunger was probably from that.

I was told to buy my lunch and sometimes my weekend meals, so I used that money to buy art supplies. Art supplies like brushes and paints were expensive, and even paper. So, I usually only ate two meals a day and was used to it. If I had spent my usual days during the memory gap, I probably skipped meals as usual.

Maybe I ate rice cakes, soba, or udon from my teacher during that time, but... I had no memory, so I didn't know if I ate or not. And rice cakes, if I ate them, would be digested quickly and make me hungry again. They were like chewed rice...

In such times, even just water could help. I did that at school. But... unfortunately, there was no faucet around.

I had no choice but to keep looking.

At least for water. And food, if possible. Was there anything lying around?

Without finding water or food, night fell.

I tried walking with glowing flowers as a light source, but I could only see my feet, so I gave up on exploring and decided to camp where I was.

Under a tree, I placed a glowing flower to provide a little light and thought about my usual desk at home, which helped me calm down.

...Usually, around this time, I would finish the minimum amount of studying to avoid complaints, and then pretend to study while... opening a notebook as a sketchbook and doing pencil sketches or something.

Thinking about this, it felt strange.

Every day, I never stopped drawing. My parents didn't like that I drew, but even if I was scolded or stopped, I continued to draw in secret. Even after my art supplies were thrown away, I kept drawing with just paper and pencils. After entering high school, I saved my lunch money to buy art supplies. When I couldn't draw at home, I went to my teacher's place to draw.

I always drew. I drew because I wanted to. Even when I was hungry, thirsty, tired, or sleepy, I kept drawing.

Now, I was hungry. Thirsty. Tired. Sleepy.

...But before satisfying those needs, or even if I couldn't satisfy them...

I had something I had to do.

In the inner pocket of my gakuran, I found a few sheets of folded copy paper, probably intended for doodling later. In the chest pocket, there was a pencil. And in the same pocket, there was an eraser.

And on the ground, there was a large stone that could serve as a desk.

...The rest was simple. I started drawing.

I drew relentlessly. In this situation, I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, and I had no intention of resting, so I just kept drawing.

...While drawing, I forgot about my hunger and thirst. I could focus solely on drawing.

The copy paper and pencil were not the best art supplies, but they were enough to concentrate.

I wondered what to draw, and the first thing that came to mind was... the rice cakes and barley tea I had eaten some time ago.

The rice cakes and barley tea I had eaten at my teacher's house, which were nothing special in taste, were now strangely nostalgic.

I drew them with enthusiasm. I kept drawing the food I had eaten, which had more value than just food.

Drawing food in a situation where there was no food was a kind of dark joke, but what I needed now was to draw the food, not to eat it.

And so, the drawing was completed.

With just a pencil on copy paper, it turned out to be a fairly satisfying piece.

Looking at the finished drawing, I forgot about my hunger and the current situation, and just enjoyed the sense of accomplishment and happiness of completing a drawing.

...At that moment.

The lines on the paper seemed to move.

I squinted, thinking my eyes were getting blurry, but the lines trembled like living things... and then.

They shrank to a point and, plop, came out of the paper.

...Yeah. The rice cake came out.

It was sudden. So sudden that I didn't understand, but... for some reason, a rice cake appeared in front of me, on the paper, under my hand holding the pencil.

Yeah. It was a rice cake.

A rice cake came out.

In front of me was a rice cake. Just a boiled (or rather, heated in the microwave with water) rice cake, like the ones I had eaten at my teacher's house.

"...The rice cake I drew became a real rice cake."

But more importantly, the thing I had just drawn had materialized in front of me. Why did the rice cake I drew become a real rice cake?

Was it a hallucination? My teacher had said, "When humans reach their limits, they might see one or two hallucinations," so maybe this was one. Great, my first hallucination.

...No, this was getting strange. Yeah.

It was strange, but I didn't hesitate. I was that hungry. And more importantly, humans are creatures that die if they don't eat.

I ate the rice cake.

"It