Chapter 8

"I've had a rough time..."

Goroji ventured into the forest outside the grounds for the first time, gathering fruits and mushrooms to test if they were edible. The result was three wins and one loss.

Despite the good win rate, the impact of the loss was significant, and he spent about four hours with the toilet. Incidentally, the toilet, including the function to clean with water, was working normally.

"But the acorns are good news. I heard that in Japan, people survived famines with acorns. Moreover, it's spring, and yet acorns are available, which is a big plus. For now, I'll go collect acorns and the fruits of the mountain cherry trees."

He spent the night in the bathroom and finally fell asleep in the early morning, so it was already noon. Together with Kotaro, he set out to explore the forest again today. Since he decided not to go far, he brought a camera to take pictures along the way.

"I haven't encountered any mysterious creatures, but I wonder about the insects."

As he gathered and observed, he saw that there were insects, but none were particularly abnormal in size or shape.

"Things that look like mosquitoes, things that look like ants, things that look like pill bugs... They're all normal. At this point, I'm starting to doubt whether this is really another world. Apart from the strange bird on the first day, it's just a regular forest. Maybe it was an optical illusion or a hallucination, or maybe I really am going crazy. Hmm, strange creatures, strange creatures, strange... F**k!?"

Goroji let out a loud cry and stopped. Kotaro, reacting with a start, stopped as well and turned to look at Goroji as if to ask, "What's wrong?" As if summoned by Goroji's repeated mutterings of "strange creatures," it appeared. Or rather, it had been there all along.

A web stretched between the trees, with a creature sitting at the center of a beautiful hexagonal geometric pattern. It was a spider. But if it were just a regular spider, Goroji wouldn't have cried out. It was big. Simply, it was big.

The spider's body, excluding its legs, was as big as Goroji's head. Including its legs, it was about a meter long. The web had a diameter of nearly ten meters. It was a size that could prey on a child, even a human. It was enough to make one's skin crawl.

Goroji and Kotaro slowly backed away without taking their eyes off it. When they were about three meters away from the web, Goroji raised his camera. He held the camera in his right hand and a piece of paper with his ID written on it in his left. He was calm, but was this really the right thing to do?

After successfully taking the photo, Goroji and Kotaro headed home. Goroji hurried home with a strange sense of relief that his mind wasn't going crazy and a sense of danger about his own safety.

But that night, he encountered a mysterious creature even more terrifying than the giant spider, and Goroji felt an even greater sense of danger. He would also post the encounter on the bulletin board, stirring up excitement.