5 Vol 1. pt. 5 Patch 2.0: Socializing, Raiding, or Fishing? (1/2)

At least Fenrir still has his tail. Lowering it to cover his rear and wrap it around to the front of his waist, he raises one of his hands up in front of his eyes to use it as a shield so that all he can see is the girl's head when he turns back around to face her.

Now he remembers why he wanted to get clothes so badly.

More importantly, why is this naked girl just standing here in front of a naked guy? She definitely has to be a G.I.R.L. Only a guy in real life would ever so brazenly stand about naked. Or she's just a pervert. Or dumb.

Fenrir tilts his head in confusion. Not only does he behave like a dog when getting petted or rubbed, but apparently shows canid signs of confusion as well. The girl mimics his tilting head and raises her hands to make some odd signs. What, is she trying to copy some sort of old-school ninja anime? Is she going to suddenly create dozens of clones of herself or disappear into a puff of smoke with a log taking her place?

No, she just stands there and looks frustrated with herself.

”Is uhh, everything alright?” Fenrir asks.

The girl's eyes go wide before she looks away. What's with her? Odd girl.

She takes a deep breath and looks back at him. ”My… voice, does it sound… weird?” she asks, looking directly into his eyes with a brave expression. He gets the feeling that it's, for whatever reason, taking her a good deal of courage to actually speak.

It does sound weird, though. It sounds as if she's not used to talking nor properly pronouncing things, but at the same time, it's adorable in an innocent way. ”It sounds cute, why?” Fenrir replies.

The girl's eyes flutter for a second as her face turns red. Now it seems like she's the one who's embarrassed as she's turning around to hide her face. ”Do – do you really mean that? It's cute?” she asks for confirmation.

”Yeah, it's cute. I'd give it a solid ten out of ten, but my friends say I have horrible taste, so take that however you will.” Of course, his friends really just mean that he has horrible taste in shows and music. Even they can agree he has a good taste in waifus, though they would never admit it.

Seeing that this girl is more nervous and flustered around him than he is around her makes this conversation easier. He doesn't know what he would do if she had more confidence than him. ”You uhh, know that you're naked, right?”

Fenrir watches the girl's entire body freeze from his question.

She dives into the nearest bush and only sticks her head out of it, letting him see how she's red from her chin to the tips of her ears. Her hands stick out from the bush to make a few very angry hand signs, but nothing happens again. She realizes what she's doing, makes a cute little disgruntled sound, and stares up at Fenrir. ”I… I knew that.”

Fenrir makes the kind of face that somebody in a sitcom about offices would make as they look into the camera.

”Just stay there for now. I'll find you something to wear, alright?”

She nods her head, but just as she starts to de-reddify her face, her stomach grumbles which makes her completely pull herself into the bush as if she is a turtle hiding in its shell.

”I'll feed you first,” Fenrir says.

Alright, time to cook! Cooking is only natural after fishing. First, he gathers all of the large rocks lying around to make a pit for the fire. He also clears out anything flammable around the pit to instead place it inside of the pit. If this world is as realistic as it truly seems to be, he doesn't doubt that a forest fire could get started if he isn't careful here.

The girl has since poked her head back out of the bush to watch as he prepares the firepit. Though, sometimes when he looks back at her, he sees her looking at him instead of what he's doing. This just makes them both blush and avert their eyes.

With the firepit built and filled with dried twigs and leaves, he takes a handful of the tinder and sets it aside as he finds some good enough wood to use for starting the fire. The only method he can fully remember how to do is the hand drill method, which unfortunately is also supposed to be the most difficult primal method. He uses the same jagged rock as he used earlier to carve a little knock into the flattest piece of wood he could find, takes a long and thin yet sturdy stick, and begins rubbing one end of it down into the knock. He has the top of the stick held between his straightened palms. While applying downward pressure, he rubs his hands back and forth to create friction between the stick and the flat wood below.

Nothing happens for several minutes other than some cramping in his hands. ”This is harder than it looked. Now I know why those survivalist vloggers say to never use this method unless there's no other choice,” Fenrir complains as he keeps at it. He hears a cute giggle come from the girl behind him. As much as he's tempted to tease her about it, he's worried he won't get to hear it again if he does.