Kidnapped to Another World

"...A dense forest, giant plants... W-where the hell am I?!"

The black-haired boy stood rooted to the spot, his pupils quivering violently as he looked around. In the space of a single blink, the scenery before him had changed completely.

The boy's name was Natsuki Subaru, a typical product of the Heisei era's relaxed education system. He considered himself reasonably good-looking, as long as nobody stared at his eyes for too long. Their corners were too sharp, giving him a fierce look whenever he let his guard down, but now wasn't the time to worry about his face.

Towering trees blotted out most of the sky, and all manner of bizarre plants he'd never seen in a textbook grew unchecked.

"Whoa! That's a huge stag beetle! And it's blue?! What kind of beetle is that red one over there? Are they fighting? That's so cool! I gotta find a way to catch them and take them home as pets... This is no time to think about that!"

Subaru forced his gaze away from the giant beetles on the tree trunks.

He looked up at the sky. The sun shone brightly, high overhead, but he remembered perfectly well that it had been nighttime just a moment ago. The convenience store sign had still been lit as he walked out through the automatic doors carrying the cup noodles he'd just bought, and then... then this had happened.

Even the time was different? That was beyond anything that could be explained by being somewhere else in the country. Had he crossed a border?

No, more chilling than crossing a border was the fact that he'd ended up standing here in the blink of an eye. How had he gotten here? What could possibly do something like that?

Subaru quickly patted himself down from head to toe, checking his equipment.

He was wearing a cheap tracksuit. He pulled a flip phone from his pocket and opened it, only to find the signal bar clearly displayed "out of range." He also had the cup noodles he'd just bought at the convenience store and a bag of corn-flavored snacks.

That was all.

He had nothing that could be called a weapon or a tool for self-defense.

Luckily, luckily, he hadn't neglected his exercise even during his time shut away at home, so he still had a little muscle on his arms. His physical ability shouldn't have been too bad, probably just about enough to protect himself. As for why he'd become a shut-in...

...That was better left in the past.

Subaru forcibly shoved down the memories that had begun to surface. Now wasn't the time to dwell on the past. His immediate priority was to find people. A human settlement, a trace of civilization, anything would do.

"Come to think of it, who kidnapped me? Knockout drugs? They worked way too well. Even if it was a kidnapping, what's the point of knocking someone out and dumping them in a remote forest like this?"

As Subaru muttered, his heart sank further and further. Were there dangerous beasts in this forest? If he ran into a large predator like a tiger or a bear, he wouldn't stand a chance. Even against a snake or a lone wolf, he'd probably get hurt winning.

And once he was hurt, in a place like this with no medical care, an injury was basically a death sentence.

After all, to a human, any animal that couldn't be defeated without injury was deadly. Besides, wolves lived in packs. If a snake was venomous, one bite would be the end.

"...What kind of fruit is this?"

Subaru stopped in front of a strangely shaped little tree. Several white fruits hung from its branches, about the size of apples but growing in bunches like grapes. Their skins weren't soft and had a slight sheen.

"Can I eat them? Are they poisonous...?"

He hesitated for a moment, then picked a few and stuffed them into the convenience store's plastic bag. Eating the cup noodles he'd bought right away would be a terrible idea. If he couldn't find any food, these wild fruits would at least be better than gnawing on bark. Assuming they weren't poisonous.

The good news was that a faint footpath was visible through the forest. The soil was packed down and the weeds were flattened to either side, signs of people passing through repeatedly.

Where there was a path, there were people, and where there were people, there was hope.

Hopefully it wasn't some backward tribe. As Subaru set off along the path, he couldn't help letting his imagination run wild. If he found a tribe of cannibals or a village that practiced slavery, a stranger like him probably wouldn't even get the chance to ask for help.

"Please... just let me find somewhere I can talk to people normally. An inn or a village, either is fine. I'd be grateful even for a roadside stall!"

After walking for a while longer, Subaru reached out and pushed aside the low bushes in front of him. His view suddenly opened up.

It was a small river.

The stream wasn't particularly swift, and it was clear enough to see the bottom at a glance. Sunlight filtered through the canopy and scattered across the water in a patchwork of shifting shadows.

"Water... it's a water source!"

Subaru nearly fell to his knees on the spot. Wherever there was water, there was bound to be life, and wherever there was life, there were people. If he followed the river, he was sure to find signs of human settlement.

"I'm saved..."

Subaru crouched down, cupped some stream water in his hands, and splashed it on his face. The icy sensation seeped into his skin, rushing from his cheeks straight into his brain and instantly making him feel much more alert.

Little fish swam in the water. They were tiny, about the length of a finger, and flicked their tails leisurely. Subaru watched them for a moment, then sighed in resignation. He didn't know how to catch fish. Never mind catching them; most of the fish he'd seen had already been cooked and served at the table.

Even if he was lucky enough to scoop one up, he had no idea where to cut it, how to scrape off the scales, or how to gut it.

"I'm just a kid from an ordinary middle-class family, but I've been spoiled rotten... My parents are too dependable.

Subaru muttered the self-deprecating remark under his breath.

He stood up, shook the water from his hands, and continued along the bank, his mind constantly working over what to do next.

If he walked for a long time and still couldn't find a village, he'd have to figure out his own water supply. He hadn't bought bottled water or any other drinks at the convenience store. If he'd known this would happen, he should have spent all the money in his pockets before stepping out of that store.

Drinking straight from the stream was too dangerous. If he got diarrhea, it would basically be a death sentence in a place like this. Boiling the water before drinking it was the safest option. But starting a fire required a source of flame, and he had neither a lighter nor matches. Making fire by rubbing sticks together? It was possible in theory, but could he actually do it?

Just as these thoughts churned through his head, a chill suddenly shot up Subaru's spine.

"..."

Subaru's footsteps stopped short. A rustling came from the bushes beside him.

He turned and stared at the bushes, his Adam's apple bobbing once.

Please, let it be a rabbit. A harmless, plump, round little rabbit. The kind that hops out and runs away. Please, it has to be a rabbit.

Not only would there be no danger, but his food problem would be solved too. Whether something that good would happen depended on what came next-

"Grroar..."

A dark body covered in scales slowly pushed its way out of the bushes. Its eyes were blood red, and Subaru guessed it was over three meters long. It was a giant crocodile.

"...What is that?"

The words slipped from Subaru's lips without his realizing it.

But it wasn't the mouth full of fangs that held his gaze. It was the creature's forehead. A horn grew from its very center, a single horn jutting unmistakably from between its scales.

"Do crocodiles grow horns...? No way! Aren't crocodiles tropical animals? Why is one in a forest like this...?!"

His brain couldn't keep up with reality. A rift had opened between the sight before him and everything he'd known until now. What animal had eyes that blood red? What reptile had a horn sticking out of its forehead?

"Is it a machine? Right? Some bored guy made a remote-controlled prop, didn't he? Red eyes and a horn, that's some seriously twisted-"

"Roar!!"

The next instant, the crocodile let out a deafening roar. Then it charged!

The moment its mouth full of sharp teeth opened, a bloody smell hit Subaru head-on. It wasn't an illusion. It came from that mouth, a genuine stench of rot mixed with iron.

"Oh my god-!!"

His body moved before his brain gave the order. Subaru turned and ran with all his might. There was no room left for hesitation.

Every thought about what country this was, the world he'd come from, and taking things home to keep was kicked aside. Now he understood only one thing: he was under attack by a crocodile with a horn.

"Help!! Is anyone there?! Somebody save me-!"

His cries for help burst from his throat, tearing at it. He desperately hoped that, somewhere downstream or behind a tree, there would be a kind hunter who could put an arrow through the monster's head. Like in a story. Like in a game.

Reality was crueler than he'd imagined.

"Aah-!!!"

A fierce, burning pain erupted in his leg.

The crocodile had caught up. Its crawling speed defied all biological reason, absurdly fast, as though the forest itself had pushed Subaru into its jaws.

"Aaaaaah!!"

Amid the agony, Subaru could no longer feel one of his legs.

The crocodile's signature move for tearing apart prey, the death roll, which he'd seen in documentaries and online videos, was now being used on him.

The sound of flesh tearing, the screams of bone, none of it reached his ears. There was only pain. An overwhelming pain that turned his vision white.

"No... no...! I don't want to die...!"

Subaru saw his severed leg slip from the crocodile's mouth and fall to the ground nearby. The thing slowly turned toward him, its blood-red eyes devoid of emotion, holding nothing but pure predatory instinct.

His blood kept pouring out, and his body heat leaked steadily from the wound along with it. His nostrils were filled with the bloody smell of his own blood.

"Help... help me! Anyone-!! Please save me!!"

Tears burst from his eyes. His voice was so hoarse he could barely make a sound. He desperately dragged himself backward, leaving a dark red streak across the ground.

The crocodile approached at a leisurely pace.

"No... stay away! Don't come near me! Nooooo!!"

He couldn't understand. He couldn't understand at all. In just a few short minutes, his life was about to end like this. No warning, no notice, no buildup of any kind-death had come for him, just like that, for no reason.

Fear crushed his reason to pieces. Subaru cried and screamed, shouting desperately until his throat nearly split.

...But no one came.

The crocodile opened its jaws wide and bit straight into Subaru's neck.

Crack.

He heard it himself-the sound of the bones in his neck shattering.

At the last moment before darkness swallowed his consciousness, Subaru's lips moved silently.

"No... I don't want to die... Mom... Mom..."