Chapter 3

…! Oshi-sa—Onii-chan! Don’t it look like we’re gettin’ to the edge of the jungle?

Have you honestly decided on Onii-chan? Ugh, fine, I don’t have the energy to keep complaining about it.

Good god, I’m exhausted… Even for a dream, this is far too unreasonable. Why should I have to suffer to this extent?

All these insects and wild beasts, this mud… Oh, how I loathe uncivilized nature!

Ngah? I’m havin’ lotsa fun, myself~ It feels like I’m on one of those adventures I read about when I was a little kid ♪

You’re so simple-minded and pure…

But you have gotten much stronger without my realizing it. It seems you haven’t been shirking your training even when I’m not here.

Yup! But I don’ wanna put on too much muscle or nothin’. I think everybody likes me more when I’m all just skin an’ bones.

Hmph. But it would be a problem if you were to collapse from anemia while we’re on stage.

Ehehe, are ya worryin’ ‘bout me, Onii-chan? I thought for sure you’d say somethin’ like “Beauty is nothing but a fickle, transient thi—!”

Ngah?!

What is it, Kagehira?

Look look, Onii-chan! Don’t it look like there’s a whole buncha people gathered ‘round where the jungle stops?

Stop running! Are you asking to trip and fall over the roots of these trees? Honestly, no matter how much time passes, you still behave like a child…

Fufun, but you like me best just like this, don’tcha Onii-chan ♪

Ngah…?

Oh? There was just an ordinary town on the other side…?

Yeah… Feels kinda weird to have a normal li’l town right outside the jungle, though.

Eh, huh? Turn around, turn around! The jungle’s gone!

That’s just part of the dream world. Your setting will shift abruptly without rhyme or reason…

I had no desire to remain in the jungle forever, so I, for one, welcome this change.

Ngh? Sure, but is this really a dream? I said it before, but don’t it feel kinda real to ya?

Like all the sounds we’re hearin’, or the feel of the air an’ stuff. It just feels so realistic, like any other day. We been walkin’ so much my feet hurt… But if this was a dream, I’d be able to pinch my cheeks without feelin’ nothin’, right?

Even when you’re awake, you’re hardly sensitive to pain. And besides, the sounds might be realistic, but the smells certainly are not.

Ngah, now that y’mention it, you’re right? I thought it was a li’l weird, but I just chalked it up to my nose bein’ stuffy.

Mm. Even this town aside, it was strange that I couldn’t smell anything while we were in the jungle.

Of course, I’ve never exactly been inside a jungle before, so I can’t say for sure—But even so, I’d expect to smell the earth and plantlife.

And yet, there was no scent whatsoever. Moreover, the world around us feels somewhat crude in places.

Ngah~ ‘S that right? I can’t see a lick in the dark so I didn’t even notice, what with all the shadows in that jungle.

But now it’s bright as day in this town and I can really get a good look around and—yup, all the small details are mighty fuzzy.

You’re awesome, Onii-chan! If y’hadn’t said nothin’, I’d’ve never realized at all ♪

Hmph. If you want to be an artist, then you ought to take in the world with sharp, refined senses.

Ahaha, but ain’tcha just way too fussy ‘bout things, Onii-chan?

Excuse me? While I would like for us to be in an equal partnership, I refuse to tolerate such unpleasant slander—Do you hear me?

Ngah~ Onii-chan got all mad at me~ ♪

I’m not particularly mad; this is simply a matter of courtesy.

“And just when did you two become brothers?”

…?! Ngah—What was that voice?

Could it be… that boy? But just where is it coming from—?

Gh, it’s hard to see through all these people moving about!

What even’s up with these guys? There’s so many of ‘em.

As if I would know. We are out in the boondocks, so perhaps they’re hosting some outdated festival or whatnot.

“Ah-ah-ah, you shouldn’t go bad-mouthing the Tohoku region like that, you know?”

“Not that I would give you a penalty—it’s not as if I’m the SS Administration Committee, after all—but it won’t leave a good impression on the viewers.”

The viewers…?

But wait a sec, where in the world are ya even talkin’ to us from?

Yes, we can hear you, but I don’t see hide nor hair of—

“Ahaha, I’m right here. If you keep looking down, you’ll miss out on seeing so many beautiful and wonderful things in the world—Don’t you think so?”

Hmph. Do you intend to teach me about beauty, boy?

Ngah?! Wait, Onii-chan—Up there!

Up where…?

Yeah, up there! And he’s ginormous!