The drive to the mountain lodge in a rented local car was peaceful.
Kirishima stroked Ashido’s fluffy hair as he thought.
‘Yeah, resting once in a while is nice. Maybe when I get a little older, I’ll even travel alone.’
“Eijiro! Eijiro!”
“Huh? What is it?”
“What are you thinking about? I called you, but you didn’t answer.”
“Nothing much. I was just thinking I might travel around later.”
“Wow! That sounds fun. I want to go too!”
“I was planning to go alone. If you come with me, it won’t be a solo trip anymore...”
“Huh? Eijiro, are you going to abandon me? Sniff.”
“What do you mean, abandon you...? You should learn to play by yourself sometimes too.”
Watching Ashido suddenly put on a hurt expression after the conversation had somehow veered off in a strange direction, Kirishima let out a sigh.
It was good that she’d brightened up, but somehow she’d gotten a little too attached.
The car carrying the two children in the back seat and their parents, who wore pleased expressions as they listened to the conversation, sped along and reached the lodge an hour after leaving the station.
“Wow! We’re here!”
“Slow down. You’ll hurt yourself if you rush like that. We’re staying here for three nights and four days anyway.”
“But, Eijiro! The building looks amazing! And it’s all mountains around here!”
“Yeah. I heard there’s a valley nearby too.”
Kirishima grabbed Ashido’s hand as she looked ready to dash off in a flurry.
She probably wouldn’t fall easily, given her athleticism, but she was clearly excited, so he stopped her just enough.
When he turned his head, he saw his father unloading a travel bag full of clothes from the car.
“Dad. Want some help?”
“Haha. I know Eijiro’s strong, but I’m not so old that I need your help yet. Save that for when I’m old and weak. Until then, leave the heavy lifting to me.”
In response to Kirishima’s question, his father struck an exaggerated pose and flexed his biceps.
To Kirishima, his office-worker father’s arms looked rather thin, especially since he didn’t really exercise, but he kept that to himself and simply nodded for his father’s pride.
Besides, apart from the clothes, most of their food and other necessities were already provided by the lodge, so there wasn’t much heavy luggage to begin with.
“Eijiro’s such a good son! Kirishima-san must be so proud! Already helping out like such a dependable boy.”
At Ashido’s father’s embarrassing praise, Kirishima didn’t know what to say and just scratched his chin.
After the short conversation in the parking lot ended, the two families went into the lodge.
Kirishima followed behind his parents, who were carrying their luggage.
Once inside, he saw walls made of wood that had been warmed by age and use.
While his parents handled the check-in, Kirishima held Ashido’s hand and looked around the interior.
Several photos of what looked like guests were hung on the wall.
Everyone in the pictures was smiling brightly.
“Eijiro! Mom and Dad said they’d put our bags away and then we’re all eating together! Sounds delicious, right?”
“Yeah. Food always tastes different in a new place.”
“Hehe, I can’t wait to eat. Oh! Mom’s calling me. See you later, Eijiro!”
Since arriving at the lodge, Ashido’s energy had shown no sign of dropping.
She chattered excitedly at Kirishima for a while before her parents called her away and she went to the reserved room.
Kirishima felt relieved at the sudden quiet, then looked up at his mother and father with a strange feeling.
The two of them were watching him with meaningful smiles.
“Eijiro gets along very well with Ashido, doesn’t he?”
“I wouldn’t say we’re on bad terms.”
“Oh, it’s more than that, isn’t it? Even I can see that Ashido likes Eijiro.”
“Uh... well, I guess so?”
“I approve of Ashido too. Our Kirishima is wonderful, but he’s a little too quiet, so I think a bright child like Ashido suits him.”
“Huh?”
‘You’re going a little too far. If I liked her, I’d be dragged off by the police... and besides, I’m not a quiet person.’
He had a lot he wanted to say, but Kirishima held it in and, to change the subject, urged his mother along and went into the room.
Even after entering the room, his mother and father kept talking about Kirishima, and before long, the Kirishima in their story had gotten married and given them grandchildren.
Kirishima couldn’t think of anything to say, so he quietly organized his own luggage.
After that brief but strangely long moment of embarrassment, the family finished unpacking and left the room to eat.
They could also have barbecue in the evening if they signed up for it, but for lunch they decided to eat the meal provided by the lodge.
The Ashido family was already in the dining hall.
They hadn’t been apart for long, but Ashido waved the moment she saw Kirishima.
“Eijiro’s here! Eijiro! Over here!”
“Did you really have to shout and wave that much...?”
Seeing Ashido welcome him as if a rare character had just dropped from a gacha game, Kirishima let out an embarrassed sigh.
The only saving grace was that there were no other guests in the dining hall.
Kirishima followed his parents and sat down beside Ashido.
“Did you finish unpacking okay?”
“Yep! Mom and Dad said they’d help, but I told them it was fine and did it all myself!”
“Good. You did well, unpacking all by yourself.”
Carefully, Kirishima reached out and patted Ashido on the head.
She said touching the antennae on her head felt strange, so he had to be gentle.
As he ran his hand through her fluffy hair, the food arrived.
The menu was hamburg steak for those who chose Western food and pork rice bowls for those who chose Japanese food.
Kirishima ate while cutting up the hamburg steak and feeding pieces to Ashido, or wiping sauce from the corner of her mouth.
After the meal came the children’s time.
Kirishima and Ashido left the lodge to look around the area.
“It might be dangerous, so don’t go too far. Stay nearby, okay? They say there aren’t many around here, but Hokkaido still has a lot of wild animals.”
“Yes. We were just planning to look around nearby.”
After leaving behind their parents’ warning, Ashido was just as excited as ever, despite having calmed down a little during the meal.
Walking along a path surrounded by trees she had never seen before, Ashido kept talking to Kirishima.
“Eijiro! Eijiro! These trees look so weird!”
“Yeah. They do.”
“Eijiro! A squirrel is flying!”
“Hmm. That’s interesting.”
Answering Ashido’s excited remarks in moderation, Kirishima kept memorizing the path.
Whenever he went somewhere new, getting familiar with the surrounding terrain was a habit born from his previous life on the streets, where he always had to be ready to run.
Ashido held Kirishima’s hand and confidently walked through the unfamiliar place.
Once they had gone a fair distance from the lodge, she spoke to him in a cautious voice.
“Hey, Eijiro.”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you keep calling me Ashido?”
“What do you mean? Calling Ashido Ashido... Oh. You mean why I don’t call you by your first name?”
“Yeah.”
Looking at the restless black eyes of Ashido, who seemed to be thinking about something, Kirishima gave a dry laugh.
“Well, because you never said I could use your first name, did you? I told you from the first time we met that you could call me however you wanted, whether it was my first name or my last name.”
“Huh?”
“You didn’t know...?”
Kirishima felt bewildered by Ashido’s shocked reaction.
In a culture where calling someone by their first name without permission was extremely rude, there was no way he would just start using hers out of nowhere.
“Oh. So you’re not keeping your distance from me, Eijiro. That’s a relief.”
“Why would I keep my distance from you? You’re the closest friend I have, after my parents.”
“Really? Hehe. I’m the closest person to Eijiro? That makes me happy!”
“Where did your parents go...? More importantly, why did you even think that?”
“Because I keep calling you Eijiro, but you always call me Ashido, which sounds so formal...”
Overwhelmed by the storm of Eijiro’s this and Eijiro’s that, Kirishima felt his mind go blank and patted Ashido on the head.
The sight of the pink-haired little girl, usually so high-energy and friendly, acting awkward and worried was not a pleasant one.
Children should be bright and smiling like children.
“Don’t worry about pointless things like that. You’re the first friend I’ve ever made in this life, so unless something special comes up, I’ll keep looking out for you.”
“Hehe. I like Eijiro! But what do you mean, in this life?”
Ashido cheered and hugged Kirishima.
Meanwhile, Kirishima was sweating cold at her question.
“Ah, let’s just skip over that. There are some things I can’t explain even if I tell you. More importantly, we should head back soon. If we go too far, our parents will worry. Uh... um. Mina. It’s a little awkward saying it for real.”
“Oh! Eijiro called me Mina!”
While brushing over the slip of the tongue that could have hinted at reincarnation, Kirishima turned them back toward the path they had come from.
Unless someone was insane, they wouldn’t suspect reincarnation from a comment like that, but children’s imaginations could go in all kinds of directions.
Fortunately, Ashido was so happy that Kirishima had called her by her name that she didn’t react to the rest of it at all.
On the way back, after only a short walk, the two of them met someone coming from the direction of the lodge.
“Oh. Hello? You’re cute little kids, aren’t you? Are you staying at the lodge too?”
“Hello.”
“Hello, mister!”
The man, who looked to be in his fifties, was dressed in hiking clothes and a hiking hat, and greeted them with a kindly expression.
At Ashido’s use of “mister,” he looked crestfallen.
“Kids, I’m still in my twenties...”
“Oh. Sorry, mister!”
“But if you’re in your twenties, aren’t you a mister to us? Calling you big brother would feel a little rude.”
“Haha... ha. Well, call me whatever you like. I’m off now. Have fun.”
“Yes! Goodbye!”
As Ashido waved him off enthusiastically, Kirishima narrowed his eyes.
‘Hiking clothes and hiking boots that look like they’ve never been worn. And though he tried to hide it, what I caught under the hiking clothes looked like a sheath for a knife.’
The country Kirishima had lived in in his previous life was one where, if you were going into the mountains, it was wise to bring a knife and fire as basic emergency gear. If possible, a gun was even better.
But this was Japan.
There weren’t many people who went hiking with a knife on them.
Of course, he could simply be someone whose hobby was survival, but even that seemed a little odd, because he didn’t really look equipped for it and his body was just that of an ordinary, slightly overweight middle-aged man.
Even though he claimed to be in his twenties.
‘Besides, if survival were his hobby, it’s strange that he’d be staying at a lodge in the first place. He could just be very well prepared, but it’s worth keeping an eye on him.’
“Hey, Eijiro! That mister who just passed by looked like Kumapapa on TV!”
“What’s Kumapapa? I don’t really watch TV.”
“Huh? You don’t know Kumapapa? So there are things Eijiro doesn’t know too. Kumapapa is the dad in the Kuma Family...”
As Ashido happily rambled on, delighted to have found something Kirishima didn’t know, the two of them kept walking until a shout from ahead stopped their feet.
“Get lost already, you Deku bastard! Don’t act like we’re friends when you’re Quirkless!”
“But Mom told me to go with Kacchan...”
The owner of the voice was a little blond boy with spiky hair, walking toward them with a face full of irritation.
Behind him, a green-haired boy was following along in a flustered panic.
Kirishima frowned as he looked at the two of them.
He had seen this five years ago already, but he hadn’t forgotten those distinctive faces.
One of them was the protagonist of this reincarnated world, and the other was.
‘One-For-All diving, huh. He left a pretty strong impression. And he’s blond too. He’s got every trait I can’t stand.’
For some reason, ever since his previous life, Kirishima had had terrible luck with blondes.
The first guy to hit him when he was thrown out of his home as a child was blond. The promoter who approached him after the gym owner he’d followed like a father died, trying to force an unfair contract on him, was blond. And the opponent who killed him in his final match was blond too.
Watching a kid he already found deeply irritating being chewed out like that wasn’t pleasant, but Kirishima was still planning to just walk past.
He couldn’t stay by the protagonist’s side and watch over him forever, and he certainly couldn’t magically reform some rude brat in one shot.
The world of children was surprisingly jungle-like, and if an outside adult interfered carelessly, it only invited harsher retaliation later.
But Ashido caused trouble.
“Hey! Why are you bullying him!”
Letting go of his hand the moment they left the lodge, Ashido ran up and shouted at the blond delinquent kid, Bakugo Katsuki.
Kirishima grimaced and pressed a hand to his forehead.
It was an unpleasant first meeting with the protagonist of the world and a lead who had a personality just as explosive as his own.
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