Interspecies Exchange (3)
“That one” appeared at lunchtime.
They had just finished their exercises and were about to eat when he pushed through the undergrowth and stepped into view.
“Kyaa?!”
Monia had already heard Chester’s explanation, but that did not mean she could keep from startling when a creature like that suddenly burst out. The moment the black monster—far larger than herself—loomed into sight, she instinctively pressed herself tight against Chester’s side.
Chester soothed her that everything was fine, then hooked his own ring and little fingers around the ones the young Island Master offered.
After the greeting, the young Island Master shrugged off the prey he had been carrying on his back.
It was a four-legged animal whose entire body was covered in sharp, shell-like plates. Chester recognized it at once; the impression it left was hard to forget.
“This is the same kind of animal that washed up with the machete.”
“What? It was? I don’t really remember.”
At the word “machete,” Monia took an interested look at the creature—and one particular feature caught her eye.
“Ah!”
“What?”
“The nose! The horn on its nose! Chess-ter, this is that one! It must be that one’s cub!”
“Chess-ter? Wait—really?”
“The mother is going to come after us!”
It might simply be a creature with a similar body structure. Or it might truly be a calf.
If it’s a calf, that could be a problem.
What if the mother had followed it all the way here and was about to attack? With that uneasy thought, Chester scratched a drawing onto a rock. He sketched the distinctive features of a rhinoceros in simple, easy-to-read lines, then pointed at the kill while explaining with gestures. The young Island Master shook his head and signaled that it was nothing of the sort—everything was fine.
“He says it isn’t a cub.”
“Oh. Good. Phew. That’s a relief. …Wait, you can actually talk to him?!”
“Yeah. I told you yesterday.”
“I didn’t think it was real!”
While the two of them bantered, the young Island Master was examining the house Chester had built with close attention. What caught his eye was the rope Chester had used to lash stones down so the wind would not carry the house away.
What is this? I’ve never seen anything like it.
The strangely shaped object wound around the stones like a snake devouring its prey, and it held his gaze completely.
With this, I could put it to use right away, couldn’t I?
He had only seen rope binding pebbles and larger stones, yet the image of a snake sparked a flood of possibilities in the young Island Master’s mind.
“Want it?”
Chester, who had been carefully observing and beginning to butcher the animal the other had brought, spoke up. He pointed alternately with both index fingers—first at the meat the Island Master had given them, then at the rope that had drawn his interest. He moved the finger that indicated the meat toward the Island Master and the finger that indicated the rope toward himself. Then he reversed the directions, repeating the exchange gesture several times.
After a few repetitions the young Island Master understood and nodded eagerly.
Chester agreed and asked Monia to fetch one of the spare ropes from the basket. Monia glanced at the Island Master’s hands and chose the thickest, most substantial rope they had.
“H-here!”
In a trembling voice she carefully held the rope out to him.
The young Island Master bowed his head in thanks, bringing his eyes level with Monia’s far below, then snatched the rope from her hands and took it away.
“Ah.”
“What?”
“N-nothing. Looking at his eyes up close… he doesn’t seem that scary. They’re bright and pretty.”
“Pfft—hahaha!”
Bright and pretty eyes. Hearing Monia apply the sort of words one used for a cute baby to that enormous creature, Chester could not hold back his laughter.
“Ugh! Why are you laughing!”
“You were so terrified a minute ago.”
“W-well, he’s just sitting there quietly while we butcher the meat. Looking at him like that, I got used to him.”
At her words Chester muffled another chuckle.
Our young lady has grown quite bold.
“Aaah! Stop laughing at me!”
Chester watched Monia cling to him like a child and whine, then returned to the butchering.
This is a real pain to dress. The sharp shells keep getting in the way—I can’t strip the hide in one go.
Whenever he tried to peel the skin free in a single motion, the pointed plates pressed against one another or caught in the gaps between shells, resisting and preventing him from pulling the hide taut. He considered trimming the shells with the machete first, but he had other methods available and did not want to wear the blade down unnecessarily. So he resigned himself to cutting hide and shell together with the machete and separating them piece by piece.
Unfortunately the claw knife would not cut the hide, yet aiming for the seams and parting the skin still saved far more of the machete’s edge than hacking through the hard shells themselves. With practice a rhythm emerged. First he slipped a hand under a plate and lifted, spreading the shells so the tough hide stretched tight and became a little easier to slice. Then he eased the machete in with a smooth thrust.
Can we even eat this thing? The meat looks tough.
After a long stretch of work Chester finally finished dressing the animal and was about to take the machete to the head when—
—Kyaaah!
The young Island Master, who had been playing with the rope, had managed to tangle himself thoroughly in it and was now screeching for help.
“…Ugh.”
Monia, who had been completely useless when they first washed up on the deserted island. Ant, whom he had raised from a pup, teaching him everything from one to ten. And now this curious monster standing right in front of him. Ever since landing on the island it felt as though all he did was look after someone, and Chester let out an involuntary sigh.
Ah, whatever.
He walked over to untangle the young Island Master.
“How on earth did you get yourself this tangled?!”
“Bah-hu.”
After parting from Chester and Monia, the young Island Master had traveled a good distance. He looked down at the coil of rope in his hand and spoke.
“Ba, baa-hu. Grrrng. Ba-su?”
He tried again and again to mimic Chester’s word for the rope, but his thick, stiff tongue refused to shape the sounds the way Chester’s or Monia’s could. After a long struggle with his own mouth he finally arrived at a pronunciation that pleased him.
“Ba-ju! Ba-ju! Baa-ju! Ba-ju!”
Calling the rope “ba-ju, ba-ju,” he swung it around with delight.
He had stayed near Chester and Monia for some time after lunch, learning from Chester how to use the rope. What Chester taught him was only the simplest of applications. Teaching anything complicated from the start would have been useless; better to begin with the basics.
It was still only a short while since Chester had met the young Island Master. Rather than holding things back and testing the waters, it was wiser to demonstrate something difficult once, make it clear that such things were hard, and then teach as many simple techniques as possible—wholeheartedly. The other was a powerful creature, and from the way he responded to them, this was unlikely to be a one-time meeting.
Chester’s choice proved correct. The young Island Master was thoroughly pleased both with the ba-ju in his hands and with Chester, who had taught him how to use it. Therefore he intended to bring Chester a gift large enough to astonish him next time.
What would make a good gift? We traded meat for the ba-ju, but that amount of meat for something like this wounds my pride.
The young Island Master pondered. What could he bring that would make his new good friend Chester so happy he would be truly surprised?
…!
After a moment’s thought, the perfect gift came to him. Some of the younger members of his family had once stumbled upon it by chance and had gone around proudly showing it off: “an incredibly hard stone that sparkles a little.” Chester and Monia already made all sorts of things out of stone, so bringing them a fine stone would surely delight them!
Certain of this, the young Island Master launched himself into motion to fetch the gift. The incredibly hard, faintly sparkling stone lay far away; he would have to travel hard.
How long had it been since they began training with the power of the lake? Thanks to the remarkable effects of the lake water, Chester and Monia were seeing results quickly. Of course they did not overdo it. Exercise once a day. Recovery in the lake water once a day.
They remained wary of possible side effects from the “mysterious water,” but a more practical problem loomed larger. The preserved food they had brought was nearly gone, and they could not rely forever on the fish traps left soaking in the lake. A trap was not a perfect device that guaranteed a catch every time; often the traps came up empty. To stay alive they had to put more weight on hunting and setting traps than on exercise.
So they spent their days around the lake—training, worrying about the condition of the home they had left behind, fretting that they still had not made enough preserved food, and laying plans for the future. Then a problem arose that they had never faced during the safer days of living in the treehouse on the lower level.
It was the second night after the young Island Master had taken the rope.
“…!”
—Grrrr!
Two-thirty in the morning.
Chester and Ant, who had been sleeping deeply, opened their eyes at the same moment. Focusing their ears and noses, they were certain within moments.
Something was moving around outside the house.