After a quick soak in the hot spring, we returned to our hometown shortly after noon, parting ways at the station to head to our respective houses. When I got home and handed the souvenir—the boar meat—to my mother, she looked at me as if she didn't recognize her own son.
"Didn't you kids say you were going camping? Why on earth is your souvenir boar meat?"
"Well... we were walking around looking for wild plants when it suddenly attacked us, so... I just handled it."
"You 'handled it'...? Normally, a person is supposed to run away."
As I explained the circumstances of how I had taken the boar down, the look of exasperation in her eyes only deepened. Well, I suppose she’s right... from the perspective of ordinary people, running away is the only sane reaction. Sigh.
Seeing her reaction made me realize just how much an explorer’s mindset had taken root in me.
"...Anyway, that's what I brought back. I heard it’s better if you let it age for two or three days, so we should probably wait a bit before eating it."
"I see, I understand. Thank you... But how am I supposed to cook boar meat?"
I practically forced the meat into her hands and retreated to my room, leaving my mother behind to fret over the logistics of preparing the wild gift.
Once inside, I immediately started unpacking the gear I’d taken to the camp. Since the tent fabric was still damp, I carried it out to the balcony and draped it over the laundry pole. If I didn't dry it properly, the fabric would stick together or, worse, grow mold. Fortunately, I hadn't used much equipment to begin with, so the cleanup was finished in about fifteen minutes.
"Alright, that’s that. As for my clothes... I’ll just change after my bath tonight."
I checked the collar and sleeves of my shirt; they didn't smell particularly bad, so I decided against changing immediately. I didn't feel like going out again today anyway.
That night, as the family gathered for dinner, Mika brought up the weekend trip with an amused glint in her eyes.
"Hey, hey, Onii-chan? How was the camp? Mom told me you actually hunted a boar!"
"I didn't hunt it because I wanted to. It attacked me, so I had to do something about it."
When I answered with a slightly dissatisfied expression, Mika let out a wry chuckle.
"But normally, if a boar attacks, you run away instead of turning it into dinner, right?"
"...Well, generally speaking, yes. That’s why I ran at first too."
"Oh, you actually ran? Then why is the meat sitting in our fridge?"
"Because the damn thing was persistent. It kept stalking me. Even though we were deep in the mountains, there was a campsite nearby with other people. If I had just kept running, I might have led the boar straight into a crowd of tourists."
"So you hunted it to protect them?"
The truth was that I’d just found its relentless attacks annoying and ended up killing it on impulse... but I decided to keep that a secret. My current excuse sounded much more noble, after all.
"That boar was a real monster. If I’d led it back to the campsite and someone got hurt, I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night."
"I see."
Ugh. The look of pure admiration and respect in Mika’s eyes was physically painful. At the time, I hadn't held a single noble thought in my head... I writhed internally with embarrassment.
Then, my mother, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, chimed in.
"I see. So that's the story behind the meat."
"Er, yeah. I didn't go looking for it, but once it was down, I couldn't let it go to waste. I heard the campsite manager knew how to do the dismantling, so he taught us how to process it."
"What?! You kids did the dismantling?"
"Ye-yeah. We couldn't bring all of it back, obviously, so we took a few choice cuts and gave the rest to the manager."
"You call that a few choice cuts?"
Bringing back an entire boar weighing over 100 kilograms would have been impossible. Well, technically possible using the Spatial Storage skill, but if I’d brought home a literal mountain of meat we don't usually eat, my mother would have been overwhelmed.
In fact, she had already been stumped on how to cook even the portion I did bring.
"Right, right. I looked up various recipes for boar meat, so do you have any requests? If you do, I’ll try to make it, but..."
"A request..."
Honestly, I didn't have anything in particular I wanted. Or rather, I couldn't think of anything. Other than hot pot or salt-grilling, how else were you even supposed to eat boar?
As I was pondering this, Mika vigorously raised her hand.
"Me, me! I want to try boar hot pot!"
"Hot pot?"
"Yeah! They always say it's delicious on TV, but I’ve never actually had it!"
Hot pot, huh... Koarashi-san had mentioned that stewed dishes would be best for this specific animal.
Wait... is hot pot considered a stewed dish?
"Mika wants hot pot, but what about you, Daiki? Is that okay?"
"Yeah. It’s fine, but..."
"But?"
"The guy who helped with the dismantling mentioned that because the boar was so big, the meat might be a bit tough. That's why he recommended slow-cooking or stewing it."
When I relayed Koarashi-san’s warning, my mother frowned slightly, deep in thought.
"Stewing, I see..."
"Yeah, I definitely want hot pot! If we just simmer the meat for a long time, it’ll be fine!"
My mother seemed to be wavering, but Mika remained a staunch advocate for the hot pot. Eventually, both of their gazes landed on me. I was the tie-breaker.
"...I think hot pot is fine. Like Mika said, we can just let it simmer longer."
"...I suppose so. Since it's our first time eating it, we won't really know until we try. Let’s go with hot pot, then."
"Yay!"
Mika threw her hands up with a bright smile. She really wanted to try that boar.
I looked away from my celebrating sister and spoke to my father, who had been sitting quietly through the entire discussion.
"So, hot pot it is... Is that okay with you, Dad?"
"Yeah, that’s fine. I’m looking forward to tasting the boar you caught, Daiki."
Judging by the calm expression on my father's face, a certain realization hit me.
"Wait, Dad, have you eaten boar meat before?"
"Yes. During a business trip a while back, I was treated to some salt-grilled boar. It had a bit of a gamy scent, but it was quite good. The flavor was much richer than pork."
"Huh..."
A gamy scent, though. This was meat processed by a bunch of amateurs... it felt like it might be very gamy indeed. We’d had guidance, sure, but I was starting to worry. Seeing Mika so genuinely excited made me anxious about the quality. If the meat turned out to be foul-smelling and tough, it might traumatize her.
"I can't wait for the boar hot pot!"
Yeah. If it’s terrible, I’ll just apologize and take responsibility by eating all of it myself.
I watched Mika’s happy face and made a grim resolution. I prayed that the meat would actually be edible.
The next morning, I headed to school feeling the typical post-weekend lethargy. When I arrived, I found Yuji slumped over his desk, looking like he’d aged a decade overnight.
I hesitated for a second, then gave my head a small shake and called out to him.
"Morning, Yuji. What's the matter? You look dead to the world for a Monday morning..."
"...Hm? Oh, Daiki."
Yuji didn't even lift his torso; he just tilted his head to the side to look at me. His face was a mask of fatigue.
When we parted at the station yesterday, he’d seemed perfectly fine... what could have happened?
"...Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I’m just a little tired; nothing major. Also, good morning."
Yuji sat up sluggishly and returned the greeting. From the looks of it, the exhaustion wasn't physical, but mental.
I set my bag on my desk and turned back to him. He sighed and finally revealed the cause of his misery.
"When I got home yesterday, I reported the details of our camp to the Old Man. And then..."
"And then?"
"He told me it was 'soft.'"
"Soft?...In what way?"
I mean, sure, it was a fairly relaxed trip, but with the night watch and the boar incident, I didn't think it was that easy...
"He said that in the middle of the night, we should have divided into attackers, guards, and those on rest, and rotated through mock raid training."
"Uh..."
I didn't know how to respond to that. For our very first bivouac training, he expected us to maintain a tactical rotation and perform combat drills in the dark? That was insane.
Seeing the look of disbelief on my face, Yuji let out a hollow laugh.
"I had the same reaction as you, Daiki. But then the Old Man said that if we didn't do a rehearsal of at least that intensity, the training Genya has planned for us is going to be hell."
"Wait, 'at least that intensity'...? Just what kind of training does Genya-san have in store for us?"
"Who knows? But it’s probably going to be far worse than anything we’ve imagined."
At Yuji’s words, I thought of the training scheduled for this coming weekend and let out a heavy, bone-deep sigh. My shoulders slumped. I finally understood why Yuji was so drained.
I was already filled with dread.
"Good morning. What's wrong with you two? You look like you're attending a funeral. The air around you is practically rotting."
As Yuji and I were sinking into a pit of despair, Hiiragi-san arrived, her voice tinged with concern.
Wait, were we really radiating that much gloom?
"Morning, Hiiragi-san. It’s just... you know..."
"It doesn't seem like 'just' anything, but I assume you're okay?"
"Ah, yeah. We’re fine... probably."
"That is a very unconvincing answer for something that concerns you, isn't it?"
Hiiragi-san frowned, looking bewildered by my vague response.
Actually, it didn't just concern us; it concerned her too. I had a feeling that if she heard the full story, she’d be joining us in our pit of despair.
Once the morning classes ended, the club gathered to eat lunch. Hiiragi-san was now part of our circle of gloom after hearing Yuji’s report.
"I’m already depressed about the weekend..." she muttered, poking at her food.
Yuji and I nodded in silent, solemn agreement.
"Honestly! You guys are so depressing for a Monday!"
Mika snapped, frowning at the heavy atmosphere we were projecting.
I looked up and realized that while they hadn't said anything, Saori-chan, Tatebayashi-san, and Hino-san all looked a bit uncomfortable as well.
"...Ah, sorry."
"Pull it together! We were all so happy because our test results were good, but you’re totally killing the vibe."
Mika spoke with an annoyed huff, revealing the reason for her irritation.
"Hm? Oh, so the results were good?"
"Of course! Because I actually studied for once, every single test that came back was above the average."
"I-I see... is that true for everyone else too?"
Impressive. I turned to the other three to hear their results.
"Yes," Saori-chan said. "I’m the same as Mika-chan. All the tests that have come back so far are 80 points or higher."
"I was also above average," Tatebayashi-san added, "but I couldn't manage 80s in every single subject."
"I... think I just barely stayed above the average?" Hino-san admitted with a sheepish look.
It seemed the club was doing quite well academically. Hino-san looked a little worried about the remaining subjects, but it was a solid start.
"So, what about you three? You didn't get any failing grades, did you?"
Mika turned the question back on us with a look of intense curiosity.
"As if I’d fail. For now, I’m also at 80 or higher," I replied.
"Same here, excluding my weak subjects," Yuji said.
"I’ve also been getting 80 or higher," Hiiragi-san added.
No problems there; we were all well above the average. Furthermore, while Hiiragi-san claimed to be getting "80 or higher," I’d caught a glimpse of her papers earlier. Every single one of them was in the 90s.
I wasn't sure why she felt the need to be so modest, but technically, she wasn't lying.
"Good. So that means everyone in the club cleared this round of tests without any issues."
"Yeah. It means the effort everyone put in during our study sessions paid off."
The clubroom, which had been dark and stagnant just moments ago, was suddenly filled with relief and laughter. At this rate, we could expect decent results for the rest of the exams as well.
The only thing left to worry about was Genya-san’s training this weekend...