Chapter 4

I got up at my usual time the next morning.

"Gon, we won't be able to eat all the fish you brought back last night… Will you sell that Lord of the Lakes to the community's residents? I like to save our money for meat, but this is too much this time…" As I descended the stairs, my aunt spoke to me, waiting for my response.

Because of our very informal understanding, she probably understood my intentions from yesterday, so I simply responded, "Yeah, do you have any ideas?"

"I'll help you cut up the fish meat neatly before it goes bad," Mito said with a smile. "We can't sell the entire thing because we've already consumed some of it."

"All right, Auntie, we'll do it your way," I said. I couldn't care less.

Although I used to fish, I did not keep fish and fish meat as a prize before I died. I was less interested in meaningless things since I had been reborn. I suppose I was still a fisherman, but I was more concerned with my aunt's meager happiness than with any fish I might or might not catch.

I was a straightforward individual who took pleasure in seeing others smile. My life included some close friends and family members now.

Someone knocked on the door as Mito and I were discussing how we would cut the fish.

Grandma Abe came out of somewhere, "Who can it be at this hour?" she asked.

"Who else can it be?" My auntie grinned as she replied to Abe and looked at me.

She was sympathizing with me because it looked like I was going to have a long day today… Those happened once in a while… Today was Saturday and someone was off school…

"The door is open, Noko… Come in… Gon is waiting to play with you all day if you want him to…" Mito said, teasing me at the same time.

She and I both recognized the knock without looking behind the door because we were so used to it.

Only Abe remained perplexed… until she noticed the little girl who entered the house shyly but with red cheeks from happiness.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Gon, I'm scared." Sometime later, Noko, my best and only friend, these days, told me as I grabbed her hand again. The two of us were climbing trees.

… Well, at least I was doing the climbing…

Noko was five years old. She was a cute little kid from our poor and remote island with braids, green eyes, and orange hair.

She only had me as her playmate when she didn't go to school.

There was no need to be concerned about me in this school subject… I wasn't a fan of it in this or in the other life on Earth…

"Do you want to get down from the tree?" I asked her gently, taking a look at her status window. There was nothing to be afraid of, but Noko was Noko.

She was just an overly enthusiastic young child with commendable body balance…

####

Name: Noko

Threat levels: scouting (tier 0), regular fighting (tier 0), assassination (tier 0)

Singularities, gifts and buried talents: none

####

… Not that such body balance was a talent.

Noko hummed in response to my question.

I grinned and jumped down, holding her in my arms.

I was bored as well, but I didn't want her to get hurt by trying to act like me and mimic what I did or how I acted.

She was doing a lot of that before I recovered my memories. And I made no attempt to stop her.

Some of my views changing on the man called Ging Freecss, only some that concerned my overly enthusiastic aunt, I said to her, "Climbing trees is supposed to be frightening, Noko. If you don't pay attention for a split second, you could get hurt."

"But I would like to learn too, Gon…" Noko sighed and fidgeted with her fingers as I placed her on the grass. "If I can't climb trees, we can't play your favorite games… You don't like to play dolls with me…"

She was brooding a little and possibly on the brink of tears due to her inabilities, which were more mental than physical in her case.

This, however, wasn't something she could understand.

I let out a sigh. Noko was stronger than five-year-old children on Earth, but in this world where random predators were stronger than bears and trees were taller than trees on Earth, a child was a child.

I chuckled with surrender and a willingness to keep her safe, saying, "Let's go play with the dolls you brought to the house."

Noko didn't understand who the new me was, so she didn't ask earlier.

If she knew, she would have.

Despite my desire to train and conduct my mini-experiments, I was unable to do so because I was aware that she might be watching me and could be hiding.

"Really?" Noko lifted her pouting brow. When she did, her depressed child's pale cheeks returned to being red and rosy.

"Come on, let's not waste your precious day off school here." I took her hand in mine and invited her to walk.

As we did, towards my house, Noko asked me strange questions about marriage and children that her mother had told her.

And when I took her back to her home at night, she gave me a childish kiss on the cheek after her mother winked at her.

Even if I pretended to be unaware of what was going on for a while, when I returned to the forest to begin my training at night, I knew…

… That I was being set up for something I hadn't asked for…

Not that I minded.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Instead of returning home a few hours later, I went back into town. Not to see Noko off safely this time.

When I walked in.

One of the gorgeous managers Mito hired questioned me, "Gon?" when she saw the sweaty, snake-wrapped me walking into the bar full of men and women. "What on earth are you doing here at this time of the night wearing a snake around your neck?"

I said, settling down at the counter, "I need some milk," delaying my response. "Can I have two glasses, Tina?"

I was meanwhile examining the scarf I was wearing closely. The extremely alive scarf … which I could communicate with. And, which wasn't actually a scarf…

More of a cold and milk drinking reptile I had become friends with for life, it seemed.

I was quite confident I wasn't going to get too many of those on the island after my sneaky deeds tonight.

####

Name: Severus

Threat levels: scouting (tier 3), regular fighting (tier 1), assassination (tier 1)

Singularities, gifts and buried talents: snakey bones

####