Published at 28th of April 2023 12:58 am

Chapter 316: Ugly Heart

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

After cooling off our own bodies by eating the summer vegetables, we parted ways with Igma and came to the village’s river.

「Yosshaー! Let’s go!」

I guess Torr had taken off his clothes unnoticed by me as he enthusiastically jumped off the river bank and into the river.

Then there was a loud splash and a great spray of water. The water even sprayed until the place where I was standing on the river bank.

The cold spray falls on my skin, it feels a little ticklish but nice and cold.

「Buhaa! Using wind and food to cool off is fine, but as expected, it’s best to jump into the cold river to cool off!」

Torr said as he looks comfortable as his face emerges from the water.

I think it’s because his bangs - which are usually raised - got soaked in water that they are now covering his face and it makes him look a little cute.

I feel like even his detestable face looks much better this way. I wonder what if he always has his bangs down in front.

As I was thinking such things, this time Asmo stands next to me, already taken off his clothes.

「Yoーsh, I’m next」

「D, don’t be stupid! Stop it fatty! If someone like you were to jump in, then the impact from the water will be insane, y’know!」

「I’m not fat! I’m just chubby!」

So Torr yells, but Asmo turns a deaf ear to him and jumps into the river after doing a run-up.

Asmo jumped into the air with a leap that it’s hard to believe he was fat――I mean, chubby. After staying in the air for what feels to be an extremely long time, Asmo falls into the water near Torr.

He’s much more conspicuous than Torr, it’s like something had exploded underwater as the water splashed.

Even I - who was standing on the bank of the river - got hit by the water. The water from Torr was like a scattered rain, but the water that hit me this time was like a bucket of water thrown at me.

Thanks to that, I was soaking wet even before jumping in into the river.

「Cough cough, this fatty! The water got into my nose!」

「Hahahaha! I don’t know what――kupaa!」

Asmo was roaring with laughter at Torr, but then Torr aimed at him and splashed water on Asmo’s face.

Immediately after that, Asmo also coughs like Torr, maybe the water entered his nose.

「Cough, cough, the heck Torr!」

「It’s a payback from before, idiot!」

「This jerk! I will make you go under!」

「Hahah! If you can――oi, wait a minute. Jumping on me is a dirty move! That weight of yours――」

Torr’s words stopped halfway when he was talking, and the two’s figure disappeared from the water’s surface.

I’ve learned my lesson that I will go through that kind of thing as soon as I enter the river. I’ll enter the river after waiting until the two have calmed down and come to their senses a bit.

Having decided on that, I take out the summer vegetables Igma-san gave me before and put them in the water.

After that, I lay down some stones to surround them so they won’t be swept away by the water current. After checking their condition for a bit, I’ve confirmed that the vegetables like tomatoes are not getting swept away.

「Yosh, as long as I wait for a bit, I will be able to eat vegetables that have been chilled in water」

Even though we’re just playing in the river, I’m still sweating. It would be nice to sprinkle some salt on them later during break time.

Now then, I wonder if those two have calmed down now?

As I casually look in Torr and Asmo’s direction.....

「I, I giv……Brpbrpbrp!」1

「Hmー? What are you saying? I can’t hear you, y’know?」

I could see the painful sight of Asmo putting his whole weight on Torr in the water.

As expected, when you got pinned down by Asmo’s weight, you would never have any hope for a comeback.

「Asmo, don’t you think it’s time to forgive him」

Torr’s going to die any time now.

「Can’t be helped then」

When I persuade him, Asmo slowly releases his pinned-down position over Torr.

Then, Torr’s face immediately emerges from the water.

「Haa, haa........I, I thought I’m gonna die」

I’m sure Torr would have seen a revolving lantern while he was underwater.

The two of them have calmed down for now, so I took off my drenched clothes, and hang them on a nearby tree.

We have clear weather today, they would have been dried when we finished playing.

After becoming naked in the river, I slowly enter the water, not jumping in like Torr and Asmo. I can feel the cold water enveloping my legs from my ankle down. And my body was surprised due to the cold as if it flinched for a moment, but soon I got used to the cold and now it gets comfortable.

Then I slowly let my body enter the water from my ankles to my thighs, and then I submerge my upper body while sitting in the river.

「Haaー, the cold water feels good」

「You kinda looked like my dad when he enters the bath」

「Un, his way of entering the water completely looks like when they enter a bath」

As I submerge myself in the water while having an expression of rapture, Torr and Asmo say something like that.

「No no, that’s because your body will get surprised if you were to enter the cold water so suddenly. So you have to gradually accustom your body to the water starting from your ankle」

「「You look like an old man」」

No, but, I think it is important to take care of our bodies so......oh well, I guess it will make me look like an old man when I think about such a thing as a seven years old boy, huh?

Meh, whatever. Let’s just enjoy this comfortable situation now.

As always the water in the village is pretty and clear. The water is so clear you can see the bottom, and when you look closely, there are small fish swimming around.

With many of them swimming around me like this, I wonder if I can scoop one with my hands?

Thinking like that, I use both of my hands to place them at the place where the school of fish was swimming and then scoop them up.

Immediately after that, there are three small fish in the palm of my hands. I think they are around three millimeters each. Such small fish are swimming around in the water in the palm of my hands. It’s really cute.

「Caught small fish」

「Really?」

As I stare at the palm of my hands, Torr and Asmo approach me and look into my hands.

「So small! You did well catching this kind of fish!」

「I caught them by thrusting my hands at the school of fish and then just scoop them up」

「Haha, then I will also try it」

Torr happily laughs when I tell him that, then he also starts looking for the school of fish.

Following his footsteps, Asmo also started looking for them like Torr.

「Oi, Asmo. Are there any small fish over there?」

「I’m not interested in fish I can’t eat, I’m looking for big fish I can eat」

We thought that maybe Asmo is also looking for small fish, but it looks like he’s looking for big fish he can eat. It’s so like Asmo to be interested only in fish he can eat.

「Oh, there they are!」

Just when I was smiling wryly at Asmo, Torr scoop up the water with his hands, maybe he found the school of small fish.

「Darn it! They escaped!」

「Hahaha, someone with an ugly heart won’t be able to catch them easily. That’s cause fish avoid people that give others bad feelings, y’know」

「Then it’s strange for Al to be able to catch them」

How rude. I’m a pure child with a good heart. Please don’t lump me together with someone like Torr, who has an ugly heart.

Hearing the inconsiderate remarks from Torr, I turn my eyes toward another place and enjoy the feeling of water flowing around me.

Ahー, this average flow of water below feels pleasant. The water is not strong enough that it can sweep your body away, but they are just good enough like it smoothly strokes my skin, it feels so wonderful.

The water feels very pleasant, it instantly washed away the sweat from when we were working on the field and walking. It’s like the condition where I got drenched in sweat from before was a lie.

I can hear the constant sound of water flowing, just hearing them alone makes me feel refreshed.

I ate fresh summer vegetables, and now I’m cooling myself in the river. It's the countryside, after all, that’s why I can cool myself like this.

As I feel deeply moved by my current situation, I feel a strange sensation from the palm of my hands.

When I look at them in surprise, I saw that the water spilled out from the palm of my hands and the small fish that were swimming there are desperately jumping around as if asking for water.

Oops, it appears that the water has spilled out unnoticed. They’re small fish anyway, so it’ll be miserable for them to be in a place with no water.

「There, you can return to the river. Don’t get caught this time, okay」

I hurriedly put my hand into the water and the small fish swiftly swam through the water as though the previous jumps on my hands were a lie.

Then they join with their school of small fish and as they were about to leave the place, Torr approaches with the eyes of someone who catch his prey.

「There!.....che, they escaped」

Torr scooped up the water where the school of fish was swimming, but it looks like he didn’t manage to catch even one.

「Seeー, just as I thought」

「Quiet you, I will definitely catch them!」

In the end, it takes around thirty minutes for Torr to catch only one fish.

TL Note : Have you ever taken a dip in the river in the countryside in RL? I have, feels kinda nice just to feel the nature around you, away from the city's hustle and bustle :D

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