CH 2

Words : 1309 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

I Wandered Through The Forest Leo used to be a small Maltese. But there wasn’t a shadow of her former self remaining. She was now huge and much larger than me, and her teeth looked like sharp fangs. Her face was fearless and was similar to a Japanese wolf. …The adorable Maltese was completely gone. Leo was a female, but looked so cool now. Of course, the wolves I saw in pictures always looked cool, regardless of being male or female. “You’ve…sure grown a lot.” “Wuff?” That gesture of tilting her head to the side when I talk to her. Ever since I picked Leo up, I had thought she was a little odd. They often say that Maltese dogs are smart, but my Leo would occasionally act in a strangely human way ever since she was a pup. Sometimes it was almost as if she could understand the words that I was saying. I had been able to interact with other dogs several times, but had never seen a dog that understood spoken words as much as Leo. “In fact, I think you’ve grown way too much? I was always the one who picked you up, but now I might be able to ride on top of you.” “Wuff? Wou! Wou!” ‘Then why don’t you?’ Leo seemed to say as she lowered her back. …She really did understand what I was saying. “Well, maybe some other time. In any case, I have to find out where we are.” “Wuff.” Seeming to understand me, Leo stood up and looked towards the forest. I also pulled myself off of the ground and stood up on my feet. That dizziness I had felt before sleeping was now gone. Well, I didn’t actually have any memory of sleeping, but I wouldn’t think about it. More importantly, I want to find out what this place was. …I’ll probably be late for work today… I’ll be in so much trouble. “Hmm. The trees block the view, so I can’t see very far. I suppose we better walk.” “Wuff-wuff.” And so I chose a random direction and started walking. Leo walked close right next to me, but I wondered if she could walk through the trees in spite of being so big? …But she weaved through the trees cleverly. After that, we walked through the trees for what seemed like a long time, but the forest did not end. Since it was a dim forest, it was hard to maintain a sense of time. But there were still rays of light that shone through the gaps in the trees, so I at least knew that it wasn’t night yet. If this continues, we might just get lost here… There was no way that I could make it to work now. “What should I do… Still, I’m quite thirsty… If only there was a river.” “Wuff? Wou! Wou!” As I muttered to myself, Leo must have heard, as she suddenly started to bark and then lead the way. “What is it, Leo? You want me to follow you?” “Wou!” She barked and then seemed to nod at me. Yes, she definitely understood… …And since I had no better ideas, I decided to go and follow her. Was she going to say, ‘Dig here! Bark! Bark!’ or something? I joked to myself as I followed. Her fur used to be white, but it was now a shiny silver, and so Leo looked very cool as she walked with her glossy fur flowing in the wind. “Wou!” After walking for some time, Leo stopped, turned to look at me, and barked once. As I wondered what it could be, I heard the sounds of running water in the direction that Leo was standing. “Is that the sound…of a river?” “Wuff.” Leo started to walk again, so I followed her until we came out into a clearing. Here, a crystal clear river was running, and it seemed a lot brighter, due to there being fewer trees in the area. “I can see the sky now. Judging by the sun, it is probably midday.” “Wuff! Guff-guff.” As I looked up at the sky, Leo ran forward and jumped into the river, which she then started to lap up. For a moment I wondered if it was really okay to drink this river water, but Leo was drinking it greedily as if it was delicious, so it was probably fine. And so I followed Leo over to the river. When I put my hand in the flowing water, it was cool and relaxing. “Mmm…glug…glug…” As I had walked for quite some time in the forest, I was very thirsty. Scooping up the water with my hands was not enough, and so I dunked my head into the river and drank. “Ahhh!” I drank and then pulled my head out. It was like I had washed my face in the cool river water, and it felt good. “We should rest here for a while.” “Wou!” I sat down close to the river and rested my body. Leo seemed to be satisfied as well, as she got out of the river, shook her body to dry herself, and then sat down next to me. “Woou!” She must have felt quite relaxed, as she placed her head on my lap. “…I used to be able to put you on my lap when you were small. But now it’s just your head. And your head alone is heavier than what you were before.” “Wou!? Wou!” Perhaps she was protesting the notion that she was heavy, as she sounded a little displeased. Well, in spite of her appearance, she was a girl. So I shouldn’t say that she is heavy. “Now… What should I do…” “Wou?” I looked up at the sky and thought. I had appeared in this forest out of nowhere. And so I started walking, thinking that I could get out of it, but the end was nowhere in sight. We might be stranded here. Thanks to Leo, we found a river, so we wouldn’t have to worry about water. But I was still worried about food. I didn’t know much about wild plants, but I knew that it was dangerous to go around and eat things randomly. None of the trees I had seen up until now had any fruit, so I had no hopes there. “…What to do…” I just didn’t have knowledge for surviving in the wild. After all, I was more of an indoors person. I had only ever camped outside as part of a school trip. The idea of some real camping had not been appealing to me. But more than anything, my job had kept me so busy that I wouldn’t have had time to do it. “Ahh… Still, the air is so fresh here.” “Woou.” I listened to Leo’s reply and took a deep breath. With a river nearby, and trees everywhere, the air here was completely different compared to the city. Had I not been worried about how I was going to get out of the forest, I would have been more relaxed than I had been since… Since when, I wonder…? Even when I was in school, I was busy with my part time job in order to support myself. And once I started working full time, it became normal to only have one day off every few months. It was also normal to work overtime up until midnight. And so even if I did have a day off, I would just rest in order to recover from exhaustion. Perhaps it was actually my first time ever being able to relax out in nature like this…

CH 2

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