Nishikawa Ryouko had one of those voices — bright and crisp, the kind that was simply pleasant to listen to.
"I came to check whether this stream might have anything worth gathering for tonight's dinner," Natsu said.
They'd only just finished lunch a little while ago, but a person couldn't survive on one meal alone. Even out here in the wild, Shikime Natsu had no intention of shortchanging himself.
He offered Nishikawa Ryouko a mild smile, exchanged a brief greeting, and then casually followed up with a question.
"What about you? What are you doing out here?"
"Me?"
Ryouko laughed as she answered, a faint undercurrent of mischief in her voice.
"I'm fishing, of course."
Natsu couldn't help but smile at that.
Because from what he'd just observed, Nishikawa Ryouko had simply been sitting quietly on that smooth stone, chin resting in both hands, looking for all the world like she was either admiring the scenery or spacing out completely. There wasn't the faintest hint of anyone actually trying to catch fish.
And besides — Natsu's gaze drifted down to her shoes. Dry. Not a drop of water on them. She hadn't gone anywhere near the stream. Just a short while ago, she'd been with the others picking wild fruit.
Now, if Ryouko had a fishing net or something of the sort, it would technically be possible to catch fish while sitting right there. But the problem was that they hadn't exchanged for any nets at all. So unless Ryouko was secretly wielding some kind of Supernatural ability and making all the fish at the bottom of the river fly straight up into whatever container she'd prepared — the claim didn't quite hold up.
"Oh? And how's the haul looking?" Natsu asked with an amused tilt of his head, smiling as he pressed her.
"Ahh..."
Ryouko gave a theatrical little shake of her head, her voice dripping with exaggerated regret.
"Quite tragic, I'm afraid. Not a single thing to show for it."
Catching the openly skeptical look in Natsu's eyes, the smile on Ryouko's face deepened. A glint of sly amusement flickered through those pale golden irises, and she dropped the act, laughing as she came clean.
"Alright, alright — I wasn't actually fishing just now. I was just sitting on that rock spacing out."
"And honestly... I have absolutely no idea how to fish."
She scrunched up her little nose with a vaguely troubled expression, watching the occasional flash of a fish darting through the current, and complained,
"Fish are such a headache. They just keep moving around. If they'd only sit still like the fruit in the forest and wait patiently for someone to come pick them, life would be so much easier."
With that, she rose slowly from the stone, patting down her tracksuit pants to brush off any dust, then turned to Natsu.
"Since Shiki-san is here to catch fish... I don't really know how, but maybe I can at least be a helping hand?"
The girl was looking at him with an inquiring expression, a glimmer of genuine interest shining in those bright eyes. Natsu had no reason to refuse. An extra pair of hands was an extra pair of hands, even if it was just a small contribution — and at the very least, it told him that he hadn't turned Class A into a pack of idle layabouts.
"Of course. Of course you can."
Once Natsu moved closer, Ryouko fell naturally into step beside him, as comfortable as if they'd been friends for years. In truth, the two of them hadn't exchanged all that many words before this — most of the time, Natsu had been chatting with the handful of girls in class he was closer to.
And now that he thought about it... distinct social clusters had long since formed within Class A, and as for who Nishikawa Ryouko usually stuck close to — Natsu realized he genuinely had no idea. (In the original work, her closeness with Shiraishi Asuka develops after the deserted island arc.)
That said, one thing was clear: Nishikawa Ryouko was a talker. The kind of girl who could single-handedly keep the energy alive at any gathering.
"By the way, Shiki-san — that huge fish you caught at lunch, how exactly did you manage that?"
"Oh, and why come to the river instead of going back to the ocean? Shouldn't the ocean have bigger fish, and more of them?"
"Is there some kind of difference between fishing in the two places?"
The questions came one after another in rapid succession. But Ryouko's voice was so clear and melodic — like a bright little wind chime — that no matter how many questions she stacked up, Natsu couldn't find it in himself to call it noise.
He had never quite seen this side of her before. Who knew she could be so chatty?
"Catching that fish was mostly luck. I'd barely dived into the water when it practically swam right into my hands. Under normal circumstances, if you ran into a fish that size out in the open ocean, catching it bare-handed would be extremely difficult."
Natsu smiled as he explained.
Ryouko gave a small nod at that. In the ocean, the fish were on their home turf. For a human trying to catch them, tools made everything considerably simpler — bare-handed fishing was a genuine challenge, especially since fish could be slippery little things.
"So I figured I'd try my luck at the river instead. Fish and shrimp in a stream are quite a bit easier to catch than in the ocean."
Ryouko nodded again at his reply.
She stood curiously at his side, intending to watch how he did it first, then figure out where she could actually be useful.
Everyone was in their school tracksuits right now — Ryouko included, naturally. Tracksuits were at least practical; they made moving around easy enough.
Natsu crouched down on a flat stone at the river's edge. Ryouko, following his lead, crouched right down beside him.
The stream was remarkably clear — a pristine, unpolluted water source. Through it, you could see the smooth pebbles on the riverbed and the occasional small fish or shrimp gliding by.
Ryouko kept herself quiet without being asked, asking no more questions.
She didn't know the first thing about fishing, but she'd at least heard that you needed to stay silent. Too much noise, and the fish would spook and scatter.
Beyond that basic knowledge, her expertise ended.
"Nishikawa-san, could you grab something we can put the fish in?"
Natsu turned his head and said it quietly.
"Sure!"
Ryouko gave a firm nod, then jogged back toward camp. She returned quickly, carefully cradling a broad leaf roughly the size of a wash basin.
They were on a deserted island, after all — bowls and pots were a distant dream. Natural leaves would have to serve as makeshift containers.
Natsu gave her a small nod of thanks, then turned his gaze back to the water.
Ryouko held her breath, eyes fixed intently, determined to catch exactly what Natsu was about to do.
Then — Natsu's right hand became a blur.
It shot into the water like a bolt of lightning and snapped back in the same instant.
The whole motion barely even disturbed the surface.
And then, under Ryouko's utterly disbelieving gaze, several small fish appeared on the broad leaf she was holding — out of nowhere, it seemed — flopping and slapping their tails, scattering tiny droplets of water.
"?!"
Ryouko instinctively pressed her hand over her mouth, letting out a small, completely incredulous gasp.
"That's... that's incredible!"
Her pretty pale golden eyes were wide with pure disbelief.
She had been staring at Natsu's hands the entire time, not looking away for even a second — and yet... his movements had been so fast that her brain simply hadn't registered them. One moment the fish were swimming in the water right in front of her; the next, they were on the leaf.
In truth, Natsu had deliberately slowed himself down.
At the true speed of his Master Thief skill, it wouldn't just be a matter of not seeing the motion clearly — Ryouko likely wouldn't have even noticed the fish disappear at all.
A true master thief's craft was built on the principle of leaving no trace. Even under someone's direct gaze, there should be nothing to see, nothing to feel, nothing to detect. And with Natsu's current level of physical conditioning, keeping pace with him was simply beyond the reach of an ordinary person.
In a way, Natsu had expanded the use of the Master Thief skill beyond its original purpose. A skill designed for stealing had been repurposed for catching fish. It was, in its own way, making the most of what he had.
Swish — swish — swish — swish!
A few more movements, each one too fast to follow.
Within a few meters in front of Natsu, every fish and shrimp still leisurely swimming through the stream was swept up in an instant, the entire stretch of water cleared out — every last one landing in the leaf-dish Ryouko was holding.
"I... I finally understand how you caught that fish at lunch..."
Ryouko murmured almost to herself as she watched the pile of catches on the leaf grow larger, her eyes fixed on Natsu with barely-concealed shock.
Natsu only smiled without answering.
After all, the way he'd caught the big fish at noon and the way he was catching these small ones now were really two entirely different things. That big fish had been conjured from the system — no skill involved whatsoever. These little ones, on the other hand, were the real test of technique.
"Nishikawa-san, would you mind taking these back to camp?"
Natsu glanced at the leaf, which was now nearly full. Any more and it would become awkward to carry.
"Got it."
Ryouko gave a small nod and carefully lifted the leaf. With all the fish and shrimp inside, it had gotten noticeably heavier — but still manageable for her to carry.
After depositing everything back at the base, Ryouko came sprinting back to Natsu's side without pause, her cheeks flushed pink from the running, eyes bright with excitement.
"Shiki-san, should we keep going?"
"Mm."
Natsu gave a small nod.
"What we have so far isn't quite enough for forty people's worth of dinner."
Of course, gathering food wasn't something only Natsu was doing. The rest of the class was out doing their part too — just with efficiency levels that weren't quite in the same stratosphere as his.
Most of the students had essentially no real wilderness survival experience. Fortunately, nearly everyone in Class A had adapted to their situation and gotten moving.
The two of them followed the stream a little further downstream, looking for a spot with more fish.
As they walked, Ryouko seemed to think of something. She turned her head, looked at Natsu's profile, and asked with a smile,
"Shiki-san, can I... ask you one more question?"
"Of course."
Natsu nodded.
With permission granted, a playful smile curved at the corner of Ryouko's lips. Her pale golden eyes caught the glow of the evening sun, glinting with that same sly light. She spoke again, as if to confirm,
"So... I'm really going to ask, okay?"
"Go ahead."
Natsu turned to look at her. This was actually the longest conversation he'd ever had with Nishikawa Ryouko — they'd never chatted one-on-one before. Nothing wrong with that changing now.
If Nishikawa Ryouko happened to have a CG, that would be even better.
Come to think of it, Natsu still had no idea how many CGs he hadn't triggered yet.
Ryouko broke into a gentle smile, eyes curving softly — but her tone kept that same easy, teasing quality. She held Natsu's gaze and asked, slowly and deliberately,
"I heard... that Shiki-san currently has three girlfriends. Is that right?"
"And apparently, you're also on quite good terms with girls from other classes — like Ichinose-san from Class B and her group..."
The moment he heard that, Natsu had a fairly good idea of where this was going.
Girls really were creatures of gossip. Then again, so were boys.
Having three girlfriends simultaneously was, by any measure, a genuinely uncommon situation within the school.
Ryouko paused briefly at that point, then let those pale golden eyes settle on Natsu once more.
"So I'm a little curious — how many girlfriends does Shiki-san intend to end up with?"
Natsu blinked at that, caught slightly off-guard. How many girlfriends did he intend to have? He didn't have a clear answer.
Though if he were being honest about where things were currently headed — the number he was aiming for had already crossed into double digits.
The faint smile at the corner of his mouth didn't waver.
"As for how many I'm going to end up with — I genuinely don't know. But what I do know is that I want to give every girl I like, and every girl who likes me, a place they can call home."
Quite the scoundrel thing to say.
"Shiki-san really is shameless, isn't he."
Ryouko didn't hold back in the slightest with her verdict.
"But I'm also curious — how does Shiki-san manage to keep his harem from imploding? Girls tend to be pretty territorial about their partners, don't they? The whole 'I want you all to myself' thing."
"Of course, if I'm being too forward, I can apologize."
She said it back-to-back without pausing, then flashed Natsu another smile — though those pale golden eyes held precisely zero apology.
"I don't mind at all. As for keeping the peace — I honestly don't have a formula for it. I suppose I'd just say that they're all genuinely wonderful girls."
Natsu's easy smile didn't shift.
"Is that so? But that's only Kamuro-san and the other two, right? If Shiki-san is planning to bring in more, surely you can't guarantee the same thing?"
Ryouko gave a small nod, but in the very next breath, she tossed out another question, those pale golden eyes watching him with genuine curiosity.
Listening to her, Natsu couldn't help but laugh quietly. Why was Nishikawa Ryouko more invested in his harem situation than he was?
"I'm confident it won't come to that."
He gave a light chuckle and left it at that.
If there really were girls with problematic tendencies, Natsu would fix the problem first — then welcome them in.
Girls like Sakayanagi Arisu. Girls like Horikita Suzune. Girls like Kushida Kikyou. These troubled beauties were precisely the type Shikime Natsu intended to take his time with — properly breaking them in.
Ryouko stared at him for a beat, looking mildly surprised. She clearly hadn't expected that to be his answer.
She'd assumed he would lay out some kind of practical solution — mediation, getting everyone in a room together for a proper heart-to-heart, that kind of thing.
But none of that. Just confidence. Pure, unadorned faith that it would be fine.
Was that really enough?
At least, Ryouko wasn't so sure. Though it wasn't really her problem to begin with — after all, she wasn't exactly part of his harem herself.
She was simply registering her personal disagreement with that answer.
The two of them kept walking. It looked like they still had a little further to go.
Ryouko slid her gaze back to Natsu and spoke again.
"Could I ask a few more things?"
She was already reaching for a new topic.
"Of course."
Natsu nodded again. With just the two of them walking, a little conversation was fine.
"Shiki-san, if you're planning to add more girls to your harem — would you be willing to tell me who you currently have in mind?"
Natsu paused at that, caught slightly flat-footed. Questions like these, directed at most people, would have produced incredibly awkward silences — even with Ryouko having asked for permission beforehand, she had a real talent for putting people on the spot.
Something about this felt deliberate. Like Ryouko enjoyed engineering uncomfortable situations just to watch people squirm, savoring the sight of someone's composure cracking.
A slightly sadistic streak, that. And Natsu had a sneaking suspicion that the moment he said anything, Ryouko would turn around and broadcast it to the whole class.
"Nishikawa-san, are you really that curious?"
Natsu turned to look at her. Both of their eyes, as it happened, were the same shade of pale gold.
"Mm-hm. Is Shiki-san willing to tell me?"
Ryouko kept her smile, pressing him with that question, those pale golden eyes full of anticipation — eager to see what kind of answer he'd give.
"Can Nishikawa-san promise not to tell anyone?"
Natsu asked.
Ryouko fell quiet for a moment at that, seeming to actually think it over.
She could absolutely just say yes. It would only be a verbal promise, after all.
But the person standing in front of her was Shikime Natsu. If she broke the agreement, the cost to her would be considerable.
Especially within Class A — Natsu was the class leader. If she did something to put him in a bad mood, would there still be a place for her in Class A?
As much as some small part of her wanted to see that rare sight of Natsu looking flustered... Ryouko let out a small sigh, though the smile at the corner of her lips didn't quite disappear.
"If I said I can't promise — would Shiki-san still be willing to tell me?"
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