A/N: I don't know. I don't know anything. I think I imagined some kind of an RPG village back when I started this, and it was two years ago.
Sho uses double katanas, but I keep thinking that he has knives too. So I let him have them. A lot of them.
A white rabbit could run and jump quickly so they could escape their predators-
"Sho me your moves!"
A knife pierced the floor that the rabbit was standing on a moment ago.
"Damn it!"
The rabbit managed to escape its predator's grip.
A blue haired kid that was watching him sighed. "Is there a day that you are not stubborn?"
"You're in my way, white rabbit! I'll destroy everything that is in my way!"
The white rabbit jumped away and looked back as if to mock him.
"Rrraagghhhh!" The red-haired kid yelled in frustration and threw more knives. None of them hit. The rabbit jumped into the bushes. The wind blew and they could hear the rustle of trees. The rabbit was gone.
"Sho, let's go home," the other boy said.
"But I don't wanna. That's no fun!" Sho said and swung his arms around. His hands were still holding knives.
"Get those knives away from me. Please." The blue haired kid shrugged. "We should hurry. Maybe a bear is attacking our tent."
"... A bear?" Sho started grinning. "Yeah, let's go to the tent!" He ran into the forest where they came from.
Obviously, Sho never let an opportunity for a pun slipped. The other kid shook his head and followed him.
"A… A bear." The red-haired kid murmured. "Minato, there really was a bear…"
"Hm?" Minato walked forward and saw the scene. "Oh."
"'Oh'," Sho said. "Seriously? No other words?" He pointed at the torn canvas and broken sticks on the ground. "Our tent was being torn down by a bear!"
Minato shrugged. "We could make a new one."
"Still… Heh, hehe." Sho grinned. "A bear in our tent, This is so... in-tent! Ahahaha!"
The blue haired kid sighed.
...
Sho looked down. "I don't want to come here…"
"Can't help," Minato said.
He meant the village. They hated the village. It felt so far, so strange. It made them feel so out of place. They continued walking. The Sun was right above the horizon. They should hurry before all the stores closed.
Sho spoke up, "Hey, Minato."
"Hm?"
"You're not angry at me, are you? For… throwing knives at rabbits."
"If you put it like that, then no. No, I'm not… For making the bear-in-tent pun, maybe."
The main streets were lively. There were potion shops and food shops. The tools shop. Everything else.
"There! The clothes shop! There must be some cloth for us." Sho grinned and pointed at the clothes hanging for show.
Minato checked their purse. "We don't have enough money."
Sho raised an eyebrow. "Nah, we're not buyin' it."
"Steal it?"
"No, not that."
Minato thought for a moment. "Mina?"
"If you call him like that it's like you're calling yourself."
Sho closed his eyes. He opened it again.
"Stay back, kid." The weird Sho entered the shop.
Minato sighed. "We're both kids. No, we're all kids…"
The calm Sho called the shop assistant. "Miss..."
Minato eavesdropped from the outside.
"May I come inside for a while? It's cold out there." Definitely Sho's voice.
The shop assistant said, "Of course… Wanna talk for now? What's your name?"
"I'm… Minazuki."
"That's a sweet name… You didn't have any sweater? Your shirt is so thin..."
Minato was sure Minazuki was flashing a smile at the moment. Manipulative freak. He began explaining their situation of living in the woods, having no houses to return to, and not having good meals for a few days.
The shop assistant ran to the back of the store and disappeared into the piles of clothes
Minato peaked in. "It's cold out here… You're not finished yet?"
The calm Sho sent him a glare. "I said 'Stay back,' kid."
The blue haired boy pouted. "But, if I'm here, maybe it's better."
"Oh, you're Minazuki's friend, right?" The shop assistant walked to them with a plate of some grilled meat and lemonade and Foodddddd!
"Yes!" Minato answered. He didn't smile like that crazy other Sho, but he swore he saw her blushed.
That shop assistant ended up giving them food and water, and also the cloth to make their tent.
"See? We got more food," Minato said.
They left the shop after robbing it off food and water.
Minazuki scowled. "Smiling like that made me sick. Why would people in this world want it so much…?"
"Let's return to the camp," Minato said.
"... Or what's left of it!" Sho shouted.
"Don't change so suddenly. It's creeping me out..."
...
"Build a camp. Build a camp!" Sho grinned and swung the hammer down on the plank. He had already chopped the wood and an ax was on the floor.
Minato was holding up the cloth. "Are you not going to thank Minazuki?"
"Nah. He always helps me," Sho said. "That's normal. As long as he's here with me, he has my back and everything's okay." He looked at Minato. "You also… have your own partner, right."
Minato shrugged.
"He's always there, and it might sounds creepy but it's nice." Sho grabbed more nails. "Let's hurry and we're one more step closer to conquering the world."
By the time they finished building the tent, it was already nighttime.
Sho wiped sweat from his eyebrow. He put his hands at his hip. "This looks a lot better than I thought!"
Minato nodded and looked at the tent. They had their home back now. It was better than the last one. "We need food."
"I've run out of knives…" Sho said. "Not enough, anyway. Let's go back to the forest and collect my knives tomorrow."
"I do want to eat something from the town," Minato said.
"Like red beans?"
"Ramen…" Minato whispered.
Oh no. It's that time of year again. Sho groaned. "Let's go hunt in the town then."
They reached the town. Most of the shops were closed. Some stores were still opened and for adults to eat at night.
"Ramen…" Minato said that the whole time they were walking.
Sho sighed. "Seriously?"
"Ramen…"
"You know too well we don't have money."
"Ramen…" Minato wiped his mouth. "... We could come eat at that hour. It's almost time."
Sho knew what he was hinting. "It would turn to blood."
"I don't care… and we don't have to eat there. We could just take it."
"I thought you hate stealing," Sho said.
"We are borrowing the bowls," Minato said. "We will return it."
"But if we eat, we're stealing the ramen inside."
"It's called debt. When I have money, I will pay."
"Where will you get the money?"
Minato shrugged. "Someday. The owner doesn't need money soon. I need ramen now."
Sho looked at his friend and what's dangling at his neck. They could sell it for money. "Oh right, you have your dear headphone!"
"No!" Minato stepped back, his hand grabbing the headphone.
"Why?"
"It's important to me."
"You sure love music, huh?" Sho reached for it anyway. Minato sighed and gave it to him. "May I listen?" He put it over his ears. "... I heard nothing. It's playing? The volume's up yet?" He grabbed the mp3 player. "Hey, there are no batteries!"
"They have died a few weeks ago," Minato said. "I threw them away."
"Then why do you keep wearing it?" Sho asked.
"It's important to me."
"... Okay," Sho said. "Let's hunt tomorrow and sell some for the money. We might be able to find batteries."
Minato smiled. "Really?"
"Of course." Of course, Sho wouldn't want to hurt his feelings. There was no reason to right now, anyway.
…
Inside the ramen shop, there were coffins and two kids.
"… Ew..." Sho immediately closed the pot lid after he took a peek inside.
"It's that bad?" Minato asked.
"Yep. Something straight from a horror movie."
"Let me see." Minato walked to the pot and opened it. "... Gross..."
It was a witch cauldron. It was a bath of the mad murderer. It was a pot full of blood.
"How do you make ramen again?" Sho asked.
"Put the noodle in there." Minato pointed at the boiling pot of blood. "The rest, I'm not sure."
"Is that boiled egg? Look more like an eyeball to me. It's… jelly?" Sho moved to the other pot and winced. "You sure this weird sticky red liquid is edible?"
Minato tasted it. "Taste like blood."
"Of course! What are you thinking?"
"… Salty. Shio? Not bad."
Sho kept checking the pots. "There's, there's bone!" It looked like someone's leg was cut and thrown in the pot because a cannibal was hungry.
"Pork bone," Minato said. "That's my favorite."
"It's creepy."
Minato tasted it. "There's chicken and vegetable stock, too? And a little soy sauce…"
How do you identify all those ingredients in this hour?! Sho thought, but then again, he should be used to it by now. Hunting for food in this hour was not new to them.
Sho watched the other boy cooking in the dark of the hour. It was a strange sight. Sho already felt nauseous. Pot. Blood. A boiling pot of blood… Legs. Eyeballs...
Minato kept whispering to himself while making ramen. "I should use thin and straight noodles there. But where is pickled ginger?"
"Can't you just take it and go? Why be so-"
"Do you know where mayu is?" Minato asked.
"Of course not."
Minato searched the boxes. "Where's menma and naruto?"
"I dunno?"
"Hm… nori, wakame… Oh, chashu. I know you'll like it." Minato showed him a box of sliced red meat. Red like blood and not like meat.
"You know I don't understand anything you are talking about," Sho said.
"I know."
After they finished making ramen, they carried the bowls and took them back to their tent.
…
The world turned back to normal.
The bloody ramen from hell now looked… normal. Normal as in edible, but the true value of this ramen would remain high for the two orphans.
They dug in.
After finishing the ramen, they noticed how dark their surrounding was. Everything was dark except for the sky, which was dark blue and some white.
Minato looked up from his bowl. "We gotta return the bowls."
Sho eyed him "You serious?"
"Someday," Minato said. He washed the bowls and kept them in their house. "Anyway, let's sleep. It's a clear sky today, though."
Sho lay down on the grass. It felt nice to know that the world had his back. No matter where they were, they had the ground to sleep on. He could see a full view of the night sky too. For stargazing, lying on the ground was far better than looking up.
Minato noticed him and lay down next to him. He could feel grass under his back. They breathed out the crisp night air. "Do you know about stars?"
"I know the Sun."
"Only the ones that appear at night, please."
"Then I don't know anything." Sho pointed at the bright star above the horizon. "Except for that North Star."
"I see the Milky Way."
"... It's beautiful."
They watched the midnight sky and gazed the stars. The starry night reached on forever as far as the eye could see.
"Twinkle little stars, indeed," Sho said. "I gotta-wink at them. Aha! C'mon, laugh!"
"It's not funny." Minato looked at the moon. It was the brightest thing in the sky right now. "All the stars are making me nostalgic."
"Yeah. Makes me question the world."
"Huh?" Minato looked at him. "Question what?"
"Like why we have this hidden hour on our side..." Sho said. "Why we have special friends."
"Why you like knives," Minato said.
"Knives are cool," Sho said.
No. they didn't have much to think about. They liked their life the way they were. It could be improved and they could dream of higher things, but it wasn't so bad now either.
"I miss something," Minato said. "A home, I think… A home that I didn't make. A home someone had made for me."
"Trust me, Minato," Sho said. He looked at the stars. "I'll help you."
"No thanks."
Sho turned to him. "What? Why?"
"If you keep staying with me, I would have to see more knives."
"And why do you have to hate knives?"
"It's not like I hate knives," Minato said. "But when I see your knives, I think of your face." Minato sighed. "I don't like your face."
Sho shoved his hands in his clothes.
"Sho, don't-"
He took out some knives and pointed them at the other boy.
Minato narrowed his eyes. "Get them away."
"Hmm…" Sho studied his expression. He waved the knives around. "See? you aren't afraid."
"I just don't like it."
"You don't like it." Sho looked at him and smirked. "If you can't like it, then. One day, I'll make you afraid of knives. You'll hate it."
Minato shrugged.
"Just you wait."