Isekais Don't Exist, You're Just Trapped in a Social Experiment

2. Rulemaker of the Rainforest

Your throat suddenly feels dry.

"That expression again? Don't worry so much, let me be the one to deal with that. For now, a fruit from that tree should hold you over for a short while," he says with a lighthearted smile, obviously trying to cheer you up. It's a miracle he's still trying after he got upset with you before.

Once you reach the tree, he plucks a few of the hanging fruits, eyeing them and tossing a few bad ones aside before handing you one.

"Eat that," he practically orders despite the smile on his face. "And don't eat anything else I don't tell you to. Agreed?"

You nod and take the offered fruit, giving it a curious once over and eventually deciding you've never seen a fruit like this before. Still, a forest watcher handed it to you with his seal of approval, so there's no harm in trying it, right?

Hey, remember? If it does something awful, that's a good thing. And if you eat more of it, the faster it will be, right?

Another growl from your stomach breaks your thought process, prompting you to take a bite of the fruit under his watchful gaze. It almost makes it a little hard to eat when he's staring at you like that...but for the sake of silencing your belly and maybe the rest of your body, you attempt to disregard it. Just when you think the fruit is unfortunately safe, Tighnari hums in frustration.

"Sorry, please wait a little before taking another bite. Something just occurred to me and I'd rather we take things slowly to be safe."

Maybe you should be a little more concerned about his change in tune as he moves to take the fruit from you, but instead you start to feel a seed of dread and hope sprouting in your chest. If you just ate something bad, hopefully it doesn't hurt.

"You're not used to anything here, so I don't know what kind of a reaction you'd have to even the foods that are safe-" Tighnari starts, your brain registering his words and taking action by putting your body on autopilot.

You back away from his reaching hand, holding the fruit close to your chest and taking another bite against his wiser sentiments. As soon as you do, his ears perk to their full height and his eyes widen.

"What are you doing? Don't do that! Look, let's just wait fifteen minutes to make sure- please stop eating that," he tries to command, advancing on you to remove the fruit from your grasp by force.

You take a few more steps back and rush to bite into the fruit as much as possible, turning away to run from him when he speeds up. Too bad for you, he's not out of shape like you are- nor is he unlucky enough to nearly slip from the rain slicken grass like you do. He catches up just in time, grabbing the back of your clothes to pull you up before you land face first in the rain soaked ground.

The fruit you're still digging into when he pulls you on your feet is swiftly confiscated, leaving your hand a sticky mess where you had a death grip on the potentially dangerous treat.

"Did none of what I said register in your brain?" Tighnari asks, not even the slightest bit out of breath. In contrast, your heart is ready to jump out of your rib cage and your lungs are working double-time to satisfy the needs of your body. Although he's irritated, you just shrug and lick the nectar off your fingers.

"I'm hungry," you answer. "And you said 'eat that', so I did. I don't see what I did wrong."

"Yeah! And then I said please wait to eat more. That overrules my earlier statement," Tighnari stresses, looking on distastefully as you proceed to lick your hands clean. "Uncouth."

Once you have finished your oh so uncouth  display, you turn away to wipe your hand on a nice fat leaf to the side, silencing your uptight companion from presenting any more comments. Judging from his expression when you look back at him, you can easily guess he doesn't like you very much.