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

4. A Wish for More Time

"Sorry for the wait! Master Tighnari said to bring you some food, but I sort of...dropped the first dish I made. I'm sorry..." She trails off in embarrassment, holding up a wrapped fabric bag over her shoulder. "I strapped it to myself this time just in case."

"Oh. I'll be honest, I didn't even notice...thank you," you answer, standing up so you can sit on the bed again. She sets the fabric bag beside you and starts unwrapping some large leaves, pulling out something that has the fragrance of fish and flowers somehow. She hasn't given you her name yet...is it a common thing for the forest rangers here to forgo introductions and jump into action without giving their names?

"He said you might not be familiar with food from here, so this was his recommendation since it's so popular with foreigners. It's called a Lambad Fish Roll," the girl says, clasping her hands together in front of herself and then pausing with a blush of surprise. "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself...! My name's Collei. I'm a forest ranger trainee under Master Tighnari's guidance!"

Ah, there's the name I was waiting for.

"It's nice to meet you, Collei," you respond and give her your name, since you don't actually know what else to say.

Thankfully, she seems happy enough continuing the conversation on her end as you lift the leaf and hold the fish roll up to take a tentative bite. If Tighnari hadn't been the one to recommend it, you probably would hesitate. Your analogy to get him to understand why things might have strange brand names in your world is definitely ringing true now.

"If it's okay to ask...how did you meet Master Tighnari exactly?" She asks next, prompting you to look up at her as you start to take more bites of the meal she prepared for you. It's really tasty, enough that you've started to take bites as big as that of a spinocrocodile. "He normally tells me things, but he's been very...quiet about you. Even more so now than before- we all thought it was because you outed something embarrassing and personal about him, but-"

You almost choke on the fish roll, but manage to thump a fist hard enough against your chest to make your bite fall behind your nasal cavity, and then straight out of your mouth. At least it felt like it entered the nasal cavity...

"Ah! I'm sorry! Are you okay?" She asks, grabbing a cloth from her pocket and handing it over so you can cough and clean your mouth with it. You nod after you've gotten most of the ticklish feeling from your nose out, sighing in relief.

"I'm fine, that just caught me off guard...for Tighnari's sake though, he's not lying. I didn't sleep with him. I slept with some loser with bad pick-up lines and a mouth that ran for miles. Besides, even if I wanted to sleep with him, Tighnari's too...Tighnari," you comment, prompting Collei's expression to wrinkle in confusion for a moment. After processing your words again, she starts laughing in honest surprise.

"Alright, I believe you. When you frame it like that...well, don't tell him but, no one expected he'd be interested in that sort of thing. He's never really shown interest in anyone. Nasrin, one of our other Forest Watchers..." She pauses to look over her shoulder at the doorway for a second, but then leans in with a conspiratorial whisper. "She's said he's more likely to marry a wild mushroom before he ever marries a person."

That actually makes your eyes close with pity, contrasting the wavering crooked grin that's trying to climb up your face in place of a laugh you're quelling. Not even his fellow rangers have any hope for him? Wow...maybe that's why they were quick to believe he was terrible at sex.

"I met him only one other time. It's memorable because I almost got eaten alive by crocodiles...but that's all. He just rescued me. I'm no one special to him, if that's what you were trying to ask," you explain, returning to your food. "I don't know him well, but he's nice."