An hour had passed since we started fishing.
“Munch munch… Mmm, the fish is delicious.”
“So tasty!”
“Really yummy.”
Over at the campfire corner, Shiro, Fran, and Horn were happily eating the fish they had caught and had grilled for them. Sue and Ao had even managed to land their second fish and were heading over to the fire pit as well.
And me?
Still zero. Not a single catch.
Haha… how did it end up like this?
“I caught a fish!”
“Oh my, that’s wonderful.”
“Yeah!”
A father and child fishing nearby had been reeling in fish, so there had to be some in this area.
And yet… not a single bite for me.
Tsk, fine then. Time to change tactics. Instead of staying on the pier, I’ll try casting from the lakeshore near the campfire area.
“Shun-oniichan, do your best!”
““Good luck!””
“I’ll give it my all.”
Cheered on by Shiro and the others, I resumed fishing.
And almost immediately—I felt a tug.
“Oh! Finally, I’ve got one!”
“““You can do it!”””
Having finished their grilled fish, Shiro and the others came over to my side to root for me.
Now then… what did I manage to hook?
Splash!
Blorp…
“Huh? The fish puffed up!”
“It’s swollen!”
“It turned round!”
The fish I pulled up suddenly ballooned into a ball. Shiro and the others were fascinated by the round fish, but I had a bad feeling about this.
For now, I’d better take it to the old man.
“Hahaha, you caught a river puffer, huh? This one’s poisonous, so you can’t eat it. Straight back into the water it goes.”
“Ahhh… I knew it…”
“So we can’t eat it?”
“That’s too bad.”
“Oh, I wanted to try it…”
So it really was a pufferfish!
I slumped my shoulders in defeat, while Shiro and the others looked disappointed that the fish couldn’t be eaten.
…You little rascals, you were already thinking of eating whatever I caught, weren’t you?
I tossed the river puffer back into the lake and, pulling myself together, I started fishing again.
Splash!
Blorp…
“You again?!”
For some reason, every time my rod bent, what I pulled up was another river puffer.
I even changed fishing spots, and the puffers were all different sizes, so it wasn’t like the same one kept going after my bait.
And yet, no matter what I did—it was river puffers, river puffers, river puffers.
“Hahaha, kid, you’re a real master of puffer fishing!”
“““Amazing! (Munch munch)”””
I was catching so many pufferfish that even the fishing rental guy was surprised. Meanwhile, Shiro and the others, fishing right beside me, were catching normal fish just fine.
Why only me? Well, I had no idea why.
And so, by the time evening rolled around, all I had caught was river puffers.
“Sigh, I couldn’t eat anything…”
“Well, I mean…. Shun caught the most though.”
Sue and Ao tried to comfort me, but my heart was still heavy.
Sure, if we’re just counting numbers, I caught the most. But that’s not the point here.
“The fish was really tasty.”
“Yeah, super tasty!”
Shiro, Fran, and Horn walked happily ahead of us, full and satisfied from all the grilled fish they’d eaten.
They had a great catch, got to eat some delicious grilled fish, and they had a great time.
….Well, Shiro and the others had lots of fun, so I guess it was all good.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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