A white landscape spread out before him.
A barren wasteland stretching endlessly in every direction.
The earth was devoid of both grass and trees, without a drop of water, filling his entire field of vision.
"Where... exactly... am I?"
Rest tilted his head.
He had no memory of what came just before. Where had he been, and what had he been doing?
Why was he born, and why would he die?
For that matter... was he really Rest? He felt as though he might be someone else entirely.
"............?"
He looked around carefully, lost in bewilderment, and noticed the white landscape wasn't flat at all. There were hills, holes, and rugged terrain everywhere.
He was certain—this was his first time visiting this place.
And yet... Rest knew this place.
"Could this possibly be... the moon?"
Yes—the place dotted with countless craters bore an uncanny resemblance to the moon he had seen in photographs during his time in Japan.
Rest was standing on the very ground where Apollo 11 had once landed, where astronauts had set foot.
Impossible—Rest thought this, but when he looked up, there was a blue planet above him.
It was Earth. Earth really was blue.
"Oh...?"
However, a disturbance arose in the lunar landscape before him.
From the depths of the crater, a massive white creature came crawling out.
A body the size of a bear. Smooth, glistening white skin. It had no eyes, no nose — where a face should have been, pink tentacles writhed and undulated.
"A monster...!"
"GYSHAAAAAAA!"
The creature let out an eerie shriek and lunged straight at Rest.
A spear gripped in its stubby hand was aimed right at him.
○ ○ ○ "Rest! Rest!"
"Wha—...!"
Hearing his name shouted so forcefully, Rest's eyes flew open.
What had he been doing...? Confusion clouded Rest's mind.
"What's wrong with you, holding meat in one hand like that? Did it not agree with you?"
Yuri, right in front of him, asked with a worried expression.
Seeing that face, hearing that voice, his lost memories came flooding back.
(Right... I was eating the dinner that Yuri and the others had made...)
A meat skewer was clutched in Rest's right hand.
The skewer still gave off a savory aroma and was still warm — meaning however long his consciousness had blacked out couldn't have been very long.
It felt as though he had transmigrated to another world yet again... but he decided to chalk it up to his imagination.
"...It's nothing. I think I was just daydreaming or something...?"
"Hmm? So it really didn't taste good?"
"No... it's not exactly bad, either...?"
He took another bite of the skewered meat.
Bouncy and crunchy in texture. Almost like cartilage.
There was a slight gamey smell, but the sauce neutralized it nicely.
Seasoned with ginger soy sauce, it tasted similar to bonito.
The flavor was... surprisingly not bad at all.
"That first bite made my brain short-circuit and my consciousness fly all the way to outer space, but... huh. It's weirdly addictive, actually."
This wasn't some flattery-driven lie.
It genuinely tasted good.
The flavor was hard to describe, but after one bite he found himself wanting another... that was the kind of addictive taste it had.
(It's good, but... finding it good is what scares me. What exactly is this meat?)
"This is... wyrm meat, right?"
"Yeah, that's right. You can really taste the dragon kin. Delicious, isn't it?"
"Dragon kin... right, wyrms are related to dragons..."
Dragon meat was a super-premium ingredient.
And since wyrms were a subspecies, it made sense that they would taste good too.
"This soup isn't bad either... it's got real depth to it."
"Yeah, that's made from wyrm bones. For some reason it turned green, though..."
"I-Is that so..."
Rest tried not to think too hard about it as he brought the soup to his lips.
Watching Rest like that... Urla's cheeks were flushed red despite her expressionless face.
"...Happy."
It seemed she was pleased that Rest said the food was delicious.
The expressionless, doll-like girl was trembling with joy, her small body shaking.
"Moon... pretty."
And beside Urla, Ostley was tripping out with a meat skewer in one hand.