CH 9

Arc-1 Chapter-9: What is the First Shooting?

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The island was examined by experts and staff beforehand.

This is not some kind of scam and has been explained to the viewers.

So, basically, we were not supposed to have any difficulties in living on this island.

At least that's how it was described to us.

Despite that, there is a highly poisonous meadow saffron in front of me.

"Perhaps they mistook it for wild garlic (Allium ursinum) when they were inspecting the premises."

"What's a wild garlic?"

"It looks like saffron, but it's non-toxic, so that's not a problem. They look so similar that even experts sometimes mistake them for each other.....I hope that's okay to say."

"Don't worry, they'll cut out the bad parts!"

"I wouldn't hesitate to do that."

"Mmm! Go ahead and tell us all about it!"

Afterwards, we wandered around the forest, giving explanations about the plants.

"Whoa, it's a river."

"Great. I'm parched!"

"Then let's get you hydrated."

Yukiho switched off her handheld camera and put it in the side pocket of her backpack.

The motion camera was still rolling.

"I wonder if water from a river like this tastes good."

Yukiho takes out a wooden cup from her backpack.

She tried to drink the water from the river with it, and I hurriedly stopped her.

"Let's boil it just to be safe."

"Boil it? We didn't do that on Daikichi-kun's island, did we?"

"The river on that island was fast enough. It's not a problem when the currents are swift."

"It's true that the river here seems to be slower than on that island."

"Yeah. Even if it looks beautiful, it might make you sick to your stomach. You'll probably be fine, but we as Japanese are very delicate. So let's be extra cautious."

"Understood!"

I take out a pot from my backpack.

"There's some solid fuel in here!"

Yukiho took out a light blue square block.

"Let's not use that. It's quite useful, so we'll save it for emergencies."

"That means we're going to have to make a... bonfire!"

"That's just the way to go."

Yukiho's eyes sparkled.

She likes to build fires.

To be precise, she likes to make fire the old-fashioned way.

"Please wait a moment!"

Yukiho hurriedly grabbed the handheld camera.

She stretches her arm out and points the lens at herself as she speaks.

"Daikichi-kun is going to make a fire by the river! It'll be very intresting so please

I laughed and said, "You're raising the bar too much."

"It's fine! Come on, show us, show us!"

"Here we go."

I'll be ready in a jiffy.

I prepared appropriate wooden boards and sticks, as well as dead grass and twigs for fuel.

Stick the stick up against the board and rotate it from side to side with both hands.

This is an ancient method of making fire, called the kirimomi method.

"Okay, we have a spark."

The friction scorches the surface of the board and stick, creating a hot and dark powder.

That's the spark.

"All that's left is to put this in the dead grass....."

Woo hoo, I breathe on it.

Then, with a pop, it ignited.

"Transfer this flame to a bundle of twigs and you're done."

The process took about two minutes.

"Oh! As amazing as ever!"

Yukiho looked very satisfied.

It made me happy to see that, and my cheeks relaxed as well.

"When you build a fire, you gradually increase the size of the fire like this."

"It's hard to burn otherwise! I heard that on the island!"

"Correct."

I put the river water in a pot and heat it up over the fire.

After boiling, I transferred the water to a cup and let it cool down before drinking.

"Lukewarm, but delicious!"

"That's good to know. There's more in there, so you can drink as much as you like."

We took a short break to rehydrate.

"Daikichi-kun, can I try my hand at making a fire?"

"Okay. Are there any military gloves in there?"

"Yes, I do. Do you use military gloves?"

"You'd better use them. I use my bare hands, but if you mess up, the skin on your hands will peel and hurt."

"Oh, really? Well then, Daikichi-kun, you need to wear military gloves too!"

"I'm fine because the skin on my hands has gotten extra thick."

"That's not fair!"

Yukiho puts on her gloves and tries her hand at making a kirimomi-style fire.

Meanwhile, I was taking videos of her with my handheld camera.

"Have I got a spark?"

"No, not at all."

"It's difficult..."

"Maybe you're putting too much pressure on it. The board and the stick need to stick together, but you don't want to push too hard. It's hard to say, but maybe you should try to make it a little more fluffy."

"Okay!"

Yukiho tried again, muttering, "Fluffy, fluffy."

Her expression was so serious that she seemed to forget about the camera.

Because of this, she succeeded in creating a spark.

"Put it in the dead grass."

"It's in!"

"Breathe on it. Be careful not to burn your face."

"It's scary when you put it that way."

While saying that, she huffed and puffed, sending oxygen to the dead grass.

Just like mine, it went off with a pop.

When she transferred it to a twig, "It's done!" Yukiho shouted.

"I did it, Daikichi-kun. I made a fire, too! You saw that, right?"

"I've been watching you. It's a big deal after all."

I really thought it was a big deal.

This is how difficult it is to make a fire using the Kirimomi method.

I learned this from my grandpa, but it took me a few days to master.

Yukiho, on the other hand, took less than an hour.

This is another example of the high level of professionalism.

"Hey, uh, What are we going to do after this?"

Yukiho's voice bounced.

"I guess we'll have to find a shelter first"

"Are you going to build a hut?"

"No, that's tough. If we're going to build a hut here, we're going to have to cut down some trees. A lot of them. We don't have electric saws, and even if we did, we wouldn't be able to handle them, so it's not practical to build a hut."

"I see... So what do we do....?"

"We have 3 options. First we could use plant vines and leaves to make a tent out of complete natural material, It'll be pretty easy, since I saw a Banana Tree over there. They have huge leaves so making a roof will be easy."

"Oh! That sounds fun! What's the second option?"

"Making a pit dwelling."

"Oh! I've heard about that! It's the one in the textbook!"

"Mhmm. This was a common dwelling during the Jomon period. It's larger and more comfortable than the first option, but it does require more work."

"I see. The increased workload could be tough..."

"The third option is the easiest, and that is a cave."

"Cave...!?"

"Yes, a cave. It requires the least amount of work, we'll find a suitable cave and sleep there. Of course there're probably bats in there but we can clear them out."

"O-! But did you see any caves?"

"So far I haven't. But there might be one by those cliffs over there. From the size of it, there is probably some cracks along the rocks that could be a cave."

"You've already thought that far ahead!? That's great, Daikichi-kun!"

"You're exaggerating it. So which option do you wanna go with?"

"Hmm."

Yukiho puts her hand on her chin as she thinks.

Just then, Yukiho's cell phone rang.

It was given to her as a means of communication in case of emergencies.

"This is Takamine."

Yukiho answers the phone.

She then said "Okay" and hung up.

"He said to go back because we're done filming for the day."

"Oh, yeah, this is all for filming. I forgot all about it."

I turned off the camera.

Both the motion cameras and the handheld cameras.

Yukiho does the same and switches her's off.

"I'll figure out what to do about the shelter before the next shooting!"

"Alright."

After washing our hands in the river water, we headed home, hand in hand, in good spirits.

We just ahd a good time like always, I wonder if its enough.

It's just like an industry person to worry about ratings. I thought.