Easy Survival Life Chapter 160 Bonus: Fishing with Poison Sinks


One day, I was in the forest with Meiko

Today is Sunday, so work’s closed, and everyone’s spending their time as they please

We walk side-by-side with the monkeys watching us from the treetops.

With no particular destination in mind, we just stroll around.

That was Meiko’s request.

「 Why, are you sure you don’t want to do anything else? 」

「 Yes. You don’t want it, Shinomiya-kun? 」

「 That’s not what I mean, but I just want to make sure that I wasn’t boring you 」

Neither Meiko nor I are talkative.

We’re just talking a walk, not saying anything.

If she’s happy with it, then that’s fine, but I can’t help but feel uneasy.

「 It’s fine. If there’s anything else I want, then that would be holding hands 」

「 That’s not a problem 」

I held her hand and her fingers entwined with mine.

Her supple and slender fingers gently rub the back of my hand.

「 I think that this is the most luxurious way to spend time on this island 」

「 You mean talking a walk while holding hands? 」

「 Walking with Shinomiya-kun to be precise. 」

「 Is it that important? 」

「 Yeah. I get to monopolize the popular guy and just spend time hanging out. It’s like going on a vacation, but spending the entire time in a hotel, see? 」

「 Isn’t that more of a waste than a luxury? 」

Meiko laughed it off, saying “Maybe”

「 But it’s a luxury to me 」

「 As long as you’re satisfied 」

We walked for a while after that.

I occasionally glanced over to check her profile and indeed, she looks happy.

So I didn’t say anything.

Guu♪

My stomach rumbled loudly.

That sound was naturally noticed in the quiet forest.

「 Sorry, we’ve been walking for so long that you got hungry 」

「 No, I’m sorry for being insensitive 」

「 There’s a river nearby, how about we eat fish? 」

「 Let’s do that 」

We changed courses and headed to the river.

 ◇

My hunger increased as we reached the river.

That’s because there’s a lot of delicious-looking fish swimming around.

「 First, we need to get some skewers 」

I quickly built a campfire.

「 Don’t worry about that. I brought some bamboo skewers 」

Meiko took out some skewers from her pocket

「 You had those? 」

「 I thought of bringing it 」

「 Good Decision. All that’s left is to catch the fish 」

「 That’s the problem. If we don’t have a fishing rod, then we have to use traps 」

“Right…” I said while looking around.

「 What to do? 」

Meiko’s peeking at my face, looking happy for some reason

「 Okay, let’s use poison 」

I see a squirrel running in a nearby tree.

「 Poison? 」

「 I’m sure that walnuts are native to this area 」

「 That’s poison? 」

「 The leaves are 」

The walnut fruits are edible for humans and squirrels.

It’s a useful plant with high nutritional value and excellent preservation properties.

Then the leaves contain alkaloids, a poison.

This should paralyze the fish and keep them afloat on the surface.

「 Is it safe to use poison? It could harm us 」

「 That’s not a problem in small quantity. This is what they call poison sink fishing, and it used to be a common practice. Today, however, that would be illegal, just like stone-throwing fishing 」

Meiko seems impressed.

「 Let’s begin 」

「 Right 」

We split up and gathered leaves.

Then, we threw them into the river.

「 It should take effect immediately 」

By the time I said that, I saw the change.

「 Oh, fish 」

Meiko points at the river.

Poisoned river fishes began to float.

「 All we have to do is collect them. I wish we had a scoop net for times like this 」

「 I have them too 」

“Here,” Meiko handed me the net

「 Seriously? 」

「 I sneaked back to the hideout to get them while collecting leaves 」

「 That’s some planning! 」

I scooped up the fish at a nice tempo.

Thanks to Meiko’s attentiveness, the work progressed.

「 Oh, Meiko, look at that! 」

I pointed at the prey excitedly.

It was an Eel.

Just like the river fishes, it was poisoned and floating.

「 We even caught eels, that’s amazing 」

「 I know it’s a hit or miss because there’s no sauce and they’re river eels, but I can’t help but get excited on this one 」

We finished capturing prey.

Fishes are placed in an enclosure built in the river to keep them fresh.

「 Let’s finish prepping the fish and grill it 」

「 I’ll do the spit-roasting and putting the skewers by the fire 」

「 Can you? 」

「 I think 」

「 Just ask me if you don’t get it 」

I worked with my favorite survival knife.

I was excited to know that soon, I’d be able to eat a lot of delicious fish.

「 I want to catch more eels, let’s do this again 」

Meiko agreed.

「 But, maybe it goes too well and we catch too much to eat? 」

「 That’s likely. After all, poison sink fishery is hard to coordinate 」

This island has several rivers, all of which are teeming with fish.

So, overfishing shouldn’t be a problem, but that doesn’t mean that we should catch more than we can eat.

「 If we can’t finish it, we’ll just turn it into dried fish or something 」

「 That’s true 」

Our work is finished.

The campfire is surrounded by delicious-looking fish.

We’re sitting on the floor grasping our knees, waiting for it to be completed.

「 Are you feeling okay in your stomach? Do you want some nuts? 」

Meiko looks at me worriedly.

「 It’s a little tough, but it’s not a problem. I mean, I’m in the mood to eat fish. I wouldn’t want to eat anything else now 」

「 Ahaha, I feel you 」

Meiko leaned on me.

She rests her head on my shoulder and a nice smell reaches my nostrils.

Normally, those pheromones would hit my lust.

But, my hunger won today.

「 Thanks, Shinomiya-kun. It’s been a while since we spent time together like this, so it was a lot of fun 」

I pat her head and said “Likewise”

「 I’m also happy to spend time with Meiko 」

「 Stop that, you’re making me blush 」

「 That wasn’t my intention 」

「 Geez, you should do that more 」

「 I don’t know if I could do what the popular guys could 」

Meiko happily laughed.

After that, I had a pleasant time while eating fresh fish.