Just as he was about to enter the light, the realization struck him like a blue horned swallow.

“Wait, I’m underground so that’s not sunlight––“

But before he could’ve ceased his momentum, the ground below disappeared and he began to fall.

“What?!”

Suddenly, he fell into water. It was cold and deep, but thankfully Tanuki knew how to swim.

He swam to the surface and coughed the water out of his throat. He swiftly turned around and saw that moss and blue mushrooms surrounded him from all sides while the water brought him downstream.

“Maduka?” He called out to the goblin.

There was no answer and soon enough he came to know why. Maduka was further down the stream, holding onto a rock and fighting for her life as large waves of water hit her in the face.

Her body slowly descended below the water. She didn’t know how to swim.

“Maduka!” Tanuki went under the water and swam towards the goblin.

Maduka saw Tanuki in the water and her first instinct was to call out to him for help. Unfortunately, as she gasped for air to shout, the water broke into her mouth.

Slowly, but surely, she was choking to death.

Tanuki reached under her hands, tightly hugged Maduka, and kicked themselves off the ground. As they reached above the surface and the air finally touched Maduka again, she coughed violently, but the water remained deep inside her lungs.

“Don’t worry, I got you!”

Tanuki clenched his fists and held them close to the goblin’s stomach. Then, pushing upwards, he began to perform the Heimlich maneuver.

Though this world worked on laws unlike his previous world, this maneuver proved to be still as effective.

Maduka spat out all the water from her lungs and gasped loudly for air. Suddenly, her breathing caught and turned into screaming. Violently kicking, she tried to climb onto Tanuki’s head.

“Hey, hey! What’s wrong with you? What are you…”

Then, he saw it. The tunnel ended before them and a large waterfall followed.

Tanuki reached into his pockets in hopes of finding something that could help them.

“Come on… Heifer’s Mask… Kurohyou…”

He couldn’t think of anything to do. As the tunnel ended, both of them screamed and began another fall downstream.

In a last-ditch effort, Tanuki grabbed the panicking Maduka and held tightly onto her. He straightened his back, held his and Maduka’s arms firmly to their side, and then prayed that the water would be deep enough.

Splash!

The waterfall ran into a large pond of water. A small river brought the water downstream from there, but the pond itself was almost completely still.

Tanuki swam to land with Maduka on his back. He crawled a few feet away from the water, then collapsed while breathing heavily.

Maduka rolled to the side. Though she was still under the effect of shock, she felt no pain besides that in her chest.

She sat up and squeezed the water out of her cape, then her long black hair. After that and a few coughs, she leaned onto her knee and gazed at the waterfall.

“Maduka is sorry.” She said with regret in her voice.

“W-What?” Tanuki asked, still lightheaded.

“Maduka didn’t follow Nuki. She was stupid.”

Tanuki forced himself to sit up and patted Maduka on the back. Even though he was about to faint, he made sure to reassure his friend with a smile.

“N-No worries! You were scared, I was too! If it wasn’t because I promised I’d take care of you, I would’ve done the same. Trust me.”

“Heh, but Nuki didn’t run.” She smiled. “Maduka wants to be like Nuki.”

“There are a bunch of better role models, you know? A-Anyways, my body is pretty much done for today, so I have to ask you to handle all the fighting from now on.” He lay back on the ground.

The sight around them was beautiful. It was a huge underground room that was as tall as a hill. Holes penetrated its dome from which water escaped into the pond.

Blue mushrooms lit up the room, hanging with the moss and vines from the walls. The ground was also full of these plants and mushrooms, the latter equipping a much larger tree size. Their spores danced above the pond, feeding the small fishes that jumped forth from the water to catch their prey.

“I could live here.” Tanuki said.

“Here?”

“Yeah. In my own underground base. How cool does that sound?”

“Hm… Maduka wants to come.”

“I wouldn’t even want to live here without you.”

“Aw!” Maduka covered her embarrassed smile.

“What do you say? We create a huge elevator above ground, then we can come back here anytime we want!”

“What is an elevator?”

“Oh, well, it’s like a small room that…”

They spent the following minutes chatting. Tanuki told Maduka about many different things from his previous life, like skateboards and traffic lamps. Surprisingly, the little goblin found these ordinary items very interesting.

“And da lamp changes to red?”

“Yup. Then everyone has to stop and wait for it to turn green.”

“Ah, Maduka wants to be like da lamp! Strong and powerful!” Her sweetness made Tanuki giggle.

“I’m sure with enough effort and time you can accomplish anything you want!”

A special kind of companionship formed on that beach. Though the two of them weren’t aware of that yet, a certain third party was, who observed the two of them from the safety of a large bush.

His wavering heart found something precious it has long forgotten. It was a glimmer of hope that the two’s genuine emotions brought into the underground. Their laughs were a promise that he needed so much.

“Maybe… Maybe they can save the tribe…”