Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World as a Skeleton

Chapter 296: Consumption of the Twenty-Five-Ton "Donut"

Sora finally hit her kinetic limit.

She slumped over, hands bracing against her knees as she gasped for air. Her

lungs felt like they were being inflated with jagged glass. Sweat poured from

her brow, soaking into the collar of her Academy jacket. Her legs were vibrating

with a fine, uncontrollable tremor.

A body that hadn't seen proper dormancy in three cycles simply wasn't designed

for a sustained, high-velocity sprint while being pursued by industrial

equipment.

"Sora! Why have you terminated your movement?!"

Bochi, still hoisting the monolithic steel coil above its head, bounced over

with a cheerful, springy rhythm.

"Don't... stay... back..." Sora gasped, raising a hand in a desperate "stop"

gesture. She struggled to find the oxygen for full sentences. "Move... you and

that thing... at least ten meters away from my immediate perimeter..."

Bochi halted, tilting its head. Its black-bean eyes were a mask of pure,

gelatinous confusion. "Logic?"

"Because..." Sora took a long, shaky breath, trying to stabilize her heart rate.

"Because that entity in your grip is a lethal variable!"

"Lethal?" Bochi looked up at the steel coil, then back at her. "But it is merely

a oversized donut."

"IT IS NOT A DONUT!" Sora's voice cracked into a shriek of terminal frustration.

She pointed a trembling finger at the mass of silver metal. "That is

industrial-grade steel! It weighs twenty-five tons! It is used for construction

and manufacturing, not for oral intake!"

"But..." Bochi used a tiny tentacle to tap the surface of the coil.

Clink. Clank.

The sound of reinforced metal echoed through the street.

"But the scent-data suggests a high concentration of sweetness," Bochi argued

with the conviction of a gourmet. "I perceive a savory aroma. It might even be a

magical ingredient."

"The outer shell is rigid, yes, but the core must be soft and sugary. Is this

not a local specialty of your coordinate?"

Sora stood paralyzed. Her jaw worked, but her brain was struggling to bypass the

sheer absurdity of the argument. Sweetness? Where in the Void would a steel coil

get—

Wait.

Industrial lubricant.

Did Bochi mistake the chemical scent of heavy-duty oil for high-tier glucose?

"Bochi," Sora said, rubbing her temples as a migraine bloomed behind her eyes.

"That is fundamentally not a donut. The 'scent' you are perceiving is likely

toxic sludge. It is not viable for consumption."

"Statistically confirmed?" Bochi asked, its voice dropping a pitch in

disappointment.

"Confirmed." Sora tried to keep her tone level. "Therefore, you must return the

item to its original coordinate."

"Extraction reversal?" Bochi looked at the coil, then at Sora. "But I have

already completed the procurement phase..."

"Reverse it anyway!" Sora's volume spiked again. "Do you have any concept of the

tactical risk? That item is valued at hundreds of thousands of silver! Taking it

without a contract is a violation of Federal Law!"

"Violation?" Bochi tilted its head. "I performed no hostile actions. The donut

was merely sitting on a trailer, seemingly abandoned. I projected that it was a

public resource."

Sora drew a long breath. She reminded herself: Stabilize. It is an Inter-Planar

Slime. It does not possess the 'Common Sense' patch for this world.

"It wasn't abandoned. It was in transit. If you are caught with it, the

authorities will confine you to a very small, lightless room. Permanently."

At the mention of confinement, Bochi recalled the Punishment Legion and the

"Re-education Zones" back home. It shuddered.

"Then I shall perform the return-protocol immediately," Bochi conceded.

"Excellent!" Sora exhaled a massive breath of relief. "Return it, and we shall

proceed as if this variable never manifested."

"Understood."

Bochi turned around with a note of reluctance. "Though I still wished to conduct

a structural analysis of the local sweets... Sora mentioned a Museum Expedition.

Surely the Museum contains even higher-tier treasures!"

Hoisting the twenty-five tons of steel like a beach ball, Bochi began bouncing

back toward the truck. Sora watched its receding back, her nervous system

finally beginning to decompress.

She found a nearby park bench and collapsed onto it, feeling as though her soul

were slowly leaking out through the soles of her feet. Carrying the burden of a

Tier-7 slime in a Tier-0 world was more taxing than any Instance she had ever

cleared.

Just as Sora was closing her eyes for a five-minute micro-nap, the sound of

shrieking tires tore through the air.

SCREEEEEEE!

Sora snapped her eyes open.

Further down the road, she saw the flatbed truck. It was currently violating

every law of physics and speed-limit as it roared away from the curb. The engine

was screaming, and the tires left two long, black streaks of scorched rubber on

the asphalt.

Standing in the middle of the street where the truck had been was Bochi, still

hoisting the steel coil, looking utterly bewildered.

"Eh?" Bochi tilted its head. "Why did the transport-unit accelerate away from

me?"

Sora buried her face in her hands. She understood the driver's logic perfectly.

If she saw a blue blob bringing back a twenty-five-ton ghost-coil, she would

also initiate a NIGERUNDAYO maneuver at maximum velocity.

"Bochi!" Sora shouted from her bench. "Forget the driver! Cease the pursuit!"

"But..." Bochi turned to look at her. "Sora instructed me to perform a return.

The recipient has fled. Where shall I deposit the cargo?"

Sora went silent. She looked at the steel coil in Bochi's grip, then at the

empty street where the truck had vanished.

Finally, she let out a long, defeated sigh. "Discard it in an inconspicuous

sector."

"Oh." Bochi nodded, scanning the immediate environment. Its gaze settled on a

nearby green trash bin. "I shall utilize the waste-receptacle."

"WAIT!" Sora shrieked. "Do not utilize the bin!"

"Logic?"

"Because... because twenty-five tons will pulverize the bin into sub-atomic

dust! It is not a viable container!"

"Then where?" Bochi looked around again. A predatory glint appeared in its

black-bean eyes. "Shall I... consume it?"

"WHAT?!" Sora's eyes widened. "You intend to eat the steel?"

"Affirmative," Bochi said matter-of-factly. "It is a wasted variable sitting

here. If I consume it, I can at least recycle the energy."

"Besides, there is a low probability that it truly is a donut."

"It is categorically NOT—"

Sora didn't get to finish. Bochi unhinged its jaw. It wasn't a biological mouth,

but a localized spatial distortion.

GULP.

A soft, wet sound echoed through the street. The twenty-five-ton industrial

steel coil vanished into Bochi's body in a single second.

Bochi's form rippled once, then snapped back to its original springy shape. The

slime smacked its lips, a look of profound disappointment crossing its face.

"Confirmed: Not a donut." "Zero sugar content detected." "The texture was

abrasive. Like chewing on a set of discarded armor."

Sora sat on her bench, staring at the empty space where the coil had been. Her

brain had reached a total system lock.

Did... did that just happen? Bochi... Just processed twenty-five tons of raw

steel... as a snack?

"Sora?"

Bochi bounced over to the bench, poking her cheek with a tentacle. "Are your

parameters malfunctioning? Your facial complexion is quite pale."

Sora turned her head mechanically toward the slime. "You... you just...

processed the coil?"

"Mmh?"

"You ate twenty-five tons of metal?"

"Affirmative," Bochi nodded. "There was no viable storage, so I utilized my

internal furnace. Though the flavor-profile was abysmal."

Sora opened her mouth to speak, but found that her vocabulary had been deleted.

She suddenly remembered a critical data point: Bochi was an alien entity. An

existence that could hoist mountains and treat steel as high-fiber roughage.

How did I allow myself to forget that for even a second?

"Umm... Bochi," Sora said, her voice a hollow whisper as she tried to regain her

logic. "In the future... could you refrain from spontaneous consumption?"

"Logic?"

"Because... many items in this world are 'Non-Consumable.' They serve structural

or economic purposes. They are not food."

"Oh." Bochi gave a slow, understanding wobble. "I shall initiate a query before

the next intake phase."

"Mmh..." Sora rubbed her temples. At this point, she just wanted to return to

her sector and enter a week-long dormancy. But... she had a contract. She had

promised Bochi the Museum.

"Move out," Sora said, pushing herself off the bench. Her voice was thick with

fatigue. "Target: The Museum."

"Guchi-guchi-yay!"

Bochi leaped into the air, landing perfectly on her head.

"The Museum! The Museum!" "I project a high density of treasures within!"

☆☆☆

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