(I Died and got Reincarnated) My New Life as a Saltwater Crocodile Begins

CH•23 - "A Compromise"

No. No way. Not again. First the girl, now mine?! How come I can't remember my own name?!! Think! Think hard!! Let's see.... do I know anyone else's names? My parents, my sister, my friends from high school? Wait, the girl's mother... my crush... what was her name again? I don't.... remember.

...... T-This can't be happening. I can't remember a single name from anyone. Wait... name? Do I still know the name of my home? My home... I live in.... eh? Where... wha-... I don't even know my own home town? How about my school... do I still remember the school I was in? ......... Nothing. I... I forgot everything.

I don't get it. I can still clearly picture my home, my bed, the faces of my friends, my family, and even the lessons from classes (a bit)... and yet, I can't seem to remember any of their names. Come on, think. Think. There has to be someone, anyone, whose name I still know. Or, maybe I'm thinking this the wrong way. Instead of trying to regain lost memories, I should reassess what I already know. Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Is it?

"-ello?"

Okay, so first things first... when did I start losing my memories? How long has it been since then, and if I had tried to reminisce about it back then, would I still have remembered anyone? It wasn't long after I woke up the next morning after being bitten by mama snake that I couldn't remember the little human girl's name anymore. By that time, had I already lost my memories? No, it's not that my memories are lost, just the names of the people (humans) I know and the places that I'm familiar with.

Come to think of it, back when I was reminiscing about my history teacher when I was sightseeing the wildlife in the Nile River, I didn't even mention his name. Does that mean I had already lost my memories then? Was it really the mama snake's fault? Because she bit me? What kind of magical memory-erasing venom is that?

No, there's gotta be another reason for this. There's got to be-....

"Hey!"

Suddenly, a voice is heard shouting in my head. It's the bat from earlier.

"Something wrong? You were kinda out of the clouds back there."

I... guess I was.

The falcon and the baby snake are both looking at me with concern. Not that I have anything to prove that they're really concerned about me since their expressions don't change at all. I must've really spaced out since I didn't even notice the falcon leaving my head and is now standing beside the snake.

That reminds me, we have to find food soon. I'll think about all those memory stuff later. I was on my way to the stream of water. I should switch my hunting gears back on.

As I turn around and head to the water, the bat flies after me and hovers near my eyes.

"H-Hold on, are we leaving already? We still haven't finished introductions yet"

Leaving? No, no. I'm just gonna dive in the water and look for dinner. Unless you want the falcon to assault you again. And besides, shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking someone else's name?

"Oh. Right. I'm !$@&¶┻"

Huh? I'm sorry, can you repeat that? I didn't quite catch it.

"I said I'm (#%~ʖ"

What? I didn't understand that last part.

"It's ?3*ltQ"

Are you even making sense anymore?

"...... Say, be honest with me here...... You forgot your name, didn't you?"

You read my thoughts?!

"I didn't! It was more like your thoughts were leaking into my head. I could even see what you were imagining about. Your home. Your friends. Their faces. And, you were struggling really hard to remember their names. Even yours. I... I didn't really mean to do that.... Sorry. But, this makes it clear. Not just names from the ones you know, you can't even hear my name too"

Hearing him say that, I stepped back. It took me a while to process what he said. So basically, not only am I unable to recall past information, I'm also unable to take in new information either? Wha-... what caused this? This isn't normal anymore and I don't like it. Am I slowly going to lose my memories and end up as a mindless animal? I... I don't want that!

That short internal outburst made me violently stomp on the cave floor. The sound of the impact echoed throughout the silent cave and was heard by everyone. Startled, the bat flew up and hid near a stalactite. Even the falcon withdrew the baby snake a few feet away from me too. The echo continued to reverberate for a while before slowly dying down. As did I.

I'm.... sorry. I just don't know how to deal with this problem I'm having. I'll go get us some food now.

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I know I shouldn't have distanced myself, but I can't help it. I may be an adult who lived long enough to see two of my own kids reach elementary, but you can't blame me for being frightened over a ginormous crocodilian beast after just being reborn again. He's even bigger than when I was human. Just by being near his jaws, the fear of getting devoured in one bite still lingered.

I need to pull myself together. The friends he was thinking about earlier were still young and growing, which means he might be as young as them too. They remind me of my kids. Still full of open possibilities in their lives. And, right now, he's hurt. He's lost. Part of being a parent is being a good role model for children. I can't just stay back and cower in hiding while a lost child is suffering before me. I have to be brave.

And so, I flew past the huge crocodile before it entered the water.

==========================

"L-Let me help you out! I can use my ears to search for anything moving underwater"

The bat said to me before I could fully dive in, attempting to plunge his ears into the water.

Huh? Wait! No! Sto-...

I tried to stop him, but with a splash, the bat presses his head in the stream of water, along with his ears. Not even three seconds passed before he pulled his head out and took a deep breath.

"I can't see anything down there!"

Of course you can't! Why would you do that?! Just leave these kinds of stuff to me. You can watch over the others in the meantime. I know you said this cave is safe, but it won't hurt to stay alert.

"R-Right...."

And, about that name thing.... since I can't remember my own name, nor can I hear yours, I'll just call you bat and you can call me croc. That's much faster.

"No problemo. ...... See you in a while, crocodile!"

Please... no more puns.

"Not even puntastic ones?"

I'm going now.

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Author's Note:

So, I'm just here to remind you all that I am a terrible writer and may you all have a puntastic day!