After a short rest, Kato Jun finished drinking the refreshing coconut water.
He carefully re-stuffed the wooden plug back into the coconut shell and secured it alongside his makeshift float.
The ocean waves were relatively calm today, gently lapping against the metallic remnants of the fuselage.
Taking a deep breath, Kato Jun plunged back into the sea.
This time, his goal was to enter the submerged cabin to scavenge for anything that could aid their survival.
In his chaotic memories of the crash, the plane had been entirely engulfed in flames and reduced to scattered debris.
However, seeing it up close now, it appeared that the main structural damage was confined to shattered windows and torn hatches, though the wings were undeniably severely burned.
Kato Jun cautiously swam through the jagged edges of a broken hatch.
Due to the structural integrity and remaining trapped air inside the cabin, the aircraft hadn’t completely sunk to the ocean floor; instead, it drifted partially submerged on the surface.
“Here is economy class, business class is in front, then first class, and finally the cockpit…” Kato Jun muttered to himself as he entered the economy section.
Contrary to his initial fears, the interior wasn’t completely obliterated.
Although there were prominent scorch marks everywhere, the outlines of the passenger seats remained distinct, and the aisle wasn’t as choked with debris as he had imagined.
Looking around the desolate, empty cabin—with seawater filling more than half of the space—Jun Kato felt a wave of disappointment.
He doubted he would find anything of value in economy class.
The overhead luggage compartments were heavily charred, and any small carry-on bags that might have been inside were either incinerated or washed away by the tide.
Just as he was about to give up, a sudden glint of light caught his eye.
A reflection!
Was it a piece of glass?
Seeing that flash of light, Kato Jun immediately cheered up.
Even a simple glass bottle would be enough for him to devise a way to start a fire.
He swam quickly towards the reflective spot, his heart pounding with hope.
“It’s actually a pair of glasses!
Reading glasses, to be exact!” he exclaimed, his voice bubbling up through the water.
Awesome, praise the sun!
Looking closely at the half-broken pair of reading glasses in his hand, Jun Kato couldn’t help but celebrate his incredible luck.
One of the lenses was perfectly intact.
As long as he had this convex lens, the daunting problem of starting a fire could be solved with minimal effort by focusing the sunlight.
Furthermore, it was a reusable fire-starting tool that wouldn’t deplete over time.
This was an absolute game-changer.
Kato Jun carefully wrapped the precious intact lens with a piece of foam sponge he tore from a nearby seat cushion, gripping it securely in his hand to prevent it from getting scratched or lost.
Just finding this single item made his risky underwater expedition entirely worth it.
However, since he was already inside the wreckage, he decided to press his luck and keep searching.
Obtaining the reading glasses pumped Kato Jun full of adrenaline.
Reinvigorated, he refused to overlook any part of the cabin.
He squeezed into the narrowest corners, rummaging thoroughly through the submerged wreckage.
He pushed forward from economy into business class, and then into the luxurious first-class section.
He even tried to access the cockpit, but the heavy security door was jammed shut.
After delivering two frustrated kicks against the metal frame, he unwillingly gave up on the pilot’s cabin.
Despite that setback, his overall harvest had been surprisingly abundant.
In the business class galley, he discovered a sealed box of plastic cutlery and an intact box of tissues.
The plastic knives inside were surprisingly sturdy and much sharper than he expected.
Carefully, Jun Kato placed his sponge-wrapped lens inside the cutlery box for safe storage.
However, as soon as Jun Kato entered the first-class cabin, his sanity was severely tested. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
Amidst the floating debris, he found an elegant mechanical watch, but right next to it was a gruesome sight: a bloated, floating corpse.
Honestly, it was a sickening and terrifying scene.
Swallowing down his nausea and trying to ignore the macabre environment, he forced himself to scour the rest of the area.
Then, he spotted it.
A first aid kit!
This was a true lifesaver.
Kato Jun stared at the white, waterproof case marked with a red cross, his eyes lighting up with immense relief.
Completely ignoring the swollen corpse floating nearby, he hurriedly swam over and secured the medical kit in his grasp.
Gasping for air, Kato Jun swam out of the submerged cabin and broke the surface.
Although his mood was heavy and complicated after encountering the dead passenger, he couldn’t help but smile when he looked at the valuable supplies he had managed to salvage.
After treading water and resting for a few moments, he suddenly realized there was one major area he hadn’t explored yet: the cargo hold!
The very name sounded like a treasure trove of survival gear.
All the checked baggage and bulky cargo would be stored down there, located directly beneath the main passenger cabin.
However, entering the cargo hold would require him to hold his breath for a significantly longer time, find a way to manually pry open the exterior cargo doors, and navigate the dark, enclosed space.
He had to admit, attempting such a dive was incredibly risky.
If he somehow managed to open the cargo hold, the sudden influx of seawater could destroy the plane’s fragile buoyancy, causing the entire wreckage to finally plunge to the bottom of the ocean.
If he was inside when that happened, it would be a death sentence.
“Forget it, let’s just take a quick look first,” he decided, his curiosity winning out.
Kato Jun took another deep breath and plunged beneath the waves.
He swam along the fuselage until he located the cargo doors, but they were hermetically sealed shut without the slightest gap to pry open.
It seemed that the only way to access it would be to get into the locked cockpit and trigger the emergency release switches, or somehow find an internal access hatch.
Breaking the surface once more, Jun Kato panted heavily, catching his breath.
He decided it was best to stop exploring for now; pushing his luck underwater was a fool’s game.
Besides, today’s harvest had already far exceeded his expectations.
Not only had he secured a reliable way to make a fire, but he had also gathered essential survival materials.
Logically, these supplies should be more than enough to sustain them until a rescue team arrived.
But…
would a rescue team actually come?
That lingering doubt always left Kato Jun feeling a deep sense of unease.
Climbing up to sit on an exposed section of the plane’s roof, he took stock of his loot.
He had a box of plastic cutlery, a fully stocked first aid kit, the precious reading glass lens, a box of tissues, a mechanical watch, a women’s handbag (most likely belonging to a flight attendant), and a small bundle of sturdy plastic cord.
He had snagged the handbag during his sweep of first class, and he had found the cord tangled behind a cabin door during his second dive.
Glancing up at the sky, he noticed the sun was already approaching its zenith.
It was noon.
If he didn’t hurry back to the island soon, he would miss the strongest sunlight and wouldn’t be able to use the lens to start a fire today.
Realizing the time crunch, Jun Kato carefully secured all of his scavenged items onto his makeshift plastic float.
With his school uniform jacket safely tucked away with the supplies, he began the arduous swim back to shore.
He desperately hoped he could get a fire going before dusk.
Activating his stamina-locking skill, Jun Kato swam steadily like a tireless little motor, hauling his heavy load of gains all the way back to the island’s coast. Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
Dragging his float onto the sand, he immediately called out.
“Yukinoshita!
Yukinoshita-san!” he yelled, scanning the area.
However, Yukinoshita Yukino was nowhere to be found on the beach where he had left her that morning.
Frowning in concern, he followed a set of barely recognizable footprints in the sand, tracking them all the way back to the rocky cave where they had rested last night.
“Where did she go?” Kato Jun muttered to himself.
At the entrance of the cave, he only found his own school uniform jacket draped over a rock, but there was absolutely no trace of Yukinoshita herself.
A jolt of panic hit him.
Did something happen to her?
He quickly deposited his scavenged supplies near the cave entrance and set off with a deeply worried expression on his face.
Could it be that Yukinoshita hadn’t followed his strict advice and had wandered into the dense jungle alone to search for fresh water?
Kato Jun anxiously scoured the surrounding treeline, searching for any sign of the girl.
Then, he spotted something out of place.
He found a familiar set of clothing neatly folded and stacked on a large, flat stone near the water’s edge.
Judging from the distinct plaid pattern of the skirt and the delicate underwear, it was blatantly obvious that these clothes belonged to Yukinoshita.
That could only mean one thing…
Unable to stop himself, Kato Jun cautiously walked around the large stone toward a hidden, shallow cove.
“Yukinoshita…
san?” he called out tentatively.
Just as he suspected, Yukinoshita Yukino was entirely naked, bathing in the crystal-clear shallows of the sea.
The previous day, after the ocean water had dried on her skin, Yukinoshita had been left covered in a sticky, uncomfortable layer of fine sea salt and sand.
While wandering along the coast looking for fresh water, she had stumbled upon this secluded, pristine shallow bay.
Unable to endure the grime any longer, she had eagerly stripped off her clothes to soak and cleanse herself in the refreshing water.
Looking at her, Kato Jun had to admit that Yukino truly lived up to her name—her skin was as breathtakingly flawless and white as freshly fallen snow.
Kato Jun stood frozen, staring blankly at the beautiful girl washing herself in the ocean, his mind completely short-circuiting for a long moment.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Yukinoshita Yukino gasped and hurriedly squatted down into the water, desperately trying to cover her modest figure with her arms.
However, the incomparably clean and clear seawater did very little to obscure the view.
“Kato-san!” Yukinoshita shrieked, her face flushing bright red with a mixture of immense embarrassment and anger as she saw him standing there with a dumbfounded expression.
“Oh, sorry!
I was just looking for you…
I’ll turn around right now!” Kato Jun stammered, finally snapping out of his daze and quickly spinning around to cover his eyes.
“…Stay away from here!” she yelled from the water.
Having calmed down slightly, Yukinoshita realized that Kato Jun had likely just been worried about her disappearance.
Still, her expression remained dark and thoroughly unamused.
Living together in a cave for survival was one thing, but to be seen in such a compromising state was entirely different.
Yukinoshita Yukino glared daggers at the back of the boy standing a short distance away.
Only after confirming that he had walked well out of sight did she finally let out a sigh of relief.
Wading out of the water, she began to slowly dress herself.
However, as she picked up her signature black over-the-knee socks, she noticed they were full of snags and holes from their trek, rendering them unwearable.
Yukinoshita knew full well that wearing torn black stockings would be an unnecessary and dangerous allure to a teenage boy trapped on a deserted island.
She had absolutely no intention of giving him any bad thoughts.
Even though she didn’t hate Kato-san, a girl still had to protect herself in this kind of extreme situation.