“Can this really start a fire?” Yui Yuigahama asked, tilting her head curiously as she watched Kato Megumi tinker with her beloved—and now completely defunct—smartphone.
Although the device was thoroughly waterlogged and beyond repair, Yui still felt a tiny pang of heartbreak staring at the cracked, lifeless glass resting on the stone.
“In theory, it should work…” Kato Megumi replied in her characteristically calm, flat tone, having already carefully pried the battery out from the chassis.
“Yuigahama-san, please give me that stick of chewing gum.”
“Oh, sure.” Yui obediently handed over her very last piece of gum.
“Open your mouth.”
“Huh?” Yui’s eyes widened in mild bewilderment as Megumi unpeeled the confectionery and gently popped the sweet into Yui’s mouth.
Wasn’t she planning to eat it herself?
“I only need the wrapper,” Megumi explained plainly.
With steady fingers, Kato Megumi smoothed out the foil-lined wrapper, carefully tearing it into a thin strip that tapered to a very narrow bridge in the middle while remaining wide at both ends.
Once the strip was prepped, she pressed the two wider metallic ends firmly against the positive and negative terminals of the phone’s battery.
While survival guides on television usually demonstrated this trick using standard alkaline dry cells, the core electrical principles dictated that a lithium battery would produce an identical, if not more intense, short-circuit current.
Holding her breath, Megumi held the improvised electrical fuse hovering right above a bundle of dry, fibrous tinder.
Within seconds, the high resistance at the narrowest point of the conductive foil superheated.
“It’s…
it’s actually catching fire!” Yui gasped in astonishment.
A bright flash sparked as the center of the wrapper burst into flames, which instantly consumed the paper backing.
Reacting instantly, Megumi tossed the short-circuiting battery aside onto the damp soil to prevent it from swelling and exploding, then leaned down and blew gently into the nest of tinder.
Crack…
crackle…
Tendrils of smoke yielded to eager, orange tongues of flame as the dry kindling took hold, casting a soft, golden glow across the shadows of the rock face.
“That’s amazing!
It’s so warm!” Yui cheered, wrapping her arms around her knees with a bright, radiant smile.
Huddled together under the sheltered overhang of a massive protruding boulder, both girls watched the rising flames with profound relief.
Though twilight was rapidly bleeding into the cold gloom of night, the presence of this fire banished the encroaching dread; fire offered not just warmth, but an irreplaceable psychological anchor of safety.
“Megumi-san, you’re seriously incredible…” Yui whispered with genuine awe, leaning in to hug the composed girl beside her.
“It’s nothing special.
If you hadn’t provided your phone and the gum wrapper, I wouldn’t have been able to spark anything,” Megumi replied softly, resting her chin in one hand as her dark eyes reflected the dancing flames.
Yet beneath her impassive facade, her thoughts drifted far across the uncharted expanse of the island.
Brother…
where in the world are you right now?
Megumi held an instinctive, unshakable conviction that her brother had not perished in the crash, and that he was out there on this very island, perhaps not even far away.
“How does it taste?” Yukinoshita Yukino asked nervously, her knuckles whitening slightly as she gripped the hem of her skirt.
Sitting before her, Kato Jun held a crude bowl fashioned from a hollowed coconut shell, filled to the brim with the steaming seafood broth she had just finished brewing over the campfire. New chapters come out on novelping . com first.
“Let’s see…” Kato Jun murmured, giving her unusually anxious expression an amused glance before raising the hot liquid to his lips and taking a substantial sip.
The flavor was…
unique.
It had the raw, earthy salinity of seawater combined with the delicate sweetness of fresh conch and wild crabs.
It certainly lacked refined culinary seasoning, but for survival food, it was surprisingly hearty.
“It’s actually really good!” Kato Jun nodded vigorously, polishing off the entire bowl in under five minutes.
“Really?” Yukinoshita murmured, looking somewhat skeptical.
She tentatively lifted the charred metal cup to sample a mouthful herself.
It was undeniably plain—a rustic, rustic broth with nothing more than a pinch of scraped sea salt—yet it was hot, clean, and completely devoid of foul odors.
I’ll just have to figure out a way to make it richer next time…
she resolved silently, a faint pout of mild dissatisfaction gracing her lips.
“Yukinoshita-san is truly talented.
Being able to whip up such a comforting seafood soup using nothing more than an improvised tin cup on an open fire is quite a feat,” Kato Jun complimented smoothly, though in truth, his stomach was still rumbling for more.
“Thank you…” Yukinoshita murmured, attempting to maintain her usual cool and indifferent demeanor, though a warm flicker of pride sparkled behind her dark eyes.
However, after the two of them sat staring awkwardly at each other across the fire for nearly two full minutes, Yukinoshita finally noticed his lingering gaze darting repeatedly toward the pot.
“You can finish what’s left.
I’m already full,” she said, her voice dropping an octave.
Realizing that his high-flown praise had largely been motivated by his shameless desire for seconds, her expression chilled instantly.
“Thank you, Yukinoshita-san!” Kato Jun beamed, gladly accepting the remaining portion without a trace of hesitation.
He remained completely oblivious to the wild, chaotic fluctuations flashing across her invisible affinity status.
Yukinoshita Yukino’s affinity: 10…
20…
30…
35…
15…
“Kato-kun…
what in the world are you doing out there?” Yukinoshita called out from the depths of the cave.
She was sitting gracefully atop a fresh, dry mattress of woven hay, unpinning her long, tangled hair so she could gather it properly for the night.
Through the twilight, she watched Kato Jun dragging two massive, charred tree trunks across the sand, leaving deep furrows in the earth leading up to the cave entrance.
“An uncharted tropical island like this is bound to have large nocturnal predators or aggressive scavengers,” Kato Jun answered through gritted teeth as he hauled the heavy timber.
“I’m constructing an angled palisade across the entrance to seal us in while we sleep.
Since an open flame draws swarms of insects, we’ll smother the main campfire with stones later—it’ll keep the embers hot until dawn without advertising our position to everything in the dark.”
Working with calculated efficiency, Kato Jun interlocked the heavy logs into a sturdy V-shape barricade spanning the narrow mouth of the cave. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
He reinforced the base with heavy boulders, then methodically wove dense clusters of thorny coastal brambles into the gaps; wild beasts instinctively avoided thickets with razor-sharp thorns.
“Wait a moment, I’ll come out and assist you,” Yukinoshita said, moving to hurry her hands through her hair.
“There’s no need.
I’m practically finished already, Yukinoshita-sa—…
hmm?”
Kato Jun turned around to wave off her help, but as the dying sunset blended with the flickering amber embers, his words caught squarely in his throat.
Bathed in the warm, dim light inside the cavern, Yukinoshita was kneeling upright on the bed of pale hay.
Her slender, porcelain legs formed an alluring curve beneath the edge of her school uniform skirt, revealing the delicate arch of her pale, bare feet.
Yet what completely seized his breath was her pose.
Her slender arms were raised behind her head, gracefully gathering the luxurious cascade of midnight-black tresses tumbling over her smooth shoulders.
And clutched between her soft, rosy lips was a small, unopened pink foil packet of the latex prophylactic from the handbag, held in place like an ordinary hair tie while she arranged her locks.
The contrast between her proud, unblemished neck, the pristine line of her collarbone, and the utterly suggestive, unguarded sight of her biting the pink wrapper struck Kato Jun like a physical blow, leaving his mouth instantly dry and his pulse racing.
“What’s the matter, Kato-kun?” Yukinoshita noticed him freezing mid-stride, his gaze fixed on her without blinking.
A flustered heat suddenly swept through her, prompting her to tuck her knees in protectively and cross her arms over her chest.
“Nothing at all.
I was just struck by how exceptionally beautiful you look, Yukinoshita-san,” Kato Jun admitted frankly, swallowing hard as he forced his eyes away and resumed piling thorny brush onto the barricade.
“Naturally…” Yukinoshita retorted with reflexive arrogance, though the moment his back was turned, a crimson blush surged across her cheeks to rival the sunset glow.
“Tell me, Kato-kun…
are you truly just another base creature ruled entirely by your lower half?” she challenged boldly, her voice carrying an edge of haughty disdain meant to mask her flustered heart.
“Perish the thought, Yukinoshita-san.
Clinical neuroscience demonstrates that when a man gazes upon a genuinely breathtaking woman who captivates him, his brain experiences a surge in dopamine synthesis,” Kato Jun answered with an entirely straight face, not missing a single beat.
“Dopamine is a crucial neurotransmitter responsible for focus, stamina, and motivational drive.
Elevating baseline dopamine is proven to boost physical performance and endurance.
Therefore, purely in the interest of structural efficiency while fortifying our campsite, I merely sought a necessary chemical boost by looking your way.”
“Is that your excuse…” Yukinoshita murmured, looking away into the shadows.
Despite her scoff, her composure had been completely shattered by his unabashed remark about her being someone who captivated him.
Talking about women who attract him with such a deadpan face…
this shameless idiot!
Silently, Yukinoshita picked up her pile of hay and dragged it several feet deeper into the darkest corner of the cavern.
She prayed that when sleep took her tonight, she wouldn’t unconsciously roll over and end up curled against him again.
Yukinoshita Yukino’s current affinity: 40.