“Finally back…”
Yukino Yukinoshita breathed a heartfelt sigh of relief as the shimmering blue expanse of the ocean peeked through the jungle canopy ahead.
The familiar sight of the coastal coconut grove brought an overwhelming sense of warmth and sanctuary to her thoroughly rattled nerves.
That modest shoreline was where their “home” was anchored.
They had finally broken free from that suffocating, labyrinthine jungle.
“It’s around four in the afternoon, so there’s still time to catch some fish for dinner…”
Kato Jun checked the mechanical watch ticking reliably on his wrist, then glanced up at the tropical sun still blazing overhead.
“Ah!!!!
It’s a spider!”
Before Kato Jun could finish his sentence, Yukinoshita let out a sharp gasp, threw her arms around him from the front, and buried her face into his chest.
“What a huge spider!”
Her voice trembled with even greater terror than when confronting the venomous coral snake earlier that day.
“Where?”
Kato Jun spun around defensively, his eyes darting across the underbrush, yet he saw neither cobwebs nor eight-legged horrors.
“Up…
up on the coconut tree…”
Terrified to cast another glance at the monster, she clung tightly to Kato Jun’s frame, her slender shoulders trembling against him.
Inhaling the delicate floral fragrance of her hair, Kato Jun looked up toward the designated palm trunk.
Good grief, that really is a monster!
However, it wasn’t an arachnid; it was the undisputed monarch of the crustacean world, celebrated by gourmets across the globe—a Coconut Crab.
“Yukinoshita-san, that isn’t a spider.
It’s a coconut crab…
though it does look absurdly oversized…”
Kato Jun stared in awe at the armored colossus slowly scaling the trunk.
In conventional biology, the largest recorded coconut crabs measured barely over a meter in span and weighed roughly five kilograms.
Yet the beast before them possessed a pair of crushing pincers thick enough to snap the very palm it was climbing.
Judging by its immense, two-meter span, Kato Jun estimated its weight to be at least fifteen to twenty kilograms.
Are all the native creatures on this forsaken island scaled up like boss monsters?
Confronting an armored tank of that magnitude, even Kato Jun—whose stomach was instantly growling for crab meat—felt a wave of hesitation.
“A coconut crab?”
Hearing his explanation, Yukinoshita slowly turned her head within the safety of his embrace, peeking cautiously toward the tree.
Taking in the massive, serrated crushing claws, she finally recognized that it was indeed a giant terrestrial crustacean rather than a spider.
Even so, the creature remained deeply unsettling.
Its bristling, hairy walking legs bore an uncanny resemblance to spider limbs, and its tucked, armored abdomen looked uncomfortably close to an arachnid’s bulbous body.
In her eyes, aside from its inability to spin webs, this armored horror wasn’t much better than the monstrosities they had fled from earlier.
“Don’t worry, coconut crabs aren’t naturally aggressive, and because of their sheer bulk, they move quite sluggishly.
Still, we have to stay clear of those pincers; they can effortlessly crack open hard coconuts…”
In nature, a coconut crab’s crushing force was comparable to the bite of a small crocodile, capable of tearing through flesh and bone with ease.
Fortunately, they were reclusive and placid by temperament, rarely initiating attacks on larger animals unless cornered.
Due to their exquisite flavor and painfully slow growth rate, they were hunted nearly to extinction in the modern world, fetching prices far higher than imported Alaskan King Crab.
Seeing this walking delicacy before him, Kato Jun didn’t feel the slightest dread; all he could envision was a feast that would spare them from eating plain roasted fish tonight.
He had to catch this beast.
It was an opportunity for a five-star wilderness banquet.
“At least it doesn’t prey on humans…”
Reassured that it wasn’t a lethal predator, Yukinoshita let out a shaky breath, though her fingers remained wrapped tightly around his forearm.
Only by staying anchored to him could she maintain her composure.
“Yukinoshita-san, let’s harvest some tree vines first.
I need several lengths of heavy-duty rope…”
Kato Jun kept a watchful eye on the crustacean near the crown of the tree while scanning the surrounding jungle edge for raw materials.
The perimeter was draped in thick, fibrous wild lianas—ideal for twisting into high-tensile cordage.
“Understood…
but Kato-kun, what are you planning to do with the ropes?”
Yukinoshita asked, tilting her head with genuine curiosity.
“To capture this titan, of course.
It’s an extraordinary delicacy…”
Kato Jun answered with an earnest, mouth-watering grin. Visit g.com for the full chapter.
“…”
Yukino Yukinoshita’s affinity took a faint, exasperated dip.
“These vine cords should be plenty strong, right?”
When it came to manual craftsmanship, Yukinoshita operated in an entirely different league.
Guided by her passive skill, the multi-ply vine ropes she braided were both supple and virtually unbreakable.
“Yes, this is more than enough.
And our big friend is finally making its descent…”
Crouched behind a broad banyan trunk, Kato Jun and Yukinoshita watched intently as the coconut crab steadily backed down the palm, clutching a fresh green coconut in its smaller grasping claws.
“Yukinoshita-san, wait for me safely behind this trunk.
I’ll handle the capture alone.”
Sensing her lingering revulsion toward the multi-legged creature, he had no intention of dragging her into the skirmish.
Subduing an armored beast of this scale was hazardous even for an agile hunter.
“Alright…”
Yukinoshita nodded meekly, keeping her eyes glued to the colossus.
She knew her current mental state was fragile; forcing herself forward would only create an unnecessary liability for him.
“It’s on the ground.
This is our moment!”
The moment the crab’s armored carapace thudded onto the sand, Kato Jun surged forward like a coiled spring.
Gripping the braided vine rope with both hands, he circled rapidly behind the creature’s blind spot.
Confronting this armored titan up close was undeniably intimidating, but Kato Jun forcefully visualized the crab split open, glowing red, and steaming hot over a campfire.
With that culinary image firmly planted in his mind, his fear evaporated into pure hunger.
Sensing the rushing footfalls behind it, the crab immediately released the coconut and attempted to rotate its heavy bulk to present its crushing claws to the intruder.
Kato Jun gave it no such opportunity.
Stepping squarely over its rear, he whipped the looped vine over the beast’s eye stalks and carapace, pulling the cinch tight with explosive force.
The crab was instantly ensnared.
Capitalizing on his opening, Kato Jun threw his weight into dragging the thrashing creature across the sand, rapidly wrapping secondary coils around its legs and pinning its monstrous pincers tightly against its chest.
Once the bone-crushing claws were thoroughly bound, Kato Jun collapsed onto his back in the sand, his chest heaving as adrenaline surged through his veins.
“I did it!
Yukinoshita!”
Panting heavily, he raised an arm and called out triumphantly toward the girl approaching from the tree line.
“I…
I still find it terrifying to look at…”
Yukinoshita approached cautiously, making a wide detour around the bound crustacean before coming to a stop beside Kato Jun, looking down at him with a mixture of awe and concern.
“Don’t worry.
Once we sever those massive pincers and roast them over the fire, this overgrown crustacean will just be a mountain of pure protein at our mercy…”
Lying flat on the sand, Kato Jun’s upward gaze inadvertently caught sight of the porcelain skin of her thighs peeking past the slit of her leaf skirt.
However, the sheer exertion of dragging a twenty-kilogram thrashing beast had pushed his physical body to its limit.
A living animal fighting for its life felt five times heavier than dead weight.
Fortunately, the harvest was secure.
Kato Jun scrambled to his feet before Yukinoshita could detect his wandering gaze.
Surveying the massive haul of premium meat, his physical stamina was spent, but his sanity value had recovered significantly.
Conquering titanic beasts was deeply ingrained in masculine nature—whether conquering jagged mountain peaks or unyielding wilderness…
At that thought, his eyes subconsciously drifted toward Yukinoshita’s modest chest line.
Her personal development really is quite tragic…
“Kato-kun, you appear to be harboring remarkably impolite thoughts again…”
Sensing the blatant pity dripping from his eyes, Yukinoshita’s expression instantly turned sub-zero.
She crossed her arms defensively over her chest, shutting down his line of sight.
As twilight set in, Kato Jun used his sharpened iron machete to cleanly sever the crab’s two enormous claws.
To keep the rest of the meat fresh, he left the main body bound and placed it inside a deep sand pit fortified with heavy driftwood stakes, ensuring it would survive until morning.
A beast this massive couldn’t possibly be consumed in a single evening, and letting it spoil in the tropical heat would be criminal.
Carrying the severed pincers back to the campsite, he found Yukinoshita tending a fresh pot of boiling cliff water over the stone hearth.
Stripped of the spider-like body, the isolated crab claws no longer frightened her, though their sheer size presented a new culinary dilemma.
Each claw segment was nearly as long as an adult’s arm.
“We’ll need to fashion a spit roast with two sturdy wooden forks, stoke the fire until it’s blazing hot, and roast the claws directly over the flames…”
After studying the problem, Yukinoshita took the initiative.
Using the iron blade, she notched two thick, Y-shaped branches and drove them deep into the sand on either side of the pit.
Meanwhile, Kato Jun dragged additional driftwood from the beach, building the campfire into a roaring bed of intense, glowing coals.
Once the claws were lashed to sturdy spit poles and suspended over the heat, the two sat side by side on the sand, sipping hot water infused with sweet palm roots while watching the shells turn a vibrant, appetizing crimson.
Despite the terrifying ordeal with the spiders and the snake earlier that afternoon, sitting beside the crackling fire now filled Yukinoshita’s heart with an unprecedented sense of peace and security. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
She glanced sideways at the boy next to her, watching the warm amber light highlight his focused profile.
He was far more dependable than she had ever imagined.
A soft blush bloomed across her cheeks, illuminated by the firelight.
“How is it?”
For once, it was Kato Jun who nervously asked for her culinary evaluation.
“Even without proper seasoning, the meat is wonderfully succulent, tender, and naturally sweet…”
Yukino Yukinoshita marveled at the feast before her.
Cracking open the charred, brittle outer shell revealed solid cylinders of pristine white crab meat thicker than both of her fists pressed together.
Despite the immense thickness of the muscle, the meat wasn’t fibrous or tough; instead, it possessed a rich, buttery texture that melted on the tongue.
“You’re right.
Aside from sea salt, we desperately need real seasonings.
Grilled seafood without chili or garlic truly has no soul…”
Kato Jun agreed, though he continued to devour bite after delicious bite.
Even unseasoned, the rich fats of the coconut crab made it an undeniable feast.
“Kato-kun, tomorrow…
are you still planning to venture into the jungle?”
After eating a few mouthfuls, Yukinoshita asked softly, her gaze drifting toward the dark wall of trees.
“Yeah…
I have to.”
Kato Jun nodded firmly.
Until he located his sister Megumi, giving up on the interior was out of the question.
Four days had passed without a whisper of a search party; relying on external salvation was a fool’s hope.
“I see…”
Yukinoshita lowered her head, a heavy sadness settling over her features.
She had silently resolved not to accompany him tomorrow.
She didn’t want to become a pathetic liability who dragged him into the jaws of death again.
“However, I won’t be setting foot back in that forest until you learn how to climb trees quickly…”
“Eh?”
Yukinoshita blinked in confusion, looking up at him.
“There’s no helping it.
You’re far too delicate, and leaving you alone here at camp will only leave me constantly sick with worry.
So from now on, we explore the jungle as a team!”
Noticing her slumped shoulders and dejection, Kato Jun spoke in an uncharacteristically tender tone.
“B-But I…
I might just drag you down again, Kato-kun…”
And what do you mean by delicate?!
My martial arts training isn’t just for show!
She pouted internally, though she had to concede that her martial arts were utterly useless against serpents and giant arachnids.
“That is precisely why you need to train and master tree-climbing.
The moment danger approaches, you can scramble up into the branches and stay out of harm’s way.”
Kato Jun met her gaze squarely as he chewed his crab meat.
“Besides, not once have I ever considered you a burden!”
If she hadn’t forced him to take those buoyant coconuts that first morning, he would have drowned on his return swim from the wreckage.
Furthermore, the hunting bow, the arrows, the canteens, and the improved shelter were all fruits of her extraordinary craftsmanship.
Without her, his survival efficiency would be cut in half.
“Alright…
then please instruct me diligently, Teacher Kato.
I will do my utmost to master tree-climbing as quickly as possible!”
A radiant, relieved smile broke across Yukinoshita’s face.
Hearing his sincere reassurance, the suffocating guilt that had weighed on her chest vanished into the cool night air.
“You had better prepare yourself; I happen to be an exceptionally strict instructor.”
Kato Jun grinned back, relieved to see her spirited nature return.
On a deserted island cut off from civilization, the most lethal enemy was never wild beasts or starvation, but the crushing, maddening isolation of the human mind.
At this moment, he was profoundly grateful to have such a beautiful, resilient girl walking by his side.
Yukino Yukinoshita’s Affinity: 86.