While torrential rain brought an abundance of fresh drinking water and temporary relief from the blistering heat, it also accelerated the rot of organic matter throughout the coastal jungle.
The air hung heavy with stifling dampness, mold, and the sickening reek of decomposition.
“What’s even more terrifying is that I seem to have grown completely used to this stench…”
Kasumigaoka Utaha sat huddled inside the bamboo cage, watching the rain drift through the crude palisade with hollow, sorrowful eyes.
To the captives, rainy days carried an ominous significance: without dry kindling to build a fire pit, the savages would slaughter their prisoners and consume the meat raw.
At that thought, Utaha’s empty, churning stomach convulsed with nauseating revulsion.
The number of occupied cages in the compound had dwindled to a terrifying handful; before long, their turn on the butchering stone would inevitably arrive.
To make matters worse, Sora Ginko—curled tightly beside her—had succumbed to a high fever after enduring last night’s icy coastal gale and today’s freezing downpour.
Faced with her shivering, delirious junior, Utaha could only curse the savages and the cruel weather while pulling Ginko’s frail body firmly into her arms.
She desperately hoped her own body heat would keep the younger girl from slipping into the dark.
“Kasumigaoka-senpai…
if you keep holding me, you’ll catch a cold too, and then you’ll be left all alone…”
Sora Ginko murmured in a hazy whisper, a faint, resigned smile flickering across her pale lips.
In a cage exposed to the elements, where rancid scraps of vine were tossed to them only once every few days, falling ill was practically a death sentence.
Yet in her feverish haze, dying of pneumonia almost felt like a blessing—at least she would pass away before the cannibals could carve into her flesh.
“Don’t say such foolish things!”
Kasumigaoka Utaha tapped Ginko’s burning cheek with gentle urgency.
“If you die, I’ll lose my mind completely.
And if the savages come back and see that you’re sick and dying, they’ll drag us out to butcher us before the meat spoils!”
Utaha pleaded fiercely, fighting to rekindle the spark of life in the girl’s clouded eyes.
She understood that once a person surrendered their will to live, their immune system would collapse entirely.
“I’m sorry…
I’d rather die fighting than watch Kasumigaoka-senpai get eaten first!”
Utaha’s desperate words pierced the fog in Ginko’s mind.
Coughing weakly, tears welled in the corners of her eyes as she wrapped her slender arms tightly around her senior’s waist.
“I will keep living until senpai gives up on me!”
Burrowing deep into Utaha’s warm embrace, the silver-haired prodigy clung desperately to the fragile thread of hope between them.
“Ah…
it’s raining…”
Under the overhang of a rocky cliff miles away, Yui Yuigahama woke up nestled in Kato Megumi’s arms, feeling droplets of mist spray across her face.
“Thankfully, the fire hasn’t gone out yet…
but we’re almost out of the dry wood we gathered yesterday…”
Megumi noted calmly as she fed their remaining dry twigs into the protected hearth.
For survivors stranded in the wild, persistent rain was an absolute catastrophe.
“Then I’ll head into the jungle and look for more dry branches—”
Yui offered impulsively, moving to stand up.
“No, the chances of finding combustible firewood in a soaking wet rainforest are virtually zero.
We need to conserve our embers today and pray this downpour doesn’t last for days…”
Kato Megumi stopped her, carefully pouring fresh rainwater collected in giant clam shells into a makeshift boiling pit.
She then retrieved a handful of dark, tuberous roots from their supply pouch, burying them directly beneath the hot ashes.
“As for our breakfast, we still have this wild black yam.
Hopefully, it tastes even better roasted than raw…”
The island possessed an extreme, mercurial climate.
Under the direct tropical sun, temperatures easily soared past forty degrees Celsius, but the moment cold storm winds swept in from the sea, the thermometer plummeted below twenty.
“I really hope the search party finds us soon…”
Yui drew her knees to her chest on the dry stone floor, watching the grey curtain of rain with a melancholic sigh.
Nearly a week had slipped away, yet not a single rescue vessel had appeared on the horizon.
“Here, give it a try.”
Megumi used a green stick to roll a roasted yam from the coals, peeling back the charred skin and presenting the steaming core to Yui.
“Mm!”
Megumi’s steady composure was an anchor that chased away Yui’s gloom.
Blowing gently on the dark flesh, Yui took an eager bite.
“It’s so delicious!”
The roasted tuber possessed a rich, caramelized sweetness that far surpassed any cultivated sweet potato she had ever tasted.
“Ouch!
That’s so hot!”
Ecstatic, she took a larger bite, only to instantly clutch her burning tongue with a tearful whimper.
Farther down the coastline, Kato Jun trudged through the rain along the high-tide line, his eyes scanning the washed-out sand.
Suddenly, a sliver of dark fabric buried beneath the drift caught his attention.
“Was this left behind by someone else?”
Kato Jun knelt down, quickly digging the soaked cloth out from under the wet sand.
“Wait… Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
this texture and design…
these are Yukinoshita-san’s over-the-knee stockings!
They just have a few snags and holes, yet she completely discarded them…
what a waste!”
Inspecting the delicate elastic weave and distinctive white cuff stripes, there was zero doubt that they belonged to Yukino Yukinoshita.
He had assumed he had stumbled upon a clue pointing to other survivors, only to realize he had unearthed the stockings she had secretly buried yesterday after her bath.
Shaking the grit and water from the fine fabric, he folded them neatly.
High-density synthetic nylon like this is exceptionally tough; it’ll make fantastic fine cordage, small-game snares, or filtration mesh.
Yet as he held the silky fabric in his hand, vivid images of Yukinoshita’s flawless, slender legs flashed unbidden across his mind.
He was suddenly reminded of the famous cultural critique by Lu Xun: Upon seeing a short sleeve, one immediately imagines bare arms, then complete nudity, then reproduction…
It seemed human imagination truly leaped across boundaries with astonishing speed.
Coughing awkwardly to banish the inappropriate imagery from his head, Kato Jun shoved the stockings deep into his jacket pocket and hurried toward the perimeter of his traps.
Reaching the secluded hollow where he had concealed the giant coconut crab, a grin broke across his face.
“Awesome!
It looks like my perimeter snare actually worked!”
To prevent scavengers from dragging off their prize, he had concealed three spring-loaded vine snares around the pit.
And now, one of the slipknots was pulled taut around a thrashing shadow.
“Wait, is that…
a fox?!”
Kato Jun blinked in disbelief as he approached the snared animal.
The creature possessed a slender, elongated body roughly a meter in length, coated in dense reddish-tawny fur.
It had broad, alert ears, prominent canine fangs, and a thick, bushy tail marked with dark rings like a fox.
Yet its facial structure, retractable claws, and vertical slit pupils were undeniably those of an overgrown feline.
It was the fabled, elusive Corsican Fox-Cat.
“It’s actually still alive?
Incredible…”
Despite the vine loop cinched around its neck, the creature had shown remarkable intelligence; instead of strangling itself in a panic, it had remained largely still to conserve oxygen.
Prying the slipknot loose, Kato Jun noted that while the animal was exhausted and shivering from the cold rain, it was entirely unharmed.
He reached down and scooped it up securely by the scruff of its neck.
I’ve heard wild feline meat is tough and gamey, but this thick pelt would make incredible winter insulation…
Carrying the hissing fox-cat in one hand and hauling the bound coconut crab in the other, Kato Jun marched triumphantly back to the cave through the downpour.
Lunch proved to be a lavish banquet.
The rich, buttery crab roe, blended with sweet coconut water and simmered inside a hollowed shell, produced an intensely flavorful chowder.
Thanks to the beast being kept alive until midday, the white meat remained extraordinarily succulent.
By noon, the awkward tension from their morning kiss had completely evaporated into comfortable domesticity, though Kato Jun noticed a monumental change on her status screen.
Yukino Yukinoshita’s Affinity: 90.
She was practically on the threshold of maximum devotion.
Yet despite this staggering number, she paid Kato Jun very little attention throughout lunch.
Her entire universe had been completely hijacked by the damp, purring fox-cat nestled by the hearth.
She was even making soft, high-pitched mewing sounds at the animal.
“Yukinoshita-san, do you really adore cats that much?”
Kato Jun asked, tossing a few cooked crab legs into the creature’s bowl.
Having gorged itself on premium seafood, the meter-long wild cat had regained its vitality, leaning into the warmth of the fire.
“No, that’s not quite it.
I simply believe cats are infinitely cuter than human beings…”
Yukinoshita replied with absolute earnestness, her slender fingers gently smoothing the fur behind the beast’s ears.
“Isn’t that just a roundabout way of admitting you love cats?”
Kato Jun shrugged with an amused smirk.
“However, Yukinoshita-san, this isn’t an ordinary domestic cat; it’s a rare wild breed—a fox-cat.
In fact, judging by its bone structure, it leans much closer to a canine…”
“A dog?!”
Yukinoshita gasped, instantly recoiling her hand as if struck by lightning.
Her deep-seated cynophobia had plagued her since childhood; even a tiny, harmless lapdog was enough to send her climbing onto tables.
“Kato-kun isn’t playing a cruel joke on me, is he?
It clearly possesses every physical trait of a stray cat, so how could it possibly be a canine…?”
“No, looking at its dentition and tail markings, it truly shares morphological traits with foxes.
But relax, I was only teasing you; taxonomically, it is classified as a felid.”
Seeing her genuinely terrified reaction, Kato Jun chuckled and backed down.
Eating the cat was clearly off the table.
Yukinoshita shot him a scathing glare before eagerly scooping the cat back into her lap.
“It looks like Yukinoshita-san will never permit cat meat on the menu.
In that case, what if we keep it as our campsite pet?”
Kato Jun squatted down and reached out to poke the cat’s nose, prompting both the kitten and Yukinoshita to simultaneously bare their teeth at him in unison.
“Seriously!
Cats are the pinnacle of elegance and cuteness!
It’s utterly barbaric that anyone in this world would ever contemplate eating them!”
Yukinoshita held the creature protectively against her chest, glaring at him as if he were a bloodthirsty poacher.
“Take that!”
Grasping the cat’s soft front paw, she playfully swiped it across Kato Jun’s cheek.
“So, do we have an agreement to adopt it?”
Kato Jun laughed, leaning back to dodge the miniature claws.
“Mm…”
Yukinoshita nodded with a shy, delicate blush, her face melting into pure adoration the moment she looked back down at the purring feline.
The legendary cat-obsessed Yukinoshita truly lives up to her reputation.
Recognizing that untamed wild beasts required caution, Kato Jun braided a supple vine collar and tethered the fox-cat securely near the dry corner of the shelter.
Yukinoshita immediately set to work, weaving a cozy, elevated nest of dried grasses and palm fronds for their new companion.
Watching her fuss endlessly over the animal, Kato Jun leaned against the cave wall, feeling an absurd, lingering twinge of jealousy toward the beast.
Fortunately, tropical storms departed as swiftly as they arrived.
By late afternoon, the dark squall clouds fractured and scattered across the horizon, revealing an intoxicating sunset that painted the ocean in brilliant shades of violet, amber, and molten gold.
Stepping out from beneath the dripping wooden eaves, Kato Jun and Yukinoshita walked down to the surf, breathing in the warm, salt-kissed sea breeze.
“Hakuna Matata…”
Gazing at the sun melting into the endless horizon, Kato Jun murmured the iconic childhood line under his breath.
“Hakuna Matata?
What strange language is that?”
Yukinoshita turned to him, thoroughly puzzled by the unfamiliar words.
“It’s a traditional Swahili phrase from East Africa.
It means ‘no troubles’—to cast aside all anxiety and live entirely carefree…”
He explained, feeling the residual tension of their survival ordeal dissolve into the evening tide.
“Hakuna Matata…”
Yukinoshita repeated the phrase softly, savoring the cadence of the syllables.
A radiant, serene smile bloomed across her face.
“Kato-kun certainly knows an eclectic variety of trivia.”
“Even so, in some ways, our life on this deserted island truly is carefree…”
Free from the stifling expectations of high-society elites, free from academic pressures, and free from her mother’s suffocating scrutiny, she felt an unprecedented tranquility wash over her soul.
“Thank you, Kato…
Jun-kun…”
She whispered his given name for the very first time, her cheeks flushed a brilliant crimson under the dying light.
“There’s nothing you need to thank me for.
Out here, we only have each other to rely on…”
Kato Jun smiled, stepping forward to the edge of the foaming waves.
Taking a massive breath, he cupped his hands to his mouth and let out a deafening, chest-rattling roar across the empty ocean.
“Aaaaaaaahhhhhh~!”
Turning back to her with a shameless grin, he struck a muscle pose.
“How was that?
Didn’t that radiate authentic Tarzan energy?”
“You resembled a wild ape, perhaps, but certainly not Tarzan.”
Yukinoshita dissolved into breathless giggles, covering her mouth before stepping up beside him on the wet sand.
Mimicking his posture, she cupped her hands to the ocean and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Kato-kun is a monumental idiot!
A shameless exhibitionist!
An incorrigible pervert…!”
Having vented all her lingering grievances into the waves, she flashed him a brilliantly mischievous smile and sprinted down the shoreline before he could react.
“Hey!
You get back here right now!”
Kato Jun barked in mock outrage, kicking up plumes of golden sand as he gave chase.
Beneath the blazing tropical sunset, the two youths raced across the pristine shore, their laughter echoing far out into the tranquil sea.
Yukino Yukinoshita’s Affinity: 92.