Everyone immediately became alert again.
A tall, muscular young man with dark skin came out from between the trees.
His long, spiky black hair was partially covered by a white bandana, and he wore a rugged, torn singlet over the school uniform.
He held a long branch in one hand, but the moment he noticed the approaching group, his entire body stiffened.
Especially after seeing the spears and hatchet.
“W-Wait a second…”
Akira narrowed his eyes for a moment before blinking in surprise.
“…Oi, aren’t you Saji from Class 3-3?”
Kazuma Saji stared back at him in disbelief.
“…Sengoku? From the volleyball team?” His eyes widened.
“You survived too?”
Kurusu smiled in relief after recognizing him.
“Saji-kun, you’re safe…”
Saji finally noticed her properly.
“Ah… Kurusu-chan. I honestly thought I’d never see another familiar face again.”
Kurusu immediately puffed her cheeks.
“Saji-kun, call me Sensei. I’m your teacher.”
“Hahaha… yeah, that really brings back memories.” Saji’s tone softened slightly as he laughed.
Akira gestured toward the others beside him.
“You might have heard of Mariya and Rion at school. These two are Towa-san and Oomori-san, the flight attendants.”
Mariya simply looked at Saji without much expression, while the girls gave small nods.
Saji glanced over them carefully.
“…Wow.”
The girls immediately looked uncomfortable under his stare.
Rion quietly leaned toward Towa and Kanako.
“He definitely gives off delinquent vibes.”
Towa laughed awkwardly while Kanako visibly shrank closer to her.
Before the awkwardness could continue any further, another voice interrupted.
“Well, if it isn’t Saji-kun. I’m impressed you’re still alive.”
Saji turned sharply toward the voice and saw Itou, Ono, and Mikoshiba approaching from behind the group.
“…Y-Yeah…”
His expression tightened, and he instinctively looked down, seeming noticeably uncomfortable.
Kurusu noticed his reaction and frowned slightly as she looked at Itou, Ono, and Mikoshiba.
She placed her hands on her hips dramatically.
“You three didn’t bully him, did you?”
“W-What? No!” Saji quickly waved his hands.
“It’s nothing like that.”
Rion immediately leaned toward the others again, fully interested now.
“Wait… there’s hierarchy even among delinquents?”
“Then Yarai-kun is the boss?” Kanako asked innocently.
“You two seriously watch too many dramas,” Towa muttered with a tired smile.
Ono immediately raised both hands.
“Kurusu-chan, I barely even know him.”
“Same here,” Mikoshiba added.
Kurusu slowly turned toward Itou.
“So it was you, Itou-kun?”
The others also looked toward him suspiciously.
“W-Wait a second,” Itou said quickly.
“I never bullied him. He’s not even a delinquent.”
Rion looked surprised.
“Wait… he’s not?”
“He just likes acting tougher than he actually is,” Akira added casually.
“Exactly,” Itou snorted.
“He talks big, but folds the second someone scarier shows up.”
“Shut up, you bastards…” Saji muttered while reddening slightly.
“Oh… so he’s basically all talk,” Rion replied.
Before Saji could snap back, he suddenly froze.
Yarai had quietly walked over from the back and stopped beside Kurusu.
Saji instinctively stepped backward.
The sight of the hatchet at Yarai’s side clearly did not help.
“…Y-Yarai-kun.”
Akira laughed after noticing how stiff Saji had become.
“Relax. He’s not gonna kill you or anything.”
“Easy for you to say,” Saji muttered while staring at the hatchet.
“Oi, man up already,” Akira teased.
Saji took a deep breath, trying to regain his composure, but he made no attempt to approach Yarai or speak to him.
“So much for all that bravado.”
“Shut up…”
“Anyways, this is Kazuma Saji from Class 3-3,” Akira introduced.
Yarai simply nodded.
Nearby, Ono and Mikoshiba exchanged brief looks before casually nodding toward Saji as well.
Once they had settled down, Akira finally looked around again.
“So what are you doing here? Are you alone, Saji?”
“No. There are three other people staying here too. They went to gather supplies,” Saji replied.
His expression became more serious afterward.
“Come with me.”
“Where?” Akira asked.
“Just come with me. It’s definitely worth your time.”
Akira and the others exchanged glances before following him along the shoreline.
They followed Saji until they reached an area where a pile of logs had been left in a disorderly heap.
Akira frowned slightly.
“…What’s all this for?”
Saji glanced back toward the logs.
“Oh. That.”
A faint grin appeared on his face.
“I’m building a raft.”
He pointed proudly toward several logs that had been tied together.
It looked more like floating debris than an actual raft.
The entire group went silent.
Even Yarai quietly studied the tied logs for a moment.
“…Is this supposed to be a raft?”
“Yes,” Saji replied confidently.
“We’re getting off this island.”
Akira immediately frowned.
“That sounds insanely dangerous.”
“It is dangerous,” Saji admitted honestly.
“But staying here feels worse.”
“I’m already done with this nightmare island. Help me out here, Sengoku.”
Akira stared toward the open ocean.
“Quit saying ridiculous things. That thing wouldn’t survive five minutes out there.”
Kurusu looked uncomfortable while examining the logs.
“This thing looks like it’ll fall apart immediately,” she muttered.
“Where exactly are you planning to go?” Towa asked carefully.
“It feels pointless,” Kanako muttered nervously.
Even Ono and Mikoshiba looked doubtful.
“Oii, Saji-kun… did you hit your head or something?”
Yarai looked directly at Saji.
“That pile of logs won’t get you anywhere. You’d just end up feeding marine animals.”
Saji’s face stiffened slightly.
“But you’re building this for a reason,” Yarai continued.
“So explain it.”
Saji looked surprised for a moment before pointing farther out toward the ocean.
“Look carefully.”
The group followed his gaze.
At first, they saw nothing except thick mist drifting above the water.
“Oh, this guy definitely lost it,” Ono muttered.
“Just wait a second,” Saji snapped.
Kurusu still looked worried as she stared into the fog.
Then, as the sea breeze shifted the haze, a dark outline slowly emerged in the distance before partially disappearing beneath the mist.
It was another island.
Everyone froze at the sight.
“…No way,” Rion whispered.
The outline remained faint, but unmistakable.
Kanako stared with widened eyes.
“There’s another island…”
“Maybe there aren’t monsters over there,” she said hopefully.
Towa immediately looked uneasy.
“We can’t know that.”
Mariya adjusted his glasses while studying the distant shape carefully.
“…Based on its apparent size and our visibility, it probably isn’t more than five kilometers away.”
“Exactly,” Saji said immediately.
“That’s what I’ve been saying.”
Akira stared toward the island again.
Inside his head, the idea suddenly stopped sounding completely insane.
If they built multiple rafts together, they might actually be able to reach it.
“…Wait,” he muttered.
“This might actually work. There’s literally another island right there.”
He immediately turned toward Yarai.
“What do you think?”
Everyone looked toward him.
Yarai remained silent for several moments as he stared across the ocean.
He had already noticed a few things about the shoreline.
Saji visibly relaxed.
But before anyone could celebrate too much, Yarai spoke again.
“There’s something all of you should understand first.”
“You noticed it as well?” Mariya asked quietly.
“No…Not again,” Akira muttered.
Even Saji looked uneasy now.
Yarai glanced around the coastline.
“When you look at this shore, does anything feel strange?”
Kanako looked around carefully.
“…Not really.”
“Yeah,” Akira added.
“It looks normal.”
“I’ve been here for days,” Saji replied quickly.
“I haven’t seen anything strange.”
“That’s exactly the problem,” Yarai answered.
Akira frowned.
“What does that even mean?”
“Sengoku, it’s too clean. There’s no man-made waste,” Mariya said.
Akira blinked.
“…Isn’t that a good thing?”
“The ocean and currents can carry floating debris toward shore,” Mariya explained calmly.
“Plastic, trash, fishing gear… things like that. If there are human settlements or regular human activity somewhere nearby, you would expect at least some man-made debris to eventually wash ashore.”
Akira’s expression slowly changed.
“…Wait.”
The others gradually realized it as well.
“This driftwood reached this place because of the current,” Yarai said calmly.
“But there’s no sign of nearby human activity.”
Saji’s face slowly lost color.
His eyes shifted toward the empty shoreline again.
“…No.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to be prepared. But there is still another possibility,” Yarai continued.
“The currents might simply carry debris away from inhabited areas before reaching this shore.”
Mariya thought for a moment before nodding slowly.
“That’s plausible.”
“Wait, so which is it?” Akira asked.
“I don’t know,” Yarai admitted honestly.
“But either way, we need to be prepared. If we wait around doing nothing and simply hope for rescue, that won’t help us survive.”
Saji took a deep breath before looking at the outline of the island in the distance.
“…I still want to go.”
His voice became firmer afterward.
“Even if the chances are low, I want to get off this island.”
Yarai looked toward Akira.
“What about you?”
Akira grinned slightly.
“I’m in too.”
Towa looked confused.
“Then why tell everyone the worst possibility first?”
“Because if people lose hope after failing once, they stop thinking properly,” Yarai replied calmly.
“And on this island, that can get people killed.”
The group quietly nodded.
After the tension finally eased again, Akira suddenly rolled up his sleeves.
“Alright then, Saji. What do you need us to do?”
Saji immediately pointed toward the forest.
“First, we wait for those useless idiots to get back.”
“The other three from your group?” Akira asked.
“Yeah. They’re completely unreliable.”
Akira laughed as he followed him farther down the shoreline.
The group followed after them, leaving Mariya and Yarai briefly behind.
“So what’s your actual reason?” Mariya asked.
Yarai kept his eyes on the distant island.
“It’s exactly what I said. So far, we haven’t seen anything suggesting we’re close to civilization.”
Mariya nodded slowly.
“…I agree.”
“And even if that island turns out to be the same, crossing there still gives us another place to explore and more information to work with,” Yarai continued.
“That alone matters.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Mariya admitted quietly.
A voice suddenly echoed from farther down the beach.
“Oi! Mariya! Yarai! Stop standing around and get over here!”
Akira waved toward them loudly from the shoreline.
Mariya sighed.
“We should go.”
“Yeah.”
The two of them quietly walked back toward the others while the waves continued rolling steadily against the shore.