A simple comparison of accounts sent the two huddled figures straight into silence.
After a long while, it was still Isac who first broke the quiet.
Isac said: “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but apart from us, there isn’t a single survivor’s body anywhere nearby.”
Yukinoshita Yukino said: “I noticed.
And the wreckage of this aircraft isn’t from the plane I was on either — it’s far too small.
At the very most, it would count as a small-to-medium passenger plane.”
The plane Yukinoshita Yukino had boarded was a large wide-body airliner.
From what her eye could measure, calling the wreckage they were sitting in a mid-sized narrow-body would already be giving it too much credit.
It was, at best, a ‘plus’ version of a small passenger plane — somewhere between a mid-sized airliner and a small business jet.
Generally, this kind of aircraft was common on short-hop international routes between neighboring countries.
It wasn’t built for transcontinental flight.
Most private jets owned by the ultra-wealthy fell into this category.
“So have we been swept up in some kind of mysterious incident?
Like Malaysia Airlines MH370, or Flight 19?” Yukinoshita Yukino speculated.
The two examples Yukinoshita Yukino had cited were both unsolved mysteries of modern aviation.
Up until now, she had only heard them as stories — but with something similar happening to her in person, she couldn’t help but suspect she might be living through an event of the same kind.
“I hope not.” Isac twitched the corner of his mouth — but as a senior transmigrator with one round of experience already under his belt, he had to concede:
“From the look of things right now, though, it does seem to be exactly that.”
A flicker of bewilderment passed through Yukinoshita Yukino’s eyes.
Mature though her mind might be compared to her peers, in a situation like this even a fully-grown adult would be at a loss — let alone a sixteen-year-old girl just out of middle school and on her way home to start high school.
At this thought, Yukinoshita Yukino was forced to confront one question—
Could she… still go home?
“Better not think about all of that for now.
Stay alive first.
Only the living have hope.” Isac abruptly reached up and slapped his own cheeks hard, producing a crisp smack-smack.
“Tonight we’ll take watch in shifts.
I’ll handle the first half, you take the second.
As for tomorrow…” Isac paused there, then went on.
“Tomorrow we stay here one more day and gather as many supplies as we can.
If rescue still hasn’t come after that, we have to start thinking about long-term survival in this place — we’ll need to find or build a safer, better-insulated shelter as soon as possible.”
“You’re right.” Yukinoshita Yukino pushed the negative emotions in her chest down.
Now really wasn’t the moment to chase after exactly what had happened — what stood in front of them was a temperature of twenty or thirty below zero and a survival crisis plain to the naked eye.
The meal containers left over from the planes were finite, no matter what.
Even rationed carefully, one day they would run out — and in this kind of extreme sub-zero environment, you couldn’t really ration in the first place.
Without enough calorie intake, you’d just be waiting for the cold to claim your life!
Yukinoshita Yukino clearly understood that she was now firmly bound together with this boy beside her — this boy called Isac.
No — given her current physical condition, she was the one dragging the team down.
Even her life had been pulled back from the brink by him!
Dragging the team down… Yukinoshita Yukino bit lightly at her lower lip with her pearl-white teeth.
She had never imagined the day would come when those words would apply to her.
What Yukinoshita Yukino was even more reluctant to dwell on was this: right now he could still afford to look after her — but in a few days, once the food ran out and they had to relocate, when they came face-to-face with a life-or-death crisis, would he still be willing to drag a deadweight like her along?
She and he weren’t family, weren’t even acquaintances.
That he had already saved her life once was a gift of goodwill — but surely he couldn’t keep saving her forever?
She had to find a way to become useful.
At the very least… she couldn’t drag him down.
‘So what should I be doing right now?’ Yukinoshita Yukino mused — and the answer came to her quickly.
What she could do right now was rest properly, then take over the watch from Isac in the second half of the night.
Yukinoshita Yukino closed her eyes, forcibly emptied her mind, and willed herself to fall asleep as quickly as she could.
Her taut nerves gradually loosened.
The warm heat radiating from the fire enveloped her whole body, and her thoughts grew hazy.
The body leaning against the cabin wall slowly went slack, and her small head — bit by bit — slid toward the shoulder of the boy beside her.
Isac felt a weight settle on his left shoulder.
He glanced over once, then again, then several more times — all the while marveling internally at the Creator’s killer craftsmanship — before tucking the sweater in a little more snugly on her side.
After that, he sprinkled a little water into the fire to slow the burn rate of the wood, so it wouldn’t burn through too fast and leave them with nothing to feed it in the latter half of the night.
Outside the wreckage, the snow was still falling.
The only company the boy had was the faint sound of the girl’s breathing beside him and the crackle of burning wood in front of him — beyond that, only stillness.
The night was still long.
…
An unfamiliar ceiling.
Isac opened his eyes and stared blankly at the slightly warped steel framework above him.
He exhaled slowly and said: “So it wasn’t a dream after all…”
“No, it wasn’t.
Would you like some hot water?”
Seeing that Isac was awake, Yukinoshita Yukino quite naturally passed him a meal container filled with water.
“Thanks.”
The moment he took it, the water was still warm.
Isac took a sip and felt a good portion of his drowsiness recede.
Then Yukinoshita Yukino pointed at the still-burning bed of embers and reminded him: “We’re almost out of yesterday’s firewood.
You’ll need to bring some more back.”
“Got it.
I’ll head into the woods to gather some in a bit.” Isac nodded.
“Don’t go too far.” Yukinoshita Yukino said — and then, perhaps feeling her words had come out sounding a little too much like coddling, she added: “In case you get lost.
The wilderness isn’t safe either.”
“Understood.” Isac pushed himself up off the floor and stretched his body out.
Although there were still faint aches scattered across his body, things were noticeably better than yesterday.
He figured another two days would clear it up entirely.
After all, this was a fresh account.
“How’s your leg?” Isac asked.
Yukinoshita Yukino glanced at her left foot, kept clear of the fire, and shook her head as she said: “It’s not as painful after the painkillers, but the swelling still hasn’t gone down.”
“A hundred days to heal a serious injury, as they say.
Even with full medical care, a severe sprain takes ten days to two weeks before you can walk on it — let alone in conditions like ours.” Isac said reassuringly.
As he spoke, Isac picked up a twig and raked some wood ash out from the edge of the fire.
With his index finger, he scooped a bit up and gave his mouth a quick clean, all while gesturing for Yukinoshita Yukino to take some as well.
The more extreme the environment, the more personal hygiene mattered.
Drink only boiled water.
Keep your teeth clean every day.
Showers… forget about showers — too easy to catch a chill and get sick.
And if you got sick in a hellhole like this, you really would be calling on heaven with no answer, calling on earth with no reply.
Watching Isac’s practiced movements, Yukinoshita Yukino couldn’t help but freeze for a beat.
After a moment’s hesitation, she nevertheless followed his method, scooped up some wood ash to brush her teeth, then rinsed her mouth with what remained of her warm water and spat it out.
Whether it was just placebo or not, her teeth really did feel a bit cleaner that way…