Drifted Into a Reversed World ~ The One Method for Me, a Japanese Guy, to Survive in a World Where Men and Fertility Are Scarce ~ - 1

Chapter 1: Drifted to Reversal Island

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Sota Akitsuki was ensnared by an unprecedented sense of anxiety and terror. He had planned to spend his university summer break solo camping on a remote island as a hobby, but he never dreamed that things would turn out like this. The vessel Sota was aboard was currently being battered by a storm. It was a tiny boat, little more than a fishing vessel. The small hull was tossed by massive waves and lashed by gale-force winds; it was in a precarious state, liable to capsize at any moment.

(This is… really… really bad…!)

One didn’t need to be a sailor to understand. This boat was going to sink. Even Sota, who had very little familiarity with the sea, could not help but feel it intuitively. The desperate, frantic shouts of the crew likely played a part in fueling his mounting dread. Sota pressed his trembling hands together and bowed his head as if in prayer.

“Mom… Dad…! Haruka…!”

Memories flashed through his mind like a kaleidoscope, and the last things to cross his thoughts were the faces of his parents and his younger sister. His spirit felt withered, and tears began to well in the corners of his eyes. His modest, earnest wish—the wish not to die—remained ungranted. In the next instant, a wave so massive it covered Sota’s entire field of vision swallowed the boat.

“Waaaaah!!”

A violent impact. The cold torrent of seawater, stinging like needles against his skin, snatched Sota’s body away with terrifying ease.

(I’m going to die…!)

The last things he saw were the leaden storm and several pillars of lightning striking the water. With that, Sota’s consciousness slipped away, and he was cast out into the tempestuous sea that had turned into a living hell.

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“Ugh… u-ugh…”

Sota’s consciousness slowly returned to his body. Amidst his flickering vision, it was a soft, warm sunlight that roused him.

“Is this… Am I alive…?”

Sota slowly pushed himself up and scanned his surroundings.

The peaceful, rhythmic sound of ripples. A pleasant blue sky that was the polar opposite of the storm. A white sandy beach that stretched on forever. He didn’t yet know the scale of this landmass, but it seemed he had washed ashore on a coast… even Sota, whose mental gears weren’t quite turning yet, could understand that much.

From what he could see, it felt far too large to be an island, but for the time being, Sota assumed it was a deserted island. His reasoning was that if he had been drifted away, there was no way he could have reached the mainland, and more than anything, the landward side was covered in greenery so lush it could easily be mistaken for a tropical rainforest. It didn’t look like a place where people lived at all.

(I was thrown from the boat and washed up on a deserted island. …I can’t believe my relaxing solo camping trip turned into this life-or-death struggle for survival…)

However, he was lucky just to be alive. Or rather, surviving that storm was nothing short of a miracle. Unfortunately, the waterproof smartphone he had shoved in his pocket was out of range, but that couldn’t be helped. While Sota was grateful to be alive, his heart was scorched by a lingering sense of unease and impatience. He had no one to rely on and no means of communication. All he had was his hastily acquired survival knowledge and a body that was reasonably well-trained.

Nevertheless, Sota glared up at the sun hanging in the blue sky.

“I’m going to survive and make it home, no matter what.”

His survival gamble had only just begun. Sota whipped his aching body into motion and stood up, dragging his soaking wet clothes behind him.

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“This is…!”

The expression on Sota’s face as he found it was like a sunflower in full bloom. After walking along the coast for a while searching for anything useful, he had found something familiar. It was a giant red rucksack filled with Sota’s camping gear. He had bought a vivid red one specifically so it wouldn’t be mistaken for anyone else’s, so there was no mistaking it now.

Feeling like he could jump for joy, Sota recovered it. His tent, sleeping bag, knife, lighter—the items perfect for surviving—were all intact despite the storm. It even contained a simple first-aid kit; he felt like praising himself for his own thorough preparation.

“What luck…! Talk about a godsend in the middle of hell!”

Sota instinctively rubbed his cheek against the rucksack. It might have seemed like eccentric behavior, but in this situation, his rucksack felt more precious than anything else, so he couldn’t help it. Shouldering the pack and feeling a bit more encouraged, Sota made up his mind to enter the forest. Unfortunately, there was only a small amount of food and drinking water in the pack. Next, he had to secure some food and a water source.

Sota let out a shallow breath and took his first step into the green of the forest.

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Thirty minutes of walking through the forest, Sota noticed something.

(This might not be Japan.)

It was a vague and preposterous observation, but Sota couldn’t help but feel that way. First of all, the trees were terrifyingly tall. Even looking way up, the tops were barely visible, and each individual trunk was astonishingly thick. It was as if the Jomon Sugi of Yakushima… no, even greater giant trees were standing all over the place.

Furthermore, the various plants and flowers growing wild here and there were unfamiliar to Sota. He didn’t have deep botanical knowledge, but even so, not a single thing growing here matched what he knew. It was entirely possible that these were just common plants overseas that didn’t appear in the thin Japanese guidebooks Sota had looked at. However, rather than a tropical rainforest like the Amazon that suggested a foreign country, it gave him the impression of an elven forest appearing in a fantasy RPG.

“What on earth is going on…?”

Sota muttered to himself as he put a plastic bottle to his lips. At this rate, he wouldn’t know which plants or fruits were safe to eat. Sota let out a small breath, trying to calm his racing heart. Then, he strained his ears.

(Let’s find drinkable water before food…)

The food problem would have to wait. If this was a forest, it wouldn’t be strange for there to be a water source somewhere. Sota tried to listen for the sound of water when—

“…What’s that?”

He noticed a “voice.” A low, groaning woman’s voice. It wasn’t that far away. Someone was there.

“A person…!?”

Sota jumped, making no effort to hide his surprise. There was someone here. That alone made his heart feel lighter. Sota hurried toward the source of the voice.

“Ugh…”

The roots of a particularly massive tree. There, a woman lay collapsed, so beautiful she made his eyes widen. She wasn’t Japanese. She was a foreigner.

Skin like fallen snow and golden hair that fell to her waist. Her well-proportioned beauty was evident, even as her eyes were closed and her brow was furrowed in distress. She looked to be in her late twenties. At the very least, she looked older than Sota. However, more than anything else, it wasn’t the woman’s appearance that captured Sota’s attention.

“A-Armor…?”

Western-style armor, something you would never lay eyes on in the modern era unless it was for a very specific occasion. This beautiful woman was wearing it, fully equipped. Yet, it didn’t have the cheap look of something made for cosplay. Even to Sota’s amateur eyes, it was clear that this was a piece where functional beauty and expert craftsmanship coexisted. That said, to a modern Japanese person like Sota, it didn’t go beyond the realm of a “what a very dedicated foreign cosplayer.”

But he didn’t have time to waste on such idle thoughts. The beauty was bleeding from her head, and her entire body was covered in abrasions. She was unconscious and groaning. A thin layer of sweat had broken out on her forehead, suggesting she was suffering from a high fever.

“Miss! Miss, are you alright!”

“…Ugh…”

Neither calling out nor shaking her changed her reaction. When he touched her forehead, it was indeed burning hot. Her external injuries were one thing, but the high fever was particularly severe. Sota glanced around the area and found exactly the spot he was looking for. Between some rocks, a small hollow had formed. It should provide shelter from the wind and rain.

“It doesn’t look like I have the luxury of time to pitch a tent… Heave… ho!”

Sota hoisted the woman up and quickly carried her over there. He spread out a layer of fallen leaves, laid out his sleeping bag on top, and rested her there. He did it gently, as if handling thin glass, so as not to cause her even the slightest shock.

After that, he moved on to treating her external wounds. Fortunately, there was a first-aid kit in his rucksack. He should be able to manage basic treatment.

“But… No, I have to do it.”

The problem was this silver armor enveloping the beauty. Naturally, Sota had never put armor on someone, nor had he even seen it done. However, leaving her in the armor in this state would likely be bad. Struggling through the process, Sota carefully peeled off the gauntlets and the greaves. When he removed the breastplate… a voice came out of him, regardless of his intent. It just slipped out.

“Whoa…”

This was because her lethal breasts, which had been crushed beneath the armor, came spilling out. Of course, she was wearing clothes underneath, but they were large enough to push past them. They wouldn’t even come close to fitting in Sota’s hands. The pair of mounds, forming soft, mountainous curves, were more than enough to bewilder the inexperienced Sota. It might have also been because removing the armor caused the beauty’s sweet, sweaty body odor to waft more strongly through the air. In spite of himself, heat began to coil in Sota’s lower body.

…But, being a decent person, he shook his head to drive away the impure thoughts.

(What am I doing? She’s an injured person. Don’t think about stupid things in the middle of a medical procedure.)

Deeply exasperated by his own virgin awkwardness, Sota continued the treatment. 

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Sota wanted to believe that while the treatment wasn’t perfect, he had done well for an amateur. He removed the armor, washed the external wounds with clean drinking water, and carefully applied ointment. He applied bandages and dressings, and he even changed her clothes into one of his spare shirts. (In the process, he ended up seeing her naked, but being a total virgin, he managed to succeed in changing her by keeping his eyes closed.)

Now, he had her wrapped in the warm sleeping bag. Since he had discovered a small stream nearby—which was pure luck—he was in the middle of repeatedly changing the cold cloths on her forehead.

(If this doesn’t work, there’s nothing more I can do. It doesn’t look like there’s anyone else nearby either…)

The sun had already begun to set. It would be reckless to explore the forest any further. There was nothing left to be done. He had thought about pitching his tent, but fortunately, the wind didn’t reach into this hollow. Rather than pitching a tent, it would be better to build a fire and stay warm for the night.

Sota skillfully built a campfire using a lighter and a fire starter, then finally sat down, exhausted from the day’s events.

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