I Was Stranded on a Deserted Island with a Beautiful Classmate

We emerged from the forest onto a sandy beach.

Though the area wasn’t vast, the letters “SOS” were written on the ground.

“This… could it be… Hayasaka-kun?”

“Yeah, someone left a distress message.”

Are there still people on this island?

Or maybe Yaegashi and the others left it. I’ll ask them later.

“Do you think we can catch any fish?”

Chitose raised her heels and scanned the sea as she murmured.

“Good thing I brought this net I found, just in case.”

“Oh! Are we going to try dragnet fishing? But we’ll need a boat.”

“Eh, really?”

“You have to take a boat out to the deeper water.”

“R-Really? Chitose-san, you sure know a lot.”

“I had the chance to experience it when I was in elementary school.”

I see.

So we need a boat… Maybe we can cut the net and turn it into fishing lines.

We abandoned the net fishing idea.

Just as we were about to head elsewhere, Amane suddenly shouted.

“Ah!”

“What is it, Amane?”

“A big seashell~! Maybe we can use it as a plate?”

“That’s a giant clam shell, I think. It’s said they sell for quite a bit.”

“Really~? There seem to be quite a few here. Let’s collect them.”

They had a nice shape and the color wasn’t bad either. They could work as plates.
Chitose and I also started gathering shells.

As I glanced toward the bushes, something caught my eye.

Huh… what’s that red fruit?

Curious, I approached and realized it was indeed a fruit.

“This red fruit… could it be?”

“What’s wrong, Hayasaka-kun?”

Amane brought her face close to mine.

My heart skipped a beat, and I felt my face heat up.

Having her this close was making me nervous.

No, I’ve been on edge all day. Something’s off with me.

“It’s just… I found this fruit.”

“Wow, it’s small and red with lots of little dots. Do you think it’s edible?”

Amane looked at it with great interest.

“Hmm, according to some random trivia I know, this might be ‘yamamomo.’ It’s supposed to be sweet and tart, and edible when raw.”

“That’s amazing! Hayasaka-kun, you’re so knowledgeable~.”

“W-Well, I wouldn’t say that… but maybe a little.”

As I blushed, Chitose chimed in to praise me as well.

“As expected of Hayasaka-kun! I like smart people~.”

She clung to my arm, hanging off me in a cute way. Wait, no!

“C-Chitose-san!”

“I feel like I could survive with you around, Hayasaka-kun… Also, so far, you’re the only guy here. If this keeps up, it might just be us girls, so I figured I should claim you while I can.”

“Wha…!”

She smiled sweetly, making my pulse race.

Honestly, I was losing to her adorable, pet-like cuteness.

As my face flushed redder, Amane suddenly clung to my other arm.

“Hey, Chitose-san. You’re too close to Hayasaka-kun! Back off!”

“That’s funny, considering you’re also clinging to his arm, Amane-san.”

The two of them glared at each other, sparks flying.

How did it come to this…?

“Hey, hey, you two. Why don’t you calm down and eat some yamamomo?”

I carefully picked some yamamomo and handed them to Amane and Chitose.

The little fruits were about the size of marbles.

“Thanks, Hayasaka-kun. I’ll eat it with care,” Amane said, smiling.

Chitose followed suit. “Thank you. I’ll cherish this, as if it’s your love… hehe,” she giggled shyly.

And once again, sparks flew between them.

Why do they have to keep butting heads…?

There were plenty of yamamomo, so I picked a lot and piled them on the shells.

“That should do it.”

“There’s about fifty of them. We can share these with everyone.”

“Shall we head back to the base?”

“Agreed!!” the two said in unison.

Leaving the beach, we started back on the return path.

＊　＊　＊

“This is strange… We can’t seem to find the cave.”

“Uh, Hayasaka-kun… are we lost?”

Chitose looked at me nervously.

“Possibly. I was leaving stones as markers, but they’ve somehow disappeared.”

“No way! You’ve got to be kidding…”

Amane trembled in fear.

Being in this dim forest was unnerving.

Honestly, I was a little scared too.

We kept walking, but somehow, we couldn’t find our way out of the forest.

It felt like we were going in circles.

“It’s no use. I think we’re completely lost.”

“That can’t be! Can’t you figure something out with all your knowledge, Hayasaka-kun?”
“Don’t be unreasonable, Amane. I can’t even tell which direction we’re going.”

It was getting close to evening, and the sun was setting in the west. But with the tall trees, we couldn’t see the sun, making it impossible to tell which way we were heading.

“If only we had a compass…”

Amane muttered, her shoulders slumped.

As convenient as that would be, we didn’t have one.

It would be nice, though.

“Hey, what about the walkie-talkies?”

“Sorry, I’ve still got yours, Chitose-san.”

“Oh…”

That was a bust too.

We were tired from walking, so we decided to take a break. Leaning against a large tree, we sat down.

“This island is bigger than I thought.”

“Yeah, it might actually be a pretty large island.”

Amane let out a weary sigh.

There are about 6,500 uninhabited islands in Japan. For all we knew, we weren’t even sure if this island was part of the Nansei Islands. There were too many unknowns.

“I want to go home…”

“Chitose-san, are you okay?”

“I’d rather be back to normal high school life. We can’t even take baths here, I can’t eat sweets… and I can’t cosplay!”

It was rare to see Chitose so emotional.

I guess it’s tough on girls, mentally.

Wait, cosplay?

“You’re into cosplay, Chitose-san?”

“Yes, believe it or not, I’m a cosplayer!”

Oh, she perked up when talking about cosplay.

“What kind of cosplay do you do?”

Amane beat me to the question.

Maybe she noticed Chitose was feeling down and wanted to cheer her up.