I Was Stranded on a Deserted Island with a Beautiful Classmate

~Hayasaka’s Perspective

As I headed towards the screams, I saw Kotobuki trembling, her legs giving out under her. Amane’s face had turned pale as well.

“Wh-what happened, Kotobuki-san?”

“What’s going on, Amane-san?”

Both Kitakami and I questioned them, but it was no use. They were too terrified to respond. I shifted my gaze toward Kotobuki, and then I saw it.

There was an overturned lifeboat.

Had it drifted here?

I guess I should check it out.

I cautiously flipped the boat over, and there, I found a bloated corpse.

“Uaaaaaaahhhhh!”

“T-this is…a Dosazemon.”

Kitakami, slightly shaken, muttered. Dosazemon—it means a drowned corpse.

The body was so decomposed that we couldn’t even tell if it had been a man or a woman. I didn’t know drowning could result in something so gruesome.

“It…It’s been at least several days since this person died, right?”
“Yes, it seems so.”

That means it’s not one of our groups from last night. This must be one of the students swept away in the shipwreck. The body must have drifted ashore just now.

“Ha…Hayasaka-kun, what should we do with the body?”

Amane was trembling violently, barely able to stand. She was clearly in shock, and Kotobuki was on the verge of fainting.

But we couldn’t treat a classmate’s body carelessly.

Thankfully, Kitakami remained calm, which allowed me to make a proper decision.

“Let’s at least give them a proper burial. It’s too sad to leave them like this.”

“I’ll help with that.”

“Thanks. Amane, Kotobuki-san, could you check on Nomo, Sasayama, and Ootsuka?”

“Understood…”

Amane and Kotobuki went to tend to the three. Meanwhile, I got to work on burying the nameless corpse.

I didn’t want to do it, but I had buried four other classmates not too long ago. I didn’t want to get used to it, but I kind of was.

“There might be more classmates drifting ashore.”

“Don’t jinx it…”

“It was a large-scale shipwreck—no, more like a hijacking. There could be more casualties coming to light.”

Yeah…there were over 300 students on that ship. There are bound to be more victims.

“By the way, we still haven’t found Chitose, Yaegashi, or the others.”

“I’m worried…If they’re not here, they might have been swept elsewhere.”

I just hope they’re still alive.

After finishing the burial, I reunited with Amane and the others. Nomo, Sasayama, and Ootsuka had regained consciousness. It seemed they weren’t injured.

“Are you alright, Nomo-san?”

“Ah…Hayasaka-kun…Thank goodness…Thank goodness…”

Nomo burst into tears, and soon after, Sasayama and Ootsuka started crying too.

“Hey, hold on…”

“Well, Hayasaka-kun, they were swept away during that terrible storm.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Amane.”

Seeing the capsized cruiser in front of us, it seemed likely that it had been pushed back by the storm’s waves or something like that.

I never imagined things would turn out like this…

“I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

“No, it’s not. It’s no one’s fault…You did everything you could to get us off the island, Hayasaka-kun.”

“Ootsuka-san, I’m glad to hear you say that.”

I had been feeling pretty responsible, but the three girls assured me it wasn’t my fault…I felt a little lighter.

But Chitose, Momose, Yaegashi, Hokkii, Riko, and Ooi were still missing. We needed to find them.

“By the way, what about the others?”

Amane asked in my place. Sasayama answered.

“…I don’t know. The ship was swept away with incredible force…and when I came to, I was here.”

“So, there’s a good chance the others were swept away too. We’ll have to keep searching for them.”

“Yes, I want to find Chiyo-chan and the others.”

Chiyo, huh? That’s Ooi’s name. I’d almost forgotten she had such a cute name.

“But we can’t push you too hard, Sasayama-san. Let’s rest a little longer.”

“Thank you, Hayasaka-kun.”

“No problem. But…you must be hungry, right? How about some chocolate—”

As I was about to offer them chocolate, Kitakami tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see her pointing somewhere.

“Hm? What is it, Kitakami-san?”

“Over there. That big box looks like it fell off the ship.”

“And what about it…?”

Near the khaki-colored box, there were several black bags scattered around. I picked one up and found that it was a packet with English writing on it.

“Just as I thought.”

“Kitakami-san, this is…”

“It’s a combat ration used by the military. Also known as an ‘MRE’ or ‘Meal Ready to Eat.’ It’s what soldiers eat in the field. This is the real deal.”

I knew a bit about these rations, which included things like rice, bread, biscuits, chocolate, jelly, and freeze-dried foods.

“What’s in this one?”

“That’s an American MRE. Inside, you’ll find spaghetti, meatballs, pepperoni pizza, beef stew, and other things. There are biscuits and chocolate, too, along with canned food.”

“Wow, Kitakami-san, you know so much!”

“Well, it’s not that much…okay, maybe a little!”

Kitakami’s smug face was kind of cute. Well, she’s already cute, but seeing her like this was something new.

“Hey, is that food?”

Amane and the others peeked over.

“Yeah, this is definitely food. And there’s a lot of it. It must be part of John Smith’s stockpile. He must’ve had tons of this stuff on the ship.”

There’s enough here to last all of us for at least a month.

Finally, something to look forward to in terms of food.

“Food! Thank goodness…I was starving…”

Nomo clutched her stomach. We hadn’t eaten much since yesterday, and everyone was hungry.

“Let’s eat together. Is that okay, Kitakami-san?”

“Of course. I feel bad for the others who aren’t here, but we’ll save some for them.”

“Agreed.”

I handed out biscuits with jam to everyone. Their eyes lit up like kids as they took the food.

To be honest, I was pretty excited too. It had been so long since I’d had something like this.

After saying “Itadakimasu,” I opened the packet.

Inside were two biscuits and a single pack of blueberry jam.

I spread the jam on the biscuit and took a bite. …Delicious. It had been so long since I’d had something this rich. Even though I had chocolate this morning, this was even more flavorful.

“This is so good! It’s tastier than I expected.”

Amane also seemed to be enjoying it. Before I knew it, everyone had finished their food in no time.

Yeah, it was really good.

“…Phew, that was great.”

“Thanks, Hayasaka-kun.”

“No, it wasn’t me, Nomo-san. It was—”

I was about to say it was Kitakami who found the rations, but she stopped me.

“These rations were found by Hayasaka-kun.”

Wait, Kitakami-san?! Why are you giving me the credit?

But because of that, Amane, Nomo, and the others started looking at me differently.

“As expected of Hayasaka-kun. It’s always fun being with you; you find so many interesting things.”

“Hey, Amane-san, you’re getting too close to Hayasaka-kun!”