Stranded on a Deserted Island with the School’s Number One Beauty, So I’ll Give It My Best Shot.

Once they were out at sea, the two of them began paddling together. They stood on either side of the raft, using the call of “ichi, ni” to coordinate their strokes. After a while, they paused and looked back to confirm the island’s position.

“We seem to be heading straight north without even consciously trying,” Jin remarked.

“On the bright side, you could say we’ve developed a perfect synergy through our time on the island,” Iori replied with a grin.

“And on the downside?”

“Well, it means that the combined strength of both you and me is only about this much!” Iori gestured with her hand.

I sighed, admitting, “I can’t argue with that… It’s embarrassing, but there’s nothing to be done about it…”

Afterward, we decided to take turns paddling on their own. I started first.

“It definitely slows down when it’s just one person,” I noted.

“True,” Iori agreed.

Iori lay on the raft, with her upper body sheltered beneath the makeshift roof to escape the heat. In this comfortable position, she extended her hand to a clay pot and plucked some dried fruits.

“You can’t really know the exact speed at sea, but from my perception, we’re definitely not going faster than 5 kilometers per hour. Even if we keep heading straight north, we won’t reach our destination in just 10 hours.” I commented while continuing to paddle. I occasionally glanced back to check our position relative to the island. Whenever possible, I also took a moment to appreciate the opportunity to regain my mental strength by focusing on Iori’s thighs.

“Can’t tell if we’re moving when you’re lying down!” Iori complained.

“No worries there. We’re actually getting pretty far from the island,” I replied.

“Really!?” Iori exclaimed, sitting up and looking behind us.

“Yeah, it’s true! We can hardly see it anymore,” I confirmed.

The visible distance from the sea is about 5 kilometers. We’ve been out here for over an hour now. Based on this, I estimated the raft’s speed to be less than 5 kilometers per hour.

“Alright, I’ll cover some distance now! My turn, Masato!” Iori declared, confidently taking up the paddle.

“Counting on you,” I replied.

I lay down on my side under the makeshift roof, mimicking Iori’s earlier position.

(I can tolerate the heat better than I thought.)

Having the roof was definitely the right decision. It made a significant difference, thanks to the fabric barrier. However, it was still brutally hot, and there was no escaping that fact.

“Hiyah! Huunga! Daaabo!” a mysterious battle cry echoed.

It was Iori.

“What’s with that voice…” I wondered.

“I’m powering up! Iori Nikaido, currently going full throttle!” she announced.

“Ah, I see…” I replied.

I understood from our time together.

Iori often had moments where her mind seemed to wander. This was probably her way of releasing pent-up frustration.

In a more generous interpretation, it was her unique method of anger management.

(In situations like this, it’s probably best to just leave her be.)

Ignoring Iori’s bizarre shouts, I continued to munch on dried fruits. After that, I replenished our water supply and opened the toolbox. There were no tools inside, but instead, a folded wetsuit. And there was a smartphone too.

(Still no signal, huh?)

It remained frustratingly out of range.

If only we could catch even a slight signal, we could request help.

“How’d it go?” Iori asked, still facing away from me.

She had noticed that I was messing around with the smartphone.

“No luck. No signal, still out of range,” I replied.

“It’s not out of range, it’s a challenge!” she exclaimed with a laugh.

“Maybe it’ll change soon?”

“Hmm, we’ve only been rowing for about 20 minutes, right?” she replied thoughtfully.

“If you give me the time, I can figure it out,” I said.

I checked the smartphone.

“It’s 11:24 AM now.”

“So, I’ve only been rowing for 24 minutes. Not nearly enough!”

“You started rowing right at 11:00?”

“Yeah. We got out to sea exactly at 10:00, and we rowed together for the first 10 minutes. Then you rowed alone for 50 minutes, and I took over right at 11:00.”

“You’re keeping close track of the time.”

Iori chuckled. “That’s right! So, I have another 25 minutes of rowing left! Hooah! Hyah!”

She vigorously paddled, more like flailed the paddle than anything else. Alternating left and right, she rowed with all her might.

(We’re probably getting pretty far from the island by now, I guess?)

I stood behind Iori, checking on the island’s status. It was almost impossible to see, barely visible.

If you didn’t know it was there, you probably wouldn’t notice it at all.

(We’re covering about 5 kilometers in 1 hour and 30 minutes.)

Converted to kilometers per hour, it’s about 3.3 km/h. Even with both of us rowing for the first 10 minutes, that’s all we achieved. If only one of us is rowing, it’s around 3.2 km/h.

(I should consider that it might take a minimum of 16 hours to reach our destination.)

We set off from the island at 10:00, which means 16 hours later would be 26:00—2:00 AM.

(This is… not good.)

There’s almost no chance of us arriving in 16 hours because it will be nighttime. Even in summer, it’s bright until 20:00. Then, it quickly gets dark, and by 21:00, it’s pitch black.

So, we would be navigating in complete darkness from 21:00 to 26:00.

Will we be able to accurately head north in total darkness? That’s extremely difficult.

Plus, the physical fatigue would be considerable. It’s unlikely we could maintain our current speed.

(No, wait.)

As I looked at my smartphone, I had an idea.

(Fighting physical fatigue is challenging, but…)

There is a way to continue moving steadily north in the darkness. It’s by using the compass app on my smartphone. I decided to check it. To my surprise, it was accurately pointing north.

“Hmm?”

I closed and reopened the app just to be sure. This time, it was pointing south. It was indeed a quirky app.

However, that wasn’t a problem. Whether the app labeled north as “south” didn’t matter. What mattered was whether the app recognized angles.

As an experiment, I turned my smartphone to the east. The compass app then tilted west.

(Just as I thought! This app can recognize changes in direction!)

Even though the cardinal directions on the app were incorrect, the compass itself worked. With this, we should be able to move forward even in the darkness.

As it was getting dark, I thought about launching the app, adjusting our course while looking at it.

“Iori, this is a groundbreaking…”

My words came to a sudden halt during our conversation.

“Masato-kun…!”

Iori’s face tensed as she looked ahead. It had turned pale blue.

“I understand. This is bad…!”

Ahead of us, thick dark clouds had formed. They were so dense that they covered the entire sky. And when we reached them..

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.

Raindrops started falling from above.

“Rain!” we exclaimed in unison.

Our escape from the island, which had been going relatively smoothly, suddenly turned into despair.