Chapter 1: Deserted Island × Childhood Friend
On the first weekend after second semester began...
After taking an unexcused leave of absence during the opening ceremony, I was given a mountain of assignments to do as punishment. This was my first day off after finally finishing them all, and I was melted into the sofa even more than usual. Despite it being September, we were still running the air conditioner on full blast. It was just too hot, completely draining all desire I had to go play outside.
But as I was being a couch slug, the front doorbell rang. Now with a reason to get up, I peeled myself off the sofa and walked over to the door.
“Coming... Oh, it’s you, Satsuki.”
“Hello, Rekka. Oh, you’re looking a little messy,” Satsuki said, quickly moving to fix my sleeves and collar.
I stood there and let her preen me to her satisfaction. She then took off her shoes and changed into house slippers.
“So, what brings you here?” I asked.
“Well, you see... It’s about the barbeque in two weeks.”
“Oh, right. The barbeque’s coming up.”
Come to think of it, it was almost time for that annual event. Well, I call it an event, but it was really only a shindig with my family and the Otomos next door. Every year around this time, we’d get together and go to the mountains to have a barbeque by the river. But things would be a little different this year. Both my parents were overseas, so they couldn’t come. And this would be my first time bringing Harissa along.
“So, I wanted to ask Harissa if she had any food preferences—like, if there was anything she couldn’t eat or didn’t like—before I went shopping to buy ingredients.”
“She’s never mentioned anything like that before... but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”
“Okay.”
Satsuki and I headed upstairs to Harissa’s room and knocked on the door.
“Hey, Harissa, can I talk to you for a...”
“Oh, Sir Rekka!”
“...What are you doing?”
Harissa, who’d turned to look at me in surprise, was standing in the middle of her room performing some kind of experiment.
“Is that a Red Thread? Did you cut it up or something? Is this how you make the catalysts for your connection magic?”
“Um, yes and no.”
“What?”
I asked her for details, and she explained that she was in the middle of working on an upgraded version of her connection magic. The basic spell she’d come up with linked an object with a place, meaning that an object of significance was required to get anywhere with it. And the upgraded version she was working on would hopefully allow the user to bypass the need for an object.
“To put it simply, I’m trying to bind two places together in advance, creating a point where you can travel between them freely.”
“Like a warp point in a video game? That’d sure be way more convenient.”
“Yep! Heeheehee,” Harissa giggled bashfully. “So, did you need something, Sir Rekka?”
“Oh, that’s right. Satsuki wants to talk about the barbeque coming up the week after next,” I started to explain before deferring to my childhood friend standing behind me.
“I just wanted to ask if there are any foods you don’t like or can’t eat. If so, could you tell me which ones?” Satsuki asked, notepad in hand.
“Let’s see, I...”
Harissa considered the question carefully, tilting her head and looking diagonally up at the ceiling as she pondered... distracting her just enough that she accidentally let the experimental magic item in her hand slip to the floor.
“Ah!” all three of us yelped in unison.
Not one of us had the supernatural reflexes to catch it in time, so we all watched in horror as it smashed into pieces. But something in the disjointed mess of parts caused a magical reaction, filling the room with bright light.
“Wah! Oof!”
“Wh-What?!”
“Sir Rekka! Satsuki...!”
I heard Harissa’s voice grow quieter as a strange floating sensation came over me. And then...
▽
When my vision returned after being blinded by the bright light in my room, I was greeted by the sight of blue water and white sand as far as the eye could see.
“...Huh?”
“Where is this?”
I turned to my side to see Satsuki, who was looking back at me with the same dumbfounded expression that was probably on my face, too. I then took another glance around the area, but there weren’t houses or buildings anywhere. Not even a beach shack. In fact, there weren’t any signs of human civilization at all.
“Where... are we?” I murmured, echoing Satsuki’s question from a moment ago.
“It’s so hot...” Satsuki said, squinting at the sun’s rays glaring down at us.
“Yeah... it’s really boiling.”
“Was it this hot in Japan?”
“Well, the weather report did say it was going to be around 30 degrees again today.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
We both then fell silent for a long moment.
“Hey, Rekka...”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I know.”
I hadn’t traveled through space and other worlds for nothing. I’d seen the signs in Harissa’s room. And here we were. So I decided to disregard my common sense and just accept the situation I found myself in. After all, it was pretty clear what had happened.
“We were sent to a deserted island.”
▽
According to what Satsuki learned with her Great Omniscient Magic, we were on an uninhabited island located near the equator.
“And this is because of that bright light, right?”
“Well, most likely. She did drop an unstable magic item, after all.”
Plus, Harissa had outright told us she was working on her connection magic. If that went awry, it wasn’t all that strange to think we’d ended up somewhere we weren’t supposed to. Like, you know, a deserted island.
“Satsuki, what about your phone? You had teleportation magic you could use with that, right?”
“Yes, but it requires a lot of preparation beforehand... and I left it at home. I told my mom I was just going over to your house, so I didn’t think I’d need it. But what about you, Rekka?”
“Mine’s sitting on my desk... I don’t usually carry it with me around the house.”
No big deal. It’s not like we’d get reception out here anyway. Wait, couldn’t Iris call me from anywhere in the galaxy? Not that it would help now...
“Well, it doesn’t seem like Harissa was sent here with us, so I’m sure she’ll gather the others and come searching for us eventually.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
We had aliens and scientists and psychics in our circle of friends. Even an (idiotic) angel and a Demon King. If they put their heads and their powers together, surely they’d be able to find us... even if they didn’t have any clues about where to start looking...
“If only you hadn’t been dragged here with me...”
If Satsuki were still back home, she could have easily located me or anyone else with the Magic of Omniscience. But for some reason, she was pouting over me suggesting that.
“What? Did you want to be here with Harissa instead of me, Rekka?”
“Huh? No, if anything, I would prefer not to be here at all.”
No matter how used to these freakish occurrences I get, I’d still at least like to enjoy my rare day off... Wow, I’m starting to sound like a worn-out nine-to-fiver, aren’t I?
“...And we’re finally alone for once, too.”
“Huh?”
“Hahh... Whatever. The closest island is out of flying range, so I guess we’ll have to wait for help to come,” Satsuki sighed as she walked off.
“Hey, wait! Where are you going?” I called after her in a panic.
“Well, we need shelter from the elements as well as food and water, right? I made a mental map of the resources on the island with the Magic of Omniscience earlier, so I’m going to secure the supplies we need before the sun sets.”
“You’re so calm about this...”
“I’ve followed you into space and other worlds before. This doesn’t seem so bad.”
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who’d picked up on things over the past half a year.
▽
“This is my first time seeing a coconut in the wild.”
“Same here.”
Satsuki and I were staring up at the coconuts growing in the trees in naive wonderment. For the record, we’d already found a cave by the water for shelter. Food was the next item on our to-do list. But even though we’d been stranded on a deserted island, we were working this all out rather methodically. Once again, it made me realize just how convenient and useful the Magic of Omniscience was.
“I’ll go and grab a few,” said Satsuki as her feet left the ground and she took off into the air with her flight magic.
“Cool, thanks. If it seems too difficult to actually pluck them from the tree, I’ll climb up and give it a try myself.”
“Picking them should be easy enough with magic,” Satsuki giggled as she made her way up to the hanging coconuts.
“Rekka, if you look up right now, you’d have the most amazing view possible of her panties.”
“Nope. Not looking.”
R was whispering her usual temptations into my ear. But I behaved myself and turned away while I waited for Satsuki to nab some coconuts.
“Hmm, yeah. They’re actually pretty hard to pick. Ah... kyaaah!”
Satsuki’s cheerful voice overhead suddenly turned into screaming.
“Satsuki?!”
I reflexively turned back around upon hearing it... And locked eyes with her as she fell right towards me.
“Bwah!”
I tried to catch her and cushion her landing, meaning I fell flat on my back.
“Wh-What’s wrong, Satsuki?!”
“A-A bug!”
“A bug?”
Upon closer inspection, there was a hairy caterpillar on Satsuki’s shoulder. So that’s what it was... She’d hated bugs ever since she was little.
“I see, I see... So Satsuki is bad with bugs. It was surprising to learn Hibiki had such a weakness, but it seems a lot more believable with Satsuki. Now I’m curious what it would look like if we sorted the heroines into bug-okay and bug-terrified.”
Just what would that prove...? Anyway, I plucked the hairy caterpillar from Satsuki’s shoulder and flung it somewhere with a small sigh.
▽
After that, Satsuki and I worked through the survival basics of gathering food and broken branches for firewood. According to Satsuki, there was more food in the forest... but also wild animals. So we decided not to wander too deep.
“Hmm... We picked a lot of fruits and nuts, but will this be enough?”
“We don’t know how long we’ll have to last before we’re rescued.”
From what Satsuki could tell, Harissa was still in Japan. The Magic of Omniscience was powerful, but it wasn’t capable of reading minds, meaning there was no real way for us to tell how far along the search was right now.
“What do you want to do? The forest is dangerous, right?”
“Yeah,” Satsuki nodded with a solemn expression.
“I forgot to ask before, but what kind of wild animals are actually in there?”
“I don’t think you’d know it even if I told you the name... But it’s a large cat.”
“A cat? If it’s just a cat, then...”
“You know ‘large cats’ refers to tigers and such, right?”
“What?! Th-There’s a tiger on the island?”
“Relax, it’s not a tiger. But if certain species of wildcats can take down boars, it’s in our best interest to steer clear of them.”
“G-Gotcha.”
Satsuki made sure to emphasize that point, and I nodded meekly in response. While it did sound scary, I also loved cats... I really didn’t want to do anything that might get either me or them hurt.
“Let’s go to the shore and search for shellfish.”
“All right.”
Following the directions Satsuki had gotten from the Magic of Omniscience, we made our way to the harvesting point she’d discovered.
“If I search for every shellfish individually, I’ll run out of magic in no time. So from here on out, we’re on our own.”
“Got it.”
We both left our shoes and socks high and dry so they wouldn’t be washed away by the waves, then waded into the shallows barefooted. We stopped where we thought the shellfish might be and squatted down to sift through the soft sand with our hands.
“This reminds me of how we used to go clamming.”
“Well, it’s basically the same thing.”
As we reminisced about trifling things from the past, I worked on digging up sand and shoveling it to the side.
“Ah, I found one!”
“Great.”
“And here’s another!”
“Wow, you’re fast. Hmm... I can’t find any at all.”
“You’re digging too deeply in one spot, Rekka. Try searching by moving your hands through the top of the sand like you’re patting it. If you feel something hard, then that’s probably a shellfish.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a try.”
I followed Satsuki’s advice and started patting around in the sand with my palms from left to right.
“Hm? There’s something hard here. All ri—OWW!”
I grabbed something thinking it was a shellfish, but it grabbed me right back. Turns out it was a crab that wasn’t too happy with me. It snagged my finger in its pincers, and I yelped in surprise and pain.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah, just—ouch. Ah, I’m bleeding.”
I looked at my finger to see the crab had pierced the skin. Red blood was oozing out of the wound, and the salt water made it sting a little.
“Give it here,” Satsuki said, taking my hand and then putting the injured finger into her mouth.
“Wh-What are you do—?!”
I was so shocked, I didn’t even finish my sentence correctly.
“What do you mean? I’m treating the wound,” Satsuki moved her mouth away for a moment to say.
“D-Don’t you have magic for that?!”
“I’m saving my magic. It’s not like I can use it endlessly.”
True. We needed Satsuki’s magic to survive on this deserted island. We couldn’t afford to keep using it on every little thing. I knew the logic behind what she was saying. I knew the logic, but...
“Now let me continue...”
“!”
Soft...! I knew she was just trying to help me, but I couldn’t help the way my body temperature was rising. This wasn’t good... Stay calm, Rekka! And you, R! Stop grinning!
“Is it okay now? Has the bleeding stopped?”
“I-I’m fine! I’m fine now!”
I waved my hand at Satsuki in a panic, trying to tell her I was all right.
“Really? Okay, then. Let’s get back to it.”
“Y-Yeah...”
We both squatted back down and resumed our search for shellfish... Was it just me, or did Satsuki’s face seem kind of red? I hesitated to bring it up out loud, so I decided to stick to rummaging in the sand.
“Actually, now that I think about it, even if we gather shellfish, we don’t have a pot to boil them in... or clean water.”
“Huh, you’re right... What should we
do?”
Apparently that had also slipped Satsuki’s mind, causing her to frown.
“...Hey, why don’t you use the Magic of Omniscience to find a spell you could use?”
“A spell...? Oh, I see! That’s a great idea, Rekka!”
“Aw, shucks. It was nothing. Hahaha...”
I scratched my cheek and tried to laugh off her praise. Satsuki didn’t remember it, but learning new spells with the Magic of Omniscience was something I’d seen her do previously under less than fortunate circumstances. That was a really terrible time for me...
But thanks to that, Satsuki now had access to a log of magics she hadn’t before. It was too bad all the teleportation spells that could get us back to Japan either required tools or magic power she didn’t have. All we could do for now was do our best to dig up some dinner, but...
“This is actually kinda tiring barehanded.”
“Yeah.”
As it turned out, digging through wet sand with your hands is actually pretty hard work. And if I was getting tired, poor Satsuki must be exhausted.
“Hmm...”
How the hell had we managed this as kids?
“Oh, right. We just need some kind of rake or shovel. We collected plenty of wood, so do you think you could make something like that with your magic?”
“Sure! I’ll give it a try.”
Satsuki immediately went about searching for an appropriate spell, and... Voila! A magically crafted rake and wooden spear for our convenience. The latter was my personal request.
“Thanks, Satsuki.”
“What are you going to use the spear for?”
“I saw some fish in the shallows earlier. I’m going to try to bag some.”
“Can you really do that?”
“It’s not a matter of can and can’t. There are times when a man simply must.”
“You didn’t need a wooden spear, Rekka. You should just use the one you already have to seal the deal on a summer fling with Satsuki.”
I seriously tried to stab R for that one. But she dodged it easily.
“You need to cut it out with those dirty old man gags.”
“Being pure and innocent isn’t going to save the future.”
I bickered with R in a low voice as I stood in the shallows with the spear at the ready.
“...Do you think there’s a trick to doing this?”
“Let’s see... Perhaps you should stay as still as possible so the fish don’t run away?”
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 11 Page 1
