Shikime Natsu strolled back to Class A's base camp with easy, unhurried steps, cradling a massive fish that weighed a full twenty pounds — its tail still flicking lazily from time to time.
The moment his figure came into view, every Class A student who had been busy tending the fire and organizing the camp froze almost in perfect unison.
A chorus of sharp, disbelieving gasps followed.
"N-no way..."
"Shiki-san... did you sneak back onto the cruise ship and steal that thing from the kitchen?"
"That fish is massive!"
"See, this is why fishing rods are useless — you end up going home empty-handed!"
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the enormous creature tucked under Natsu's arm.
They all knew Natsu was exceptional — not just academically, but physically, in a way that bordered on the monstrous. And yet... on a deserted island, with barely any supplies and only crude improvised tools, he'd stepped out for a short while and come back with enough protein to give the entire class a proper, hearty meal.
The sheer visual impact of it was staggering.
"Just got lucky. Ran into it wandering into the shallows," Natsu said with his characteristic easy smile, tossing off a casual excuse as he set the great fish down on a large flat stone they'd just finished clearing.
Everyone surged forward to help.
By now, the campfire in the center of the base was already going strong. The school had only provided a single box of matches, but lighting a fire with one box was the simplest thing in the world — and while Natsu had been away, the scouting team sent to explore the nearby stream had returned with some spoils of their own: a few palm-sized fish and a handful of freshwater shrimp.
Modest compared to what Natsu had brought back, sure — but protein was protein, and every bit counted.
Not long after, the girls' team, which had been dispatched into the forest to gather wild fruit and firewood, came back as well.
Kamuro Masumi walked at the front, carrying a bundle wrapped in broad leaves, packed full of various colorful fruits.
At the same time, the advance party led by Katsuragi Kouhei — tasked with staking out and occupying the surrounding strongpoints — came marching back, dusty and tired but clearly satisfied.
"Shiki, every strongpoint you marked is secured," Katsuragi reported, wiping the sweat from his brow with a small smile. "Thanks to your directions — without them, just finding those spots would have taken us ages. Counting this base, we've got ten strongpoints now."
"Good work."
Natsu nodded, then shifted his gaze to the wild fruits the girls had brought back.
Red ones, purple ones, yellow ones — a vivid, colorful heap that looked enticing at a glance, but came with an undeniable undercurrent of risk.
This was a deserted island, after all. Among those bright, jewel-like berries, some might be sweet and delicious, some might send you straight to the bathroom for hours, and some might just taste absolutely terrible.
The group huddled around the pile, uncertain, nobody willing to be the first to try anything.
"These... are they safe to eat?"
One of the girls picked up a red berry, holding it up with a hesitant look.
"Better be careful. The last thing we need is someone getting poisoned," a boy beside her warned.
As everyone exchanged uncertain glances, Natsu walked over.
"Let me take a look."
He crouched down, his slender fingers moving through the pile with practiced ease.
This was exactly where his photographic memory proved its worth.
Natsu's reading habits had always ranged absurdly wide — plant identification guides, wilderness survival manuals, obscure encyclopedias of every variety. Whatever he'd ever laid eyes on, even just once in passing, was etched into his memory with perfect fidelity, ready to be pulled up at any moment.
And in this age of high-speed internet, he'd watched no small number of videos on all sorts of subjects as well.
The log cabin construction from earlier, for instance, had been nothing more than a real-world recreation of those hardcore "wilderness building" and "building by hand" video tutorials stored in his head.
Wild foraging and edible plant identification videos? He'd seen plenty of those too.
"This one's a wild strawberry. Edible — tastes pretty good, actually." He held up the red berry with certainty.
"This purple one is a close relative of belladonna. Looks a lot like a blueberry, but it's mildly toxic — eat it and you'll be doubled over with stomach cramps. Toss it."
"This yellow fruit is fine. Very juicy."
"This one..."
His movements were fluid and unhesitating, his tone completely assured — within moments, he'd sorted the entire jumbled pile of wild fruit into neat, clearly categorized groups.
Watching this unfold, the rest of Class A was, once again, completely floored.
"Leader... you know about this too?!" Hashimoto Masayoshi muttered, clicking his tongue in disbelief.
"Is there anything you can't do?"
"I just like reading random books in my spare time," Natsu replied airily.
But by now, the looks everyone was giving him had shifted into something approaching outright reverence — like they were gazing upon some kind of deity.
More than a few people were quietly thinking to themselves: if this school really sorted students by ability, then someone like Shikime Natsu ought to have his own dedicated tier — an "S-Class" or a "Monster Class" — all to himself. Placing him in Class A was practically an act of dimensional oppression.
Every single one of them was an elite who had cleared round after round of selection to earn their place in Class A. Their academic ability, physical performance, and teamwork all ranked among the finest in their year group.
And yet...
Compared to the person standing in front of them, the gap was like comparing a firefly to the full moon. They weren't even in the same dimension.
Once the fruit situation was handled, Natsu turned his attention to the big fish.
No cutting board — a well-washed flat stone worked fine. No proper kitchen knife — the small blade he'd exchanged from the system did the job.
His movements were as smooth as ever: scaling, gutting, rinsing, slicing — every step precise and elegant. Just watching Natsu process the ingredients was a visual spectacle in its own right.
Sizzle——
The fish was laid over the fire. As the temperature rose, fat began to seep out and drip into the flames below, filling the air with an irresistibly appetizing sound.
It was a shame there was no salt or seasoning — but for a group of students who'd spent half a day laboring away under the sun and were now absolutely ravenous, that pure, unadulterated aroma — the rich, sweet smokiness that only fresh seafood could produce — was better than any feast in the world.
While the fish was roasting, Natsu took the opportunity to hold his clothes out near the fire to dry as well.
"Alright, it's ready."
With that single word from Natsu, the grilled fish banquet officially began.
Everyone received a piece of golden, perfectly crisped fish.
"Mmph! It's so good!"
"This is incredible — so this is what the sea tastes like?"
"There's no salt at all, but the natural flavor of the fish is completely brought out! Shiki-san's cooking is on another level!"
"I swear this beats the fanciest set meal in the school cafeteria!"
Praise came from every direction.
Everyone wolfed their food down with expressions of pure bliss spread across their faces.
On a remote, uninhabited island, getting to sit down to a hot, fragrant, genuinely delicious grilled fish — the satisfaction of it was simply beyond words.
Watching everyone's contented faces, the corners of Natsu's mouth curved up slightly.
He took a piece for himself and savored it slowly.
Mm. Not bad at all.
The lack of seasoning was mildly regrettable, but the freshness of the ingredients was truly beyond reproach.
After the meal was finished.
Under Natsu's direction, everyone set about cleaning up. The leftover fish bones, fruit peels, and other scraps were all collected and placed into designated garbage bags.
The school's rule about "no environmental pollution" was really just there to stop students from littering and damaging the island's ecosystem. There was a designated waste collection point somewhere on the island, and the school would handle disposal centrally.
Of course, if it had just been Natsu by himself, he wouldn't have bothered with any of this. He would have triggered the system's "One-Touch Clean" function and made every trace of rubbish vanish into thin air on the spot — no sorting required.
But with so many eyes around, it was better to keep a low profile.
Once everything was tidied up.
The day was still young, and a pleasant sea breeze drifted through the camp — perfect conditions for a relaxed post-meal wind-down.
The core members of Class A gathered and settled in front of the newly built wooden cabin for their first "post-settlement strategy meeting."
Katsuragi Kouhei crossed his arms over his chest, his expression serious as he looked toward Natsu and spoke first.
"Shiki, what's our next move?"
"Should we... organize a team to investigate the other classes' Leaders?"
The atmosphere around the group grew notably heavier at those words.
After all, under the special exam rules, if you correctly identified another class's Leader, you didn't just earn a massive 50-point bonus — you also wiped out every single point they'd accumulated from occupied strongpoints, resetting their score to zero.
It was an absolute game-ender of a move.
If the goal was to rapidly widen the gap between themselves and the other classes and establish Class A's unchallenged dominance, then going on the offensive — gathering intelligence and hunting for Leaders — was undeniably the most tempting strategic play available.
Of course, great rewards came with great risks.
A wrong guess meant a brutal 50-point penalty for their own side, and all their strongpoint accumulations would be wiped clean as well.
So everyone wanted to know what Natsu had in mind — whether he was leaning toward a careful, methodical approach, or whether he was ready to roll the dice.
If Natsu chose to gamble, Class A would mobilize without hesitation — every last person transforming into a scout and turning the entire island inside out.
And if Natsu decided to play it safe, they would accept that call just as readily, without a word of complaint.
Still, judging from the expressions on most people's faces, the general mood actually leaned toward the conservative side — no gambling, no provoking other classes.
Class A's class points hadn't exactly pulled far ahead of Class B or C. But with just thirty points, Natsu had already secured the class's foundations, and with the ten strongpoints Katsuragi had claimed, as long as they held steady and didn't make mistakes, they were in an essentially unlosable position.
And besides...
Everyone was privately aware of one more complicating factor.
Both Class D and Class C had Natsu's girlfriends in them.
Sakura Airi was in Class D. Shiina Hiyori was in Class C.
If Class A moved against those two classes, wouldn't that essentially mean Natsu was attacking his own girlfriends?
That was clearly a terrible idea. And even setting aside Class B, where none of Natsu's current girlfriends happened to be — there were still certain adorable girls in Class B who had a fairly close relationship with him.
Honestly, the way things were going, someday a Class B girlfriend might well appear on that list too. At that point, Natsu's girlfriend roster would span the entire year group.
If anyone else said something like "my girlfriend is in every class in the year," people would call them a liar outright. One person, one girlfriend — that was just how things worked. And even if they said "ex-girlfriend," nobody would buy it either. Who could possibly be that charming?
But when it came to Shikime Natsu, all of that was perfectly normal — and right now, quite a few of the girls in Class A already had a soft spot for him.
Weighing up that tangled web of interconnected "romantic affiliations," everyone figured Natsu probably wouldn't go with anything too aggressive.
And sure enough.
Under everyone's watchful gaze.
Natsu leaned back against the wall of the wooden cabin, arms folded, eyes drifting out toward the distant sea. A relaxed, carefree smile spread across his face.
"As far as I'm concerned, this isn't a special exam at all. I'm just treating it as a little island vacation."
Hearing those words.
Mashima Tomoya, who had been standing quietly a short distance away and listening in silence, went still.
He looked at the Class A students in front of him — living in a wooden cabin, eating grilled fish, their clothes clean and dry — and felt a wave of emotions too complicated to name wash over him.
It was, without question, the truth.
If any other class had said something like that, Mashima might have dismissed it as wishful thinking or delusion — a desperate attempt to reframe a stressful situation.
But this was Shikime Natsu.
And Shikime Natsu had already done exactly this for Class A — shelter handled, food handled.
Those words carried real weight now. He had made it happen.
He had genuinely, through sheer force of capability, transformed a high-pressure survival competition on a deserted island into a breezy seaside holiday.
"Vacation, huh..."
Hashimoto Masayoshi repeated the word, and then a look of pure relief broke across his face.
"Ha! Leader's absolutely right."
"We've already got everything we need — why would we waste our energy scheming against people who are still just trying to survive?"
"Isn't spending a relaxed, comfortable week here just... better?"
With Natsu's words setting the tone, the rest of Class A nodded along, one by one, in quiet agreement.
With the direction settled, the strategy going forward was crystal clear:
No need to rack their brains trying to identify other classes' Leaders. No sabotage operations, no spy games.
Just hold what they had, defend their own ground, and treat this uninhabited island survival exam as a complimentary holiday gift from the school.
The moment the word "holiday" was spoken out loud, a visible change came over the group — it was as if the invisible weight that had been pressing down on everyone's chest had finally lifted, and a collective wave of lightness swept through the camp.
When it was framed as an "exam," no matter how well-prepared you were, a sense of competitive pressure and anxiety lingered somewhere in the back of your mind.
But once the mindset shifted to "vacation" — once every survival challenge on this island became just another unique life experience to be savored — that intangible psychological burden lifted almost entirely.
Of course.
"Vacation" was the overarching strategy. The tactical details still couldn't be neglected.
Claiming and holding strongpoints still had to continue.
Class A was ahead right now, but the lead over the other classes wasn't comfortable enough to allow for complacency. When all was said and done, the bonus points from strongpoint occupation might very well be the deciding factor in the final rankings.
"The strongpoint duty — I'm still leaving that to you and your team, Katsuragi."
Natsu glanced over at Katsuragi Kouhei with a smile.
"No problem with that?"
"Leave it to me."
Katsuragi gave a steady nod. For careful, methodical work that demanded patience and precision, he was the natural choice.
As for Natsu himself...
He cheerfully took on the role of a hands-off supervisor with absolutely nothing pressing to do.
Not that the hands-off supervisor was entirely idle, mind you.
Looking at their midday haul, dinner was going to be a problem for most people.
At lunch, everyone had genuinely eaten well — that twenty-pound fish, plus the smaller fish and shrimp and wild fruits, had been enough for everyone to feel properly full. Landing that kind of meal on the very first meal of their island stay was probably a first in the history of uninhabited island survival challenges.
But dinner was a different matter entirely.
With that many mouths to feed, the consumption was enormous. They had to keep sourcing food — especially now that the system's daily ten-kilogram food allocation had already been used up for the day. From here on out, it was back to doing things the old-fashioned way.
Fortunately, the island's resources were decent. The ecosystem was well-preserved — almost suspiciously so, as if it had been artificially managed. As long as you were willing to put in the time, finding food wasn't all that difficult.
This school was ruthless in many ways, but when it came to basic survival needs, it at least maintained a sliver of humanity. It wasn't going to dump a bunch of students on a barren rock with nothing growing and let them play Bear Grylls for real.
Here, as long as you were willing to move, starving was simply not on the table.
And so.
With everyone's tasks assigned, Natsu headed out again.
This time he didn't go back to the beach. Instead, he made his way to the small river near their base.
The fish and shrimp in the river were obviously never going to match the ocean's big catches in size. But there was no denying that fishing in a calm river was considerably more convenient — and considerably more relaxing — than hunting in the open sea.
Out in the ocean, he'd basically just dove down, had the system produce a fish, and then wrestled it to shore. He hadn't exactly taken a leisurely look at what was swimming around down there — and besides, even though you could technically open your eyes underwater, that only worked if the water quality was reliable. Natsu wasn't about to casually pry his eyes open at the bottom of the sea without goggles.
Natsu strolled along the riverbank, his gaze sweeping the water's surface in search of prey.
He was making his way along a gentle bend where the current slowed to a calm pool, when his footsteps came to a sudden halt.
He'd caught a glimpse of a figure.
It was a girl, sitting alone on a small rock at the water's edge.
Her back was turned to him. She was dressed in a tracksuit, and her dark, lustrous hair — rather than being worn loose like most girls might — had been carefully braided into two playful pigtails that draped over her shoulders on either side.
The moment he saw that silhouette, a name surfaced in Natsu's mind.
It was one of the girls from his own class — Nishikawa Ryouko.
She must have heard the footsteps approaching from behind.
The girl on the rock turned her head.
When she saw that the person walking toward her was Shikime Natsu, the slightly vacant, faraway look on her face instantly melted into a bright, sunny smile.
"Oh, it's Shiki-san! Are you heading over here to fish?"
____
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