"Shiraishi-san, give me a moment."
Natsu didn't rush off right away. Instead, he turned back to the now-extinguished campfire and started building the flame again from scratch. As a general rule, they always put the fire out after use to avoid any risk of it spreading — but that was no reason he couldn't relight it for a purpose.
With practiced hands, he threaded the freshly-prepared fish and shrimp onto sharpened sticks and held them over the small, revived flame, letting the heat do its work.
There was no seasoning to speak of — but through precise control of the fire, it wasn't long before a rich, toasty aroma began to drift through the air.
The fish skin turned golden and crisp. The shrimp shells shifted to a vivid, enticing red. The soft, rhythmic sizzle of fat dripping onto the embers was somehow deeply satisfying to listen to.
Shiraishi Asuka stood quietly to the side, watching Natsu's focused profile as he worked. She didn't interrupt. Those violet eyes of hers simply shimmered with a pensive, contemplative light.
"Done."
Natsu wrapped the finished fish and shrimp carefully in a large leaf, made sure they weren't too hot to hold, then rose to his feet and smiled over at Shiraishi Asuka.
"Sorry for the wait, Shiraishi-san. Shall we head out?"
Shiraishi Asuka glanced at the fragrant, leaf-wrapped bundle in his hands, then asked quietly:
"These... are they all for Shiina-san and Sakura-san?"
It was a reasonable question. Thanks to Natsu's efforts, every member of Class A had already eaten their fill — there was no practical need for him to pack extra food for classmates out gathering supplies. The only person who would warrant that kind of special treatment was his girlfriend. Though, of course, Kamuro Masumi had already delivered a portion to her not too long ago.
"Mm."
Natsu nodded without the slightest hesitation, making no attempt to hide it.
"I've heard food isn't hard to find on this island, but it's still only the first day. A little extra wouldn't hurt. Besides..." He paused, then added with easy frankness, "however you look at it, I am their boyfriend."
Hearing that, Shiraishi Asuka offered a small smile and asked nothing more. She simply fell into step beside him as they walked together into the lush, sprawling forest.
The trees on this uninhabited island grew in no particular order — thick, tangled branches weaving overhead, blocking out most of the sunlight and leaving only broken, dappled shadows scattered across the leaf-strewn ground.
For the average person, navigating terrain like this would be no small feat. One moment of inattention and a stray branch would snag your clothes; the next, a vine underfoot would send you stumbling.
But...
Walking with Natsu, none of that was a problem.
He moved as though he had memorized every inch of this forest — always finding the paths where the trees grew slightly thinner, the ground a little flatter, the way a little wider. No ducking under inconvenient branches. No worrying about your clothes getting caught.
The two of them strolled through the forest as easily as if they were taking a leisurely walk through a park.
Along the way, they crossed paths with a fair number of students from other classes. Everyone's priority right now was the same — finding food and fresh water. Still, the numbers were relatively sparse out here; most students chose to operate close to their own class's Base Camp, with only a handful venturing further afield.
With his photographic memory, Natsu only needed a single glance at someone's face to instantly recall their name and class. That said, even knowing who they were, he had little reason to say anything. The vast majority of the people they passed were strangers he'd never exchanged so much as a word with.
After a while, Shiraishi Asuka could no longer contain her curiosity.
She studied Natsu's unhurried back, then looked at the noticeably wider path around them that seemed to appear wherever he walked, and finally spoke up.
"Shiki-san..."
"Are you... familiar with this island?"
"We're all here for the first time, and yet you look like... like you know this place quite well."
"You walk without any of that awkwardness you'd expect in an unfamiliar place. You even seem to know exactly which paths are easiest to take."
At that, Natsu stopped walking and turned to look at her, shaking his head with a small smile.
"How could that be?"
"This is my first time on this island too, you know."
He spread his hands and explained in a relaxed tone:
"After all, this island is school property. It's not open to the public under normal circumstances."
"I can't exactly imagine myself sneaking onto school-owned land during a holiday just to go camping, can I?"
"Fufu... I suppose that's true."
Shiraishi Asuka smiled softly and nodded, seeming to accept the explanation.
Even so, those violet eyes of hers continued to linger on him, clearly not entirely rid of her curiosity.
"Though..."
She kept pace with him and pressed on conversationally.
"Did you used to go to summer camps or things like that, Shiki-san?"
"Your outdoor survival skills seem incredibly well-developed."
"Whether it's fishing, building a fire, navigating through a forest, or finding your way along a path — it all seems far too practiced for an ordinary high school student."
"Well... you could say that."
Natsu gave a vague, noncommittal answer, his faint smile unchanged.
Internally, he quietly filled in the rest.
Well — not in person, strictly speaking. But he had watched plenty of wilderness survival videos.
Combine that with his system-granted photographic memory and natural dexterity, plus a physical constitution and perceptive ability that far exceeded any ordinary person's — put it all together, and calling himself a wilderness survival expert wasn't much of an exaggeration.
As for finding his way through the forest — that was almost trivially simple. He had studied the island's topographical map in full before they ever set foot onshore. Every ridge and hollow in this forest existed in his mind like a crisp, three-dimensional map. Where the terrain was easy, where it was rough — a single glance was all it took.
"Ah, I see."
Shiraishi Asuka nodded, a note of understanding in her expression.
"What about you, Shiraishi-san?"
Natsu turned his head, glancing at the girl beside him — she had maintained that precise half-arm's distance between them the entire time — and asked offhandedly:
"Have you ever done anything like this before? Outdoor activities, that sort of thing?"
At the question, Shiraishi Asuka's steps faltered almost imperceptibly.
She shook her head gently, her voice perfectly calm:
"Not at all."
"I've never done anything like this. For me, this is... a first."
"Is that so?"
Natsu smiled.
"Then this should be quite a rare experience for you, Shiraishi-san."
"Yes, it really is."
Shiraishi Asuka gave a small nod — then seemed to think of something, and couldn't help lifting a hand to cover a quiet laugh.
"When the teacher was announcing the rules after we got off the cruise ship, I thought this uninhabited island survival was going to be genuinely grueling. I'd even mentally prepared myself to suffer a bit."
"But..."
She looked at Natsu, something warm and amused moving through her gaze.
"I never expected that having Shiki-san here would drop the difficulty from 'Hell Mode' straight to 'Easy Mode' in an instant."
"A comfortable place to sleep, genuinely delicious food..."
"It feels like there's nothing I actually need to do myself. I just have to follow Shiki-san's lead."
"It's like you've already arranged everything in advance."
"Is this... what they call the composure of a true leader?"
At this lightly teasing compliment, Natsu raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a half-amused expression.
"The way you say that, Shiraishi-san..."
"Could it be that you actually prefer the kind of uninhabited island experience where you have to struggle to survive? The real, challenging kind?"
"If Easy Mode doesn't suit you, I could always arrange some high-difficulty tasks for you."
"Digging a well by hand, for instance."
"Fufu..."
The joke made Shiraishi Asuka laugh. She waved her hand quickly in protest.
"I couldn't do anything that defies common sense the way Shiki-san does. At the very least... when it comes to physical strength, I fall squarely within the range of a normal girl."
Shiraishi Asuka slowly extended one slender arm as if to demonstrate just how her strength compared to Natsu's — which was to say, not at all.
"And as for high-difficulty challenges... I can't say I'm particularly eager to tackle those either. Because an uninhabited island survival with Shiki-san's help is already quite wonderful as it is."
And so the two of them continued walking, chatting idly as they went.
Before long, the trees began to thin ahead, and the world opened up.
A salt-tinged sea breeze swept across their faces, carried along with the sound of waves breaking against a sandy shore.
They had arrived at another stretch of beach.
Natsu narrowed his eyes and spotted, even from a distance, a cluster of familiar figures on the sand.
Class C students.
If his guess was right, this was the Base Camp Class C had staked out for themselves.
Natsu made no attempt to avoid them, nor any effort to conceal his approach. He simply brought Shiraishi Asuka along and walked openly, naturally, straight toward Class C's camp.
"Well, well — if it isn't the great Leader of Class A."
The moment they reached the edge of the camp, a voice rang out — dripping with mockery and challenge.
Natsu turned toward the source.
Ryuuen Kakeru was perched on a rocky outcropping, idly turning some shell he'd picked up over and over in his fingers, those cold, serpentine eyes fixed on Natsu with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.
"What's this? Couldn't resist coming to scout out the competition so soon?"
Ryuuen stood up, brushing the sand off his trousers, a wicked grin curling at his lips.
"Too bad for you — Class C doesn't have a single piece of intel worth scouting."
"All we've done is claim this spot as our Base Camp. As for whether we've secured it or not... I imagine you don't even need to confirm that, do you?"
Ryuuen spread his hands wide, that provocative smirk fully on display.
Natsu gave him a single, flat glance — and ignored him entirely.
His gaze passed right over Ryuuen and landed on the silver-haired girl not far away, quietly sorting through supplies with her head down.
Ryuuen followed the line of Natsu's eyes and instantly understood. He let out a derisive snort.
"Tch... so you just came for the girl."
For all his sharp words, Ryuuen made no move to do anything about it. He didn't even try to block the way.
Ever since that day on the rooftop — when Natsu had beaten him thoroughly and without mercy — Ryuuen had never said it aloud, but a certain wariness had taken root somewhere in his chest toward this seemingly mild-mannered yet explosively dangerous individual.
Especially here, on an uninhabited island with no surveillance and no real rules to speak of. Even with teachers present to supervise, no teacher could watch every student around the clock.
If he actually pushed Natsu far enough, and Natsu decided to act...
With that terrifying level of combat ability, no one on Ryuuen's side would be able to stop him. And now that Natsu had a girlfriend — someone with a weakness, yet still impossibly strong — that kind of person was always the most troublesome to deal with.
In Ryuuen's view, a person like Natsu getting wrapped up in romantic feelings was pure self-indulgent weakness. Under normal circumstances, Ryuuen would have already started exploiting a weakness like a girlfriend — especially when that girlfriend happened to be in his own class.
But... this was different. This was Natsu's girlfriend. Ryuuen wasn't quite bold enough to try anything there.
"Hey. Shiki."
Ryuuen called out at Natsu's retreating back.
"Since you're already here, how about we do a little business while you're at it?"
A deal. Again.
Natsu stopped walking and turned around, mildly exasperated.
He had heard that word from Ryuuen's mouth more times than he could count. And every single time, whatever grand "deal" Ryuuen had proposed had ended the same way — with Ryuuen playing the fool and cheerfully handing over a sizable chunk of his personal points.
Still...
Natsu wasn't in the mood to listen to Ryuuen pitch his latest grand scheme.
He gave a simple wave of his hand and tossed out:
"Some other time."
Then turned and walked away without looking back.
Being dismissed like that didn't seem to bother Ryuuen in the slightest. He just shrugged and kept talking at Natsu's back.
"This deal is a guaranteed win for Class A, you know."
"Sure, Class A's ahead right now — but it's not exactly a commanding lead."
"The rules the teacher laid out — I'm sure you already know them. Guess another class's leader, and you earn fifty points. I can get you the leader information for two classes. On top of that, I can provide material support. In exchange..."
"Some other time. I didn't come here today to make deals."
Of course, Natsu tuned all of it out.
He had zero interest in doing business with Ryuuen. This was a simple uninhabited island holiday, as far as he was concerned — no need to complicate it. And if he wanted to know who the other classes' leaders were, he had a far simpler method at his disposal.
He had the ability to compel truthful answers — the only restriction being that he couldn't use it on the same person more than once within a three-day window. One use per class was all it would take to clear the whole thing outright.
No need to get tangled up in roundabout schemes.
Just then, the girl who had been bent over her work with her head down — Shiina Hiyori — seemed to finish what she'd been sorting through. She slowly lifted her head, and her gaze settled on Natsu.
The moment she recognized him — the figure walking toward her — those normally calm violet eyes instantly lit up with a flash of delighted surprise.
"Natsu!"
She set down what she was holding and hurried over to meet him.
"Hiyori."
Natsu greeted her with a smile, his expression warm and soft.
Then Shiina Hiyori's gaze shifted — landing on Shiraishi Asuka, who stood at Natsu's side.
Two girls, each with violet eyes, each carrying a remarkable, distinctive grace — their gazes met for the first time.
Natsu stepped in smoothly with an introduction.
"Hiyori, let me introduce you."
"This is Shiraishi Asuka — my classmate from Class A."
Then he turned to Shiraishi Asuka:
"Shiraishi-san, this is Shiina Hiyori from Class C. She's also my girlfriend."
"How do you do. I'm Shiraishi Asuka. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Shiraishi Asuka smiled with polished composure and offered a graceful, gentle bow.
"Hello. I'm Shiina Hiyori."
Shiina Hiyori returned the greeting with equal courtesy, a warm and gentle smile on her face.
Inwardly, she quietly took in the girl before her.
Another classmate of Natsu's...
Just like Kamuro Masumi — truly a remarkably beautiful girl, and one with such a lovely, distinctive elegance about her too.
After those brief pleasantries, Natsu looked at Hiyori and asked with gentle concern:
"Hiyori, have you had lunch yet?"
"Mm, I have. Masumi brought some things over not long ago."
Shiina Hiyori nodded and gestured toward the trees behind her.
"And this island actually has quite a lot to offer. Everyone found wild fruit in the forest, and they caught some fish too."
"Nobody went hungry."
"That's good to hear."
Natsu gave a nod of satisfaction.
Then he held out the tightly leaf-wrapped bundle in his hands.
"You've already eaten, I know — but these are fish I grilled myself."
"Want to give them a try?"
At those words, Shiina Hiyori's eyes immediately lit up.
"Yes!"
She didn't hesitate for even a moment. Both hands reached out to receive the still-warm bundle, her face glowing with quiet happiness.
"Anything Natsu makes himself — I want it, whatever it is!"
Natsu laughed softly and reached up to give her head a gentle pat.
He made no move to ask about Class C's strategy or the details of their Base Camp. Even as a couple, he didn't want to let that relationship become complicated.
Asking Hiyori to betray Class C's information — even if she'd agree without hesitation — would feel, to Natsu, like forcing her into an unfair position.
This was just an exam. There was no reason to drag something pure and simple into the tangled mess of class rivalries.
He did let his eyes sweep casually over Class C's camp, though.
True to form for a class led by Ryuuen — it looked a little chaotic on the surface, but nothing essential was missing. In addition to the two tents provided by the school, several brand-new tents had already been set up on the ground. Clearly, Ryuuen had spent points without a moment's hesitation.
Most of Class C's students were resting around the tents or tending to the supplies they'd gathered.
"Hiyori — is there anything left that needs doing right now?"
Natsu drew his gaze back and looked gently at the girl cradling the wrapped fish with both hands.
"Hmm..."
Shiina Hiyori thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"Nothing for now."
"The supplies are all sorted. It's free time from here."
Hearing that, the smile on Natsu's face grew warmer.
He extended a hand toward Hiyori — a quiet, entirely natural invitation:
"In that case..."
"How about a walk together?"
"The scenery on this island is actually quite nice. We could stroll around and eat the grilled fish while we're at it."
Shiina Hiyori looked at the hand reaching out toward her — and without any hesitation, she placed her small hand gently into his, wrapping her fingers around it. The familiar warmth was immediately, deeply reassuring.
"Sure."
She smiled and accepted, her violet eyes brimming with sweetness.
Meanwhile, standing just to the side, Shiraishi Asuka watched this scene unfold — and the sensation of being a third wheel seemed to grow considerably more pronounced.
____
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