Chillin' on an Uninhabited Island in Another World

“Earlier you said you ate some nuts, Shouko, but... you two, anything else?”

At my words, both of them listlessly shook their heads.

“We don’t exactly have a rich variety of ingredients either, but we can at least offer you roasted mushrooms.”

“Mushrooms! I’ll eat them, I’ll eat them!”

Shouko’s eyes lit up.

“If I can have some too, I’d be happy.”

Shion answered while rubbing her stomach.

“I’m fine. Mushrooms... I’m already... stuffed.”

My childhood friend Chiyu said it while giving me a meaningful look.

She was probably talking about what happened in the hut.

“T-then that’s two servings.”

Chiyu had always been the type to lob dirty jokes at me, but after what happened today, that tendency might get even worse.

Bracing myself for that, I opened Inventory.

I could’ve brought out the stock of roasted mushrooms, but that would reveal the information that I can store things without any temperature change, so I decided not to for now.

Instead, I took out mushrooms and skewers, sprinkled salt over them, and passed them to the two of them.

“Roast them over the fire and eat.”

“Yaaay! Thanks, Sousuke!”

She was so honestly happy about it that I decided to be a little mean.

“You sure? They might be poisonous mushrooms.”

“Ahaha! Sousuke wouldn’t do something like that.”

Shouko said it like it was obvious, and I ended up choking on my words.

“Besides, Mashiro can tell poison apart by smell.”

As she held the mushrooms to the fire, Shion added that.

“Oh, yeah. That too.”

I see. Mashiro the Fenrir seems pretty capable.

Before long, the mushrooms finished roasting, and the two of them ate.

Shouko went at them boldly, Shion taking elegant little bites as she chewed, and they each finished everything.

“So yummy! And you even have salt! How!? ”

“Yeah, from seawater. Anyway, want more?”

“You sure? How much is it?”

Shouko tossed out a joke like that.

“The fee’s already been paid.”

Chiyu muttered.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“So-kun, you totally peeked at Shion’s panties earlier. Honestly, these roasted mushrooms are your panties fee.”

Hey, come on...

Chiyu, what the hell are you saying now?

So she caught me.

Even before we lit the fire—when it was nothing but moonlight—she still caught me.

“Ahaha, but... with that posture, there are parts you can’t help. I mean, I’m... it’s fine.”

Shion had noticed too, but she smiled shyly and forgave me.

“Sousuke is sooo pervy.”

As she said it, Shouko pinched the chest area of her uniform between her fingers and fanned it a little like she was sending air inside.

If she hadn’t been glancing over at me, I might’ve missed it as a casual gesture.

But even though it was absolutely not my fault, her bra showed a little in the firelight.

“Ghk.”

“Yup, saw it. You earn your own food... with your own work...! Ahaha.”

Shouko said it, blushing bright red.

“No—Shion and Shouko, that was just Chiyu joking...”

But, well, it really was a blessing for my eyes, so I’d be happy to provide seconds.

And that’s how we kept wildly veering off-topic, but—

“Even if we talk while ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) eating, let’s move the information-sharing along.”

“Yeah yeah.”

Both Shouko and Shion had woken up standing in the forest.

As Shouko summoned the Fenrir and moved through the trees, Mashiro reacted when he sensed a person nearby.

That person was Shion, and that’s how the two of them reunited.

“I really am glad Shouko picked me up.”

“No no, I’m the one who’s glad! I was thinking it might be just me, and I was, like, insanely lonely!”

After that, the two of them rode Mashiro and came to my base.

“How did you find So-kun?”

Before I could speak, Chiyu asked.

Yeah. That was the part I cared about too.

“Umm. That’s, like... ahaha...”

Shouko scratched her cheek, embarrassment showing.

“When you two woke up, what happened to your belongings?”

Shion opened her mouth.

From how the conversation was going, I figured this wasn’t a dodge but a supplement, so I answered.

“Just our uniforms and indoor shoes. Our school’s indoor shoes double as gym shoes, which really saved me.”

They’re not that different from ordinary running shoes, so they work fine even out here.

I did cut my foot on pebbles back on the beach, though.

“Chiyu too?”

“So what?”

“Um, look at this.”

Shion took something off her wrist.

A hair tie.

“I use it to tie my hair up, so when I go to school, I always wear it on my left wrist.”

“—Ah.”

That’s when I realized too.

We’d transferred in our uniforms, but we hadn’t really thought deeply about where the line was for “starting equipment.”

Because we had no belongings, we’d assumed anything besides clothing had been taken.

It felt fair, and it seemed like the kind of rule this would have.

But even I had brought something besides my uniform.

My undershirt—an inner layer—I’d broken down with my ability and turned into towels.

Some people don’t even wear an undershirt, so even if it’s only one piece of clothing, that means I came out ahead.

And if we’re calling it “starting equipment,” then it would’ve been more natural if everyone’s underwear was the same material... or if there wasn’t any at all.

We got transferred in “what we normally wear to school”...? No, the definition of “normally” gets tricky.

“Um, Sousuke. I think you’re trying to figure out what the standard is for what counts as belongings, but we’ve already confirmed it.”

“We have?”

“Yeah. Um... it seems like we got transferred in what we were wearing when we got home from school the day before we had that dream.”

“Oh, I see. But how’d you figure that out?”

Shion’s lips wobbled a little as she looked down diagonally, speaking in a hoarse voice.

“Um... well... at first it was... u-underwear. Not just me—Shouko too, it seems.”

“Ah... yeah...”

I didn’t have yesterday’s underwear pattern filed away in my brain at all, but girls apparently do.

“Oh, but! The reason we pinned it down to the timing—after getting home—is thanks to Shouko. She had something that she ‘got the day before and put in her uniform pocket on the way home.’”

If it’s something she doesn’t normally carry, and she didn’t have it when she left for school but did have it when she came home, then yeah—“what we were wearing when we got home yesterday” is pretty much confirmed.

“Huh... Wait, though. Does that connect to why you found me? If it does, then...”

Shouko pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket.

I remembered yesterday.

Shouko had spilled water on her uniform, so as a friend, I very naturally and extremely casually slipped her a handkerchief and left in a smooth, stylish way.

It definitely wasn’t because I accidentally looked at her uniform turning see-through from the water and shoved the handkerchief at her to cover for it.

“Right, I did lend you that.”

Damn it. That came out totally monotone.

“No, I was gonna wash it and give it back properly!?”

For some reason, Shouko was red-faced as she defended herself.

It’s not like I’d be disappointed just because she left a handkerchief in her pocket.

She probably just didn’t want to be seen as the kind of person who treats borrowed things carelessly.

“Did you have the Fenrir smell So-kun and stalk him?”

There was a slight edge to Chiyu’s words.

“Ugh. I-I figured you might hate it, but it was an emergency!”

So that’s what happened.

The transfer’s rules, yesterday’s coincidence, and Shouko’s ability all meshed together in this ridiculous miracle, and that’s how they managed to reunite with me.

“No, it’s fine. I was worried about you too, Shouko, so I don’t mind.”

“Sousuke...!”

Shouko’s eyes got all watery like she was moved.

“...Guys are way too weak to a gyaru who’s nice to nerds. Childhood friends win, period.”

Chiyu muttered her complaints, but I know she isn’t cold enough to abandon them over this.

After that, we kept talking for a while, and I got most of what I wanted to hear.

“So I’ve got Crafting Ability, Chiyu has Healing Magic, Shouko has Fluffy Summoning Ability... and Shion?”

That was the one thing we still hadn’t covered.

And, well—she might not even have an ability, so maybe it’s hard to say in this group.

Either way, I want to know.

“Umm... you won’t think I’m a bad person, will you?”

Hesitant, Shion still told me.

“What I wanted was... an ‘ability to tell when someone is lying.’”