Chapter 8: The Strange Box
"Yukinoshita-san... I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I had just returned from the sea and didn't see you near the cave. I thought you were..."
After Yukino got dressed again, Jun apologized and explained with a smile that showed he was upset.
Now, it was just the two of them on this remote island. If there's a conflict because of this incident, they might not survive.
"It's fine... let's not talk about it anymore."
Yukino didn't want to keep talking about it, and she also knew that Jun hadn't looked over her shoulder on purpose.
Even so, she was still very upset.
[Yukinoshita Yukino: Affinity: 10]
"I'm just glad Kato-san made it back safely."
She said this without showing any emotion.
"By the way, Yukinoshita-san, I found a lot of stuff from the plane wreckage. Look..."
Jun remembered that he had returned with a full load.
He looked happy as he placed the items he had bought in front of Yukino.
A set of tableware, a pair of reading glasses, a box of tissues, a first-aid kit, a mechanical wristwatch, a woman's handbag (likely belonging to a flight attendant), a small bundle of plastic rope, and a rectangular metal plate salvaged from the plane wreck.
"With this, we can make fire!"
Jun held up the reading glasses.
"So many things..."
Yukino looked at the contents and was surprised to see tissues there. That meant that even if she had her period, she wouldn't need to worry too much.
"You're planning to use the lens to focus light and make a fire?"
Yukino looked at the items on the ground, and all the anger in her heart disappeared.
"Exactly. And with the tissues, we have an easy-to-burn material to start it..."
After getting a big pile of dry firewood and straw, Jun opened a pack of tissues, put one under the sunlight, focused it with the glasses' lens, and slowly waited for it to catch on fire.
The sun was hottest around 2 to 3 p.m. Soon, black smoke rose from the white tissue, followed by a yellow-orange spark.
"It's catching fire!"
Jun added straw to the smoldering tissue. After blowing gently a few times, the straw caught on fire.
"Yes! There's a fire!"
Yukino helped by adding dry wood to the flames.
The fire grew slowly. Yukino and Jun felt safe watching it burn.
If water was the source of life, then fire was the guarantee of survival.
"Later, I'm going to go catch some crabs and clams so we can have grilled crab for dinner..."
Jun started to calm down from his excitement.
Finally, I'm not eating only coconut dishes for dinner anymore.
"Thank you for finding all this, Kato-san. Thank you so much!"
Yukino used a wooden stick to stir the fire and bowed slightly to Jun to show her thanks.
"Yukinoshita-san, I owe you a big thank you. You asked me to bring two coconuts, and I did. Otherwise, I might not have made it back..."
Jun said it was not necessary to be so polite.
"Really? I'm glad I could help..."
Yukino smiled while looking at the fire.
"Oh, I also found some fresh water, but not a lot..."
After confirming that the fire would last, Yukino led Jun to the water source she had found.
_ _ _
"Over here!"
Yukino pointed to small holes in the cliff ahead. The holes, both large and small, had collected rainwater because they were in the shade.
"But the water doesn't look very clean, and there's not much of it..."
"No, this is enough to keep us going!"
Jun didn't expect Yukino to actually find fresh water. He was so happy that he almost hugged her.
But to avoid making their 10-point affinity even lower, he held himself back.
"It doesn't matter if it's not clean—as long as it's fresh. Don't you remember? We have fire now..."
"Oh, that's right! We can boil the water and make it clean."
Yukino's face showed her happiness.
She had forgotten that because she didn't expect to actually make fire when she was searching for water.
"Let's get some plastic cups to collect it!"
Jun and Yukino were now sure they would be safe from fire and water.
_ _ _
"Kato-san, what's in the handbag?"
While Yukino was boiling fresh water in a tin cup, she cleaned the gear Jun had brought from the wreckage.
After quietly admiring Jun for a while, she picked up the woman's handbag, curiously.
The zipper was a little rusty.
"I haven't opened it yet, but there should be something useful inside."
"I think it's a flight attendant's bag."
Jun squatted on the ground, sharpening a metal plate with a stone from the beach.
The plastic utensils were useless; metal was far more reliable.
They still needed a blade to chop the wood.
"This is really hard to open..."
Yukino used all her strength to unzip the slightly corroded bag.
"There's quite a lot in here..."
She carefully took out the contents one by one.
A makeup mirror, foundation, a lipstick...
It didn't seem to be very useful.
Wait—there was a bar of chocolate!
"Kato-kun, I found some chocolate inside!"
Yukino held up the chocolate, smiling.
The bag must have been fairly waterproof, because the contents weren't damp at all. The chocolate was in perfect condition.
"That's great. We can have it for dessert after dinner."
Jun kept sharpening the rectangular metal plate.
It looked thin, but it was actually pretty sturdy.
"Let me see what else is inside..."
Yukino stored the chocolate, then tipped the bag over.
"A box?"
She unwrapped the cardboard packaging.
Inside was a smaller box. But with words like "ultra-thin," "energy," and "passion" on it, she immediately felt something was off.
"Kato-kun! You caused this, didn't you?"
Yukino finally realized it was a large box of condoms. She threw it at Jun.
"What is this?"
Jun caught the box with a confused look.
_ _ _
"Oh! There's this too!"
Condoms were actually very useful! They're especially useful in survival situations.
"Yukinoshita-san, you really are a lucky charm! To find this in the bag!"
Jun looked at the box with joy, as if he had found a treasure.
"Kato-kun, if you try anything on this island, I won't stop you—but once we're rescued, I will sue you!!!"
Yukino's eyes were cold as she looked at Jun, who was treating the box like it was a treasure.
"Try anything? On you? What?"
Jun realized that he had misunderstood when he saw the girl's disgusted and suspicious look.
She had misunderstood his thoughts...
"No, Yukinoshita-san, that's not what this is..."
"Not what, then?"
Yukino looked at him like he was worthless.
"This is made of highly elastic rubber..."
Jun took out a condom, stretched it a little—it was thin, but it could stretch really far.
"It's transparent, elastic, and airtight. There are so many ways to use it! You can use it as a slingshot for hunting, as a substitute for food wrap, to collect water, as an emergency bandage, or even to make water balloons.
Actually, condoms are surprisingly useful for survival in the wilderness.
"Really?"
Hearing Jun list so many uses, Yukino started to doubt herself.
Maybe she didn't understand.
"Of course. I'll make a slingshot out of one right now!"
Jun used the metal plate to cut a tree branch, chose a perfectly forked stick, tied two condoms together, and attached them to the branch.
Soon, he had a rubber slingshot that worked.
"Yukinoshita-san, try pulling this."
Jun gave the slingshot to her.
"Okay..."
Yukino took it, looked it over a few times, and had to admit it worked.
But using that as a slingshot felt a little weird.
Snap!
She pulled it back.
The tension was strong...
"See? Super useful, right?"
Jun smiled at her surprised expression.
"Yes... I guess I misunderstood earlier. Sorry."
Yukino apologized quietly.
"It's okay. I was surprised too when I first learned all this. Anyway, Yukinoshita-san, watch the fire. I'll try to catch some fish and shrimp for dinner."
Jun put the metal blade that he had been working on back at their camp, grabbed a wooden stick, and headed to the shallow coastal waters.
_ _ _
[Ding!]
[This is the first time I've started a fire. You've been awarded +20 Health, +20 Stamina, +10 Hunger, and +10 Sanity.]
Once he had made a fire, Jun felt a change in his body.
His stats got a lot better.
It's just like in a game.
[Name: Kato Jun
Hunger: 130/160 (Full)
Health: 170/170
Stamina: 130/170
Sanity: 150/160
Skills: Can lock any one attribute to prevent decrease for three hours.
Note: Skill can be used once every 24 hours. When average status reaches 200, a new skill will unlock]
Making fire made his stats better. Maybe chopping wood or hunting animals would help too.
For now, this "attribute lock" skill was very useful.
Jun thought about what new skill he would get once his average stat reached 200.
_ _ _
"Sorry, the fish were too hard to catch. I only caught a few small crabs and some snails..."
Jun was a bit disappointed with what he found.
"No, this is already amazing, Kato-san."
Yukino started cutting coconuts with a sharp metal plate.
While Jun was fishing, she had been grinding the rectangular metal down.
"Even though I've never cooked with these ingredients, it's worth a try..."
Yukino tied her long hair into a ponytail using a piece of shirt from the handbag and started preparing the snails and blue crabs Jun brought back.
Kato-kun was right. Condoms are useful and shouldn't be judged unfairly.
As for why there were condoms in a flight attendant's bag, they wisely chose not to investigate.
Yukino carefully took the snail meat out of the box, mixed it with blue crab, and put it all into the tin cup filled with boiling water on the fire.
She looked at the cooking pile and doubted her cooking skills for the first time.
Would it taste bad?
She had never worked with ingredients like this before.
She had never used a tin cup to cook...
But it should still be edible.
Yukino stirred the blackened tin cup with a clean wooden stick, then added sea salt that she had collected from the rocky shore.
But Kato had said that eating too much sea salt was dangerous, so she decided to use it in small amounts in the future.
Yukino carefully cooked the snails and blue crabs in the tin pot.
Now, she was sure she could wait there until the rescue team arrived.
_________________________
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