Chapter 10 – How Affinity Grows and Declines
"Will this really start a fire?"
Yui looked at Megumi, who was playing with her old phone.
Even though the phone was completely broken and wouldn't work anymore, seeing it on the ground still made her feel sad.
"It should..."
Megumi had already removed the battery from the phone.
"Yui-chan, please give me a piece of chewing gum."
She was getting ready to try the fire-starting trick she had seen on TV, using a battery and a gum wrapper.
"Oh."
Yui gave Megumi the last piece of her chewing gum.
"Open your mouth."
"Huh?"
Yui blinked in surprise as Megumi put the unwrapped gum in her own mouth.
Wasn't that supposed to be eaten?
"I only need the wrapper."
Megumi carefully tore the aluminum wrapper into a long strip with a narrow middle and wide ends. Then, she touched each end of the battery to the positive and negative terminals.
The trick used a dry cell battery on TV, but a lithium battery should work too.
She carefully placed the aluminum foil across the battery terminals and positioned it above some dry grass fibers as tinder.
"It's lighting! It's the lighting!"
The heat from the short circuit first ignited the narrow middle part of the foil, which then caught on fire.
Megumi quickly threw the battery to the ground and blew on the smoking grass.
The method was simple, but there was a risk of the battery exploding.
There's a crackling sound.
Yui laughed with joy when she saw the orange flame flicker on the dry twigs.
"Thank goodness! It's so warm!"
The two of them sat together under a big rock that was hanging over them. They were warm and cozy in front of the fire.
Even though it was evening, with the fire lit, they felt much calmer about the coming night.
Fire made people feel warm and safe.
"Me-Megumi-chan, sugoi..."
Yui smiled and hugged the girl in front of her.
"It's nothing. It's all thanks to your phone and gum. Without those, I wouldn't have been able to start the fire."
Megumi rested her head on her hand. Even though her eyes were focused on the flame, her mind was thinking about other things.
Onii-chan, where are you?
She felt sure that her brother was still alive and close by.
_ _ _
"How is it?"
Yukino looked at Jun nervously.
In the bowl in front of him was a seafood soup that she had just made.
"Hmmm..."
Jun looked at Yukino, who was acting shy, and then he ate some soup.
The taste was a little strange, but not bad.
"Pretty good!"
He finished the bowl in just five minutes.
"Really?"
Yukino tried tasting it herself.
The flavor was plain, but not bad.
Oh well. Next time, I'll try to improve it.
She didn't seem very happy.
"Yukinoshita-san, you must be good at cooking. To make a decent seafood soup using just an iron pot…"
Jun tried to compliment her. Honestly, he wasn't full yet.
"Thank you..."
Yukino looked calm on the outside, but on the inside, she was happy with how Jun had complimented her.
After they looked at each other for a few minutes without saying anything, Yukino finally understood what Jun wanted—he wanted another bowl.
"You can have the rest. I'm full."
Yukino looked upset because she realized that Jun's compliment was probably not true.
"Thanks, Yukinoshita-san!"
Jun happily accepted another big bowl of soup.
He didn't know that the girl in front of him was experiencing a lot of emotional closeness.
10… 20… 30… 35… 15…
_ _ _
"What are you doing, Katō-san?"
Yukino sat on a pile of straw in the cave, untangling her hair.
She looked at Jun, who was pulling a big tree trunk towards the cave entrance, with a puzzled look on his face.
The long black trunk left a deep trail across the sandy beach outside the cave.
"There are probably a lot of large animals on this island, so I want to build a fence around the cave where we'll sleep tonight..."
Because bugs were attracted to the light of the fire, Jun would cover the campfire with stones every night before bed. This made the fire less bright and kept the embers from going out.
Jun brought two thick logs and put them in a V shape near the cave mouth.
Then he supported them with stones and shorter pieces of wood, and he covered the top with thorny branches.
Wild animals usually stay away from these thorns.
"In that case, I'll help too!"
Yukino sped up her hair-tying.
"No need. I'm almost done, Yukinoshita-san… hmm?"
Under the light of the fire and the fading sunset, Jun looked at Yukino sitting on her knees on the straw.
He stopped suddenly.
Her smooth white legs were crossed at a perfect angle. He looked from her short skirt to her small, pale feet, which were curled up because it was cold.
But that wasn't what caught his attention the most.
The most important thing was the way Yukinoshita Yukino was standing.
Her slender white arms were behind her head, holding her hair back. She had a hair tie in her mouth.
—which turned out to be a condom.
Her pale neck and collarbones, the light-pink fabric wrapped around her lips, and her completely helpless posture as she tied her hair…
All of it made Jun's heart race and mind go blank.
"What is it, Katō-san?"
Yukino felt embarrassed and annoyed when she saw him stop working and stare at her. She quickly changed her sitting position and carefully placed her hands over her chest.
"It's nothing. I just thought... Yukinoshita-san is really beautiful."
Jun shook his head, keeping his cool, and went back to working on the wooden fence.
"Of course."
Yukino replied in her usual flat tone, but when Jun turned away, her cheeks flushed red.
"Katō-san, you're just another man who is controlled by your lower body, aren't you?"
Yukino threw out a bold jab.
"No, no, Yukinoshita-san. Research shows that when men see a beautiful woman they like, their brain releases a chemical called dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical that makes us feel happy and increases our motivation. Higher dopamine levels make a person feel more energized and focused. So to improve work efficiency, I just looked at Yukinoshita-san briefly..."
Jun took the comment seriously.
As the saying goes, when men and women work together, the workload feels easier to handle.
"Is that so..."
Yukino looked upset again.
But she wasn't sure.
Calling me "a woman he likes"... Katō-san really has no shame!
Yukino quietly moved her straw bedding a little deeper into the cave.
Hopefully, she wouldn't hug him again in her sleep tonight.
[Yukinoshita Yukino Affinity: 40]
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Maybe $3? I don't know what's fair.
Whatever works for you is fine.