Previously:
"…" Rion watched Torako eat from Yarai's chopsticks and looked at Akira. "Oops!" she said, pretending to fumble and drop her own chopsticks. "Akira-kun, my chopsticks are dirty. Can you let me use yours?"
"Huh?" Akira said, looking up but I..." He trailed off when he caught sight of Yarai and Torako, too. He blushed a little bit, looking at Rion. "I-I guess it can't be helped… We'll have to share mine. Here," he said, holding out a bit of fruit for her to eat with his chopsticks.
"..." Kashiwagi watched both Yarai with Torako and Akira with Rion. "Oops!" she said, dropping her chopsticks. "Ryouichi-kun~ Can you share your chopsticks with me?"
"Huh?" Suzuki said, looking up. "What do you mean, 'share'?" Then he saw the others. 'Th-Those bastards…!?' he thought, watching Yarai and Akira. 'I told Yarai to quit raising the bar, and that damn Sengoku is sharing indirect kisses with Akagami!'
"Come on, Ryouichi-kun~" Kashiwagi said, doing her best to look cute.
"Why don't you just go wash them off?" Ryouichi said, unmoved.
"..." Kashiwagi gazed coolly at him for a moment before picking up her chopsticks and walking off to wash them.
"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Yamato asked Suzuki. "She seemed kind of angry..."
"It's fine, it's fine!" Suzuki said dismissively.
Chapter 34: A Brave New World
But it wasn't fine. For the rest of the day, Kashiwagi ignored Suzuki whenever he tried to talk to her.
"What's your problem!?" he finally asked her when they were eating dinner.
"You want to know what my problem is?" Kashiwagi said in a low voice that grew louder as she spoke. "You don't come pick me up for breakfast, you don't kiss me goodnight, and you won't even share your chopsticks with me! You don't do anything for me, despite everything we've been through. The only time you're nice to me is when you want something!" By the end, she was yelling, and everyone was staring at them. "Stupid Ryouichi-kun!!" With that parting shot, she ran off with tears in her eyes. All around him, Suzuki could hear people talking.
"Ooh, he made her cry..."
"He really is the worst..."
"Maybe now she'll get wise and dump him!"
"Yeah, she should totally dump his sorry ass!"
"It's pretty obvious he was only using her..."
"Seriously, he's the worst..."
'Th-These bastards…!' Suzuki thought darkly. 'Saying whatever the hell they want… Even the guys are bashing me! And the girls… They're all glaring daggers at me… If I let it end like this, my stock will plummet, and I won't be able to get another girlfriend!!' Panicking, he stood up and chased after Kashiwagi. He looked in all the usual spots, but couldn't find her, so he waited for her at the girls' cabin. He wasn't sure how long he waited there, but it felt like forever. His stomach kept growling because he'd only had a few bites to eat.
"Ryouichi-kun…?" Kashiwagi said, and he looked up to see her standing in front of him.
"S-Sanae..." Suzuki said, standing up. "Sanae…" He kissed her before she could turn her head away. "Goodnight." Someone wolf-whistled. Suzuki looked in that direction and was horrified to see that he had an audience. Pretty much everyone else had finished eating, and most of them were watching with smirks on their faces. A few people cheered them on. Sanae blushed, looking pleased.
'These bastards… Did they plan this!?' Suzuki wondered. "… Like I said, goodnight!" Suzuki told his girlfriend and fled the scene as casually as he could.
"Good night," Yarai told Torako sharing a kiss with her.
"Goodnight," Torako said, waving at him as he left.
"Looks like you got him to come crawling back…" Miyauchi said to Kashiwagi.
"Are you sure you're okay with that, though?" Rei asked. "He was just copying Yarai..."
"It's fine!" Kashiwagi said, grinning. "After all, that's the first time Ryouichi-kun's done something like that!"
"Th-The first time!?" the other girls said.
"With how long you two have been dating…?"Rion said.
"That's the first time he was nice to you like that!?" Shigeno said incredulously.
"You should just dump him," Tokiwa said. But Kashiwagi was too happy to absorb the negative comments, and she went to bed with a smile on her face.
—∞—
Things continued on peacefully for another thirteen weeks, and soon Isurgi Miina was completely healed and moved into the first cabin, and the second cabin was completed. Yarai, Akira, Mariya, Suzuki, Miina, Yamato, Kairi, the president, Morita, Shiraishi, Katsuragi, Kokonoe, Yashiro, Seigou, and Murayama moved into the second cabin together.
"I guess it's nice to have a room with real walls again, but at this rate, it'll take us a whole year just to build four cabins..." Yashiro said.
"Yeah, I think we're going to have to ask the women to help more with construction, so we can free people up to start working on the boats..." Akira said.
"They'll probably do it. Most of the women in our group are tough," Kokonoe said.
"Speaking of boats… I think we should try looking in the 'building' again..." Mariya said. "Maybe we can find a map that will show this island's exact location..."
"Don't we already know that from the coordinates?" Yarai said.
"Oh, right, you were busying helping with Kurusu-sensei's surgery, so you may not have heard this, but… Nishikiori said that, according to the position of the stars, we should be closer to Guam than Japan..." Akira said.
"So, before we set sail, it would be best to have confirmation one way or the other..." Mariya said.
"Right," Akira agreed.
"Should we take the same group?" Yarai asked.
"I'd like to leave the women out of it this time, with that broken bottle of myxomycetes lying around, but we'll never hear the end of it from them if we do..." Akira said. Heero, Duo, and Quatre suddenly burst into the cabin.
"W-Why is Miina-chan in here!?" Quatre asked. "She should be with the girls!"
"Maybe if I was a girl, but Onii-chan and the others say I'm getting too old for that," Miina said.
"… Huh?" the lolicon trio said.
"Are you saying you had no idea? I thought you at least suspected..." Miina said.
"Suspected what?" Heero asked.
"That I'm a guy," Miina said. "My real name is Heijirou, but I prefer to be called Miina now."
"..." The lolicon trio stared at him with blank expressions. It did not compute for them. They all laughed.
"There's no way!" Heero said.
"That can't be true!" Duo said.
"Do you think we're idiots?" Quatre asked.
"…" Miina was really tempted to answer that last question in the affirmative. He sighed. "Fine. I guess you won't believe me till you see it for yourselves, huh?" He pulled down his panties.
"W-Whoa!? Miina-chan!?" the lolicon trio exclaimed, blushing.
"You want proof? Here it is," Miina said, lifting his skirt to show them the evidence that he was a boy.
"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!??"
"What was that?" Torako asked, looking up from her chore as several birds scattered nearby from the loud sound that echoed through their camp. Isurugi Miina, who was helping out, looked up, too.
"I think that sounded like the lolicon trio..." Oomori said.
"They sound like they're suffering..." Rion said.
"That was a noise of pure torment..." Shigeno agreed.
"Should we check on them?" Kurusu-sensei asked.
"It sounded like it came from the second cabin..." Matsumoto said.
"Ah..." Torako said as something clicked. "Miina's moving in there, right? They must have finally realized she was a boy..."
"Ah, I see," Rion said.
"That explains it," Oomori said.
"Poor things. They were such a big help to us when Nishikiori had everyone captured..." Kurusu-sensei said.
"Yeah…" Torako said. She pitied them, but they would have found out sooner or later. They all watched as the lolicon trio stumbled into view on shaky legs, white as sheets. They looked like they had suffered severe shocks. They sat down on a log and stared into the distance without seeing anything.
"I feel like we should do something..." Matsumoto said.
"Yeah, they just look way too pathetic…" Shigeno said.
"We should at least get them some water, right?" Kurusu-sensei said.
"Don't they give blankets to people who are in shock?" Segawa asked. "Oh, but we don't really have anything like that..."
"Huh? What's that falling from Quatre's head…?" Rion asked. They all looked at him again and realized strands of hair were floating down to the ground.
'H-He's going bald!?' they all thought, surprised. Was finding out Miina was a boy really that stressful?
"M-Miina-chan..." Heero murmured.
"I-It was there… r-right between her l-legs..." Quatre mumbled.
"Th-There… was a 'P' where there should have been a 'V'…!" Duo rambled. They were all heartbroken. Then they suddenly realized cups of something with a sweet scent were being held out to them.
"Are you all right? Here's some juice..." Kurusu-sensei said as she, Torako, and Matsumoto looked at them with concern.
"..." the lolicon trio stared at them. 'If only they were younger...' they thought with tears welling up in their eyes. Suddenly, they burst into tears and broke out in sobs. "M-M-Miina-chaaan!!"
"There, there..." Oomori said while she and Rion patted them on their backs.
"..." Isurugi Miina stared at them, then walked over and offered them her sketchbook and a pencil.
'I-Isurugi Miina, you...' the lolicon trio thought, touched.
—∞—
Later, the original group of sixteen who had entered the 'building' to explore was reassembled, and they searched the rooms they hadn't looked at carefully.
"Found it!!" Rion said suddenly in another room on the third floor. "Look!" she held the paper map up for them to see. It was very old and looked brittle, but it allowed them to confirm something very important. The coordinates on the 'antenna' had been correct. They were closer to Okinawa.
"Yes! I knew Nishikiori had to be lying!" Miyauchi said.
"He must've just been trying to confuse us!" Yuki said, relieved.
"Now we know what our course is," Mariya said.
"Right! We're going to Okinawa!" Akira said firmly.
—∞—
The lolicon trio were listless for a few days, but they still did their share of the work. They couldn't bring themselves to look directly at Miina for weeks.
"Don't you think they're overreacting?" Miina said, watching them from a distance. He was eating with Akira, Rion, Oomori, Mariya, Seigou, and Yashiro.
"Rejection hurts,"Seigou said.
"Especially when it's so brutal..." Akira said.
"Well, they wouldn't have believed me otherwise," Miina said. "Hm?" He noticed that the lolicon trio suddenly seemed happier. They were looking at Miina's sketchbook.
"It's finally done…!" Quatre said.
"Th-This is a work of art…!" Heero said.
"Awesome…!" Duo said. They grinned as they looked at the doujinshi manga that Quatre had drawn of Miina as a magical girl.
'God bless Isurugi Miina! Now we have something we can hold onto…!' they thought. 'The Miina-chan we love can live on in our hearts and on the pages of this sketchbook!'
—∞—
In the following days, the women started helping with the construction of the cabins, and work began on the boats, too. Akira and the rest of the hunters were returning to camp with fresh meat when they encountered a group who were working to fell trees for the cabins.
"Oh! Akira-kun!" Rion said hurrying over to them when she spotted him.
"Ahh!!" Takahashi screamed when the tree they were cutting fell in an unexpected direction because it had been damaged internally by insects. "Rion-chan!!"
"Eh?" Rion said as the shadow of the falling tree came over her. Akira gritted his teeth and ran with all his might.
CRAAASH!
"Ahhh!! Akira-kun!?" Rion screamed.
"!?" everyone else exclaimed, shocked. Akira was lying under the fallen tree. He had managed to shove Rion out of the way, but he got caught himself.
"Sengoku!" Yarai yelled as the rest of the hunters and the people who were working to fell the trees rushed over to Rion and Akira.
"I… I'm all right…" Akira groaned. It felt like he was being crushed, but nothing was actually broken. Not only had he fallen into a depression in the ground, but one end of the tree had fallen on a rock that was sticking up out of the ground partially, so its full weight wasn't on him.
"H-Hang on, Akira-kun!" Rion cried with tears in her eyes as she and the others quickly set up some levers and fulcrums with strong sticks and some rocks.
"On three," Yarai said. "One… two… three…!" They all worked together to lift the fallen tree enough for Akira to wiggle out from under it. Akira gasped for breath, breathing freely, even though it hurt to do so.
"Akira-kun!" Rion cried, hugging him.
"Rion… I'm glad you're okay..." Akira said, hugging her back.
"That's my line!!" Rion said with tears streaming down her face. "I thought you'd been crushed!! Why did you do that!?"
"What? You really have to ask!? It's because you're—" Akira dropped off and turned a little red in the face when he realized everyone still had their eyes on them.
"..." Torako looked at his face and then all the people around them. "All right, everyone, let's get back to work. Nothing to see here!" she said, and everyone dispersed to return to their respective jobs. She mouthed, "Don't chicken out!" at Akira before she turned away. It was about time he told Rion how he really felt.
'Easy for you to say...' Akira thought, turning redder as he looked at Rion.
"Are you all right, Akira-kun?" Rion asked, concerned. "Your face is red..."
"I… I pushed you out of the way because… because… I couldn't let you die!" Akira said, avoiding eye contact with her. "… You're special… to me..."
"Eh?" Rion said, blushing. "Akira-kun, you… are you saying you… love me?" she asked. "You love me… as more than a friend?" Akira nodded, turning redder.
"Yeah," he said, finally risking direct eye contact with her. Rion stared at him for a moment, then she smiled.
"Akira-kun!!" she exclaimed, hugging him. "Me, too!"
"Eh!? Really!?" Akira said, relieved. Rion nodded, smiling radiantly at him.
"Hey, Sengoku!" Yarai called, reminding him they still had to bring their kills back to camp.
'Th-They were watching this whole time…!?' Akira thought, embarrassed. "B-Be more careful, okay? I'll see you back at camp..." he told Rion, still red in the face, but grinning a little bit.
"Yeah! I'll be careful!" Rion said, still smiling. They hugged again, and then Akira gathered up the nuralagi he had dropped and left with the other hunters.
"Way to go, Sengoku!" Miyauchi said with a grin, elbowing him.
"It's about time," Torako said.
"Funny, that's what Rion said about you and Yarai…" Akira said, deflecting a little bit.
—∞—
Later that evening, Akira and Rion were sitting closer together than usual. Rion kept beaming at him, and he couldn't wipe the grin off his face.
"It looks like another couple has been born..." Yamato said, watching them from over by the fire he shared with some of his other classmates.
"They're so cute together!" Takahashi said, smiling.
"I've been wondering when they'd finally get together..." Murayama said.
"I'm amazed it took them this long!" Kashiwagi said.
'That bastard, Sengoku…!' Suzuki thought, super jealous.
When they had all finished eating dinner and were ready for bed, Akira walked Rion back to her cabin like Yarai and Suzuki were walking with their girlfriends.
" 'Night," Suzuki said, kissing Kashiwagi briefly before walking off without looking back.
"Goodnight, Kouichi-kun," Torako said, and they shared a kiss.
"Goodnight, Tora," Yarai said, smiling at her.
"..." Akira looked at Rion, who was staring expectantly at him. He wanted to be cool about it like Yarai, but he could feel himself blushing. It was their first kiss, and people were watching. "G-Good night, Rion..." he said, giving her a nice, polite kiss on the lips.
"Good night, Akira-kun!" Rion said, smiling. Akira smiled, too, and they parted for the night.
—∞—
It took them a total of one and a half years to complete the cabins, while it took them a total of about two and half years to complete the ship. For the boat they had gone with a design that was similar to a catamaran. It was two massive ships connected by a shared deck. It had sails and oars to propel it. There was enough space for there to be cabins that were only shared by two or three people, so couples like Yarai and Torako were happy because they would finally have a private room to themselves. Segawa was not pleased at all. She would be sharing with Shigeno and Matsumoto, while Kurusu-sensei bunked with Rion and Oomori.
The night before they were set to leave, they made one huge bonfire and had a party to celebrate. People were laughing and dancing while they sang songs and played the drums they had made. Yarai watched Torako dance happily with Kurusu-sensei and smiled. They were aiming to move around as much as they wanted while they still could, since there would be limited space for that sort of thing on the boat. Akira and Rion were dancing together, too. Segawa sat down next to Yarai.
"… I can't believe you're still together after three years..." Segawa said, watching Torako. '
"Despite your best efforts, you mean?" Yarai said. Segawa had eventually resumed her attempts to get in the way of his relationship with Torako.
'She's almost eighteen, which means soon the restriction Kokonoe-sensei put on their relationship will expire...' Segawa thought, clenching her fists. "You're really planning to stick with her for another year…?"
"Longer than that," Yarai said. It was true that he'd have to wait another year to take their relationship to the next level, but there were plenty of things they could do in the meantime, now they they'd have their own private room.
"Y-You realize that once you start doing it, she'll eventually end up pregnant right?" Segawa said, hoping to deter him. She didn't know how Kashiwagi had managed to avoid that in three years with Suzuki, but there was no way everyone could be that lucky, right?
"You say that like it's a major problem," Yarai said. Segawa was taken aback.
"Y-You really want that kind of baggage? Are you planning to marry her or something?" Segawa asked.
"I am," Yarai said, still watching Torako. Her hair, which now fell below her shoulders, floated up in the breeze. Segawa stared at Yarai with wide eyes.
"I-It's true that she's gotten prettier over the last three years… but you don't have to be in such a hurry to settle down!" Segawa said.
"I think I've been pretty patient, waiting as long as I have..." Yarai said.
"D… Don't tell me that was your intention all along…?" Segawa said, shocked.
"Kouichi-kun, come and dance!" Torako called. Yarai stood up and walked over to join her. He picked Torako up and spun around with her. She laughed.
"..." Segawa watched them have fun together. She looked down at her lap, clenching her fists tighter. 'I feel so stupid… chasing after him all this time without realizing...' She should probably give up… but she didn't know how to let him go.
—∞—
The next day, they were finishing their preparations for the journey back to Japan.
"Were you the guys who gathered this fruit!?" Miina asked the lolicon trio, inspecting the goods before they were put on the ship. Miina had grown in the last three years and was now almost the right age to start middle school himself. He wore his blonde hair in a long braid. He also wore Duo's plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up and the shirt tied in a knot in the front and a pair of shorts he had made from some ripped pants.
"That's right..." Heero said,
"This isn't even close to enough!!" Miina snapped angrily. All they had was one basket and what two of them could carry in their hands.
"Eh..." Heero said. "But… But, Heijirou-kun..." He uttered Miina's true name and immediately was cut off by a sharp blow in the face from Miina's elbow.
"I told you not to call me by that old-sounding name!" Miina said angrily, placing a hand on his chest. "My name is Miina! Miina! The next time you utter that name, I'll kill you!" Heero held his injured face with his hand while he and the rest of the lolicon trio stood there with tears in their eyes. Heero had grown a beard. Duo now wore a large leaf for a shirt, and Quatre had lost all of the hair on the top of his head, so that it only covered the sides now. "Listen! There can never be too much food supply! Get going!"
"Ye… Yes!" the lolicon trio said. Miina walked off, leaving them to it.
"Sh-Shit! I can't believe it!!" Heero said with tears streaming down his face. He pictured how cute Miina used to be, calling them 'Onii-chan!' with a smile on his face. Now he looked at them with disdain and called them 'Pervert!' "From that to this! This!" Quatre was actually crying tears of blood. "And to think it was a guy, no less..."
"Gya… We were tricked!" Quatre cried.
"Wait…! We still have that, don't we..." Duo said with a tear-stained face, putting a hand on Heero's shoulder.
"Ah…! That's right…!" Heero said. 'Drawn on what was left of the sketchbook that Miina-chan (the real one) gave us… a doujinshi.' Quatre got it out so they could read it again.
"It's awesome, no matter how often I look at it..." Duo said. There were scenes of Miina earnestly yelling 'Onii-chan… you can't...' out of concern for them as they went to fight a beast for her sake, and Miina drawing a magical bow and arrow to save them as they charged at the beast with a war cry. "As expected of the Quatre that served as the 'wall' back then..."
"Ah, well..." Quatre said, pleased.
"Things were great back then. There was romance! She was an idol we could meet!" Heero said. They turned the page and saw a panel where magical girl Miina was shyly gripping her skirt, thanking them and saying it was okay if they looked. "… Eh?"
"This… is this new work!?" Duo asked excitedly. "You drew the continuation!?"
"The next page… is my finest work..." Quatre said, pushing his glasses up with a smirk. Heero and Duo blushed. Their hearts were thumping in their chests as they turned the page. Miina was blushing, holding her skirt up, as she said, 'I'm… I'm embarrassed, but please look, Onii-chan...' Only the most important (in their opinion) detail had been completely ruined, obscured by a drawing of a beast growling. They stared at the ruined masterpiece with dark expressions as the last of Quatre's hair fell out.
"That… That… That Isurugi brat!" they screamed. It was clearly her handiwork.
"?" Miina said, looking up from petting a cute little critter. She had also grown and wore her hair in two buns now. But she still wore the same dress, which was becoming dangerously short on her.
Meanwhile, the older girls were bathing in the river. All of them had let their hair grow out over the past three years.
"Be sure to wash thoroughly..." Takahashi reminded everyone.
"We wont' be able to bathe for a while, after all!" Kirino added. They had no idea they were being watched by Yamato and Murayama.
"Mmm… They really are great. Our girls..." Yamato said as they both blushed and drooled over the beautiful sight before them. "Rei-san was depressed for a while because of what happened to Tooru-san, but… it was like an unmasking or something… Her sex appeal really came out."
"If you are going to say that, Mami-san's quite good as well now that she's grown up," Murayama said.
"Kirino's boobs have gotten bigger, too..." Yamato said.
"And what about Fukui? Her boobs are a nice, healthy size now. They're still on the small side of average, but they look good on her, and her curves are more pronounced… and she's got that quietly sexy air about her..." Murayama said.
"Don't let Yarai hear you talking like that," Yamato cautioned him as they gathered water in wooden buckets. Yarai had grown, too. He wore his long hair in a ponytail, and he was even more ripped than before.
"Yeah, he'd probably kill us if he knew we saw her naked..." Murayama said.
"Even though there are so many beauties here we're still totally hopeless, huh..." Yamato said.
"Yeah… all of these years of just staring… I'm so horny," Muryama said.
"There's no helping it, right? Things aren't going smoothly even for Yarai," Yamato said. "After what Kokonoe-sensei said, I would've thought that those two would've been doing all sorts of stuff together. But Segawa still won't let them out of her sight, after all..."
"Segawa herself is so cute now, after all… She should just give up on Yarai," Murayama said. Segawa looked more mature now and wore her loosely curled hair up in a high ponytail. "I'd be good to go anytime she wanted. Speaking of things not going smoothly… same for Sakuma and Mr. Student Council President, right?"
"Yeah… He finally confessed his feelings for her, right? But Sakuma didn't return his feelings at all..." Yamato said.
"Heartbreaking, Mr. President," Murayama said.
"Well.. and that's why we're fine just with this!" Yamato said as they gazed at the naked girls.
"… What's fine…? No excuses, you peeping Toms! You're under arrest!" Miyauchi said fiercely as she moved to confront them, preparing to kick their asses. Her hair had grown longer, too.
"Geh… Miyauchi!" the boys exclaimed, scared. "Hieee… Save us!" they cried as they tried to run away. Tokiwa dropped out of a tree, cutting off their escape route.
"I won't let you escape," Tokiwa said with her sharp stick at the ready. She still wore her bloomers, but she had ditched her skirt. "Men should take responsibility for their actions."
"Tokiwa!" the boys shouted in dismay. "Cornered by the two from the vigilante corps..."
"Martial punishment," Miyachi said, cracking her knuckles.
"The sentence is death," Tokiwa said.
"Die, you enemies of women!" the two girls said together. The two boys screamed as they were attacked.
"..." Akira stood in the camp a while later, staring at the place where they had lived for the past three years one more time. His hair was longer, and he was taller with a more mature look.
"Akira-kun, what is wrong? What are you doing there?" Rion asked, waking over to him. Her thigh-high socks hadn't survived the past three years, so she had discarded them. One of the sleeves on her blouse had also been partially ripped off, and her hair was longer. She had become even prettier.
"Ahh, Rion? It's nothing," Akira said.
"… I see. It's time to part with this place, huh," Rion said, standing beside him.
"… Yeah," Akira said. They watched as the others got ready to leave, coming out of their cabins with all of their possessions packed up. Seigou now wore an eyepatch over one eye and had a scar over the other from when he was caught off guard by a wild beast while peeping on the girls at the river. The girls had saved him, and then kicked his butt for spying on them once they knew he would be okay. The president had grown a beard and wore his hair in a short ponytail. Suzuki's bangs were so long that you could no longer see his eyes. Kokonoe also wore his hair in a ponytail, had a short goatee, and was smoking a homemade pipe. Yashiro also had a homemade pipe, and he wore a short goatee with a mustache. Kirino was walking with Mutou, who was sporting a circle beard. Everyone else looked more or less the same but perhaps appeared to be little more mature, with longer hair, and more ragged uniforms.
"It's already been three years since we made this place our base, huh," Rion said.
"Yeah… It was a residential space to begin with, which made it easy to live here," Akira said.
"After all, those dangerous animals wouldn't come in here, for some reason..." Rion said.
"Yeah… Kokonoe said something about geomagnetism or something, but… it's some sort of science that hadn't been developed in our time, apparently," Akira said.
"Hm… Well, if it's Kokonoe-sensei, he'd figure it out if he just had the time..." Rion said.
"But, well, that won't happen now," Akira said.
"… Yeah! True, huh," Rion said.
"Sengoku! Preparations are complete for departure!" Mariya said, getting his attention.
"!" Akira said, looking at him. "Mariya! Oomori-san." Mariya had gotten much taller over the past three years. Oomori looked the same, except she had discarded her clothing in favor of wearing a sexy two-piece outfit made of animal pelts, and she wore Towa's scarf to tie up her hair.
"The luggage has all been loaded..." Mariya said.
"We can leave at any time!" Oomori said. Akira and Rion nodded.
"All right… Let's go, then. To our ship…!" Akira said. They went to the coast, where the ship was moored, and boarded it. Akira stood on deck, looking out at the horizon with Mariya, Rion, and Oomori while everyone else was getting settled in. "… Finally. We're going back to Japan…!"
"Is it really all right, Sengoku…?" Mariya asked.
"Eh?" Akira said.
"Do you remember what I said before, about the biohazard that arose on this island?" Mariya asked.
"Yeah… You said that slime mold that attacked was probably some sort of biological weapon, right?" Akira said.
"Yeah… Back then, I figured that perhaps someone who felt the guilt of toying with human lives like that… had carried out a suicide bombing..." Mariya said. "But perhaps that's mistake..."
"Mistake…?" Akira asked.
"… Perhaps the culprits didn't die here," Mariya said. "There are helicopters on this island. We only found one, but there must be others. Perhaps the culprit lived, escaped the island, and took that slime mold into the world… Over these three years, to say nothing of planes, we haven't seen a single ship. You don't think it's strange…? The world that stretches on out there… compared to the world that we know… it might likely be a different world altogether."
"We're going! No matter what kind of world it is!" Akira said, determined.
"..." Mariya and Rion smiled. Akira reached into his pocket and removed the old photo of him and his mother.
'I wonder… maybe it was Mom who saved me… Maybe she's always been watching over me...' Akira thought, looking at it. 'But… I'm going!! Watch, Mom...'
Below deck, Yarai and Torako were settling into their cabin.
"… I wonder what kind of world we'll find..." Torako said, stowing her stuff away.
"Whatever it is, we'll face it together..." Yarai said. Torako smiled at him.
'I wonder if I'll be able to find my parents… or where they were buried…?' Torako thought, still sad when she thought about them. She was worried about the possibility that so much time had passed between their disappearance and their arrival on the island that her parents might have died of old age already.
"Our shift doesn't start for four hours..." Yarai said.
"Huh?" Torako said, looking up at him. "In that case..." She stood up and walked over to the door, closing it. "What shall we do in the meantime?" she asked, smiling again. Yarai smirked.
"I have a few ideas..." he said.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
"..." Torako reluctantly answered the door. "Yes?" It was her uncle.
"Just a little reminder: You're not eighteen yet," Kokonoe said seriously. "Don't forget your promise."
"We won't," Torako said. "Anything else?"
"No, you can carry on now," Kokonoe said, leaving. Torako smiled wryly and shook her head as she closed the door.
" 'Carry on' he says..." she said.
"What are you waiting for, then?" Yarai asked slyly, pulling her close.
Up on deck, Akira and Rion were smiling as they continued to look out at the horizon, holding hands.
'We… can do anything… After all, with unwavering hearts and faithful friends, no matter where we are, that place is Eden,' Akira thought. "Let's go! We're off!" They cast off and sailed into the unknown together. Their harrowing field trip was finally coming to an end. They would once again live in the place they called 'home'.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading all the way through! I hope you enjoyed it. I might make a sequel about what happened when they land in Japan, but would anyone be interested in that? Please let me know if you are.
