At the first event, I obtained the Right to Return.

Having decided to go back together with my companions, I put off exercising it.

Then, for some reason, the mystery blackboard said something about unlocking a bonus area...

What was that supposed to mean?

Was it something like a hidden stage in a game?

Even so, we couldn’t find anything around the base that looked like it, or any obvious entrance.

Instead, we found a huge amount of wheat, so I wasn’t exactly complaining.

That’s right.

Not only the event, but also the item chosen through the usual two-option vote had been added.

And the one that had beaten rice in that choice was wheat.

We all harvested it and stored it in my Inventory.

Then we carried it back with satisfied smiles.

Micron, our new companion, had settled in beautifully, but for some reason, she seemed to have taken a particular liking to me. Even when I wasn’t riding her, she stayed close to me or came over and stuck to me.

She was fluffy and cute, so I had no issue with it.

“Hm. Well, Micron is a girl too.”

Shouko said that.

Apparently the black dragon was female.

Anyway, we had secured the wheat.

All of us headed back to the base.

I redeployed the house and everything else there, but while doing so, I added a small improvement.

More specifically, I placed the house again with window glass fitted into it.

Thankfully, I could place the furniture as complete sets too, so there was no need to put each piece back one by one.

The stone wall, the bath area, and the Fenrir hut all returned as well.

Come to think of it, I had left the chicken coop as it was, but it had made it through safely.

“No matter how many times I see it, it’s impressive.”

Chiyu looked up at the restored house and murmured that.

“It really is. That power is incredible.”

“Ah, it has window glass now too...! I want the morning light, but when you open the windows it can get chilly, so I’m really happy about this.”

“Yep, that’s very ‘that’s-so-Sousuke’ today too.”

Being praised by the girls was something that never got old.

“Ah, Sousuke-kun, do you think your Crafting Ability can mill flour?”

I nodded at those words from Shion, our head chef.

“Yeah. It seems like turning things into ingredients or seasonings falls within what Crafting can do.”

“That’s amazing...! Then could I ask you to?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Ah, Mr. Sousuke. As for the husks and germ left over from milling, it seems those can be used as feed for livestock, so perhaps we should give them to the chickens?”

“Oh, then that solves the chicken feed problem too. That helps a lot, Minori.”

“N-no. I’m honored to be of use.”

Minori was blushing.

It wasn’t like I was trying to return the favor, but since everyone praised me so honestly, I wanted to be just as honest in thanking my companions.

“So-kun. While I’m getting the eggs, I’ll feed them too.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Since Chiyu said that, I took out the husks—the [N O V E L I G H T] bran—into a bucket and handed it to her.

“Ah, what should we do about Micron’s house...? Huh? ‘Don’t need one’? Really?”

When I turned toward Shouko, Micron flew up into the air and moved onto the roof of the Mashiro House.

She plopped herself down on top of it and closed her eyes.

Apparently that was good enough for her.

“We got wheat, but... Shion, do you have any recommended dishes?”

“Hm. Bread takes time because we’d need to make yeast first... and udon has quite a few steps before the dough is ready too... yeah. How about pancakes in the morning, then we prepare things after that and have udon for lunch, and okonomiyaki for dinner?”

“I’m in favor, in favor! Totally in favor!”

Shouko said that with shining eyes.

“Pancakes do sound good...! We’ve got butter and all, but now I’m starting to want maple syrup too.”

As I rested a hand on my chin and thought about it, Shouko jumped into the conversation.

“...! Wait, how do you get maple syrup again!?”

“It’s made by boiling down the sap of a sugar maple.”

“Thanks, Minorin! Mashiro, can I ask you to give us one more push?”

At Shouko’s sweet voice, Mashiro, who had been on his way back to the Fenrir hut, came back. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

“Y-you’re going to look for it right now?”

Shion looked a little bewildered.

Apparently Shouko’s obsession with sweets was stronger than hers.

“Of course! Shii-chan, you can go ahead and start cooking! Sousuke and Minorin, come with me!”

“Ah... I see. We use Mashiro’s nose and mobility to find a sugar maple, Minori cuts it down with magic, and then I Itemize the whole tree so we can get all the sap inside it at once.”

If we could shorten both the sap collection process and the boiling-down process, then yeah, we actually might make it in time.

“Exactly!”

“Alright, let’s go. Before that, I’ll take the flour to the kitchen.”

“Ah, I’ll carry it.”

“You will...?”

I placed the sack of flour so I was holding it in my arms for a moment, then handed it over to Shion.

It was only about two kilos, so even a girl should be fine carrying it.

“I’ll help too, of course.”

It looked like Minori was coming too.

The three of us were about to get onto Mashiro, but the moment I moved, Micron shot over with a whoosh.

“Ahaha, she says, ‘Sousuke, ride me.’”

“I-is that so. But Micron, if all of us go out, only the noncombatants will be left behind. I want you to protect Chiyu and Shion.”

After petting her as she pushed her face close to me, I said it in a serious voice.

“She says, ‘Fine, but then you have to fly with me later!’”

“Hahaha, you’ve got a deal.”

I answered with a smile, and the three of us climbed onto Mashiro.

“Then we’ll start cooking slowly here.”

“If pancakes are breakfast, then I’m making scrambled eggs.”

“Hehe, let’s make a delicious meal together.”

With sparks practically flying between them, Chiyu and Shion headed back into the house.

The three of us set out in search of sap.

Relying on Mashiro’s nose, we found a sugar maple with surprising ease.

“I think maple syrup is pretty famous, but it really was placed here from the start.”

That felt like an unusual move for the mystery blackboard.

“I’ve heard sugar maple wood is also good for making furniture, so perhaps it was placed here as something meant to stabilize life in survival conditions?”

“Or rather, I know maple syrup, but I didn’t know it came from sugar maples, you know? Even if someone did know that, would a normal high schooler really be able to tell one kind of tree from another in this forest?”

At Shouko’s words, Minori and I both nodded.

It was the same as edible mushrooms and minor fruits like akebia being placed around here.

If you knew about them, you could make use of them.

But if you didn’t, they were no different from part of the scenery.

“In fact, even we only started paying attention to it because we needed it for pancakes.”

“Y-yes... that’s true.”

We quickly cut it down, stored it, and returned to the base.

After that.

The pancakes, topped with plenty of sheep’s milk butter and maple syrup over their fluffy texture, were a devilish temptation in this deserted island life where sweetness was limited.

For lunch, all of us kneaded the dough together and made udon.

For the okonomiyaki sauce at dinner, we sorted through the nuts and fruits we had gathered so far, then mixed salt, sugar, and vinegar into them to create a makeshift Worcestershire sauce and poured it over the top.

Our range of meals broadened all at once, and with Shion’s skill, every single one of them tasted incredible.

At this rate, it felt like we could really enjoy the rest of our life on this deserted island too.

*****

And that night, I enjoyed my time with Minori, who was on duty.

Then I thought I was about to have the dream in the white space—but it was different.

“Huh?”

“...This place, no way.”

“W-wait, what’s going on?”

“This isn’t the white room... is this—”

“A shopping mall?”

We were standing in the central hall of a shopping mall.

The lights were on, but there wasn’t a single person around.

And yet every store gave off the impression that it was open for business, which made it all the eerier.

...More than that, wasn’t this a place back where we lived?

It probably didn’t mean we had returned to Japan.

Then what was this, exactly...?

Just then, the giant monitor installed in the hall lit up, and words began to scroll across it.

“An explanation will now be given regarding the bonus area.”

The other reward I had been given for obtaining the Right to Return and not going home immediately.

Apparently this shopping mall was that bonus area.