“Ohh. So this is what it looks like!”

Shouko said it with obvious admiration.

After our post-lunch tea break, we were all gathered around the map spread out on top of the table.

Paper was something I could generate from existing materials.

And Minori had drawn the map on it for us.

We’d had everyone pool their information on the places and gatherable resources we currently knew about.

There were still plenty of blank areas, but the map already had all sorts of things marked on it.

The sandy beach where Chiyu and I had first woken up. The area below the cliff where we’d established our first base. The lake at the water source a little farther on from there.

Then there were the gathering points for wheat, sugar beets, wild grapes, sap from sugar maples, mushrooms, and so on.

Since those things regenerated after a while, remembering their locations was useful.

And now we were adding new information from above the cliff too.

The apple trees, the river, the grassland where we’d built the new base.

The rubber trees and sapodilla from our morning exploration, and the pears, oranges, and bananas Shouko and Mashiro had found.

“Setting aside how mysterious this island itself is... to have explored this much by the sixth day, all of you are truly impressive.”

Roa let out an admiring sigh as she looked down at the map.

From her perspective, after barely managing to stay alive, it was no wonder the sheer amount of information we’d gathered amazed her.

Thanks to Shion’s conversation with her, we knew she wasn’t lying.

She wasn’t part of another group, and she wasn’t plotting anything.

She really was just a classmate who’d happened to collapse from exhaustion and be rescued by us.

Now that we knew that, there wasn’t much point in hiding information from her anymore.

“This helps a lot, Minori. Unless something new gets added, we can use this information as-is.”

“That’s right. On this island, though, it’s always possible that something like that could happen. We should make sure not to slack off on updating it.”

“It really is amazing. Which just makes me feel a little bad for not contributing much.”

“Shii-chan, no need to worry. Right person, right job.”

“Exactly. Shii-chan makes insanely good food for us.”

“Hehe, thanks, you two.”

The girls in our group really did get along well.

“Let’s make sure the exploration team memorizes this. Even when we’re searching for new things, it’ll be more efficient if we can avoid places we’ve already covered.”

Minori nodded at my words.

We spent a while all looking over the map, chiming in with extra details whenever someone remembered something, but then—

“Now that I think about it, if we follow the nearby river, there might be classmates using it as a water source.”

Shion said it casually.

“Even if there are, we’re not going out of our way to find them.”

Chiyu’s response sounded cold, but I knew she was saying it with the group’s cohesion in mind.

“Yeah. Even if we do find other transfer participants, that doesn’t mean they’ll make good companions. So I’m not saying we should go looking—just that it might be one of those things.”

“Well, if they’ve found a water source, they probably won’t die. And now that fruit’s been added, too.”

With obvious food sources added to the island, all they ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ needed beyond that was water.

“It may not be my place to say this, but Master’s ability is an exceptionally powerful one. Depending on the person, it could easily make them dependent on you.”

“Ahh, I’ve seen that kind of thing in manga. The people who go, ‘You’re strong, so of course helping others is your responsibility.’ And every time I’m like, that’s not something the side getting saved gets to say.”

Shouko frowned as she said it.

“Just because we’re all in the same class, staying behind until every single person gets a Right to Return would be way too much.”

I answered with a wry smile, because I’d seen similar developments in fiction myself.

“Mm. So-kun has no obligation to do that.”

“At the very least, they’d have to be the kind of person who tried to contribute to the party in whatever way they could. I’m saying that to myself too, though.”

Shion still seemed bothered by how few chances there were for her ability itself to shine. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Even though she’d read Roa’s heart for us just this morning.

“As for me, it will be difficult for this ability itself to be of much use. So I intend to work briskly as a maid instead.”

“Everyone’s grateful for Shion’s cooking, and having someone else we can entrust housework to helps a lot too. Both of you, just don’t push yourselves too hard.”

I stood up, figuring it was about time to head out for the afternoon exploration.

“Shouko, I’m heading out with Micron. I promised her this morning.”

“Got it, got it. I’m setting out on a journey to find melon...!”

“Shouko-chan, take me with you too. There’s something I want to eat.”

“Obviously! Let’s go together!”

“If both Mashiro and Micron are going out, then I’ll stay behind as the group’s combatant.”

“Yeah, I’d appreciate that, Minori.”

“Of course.”

Minori smiled at my words.

“Hm. Then I guess for everyone’s sake... I’ll make sweets?”

“I would be honored to help, Lady Shion.”

“Hehe, then I’ll be counting on you, Roa-chan.”

“Sweets! I’m so excited!”

“I’m happy we’ll be able to have snack breaks even on a deserted island.”

Privately looking forward to the sweets myself, I stepped outside.

“Micron—let’s go out together.”

Micron shot toward me in a blur and wrapped herself around me.

“Good girl. Let’s go, just the two of us.”

At my words, she happily swayed her long body in midair.

I climbed onto her back and looked over at Shouko and Chiyu, who were getting onto Mashiro.

“Then be careful out there too.”

“Mm. I’ll gather even more than you do, So-kun.”

“My dream is to find so much melon that I can eat it in ridiculously extravagant ways you’d never do normally!”

I kind of understood what Shouko meant.

I’d once seen melon juice made from nothing but melon on TV, and my reaction had been, It looks good, but if you’re going that far, wouldn’t you rather just eat the melon normally?

Still, if you could get mountains of it, maybe it’d be worth trying once.

While I was thinking that, Micron rose into the air.

“I want to try going somewhere we haven’t been yet. I want to check the ground as we fly, so can you keep us from going too high?”

Micron nodded, but for some reason, she soared way up into the sky.

“Whoa...! Oh wow, this is incredible...!”

When I was a kid, I once had the chance to ride in a hot-air balloon at some event, and this felt similar to that.

The ground was far below, the wind was vivid, and it felt like I was in direct contact with the sky itself.

“Hahaha...! This is amazing, Micron. But a little lower... ahh, I see.”

Micron had flown high over the areas we already knew, but once we got close to unexplored territory, she dropped lower to the ground.

Maybe she’d wanted to honor my request, while also taking the chance to fly high through the sky for a bit.

“Micron, once our daily life settles down, let’s go flying through the sky with no purpose at all.”

When I said that, Micron nodded happily.

After flying for a while at about treetop height, I spotted something through a break in the forest that looked like a field.

“Micron...! Go check that out!”

As Micron drew closer, I got a better look at it.

Under those big leaves... those were—

melons.

“All right. That’s one thing found already.”

What Shouko wanted was melon.

“That’s a fruit your mistress wanted, you know.”

Micron was especially attached to me, but she had originally been summoned by Shouko.

She adored her mistress too.

Together with the happily descending Micron, I started with melon gathering.

Since I was alone right now, I cut the fruit free with a small stone sickle and stored it away.

“Hm. I’m alone right now, so maybe I’ll just remember the spot and come back tomorrow to harvest the rest.”

By the time I’d collected around twenty, my lower back had started to ache a little.

If I took a break, I could probably keep going, but there were other things I was looking for too.

“All right, Micron. Mind sticking with me a little longer?”

Next were Chiyu’s strawberries and Shion’s seasonings.

Strawberries would be easy enough to recognize at a glance, and as for seasonings, maybe if I tried storing whatever unfamiliar things I found, I’d turn something up.

I was planning to make Minori’s underwear and Roa’s shoes later.

It was pretty busy, but I honestly enjoyed finding and generating new items.

And flying through the sky with Micron felt great too.

With that, I continued my afternoon exploration.