When Kokomi Teruhashi awoke, the first thing she noticed was that the floor beneath her was made of sand. The second thing she noticed was the distinct lack of anything yacht related.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly and gracefully, of course. and she sat up with a dramatic gasp, as if she were the heroine in a shipwreck drama. Which, unfortunately, seemed closer to fact than fantasy.
The sky above was blindingly blue. seagulls squawked overhead. Palm trees waved lazily in the breeze. Her designer night gown was wrinkled. Wrinkled.
Was she dead?
Since God favoured her so much she didn't expect heaven to be this...sandy.
Before she could spiral into a panic about what the salt air would do to her hair, a familiar voice rang out loud, booming, and distressingly energetic. "WAKE UP, TEAM! LET'S GO! RISE AND SHINE, IT'S SURVIVAL O'CLOCK!"
Kokomi flinched as Hairo clapped his hands right next to her ear like some deranged boot camp instructor.
"We've got adversity to face and muscles to flex! Waking up on a mystery island? That's a challenge! And challenges build character!"
"...What is happening?" groaned Yumehara, sitting up with leaves in her hair. "Was I kidnapped? Wait- is this a reverse harem desert island plot?!"
"Be serious!" snapped Kokomi- too shocked to keep up her perfect pretty girl act. brushing sand off her arms with a horrified look. "Where even are we? Last thing I remember was going to bed inside saiko's yacht"
Everyone else was slowly dragging themselves to consciousness, blinking against the sunlight and confusion.
Kaidou shot up like a meerkat. "I knew it. We've been abducted by an evil syndicate and dumped in an isolated testing zone. Probably a government experiment. Stay alert, Jet Black Wings will save the day!"
"Kaidou…" Aren mumbled, wiping drool from his mouth, "shut up."
As the group looked around, two figures stood several feet away, completely dry and suspiciously… calm.
Makoto was perched on a fallen palm tree, sipping coconut water from an opened coconut Like this was a curated vacation. Beside him stood Saiki, arms crossed, eyes narrowed behind his green tinted glasses.
"Wait," Kokomi narrowed her eyes, "why are they already awake?"
"They're not even disoriented," muttered Yumehara.
"Did they just… not pass out with the rest of us?" Kaidou asked.
"Did you two knock us out and drag us here?!" Aren barked, standing up and pointing accusingly. "What did you do?!"
Makoto gave a lazy shrug, tilting his head. "We woke up a while ago. I think we're built different."
"I'm literally not," muttered Saiki.
Before anyone could ask more, Saiko woke up with a gasp, body half buried in sand, looking around horrified.
"What did you peasants do to my yacht?!"
"It's your yacht!" Kaidou jabbed a finger. "You probably hit a reef full of radioactive sharks!"
"I knew this was part of an enemy plan!" Kaidou yelled.
"There wasn't even a storm," Yumehara said, brushing sand off her skirt. "We were supposed to be sipping mocktails!"
"I knew I should've signed that waiver," muttered Aren.
As everyone argued, Nendou finally sat up and blinked at the ocean.
"Guys," he said, "why don't we just swim back?"
Everyone fell silent.
"…Swim back to where, exactly?" Aren hissed.
Nendou stared blankly. "Uh… the mainland?"
Makoto leaned toward Saiki, voice low. "I thought you said Nendou drove the yacht. That's why we're stranded."
Saiki didn't even blink.
"I lied."
Makoto blinked back, stunned. "…That's fair."
10 hours earlier.....
Haruka hung off the side of Saiko's overpriced yacht like a deranged Spider-Man, two plumber suction cups clenched in her hands, feet scrambling against the smooth hull.
Her eyes gleamed with a mixture of manic obsession and misguided confidence. "Okay," she whispered breathlessly. " Makoto's being brainwashed, this is a rescue mission."
Her arms trembled. "I can fix him."
She finally hoisted herself up and tumbled over the railing with all the grace of a bowling ball thrown by a toddler. THUD.
"Ow," she muttered, sprawled across the deck. "Stealth level- assassin."
Crawling on her elbows like a cartoon spy, she pulled out her binoculars, which she'd taped glittery blue rhinestones to for "aesthetic," and peeked toward the glass doors.
The deck was empty.
"Perfect," she whispered, somersaulting unnecessarily. She made finger guns and blew imaginary smoke off them. "No one suspects a thing."
She ducked behind a deck chair. Then under a table. Then tried to army crawl across a slippery stretch of marble, only to slam her knee into a cooler. "AGH-!"
Still, she pressed on.
"Just gotta find Makoto," she muttered. "Talk some sense into him. Remind him who he is. Show him his real soulmate is me and not—"
BOOOOOOM.
A deafening explosion rocked the entire yacht. Flames shot up from the back engine area, and the deck tilted sharply.
Haruka had exactly one second to process what was happening before she was yeeted into the air like a misfired cannonball.
"WHAAAT THE-?!"
Her suction cups spun off into the ocean like tragic symbols of poor planning.
SPLOOSH!
She crashed into the sea, flailed wildly, and came up sputtering. Her glitter binoculars were gone. Her spy notebook was soaked.
She bobbed in place, furious. "WHO THE HELL BLEW UP THE YACHT?! I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A MISSION!"
She turned and spotted several figures floating toward an island which were Kaidou on a piece of wood, Kokomi unconscious but still somehow sparkly, the rest somehow floating towards the island also unconscious.
Haruka's eye twitched.
She flailed harder. "wake up Makoto!! Saiki you son of a bitch, I know Makoto better than anyone! HE HAS A SYSTEM AND A FUTURE WITH ME!"
She tried swimming toward the island, but her full black tactical gear weighed her down like bricks.
"HELP-!!" she choked. "I take it back- I'm not waterproof emotionally or physically- !"
The sun was rising steadily now, casting a soft golden glow over the group of disheveled students sitting or sulking in the sand. Hairo was still pacing in front of a makeshift "motivational circle," trying to get everyone to embrace survival mode.
"We may be stranded," he said, voice booming like a youth camp counselor, "but adversity is just a ladder to greatness! Let's use this as a team building opportunity!"
Kaidou groaned. "This isn't an anime training arc, Hairo, we're lost in the middle of nowhere."
"Even better!" Hairo grinned. "A true warrior emerges only in the wild!"
Meanwhile, Saiki sat under the shade of a palm tree, sipping juice from a coconut Makoto was previously drinking from which he'd somehow already cut open with a psychic assisted rock. Makoto was beside him, legs tucked up to his chest, expression blank. He kept sneaking glances at Saiki with a slight pout.
"Still not going to admit the yacht exploded because of you?" Makoto muttered.
Saiki didn't respond. His deadpan expression didn't change.
A rustle echoed from nearby.
Kokomi turned her head. "Did anyone hear that?"
Before anyone could answer, the nearby pile of seaweed- matted, stinky, and dripping- began to tremble. A low growl emerged.
Then-
"GGGRAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
The pile erupted.
Seaweed sprayed everywhere. A figure, soaked and shaking, lunged out of the mess, arms raised, hair stuck to her face, tangled in shells and driftwood.
"MAKOTOOOOO-!!"
Everyone screamed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!"
Yumehara shrieked and dove behind Aren. Kaidou scrambled backward like a crab and hid behind Yumehara who was hiding behind Aren.
"IT'S A SEAWEED MONSTER!" Kokomi wailed, clutching her heart.
"DONT WORRY GUYS ILL EAT IT" Chisato screamed and got ready to tackle the seaweed monster.
Nendou actually punched the air. "STAY BACK, SEA ZOMBIE!! I WON'T LET YOU EAT MY BRAIN!!"
The "monster" staggered forward, groaning and dripping.
"I... survived..." the thing rasped. "I swam... for HOURS.... I watched my binoculars die..."
Makoto blinked. "Wait. Is that...?"
The creature wiped a strand of kelp from her face. Her eyes locked on him, wild and teary.
"Makoto!" she sobbed. "You're alive! I knew they were trying to keep us apart! I infiltrated the yacht to save you!"
Aren staggered back, pointing. "Why is that stalker here!?!?"
"She followed us!?" Kaidou yelled. "What is she, a cursed relic??"
"She looks like she ate a cursed relic," Yumehara muttered, horrified.
Haruka dropped to her knees dramatically in front of Makoto. "You're being brainwashed! Saiki's probably behind it!"
Makoto covered his face. "Oh my god."
Saiki sighed, already creating a mental wall against whatever delusional rant was coming next.
Haruka threw an accusatory finger at Saiki. "YOU! Mind controlling freak! I won't let you keep Makoto all to yourself! You're probably working with the system!"
The group stood frozen, eyes locked on Haruka as she continued her dramatic tirade, completely oblivious to the fact that everyone else was already mentally checked out.
"You don't know what he's done to you, Makoto!" Haruka shouted, flinging her arms out like she was revealing the truth of the century. "He's twisted your mind! I'm here to save you!"
"Save me from what?!" Makoto finally snapped, standing up and rubbing his temples. "You know what- no. I can't. I've had enough. You can't save me, Haruka. Just go away."
"No!" she wailed, slamming her fists on the sand. "You're under his spell! He's controlling you with his mind controlling powers! I-I just wanted us to be together!"
Kokomi stepped forward, unimpressed. "You again?"
Aren narrowed his eyes. "Why are you even here? You weren't even invited?"
Haruka flinched but didn't back down. "I swam for hours! I ate sea bugs!"
Saiko wrinkled his nose, stepping back. "What is this peasant doing here?! Do you know how many germs she's carrying?! She smells like the bottom of a koi pond."
"You don't get it!" Haruka insisted. "I'm doing this for us! I will defeat Saiki, and then the system-"
"Makoto!" Haruka shrieked and tried to lunge at Makoto which nendou thankfully stoped by grabbing the back of her shirt "You can't just ignore me!"
"Watch me," Makoto muttered, not even bothering to look at her as he sipped his drink which he grabbed back from saiki. "You're not my savior. You're just... bothering me."
Everyone stared in stunned silence.
"Nope," Aren said flatly. "Not doing this."
Hairo clapped his hands, trying to rally them. "Alright! Let's all calm down and work together as a team! Who's with me!?"
"I say we just throw her back into the ocean," Nendou said cheerfully, jerking a thumb at Haruka.
"Seconded," Kokomi said without hesitation.
"Thirded," Makoto added, swirling the last of his drink.
"…Let's not commit murder," Hairo muttered, trying very hard to stay optimistic.
"Let's just tie her up," Saiki said in his usual monotone, brushing sand off his sleeves. "Quietly."
A long pause.
"…Honestly, yeah," Aren muttered.
"I have rope," Yumehera said too quickly, already grabbing the piece of rope that was somehow lying on the ground near her.
"No!" Haruka screamed. "You can't do this! You'll regret- mmph!"
Two minutes later, Haruka was neatly gagged with a piece of luxury scarf silk and tied to a palm tree like a very loud, overly dramatic fruit offering. She continued to thrash and mumble curses, but nobody paid her any mind.
Makoto gave a little clap. "That's better."
"Now that we've solved that problem," Hairo said, "we need a plan. First priority is survival. Who here knows how to build a fire?"
Saiko scoffed. "You're all acting like this is a real emergency."
Kaidou turned to him, incredulous. "We're literally stranded on an island."
Saiko tossed his hair. "And? My staff will be here any moment. I've got micro GPS trackers stitched into my shoes and backup locators sewn into the lining of my designer shirts."
Everyone turned.
"You what now?" Makoto said.
Saiko looked smug. "Do you think I leave the house without redundant location signals? I'm worth billions. You think my father's going to let his only heir die because of some silly explosion?"
"…That's actually smart," Aren admitted.
"Yeah, I didn't expect that from him," Kokomi muttered.
"My security gets nervous if I go into a tunnel for more than ten seconds," Saiko added, polishing his sunglasses on a monogrammed handkerchief. "They'll be here by sunset."
Makoto sighed, "Great, then we just have to wait around for Daddy's yacht to rescue us."
"Exactly," Saiko said proudly.
"We should still gather supplies," Hairo said with forced cheer. "You know. Just in case."
"Like food?" Yumehara asked hopefully. "There was a ton of fancy stuff on the yacht, right? Truffle sandwiches? Chocolate covered grapes? Macarons shaped like miniature celebrities?"
"Let's go check!" Kaidou said. "We can ration it out until rescue comes!"
Everyone hurried back to the wrecked remains of the yacht. The deck was broken, luxury décor scattered like fallen treasure. The bar was cracked open, half submerged in sand, and someone's sequin pillow floated in a tidepool.
Yumehara opened the first food cabinet-
Empty.
The second-
Also empty.
Kokomi threw open the minibar, finding only crushed bottles and an abandoned shrimp tail.
"…Where's the food?" Makoto asked slowly.
Chisato stood frozen. "…Okay. I didn't think this would come up so soon."
"Chisato," Hairo said with rising tension. "Where. Is. The. Food?"
She raised her hand, trembling. "So I might have… maybe… eaten it."
Everyone stared.
"…What do you mean you ate it?" Kaidou cried.
"i didn't know this was going to happen!"
"You ate all the rations?" Kaidou shrieked.
"Even the imported cheese platter?" Saiko looked ready to faint.
"I was scared!" she whimpered. "And hungry! I didn't know we'd still be here!"
A beat of silence.
"This is how we die," Aren muttered.
"I skipped breakfast," Yumehara cried. "My stomach's already eating itself!"
"We're going to die hungry," Kaidou gasped.
Makoto sighed, flopping down dramatically onto a half deflated yacht beanbag. "Well. If I knew we'd fall apart this fast, I would've picked a better last outfit."