Chapter 1: Dead?
Dead.
It's completely dead.
Katō Jun could only watch helplessly as his body turned into a corpse, like charcoal in the blaze of the explosion.
He was dead.
But why...
Can I still see all of this?
He was clearly dead.
Katō Jun watched his body fall into the sea along with the plane's wreckage, as if he were watching from above.
Oh, I'm dead again...
Katō Jun shook his head while watching his burned body fall into the sea, accompanied by splashes.
It's completely dead.
So, am I now in a state of a soul?
Katō Jun stared at his hands. Suddenly, his hands and entire body began to disappear.
Like mist.
Will the soul also turn to ashes?
------
"Katō-san... Katō-san..."
"Huh!"
Hearing someone calling him, Katō Jun started breathing quickly and opened his eyes.
It was the uniform from Sakura High School.
From the person's wet black hair and their clear, pleasant voice, Katō Jun realized that the person might be a woman in this vast sea.
"Are you Yukinoshita Yukino from Class A?"
Katō Jun, a "Transmigrator" from Earth, was a 12th-grade student at Sakura High School. He got good grades, was good at all kinds of sports, and had a sweet younger sister.
"Katō-san finally woke up..."
Yukinoshita Yukino thought Katō Jun might have hit his head because he suddenly passed out and sank into the sea.
"Thank you for saving me..."
Seeing the girl struggling to pull herself onto a plastic board, Katō Jun immediately stepped into the water and floated alone in the sea.
"I agree. If Katō hadn't pulled me onto this plastic board, I would have definitely drowned in the sea..."
Yukinoshita Yukino's face no longer showed indifference. She now seemed more worried and scared about her own situation.
The plane crashed during the school trip and fell into the sea.
This was not something that could be accepted easily.
I just saved a girl, by the way.
Katō Jun rubbed his forehead.
But before that, he had clearly seen himself engulfed in flames, turning into a charred corpse, dead...
Was that just an illusion? Am I alive?
"Katō-san, don't be confused..."
Yukinoshita Yukino's cold voice interrupted Jun's thoughts.
She pointed to the sea surface, which was several kilometers away.
"We need to figure out how to swim over there..."
Katō Jun looked at Yukinoshita Yukino's finger and saw what looked like an island in the distance.
He looked around again and saw the remains of the plane nearby. He and Yukinoshita Yukino were floating in the sea on a plastic board like a raft.
He saw a beautiful girl with cold eyes in front of him. He was the only person in the entire ocean.
Were there no other survivors?
Megumi, she...
No, that's not true. Megumi will be fine!
Jun looked angrily at the small island several kilometers away.
"How much energy do you have left, Yukinoshita?"
Jun looked at the plastic board in front of him and then at the waves in the sea.
This is bad. If we go to the island from this direction, we'll be fighting against the wind.
The buoyancy of this plastic board is clearly not enough to support the weight of two people.
But it was already getting late, and they had no other choice.
If they didn't swim to the island before sunset, they would be in even greater danger.
"A... I can last for more than half an hour, maybe even longer..."
Yukino clenched her teeth. In reality, she could only last a little over twenty minutes if she kept floating in the water and moving forward.
But she decided to swim to the island to survive.
She didn't want to die too soon because she had many goals to achieve in the outside world.
So, I can't die in this unknown ocean!
"Wait..."
I'm not sure if my eyes are playing tricks, but Jun saw a panel on Yukinoshita.
[Do you want to see what Yukinoshita Yukino is doing?]
What is this?
Jun chose 'Yes' because he was curious.
With a ding sound, four status bars appeared above Yukinoshita Yukino's head.
"Hunger value, health, stamina, sanity value... and affinity?"
Is this real, or not? How did this come about so quickly?
It felt like a game system panel.
[Name : Yukinoshita Yukino
Hunger Value: 50/80 (full)
Health: 100/100
Physical: 35/90
Sanity Value: 130/150
Affinity: 10]
[Here are some notes: The Sanity Value is a way to measure how sane a person is when faced with things that are irrational, frightening, or terrifying.
The lower the value, the closer they are to madness. The Sanity Value is the line that separates sanity from madness. Whenever someone sees something that can't be explained by logic, their value goes down. If their value goes to zero, they lose their sanity.]
"Katō, I know I'm pretty, but could you please stop staring at me? What's more important than your desire is how we get to that island, right?"
Yukino saw the boy in front of her staring at her cheek. She covered her modest chest with one hand, and her expression was indifferent.
"I'm sorry. I had a small problem earlier... Can't you see this?"
At that moment, Jun realized that the beautiful girl in front of him seemed to be a bit narcissistic.
"What can't you see?"
Yukino was confused by Jun's strange, sudden words.
It seemed like she couldn't see these things.
Jun quickly looked away. He was so surprised by the number panel that appeared out of nowhere.
Then he noticed the option to check his own status too.
[Ding]
He clicked on his status.
[Name: Katō Jun
Hunger Value: 130/100 (full)
Health: 150/150
Physical: 120/150
Sanity Value: 130/150
Skills: You can make an attribute value stay the same for three hours.
Note: You can use this skill once every 24 hours. When the average attribute value reaches 200, the next skill will be unlocked.]
Jun was much better than Yukino.
But this skill?
Jun looked at Yukino again.
Why doesn't she have any skills?
Forget it. If these status bars and skills are real, they're a bad idea.
Jun looked out at the sea in the distance, which was almost completely dark.
Let's try it first!
Jun used a special skill from the panel to keep his physical strength from changing.
Whether it's real or not depends on whether I get tired or not!
"Let's go. I still have a lot of energy. It should be enough for both of us to swim to the shore. Hold onto the raft and keep moving forward!"
Jun started to float in the water without saying anything. Yukino was a little surprised by his sudden enthusiasm, but she still cooperated. She grabbed the raft and floated in the water to move forward.
Does this person really have that much physical strength? What if I run out of energy halfway through floating?
Yukino was confused, but she knew that thinking about it now would be a waste of energy. It would be better to try her best to cooperate with Jun and see if something amazing could happen.
Creak, crackle...
After using the skill, Jun felt very strong.
Yukino got tired halfway through, but Jun kept paddling and holding onto the raft, pulling her forward just like he did before.