Cote : I Just Want to Grant Your Wish!

Chapter 783: Chapter 783

Kaoru had no idea that Ai had gone off with Honami and the others to hunt for the so-called ghost.

It was now the sixth day of the uninhabited island exam.

He had been waiting for quite some time, yet Miyabi still showed no sign of making a move.

"Not traveling today?"

Fūka emerged from the tent and stretched lazily. It was already past nine in the morning, and judging by the look of her, she had taken full advantage of the rare chance to sleep in.

"Let’s take the day off."

Kaoru glanced at her and sighed.

"And dress properly before wandering around outside."

"I am dressed. You’re the one staring."

Fūka sounded completely unconcerned.

"After everything yesterday, I’m surprised you’re suddenly acting shy."

Kaoru’s mouth twitched.

He decided not to argue over what exactly she meant by that.

Fūka sat beside him and watched as he prepared breakfast.

"Where did you even get all this?"

By this point in the exam, most surviving groups were living on dry rations and energy bars. Someone like Kaoru, who still had bread and enough ingredients to cook fish soup, was increasingly rare.

"Someone gave them to me earlier. I saved some."

Kaoru lied without the slightest hesitation.

"And now you’re finally willing to eat them?"

Fūka gave him a mischievous look.

"My, my. Mitoma-kun is such a considerate kōhai. Are you hoping Senpai will reward you?"

Even without asking, she could guess who the extra breakfast was for.

There was far too much food for Kaoru alone.

Strangely enough, that realization put her in an excellent mood.

People had tried to please Fūka plenty of times before, and she had never cared.

Now, something as trivial as someone preparing breakfast for her produced an unfamiliar little sweetness she found fascinating.

"I’ll pass on your rewards."

Kaoru shoved a piece of bread into her mouth.

"Someone was awfully confident yesterday for a complete amateur."

"Wh-what do you mean, amateur?"

Fūka chewed the bread.

"Wasn’t that your fault? You kept distracting me."

"Yes, yes. My fault."

Kaoru had no intention of arguing.

Fūka was not the kind of person who tortured herself over mistakes.

She could always find some perfectly reasonable explanation for why someone else was responsible.

Finding plain bread too dry, Fūka turned her attention toward the fish soup and leaned closer to Kaoru.

"Are you going to feed me?"

She noticed him looking and blinked innocently.

Kaoru suspected she was deliberately provoking him.

Even so, he scooped up a spoonful, blew on it until it cooled, and held it toward her.

Fūka drank it.

She smacked her lips thoughtfully.

"It tastes a little fishy. You didn’t put anything weird in here, did you?"

"What could I possibly have put in it? There’s salt and seasoning. That’s it."

Kaoru’s expression darkened.

It was bad enough that everyone constantly accused him of having strange hobbies. Now she was becoming suspicious of his cooking too?

"Feed me again. My mouth still tastes fishy."

Fūka frowned.

Kaoru, refusing to be baited, gave her another spoonful.

He was just about to ask whether she had finished complaining when Fūka suddenly cupped his face and kissed him.

Kaoru froze for a moment.

When she pulled back, Fūka wore a thoroughly pleased expression.

"Well? How does my fish soup taste?"

So that had been the joke.

"Sweet."

Kaoru slipped an arm around her waist and kissed her back.

"Completely sweet. Senpai is getting very good at tricking people."

Fūka made a muffled protest, though she did not actually object to the retaliation.

Eventually she pushed him away and gave him an exasperated look.

"You’re getting awfully enthusiastic for someone who rejected me yesterday."

"Yesterday was yesterday."

Kaoru replied without shame.

"If I’m going to take Senpai seriously now, I should at least act like it."

Fūka stared at him.

Most of what he said sounded like shameless logic.

Unfortunately, some irritating part of it made sense.

If Kaoru had simply treated yesterday as something meaningless and walked away afterward, she suspected she might actually have become angry enough to pursue bloody revenge.

At that moment, rustling came from the other tent.

A small head appeared.

"Mmm... smells good..."

Mio blinked sleepily at the two of them.

Her nose twitched as the smell of fish soup reached her, and her stomach immediately growled.

She was so hungry that she crawled halfway out before her brain fully woke up.

Then the morning breeze hit her.

Mio abruptly froze.

She looked down.

Her face turned bright red.

With a startled yelp, she grabbed at her clothes and hurriedly retreated toward the tent.

"Oh?"

Fūka grinned wickedly.

"Someone came outside before finishing getting dressed."

She elbowed Kaoru.

"Did you enjoy the morning surprise?"

Kaoru initially intended to look away, then decided there was no point pretending he had not noticed anything.

Mio caught him looking.

"You—!"

Her entire face burned red.

She failed to produce a coherent insult, let out a strangled cry, and disappeared back into the tent.

Kaoru had barely seen anything before she vanished.

For some reason, he felt faintly disappointed.

"She’s about to scream."

Fūka sounded completely certain.

Kaoru gave her a suspicious look.

A second later, Mio’s furious yell exploded from inside the tent.

Kaoru immediately turned toward Fūka.

"What did you do?"

"That look is offensive."

Fūka sounded annoyed.

"I didn’t do much. I just hid some of her things so she wouldn’t immediately run off."

Kaoru stared at her.

"Why?"

"To stop her from escaping."

Fūka looked at him as though the answer were obvious.

"After everything that happened yesterday, weren’t you planning to keep an eye on her?"

"I just didn’t expect you to... help like that."

Kaoru’s feelings became complicated.

"Don’t look at me that way."

Fūka shrugged.

"The whole idea of ’training’ someone sounds disgusting to me. If anyone else were doing something coercive, I’d probably report them to the school."

"Then you don’t need to help me."

"That has nothing to do with it."

Fūka answered matter-of-factly.

"You decided to deal with her, so I’m helping you."

To her, that was apparently sufficient.

Because you were doing it, she would help.

Kaoru looked away.

He had assumed she was simply joining in because she found the situation amusing.

"MITOMA!"

Mio stormed out of the tent.

She had properly dressed this time and was glaring at Kaoru with murderous intensity.

"What else are you planning to do to me? Give my things back!"

Kaoru looked her over.

She seemed perfectly fine.

"No."

His expression remained flat.

"If you keep shouting, I’m going to make you sit down and calm yourself again."

Mio immediately shut her mouth.

The reaction made Kaoru feel slightly guilty.

At the same time, some troublesome part of him found it oddly satisfying that Mio had finally learned there were consequences to charging at him every time they met.

Her stomach growled.

Mio immediately covered it, mortified.

"If you’re hungry, come eat."

Kaoru had prepared breakfast for her as well.

He had no intention of starving her.

"Who wants your food? I have my own!"

Mio spun around and marched toward her luggage.

Then she opened her backpack.

And froze.

"Where is my food?!"

She turned toward Kaoru in disbelief.

"If you mean the jerky and energy bars, I put them aside."

Kaoru answered calmly.

Her supplies were almost exhausted anyway.

Several days earlier, he had still heard canned food rattling inside her bag.

Now there was nothing of the sort.

All she had left were several portions of jerky, a few energy bars, and roughly half a liter of drinking water.

At her current rate of consumption, she would run out completely within three or four days even if she rationed everything carefully.

More importantly, Mio clearly had no intention of conserving stamina.

Judging from her score, she had spent the entire exam chasing points without giving herself even half a day to recover.

At this rate, Kaoru genuinely suspected she might collapse somewhere before the exam ended.

"That’s robbery! Give it back!"

Mio snapped.

"Being angry won’t change anything."

Kaoru remained calm.

"Eat breakfast first. After that, I’ll return your supplies."

Mio looked as though she desperately wanted to fight him.

Unfortunately, she also remembered that fighting him had not gone particularly well.

She settled for glaring.

"Come here."

Kaoru’s voice turned firm.

Mio flinched.

Memories of the previous night returned, leaving her frustrated and—far more annoyingly—wary of him.

After being beaten so many times, her instincts had apparently finally learned that charging Kaoru head-on was a terrible idea.

Reluctantly, she walked over.

"What did I tell you last night?"

Mio stiffened.

She had difficulty meeting his gaze.

"To... listen to you."

"Why?"

"Because I can’t beat you."

The answer clearly wounded her pride.

Kaoru nodded.

Long lectures and psychological tricks would only irritate Mio.

Simple strength was a language she understood far more naturally.

"So who was wrong just now?"

"M-me."

"What did you do wrong?"

"I... shouted too loudly."

"Only that?"

Mio bit her lip.

"And... I ignored what you said."

Having to admit it herself was humiliating enough to make her want to disappear.

Still, yesterday’s confrontation had left too strong an impression to dismiss.

No matter how hard she fought, she had been unable to overpower Kaoru.

"Then what should you do when you know you’re wrong?"

Kaoru asked calmly.

Mio’s expression became miserable.

She eventually moved closer and sat down beside him.

Kaoru decided that was enough.

He had no interest in pushing the humiliation any further.

"I’m not trying to starve you, and I’m not stealing your supplies."

He handed her a piece of bread.

"I know you’re angry. But until you stop trying to solve every disagreement by attacking me, you’re going to have to accept that I’ll stop you."

Mio glared at him before aggressively biting into the bread as though it were Kaoru himself.

She chewed furiously.

Then finished it.

Afterward, she stared at the remaining food.

Kaoru handed her another piece.

Mio immediately began eating again.

Fūka watched the exchange with a peculiar expression.

"Where did you learn to handle girls like this?"

Then she shook her head.

"Actually, never mind. I don’t want to know. I feel like hearing the answer would contaminate my ears."

Was it really that bad?

Kaoru ate his own breakfast while Mio sat nearby, still visibly annoyed.

The sun continued climbing in the distance.

Taking one full rest day was probably the correct choice.

He had a Free Ride card anyway.

Mio, however, seemed increasingly uncomfortable.

She was clearly not accustomed to quietly spending time around other people.

Every few moments she shifted slightly, apparently searching for a more comfortable position, only to become angry with herself for doing so.

’Why am I trying to get comfortable around him?’

Mio immediately became irritated all over again.

Kaoru noticed her awkward posture and wordlessly moved aside to give her more room.

Mio paused.

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

For some reason, she did not feel quite as angry anymore.

Once breakfast ended, Kaoru stood and stretched.

"Are you seriously staying here with us all day?"

Fūka asked casually.

"It feels like a waste. Want me to accompany you somewhere?"

Mio immediately became alert.

Where were these two planning to go now?

"What else am I supposed to do? Leave both of you here?"

Kaoru glanced at Fūka.

Her physical condition was excellent, but after yesterday, there was no reason to push herself unnecessarily.

"I’ll go find more food later and refill our water."

"I’m not an invalid."

Fūka looked genuinely offended.

"You’re treating me like some fragile little girl."

"Fine. We’ll go together."

Kaoru sighed.

"But today is still a rest day. Don’t overdo it."

Fūka gave him an extremely strange look.

"You aren’t secretly hoping to continue yesterday’s—"

She made an unmistakably suggestive gesture.

Mio immediately moved several steps away from Kaoru.

"If I were planning anything, Senpai would be the first person I’d blame afterward."

Kaoru knocked lightly against Fūka’s head.

She merely laughed.

From Fūka’s perspective, Mio had clearly suffered the worst outcome yesterday anyway.

She had attempted to threaten Kaoru and somehow ended up completely losing control of the situation instead.

...

Elsewhere on the island, Ichika stared at the location information displayed on her tablet.

"That’s strange."

She tilted her head.

"Senpai hasn’t moved at all since this morning. He didn’t come back to camp last night either."

No one answered.

Tsubasa, who would normally have been standing nearby, was nowhere to be seen.

Ichika continued muttering to herself.

"Sakayanagi-senpai is busy chasing points. Ichinose-senpai is investigating the ghost. Karuizawa-senpai and the others only visited a few days ago, so they probably haven’t sneaked back over..."

She paused.

"Then who is Senpai with?"

A dangerous little smile slowly appeared on Ichika’s face.

How strange.

For some reason, she had suddenly become extremely curious.

Maybe she should go take a look.

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