"Phew~ Those frogs are finally all gone." Chika raised her hand to her forehead and looked into the distance. "Should we go back to the shore?"
"We really should go back." Natsuki nodded. "If it's the shipwrecked version, the sea isn't safe either."
"Eh?" Tsubame looked over curiously. "What's the shipwrecked version?"
Natsuki pointed to Juju and said:
"I've only heard about it; let Juju-sama explain."
Juju bit her small silver teeth and couldn't help but retort:
"Why do you always think I'll know?"
Natsuki said seriously:
"Because Juju-sama is known as an encyclopedia and knows everything."
"Hey, you're exaggerating!"
Juju secretly spat, her small face slightly red, feeling a bit socially anxious, and whispered:
"The shipwreck version is a very popular version in Don't Starve. As the name suggests, you start by being shipwrecked on an Island. The Island has a special weather system and many poisonous monsters."
Chika widened her eyes: "Eh eh eh, isn't that very dangerous?"
"Don't panic." Natsuki said while rowing, "The regular version is also very dangerous; for you, there isn't much difference."
The girls: "..."
A moment later.
The lifeboat arrived at the shore.
Natsuki jumped onto the shore first, helped the girls down one by one, and then dragged the entire lifeboat onto the shore to prevent it from being swept away by the tide.
"Natsuki-kun, do we still need to build a shelter?"
Haruno asked softly.
"Not for now." Natsuki shook his head. "Before, I thought it was just a regular deserted Island, so I wanted to build a shelter. Now that I know it's a Don't Starve Island, a regular shelter isn't very useful."
After a pause, Natsuki pondered:
"I'll go look around nearby; it would be best if I could find a natural shelter like a cave."
Chika stepped forward: "Natsuki-kun, we'll go with you."
"You stay here; don't move." Natsuki refused. "I can move faster alone."
The girls, who hadn't recovered their memories yet, were dead weight now; they really couldn't help much if something happened.
"Oh, right..." Natsuki looked at Kaguya. The mushroom on top of Kaguya's head had matured and could be detonated and picked. "Kaguya, would you like to come with me?"
"Hmm?"
Kaguya was slightly startled and subconsciously pursed her lips. Before she could speak, a golden-haired maid immediately stepped forward, blocking Kaguya, and smiled:
"Kaguya-san is too slow. I have a little experience with wilderness survival, so how about I go with Natsuki-kun?"
As expected of a personal maid, you really step up when there's danger!
Clearly, Natsuki's sudden request to go with Kaguya aroused Hayasaka's vigilance. Hayasaka would rather sacrifice herself than let Kaguya be in danger.
Natsuki looked at Hayasaka and explained softly:
"Ai-chan, I really didn't plan to do anything strange to Kaguya; it's just that the mushroom on Kaguya's head has matured..."
If there's a misunderstanding, it should be explained.
When Natsuki read light novels, he hated those plots where a misunderstanding that could be cleared up with two sentences face-to-face was deliberately left unsaid, allowing the misunderstanding to deepen, causing alienation, and only then did people regret it. It was pretentious and annoying.
So, he had to explain clearly to Hayasaka now.
"I haven't told you before, but each mushroom represents one of the Seven Deadly Sins." Natsuki explained softly, "Gluttony, Wrath, Sloth... What kind of mushroom grows is related to each person's original sin."
Natsuki said with a serious expression:
"All in all, Kaguya's mushroom isn't suitable for picking in public; otherwise, none of us will see tomorrow's sun."
Hayasaka's curiosity was immediately piqued, and she couldn't help but ask:
"What is the attribute of Kaguya's mushroom...?"
Natsuki slowly uttered two words, in a low voice:
"Lust."
"Eh?" Hayasaka opened her eyes blankly. "Is Lust..."
Natsuki nodded and said: "It's about wanting to do lewd things."
Hayasaka: "..."
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
Kaguya had never been exposed to any inappropriate information since she was little. Although she was a high school student, she was still at the kindergarten stage where she thought kissing would lead to pregnancy. How could she possibly have that kind of original sin!
"I'm really not lying." Natsuki spread his hands. "Even if I wanted to take advantage of someone, you wouldn't have the ability to resist; none of you would be able to escape."
Hayasaka clasped her hands to her chest, raised her pretty face, and her eyes filled with admiration: "I believe Natsuki-kun. You risked so much to save us from the shipwreck earlier; you're not that kind of person."
"Stop pretending." Natsuki retorted, "Right now, you're definitely cursing me in your heart, and you're probably still thinking about pressing me into a hydraulic press to relieve stress."
Hayasaka: "..."
This guy actually knows what I'm thinking; could he have mind-reading abilities?
Natsuki shook his head and said: "I don't have mind-reading abilities."
Hayasaka covered her chest with both hands, quickly took half a step back, her eyes vigilant: "You still say you don't have mind-reading abilities!"
"I really don't." Natsuki's tone was meaningful. "I just understand you super well."
"...That's too much."
Hayasaka quietly clenched her fists, the sweet smile on her face gone.
For some reason, she felt that Natsuki's tone just now was quite annoying.
Of course, she definitely couldn't beat him. With the skills and abilities this man had shown, even a sneak attack from behind would surely fail.
If he really wanted to have an open-air party, no one would be able to escape, and no one would be able to refuse.
So... should she confidently hand Kaguya over?
"Hayasaka, don't say anything more." Kaguya stepped forward, her voice cool, "I'll go with Natsuki-kun."
As a capitalist Kaguya, although she had no experience in wilderness survival, Kaguya was very confident in her understanding of human nature.
In the shopping mall, equal strength between parties was called cooperation; if the strength was unequal, it was control and domination.
Undoubtedly, everyone stranded on the Island had severely unequal strength. All the girls combined would not be a match for Natsuki.
There were no laws or morals on the deserted Island. If a man with absolute power wanted to do evil, no one could stop him... But currently, the boy in front of her had shown no evil behavior.
Of course, there was an even more important reason, and that was a inexplicable trust and closeness.
For no reason, she instinctively felt that the boy in front of her would definitely not harm her.
"Kaguya-san is indeed very smart."
Natsuki praised her, then took out a flare and handed it to Tsubame, saying:
"You all stay on the beach and rest for now. Monsters shouldn't appear again for a short time, but it's better to be safe than sorry. This is a signal flare; pull it open and release it into the sky. When I see it, I'll come back immediately."
Tsubame seriously took the signal flare and promised:
"Natsuki-kun, don't worry, I will definitely take good care of everyone."
Natsuki nodded, looked at Kaguya, and said:
"Without further ado, shall we depart now?"
"Let's go."
Kaguya nodded lightly, agreeing.
Natsuki mused, "Before, we went deep into the jungle. This time, let's explore the sides of the island… The terrain is flatter there, so should we go there first?"
"Alright."
Kaguya silently agreed, following behind Natsuki, exploring around the island along the beach.
At first, she didn't feel anything, but as they distanced themselves from the others who stayed behind, the surroundings quickly quieted down. The world felt vast, and an indescribable sense of loneliness arose, as if it would swallow and drown them both.
Kaguya lightly bit her lip, unconsciously quickening her pace, keeping close behind Natsuki. A shameful thought, one she found hard to believe, even sprouted in her mind:
"If only he were holding my hand…"
"Ahhh! Not at all! Why would I have such a shameless thought?!"
"That 'dating' thing was just his one-sided declaration!"
At that moment, a hand suddenly reached out and accurately grasped Kaguya's delicate hand.
Natsuki stopped, turning his head to look at her. "There's a cliff ahead. I'll carry you down."
The two had walked less than a kilometer along the beach when they found the terrain suddenly changed, and a ninety-degree vertical cliff appeared before them.
"Jump, jump down?"
Kaguya's beautiful eyes widened. She didn't even care about being held by the boy's hand. She looked down, and just two glances made her feel a bit dizzy. "This cliff is at least four meters high, isn't it? You actually want to jump down?"
Jumping from such a height, she might break her leg if she wasn't careful!
And he even wanted to carry her down with him… Was he trying to commit a lovers' suicide?
"It only looks high," Natsuki said casually. "It's not as high as the balcony of the villa you live in."
Kaguya lightly bit her lip, but she still couldn't resist her curiosity:
"…You've jumped off a villa balcony?"
"That's right, and I even carried you with me when I jumped," Natsuki said casually. "At that time, I was taking you to run away from home."
"Impossible!"
Kaguya instinctively shook her head in denial. "How could I possibly run away from home?"
In the eyes of Kaguya, there was only profit between people, nothing else. She would absolutely not abandon Shinomiya's interests to play at running away from home.
Utilizing all available resources to pave the way for her future life was her correct choice.
Natsuki said:
"Because your mother was at my house, for Shimizu-nee, you chose to run away from home."
"Mother?"
Kaguya's beautiful eyes widened. She took a deep breath, and a hint of anger immediately appeared on her cold, pretty face.
To actually use her deceased mother as an excuse… Unforgivable! Absolutely unforgivable!
"Shimizu-nee turned into a ghost; it doesn't mean your mother resurrected," Natsuki said sincerely. "We've been through so much together. If I were to explain it in detail, it would take a day and a night."
"The mushroom on your head has matured. There will be side effects when it explodes."
Natsuki continued: "Hayasaka isn't at ease about you, so she's secretly following us."
"Hmm?"
Kaguya instinctively turned her head to look behind her.
"Don't look," Natsuki complained. "As a professional spy, if Hayasaka doesn't want you to find her, you simply won't."
Kaguya: "…"
"If we jump down from here, the cliff will block Hayasaka, and she won't see you when you're entangled in sin," Natsuki spread his hands. "Of course, you can choose not to jump, but you must promise me not to hold me accountable afterward."
Upon hearing this, Kaguya hesitated. "…What happens when one is entangled in original sin?"
"Nothing much…"
Natsuki explained the effect of the mushroom in detail.
"I see." Kaguya crossed her arms over her chest, her pretty face taut. "So, as long as one's willpower is strong enough, all the original sins can be controlled, right?"
Natsuki nodded:
"Theoretically, yes."
"Then let's do it here." Kaguya slightly raised her chin, her tone confident. "No need to go down the cliff."
Kaguya was very confident in her willpower and didn't believe that mere original sin could break her defenses.
Such things as original sin, she could just grit her teeth and bear it, right?
"Understood," Natsuki said. "You must give me a waiver now, no holding me accountable afterward."
"Annoying." Kaguya snorted lightly, expressionless. "I promise, no matter what happens, I will not hold you accountable."
Natsuki held up a voice Scribe and smiled:
"I've already recorded it."
Kaguya: "…"
You have too many strange things in your pockets!
Having obtained the guarantee, Natsuki didn't waste words. He decisively snapped his fingers, detonating the mushroom above Kaguya's head.
Snap!
As the finger snap sounded, the matured mushroom above Kaguya's head immediately exploded, then vanished into thin air.
"I don't feel anything at all…"
Kaguya held her breath, poised and ready, thinking that the so-called mushroom was nothing special. But the next second, original sin instantly swept through her entire body, from body to soul, leaving nothing untouched.
Under the original sin, mere fear instantly vanished into thin air.
An indescribable, unexplainable, never-before-experienced terrible feeling swept through her body and soul, making Kaguya's pretty face flush red, her breathing quicken, and she involuntarily looked at Natsuki.
"Man, man… I want a man!!"
The original sin named lewd was like a bursting flood, sweeping away everything, and Kaguya's supposedly unbreakable will was like thin paper, easily torn with a light poke.
Kaguya's body trembled, her pretty face flushed, and she barely managed to maintain the last shred of clarity with her Ice Princess attribute. But as confusion and realization intertwined in her eyes, she finally regained her true memories and couldn't help but softly call out:
"Pre… President?"
Natsuki said gently: "Kaguya, welcome back."
The next second.
Kaguya directly pounced into Natsuki's arms, wrapping her hands around his neck, and began lewd.
There was nothing she could do. In her Ice Princess state, she could still maintain the last bit of clarity and barely control her body.
But as her memories returned, Natsuki was no longer a stranger whose truth or falsity was hard to discern, but the boy she liked and cherished most. lewd, that kind of thing, was completely fine.
"Eh eh eh, Kaguya just kissed him directly?"
In a corner, Hayasaka, disguised as a low shrub, widened her eyes, covering her lips with her right hand, her face full of disbelief.
"So proactive, and she even reached… Kaguya couldn't have been hypnotized by some strange app, could she?!"