(Ryoto's pov)
"What do you an we can't go back!!? What will we do now!?" Yui scread.
"First, you can calm down. Panicking won't help you." I calmly said as I was thinking of safely waiting for rescue. Technically, we could survive here for years with my help, but I would rather avoid it. I just got back ho, and I don't want to be stranded so soon.
"Ryoto-sama is right. Lala-sama, where is this island?" Peke asked while still being in his hairband form.
"Okinawa?" Yui inquired.
"Then we can find people on this island!" Rito optimistically added, and this comnt made almost everyone calm down.
"Eh? But we are not on Earth anymore." And Al dropped a bomb.
""What!!?"" And that caused everyone to scream in horror at that horrifying news.
"What? I thought everyone knew. The humidity during the year here is completely different. The water is also not exactly the sa. I thought it was why Ryoto left in the beginning. You know... to check if everything was safe around."
Al explained her reasoning, and I must admit that she hit the nail on the head with it. What she said made everyone turn their attention to as if to ask if she was right, at which point I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly.
"She isn't wrong. I didn't say anything because we ca here to relax and have fun. I also couldn't have known that we wouldn't be able to get back, so I just checked our surroundings for any danger, and if everything went well, no one would even know that they visited another planet."
I explained my reasoning calmly, but it didn't help with growing anxiety in everyone's mind, so as the oldest person around, I decided to calm everyone here.
"Don't worry, it's not like we are stuck here for long. In the worst-case scenario, we'll be here for a week or so. Our first priority should be finding shelter, a source of food, and freshwater. That's why we'll split into three groups. Al, Kotegawa, and Ren will be the first group that will be responsible for finding water. With Al, it should be easy."
Al gave a salute with a grin.
"Yes, sir!" I ignored this remark and turned to the next group.
"Rito, Haruna, Mikan, and Lala, all of you should look for food. Peke can scan it to test if it is edible."
Lala mimicked Al and saluted as well. Then it was ti for the last group.
"Rio and Kaede, both of you received survival training, so finding sowhere where we can rest shouldn't be a challenge unless you got too rusty. I won't be mad if you admit it before you embarrass yourselves."
I ended with a little joke, which was appreciated by the pair, who suddenly looked more confident. It was Rio who answered .
"Who do you think you are talking to? We'll find a nice cave, and if we don't, we'll build it ourselves." Kaede nodded, which ant that she agreed with Rio.
"In what group are going to be, Aniki?"
I was a bit surprised by Ren's question. Not because it was unreasonable or stupid, but because I wasn't accustod to my orders being questioned. When I said sothing, my subordinates followed it to the best of their ability because they knew that I probably had a reason for it. The only one who even thought about questioning in my Squad was Soi Fon, but it was more so she could understand better.
No one except Al and Lala noticed my small shock because it was so brief, but they didn't comnt on it.
"I'm going to keep tabs on everyone. This planet seems like a prehistoric Earth, so dinosaurs are roaming around. I also found so carnivorous plants, so be careful when you are around them."
"...How are you so calm?"
Yui almost whispered as if not believing the whole situation, so I tried to reassure her.
"It's because there isn't much danger here. There's nothing stronger than I am, so you can just think of it as a camping trip. As I said earlier. Help is coming, so we just need to wait."
Now that I think about it, it's the first ti I've been on another planet. It's a bit underwhelming. It doesn't look that much different from Earth. Hueco Mundo felt more exotic, in my opinion, and it was mostly a desert.
"Now, let's go to work!"
The three groups split up, and I looked after all of them. With Haki, it wasn't that difficult, and I would be able to react if any of them were in danger, although I doubt it would co to this. Each group had at least one person who could fight so they could defend the group if necessary.
---
The end of the first day was coming close, and everything was looking good. We found a shelter in the form of a cave. There is a source of drinkable water in a river nearby, and there are even so fruits, but I felt that such a large group needed more food than that. That's why I volunteered myself to hunt so at. I was, of course, successful. It wasn't the first ti I did that, after all, and even if it was, there wasn't an animal strong or even fast enough to run away from . I was the apex here, and I felt that the Byakko fruit influenced this.
"Guess who's here and found so food~"
The reactions were mixed. Rito, Mikan, Lala Rio, and Kaede weren't that surprised by what I did. They already saw photos of hunting so animals during our album viewing. Haruna, Kotegawa, and Ren were a bit off-put. Probably because it was their first ti seeing dead animals. They probably shouldn't look when I'll start chopping their body for parts that we'll eat. I'm going to do it with Zangetsu because I think that he looks like a big kitchen knife, and no amount of screaming in my head will make think otherwise. Al, on the other hand, had hearts in her eyes. I ignored her right now; although sex in the wild sounds fun, it's not ti right now.
I prepared dinner for everyone, and the morale was high, but I could see that Yui wasn't feeling right, so I was observing her. After we were done with our al, which was delicious because I made it, Lala noticed that sothing was going on with Yui, so she approached her. Lala was incredibly perceptive, but she can be blind to so things, and to grow, she must confront situations like these. Although so of want to preserve how she is currently, I believe it would be better for her future to grow.
I didn't want to create a scene, so I made everyone give us so privacy, and I was just in ti because Yui exploded.
"Whose fault is it that we're stuck here!?"
Apparently, Lala tried to calm down Yui, but the stress was getting to her, and she just said what her emotions told her. Lala didn't react as her usual self and apologised with a downcast expression.
"I'm really sorry..."
Yui seed to realize that she had made a mistake, but she wasn't used to this kind of situation, so she stamred for a bit. I decided that it was ti for to step in.
"Lala, can I talk to you for a mont?" I asked with a small smile, trying to get her mood back to normal. I think I succeeded a bit because Lala smiled back at , although I could see that her smile was a bit forced.
We walked silently towards the beach, which was unusual for Lala, but I didn't speak either for now.
When we finally arrived at our destination at a beach, we were t with a beautiful view of a night sky full of stars.
"You know, stars here are different than they are on Earth. They are also different from how they were back in Soul Society. You can realize that you aren't ho much earlier, but it hits you only when the stars don't match what you rember."
Lala solely focused on as she carefully listened to every word I said.
"That's not what I wanted to talk about, but the mont I saw the sky, it reminded of that. I had never been a fan of stargazing before, but I ca to appreciate it. I think it was after my children started wanting to explore, and one day, they found out that they could navigate through the stars, so they tried to do it on their own. When I found out about it, I, of course, taught them what I knew. It wasn't much, so I learned on my own as fast as I could so I could teach them the next day."
I shook my head humorously as I smiled wryly.
"I'm rambling again."
"No, " Lala said for the first ti. "I like to listen when you talk about things you like. I like to listen when you talk about your life. I want to learn about you more and more until I know everything about you!" To show how much she wanted to know about , she opened her arms wide open.
It was cute, and I decided to tease her a bit.
"When you finally know everything about , then what?"
Getting caught off guard, she didn't know the answer, but she put her hand on her chin and started pondering. Once again, it was cute, so I waited until she ca up with sothing. I was honestly curious about her answer and if she'd even co up with one.
Tis like these make happy that I survived all my past battles and struggles. In fact, these tis make appreciate what I have now even more.
"I know! When I finally know everything about you, we can find sothing new about each other!"
Lala had a revelation, and she looked proud of it. I must admit I liked her idea more than I thought.
"Then, when that day ultimately cos, we'll search for sothing together." I smiled and then asked, " Are you feeling better now?"
It was as if she had just rembered that she was supposed to be sad, but her expression quickly changed to gratitude. She knew that I talked to her to make her feel better, but I did sothing better. I made her forget about her worries entirely, but I should also say sothing more.
"In my experience, people will get mad at you sotis. Sotis it will be justified and other tis it won't be but knowing you, it doesn't matter because you want to make all the people around you smile so I'll advise you to try understanding the other side and why they got mad at you in the first place and try to avoid it in the future. Most importantly, though, it is for you to decide who is worth trying so hard for. But don't forget one and most important part of it. Don't forget to be your adorable self."
With that, I pinched her cheek, at which she giggled.
"Now go back to others so they won't worry about us. I'll be back soon. I want to stargaze a little bit longer."
She nodded and gave a quick kiss before she departed.
I looked back up to see the night sky, and without turning back, I started speaking.
"You can apologize to Lala tomorrow. She doesn't have a bad bone in her body, so she'll forgive in a heartbeat, Kotegawa. As long as you are sincere, of course."
I addressed the peeking girl who sheepishly walked behind a tree.
"How long have you known I was there?" She asked. I'm not sure if it was genuine curiosity or just attempt at breaking the ice.
"Since the beginning. I didn't know that our dear class president was shaless enough to eavesdrop on a private ti between a pair."
That comnt managed to fluster Yui, which, to be fair, wasn't a high task.
"I-I wasn't eavesdropping!!! I didn't hear a lot, and I just waited for the right mont to co out! YES! I respected your ti together, that's all!"
I still didn't turn towards her but allowed myself to smirk while she couldn't see my face.
"Fine, I'll believe you, but if I catch you spying on one more ti, I will be forced to call you a pervert or a stalker. I'm nice enough to let you choose."
"Fine! I'm not going to spy like this again, so it doesn't matter what you'll call ! I an, not call !"
She didn't even notice that she admitted to spying on . She really is fun to ss with. She also left after that exchange. I think she got the answer she was looking for and left. Or she just forgot what she ca here for. Both options are equally probable.
I stood up and brushed away the sand to return to the cave where we were all sleeping.
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END
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