After we ate, we got back to gathering and picked up nuts, mushrooms, rocks, and the like.

On top of that, when I tried Itemizing a fallen tree, I ended up with a huge amount of lumber—but it seemed to get treated like an inferior version of Ordinary Lumber.

I could make firewood and wooden tools with it, but I couldn’t use it as material for a Hut, and so on.

Well, better to have it than not.

As for sorting and selecting what to keep, I could worry about that once the Inventory’s capacity started showing an actual limit.

And then we returned to that spot under the cliff.

“For now, dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast are mushrooms again.”

“Yeah. We did get some wild plants too, but... we still can’t make tempura...”

By the way, Inventory had the convenient feature of time not passing inside it.

So for us right now, we could eat freshly roasted mushrooms and fresh nuts whenever we wanted.

When I tried to Itemize the embers from the campfire, it failed.

I did manage to get ash, so I guess you can’t Itemize flame.

More than an Item, it’s the phenomenon of burning?

“We could do them as a dressed dish too, but we’re still short on ingredients for that.”

“Some of it looks like we can eat it raw, at least.”

“Let’s eat it at dinner. Nutrition matters.”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

We’d transferred here during the morning on this island, but it was already getting close to evening.

“Should we put the Hut out soon?”

“Yeah. Let’s try it.”

I placed the Hut I generated with Crafting Ability under the cliff.

In an instant, a perfectly wooden little hut appeared in front of us—somewhere between a mountain cabin and a shed.

I’d picked as flat a spot as possible ahead of time, so it didn’t look like it was tilting badly.

It might not be a “proper” hut, but something you can just plop down is better, because when we move, we can store it in Inventory. That’s why it’s made like this.

Digging out the ground and making a foundation... that’s a part Crafting Ability can’t do anything about, and we can’t afford to spend our effort on that anyway, so it can’t be helped.

The closest image is probably using it like temporary housing.

“I’ve always wanted a secret base like this.”

Chiyu said something so childlike.

But I nodded hard.

“I get it... if we’d found a hut like this when we were kids, we would’ve come here every day.”

We went inside right away.

It was about the size of a six-mat room.

There was a window too, but it was wooden as well. It opened like double doors, and of course there was no glass fitted into it.

No—wait. Couldn’t I make glass with Crafting Ability?

What were the materials again... sand, and... Lime? And then... whatever.

I’d talk it over with Chiyu later.

“It’s more than enough for a secret base, but it’s a little cramped for two people to live in.”

“No problem. We eat outside, and shelves or dressers aren’t needed because you have Inventory, So-kun.”

“Right. If we don’t need furniture, then even something like this is enough.”

Chiyu being positive really helps.

“We don’t need a bed, but... I kind of want bedding, at least.”

“Yeah. I agree, but with what we gathered today... this is about all I could make.”

I placed it.

It was something like a woven mat. I made it out of the huge amount of grass we gathered.

A thin tatami-like thing you make by weaving # Nоvеlight # grass.

I did make it wide and long enough for two people to lie down side by side, but...

“Hm-hm.”

Chiyu immediately lay down on it.

“I want bedding, but I also want changes of clothes. Cloth... thread... fiber... hemp, or cotton? I wonder if this island has any.”

I didn’t know much about plants, so I had no clue at all.

If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve paid more serious attention to the stuff survival manga protagonists say.

“For now, we have no choice but to sleep pressed together tonight. Really, what an unavoidable development.”

Chiyu said that while still lying down.

“Well, yeah... but to keep from catching a cold, we need to do something about bedding and clothes as soon as we can.”

Just because Chiyu can heal us doesn’t mean we should go out of our way to take damage.

“Could we also go with pelts?”

“Yeah... wool, maybe?”

“Cashmere too.”

At the name of a luxury material, my childhood friend’s eyes looked like they were sort of sparkling.

“Do you think there are cashmere goats?”

“We haven’t even seen any animals at all.”

“Yeah... I wish I had the kind of knowledge where you can estimate where you are from the vegetation and the climate...”

“So-kun, high schoolers who can do that basically don’t exist.”

“Yeah, I know.”

If the mystery blackboard wanted to test what high schoolers could do on their own, it probably wouldn’t even grant us what we wanted and then transfer us—one thing or not.

Maybe the test is what we choose as our one thing, and how we survive using what we chose.

“By the way... you’re not going to test how it feels to sleep on it, So-kun?”

“Ghk.” 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

She finally noticed that she was lying down while I just stood there.

If I were the kind of outgoing guy who lives in the sun, maybe I could’ve said, “Oh, guess I’ll test it too,” without being prompted—but there was no way I could do that.

“N-not right now. I’ve still got things to do.”

“Okay.”

My childhood friend nodded once and sat up.

“We talked about animals earlier, so I figured we should make something like an animal repellent, just in case.”

“Hm-hm.”

“I’m going to go set it up.”

I started to move.

Chiyu stood up, and brought her lips close to my ear.

“Then... tonight, okay, So-kun?”

She said only that, and left the hut first.

Staring at her back, I covered my face with my hand.

“Ah... this is bad.”

When we were about kindergarten age, I think we might’ve slept together before, but that was a distant memory.

And now we’re second-years in high school, and we’re going to sleep together in a hut...

If we’d had a normal high school life, there’s no way we could’ve gotten this close.

Even in a situation like this, is it wrong that I can’t help feeling happy?

With my mind caught in the tug-of-war between Hurry up and let it be night already and Please don’t let it be night yet, I stepped out of the hut too.