Battle Royale • Wilderness Survival (End)
After sending the whale away, Everly and Misha did not encounter any further unusual situations.
The two of them circled most of the island’s edge and found no other fruit, but they did discover five coconut trees on one stretch of beach.
It happened to be coconut season. The trees were extrely tall, and they couldn’t reach the fruits at the top with sticks. So Everly and Misha had to climb up the trunks like two monkeys, carefully hugging them, and then chop the coconuts down with knives, tossing them onto the sand below.
After stripping several coconut trees bare and returning to the ground to count their haul, the result was quite good—they had collected a total of 29 coconuts.
Fresh coconuts don’t contain much vitamin C, but they are excellent for replenishing energy, restoring electrolytes, and promoting intestinal movent. When drifting at sea, having a few coconuts on hand made for a very good supplent.
Most of the coconuts were intact, except for one that, upon falling, accidentally hit a hard rock and cracked open.
The wooden raft had limited carrying capacity. When leaving the island, they couldn’t load all the coconuts on board; instead, they had to use stockings like nets to hang them off the back of the raft so they could drift along behind it.
The damaged coconut couldn’t be used for that purpose. So Everly and Misha could only, with tears in their eyes, split it between them and eat it.
In addition to coconuts, they also quickly gathered missing oars for the wooden boat, as well as dried grass and branches needed to build a sunshade. By the ti they returned to the raft after their exploration, they were already carrying as much as they possibly could.
The only regret was that, after circling the island, they still hadn’t found any forest area suitable for further exploration.
The island was primitive and rarely visited by humans. Along the way, the forest they saw remained dense with vegetation and covered in thorns.
To make a sunshade, Everly and Misha’s long pants had already been forced into ultra-short shorts. With no fabric left to protect their legs, it was difficult for them even to step inside. Even with a sickle clearing the way, they could rarely get very far.
Unable to enter the forest, they naturally couldn’t search for other fruits.
Fortunately, Misha had sharp eyes and discovered a large patch of sea lettuce during low tide.
Sea lettuce is a type of sheet-like seaweed. It looks sowhat like kelp but is not as long. It often grows on rocks in the intertidal zone and is rich in vitamin C, minerals, and dietary fiber.
With no fruit available, eating sea lettuce to supplent vitamin C was also a good option.
Everly and Misha harvested so sea lettuce and cooked it to eat. The rest they left untouched, planning to bring it back later—along with the rocks it was attached to—and cultivate it on the raft. This was because the vitamin C content in sea lettuce is highest when fresh; once dried, a large portion of its nutrients, including vitamin C, would be lost.
The two of them spent the entire day on the island collecting sea lettuce, carving oars, tying together the sunshade, and upgrading the small raft—they were busy the whole ti.
By the next day, when the dried raft was pushed back into the sea, it was no longer as simple as before.
On the originally flat surface of the raft, five thick pillars—each about the thickness of an arm—had been erected. Four stood at the corners, and one in the center. Together, they supported a large canopy above.
The canopy was made of branches and leaves. The thod was to first bind branches into a rectangular grid-like fra, then tie bundles of grass leaves onto it in rows, overlapping them so that the ends covered the heads, filling in all the gaps.
This required a lot of rope.
Fortunately, the grass leaves used to make the bundles themselves were excellent binding material. By twisting them and braiding them into three strands, they could be turned into grass rope that was both strong and durable.
Everly used grass rope to tightly secure each bundle of thatch three tis over. In this way, even if strong winds ca, the roof wouldn’t easily be blown away.
Under the sunshade, the place where Everly and Misha rested at night was also covered with a thick layer of dried grass mats. In the spots where they rested their heads, two pillows made from twisted bundles of grass had appeared.
Dried grass was far more comfortable than rough bark. With pillows of just the right softness, sleeping finally felt comfortable.
In addition to these changes, several coconut shells had been fixed along the edges of the raft with rope.
Inside the coconut shells were stones Everly and Misha had collected from the intertidal zone, on which patches of lush green sea lettuce were growing.
These plants lived in the intertidal zone and could tolerate both flooding and drying to a certain extent. Placed in coconut shells, they only needed to be occasionally subrged in water. Most of the ti, they were kept in a semi-aquatic, semi-dry state. Although they inevitably looked a bit wilted, they were still alive—and could contribute to Everly and Misha’s nutritious diet.
Sea lettuce was not suitable to eat raw.
At this point, the gasoline Everly had collected earlier finally ca in handy.
Before eating the sea lettuce, she took out a tal folding pot, poured an appropriate amount of gasoline into it, lit a fire, and then placed the washed sea lettuce and so small seafood caught in a net into coconut shells with water to boil them.
After this treatnt, although the sea lettuce tasted rather plain, its texture beca crisp and refreshing, and there was a faint coconut aroma when swallowed. Paired with tender fish and shrimp, it was truly a rare delicacy during life at sea.
After so proper rest and preparation, everything really felt different.
Resting her head on the comfortable pillow, lying under the cool shade of the sun canopy, and filled with longing for land, Everly beca extrely motivated. She drove the raft across the sea at a “whoosh whoosh whoosh” pace for an entire day, and only collapsed onto her bed in exhaustion after the moon rose.
According to their division of labor, after Everly fell asleep, Misha would take over by rowing with the oars.
However, just as Everly’s head touched the pillow—and before she even fully fell asleep—Misha, who was supposed to be at the stern rowing, suddenly rushed over excitedly, knelt beside her, and grabbed Everly by the shoulder, pulling her up.
“The whale! The whale! It’s that whale!”
“What?”
Everly opened her eyes, eting Misha’s excited expression, completely confused.
“Don’t you think the raft is moving a bit fast?”
“Huh?”
Everly turned her head toward the outside of the raft. Indeed, even after she had stopped controlling the waves, the raft—supposed to be drifting slowly with the currents—was still surging forward. In fact, it was even faster than when she had been pushing it with waves during the day.
Rembering what Misha said about the whale, Everly leaned over the edge of the raft and looked down into the water.
Under the moonlight, the ocean was as dark as ink. Peering down into it, she could see nothing at all.
“No, it’s not underneath—it’s at the stern.”
Misha tugged at Everly’s sleeve. After the new sunshade had been built, the two girls no longer had to “run around half-naked” and could finally wear their clothes again. She pointed toward the back of the raft, signaling Everly to look.
Everly obediently moved to the stern.
Before she even got close, she saw it.
Not far from the raft, in the water, a crystalline, transparent dorsal fin—like a cluster of glass crystals—cut through the surface and exposed itself to the air, reflecting a starlike glow under the moonlight.
It was the whale’s back fin.
Looking closely, it wasn’t just the fin—at the very rear of the raft, there was also a “slope” rising above the sea surface. That was the whale’s back, partially exposed above the water.
It was just that the front half of its back was almost entirely black, blending seamlessly with the dark sea below, which was why Everly hadn’t noticed it at first glance.
Everly rembered that when they had parted yesterday, there had still been many wounds on the whale’s back. She hadn’t expected that in just one day, those injuries had faded to the point of being almost invisible.
At the very front of its back was the whale’s snout. Rounded and slightly upturned, its upper and lower jaws were gently parted, as if holding onto a piece of at bone. With a light but steady pressure, it was “biting” the tail end of the raft, pushing it forward continuously.
“Have you been following us all this ti?”
Everly walked to the stern, knelt down, and greeted the whale at the back of the boat.
After using the waves to send the whale back into the sea yesterday afternoon, it had sunk into the depths and never resurfaced. Everly had assud it had left.
At first, she had even felt a little regret about her panacea, but then she reminded herself that she had saved a beautiful giant whale—and that made it feel less like a loss.
After all, it was a whale. A dreamlike, ocean-spirit-like creature like that—it was actually pretty cool to have saved it. Besides, the potion had already been used; there was no way to take it back now. She might as well hope for so unexpected surprise.
And now, the surprise had arrived.
When no one was expecting it, the whale had quietly followed Everly and Misha all day long. When the raft lost its driving force at night, it surfaced and took over, pushing the raft forward with its mouth.
At Everly’s question, the whale’s pushing motion paused slightly.
It stopped swimming. Its enormous tail burst out of the water in the distance, lifted high, then slamd back down.
Amid the crashing sound of waves, the whale’s head silently sank beneath the surface.
“….”
“What’s going on? What’s going on?”
Misha, having quickly swallowed the dog-food pellets in her mouth, ran to the stern and squatted beside Everly to look down at the water.
“I don’t know. I just said one thing to it, and it sank.”
“…So do I still need to row?”
“Should we wait a bit?”
In just one day, the raft had already traveled quite far. After following them for so long, there was no way the whale would just push them a little and then run off halfway, right?
Misha nodded. She and Everly moved back to the center of the raft and sat on the grass mat, chewing their dog food with crunching sounds.
After a while, ripples appeared again on the water near the stern. Soon, beneath the dark surface of the sea, the massive whale quietly rose again.
It lingered behind the raft for a mont. Seeing that no one approached, it slowly swam closer to the side, just like before, opening its snout to gently bite the end of the raft. Then, with a powerful sweep of its hidden tail, it pushed the raft forward once more, “cutting through wind and waves.”
“It’s back.”
“Maybe it has so kind of psychological trauma with humans and doesn’t want us to get close.”
The two girls exchanged a glance and decided that Misha would stay on the raft to keep watch. As long as the whale didn’t deviate from its course, they would leave it alone. Everly would use the ti to rest.
And so they slept through the night.
When Everly woke up the next morning, she discovered that the whale was still there.
According to Misha, after she fell asleep, the whale had been pushing the raft the entire night.
“…I originally wanted it to rest a bit, but it doesn’t seem to like very much. Every ti I get close, it sinks into the water. And if I try to row with the oar, it bites onto it and refuses to let go. It’s kind of temperantal.” Misha yawned and leaned lazily against a pillar after keeping watch all night.
Temperantal?
Everly left the bow and cautiously walked toward the stern.
The giant whale had most of its body exposed above the sea surface, diligently pushing the raft forward.
When it saw Everly, it didn’t sink underwater like Misha had said it would—but it also didn’t show any particular enthusiasm.
So… it didn’t like her, but it didn’t dislike her either?
Everly walked to the stern and squatted down, silently watching the whale.
In the sunlight, the whale looked stunning. Its transparent dorsal fin stretched out above the water in an elegant, extended posture. Compared to the mysterious, cool aura it had under the moonlight last night, it now carried a sharper, more striking brilliance. It shimred so brightly it looked like a massive crown, giving the whale beneath it an almost regal presence.
“Hey, hello?”
The whale’s pushing motion paused.
“Thank you for helping us push the raft…”
“Splash!”
Before Everly could finish speaking, a huge splash erupted.
In the very next second, the whale—just monts ago diligently pushing the boat—suddenly dove headfirst downward. Its transparent tail slapped the surface forcefully as it vanished beneath the sea in an instant, leaving Everly drenched in water droplets.
“….”
Alright. It seed Misha was right—the whale really did have a strange temperant.
Everly stood there for a while, waiting, but the whale never reappeared. In the end, she had no choice but to give up the free ride and resu controlling the waves herself.
And so, they drifted across the boundless ocean for another entire day.
When night ca and the moon rose into the sky, the whale actually ca back again.
So strange. Truly, an incredibly strange fish.
Having learned from the previous night’s experience, Everly and Misha did not disturb the whale this ti. They let it bite the raft and push them across the sea for the entire night.
At dawn the next day, Everly was woken early by Misha—and was surprised to find that the raft had actually reached nearshore waters.
Under the faint light of dawn, standing at the bow and looking westward, the endless horizon of the sea was no longer the sa flat line. Instead, it had turned into undulating buildings, and the silhouettes of pale gray land and mountains.
Based on their previous experience, they would likely reach land in about another hour of sailing.
Everly was first filled with joy—but then she thought of the whale still pushing the raft.
She quickly walked to the stern and, as before, knelt down to try communicating with it in the sea:
“Hey, we’re almost at land now. Thank you so much for the past two nights.”
The whale’s pushing motion paused slightly.
Everly tensed a little at the reaction. She was afraid the whale might, like it had yesterday morning, silently sink and leave—she still had things she wanted to say to it.
But the whale, as if hearing her thoughts, did not sink this ti.
Instead, it adjusted its posture. Its lower body sank deeper into the sea while its head rose slightly. Its black eye, hidden behind the white eye patch, looked at Everly through a thin layer of seawater.
The more it looked at her, the more its body seed to retreat into the water, until only the rounded tip of its snout remained visible above the surface.
For so reason, Everly actually felt a hint of “shyness” or introversion from it.
She couldn’t help but smile.
“Thank you again. If it weren’t for you, Misha and I probably would’ve been drifting at sea for who knows how long.”
After a pause, she added a little reluctantly:
“We’re about to reach land soon. There will probably be a lot of ships and people there. Once they notice you, they might try to harm you. And you’re also too big—if you get too close to shore, you could accidentally strand yourself again. So you should leave quickly…”
“Ahhh—!”
Under the sea, the whale opened its mouth and let out a thin, whining sound from deep in its throat.
Everly had no idea what that ant.
She sat on the raft and waited for a while. Seeing that the whale was still hovering there without any intention of leaving, she stretched out her arm and gently pushed its mouth.
“Alright, go on. Once it’s fully daylight, fishing boats will start coming out.”
“Ah… ah…”
The whale whined again. Almost like it was sulking, it pressed its slightly firm snout against Everly’s palm, nudging it hard once—only then did it turn its body away.
Its side fin unfurled like a fan, carving a beautiful arc across the sea’s surface. Then it dove headfirst into the deep ocean.
It was gone.
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