"I... I'm... going to save her life...?" Mutou said as Akira stared him right in the eye, holding onto his shirt.
"Yeah, that's right!" Akira said. "You'll do the operation!!"
"Wh-What are you saying... Were you listening to me!?" Mutou asked anxiously. "It's not that I won't do it, but I can't...!! M-My hands are shaking... and I vomit upon seeing blood. There's no way I can operate—" Akira pulled him up by his shirt.
"We're asking you because you're the only one who can do it!!" Akira said desperately. "I would have done it long ago if I could!! Yarai said he would do it... He isn't going to do it because he's confident about it. He knows there's a slim chance of success. But there's no other way... If we do nothing, she will die!! Are you fine with that...! A lot of people died here already. A lot of lives vanished. We couldn't save them. But we might be able to save one this time! Please, Mutou-san... You're the only one... who can pull that off...!!"
"I... I... I'm..." Mutou said, looking away from him.
"Geez, what a pathetic man... you can't even face your dead son like this..." Yashiro said. Mutou and Akira looked at him.
"Yashiro-san...?" Akira said.
"I'm sure your son is crying on the other side. Poor boy. I mean, he died so early," Yashiro said.
"Wh-What did you say...!?" Mutou said angrily.
"You don't get it? He believed you were the best doctor in the world, right? But here you are all depressed... Don't you think he would be sad seeing your current self, who's abandoning a patient...?" Yashiro asked.
"...!!" Mutou gasped, looking horrified. He remembered how proudly his son had said that he thought he was the best doctor in the world, how he excitedly said he wanted to become a great doctor like him when he grew up. Tears spilled from Mutou's eyes. "Fuh... Fuah..." he cried, shaking. "Uhh... I... What...What should I do..."
"Try to be one once more... the best doctor in the world, who your son was so proud about..." Yashiro said.
"You're safe now, Sensei," Segawa told Kurusu-sensei while she, Matsumoto, and Shigeno watched over her. "There's a real doctor."
"Hah, uhh..." Kurusu groaned, in a lot of pain.
"Just hang in there a bit longer—" Segawa said.
While they were watching the patient, Mutou was supervising the preparations for the surgery. They were boiling a very large amount of water.
"Five minutes after it's boiling, right... should be done by now," Mutou said. "Get it down from the fire and let it cool."
"Yeah," Akira said, and he and Suzuki carefully removed the hot containers from the flames. "What are you using it for? All this boiled water..."
"I'm going to wash the insides of her stomach," Mutou said.
"Eh? The insides?" Akira said.
"The treatment for 'perforation ulcer of the duodenum' is to open the stomach and repair the perforated part. For that we need to wash out the blood and stomach contents that leaked out through perforation. Normally you use isotonic saline solution warmed up to forty degrees Celsius for that... but that's asking too much here. So we're boiling the river water to sterilize it and use it instead."
"I... I see..." Akira said.
"Old man! We prepared the tools like you told us," Yarai said, walking up with Torako, carrying all the 'surgical implements' on a large leaf.
"Sterilized them?" Mutou asked.
"We left them in the boiled water for longer than fifteen minutes," Torako said.
"G-Good!" Mutou said, nodding in approval. He, Yarai, and Torako tied neckerchiefs around their necks that could be pulled up to cover their mouths. "Let's begin... Y-Yarai, Fukui, are you ready?"
"Yeah. How's she doing?" Yarai asked, ducking low to enter the hut with the tools.
"Can we really do it...?" Segawa asked.
"Well..." Yarai said. He went into the hut, followed by Torako.
"..." Mutou's expression was grim as he hung outside. 'The current me hasn't held a scalpel for five years...' His hand was already shaking. "... Kuh..." He looked down at his hand, afraid. 'I can't stop my hand from shaking...' Someone gabbed his hand with theirs. "Eh?" He looked up and saw that it was Kirino. She had a determined expression on her face. "K-Kirino-san...?"
"Calm down, Mutou-san... Please take a deep breath..." Kirino said calmly but firmly. "If you stay calm and focused, I'm sure you can do it. I... believe you can!"
"O-Okay..." Mutou said, giving her a small smile, but he didn't really believe it.
"..." Rion, Oomori, and Miyauchi watched.
"You have my blessings, too!" Rion said, moving forward to grab his hand with hers. "Don't suffer alone. We're with you! We can't come inside, but we'll be fighting wit you from the outside!" she said earnestly.
"... That's right!" Oomori said, also stepping forward to hold his hand. "This hand saved a lot of lives, right? Please be confident."
"I don't get all the difficult stuff, but it's all about the spirit!!" Miyauchi said, clapping a hand on his shoulder.
"Please! Please save our teacher!" the vice president, Airi, Takahashi and Kashiwagi said, all holding his hand at the same time.
"Umm... Umm... Give it your best...!" Mami said with a red face, holding his hand. Yuki grabbed his hand, too.
"Please save Kurusu-sensei," she said anxiously.
"I'll do it, too," a boy said.
"Me, too..." another girl said.
"Mutou-san, you have out blessing, too!" a boy said.
"..." Mutou was astonished. One after another, all of the students came forward to hold his hand and ask him to save their teacher or wish him luck. 'Everyone...'
"Mutou-san...!" Akira said, holding his had.
"Sengoku-kun..." Mutou said.
"Please save out teacher..." Akira said seriously.
"Y-Yeah..." Mutou said. Akira let go of him, and Mutou looked at his hand. 'What...? My hand's so warm...' He suddenly remembered his son doing the same thing for him before. It was as if his son was right there, holding his hand again and telling him to do his best, that he would be fine because he was the best doctor in the world. 'Hiroki...' he stared at his hand for a moment longer, then went into the hut.
"M-Mutou-san," Segawa said when she saw him.
"What are you doing. We're already ready here," Yarai said. They had moved Kurusu-sensei onto a clean sheet on top of the bed they had made for her. They had also removed all of her clothing except for her panties and washed her off.
"The patient?" Mutou asked, pulling his neckerchief up to cover his mouth.
"Right here," Yarai said.
"She seems to be in a lot of pain..." Mutou observed. Kurusu-sensei was gasping for breath and trembling, and her face was flushed.
"We gave her herbs to relieve the pain, but it's not working..." Torako said, concerned.
"..." Mutou took a number of the needles and pins they had collected and began sticking them into certain points on Kurusu-sensei's legs.
"H-Hey, what are you..." Yarai said.
"Quiet. Or I'll slip," Mutou said.
'This is—' Yarai thought, watching as the treatment took effect. 'Her breathing got better... The pain is fading...?'
"Acupuncture, right?" Torako said.
"Yeah, anesthesia through acupuncture," Moutou confirmed. "A technique originating in the traditional Chinese medicine. Thirty years ago it was used pretty often in China. It's use declined over time and isn't in use nowadays. It's only a slight relief, but it looks like it works..."
"..." Yarai could see that for himself. 'This old man... He knows what he's doing...!'
"Okay, let's start the operation," Mutou said.
"Yes...!" they all said, ready to assist.
Everyone else waited nervously outside the hut.
"It... will go well, right... She'll be all healthy again, right..." Takahashi said.
"Don't worry. We're waiting in belief that it'll succeed," Kirino said.
"..." Akira held his chin.
"What's up, Akira-kun? You're still worried about something...?" Rion asked.
"Mm... Well... After I heard about him and his son, I was remembering my mom..." Akira said.
"Your mother...?" Rion said.
"Yeah... I wonder what she's doing right now..." Akira said. He remembered how she would make him embarrassingly cute bentos, but he'd eat them anyway, telling her she was beyond help. He smiled. "Back then I only thought of her as annoying. It's so strange..."
"..." Rion looked down. She was homesick, too. She looked up again. "But.. It's just a bit longer, Akira-kun."
"... Yeah, that's right," Akira said. "Our trip will be over soon...! When Sensei's operation is over and she's recovered, we're heading to the west of the island—" The others looked determined, too. "If Yarai's map is correct, then in the west is the fourth and last tower, which we haven't seen yet! ... According to Yarai and Fukui, it might be living quarters, or it might be something else. We don't know... But once we go there, we might get clues about all the things we don't know yet. Like why there are no other people... or why they made extinct animals... and what exactly this island is... If we find that out, we can go back to Japan!"
"That's right!" Suzuki said. "This is close to Okinawa. If we build a boat, we'll—"
"Ah, speaking of Okinawa..." the vice president said.
"? Vice-prez? What's up?" Rion asked.
"Well, you know... it seems Nishikiori was saying something ridiculous..." the vice president said.
"Eh?" Akira and Rion said.
"Nishikiori is saying something ridiculous...?" Akira asked.
"Yes..." the vice president said.
"Tch, him again," Miyauchi said, looking annoyed.
"He doesn't learn..." Yuki said.
"What's with him..." Suzuki said.
"So... What did he say, Vice-prez..." Akira asked.
"That..." the vice president began to explain.
Akira, Rion, Miyauchi, Suzuki, Yamato, Mariya, and the president all went over to where Nishikiori was tied to a tree. Kokonoe had been watching him, and he looked up from the X-rated magazine he was reading as they approached.
"Oh! What's up, guys?" Kokonoe asked.
"Kokonoe! How's Nishikiori?" Akira asked.
"He's behaving, as you can see..." Kokonoe said.
"... Oh my..." Nishikiori said when he saw their group. "Ah, that reminds me, that boring guy was a doctor, huh... That totally surprised me! But is it true? Might he be a fake? Kukuku..."
"That doesn't matter now," Akira said, grabbing Nishikiori by the front of his jacket.
"!?" Nishikiori said.
"What are you plotting this time!?" Akira asked. "I heard you're spouting some nonsense."
"Nonsense?" Nishikiori said. "Ahh... About that... Heh. Judging by that, I guess you guys really haven't noticed it." He had a nasty expression on his face.
"... Eh?" Akira said.
"I'm not lying. Listen carefully... This island... isn't close to Okinawa...!" Nishikiori said.
"D-Don't make stuff up!" Miyauchi said. "We have evidence. Here and on some other tower there were coordinates..."
"Heh. So what... This is without a doubt nowhere near Okinawa," Nishikiori insisted.
"What!? You don't even have proof!" Suzuki said.
"Proof, huh. I have it," Nishikiori said.
"What!?" the others said.
"Where! Where is this proof you speak of!" Miyauchi yelled.
"It's right here... above you," Nishikiori said, smirking.
"... Above?" Airi asked, looking up
"Above!?" her brother said, also looking up. They all looked up.
"What what's above..." Morita asked.
"Th-There's nothing..." Murayama said.
"You can't see it? It's right there..." Nishikiori said. "The stars."
"!?" the others said.
"Th-The stars...!?" Akira asked.
"... What, you don't get it?" Nishikiori said. "What are they teaching you in school...? Well, whatever... I'm bored since you tied me up, so I'll explain. Listen, I hope you at least know that the stars are moving every day. That's caused by the earth moving around the sun once a year. That means when you see the same stars again, one year has passed. A star's position depends on the time, you know. Well, you should have learned that in school. Then did you know that stars look like they're positioned differently even on the same day?"
"Eh?" Akira said.
"Latitude!" Nishikiori said.
"Latitude...?" Akira asked.
"It's one way of giving coordinates on earth besides the longitude," Mariya said. "The equator is zero degrees and the north pole and south pole are ninety degrees."
"Well done, four-eyes," Nishikiori said with a mean smirk. "To see constellations the latitude is important... That's because the earth is round, so the region of the sky you see changes, too. Even if you stay in Japan, you see different stars in Naha and Sapporo. That's because there's seventeen degree difference in Latitude. ... You get it? When the latitude is different, the constellations definitely look different."
"..." A bead of sweat slid down the side of Akira's face.
"... The day before we crashed, the third of October. That day had the same sky," Nishikiori said.
"Wh-What are you saying..." Akira asked.
"On that day I accompanied a doctor to Guam," Nishikiori said. "End even though I don't drink, I emptied a couple glasses with him. When I was out in the middle of the night, I looked at the sky. I saw stars you don't get to see in Japan that often. Before I noticed, a few hours had passed. So those stars were burned into my memory. And on the next day, that accident happened— It became night and people panicked from the animal's attack. After that... I found a G-watch with a compass. Someone must have dropped it... I had no special reason, but I adjusted the point of the compass and looked at the sky. I still remember it clearly to this point... The stars looked just like the stars that I saw before the accident.
"...!!" they all gasped.
"Guam is around thirteen degrees and Okinawa is around twenty six degrees. If this is close to Okinawa as you say, then the latitude differs by at least ten degrees. Then the stars' positions should be different, too..." Nishikiori said with a nasty expression on his face. "I'm telling you, this is close to Guam. Or at least, it's a place where the latitude doesn't differ much."
"W-Wait. Then what are these numbers on the antenna?" Miyauchi asked.
"Heh, who knows. I guess you mistook them?" Nishikiori said.
"Th-That can't be!" Yuki said.
"H-Hey, this can't be real..." Murayama said.
"But if that's true..." the president said. "What should we do..."
"Kukuku..." Nishikiori laughed, enjoying the panic he was starting amongst them.
"Hah! Stupid!" Akira said boldly, crossing his arms.
"Eh?" Murayama said.
"S-Sengoku...?" the president said.
"You damn liar! In the end you're nothing but talk," Akira said, getting in Nishikiori's face. "What are plotting this time by making us insecure?"
"Yeah, just like Sengoku says," Mariya said. "I don't know what you're planning, but give it a rest already! Or are you saying you have some other proof? For example, a photo of the starry sky in Guam and here...?"
"... Heh... Fine... It's up to you if you want to trust me," Nishikiori said without faltering.
"T-Tch, so it was nonsense," the president said.
"I got scared for a moment," Suzuki said.
"He's really an asshole..." Kairi said.
"Guys—!!" Segawa called, running toward them.
"Mh? That's..." Kirino said. "Segawa-san!?"
"Wh-What's up? You're in such a rush..." Yamato said.
"Huh!? C-Could it be..." Takahashi said. Segawa stood there panting for a moment, catching her breath.
"The operation... is over," Segawa said
"!!" everyone gasped.
"H-How did it go!?" Akira asked.
"Is Sensei okay!?" Rion asked. Segawa smiled.
"Yes, rest assured... It was a success...!" Segawa said.
"!!" everyone exclaimed, looking relieved.
"She needs to rest for a while," Segawa said. At the moment, Kurusu-sensei was resting on the bed with a clean sheet covering her. "She's sleeping soundly now... There's still a chance of infection, so she's not out of the woods yet... But for now, the operation went well!" Everyone was super happy.
"Yaaay!!!" they all cheered.
"I'm so glad...!!" Rion said as she, Mami, and Oomori hugged each other. "Kurusu-sensei is all right!!"
"As if she would die! I knew it," Yamato said, grinning.
"You were looking all depressed though," Murayama said, also grinning as he elbowed him.
"I'm really glad... Mutou-san pulled it off!" Akira said.
"Yaay!" everyone cheered again.
"Oh, right, Segawa-san. Where's Yarai...?" Akira asked.
"... He's pretty tired," Segawa said, smiling. He had been the most worried. "And said he wants to be alone for a while..."
Yarai lay on a gentle slope that was carpeted with grass, looking up at the night sky.
"..." Yarai was thinking. He remembered his promise to Kurusu-sensei that he would save her. Somehow, he had managed to keep it. The image of Torako's relieved, smiling face when they had successfully completed the operation came to mind. She had been the second most worried after him, and she was with Kurusu-sensei now "..." Yarai smiled.
Back with the others, they were roasting some small critters on sticks by the fire.
"Hot," Rei said when she checked one of them.
"..." Mutou sat to the side, looking at his hands.
"Well done, Pops! Eat this. My treat!" Rei said, handing him one of the cooked critters.
"Th-Thanks," Mutou said.
"Sorry for earlier," Yashiro said, walking up to him. "I said too much."
"Yashiro-kun..." Mutou said. "I should be the one apologizing... I'm really sorry... I let a lot of people die on this island... If I had found the courage earlier, I might have saved people's lives. I might have even stopped Nishikiori's tyranny..."
"..." Yashiro couldn't argue with that, but he didn't want to condemn him anymore either.
"It's not over yet!" Igarashi said, coming over with Seigou. "This case made it pretty clear. Even if they try hard, they're just kids... In crucial times, we adults have to support them. That is our true duty from now on!!" He was talking to Oomori and Kokonoe, who were close by, too.
"... Yes... You're right... I have to work as hard as I can..." Mutou said.
"Well, I'm glad that the doctor was someone like you..." Rei said.
"Eh?" Mutou said.
"Imagine the doctor being some weird guy," Rei said, striking a sexy pose. "Then he would totally go after my nice body.♥ But I can relax, you're too old.♥"
"Hahaha. Do I look that old...?" Mutou asked, smiling wryly. "..." He looked into the fire. 'That's right. I have to work hard for the kids now...'
Papa.
Mutou's eyes widened. He could hear his son talking and had a vision of him smiling at him.
Papa, good luck.
Mutou smiled.
"Yeah. I....! I can do this...!" Mutou said.
"Eh? Pops?" Rei said, wondering who he was talking to.
Around another fire, Rion, Yuki, Tokiwa, and Yamato watched while Morita filmed Miyauchi dancing. They were laughing and enjoying themselves. But Mariya sat separate from everyone else. Far away enough so that no one could see what he was doing.
"What'cha doing, Mariya?" Akira asked, coming over to stand behind him.
"Sengoku. I'm trying to connect the HD that Yarai found," Mariya replied. "It's got some heavy protection, though... Well, with a bit more time..."
"I see..." Akira said. "... Hey, Mariya. Guess we can't ignore his story."
"Nishikiori, you mean... Yeah! You understood, too, right?" Mariya said.
"At the time, I argued against it in front of the others, but it's too plausible for a lie," Akira said.
"I sure hope it is... Damn, so troublesome," Mariya said.
"Yeah..." Akira agreed.
"If he's right, then we're 1500km away from Okinawa. Not a distance you can easily cross," Mariya said. "If we go out into the sea, we'll all die..."
Meanwhile, the lolicon trio was standing guard outside the hut that had been given to Miina. Inside, Torako, Segawa, Matsumoto, and Shigeno were changing their clothes. They had been so nervous during the operation, that they sweated a lot. Segawa was still changing, but Isurugi Miina was showing her drawings to the others.
"..." Segawa smiled, relieved that Kurusu-sensei was all right. 'Aww, what am I getting so happy about. She's my rival...' she thought, still smiling.
"Kyaa! Amazing! So skilled!!" Matsumoto exclaimed, looking at Isurugi Miina's drawings.
"Yeah, you're really good!" Torako praised her.
"Mh? What's up...?" Segawa asked, turning her attention to the others.
"Look at the pictures she drew!" Matsumoto said, pointing to Isurugi Miina and her sketchbook. "There are so many in the sketchbook. She's really good."
"Hee, let me see..." Segawa said, coming closer to have a look.
"!?" Segawa gasped when she saw the image of a large bird. She had seen it before.
"See? Aren't they good!?" Matsumoto said. "She's even better than Fukui-san!"
"..." Segawa stared at the drawing, shocked.
"You wouldn't think a ten-year-old girl could draw this!" Matsumoto said.
'Huh? That drawing...' Segawa thought. 'I'm sure I found it at the 'lighthouse'... and put it into my pocket..." She reached into her pocket and took out the scrap of paper with the drawing that she had found. "Found it!" She grabbed Isurugi Miina's sketchbook from her. "H-Hey, give me that book!"
"Something wrong?" Torako asked, seeing the look on her face.
"...!" Segawa's eyes were wide. 'I knew it...' The two drawings were being held side by side, and she could see no difference between them. "Wh-What's this... It's the exact same drawing..."