Storm Warning

On the third day on the Uninhabited Island, at six in the morning, the satellite weather map refreshed automatically. Shiina Hiyori was the first to notice the update. She sat on the edge of a camp cot, the terminal's cold light reflected on her expressionless face. Her light chestnut hair hung loose over her shoulders. On the screen, a newly formed trough of low pressure split the weather map, which had originally been marked "sunny, turning cloudy," in two. The trough was moving northeast from the island's southwest, and was expected to pass over South Coast Area B around nine tonight, bringing sudden strong winds and sustained heavy rain. Beneath the map, the school had added a red note: "Camps may adjust task priorities according to changing weather conditions. All outdoor assignments remain valid within the task period, and their scoring weights will not change. Each group is responsible for damage to its own equipment."

"Responsible for its own." The meaning of those four words was clear—the school wouldn't postpone tasks because of the weather, nor replace equipment damaged by the storm. If the solar still was overturned or its filter clogged with silt, and they failed to finish their tasks, the points would come out of their own score.

"Move all outdoor tasks to the morning." Kanzaki Toru set down his terminal and looked over each member of the group. "The weather map shows the low-pressure trough will begin affecting the island's southern coast after six this evening. Gusts are expected to reach force seven. We have to finish all of today's outdoor work before noon. We'll spend the afternoon reinforcing camp and organizing our data. Speak up now if you have any questions. Otherwise, get to it."

No one had any questions. Ishizaki pulled a waterproof tarp from his backpack and began securing the solar still and collapsible water bucket with ropes. Hamaguchi sealed the remaining clean-water filters in a waterproof bag. Nomura spread out the paper map and used a red pen to renumber the outdoor coordinates that needed to be surveyed first. Morishita packed the communications equipment into a waterproof case. Shiina clipped the Shared Pool clause about "being responsible for equipment damage" and posted it on the supply box. The six group members spread across the camp, moving quickly and silently.

At half past seven, the sky over South Coast Area B still held a trace of the previous night's sea fog, and high, thin clouds softened the sunlight to a milky white. Ishizaki crouched beside the solar still, securing the last wind rope, while Morishita stood nearby with a clipboard, checking the filter stock one by one. They were just far enough apart that one could hand the other a tool without looking up. Neither had to deliberately turn away or make a point of looking at the other anymore. Hamaguchi checked the slope again with a measuring wheel at the cliffside observation point. Behind him, Nomura marked a backup emergency evacuation route, checking the map's contour lines against the actual terrain meter by meter.

Morishita finished checking the inventory at eight: three filters, two boxes of waterproof matches, one collapsible water bucket, an unopened tourniquet and antiseptic tablets in the first-aid kit, and six portions of dry rations packed into separate bags. She entered the list in a spreadsheet and sent it to the group channel. When she looked up, she saw Ishizaki take his personal pack of emergency biscuits from a side pocket of his backpack. He placed them on the communal supply pile without saying a word. This was the second time. The first had been the evening of their landing, after the first batch of supplies had unlocked in the Shared Pool. He had lined up the biscuit wrapper with everyone else's supplies. Back then, he'd still hesitated a little. This time, he simply set the biscuits down, then went straight back to pulling the wind rope taut.

At nine in the morning, Kanzaki Toru finished compiling the data from all of the day's outdoor tasks. Every water-quality retest met the required standards, and the margin of error in the cliff survey coordinates was well below the school's limit. He pressed the submit button, and an unexpected prompt appeared on his terminal: "Current cooperation rating: A. The Old System Shared Pool weight bonus has reached the Phase One limit. Unlocked: Group Peer Review Immunity (Basic). This privilege allows the entire group to pass one resource allocation in any future task without conditions, and without a review of the school's scoring. May be used once only. Valid until the end of this exam."

He read the prompt aloud, word for word. Ishizaki looked up from beside the solar still, still clutching the end of the wind rope he'd just tied. Hamaguchi set down the water-quality log, his pen frozen in midair. Group Peer Review Immunity—this frozen clause from the Old System, which hadn't yet been officially activated back when they were in cross-class groups last term, had now passed the activation threshold thanks to the group's consecutive days of submitting "reasons for allocation" together. During one of those submissions, Ishizaki had hesitated over whether to add his pack of biscuits to the communal supplies.

Morishita added a page to the Shared Pool clause binder: "Timing of use not yet determined. All members must agree before activation. No individual proposals. No early use." She screwed the cap onto her fountain pen. Her tone remained even, but the ink on that line was heavier than usual. She looked up at Ishizaki, the name she'd read in Manabe's group chat a few weeks ago. He was sitting beside the solar still, winding the wind rope into neat, even coils.

Ishizaki didn't notice her looking at him. He hung the wind rope on its hook, then took a half-empty bottle of sports drink from his backpack and set it on the folding table. "Left over from last night. There's less than two hundred milliliters. If anyone gets thirsty while we're reinforcing camp this afternoon, help yourself." Then he went out to continue checking the drainage ditches around the camp.

"Left over from last night." It wasn't an allocation or a gift, just a note left on the bottle with no recipient named. Hamaguchi picked it up and gave it a shake. The drink sloshed in a shallow arc along the bottom. He silently placed it in the shared supply area. There was no "sports drink" label in the Shared Pool's categories, but the pale liquid sat between the filters and emergency biscuits, untouched until the storm arrived that afternoon.

Just after noon, the leading edge of the low-pressure trough hit the island. In less than an hour, the wind rose from a breeze to a strong gale. Shrubs were flattened almost to the ground, and rust peeled off the Tin Roof, swirling through the air with broken leaves. A fallen dead tree blocked the Water Intake of a small spring on the back slope, and the water turned cloudy in an instant.

Ishizaki was the first to rush out into the rain. He wedged a folding shovel under the dead tree's roots and pried at the rotting wood. Hamaguchi followed close behind and braced the stones around the Water Intake, keeping mud from flowing into the clean-water filters. By the time they managed to shift the tree, the downpour had carved several narrow channels around the spring, but the drainage trenches they'd dug in advance did their job. The muddy water quickly flowed away through the channels they'd prepared, and the main collection area remained mostly clear. Inside, Morishita held the waterproof communications device and gave live updates on the storm and the school's instructions. Nomura held the paper map down with all his strength to keep the wind from snatching it away. Shiina sealed all the paper copies of the Old System clauses in a waterproof bag, then stood in the doorway, using her body to block the rain streaming through the gaps. Kanzaki Toru coordinated the group's communications and, during a lull in the wind, reported the equipment's condition and confirmed everyone was safe.

At six in the evening, the storm's center moved over the sea southwest of the island, and the wind along the southern coast gradually died down. The lighthouse's white beam cut through the thinning rain right on schedule, sweeping over the Tin Roof. The solar still outside the Tin Roof was intact, and every rope remained firmly tied to its stake. The water at the Water Intake gradually returned to normal after being filtered. Ishizaki crouched beside the spring to test the water for the third time. The test strips showed that all the readings had stabilized at drinkable levels. As he stood to head back inside, he spotted an empty bird's nest that the gale had blown from a tree. It was half-submerged in muddy water. He used his shovel to lift it and place it in the branches of a shrub on higher ground along the back slope. He studied it for a moment, then tucked a few clean, dry leaves inside. After that, he carried the shovel back to the shelter. No one recorded the gesture in their log.

Inside the Tin Roof, the six of them sat around the solar lantern. Nomura spread out the paper map again, crossed off the sections of the backup evacuation route that the storm had washed out, and drew a detour beside them. The water bucket had been refilled, and they each took one of the six portions of dry rations. Hamaguchi had turned to a fresh page in his log: "Storm passed. All members confirmed safe. Minor damage to Water Intake; solar still intact. Recommend rechecking the cliff survey site tomorrow."

Kanzaki Toru pressed the confirmation button. The last message they submitted that day contained just four words: "Everyone is safe." A system notification lit up: "Current cooperation rating: A. Shared Pool weighting stable. Note: Independent observer Ryuen Kakeru has submitted his first observation report. Evaluation field blank. Data section matches this group's submission."

The group members gradually returned to their camp cots. Ishizaki lay down, mud and sweat still streaked across his cheek and arm. He didn't fall asleep right away, just listened quietly to the Tin Roof creak in the fading wind. A coil of wind rope lay beside his pillow, set aside for tomorrow. Outside, the lighthouse's white beam swept over the camp once every ten seconds. On the back slope, the spring that had been blocked by the dead tree continued flowing at its usual pace, silently feeding the Water Intake they maintained together.