Regarding the multiple-choice question of who is prettier, the person being asked naturally wants to handsomely escape.
Kaito, while showing a handsome smile and feigning the trouble of not being able to tell, Mika could only grit her teeth and stare at him. Then Shodai and the others also brought over the reed catkins they had cut.
Everyone worked together, chatting briefly, removing the stems, and picking off the seeds to put into the suitcases.
Due to time constraints, they only picked a portion. The rest they arranged and put into the suitcases to bring back for everyone to work on together.
The base mattress was sorted, so now they needed to find 'bed sheets'.
Fortunately, the difficulty of this parent-child activity wasn't too high. Kaito and the others first placed the suitcases at a designated spot, then traveled light to continue exploring. Finally, deeper in, they discovered a few banana trees.
As expected, the activity had to be somewhat forgiving.
If there was nothing, wouldn't it be difficult or even hell mode?
"Oh, these bananas look ripe."
Hanging from the banana tree trunk were several just-ripened grayish-yellow bananas, some still slightly green.
Interested, Kaito used his rock knife to take down a bunch, peeled one, and tasted it.
Although not particularly delicious and a bit tart, it was at least edible.
But these were more like plantains than bananas.
However, many people don't know the specific detailed differences, so they collectively call them bananas.
Including what you know as glutinous rice bananas, etc., they are all bananas.
"The suitcases are full. We'll need to find some thinner vines."
After taking down 7 bunches of plantains, Kaito found some vines nearby, tied them all together forcefully, and easily carried them on his back.
They were large and heavy for an ordinary person, but for Kaito, it was effortless.
"Alright, have you all gathered the banana leaves?"
Everyone responded, each holding large pieces of banana leaves.
"Okay, let's head back first. We can come back for the suitcases later. I've marked the trail."
"Okay!"
Everyone smiled and carried the banana leaves back.
This trip's harvest was very considerable. As for physical exertion, there was no helping it – they had to stop and go, and finally returned to the temporary base.
At this time, the teams exploring the sides hadn't returned yet. After everyone rested, Kaito and the others went back to the reed catkin area and slowly dragged all the suitcases back.
"Oh, you're all back too? Look what we found?"
Misuzu seemed to have just returned. They were opening their suitcases and taking out their harvest.
Kaito glanced and smiled, nodding.
It seemed coconut trees did exist, just not in this area, but on the other side.
"Oh, you all brought back banana tree leaves?"
Misuzu stood up and ran over to Kaito, wanting to see their harvest. Besides the white things she didn't recognize, there were the nearby stacked banana leaves.
"Yeah, we'll organize them later. Mattresses will be sorted. Depending on the situation, they can also be used as covers, though not as comfortable as you might imagine."
"Hmph, I also found the treasure map!"
"!!!"
Kaito answered Misuzu while placing the suitcases, but Mika had already excitedly walked over.
Hearing this, Misuzu was also very envious.
Although she had drawn a superpower, the range she could currently use was too small.
Besides being unskilled, she lacked experience, and there were too few metal objects on the island.
She could only use one of the axes as a weapon and manipulate her ability to cut down coconuts.
As for using electromagnetism like Magneto, sorry, she couldn't do that yet.
"Damn it, you found it first. I'm so jealous."
Misuzu put her hands on her hips and snorted, then followed Kaito to organize the reed catkins in the suitcases.
After Kaito asked everyone to come and help, he walked to a specially cleared area and used his ability to start building a stone house.
Considering differences between men and women, he made two houses.
One was his own, slightly smaller. The other was for them to share, a large room. The two rooms were different but side by side.
Making a stone house was simple, with no technique involved. Apart from consuming elemental power, there was no difficulty.
"Hmm, let's make some windows. As for the door, we'll make a simple one too."
A stone door was a bit heavy, but security and privacy were still necessary.
Kaito asked everyone present, including Sephie and the others who returned later, if they wanted to subdivide the rooms. They decided it was better to sleep together.
Living in this place, they shouldn't think too much. And everyone in one big room would allow for more topics.
By the way, Sephie's team didn't harvest much on this trip, just casually picking some wild fruits.
Besides that, they did see a very shallow stream, suspected to be flowing slowly down from the mountain.
Getting this information, Kaito analyzed it briefly and soon smiled.
A stream was good. Where there was a water source, there would inevitably be some small animals living nearby.
The wild chickens and eggs from the nests he was worried about might be found there.
"Oh right, Tearju seems to be paying close attention to you~"
"Huh? Why?"
Sephie suddenly said this, leaving Kaito puzzled.
He had no unprovoked hatred, and naturally no unprovoked love.
Currently, they were just acquaintances who had exchanged a few simple words. Given Tearju's personality, why would she pay such close attention to him?
"Hehe, when Tearju was in the same exploration group as me, she kept asking me about you. Maybe she heard our earlier conversation."
"Maybe she's curious about the relationship between you and me? Or something else?"
"No, I think the issue should be related to her daughter, Eve."
"...Eve? Don't tell me she wants me to be Eve's father?"