Upon stepping out onto the sandy shore below, I was greeted to a rather alluring image of the moon's light reflecting off of the calm waves in front of me. The sign in front had a crossed out image of a bikini with some foreign writing I couldn't even recognize just above it. The language feels Entropic, but it's just way too messy to call it that. Like a dialect, but in written form, I guess.

"The people here definitely don't belong to a single continent I've been to, that's for sure." I remarked, "Ack, damn this ankle bracelet!"

The chaffing had gotten quite bad after a while of sneaking around and running, so when I ducked down to inspect it, I saw quite the Reddish gash start to swell up. Pulling out the wooden doorstops would help alleviate the pressure, but it'd potentially cut my foot off given I was trying to escape the island.

"Well, I still have to find Nelly first before I can do that, though." I thought, "For now, I should utilize this peace and quiet to think up what to do next."

Thankfully, I awoke right around dusk, meaning right now it was pretty much nighttime. With it being this late into the evening, I was surprised to see that none of the locals were out and about anymore. Possibly a form of curfew law they have, or maybe it's just a tradition for them, but either way I'm not gonna complain. The sand is still sort of warm from the Sun beaming it previously during the day, so I'm feeling quite toasty overall. It's certainly easier on the feet than that rocky, unwieldy terrain from the central part of the island.

"Whoa, look at that tree..." I couldn't help but gawk at the distant island engulfed by the tree above it, "Hey, there aren't any lights on it, unlike the other islands..."

Maybe I could escape there when I find Nelly. It's an option, given there's probably no inhabitants on it. I should make a mental note of how to get here for later, but I still have no idea how I could find Nelly without getting myself caught. Actually, how did she even survive this long on here, a clutz like her?

"Right, from the looks of it, she sounds like she made friends with these guys..." I thought, "The kids seemed thrilled to know her, and they talked about how their sister has a good relationship with her. Nevertheless, what was that whole shtick about making their wishes come true? Did she trick them into respecting her?"

"Son!" I could hear my old man's voice calling out to me from behind.

Mn? Hey, there's no way. Is that him? Who's he with...? Ugh, I can't see from this far out at all. Wait a second, the hell's he doing here anyways? He wasn't there when I called out to him, so he's here now? Tch, what a joke!

"Heeeey, it's bandit time~!" Dad kept shouting.

Dude, you're gonna give away my position! Ugh, there's no use sneaking around with a loudmouth like him. That doctor, he might still be on the lookout for me, so I should try to move from here as fast as possible. Old man, you better catch up!

"If you don't turn the fuck back around, I'll tell Nel all your embarrassing childhood blunders!"

Wuh-Old man!? Hey, so that means that the person next to him is Nelly? Wait, so she's really wearing a leaf bikini!? G-Gods... must refrain... from sneaking a peek...! Ngah, dammit, how is she so comfortable showing herself like that around my dad, even!? She wore tanktops during the summer heatwave, but even then she made sure not to move around too much when I was around! This is fucking pissing me off, what the hell!

"Shit, why are they running after me now?" I panicked, "Hold on, why am I running?! Finding Nelly should've been my goal all along, and seeing dad should only make me happier, so why can't I turn around and face them?"

Am I mad? Certainly, that geezer should've helped me when I called for his aid back at Meil's house, but it's definitely not the main reason why I'm mad. Rather, it's the person next to him, the girl whom I adore, yet she treats me like we never even dated to begin with. Looking back, it's all adding up now. She probably never wanted to date me in the first place, and even doing "that" was just something she was curious about and didn't have anyone else to ask. I probably forced those few weeks of dating onto her without taking into account her own feelings on the matter. Yeah, she loves Meil, she studied her whole life just to attend the same university as him—I don't know why I thought those feelings would waver. Even when I was on the brink of death, she didn't hesitate to leave me alone with the old man just to run to Meil's protection. Compared to that guy, I'm nothing...

"Tch, dammit!" I soon found myself nearing the end of the beach, "Fuck, I don't wanna talk to these guys right now! I need some time for myself!"

Glancing back and forth between a lone boat on the dock to my left and the palm tree forest on the right, I weighed my options and decidedly jumped on the boat and started pushing myself off.

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"Wait!" Nelly yelled as they approached the dock. "Kid, hey!" Dad hollered, "Come back!"

Fuck no. Honestly, there's so much going through my head right now, I don't think I'd be able to face anyone, much less you two! I want dad to understand what it felt like to just get left alone when I needed him the most. Nelly too, she just up and left me for dead even though I literally risked my life for her. If she had escaped successfully, things would've been different! If she... didn't immediately go looking for Meil.

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"Sniffle... I-In any case, there's no way I could focus on anything but her chest with that getup of hers." I took the opportunity to briefly glance back, "Honestly, they looked like they grew since the last time I saw her. Or maybe it's just cause she's barely wearing any clothes this time that they just appear more impressive? ...Huh? Eh, wait, where is she? Dad's all alone on the beach."

Just then, the very objects of my admiration had popped up mere centimeters away from my Eyes. Nelly had somehow swam all the way to my boat without me even noticing, and she's tightly grabbing onto it and climbing up... Wait a second, White hair? Red Eyes? Now that I get a closer look at her, this isn't Nelly at all!

"You-"

I didn't even get to speak to her properly before I heard a loud scream from above the clouds. Seriously, looking back on today, I feel like I might actually just be dreaming this entire bit. Unfamiliar place—Check. A land of bikini clad women—Also check. Suddenly finding my dad there for no reason at all—Yep. And now this annoying prick is falling from the sky? Yeah, I'm gonna be so pissed if this isn't a dream.

"Lem~! Catch me, I don't wanna go splat!"

Issei, that annoying bastard! So he's here as well? Looks like he somehow fell from that flying thing zooming through the sky up there. I imagine Nel's dad is up there at the very least. Is Meil with him, I wonder? Not that I care, honestly I'm just surprised Slanted-Eyes is the one who jumped down to help me.

Commanding him to make a perfect dive and save himself from the fall, I had briefly forgotten all about the lady clinging onto the boat for dear life. She might not be hostile, but you never know with strangers. Still, if she was with dad, maybe I should let her on after all... And of course, the moment I think this, Slanted-Eyes gets horny and starts proposing to her. Is this guy serious right now? Shit, at this point she's safer in the water than with Issei.

"Wait! I can't swi-!" She pleaded as I shoved her off for her own safety.

Oh, you can't? Damn, that's actually pretty bad then. Sorry, I didn't know. Well, looks like dad's already coming over to you, so you'll probably be fine. Sigh, as for Slanted-Eyes over here, he's still sulking over me ordering him to toss her off. At least he's oaring away properly, but where are we even going right now? I initially wanted to just get away from these guys and just take a short round trip around the island to clear my head, but now I guess we gotta follow that flying thing Issei fell from. Sorry Nel, you're gonna have to wait a bit before I can come back for you.

"Man." Issei sighed, "She really could've been the perfect third wife to my harem. A tanned White haired beauty with medium sized breasts, it'd so fill the trifecta."

"You're actually disgusting, man." I scowled, "Thing is, I know you're being serious when you say this shit."

"Of course I am! Any self respecting male would be!" He proudly boasted, "Besides, have you ever seen a harem protagonist end up with just two girls? No, that's weird! The norm is a bare minimum of three wives!"

"I've never heard of a harem in real life in general!" I shouted, "All three of you are sick in the head. Imagine if the roles were reversed and you had to share a girl with some other guy, or God forbid guys."

"Hey, don't go adding realism into this." He warned, "We're living in a steampunk world of magical Eyes and mystical beasts, yet you draw the line on some harmless harem elements?"

What the hell kind of conversation are we even leading right now. He's gone totally haywire, to the point where I can't even understand half the words he's saying anymore.

"Sigh, ignoring all that..." I looked up, "Who else is on that thing?"

"Mn? Oh, the airbike." He followed my gaze before pausing, "It should just be Lune, Ed and... Eh?"

"Is it supposed to be on fire like that?" I raised an Eyebrow.

"No! No, no, no!" He yelled as the flying vehicle kept losing altitude until it ultimately fell into the crown of the giant tree engulfing the island we were headed to, "Shit! Lune, Ed, what happened!?"

"Come on, let's get rowing." I suggested, "We gotta go check up on them. They might still be alive."

Blam! The moment I said that, a huge explosion occurred on the side of the tree's leaf crown. Damn, guess I was wrong on that assumption. Rest in peace, guys.

"...They're still alive." Issei kept repeating the desperate phrase repeatedly to himself, "They're alive, they're still alive..."

"Regardless of if they're alive or not, we gotta hurry." I groaned, "If that explosion causes a fire on the tree, then there goes our safe haven. We're gonna need to climb up there and put the fire out, otherwise all the surrounding islands are gonna get alerted and try to put it out in our stead."

"Wait, so then more bikini babes?" He switched gears way too fast, "In that case, isn't it a win-win regardless of if we manage to put it out or not?"

"Your friends might very well be dead and this is the part you focus on?" I cocked my head back in disgust.

"They're alive, we just gotta believe in them!" He patted me on the back, "Hm? Hey, why are you pinching yourself?"

This has got to be some sort of wacko dream. Screw this, if I knew waking up was gonna end up like this, I would've stayed unconscious for sure. Nelly, mark my words, this is the last time I help you out with anything, dammit!