"If we can just get rid of those bombs, we've got a shot at escaping, right?"
"Yeah... But at the moment, we have no idea how many have been generated or where they're hidden throughout the hospital. There’s no way to effectively—"
"It's alright. I can track their number and locations."
As she spoke, Raiha placed her hand on the floor.
The moment she pressed her palm against the tiles and closed her eyes, exhaling deeply, Yugo felt a prickling sensation of static electricity shoot through the air, making his skin crawl.
"What was that...?"
"She’s pulsing a faint electrical current through the building to scan the interior," Setsuna explained, responding to Yugo's mutter. "In this chaos, she might not get a perfectly clear picture, but she should at least be able to pinpoint where magic power is most concentrated."
Yugo nodded, vaguely grasping the concept of an electrical radar. As he watched, Raiha opened her eyes and shared her findings with the group.
"There are ten bombs in total. Since we’ve already recovered one, nine remain."
"And their positions? Did you find them?"
"Yes. I’ll prepare my shikigami to guide us to each location."
Raiha reached inside her uniform and pulled out several human-shaped paper charms. Once she infused them with magic power, the small figures began to twitch their limbs as if coming to life.
"Alright, so nine bombs left? I'll go round them up."
"Yugo-san, that's far too much for you to handle alone. Please, let me go with you."
"No, I need you to stay here, Raiha. You have to protect the evacuees. There's no telling if more of those briar beasts will show up..."
Yugo intended to leave the defense of the survivors to Raiha while he handled the recovery solo, but she looked deeply concerned about him heading off on his own.
However, just as Yugo was about to insist there was no other choice, a voice called out to them.
"Hold on! There are others here who can still move!!"
"Huh? You guys are...?"
Yugo turned toward the voice and saw a pair of students in Luminous Academy uniforms—a broad-shouldered boy and a girl with a sharp, determined gaze.
The boy spoke as he approached the group.
"I'm Verda, a first-year at Luminous Academy. Same as you. This is Peewee, also a first-year."
"Oh, I thought you looked familiar! You're from the academy!"
"We were among the ones injured during that Insect Museum incident you handled," the girl, Peewee, added. "We've been recovering here. There are several other Luminous Academy students in the wards as well."
"We might still be on the mend, but we're not helpless," Verda said firmly. "Let us help you with the bomb recovery."
"Are you serious? That would be a massive help!" Yugo grinned, genuinely relieved.
Learning that there were other students capable of helping, the group quickly hammered out a strategy now that they had sufficient numbers.
"We'll divide into several groups to recover the bombs. Everyone, try to avoid combat as much as possible on the way," Setsuna instructed.
"If you run into any with bombs embedded in their faces like that last one, call me. I'll handle the fighting," Yugo added.
"We'll bring all the recovered bombs back here... but we should probably leave a few people behind as guards, right?"
"I’ll grant the shikigami a communication function," Raiha said. "If anything happens, just speak to them."
The discussion moved swiftly and decisively. Watching them prepare, Jinba relayed the final objective.
"Once the bombs are secured, we’ll use ice attribute magic to freeze the giant flower monster! It’ll take time given its massive size, but if we can halt its activity, we can focus entirely on the rescue!"
"Understood, Jinba-san. Also, let's settle on some names for these things. Just calling them 'flower monsters' gets confusing when we're dealing with both the big one and the small ones inside."
"Hmm, true... Then let’s call the main giant flower 'Gigantrose,' and the smaller units 'Flowermons.' How does that sound?"
"Perfect! Let's go with that!"
With their preparations complete, the group moved to begin the recovery operation and secure their escape path. Just as they were about to head out, Yugo turned back to Raiha, who was staying behind with the standby unit. He looked her straight in the eye.
"Raiha, while I'm gone, I'm trusting you to look after Fee and Yui."
"Consider it done. And... you don't need to be so formal with me. Please, just call me by my name. In a situation like this, it’s better to keep things concise."
"I... right. Got it. I'm counting on you then, Raiha!"
"Yes!"
"Big brother, be careful!!" Fee shouted.
Yugo gave Fee and the others a thumbs up over his shoulder. Guided by the paper shikigami, the teams set off to retrieve the explosive fruits generated by Gigantrose.