"Cyan, you got a minute?"
Startled by the deep, gravelly voice, the trio cut their bickering short and turned to find Verda watching them.
Behind him stood the rest of the party members, including Peewee. Under the weight of their collective gaze, Cyan and his companions fell into an awkward, munted silence.
"Ah, no, um... Did you need something?"
Cyan forced a soft, strained smile, panicking internally over whether they had overheard the ugly argument they’d been having just moments ago.
Verda looked at him, let out a short sigh, and spoke his mind.
"I’ll give it to you straight. Sorry, but we’re leaving the party."
"Huh...? Wh-whaaaaat!?"
For a moment, Cyan couldn't even process the meaning of Verda's words, spoken so quietly yet so clearly.
After a brief delay, as the reality set in and Cyan began to scream, Woz and Torin frantically interrogated their comrades.
"H-how come...? Why would you do this all of a sudden!?"
"Is it because we didn't do enough during the recent incident? But that was—"
"Whether you performed well or not has nothing to do with it. We just realized we can't follow you anymore. That's it," Peewee answered, letting out a long, weary sigh.
Incensed by the attitude of the companion he felt he had been so generously employing, Cyan raised his voice.
"What do you mean you can't follow us?! Why would you say that!?"
"...During this whole mess, you three were the ones who triggered the criminals' riot, weren't you? Sabotaging a Security Force operation with your reckless stunts and bringing disaster to the city... you've completely lost it."
"But that was—!!"
"You did nothing but give the criminals an excuse to run wild, then you fled the scene... and only then did you call us? What were you thinking?"
"You couldn't beat the Magic Armor Beasts on your own, so you tried to drag us in to do the heavy lifting, didn't you? Moving on your own without a word of consultation, then summoning us only once you were in over your heads... give me a break."
"B-but! I mean...!!"
Skewered by their sharp words and withered by the cold glares of his former companions, Cyan still scrambled desperately for an excuse.
However, Peewee glared straight at him, her voice trembling with absolute fury.
"What I find most unforgivable is that you tried to drag Neries out by force. You knew she was traumatized from fighting the Magic Armor Beasts, didn't you?"
"Well, that's, um..."
Neries, who wasn't present, had been left emotionally shattered after being thoroughly broken during the battle at the Insect Museum.
Cyan knew she had become a shut-in afterward, barely leaving her room, but because his head was full of the Warrior Shrine Maiden Joining Flag, he hadn't offered her a single word of support.
Naturally, a girl in that state wouldn't simply obey if told, "We're fighting Magic Armor Beasts, so come with us."
He had tried to "persuade" her while growing increasingly irritated by her refusal, but she had never agreed. The time wasted in that attempt was the real reason they had arrived late at the hospital during the incident.
"You ignored her until now, and then you suddenly demand her help just because you invited a situation you couldn't handle alone? Don't make me laugh. Neither Neries nor the rest of us are just convenient tools for you to use."
"We felt indebted to you for taking care of us, so we've put up with it until now... but we've reached our limit. We can't follow you anymore."
"Wh-wh-wha...!?"
This shouldn't be happening. There was no scenario in Luminous History where party members simply abandoned the group.
Even now, as he spiraled into a panic, Cyan failed to realize that his very way of thinking was the poison.
The people living in this world had hearts. They weren't simple data points whose fates were decided by selecting dialogue options.
No matter how much their hearts were wounded, he had assumed they would be fine because they were just game characters. His failure to treat them as human beings—his attempt to manage everything solely with meta-knowledge—was the reason his companions had finally turned their backs on him.
"We're returning the equipment you gave us. After that, do whatever you want."
"Goodbye. Thank you for everything."
The equipment, wrapped in cloth, was tossed at the trio's feet.
While they stared at the bundles in stunned silence, Verda and the others vanished.
"Why...!? How did it come to this!? DAMN IT ALL!!"
Cyan's scream echoed—the hollow cry of a Protagonist abandoned by his own game characters. Woz and Torin could do nothing but stand there, their faces pale and speechless.
They were supposed to have ground enough experience points to head into the School Trip in peak condition, yet they had ended up losing everything. The three could do nothing but lament, unable to acknowledge the reality crumbling before their eyes.