Before Eiji could answer, Kaito had already turned toward the hall's exit.
"Mind if we talk while we walk?...Everyone's waiting for us."
Waiting, Kaito said. Eiji hadn't heard anything about a gathering.
As Kaito took the lead, Eiji brushed the dust off his knees and followed behind him.
The corridor was just as wide as the one they had come through. Sconces lined the walls at identical intervals, casting identical glows. Kaito walked half a step ahead, occasionally slowing his pace to match Eiji's. There was no hesitation in his stride. He seemed to have memorized the castle's layout already.
"Shirakawa was amazing, wasn't she? Even I got goosebumps."
Eiji didn't reply. Unbothered, Kaito turned the next corner.
(What a pain... What does he even want with me?)
Surrounded by maids, Yuna had been led away somewhere. Judging by how things looked, she probably wouldn't be freed anytime soon.
At the next corner, three maids approached from the opposite direction. Cradled in their arms were school-designated navy blue bags. Each maid carried four or five stacked on top of one another. They had likely hauled them out of the overturned bus.
As they passed, Eiji spotted his own bag. The scrape from bumping it last year was still visible at the base of the handle.
The maids walked past without so much as a nod, turning toward the stairs. Seifert had announced the room assignments earlier. The names had been read aloud one by one, but Eiji's hadn't been among them.
Hauling out the bags while leaving the bus behind. It seemed that in this castle, only items with identifiable names and uses were considered luggage.
Just before the third corner, a door on one side stood open. Inside, cots were lined up, and atop them lay four recognizable uniforms. They were the ones who had been carried out of the bus on stretchers.
Between the cots stood Yuna. With her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, she held her hands over a sleeping student's arm. From her palms emanated the same white light as before. She was probably treating them with that Saint power of hers. Two maids stood behind her, holding a basin and cloths. He finally understood why she had been taken away.
Even so, Kaito didn't slow his pace.
Eiji didn't call out to Yuna, either. Interrupting someone concentrating on medical treatment would only get in the way.
Past three corners, there was a set of double doors. While not as grand as the audience chamber, the doorway was still wide enough to fit two classrooms.
Voices leaked from beyond the doors. One person spoke at length, and several others gave short replies. It sounded like the way people talked when a meeting was wrapping up.
Kaito placed his hand on the handle and pushed the door open.
"—So, if that's what Dojima says..."
The moment the door opened, the voice cut off mid-sentence.
Chairs were arranged in a semicircle. The only vacant seat was a single chair directly facing them.
(What is this?)
Inside the semicircle sat nearly the entire class. Gakuto sat toward the right, his legs sprawled out. Next to him, Miu sat with her legs crossed, turning toward the door. On the far left was a lone boy with his arms crossed. It was Sakaki. He was in the basketball club and, if Eiji remembered correctly, had shared a gym with Gakuto.
Kumiko Saeki sat in a chair toward the back, resting both hands in her lap. Both cuffs of her uniform were wet. Come to think of it, she had also been assigned a healing class. Much like Yuna, she had probably been helping with the treatment. As Eiji stepped inside, her hands twitched slightly.
Seifert stood by the wall, flanked by two soldiers behind him.
It appeared Yuna hadn't been called here yet.
Leaving Eiji just inside the doorway, Kaito circled around toward the semicircle. Once he reached the other side, he gestured with an open palm toward the single seat facing them.
"Kuze. Please, take a seat there."
Eiji sat down as told. The chair legs scraped against the stone floor. From inside the semicircle, more than twenty faces turned in his direction.
Kaito didn't sit. Remaining standing in the center of the semicircle directly facing Eiji, he lightly clasped his hands in front of him. Then, he took a breath.
"It's hard to say this, but... if we're all going to survive, we can't take you with us on the adventure, Kuze."
"And your reason?"
Eiji gave a brief reply, having a rough idea of what this was about. Kaito cast his eyes down for a moment before answering.
"Supplies are limited. To be blunt, we don't have the leeway to keep protecting someone who can't fight."
"..."
Eiji fell silent.
He had plenty of arguments to push back with. When he touched the sconce by the wall, Eiji had verified for himself what Relicta Inspectio had revealed. There ought to be plenty of uses for his power.
However, that still fell within the scope of the abilities the appraiser had read aloud before everyone in the hall. It had been read aloud, and this was the conclusion they had reached anyway.
(Even if I say something, it won't change a thing.)
He hadn't had much of a standing in the class to begin with. This was about the kind of treatment he expected.
Just then, the sound of the door opening echoed behind him.
When Eiji looked back, Yuna was standing there. She was out of breath, as if she had run all the way here. A navy blue bag hung over her shoulder. The two maids following behind her were breathing heavily as well.
She looked back and forth between the semicircle and Eiji sitting in front of it, then stopped in her tracks by the door.
Looking somewhat dissatisfied, she questioned Kaito.
"What were you talking about?"
"Shirakawa. Sorry, we were just discussing something important."
As Kaito said that, he indicated a chair in the middle of the semicircle with his palm. The girls on either side shifted over to make room. The maids stepped back inside the doorway and remained there.
Yuna walked over to the open chair and sat down, keeping the bag on her lap.
"...What important thing?"
"The explanation was finished before you got here, Shirakawa-san."
The one who answered wasn't Kaito, but Miu. Yuna turned an uneasy look toward Eiji.
Eiji shook his head. There was nothing he could explain on his end either.
The "Hero" continued speaking.
"I think this is for Kuze's sake, too. If you're sent to the front lines when you can't fight, it'd be rough on you, right, Kuze? With a job and skill that can't even fight?"
He spoke while occasionally glancing around as if seeking agreement from the others. This was the quintessential look of someone trying to say something uncomfortable.
Somewhere in the semicircle, a chair creaked. Beyond that, no one chimed in.
At that point, Kaito turned his face toward everyone.
"I'll listen to objections. I'll listen properly. But please spare me objections without an alternative. Everyone's lives are on the line."
If you're going to object, present an alternative. If you can't, keep quiet.
Rephrased, that was what it meant, though Kaito's polished delivery softened the blow.
Toward the right of the semicircle, one of the boys leaned forward.
"Um... if we're driving him out, where are you sending him?"
The words driving him out dropped heavily into the center of the semicircle.
So he called it driving him out. In the end, that word betrayed their true feelings.
Naturally, no one picked up on the phrasing. Before anyone could ask him to rephrase it, the answer arrived.
From by the wall, Seifert took a step forward.
"I have already discussed this with Lord Dojima."
Discussed this, the prime minister said. Even though only a brief moment had passed since the appraisal ended.
Come to think of it, right after the appraisal, Kaito and the others had huddled in a circle in the hall. Had they already been discussing exiling Eiji during that brief window?
"The royal capital's provisions are distributed according to combat strength. For Lord Kuze... we are considering granting him an abandoned village in the frontier."
Provisions weren't distributed to those who couldn't fight, meaning he couldn't remain in the royal capital either—or so the logic went. Since he couldn't stay, he would be sent away. His destination: an "abandoned village."
It was an insulting proposition through and through, yet it possessed a certain cold logic. Aside from the fact that the person pulling the strings had decided everything the moment the appraisal ended, without consulting him at all.
Seifert drew a rolled sheet of paper from the sleeve of his robe and spread it open with both hands. It was a rough sketch with just a few lines drawn on it. However, the creases were unnaturally worn down. A mark was placed to the east of the royal capital, near the foot of the mountains.
"It was abandoned twenty years ago due to magical contamination. The wells have dried up, and the fields have not recovered. However, a few houses with intact roofs remain. Please feel free to make use of this village as you see fit."
Twenty years ago. That was the same year the eastern border was breached, as they had heard in the audience chamber earlier. In the year the kingdom began losing ground, a village well within its borders had been abandoned.
(...A coincidence?)
Granting a village with a few houses that still had roofs. With that single phrase, the heads in the semicircle lifted.
They weren't driving him out. They were sending him to a place with shelter. The justification to frame it that way had just come straight from the prime minister's mouth.
The students began leaning toward the rough map. There was no longer anyone hung up on the words abandoned village.
The agenda was no longer whether to drive Eiji Kuze out. It had shifted to where to send him. When it didn't concern them personally, every last one of them seemed quick to forget inconvenient truths. What convenient minds they had.
Kaito looked across the semicircle.
"Then, could only those who oppose raise their hands? That'd be easier on Kuze, right?"
Only those who oppose. What a truly underhanded tactic. If you raised your hand, everyone would know who stood against the group.
This was nothing less than public shaming.
The room fell dead silent in an instant. The faint sound of fingers reclasping over laps, the creaking of chairs. Someone cleared their throat and then went quiet.
Amidst the silence—a single hand went up.
It was Yuna.
Kaito wore a look of utter surprise.
"Shirakawa...? Are you serious?"
"Yeah."
Yuna didn't lower her raised hand. With her elbow locked, she held it high enough for everyone in the semicircle to see.
On the right side, Miu shifted her crossed legs.
"...Shirakawa-san. This isn't about emotions. It's about numbers and food."
"I know. Even so, I oppose."
Yuna's voice wasn't loud. Yet, there wasn't a trace of hesitation in it.
Miu started to say something, then stopped. She tapped her fingers twice against her crossed knee.
Kaito turned toward Yuna.
"You're just kind, Shirakawa....Thank you. But we agreed to decide this by majority vote."
Because you're kind, Kaito said. Once the motive was framed that way, all that mattered was the headcount.
On the far left, Sakaki uncrossed his arms.
"Sorry, but I abstain. I'm neither for nor against."
"Understood. Thanks, Sakaki."
When Kaito gave a brief nod, Sakaki crossed his arms again without another word.
In a chair toward the back, Kumiko Saeki's hand lifted from her knee. Before her elbow could straighten, her hand froze. Saeki glanced toward Yuna's raised hand, then looked back down at her own. Her hand dropped back onto her knee.
"...Kuze-kun, I'm sorry."
Saeki muttered the apology with her head bowed.
Eiji didn't give a nod or any real reaction. Even if she apologized, he wouldn't know how to respond.
In the end, Yuna's was the only hand raised.
Gakuto leaned back against his chair.
"I mean, honestly, we didn't need a junk collector from the start anyway."
"Gakuto."
"Gakuto. Watch how you say things."
Miu called his name to scold him first, and Kaito followed immediately after. Gakuto simply shrugged and fell silent.
Kaito turned back to Eiji.
"...Still, the conclusion doesn't change. Sorry, Kuze."
Gakuto's phrasing had been corrected, but the decision remained unchanged.
Eiji let out a small breath and stood up from his chair.
"If you say I'm not needed, fine by me. I don't intend to work for people who say they don't want me around, either."
"Kuze, that's—"
Kaito took half a step forward, unhooking his clasped hands.
"Just so you know, I'm not angry. Both you and I just stated facts. Right?"
When Eiji finished speaking, Kaito pulled back his foot. Then, he lowered his voice slightly.
"Don't hold a grudge....If you ever become useful, I'll come pick you up."
"If I become useful, huh? I'll do my best."
Eiji snorted.
Rich words coming from someone who expected him to die in a ditch in a contaminated ghost town.
Kaito parted his lips, then closed them without saying a word.
Eiji pushed his chair in and began walking.
He walked along the perimeter of the semicircle toward the door. No one stood up. Gakuto kept his legs sprawled out, Miu kept her fingers resting on her knee, and Sakaki kept his arms crossed. Saeki remained looking down at the floor.
Just as he placed his hand on the handle, a chair leg scraped behind him.
When Eiji looked back, Yuna had stood up. She was slinging the bag from her lap back over her shoulder.
Kaito stood up as well, calling out from inside the semicircle.
"Shirakawa. I don't mind what happened earlier. Don't worry about it."
"Huh? About what?"
Perhaps genuinely missing the point of Kaito's words, Yuna tilted her head in confusion.
"It might be painful to abandon a classmate. But you're the Saint. The Saint is necessary to defeat the Demon King, and... besides, don't worry. As the Hero, I will protect you. Without fail."
"Um... I'm not staying, though?"
Just as Kaito firmly delivered his heroic declaration, Yuna offered a troubled smile. There was no hesitation in her voice or her posture.
Surely, no one here could comprehend the intent behind her words. Even he, her childhood friend, couldn't wrap his head around it.
"Huh...?"
Kaito's eyes widened, and a dumbfounded sound escaped his throat.
To that Kaito, she gave a crystal-clear response.
"I'm going with Eiji-kun. After all, there's no way Eiji-kun could ever be a hindrance."
"Wha—"
Caught completely off guard, Kaito opened and closed his mouth like a gasping fish.
To be fair, Eiji was just as stunned.
(What are you even talking about—)
Just as he was about to object, Seifert took two steps out from the wall. One of the soldiers shifted toward the door. Every student in the semicircle turned toward Yuna at once.
The atmosphere was turning dangerous. If this went poorly, Yuna might end up detained.
Eiji hurriedly stepped away from the door and walked back over to Yuna.
"Hey, Yuna. What are you saying? You need to stay. You'll be safe here."
"A bit late for that, don't you think?"
Her tone sounded faintly exasperated as she let out a small sigh.
He had no idea what she meant by "a bit late."
"If I cared about things like safety or rumors, I wouldn't have sat next to you on the bus, and I wouldn't have invited you to my group, either."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Who knows? I wonder what it means."
Yuna smiled mischievously, tilting her head in an exaggerated manner.
Her tone was playful, almost testing him.
"I don't get you at all..."
"You don't have to get it. But I'm not changing my mind."
Her smile faded, replaced by an earnest, unwavering gaze.
It seemed she truly had no intention of backing down.
Her stubbornness in moments like this hadn't changed since they were kids.
In the end, Eiji could only say one thing:
"...Do whatever you want."
"Okay! Then I will!"
Before Eiji had even finished his sentence, his childhood friend beamed happily.
It was the exact same exchange they'd had on the bus. The only difference was that this time, "doing whatever she wanted" didn't involve group assignments for a school trip.
"W-Wait."
Kaito reached out a hand.
"H-Hey, Shirakawa—"
"Bye, Dojima-kun. Good luck with your... Hero duties, I guess?"
His plea was cut off mid-sentence. Kaito remained frozen with his hand outstretched, his mouth hanging half-open.
From a chair toward the back, Kumiko Saeki turned toward them. With her hands clasped tightly over her knees, she sat unmoving.
At that moment, her eyes met Eiji's. The second they connected, Saeki quickly looked away. Had there been something she wanted to say?
"N-No way..."
The warmth from before had completely drained from Kaito's voice.
Gakuto leaned forward.
"Hey, Dojima."
Hearing his name called, Kaito snapped to attention and straightened his posture. As he stood tall, his expression returned to its usual composure.
The soldier by the door shifted his stance to block the path. Seifert, who had paused near the wall, took another step toward Yuna.
"Lord Dojima. The Saint must remain in this castle—"
"It's all right, Seifert-san."
Holding up a palm toward the prime minister, Kaito paused for a beat.
"Shirakawa will give up soon anyway....When that happens, I'll go bring her back."
Seifert's steps halted. The hands he had reclasped in front of his chest settled back into place. The soldier stepped aside, clearing the door.
With just a word from the Hero, the prime minister stood down. It was just like when they had decided to exile Eiji. The title of Hero clearly carried immense authority.
(He'll go bring her back, huh?)
First saying if I become useful, and now this—such blatant arrogance.
He had put on the act of a nice guy, but this was probably his true nature.
Kaito turned back toward the semicircle.
"Everyone, let's move. We need to check our equipment before the sun goes down."
His voice carried all the way to the door.
The semicircle disbanded, the chairs scraping against the floor in unison.
"Let's get out of here too."
"Yeah."
Eiji placed a hand on Yuna's shoulder, ushering her out into the corridor ahead of him.
No one called out to stop them.
In the end, high school classmates amounted to nothing more than this.
The fragile ties they had shared in their old world had simply unraveled in this one. That was all there was to it.