On the third night, the room arrangement remained the same.
One bed, one table, two chairs. A single candle flickered atop the table. The only difference was that the water pitcher placed in the corner was larger than the one from the night before.
Kaito Dojima sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for the other two. Today had been packed with classroom lectures and further combat training, and they had agreed to hold their debriefing sessions after their baths. Footsteps approached in the hallway, and the door swung open. Gakuto entered first, followed by Miu. Both had damp hair. True to form, Gakuto had a towel draped around his neck.
"The bath was nice and clean today! They added more washbasins, too."
Gakuto spoke cheerfully the moment he sank into a chair. Miu pulled out the other chair, casting her gaze toward the pitcher in the corner of the table.
"They brought pitchers, too. That's a huge help, seriously. Now if we get thirsty at night, we don't have to leave our rooms."
"I'm glad. It pays to ask, doesn't it?"
Kaito replied from the edge of the bed. Almost everything written on the memo he had left on the Prime Minister's desk last night had been approved in a single day. The bathwater had been changed, the washbasins doubled, and pitchers distributed to every room. Salt had been provided, along with cloth. Even when dealing with people of a different culture, presenting things with concrete numbers got results. Having confirmed that, Kaito felt a quiet satisfaction.
Gakuto wiped beneath his chin with the towel around his neck.
"Food's still nasty, though."
"You can't expect that to change in a single day. At least they gave us salt."
"I think the seasoning will take a bit longer. Come on... sit down. Let's get started."
Miu sat down in her chair and brushed her damp hair behind her back.
Gakuto sprawled his legs out loosely, just like yesterday.
Miu was the first to speak.
"Also, there's one thing via Saeki-san. About the awful food, actually."
"Hmm?"
"She said one of the kids in the support group is asking to work in the kitchen."
"The kitchen?"
When Kaito asked back, Miu nodded.
"Yeah. A girl from the home economics club. Apparently her skill appraisal score was low, so she said she could be more useful cooking than fighting."
Gakuto leaned back against his chair.
"Sounds good to me. If the food gets tastier, why not?"
"Well, that makes sense on one hand, sure."
Miu rested her elbow on the table and traced the wood grain with her fingertip. Acknowledging what made sense before adding her own counterpoint was Miu's usual way of doing things.
"But if one person starts doing that, I think everyone will start looking for other things to do. Nobody will want to fight anymore."
"You think so?"
"I know so. If I'm being honest, I don't want to fight either. I mean, is there anyone who actually wants to fight?"
"...Ah. Fair point."
Gakuto shifted his grip on his towel and didn't argue further.
The classmates chosen for the vanguard roles had seen their physical abilities skyrocket. They could run distances they couldn't run yesterday, and lift weights they couldn't lift before. The tangible sensation of being able to move seemed to naturally drive people forward. That was true for Gakuto, and it was true for Kaito.
However, the rear guard was different. Their physical bodies remained entirely unchanged, merely overlaid with a single new skill. If they stepped to the front, they would get hurt just like normal. What's more, when it came to healing those injuries, they were still short-handed after losing Yuna.
Kaito understood all of that perfectly well.
He understood it, yet barely half the conversation was sinking into his head.
Miu's finger stopped tracing the wood grain.
"Hey, Kaito. Are you listening?"
"...Huh? Yeah. I'm listening."
"Come on, don't just give half-hearted replies. I'm genuinely trying to figure out what we should do here."
Miu's voice grew sharp. Gakuto straightened up in his chair.
"Hey. Dojima's exhausted too. Don't be too hard on him."
Miu closed her mouth.
Gakuto dropped his towel onto his knees and continued.
"We only have to focus on our own training, but on top of that, Dojima has to check in on everyone and act as our liaison with the Prime Minister."
"...Sorry."
Miu cast her eyes down to the table. Kaito forced a self-deprecating smile and reached behind his head.
"No, I should be the one apologizing. It seems I'm pretty worn out from this unfamiliar lifestyle after all. Pretty pathetic for the Hero, huh?"
"They keep calling us Heroes and whatever, but we're just high schoolers."
"Yeah, exactly. You're really the only one we can rely on, Kaito. Sorry about that."
Miu looked up with a faint smile. They were looking out for one another, but all three of their voices were subdued.
Kaito stood up from the bed and placed his hand on the edge of the table.
"No, it's my job to lead everyone. I'll do my best. We're definitely going to make it back to our original world."
There was no lie in the words he spoke.
He was the leader, and he fully intended to return to their original world together with everyone.
Even so, half of his mind was fixed on someone who wasn't here.
Gakuto rolled up his towel, tilting his face toward the ceiling. He seemed to recall doing the exact same thing last night.
"Come to think of it... Shirakawa didn't come back today either, huh."
"—!"
Kaito's shoulders twitched first.
Gakuto wasn't looking his way. With his face raised toward the ceiling beams, he simply looked worried.
"...Right."
"Hey. That contaminated zone place... there aren't monsters there that killed them, right?"
Killed by monsters—.
If that were the case, Kaito knew he would bear responsibility for not stopping Yuna by force when she insisted on following Kuze. He had enough sense to realize that much.
That was why he had already checked on the very first day.
Kaito passed along what the Prime Minister had told him directly to Gakuto.
"I actually checked with the Prime Minister on the first day about that. He said there's no sign of monsters living in that contaminated zone. There's no water or anything else, so there's no reason for monsters to approach in the first place."
"I see. Then they should be fine."
Gakuto's expression relaxed with relief, and he lowered his gaze from the ceiling. Riding that wave of relief, the next question spilled from his mouth.
"So why haven't they come back, then? Their food and water should've run out ages ago, right?"
"...You'd think so, yeah."
His answer was curt. Neither Gakuto nor Miu seemed to notice.
Miu shifted her legs on the chair, chiming in from a different angle.
"Maybe they managed to sort both out somehow?"
"Huh?"
A short sound escaped Gakuto's mouth.
"I mean, Shirakawa-san is a Saint, right? Sounds like she'd have all sorts of skills to deal with contamination."
"Ah, now that you mention it, during the initial screening, they were talking about Purify and Barrier and stuff."
Gakuto began counting on his fingers.
Come to think of it, Kaito remembered hearing about those things too. Right then, it struck him.
(Purify, you say?)
Last night, the Prime Minister had mentioned it in a casual tone, like idle chatter. A pillar of light had risen in the east, around the contaminated zone.
I was the one who said it was probably just monsters.
But could it be that Yuna had done something? Was that why the Prime Minister had been concerned about it?
Through training, he had already gotten a feel for how one's initially revealed skills could branch out into others. Several classmates had experienced the same thing. And it was all the more prominent among the rear guard. Even Kaito had awakened to several new skills. He should have known. He should have known, yet he hadn't applied that logic to Yuna.
Kuze didn't matter. He was completely useless no matter what.
But Yuna was the Saint, someone the Prime Minister called a once-in-a-century talent.
(...I see. That pillar... it was Yuna.)
It had taken him an entire day to realize it.
Miu wasn't looking at Gakuto, who was counting on his fingers, but at Kaito.
And, with a playful look on her face, she added:
"And who knows, maybe they even started dating while they were at it?"
"Wha—"
The sound tore out of his throat. Still wearing that teasing expression, Miu didn't take her eyes off Kaito.
Gakuto opened his curled fingers and waved his hands exaggeratedly.
"Whoa, whoa, no way in hell. I mean, that's Shirakawa we're talking about, you know? How many guys do you think she's shot down so far?"
"—?!"
Kaito's knee bumped against the table leg.
A certain day before summer break lined up in his head in an order he didn't want to remember. The mere thought made Kaito try desperately to shut it out.
Unaware, Gakuto kept going.
"She rejected the baseball captain and even the soccer ace. There's no way she'd pick a guy like Kuze."
"It's because it's Kuze-kun, isn't it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Miu leaned forward slightly in her chair. Kaito had no words to enter the conversation.
"Doesn't seem like many people know this, but aren't those two childhood friends?"
"Really?! Ah, so that's why there were rumors about them every now and then!"
"Yep. But do you know why those rumors started?"
"Eh, no idea. Why?"
She paused for a beat before delivering her answer.
"Because it was always Shirakawa-san who started the conversations with Kuze-kun."
"Aaah! Come to think of it, yeah! I saw them talking from time to time, but that was coming from Shirakawa?"
Gakuto slapped his knee.
Miu nodded, tucking her damp hair behind her ear.
"Yeah. Even on the bus, she went out of her way to sit next to Kuze-kun. When I asked her, 'Are you sure you don't want to come over here?', I was actually doing it on purpose, you know."
Kaito remembered that, too. He had walked down the aisle toward the back, gripping the seat backs one by one. And then, he had asked:
"Shirakawa, why don't you come over here? It's dark in the back, isn't it?"
The response that had come back was spoken in a tone that didn't even spare a glance at him.
"No, I'm fine. I like it here."
Back then, he had assumed she just felt that way at the moment. He thought Yuna, who was always friendly to everyone, had simply been tired. But hearing this now, the meaning changed completely.
Gakuto leaned forward.
"Oh yeah, that really happened! Girls are terrifying. You guys are playing mind games over details like that?"
"Pretty much. Also, not many people noticed, but during the initial appraisal, those two were holding hands in the back, you know?"
"Huh?! For real?!"
—Holding hands.
Kaito should have seen that, too. He remembered the two of them standing side by side at the edge of the line. At the time, he had thought Yuna was scared. Trembling in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by unfamiliar adults.
She probably had been trembling.
However, the person Yuna chose to hold hands with when she trembled was Kuze.
The appraisal had taken a long time. One by one, they stepped up to the pedestal, placed their hands on the crystal, had their names read aloud, and returned. It was a repetition of that.
Kaito's turn had come in the middle of it. The light of the crystal had raced to the very top of the pillar, and the Appraiser had stepped back two paces and bowed his head. Gakuto had slapped him on the back, and the hall had erupted with excitement.
At that time, at the edge of the line—.
Kaito stopped thinking right there.
Gakuto leaned heavily against the back of his chair, utterly deflated.
"So, like, for real..."
"And then following Kuze-kun afterward, right? There weren't any rumors about them dating up through the school trip, but don't you think Shirakawa-san had feelings for Kuze-kun?"
"Ugh, seriously?! What a shock. And here I was hoping for a chance with her, too. What does Shirakawa even see in a guy like—"
"...How long are you going to keep talking about such pointless nonsense?"
A voice far deeper than intended slipped out.
Gakuto and Miu flinched at the same time.
It was likely the first time either of them had ever heard Kaito speak in such a tone. It was probably a first for Kaito himself, too.
Still gripping his towel, Gakuto hurriedly straightened his posture in his chair.
"S-Sorry. Slipped up."
"Sorry... this really isn't the time to be talking about that, is it?"
Even as she apologized, Miu kept her eyes fixed on Kaito.
Kaito lowered his hands from the table.
"That's all for today's debrief. I'm going to see the Prime Minister."
The two of them stood up without another word. Gakuto slung his towel back over his shoulder, and Miu slid her chair under the table.
Their footsteps heading out into the hallway were faster than the night before.