Chapter 14: Always Flustered
“A direction, huh… Ayaka, what do you think?”
“If this were a righteous protagonist, we’d be on the hero route—taking back human cities from the demon side.”
She said it so casually.
Yeah. That would be the story’s protagonist route.
“The one we never became.”
Team Dropout, after all.
“Yeah… not happening, right?”
Not happening.
“We do have the power, though. From what Elvis says, we’re probably strong enough to become heroes whether we side with humans or demons.”
“I think so too. The other classmates are probably the same.”
Yeah.
“There are probably people who’d choose that kind of path. But I can’t.”
“Me neither. And I think Mayumi, Hina… and probably Omura-kun and Matsunaga-kun too.”
Yeah.
That’s why we stuck together.
“I want to stay out of conflicts. There’ll probably be fights ahead, but let’s avoid them as much as possible. And let’s not let people find out how strong we are.”
If they found out, we’d just get dragged into everything.
“I think that’s fine too. I don’t want to see anyone else in the group die again.”
Shota had been killed by a werewolf from behind in the forest.
Mikami-san had apparently been killed by a Hell Viper.
I didn’t see it happen myself, but I could never forget the devastated faces of Ayaka and the others afterward.
“Let’s keep doing things the way we always have. We’ll live our way.”
“Yeah…”
Our direction was decided.
Or rather, it had been decided from the start.
“Let’s just live casually. No pushing ourselves. We stay observers.”
“Got it. I think that’s best too.”
Ayaka nodded.
“Elvis, do we look pathetic to you?”
I asked him, since he’d been listening.
“Nope. I think that’s fine. You guys have insane mana, so you’re probably strong. But you’re not warriors. Like I said this morning—look at the people next to you. That’s what matters.”
Elvis nodded firmly.
“Yeah. I’ll do that.”
After that, we kept gathering information on social media, but nothing particularly useful came up, and it became evening.
Dinner was a seafood hotpot, which the three of us ate together, and afterward we headed again to the top-floor public bath.
After slowly enjoying the hot springs, we parted with Elvis and returned to our room alone.
Inside, the room had already been tidied, and futons were laid out instead.
“…Hmm.”
I took a photo and sent it to Takamiya-san.
[High High Alliance Chat]
Nacchan: How is it?
Miya-san: Hot spring inns are kinda erotic, huh.
Yeah… I couldn’t really argue with that.
We’d slept in the same room plenty of times before.
We even slept together under the kotatsu yesterday.
But for some reason, this felt different.
Nacchan: Sorry, Miya-san. I can’t handle this.
Miya-san: Let’s just separate them a bit then.
Following her advice, I moved the futons that were too close together and created some distance.
Then I took another photo and sent it.
Nacchan: Is this okay?
Miya-san: Perfect. Let’s take it slow.
Takamiya-san really is a good person.
Nacchan: Can I call you?
Miya-san: Sure.
I closed the chat, sat down on the futon, and called her.
The ringing stopped almost immediately.
“Whassup?”
Of course it was her.
“Texting felt like a hassle, so…”
“Oh? By the way, where’s Ayaka?”
“She’s still at the hot spring.”
“Lucky her.”
Yeah… sorry about that.
She was really enjoying it. We were even planning to go again tomorrow morning before leaving.
“Where are you staying?”
“A hotel. We paid with mana, but I don’t really get it.”
Yeah, same for her too.
“I paid too, but I don’t really understand it either.”
“Maybe it’s better not to overthink it.”
Probably.
“What about Kitaura-san?”
“We got a twin room, so she’s on the next bed.”
“You should say she’s sleeping next to you.”
She was awake too, huh.
“Did you win at the racetrack?”
“Winning or losing doesn’t matter. What matters is how much fun you had.”
Yeah, she definitely lost.
“Don’t go overboard.”
“I know. I’m gathering info on SNS right now.”
Ah, so she was working after playing during the day.
“Got it. By the way, about what we talked about earlier—the direction thing. After talking with Ayaka, we decided it’s best to avoid getting involved in anything. We won’t fight on the human side or the demon side. We’ll just keep living casually like before.”
“Yeah. I think that’s best too.”
“Yeah, no way around it. If we could do something like that, we’d still be on a demon-slaying journey.”
“Sorry for the wait—man, a slime came into the bath and I nearly yelled, ‘Wait, are you a girl?!’”
Ayaka came back.
“Whoa, a clean girl—body and soul has returned.”
“Now the young ones can take their time…”
They start joking immediately…
“Hmm? Mayumi and Hina?”
Ayaka came over and sat down beside me.
Honestly, I wish she wouldn’t sit on my futon—it makes me nervous.
“How’s the hot spring?”
Takamiya-san asked Ayaka through the phone.
“It was amazing. The view, and the other guests too…”
“Lucky you…”
“Mayumi, if there’s a hot spring on the way to Tokyo, let’s stop by.”
Yeah, I’d like that too.
“So, I told them about our future plan earlier.”
I explained the conversation I had over the phone.
“Ah, I see. Sorry. I can’t really fight. I mean, if there’s danger I can draw my sword, but I can’t actively try to change this world.”
Ayaka told them her thoughts.
“I can’t either.”
“Yeah. Let’s stick to our way of living. No matter what others say, we won’t regret the choices we make anymore.”
I feel the same way.
“Alright, that’s the plan then. Also, be careful—not just of demons or humans, but especially our classmates. Avoid contact as much as possible.”
“Yeah, agreed. That’s probably best. I know a few of the girls’ numbers, but I’ll ignore them even if they contact me.”
“Good. Then we’ll head over tomorrow afternoon. Let’s meet at the racetrack.”
The racetrack, huh…
I kind of wanted to see it too.
“Got it.”
“—Wait!”
“Hm?”
“Hina?”
“What is it, Kitaura-san?”
It was rare for Kitaura-san to raise her voice like that.
“Mayumi, this…”
“Hmm… a man with a spear went on a rampage in Kumamoto… caution advised…”
A spear?