“Do you really think I’d believe that?”
Onigawara Rin did not relax in the slightest because of those two trying to joke their way through it.
On the contrary, after experiencing the public execution of having her mask forcibly removed, her nerves were now like a string stretched to its absolute limit.
Even the slightest disturbance could trigger an excessive reaction from her.
This was not simple oversensitivity.
It was a stress response born from a living creature’s extreme sense of insecurity.
When a person had grown used to hiding inside a shell, once that shell was smashed apart, even a gentle breeze from the outside world would feel no different from a freezing gale to their senses.
Because of that, Onigawara keenly noticed something.
In the air, apart from Kikakujou Mary and Hanasaka Warabi with her bear, there was another gaze mixed in.
It was more hidden, yet it instinctively made her uncomfortable.
It was not like Amou Kirukiru’s direct stare.
It felt more like being watched by a cold-blooded animal.
“If you claim you came here to provide support…”
“Then why is someone still hiding?”
“Also!”
“Come out!”
“Or do you need me to invite you out myself?”
After saying this, a fierce light flashed in Onigawara’s now-uncovered, delicate eyes.
She pointed her sword toward a pile of old gym mats stacked in a corner outside the gymnasium.
The moment she said this, Kikakujou Mary, who had been lowering her head and dusting herself off while trying to maintain the last bit of her elegant image, froze.
“Hey, hey! Onigawara, what are you going crazy over now?”
“We’re not suspicious people!”
“We are fellow guardians of order at Aichi Symbiosis Academy. After sensing that an unidentified intruder had forced his way in, we naturally had to…”
Thinking Onigawara was talking about her, Mary flushed red and tried to use that official-sounding excuse to cover up the fact that she had also been eavesdropping.
After all, she had always considered herself elegant and ladylike.
If people found out that she had been hiding in a corner and eavesdropping like some kind of creep…
How was she supposed to keep living at the academy after that?
If something like that spread through the school, it would be social death!
“Exactly, exactly!”
Hanasaka Warabi also rubbed her still-aching ankle while waving the short stick in her hand, quickly chiming in with a bluffing tone.
“We weren’t eavesdropping!”
“That was tactical concealment! Tactical, do you understand?!”
“Besides…”
“Onigawara, did you get scared stupid and start hallucinating?”
“There’s no one there at all, right?”
After all, the place Onigawara pointed at only had a pile of old gym mats.
There was not even a ghostly shadow there.
However…
Just as Mary and Warabi were about to think Onigawara had really become overly paranoid after being badly shaken…
From behind that long-stacked pile of gym mats, a light, airy voice suddenly drifted out.
That voice carried no panic at being exposed.
Instead, it had a teasing tone, as if its owner had deliberately revealed herself during a game of hide-and-seek.
“Oh my.”
“Satori got found out.”
There was not even the slightest attempt to hide anymore.
A girl with long emerald-green hair slowly walked out from the shadows of the old gym mats.
She wore a neat uniform, and a harmless smile hung on her face.
That smile was so standard that it almost felt like an expression painted onto a mask.
She looked harmless, even a little airheaded.
Tamaba Satori.
The final member of the Five Supreme Swords, and also the most difficult one to understand.
Anyone who did not know her would probably be deceived at first glance by that seemingly harmless appearance.
They might even think she was just an innocent girl who had wandered here by mistake.
One of the Five Swords—Tamaba Satori.
However…
The moment everyone present saw Tamaba Satori, their bodies tensed almost at the same time.
“You…”
“When were you there?”
Kikakujou Mary widened her eyes, and the dictionary in her hand nearly fell to the ground.
As a skilled Western swordswoman, she had not sensed anyone in that position at all!
“I was always there.”
Tamaba Satori scratched her head, the smile on her face still not changing in the slightest.
“Since you two started eavesdropping.”
“And since Onigawara-san’s mask was shattered.”
“Even…”
“Since Lord God descended.”
“Satori was always here.”
“At first, Satori thought she could watch a little longer. After all, Rin-san’s expression just now was really interesting~”
As Tamaba Satori spoke, she scratched her head again, still wearing that signature smile without a trace of warmth.
“But I didn’t expect Rin-san’s senses to become so sharp.”
“Back when you wore the mask, your senses were as dull as a stone.”
“It seems Lord God was right. That mask really was binding you.”
After saying this, Tamaba Satori’s gaze passed over everyone and landed directly on Heimer, who stood at the center.
She tilted her head, and the curve of her smile deepened.
“Nice to meet you, Lord God.”
“I’m Satori, Tamaba Satori.”
“What you said just now was really interesting.”
“So…”
“Is that world truly filled with all kinds of adventures like the ones you described?”
“If it really is…”
“Then Satori wants to go.”
“Very much.”
“Satori wants to see whether she can find something in that kind of world that makes her feel even slightly alive.”
Tamaba Satori’s tone was light and cheerful.
At this point, the Five Supreme Swords were present.
Onigawara Rin, Kikakujou Mary, Hanasaka Warabi, Tamaba Satori…
As well as the Empress, Amou Kirukiru, who had already joined.
The academy’s top combat forces had basically all gathered.
If the ordinary students of the academy saw this scene, their jaws would probably hit the floor.
After all, these girls normally refused to submit to anyone.
Being able to make them stand quietly together was practically a miracle.
…
Faced with Tamaba Satori’s almost pathological declaration, Kikakujou Mary finally could not hold back anymore.
Hugging the thick dictionary, she glanced uneasily at Heimer, then looked at the others beside her.
“Hey… are all of you serious?”
“Going to another world or whatever…”
“No matter how you think about it, isn’t that incredibly dangerous?”
Mary’s voice was a little dry.
Although the impulse to become stronger had indeed made her head heat up for a moment earlier…
Once that hot blood cooled down and reason reclaimed the high ground, unease still began to spread faintly within her.
“Yeah.”
“If we really go…”
“Can we still come back?”
Hanasaka Warabi asked weakly.
This question undoubtedly struck the weak point of everyone except Amou Kirukiru and Tamaba Satori.
That included Onigawara Rin.
After all, although she desired strength and wanted to break free from her past, that did not mean she was willing to completely cut off all ties with this world.
Her life was still here.
So was her past, even if it was not a beautiful one.
For them to abandon everything and go to a completely unknown world…
That price was too great.
So great that it made people shrink back.
In response, Heimer did not show any disappointment.
On the contrary, this hesitation was normal.
After all, not everyone was like Amou Kirukiru or Tamaba Satori.
This was the truest portrayal of humanity.
Humans yearned for distant and unknown scenery, longing to break free from the unchanging present.
But when the door to a new world truly opened and cold wind blew in, unease toward the uncertain road ahead and attachment to their current stable lives would become heavy chains, tightly dragging back the steps they tried to take.
It was just like those people who always shouted about going on a trip with no planning and no hesitation.
But when the time truly came to resign from work, cancel their lease, and pack their luggage…
Most people would still worry about the future and silently shove their suitcase back under the bed.
So-called burning one’s boats was, in the end, a quality possessed only by a minority.