Akira lowered his head.
“But… I destroyed everyone’s hope…” he said quietly.
“I…”
“Stop it already, idiot.”
Rion smacked him lightly on the head.
“If you hadn’t done that, we would’ve died.”
Akira looked at her in silence.
Kurusu stepped forward next.
“She’s right, Sengoku-kun. You didn’t do anything wrong. You made a decision to protect everyone.”
Towa nodded quietly beside her.
“The plane had already stopped being safe. Those creatures were tearing it apart.”
Mariya adjusted his glasses before speaking.
“I’ll be honest here,” he said calmly.
“Burning the plane was excessive.”
Akira bit his lip, holding back his words.
“That plane was our shelter. It was the only stable place people had left, so there will definitely be people who resent you for destroying it.”
Mariya glanced toward the burning plane.
“But you made the correct decision. It simply came with a cost.”
“The problem now isn’t whether people will blame you. Some of them probably will. What matters is what happens when everyone realizes they no longer have the plane to return to.”
Akira looked at him uncertainly.
“When people lose something that made them feel safe, they start looking for something else to hold onto. Some will look for someone to rely on, while others will look for someone to blame.”
His gaze shifted toward Yarai.
“You probably don’t care whether people resent you or not.”
Yarai remained silent.
“But that doesn’t change how the others will react. If they start panicking, they’ll look toward the people who made the decision, regardless of whether it was the right one.”
Mariya glanced briefly toward the burning wreckage.
“So even if what you did was necessary, both of you still have to deal with what comes next.”
Akira hesitated.
“But I can’t lead people on my own…”
Mariya snickered softly.
“Even I can tell which option is better here,” he said.
“I would rather trust Yarai, who stays rational under pressure, than someone like you, who runs around recklessly without thinking.”
Akira immediately turned red.
“Why, you little…”
Yarai interrupted before Akira could continue arguing.
“What he means is that making the right decision is not always enough.”
“I can make decisions when people are in danger, and I can tell them what needs to be done. But that doesn’t mean people will always follow me.”
Akira blinked slightly.
“We’re different people. There are things I can do better than you, and there are things you can do better than me. That’s normal.”
Mariya nodded slightly.
“He’s right. You’re reckless, but people naturally gather around you. That matters more than you think.” Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
He glanced toward Ono and the others.
“Even these three delinquents are useful here, so someone like you is definitely needed.”
Ono reacted immediately.
“Hey, what did you just say, four-eyes?!”
Itou frowned as veins bulged slightly on his forehead.
“Did you just call us useless?”
Mikoshiba shrugged casually.
“I’m fine as long as I stay alive.”
Akira suddenly laughed.
“Thanks, everyone.”
Towa and Kurusu smiled gently at him while Kanako crossed her arms with a playful grin.
“This is the same Sengoku-kun who peeked at me before.”
Akira froze instantly.
“Wait… Oomori-san, what did you just say?”
Rion slowly turned toward him.
“Akira-kun…”
Akira immediately flinched.
“R-Rion, weren’t we in the middle of a serious conversation?”
“You stay quiet, you pervert.”
Rion grabbed his ear while glaring at him.
“Ow, ow, ow… wait!”
Yarai watched them quietly before a rare smile appeared on his face.
“That’s enough.” Mariya cleared his throat.”If you two are done flirting, we should focus on finding shelter for the night.”
“We’re not flirting!” Akira and Rion shouted at the same time.
Mariya ignored them and looked toward Yarai instead.
“Didn’t you say there was a cave nearby?”
“Yeah,” Yarai replied calmly.
“It’s along the same path I used while following Akira’s trail.”
He glanced toward the dark jungle ahead.
“Follow me.”
Everyone nodded and began moving once again.
Once they entered the thick vegetation, their surroundings became almost impossible to see.
The burning plane had lit up the area behind them, but its light could no longer reach them through the dense jungle.
Yarai took out the flashlight and followed the trail toward the small clearing where he had seen the cave earlier.
“This is it.” Yarai pointed the flashlight toward an opening between two large boulders.
The cave was smaller than they expected, with a narrow opening that was still wide enough for a person to pass through.
“It looks narrow, but I checked the inside,” Yarai said.
“It’s enough to fit all of us.”
“Then let’s go inside,” Akira said as he stepped toward the entrance.
“Sengoku, wait,” Mariya said while rubbing his forehead.
“Use your head first. Check whether something is inside.”
“A-Alright.” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Akira laughed awkwardly before picking up a stone and throwing it into the cave while taking a defensive stance.
“Pff.”
The others laughed at his reaction.
When nothing moved inside the cave, Akira slowly lowered his stance, and the others followed him inside.
Before entering, Yarai and the others dragged thick fallen logs across the opening while Ono and Itou gathered thorn-covered branches from nearby bushes.
Yarai stepped closer and adjusted one of the heavier logs himself.
He pushed it deeper into the narrow gap between the rocks until it locked firmly into place.
“Leave enough space to move it from inside,” he said calmly.
Akira nodded.
“Yeah.”
Afterward, they layered thorn-covered branches over the remaining gaps.
The entrance was not completely sealed, but it became much harder to notice from outside while also slowing down anything trying to force its way in.
Yarai sat near the center of the cave where he could watch both the entrance and the others at the same time.
Towa rested on his left while Kurusu sat on his right.
Mariya sat beside Towa with his laptop bag near his legs, though he no longer had the energy to open it.
Rion sat beside Kurusu, and Akira leaned against the stone wall beside her with a long exhale.
Kanako quietly sat near Towa while holding the medical bag close to her chest.
Near the entrance, the Ono, Itou and Mikoshiba dumped the bags near the opening and sat together against the wall.
Mikoshiba crossed his arms and closed his eyes almost immediately.
Itou stretched his sore shoulders before leaning his head back against the stone.
Ono glanced uneasily toward the blocked entrance.
“…You think those things can smell us?” he asked quietly.
“If they could track us that easily, they probably would have found us already.” Yarai answered.
Ono glanced toward the entrance again, then closed his mouth and stayed quiet.
Outside, distant cries echoed through the jungle from time to time.
Strange calls mixed with the sounds of insects and rustling leaves made them tense instinctively.
Yarai leaned back against the stone and closed his eyes.
Even now, his thoughts had not stopped.
His mind briefly returned to the Megatherium.
Its size was overwhelming, but it was not fast.
Its massive body made quick movements difficult, and even turning would take time.
Somehow, Yarai had understood that almost instinctively.
He still didn’t know where that knowledge came from.
It wasn’t just the names of the creatures.
Whenever he saw an animal, he could somehow understand how it moved, how it would react, and what he needed to be careful of.
He didn’t want to question it every time it happened.
If the knowledge helped him survive, there was no reason to ignore it just because he didn’t understand where it came from.
For now, that was enough.
He would think about the reason later.
Tonight, surviving was all that mattered.