“Knock, knock.”
Two slightly muffled raps sounded from the other side of the wooden door.
Yukinoshita Yukino and Isac exchanged a glance — both of them catching the same mix of surprise and suspicion in the other’s eyes.
“Don’t make a sound yet.” Isac thought back to a video he’d seen before, one that claimed wild animals could mimic the sound of human knocking to trick the people inside into opening the door — and then hunt them.
Yukinoshita Yukino nodded, her expression tightening a touch.
Isac pulled the hunting knife from inside his coat.
He’d barely paced his way over to the door when he heard a clear female voice come through from outside.
“Excuse me — is anyone home?”
It was a person!
A flash of pleasant surprise lit up Yukinoshita Yukino’s face, but the wariness on Isac’s face didn’t fade at all — if anything, it ratcheted tighter.
Out in the wild, a stranger could end up being more dangerous than any wild animal.
Of course, Isac wasn’t planning to pretend the cabin was empty either.
Their wood stove was still burning, and the smoke pouring out of the chimney wasn’t going to fool anybody.
“What do you want?” Isac answered, deliberately pitching his voice low.
“My companion and I were in a plane crash.
We made it out alive, but my companion has come down with a high fever.
I wanted to ask whether you have any medicine on hand — I can trade food and coal for it.” The voice on the other side spoke quickly, laying out who she was and what she wanted in clean, clear terms.
There were other survivors?
Something stirred in Isac’s chest.
But he didn’t rush to open the door — instead, he kept questioning her: “How many people are with you?”
“Just her.
The two of us were the only ones who survived the crash.”
“You came here on your own?”
“That’s right.
Last night I saw a flare go up over this way, so I figured I’d come and take my chances.
Sir — if you have any medicine to spare, please help us.
Once rescue arrives, the Shinomiya family will absolutely make it worth your while.”
Out on the doorstep, Hayasaka Ai was doing her best to keep her voice sounding warm and approachable.
She knew full well that laying her need out this openly was going to put her at a serious disadvantage in the ‘negotiation’ about to unfold — but she didn’t have a choice.
Lady Kaguya couldn’t afford to wait.
And from the fact that the person inside hadn’t shut her down on the spot, the odds were pretty solid that they had the medicine she needed.
Hayasaka Ai had already made up her mind.
If the people inside flat-out refused to open the door, she was going to take some harder measures. Get faster updates on g.com.
Worst case, she’d make it up to them after the fact — an apology, compensation, whatever it took.
Lady Kaguya’s life was the only thing that mattered; every other consideration could step aside for that!
Mercifully, it didn’t actually come to that.
Not long after she finished speaking, the wooden door cracked open a sliver.
Hayasaka Ai’s eyes flicked instinctively toward the gap.
Inside stood a young guy — couldn’t have been much older than her by the look of him.
Decent-looking, too, with a clean face — only his clothes were a bit torn up.
“Come inside first — we’ll talk in here.” the young man said.
Hayasaka Ai took a deep breath and stepped through the doorway into the cabin.
The moment she got inside, Hayasaka Ai noticed there was another person there.
A young woman — sitting next to the stove with a book held open in her hands, and at this exact moment also studying Hayasaka right back.
“Sorry to intrude.” Hayasaka Ai offered Yukinoshita Yukino a polite greeting, her eyes briefly drifting down to the girl’s left ankle — and right there, she had her read on the situation.
“Hello.” Yukinoshita Yukino returned the greeting with a small nod, every bit the lady of the house receiving a guest from far away.
Without giving anything away, Isac glanced at Hayasaka Ai’s right hand — the one she’d tucked into her pocket.
From the moment she’d stepped inside, her right hand had stayed buried in there, like she was gripping something.
The observation made Isac’s eyelid twitch involuntarily.
Combine that with the Shinomiya family she’d just dropped into the conversation… and now, even if he didn’t want to help, he was going to have to help.
Though honestly — if things really did line up the way Isac was reading them, there was no way he’d have turned down somebody in need anyway.
“You’re a survivor of the plane crash?” Isac asked.
“Yes.
My name is Hayasaka Ai.”
It really was her.
Hearing the name Hayasaka Ai, Isac kept his expression unchanged — but a flicker of recognition passed through his eyes.
He’d actually had a suspicion the moment he heard ‘Shinomiya family’ earlier.
Now, with her self-introduction on top of it — and that brilliant blonde hair to go with it — his suspicion had been outright confirmed.
Yet another familiar anime waifu.
So he really had been isekai’d into the anime crossover world after all!
“The Shinomiya family you just mentioned…”
“I am the personal attendant to the heiress of the Shinomiya Group — Lady Shinomiya Kaguya.
I came out here to find fever medicine for the young lady.” Hayasaka Ai laid out her purpose a second time, leaning especially hard into Shinomiya Kaguya’s status — making sure the young man in front of her understood just how much weight the Shinomiya family carried, so the odds of him stepping up to help would tick a little higher.
After all, the return on investment for saving a regular civilian was nowhere near the return on investment for saving what amounted to a princess.
Especially since Shinomiya Kaguya was the actual daughter of the Shinomiya family — all Isac had to do was extend a hand, and the Shinomiya family was absolutely not going to leave him empty-handed. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“The Shinomiya Group… as in the Shinomiya Group that’s known as one of Nihon’s Big Four conglomerates?” Yukinoshita Yukino suddenly cut in.
“That’s right.” Hayasaka Ai nodded.
The fact that Yukinoshita Yukino had heard of the Shinomiya Group made her exhale in relief — her confidence in pulling this off ticked up another notch.
Anyone with even a passing understanding of how much clout the Shinomiya family carried wasn’t going to pass up a chance to put the Shinomiya family in their debt.
What Hayasaka Ai hadn’t seen coming, though, was that after asking that one question, Yukinoshita Yukino didn’t say anything else.
It was as if she’d just genuinely wanted to confirm whether the Shinomiya family was in fact the Shinomiya family she was thinking of — and beyond that single question, there hadn’t been one extra thought behind it.
Wait, that’s not how this is supposed to go, is it?
Hayasaka Ai blinked.
Wasn’t she supposed to ask the question and then jump in and help her pressure Isac about it?
Oh come on — you really were just asking out of curiosity?!
Just as Hayasaka Ai was weighing how to steer the conversation from here, Isac was the one who spoke up.
He looked over at Yukinoshita Yukino, almost as if he were asking for her input: “Do you think we should help?”
Yukinoshita Yukino knew that the very fact that Isac was asking the question meant he’d already decided to help.
It was just that before they actually helped, the act of helping needed a little more weight put behind it first.
Picking up on exactly what he was doing, Yukinoshita Yukino put on a show of deliberation, then arranged her face into a perfectly calibrated look of reluctance, and said: “But… we don’t have much medicine left to begin with.”
The moment she heard Yukinoshita Yukino’s words, Hayasaka Ai’s spirits jumped.
She’d guessed right — these people really did have medicine on them!
Lady Kaguya was going to make it!
At the same time, Hayasaka Ai had also picked up on what the two of them were angling for.
Honestly, she didn’t have a problem with it — one way or another, as long as they handed over the medicine, that was all that mattered.
As for the rest… the Shinomiya family would foot the bill.
So Hayasaka Ai cleanly and decisively laid down a guarantee: “The Shinomiya family will absolutely not forget what the two of you have done for us.
When rescue arrives, the Shinomiya family will see to it that you both receive compensation you’ll be more than satisfied with!”
Compensation, huh… Whether they’d even make it back was a whole different question.
Naturally, Isac didn’t say any of that out loud.
He just walked straight over to the corner of the room and made a show of rummaging through their supplies for a stretch.
By the time he came back over to where Hayasaka Ai was standing, there were two painkiller tablets in his hand.
____
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