Chapter 1: Deserted Island × Childhood Friend

On the first weekend after second semester began...

After taking an unexcused leave of absence during the opening ceremony, I was given a mountain of assignments to do as punishment. This was my first day off after finally finishing them all, and I was melted into the sofa even more than usual. Despite it being September, we were still running the air conditioner on full blast. It was just too hot, completely draining all desire I had to go play outside.

But as I was being a couch slug, the front doorbell rang. Now with a reason to get up, I peeled myself off the sofa and walked over to the door.

“Coming... Oh, it’s you, Satsuki.”

“Hello, Rekka. Oh, you’re looking a little messy,” Satsuki said, quickly moving to fix my sleeves and collar.

I stood there and let her preen me to her satisfaction. She then took off her shoes and changed into house slippers.

“So, what brings you here?” I asked.

“Well, you see... It’s about the barbeque in two weeks.”

“Oh, right. The barbeque’s coming up.”

Come to think of it, it was almost time for that annual event. Well, I call it an event, but it was really only a shindig with my family and the Otomos next door. Every year around this time, we’d get together and go to the mountains to have a barbeque by the river. But things would be a little different this year. Both my parents were overseas, so they couldn’t come. And this would be my first time bringing Harissa along.

“So, I wanted to ask Harissa if she had any food preferences—like, if there was anything she couldn’t eat or didn’t like—before I went shopping to buy ingredients.”

“She’s never mentioned anything like that before... but it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”

“Okay.”

Satsuki and I headed upstairs to Harissa’s room and knocked on the door.

“Hey, Harissa, can I talk to you for a...”

“Oh, Sir Rekka!”

“...What are you doing?”

Harissa, who’d turned to look at me in surprise, was standing in the middle of her room performing some kind of experiment.

“Is that a Red Thread? Did you cut it up or something? Is this how you make the catalysts for your connection magic?”

“Um, yes and no.”

“What?”

I asked her for details, and she explained that she was in the middle of working on an upgraded version of her connection magic. The basic spell she’d come up with linked an object with a place, meaning that an object of significance was required to get anywhere with it. And the upgraded version she was working on would hopefully allow the user to bypass the need for an object.

“To put it simply, I’m trying to bind two places together in advance, creating a point where you can travel between them freely.”

“Like a warp point in a video game? That’d sure be way more convenient.”

“Yep! Heeheehee,” Harissa giggled bashfully. “So, did you need something, Sir Rekka?”

“Oh, that’s right. Satsuki wants to talk about the barbeque coming up the week after next,” I started to explain before deferring to my childhood friend standing behind me.

“I just wanted to ask if there are any foods you don’t like or can’t eat. If so, could you tell me which ones?” Satsuki asked, notepad in hand.

“Let’s see, I...”

Harissa considered the question carefully, tilting her head and looking diagonally up at the ceiling as she pondered... distracting her just enough that she accidentally let the experimental magic item in her hand slip to the floor.

“Ah!” all three of us yelped in unison.

Not one of us had the supernatural reflexes to catch it in time, so we all watched in horror as it smashed into pieces. But something in the disjointed mess of parts caused a magical reaction, filling the room with bright light.

“Wah! Oof!”

“Wh-What?!”

“Sir Rekka! Satsuki...!”

I heard Harissa’s voice grow quieter as a strange floating sensation came over me. And then...

▽

When my vision returned after being blinded by the bright light in my room, I was greeted by the sight of blue water and white sand as far as the eye could see.

“...Huh?”

“Where is this?”

I turned to my side to see Satsuki, who was looking back at me with the same dumbfounded expression that was probably on my face, too. I then took another glance around the area, but there weren’t houses or buildings anywhere. Not even a beach shack. In fact, there weren’t any signs of human civilization at all.

“Where... are we?” I murmured, echoing Satsuki’s question from a moment ago.

“It’s so hot...” Satsuki said, squinting at the sun’s rays glaring down at us.

“Yeah... it’s really boiling.”

“Was it this hot in Japan?”

“Well, the weather report did say it was going to be around 30 degrees again today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

We both then fell silent for a long moment.

“Hey, Rekka...”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I know.”

I hadn’t traveled through space and other worlds for nothing. I’d seen the signs in Harissa’s room. And here we were. So I decided to disregard my common sense and just accept the situation I found myself in. After all, it was pretty clear what had happened.

“We were sent to a deserted island.”

▽

According to what Satsuki learned with her Great Omniscient Magic, we were on an uninhabited island located near the equator.

“And this is because of that bright light, right?”

“Well, most likely. She did drop an unstable magic item, after all.”

Plus, Harissa had outright told us she was working on her connection magic. If that went awry, it wasn’t all that strange to think we’d ended up somewhere we weren’t supposed to. Like, you know, a deserted island.

“Satsuki, what about your phone? You had teleportation magic you could use with that, right?”

“Yes, but it requires a lot of preparation beforehand... and I left it at home. I told my mom I was just going over to your house, so I didn’t think I’d need it. But what about you, Rekka?”

“Mine’s sitting on my desk... I don’t usually carry it with me around the house.”

No big deal. It’s not like we’d get reception out here anyway. Wait, couldn’t Iris call me from anywhere in the galaxy? Not that it would help now...

“Well, it doesn’t seem like Harissa was sent here with us, so I’m sure she’ll gather the others and come searching for us eventually.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

We had aliens and scientists and psychics in our circle of friends. Even an (idiotic) angel and a Demon King. If they put their heads and their powers together, surely they’d be able to find us... even if they didn’t have any clues about where to start looking...

“If only you hadn’t been dragged here with me...”

If Satsuki were still back home, she could have easily located me or anyone else with the Magic of Omniscience. But for some reason, she was pouting over me suggesting that.

“What? Did you want to be here with Harissa instead of me, Rekka?”

“Huh? No, if anything, I would prefer not to be here at all.”

No matter how used to these freakish occurrences I get, I’d still at least like to enjoy my rare day off... Wow, I’m starting to sound like a worn-out nine-to-fiver, aren’t I?

“...And we’re finally alone for once, too.”

“Huh?”

“Hahh... Whatever. The closest island is out of flying range, so I guess we’ll have to wait for help to come,” Satsuki sighed as she walked off.

“Hey, wait! Where are you going?” I called after her in a panic.

“Well, we need shelter from the elements as well as food and water, right? I made a mental map of the resources on the island with the Magic of Omniscience earlier, so I’m going to secure the supplies we need before the sun sets.”

“You’re so calm about this...”

“I’ve followed you into space and other worlds before. This doesn’t seem so bad.”

Apparently I wasn’t the only one who’d picked up on things over the past half a year.

▽

“This is my first time seeing a coconut in the wild.”

“Same here.”

Satsuki and I were staring up at the coconuts growing in the trees in naive wonderment. For the record, we’d already found a cave by the water for shelter. Food was the next item on our to-do list. But even though we’d been stranded on a deserted island, we were working this all out rather methodically. Once again, it made me realize just how convenient and useful the Magic of Omniscience was.

“I’ll go and grab a few,” said Satsuki as her feet left the ground and she took off into the air with her flight magic.

“Cool, thanks. If it seems too difficult to actually pluck them from the tree, I’ll climb up and give it a try myself.”

“Picking them should be easy enough with magic,” Satsuki giggled as she made her way up to the hanging coconuts.

“Rekka, if you look up right now, you’d have the most amazing view possible of her panties.”

“Nope. Not looking.”

R was whispering her usual temptations into my ear. But I behaved myself and turned away while I waited for Satsuki to nab some coconuts.

“Hmm, yeah. They’re actually pretty hard to pick. Ah... kyaaah!”

Satsuki’s cheerful voice overhead suddenly turned into screaming.

“Satsuki?!”

I reflexively turned back around upon hearing it... And locked eyes with her as she fell right towards me.

“Bwah!”

I tried to catch her and cushion her landing, meaning I fell flat on my back.

“Wh-What’s wrong, Satsuki?!”

“A-A bug!”

“A bug?”

Upon closer inspection, there was a hairy caterpillar on Satsuki’s shoulder. So that’s what it was... She’d hated bugs ever since she was little.

“I see, I see... So Satsuki is bad with bugs. It was surprising to learn Hibiki had such a weakness, but it seems a lot more believable with Satsuki. Now I’m curious what it would look like if we sorted the heroines into bug-okay and bug-terrified.”

Just what would that prove...? Anyway, I plucked the hairy caterpillar from Satsuki’s shoulder and flung it somewhere with a small sigh.

▽

After that, Satsuki and I worked through the survival basics of gathering food and broken branches for firewood. According to Satsuki, there was more food in the forest... but also wild animals. So we decided not to wander too deep.

“Hmm... We picked a lot of fruits and nuts, but will this be enough?”

“We don’t know how long we’ll have to last before we’re rescued.”

From what Satsuki could tell, Harissa was still in Japan. The Magic of Omniscience was powerful, but it wasn’t capable of reading minds, meaning there was no real way for us to tell how far along the search was right now.

“What do you want to do? The forest is dangerous, right?”

“Yeah,” Satsuki nodded with a solemn expression.

“I forgot to ask before, but what kind of wild animals are actually in there?”

“I don’t think you’d know it even if I told you the name... But it’s a large cat.”

“A cat? If it’s just a cat, then...”

“You know ‘large cats’ refers to tigers and such, right?”

“What?! Th-There’s a tiger on the island?”

“Relax, it’s not a tiger. But if certain species of wildcats can take down boars, it’s in our best interest to steer clear of them.”

“G-Gotcha.”

Satsuki made sure to emphasize that point, and I nodded meekly in response. While it did sound scary, I also loved cats... I really didn’t want to do anything that might get either me or them hurt.

“Let’s go to the shore and search for shellfish.”

“All right.”

Following the directions Satsuki had gotten from the Magic of Omniscience, we made our way to the harvesting point she’d discovered.

“If I search for every shellfish individually, I’ll run out of magic in no time. So from here on out, we’re on our own.”

“Got it.”

We both left our shoes and socks high and dry so they wouldn’t be washed away by the waves, then waded into the shallows barefooted. We stopped where we thought the shellfish might be and squatted down to sift through the soft sand with our hands.

“This reminds me of how we used to go clamming.”

“Well, it’s basically the same thing.”

As we reminisced about trifling things from the past, I worked on digging up sand and shoveling it to the side.

“Ah, I found one!”

“Great.”

“And here’s another!”

“Wow, you’re fast. Hmm... I can’t find any at all.”

“You’re digging too deeply in one spot, Rekka. Try searching by moving your hands through the top of the sand like you’re patting it. If you feel something hard, then that’s probably a shellfish.”

“Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

I followed Satsuki’s advice and started patting around in the sand with my palms from left to right.

“Hm? There’s something hard here. All ri—OWW!”

I grabbed something thinking it was a shellfish, but it grabbed me right back. Turns out it was a crab that wasn’t too happy with me. It snagged my finger in its pincers, and I yelped in surprise and pain.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah, just—ouch. Ah, I’m bleeding.”

I looked at my finger to see the crab had pierced the skin. Red blood was oozing out of the wound, and the salt water made it sting a little.

“Give it here,” Satsuki said, taking my hand and then putting the injured finger into her mouth.

“Wh-What are you do—?!”

I was so shocked, I didn’t even finish my sentence correctly.

“What do you mean? I’m treating the wound,” Satsuki moved her mouth away for a moment to say.

“D-Don’t you have magic for that?!”

“I’m saving my magic. It’s not like I can use it endlessly.”

True. We needed Satsuki’s magic to survive on this deserted island. We couldn’t afford to keep using it on every little thing. I knew the logic behind what she was saying. I knew the logic, but...

“Now let me continue...”

“!”

Soft...! I knew she was just trying to help me, but I couldn’t help the way my body temperature was rising. This wasn’t good... Stay calm, Rekka! And you, R! Stop grinning!

“Is it okay now? Has the bleeding stopped?”

“I-I’m fine! I’m fine now!”

I waved my hand at Satsuki in a panic, trying to tell her I was all right.

“Really? Okay, then. Let’s get back to it.”

“Y-Yeah...”

We both squatted back down and resumed our search for shellfish... Was it just me, or did Satsuki’s face seem kind of red? I hesitated to bring it up out loud, so I decided to stick to rummaging in the sand.

“Actually, now that I think about it, even if we gather shellfish, we don’t have a pot to boil them in... or clean water.”

“Huh, you’re right... What should we do?”

Apparently that had also slipped Satsuki’s mind, causing her to frown.

“...Hey, why don’t you use the Magic of Omniscience to find a spell you could use?”

“A spell...? Oh, I see! That’s a great idea, Rekka!”

“Aw, shucks. It was nothing. Hahaha...”

I scratched my cheek and tried to laugh off her praise. Satsuki didn’t remember it, but learning new spells with the Magic of Omniscience was something I’d seen her do previously under less than fortunate circumstances. That was a really terrible time for me...

But thanks to that, Satsuki now had access to a log of magics she hadn’t before. It was too bad all the teleportation spells that could get us back to Japan either required tools or magic power she didn’t have. All we could do for now was do our best to dig up some dinner, but...

“This is actually kinda tiring barehanded.”

“Yeah.”

As it turned out, digging through wet sand with your hands is actually pretty hard work. And if I was getting tired, poor Satsuki must be exhausted.

“Hmm...”

How the hell had we managed this as kids?

“Oh, right. We just need some kind of rake or shovel. We collected plenty of wood, so do you think you could make something like that with your magic?”

“Sure! I’ll give it a try.”

Satsuki immediately went about searching for an appropriate spell, and... Voila! A magically crafted rake and wooden spear for our convenience. The latter was my personal request.

“Thanks, Satsuki.”

“What are you going to use the spear for?”

“I saw some fish in the shallows earlier. I’m going to try to bag some.”

“Can you really do that?”

“It’s not a matter of can and can’t. There are times when a man simply must.”

“You didn’t need a wooden spear, Rekka. You should just use the one you already have to seal the deal on a summer fling with Satsuki.”

I seriously tried to stab R for that one. But she dodged it easily.

“You need to cut it out with those dirty old man gags.”

“Being pure and innocent isn’t going to save the future.”

I bickered with R in a low voice as I stood in the shallows with the spear at the ready.

“...Do you think there’s a trick to doing this?”

“Let’s see... Perhaps you should stay as still as possible so the fish don’t run away?”

“Stay still, huh...? That’s pretty difficult with the waves.”

“Just think of yourself as a pebble. A small, dirty pebble rolling along the road, unnoticed by anyone.”

“I feel like that was more descriptive than it needed to be, but okay. I’ll give it a go.”

I stood still. Completely unmoving. I was a stone, rolling in the waves. A stone... A stone...

“Rekka?”

“...”

“Reeekka?”

“...”

“Rekka, if you want fish, I can use my magic.”

“...There!”

Splash!

There was a brief struggle in the water, but when I lifted my spear, I actually had a small fish on the end of it.

“Wow! That’s amazing, Rekka. You really caught one.”

“What an unexpected talent.”

Satsuki and R both looked at the fish I caught with expressions of surprise. I held my head high on that one.

“All right! Time to catch as many as I can!”

I rolled up my sleeves and once again picked up the spear, becoming a stone. R adjusted her hat as she watched me.

“Let’s just hope it wasn’t beginner’s luck,” she murmured.

▽

I’ll be honest. It was beginner’s luck. I stuck it out for around an hour after that, repeatedly stabbing my spear into the water, but didn’t catch even one more fish. But I tried hard and long enough that I nearly broke the spear.

“Your base stats are just too average. You’re not bad, but you’re so great, either. People have their expectations. You never go above and beyond, but you never completely fail them.”

“Please stop.”

I was about to fall to my knees at R’s flatly delivered harsh criticism. My heart was weaker than the beaten-up spear right now.

“R-Rekka... Are you all right?”

Seeing my gloomy mood, Satsuki called out to me worriedly.

“Ah, yeah... Sorry, for only catching one fish.”

“It’s fine. If you want more fish, I can... No, one fish is more than enough. We found lots of shellfish, too, so let’s go back to the cave before it gets dark.”

“Yeah.”

Satsuki was in the middle of saying something but had stopped herself, instead opting to cheer me up. We started to head for the cave like she suggested... when a rather large wave came crashing at us.

“Kyah!”

Losing her balance because of it, Satsuki fell forward.

“Satsuki! You okay?”

“Y-Yup, I caught myself, so I’m not hurt, but...”

Satsuki looked down at herself. Her clothes were completely soaked now. It was hot back home, so she was in a nice, light, and thin outfit. And when that got wet...

“D-Don’t look this way!”

“Ah, sorry!”

Satsuki flushed bright red and shouted, making me whip around in a hurry. I’d be in for a lot of trouble yet on this deserted island.

▽

The noisy campfire sputtered, crackled, and popped in the cave.

“Are your clothes dry yet?”

“Um... Not yet,” Satsuki’s dejected voice answered from behind me.

After we returned to the cave, the first thing we did was make a fire for Satsuki to dry her wet clothes. But in the meantime, there was a problem with privacy. The cave was just one giant open space, so it wasn’t like there was a separate room for her to wait in while her clothes dried. I offered to just wait outside, but Satsuki insisted that I stay, saying it was dangerous to be out alone in the dark at night. And so here we were, sitting back-to-back while we waited.

“So, uh... That coconut juice was surprisingly good.”

Bored of the silence, I decided to try striking up a conversation with the first thing that came to mind.

“We were lucky to end up on an island with sweet ones. There are some types of coconuts that aren’t sweet at all inside.”

“Huh? There are different types of coconuts?”

“There are several. Some you can extract oil from, others are used as the raw materials for coconut gel.”

“Wow, you sure know a lot.”

“Thanks to the Magic of Omniscience.”

“I gotta say, it’s really convenient. I’ve been feeling that all the more since arriving on this deserted island. I bet you could use it to get perfect scores on all your tests, too.”

“I don’t use it to cheat!”

“I’m joking, I’m joking!”

I laughed it off as Satsuki lightly slapped my back. “Ow,” I said while laughing, and she broke into a giggle fit, too. Being able to joke around like this was one of the perks of being childhood friends. Even if I was stuck on a deserted island, as long as Satsuki was here with me, I didn’t have anything to be nervous about. It was a nice feeling.

“Oh, the fire’s dying.”

“Do we have enough firewood? I could kindle it with magic, but I’ve used my Magic of Omniscience too much today, so I’m running a little low...”

“Nah, it’ll be fine.”

I threw another branch onto the fire. We’d collected plenty of them earlier in the day and sorted them by size for exactly this reason.

“This kind of reminds me of that outdoor class we had with the campfire...”

“During elementary school?”

“Yeah, that one.”

Satsuki and I were in the same class in elementary school, and we ended up in the same group for a special outdoor camping class. As we were reminiscing about that, Satsuki suddenly burst into laughter.

“I also remember you putting too much water in the curry. Our group was the only one eating what could have passed for soup! Everyone else looked so miffed, heehee...”

“Ugh! Y-You’re the one that got worn out during orienteering and needed me to carry you back!”

“That was because you insisted on carrying me even after the teacher said I could go back and rest!”

“But I thought you’d be lonely if you had to go back by yourself while everyone else was still having fun.”

“That’s true... But what I’m trying to say is that it was your idea, Rekka!”

“What is this, a married couple’s comedy routine?” R sighed tiredly from her comfy spot, lounging in the air as she listened to us bicker.

“Wait... Come to think of it, didn’t something strange happen at the campfire back then?”

A vague memory suddenly resurfaced in my mind. When I brought it up, Satsuki flinched nervously. I could feel her trembling as she leaned against me.

“Let’s see... What was it again? I remember the girls in the class were whispering with each other, so I was wondering what the guys were up to... Then these three girls pushed you forward while another girl pulled me by the arm so we were standing next to each other in front of the campfire... Hmm... And then...”

I tried to recall what happened next, but it was just so long ago... The details were all hazy. Maybe nothing had really happened at all.

“Huh? Are you sweating, Satsuki? My back feels a little damp...”

“N-Nowpe, nowt me! I’m t-t-towtally fine!”

“Why are you so nervous?”

We were sitting back-to-back, so there was no way for me to see her expression, but I could tell from her voice that something was eating at her.

“Well, anyway... After that, didn’t the girls make us do something? I didn’t really understand what was happening, but I remember the girls egging you on... Actually, they may have been cheering you on...”

“R-Rweally now? I don’t rwemember that!”

“They were shouting things... Stuff like ‘just say it’ and ‘you can do it,’ or something like that.”

I remember how oddly fidgety Satsuki had gotten. Her face was almost as red as the campfire flames, too.

“Were you trying to tell me something back then, Satsuki? You never ended up saying anything, though.”

“R-Rweally?”

“What’s up with you?”

Satsuki had been reacting oddly for a while now. Speaking of which...

“Ooooohh...”

Why was R acting weird, too? She had been writhing and groaning ever since this topic came up. I shot her a dubious look, which she thankfully noticed. She pulled herself together with the heaviest sigh of disappointment I think I’ve ever heard.

“Fine... Rekka, what do boys talk about on overnight camps?”

“Huh?”

Why was R asking about that all of a sudden? But overnight camps, huh...? After it was lights out, everyone was always too excited to go to sleep. We’d start talking underneath the blankets with flashlights and stuff... mostly about our crushes.

“Now, just so you know, Rekka, girls mature earlier than boys, so their elementary school conversations are on par with your middle school ones. You follow?”

Huh... Satsuki and I were in the same group, but the boys and girls slept in different quarters. The boys would get into super heated pillow fights and end up getting scolded by the teacher, but what were the girls doing? They stayed up all night talking, right? Following what R said... That meant they were talking about their crushes, right?

If that’s what they were talking about, then that last day at the campfire... The girls pushed me and Satsuki towards each other... They were cheering for her, telling her to say something... And she really did turn red... Um... Er?

“R-R-Rwekka?! The fwire’s getting weaker, down’t you thwink?!”

“Hm? Oh, you’re right.”

Satsuki was still talking oddly, but she was right. The fire had already started to die down, so I threw on another branch. After that, we both fell silent. The cave was perfectly quiet other than the sounds of the fire. But it wasn’t awkward or anything. It was a gentle, comfortable silence.

“Rekka...” Satsuki eventually stirred.

“Hm?”

“Rekka... do you...”

“What is it?”

I urged the mumbling Satsuki on. I could feel her fidgeting behind me.

“What do you... think of me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like...” Satsuki trailed off.

The silence this time felt a little heavier than before... But really, what had she meant just now? As I was wondering, she started stirring again, tickling my shoulders with her squirming.

“Rekka... you’ve saved a lot of girls ever since your bloodline awakened, right?”

“Hm? Well, yeah.”

“Is there... anything that makes me different from those girls?”

“Different?”

“Yeah... I sometimes wonder if you just see me as one of them. One of the many girls you’ve saved...”

“...”

“The Magic of Omniscience can’t read people’s feelings, after all...”

She said no more after that.

The difference between Satsuki and everyone else... I searched within myself for an answer.

“Satsuki...”

And just as I opened my mouth, I caught a glimpse of something at the entrance to the cave out of the corner of my eye. It was a hairy beast walking towards us on all fours...

“!”

I grabbed the wooden spear I’d left within arm’s reach just in case, then rose to my knees, ready to defend Satsuki. I didn’t want to startle the beast, so I chose not to yell out.

“...!”

My movements caught Satsuki’s attention, and she immediately grabbed her nearly dried clothes to cover herself, making sure she was ready to move at a moment’s notice.

“Satsuki, is that...?”

I tried to ask using as few words and staying as quiet as possible.

“Yes, it is. So whatever you do, don’t make the first move. Who knows what will happen if you anger it...” Satsuki explained in short.

Apparently, this beast was the wild animal Satsuki had warned me about earlier. Looking at it now, its face did kind of resemble a cat’s, but its eyes were filled with apprehension as it stared us down.

“Aren’t wild animals supposed to be afraid of fire?”

“Some of them certainly are, but a small campfire like this might draw attention for some...” Satsuki said, biting her lip.

“I thought the fire was hidden from the outside...”

“I guess it happened to pass close by and spot it. How unlucky...”

Well, this was a rather dangerous situation. We were cornered in the cave, which didn’t extend very far inward. We were surrounded by stone walls on all sides, and the beast was blocking our only exit. Satsuki had already used a huge amount of magic today, and it wasn’t like I had anything up my sleeve. No supernatural abilities, no special gadgets. Nothing except for a brittle wooden spear. To win against a wild animal with just that would take a miracle, and I only had one chance...

“Let’s try giving it our leftover food,” suggested Satsuki. “Maybe it’ll leave then.”

“Okay.”

I hesitantly laid my spear on the ground, picked up the food we’d collected for tomorrow, and tossed it towards the beast. But it didn’t even look. It just glared straight at us and let out a screech. This... was bad.

“Mrowr!”

“Kuh!”

I threw my spear out at the leaping beast. To no avail, of course. It hit the ground and snapped right in two.

“Oh, guardian wind!”

I started to think I was a goner, but Satsuki summoned a shield of wind to deflect the beast’s claws in the nick of time.

“Mrowr!”

The beast lunged at me a second time and was once again deflected by the shield. After that, it backed off a little.

“Ugh...”

“Satsuki!”

Now having used too much magic, Satsuki swayed on her feet. The wind shield protecting us started to waver, too. She really had used too much Omniscient Magic today...!

“Satsuki... I’m going to draw its attention. You take that chance to run.”

“No way. You won’t be safe alone. I can’t even cast healing magic on you right now...”

“That’s exactly why I’m doing this. You can’t heal yourself in this state either, right? And you’ll collapse if you run out of magic. So we have to do something to save at least one of us before that happens.”

If Satsuki used even one more spell, she was in danger of passing out. Then she wouldn’t be able to run at all. So we had to do something while we still could.

“But I can’t leave you here, Rekka!”

“Look, I’m not abandoning you either, but I can’t run away from that thing while carrying your unconscious body.”

“But... But...”

She could only repeat that one word. Satsuki was smart. Certainly smart enough to realize that we were out of other options. But she just couldn’t accept what I was saying, and refused to listen to me. I couldn’t blame her, though. If I were in her position, I was sure I’d do the same. I knew that telling her to run despite that was selfish, but...

“I didn’t need a reason to save you, Satsuki. My bloodline had nothing to do with it. I saved you because you’re you.”

“...!”

The day R appeared to me was the day the bloodline of the Namidare awoke within me. I had no resolution back then. I barely even believed the whole bloodline thing myself. If the first story I’d gotten caught up in wasn’t Satsuki’s, but someone else’s... would I have ever jumped in to save them like that? To be honest, I couldn’t say for sure. If it had been anyone else, I would have at least thought things through before agreeing to anything. But with Satsuki... I hadn’t hesitated at all. I’d jumped right in to save her because she was my precious childhood friend. If there was a difference between her and the other girls, that was it.

“Now, dismiss your shield on my signal. I’ll get its attention.”

“Okay...”

After being repelled by the wind wall a couple of times, the beast was cautiously approaching again. Its eyes were aglow with hostility, and it looked ready to pounce the moment it got the chance.

“All right... Three, two—”

“...!”

Just as I was about to finish the countdown, a blinding white light suddenly filled the interior of the cave.

“Sir Rekka!”

“Rekka, are you all right?”

From the light stepped Harissa, clutching her staff, and Shirley, who called out in a worried voice.

“Mrowr!”

The beast was momentarily stunned by the light, but immediately bared its fangs when it saw the new intruders. However...

“Oh, my.”

Shirley suddenly threw a ball into the air. It burst with an ear-splitting, dissonant screech that filled the cave. I reflexively covered my ears. The shock of the sound made the beast drop like a bird shot out of the sky. It flopped to the ground in a trance, its limbs feebly twitching.

“Shirley, I-I think my eardrums burst...”

“It has a safety set to just shy of that line where they may or may not burst. You’ll be fine. It’s just a simple device designed to shock through sound.”

Well, if that was the case, then the beast would probably be fine, too. It may have attacked us, but we were the uninvited guests here. And besides, it was really just a big kitty...

“Wait, how did the two of you get here?”

Harissa had probably sought help from Shirley, who lived right across the street. I was sure they’d be able to work together and find us, but I wasn’t expecting them to do it so soon.

“Well, we considered a lot of options at first. Like using either my or Iris’s spaceship, or even Ellicia’s connection to the organization to borrow a psychic with the power of teleportation... But in the end, we realized a far more simple solution.”

“I-I remembered that I could easily find you if I used my connection magic, Sir Rekka.”

“Oh, of course!”

Thinking about it carefully, the experiment that blew us into this mess was a form of her connection magic... All she needed to do was use one of my personal belongings and follow its connection to me. The answer was right under our noses all along.

“I should have put it together sooner, but I was in such a fluster... I’m sorry, Sir Rekka, Satsuki.”

“No, it all worked out in the end, so don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you, Harissa.”

Satsuki and I both thanked her, at last putting an end to our ordeal on the island... Or so I thought.

“So, Rekka...” Shirley narrowed her eyes behind her glasses, staring at Satsuki and me inquisitively. Then she said coldly, “Just what were you two doing for Satsuki to end up looking like that?”

“Huh?”

Wondering what she was talking about, I unthinkingly turned to Satsuki behind me... and spluttered spectacularly.

“Aaaaah!”

Harissa looked too, and she let out a half-shocked, half-enraged scream as she clenched her staff tightly in both hands. Hint one: in order to dry her clothes, Satsuki had been undressed by the campfire mere moments ago. Hint two: a fairly violent struggle had gone down in this narrow cave. So, what situation does that leave us with now?

“N-Noooooooo!”

My answer was a loud, ringing scream as Satsuki slapped my face with all her might.