DAY 12: NIGHT

DAY 12

NIGHT

♦

THE CAVE

INTERLUDE:
GIRLS’ MEETING

 

I COULDN’T BELIEVE that Haruka-kun still called me “Class Rep” in this other world. Worse, I still had to perform all the duties of one.

“That brings us to our last issue: what to do with Haruka-kun,” I said.

“He might have a rotten personality and a terrible attitude, but I trust him.”

I was surprised that she approved of him. Maybe she felt a mixed pride at being referred to as “Vice Rep A” rather than something demeaning.

“And even though it was my fault he got kicked out of his home, he forgave me,” said Chika-chan, “because of the fish.”

And he had Chika-chan’s vote of support. Was that also because of the fish?

“Yeah, and even though I stripped naked where he could see me, he…totally…ignored me.”

Was that a vote of confidence from Fukunuki-san, too? It sounded like she was also a little upset at his reaction. Her pride was totally shaken.

“He really pisses me off, but he helped us, too,” said Shimazaki-san. “And he did, like, tell us we’d never be able to make it up to Oda-kun if we died. He believed in us. Then again, he enthralled us and he keeps calling us mean girls!”

She was with him in the first half, but then it all went downhill from there. I just wished he could remember anyone’s names. My name isn’t Class Rep!

Not everyone wanted to follow him, but no one objected to working with him, either. Everyone had their own perspective, but we all trusted, relied on, or otherwise felt grateful to him, I think? The bigger issue was with Haruka-kun himself. He said that he would just hold us back, because he only hit level 7 after fighting so many kobolds. He was uncooperative.

Even when I tried to tell him that everyone was fine with him no matter what level he was, he just told us that the nerds said the same thing. He said he was grateful for the offer, but someone with the Loner title couldn’t join any party.

“If I do join you, I’m just worried I’ll get a new title like ‘Player’ or something. Thanks, but no thanks,” he said.

While his level was low, he was still ridiculously strong. He just didn’t get that no one wanted to ditch him, even if he leveled up slowly. He came to help us when we lost our way, when we were faced with despair, when we were on the verge of giving up—he saved us every time. Our lives…and our spirits.

Since coming to his house, the other girls had started to smile again. All the depression and despair from before had evaporated.

Their eyes regained their sparkle, and they’d started believing in themselves and feeling hope for the future. He showed us how to live, the whole time acting like everything he’d done was obvious. He always said he was just living his life. Thinking like that made his life easier, so it became easy for the rest of us.

Couldn’t there be some way to overcome the difference in our stats? Why did god curse Haruka-kun so terribly? According to Haruka-kun, god had flipped out at him because he’d kept mocking the deity—but why was Haruka-kun bullying god, anyway? He said that god had even gotten down on his knees…

Finally, after much pleading, he agreed to accompany us to town. Now I just needed a way to convince him to stick with us after that.

“Even though I’m awful at leveling up, it’s not like I never level up at all,” he said. “In two or three years, I’ll probably reach level 20 or 30. At that point, I could probably survive in town, don’t you think? Until then, I can manage by myself out here.” He seemed cheerfully resigned to his fate, but I couldn’t simply leave him alone in a cave for three years.

We were all summoned to this world suddenly and without warning. Before he got here, we had all moved on without him. Yet even though he was weaker than us, he not only managed to survive, but he saved us. I’d never abandon someone like that, no matter what his status said!

The rest of us will hit level 20 or even 30 soon enough, but Haruka-kun would take years to reach the same point.

God told us that levels in this world were paramount. Soon enough, we’d be strong enough to obliterate goblins and kobolds without even thinking about it. But Haruka-kun was something else entirely. Even though he was only level 7 and had no useful skills, he could take out hundreds of monsters without breaking a sweat! I couldn’t even begin to imagine what he could do at levels 20 or 30!

He claimed that he was barely scraping by, and even if he was tough, all it would take was a single lucky blow to take him out. I wanted to keep him safe. We could protect him, just like he’d protected all of us. Just like he still protected us now.

That was why we needed to go out and level up. My guts were twisted in knots and my knees shook, but I knew that we needed to fight. Even under Haruka-kun’s protection, we couldn’t relax. If Haruka-kun couldn’t get stronger, we had to become strong enough to protect him.

That was our plan, and the girls agreed unanimously.

 

I told them that kobolds bite, but no, they didn’t listen to me.