Multiple updates today.
This is the third installment.
“You said Shouko was eating nuts earlier, right? Have either of you two tried anything else?”
At my words, both of them shook their heads helplessly.
“Sure, our stock isn’t exactly wide, but we can serve some roasted mushrooms.” “Mushrooms! I’m eating!
I’m eating!”
Shouko’s eyes sparkled.
“I’d love to have some too, if it’s okay.”
Shion answered while rubbing her stomach.
“I’m fine. The mushrooms already filled me up completely.”
Chiyu, my childhood friend, said with a suggestive look directed at me.
She was referring to what happened in the hut.
“In that case, let’s say… two servings?”
My childhood friend had always been one to throw around lewd jokes, but after today’s events, that tendency might intensify.
Keeping that mindset in check, I opened my [Inventory].
I could have just taken out some pre-roasted mushrooms from stock, but that would reveal the information that I can preserve items without temperature changes, so I decided to hold off on that for now.
Instead, I produced raw mushrooms and skewers, sprinkled salt over them, and handed them over. “Roast them over the fire and eat them.” “Yay! Thanks, Sōsuke!”
I couldn’t help but tease her a little because she was being so openly delighted.
“You sure about that? It might be a poisonous mushroom.”
“A-ha-ha! Sou-suke would never do such a thing!”
Shoushi said it with such natural confidence that I found myself at a loss for words.
“Besides, Mashiro can sniff out the toxic ones.”
As they held the mushrooms over the fire, Shion added this remark.
“Ah, true enough.”
I see, Fenrir’s Mashiro is quite a capable companion after all.
Eventually, the mushrooms were cooked, and the two of them ate them.
Shoushi devoured hers in bold, hearty bites, while Shion nibbled at hers with refined grace; both finished theirs completely.
“So tasty! And there’s salt on it too! How?”
“Oh, right, it’s from the seawater. But more importantly, do you want some more?” “Really? What’s the price for that?” Shoushi cracked a joke. “I’ve already been paid.” Chiiru murmured quietly. “Huh? What does that mean?”
“It’s because just now, Soun-chan peeked at my panties while I was changing. Actually, these grilled mushrooms are the payment for seeing my underwear.”
Oh no…
Chiyu-san, what the hell are you talking about?
So I was already busted.
Apparently I’d been seen through even before I lit the fire, in the pitch dark of just moonlight.
“Ahaha, but that posture isn’t really your fault. I mean… it’s fine.”
Shion had noticed too, but she laughed with a flush of embarrassment and forgave me.
“Sousuke, you’re perverted, huh.”
As she spoke, Tsukuko pinched the fabric at her chest and fanned it gently, sending puffs of air fluttering out.
If she hadn’t kept glancing over at me, I might have let that off as an innocent little gesture.
But it was purely unavoidable; the firelight caught a glimpse of Tsukuko’s bra.
“Darn it.”
“Gotcha! A man has to earn his keep… Ahaha!”
Tsukuko said that, her face bright red.
“No, Shion, Tsukuko, Chiyu was just joking about that…”
But since my eyes were blessed enough to catch a view, I’d be happy to serve you seconds.
The conversation kept derailing spectacularly like that, though.
“Let’s keep up the information sharing while we eat.”
“Sure, sure.”
Mikako and Shion had woken up to find themselves standing in the middle of a forest.
As Mikako summoned Fenrir and they made their way through the woods, Mashiro detected human presence.
It turned out to be Shion, and it seemed that was how they reunited.
“Seriously, I’m so glad you found me, Mikako.”
“Nah, nah, it was my luck. I figured I might just be stuck alone at this point, so it was super lonely!”
After that, apparently the two of them had ridden on Mashiro to reach my base camp.
“How did you find Sou-kun?”
Chinju asked before I could even speak.
Right, that was the part that really bugged me.
“Um… that’s… ahaha—”
Mikako scratched her cheek, a look of embarrassment crossing her face.
“What happened to your belongings when the two of you woke up?”
Shion asked.
Judging by the flow of conversation, I assumed she wasn’t trying to evade the question but rather adding a necessary detail, so I answered.
“Only our uniforms and indoor shoes. It helped that our school’s uwabaki doubled as gym shoes.”
Since they were no different from regular running shoes, they worked fine in this environment too.
Though we did cut our feet on pebbles while on the sandy beach.
“And you, Chi-yu?”
“Well… ?”
“Um, look at this.”
Shion removed something from her wrist.
It was a hair tie.
“I wear it on my left wrist every time I go to school because I braid my hair like that.”
“Ah…”
That was when I realized it too.
We had arrived in this place in our uniforms, but we hadn’t given much thought to what exactly constituted our initial gear.
Due to the absence of any other items, I had simply assumed everything else had been confiscated besides our clothes.
It seemed fairer that way, and I just thought that was how it worked.
But wait, didn’t I have something on me besides my uniform?
My undershirt, which I had used my ability to dismantle and turn into a towel.
Some people weren’t wearing any, so even if it’s just a single layer of underwear, I’m coming out ahead.
For one thing, if we’re talking about starting equipment, it would make more sense for everyone to have the same material in their undergarments, or for them to not exist at all.
Did they teleport us wearing what we ‘normally go to school in’? No, defining “normal” is tricky.
“Well, Sousuke-kun. I think you’re trying to figure out the criteria for personal items, but we’ve actually confirmed something.” “Oh? What’s that?”
“Yeah. Well… it seems like we were teleported here while wearing what we had on when we got home from school the day before the dream.”
“I see. Makes sense. But how did you figure that out?”
Shion’s lips trembled slightly as she glanced downward, her voice barely audible.
“Well… originally… it was, uhm, just our underwear. And it seemed like Minako-chan was in the same boat, not just me.”
“Ah, ah…”
I hadn’t even registered what pattern my underpants had been on yesterday, but girls seem to be different.
“Oh, but that we could pin down the timing of ‘after getting home’ was thanks to Minako-chan. She happened to be holding an item she’d acquired the previous day and kept in her uniform pocket on the way home.”
If the item wasn’t something she usually carried, wasn’t present during morning attendance, but existed by the time she got home, then yes, we can definitively say it was ‘her outfit from when she came home yesterday.’
“Hmm… Wait, does that connect to why he found me? If so…”
Shouko took a handkerchief out of her pocket.
“This is the one I borrowed from Soisuke yesterday.”
I recalled what had happened the day before.
Shouko had spilled water on her uniform, so as her friend, I naturally and extremely discreetly slipped the handkerchief to her before making my graceful exit.
It was not because I had inadvertently stared at her uniform turning sheer from the water, nor was it an attempt to cover up for that act.
“Oh right, you were still using it.”
Damn it, I’d come off sounding like a deadpan fool.
“No, not that! I was planning to wash it properly and return it!”
For some reason, Shouko was blushing while offering up excuses.
I wasn’t going to be disappointed by her just leaving the handkerchief in her pocket without returning it, mind you.
Perhaps she simply didn’t want me to think of her as someone who treated borrowed items carelessly.
“Did you let Fenrir sniff your scent and stalk him?”
Chiiru’s words carried a slight barb.
“Ugh… I thought you might be put off by it, but I had no choice in an emergency!”
I see. The mechanics of the transfer, a stroke of luck the day before, and Shouko’s ability had aligned miraculously to allow our reunion.
“Hey, it’s fine. I was worried about Shouko too, so don’t worry about it.”
“Sou…!”
Shouko teared up, moved by my words.
”…Men are way too weak to cute girls who are kind to otaku. Childhood friends win every time.”
Chiyu grumbled under her breath, but I knew she wasn’t cold enough to abandon them from here on out.
We continued talking for a while longer, and I got most of the information I wanted.
“I have the ‘Craft Ability,’ Chiyu has ‘Healing Magic,’ and Shouko has the ‘Fluffy Summoning Ability.’ What about Shi-ine?”
That was the only part I hadn’t asked about yet.
I mean, she isn’t necessarily an ability user, so maybe it’s hard to mention within this group.
Either way, I wanted to know.
“Um… please don’t think of me as a bad person, okay?”
Hesitantly, Shi-ine told me her ability.
“What I really wanted was… the ‘ability to see through lies’.”
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