Chapter 10

Summary of the previous chapter:

Kaga: "Mishima! We'll always be friends, okay!"

Protagonist: (…That's suspicious)

10

Kaga walked ahead, and I followed him through the forest.

Since meeting Lily and Rose, I had always been with them, which made me feel a bit strange. I'm not a child who can't leave my mother, but I still felt a bit uneasy.

"But I'm glad you survived. Of course, I'm glad for Mizushima too."

As I thought about this, Kaga suddenly spoke without turning around, and I couldn't see his expression.

"Yeah, I'm glad Kaga survived too."

I responded to his back in my school uniform.

"From now on, we need to cooperate to survive."

"Of course. In this situation, we need to work together."

"I appreciate you saying that, Kaga."

"Same here. I'll be counting on you, Mishima."

"Yeah. —By the way, Kaga. What did you mean earlier when you said something about the expedition team…?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's about time, isn't it?"

We came to a slightly open area in the forest.

Seizing the opportunity, Kaga stopped and turned around.

It was hard to tell, but we weren't that far from the cave. Even if I hadn't been familiar with the area, it was close enough for me to return to the cave on my own.

For example, Kaga could easily return to the cave from here.

While thinking about this, I started the conversation.

"Earlier, you mentioned something about the expedition team, right?"

"Yeah, I did."

"First, tell me why you know about the expedition team."

"Well, I was close to some of the upperclassmen in the exploration team."

"Upperclassmen… upperclassmen, huh."

I rolled the word around on my tongue.

Naturally, I didn't know most of the exploration team members. Even if they were my classmates, I found them suspicious, let alone the upperclassmen.

"Yeah, upperclassmen. From the club."

"Wasn't Kaga in the tennis club?"

"Right, right."

Kaga nodded and laughed cheerfully.

"So, I know the details of the plans the expedition team made. This is information we need to share, right?"

"Indeed."

I agreed with Kaga's opinion.

If it was true, his claim that we needed to share information as a priority was correct.

Kaga seemed pleased to have my agreement, or perhaps for some other reason, he was smiling happily.

I decided to delve deeper into the conversation with Kaga.

"So, what exactly is the content of that plan?"

"Hmm…"

Kaga suddenly grinned at me, who was listening intently.

"By the way, have you and Mizushima already… you know?"

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb. You were alone with her. Such a beautiful woman. Even you, a serious guy, couldn't help but think about it, right?"

"…What does that have to do with anything now?"

"It does."

Kaga replied in a matter-of-fact tone to my slightly low voice.

"If we're going to act together from now on, there should be no secrets. Otherwise, I can't cooperate with you. I can't share what I can't talk about."

"Why does that lead to whether or not you and Mizushima have a special relationship?"

"It's important. Think about it. We have two guys and one girl. We need to clearly establish who Mizushima belongs to, or it will cause problems."

"Mizushima doesn't belong to anyone."

"Ah, ah. That's not the point."

Kaga waved his hand dismissively.

"Let's drop the pretense and be honest. We're already in a tight spot. Fighting over the only girl would be a waste."

"Isn't it a waste to think about romance in this situation?"

"That means you haven't made a move on Mizushima, right? You're a fool, Mishima. In this situation, even a quiet and serious guy like you could have taken advantage of the situation, right?"

"I can't do that."

"Tch, you're more spineless than I thought."

"Shut up."

I frowned and turned away.

"It's none of your business."

"None of my business?"

Kaga's tone from outside my field of vision had a mocking edge, as if he was making fun of me.

"It is… it is!"

Suddenly, his tone became clearly mocking.

The sound of his foot hitting the ground echoed.

I turned around, but my reaction was a bit slow.

"Ugh"

A shock ran through my cheek.

The hardest part of his fist hit my cheekbone.

I couldn't help but fall to the ground.

"Ugh"

Another hit. He kicked my jaw.

If I hadn't clenched my teeth, I might have bitten my tongue off.

It was a merciless attack, and the sequence of actions suggested he was used to fighting.

"You're an idiot!"

Kaga's mocking voice reached my ears.

"In this situation, showing a weakness is too much of a risk!"

"Ugh!?"

Another hit to the stomach.

The weight was lifted from my waist.

He had taken my sword.

"…What are you trying to do?"

I sat on the ground, looking up at Kaga, who was holding my sword triumphantly.

"Hey, Kaga. Do you know what you're doing?"

"Do you know your position?"

Kaga seemed calm, but his bloodshot eyes were carefully observing my movements.

If I showed any sign of resistance, Kaga would hesitate to strike me down. I couldn't move recklessly.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of Mizushima for you."

"Take care… how do you plan to explain it to Mizushima?"

"You're really an idiot. In this dangerous forest in another world? There are plenty of ways to say you were killed by a monster."

"Even after you so obviously lured me into the forest, do you think anyone will believe that?"

"If they don't believe it, then so be it. It's just you and Mizushima now. Without you, Mizushima will be alone. It can be handled any way."

"Indeed."

I nodded deeply and told the ugly, twisted smile on Kaga's face.

"You're despicable."

"Say whatever you want."

Kaga sneered and raised his sword.

"What you say, a loser like you, doesn't matter."

"Indeed."

I looked up at Kaga without emotion.

"…?"

Kaga raised his sword and for a moment looked puzzled.

He must have imagined me crying and begging for my life, desperately trying to escape.

Kaga seemed suspicious and dissatisfied that his imagination didn't come true, but he didn't try to understand why.

That's the kind of person he is.

I know that.

I knew it from the beginning.

"Die!"

The sharp tip of the magic sword was brought down.

I was still sitting on the ground. If I stayed like this, I would be killed without a chance.

But I wasn't worried at all.

"Watch out!"

A figure stepped between Kaga and me.

"Ah!?"

Kaga let out a surprised cry, but the momentum of the sword couldn't be stopped.

The sword buried itself deep into the face of the girl in a tracksuit who had taken my place.

"A, u… g"

A meaningless groan overflowed from the girl's throat.

"A, aaaaa…!"

Kaga let out a wordless groan and pulled the sword out.

The sword was pulled out with a squelch, and the girl's body, now without support, collapsed to the ground.

The girl with flaxen hair, lying face down on the ground, was 'Mizushima Mihō'.

"Ah, damn! Why did this happen!"

Kaga lamented his misfortune.

Perhaps he felt guilty for actually killing an innocent person.

…No.

"I can't do that! I don't have a hobby of doing things with corpses!"

There was no regret for killing someone.

"Kaga, you…"

"I'm not to blame. I'm not to blame! You should have died quietly!"

Kaga, trembling with selfish anger, raised his sword again.

His twisted face showed only the frustration of a man who couldn't satisfy his animal instincts.

I looked at the most hideous expression in the world—

"Enough."

—and muttered.

"Huh?"

Kaga raised an eyebrow at my words.

But I had no obligation to answer his unasked question.

I had been patient enough.

I had even given him a chance.

He had thrown it away.

So—

"Enough, Lily."

—I quietly gave the order.

"What, Mishima? What are you—uh!?"

Kaga, who had started to mock me, let out a scream and stepped back.

"Gah… gah, ah"

The girl whose face had been crushed was getting up.

Kaga's wide eyes were fixed on Lily, who had stood up.

I couldn't see Lily's face, but it seemed to be quite grotesque.

"Uo, ah… ah, ah. Uh"

Lily shook her head a few times.

A transparent, viscous liquid fell from her feet, trembled, and was absorbed into her toes.

"Uh, uh"

The indistinct voice gradually became clearer.

"Uh, ah… hmm. Is this okay?"

When she turned to me, the wound on her head was already gone.

"…I was a bit surprised."

Lily said in a carefree tone as if nothing had happened.

"What happened?"

"My consciousness was lost for a moment because my head was crushed. This is a problem with mimicry."

Lily, a mimic slime, doesn't have a brain to think.

However, by mimicking a brain, she can think, but if that brain is damaged, her thoughts stop, and it takes some time to recover.

"Also, Rose's sword is too powerful. What was that? It went in almost without resistance."

"I'm sorry for causing you pain."

"No, it's fine. It's just a scratch. Are you hurt, Master?"

"This is just a scratch."

"Liar. You're toughing it out. …Oh, no. You're bleeding. Oh."

Lily, who had approached with a white magic circle glowing in her palm, lovingly stroked my cheek.

Then, for the first time, she looked at me with a resentful glance.

"I could have supported you with magic if you had given me the order."

"…Sorry."

I was supposed to have Lily attack Kaga with magic as soon as I decided he was a threat.

But because of my delayed judgment, she hesitated to act, and as a result, she was hurt.

"It's fine. Don't worry about me."

"Lily…"

"Don't take unnecessary risks."

Lily's fingertips traced the outline of my jaw, and when they fell away like raindrops from my chin, the small injury I had sustained was completely healed without a trace of pain.

"What… what is this?"

Kaga, who had been left out of the situation, gasped as if he was suffocating.

"Is… is this not Mizushima…?"

Kaga's uneasy eyes, reflecting Lily, looked like those of a creature he couldn't understand.

When their eyes met, Kaga trembled in fear and his gaze shifted to me as if he was trying to escape.

"Wh… what is this? What is this!? Why… why is Mizushima… why are you…?"

I shrugged.

"Did you think I was vulnerable?"

"Ah…?"

"If you did, you're too naive. It's not your perception of the situation, but your thinking that's naive."

Kaga was dazed for a few seconds after hearing my words.

Perhaps for the first time since we met in the forest, Kaga actually thought.

I could see countless thoughts crossing his wide eyes.

Finally, Kaga seemed to understand my intention.

"You… so that's it! I get it!"

Kaga's bloodshot eyes glared at me with hatred, finally understanding the situation.

"You, Mishima! You set me up, didn't you!?"

"Don't be ridiculous. You set yourself up."

The blame shifting was extreme.

It's true that I had kept secrets.

I would accept the accusation of deception.

But the choice that led to this result was Kaga's.

The moment I deliberately showed a weakness, his humanity was already rotten.

Moreover, he even tried to lure me into the forest to kill me.

"Alright, Lily."

I couldn't get any more information from Kaga, who was distorted by anger and fear.

I had also considered the possibility that he might have a cheat ability, but he didn't.

He was just a lucky fool.

No, he was worse than that.

There was no point in listening to him anymore.

"Damn it!"

Kaga, in a last desperate attempt, raised his sword and attacked.

Lily countered with her bare hands.

The dull sound of a broken neck echoed lightly in the forest.

***

"…Is it over?"

"Yeah."

I answered Kato's question, who had appeared with Rose.

"Good work."

"It's nothing. I'm not that tired."

I shook my head.

In fact, it wasn't tiring at all.

From start to finish, it was mostly within my expectations.

—When I saw Kaga at the mountain cabin.

We decided to split up and make contact with him.

Ideally, we could have observed him for a while, but if we left him wandering around the cabin ruins, he might have been killed by a monster without gathering any information, so we had to make contact quickly.

On the other side, Rose and Kato were asked to observe our actions.

Their presence would have been inconvenient for assessing Kaga's character, so they needed to stay hidden.

However, the risk of being attacked by a monster while alone with Lily couldn't be ignored.

So, we decided to act in a way that we were close but not too close.

Lily, who went with me, was asked to play the role of 'bait' to assess Kaga's character.

Additionally, I asked her to act as a bodyguard.

Even if Kaga hadn't lured us, I intended to show a weakness to test his character from the beginning.

Although the events unfolded a bit differently from what I had expected, everything that happened was within the scope of the measures I had planned.

Of course, if Kaga had genuinely tried to cooperate with us, I would have protected him.

In that case, I would have treated him like Kato, not trusting or believing him, but taking responsibility to protect him within the limits of my abilities.

The result, as you can see.

"…Is he dead?"

"Yeah."

I nodded slightly in response to Kato's question.

"I killed him."

I wondered how this scene looked to Kato.

Kaga, who was dead here, could have been Kato's 'if'.

Kato and Kaga. I had lied to both about Lily's existence. The situations were quite different, but if things had gone badly, Kato could have ended up like this.

Even if it didn't happen, the fact that I had considered killing Kato couldn't be denied.

Normally, she would find this unpleasant.

She might even feel fear.

And fear can easily distort a person.

Like the students who panicked in the colony.

Like me, who became this after being attacked.

Perhaps Kaga was the same. He might have lost his mental balance after wandering alone in the forest for a long time, and his conscience was no longer restrained.

Kato might not be an exception.

At the very least, Kaga's death here could change my position in Kato's mind.

I glanced at Kato's profile.

Kato looked down at Kaga's body with emotionless eyes.

Then, she turned her gaze to me.

Surprisingly, I couldn't sense any hostility, malice, or distrust in her eyes.

"I understand how you feel, senpai."

She even said something