Breakfast and the discussion were both finished, so we decided to go look for Suou’s group right away.

Once again, the members would be me, Chiyu, Shouko, and Ms. Luminous.

“U-Um. Could you take me with you too?”

Just as we were getting up from our seats, Shion spoke. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

She had the Lie-Detection Ability.

“True, having your ability would help, Shion, but are you sure?”

“Yeah. If I can use my ability for the party, I’d actually be happy.”

“Then may I come as well? If this concerns a deal, I believe my ability to know what the other party wants may be of use.”

Roa, our maid, modestly raised her hand and volunteered too.

“That’s true, but...”

Going with too large a group might make them wary.

No, we were riding there on Mashiro the phantasmal beast. They were going to be frightened anyway. If they were going to be wary either way, our numbers were probably a minor issue.

“...I’ll stay here. If it’s too far away, I won’t be able to maintain the barrier anyway.”

“I will stay as well, just in case. Yumekai’s barrier ability and my Attribute Magic seem to work well together.”

In the end, Yumekai and Minori stayed behind.

“Got it. If six of us are going out, we should split up and ride separately... Is it okay if we take Micron too?”

I checked with the stay-behind group.

“No problem.”

“Yes. Don’t worry about us.”

It was probably rare for anyone to even notice Yumekai’s barrier. And even if someone came to the grassland and noticed the invisible wall, someone capable of breaking through it would be even rarer. If they showed any movement like that, Minori could attack them one-sidedly with magic, so it should be fine... probably.

I decided to trust the two of them and leave the base in their hands.

So the six of us went outside.

Shouko, Chiyu, and Roa rode Mashiro.

I, Ms. Luminous, and Shion rode Micron.

“Come on, Ms. Luminous. Hold on tightly to Sousuke.”

“Ugh... Y-Yes. Excuse me, Kuno.”

“R-Right.”

I got on Micron first, and Ms. Luminous sat behind me.

When I looked toward Shion, she winked at me.

Apparently, she had deliberately put Ms. Luminous right behind me.

...Chiyu and the other girls might have been involved in this too.

No way... Are they trying to bring Ms. Luminous into the harem too...?

Chiyu was capable of doing it.

But that thought vanished the instant Ms. Luminous timidly held on to me.

The volume pressing against my back was even greater than Chiyu’s, my childhood friend’s, and it made my heart jump.

Ms. Luminous only held my waist modestly at first, but when Micron actually floated upward, she cried, “Eek!” and clung to me tightly.

A soft, yielding pressure came through my back.

“I-I-I-I’m so sorry, Kuno! Th-That hurt, didn’t it?”

“N-No, I’m fine. Micron will fly safely, but please try to hold on as firmly as you can.”

“Y-Yes... W-Wow... So this is what flying through the sky feels like...”

You could experience being above the sky by riding in an airplane or hot-air balloon, but the sense of openness on a dragon’s back was on a completely different level.

There was nothing between you and the sky. And in that state, the dragon swam through the air as it pleased.

“Micron, follow Mashiro.”

When I said that while stroking her fluffy fur, Micron gave a small nod.

We followed Mashiro, who was running along the ground, from the air.

It was a viewpoint like the scenes you often saw in dramas, where a helicopter chased a fleeing car.

“She listens to what you say too, Kuno?”

“Mashiro and Micron are both good girls, so they properly listen to their companions. Micron especially seems attached to me.”

“I see... Building bonds with fantastical creatures sounds wonderful, like something out of a story.”

Ms. Luminous said it with a note of admiration.

“You’ll be able to get along with them from now on too, Ms. Luminous. Mashiro especially likes girls, so I think you’ll become close quickly.”

“...I am not exactly at an age where I can still call myself a girl.”

“That’s not true. On the ride back with you, Mashiro seemed happy.”

“I-Is that so...? In that case, after consulting Kanna, I think I will ask if I may pet him.”

Ms. Luminous sounded just a little more cheerful when she said that.

“By the way, Ms. Luminous. Were the examples of things students brought up in the first dream that you mentioned earlier all of them?”

Shion asked.

“Yes. The four abilities I listed earlier were all of the abilities. There were also things like a knife, a lighter, and potato chips written down, but...”

No one would choose those once they knew abilities were an option.

That meant, as far as we currently knew, the abilities on the island were the ones held by our companions: Crafting Ability, Healing Magic, Fluffy Summoning Ability, Lie-Detection Ability, Attribute Magic, Ability to Know What Others Want, barrier ability, and light-and-heat magic.

Eight people in total.

From the first dream and the information we got from Ms. Luminous, there were also the ability to keep hair from getting rough from seawater, the ability not to gain weight no matter how much one ate, the ability to create food, immortality, Teleportation Ability, charisma, and transformation ability.

Seven people in total.

Then there was the gun that can fire infinitely, which we had already confiscated. Since that was more of a magic item than an ability, we might be able to exclude it.

Incidentally, including that gun, eighteen people in the class had mentioned tools.

Including Ms. Luminous, there were forty-one transfer participants.

We knew fifteen abilities, which meant we knew thirty-three brought-in things.

Eight more were unknown, but... in truth, even that was not certain.

The thing a person brought in was decided the moment he or she first answered, and no amount of thinking or speaking afterward could change it.

In other words, if someone secretly answered by thinking of a desired ability, then later said out loud, “Man, I wish I had my phone,” that person could bring in an ability while leaving the people around him or her mistaken about what had been brought in.

Still, information like this was better than nothing.

It let us be mentally prepared when responding.

“Oh, Mashiro stopped.”

“Right on schedule. Micron, descend for now.”

I had asked them to stop once at a point where the other side would not notice us if they found the target.

Micron descended, and we met up with the ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Mashiro group.

“Ryouka’s base is close now. Apparently, it smells like lots of girls.”

Mashiro was sniffing excitedly.

“All right. Then let’s start preparing.”

This time, we were going to avoid talking about the details of our abilities as much as possible.

Also, I had said my ability out loud in the classroom, so someone else might have heard it too.

If I showed my face directly, there was a chance people would close in on me and demand that I use my ability to help others before Ms. Luminous could mediate.

So this time, I was going to hide.

I prepared several baskets, the kind we usually hung from Mashiro for gathering.

I tied plenty of them not just to Mashiro, but to Micron too.

Then we filled those baskets with generated goods that seemed like they could be used as bargaining materials.

Changes of clothes, tie-string underwear, towels, bedding, soap, lotion, shampoo, sea-sponge sponges... and so on.

And I would hide in one of those baskets.

If something we needed came up, I could secretly place it into a basket each time. And if something happened, I wanted to be close enough to help everyone.

“So-kun, are you getting excited because it’s like a stealth game?”

“...A little.”

I had experienced the thrill of hiding in the shadows, ducking into cardboard boxes or trash cans, and letting enemies pass by in games and movies, but opportunities to experience it myself were pretty rare.

Maybe childhood hide-and-seek had been the closest thing.

“For now, let’s make Shouko the leader of our girls. Ms. Luminous was rescued by Shouko’s team, and she agreed to take on the negotiation role.”

“That’s fine, but do we need to go that far?”

“Master’s ability is extremely useful. Until we understand the full picture of the other party, I believe having him stand at the forefront would be dangerous.”

“Mm. They might use all kinds of methods to try and steal So-kun.”

“...It’s sad, but that really could happen. If they try something forceful, we won’t be able to trade at all. And even if they don’t... um, they might try seduction.”

Shion said it with a clouded expression.

“S-Seriously...? Hmm, okay. If all of you say so, I’ll play the leader role.”

Shouko had seen how drastically the boys had changed during the event.

But she still did not seem able to imagine a team centered on girls trying to take one boy by force.

I thought that goodness was one of her virtues, but we still had to consider the worst-case scenario.

Of course, if it came to a fight, our team would probably win, but our relationship with them afterward would crack.

So the plan was to proceed in a way that prevented problems from happening in the first place.

“...Yes, that is true. People who have lost their composure can do things they would never normally do. As their teacher, I want to believe in all of my students, but that does not mean we may remain unguarded.”

Though Ms. Luminous looked pained, she accepted it too.

I hid inside the basket hanging from Micron, and everyone else climbed back onto the phantasmal beasts.

“Okay, Shouko Team, let’s go!”

When Shouko thrust her fist upward, Mashiro and Micron began to move.

I looked outside through a gap in the basket.

The place we reached before long was—

“What...!? What is that!?”

“A w-wolf!?”

“That’s way too big!”

“A monster!? But there shouldn’t be anything other than Afancs...”

“Hey, th-there’s something up there too!”

“Just report to Ryouka!”

The other team’s base was surrounded by a simple wooden fence, with a hill at its back.

There was a large hole in the hill... apparently a cave, so maybe that was where they slept.

It was simple, but there were spears, and even girls holding bows.

From the air, I could see what looked like a tarp made from beast hide, along with pottery, weapons, bonfires, and other things.

Did they have members with strong survival skills?

Their clothes and skin were not exactly sparkling, but they were kept clean.

It looked like they were managing to bathe and do laundry too.

I wondered how they were dealing with Afancs.

“Calm down...! We shared this information before, didn’t we? The giant white wolf is from Kanna Shouko’s Fluffy Summoning Ability! In other words, it is not a monster. It is a transfer participant and a summoned beast!”

The girl who rushed out from beneath the tarp was Suou Ryouka, a beautiful girl with long, wavy blond hair and small buns made on both sides of the back of her head.

“The fact that the fence has not been broken while we’ve been having this conversation means we can assume they do not intend to attack! Combatants, take your weapons calmly! Noncombatants, evacuate into the cave!”

The way she instantly calmed her companions while giving instructions in case the worst happened was exactly what you would expect from someone reigning at the top of the class hierarchy.

She climbed up onto the installed lookout platform and met Shouko’s eyes.

“Hey, Ryouka.”

“Don’t you ‘hey’ me. What do you want, Kanna Shouko?”

The leaders of the class’s two great powers faced each other.