The following is an excerpt of Shoubu’s reactions from the moment we reached the grassland until she finished checking out the base.

“Ooh, pretty field, huh? Wait, the base is here?” “Hm? Something just went all slippery—wait, there’s a house right in front of me!?” “Kuno’s ability is insane...” “You’re raising chickens too, huh. Ryouka’s team had some too, but they didn’t have a coop this nice.” “Wait, what’s that huge warehouse-looking thing? A Fenrir hut? Ohhh, gotcha.” “Oh, Serina and Class Rep! Long time no see!”

That was more or less how it went.

One thing led to another, and soon everyone was gathered in the living room.

“Ugh. Why is Urume here?”

“Aw, Serina, you’re as prickly as ever. I don’t hate that about you, though.”

“Shoubu, you’re safe. Since you’ve come here, does that mean you’re going to join us?”

“If everyone’s cool with it, yeah.”

“Then no. Go back to Suou.”

Yumekai made a shooing motion with her hand.

“That’s way too cold! Ahaha!”

“Calm down, Yumekai. For now, I’ll explain how things got this far.”

“Oh, then I’ll make tea.”

“I shall assist you.”

Shion and Roa headed to the kitchen.

While they were doing that, Shoubu noticed the TV, game console, and other things, so we explained the bonus area to her.

“Wait, that’s crazy good! Oh, but you only got that because Kuno stayed on the deserted island. Then normally, nobody would’ve been able to get it. Most girls just want to go home right away.”

“Even in Suou’s team? They looked pretty united to me.”

“Ryouka plans to be the last one left. Though that’s only for the girls.”

“...So she’s leading them while planning to send her companions back to Japan one after another?”

I had already figured as much from how unconcerned she was about losing people, but she really did put her companions first.

She had taken on the hardest role, leading everyone, accepted responsibility for their lives, and still intended to be the last one to go home.

That was nobility you wouldn’t expect from a high school girl.

On the flip side, maybe even someone as popular in our original world as Suou couldn’t have united more than ten girls without going that far.

“Yep. I seriously think she’s amazing. She keeps soothing the girls who do nothing but cry, the ones who do nothing but complain, and all that. Plus, she drove off the worst boys too.”

Apparently, several boys had found Suou’s team and tried to mess with the girls under the pretext of joining them.

Suou had already gathered a few companions and started living out of that cave before the previous event, but both before and after her group grew, the boys had given her a lot of trouble.

As we listened to the specifics, a sympathetic mood filled the living room.

“No... Even under extreme circumstances, students from our class did such things...?”

Ms. Luminous had gone pale.

Maybe hearing about the damage not just from us, but from Shoubu, who had been in Suou’s team, made the severity of the other boys’ behavior sink in.

Trying to peek while the girls changed clothes or bathed was only the beginning. Some tried to force girls into being alone with them, and some had apparently come right to the verge of assault.

Thanks to Suou and the others’ unity and response, they had managed to drive the boys out of their base, but apparently some still hadn’t given up and kept prowling around the area.

“What the hell! That seriously pisses me off!”

“Right? Boys whose eyes haven’t gone all creepy basically don’t exist except Kuno.”

“...I’m not trying to defend them, but if I didn’t have my ability, I don’t know what would’ve happened to me either.”

“That’s not true. So-kun would hold himself back even after ten years of deserted-island life if I didn’t want it.”

Chiyu stated it flatly, and Shion and Shouko nodded along with a firm “Mm-hmm.” 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

I was happy they trusted me, and I wanted to be that kind of person.

But if someone’s mental state deteriorated far enough, I thought even a good person under normal circumstances could end up doing something wrong.

That didn’t mean what the boys had done was forgivable.

“Once Shouko can summon a third phantasmal beast, we could send one over, or if Yumekai’s ability expands, we could put a barrier around them. It might be worth including something like that in future trade terms.”

When I proposed ways to deal with the boys who had gone out of control, the girls’ faces brightened.

“That’s our Sousuke! That’s a great idea! Even I can’t exactly say something cool like, ‘Let’s make everyone our companions,’ but that doesn’t mean abandoning them is right!”

“...If it’s Kuno’s order, I’ll follow it. I also think that’s about the right limit for how far we should help. I really don’t want to wait until we’ve prepared Rights to Return for everyone.”

We weren’t heroes or saints, so we would still prioritize our companions while seeking Rights to Return and investigating the conditions for carrying over abilities and memories.

But we should be able to help our classmates while prioritizing those things.

“However, Ms. Luminous. Would it truly be possible to persuade gentlemen in such a mental state and make them trade partners?”

Roa said that after returning with the tea.

The living room was visible from the kitchen, so she must have been able to hear the conversation.

“Ugh... I want to believe that if they had clean clothes, beds, warm meals, and so on, their hearts would settle down enough for them to make rational decisions...”

If they turned over a new leaf and seriously looked for trade materials, I had no objection.

But for the girls who had been harmed, it probably wouldn’t feel good.

“Gathering the boys who caused trouble in one place sounds scary too.”

Shion, who had also brought tea over, sounded uneasy.

True, dealing with them by team would be easier for us than trading with scattered individuals.

But if those boys united while their hearts were still warped, that would be dangerous. We wanted to avoid that.

“Some of them may also say they want to become our companions...”

Minori sounded worried too.

Everyone’s faces clearly said, “That’s impossible.”

The only exceptions were Chiyu, who was expressionless, and Ms. Luminous, who still hadn’t fully recovered from the shock.

Of course, I had no intention of making them our companions either.

“The island is big, and aside from three girls, all the girls are either with us or with Suou. Helping strengthen Suou’s team’s defenses should be a reasonable compromise, shouldn’t it?”

“Mm. Find the remaining three girls and put them in Ryouka’s team, and that solves it.”

If we divided the girls between my party and Suou’s party, then strengthened both parties’ defenses, the boys wouldn’t be able to harm them.

Then, on top of that, we could offer trades to the boys too and encourage them to start making rational decisions.

That might be the best approach.

The ones we needed to be wary of were probably the boys with abilities.

If I remembered right, there had been a boy who answered Teleportation Ability.

From what I had heard, no one had seen him. I didn’t think we had seen him during the event either.

I wanted to believe he couldn’t teleport inside the barrier, but we needed to stay alert.

“So-kun, what do we do now?”

“There are two things I want to do. First, decide our team lineup for tomorrow’s event.”

Only five-person teams could participate in tomorrow’s event.

There were forty-one people on the island, including Ms. Luminous.

My party had nine people, including Shoubu. We could make one team.

Suou’s party had twelve now that Shoubu had left. They could make two teams.

That left nineteen transfer participants. It was hard to imagine, but by the numbers, they could form up to three teams.

In other words, there could be a maximum of six participating teams.

This event was a team round-robin, and we wouldn’t receive Rights to Return unless we went undefeated.

At most, we would need five straight wins.

“Yes, that is certainly something we must discuss properly.”

Minori nodded.

“And the other thing? Oh, was it gathering colors for cosmetics?”

“That comes after we finish these two things,” I ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) said in response to Shouko, then continued.

“The second thing is, I’m thinking of making a new base.”

We needed to prepare rooms for Ms. Luminous and Shoubu, and I wanted to make everyone’s rooms a little bigger.

Also, since I had the chance, I wanted to make a larger bedroom several of them had requested.

Base upgrades were a classic part of games, and I was honestly excited.