When I stepped outside, the two of them were already inside the stone wall.

Or rather—two girls and one beast.

Bathed in moonlight was a gigantic white wolf.

Honestly, my heart almost froze from the shock, but I recovered fast—probably because one of the riders was Kanna Shouko.

In other words, the thing that shouldn’t exist as a living creature on Earth was—

A phantasmal beast.

“Ah... Fenrir?”

It was a safe guess this was what she’d summoned with the Fluffy Summoning Ability.

If I hadn’t heard her ability out loud back in that classroom, I might’ve passed out on the spot.

That was how overwhelming its presence was.

“Yup, yup! I named her Mashiro! Super fluffy! Super cute! Super obedient!”

When Kanna praised her, Fenrir narrowed her eyes in obvious delight and swished her tail.

“Mashiro, put us down—”

At her master’s voice, Fenrir smoothly sat.

Then, using Fenrir’s back and side like a slide, Kanna and the other girl climbed down.

“I’ve got a million things I want to ask, but... for now, I’m just glad you’re safe, Kanna.”

“Aha.”

Kanna laughed lightly at my words, but...

Her expression started to crumble, and tears welled at the corners of her eyes.

“K-Kanna?”

In the next instant, she sprinted at me and threw her arms around me.

“Uwoah—”

I managed to brace and avoid falling over.

“For real...! I seriously didn’t get it at all! I woke up and it was a forest! Like, what, where even am I!? And there’s nobody around, and you just get lost forever, and I was like, I can’t do this, I’m done—! But then I remembered the dream stuff and I was like, wait, is this that whole reincarnated-in-another-world thing!? So I tried summoning something fluffy and Mashiro came, and she showed me where nuts were and stuff, she’s such a good girl, she saved me so much, but I had no idea what I’m supposed to do next, and I was freaking out and—!”

Yeah.

She must’ve had it rough. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Mixed in with her faintly sweet scent was the smell of sweat.

That part was fine, but—

The sheer destructive power of the huge chest being pressed into me was insane.

Still, getting turned on by a crying girl would make me the worst kind of trash, so I just gently rubbed her back.

“T-That sounds brutal.”

After I stayed like that for a bit, she seemed to calm down.

Or so I thought—then she suddenly sprang back away from me.

It was dark, so it was hard to tell, but her face looked faintly red.

“A-ahaha! Yeah, yeah! And you too, Kuno! Seriously—people who look normal at school are, like, weirdly strong when this kind of plot happens, huh!”

Apparently, she read that kind of stuff too.

Not just other-world stories—“plain boy gets thrown into a different environment and shows freakish adaptability” was a classic trope.

No clue if I was adapting that well, though.

“Hey, Shouko—wasn’t that kind of rude?”

The black-haired long-haired girl tugged at Kanna’s sleeve and scolded her.

Maybe she thought the phrase “people who look normal” would piss me off.

“Huh? Was it? Kuno, are you mad?”

Kanna’s face turned anxious.

I could tell she didn’t mean it badly, and honestly, it wasn’t even wrong.

I was a perfectly average high school guy.

“No, I’m fine. More importantly, uh... Yomiumi was with you too.”

“Aha, thanks for bringing it up first, Kuno. Shouko wasn’t introducing me at all, so I was trying to figure out when I could jump in.”

Smiling like she was a little troubled, Yomiumi Shion stepped up beside Kanna.

A chest just as full as Kanna’s. A slim waist, but thighs with just the right amount of {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} softness. And on top of that, a beautiful face—so of course she stood out in Class 2-A and got a ton of attention.

And yet, I’d never even heard a rumor that she’d had a boyfriend.

All that accumulated was the fact that every guy who confessed got shot down, one after another.

—She was in Kanna’s group, and I’m pretty sure she came up near us in that “dream,” too...

It was because Kanna started messing with me that the “what ability do you want” riff kicked off.

And thanks to that, it went without saying that the number of ability-holders in Class 2-A increased.

If that hadn’t happened, we might’ve ended up with only me and Chiyu as ability users.

But even thinking back, I couldn’t remember Yomiumi saying what ability she wanted.

“Huh? We’re just classmates. She can talk whenever she wants.”

“Not everyone can push in as boldly as you do, Shouko.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Yomiumi nodded gravely—half joking, half dead serious.

“Anywayyy—this black-haired, pure-and-proper beauty is Yomiumi Shion. And this black-haired savior boy is Kuno Sousuke. Okay, shake hands, you two—bam, friends now~”

Savior boy, huh.

Well, maybe in her own way she was grateful—since she’d been able to get the Fluffy Summoning Ability after listening to my “abilities are allowed” answer.

“Fufu, Shouko, you’re so careless. But seriously—nice to meet you, Kuno.”

I reflexively took the hand she offered.

It was smooth and soft, almost squishy.

“Y-Yeah. Nice to meet you too, Yomiumi.”

“You can call me Shion.”

“Uh... okay. Shion.”

Back in elementary school, sure, but once I hit middle school, I started feeling awkward calling a girl by her first name if we weren’t especially close.

If I were one of the social types, I could probably do it casually, but it made me a little nervous.

“Then can I call you Sousuke?”

She looked up at me like that—who could say no?

“O-Of course.”

“W-w-wait! Shii—? You don’t think that’s moving way too fast!? That’s, like, aggressively pushing in!”

For some reason, Kanna jumped between us, sounding flustered.

“What’s wrong, Shouko?”

“What’s wrong, you say...”

Then Shion went, “Ah...!” and clapped her hands like she’d just realized something.

“Sousuke. You’ve known Shouko longer than me, right? So I think it’s unfair if only I get first-name privileges. Why don’t you two start calling each other by your first names too, starting now?”

“I’m fine with it if Kanna is.”

“I-I mean... if you’re okay with it, Kuno— I mean, Sousuke...”

“See? Then both of you—no last names from now on.”

“Uh... Shouko?”

“Y-yeah. What is it, Sousuke?”

Confirming we were calling each other by first names felt weirdly ticklish.

Shion watched us with a satisfied smile.

“Alright. Can we move things along now?”

At Shion’s words, I nodded.

“Me and Shouko—we don’t intend to be your enemies, Sousuke.”

“Duh, Shii. Obviously.”

Shouko said it like it was nothing, but I thought Shion’s statement mattered.

Because I got used to it fast since Shouko was a friend, but the Fluffy Summoning Ability was ridiculous.

Being able to command a phantasmal beast with combat power, mobility, scouting, and exploration abilities was basically cheating.

It was hard to imagine, but if Shouko sicced Fenrir on me, it’d be a problem.

From Shion’s position, stating they had no hostile intent was something she should do.

“Me neither. I don’t want to be enemies with you two.”

“Thank you. And the reason we came to bother you this late is... we want you to let us—join Sousuke’s group.”

It was something I’d half expected, but... yeah.

I didn’t know what Shouko was thinking, but anyone who’d heard me say Crafting Ability would realize how useful it was the moment they arrived here and understood this was real.

“For now, why don’t we share information with each other? It’s already late, so we could do it tomorrow, but...”

“No. If you don’t mind, Sousuke, I want to do it now. Right, Shouko?”

“Huh? Yeah. Y-yeah. I mean... I want to hear your side too, Sousuke.”

“Yeah. Also, this isn’t my base alone, so... we should talk with everyone.”

When I looked back at the hut, the door creaked open—

And my childhood friend’s head peeked out, staring with narrowed, irritated eyes.