Chiyu peeked out with only her face showing through the gap in the door, staring at us—staaare.

“Wah! It’s Chiyu! Thank god you’re okay!”

But when she saw Shouko bouncing around, overjoyed about her safety, it looked like the edge went out of her.

“You too... Shouko.”

“Oh! That nickname’s cute! I’m Shouko! Ahaha!”

“...So you linked up with Ms. Iyama. Or... wait—back then, because you grabbed Sousuke-kun’s hand, you transferred together?”

Shion started analyzing out loud.

“I think that’s probably it.”

“That’s amazing... Sousuke-kun, did you know?”

“No, it was just luck.”

“I see. But I bet that ‘just luck’ made Ms. Iyama really happy.”

Right—Chiyu said something like that too.

Shion murmured it with a faintly dazzled look, and all I could manage was, “You think so?”

“So-kun, come here for a second.”

Chiyu beckoned from the door, and I walked over.

“What is it?”

I stopped in front of the door and asked.

“‘What is it?’ Seriously? You want me to go out there in front of them with my uniform sleeves and stomach and skirt all crispy-dry?”

Chiyu looked at me like she was scolding me.

“—Ah.”

The moment I realized why my childhood friend hadn’t come outside, I got awkward fast.

“If that’s So-kun’s kink, then as your beloved childhood friend, I’m prepared to meet it to the fullest. It can’t be helped. I’ve heard there are men out there who enjoy tying a used condom to a girl’s underwear and making her walk around outside. I understand So-kun is part of that lineage. Crispy-dry childhood friend, deploying.”

“Sorry, okay...! I’ll put it in Inventory right now.”

Even if she could clean her skin with the soap and water and bucket we’d set out earlier, clothes were a different story.

And even if she washed them with soap, they’d end up wet, which would be weird in its own way.

I should’ve realized she was waiting on my Inventory.

Also—why does Chiyu have that kind of hyper-specific kink knowledge in her head...?

“Deployment canceled?”

“Canceled. Canceled.”

“Mm. Then here.”

She’d already taken off her uniform.

I quickly stored it in Inventory, then placed it back.

“I’m really sorry, Chiyu.”

Chiyu let out a sigh.

“I know. It’s not your fault, So-kun. I was just playing a prank out of jealousy.”

“No, I should’ve noticed. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

Chiyu finished changing in no time. At my words, she tilted her head with a little plop.

“So you’re planning to dirty me again in the future?”

Her eyes narrowed in a strangely dangerous way.

“Ugh.”

“Joking. Let’s go.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Chiyu—? Sousuke—? What’re you whispering about?”

“Shouko, come on. Just wait quietly.”

I stored the items we had left inside too, then headed over with Chiyu, who was fully ready.

“Sorry. Looks like she had something she needed to talk to me about. You probably already know, but this is Iyama Chiyu. She’s my childhood friend from kindergarten, and we transferred together.”

I wanted to confess properly after we got back to Earth, and Chiyu seemed to agree with that.

So introducing her as my girlfriend right now would be weird.

“Mm. Nice to meet you. You can call me Chiyu too.”

Without saying it outright, Chiyu made it clear she’d heard the whole first-name thing.

Shion seemed to understand, because she gave a strained little smile.

“Ahaha... nice to meet you, Chiyu.”

Shion and Chiyu shook hands, but when I saw Chiyu’s hand, I couldn’t help remembering what had just happened.

Up until a moment ago, Chiyu’s small hand had been on my—

No. No, no. I shook my head hard and refocused.

“What are you doing, Sousuke?”

“N-Nothing. Also, it’s dark and kind of chilly—can I light a fire?”

“Huh? Sousuke, you can make fire?”

“Yeah. I made a fire starter with my ability, so...”

“That’s awesome...! Do it, do it!”

I headed toward the huge stone-paved platform we’d left out.

“Chiyu, help me out.”

The campfire we used for the bath and dinner had been put out, and the ash had been packed into an earthenware jar and Itemized.

This was another quirk of how the ability worked, but fine grains like sand or dirt—stuff that was in contact with the ground—couldn’t be stored as-is.

Maybe because the boundary between them and the earth was too ambiguous.

“I think it’d be better, for learning purposes, if we had someone else do it.”

“That’s not hard, right? Then... I’d like to help too.”

The one who timidly raised her hand was Shion.

“Well... sure. Then I’ll take you up on that.”

“Yes. Consider it taken.”

Shion smiled pleasantly as she stepped up onto the stone platform.

We sat down on the stone, and I set up the fire starter I’d placed with my ability.

“Whoa. A tool just appeared out of nowhere... is this your ability too?”

I wasn’t planning to spill everything about my ability before they were officially allies...

But we’d already seen a Fenrir, so this much was within acceptable range.

“Yeah. Shion, I need you to hold this stone with the indentation, and step on both ends of this wooden board.”

“Oh, got it. I’m the stabilizer. Then you pull the string and make an ember with friction.”

“Exactly.”

Shion spread her feet and pinned the wooden board in place.

I was used to this by now—I got an ember in under ten seconds.

I couldn’t really see in the moonlight, but it looked like Shion’s underwear was black...

I immediately kicked the stray thought out of my head and started preparing the fire.

“It’s really a campfire! And you did it so fast!”

I placed log-stool seats in a circle around the fire, and everyone sat down.

“Did you make these chairs too, Sousuke?”

“With my ability.”

“That’s insane. Way too convenient. Out here, that’s basically the strongest ability.”

Shouko’s energy had been high this whole time.

She was an active girl to begin with, but maybe she was just happy to see friends again on a deserted island.

“It’s been doing a lot for us. And being able to command a Fenrir is pretty busted too.”

“Ahaha, totally... It’s not really funny, but there are people who picked stuff like a single bag of potato chips.”

“A lot of students ended up with abilities because of Sousuke-kun, so I think they’re grateful.”

“For real! If I didn’t have Mashiro, I would’ve starved to death, so I’m seriously grateful to you, Sousuke!”

Shouko pressed her palms together like she was praying.

Mashiro, meanwhile, had moved behind Shouko and was lying down.

I wanted to try petting her, but I should probably wait until after we finished talking.

“Well, sounds like some people chose weird abilities too, so I doubt there are that many grateful ones.”

I added that because nonstop praise was embarrassing, but—

“That’s not So-kun’s fault.”

“Yeah! What matters is there are people like me who got saved, right?”

“Yeah... true. And if you could change your answer later, there might be more ability users.”

“Oh, that’s not a ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) thing.”

Shion spoke up.

“Shion said she answered twice, but the only thing she got was the first one.”

“Huh.”

If that was true, then most people’s items and abilities were already locked in.

I remembered a lot about what happened in that dream, even if not everything.

And I still had a rough memory of who answered what.

But that could wait for now.

We needed to share information first—just as I started to speak, Shouko’s stomach went grrrr.

“A-Ahaha... Mashiro just suddenly made the cutest noise, geez—”

Her attempt at a cover was painfully bad.

Dragged into her master’s lie, Mashiro still tried her best to protect her and let out a whine—like she was trying to recreate the stomach sound.

What a loyal Fenrir.

For now, it looked like we should get something to eat before we got into the real discussion.