After lunch, I went outside, practically pushed along by an impatient Shouko.

“Micron remembers the place, so let’s have her take us.”

“Okay! Then Mashiro, you stay home, all right?”

Mashiro poked his face out of the Fenrir hut and barked as if to say he understood.

Micron came racing over fast enough to leave the wind behind, so I stroked her and climbed onto her back.

I sat in front, with Shouko clinging to me from behind.

As expected, the feel of her chest against my back made me tense up.

“All right, Micron. Take us back to where we were earlier.”

Micron nodded up and down, then rose into the air.

From there, she headed straight toward the area where the invisible barrier had been.

“Go, Micron! Straight to Serina!”

“When we’re in the air, there’s nothing in the way, so we really can go in a straight line. That’s great.”

Once again, I was grateful for the mobility of our phantasmal beasts.

There was a limit to how far ordinary students could explore a forest on foot.

If you had a base, you needed to return before dark, so the range you could explore naturally shrank. If you were careful not to get lost, that range would shrink even more.

Naturally, the kinds of materials you could obtain would also be limited.

I remembered how, early on, we had eaten almost nothing but mushrooms.

Even if something new was placed on the island, you couldn’t get it unless it was within your range of activity.

But we did not ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) need to worry about that.

Because we had Mashiro and Micron.

“Thanks, Micron.”

Feeling grateful all over again, I stroked the fluffy black dragon.

“Huh? I mean, Micron is a good girl, sure, but where did that come from!?”

“I just realized how much we owe her.”

“That’s true... Hm? I-in that case, shouldn’t you be grateful to me for summoning Micron, too?”

“You’re right. Having you here really does help, Shouko.”

Needless to say, her optimism and cheerfulness contributed a lot to the bright atmosphere of the party.

“Muhuhu. I’m glad I got to reunite with you, too, Sousuke.”

Saying that, Shouko pressed herself tightly against me.

With happiness pressed against my back, we continued through the sky for a while.

Then Micron began descending.

“Looks like it’s around here.”

“It just looks like normal forest, though?”

“Yeah. The barrier’s invisible.”

“Ohhh. In manga, you can usually see transparent stuff, but that’s more so the reader can understand it, right?”

“Yeah, that happens a lot. The kind of thing where you can tell it’s an effect for the reader, and in-universe it’s treated as invisible.”

If a work depicted its in-universe reality exactly as it was and failed to communicate anything to the reader, there would be no point, so I was in favor of that kind of visual effect.

Pictures of barriers being deployed looked cool, too. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

In any case, unfortunately, Yumekai’s barrier was invisible.

Micron brought us close to the ground, so the two of us climbed down.

When I felt around for the boundary, my hand soon touched something.

“Oh, here it is. You can’t see it, but there’s definitely a wall.”

When Shouko saw me patting empty air, she reached out into the space in front of her as well.

“...Oh! You’re right. Whoa, this feels weird. Serina’s on the other side of this, right?”

The instant she said that, both arms reached out from beyond the boundary, grabbed Shouko and me, and pulled us in.

“Whoa.”

“Eek!”

I was a little surprised, but since this was my second time, I was not confused.

Shouko seemed much more startled, but the moment she saw the person standing in front of us, her expression turned into a smile.

“...It really is Shouko.”

“Serinaaa!”

Shouko hugged Yumekai with enough force that she looked ready to rub her cheek against her.

“Annoying. Annoying. Let go.”

“Ughhh. Serina, you’ve gotten so thin...”

“I was already like this. You know that.”

“Your school uniform is all wrinkled, too...”

“That’s what happens when you wash it in water and wring it out. Actually, why does yours look brand new?”

“At our place, Sousuke cleans it for us.”

“What?”

I had not yet explained how Storage & Replacement removed grime and the like.

Yumekai shot me a sharp look, so I explained. She gave me the compliment, “...Kuno’s power is way too convenient.”

“You’re amazing too, Serina! A power that can make barriers is incredible!”

“...Well, it’s nice that nothing can bother me. But honestly, it’s inconvenient.”

In modern Japan, it was possible to live conveniently while minimizing contact with other people.

But that kind of convenient life only worked because, even if you did not meet them face-to-face, it was supported by the labor of people other than yourself.

If you were truly alone on this deserted island, then no one would bother you, but your life would settle into something inconvenient.

“Now that I think about it, Serina, are you alone?”

“Obviously. There were people trying to gather companions during the event and stuff, but I couldn’t be bothered getting involved with that.”

“Gather companions?”

At my involuntary question, Yumekai nodded.

“You didn’t run into them? Suou became the leader and was trying to make a team.”

Suou Ryouka was the head of one of the two major girls’ groups, alongside Shouko.

There was Shouko’s group, which included Shouko, Shion, and Yumekai, and there was Suou’s group.

There were also unaffiliated or neutral students like Roa and her friends, but broadly speaking, most girls belonged to one side or the other.

Chiyu, incidentally, was unaffiliated too.

It was not that they were on bad terms, exactly, but Suou seemed to be the one burning with rivalry toward Shouko.

“I see... So that’s why there weren’t many people around during the event.”

Now we knew that the reason fewer people had been chasing the sphere of light was because there had been a faction working hard to recruit companions elsewhere.

“Our leader is Sousuke.”

“Shouko, you always were interested in Kuno.”

“W-w-wait...! You’re saying that now!?”

Shouko’s face went bright red.

Even though I already knew, I ended up feeling embarrassed, too.

“More importantly, let’s talk about the deal.”

“Don’t bring it up in the first place if you’re going to brush it off with ‘more importantly’!”

“I understand that Shouko is one of your companions and that she trusts Kuno. The conditions Kuno proposed are useful to me, too. But this power isn’t unlimited.”

“Is there a limit to how wide an area you can deploy it over, or how far away it can be from you?”

“...You catch on fast. More or less. So here’s my proposal.”

To summarize what Yumekai said:

She would move to either her base or ours and deploy the barrier there.

She did not intend to say we had to live together, but she wanted both sides to be able to move freely inside the barrier.

In addition to food distribution, she wanted me to clean her school uniform sometimes.

That was it.

How should I put this...?

She wanted way too little.

“Uh, listen, Yumekai.”

“What? Is that asking too much?”

“The opposite. Uh, Shouko. Explain the basic treatment at our place.”

“Got it! We have a big house, so everyone gets their own room! The rooms come with a bed, warm blankets, a desk, and a lantern! We get three meals a day, all handmade by Shii-chan, and they’re super delicious! We have changes of clothes and pajamas! We can take a bath every day, and Sousuke makes soap, shampoo, lotion, and all sorts of other stuff! If we get tired or hurt, Chiyucchi’s magic heals us up in no time! If there’s something complicated, Minorin can usually explain it, and recently Roa-chii the maid joined us, too! Mashiro the Fenrir and Micron the black dragon are super fluffy! We have tons of chickens, so we can eat all the eggs we want! Since everyone works together and does their best, we have plenty of meat, vegetables, mushrooms, and fruit! All of that is basic treatment if you’re a companion!”

Faced with that storm of benefits, Yumekai froze.

Ten seconds passed.

Then twenty.

Shouko grew worried and shook her by the shoulders, and Yumekai snapped back to life.

“Sorry. I think I was having a dream where someone told me about a utopia. What was that about treatment?”

“Yumekai, what you heard wasn’t a dream.”

“What? No, even if there’s cooperation from your companions, the foundation of that life is Kuno’s ability, right? The contribution and the treatment don’t balance out. What, do I pay the shortfall with my body or something?”

“S-S-S-Sousuke would never say something like that!”

Shouko, I was glad she was defending me, but I wish she could have said it without panicking.

Because Yumekai, misunderstanding the reaction, hugged herself protectively and took a step back.

“...There are honestly still things we haven’t talked about, but no one is going to tell a companion to offer up her body, so don’t worry.”

“Serina, that part is really true. Sousuke doesn’t act based on profit and loss.”

“...Well, I’ll believe that much. But I’m the one who can’t accept it. Basically, I want things to stay even, with no debts either way. If I owe too much, it feels uncomfortable.”

I could understand that feeling.

“Your barrier ability is more important than you think, Yumekai. You might already know this, but abilities grow the more you use them.”

“That much, yeah.”

It seemed Yumekai had experienced that too.

Well, if she had been keeping a barrier deployed the whole way to Day 7, it made sense that it would grow.

“I want you to apply the barrier whenever its range or strength expands. If that happens, the area we can safely explore will grow, and we can spend our nights sleeping without fearing monster attacks. That benefit is large enough that every companion agreed they wanted to welcome you in.”

Serina looked at Shouko.

“Yeah, yeah! Everyone agreed to let Serina join!”

“...Huh. So it isn’t just because I’m Shouko’s friend. You’re valuing the usefulness of my barrier ability. ...Even so, I still feel like I’d be receiving too much. But I guess that means there’s room for me to pay it back later.”

Every time her barrier grew stronger, Yumekai’s contribution would rise.

Once that happened, there might come a day when, in her own mind, it balanced with companion treatment.

“Then... well, I’ll be counting on you.”

“Yeah. Same here.”

“Yay! Serina’s a companion too!”

“I’m not a companion. I’m a deal partner.”

Yumekai seemed resistant to the word companion.

“What? But we’re friends.”

“That’s irrelevant.”

“So mean!”

“...By the way, how many members are on your side?”

While peeling off Shouko, who was still clinging to her, Yumekai looked at me.

“Including you, seven.”

“...Based on what I just heard, doesn’t that mean everyone except Kuno is a girl?”

“...That’s how it works out.”

Yumekai retreated another step.

“N-n-n-no, Serina, it’s not like Sousuke is only choosing girls as companions, okay?”

Shouko, again, I was grateful she was defending me, but I wish she could have stayed a little calmer.

Because Yumekai was looking seriously put off.

“...I’m kidding. I saw boys during the event and stuff too, so I know it would be crazier to make them companions. Based on Kuno’s standards, you’re choosing people and abilities that seem like they can cooperate with you, right?”

Regarding abilities, that was honestly not an absolute rule, but...

Well, there was no need to go out of my way to deny it right now.

“I’ll do my best to contribute enough to match the treatment.”

“We’ll welcome you, Yumekai.”

A classmate who could deploy a barrier had become either our companion or our deal partner.