“I’ll team up with you.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
I can’t hear them. I can only hear one voice. I can’t hear the others.
“Why?”
“Sorry. The truth is, I didn’t understand anything from the beginning.”
I wish they’d see it that way.
I mean, come on. I’m basically like a baby who just transferred here today. It’s only natural that I can’t understand everything, look at it all objectively, and make sound judgments.
“Of course, I noticed that… Amagi-san is doing the practice alone.”
“Yeah…”
Amagi-san, who’s willing to listen to what I have to say, is as gentle and kind as ever.
I’m ignoring the vibe beside me that says, “If you joke around, I’ll kill you.” Don’t let it get to you, Toma Yumeno!
“After that earlier conversation, when I got back to the classroom, everyone started telling me… or rather, scolding me.”
“Yeah.”
“They told me that just by being next to Amagi-san, I’d be worn out by her magic power.”
“Yeah…”
“Didn’t you know that?”
Damn it, stay out of my head! …Normally, I’d thank her for her words, but right now, I’d rather she left me alone.
“I did feel a little pressured next to her…”
You idiot! You almost passed out from it—what are you even saying?
“Is that so…”
She’s still suspicious… Maybe I should give it one more push. No, judging by Amagi-san’s expression, this topic is fine to drop now.
Let’s move on to why I didn’t say “Yes, gladly!” right away.
Yeah, that’s better.
Let’s go with the sympathy strategy!
If I don’t, the beautiful girl glaring at me won’t ever let me off the hook, and the angel won’t feel any better.
“I was hoping to take things easy and work quietly…”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Uh-oh. My two angels just turned into two demons. Is there a hole somewhere I can crawl into? I completely messed up the timing. It’s a scorching hot day, but I feel like I might freeze from their icy stares. Or maybe if I freeze, I can pretend I’m not here? Freeze, body of mine…
“Um…”
“So you came to Japan’s top explorer training school, planning to slack off and just graduate with okay grades? Are you mocking us?”
“I’m so sorry…”
And down I go, groveling.
I’m such an idiot, stepping on a landmine while trying to console them.
This is bad… Sayamura-san is leaning forward and looking seriously angry.
Even the angel looks like she’s mad at me.
“Eriina , let’s hear him out? Yumeno-kun has his reasons… He’s a transfer student, after all.”
Oh, she wasn’t mad. Maybe she was just struggling to calm down her friend’s anger.
“Tch, if Sakura says so…”
I’m sure Sakura-san is Sayamura-san’s weak spot, or the person she wants to protect.
What a good friend.
“The reason I transferred is because I left a certain team.”
“A team?”
“And that made you transfer?”
They’re actually listening normally, now that they’ve decided to hear me out. They’re probably both very serious people.
“I basically ran away. The team I was on was an S-rank team.”
“What, S-rank???”
“There are only a few S-rank teams around here, like the ones led by Terumitsu Jinguji, Mitsuteru Takamura, and Kiyosumi Shido… but I didn’t think any of them had high school-aged members.”
Feeling their surprised gazes on me, I give a wry smile. It’s not something I like to remember… the stare of the devil.
In Japan, there are only five S-rank explorers.
Each team led by one of them is classified as an S-rank team.
“Eriina , I think he was in Shido-san’s team.”
“Isn’t that Shido’s reverse-harem team?”
“That’s the rumor, yeah.”
It seems like hearing my story has calmed them down a bit.
The prickliness and suspicion in their attitudes seem to have lessened.
Meanwhile, remembering that devil makes my expression stiffen… No, I can’t let it get to me. I’m here to move forward.
“Well, it’s true. Though, being more than ten years younger, I wasn’t directly involved.”
“I see.”
“But they did pressure me.”
“What?”
“No way?”
“Yeah.”
So, I decide to be honest.
They’ll probably be shocked, but if I don’t share this, they won’t understand why I’m hesitant.
They invited me so openly and straightforwardly, and I want to respond sincerely.
“Is that why you left?”
“Pretty much. Honestly, the treatment was horrible. I was dragged around with no breaks and constantly called in, and because of my second unique skill, I even got… well, harassed.”
“What?!”
“It wasn’t exactly physical, but I was definitely approached.”
“What?!?”
Amagi-san is blushing bright red. Oops, maybe she’s not used to this kind of stuff?
“That’s what pushed me over the edge. It wasn’t like they immediately pounced on me, so I had a chance to gather evidence of the harassment and bring it to someone understanding at the Dungeon Association. It took about half a year to even find someone willing to listen, though—most people don’t go against high-ranking explorers.”
The two of them fall silent.
But since they’re listening, I continue.
Sorry, maybe this is just for my own satisfaction, but I can’t stop now.
After that, I submitted the formal withdrawal papers, arranged the transfer to this academy, which is among the best explorer training schools in Japan, and I escaped.
In a country committed to cultivating explorers, if I’d just said I was quitting, no one would’ve listened.
So I said I’d continue as an explorer but refused to stay in a problematic team.
The senior official who listened to my story ended up as my guarantor.
Even so, I’m sure the devil hasn’t given up and might try to recruit me again once I graduate and am free.
That’s why I wanted to stay low-key.
I shared all of this with the two of them.
“I’m sorry for inviting you without knowing your circumstances.”
“I’m sorry too. I was only thinking about Sakura and got mad without considering you at all.”
“Yeah.”
They apologized.
They’re really nice people.
“But… why team up with Sakura? Are you sure you’ll be okay working together?”
“Um…”
“Don’t push yourself. I’ll be fine on my own. I’ve been doing it alone this whole time, after all…”
Don’t make such a lonely face.
I’ve already decided.
“No, I’ve made up my mind. Please, team up with me.”
“Huh?”
I say it again. I need to make this clear.
With everything that’s happened, I don’t want to just shut myself away and ignore the people around me.
In the first place, I wanted to be an ordinary guy who didn’t even have events like this happening to him.
But it’s already too late for that.
Ah, maybe I made the wrong decision when I hesitated.
But it can’t be helped.
If I can team up with such a cute girl, then maybe I can turn this situation from a minus to a plus.
And then I declare it boldly, even if it sounds absurd.
But if it means moving forward with an angel beside me… it doesn’t feel like a bad choice.
“When we graduate, let’s become an S-rank team together.”
“Wow…”
“Yumeno-kun…♡”
The once-chilly atmosphere feels like it’s warmed up a bit.
