The opened door led to a silent, still space. It was dark, and the end was not easily visible.
“H-Hey… Old man Amagi…”
Baka called out, but there was no reply.
…He took a step into the room. Then another step. Two steps.
As he did, he eventually saw a device similar to the one in the room they had entered from the Great Hall. However, the orbs loaded into the device were not glowing, and the magic circle-like patterns had lost their light.
“…I guess it’s expired,” Yo said, coming next to Baka, his face troubled.
Baka remembered it in his own way. He recalled that this device could only be used four times during the day when the doors to each room were opened from the Great Hall.
In other words, this device was no longer usable. That was probably the case.
“The orbs… ah,” Yo said, looking at the orbs loaded into the machine, his lips tightening.
“There are four… hmm…” Tsuchiya, who came after them, also looked at it with a bitter expression.
“H-Hey, is it okay? Does it seem safe to go in?”
“Yeah… there’s nothing so far, Venus. Well, it should be safe,” Yo replied.
While they were talking, Venus cautiously entered. Following her, Mina, Tama, Hibana, and Kaito also entered.
“So, where’s old man Amagi?”
“He hasn’t been found yet, but… it seems we should prepare for the worst,” Tsuchiya said, showing the machine with a bitter face. Hibana looked at it and nodded, as if saying, “Ah, I see.”
“B-But, there might still be time… right? Let’s look for him!”
“Yes, of course. Alright, let’s move forward,” Mina said.
Seeing Mina and Tsuchiya head towards the back, Baka and the others followed. From the middle, Baka took the lead. If there were traps or if a Lion appeared, it would be okay if Baka was in front.
…And so, they went down the stairs and proceeded a little way down the passage.
“This is…”
“Old man! Old man! Hey! Get a hold of yourself!”
Some stood still, while others rushed forward. Baka was, of course, the latter. Baka rushed to Amagi, who was restrained in a chair in the center of the room, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him.
…Then, the gas mask-like thing on Amagi’s face fell off.
And then.
“…No way, old man,” Amagi was dead, having vomited blood.
Baka immediately checked his pulse. Even Baka knew how to check a pulse.
…But there was no pulse.
Thinking, “Maybe I’m just bad at checking,” he looked at his neck as well as his wrist, but still, there was no pulse. Baka didn’t know what to do anymore.
“We need to treat him immediately!” Mina interjected.
Then, a light blue glow flowed from Mina’s hands and was absorbed into Amagi. …But there was no change in Amagi.
“Ah… no way…”
“…It was too late,” Mina collapsed on the spot, and Tsuchiya, who came after her, looked down with a bitter face.
“Mina-san, what was that just now?”
“…I thought I could treat him. Using my Unique Ability…” Mina answered Tama’s question, then hung her head. She seemed to be in shock after seeing Amagi dead up close.
“Is he… dead?”
“…He wasn’t the most cooperative person, but it’s still a bit much when he dies,” Kaito and Venus also looked at Amagi with a painful expression.
…And Baka was feeling down.
“I wanted to ask old man Amagi why he hated me so much…”
For Baka, Amagi was someone who hated him for no reason he knew of. He also thought of him as a grumpy old man, a bit selfish, and so on…
“We could have become friends…”
…Even so, he had vaguely thought that it would be nice if they could become friends, since they were in the same place. Amagi, who was in a way the person Baka was most curious about, had died, leaving Baka feeling lost.
And so, next to Mina, who was in shock and stunned, Baka also slumped his shoulders, feeling down.
“…What kind of situation was this, anyway?”
While Baka was feeling down, Tama was moving.
Hearing Tama’s words, Baka looked around the room again.
In the room, there were four chairs. The four chairs were arranged in a circle, with their backs facing each other, and there was a large bottle in the center of the chairs. A tube extended from the large bottle, and at the end of the tube was a gas mask-like thing. This was what had fallen off Amagi’s face earlier.
And there were five glass bottles filled with liquids of various colors on the table in the middle. …And also, five empty glass bottles.
“…I don’t get it,” Baka didn’t understand what this situation was about at all. Would he have understood if he were a little smarter?
“…Was he poisoned or something?”
“Probably. …So, I guess he looked at some kind of hint, put about five of the contents of the bottles into the water bottle, and then inhaled or drank what came out…” Hibana seemed to be guessing what kind of game it was by looking at the device, and Tama seemed to be able to analyze it in more detail. It was a feat that Baka couldn’t do.
“Hmm… the quality of the ‘Game’ seems to change a lot depending on whether it’s done alone or with four people. Perhaps there are some games where it’s more advantageous to be alone,” Tsuchiya said.
While listening to Tsuchiya’s words, Baka vaguely thought, “But I don’t think I can do anything alone.”
And the same was true for Amagi, who was dead in front of him. If he hadn’t been alone, maybe he could have been saved.
…Thinking that made him feel sad again.
“Well… let’s somehow remove these restraints. Even if it’s a corpse… it’s not right to leave him like this.”
“Yeah… Here we go,” Baka said, following Tsuchiya’s suggestion, and began to remove Amagi’s restraints. They were like metal rings, so he just pulled them, and they broke with a loud cracking sound.
“Is this okay?”
“…I’m surprised.”
“R-Really, with your bare hands…!? That’s impossible!” Tsuchiya and Venus showed a very fresh reaction when Baka destroyed all the restraints. Kaito looked like he was about to faint. Mina was surprised, but her sadness still seemed to outweigh her surprise. In other words, she felt the same way as Baka.
“This guy broke through the iron bars with a tackle. It’s not surprising at this point,” Yo said.
“Ah, yes, I’d love to hear the details of that. I also have a lot to talk about regarding Amagi-san… Ah, my head is going to explode…”
“Hey, where should we take Amagi…”
“For now, let’s take him to the upper floor. If we look through the pile of junk, I think we’ll find a bed or a sofa,” Tama said.
Baka picked up Amagi and headed to the upper floor, following Tama’s guidance.
…But before that.
“…Yo, are you okay?”
“Huh?”
Baka was worried about Yo, who was as down as he and Mina were.
Yo was probably a smart guy, but he was feeling down before he could even use his brain. It was concerning.
“Ah, yeah… I’m sorry. I guess I was pretty shocked…” Yo said, muttering, “I’m pathetic.”
“It’s okay. You were probably the one who talked to Amagi the most, right?” Baka said, wanting to say that he wasn’t pathetic, and gave Yo a small smile. He didn’t have the energy to give a full smile, so it was just a little one.
“Don’t push yourself too hard. The boss said it’s better to properly feel sad when you’re sad.”
“…I see. Yeah, thank you. That’s right… I still haven’t even sorted out my feelings about participating in this Game,” Yo said.
“It can’t be helped. Right? Let’s take a break. I think there are probably some chairs too. If there are, I’ll pull them out! Just tell me!”
Baka smiled a little more than before and followed the others. Yo followed Baka, and they all returned to the upper floor… the open floor.
After that, Tsuchiya found a simple bed-like thing among the junk in the room beyond the room where Amagi was, the room with the Antidote Device, so Amagi’s body was laid there.
“…Amagi…”
Looking down at the body again, Baka felt sad. He slumped his shoulders.
“…Well. It’s cruel, but we can’t stay here. In another 60 minutes, the next Game will start,” Venus said.
But Venus was right. They couldn’t keep feeling down. Baka gently placed a blanket he found in the junk pile over Amagi, then followed Venus and Hibana back to the Great Hall.
“Well… the situation has changed quite a bit, but for now, let’s share information about what happened in each of our teams.”
Alright.
With everyone gathered, it was time to share information again.
“Umm… Kabashima-kun, you punched a lion to death with your bare hands and broke through iron bars with a tackle… was that it?”
“Huh? Oh! That’s right!”
“Explain in detail. Explain it in detail! It makes absolutely no sense!”
Even Kaito was pressing him, and Baka started thinking, “Where should I start explaining?” …However.
“Ahead of us was a labyrinth made of iron bars, and there was a lion. The lion was in an excited state, like it would attack any human it saw,” Tama explained, taking over for Baka. Baka felt relieved and decided to leave the explanation to Tama. It’s better to let someone who’s good at it handle these things.
“There were several levers on the walls, including in the middle of the labyrinth, and when you moved them, parts of the iron bar walls would move, changing the path of the labyrinth. Normally, you’d try to escape the lion while aiming for the goal… I think that’s how it was supposed to be,”
“But no, that Baka over there punched the lion to death with his bare hands, and then he broke through the iron bars with a tackle, so we reached the goal without any trouble,” Hibana took over the last part, which was more of a complaint than an explanation, and with that, Baka’s side of the explanation was mostly finished.
…Truly, the fact that the explanation could be summed up with just that showed how significant Baka’s actions were.
“I see… so that means you guys cleared it with quite a bit of time to spare.”
“Yeah… was it not the same for you guys?”
Now that their side of the explanation was over, it was finally Tsuchiya’s side’s turn to explain…
“That’s right! It was awful!? This guy… Kaito, pushed Mina in front of the Antidote Device! Just so he could sit down first!”
…It seems Venus has a lot she wants to say.
And the atmosphere seems like it’s about to get rough. Baka, in his own way, was thinking, “Let’s all get along,” with a painful feeling in his stomach.