“Venus-san!”
Mina immediately rushed over, kneeling beside the crouching Venus, and began using her Unique Ability.
Just like before, a light blue glow filled Mina’s hands, healing Venus. Venus, though breathing roughly, managed to lift her face.
“Venus! Hey! Are you okay!?”
“S-somehow, thanks to Mina… I’m saved…”
Seeing that Venus had managed to recover, Mina slumped down on the spot. “I’m so glad,” she muttered, and Baka plopped down next to her, both of them rejoicing, “I’m so glad!” “I’m so glad!”
“Hmm… I’m sorry, Venus. I apologize for asking when you’re not calm, but what happened?”
There, Tsuchiya asked with a serious expression. Venus nodded with a weary look and began to speak.
“Suddenly, there was a pain like my chest was being crushed…”
“…Was it the collar’s poison?”
“I don’t know… but, probably, not…”
Hearing Venus’s answer, Tsuchiya tilted his head, hmm. Mina looked anxious, and Baka, not understanding anything, could only fidget.
“I see… Well, for now, we should hurry to join up with the other four. It’s possible that what happened to Venus was caused by one of the other four’s Unique Abilities. Though, I want to believe that’s not the case…”
Tsuchiya said with a serious look, then had Venus sit on a chair, and then looked up at Baka.
“…So, Kabashima-kun. Can you do it?”
“Yeah! Leave it to me! It’s a tackle, right!? I’m good at that!… Alright! TACKLE!”
“You say ‘tackle’ while tackling, huh…”
And so, Baka tackled the door. Then, with a loud CRACK!, the door flew off. …And, apparently, everything that was behind the door as well. This was the power of Baka’s tackle!
“A desk…? Was this… what was blocking it…?”
When they went out to the upper floor through the blown-off door, they found that there were traces of desks and other things placed there like a support beam.
Of course, all of them had been blown away by Baka’s tackle, or had been smashed to smithereens, scattering even the handrail of the stairwell and reaching the center of the Great Hall.
But, looking at the situation, it was certain that a barricade had been built to block this room.
“Did… the other four do this…!?”
Next to the stunned Tsuchiya, Baka was in shock, saying, “More things flew off than I expected! Ahhh! Damages!” and Mina was bewildered and flustered.
“Um, ah, Tsuchiya-san? That should be impossible. Because we tried to open the door right after the bell rang. But, the door wouldn’t open even then. The other four should have been in the Game rooms. So, there shouldn’t have been any time for them to build a barricade on the other side of our door…”
“No, Mina-san. If they wanted to, they could have done it. …During the day, ‘before’ entering the Game rooms.”
Before Mina’s rebuttal, Tsuchiya, with a dark expression, stared at the wooden debris on the floor and explained.
“After seeing the four of us enter our rooms, they also entered their rooms immediately. That’s what we thought… but, they could have easily built a barricade in front of our room’s exit before entering their rooms.”
“N-no way…”
Mina was shocked, and Baka, having understood a little of the situation, was also shocked.
In other words, the group of four, Tama, Yo, Hibana, and Kaito, had tried to lock Baka and the others in the room. Baka wondered if it was some kind of mistake, but Baka was a Baka, so he didn’t have any counterarguments.
…However.
“…Well, in that case, it comes down to ‘why’,”
Tsuchiya sighed and tilted his head slightly.
“Huh?”
“No, we have Kabashima-kun here. And the other four know that, right? So, they should have expected the barricade to be destroyed.”
At Tsuchiya’s words, Mina looked blank, and then, looking at the scattered debris, she muttered, “Ah, come to think of it…”
“…See, this barricade was blown away by just one of Kabashima-kun’s tackles… And, Tama-san, Yo, and Hibana have seen Kabashima-kun’s power directly, and Kaito should know about it too. In the first place, if they tried to build a barricade before the four of them entered the Game rooms, all four of them would have to be accomplices. Well, it would be difficult, I guess…”
That’s right.
Everyone already knew that this Baka was incredibly powerful. Everyone knew that Baka had broken and bent the Iron Bars and killed a Lion with his bare hands during the first day’s Game. Building a barricade in front of such a Baka was like a candle in the wind, a barricade in front of Baka!
“W-what does that mean? I’m a Baka, so I don’t get it…”
“Ah, sorry, Kabashima-kun. I can’t say anything for sure either. But, if I were to speculate…”
Tsuchiya, urged by Baka, said with a wry smile.
“…I think it’s something the devil set up to cause discord among us. Yes, that’s what I think.”
“R-really! That’s great! Then, there aren’t any bad guys, right!? Right!?”
“Well, that’s just what I thought was reasonable, but it’s not necessarily the truth. We can’t say for sure that the other four didn’t do it…”
Tsuchiya was hesitant, but Baka became cheerful.
That’s right. If no one had done anything wrong, that would be the best. That’s what Baka thought.
“Then, let’s just ask the other four directly! They should be back by now, right!?”
So, Baka cheerfully started walking towards the stairs.
To directly ask the other four, Tama, Hibana, Yo, and Kaito, who were probably waiting downstairs.
However.
“…Huh?”
Baka went down to the Great Hall, looked around, and then… tilted his head.
“They’re not here… Huh?”
That’s right. There was no one there.
Tama, Hibana, Yo, and Kaito, none of them were there.
“They’re not here, huh… This is… hmm.”
Tsuchiya, his face turning pale, looked around the Great Hall after Baka… and then, went back upstairs.
Baka followed Tsuchiya back, and Mina followed them, and then.
“The doors to the Game rooms are open, but…”
…And then, to go back to the room that Tama’s team had entered, they stepped inside…
But, they didn’t have to go far.
As soon as they entered the Antidote Device room, the three of them heard a voice.
“Damn it…! It’s no good after all! We need to call Mina-san right away…!”
And there… they saw the figures of three people collapsed.
“W-what in the world…!?”
Tsuchiya was stunned, Mina covered her mouth with both hands and widened her eyes… and Baka immediately rushed over to the three.
“Tama! Hibana! Kaito! Hang in there!”
…That’s right.
There, Tama, Hibana, and Kaito. The three of them were lying on the floor.
“M-Mina! Can’t you do something!? Kaito and Hibana are throwing up!”
Baka picked up Kaito and Hibana, who were lying near the entrance. But, even when he called out to Mina, she didn’t move.
“Mina! Please!”
“…I-I’ll try.”
Baka asked again, and Mina finally moved. …But, the light blue glow didn’t appear in Mina’s hand as she knelt next to Kaito and held her hand over him.
“Huh? What? Nothing’s happening…”
While Baka was looking blank, Mina just looked like she was about to cry.
“My Unique Ability… can only be used once every time the bell rings. Conversely… once I use my Unique Ability, I can’t use it again until the next bell rings.”
That’s right.
This was the devil’s Death Game.
They were given inhuman powers, but those powers had cruel restrictions.
Mina had used her Unique Ability on Venus earlier.
So… she couldn’t save anyone here anymore.
“Huh… Ah, r-right…! That’s right…! Then, what do we do! What should we do!? For now, um, artificial massage!? Huh!? CPR!? Which one!?”
Baka thought in his own way, and while he was confused because he was a Baka, he made an instant decision because he was a Baka, and immediately moved.
For now, he straddled Hibana’s body, who was closest to him, and placed his hands on the position of her heart… he thought it was around here, and gently, gently… being careful not to accidentally crush her sternum, he started doing chest compressions as he had been taught by his seniors.
…But, there was no sign of Hibana waking up.
“Yo! What in the world happened!?”
Meanwhile, Tsuchiya called out to the living Yo. Then, Yo slowly raised his exhausted face, and then, with an expression full of regret, he looked down again.
“…I don’t know. But, as soon as the bell rang, and the door opened… Hibana and Kaito, who were in the front, collapsed.”
“The door opened, and they collapsed…?”
“Ah… I didn’t really understand what happened. But, I also felt something strange with my body right away…”
Yo spoke slowly, as if recalling each moment. He probably hadn’t fully processed his feelings or the situation yet.
“At first, I thought the detoxification had failed. Like, maybe the device malfunctioned or something. But… no, I don’t know. I don’t know the cause.”
Yo pressed his head as if enduring a headache, but continued to speak.
“But, I thought that if things continued like that, my life would be in danger. So… I used my Unique Ability. On me and… on Tama-san, who was within reach.”
He glanced at Tama, then looked up at Tsuchiya and said,
“My Unique Ability is ‘Invincibility Time’. That’s why Tama-san and I survived.”
“…Then, Tama-san is…!”
Hearing Yo’s words, Mina rushed over and sat beside the fallen Tama. Her face lit up as if she had found a ray of light in the darkness, and she shouted,
“She’s breathing! Tama-san is just sleeping!”
It was one of the few remaining hopes in the midst of despair.
Everyone, including Baka, looked at Tama, finding a small salvation there.
…At least, it wasn’t the ‘worst’ case scenario. That’s what they wanted to believe.