“Are you a Baka!?”
“That’s why I’m Baka! What is it!? Did I do something wrong!?”
“Everything is wrong!?”
With that, Kaito started to panic, as if saying, “I don’t understand anymore!” Baka was just confused.
“Your optimal move just now was to put ‘one copper coin on the other side’! In the following steps, I would have placed one silver coin and one copper coin on your side, and then you should have placed one gold coin and one copper coin on my side to make it even!”
“Eevee!? Are we becoming Eevee!? I like Flareon though! Huh!? Isn’t Eevee the pre-evolution!? What’s with becoming Eevee!? A new species!? A new species of Pokémon!?”
“Don’t just start talking about Pokémon! You Baka!”
Baka, while thinking, ‘Flareon is cute, so fluffy…’, suddenly felt the scale start to tilt.
The scale tilted with a creaking sound. And, at the same time as the tilt, Baka felt the heat intensifying.
“It’s getting hot!”
“T-That’s why…! That scale is going to plunge into the hot water! There’s no way you didn’t know that!?”
“Ah!? Is that what it is! I get it now! Whoa, whoa, what should I do!”
Baka started tap-dancing on the coins, going “ouch, ouch.” The hot water hadn’t reached the top of the stacked coins yet. But, since they were metal coins, it wouldn’t take long for them to heat up to nearly 100 degrees.
“Ah… no, this is, this is fine. This is… ah, damn…”
And, Kaito just looked down at Baka, his face pale.
Meanwhile, Kaito’s scale platform was approaching the goal foothold. Kaito, trembling, carefully stepped off the scale platform.
But, his legs were shaking and not moving properly.
…That must have been why.
“Ah.”
Kaito lost his footing and fell.
Kaito’s hand managed to grab the edge of the scale platform.
But, he wouldn’t be able to hold on for long while hanging. Baka understood that.
“Kaito!”
So, Baka moved immediately. Baka can’t move when he doesn’t know what to do, but if he knows what he has to do, he’s quick to act.
Safety first. Human life is the top priority. Eliminate workplace accidents. Let’s be cheerful and lively today! Baka, who had such company mottos drilled into him…
Bafun.
…Baka jumped towards Kaito!
He cut through the air, jumped, kicked off the wall, jumped, and landed near the opposite scale platform, on the goal foothold. From there, Baka looked down at Kaito.
The moment their eyes met, Kaito’s eyes showed fear.
But.
“Heave-ho.”
Baka reached out to Kaito, who was hanging from the scale platform, and lifted him up, hoyo, with a single motion.
Then, he gently lowered him onto the goal foothold.
Kaito was dumbfounded. Baka was smiling, thinking, ‘Phew, that was close! Fall prevention from heights! All good!’
For a while, both of them sat on the floor in silence.
Kaito was trembling, his gaze fixed on the floor, barely able to support his weakened body, and Baka, being Baka, didn’t know what to do while looking at Kaito.
…But.
“…Hey, Kaito. There’s one thing I want to ask you…”
Baka thought of something and spoke to Kaito.
Kaito cautiously raised his face.
Looking at Kaito’s face, which had completely lost its color… Baka asked.
“What did you evolve your Eevee into?”
“There are other things you should be asking!?”
Kaito suddenly regained his energy. No, it was just that he had received such a shock that it blew away the various fears that had been clinging to him until just now, he hadn’t actually become energetic. But, Baka misunderstood, thinking, ‘Kaito’s a little better now!’ and was a little happy!
“Huh!? Ah, asking which of the three starter Pokémon you chose should come first, right!? Sorry!”
“Just stop talking about Pokémon for a moment!”
Baka, scolded by Kaito, thought, ‘Hmm, then, what should I ask… favorite convenience store? Mine’s Ministop…’ and tilted his head.
…Then.
“…I tried to kill you, you know.”
Kaito, with a sigh, lowered his gaze to the floor again and said that.
“Huh!? Is that so!?”
“Yeah, that’s right! You’re a Baka so you didn’t notice, but I tried to kill you and save myself! Because that would be more advantageous…”
Hearing Kaito’s words, which he spat out, Baka tilted his head, thinking, ‘I see…’ and…
“I see… well, I’m glad we both got saved…”
That was the comment he let out.
“…Are you seriously thinking that?”
“Huh? Yeah… huh? I can’t say something I’m not thinking, right?”
“No, you can…”
“Huh… you really are smart after all… I can’t talk unless I’ve thought about it…”
Baka was just surprised, thinking, ‘Kaito is so smart after all!’ He remembered that Kaito was the next one to arrive at the Great Hall after Tama and Yo. So, well, Kaito was smart after all.
“…I said it earlier, but I tried to kill you. So, right now, you should be wary of me. If there’s an opening, it would be better to kill me.”
“Huh!?”
Baka didn’t understand Kaito’s smart talk. He was just surprised and tilted his head, not understanding the meaning.
“Huh, huh… I don’t want to kill you…”
“But, I tried to kill you, you know?”
“Eeeh… really?”
Yes. Baka was confused.
Because, what Kaito was saying didn’t seem real to him at all.
“Because, when I was like, ‘What should I do, what should I do?’, you were like, ‘What should I do, what should I do?’ with me…”
“…Huh?”
“You were worried about me, right? Right?”
Baka couldn’t think of Kaito as a bad guy at all.
Because, when Baka was about to sink into the hot water, he had turned pale and panicked, and in his panic, he had neglected to ensure his own safety and lost his footing.
Besides, if he really intended to sink Baka quickly, there was no need for Kaito to put a coin on his side once. At that time, if he had just declared, ‘Place one gold coin and one silver coin on Baka’s side,’ Baka would have sunk much faster.
“Right? You’re lying about trying to kill me, right? I can tell! I’m a Baka, but my eye for people is good, my boss praised me for it!”
So, Baka smiled confidently at Kaito.
…And.
“Ah! I know what I should ask first!”
Baka suddenly thought of it.
Yes. What Baka should ask first is this.
“Which Pokémon did you start with? Me, Black!”
Kaito let out a deep sigh.
However, a little color had returned to his pale face, and his breathing, which had been erratic, had also calmed down a bit.
In that state, Kaito sat back down on the floor, relaxed, and sighed again…
“…I’ve never played Pokémon. I only heard my classmates talking about it when I was little.”
He answered, looking away, seemingly reluctant. …But, quite sincerely.
“Eeeh… I see. Ah, then, I’ll lend it to you next time! Okay!”
Baka was a little disappointed that he couldn’t talk about Pokémon with Kaito, but the solution was simple. If he hadn’t played it, he should just play it. Baka patted Kaito’s shoulder with a big smile.
“…You really are a Baka.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m saying…”
Baka lamented, wanting him to understand already. It’s tough for Baka when people don’t realize that Baka is a Baka!
“Well, should I go back?”
Then, Baka asked Kaito, seeking the next instruction. ‘If you don’t know what to do, ask first!’ was his boss’s teaching.
“…Huh?”
“No, I don’t know what to do, so I was thinking of going back to my post for now…”
Baka, confused by Kaito’s confusion, said that and pointed to the scale platform he had been on.
“…Post? You don’t mean… you’re going to go back to the scale platform…?”
“Uh, yeah… I don’t know what to do in the end… what has to happen for this to be complete?”
In front of the stunned Kaito, Baka made a slightly dissatisfied face, thinking, ‘I’ve been saying I’m a Baka all along!’
Then, Kaito became even more stunned, looked at Baka’s face, looked at the scale platform… and then.
“Th-This guy…! He’s a true Baka!”
…Kaito slumped down, finally losing his strength.
Baka was happy, thinking, ‘I feel like they finally understand me!’
“Hey, hey, Kaito, what should I do? There’s a Key on top of the coins, and I think we can’t move on without taking it…”
Baka urged Kaito. There was still plenty of time, but Baka was in a bit of a hurry. If he finished his work quickly, his break would be longer. Baka was the type of baka who enjoyed longer breaks that way.
“A key? …No, it looks like the path ahead leads to the exit… But, a key, it seems, does exist…”
Kaito, having cooled his head after going around in circles, looked around and then tilted his head.
As Kaito said, upon closer inspection, there was no door in the passage leading to the back room. Peeking ahead, the Antidote Device was already there. So, the key inside the last coin in the Coin Case must be a key that doesn’t need to be taken. Which means, like the Kaito doll at the bottom of the water tank, it must be a key to take someone’s doll.
“…Hmm.”
Kaito pondered for a bit, then looked at the back of the Goddess Statue.
The Goddess Statue was still holding up the scales, and her other hand was in the process of stacking coins. …It seemed she was caught in the ’30 seconds pass without both parties declaring’ judgment.
“Ah, a keyhole! There’s definitely something in here after all!”
“Huh? A keyhole? …It really is a keyhole.”
Furthermore, they found a keyhole on the back of the Goddess Statue. Presumably, the key inside the transparent coin would open this.
Baka tilted his head, wondering, “What should I do?” while looking at the Goddess Statue, the coins, and the scales again…
“Um… Kabashima.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
Kaito spoke softly, sounding nervous. Baka, on the other hand, replied without any particular apprehension. In fact, Baka, happy that Kaito was talking to him, even had a cheerful smile.
Seeing Baka like that, Kaito, looking like he had gained some courage, said,
“…Can you move according to my instructions?”
“Yeah! Leave it to me!”
And Baka, now with a full smile, started his warm-up exercises to follow Kaito’s instructions!
Incidentally, Baka’s warm-up started with ‘squats that make the ground sink in!’ As the floor began to creak and dent from Baka’s powerful squats, Kaito stopped him.
Kaito looked up at the ceiling with a pained expression. Baka, with a bunch of question marks floating above his head, started shaking his legs for the next ’20 leg stretches per second’.