For now, Baka gently lowered Kaito to the floor. Kaito seemed completely drained of strength. Baka looked dejected, saying, “I’m sorry… I startled you, didn’t I…”
“U-um, who are you guys…?”
“Well, I’m Kabashima Tsuyoshi! You can call me Baka or Baka-shima, whatever you like! Ah, I really am a Baka, so please be kind! But I’m confident in my strength!”
Baka answered Yo, who was still bewildered, with a cheerful tone, puffing out his chest. This only added to the confusion of the seven, but Baka was a Baka, so he didn’t notice such things.
“And this guy is…”
“…Just call me Kaito. It seems my collar has the mark of Neptune on it.”
Kaito introduced himself, as if saying, “I don’t want to be introduced without my permission!” And then…
“This Kabashima broke down the door and invaded my private room from the next room. We talked for a while, and that’s why we’re late. If you want to suspect us, go ahead. I think it’s understandable that you’d be suspicious of everything.”
Seeing Kaito speak with such a resigned, almost enlightened tone, the seven in the Great Hall were dumbfounded. At the same time, they looked as if they were thinking, “It’s hard to suspect him, actually,” and then they turned their gaze towards Baka…
“That’s right! I couldn’t open the safe, so I went to Kaito’s room and asked him to open it for me…”
As he said this, Baka’s neck still had the clanking chain attached. Furthermore, a piece of what used to be the wall was dangling from the end of the chain.
…From this bizarre appearance, everyone must have thought the same thing.
‘This guy is definitely strange…’
“U-um… I’m not quite grasping the situation, but are you two acquaintances from the start?”
Baka was about to answer, “Yes!” but Kaito interjected with, “No.” …Yo had an indescribable look on his face!
“We’ve never met before this Game started. We’ve never talked, and we didn’t even know of each other’s existence. In that sense, we are ‘not acquaintances from the start.’ Right?”
“Ah, yeah, I guess… So, making friends after coming here doesn’t count, huh…”
When Kaito confirmed, Baka nodded dejectedly. Yo and the others were like, “Ah, I see…” They understood that, for this Baka, even someone he met 90 minutes ago was considered an acquaintance.
Furthermore.
“Ah, and also, as you can probably tell by looking at him… his Unique Ability is ‘muscles.'”
Kaito said that.
“Huh!?”
As Baka looked confused, Kaito continued his explanation with a “good grief” expression.
“You made someone else open it for you, and you didn’t read the explanation? Or rather, after breaking down the door and everything, didn’t you suspect your own power?”
“W-well, even if you say that…”
Baka was completely lost, just stammering. …However, Baka saw Kaito make a gesture as if to say, “Keep it a secret,” so he finally understood, “Oh, right! The rewind Unique Ability is a secret!”
“If I think about it, it was definitely weird! Yeah! It’s kind of weird! Kaito’s right!”
…Well, Baka’s acting skills were terrible. But he was a gutsy radish, so please forgive him.
“I see… um, Kabashima-kun, was it? Are you sure it was okay to reveal your ‘muscles’ Unique Ability…?”
“Huh? It’s fine! I’m proud of my strength, but I’m not very smart! So, there are probably a lot of things I’ll need everyone’s help with… and conversely, I think there are a lot of things I can solve with my power! It’s better if everyone knows!”
When Tsuchiya asked worriedly, Baka answered with his chest puffed out. Then, Tsuchiya looked a little impressed, thinking, “Oh, how straightforward…”
“Um? So, Baka-kun broke down the door and escaped, took the safe, had Kaito-kun open it… and then you just talked and came here at the last minute, right? So, does that mean you two are already working together?”
When Venus asked that, Baka… before answering, “That’s right!” he looked at Kaito and asked properly.
“Are we working together!?”
“…That’s right. You can think of it that way.”
Then, when Kaito gave that answer, Baka became happy. It seemed that Baka and Kaito were working together after all! Good!
“But, don’t get the wrong idea. I still don’t trust you.”
“Eeeeeeeeh!?”
But, when Kaito said that, Baka was shocked!
“No way! I trust Kaito!”
“Ah, yeah, that’s right. Thank you for that. But that’s that.”
Kaito looked very uncomfortable, and everyone around them had a “what is this” expression. Baka’s straightforward heart sometimes troubled the people around him.
“Well… even so, I guess I can work with you for now. If I leave you alone, you’ll probably die from a lack of strategy…”
“Thank you, Kaito! I’ll be in your care!”
“Ah, yeah…”
Well, regardless of the circumstances, Baka was able to team up with Kaito. Now Baka was relieved! Good!
“…But, so, what was happening here? I’d like to know…”
“Um… it was mostly about explaining the rules and stuff.”
Yo answered Kaito’s question. Then, Tama came out from beside Yo.
“We are humans who have accepted the devil’s invitation. We each have a wish we want to fulfill… and to fulfill it, we will end up killing each other. It seems that’s the gist of it.”
And then, Tama began explaining the rules.
“…I see. I think I’ve mostly understood.”
Kaito groaned, “Hmm,” but it seemed he had understood. By the way, when Baka was late and came to the Great Hall the first time, Tama had also explained it, but it didn’t take as long as this time. It was because Kaito was smart. No, rather, it was because Baka was a Baka.
“So, that means we need to split up and enter the Game rooms… is that right?”
When Kaito said that, the other seven nodded. Baka remembered, “It was kind of like this the first time too.” …The second time, he had completely destroyed his collar, so it was different. That was how it was. Baka finally understood. He shouldn’t break things too much.
“If that’s the case, then I’d like to team up with this guy. Is that okay?”
“Me!? Yeah! Great! That’s great! Thank you, Kaito!”
But, Baka was more filled with joy that Kaito had chosen him than reflecting on the property damage! Baka was a Baka, so it was impossible for him to think about two or three things at once!
“Um, so, let’s say those two are together. Then, it would be good to add one more person to each group, making three teams of three. So, um…”
“…Before dividing into teams, shouldn’t we introduce ourselves? Like Kaito-kun, just use a fake name. Okay?”
And then, as Yo was troubled, Venus interjected.
And so, the remaining seven also introduced themselves.
…And so.
Baka was relieved that everyone had given the same names as before. If the names were different each time, Baka wouldn’t be able to remember them…
But.
“Come to think of it… what is Kabashima-kun’s mark?”
When Yo said that, attention was once again focused on Baka, who had already introduced himself.
When Baka tilted his head, “Huh?” the chain on his collar made a heavy clanking sound. Kaito, beside him, was now shuddering, thinking, “Come to think of it, this guy pulled out the chain…”
“Um… Kabashima-san’s mark is Pluto, isn’t it?”
And then, Mina, who had peered at Baka’s collar, said that.
“Pluto…?”
Huh? Baka thought.
If he remembered correctly, last time and the time before, Baka’s mark was said to be “probably Jupiter.”
And yet… for some reason, the mark on Baka’s collar had changed!
No, it wasn’t that it had changed, but that it was originally Pluto. What was it? Someone, please tell him!
“Hmm… so, that means the ‘Jupiter’ mark is the only one that’s empty…”
While Baka was confused, Tsuchiya groaned with a grim expression.
“…In other words, one person has already died. Is that what it means?”
…And then, he said something quite shocking! Baka was surprised!