"And you expect me to believe that?"
Rin did not relax in the slightest just because the other two were trying to joke their way out of it.
If anything, she seemed even more tense.
After having her mask forcibly torn away and her heart laid bare in public, her nerves were stretched to their limit, like a violin string pulled so tight it might snap at the faintest touch. Any small disturbance now risked triggering an excessive reaction.
This wasn't simple oversensitivity.
It was an instinctive stress response born from extreme insecurity.
When someone grows accustomed to hiding inside a shell and that shell is suddenly shattered, even a gentle breeze feels like a freezing wind cutting against exposed skin.
Because of that, Rin sensed something else in the air.
Aside from Mary and Warabi, and her bear,
There was another presence.
More concealed, yet one that stirred a primal discomfort.
It wasn't like Amou's direct, unhidden gaze.
It felt more like being watched by a cold-blooded predator.
"If you truly rushed over to provide support," Rin said coldly, "then why were you hiding?"
"And another thing."
"Come out."
"Or would you prefer that I drag you out myself?"
Her clear eyes, no longer shielded by a mask, flashed sharply as she pointed her blade toward a pile of old gym mats stacked in the corner outside the gymnasium.
The moment she said that, Mary, who had been dusting herself off in an effort to maintain her elegance, froze.
"Hey! Onigawara, what's wrong with you?"
"We're not suspicious people!"
"We're fellow enforcers of order at the Academy! We sensed an unidentified intruder and came to confirm the situation, that's all!"
Thinking Rin was accusing her, Mary flushed red and quickly fell back on official-sounding rhetoric to cover up the fact that she had, in fact, been eavesdropping.
After all, she prided herself on grace and refinement.
If word got out that she had been hiding in a corner like some creep, secretly listening in, how would she ever survive at the academy?
That would be social death.
"Exactly!" Warabi chimed in, rubbing her still-aching ankle while waving her short staff in exaggerated agreement.
"We weren't eavesdropping!"
"That was tactical concealment! Tactical, okay?"
"And besides… Onigawara, are you so shaken that you're imagining things?"
"There's nobody there."
Indeed, the place Rin pointed at was nothing more than a stack of old gym mats. There wasn't even a shadow.
For a brief moment, Mary and Warabi wondered whether Rin had truly become overly jumpy after everything that had just happened.
Then,
A light, airy voice drifted out from behind the mats.
There was no panic in it, no embarrassment at being discovered. Instead, it carried a teasing tone, like someone who had intentionally allowed herself to be found in a game of hide-and-seek.
"Oh my."
"So I've been discovered."
Without any further attempt to hide, a girl with long emerald-green hair stepped calmly out from the shadows behind the stacked mats.
She wore a neatly pressed uniform, and her face bore a gentle, harmless smile.
Gentle and perfectly composed.
It looked almost like an expression painted onto a mask.
She appeared innocent, almost absent-minded.
Tamaba Satori.
The final member of the Tenka Five Swords.
And perhaps the most inscrutable among them.
Anyone unfamiliar with her would likely mistake her for a naive girl who had simply wandered here by accident.
But the moment the others saw her, their bodies tensed almost simultaneously.
"You were… there the whole time?"
Mary's eyes widened, and the dictionary in her hands nearly slipped.
As a skilled fencer, she had not sensed anyone standing there at all.
"I've been here the entire time," Satori replied lightly, scratching her head, her smile unchanged.
"Since you started eavesdropping."
"Since Onigawara's mask shattered."
"Even since the god descended."
"I've been watching."
"I thought I'd get to enjoy it a little longer. Onigawara's expression just now was truly fascinating."
Her tone was casual, almost cheerful.
Yet her smile, though warm in shape, carried no warmth beneath it.
"But I didn't expect your senses to sharpen so much."
"When you were still wearing that mask, you were as dull as a stone."
"It seems the god was right. That mask really was restraining you."
After saying that, her gaze slipped past everyone else and settled directly on Haimer.
She tilted her head slightly, and the curve of her smile deepened.
"Nice to meet you, God."
"I'm Satori. Tamaba Satori."
"What you said earlier was very interesting."
"So… is that world truly filled with adventures like the ones you described?"
"If it is…"
"Then I want to go."
"Very much."
"I want to see whether, in a world like that, I might find something, anything, that makes me feel even slightly alive."
Her voice remained light, almost playful.
With her appearance, the Tenka Five Swords were effectively assembled.
Onigawara Rin.
Kikakujou Mary.
Hanasaka Warabi.
Tamaba Satori.
Tsukuyo Inaba.
And the already-aligned Empress, Amou Kirukiru.
The academy's strongest fighters now stood together.
If ordinary students were to witness this scene, their jaws would surely drop.
After all, these were people who rarely saw eye to eye.
Seeing them stand together in the same place was almost miraculous.
…
Faced with Satori's almost unsettling enthusiasm, Mary finally broke.
Clutching her thick dictionary tightly, she glanced uneasily at Haimer, then at the others.
"Hey… are you serious?"
"About going to another world…"
"Isn't that obviously dangerous?"
Her voice sounded dry.
Moments earlier, the rush of ambition had set her blood on fire.
But now that the heat had faded and reason returned, anxiety crept in.
"Right…"
Warabi spoke more softly this time.
"If we really go…"
"Can we come back?"
That question struck at the heart of nearly everyone present, except perhaps Amou and Satori.
Even Onigawara Rin felt it.
She wanted to grow stronger. She wanted to move beyond her past.
But that didn't mean she was ready to sever all ties with this world.
Her life was here.
Her past, however imperfect, was here.
To abandon everything and step into an entirely unknown world,
The cost was enormous, large enough to make anyone hesitate.
Haimer, however, did not look disappointed.
If anything, their hesitation was natural.
Not everyone was like Amou or Satori.
This was the truest reflection of humanity.
People long for distant horizons and dream of breaking free from stagnation.
But when the door to a new world truly opens and cold wind rushes in, uncertainty about the future and attachment to present comforts turn into heavy chains that hold them back.
It is like those who loudly declare they will take a spontaneous journey.
Yet when the time comes to resign, cancel the lease, and pack their belongings, most hesitate.
They worry.
And in the end, they quietly slide the suitcase back under the bed.
Burning one's bridges has always been a trait possessed by only a rare few.
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