Friends and Enemies

The atmosphere immediately relaxed as all the warrior-women appeared from their hiding spots in the Forest.

Diane wore a somewhat tired-looking smile as she greeted us. “I assume that’s Mana?” she further asked me.

“Yes, hello,” Mana introduced herself. The other women around started whispering something amongst themselves.

“It’s good to see you are doing fine,” said Diane. “Um… how’s Kai doing?”

Oh, right. I forgot about it, but this girl did get chummy with Kai after we rescued her from the wolf attack that served as our first meeting.

My lack of ability to exhibit my emotions meant that I likely didn’t betray the truth with my expression, but I did feel a stab of pain running through my chest.

Kai was such a nice guy, yet he’d been killed so cruelly by Three… I would never forgive him for that even if Kai was currently chilling back in our original world.

“It’s a long story, but…” I said, then paused, thinking of how best to phrase that. I never had much tact, anyway. “He’s gone. I’m sorry.”

Diane’s eyes widened and then shook. She took a clenched fist and put it against her heart, frowning. “I… I see.”

She only knew him for less than 24 hours, so I doubted any grief would last for long—but it must have been a shock regardless. She didn’t even ask about the circumstances.

Images of the smiling, good-natured boy passed through my mind as well.

“Are you fine, Saga?” Mana asked worriedly from the side.

“Yes.” Why would she ask this? Surely I showed nothing in my expression. “Why…?”

“It’s your eyes,” the other girl said softly as if reading my mind. “I figured you out. Nothing shows up on your face, but it’s your eyes that show how you’re really feeling.”

She smiled for a moment as if she just found the solution to an amusing puzzle, then erased it, likely recalling the situation.

My eyes? I was always told they were very cold. I started wearing fake glasses to try and conceal that, but that didn’t really work. I just ended up accepting it in the end.

Presently, Diane came closer to us. “If I may ask…” she said. “What are you doing here, actually?”

I exchanged glances with Mana. We had debated this before—whether we could or should get help from the local villages. We ended up agreeing that it was at least worth a shot. The fact I already knew Diane made things somewhat easier, too.

“It’s a long story, but we’re on the run from Three,” answered Mana.

—It really was useful to have someone who could do my talking for me, I was slowly realizing.

Even if she was probably going to end up abandoning me eventually, just like the rest.

Anyway, this answer prompted yet another whispering session among the amazons. But I thought they looked less shocked than expected, and Diane’s hesitant words showed me why.

“We thought that might be the case,” she mumbled. “Come with us.”

“…Do you know where the Crossroads are?” I asked.

“The Crossroads?” asked Diane, momentarily confused. “Oh, the place you came from. Um, not really…”

“Well, I don’t suppose people go there a lot. That place’s been infested with One’s beasts before, right?” Mana then shuddered. “I don’t even want to recall my previous time here.”

Diane nodded. “Right. Um, the forest is still dangerous… for now, let’s go back to our village and think about what to do next. You’ll be safe there,” she said. She glanced around toward her companions, who said nothing.

There was an awkward atmosphere, and I spent some time pondering its meaning.

I realized that the villagers would probably be hesitant to harbor fugitives like us. I had no idea how far the news already spread, but it was possible they already knew that.

Even now the distant observers kept whispering among themselves.

Mana must have thought similarly to me, because after walking a while she came to Diane and struck conversation.

“Were you aware of Three’s return?”

“Eh? O-oh. Yes… it happened about a week ago, right?” she said, her eyes darting around. “Right after the world opened up for us… we started meeting the other villagers, and some people from outside, and got all sorts of news… w-we really—”

“Diane!” came a scolding voice from nearby. “Keep the talking for later. We still have a long road ahead of us.” It was one of the other huntresses. She directed a watchful gaze at us.

“R-right…” said the girl and fell silent.

Mana tilted her head but made no further inquiries.

We continued on our way. From time to time, we would meet some wild animal, but I had no need to act; it would soon get skewered by arrows, barely even slowing us down.

We were walking for a long time now and Mana was clearly looking pained and tired, but was too polite to ask for a break.

I decided to speak up for her for a change. “Can we take a short break?” I called out.

Diane looked at me but instead seemed to defer to an older woman in the group.

“A break?” she asked. “I thought you were in a hurry?”

“We really must hurry to the village,” said another one.

Yet another one nodded.

I felt a sudden discomfort whose origin I couldn’t clearly articulate.

And then I realized.

I felt like I was back in class. Where every guy and every girl treated me like a stranger. Like someone to be ostracized.

And it was definitely different from other times, including when we first came to the village. Back then, we were treated as saviors, after all…

And yet, despite us wanting to work together against Three, there was a very hostile atmosphere. I stopped in place, feeling bothered.

“…Saga?” asked Mana, who seemed to notice the change in me.

“Where are you taking us, Diane?” I asked all of a sudden.

“E-eh?” the girl stuttered. “What do you mean? We’re going back to my village…”

“Are we?” I asked. I couldn’t tell for sure; I’d been here only once before. However, something felt wrong for a while now. And there was something else. “Do you usually hunt in such large groups?”

The girl took a step back. “I… yeah, of course, we—”

“But that wasn’t the case when we first met you,” I said.

I wasn’t some sort of genius who immediately connected the dots, but by acting on this hunch and talking it through, I soon reached the conclusion.

“…You’re working for Three, aren’t you?” I blamed them, raising Tarisha aloft. “You’ve been leading us toward him all this time!”