Between Two Extremes

It was evening when we arrived at the prairie. Grass stretched in every direction as far as we could see, ablaze in the orange glow of the setting sun.

Multiple walled-off enclosures were scattered throughout the prairie. Many of these makeshift tents included traces of campfires or litter.

“More like ‘former’ base. Looks like the others have moved on.”

Tsuyoshi spat on the ground in disgust.

“There don’t seem to be any monsters nearby. The firefly robot I left with Fumika’s about five kilometers from here. So far, it’s staying put.”

“So they’ve set up base in that ravine, huh?”

Shoko grimaced at Itsuko’s report.

The ravine we’d headed to to rescue Section Four.

If Tsukasa’s group was there now, that probably meant they’d managed to get rid of the harpies in the area.

“I’mma go sock him one.”

“No, don’t, they’ll shoot you in the head.”

Mirai sounded fairly serious as she held Tsuyoshi back. She must’ve had another vision.

“As long as we don’t get in their way, they won’t harm us. Our main focus should be rescuing the troops that Tsukasa cuts off.”

“Dammit! I’ll beat the crap outta that bastard one day, I swear.”

 Tsuyoshi cursed and reluctantly gave up going after Tsukasa.

The five of us moved to the most spacious walled-off enclosure, which appeared to be Shinji’s creation. 

This tent had most likely been Tsukasa’s headquarters. Inside, we found a large stone table with five chairs surrounding it.

Night was quickly approaching, so we lit the remnants of the fire in the corner of the room.

While everyone took a seat, Tsuyoshi alone chose to stand.

“Time to discuss our next move. I want you guys to take a look at this.”

Shoko said, spreading out a large sheet of paper on the table. It was a giant map of this world made by taping several torn out pages together.

The map illustrated everything in detail: from the church where we first arrived to the riverbank where we encountered the lizardmen, to the prairie we were currently at, to the ravine where the harpies nested.

Each location even had a drawing of the monsters that inhabited the place.

“What d’ya think? I drew them!”

“W-wow. That’s impressive, Itsuko.”

The monsters looked way cuter than they actually were, but I decided to let it slide.

“Tsukasa sent only one unit to eradicate the monsters and planned his strategy based on how they fared. He intends to accomplish his mission by sacrificing as few troops as possible.”

“Uh-huh. And he totally played us.”

Tsuyoshi clenched his fists in reply. Blood trickled out from between his fingers. I could only imagine how frustrated he must be.

“According to Mirai’s prophecy, Homura Kisaragi, Eiko, Ai, Kanako, and Fumika are next to die.”

“Section Two...!”

I recalled Hiroshi, our class president, had been a member of that unit. It seemed that he’d swapped places with Fumika from Section Seven.

“We can still change the outcome if we...”

Mirai suddenly trailed off.

All the color had drained from her face. It was evident that she’d seen something disturbing.

Bzzz. A fly flew past my ear. It was a robotic fly—Itsuko’s skill.

The fly paused near Itsuko’s ear as if to whisper something.

“No way! For real?!”

Itsuko cried out in surprise.

“Apparently, all those dead goblins and the dragon at the church have disappeared...”

What could that mean?

I started to shake, feeling incredibly uneasy.

“I had another vision.”

The reason for my uneasiness soon became apparent.

“Shizuka and Hironobu will die unless we return immediately.”

 Splitting into two groups had backfired.

Mirai’s skill wasn’t all powerful. She had no control over her prophecies.

Even so.

If only she’d predicted this sooner, we never would’ve split up!

“Then...!”

The remaining words stuck in my throat. No one else dared to say it out loud.

We all knew that saving Shizuka and Hironobu would mean letting the five members of Section Two die.

It was devastating having to choose between these two extremes.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to save everyone. It’s cruel, but we might have to choose who gets to live and who doesn’t. Be prepared for the worst.”

I recalled what Mirai had said before I’d gone to Section Four’s rescue.

Her words rang true again this time.

“Is there no way we can save both groups?”

Mirai shook her head.

“If we try to save everyone, we all die.”

Inevitable death reared its ugly head and opened its jaws wide.

Things would only get worse from here with no sign of stopping.