President suggested something while eating a pumpkin croquette. Yeah, that was delicious too.
“How about hide and seek?”
Hariu suggested while eating a normal potato croquette.
“Ah, but Toriumi has ‘Detection,’ so that’s no good. I can also somewhat detect people in the shade…”
…Ah, right. They have such skills.
“It’s pretty bad when hide and seek is not an option…”
Katori was eating what looked like a crab cream croquette? It looked delicious.
“Hmm, how about if it’s not a person-to-person game? Like a shooting competition scored on points… Ah, just as an example. If we did shooting, it’d be Katori’s one-sided game.”
Yeah, and Maito doesn’t have any skills that can shoot.
“How about tag then. But, we’ll have handicaps.”
“Having handicaps would make it not fun for you guys.”
Hagasaki-kun was eating… what is that?
“What kind of croquette is that?”
“A potato croquette with cheese and tomato sauce wrapped inside?”
That looked delicious too. Eh, how many types did they make…?
“…So, um, yeah. If I can join in, then… how about stick-pulling, or something like that?”
…The next day. After breakfast.
Yesterday, in the area they leveled, President… made a mountain.
And on top of that, a stone stick, or rather, a tower… was placed.
“The rules are simple, one by one we take turns dismantling the mountain. How much to dismantle… Let’s see, at least 5% of the whole at a time. President will measure. And the one who normally topples the stick loses. The only prohibitions are touching the stick itself and applying skills directly to the stick. Shall we start?”
Since rock-paper-scissors to decide the order would just lead to lots of draws… through nominations, Hariu was the first.
“Okay, here I go.”
Hariu declared and then started to dismantle the mountain.
…He flew and instantly shaved off a part of the mountain’s skirt… Oh, the shaded part…
“Next is Maito-san.”
“Here I come. Then I’ll take the opposite side.”
Maito “Transferred” and swept the opposite side that Hariu had shaved.
Then, the mountain collapsed significantly, and the stick moved a bit.
“…Wow.”
“Next is Katori.”
“Yeah. Then… ‘Erase Beam’!”
…The mountain.
“Maybe I got a bit carried away?”
“Obviously…”
Yeah, shaved off too much, I think.
“Let’s try again…”
“Okay, next is Kadomi.”
After Kariya used “Meteor Shower” to significantly shave the mountain (still holding back, apparently), it was my turn.
…What should I do?
“‘Radiant Blade'”
That’ll do.
I adjust and slice off the edge of the mountain.
…The stick tilted a bit again.
“Then, it’s Hariu’s turn again.”
“Where should I shave off next…”
…I mean, it’s pretty mentally engaging and requires fine control, so it’s interesting… but subdued.
We played stick-pulling until lunchtime, and the consensus was that it was quite subdued, but enjoyable nonetheless.
“You know, I was thinking, instead of hide and seek, if we played tag, I think I’d do pretty well.”
“Indeed, ‘Transfer’ would allow for movement, but… you can’t touch, can you?”
…Lunch was sandwiches. It seems they were made in the morning.
“Yeah, I think it’ll work out. Only, instead of me touching, it would be these little ones.”
…Ah, yeah. From the hem of Maito’s skirt, a bunch of maid dolls emerged, bustling about.
“Ah, that might be good. Then it’s all about reading movements, and Maito would have a chance too.”
Yeah, ‘Transfer’ seems quite handy for escaping, at least.
“Then, the time limit is 30 minutes. The one who is ‘it’ when time runs out loses. There’s one prohibition. Being in an untouchable state for more than a total of 30 seconds is not allowed. If you stay hidden in the shadows, it’s impossible to touch anyone.”
Yeah, if you’re thinking of hiding, Hariu is perfect for that…
Suzumoto ended up being the first ‘it’ by drawing lots.
“I’ll start moving after counting to 30.”
In that time, we scatter to escape.
…Because it reduces mobility, both Toriumi and I have taken off our armor.
But… I feel like I can’t match Suzumoto’s top speed…
“Waaaah!”
Right now, Hariu is being chased… It’s turned into an aerial battle.
As expected, when those two chase each other, it turns into an aerial battle…
“…Don’t let your guard down, okay?”
Whoa. Suddenly, he changed direction and came this way!
I also ran away!
…Remaining time, 27 minutes.
“Tag!”
Eventually, Hariu was tagged, but then quickly tagged Toriumi and switched places.
“Aw, then I’ll count to 30…”
…Toriumi isn’t that fast, but he’s good at reading people’s movements…
“29, 30! Here I go!”
Toriumi starts running and quickly closes in on Maito.
“U, uwa! ‘Transfer’!”
Maito immediately uses “Transfer” to escape to a distant place, but Toriumi, anticipating this, moves with “Transfer.”
“‘Transfer’!”
Maito flies away again, but Toriumi’s prediction is pretty close.
After several “Transfer” duels, eventually…
“‘Transfer’… Whoa!”
“Tag.”
Toriumi perfectly predicts and tags Maito.
Remaining, 19 minutes.
“Here I go!”
Maito suddenly “Transfers” and floats in the air.
Then disappears.
…Feeling a presence behind me, I move, and there’s Maito.
But that’s only for a moment, and she’s gone again soon after.
She’s definitely targeting me, so I decide to make a straight dash to escape head-on.
Assuming that Maito wouldn’t be able to catch up to someone running straight ahead, especially if they weren’t hesitating.
…I thought maybe Maito had given up, as she didn’t specifically chase after me.
But I had no idea where she could be.
…Where could she be?
While I was searching, suddenly, I felt a “poof” sensation around my waist.
…When I looked, a maid doll had somehow touched me.
“Tag! Now, Kadomi-kun is ‘it’!”
Saying so, Maito disappeared again.
…The maid dolls weren’t particularly fast… but when did it get here…? I had no idea.
16 minutes remaining.
I might not have a job class bonus for speed, but I believe I’m the fastest in this group by nature.
…Katori seems close, maybe.
I spot him and start running straight at him. It feels better not to overthink things.
“Eh, wow, he’s coming!”
Katori notices and starts to run, but he’s slower than me.
“‘Erase Beam’!”
…Ah.
The ground at my feet disappears, and I hastily jump to avoid it.
“Ha!? Wait, is that allowed!?”
Hagasaki-kun looks surprised, but yeah, it wasn’t specifically prohibited… I guess.
Since the beam isn’t aimed directly at me, I keep an eye on the ground as I chase.
…Yeah. I can catch up.
“Tag!”
“Wow, Kadomi-kun, you’re really fast…”
…Yeah.
14 minutes remaining.
After that, Katori caught Hagasaki-kun, Hagasaki-kun caught Hariu, Hariu caught President, then President quickly tagged back Hariu, Hariu caught Kariya, and Kariya caught Maito.
With less than 2 minutes left.
…Since I don’t know where the maid dolls will come from, I keep running while staying alert to my surroundings.
“Ah! That was close.”
“Gah! Missed!”
I could hear Suzumoto’s and Maito’s voices. …Seems like they missed.
I check my surroundings because it’s scary, but for now, I don’t find any dolls.
…But since it’s scary not knowing where they might be, I decide to keep running just in case.
If there’s less than 2 minutes left, I can keep running without any problem.
As I keep running, time runs out.
…I think it was when there were less than 30 seconds left.
Maito appeared in front of me as I was running.
…The moment I thought we would collide, Maito disappeared.
Instead, a maid doll “poofed” onto me again.
“Tag! Hahaha, Kadomi-kun, running straight makes you too easy to predict!”
When I stopped, a very pleased Maito reappeared.
…Since the rule was to wait 30 seconds before starting after being tagged, and I was caught with less than 30 seconds left, it meant I lost.
…Ah…
“Maito-san is quite something, isn’t she?”
President suddenly appeared, grinning.
…He must have known my movements were easy to read.
