It’s a story about what Maito hadn’t seen.
The chronological order is chapter 139.
The point of view is Katori’s.
“It’s a mine.”
“It’s a mine, isn’t it?”
“It’s indeed a mine.”
After various events, we decided to explore inside the mine.
“Let’s hurry as much as possible. I’m worried about Maito’s mental state.”
“There’s no need to worry about that. That guy has a thick psyche.”
“Maybe she’s even enjoying it, huh?”
“No, I don’t think that’s the case…”
Yes, the reason is to regain the “hearts” of the home economics club members, and to somehow deal with the “ghost of the mine” for that purpose…
Even though they say the energy is drained, it feels somewhat uneasy to leave those people together with Maito-san. I’d like to return as soon as possible.
The path is known, so that’s a relief.
Since the memories of the home economics club members are already “shared” with us, if we follow them, we can reach deep into the mine without getting lost.
“Yay, the mine is fun!”
“You’re energetic.”
“Hariu-kun, don’t jump around too much; there’s a risk of cave-ins. Please be quiet if possible.”
Initially, there were no monsters inside the mine, but as we moved towards the back and down a side path, a few monsters started to appear.
But Hariu is good in such confined spaces. Bouncing off walls and ceilings, he easily annihilated all the monsters.
On the other hand, I don’t really have a role in such confined spaces.
“Well, we’ve reached our destination, but”
“There’s nothing here, huh?”
Despite following the given memories, there was nothing ahead.
Just a dead end further down the tunnel with many dimly glowing stones scattered around. It’s troubling.
“A ghost… made of stones?”
Well, yeah, there are only stones here.
“If it’s a ghost, wouldn’t it not stay in one place?”
“What do we do? Move and search for this so-called ‘ghost’?”
Well, indeed, if it’s a ghost, it might be something that moves.
If the other party moves, there’s no guarantee we can meet them in the same place again… It’s tricky.
“No, if it really is a ‘ghost’… But I frankly think this is suspicious.”
But President seemed to think otherwise.
He tapped a dimly glowing transparent stone and laughed.
…Yes. That’s what happened.
“…President?”
When Hagasaki-kun, pulling back his smile, called out with a furrowed brow, President said this.
“…I can’t see anymore.”
President’s gaze, turning towards Hagasaki-kun, was slightly off.
“What do we do, this is bad, President?”
“Kariya, heal.”
“I’m already on it.”
“President, your vision?”
“…It seems hopeless. It doesn’t come back.”
Although Kariya tried to heal, it seems President’s eyes did not recover.
Hagasaki-kun and I also tried to heal, but it still seemed hopeless. What should we do? It’s troubling.
“Hmm, should we go outside for now? We can’t be sure there won’t be secondary damage.”
“That’s right. If others besides President start losing their vision one after another, we won’t be able to handle being attacked by monsters inside this tunnel.”
“No, wait a moment. It’s probably fine. I understand the cause.”
Ignoring our attempts to return, President fumbled on the ground and picked up a stone.
“I believe this is the stone I struck earlier. Do you see any changes?”
“Eh… I don’t think so. It’s not transparent. It’s gray.”
“I see, the color changed.”
President seemed satisfied by himself, but as Kadomi-san pointed out, the stone was indeed gray.
“Then, it’s worth a try.”
President held and touched the stone… and then, he crushed it.
Hmm, it seems like these sorts of things aren’t even unusual anymore, but it feels strange when President does them, unlike if Kadomi-san were to do it…
“It’s back.”
“Eh?”
“My vision has returned.”
…And just like that, it seems to have returned.
Yep, it’s definitely something President would do.
“So, this stone likely encloses ‘vision or emotions’ when struck, and releases them when shattered.”
President personally demonstrated the stone’s effects, and it seems that’s what it does.
Yeah, so maybe the people who have been mining here tried to break or mine these stones and ended up harmed.
“I see. …So, we should just smash all the ‘gray stones’ around here.”
Now that we know how to resolve it, that’s a bit of relief.
“Leave it to me—crash bang!”
Immediately, Toriumi smashed a nearby gray stone.
…Then.
“Whoa!?”
“Eh?”
“Wow… Wow—Kadomi-san!”
When he shattered the stone, a burst of flame erupted from it, catching Kadomi-san on fire.
Why does Kadomi-san always get caught up in these misfortunes?
“It was hot.”
“Sorry.”
With Kadomi-san’s fire-extinguishing effort completed, and the fire from the stone extinguished quickly.
In such a narrow, dusty place, we might have had a dust explosion if we were unlucky. That was dangerous.
“…Could this stone actually enclose anything?”
“It seems so.”
“And we can’t tell what’s inside just by looking at it, can we?”
“Indeed…”
…Such a hazardous object, we can’t just open it here.
“…Hey, I got to thinking, President had his vision taken away, right?”
Hariu suddenly became serious and mentioned that.
“What if someone else does it, what gets taken away?”
…Yeah.
Yeah. Indeed, I’m a bit curious…
We decided who the test subject would be with a normal game of rock-paper-scissors.
Of course, the sacrifice would be the experimental subject to have something taken away by this stone.
“So, the lead-off batter is Suzumoto, go ahead.”
“I just need to tap it, right?”
First up was Suzumoto.
Like President did, he lightly tapped a transparent stone.
For a moment, Suzumoto seemed to glow faintly, but there didn’t appear to be any visible change.
“Suzumoto-san, do you notice anything different?”
…But it was immediately clear what had been taken.
Suzumoto was mouthing words and gesturing that he “can’t speak.”
“Is it your voice?”
Suzumoto nodded in response to President’s words.
So, it can take away voices, too.
This would be quite troublesome during combat when giving orders becomes impossible.
“Ah, I just thought of something interesting. Suzumoto, can you keep silent and try speaking?”
While I was thinking about that, Toriumi came up with this idea.
“Speaking silently?”
“Speaking… silently?”
I get the meaning, but speaking silently… it’s kind of…
However, Suzumoto, following Toriumi’s suggestion, began to mouth words and use body language to speak.
…Yeah, Suzumoto really goes with the flow in situations like this… His movements are sharp.
Then.
“Today we’re introducing this knife!”
…Behind Suzumoto, Toriumi started something.
“Don’t just think this is any ordinary knife! This knife is…”
Yeah.
Yeah, what is it?
It’s turned into something very much like an American infomercial.
Somehow, Suzumoto also got into the groove and started acting like a host on an American shopping channel.
“This knife has a blade length of 80cm!”
“Is that a tuna knife?”
Hagasaki-kun muttered, and Hariu and Kadomi-san burst out laughing.
“This knife can handle tuna or monsters, the coolest knife ever!”
Meanwhile, matching Toriumi’s words, Suzumoto drew his sword and posed. He’s really into it. But I think that’s not a knife.
“And another amazing feature of this knife!”
Suzumoto struck another pose.
“The blade extends!”
Suzumoto extended the blade of his “Energy Sword.”
“Adjustable length!”
Suzumoto held his pose while the “Energy Sword” extended and retracted.
“And because it’s made of energy, there’s no need to wash it! A real time-saver! And now, for just 19,800 yen! However, the MP cost is on the buyer!”
Naturally, everyone burst into laughter at this. You can’t help but laugh, right?
“Really, what are you making him do?”
“Hey, he was really into it, wasn’t he?”
After smashing the stone and returning Suzumoto’s voice, his turn was over.
Yeah, that was fun.
Next is me.
“Should I do it lightly?”
“Putting too much force will shatter it.”
“It’s best to avoid pulverizing it since it might be difficult to deal with the pieces.”
Ah, right. If it’s completely shattered from the start, we might have to break every single fragment to retrieve what’s been taken. Gotta be careful.
“Here I go.”
I lightly tapped the stone, just a gentle tap, and the stone turned gray.
…Oh. Wow.
“Waaaaaaah! Katori shrunk!”
“Yeah, he’s shrunk, hasn’t he?”
Upon testing it out, my voice also sounded a bit higher.
“The thing taken… could it be time?”
I stopped shrinking when I reached the size of an elementary school student.
…But wow, it’s amazing. Everything looks so different now.
“Wow, wow… Katori is smaller than me.”
“Wow, Hariu is bigger than me.”
Actually, having to look up at everyone feels completely new.
Yeah, this is kind of fun.
After enjoying the moment for a while, we smashed the stone and I returned to normal.
“It seems it can take some pretty strange things.”
“Right? I never expected it could make you shrink.”
“Yeah, that was fresh.”
But yeah. If it can take away “time,” then it wouldn’t be surprising if it could take something like “emotions” as well, right? That seems to be confirmed.
“Okay, next. Kadomi-kun.”
“Mm.”
Next up was Kadomi-kun.
He struck the stone without hesitation.
“Ah.”
“It made a ‘creak,’ right? Eh, are you okay?”
…It seemed a bit risky since he put too much force into it, but it only ended up with a crack. Ah, that’s a relief.
“So, Kadomi-kun. Notice any changes?”
“No… not really… um…?”
Then it seemed like Kadomi-kun didn’t experience any particular changes.
“…I feel like it might be the sense of smell, but I’m not sure.”
“In that case, Kadomi-san, please try this. Normally, you would smell something from it.”
President handed Kadomi-kun a test tube as he sniffed around. It contained a colorless liquid, but something about it felt ominously wrong.
But Kadomi-kun took it, sniffed it a bit, and then went for a more direct smell…
“Mm. …Mm? …Ah, I can’t smell anything at all.”
“It appears so.”
“Kadomi-kun! You’re bleeding from the nose! Kadomi-kun!”
Kadomi-kun handed back the test tube with a straight face. President had his usual expression, and Kadomi-kun continued to bleed from the nose with a stoic face. Wow, what’s this now.
“It’s ammonia.”
“President, isn’t that a bit harsh?”
“Well, impressive as always.”
“I didn’t expect him to go for a direct sniff.”
“…Ah, I can’t smell anything, but it… it’s starting to sting…”
“Maybe we shouldn’t smash the stone right away…?”
“Right… it might be better to wait a bit.”
Kariya was casting healing spells on Kadomi-kun.
After we get Kadomi-kun’s sense of smell back, it’ll be the last victim’s turn.
“Okay, the final victim, please.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
The last victim was Hagasaki-kun. Yeah, looking forward to this.
Hopefully, it takes something interesting.
Hagasaki-kun lightly tapped the stone, and it faintly glowed.
…But, as expected, there doesn’t seem to be any visible change.
“Hagasaki-kun, what changed? What changed?”
“Well, it doesn’t seem like anything’s changed.”
Hagasaki-kun is opening and closing his hands, but it doesn’t seem like he feels anything unusual.
Yeah, well, these things happen.
“Really, nothing?”
“No, nothing really.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Hmm, if he’s not aware of anything himself, it doesn’t seem like a physical ailment, does it?
Then what could it be?
“Are you really sure there’s nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“What about your sense of touch?”
“It’s fine. Want to poke me?”
“How about taste?”
“If you want to test taste, Hagasaki-san, here’s a sweetener that even Suzumoto said was ‘too sweet.'”
“I don’t want to eat that.”
…Hmm.
“Maybe a part of your memory is missing?”
“No, I don’t think so. Sure, old memories are a bit fuzzy, but that’s normal. I mean, nothing has changed.”
He says he hasn’t changed, which means it might be a change he’s not aware of himself.
But that would mean it’s even less likely for us to notice…
“…So, should we head back soon?”
After a while, Hagasaki-kun suggested that.
It was all normal up to here. It was normal.
But what came next was clearly not normal.
“We should head back before Maito starts worrying.”
…Clearly, not normal…
“…Eh? Hagasaki-kun, what did you say?”
See, even Suzumoto is stunned by Hagasaki-kun’s unusual remark.
“No, I mean, Maito would worry, right? Plus, right now, Maito is with the home economics club people. It’d be pitiful to leave them like that, really.”
This resulted in everyone either giving a wry smile or looking shocked. Only President seemed unfazed…
“What’s with you, Hagasaki-kun! You’ve gone all soft!”
“It’s normal, isn’t it? What, ‘soft’?”
“What do you think about Maito?”
“Eh, friends. I also think it must be tough being weak. Why are you asking all of a sudden?”
“You’re totally smitten!”
By this point, it was clear to all of us what had been taken from Hagasaki-kun…
“It’s definite that his ‘tsun’ part was taken.”
“More like his sarcastic side… no doubt about it, this…”
“So, the current Hagasaki-kun isn’t twisted at all!”
Poor Hagasaki-kun looked bewildered, but maybe we’ll play along a little more.
After enough teasing, we faced a dilemma.
“This stone… wouldn’t it be okay to just leave Hagasaki-kun like this?”
“Well, it might be more convenient to keep him this way.”
Hagasaki-kun, it turns out, is quite perceptive, something we’ve come to realize this time.
But because he doesn’t express it, we rarely benefit from it.
So, keeping the reduced-tsun Hagasaki-kun might actually be quite convenient.
“No, let’s smash it. It’s unsettling.”
But, of course, everyone was inclined to smash it. Even Toriumi, who first suggested not doing it, was joking.
“Right, let’s sma… oh!”
…But then, Hariu realized something.
“…When Hagasaki-kun goes back to normal… aren’t we going to get killed?”
…Yeah. Sad that I can’t deny that.
“No, that’s probably not going to happen… ah, but being frozen is definitely within the realm of possibility with this.”
“No, no, no, but we can’t just leave him like this, right?”
“…I’m starting to think, maybe it’s better if Hagasaki-kun stays like this…”
Caught up in our own amusement, we played with the reduced-tsun Hagasaki-kun. What to do now…
“…What if we let Maito watch when we return him to normal? Maybe the punishment will be less severe?”
“Suzumoto-san, that’s naive. Knowing Hagasaki-san, it would definitely get worse if Maito is watching.”
“Hagasaki-kun, if you accidentally go soft on Maito, you’ll probably hate us forever…”
“Maito would definitely be happy, though… ugh, what do we do! I’m really scared!”
…In the end, Kadomi-kun, who lost at rock-paper-scissors, was the one to smash the stone, while the rest of us took cover, but it was pointless. Everyone got frozen at least once.
Yeah, Hagasaki-kun was harsh. What? Are we not harsh? Eh, what do you mean?
“By the way, we really have to take all these gray stones back with us, don’t we?”
Once Hagasaki-kun’s anger and embarrassment had settled, Hariu realized something.
Yeah. We don’t know what’s inside each one, so we have to smash all the stones here… but it’s far too dangerous to do it here.
“I don’t want to… but I guess we have to, huh?”
Looking around, there were so many gray stones scattered about…
“…How about we take a break first? I’m kinda tired…”
“Mainly because of Hagasaki-kun. Ah, it’s terrible, I’m tired because of Hagasaki-kun, you know?”
“What? That’s your own fault. Don’t blame me, okay?”
There was another argument, but in the end, Suzumoto’s suggestion to wrap the stones in Kadomi-kun and Toriumi’s cloaks and take them back was adopted. That’s what we went with.
I’ve always wondered, “What are cloaks even for?” So, they’re for times like this.
“However, a ghost, huh… The scariest thing is definitely humans.”
“That’s the truth.”
“…You trying to start something? ‘Cause I’ll take you up on it.”
“Ah, come on, let’s just head back, okay?”
While we were gathering the stones, fights nearly broke out again but were quelled.
“So, are we agreeing to keep what happened here a secret from Maito?”
“Yeah, that’s better. Otherwise, our lives are in danger.”
“Hey, Suzumoto was pretty entertaining too, right?”
“…Can I mention that President made me sniff ammonia and I got a nosebleed?”
“You can, but if Hagasaki-san finds out and the story spreads, you, Kadomi-san, will be the one frozen.”
“…I’ll keep quiet…”
Yeah. Well, it’s a pity for Maito, but we all agreed to keep what happened here a secret.
Even the maid doesn’t need to know everything, right?