"Naru-chan!"
I shouted into the wind. I didn't expect an answer, just hoped she heard me.
The cliffside road was hell.
A rockslide had collapsed the route ahead. Jagged boulders and splintered trees sealed the path like nature itself had slammed the brakes. Three merchant caravans were trapped between that wall of debris and the sheer cliff drop to our right. That was when the druids attacked.
Figures in leaf-draped leathers dropped from above, swinging down from vines. Others came howling on wyvern-back, diving through the mist like blades of wind and fang.
I shifted back, katana raised.
A screech. One rider dove low.
I ducked under its shadow and slashed upward. Steel struck scale with a sharp crack, and the beast let out a furious shriek before veering skyward, wind howling in its wake.
Behind me, crates rattled inside the rear caravan. Dried herbs. Oil jugs. Salted meat. One box hummed faintly… enchanted gear? Maybe. No screams from the merchants. Either they were used to this, or too scared to breathe.
"Rear's heating up, guys!" I called out.
"I'm a little busy!" Iroha's voice shot back.
She was already ahead of the convoy. Her boots glided over gravel. Her cloak swept behind her in soft arcs of warm earthen tones. The fitted leather armor hugged her form like it was sewn from song, etched with softly pulsing glyphs that shimmered as she moved. Not just fast. Fluid.
Five druids surrounded her, already tangled in their own coordination. She danced through them, her rapier tracing silver threads in the air. Each strike chimed like a wind bell cast from starlight, disorienting and beautiful all at once.
She pivoted under a lash of thorny vines.
"Oh, feisty," she teased, blowing him a kiss. "But not really my type."
A flick of her wrist. A charm spell pulsed outward, rose-tinted and sweet. The druid stumbled, blinking, dazed.
Iroha stepped closer, her voice soft and coaxing.
"Be a darling and handle your friends for me, would you?"
The druid's gaze clouded. Then, without hesitation, he turned and cracked his staff across the nearest ally's head.
Overhead, the sky lit up.
A streak of blue fire split the air, followed by four more. Each bolt arced upward in perfect sequence, chasing a fleeing wyvern like celestial hounds.
"I recommend removing variables next time," Rika said, completely calm.
She stood atop the middle caravan. Her platinum hair was pinned neatly back with a ribbon, and her cloak caught the mountain wind like a banner. At her feet, a runic circle turned slowly, glowing with soft pale light.
She lifted her hand. Another volley of firebolts shot into the sky.
One found its mark. A wyvern took the hit chest-first and spiraled into the fog like a dying comet. Its rider vanished with it, swallowed by the mist.
"Do try to keep count," she added.
Then, movement. A grunt.
A druid lunged from the left. I turned and met his swing with a parry, blade against club. The impact jolted up my arms.
Another dropped from the cliff wall behind me and landed with a crunch. They were massive, shoulders wide and arms like trunks, clubs carved from twisted roots.
Two on one. No time to stall.
A wyvern swooped low again, wind tearing past my face.
"Naru-chan!" I yelled louder this time, straight from the gut.
Still nothing.
Then, rustling. A tarp shifted.
Silver hair peeked out from the pile of crates behind me. Naru was still curled in a ball, her fluffy wolf ears twitching lazily atop her head. A tousled lock drooped over one eye, and her silver tail was wrapped around her like a blanket. She blinked slowly, rubbed at her cheek with the back of her hand, and yawned wide enough to show the tips of her fangs.
"Huh…?"
"Now would be a good time help!" I shouted, stepping sideways to avoid another swing.
She peeked over the edge of the cart, eyes half-lidded.
"Oh right. LOL."
She stretched. Long. Lazy. Like she'd just woken up from a nap on a beach towel.
"Naru, shift!"
"Kaaay~"
Her body collapsed inward.
Fur replaced skin. Bones compressed. In a blink, she was a silver rat no larger than my palm, skittering across the wooden rail before leaping toward me.
"Morisaki-san, cover the rear!" I called, catching Naru mid-air with one hand. Her tiny paws twitched against my fingers.
I flung her skyward like a fastball.
Mid-spin, her body pulsed outward. Fur became sinew. Wings burst from her back with a snap. Her tail whipped longer and thicker, and I caught it just in time to be yanked off my feet.
Wind roared in my ears as we climbed.
The ground vanished beneath us. Rika was still below, calmly trading spells with the two brutes I had left behind. Iroha danced through enemies like it was a stage.
Above us, the sky opened wide.
"Alright, Naru-chan," I muttered, holding tight to her tail. "Let's show them what we're made of."
She roared, high and piercing, sharp enough to make the mountain tremble.
"PFFFT—!!"
Iroha burst out laughing.
Rika let out a soft giggle, one hand covering her mouth as she sat across from me.
"What?" Naru blinked, looking around at us at the table.
"Oh no, it was cute," Iroha wheezed, wiping her eye. "The way you roared—"
She raised her hands like little claws.
"Rawaruuu~!"
"HEY!" Naru puffed up like a cat. "It was a battle cry!"
"I thought it was scary, Naru-chan," I said.
"Thank you!" she pointed at me dramatically.
Iroha reached across and pinched her cheek.
"Scary in a lost-puppy sort of way."
"Ow! I am ferocious!" Naru pouted, swatting her hand. "I'm literally a wyvern!"
"You did roar, Naru-kun," Rika said slowly, as if weighing the word. "Just… with the emotional weight of a warm beverage."
Naru flopped onto my arm and wrapped hers around it with a huff. "Samu-chaaaannnn, they're being mean again."
I chuckled, letting her cling. "Don't mind them."
Then, my phone buzzed.
Both Iroha and Rika looked up. Naru, still wrapped around my arm, craned her neck to peek at the screen as I pulled it out.
"Oooo, is that the secret admirer who messaged you three weeks ago?" Iroha asked, eyes gleaming with mischief.
"Unlikely," Rika said, without missing a beat. "More like a scam artist trying to harvest his data."
Iroha smirked. "A scam artist telling him he's awakened? Pffft. Either a secret admirer… or an ex-girlfriend."
I kept typing, trying to ignore them. Naru tilted her head, watching me.
"Samu-chan has a date tonight," she announced with zero hesitation. "With Senna."
"Hey!" I frowned.
"So ex-girlfriend," Rika concluded.
"Exactly," Iroha agreed, smug… then paused. "…Wait. What?"
"He's going out with Senna tonight," Naru confirmed brightly, squeezing my arm.
"No, Senna is not my ex-girlfriend. And it's not a date," I said firmly.
"Then what is it?" Iroha asked.
"Just dinner," I muttered, knowing full well they wouldn't believe me.
"At home?" Rika asked.
"Nope!" Naru chirped. "Fancy restaurant."
My phone buzzed again. I glanced down and angled the screen away from Naru this time.
"I gotta run. Sorry." I stood up and grabbed my bag. "Same time tomorrow?" I smiled at them. Naru's grip slipped as I stood, and she plopped back onto her chair with a soft thud.
"But we haven't defeated the druids yet!" Iroha protested.
"Don't worry," I said, shouldering my bag. "We'll pick up where we left off. You've been logging our progress, right, Morisaki-san?"
Rika nodded.
I reached down and tousled Naru's hair.
"Later."
I stepped into the hallway.
The door clicked shut behind me, and the noise of the clubroom faded but their voices still echoed in my head.
It's been about two weeks since Iroha told us the club was safe from disbandment. Not that I was ever truly worried it would come to that. Heart and soul were poured into that story. Every word spoken, every beat timed, every pause we held... it was all them.
The bard with a voice like a silver arrow, cutting clean through doubt.
The wizard whose gaze could freeze hell and burn the heavens.
And Naru… our shapeshifting wolf girl, who wore her heart on her sleeve and was always too busy clinging to yours.
If it weren't for them, we never would've survived the showcase.
Hell, if it weren't for them... I wouldn't have a club in the first place.
I ran a hand through my hair.
The Broken Compass. That's what we called ourselves.
A club where imagination runs wild and dice decide whether we land a critical hit or fall flat on our faces.
But ever since that night. The night we bowed to a cheering audience under stage lights… something's felt… off.
Like a thread has come loose in the fabric of it all.
I just don't know what it is yet.
I glanced at my phone.
One name hovered at the top of my recent contacts.
Senna.
I scrolled. One message.
Dated three weeks ago.
"We'll be in touch."
Whoever they were, they didn't keep that promise.
My name is Ranjiro Akizora.
And this is the story of how I saved my dungeon party with zero points in Charisma.