"Do you think I would believe that?"
Onigawara Rin did not relax in the slightest just because of these two fellows' buffoonery.
On the contrary.
After experiencing that public execution just now where her mask was forcibly removed, her nerves were currently like a violin string stretched to the limit. Any slight disturbance could trigger an overreaction from her.
This was not simple sensitivity.
It was a stress mechanism of a living creature under extreme insecurity. When a person is used to hiding inside a shell, once that shell is shattered, even a gentle breeze from the outside world feels no different from a biting, frigid wind to their senses.
It was to the point that Onigawara Rin keenly perceived something.
In this air, besides Kikakujou Mary and Hanasaka Warabi with her bear, there was another gaze mixed in—more obscure, yet one that made her instinctively uncomfortable.
It was not a direct stare like Amou Kirukiru's, but rather the feeling of being watched by a cold-blooded animal.
"Since you say you rushed over to provide support..."
"Then why are you still hiding your head and showing your tail?"
"Also!"
"Come out!"
"Or do you want me to invite you out?"
Having said this, a fierce light flickered in Onigawara Rin's delicate eyes, which had lost the cover of her mask. Her sword fingers pointed toward a stack of old gymnastics mats in the corner outside the gymnasium.
As soon as these words came out, Kikakujou Mary, who was bowing her head and patting the dust off her body in an attempt to maintain her last shred of elegant image, froze for a moment.
"Hey, hey! Onigawara Rin, what kind of madness are you spouting?"
"It's not like we are suspicious personnel!"
"We are fellow order maintainers of Symbiosis Academy. We only came because we sensed an unidentified intruder forcing their way in..."
Thinking Onigawara Rin was talking about her, Kikakujou Mary's face flushed red. She tried to use that set of official rhetoric to cover up the fact that she was actually here to eavesdrop as well.
After all, for someone like her who always prided herself on being elegant and ladylike, if it became known that she was hiding in a corner eavesdropping like a pervert, how could she mix in the academy in the future?
If this kind of thing spread within the academy, it would be social death!
"That's right, that's right!"
Hanasaka Warabi also chimed in hurriedly while rubbing her ankle, which was still throbbing with faint pain, waving the baton in her hand to bluff.
"We weren't eavesdropping or anything!"
"That was tactical concealment! Do you understand tactics?!"
"Besides..."
"Onigawara Rin, were you scared silly and started hallucinating? There's nobody over there at all!"
Indeed, the place Onigawara Rin pointed to only had a pile of old gymnastics mats; there wasn't even a ghost's shadow.
However, just before Kikakujou Mary and Hanasaka Warabi could assume Onigawara Rin was truly seeing enemies in every bush due to excessive stimulation...
It happened.
Precisely from behind that pile of old gymnastics mats which had been stacked there for a long time, a floaty, light voice suddenly drifted out.
That voice did not carry any panic from being exposed. Instead, it carried a teasing tone, as if deliberately revealing oneself during a game of hide-and-seek.
"Oh my."
"Little Satori has been discovered."
There was not even any intention to conceal it.
They saw the figure of a young girl with long emerald-green hair leisurely walk out from the shadows of that pile of old gymnastics mats.
She wore a neat uniform, and a harmless smile hung on her face. That smile was too standard, to the point that it felt like an expression painted onto a mask. She looked harmless to humans and animals, perhaps even a bit ditzy.
—Nomura Satori.
The last of the Supreme Five Swords, and also the most unfathomable one.
If one did not know her, they would probably be deceived by this seemingly harmless appearance immediately, thinking she was just an innocent girl who had lost her way and stumbled in here.
However, upon seeing Nomura Satori, the bodies of the few people present all tensed up in unison.
"You are..."
"When were you there?"
Kikakujou Mary's eyes widened, the dictionary in her hand almost falling to the ground. As a master of Western fencing, she had actually completely failed to detect that there was someone in that position!
"I've been here the whole time, you know."
Nomura Satori scratched her head, the smile on her face remaining completely unchanged.
"From the time you guys were eavesdropping."
"And from the time Student Onigawara Rin's mask was shattered."
"Even..."
"From the moment that Lord God descended."
"Little Satori has been here the whole time."
"Originally, Little Satori thought she could watch for a little longer. After all, that expression of Student Rin just now was truly too interesting~"
Nomura Satori spoke while scratching her head, her face wearing that signature smile devoid of temperature.
"But I didn't expect that Student Rin's senses would actually become sharp."
"Even though when you wore a mask before, your senses were as dull as a rock."
"It seems Lord God was right; the mask really did shackle you."
After speaking, Nomura Satori's gaze bypassed everyone and landed straight on Haimer, who was standing in the very center.
She tilted her head, the arc of the smile at the corner of her mouth deepening.
"Nice to meet you, Lord God."
"I am Satori. Nomura Satori."
"What you said just now was really interesting."
"So..."
"Is that world really full of all kinds of adventures like you said?"
"If it is true..."
"Then Little Satori wants to go."
"I want to go very much."
"Little Satori wants to see if I can find something in that kind of world that makes Little Satori feel slightly alive."
Nomura Satori's tone was brisk.
With this, the Supreme Five Swords—Onigawara Rin, Kikakujou Mary, Hanasaka Warabi, Nomura Satori, as well as the Empress Amou Kirukiru who had long since defected—were all present.
The top combat power of this academy had basically all assembled.
If ordinary students of the academy were to see this scene, their jaws would probably drop in shock. After all, these few people usually did not submit to one another. For them to stand quietly together was simply a miracle.
...
Facing Nomura Satori's nearly pathological statement, Kikakujou Mary finally couldn't hold back.
Hugging that thick dictionary, she glanced at Haimer somewhat uneasily, then looked at the others around her.
"Hey... are you guys serious?"
"Going to another world or whatever..."
"No matter how you think about it, that kind of thing is very dangerous, right!"
Kikakujou Mary's voice was somewhat dry.
Although the impulse to become stronger just now had indeed made her head heat up for a while, when that hot blood cooled down and reason reoccupied the high ground, she still felt a vague unease.
"Yeah."
"If we really go..."
"Then can we still come back?"
Hanasaka Warabi asked weakly.
This question undoubtedly hit the soft spot of everyone except Amou Kirukiru and Nomura Satori. Including Onigawara Rin.
After all, although she craved to become stronger and craved to break free from the past, this did not mean she was willing to completely sever all ties with this world.
Her life was still here. As well as her past, which, although not beautiful, had always existed.
To ask them to abandon everything and go to a completely unknown world... That price was too great. Great enough to make one flinch.
Regarding this, Haimer did not reveal a disappointed expression. On the contrary, this hesitation was actually normal.
After all, not everyone was like Amou Kirukiru or Nomura Satori.
This was the truest portrayal of humanity.
They yearn for the unknown scenery of distant places and crave to break free from the immutability of the status quo. But when the door to the new world truly opens and the cold wind blows in, the uneasiness regarding the confused path ahead, as well as the nostalgia for their existing stable life, turn into heavy chains that firmly drag back the steps humans take.
This is just like those people clamoring for a spur-of-the-moment trip. When the moment truly comes to resign, check out of their housing, and pack their bags, most people will still worry about the future and finally silently stuff their suitcase back under the bed.
The so-called burning of one's boats... is ultimately a trait possessed only by the minority.
____
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