Chapter 13 – Information Exchange and Shion’s Ability
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“Earlier, Shouko mentioned that she ate some fruits, but did you two eat anything besides that?”
The two dejectedly shook their heads at my question.
“It’s not like we have an abundance of food either, but if it’s grilled mushrooms, we can give you some.”
“Shrooms! I’ll eat! Yay!”
Shouko’s eyes shone.
“I would be happy if I could have some as well,” answered Shion while patting her belly.
“I’m fine over here. I had my fair share of mushrooms for today,” Chiyu impishly commented while sending a meaningful look in my direction.
I guess she’s talking about what happened inside the hut earlier.
“O-Okay, then I will prepare a portion for two.”
My childhood friend was always prone to coming up with dirty jokes, but today’s events might have reinforced that tendency even further. I opened my Inventory while resolving myself for what’s to come.
It’d be fine to bring out our stock of grilled mushrooms, but since it’d expose my ability’s function to preserve the temperature of food, I’ll refrain from doing this for now.
Instead, I took out mushrooms and skewers, sprinkled the mushrooms with salt after stabbing them onto the skewers, and passed them to the two of them.
“Please eat them after heating them over the fire.”
“Yahooo! Thankies, Sousuke!”
Since she was rejoicing so honestly about this, I tried to be somewhat teasing.
“You sure? They could be poisonous.”
“Ahaha! Sousuke, you wouldn’t do anything like that.”
I ended up at a loss for words because Shouko said this as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
“Besides, Mashiro-kun can sniff out poison,” Shion added while holding the mushrooms over the fire.
“Ah, there’s that as well, yep.”
I see. It sounds as if Mashiro is quite an outstanding Fenrir.
Eventually, the two ate their mushrooms after they were grilled properly. Shouko heartily bit into hers while Shion nibbled on them, bit by bit, while looking refined. Both expressed their respective impressions.
“Whao, so delicious! They’re even salty! Why!?”
“Ah, because of the ocean water. Anyway, are you going to eat more?”
“Can I? How much will it cost me?”
Shouko cracked a joke.
“He has already received the pay,” Chiyu muttered.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Earlier, Sou-kun took a good peek at Shio-chan’s panties. Rather, you could call the grilled mushrooms a panties fee.”
Hey, hey, wait a sec…Chiyu-san, what are you talking about all of a sudden? Man!
So I was seen, eh? She spotted me looking even with the moonlight being the only light source.
“Ahaha, but he also couldn’t really do much about it with my posture. I was, umm, okay with it because of it.”
Shion had apparently realized it as well, but she forgave me while laughing in an embarrassed manner.
“Sousuke is a pervert, aye.”
While saying so, Shouko hooked a finger into the opening of her uniform at the chest area and flapped it as if to get some cool air in there. If she hadn’t cast glances in my direction, I might have overlooked it as a casual action of hers. But, although it was completely out of my hands, I ended up seeing a bit of Shouko’s bra as the fire illuminated it.
“Ugh.”
“Okay, you looked at them. With this, I’ve earned the pay for my own food…! Ahaha,” Shouko exclaimed with a red face.
“No, Shion, Shouko, that just now was just Chiyu joking…”
But well, since it was a sight for sore eyes, I’ll gladly offer another serving of mushrooms.
Our conversation got totally derailed in this manner, so I brought it back on track.
“We can talk while you eat, so let’s share some information now.”
“Right, right.”
Shouko and Shion found themselves inside a forest when they opened their eyes after the transfer. Shouko summoned her Fenrir and moved through the forest on him. On the way, Mashiro reacted to a human presence. That was Shion.
“I was truly lucky to have been picked up by Shouko-chan.”
“No, not at all. I was lucky, too. Thinking that I might remain all alone, I was super sad!”
Afterwards, both of them got on Mashiro and came to my base.
“How did you find Sou-kun?” Chiyu asked before I could.
Yep, that’s the point that has been bothering me as well.
“Umm, that’s…ahaha,” Shouko scratched her cheek while acting shy.
“What did you two have on you when you came to this place?” Shion asked.
Going by the conversational flow thus far, I judged that she was probably trying to supplement something, so I answered, “I only had my uniform and hallway slippers. It’s a big help that our school’s indoor slippers are also used as sports shoes.”
They aren’t that different from regular jogging sneakers, making them easily usable in this environment as well. Pebbles cut into the sole of my foot at the sand beach, though.
“Chiyu-chan, you too?”
“Why are you asking?”
“Umm, look at this.”
Shion removed something from her own wrist. It was a hair band.
“I’m always wearing this on my left wrist whenever I go to school.”
“――Ah.”
At that point, I noticed what she wanted to say. We had transferred while wearing our uniform, but I didn’t think too deeply about what items I had on me initially. I completely assumed that all my stuff except for my clothes had been confiscated since I didn’t have any personal belongings with me.
That way it would be fair, which is why I simply assumed it to be like that.
But didn’t I also bring something with me that went beyond the uniform? At least, I changed my undergarment into a towel after disassembling it with my ability.
Given that some people didn’t wear an undergarment like that, I gained something on them, even if it was just one piece of undergarment. In the first place, when discussing initial equipment, it’s only natural for most people to wear underwear, but some won’t wear any.
Did they make us transfer in 『our usual school outfit』…? No, it’s difficult to define usual in such a case.
“Now listen, Sousuke-kun. I assume you’re pondering about the criterion for personal belongings right now, but I already know the answer to that.”
“You do?”
“Yep. It looks like we were transferred here in the outfit we wore after coming back home from school on the day before we saw that dream.”
“Oh, I see. But, how did you ascertain that?”
Shion softly moved her lips and, while looking downwards to the side, she squeezed out, “You see, umm…the first thing is m-my underwear. It’s not just me either. It appears to be the same for Shouko-chan, too.”
“Y-Yeah…”
I didn’t even remember what briefs I wore on the day before, but it looks like women are different.
“Ah, but it was thanks to Shouko-chan that I could pin the timing to after coming back home. She had something on her that she put into her pocket after obtaining it the day before.”
Usually, she didn’t carry that item, and she didn’t have it during her attendance at school on that day. So, seeing how she had it on her after coming back home from school, you could surely define the reference point as 『outfit after coming back home yesterday』.
“Hoh. ……No, wait. How is that related to finding me? If it’s connected…”
Shouko took a handkerchief out of her pocket.
“I borrowed this from you yesterday.”
I recalled what happened yesterday. Because water spilled on Shouko’s uniform, I quickly offered her a handkerchief in a very natural and casual manner as her friend, and then left the scene.
I definitely didn’t end up looking at her uniform, which had become transparent thanks to the water. And it’s not like I offered her the handkerchief to distract attention from that.
“Come to think of it, I sure lent it to you, didn’t I?”
Damn, I ended up speaking in monotone.
“Wait, I was planning to properly wash and give it back to you, okay!?”
Shouko explained herself with her face red for some reason.
I wouldn’t become all disappointed over not having a handkerchief returned to me, though. Maybe she doesn’t want me to think that she’d carelessly handle something lent to her?
“So you had the Fenrir sniff Sou-kun’s smell and stalked him all the way over here?”
Chiyu’s words contained a faint trace of thorniness.
“Uuhh, I-I expected that I might be hated for it, but it was an emergency!”
I understand. Basically, the method of the transfer, yesterday’s coincidence, and Shouko’s ability miraculously meshed into gear with each other, allowing her to join up with me, huh?
“No, it’s alright. I was also worried about you, Shouko, so don’t mind it.”
“Sousuke…!”
Shouko became emotional, her eyes welling up with tears.
“…Men are too weak to gals who are kind to otaku. Only a childhood friend can win against that,” Chiyu mumbled a complaint under her breath, but I knew her not to be so cold as to abandon the two.
Afterwards, we continued to chat for a while, allowing me to ask most of the things I wanted to know.
“I have a 『Crafting Ability』, Chiyu has a 『Healing Ability』, and Shouko got her 『Summon Fluff Ability』. So, what about you, Shion?”
That was the only part I hadn’t asked about yet.
No, since it’s not said she has to possess an ability, it might have simply been difficult to ask with this lineup. Either way, I’d like to know.
“Yeah…don’t think badly of me, okay?”
She was reluctant to speak about it, but then told us.
“What I wanted was…the 『ability to tell lies apart』.”
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