Chapter 69 – Dangerous Late-Night Stress Eating

“Is Kamui-san really such a troublemaker? She doesn’t look like that at all.”

At my straightforward question, the two looked at each other and gave wry smiles.

“I wonder why… She looks like a quiet, bookish girl, so it’s easy to be fooled, but among the three of us, she’s the first one to mess up.” (Amane)
“If she thinks something looks interesting… she just goes straight for it.” (Kagura)
“Eh!? Is she really like that? Kamui-san.”

I was astonished by their assessment. That evaluation seemed like it would fit Kagura-san before I knew her actual personality… but the real Kagura-san is a serious, top-scoring talented student… Kagura-san and Kamui-san… Honestly, isn’t that completely the opposite of how they look?

“If she gets hooked on something in a good way, she’s also meticulous, so she can be incredibly helpful. Like if we decide to go to an amusement park or on a trip, she’s the type to take the lead in planning.” (Amane)

I see, there are certainly people like that. Someone who takes the initiative for group events is quite valuable. However, perhaps in exchange for taking on events that interest her, Kamui-san also seems to have a bad habit of bringing troublesome ‘events’… Kagura-san said with a sigh.

“But… sometimes getting swept up in her ‘interesting’ ideas leads to big trouble. Last year’s cultural festival, remember the ‘Survival Game in the School Building at Night’ held during the post-festival celebration? The one that got so out of hand the entire student body got chewed out at the assembly the next day…” (Kagura)
“Ah~ Yeah, there was something like that…”

During last year’s cultural festival post-party, randomly selected students were divided into East and West armies. Everyone got excited, thinking it was a grand gesture by the former student council president. The randomly sent invitations were either red or blue, determining the East or West army. Participation was optional; invitations could be transferred or discarded, but obtaining them through money or threats incurred penalties. Incidentally, last year I received a blue invitation for the East army, but got hit by a BB pellet mid-battle and retired…

“You know… that event wasn’t originally planned… Did you know?” (Kagura)
“…Eh?”
“It was supposed to have been rejected at the planning stage, yet somehow it got incorporated into the post-festival celebration as an official event recognized by both the school and the student council… Somehow.” (Kagura)
“B-But that event was supposed to be the grand surprise from the student council president for his final term…”
“They had no choice… The number of participants was huge, and so were the potential suspects, so both the school and the student council had to find some way to resolve it… The school took the form of ‘guidance for the entire student body,’ and the student council framed it as the ‘president’s grand gesture,’ turning him into a hero in the students’ eyes to sweep the problem under the rug…” (Kagura)

Kagura-san’s meaningful tone sent a chill down my spine. So, what happened at last year’s post-festival celebration luckily ended without major issues, but it could easily have escalated into a much more serious incident. Who exactly caused it… Given the flow of conversation, I could guess who her words were pointing to…

“Before last year’s cultural festival, wasn’t that around the time she was really into that handsome protagonist who holds his gun sideways…? She started saying ominous things like ‘Shooting each other… sounds interesting!'” (Amane)
“We didn’t even have time to stop her last year. Before we knew it, she had procured over 100 various model guns…” (Kagura)

Come to think of it, Kagura-san is quite the young lady from a wealthy family, right? But procuring over 100 guns personally… just because it sounded interesting… With such an innocent-looking face… planning ability, drive, and financial power to steer things in her desired direction, even if limited to the narrow scope of a school… Somehow, she was starting to seem scary… Incidentally, the mastermind behind such schemes apparently got eliminated easily early in the survival game… just like a disposable mook in a movie演出 (production)… easily…

“Huh? But you two participated last year, right? I think I saw you on the front lines for the West army, gleefully spraying bullets…”

I saw the members of the ‘Three Goddesses’ enthusiastically participating among the crowd making a ruckus during last year’s post-festival celebration. They said things like ‘didn’t have time to stop her,’ sounding as if they tried to stop it. When I pointed that out, both of them awkwardly averted their gaze… Hey.

“W-Well, once it started, we figured we might as well…” (Kagura)
“Yeah, yeah, figured it’d be a waste not to enjoy it…” (Amane)
“Hey… Look this way, you two…” (Yumeji)

Thinking about it, Amane also seems to have a personality that gets easily carried away, though she seems to have some boundaries. I feel like I saw her adopt the ‘if you can’t stop it, join it’ attitude many times when we were watching lucid dreams together.

…I was convinced. These ‘Three Goddesses’ are dangerous when they plot something together.

It seems the two of them usually keep the spark that is Kamui-san somewhat under control, but sometimes they get caught up in the excitement and burn together… In a different sense, I was convinced they were best friends… And as I listened, my own suspicions grew stronger. Indeed, if she’s that kind of person… maybe she could do it… I thought.

“Listening to you, I can only think she’s the culprit behind this situation… Konoha-chan, what do you think? You’re the only one here who can see things like divine power. What was it like when you saw Kamui-san at school?” 『The small friend with glasses, right… Hmm~?』 (Konoha)

Konoha-chan, having completely finished her kitsune udon, tilted her head and thought for a moment, then gave a small shake of her head.

『No… Looking directly at her, I didn’t sense any immense power. Not even hidden power… I think.』 (Konoha)

Does that mean she could sense something leaking out even if it were hidden? Her subtle phrasing snagged my attention slightly… but does that mean Kamui-san isn’t the culprit? However, when I asked that, Konoha-chan shook her head again.

『Not having power yourself doesn’t mean you can’t use divine power. Just like Yumeji-san uses the power of dreams through the item called the “Book of Dreams” to wield inhuman power.』 (Konoha)
“Ah… Right…”

Now that she mentioned it, without this book, I’m just an ordinary person. In that case, perhaps this situation was accidentally caused by someone who obtained a mysterious item like the ‘Book of Dreams’? If so, could it be Kamui-san who accidentally obtained such an item? …Thinking that far, I remembered my previous failure and caught myself.

“Ah, no good… I shouldn’t jump to conclusions when it’s not even decided that Kamui-san is the culprit…”

…I shook my head to dispel the thought that was trying to arbitrarily fix Kamui-san as the culprit image. Making mistakes due to assumptions once is enough. Amane and Kagura-san nodded in agreement with my murmur.

“Kamu-chan wouldn’t do something like this if she knew it would cause such a situation… Probably, surely!” (Amane)
“Right… We want to believe she understands common sense, somehow or other…” (Kagura)

The eldest and second daughters declared, looking into the distance with unease… Could this be considered trust in a way?

However, although Kamui Airi, disguised as Kamui Alice, had earned the crown as the prime suspect among us, thinking about it, I remembered there were other suspicious individuals among the main characters. Yes… The main characters of a story appear from the beginning… For example…

“Amane… There was an SP protecting the doctor, right? Do you know that one of them plays the role of a traitor mid-series in the anime?”
“Eh, really? If you miss the beginning, you miss foreshadowing like that…” (Amane)

Amane said, sounding slightly regretful. Being told information she didn’t know is a spoiler, so I didn’t really want to say it either… but honestly, the situation is what it is right now.

“That traitor SP, I just remembered, was Takeda…” (Yumeji)
“…Eh? Really?” (Amane)
“Yeah. And one of the guys who caused the bombing terror and attacked with firearms… the one who later becomes the protagonist’s rival character… was Kudo.” (Yumeji)
“Eh… Kudo-kun attacked Kamu-chon!?” (Kagura)

Kagura-san, who has recently established a rivalry with Kudo in terms of grades, reacted with a grim face to my words. Hearing that he attacked her best friend probably didn’t sit well with her. It’s understandable…

“Kagura-san, calm down. It’s just a story within the dream, and considering the events so far, they’re just playing roles. Getting shot in a dream doesn’t cause injury, let alone death… right?”

Feeling slightly uneasy, I passed the question to Konoha-chan, and she nodded emphatically.

『It’s alright! This isn’t the kind of dream that curses the soul. At worst, you’ll just think you had a bad dream… or so Mother said!』 (Konoha)
“R-Really?” (Kagura)

Borrowing her mother’s authority, the fox Konoha-chan’s forceful seal of approval seemed to convince Kagura-san… or rather, she had no choice but to accept it… Anyway, she nodded. The nightmare curse ‘Triple Curse Kill’ cast on Amane before was a nasty dream where dying in the dream meant real death, but it seems that was an exception among exceptions.

But still… what’s with all the people playing the main characters in the anime matching our acquaintances? What kind of fate is at play… As I pondered this, Amane started drawing a triangle on the loose-leaf paper Kagura-san had drawn the circle on earlier, for some reason.

“…Hey, Yumeji-kun. Among the terrorists during the university attack… besides Kudo-kun, wasn’t Hamanaka-kun there too?” (Amane)
“Hamanaka? …No, unfortunately, I didn’t see him… Why?”

In this context, assuming the four of us otaku boys makes sense, but why consider him a terrorist ally? As I wondered, Amane continued writing names at each corner of the triangle.

Top = Kamui Left = Takeda Right = Kudo / Hamanaka

“What’s this? A diagram of the adversarial relationships in the dream…?”
“Takeda-kun might be on the doctor’s side now, but if he betrays her later, he can’t be called the same faction, so let’s separate him… Doing it like this, I think what I’m predicting will be easier to understand…” (Amane)

Amane seemed to intentionally ignore my murmur and continued adding names. And when I saw the diagram… I realized what Amane was trying to say, and my legs felt like they might give out.

Top = Kamui Left = Takeda / Yumeji Right = Kudo / Hamanaka / Amane Outside = Kagura

“W-Wait a minute… Amane-san.”
“Yes, what is it?” (Amane)
“I… have a very strong memory of this adversarial relationship…”

I desperately suppressed the urge to stumble and managed to squeeze out the words, but Amane, who drew it, also had a strained expression… Does she want me to deny her idea?

However, Kagura-san, looking at the diagram, let out an exasperated sigh… and stated the answer. It was the adversarial diagram from the second round of the robot debate that erupted during lunch break sometime ago… The new faction Kamui-san founded alone after defecting from our Real Robot Faction, deploying her third theory.

“Ah~… Come to think of it, she did declare something like ‘Lately, even giant robots use handsome men, so you can’t say which is best! I’m pushing for neither Real nor Super, the strongest depends on who’s inside!!’… didn’t she…” (Kagura)

The diagram of a conflict far too trivial… hiding behind the guise of… a serious story depicting the futility of war born from technological conflict and the ugliness of humanity………… I wonder… My tension was completely drained away.

“So, what? This horror phenomenon involving the entire city in a sleepwalking state… is just an extension of our robot debate… piggybacking on a serious story…?”
“…………” (Amane)
“Hahaha…” (Kagura)

Although the actual purpose is unknown, the conflict diagram indicated by the dream’s casting is undoubtedly that… Our faces twitched, and then we loudly called over the waitress working while still asleep.

“Excuse me!! Two super-sized 5-variety grill sets!! And large rice too!!” (Yumeji)
“Meat doria and a Margherita pizza! Large size!!” (Amane)
“Chocolate parfait and fruit parfait!! And anmitsu and vanilla ice cream too!!” (Kagura)

I don’t know whether to be serious or exasperated anymore!! All we could do now was stress eat… The moment the three of us were in complete agreement.

『Ah, could I have another bowl of kitsune udon too?』 (Konoha)