"Sorry to interrupt while you're having your serious talk."
The one who broke the tense atmosphere was Kusama-kun—someone we'd completely forgotten was even there.
Still tied up facing Ogihara-kun, making for quite the indescribable visual, Kusama-kun spoke with a surprisingly composed expression.
"I'm about to wet myself. Can I go to the restroom?"
The change in Ogihara-kun's expression—bound tightly against him—was priceless.
From a look of exasperation that said "read the room, man" to one of sheer panic that said "wait, seriously!?"
Yeah.
Well, they were tied up together, after all.
If Kusama-kun couldn't hold it, the situation for Ogihara-kun, pressed right up against him, would be truly catastrophic.
No wonder he made that face.
"Wouldn't it be fine? Some of us probably need to cool our heads anyway. Let's call it a short break."
Before I could say anything, the vampire girl had already declared a recess.
And the moment she made that announcement, she was the first to leap from her chair, stretch, and stride right out the door.
She hadn't bothered hiding her bored expression this whole time, so she really was that bored, huh...
"Then I'm hitting the restroom too!"
Kusama-kun shouted as he vanished.
As if his being tied up had been a lie, he disappeared in an instant.
Whoa.
That was a little ninja-like.
So he could've broken free any time he wanted.
The fact that he didn't, and actually asked permission—was he reading the room to some degree?
And declaring he needed the restroom at that exact moment—was that actually a deliberate move to break the tension?
...Nah. No way.
Not Kusama-kun. There was no way that was calculated.
He just genuinely had to go at a convenient time. That's all.
You know those people who suddenly need the restroom at the worst possible moment?
During exams and stuff.
The vampire girl and Kusama-kun had strutted out, leaving the other reincarnators looking lost for a moment about what to do.
But then Oni-kun silently closed his eyes, and Yamada-kun—who seemed to respond to that cue—stood up, righted the chair he'd knocked over, and slowly sat back down. That got things moving.
Soon everyone was doing their own thing.
Some started talking to the people around them. Some headed upstairs.
Oh!
Speaking of upstairs—the Teacher was supposed to be getting looked after up there!
I should go check on her.
You might ask whether the one serving as moderator could afford to step away?
Well, things had already devolved into a mess, and I figured they'd manage without me.
If anything, whether I was there or not, there wasn't much that could be done about the situation.
I stood up from my chair and headed toward the stairs.
I had the distinct feeling that everyone remaining in the room was staring daggers at me, but I decided to pretend it was my imagination.
Especially the stares piercing into me from Kudo-san and Urushihara-san—I could practically feel them landing like blows—but ignore it! Just ignore it!
"If you're going to see the Teacher, would you mind if I came along?"
While I was barely managing to walk this needle-covered path on the dregs of my mental fortitude, the one Hero who couldn't read the room decided to address me.
Yeah, well, he was a genuine Hero, Yamada-kun.
Besides, it wasn't really the kind of thing that required my permission—he asked in the form of a question, but he was already on his feet and ready to follow.
Everything was getting tedious, so I nodded silently in affirmation and walked off, ignoring Yamada-kun entirely.
Yamada-kun likewise followed behind me without a word.
Trailing a short distance behind him, looking somewhat awkward, was Oshima-kun.
And further behind him—more stares, but if I let them bother me, I'd lose.
We climbed the stairs in silence and arrived at the room I was looking for.
I knocked politely and waited for a response.
But before I got one, the door opened from the inside.
It was Kushida-san, who'd been looking after the Teacher.
"Come in. She's still sleeping, so keep it down."
As expected of a former adventurer—she'd sensed us approaching long before we arrived.
I'd thought so during the meeting too, but Kushida-san and Tagawa-kun were easy to talk to, probably because they knew both life on the outside and life here in the elf village.
Maybe it was because they'd survived on their own as adventurers—they had a decisiveness that set them apart from the other reincarnators.
Earlier, she'd also taken the initiative to care for the Teacher.
That was a difference from Yamada-kun and the others, who'd grown up in a greenhouse despite having lived on the outside as well.
Following Kushida-san's gesture, I entered the room and saw the Teacher lying in bed.
When Kushida-san had led her out earlier, she'd still been conscious—but the mental exhaustion or whatever else had apparently knocked her out cold.
And besides the bed the Teacher was sleeping in, there was another bed in the room, with Hasebe-san lying in it.
Fermina-chan was sitting silently beside that bed, keeping watch over Hasebe-san.
...Fermina-chan's gaze felt cold.
I'm sure it was my imagination!
Today I was catching stares from all directions, but every single one of them was purely my imagination!
I had to believe that!
Right!?
"How's the Teacher doing?"
Yamada-kun asked Kushida-san.
"Hard to say. It's less a physical issue and more a matter of the heart. She fell asleep from exhaustion, but I don't know what'll happen when she wakes up."
Kushida-san said with a shrug.
Her detached tone might come across as somewhat cold, but she was probably concerned about the Teacher in her own way.
"And over there?"
Kushida-san turned her gaze not to Yamada-kun, but to me.
We'd shown up suspiciously soon after the meeting had supposedly wrapped up, so she was asking what had happened downstairs.
"We're on a short break. I kind of derailed the conversation."
Yamada-kun answered with a wry smile.
So you were self-aware about derailing things, huh.
"It can't be helped. There are too many things we need to ask, and nobody even knows where to start."
Kushida-san sighed, casting a glance in my direction.
She was probably wondering how we'd handle things going forward, too.
Even a seasoned former adventurer had to feel anxious about the unknown.
"There's one thing I need to ask.
Kushida-san asked, as though steeling herself.
Hmm.
I could tell it had taken a good deal of courage to ask, but my answer was less than forthcoming.
"Not much. Nothing in particular."
"...Excuse me?"
Even the unflappable Kushida-san let out a strange sound of disbelief at that.
"Nothing in particular, she says..."
Kushida-san looked on the verge of clutching her head, but oh well.
Because that was genuinely how it was.
My primary reason for attacking and destroying this elf village was to kill
The next was to free the Teacher, who'd been used by him.
After that came rescuing the reincarnators who'd been imprisoned.
Honestly, rescuing the reincarnators was nothing more than a side benefit of killing Potimas.
So I genuinely hadn't thought about what to do with them afterward.
From here on, they could do whatever they wanted, as far as I was concerned.
That said, just dumping them with "you're free now, figure it out" felt a bit much, so I was planning on providing a minimum level of support.
They were all plenty old enough when you included their previous lives, and I believed that once they had a foundation in place, they could sustain themselves.
Though I had to admit that living in a closed-off miniature world may have stunted their mental growth somewhat.
That was what I should have explained. But what a hassle.
This mouth of mine!
It was practically begging me not to speak!
So in situations like this, the quickest fix was to hand things off to someone else.
"Fermina."
"Y-yes."
And conveniently, an excellent human sacrifice was available on-site.
"I'm leaving the rest to you."
"...Yes."
There was a slight pause before her response, but Fermina-chan accepted the assignment.
I'd checked on the Teacher, and hanging around in a room where someone was trying to sleep wouldn't do any good.
So this was a perfectly legitimate departure.
It was absolutely not a flight from the front lines.
Not in the slightest.
Right, then—let's head back.
I left the stunned Kushida-san, Yamada-kun, and the others behind, turned on my heel, and walked out of the room.