When we returned to the treehouse, we found Kusama-kun and Ogihara-kun tied up inside.
They were bound facing each other in a stable position, tied together as if embracing.
I could've sworn only Ogihara-kun was sitting properly when we left, so why is he tied up with Kusama-kun again?
...Yeah.
I'm just going to ignore that.
The vampire girl walking ahead was ignoring them too.
The vampire girl went to the chairs where we'd been sitting earlier.
But she didn't sit. Instead, she stood with her arms crossed.
She silently gestured for me to sit, so I went ahead and sat down.
"All right, all right. Let's get this going again. Anyone missing? Is everyone here? If someone's not, go get them."
The vampire girl clapped her hands together and raised her voice so everyone in the room could hear.
Despite how loud she was being, it was remarkable that her elegance didn't suffer one bit.
Huh?
Was she always this imposing?
Reacting to the vampire girl's voice, the reincarnators who'd been chatting fell silent.
At the same time, Kudou-san stood up from her seat and headed up the stairs.
Yamada-kun and the others hadn't come back yet, so it looked like she'd gone to fetch them.
The vampire girl watched her go, then crossed her arms again and settled into a stance of quiet observation.
Oni watched her with a suspicious frown.
Yeah.
I totally understood how Oni felt.
The vampire girl never put herself in the line of fire in situations like this.
And when the vampire girl took the initiative, it was usually a sign that something bad was about to happen.
Oni kept glancing at me, eyes full of questions.
But I had nothing to tell him!
After a short wait, Kudou-san came back with Yamada-kun and the others.
They each took their seats from before.
"All right, let's resume."
Maybe it was because the vampire girl had taken over as moderator, but a different kind of tension enveloped the room.
Before, the tension had been laced with uncertainty about what lay ahead and fear of the unknown people they were dealing with. Now, it was simply the overwhelming pressure of the vampire girl's presence.
...Wait.
Was the tension directed at me even worse?
I couldn't figure out why.
"First, let me make this clear — you were saved by us, and the power over your lives is in our hands. Understand that."
Whoa!?
She just dropped a bomb out of nowhere.
"Wait a minute!"
"Quiet. Shut up."
Yamada-kun started to stand up in protest, but the vampire girl silenced him. Physically.
"Gah!?"
I'm pretty sure only Oni and I were the ones who understood what had just happened.
Even among the reincarnators who could fight to some degree — Oshima-kun, Tagawa-kun, and the others — nobody's eyes could have kept up with the vampire girl's movements.
All the vampire girl had done was walk up to Yamada-kun and sweep his legs out from under him.
It was just that the speed and the force behind that sweep were anything but normal.
Yamada-kun toppled over, sending his chair flying.
She seemed to have held back, since Yamada-kun's legs didn't appear to be broken.
If she hadn't held back, forget broken legs — Yamada-kun's entire lower body might have been blown off.
"We're doing this out of kindness — or rather, out of obligation. Do you un-der-stand?"
The vampire girl spoke to the fallen, groaning Yamada-kun in the tone one would use to explain something to a small child.
"Honestly, we only saved you while we were at it after crushing the elves. So we could've just thrown you out without any explanation. But out of the goodness of our hearts — our previous-life goodness — we're being nice and explaining things to you. We're kind, aren't we?"
I'm pretty sure a truly kind person doesn't just sweep someone's legs out from under them.
And maybe don't say things about holding the power over people's lives and deaths — that sounds like a threat, you know.
"Hey—"
"Kyouya-kun, you be quiet too. Everything keeps going off the rails because of you. Could you please not make this any more chaotic?"
The vampire girl cut off Oni before he could voice his complaint.
Says the one who's actively making a mess of things right now!
"Do you even have the right to hear this? Of course you don't. Your current position is basically that of prisoners — refugees with no homeland to return to. Whether you live or die depends entirely on our mood. Do I make myself clear?"
In stark contrast to the vampire girl's bright smile, the reincarnators' faces drained of color all at once.
Moments ago, the atmosphere had felt like a continuation of a class meeting. Now, with talk of killing and sparing them, it seemed like they'd realized their situation was far more dire than they'd imagined.
Yeah.
Though her methods of making them understand were way too heavy-handed!
What are we supposed to do about this frozen atmosphere!
"The way you're saying that—"
"I said shut up."
The vampire girl kicked Yamada-kun squarely in the face without a shred of mercy as he tried to speak up again.
"Stop it!"
"I said you're being noisy."
When Oshima-kun tried to intervene, the vampire girl slapped him to the floor.
How could she do that to a girl's face!
Well, whether it was okay to categorize Oshima-kun as a girl was... eh, whatever.
"If you have complaints, feel free to leave. We have no obligation to explain anything to you. If you don't want to listen, you don't have to. But if you're going to listen, keep your mouths shut. Every second you spend talking is wasted."
The room fell deathly silent.
The only movement was Yamada-kun quietly moving to Oshima-kun's side and casting healing magic on where he'd been struck.
It was as if everyone was holding their breath.
"Good. Then you'll listen in silence. No questions in the middle. I'll take them after I've said everything. Until then, keep quiet. Understood?"
Nobody dared to argue with the vampire girl.
This was straight-up fear-based governance!
Sure, it might be effective at getting people to listen, but wouldn't it leave the worst possible impression afterward? Ugh.
What's going to happen now?
Who the hell knows.