"Hey. What are you going to do after all the trouble in this world is over?"
The whole way here, Sophia had been lost in thought.
This question must have been what she'd been mulling over.
Sophia was worried about what comes after.
When asked, Shiro-san answered without changing her expression, pausing for just one breath before responding.
"Run."
"Huh?"
Sophia's bewildered voice of confusion probably voiced what all of us in the room were thinking.
Run?
From whom?
From what?
As far as I knew, I couldn't imagine anyone Shiro-san would need to run from.
If anything, there was that god called Kuro besides Shiro-san, but even that felt like something else entirely.
More than anything, the fact that Shiro-san would declare outright that she was going to run was so unexpected I couldn't wrap my head around it.
From everything I'd seen of her, Shiro-san was the type who would accomplish whatever she wanted to do no matter what.
She'd choose any means necessary to make it happen.
For someone like that to announce she was going to flee without a second thought—it just didn't fit the image.
Everyone else besides me seemed to be thinking the same thing, because they all wore puzzled expressions.
Did Ariel-san know something the rest of us didn't?
"Shiro-chan, are you sure you should be saying that out loud?"
Ariel-san said that while fidgeting, glancing around the room with shifty eyes.
Suspicious.
There was something about Ariel-san's demeanor that carried an air of fear.
It told us that there was something even Shiro-san and Ariel-san couldn't handle.
At this point, I grew concerned that there might be something capable of throwing a wrench into Shiro-san's plans.
"It's fine but it's not fine. So don't go bringing it up too much."
Shiro-san's tone was, if anything, even stiffer than usual.
Almost as though she was on guard against something.
"Shiro-san, is this something that could interfere with our plan?"
I couldn't help but ask.
If the plan I thought was proceeding smoothly was actually walking a tightrope without my knowledge, I needed to know the truth.
"Yeah. It's fine, it's fine. Raas-kun, there's no need to worry. In all honesty, that person wouldn't do anything to us anyway. After all..." "The Demon King."
Ariel-san started to speak, but Shiro-san cut her off.
Shiro-san shook her head, and seeing that, Ariel-san nodded in acknowledgment.
"Just remember that there's no need to worry about it, okay?"
"You can't just leave it at that."
"Raas-kun. There are some things in this world where not knowing makes you happier, you know?"
I tried to press further, but Ariel-san refused to explain any more.
I couldn't drag any answers out of Ariel-san and Shiro-san once they'd shut their mouths.
I had no choice but to give up on pressing the matter.
Still, if Ariel-san said there was no need to worry, then the plan shouldn't be in any jeopardy.
"Run where?"
Just when I thought the conversation was over, Sophia brought it back up.
Despite having just heard Shiro-san say she didn't want to talk about this much.
"Who knows."
Sure enough, Shiro-san's reply was dismissive.
She clearly didn't want the topic brought up, and Sophia had pressed anyway, so there was a faint edge of irritation in those few words.
"Answer me properly."
Either Sophia didn't notice the irritation, or she noticed but pressed on regardless—she asked Shiro-san again with an unusually serious expression.
Shiro-san turned her closed eyes toward Sophia in silence, and Sophia stared back at Shiro-san's face.
Their stare-down lasted for a while before Sophia was the first to break.
"Can I... come with you?"
She asked in a voice that was somewhere between embarrassed and barely audible.
It wasn't so much anxiety as it was the feeling that she'd known the answer from the start, but simply couldn't help asking anyway.
"No."
Shiro-san's answer was short and unmistakably a refusal.
Sophia's expression took on a look that said "I knew it," tinged with a quiet sadness.
"You can't come with me, but you can choose to live here or go back to Earth."
Shiro-san suddenly dropped that bomb.
Earth?
No, now that I thought about it, it wouldn't be strange at all for Shiro-san to go to Earth.
In fact, it would be strange if she hadn't been.
It was a while back, but Shiro-san had been drinking canned coffee right in front of us.
Canned coffee that didn't exist on this planet.
It was one of the major Japanese brands you'd see everywhere in Japan.
There was no way to get that without having been to Japan.
Shiro-san had the means to go to Earth.
Probably teleportation.
So she could get to Earth.
I had thought about going back to Earth too.
Especially right after being reincarnated in this world—I'd thought about it countless times.
I wanted to go back to Earth.
Could that wish come true?
"I'll stay here. I have no attachment to Earth."
While I was lost in thought, Sophia flatly turned down the path back to Earth.
"Going back to Earth wouldn't make me the old me again. And honestly, I'm pretty fond of who I am now. Going back at this point would just mean a headache with residency records and whatnot. I'd rather live however I want right here."
"However I want"—that was such a Sophia thing to say.
Living without overthinking, following wherever her heart led.
I'd probably get scolded for saying it to her face, but that carefree way of living suited Sophia perfectly.
It made her seem free.
"What about you, Kyoya-kun?"
Sophia turned the topic to me.
But my answer was already decided.
"I'm staying here too."
I did have attachments.
But I couldn't go back.
Sasajima Kyoya was already dead.
The one here was just an oni named Raas.
I wouldn't go back, and I couldn't go back.
"Oh, okay."
Sophia accepted my answer without fuss.
She'd probably predicted it without even asking.
That I had no intention of going back.
But maybe the reason she'd asked was to give me a chance.
To make me feel like there was still a way back, that other choices still existed.
But no matter how many choices there might be, I'd already made my decision.
So I was sorry.
Talking about the future was pointless for me.
Fermina: "..."
No response. She was just a drunk.