Chapter 154
“How are you feeling?”
“The... worst.”
With her head resting on Kururu’s lap, Tina answered in a deathly pale voice.
Beside them, Alice held a damp towel in one hand, looking worried. Parna stood nearby with an anxious expression, while Menou and Rex waited with troubled looks on their faces.
“It looks like we’re about to head out... Tina-chan, do you think you can stand?”
“No way. Let me rest for at least five more hours.”
Tina shook her head vigorously, apparently so exhausted that she’d reached her limit, then clung to Kururu’s lap.
“To think one battle could leave her this exhausted... I wonder if she’ll be okay from here on.”
Parna let out a deep sigh as she watched Tina.
“I’ll be fine. We struggled this time because we didn’t know our enemies... but next time, I’ll fight better. Even if they evolve, it’s not as if they’ll change drastically overnight. I’ll... prove I can see this through, even without my master.”
In contrast, Rex was full of determination. It wasn’t that he’d forgotten their goal; rather, he was thinking through how they could achieve it in his own way. He’d concluded that they first needed to survive and adapt to this world, and he was trying to move forward.
“You’re right... Let’s start with what we can do now. There’s no point in worrying here.”
Seeing Rex, Takako realized she’d been thinking too hard and felt a little more at ease. “Well, let’s get going. I’ll carry Tina-chan,” she said, moving to hoist Tina onto her back.
“No, Lady Takako should be free to act quickly when the time comes. I’ll carry Lady Tina.”
But Menou quickly cut Takako off and lifted Tina into her arms. The sudden bridal carry made Tina’s pale face flush bright red, and she began to flail about. Two seconds later, though, she calmly said, “Ah, no, this won’t work,” and went limp in Menou’s arms again.
“That’s unusual, Menou-chan, doing something like that for someone other than Alice-chan. Usually you’d say something like, ‘To protect Lady Alice, I must always remain in peak condition.’”
“Lady Alice is important to me, of course... but Lady Tina is now a dear comrade of mine as well. Besides, if we leave Lady Takako out of the carrying, then it’s just Lord Rex and me, isn’t it? Unlike in the past, Lord Rex and Lady Takako are clearly stronger than I am now... so isn’t it only natural that I carry her?”
“Could you stop talking as if I’m some piece of baggage everyone’s arguing over who has to carry...?”
“Mm... I’m sorry, Lady Tina.”
At Tina’s mutter beneath a sidelong glare, Menou flustered, while Kururu, Alice, Takako, and Parna watched with fond, wry smiles. Then, seeing the other Resistance members moving out, Takako said, “All right, let’s go,” and set off. Alice, Kururu, and Parna followed her.
“...Why?”
Just as Menou took a step to follow them, Rex—who, for some reason, had stayed behind even as Takako and the others moved on—fixed Menou with a sharp look and spoke.
“What do you mean, Lord Rex? Do you also find it strange that I’m carrying Lady Tina?”
“Why didn’t you move? Did you think we were so dependable?”
Silence fell between them. Tina, unwillingly caught up in the strange atmosphere that had suddenly arisen, looked quickly from one to the other and groaned, “Huh?! Whaaat...”
Menou understood what Rex was getting at. And because she understood, she couldn’t figure out how to answer. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she desperately searched for the right words.
“Hey, you two! What are you doing? They’re going to leave us behind!”
Just then, seeing Rex and Menou still standing there, Yuki waved both arms and ran over to them.
“Come on, come on! Keep moving! It’s dangerous if we get separated. Come on!”
“Stop pushing. I was going to go in a moment without being told. Hey, don’t push! I can walk by myself.”
Yuki came up behind Rex and, saying, “There we go,” gave him a half-forced shove in the back, urging him toward the Resistance members who had already gone on ahead.
Seeing Rex being whisked away, Menou sighed in relief, then followed after him. Held in Menou’s arms, Tina watched her expression and felt something was off about the scene, as if Menou were somehow anxious. Tina couldn’t remember Menou doing anything unusual; in fact, she’d simply stayed with them without doing anything. So why had Rex’s words left her so troubled? Tina couldn’t understand it.
But that was precisely why Rex had found it strange.
Menou had done nothing. Normally, as soon as a battle began, she would gather magic in her hands, ready to respond with a spell if an enemy approached. This time, however, she hadn’t even channeled magic into her hands. She’d simply watched, as if she had no intention of fighting.
Then, as though to avoid battle, she had volunteered to carry Tina. To Rex, it seemed as if she were hiding something and trying to cover it up.
“So you can’t tell me...”
Seeing Menou’s reaction, Rex realized she was carrying a burden she couldn’t even discuss with her comrades. In that case, all he had to do was fight in her place and make up for it. He steeled himself.
“...Because we’re comrades.”
Thinking that his way of looking at things was starting to sound a little like Kagami’s, Rex gave a soft snort. Then he brushed away Yuki’s hand pushing at his back and hurried over to his comrades.