Chapter 160: The Last One Is a Teleportation Ability Holder

Tsutsui had brought a handgun to this deserted island. Now, he too was a deal partner.

Only one person remained.

The boy who had mentioned the Teleportation Ability in the first dream.

After getting a few things set up at his base, we left.

“See you, Tsutsui.”

Riding on Micron’s back, I said my goodbyes.

“Yeah! Take care, Boss!”

Tsutsui clasped his hands behind his back and gave me a deep bow.

When he raised his head, he looked at me with undisguised respect.

…People really could change that much.

Tsutsui seemed to have fully turned over a new leaf. He promised to stop resorting to rough methods with the other students.

He also swore he would use his handgun to take down anything I ordered him to, but I had him put that idea on hold.

He did not seem jealous that I was traveling with several girls, either. For some reason, he simply accepted it with, “For someone as great as you, Boss, that’s only natural.”

A huge tree stood near Tsutsui.

A treehouse had been placed around one of its thick branches.

It had been Tsutsui’s request. He wanted to keep wild animals from targeting his home and supplies.

Going up and down would be a hassle, but it was a quick and sensible way to avoid danger.

“Just as expected of you, Sousuke. Things went well again.”

Speaking of change, there was someone else.

Yumekai Serina, who was riding behind me on Micron’s back.

She was supposed to be a cool girl with an air that kept others at a distance…

But now, she was pressing her chest and cheek against my back as she hugged me tightly.

“...Haven’t you changed a little too much, Serina?”

Shouko, riding Mashiro, puffed out her cheeks as she spoke.

“You do this all the time too, don’t you?”

Whenever Serina spoke to anyone other than me, she went back to normal.

Her personality itself had not changed. Only the way she treated me had.

“W-Well… I’m your girlfriend.”

Shouko’s voice was so soft it nearly vanished, but there was a note of pride in it.

“I see. Then I won’t interrupt your time with Sousuke. So it’s fine for now, isn’t it?”

“Urgh.”

Unable to argue with that, Shouko fell silent.

Originally, Micron’s riders had been Chiyu, Ms. Luminous, and me.

Before we left, Serina had said she wanted to ride with me, and Ms. Luminous had agreed to switch with her.

At the moment, I had my arms around the childhood friend riding in front of me, while Serina hugged me from behind.

“Love really does change people, huh?” Urume said with a laugh.

“Shut it. Instead of always teasing Sousuke, why don’t you make up your mind about what you’re going to do?”

“...Yeah. I know.”

Our eyes met. Urume scratched her cheek in embarrassment, then looked away.

Black-dragon Mamonaka kept fidgeting as though she had something to say.

In her black-dragon form, she could not speak human language, so she could not join the conversation. I felt a little bad for her.

Once Shouko could summon another phantasmal beast, Mamonaka should be able to travel with us in human form too.

“Mm. The harem is steadily expanding.”

As she said that, Chiyu grabbed the hand I had around her waist, lifted it, and pressed it to her chest.

“Ch-Chiyu…?”

“It’s fine that So-kun is popular. And it’s because of So-kun that Seri has settled into the party. But every so often, I want him to remember his legal wife too.”

Ms. Luminous had taken the top spot for sheer bust size, but Chiyu still had the largest chest among girls our age.

My hand sank into her soft curves.

It felt like happiness made tangible—ridiculously pleasant.

“...I’d never forget you, Chiyu.”

It was embarrassing, but feelings like that needed to be said aloud.

“...I know.”

When I looked at her, Chiyu’s ears were red.

She seemed embarrassed.

“Um, Shouko? Don’t you think Mashiro’s movements have been strange?”

After a while, Minori was the one to bring it up.

Her proud ponytail streamed in the wind.

“With all due respect, I agree with Lady Minori. Could Lord Mashiro have lost his way…?”

Since Minori and Roa were riding on Mashiro, something must have happened.

Now that they mentioned it, Mashiro was not only turning left and right constantly. He also seemed to be making a lot of unnecessary movements.

Like when a map app could not find the destination and kept guiding you in circles…

“Hmm…”

Shouko made a troubled sound.

“What is it?”

“Mashiro says something feels weird. A scent keeps cutting off, then he smells it again from somewhere completely different. It keeps happening over and over.”

So that was why he had been changing direction so often.

We had Mashiro following the scent of the people on this island.

His sense of smell was good enough to distinguish individual scents, and he could even track someone we had never met before.

“So that’s what it is.”

“What does that mean?”

“The last one is the boy who chose the Teleportation Ability. He must be teleporting over and over again.”

“Hm…? Oh, right! He keeps jumping to completely different places, so the scent vanishes and then shows up somewhere else!”

“That’s it.”

“But why’s he running?” Urume asked, tilting ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) her head.

“He probably wants to be alone. We may be trying to help, but from his perspective, it could just be unwanted interference. I don’t plan on leaving So-kun anymore, though.”

As if seizing the chance, Serina hugged me tighter.

Her sudden change had caught me off guard, but it was hard not to be happy that she felt that way about me.

“...That means he doesn’t want to see us, right? Then maybe we shouldn’t keep looking for him,” Shion said cautiously.

“The fact that he is running suggests that he has no intention of actively fighting us. But if we keep pursuing him, and he decides that he cannot escape…”

Minori seemed to agree with Shion.

“Perhaps he is wary of us, like the students we have encountered so far. I only wish there were some way to tell him that we mean no harm…”

Ms. Luminous considered the problem with a pensive expression.

Then I realized something.

“...Wait. If he keeps teleporting to escape, that means he knows what we’re doing. In other words—”

“That’s right. He’s nearby.”

That voice belonged to none of my companions.

Mashiro cried out.

Then, suddenly, he appeared directly in front of Chiyu on Micron’s back.

“You—”

I instinctively pulled Chiyu’s head down, shielding her.

His hand touched me.

“So-k—”

Chiyu’s voice cut off.

The next moment, I was standing somewhere else.

“...Honestly, I had no intention of getting involved. But I never thought you would try to find every human on the island.”

Long bangs hid his eyes. He was thin and of average height.

He wore his uniform neatly, and he had been one of the quieter students in class.

“...Tenpourin.”

He was Tenpourin Utsuru.

The final male student.

“Yeah, Kuno.”

“...Why did you take only me?”

I was relieved the girls were safe, but I could not help wondering.

“...Isn’t it obvious?”

He fussed with his bangs, looking slightly irritated, then continued.

“Because I get nervous around girls and can’t talk properly in front of them.”

...Yeah.

He did not seem like a bad guy.