Chapter 5 — It Looked Like an Adamski Type...

"Putting the issue of charging aside for now, I guess I didn't glow, so I was left behind?"

"Do you see something now that you've never seen before?"

"You mean like the logo and mission stuff you were talking about earlier? No, it all looks pretty much the same to me." He focused hard on his current field of view, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"That's what I thought. The people who glowed could all see information floating around. Like, a health gauge was always visible in the corner, apparently."

"That's pretty common in games, I suppose."

"I guess. Mikochi doesn't really play video games that much, so she couldn't explain it very well."

"This Mikochi is a friend of yours? And she just left you behind and went with everyone else?"

It wasn't hard for Yogiri to accept the fact that he had been abandoned by everyone else. Rather, it seemed natural. He had barely ever spoken to his classmates, after all.

But Tomochika should have been different. Sure, Yogiri wasn't particularly well versed in the interpersonal relationships of the class, but his impression was that Tomochika was someone who would have a lot of friends.

"I think Yazaki did...something," she answered with a bitter expression. Of course, she didn't want to believe that she'd been betrayed.

"If a Beauty Coordinator can manipulate someone's attractiveness, it's possible that a General can manipulate someone's behavior, I suppose. But with all this stuff about classes and levels and skills, it's sounding more and more like a video game." It's interesting for there to be powers like that, Yogiri thought. "If we believe General Yazaki's words, then there was only one dragon. In that case, it should be safe for us to go outside now," he continued, looking out the window at the massive body nearby. The creature was totally unmoving. Clearly, it was no longer a threat.

"Umm, actually...did you do something to it, Takatou?" Tomochika asked, her voice wavering slightly.

"It just fell and died on its own."

"Well, that's a lie if I ever heard one."

"Don't believe me, then. That's fine."

"Err...well, it's hard to believe you could do anything, but to think it just randomly died..."

While he wasn't particularly concerned about hiding his ability, it would have been a chore to explain it just then, so he decided to leave the conversation for later.

"The dragon really helps sell the idea of this being a parallel world. Or...maybe it does the opposite?"

"How could this not be a parallel world?"

"Well, some grossly rich guy could have kidnapped us and is putting us through some sort of snuff movie performance, right? It's easier to believe the dragon was made with genetic engineering than to believe we were transported to another world."

"Well, that's just because you didn't see the Great Sage's granddaughter. She was definitely using magic! Something came out of her hand and everything!"

Thinking it over, Yogiri had no way of knowing whether Tomochika was actually telling him the truth. But if he started doubting her, there would be no end to it, so he decided to believe her for now. If a problem arose later, he could modify his assumptions then.

"We're not helping anything by staying here anyway, so why don't we take a look outside?" Stepping over the bodies in the aisle, Yogiri headed for the exit. Although he had been told the door was unopenable, the dragon's attack had done considerably more damage. "Looks like we should be able to manage it. Er, something wrong?"

He was speaking as if Tomochika was right beside him, but there was no reply. Turning around, he found her hesitating by Kiryuu's body.

"I know there's nothing we can do if they're dead, but I still feel bad just leaving them here..."

"Ahh." Yogiri walked back down the length of the bus and put Kiryuu and Ayaka back into their seats. After that, he and Tomochika made their way to the exit. With one swift kick, the damaged door burst open with a loud noise. No point in trying to be stealthy now. Without hesitation, Yogiri stepped out onto the grassland.

"Looks like spring." A gentle breeze washed over the field around them.

"See? This is definitely a different world. It was winter up until now, right?"

"The Southern Hemisphere has different seasons than we do, though. It's still more believable that they put our bus on a boat or something and took it to another country."

"You're really stuck on this, aren't you?"

"I think it's stranger to immediately believe we're in a different world."

"There's plenty of proof, though...ah!" She had been looking around restlessly as they spoke, and it seemed she had found something.

Yogiri followed her gaze...and he saw, floating in the air, a flying saucer. With nothing to compare it to, it was hard to gauge the distance, but it looked to be at least a few kilometers ahead of them. There was also some sort of upside-down bowl-shaped object floating on top of the disk.

As they watched, it began to ascend. Following its flight into the sky, Yogiri was dumbfounded. Numerous rock formations were floating as well. Many of them were hidden by the clouds, so they must have been at quite an altitude. As the flying saucer approached one of these formations, it finally disappeared from view.

"See?! There are floating castles and everything! This is a different world for sure, right? There's a whole floating continent!" For some reason, she sounded rather proud.

"It looked like an Adamski Type, didn't it?"

"Why do you care about what shape it was?! Just admit it! This is a different world!"

"All right, I get it. Let's say it's a parallel world, then." The hypothesis that this was just a foreign country had been doomed from the start anyway. For now, he'd accept the theory that they were in a whole new place.

"But why a UFO?! Couldn't they find something more appropriate?!" Tomochika suddenly shouted at no one in particular.

"Glad you're doing well, Dannoura."

"So, what do we do now?"

"Well, I guess we need to get moving," Yogiri said, looking around.

The grasslands extended in every direction around them. The distant castle walls were probably the destination of the first mission that the others had set out on. If that was north, then the forest he saw some distance away must have been west. There were gently sloping hills to the south and east, so he couldn't see very far in those directions.

"City, forest, or hills. Three choices I guess. I suppose we should avoid the forest, at least."

Yogiri wanted to avoid forests wherever possible. For people like them, born and raised in cities, a forest would present far too many unknowns. On top of that, being in another world, who knew what kind of surprises such an environment might harbor?

"The city...if there are people, it might be the best choice, but..." That's where the classmates who had abandoned them would be. That might be a bit of a sticking point for Tomochika. "Let's find our luggage first. They all ran off in a hurry, right?"

"They did run off with nothing, yeah."

"There might even be a portable charger or something."

"What is with you? You are way too passionate about that game..."

Yogiri made his way to the storage space under the bus, where all their luggage was kept. The compartment, however, was locked.

"Doesn't look like we can open it. Dannoura, do you have any skill in lockpicking?"

"Do I look like a criminal to you?"

"I guess it's hopeless, then. It didn't look like there was much of value in the bus itself...shall we go look around on top of one of those hills?" He thought there might be something of interest just beyond them.

As Yogiri turned to make his way towards the hills, Tomochika pointed at the northern part of the sky.

"Hey. Something's coming towards us."

"Another dragon?" Or was it another UFO? Yogiri followed the direction of her finger.

There was definitely something in the air there, but it was too far away to make out. At the very least, it didn't appear to be a dragon.

"It looks like Higashida, Fukuhara, and Hanakawa are flying towards us."

"You've got a pretty good eye if you can see them from that far away," Yogiri said, impressed by her eyesight.

Of course, Yogiri himself didn't even remember the names and faces of his classmates, so it wouldn't have meant much even if he could see them.