“An invasion into hell?! Have you gone completely mad?!” Saki rejected the idea instantly. “We have no idea what’s beyond the hot gates. We could be walking straight into our deaths!”

“You’re right. We have no idea what hell is like. Which is exactly why I’m choosing the seven of you for this.” Hana remained cool, despite clearly being slightly hurt by Saki’s instant dismissal of her idea. “I’m not asking you to single-handedly defeat the entire demon army. We need information on our foes. We cannot simply stand at the gates and wait to be overrun, we need to see what’s on the other side so we can figure out how to win this war once and for all.

“And what of you? You would leave your team under my command and remain behind yourself? You would trust me to fill your place for such an important task?”

“I would follow you into hell myself if that was what was best. But my 「Iron Defence」will be the crux of our defensive strategy. Without me commanding the front lines, I doubt our defence would hold for long enough. I’m not trying to thrust my responsibilities into you, Saki. I’m trusting you to do what I can’t.”

The two leaders, the headstrong Saki and the steadfast Hana, stared each other in the eyes without speaking another word.

Instead, it was Mai who broke the silence.

“Saki… I think Hana’s right. The seven of us would be the optimal party for this sort of mission.” Saki turned her head to Mai, who breathed in heavily before continuing. “A larger group would have trouble sneaking around, we’d likely end up captured or killed if we had any more than the few of us. But with just us seven specialists, we’d have every safety net we could need. Shin could keep us cloaked from the eyes of the enemy. I could predict threats before they get to us. Your leadership and judgement would keep us out of trouble like always, and Nao’s support would prevent any of us from taking lethal wounds. With the twins at our side we’d have the firepower to win small skirmishes, and any serious threats we could avoid using Kyouma’s teleportation. I agree that it’s dangerous. Suicidal, even. But that’s the risk we accepted when we rejected the rule of heaven and hell. If we want to win this war, these are the hard decisions we’ll have to make.”

Saki tried to rebut, but found no words of protest. As undeniably dangerous as it was, this still seemed to be the best approach.

“Are you three okay with this? Following someone who isn’t Hana into your most dangerous situation yet?” She addressed the three girls that Hana had just assigned to her command, all of whom affirmed their support.

“I will do what I need to do to protect humanity.” Suzume said calmly.

“Hana talks you up a lot. I wanna sample your skills as a leader myself.” Hikari added

“Certainty of death? Small chance of success? What are we waiting for?” Said Kyouma, forgetting which character she was supposed to be playing.

Despite Saki’s hesitation, it seemed like everyone was on board. As such, Saki relented.

“Okay. Then I’m in. But we prioritise safety above all else. Anything goes south and I’m ordering Kyouma to eject us at first opportunity.”

“That’s more than enough for me. Thank you, Saki.”

With that tension eased, the heavy atmosphere left the room. It was clear that Hana carried a great deal of respect for Saki, so Saki assenting to her plan seemed to make her pretty happy.

“Still, this all hinges on us getting the 300 to fight at our side. Hana, is your rallying speech almost done?” Hikari asked the same question I had earlier, once again causing Hana to tense up slightly.

“I wanna get it finished tonight, but I’m struggling to say the least. How do you ask three hundred people to put their lives on the line a mere month after they were saved from enslavement? It doesn’t feel fair.”

“Fair or not, we have little choice. Unless we want the world as we know it to end, we’ll need all the help we can get,” Suzume interjected.

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“I think it should be soon, too. Watching our match got everyone fired up, we want that fresh in their memories so they feel like we have a better chance of winning.” Added Hikari.

“This all feels so manipulative.”

It was clear that the entire debacle left a bad taste in Hana’s mouth, but it was also our only choice. Eight of us alone couldn’t win a war.

“It’s getting pretty late. If I’m gonna finish writing tonight, I’ll need time. Kyouma, mind taking our guests back home?”

“Consider it done. You four, along with me, if you please.”

Kyouma jumped off the bed and beckoned the four of us to join her. We stood in a circle around her, and she held her (fake) wizards staff high above her head.

“Hana. You’ve got this. I believe in you.” Saki put her first to her chest, and a moment later the disorienting feeling of teleportation took over our bodies.

“Wonderful job, you all managed to stay upon thy feet this time!”

“Bite me, Kyouma.” The awful feeling that teleporting left in my stomach made me feel far less patient for Kyouma’s antics.

“My supreme commander will be needing me shortly, so you’ll have to go on without me from here. Fare thee well, comrades.”

A flash of light engulfed Kyouma, and in the next moment she had disappeared.

“Take Nao off ahead. I’ve gotta speak with Saki.”

“Got it.”

Without taking a moment to question me, Mai did exactly as I asked and practically dragged Nao along ahead of her, making loud and somewhat unconvincing conversation. Meanwhile, I matched my pace with Saki’s.

“You should be proud of yourself, y’know.”

“Huh? Whaddyou mean by that, Shin?”

“Of how you’ve changed. When I first met you, you’d have dived head first into hell yourself and let everyone else trail behind you. But when Hana suggested that exact thing today, you pushed back, refusing to put us in a situation with unnecessary danger. You should be proud of how much you’ve grown as a leader.”

Saki seemed momentarily taken aback by the sincere compliment, but after a moment she looked at the ground and shook her head.

“It’s not all that. I haven’t developed as a person. I just… I feel like I have something to lose now.” She looked straight forward at the backs of our friends, but it was clear as to whom in particular she was referring.

“You love her, don’t you?”

“Of course I do.”

“I mean in the same way I love Mai.”

“I… yeah. Yeah, I think so. When you’ve known someone as long as I’ve known Nao, it can be hard to interpret your feelings for them. But I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I think my feelings for Nao are too strong to be anything but romantic.”

Although Mai and I had suspected as such for a long time at this point, I was glad to finally hear Saki admit it for herself. Despite how headstrong she was, Saki was the type to deny her own feelings when it really mattered. As a shipper at heart I couldn’t bear to watch these two drift apart without admitting their feelings.

“So… why are you two not official? I mean, it’s blindingly obvious that Nao feels the same way as you do. What’s stopping you from just confessing your feelings outright?”

Saki grimaced at my words, a strong hesitation in her voice as she spoke again.

“I just… I don’t think it’s the time. I mean, we’re preparing to go to war. A war with creatures we can’t even fathom. The entire world is at stake and I’m worried about sorting my feelings out? It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

I didn’t immediately rebut her, mostly because I shared the same concerns about my own situation. With everyone going on these days, anything that didn’t improve our chances of surviving the demon invasion seemed like a waste of time on paper.

Fortunately, I had a genius for a fiancée, one who knew her way around words better than anyone else I knew.

“I said the same thing to Mai, y’know. About feeling like this was the wrong time.” Saki didn’t say anything, but she glanced sideways at me, so I knew I had caught her interest. “She made a good point to me on that day. There’s no point in fighting if we don’t have something to fight for. Something we’re willing to put everything on the line to protect. For Mai and I, that’s our future together. Our married life and all that comes with it. When I see that on the horizon, my drive to see this through to the end becomes stronger than ever before.”

“Are you saying Nao is my reason?”

“I’m saying that there’s no better time than the present to look into the future. If you keep finding excuses to put it off, that dream of a perfect future with the person you love will always seem far away. You can only close that gap by taking the first step. If the thing that drives you to take that first step is the end of the world, so be it. It’s better to face the end of the world glad that you took a leap of faith than being filled with regret for not trying.”

“But what if I take that leap of faith and I don’t stick the landing? What if she doesn’t feel the same way, or she’s not ready for a relationship, and I ruin everything? That possibility scares me, Shin.”

“You have the courage to face down the legions of hell and give your life on the battlefield to protect humanity. Don’t tell me you’re not brave enough to ask out a girl you like.”

“Snrk. You ass.”

I saw the beginnings of a grin twist onto Saki’s face, and I knew I had done everything I could. As to whether she would go through with it? That was down to her. I had no place to force her either way.

“Hey, Shin?”

“Yeah?”

“…thanks.”

“Heh. Don’t mention it.”