It was a perfectly peaceful afternoon. The trees were rustling, and the occasional bird could be heard chirping somewhere in the distance. We’re back in the real world… We’re safe now. Looking up, the sunlight filtered through the trees with a warm glow that immediately made me drowsy. Carol gracefully stepped out of the portal, and she looked around, taking in the sights. “Wow… we really made it…” It looked like she had just seen the most beautiful thing of her life, but that wasn’t it. Carol was perfectly familiar with this forest, and while it was more pleasant than usual today, it wasn’t on the level that would leave a lasting impression on her. She was just glad to be back safely. “*Sigh…*” Carol does her best not to let it show on her face, but that whole experience in the other world must have been scary for her. She would have been dead if I hadn’t gone looking for her, so it’s understandable for her to be this relieved. It warms my heart to see such a peaceful look on her face…

“!?” Carol notices me staring at her, and her face goes red before glaring at me. “What are you grinning at? Don’t you have anything better to do?” Carol gets away from the portal in a hurry and moves past me. I didn’t actually have anything else to do, so I ended up just savoring the view. She gets flustered easily, and I kinda forgot that… Now she’s mad at me…

“Sorry, sorry… I was just waiting for you to adjust. It’s your second time traveling between worlds, right? I know how strange it can be.” I chased after Carol and walked by her side as I guided her way back to the dorm.

“Whatever, just focus. We’re going back to the others soon, so we’ve gotta be ready. We need to get our stories straight.” I knew it! She didn’t say it outright, but she’s gonna keep it a secret after all! I ended up having to spill everything about the VISS Driver to her, and turns out getting dissected alive was a real possibility. She truly is a nice girl! Even if she tries her best to be unapproachable!

“That’s a good idea. What are you thinking, Carol?”

“Hmmm… You know what? I think I can work it out on my own if I just improvise. Instead of a plan, you should just avoid saying anything. You’re good at lying and coming up with excuses, so just do your thing.” Ouch! That hurts… I’m not even good at lying, am I?

Either way, she’s just messing with me. The fact that she believes she can manage no matter what I say just goes to show that she trusts me now! “Hehehe… I’m counting on you!” I’m actually kinda glad now that it was Carol who ended up finding out about everything… How quickly that changed…

“Why are you giggling like a creep? Maybe it would have been better if you had never found me…” Ouch! Again?

We arrived at the dorm through the same trail we usually use. It was surprisingly quiet considering how frantically they were looking for Carol not long ago. I know I sent them a message saying I had found her, but they really took me seriously. As we got closer to the dorm, Narumi was sitting on the floor, next to the main entrance. She was engrossed in her phone with her knees tucked in, so it took her a while to notice us. “…” She stared at us in silence for a few seconds before- “Ah! Carol! You’re back!” Narumi jumped up instantly, causing her boobs to jiggle… Oh, wow… Are they that soft?

The dorm’s door swung open violently, and Katja and Hecate came running outside. All of them must have been so on edge that one scream had everyone come out and check what was going on. Narumi couldn’t contain her excitement, and she ran straight at Carol. When she saw that, Carol circled behind me and used my body as a human shield. Carol stepped from side to side, but so did Narumi, who tracked her the whole time. That’s cute… She missed Carol so much that she couldn’t help but want to hug her. Can relate. Carol is very huggab- “Carol!”

“Ughh!” Since Carol was placing me between the two of them, Narumi couldn’t get to Carol. Her solution? Tackle Carol along with the human shield!

“Damn… You’re both fat! Get off!” The three of us fell to the ground, and me and Narumi ended up on top of Carol. Now I’m being called fat, and it isn’t even my fault! Also, I can’t move until Narumi gets her boobs off my face! In fact, I don’t want to! I’m the middle slice of this sandwich, and I’m happy to remain here until she moves first! “Damn you, Narumi! Have you tried not acting like an idiot for once in your life? You already have one full-time job!”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Oops! Ahahahah…” Narumi sat up, forcing me to sit up as well. Carol was finally free from being squished. “You’re really back, aren’t you? I could stop thinking about you and where you were and if you were fine and if you were hurt and if you were fine…”

“Shut it. I get it already.” Carol placed both her hands on Narumi’s mouth to shut her up.

Katja approached us and crouched near Carol, with Hecate following closely behind. “Narumi’s right. We were worried about you… Sorry, but you have to listen to her.”

“I- it wasn’t even a big deal! I was just gone for a while. You’re the ones who got carried away.” Carol averted her gaze… How cute…

“It was nearly Armageddon. The disappearance of a soul is never a trifling matter. You should know better by now about your importance in this cursed world.” Underneath her convoluted words, Hecate was also worried about Carol. She wasn’t happy that Carol was treating this as a trivial matter.

“That’s…” Carol wanted to snap back, but Hecate was scary enough that even Carol had to watch her words. “Fine… Sorry… I should have said something first… But I was only gone for a day… At least wait a little longer before you start worrying.”

“Sorry, but Hecate’s right. You disappeared without any trace, so of course we’d go looking for you. Where did you go? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It just kinda happened. It was an accident, but everything was under control. You didn’t need to go look for me. I would have been fine even if Iroha didn’t show up.” Clearly not… Katja doesn’t seem too pleased with her excuse either.

“I see… Well, if you don’t want to cooperate, I’ll just have to ask someone else.”

“Who doesn’t want to cooperate?” Carol snapped back, but Katja had already moved on. She turned to me for an answer.

“Iroha…” Katja’s voice was surprisingly sweet, almost flirty. “You don’t mind telling me, right? What happened exactly? Where did you find Carol?” What the hell is she doing? It doesn’t even fit her. This is the type of thing that works on me, though. Damn… She read me like a book. I made an agreement with Carol… I can’t tell her anything. I’m letting Carol handle the details.

“Uhhmm… I… I’m not sure how much I can tell you… With so many trees, everything just kinda blurs together. Sorry about that…” Katja thought for a second before thanking me for trying.

“So Iroha doesn’t know? I guess she’s new here, isn’t she?” Narumi was following along, but she hadn’t done much to help thus far. “But there’s no way you don’t know, Carol. Are you trying to hide something from us?! Hmm? Hmmmm?” Narumi greatly exaggerated her surprised and started poking Carol’s cheek. “Come on, spill it. No secrets. Spill it.” Narumi’s interrogation technique worked well on Carol.

“Gah! You’re annoying! Stop poking me like that! I’m not hiding anything. It’s complicated, and the last thing I need right now is to enter storytime mode.” Carol stood up and headed for the entrance. “Right now, the only thing I need is a bath. A bath that I need because you decided to squish me into the floor!” She pointed at Narumi. “Seriously, do you think I’m some kind of plant that would take root and grow mini-Carols?” I kinda wanna see that. Carol pointed at her clothes, but honestly, she wasn’t even that dirty. There’s grass on the floor, so it doesn’t stain that much. Still, she hasn’t taken a bath since yesterday, and after everything she’s been through, she’s earned one.

“Just give us a short explanation.”

“Yeah, it can’t be that complicated.” Katja and Narumi got up and followed Carol. “Oh! I have an idea! Our bath is big enough, so we can just follow you and take a bath together while you tell us everything.”

“Don’t you dare…” Carol stopped while opening the door and shot out a death glare over her shoulder, freezing the other two in place for a moment. Ahahahaha! Glad to see I’m not the only one… Carol entered the dorm, closing the door behind her. The other two also went inside hesitantly. They took their sweet time since they had to wait and didn’t want Carol to think they were gonna follow her.

That was funny… I guess I’m done here for n- “Hey, Iroha.” Hecate!? Oh, right… I kinda forgot she was here… And we’re alone now… I hope nothing goes wrong…

“Wh- what is it, Hecate?” She turned to me and looked me straight in the eyes. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that amber lens of hers up close.

“I need to apologize to you for my sins.” Hecate always tones down her strange way of speaking when she’s being serious, and this time’s no different. She’s still talking about sins, though. What’s that supposed to mean?

“Apologize?”

“I told you before that it was pointless for you to remain with us without a higher-level purpose, but I was mistaken. You discovered Carol when she was lost and protected the blood ties between us. You have my thanks for finding her.” Oh, wow! That’s new… Hecate grabbed the edges of her goth-loli dress’s skirt and gave me a short, elegant bow. *Gulp…* She’s so scary at times that I kinda forgot, but she can make my heart race as easily as everyone else.

“I- it was nothing! I think of Carol as a friend too, you know? I couldn’t just abandon her.”

“Is that so? It pleases me to hear that. You’ve done well. Keep it up, and you’re going to earn yourself a place among the stars one day.” Huh? That’s supposed to be a good thing, right? Why does it sound like I’m gonna die? Hecate smiled at me and followed the others inside.

Huh? Okay… So that’s how it is now. This is kinda new… Hecate was being nice to me! Maybe it’s not as impossible to get along with them as I previously thought… At the very least, no one’s mad at me anymore. I went in after her to tell everyone, except for Carol, that I was going home. It’s been more than a day since I’ve last returned to my apartment, so I also need some time to rest. I can’t wait to sit down, watch some anime, and unwind… It’s gonna be soo goo-

“You better come to the dorm tomorrow. We still have a lot to talk about.” Or not… Before I even got to sit down in my chair, I got a message from Carol making plans for me… I guess we weren’t done yet… At least she’s not asking me to come back immediately…