「 Uguu, gugugu 」
A woman we found has fallen on her butt.
The braids on both sides have lost their luster.
The girl’s in tears, with a tattered rope on her neck.
It looks like she’s trying to kill herself and failed.
「 If I recall, you’re Ono, right? 」
I remember this woman.
She’s Ono Shiori, from the same year.
A bottle-bottom glasses braided simple girl.
She’s nicknamed Imoko by others.
It’s a mix of her plainness and calling her a bumpkin.
As you can tell from her nickname, she’s from the lower caste.
「 Shinomiya-kun 」
Ono Shiori stood up.
「 You’re alive 」
Ono said.
「 Well yeah 」
I asked Amane;
「 Where does she belong? 」
Amane replied “Sumeragi” immediately.
She’s not lowering her guard in this place. As expected of her.
「 Washimine-san and Kiryuuin-san is also alive 」
Ono looked at us in surprise and got even more surprised.
「 You look awfully healthy. What’s going on? 」
I hesitate to respond.
My hesitation didn’t last long as I chose how to respond to her question.
「 What about you, Ono, what are you doing? 」
「 As you can see, I was trying to suicide. I don’t want this anymore. Living, I mean. But, it seems that suicide is harder than one thinks 」
「 If you take the scissors from your back, stab your heart or throat, then you’ll die for sure 」
Amane speaks bluntly.
Sofia scolds Amane and she apologized right away.
Hinako and I are smiling wryly.
「 Suicide? 」
Amane would notice if she’s lying.
She can see through the lies of others from their eyes and pulse.
Amane’s not saying anything, meaning she’s not lying.
This is a chance then.
「 It’s nice and all but why don’t you come with us to our hideout? 」
「 Hideout? 」
「 We’re acting away from Sasazaki and Sumeragi’s group. We only have about 15 people in our place. I’m sure that you’ll be moved. So, if you’re not ready to kill yourself, then join us. We always welcome more helping hands 」
「 They don’t disregard the dignity of women, unlike Sumeragi Byakuya-sama’s reign. I can guarantee you that 」
Sofia said.
「 T-Then, I’ll come 」
I clapped my hands, saying “Then that’s decided.”
「 I don’t feel comfortable calling you with your last name so it might be a bit too over-familiar but I’ll call you Shiori from now on. You don’t mind? 」
「 I don’t. By the way, what are you going to use the chickens on the basket for? 」
Shiori asks.
「 What you ask? For their eggs. Their eggs are delicious you know 」
Hearing that statement, Shiori’s jaw is about to fall off from surprise.
◇
I asked about Shiori’s situation while on the way to the hideout.
Why did she attempt suicide, what was she fed up with?
I was expecting her to reply about rape.
Perhaps, Sofia, Amane, and Hinako think the same way.
But, the truth is different.
Shiori wasn’t a victim of rape.
Because of her humble appearance, she was sorted in the fifth class during Byakuya’s era, and so nobody picked her.
Then, when it became Reito’s team, the idea of rape was abolished.
Even so, the harsh life was mentally exhausting to her.
Being in the fifth class, she was exposed to the heavy rain.
Men and women alike are getting sick, dying of starvation, and then Sasazaki’s men are attacking them.
She finally got fed up with it, left Reito’s team, and tried to commit suicide.
「 Hearing that situation, you’ll definitely be impressed…you can see it now 」
After passing through the forest, the pasture and paddies are revealed.
「 Wow! This is amazing 」
Shiori’s eyes spread open, covering her gaping mouth with her hands.
「 Is this all Shinomiya-kun’s work? 」
「 Yes. Impressed, aren’t we 」
「 Wow, this is too amazing. It’s completely different from Sumeragi-kun 」
「 Thought so 」
Team Sumeragi and team Sasazaki are still procuring food whenever they need it.
They hunt to exhaustion and eating only tasteless wild vegetables and mushrooms.
They’re even unable to extract salt from seawater.
On the other hand, we’ve established agriculture and husbandry already.
To eat, we use tableware, to cook, we use olive oil.
From Shiori’s eyes, this is a different world.
「 Do you still think of committing suicide? 」
Shiori shook her head intensely.
「 I want to work here! I want to be Shiomiya-kun’s ally. Please. I’ll do anything 」
Anything? Hearing that my penis reacted.
Naturally, I know that she doesn’t mean it that way.
But still, the delusions made my penis twitch.
She’s called Imoko because she’s plain, but…
「 We’re just in time for lunch. Fortunately, our lunch today is even better than usual. You’ll probably be more impressed than you are now 」
After releasing the chickens to the pasture, we head back to the hideout.
◇
Lunchtime.
Shiori introduced herself in the hideout.
That’s when we received a shock.
「 Since we’re comrades now, I should quit pretending something I’m not 」
Saying that Shiori took off her glasses and undid her braids.
「 Were you really called “Imoko” 」
「 I can’t believe. To think that you can change that much 」
The men, including Tanaka and me, were surprised by Shiori’s appearance.
When she stopped faking her appearance, she’s higher than a normal level.
She’s mature beyond her age, unquestionably at a high level.
The women in our place are also high-level, but they’re no match to this.
All the women, apart from Sofia and Amane, were surprised by a different meaning.
「 Huh? Ono-san? Wait, that “Ono-san?” 」
「 No way?! Seriously?! 」
「 I didn’t realize because she wasn’t talking that much 」
Shiori’s parents were working at a beauty salon called “Oh No!”
They’re famous beauticians that they’re extremely popular among high school girls it seems.
It seems. Since I don’t know what it meant.
「 A hairdresser needs a national license. I was unqualified, so I couldn’t let anyone find out. That’s why even in the store, someone else had to be in charge, see? 」
Shiori talked.
Her silence in school was part of her play.
She’s essentially a hairdresser, so she’s good at talking.
「 But, aren’t you being a bit too thorough? That glasses of yours had too much power, see? The thickness of the lenses is too thick for one 」
Shiori laughed, saying “They don’t have optical correction”
「 Do you know about wearable devices? 」
Yoshiokada replied suddenly, saying “I know, over”
The rest of us don’t know much.
Although, the words sounded familiar to me.
「 In short, this is a machine. They look like glasses, but they’re not. In fact, it’s easier to think of this as someone like a smartphone, or a computer 」
「 Is that so? But, why are you wearing such a thing? If you’re going to disguise your appearance, why don’t you just wear a pair of glasses? 」
「 I meant to use fashion glasses, but I used this for cheating 」
Saying that Shiori blinked furiously.
According to her, it’s the way to control the device.
「 Put it on 」
When she finished handling it, she gave the glasses to me.
I put it on as she told me.
「 Wow! 」
The lenses contain information about the scope of the tests.
Now, English words are displayed, and you can see their definition at a glance.
「 What, what? What does it do? 」 Arisa asks.
It seems that you can only see it as a lens from the other side.
Shiori was using these glasses as a state-of-the-art cheat toy.
「 Nobody thinks that a plain girl would be cheating, see? 」
Shiori speaks devilishly.
This is outrageous, she got us.
「 I have a pair of cutting scissors on my bag so I’ll be contributing as the hairstylist in the future. Tanak-kun’s hair has grown so much that it covers your eyes, I’ll cut it later 」
「 Are you sure?! Thank you! 」
Speaking of which, my hair grew longer too.
Its length reached hiding my ears now.
It looks a bit gloomy, let’s cut it next time.
「 Well then. 」
After the lively discussion with Shiori, we had a merry day.
「 It’s nice and cold, let’s drink! 」
Milk.
Everyone poured milk into their lacquerware cups.
I made extra cups so I gave one to Shiori.
「 To think that we can drink milk in this world, this is truly moving 」
Shiori looks at the milk in her cup and muttered.
「 We’re more surprised of Ono-san, I mean, Shiori’s true identity 」
Arisa said.
I followed. “I know right,” and everyone laughed.
「 Well then, toast to our new member, Shiori! 」
「 「 「 「 「 Cheers!! 」 」 」 」 」
We all drink nice and cold milk.
The rich, mellow, highly concentrated milk flows down my through.
「 「 「 「 Nice!!!!!!!!!!!! 」 」 」 」
Everyone shouts their impression.