Tale of Discovery

Chapter 290: School Trip (3/4)

Getting off the plane alongside Origami and Tohka, the three of us follow after the rest of the class as they make their way over to the logistics section of the island.

"Uwooh!" an odd voice with hints of awe escapes Tohka's lips as she looks around. In contrast, Origami is quietly looking ahead at Natsumi's back with a solemn look on her face.

"Hey," I say as I lightly pat the taciturn girl's shoulder, "Don't think of this matter too deeply. As I had said earlier, Natsumi just felt lonely and wanted to join us."

"Understood," she responds almost immediately before shifting her sight over to me.

Ah, she is going to continue staring at me even here, huh?

Deciding that it's pointless to ruminate over this, I begin to make use of Clairvoyance for no other reason than checking the island out for unwanted company and the like.

Time passes by with me finding nothing other than a few interesting buildings and facilities as we continue to close in on the logistics section.

Shortly, Tamae's voice reaches my ears as she says, "Attention, everyone."

The students in the front hear her and stop conversing to listen to what she has to say before the rest do so as well.

Once everyone has quietened down, a pleased smile forms on Tamae's lips as she raises her hand with her finger pointing and upwards and says, "Now that we're here, we need to settle on where we will settle. Boys and girls will be in separate rooms, that goes without saying."

Upon hearing the latter part of her statement, a few guys cast glances at me with smug looks on their faces.

However, that doesn't last long as Origami proceeds to raise her arm, seemingly having something to say.

Seeing this, Tamae stares at Origami for a few seconds before glimpsing at me for a split-second and asking, "Is there a problem, Tobiichi?"

"Yes," she responds almost instantaneously, "I can't stay anywhere far from Shido."

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"And why is that?" Tamae asks with exasperation apparent on her face.

"Because I will collapse due to a sickness," Origami seriously responds.

Hearing her words, everyone present has various reactions ranging from disbelief to amusement. As for Tamae, she has a complex look on her face, seemingly not knowing what to do.

Obviously, Tamae wouldn't accept such an excuse for Origami to stay with me, that is unless I interfered.

Focusing my gaze on Tamae, I use Indoctrination to fill her head with a single order - Compromise with everything the three of us bequest.

Despite this 'command' being vague in more ways than one, it should do be enough for this situation.

As such, to the utter shock of the students, Tamae adopts an understanding expression and says, "In that case, we can make an exception just this once."

"Woah, what?!" a male student exclaims as those around him begin to burst out similarly.

Unexpectedly, the one that seems to be shocked the most is Tohka who cries out, "Teacher, that's unfair! I also feel sick if I am not near Shido!"

"Then you can stay with him too," Tamae responds with the same understanding expression still covering her face.

Hearing this, the already baffled students once again burst into commotion as they discuss what just happened with passion.

A certain trio of girls seems to be the most excited about this as they all raise their arms and give the relieved Tohka a thumbs-up.

Knowing that this matter is going to waste a lot of our time, I release a tired sigh while shaking my head.

---

"What a neat room," I find myself muttering as I enter the room we received for tonight.

Due to the limited amount of rooms available, the students have divided into groups of five and six, with our group being the only exception.

Or, so I thought, but...

"Do you need something?" I say in a casual manner as I turn around to face the two girls who are standing right outside the door.

Beaming a smile, Natsumi proceeds to grab 'her' friend's arm and drags her along as she walks inside the room and says, "Sorry for the intrusion, but there was no other room available."

"Is that so?"

"But there was one completely free-" the girl beside her, Miina, says, only for her words to get cut off as Natsumi interjects, "It would be rude of us to take up a whole room just for the two of us, don't you think?"

"Well, yes, but still..."

Casting a wary glance at me, fear and anxiety are apparent within the girls' eyes, most likely due to the rumors that have been spreading about me.

Not heeding it much attention, I turn back around and begin reexamining the room.

In terms of appearance, the room seems to be more like an inn than anything else. There is a bunk bed available on one side with several futons stacked at one corner of the room.

For some reason, I feel like the bunk bed won't get used much...

Leaving all this aside, AI, have you detected any Code waves yet?

{Negative.}

I see. That's odd. Either the spirit has already left the island through some means, or they've become 'Lost' - in other words, not locatable.

Anyway, I suppose we should get ourselves settled here properly now.

--

"Is everyone here?" Tamae asks with a certain white-haired woman standing behind her.

When did Reine arrive at the island? She wasn't with us on the plane, as far as I know, and I don't think that the spaceship, Fraxinus, is anywhere near here.

Setting this matter to the side, for now, I focus back on Tamae as she begins to instruct the students who are lined up in the corridor regarding the proper way to behave, which is effectively a short repeat of the 'class' we had earlier today.

Soon after, once Tamae is done, the students begin to get a little fidgety as the school trip officially begins with us touring the various facilities on the island.

Based on what I have seen so far through Clairvoyance, they mostly seem to be aquatic-based than anything else.

"Shido, where are we going?" a curious voice asks from behind me.

"I don't know. It's up to the teachers to guide us around."

"Oh," comes a slightly downtrodden response from her.

Shaking my head, a wry smile forms on my lips as I say, "Don't worry. We won't be staying with their group for long."

"Really?!" Tohka excitedly exclaims, seemingly looking forward to exploring the island as a small group rather than a big one.

"Of course," I reply before shifting my focus over to Origami who is surprisingly not staring at me, but at Natsumi once again.

"Hey now," I say while reaching my arm out and placing my palm atop her head before rubbing it and continuing to say, "How about you try to enjoy your time here instead of focusing on pointless things?"

Hearing this, Origami turns her head to face me before asking, "Do you want me to do that?"

"Well, yes," I respond a little perplexed at the way she asked.

"Then I will do that," she states as a matter-of-factly.

At this moment, the earbud in my ear that had remained silent for quite some time now vibrates as Reine's voice reaches me, "Meet up with me once we're done with the main tour."

"Alright," I mutter, "Where am I supposed to find you?"

"I'll leave that to you," comes the response, "I am bad at explaining."

...

"Sure," I reply while feeling like rolling my eyes.

"Now then," I say in a voice loud enough for both Tohka and Origami to hear, "Let's regroup with Natsumi and that other girl."

I suppose acting like I am unaware of my foe's plots takes priority right now. Hopefully, they send some interesting force after me unlike those from before, else this trip would be rather boring...