In one of the private rooms on the second floor of the Salisbury restaurant.
After successfully diverting Coral's attention and sending her back, Tomoe and Musashi came here with Ritsuka and the others—though called a restaurant, there weren't actually many guests, or rather, there were none at all. After all, fairies basically didn't need to eat. Eating was just for tasting flavors.
So, Tomoe and Musashi naturally didn't need to serve guests.
After exchanging brief greetings, Tomoe explained what had happened to her during this time.
Starting from the end of the Seventh Singularity, then her activities in Shimosa no Kuni as Archer Inferno, then being saved by Naoki, getting to know Musashi, and the three of them fighting together against the Heroic Spirit Swordsmen—Tomoe recounted her past as briefly as possible.
"Then, when I, Musashi, and Master were preparing to leave Shimosa, Musashi's natural instinct activated again, bringing me and Master together to this Lostbelt. In terms of time, that was about two weeks ago."
"It's just that at that time, we weren't with Master. Musashi and I were also separated. We only met again a day later. After that, to find Master, we started exploring this Britain."
After listening to Tomoe's explanation, Ritsuka and the other four fell into thought.
Tomoe and Musashi arrived in this Lostbelt two weeks ago, but Naoki, who came with them, arrived two thousand four hundred years ago.
[They must have been affected by space and time distortions when crossing over? That's common. When traveling between worlds, time gets a bit chaotic.]
Merry's voice came from the communication device wrapped around Ritsuka's wrist.
[In any case, meeting old acquaintances in the Lostbelt is a good thing. You all are comrades who fought together in the Seventh Singularity, so you can trust each other—but it's truly surprising that Miyamoto Musashi from another world is a woman, and moreover, she has a relationship with Naoki...]
"It can only be said that it's very typical Big Brother behavior."
"I'm also used to situations like this with the Department Head..."
The eyes of those present looking at Musashi had already become somewhat familiar. Musashi didn't reject these gazes at all; instead, she enthusiastically and curiously asked back: "Oh? So Miyamoto Musashi on your side is a man? Could you tell me a bit about Musashi there? —By the way, since you're Tomoe's friends, just call me Musashi."
[Yes, I was planning to do that too—but Musashi, your matters can wait. Right now, there's something more important I want to ask.]
"Eh? What is it?"
[What's with the maid uniforms you're wearing?]
Merry immediately asked what was on the minds of Ritsuka and the others.
Yes, the maid uniforms.
That was something strange and out of place on Musashi and Tomoe. There shouldn't be the concept of maids in this Fairy Country, but the clothes they were wearing were truly maid uniforms—where did they come from?
"Ah, you're talking about that... actually—"
"I gave them to them."
A voice interrupted Musashi's explanation. Hearing that voice, everyone immediately looked toward the door.
There, Naoki—somehow—stood wearing clothes resembling a bartender's, smiling at them.
No, not Naoki.
It should be—
"Number Two Department Head?!"
"So you're here?!"
Without a doubt, the one who appeared there was Natsukawa Naoki Number Two, who had disappeared during the previous battle in Camelot.
Taking a chair and sitting down next to the table while laughing, Naoki Number Two said: "Yes, I've been here since leaving Camelot city. I used a little trick to buy this shop. I also gave Musashi and Aba the maid uniforms—doesn't it look matching?"
"Matching it is, but..."
"Explain to me first why you ran off to here, you bastard!"
Unlike Gray, Mordred immediately grabbed Naoki Number Two's collar: "While we were fighting there, you just slipped away without a word? Explain it to me properly!"
"Ah? That, huh..."
Naoki Number Two thought for a moment, then smiled brightly: "Because I saw that you guys had no chance of winning at all, so I immediately ran to save myself."
*BAM!*
Mordred immediately threw a punch at Naoki Number Two's face, sending him flying into the wall and leaving a human-shaped dent!
"Ugh... That was a really strong punch."
Struggling to free himself from the wall and jump down, Naoki Number Two patted the stone fragments off his body: "Well, it was my fault for running first back then. I apologize for that. But I also hope you can understand. After all, I only had one chance to defeat the original. If we failed then, we really wouldn't be able to come back—"
[About that, you're definitely hiding something from us. Naoki Number Two.]
Merry interrupted Naoki Number Two's words.
"Why do you say that?"
[Instinct. Besides, you were able to escape from Camelot city without any of us noticing, and it seems you weren't found by Naoki either... This shouldn't be something someone with absolutely no Mana back then could do.]
"..."
Naoki Number Two fell silent the moment Merry said that.
After being silent for quite a while, he finally spoke again: "Regarding this... Actually, I still had a little Mana left back then."
[Eh?]
"Although I initially said I used up all my Mana for your teleportation, but after actually getting there, I realized I still had enough Mana to support myself leaving. So, after seeing you couldn't defeat the original, I immediately used that Mana to escape."
[...]
"Besides, about why I wasn't found by the original... Wasn't he still in another dimensional space he manifested through Imaginary Manifestation at that time? Wouldn't it be strange if he could notice my absence?"
That... made sense too?
Naoki Number Two's explanation made Gray and the others nod slightly in agreement.
But listening to his words, whether it was just a feeling or not, everyone—including Musashi and Tomoe—had the same thought.
There was no basis for it, just an instinct like that. Just like people who had been together roughly for a long time could roughly know each other's thoughts, now they had that thought.
Naoki Number Two was still lying about this matter.
Or he was still hiding something.
He hadn't said the truth yet, and was still concealing something very important.
[Naoki Number Two.]
"Yes? What is it, Merry."
[You are actually Vortigern. Or should I call you Oberon?]
"..."
The words that came out of Merry's mouth once again made the entire room silent.