**Day 22 – Midnight – Cave**
The muscle-headed sports-club idiots finally woke up. Their condition has recovered quite a bit, but since they were on the verge of death, they're nowhere near full strength. And the fact that even near-death didn't cure their idiocy means they're idiots for eternity. Apparently idiots through past, present, and future.
"…So yeah, the otakus still haven't been found. Go ahead to town first and link up with Class Rep and the others. And when you see them, say 'Sorry for being idiots.'"
It'll probably take three days for their bodies to fully recover. I mean, "healed" or rather "regrown"? Freshly sprouted and tender. From the fragmented idiot-speak they gave me—ignoring the nonsense context and just rearranging the words—I can roughly piece together what happened. The only reason they're still alive is pure coincidence, sheer luck, and absurd good fortune.
Five guys hailed as athletic geniuses back in Japan—people who move their bodies, fight enemies, spot weaknesses, exploit them, defend themselves, read situations instantly, make split-second judgments, have flashes of genius, possess innate talent, specialize solely in winning, instantly grasp coordination, tactics, formations. Five such people somehow miraculously survived. Even in that hellish situation they lived. Yet they couldn't find a way to win. Couldn't even force a draw. Best they managed was a narrow loss. Then it's impossible. They pushed way too hard. Which means, yeah—they're idiots.
"But we're already healed…"
"its just us going…?"
"Then we'll stay… you're gonna kill them, right?"
"Going alone is insane… those guys are…"
"If that's no good then come to town with—"
They all start complaining at once, but these guys are idiots when they talk. Idiots when they think. Naturally idiots when they act. Mega-idiots.
They're supposed to be geniuses who instantly understand, judge, and act—but they don't think with their heads. The moment they feel it, they move. Meaning normally they're idiots. Talking makes them even more idiotic. The paper-thin boundary has torn and they're idiotic forever.
This is a pain. Explaining things so idiots can understand is a pain.
"You guys are idiots so you won't get explanations anyway, right? That's why you have to go to town, and I have to stay here. That's the best answer. Got it?"
"""…Got it…"""
This is such a pain. The answer's already obvious, yet I have to write out every intermediate step like it's middle-school math.
It's as annoying as having to justify why 1 + 1 = 2.
There is no solution other than 1 = 1. If that doesn't hold, arithmetic collapses, mathematics collapses—everything collapses. Absolute prerequisite.
Explaining that is even more annoying.
Normal guys → suddenly transform and attack the girls → get easily repelled by Class Rep and the others.
Yet somehow, no one realized.
So the group split.
Therefore, someone caused the split.
That's the answer.
But the normal guys?
They never transformed in the first place.
They weren't even pretending to be normal.
They were just being normal.
Acting in ways that were considered "normal."
Always, everywhere, in every situation—even after coming to the isekai, still normal?
Even in the isekai, they were background characters.
Monsters appear → background.
Party infighting → background.
Someone like that can't possibly be normal.
Utterly, top-tier abnormal.
A person so perfectly, flawlessly abnormal from the very start—where could someone like that even come from?
Because there was someone that perfectly abnormal, even Class Rep couldn't hold the group together.
That's why they were split.
These idiots could never become suspicious and stop acting. No way the otakus wouldn't have helped in that situation. No way Class Rep would give up uniting everyone. No way the bitches would isolate themselves just to be stubborn. And above all—no way the cave would be empty when I arrived. For so much abnormality to go completely unnoticed by everyone is impossible.
It was abnormal from the beginning.
Abnormal the moment we arrived here.
Someone caused the split.
That's why I'm staying.
That's what this is.
・ ・ ・
"Uwooo— long time my missed loner life!"
Feels like coming home after ages. Back to hikikomori mode.
The idiots headed to town. I loaded them with a mountain of mushrooms—they'll be recovered by the time they arrive.
Nostalgic. It hasn't even been a full month since coming to the isekai, yet it feels like "I'm back." This is what a dwelling feels like, huh.
Being alone in this cave makes all the recent chaos feel like a lie. The girls causing a huge ruckus in this very cave feels like an illusion now.
It's quiet.
**End of Day 22**