"Ai, go fetch some dry clothes for her," I directed.
Ai immediately ran to comply, while Rin brought a towel to help the newcomer dry off and soak up the rainwater. Once the clothes were ready, Sayaka led the girl to a changing room and helped her get dressed.
The rest of us waited in the lounge. A short while later, they returned. I noticed the girl looked even cuter now, dressed in a black skirt with white stripes and a matching top.
"Sit here," Yuzuki said, gesturing to the sofa.
The girl sat down close to her, looking a bit more relaxed. "So... who are you?" Shiori asked.
"I am Lorfa Nocturne, from the kingdom of Digog," she replied. "I'm a Star-Lite soldier from that land. I possess an ability called 'Manin Restore.' I was in the middle of a battle back home when I was suddenly teleported here. Perhaps some of our enemy country's mages did this... I'll kick them for their crimes!"
We were all stunned by her story. After the initial shock wore off, we explained our situation to her and introduced ourselves.
"Oh my god! So we were all erased from our worlds? What do we do now?" Lorfa asked, her eyes wide.
"We don't know," Miss Yurin admitted. "And the zombies weren't attacking like this before today."
"Ooh! I saw a dungeon when I found those zombies in the jungle," Lorfa added. "I didn't enter because I was exhausted, but then I spotted you all in danger, so I had to fight. Oh! I'm starving! Do you have any food?"
"Yes!" Ai chirped. "Kagatani-senpai, it's time to make dinner."
We glanced at the clock; it was already 6:39 PM.
After finishing the cooking, Ai and Kagatani called us to the dining table. We entered the hall, which was beautifully illuminated by candlelight. Every time we used the dining room, our "team" seemed to grow larger and larger.
It was a grand room, featuring a long wooden table surrounded by twenty chairs. The spread was impressive: noodles, rice, egg fry, fish fry, juice, salad, pastries, miso soup, and various sauces.
"Wow! This food is from your world, right?" Lorfa asked, her eyes sparkling.
"Yeah," I said.
Lorfa slowly placed a piece of fish fry into her mouth. Then, she practically shouted with joy. "Wow! Ai and Kagatani cook very well!"
She began to eat with such speed and intensity that she finished her portion like a monster. We all stared, a little intimidated.
"Wow... maybe she hasn't eaten anything for years," Ame whispered into my ear. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Uh? What happened, Ahiro?" Lorfa asked, looking up with a bit of sauce on her face.
"No—nothing."
After dinner, we settled back on the sofas. The atmosphere grew heavy as Miss Yurin spoke up. "So..." I gulped. Everyone went silent; a serious conversation was coming.
"Ai has four keys," Miss Yurin explained. "In Ai's room, we used to sleep in shifts. In the left wing, the chemists stay. In the right wing, there are rooms for Rin, Ahiro, and Ame. Kagatari stays with the mother and daughter. But now we have Lorfa. So, in which room is she going to sleep?"
"Don't worry, I can just sleep on one of these sofas," Lorfa offered.
"No! It's too dangerous to stay alone in this hall," Tsukiko cautioned.
"But Mom... she has a magical sword," Yuzuki reminded her.
"Ooh! I've forgotten."
"Oh! Lorfa can sleep with us. Right, Yurin-san?" Ai suggested.
"Alright, then. It's settled. But Ai, tomorrow you and Kagatani will have to find the other room's key. More members might join us in the future."
"Roger!" Ai chirped.
"Okay... let's go. I'm feeling sleepy, ooooh!" Yuzuki yawned loudly.
"Let's go, it's 9:03 PM," Hanako noted.
Everyone rose from the sofas and headed upstairs. Suddenly, Rin turned to Miss Yurin. "M-Miss Yurin!"
"What?" they all turned.
"Ahiro has already slept besides me!" Rin blurted out.
"So what?" Yuzuki asked.
"What? So how can he go into the room? Can I wake him up?"
"No, don't," Miss Yurin said with a mysterious smile. She looked at Tsukiko and the chemist gang, and they all nodded in silent agreement. "You two will have to carry him into the room, because you're his roommates after all... okay, friends, let's go."
"What?!" Rin stood there, frozen. She turned rapidly to Ame. "You're not supporting this, right?"
"Oh no!" Rin sighed in relief.
But then Ame added, "I'm so happy! This is the first time we get to carry a guy! Wow!"
Rin was shocked, but Kagatani cut in sharply. "But I don't agree with that!"
"Shut your mouth!" Kagatani was silenced as the group moved on.
Rin turned to the other girls, but they just smiled annoyingly. "Catch her!" Yuzuki shouted. They caught Kagatani's hands and carried her off to her mom's room while she screamed, "It's not fair! I'm Ahiro-sama's maid! Leave me!"
They ignored her. Meanwhile, Rin had turned into a literal statue from the shock of the plan.
"Okay, Rin-san, hold his leg and I'm going to hold his hands," Ame directed. "I'll carry his upper body on my shoulder, and you carry his lower body. Take his legs on your shoulders and put your head between his legs."
"No! Not the first one!" Rin protested.
"Okay..."
They tried to lift me, but they initially failed because of my weight.
"I mean... okay, you take his lower body," Rin conceded.
"Okay, I'm ready."
They finally carried me upstairs and entered our room. They placed me in the middle of the bed, and Ame covered my half-body with the blanket.
"Ooh! That was a tough job," Rin panted.
"Yeah. Let's sleep."
"I'm off."
They slept on either side of me. Later, I woke up, startling them.
"Wah! You were awake?!" I exclaimed.
Rin lifted her arm, then stopped. "You were awake the whole way?"
"No. Only when we reached the room. Sorry."
"Okay. It's okay," Ame said softly.
"Okay. Sleep!" Rin commanded.
Rin turned one way, and Ame turned the other. I felt like I was in heaven.
Day 8
The next morning, after brushing our teeth, Rin, Ame, and I came downstairs. Everyone was already there, drinking tea.
"Good morning!" we greeted them.
Suddenly, Kagatani burst in with a worried look. She hugged me and apologized profusely for the night before.
"It's okay. Don't worry," I replied.
Rin cut in, "Give us tea too. And the bathroom in our room is very dark, so we had to use the torchlight. The sky is gloomy again!"
We sat together on an empty sofa. I looked at Lorfa. "Lorfa-san, how old are you?"
"I'm 22."
"Wow! I like the clothes from the '20s," I noted.
"You're really thinking of making her your girlfriend too?" Rin asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Yes, of course! And you, too!"
"Shut your mouth!" Kagatani barked.
After tea, Miss Yurin stood up and took charge. "Ai, Kagatani, and Sayaka will stay here with the chemists. The rest of us will go for the dungeon. Maybe we could find something important. My sixth sense tells me so."
"But... Ahiro-sama, I want to go with you!" Kagatani pleaded.
"Sorry... stay with them and make the lunch. We'll eat it after this adventure," I said.
"O-ok... but first eat the breakfast," Kagatani insisted.
"Ok."
After a quick breakfast, we left the mansion and followed the route Lorfa had shown us. We walked a very long way to the right of the mansion.
"What...?" I asked, looking ahead.
Meanwhile, the sky had finally cleared up.
"Tell me the time," I said, squinting against the shifting light.
"It's 11:21 AM already," Ame replied.
"What! Lorfa, where is it?" I asked. Lorfa turned her head; her eyes were a piercing blue, and even her eyelashes seemed to shimmer with the same hue.
"Wait for just a minute, we're close," she promised.
A moment later, we saw it: a jagged hole in the side of a rocky mountain.
"Huh? A hole in a mountain? And you recognized that as a dungeon?" Rin asked skeptically. "How could you even tell?"
"Because it was night when I first saw it," Lorfa explained. "It was glowing with a strange purple light. It's impossible for a natural cave to emit a glow like that, so I guessed it was a dungeon."
"Okay, let's go inside," Miss Yurin decided.
We entered the cavern and found the interior illuminated by a massive mirror. It cast a cold light that revealed the path ahead, but as we walked further, we realized it was a dead end.
"Gah! It's not a dungeon? What the heck is this?" Lorfa asked, her voice echoing with disappointment.
"I already guessed this wasn't a dungeon," Rin sighed. "It looks more like an anime set. See? This hole is only eight steps long and nine steps wide."
"No, it's not a dungeon, but there's something unnatural about it," Miss Yurin noted. "This mirror is definitely the source of that purple light."
"Um... maybe the zombies use it to see their own faces?" Shiori suggested. "It's glowing, after all."
"That's not it at all!" Rin shouted at her.
"Wait, I'm going to break it," Lorfa said, her tone suddenly serious. She gripped both of her swords tightly and struck the mirror with all her might. But instead of shattering, the mirror pulsed. A powerful, invisible force surged outward, throwing us all backward.
"What the heck was that?!" Lorfa gasped as she scrambled to her feet.
Miss Yurin adjusted her hair and pulled a pair of red-framed glasses from her skirt pocket, slipping them on. I had seen her wear them occasionally; sometimes the girls even swapped glasses with each other for fun.
"She also uses lenses," Ame whispered in my ear. Rin was whispering in my other ear, and I just nodded, my head spinning from the confusion.
"Miss Yurin said, 'Maybe it's a defensive force,'" I repeated. "This island is full of mysteries. And we haven't seen any zombies today; maybe they only come out when it's raining or when the light is low."
"Yurin-san... look!" Tsukiko pointed toward the shadows.
"What?"
"Is that a monster... or something behind us?"
"What?!"
We turned around, and fear hit us instantly. We all screamed. Standing there was a Titan-type woman. She had long, stringy black hair and sharp, protruding teeth. A long, purple tongue hung from her mouth, dripping with thick saliva. One of her eyes was missing, and her skull looked partially crushed on one side. She was crouched in a crawling pose, her nails overgrown and filthy. She wore a tattered, ancient black gown that barely covered her upper body.
"What is that?! It's a horrible Lady Titan zombie!" I yelled. "We're gonna die!"
Ame and Tsukiko grabbed my hands, trembling.
"Whoa, what is it?" Yuzuki stammered.
"Run!! She's lifting her hand!" Miss Yurin shouted. We saw the monster raise a massive, clawed hand to swipe at us. We were trapped—blocked by the mountain behind us and the demon in front. We tried to dart left and right, but we weren't fast enough to escape her reach.
Ame and Tsukiko cried out, "Oh god! Please help us!!"
For a second, I thought this was the end. I felt a surge of regret—not because of the danger, but because there were still so many girls left in the world I hadn't met yet!
Suddenly, just as the monster's head lunged toward us, there was a flash of steel. With a sickening thwack, the creature's head was severed. Dark blood sprayed across the grass.
"Who did this?!" we gasped, breathless with relief.
Through the settling dust, we saw Lorfa. She stood heroically, her dual blades gleaming. As she landed from her jump, a gust of wind caught her skirt, revealing a flash of blue underneath that matched her hair.
Two swords and one woman!! I shouted in my mind. She's incredible!
END