Fire Girl - Volume 2 - Chapter 23

VOLUME 2-2

Chapter 23

The next day, the party thoroughly rechecked the area around their camp to make sure it was safe now that they could properly see in the sunlight.

In the end, they determined that this location was convenient with its abundant trees for firewood, but the mountain slope was nearby, creating the risk of getting caught up in an avalanche. So, they decided to pack up their bags and move elsewhere.

They weren’t looking for a rest point like they’d used during their journey until now, but someplace to set up a second camp to use as a base over a long period of time. A wide plain filled with trees to block the wind or terrain close to the mountains but with a valley between them to halt the advance of any avalanches would be ideal. They had to avoid anywhere that large herds of beasts regularly passed through, but the chances of encountering any had lessened somewhat thanks to the unexpected bison stampede yesterday.

Homura gazed at the scenery as she trudged across the gentle slope with her snowshoes.

The shoreline was a bit further away than yesterday, with pure white plains of ice beyond it. Even with the sun up, she couldn’t catch sight of the western shore past the thick snowy wind.

“…Misasagi-san, how much distance have we covered since crossing the frozen bay?”

“We traveled over forty kilometers in almost a straight line… So about the same distance it’d take to cross the Straits of Dover or the Sōya Strait.”

“What, we traveled across international borders? Sea ice sure is convenient!”

Since Homura didn’t remember much of geography, Misasagi switched to a more familiar example.

“Umm… Multiply the size of Tokyo Bay by five, and imagine crossing it from the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa to Boso Peninsula in Chiba… Is that easier to understand?”

“Ooh… I see. That’s quite a shortcut.” Homura nodded in comprehension.

Beside her, Touya was also impressed by the explanation.

“With that much distance, the topography and plant life must be quite different from the territory where the base camp is.”

“Yes. Fujimori-sensei mentioned it before; the presence of such tall mountains is proof that there was a lot of orogenesis1 here in the past… There’s even the possibility of dormant volcanos.”

“Then there might be hot springs here!?” Homura shouted excitedly upon hearing the word ‘volcano’, but Touya and Misasagi chastised her by pointing out the danger if it were true.

However, it was also true that the more unique the environment was, the more worthwhile it was to explore.

“It’d be neat if we found one of the meteors that we saw the night before we crossed the bay,” Ameno said with a smile of anticipation.

True, the cores of meteors that shined so bright as they fell might have managed to survive and land on the ground. To actually find one would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, though.

Eventually, the party found a forest in a plain suitable for setting up camp.

The snow in the forest wasn’t as deep as elsewhere, and they even managed to find hard black earth by digging a small hole near a tree trunk.

They quickly got to work and cut down some trees for firewood, and then stuck stakes in the ground and set up a temporary tool storage area and pantry.

There was the risk that the smell of the food supplies would attract wild animals if they put them in a tent. Up until now, they had prevented this by protecting the bags of food within metal nets, but since they planned to stay in this second camp for at least a week, they chose to store them as thoroughly as possible.

After that work was done, they all went out to explore their surroundings together.

Firstly, in order to check the topography and any dangerous areas nearby—

And most of all, to measure the height of the imposing mountain peak standing behind the camp.

They would need to use a full set of surveying tools to get an exact measure, but the Exploration Club members didn’t have the time to do that during their stay here.

So instead, they chose to employ an indirect method of surveying.

The process was simple; first, they set themselves up on two spots as far away from each other as possible on even ground and measured the distance between them in a straight line. From those two spots, they looked up at the mountain peak through scopes and measured the angles from there. By comparing these angles, they managed to make a rough estimate of the height.

By repeating this across several locations to take into account different elevations and calculating an average from there, they would be able to obtain the mountain height within a small margin of error without having to actually climb the mountain.

After going through the process several times, Homura belatedly noticed something.

“…Wait, didn’t I do this in class? This is the trigonometric ratio, isn’t it!?”

“That’s right,” Kamikoma said as she stood in front of the scope placed on a tripod. She turned the page of the notebook containing trigonometric ratio diagrams in her hand and noted down new measurements on it.

“I never thought the math we learned in school would come in handy in a place like this…” Homura said, impressed.

“If we had GPS satellites like on Earth, we’d be able to finish this in one shot just by climbing the mountain, though,” Touya said while panting, having just come back from running through the woods with a tape measure.

Homura jumped a little at the word “satellite”.

Reflexively, she looked over at Kanae, who she’d previously discussed observation satellites with. Kanae seemed preoccupied by something and kept glancing around their surroundings. The ears poking out from her hair were slightly red from the cold.

“…Wouldn’t climbing the mountain be even more of an ordeal?” Homura remarked frankly.

Touya paid her comment no mind. “We came all the way here. Even if we can’t do it this time, I’d like to climb it someday.” He looked up at the mountain peak. “Besides, we might be able to get a great view of Nutella from the top, you know?”

“Muh.”

True, that might turn out to be quite the experience.

Saho arrived shortly after Touya with a tripod on his shoulder. He asked, “So, president, how many meters high is that mountain, in the end?”

“Fufufu… I’m planning to give a special beef-stew pack as a prize to the person who guesses the closest number.”

“Seriously?”

“Fufufu, here’s a hint—it’s taller than the Japanese Alps.”

“Eh!? So it’s over three thousand meters, then. Even the mountains in Aomori only reach that high…”

“Wow. No wonder it’s so steep. It’s even taller than Mt. Fuji…”

Touya and Saho marveled at the mountain’s height while staring up at its peak.

This spot was located in an open space amidst the forest on a snowy slope, perfect for viewing the mountain.

“Homura, are you taking the photos properly like I asked?” Kamikoma asked.

“I am~. I finally got permission from Misasagi-san to use the film, so I’m taking photos like there’s no tomorrow!” Homura proudly showed off her camera, when…

“Huh?”

“What’s that smoke?”

Shortly after Touya and Saho suddenly said that, faint popping sounds reached their ears.

In the blink of an eye, what looked like smoke started to spread and come down the slope in a triangular wave.

“Eh, eh!? Oh no, oh no. S-Senpai? Ame-chan!?” Homura panicked.

Taga swiftly surveyed the surroundings from where he stood next to Kamikoma and spotted Misasagi and Ameno putting away their own measuring equipment further away.

In the loudest voice possible, he shouted, “Avalancheeeeeee———!!”

The two girls immediately noticed his warning and quickly stood up, waving to signal their understanding.

“Impossible, it looked fine when we did the snow stability test!” Saho shouted, paling.

“Nothing’s impossible on a mountain—everyone, have your whistles ready!”

Kamikoma quickly took out a pair of binoculars and scrutinised the avalanche.

“Which way is it heading!?” Touya asked.

“It’s fast, damn it… I can’t tell!” Kamikoma shouted with blunt honesty.

Though it was still some distance away, the front tip of the avalanche looked to be rapidly expanding outwards to either side. The snow spray reached even the trees that initially looked safe, engulfing them in the surging wave.

“………!”

Even Homura could tell that the wave would reach their location at this rate.

After making sure that Taga, Saho and Homura had the emergency avalanche tools in their bags, Kamikoma spoke to them all firmly.

“The two Seiran members, run due north! There’re more trees that way! Akiho, you go with them!”

“…Ah…!”

Upon hearing that order, Touya grabbed Homura’s hand and started running. He desperately waved to Misasagi and Ameno, who were heading towards them, and shouted at them to turn back.

“Taichi, Yuri, you guys come with me in the opposite direction! Run!”

Having determined that the whole area would be enveloped in the avalanche, Kamikoma gave up on evacuating everyone and chose to split the danger between them instead. At this point, it was a gamble which group the main wave of the avalanche would hit.

“—Senpai!” Saho reflexively shouted in a pained voice even as he ran.

Taga scooped up Kanae in his arms and carved a trail through the snow. Kamikoma ran in his wake and merely waved her hand in reply, a red whistle gripped in it.

When she woke up, Homura’s sight was filled with pitch-black darkness.

For an instant, she vaguely thought it was part of the recovery process from losing consciousness right after a transport.

But the unpleasant chill around the nape of her neck and the odd heavy pressure weighing down her entire body immediately snapped her foggy mind back into clarity.

She had barely managed to cover her face with her arms in time and protected enough space for her to breath.

This was the posture that had been drilled into her during training in Alaska. However, the snow pressing down on her body now was far heavier than the times she practiced being trapped under snow.

Though she didn’t feel any significant pain, she couldn’t move her legs at all. Her whole body was buried under snow.

The instant she comprehended her situation, her heart rate shot up like crazy.

Calm down… I have to calm down…!

Holding back the urge to scream, she breathed in the small amount of air left and tried to put her thoughts in order.

M-My fingers can move… In that case…

With effort, she managed to move one hand to her neck and touched the cord of her whistle. Even if she shouted, her voice wouldn’t reach anyone within the snow. She had to waste as little oxygen as possible…!

After an agonizing amount of time passed, she managed to take hold of the whistle.

Just as she made a mental prayer and was about to blow into it, the pressure on her upper body abruptly vanished and cold wind touched her face.

“Homura-san—!”

“A… Ame-chan…?

A voice called out to her from above—it was Ameno.

It was only then that Homura realized that she was lying on her back. Ameno used both hands to rapidly dig away the snow surrounding her.

“Does your body hurt anywhere? Can I pull you out?”

“Y-Yeah! I’m fine! Please do!”

As Ameno grabbed her clothes and pulled her out of the snow with a strong tug, Homura gradually recalled what had happened just before she was buried.

—Homura and the two boys had run to the grove of trees where Misasagi and Ameno were just as the first harbingers of snow started to flow down the slope past them. They immediately followed Misasagi’s example by diving behind the nearest big tree trunk and huddling in place.

At first, all Homura could hear was a roaring sound like waterfall above her head. It was followed by the low creaking and snapping of countless tree branches, which eventually turned into the explosive booms of entire trees cracking in half.

By that point, she had lost sight of Misasagi and Ameno who were hiding ten meters away from her and even Saho at another tree close behind her within the storm of snow, leaving her alone with Touya as he pressed her against the tree to protect her from the avalanche.

Heavy and moist lumps of snow slid past them in quick succession. The thick tree trunk Homura leaned against started to bend like it was made of paper and pressed down on her back, threatening to launch her mercilessly into the white torrent.

“Grab onto the tree!”

Homura reflexively obeyed Touya’s shout and turned her body around. She grabbed onto a lump along the tree surface her hand coincidentally found and wrapped her arms around the trunk. But then suddenly, the presence supporting her back vanished.

“Touya-kun—? Touya-kun!?”

Homura’s heart-rending shout was lost amidst the roar assaulting her ears.

Immediately afterwards, the tree she held onto gradually slid down the slope and began to tip over as its very roots were ripped from the ground.

Realizing what was happening, Homura managed to push herself away from the trunk just in time. After that, her feet slipped and she was engulfed within the torrents despite her vain struggles to escape.

Homura lied dumbfounded on the snowy ground as it all came back to her, but Ameno put her hands on the older girl’s shoulders and spoke in a clear voice.

“Can you move? Are you able to help me rescue the others?”

Homura took in a trembling breath and desperately nodded.

“T-Touya-kun should be somewhere nearby!”

“Got it!”

Now that she looked around properly, Homura saw that the scenery had completely changed. There was no telling how far she and the others had slid down the slope.

What was once most likely a valley was now an embarkment of stacked snow—like a heap of piled debris. Homura had been dug out from a relatively shallow mound of snow.

Calming her racing heart, Homura coolly assessed their surroundings.

Fifteen minutes…! If we can’t save the others within fifteen minutes, their chances of survival go way down!

She stared hard at the snow, looking for the eye-catching red of their parkas and any sign of their belongings on the snow surface.

“Ah!” Ameno suddenly cried out.

Saho’s cat ears popped out from a pile of snow. Before Homura and Ameno could run over, Saho managed to pull himself out from the snow.

Perhaps because this area was outside the main path of the avalanche, the debris appeared comparatively thin here.

“Akiho-kun!”

“……Shh…!”

Saho’s ears twitched as he took out a snow probe from his bag and focused on nearby sounds. Homura hurriedly took out a shovel from her own bag and unfolded it.

“I can hear something…” Saho ran across the snow and poked the probe into a flat area of debris that didn’t stand out from anywhere else.

“Here—Based on the direction I last saw her, it’s probably Misasagi-senpai!”

“Roger!”

Ameno jumped onto the indicated snow and plunged her bare hands into it, digging with the force of a small piece of heavy machinery. Homura also helped with her shovel.

As they tried to dig out the buried Misasagi, Sago stood up and stared hard at their surroundings while keeping his ears pricked.

“I hear one more…” Saho looked at an area of debris further down.

Homura’s eyes widened. “…It’s probably Touya-kun!”

Saho nodded at Homura’s guess.

“I see her!”

Ameno uncovered a red parka within the snow, soon followed by long, dishevelled hair—it was Misasagi-senpai. Homura shoveled away the many kilos of snow on top of her body from the space Ameno created, until Misasagi managed to lift her body up while coughing.

“……!”

The president was safe. That thought made Homura relax for a moment, but she quickly pulled herself together and turned to Saho.

“Should I… go look for Kamikoma-senpai and the others!?”

Saho also came back to his senses and displayed an instant of indecision, but then immediately nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll leave them to you, Hinooka-san.”

“Please go ahead! We’ll catch up soon!” Ameno agreed while holding up Misasagi.

“—Take care of the prez and Touya-kun!”

After saying that, Homura ran off with her hair trailing in the wind behind her. With Saho here, they would be able to find Touya. Once Misasagi recovered, they would have plenty of hands to dig. They should, anyway.

“Haa, haa, haa…!”

—Even so, Homura couldn’t just cut off her emotions. There was no guarantee that her actions were correct. But regardless of she felt, their time limit kept mercilessly approaching.

I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… Touya-kun! Homura prayed as she was left with no choice but to head elsewhere, her heart filled with guilt.

Snapped branches and tree trunks stuck out of the snow everywhere, and there were even boulders that looked to way several tons among the debris. But Homura had no time to tremble at the devastation.

Taking into account the direction Kamikoma and the others headed in along with the flow of the avalanche based on the debris she could see, Homura followed the path of the avalanche down the slope and searched through the snow. Occasionally, she blew her whistle and listened carefully for any response before heading further down.

Eventually, Homura spotted a pair of binoculars hanging from a branch planted in the snow. It definitely belonged to Kamikoma.

“Then… Koma-senpai and the others should be right down this path…!?”

Either the binoculars had been carried ahead of Kamikoma or they had gotten caught on the branch while their owner was carried further down the torrent—Regardless, Homura planted a snow probe where she found it and began desperately searching for anything else that stood out.

—It was at that moment that the red claw tips appeared out of the snow.

They were sharp red claws, half-transparent like notched glass.

Formed from interconnected triangles, the claw fingers spread out like a blooming flower, looking big enough to completely wrap around Homura, and carved through the snow like sponge cake.

It looked just like the attack of a monster. Homura was speechless as she watched.

……Eh…Yuri-chan!?

The claws then collapsed in on themselves like a reversed blooming and vanished in midair. Kanae Yuri lithely rose up from the bottom of the newly created snow crater.

She looked so normal it was as if nothing had happened. After brushing off the small bits of snow sticking to her hair, she suddenly started walking off somewhere.

“…Eh…?” Homura hurriedly chased after her. “Y-Yuri-chan! Wait!”

Kanae acted as if she didn’t hear her, so Homura caught up and grabbed her shoulder while breathing heavily.

“Yuri-chan, wait! Where are you going!?”

“—Don’t touch me.”

Icy red eyes turned to look back at Homura.

Her breathing was short and fast. Strands of hair clung to her slightly sweaty face.

“Taga-senpai and Koma-senpai should be nearby—Yuri-chan, help me search for them!”

“I’m telling you to let go.”

Kanae threw off Homura’s hand and resumed walking towards the grove of trees as Homura watched, dumbfounded.

Is Yuri-chan confused from the impact—?

“You can’t—come back! Help me rescue the others!”

Suspecting the other girl was in a panic, Homura tried to chase after her, but Kanae suddenly turned around.

She held out her hand, and those red claws suddenly appeared from it. Tiny triangular pieces grew out into the form of a giant hand in the blink of an eye.

The sharp claw tips were aimed straight at Homura’s chest.

“Don’t come any closer—this is your only warning.”

“No way… what are you saying……?”

Kanae swung her arm to the side and carved through the snow along with a big branch buried down to thigh-height in the ground. Homura jumped with a start and took a step back.

“I-Is that… magic!? That—”

Homura couldn’t hide her shock at the phenomenon that she had just witnessed. Kanae didn’t answer the question and simply spoke dispassionately.

“…You simply panicked and saw a hallucination. It would be a simple matter to make it so that you ‘injured’ yourself and died here, but you wouldn’t like that, right? —Do you get what I’m saying?”

“…! …I don’t get it at all! Stop kidding around! This is the time for—”

“Then that’s fine, too. Just leave me alone.”

After that one-sided declaration, Kanae turned around and left.

Homura was so confused by this sudden turn of events that she wondered if she really was hallucinating from panic.

Even as she watched Kanae’s receding back, the remaining time to rescue the others was steadily ticking away.

…Right now… I have to save senpai and the others!

Making up her mind, Homura returned to search and rescue. If Kanae refused to help even after being asked that much, Homura had no choice but to forget about her for now.

Unable to rely on heightened smell or hearing, Homura could only carefully check the snow and listen carefully for even the slightest sound as she searched. Several minutes passed, increasing the pressure on her.

Twitching at every plop of snow falling nearby, Homura desperately searched for the two senpai from Hiyoshizaka, occasionally calling out with her whistle, occasionally sticking her snow probe in areas that looked suspicious.

Eventually, she heard a carefree “Heeey~” that didn’t really fit the situation from somewhere close by.

Turning around, Homura saw a glove sticking out and waving from a pile of snow as big as an igloo. They were further upstream of the avalanche than Homura had expected, which had increased her search time.

“Koma-senpai!?”

“—Is that Homura!?” Kamikoma’s muted voice came from within the snow.

Homura peaked into the hole the glove had stuck out from. She could barely see part of Taga within the darkness of the hole.

It looked like Taga had thrown himself over Kamikoma to protect her. Taga had dug a hole with his arm and Kamikoma had crawled over to widen it enough to reach outside.

“Ah, thank goodness. What about the others!? Where’s Yuri!?”

“Yes—only Touya-kun is left, but we know where he is, so once Akiho-kun and the others dig him out, everyone will be safe and accounted for. Kanae-san is safe too…”

“I see… It’s a bit cramped in her, but we have space to breathe, so prioritize Touya first.”

“……W-What about Taga-senpai?”

“Taichi is fine, but… His leg seems to be stuck and he can’t move. I’m okay.”

“I’ll check right away!”

Homura headed to the back of the snow mound with a shovel in one hand. Taga seemed to have held back the snow with his body and had ended up stuck beneath the heavy snow pile and a fallen tree lying beneath the snow.

Using the snow probe to check where Taga’s body was positioned, Homura shoveled away the snow. After digging some away, she saw that the fallen tree was taking up a large amount of space within the snow pile.

…It’s bigger than I thought… Is Taga-senpai really okay…?

It was at that point that Misasagi and Saho arrived. After exchanging info with Homura and telling her that Touya and Ameno were following behind them, Misasagi surveyed the surroundings.

“There’s still one left, right!? Where’s Yuri-chan—!?”

“She, well… went off that way by herself…” Homura wavered over how to explain what happened. “—But she’s safe and unhurt. I think she’s just confused from the terrifying experience of it all. I couldn’t get her to stay… I’m sorry.”

Grasping the situation to a certain degree, Misasagi nodded.

“…It’s okay, I’ll go get her. Saho-kun, please stay here and help Homura.”

“Roger that. Please take care of Yuri-chan—geez, she really is a handful.”

Misasagi untied her hair ribbon and ran down the slope with her hair swaying in the wind.

Homura quietly resumed shoveling Kamikoma and Taga out with Saho’s help.

“Phew… it reeks of male B.O.…!” That was the first thing Kamikoma said as she crawled out, just as Ameno and Touya arrived.

Seeing Homura and Saho’s exhausted expressions, Touya asked in a composed tone.

“Looks like everyone’s safe, I guess? Pass me a shovel, I’ll help too.”

Homura collapsed listlessly to her knees as she watched Touya speak with Saho, the built-up tension finally fleeing her body.

“Haaaaaa……”

“What’s wrong, Hinooka? If you’re tired, I’ll switch with you, so move over.”

Truly, what a one-side declaration, completely ignorant of how much she’d been worried.

Still, Homura was too tired to stir up the strength to retort or even move, so she focused on calming her breathing first. She took up Touya’s offer and traded places with him. He was standing casually, as if he hadn’t silently vanished into the snow torrent only an hour ago. She should feel happy, but for some reason the only emotion she felt was annoyance at his nonchalance. Ameno peeked at Homura’s face hesitantly.

“Homura-…san… Are you… hurt…?”

“…Eh…?”

It was only then that Homura realized that tears were running down her cheeks.

As she shook her head and embarrassingly wiped her cheeks, Homura’s eyes were drawn to Ameno’s hands. Her gloves were torn up everywhere.

“I’m fine… What about you, Ame-chan? …Hot…!”

Homura worriedly touched her, but reflexively pulled back her hand.

“Ameno?” Touya turned to look over with a concerned expression as well.

But then—

“—Tage-senpai!?” Saho shouted in alarm.

Five minutes after Kamikoma got out, Taga finally managed to dig out his upper body, but his face was drenched in sweat.

“I deem an emergency rescue to be necessary… I’ll lift the tree up… Please stand back…”

Ameno spoke in a clear yet dispassionate tone and grabbed the tree trunk within the snow pile. With a bit of exertion, she managed to lift it up and away while checking over Taga’s condition. Several big lumps of snow broke off and scattered on the ground nearby.

“Taichi…? What’s wrong?”

“…Hrm.”

When Kamikoma called out to Taga once he crawled out from the tree trunk, he stood straight up.

—But immediately after, his knees bent and he was forced to place his hands on the ground to stop himself from falling.

They immediately returned to the second camp.

The two other boys had to lend their shoulders to Taga to help him walk. It looked like Taga had badly sprained one leg when he was trapped in the debris while covering Kamikoma.

He was in no condition to walk on his own.

The plan had been to start their main exploration of the area today, but now they had to return to camp with heavy feet, each of them feeling shock to some degree from the unfortunate turn of events.

And Taga wasn’t the only one physically affected.

Ameno had been forced to shift to ‘power-saving mode’.

The camp was quiet under the setting sun, with the light reflected from the mountain top dying the surrounding snow in faint blue and pink gradations.

“—Senpai, thank you so much.”

Homura expressed her gratitude to Misasagi, who had safely brought Kanae back.

They were inside a big tent made from connecting two spare tents to accommodate four people.

There were now three tents centered around the campfire in a radial formation, a sharp change from yesterday’s camp arrangement. It was as if even the tents had huddled close together to ease everyone’s unease.

The tent Homura was in contained all the members from Seiran High.

The other tents respectively held two members each, Saho and Kanae resting in one—and Kamikoma and Taga in the other. It was quite an irregular mixed-gender grouping, but even Homura thought this was the best option right now.

Misasagi had asked Saho to carefully watch over Kanae’s condition. Homura knew him well enough by now to tell that he wouldn’t play any pranks at a time like this.

Misasagi quietly recounted what happened with Kanae.

“Yuri-chan said that she managed to escape from the snow on her own and didn’t encounter you, Hinooka-san. She said she was wandering lost through the forest while searching for everyone else…”

“…Eh…?”

When Kanae been questioned by the two club presidents, she had given an answer that completely defied Homura’s expectations. Homura was left speechless.

“…Is that not what happened?” Touya delicately asked, and Homura stiffly nodded.

Misasagi believed Homura’s account of what transpired.

“I also think that Yuri-chan was temporarily confused from shock. Or perhaps she felt embarrassed being saved by you, Hinooka-san…”

No, it was true that Kanae had gotten out of the snow on her own. Using a dangerous yet beautiful-looking magic that no one had likely seen before—

But Homura couldn’t help but hesitate to blithely say what she saw there without Kanae’s permission. It felt like she would be betraying Kanae’s trust. Even if Kanae herself had blatantly lied.

Yeah… I get it now. I’m not mad that she lied. I want to know… and I’m scared of why Yuri-chan walked off alone back then…

If it weren’t for Misasagi who was well-trained in treading through forests, it was hit or miss whether Kanae would have been found and brought back to camp.

“Hinooka-san, Touya-kun, please don’t reproach her too much.”

“Yes…”

“Understood.”

There was no point in continuing to agonize over it. Homura decided to put it aside and move on to more urgent matters.

“…Ame-chan, are you okay?”

Even after returning to camp and entering their tent, Ameno hadn’t spoken—no, she did speak when addressed, but her usual bright expression was gone without a trace.

Ameno sat silently in a corner of the chilly tent. Finding her current state worrying, Homura hugged her and laid the robot girl’s head on her lap.

Ameno’s eye slowly opened.

“—Do you need something?” she softly murmured.

“No. Sorry for waking you.” Homura shook her head.

“I apologize for the inconvenience. I predict that it will take another sixteen hours to recover from power-saving mode. Please leave me in an environment that is as close to normal room temperature as possible and—”

“It’s okay. Just rest, Ame-chan.”

“……”

Ameno expressionlessly stared at Homura for a while, before slowly closing her eyes again.

She had used up all her power clearing away debris with her small body.

Touya looked over at the young girl who had valiantly rescued him from the snow with a gaze full of gratitude and respect.

Misasagi looked up from Ameno’s manual that Toneri had previously given her.

“…Most likely, Ameno-san’s artificial muscles and battery underwent a lot of strain, so a special solution was released within her structure to heal the damage, and her system has forced her into a resting state to aid the process. If so, she should recover soon.”

“Hoh… I see. Thank goodness.” Touya patted his chest in relief.

Homura held onto Ameno’s scratched and nail-torn hand while praying for her to recover as soon as possible.

Speaking of which… why did Ame-chan save me first…? No, rather, how did she find me in the snow…?

It didn’t seem like she would learn the answer for a while.

The sound of Kamikoma’s lute reached their ears from outside.

It was a Bard’s unique spell—a tune of healing to ease the pain and inflammation of Taga’s swollen leg.

“Haa… Man, it’s been one disaster after another, hasn’t it?” Touya murmured with self-deprecating smile.

“Not at all.” Misasagi shook her head and smiled. “We’re on a true adventure right now, so unexpected events are bound to occur. It’s too bad what happened to Taga-kun and Ameno-san, but I still think we’re doing quite well.”

“Eeeh?” Homura was shocked out of her light depression by Misasagi’s words.

That was quite a bold statement from the usually reserved Misasagi.

“Ah… Right, Hinooka-san also went through quite the disaster when she was nearly attacked by the Phantom Limb Tiger.”

“It really was a disaster! I’m not Gautama Buddha, so I say no thanks to ending my life being eaten by a tiger2!”

Faint giggles echoed within the tent.

As the flickering light from the campfire outside the clear tent window reflected in Misasagi’s eyes, she sat down cradling her knees and started speaking with her head bowed.

“About… the Phantom Limb Tiger…”

Hesitating several times as she spoke, just like her usual faltering speech on Earth, Misasagi still worked hard to get the words out.

“Inari-san’s… familiar was… a Phantom Limb Tiger. I thought I would, never meet one again. Even if they’re rare, Phantom Limb Tigers are, still wild beasts, so I know, that’s not the case, but…”

“……Senpai…”

Touya and Homura listened silently.

The accident that befell Misasagi and Inari.

It was the incident that drew a wedge in their friendship.

It happened late autumn last year in Earth time. They ended up stranded during a harsh winter on Nutella, like the expedition this time.

The Seiran High club members—the club president at the time, Misasagi, Inari and her Phantom Limb Tiger familiar were investigating unexplored territory, with the investigators consisting of one third year, second year and first year respectively.

“The Phantom Limb Tiger familiar… what was it called?”

“Tour. Tourbillon. Inari-san named it. It’s French for whirlwind…”

“Heh. As fast as the wind… Something like that?”

Touya guessed the reason for the name, but Misasagi shook her head with a small laugh.

“It had a spiral pattern on its behind, so…”

“Ahaha… so that’s where the ‘whirlwind’ comes from,” Homura said.

“Speaking of which, there’s also a high-class watch called tourbillon. It apparently uses a jewel in its internal mechanism.”

True enough, the Phantom Limb Tiger did have fangs that brought jewels to mind.

“…Is that so?” Misasagi placed her hand over her chest nostalgically. “Knowing Inari-san, she might have included that double meaning into it…”

—Misasagi resumed recounting the details of the incident. While traveling through unexplored territory, they discovered a large set of ruins and immediately went to investigate it. However… these ruins were far more complex than any they had encountered before.

The doors dividing the interior of the ruins into separate sections still functioned.

“—That first door was one-way. It was made to be unopenable from the inside once someone passed through it. We were trapped in those ruins for several days.”

As they wandered within the cold ruins, their food supplies eventually ran out. They couldn’t secure any food for the Phantom Limb Tiger either.

“I… thought there was surely a way out of the ruins, so I proposed searching through the ruins for an exit… But Inari-san thought differently. —She felt malice from the ruins. She said it was a trap that enclosed us the farther we went in. I didn’t believe her back then.”

“Umm… then what about an emergency withdrawal? Couldn’t you have escape with the transport ring…?” Homura tilted her head in puzzlement.

The final resort of investigators, emergency withdrawal by transport ring. Touya managed to surmise the reason why they didn’t use it.

“That would mean leaving the Phantom Limb Tiger—Tour behind.”

“…Ah… that’s right.”

Misasagi nodded with a pained expression, as if she was back at those ruins at this very moment.

“Correct. It was impossible to bring the Phantom Limb Tiger back to Earth by emergency withdrawal… Inari-san said that we should search for a way back to the entrance, even if it took time. She suggested that destroy the ruins’ doors and decayed areas to make our own path out.”

Destroying the ruins they had discovered—that was without a doubt the most blasphemous act an investigator could do. Misasagi’s argument against it was understandable. However…

“The president decided that we should do an emergency withdrawal. Now that I look back, I think that was the correct decision. But Inari-san didn’t obey the president’s order. She said that she would stay there herself even if we did an emergency withdrawal… and refused to budge on the matter.”

“I can’t leave Tour to die alone in these ruins—”

Homura could easily imagine Inari’s indignation over the thought of leaving behind her beloved familiar.

“The president had no intention of allowing her to die. He said that he would do the emergency withdrawal alone if he had to, and that he would go call for help right away… And he did just as he said.”

“Misasagi-senpai… what did you do…?” Touya timidly asked, vaguely guessing the answer.

“I… chose to… stay behind with Inari-san. It truly was a stupid decision… I was a fool to do so.”

“No way…! Inari-san was surely reassured by your presence! Being left alone in such a place would be too—”

“No,” Misasagi firmly denied. “It’s my fault… that Tour died. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that I killed him.”

—As the two girls waited for rescue, the section of the ruins they were in started to collapse.

It might have been because outside air came in along with them when they entered, or a pre-set trap. There was no way to know.

Sensing the danger, the Phantom Limb Tiger carried away the two exhausted girls and saved them from being crushed with just the right timing.

“But then we ended up trapped in a small confined space. We could only wait for rescue while barely conscious—”

The two girls and the tiger stood on the verge of death.

Homura’s heart ached when she imagined the currently healthy Misasagi being in such a state.

The former president, who had returned to Earth, came back with Kamikoma and Taga from Hiyoshizaka, but by the time they reached the ruins, the two girls were suffering from severe hypothermia.

Even so, Misasagi and Inari’s lives were saved.

“But Tour… he warmed us up with his body… and protected us the whole time…”

Suppressed tears and indescribable feelings spilled from Misasagi’s face.

“I shouldn’t have stayed there… If Inari-san had been alone, they could have saved Tour too…”

Homura was able to say anything about the girls’ actions and what resulted from it after the fact.

But when Homura and Touya went to invite Inari back the to club before, she had said, “Mayo is mistaken.” That she wouldn’t return until Misasagi realized her mistake—

Misasagi-senpai is trying to tell us everything… But there’s still more left to this story…

There was something that Homura couldn’t see yet. Feelings she couldn’t reach were hidden somewhere. Homura couldn’t tell whether it was the error that Misasagi committed or Inari’s misunderstanding.

For some reason, Homura recalled the words “failure and sacrifice” from Councillor Misasagi’s speech at that moment.

Misasagi quietly raised her head.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to cry like this. You must think I’m an embarrassing person, drowning in sentimentality like this.”

“No, not at all…”

As Homura struggled to find the right comforting words to say, Touya spoke up.

“Does Inari… Inari-senpai resent you over that, Misasagi-senpai…? Does she think you caused Tour to die…?”

Misasagi’s shoulders trembled at Touya’s question.

No, that wasn’t true at all—Homura was sure of it. But she couldn’t put the reason why into words. Touya continued speaking, his tone full of quiet anger.

“—In that case, Inari is an idiot. She doesn’t even realize that senpai was put in danger because of her rash decision. She should have accompanied you and the former president on the emergency withdrawal right from the start. If she’d done that, she would have been able to save the tiger—”

“Touya-kun, please don’t criticize Inari-san.”

“But she’s the one who got her previous familiar caught up in the adventure she chose for herself—”

“Please…”

After that, those ruins were sealed away by the investigators once Misasagi and Inari were saved, in light of the loss incurred there. It was deemed too dangerous to explore.

If that’s so… Inari-senpai probably surmised that they would never be allowed to go to those ruins again if they all returned to Earth by emergency withdrawal… That’s why she insisted on remaining there… She was doing all she could to save Tour…

Once before, Homura had resolved to stay on Nutella in order to save the kidnapped Misasagi.

Back then, Homura had convinced Touya against his objections, but what had happened between Misasagi and Inari?

When Misasagi declared she would stay too, Inari had surely tried to stop her. But Misasagi had refused to leave Inari’s side even so, because the other girl was a precious friend to her.

“I…” Misasagi spoke haltingly, while gazing at the sleeping Ameno with slightly red yet gentle eyes. “I don’t think… failure and sacrifice are the price… of adventure.”

“……”

Those were quiet yet firm words of defiance towards her own father.

Touya chewed his lip, unable to nod or shake his head at Misasagi’s declaration.

No one yet knew the true answer. After all, the adventure was still ongoing.

The next day, the discussion over the injured and what the expedition should do next continued, with Homura unable to comment as someone with little experience.

Taga’s leg had been sprained from being trapped under debris and had swollen to a shocking degree, but he no longer seemed to be enduring immense pain and sweating terribly like yesterday.

He had listened to Kamikoma’s lute almost all night. It was likely due to that. Even so, Taga couldn’t walk on his own yet.

After Kamikoma, Misasagi and Taga himself discussed things with everyone present, they decided not to do an emergency withdrawal and instead request extra members from Earth to transport the injured from here.

Misasagi and Touya were selected to take the journey of several days from here to the distant base camp to go get Momoyama and Hayase, currently waiting on standby on Earth.

The two of them wore the minimum light equipment to make the journey, but even then, the fastest it would take them to get the extra members to arrive there and make it back here was eight days.

Depending on the situation, they might need to transport Ameno as well, who still had yet to return to her normal operating state. In the meantime, the party members would remain on standby here without risking any dangerous exploration activities.

However, the second camp was now down to the bare minimum number of members needed to survive here. Their food supply would last until then, but for the time being, they would be mostly restricted to a humble diet of preserved foods.

Homura saw off Touya and Misasagi, their backs slowly receding into the distance.

As Homura’s shoulders slumped out of loneliness, a certain girl came over to her and whispered in her ear.

“—How unfortunate that you have no allies left here.”

“! …Yuri-chan…”

“I won’t let you or anyone else get in my way anymore, Homura.”

When Homura turned around, Kanae’s red eyes stared at her challengingly. The edges of her lips faintly turned up, as if sneering at Homura—

“Don’t say that. You help too, Yuri-chan. Our exploration might be put on hold, but there’s still lots to do, you know?”

Homura did her best to act unaffected, but she couldn’t help but tremble.

At noon later that day, while Homura and the others were preparing lunch, Saho, who should have headed to the nearest grove of trees to pick up firewood, took quite a long time to return. He came back carrying the tripod and surveying instrument they’d left behind during the avalanche yesterday.

Furthermore, he had apparently gone to check out the slope where the avalanche had occurred while he was at it.

“I found some weird footprints on the upper slope. I think it’s right around where the avalanche started,” Saho said nonchalantly.

Kamikoma frowned at Saho’s dangerous act which broke the rule to always move in pairs, but since he had obtained valuable information, she listened without scolding him too much.

“—So, the footprints?”

“Oww, oww, please don’t pull my ear, prez—they weren’t beast tracks… but they weren’t from the boots or snowshoes we use. I wonder what it was…?”

“Then… maybe it was the Phantom Limb Tiger? If it used illusionary legs, the footprints wouldn’t match its usual size and weight,” Kamikoma hypothesized, but Saho shook his head.

“I think their depth matched that of a human’s weight.”

Homura jerked upon hearing Saho assessment.

“Wait, wait, Akiho-kun? Why are you trying to scare us? Besides, we were worried over how late you were to come back—”

Homura reflexively shut her mouth. ‘First Kanae and now you went off somewhere on your own’… Naturally, she didn’t say it out loud. Not when those red eyes were glaring at her nearby.

—Time passed as the group was filled with unease and boredom.

Caring for Taga was quite an arduous task, but Kamikoma ran around nursing him without showing any sign of discontent. Taga seemed to feel responsible and depressed over his injury, but Kamikoma chatted with him as frankly as she always did to cheer him up.

Homura helped Kamikoma construct some makeshift crutches, but they didn’t work well. Whenever Taga had to leave the tent, he had no choice but to borrow Saho’s shoulder or slowly crawl across the ground.

Kamikoma and Kanae had moved to stay in Homura and Ameno’s tent until rescue came. The mixed-gender tent arrangement had only been for a single night, naturally.

At one point during their camping—Homura ended up alone with Ameno in their tent… Though it was hard to say whether the robot girl counted as “company” right now.

The usually energetic Ameno was sleeping without even a twitch. It made Homura feel lonely and cold even inside the tent.

“Ame-chan……?” Homura said inadvertently. There was no response. “…Ameno-chan?”

Upon being called by her proper name, Ameno finally opened her eyes and looked at Homura.

“—I apologize. I am currently in power-saving mode. I am experiencing an unknown error in my systems.”

“I see…”

Contrary to their initial hopes, Ameno was still stuck in power-saving mode.

Ameno raised herself up.

“I can walk and move for a limited period of time. Please say your request for me, such as tracking, auto-action or independent movement to a registered point.”

“Haaaa…”

Homura hugged Ameno from behind and sat down on the sleeping bag with her.

Ameno’s body was chilly. Her joints had ceased automatically adjusting her balance and turned hard and stiff—just like a doll’s. She was like the young Ameno in the video that Toneri had shown Homura before.

Homura suddenly noticed that the string of the charm around Ameno’s neck was loose and out of place. She opened Ameno’s shirt a bit to readjust its position and then patted it once it was back inside her clothes.

“It’s going to be okay, Ame-chan. We’re all going to go home together. Ribbit, ribbit.”

“……”

After a while, someone poked their head through the tent flap.

“Yuri-chan…?”

“Orders from the president. We’re to go look at the traps we set yesterday,” Kanae spoke briefly and gestured with her chin for Homura to come with her.

For just an instant, she seemed to frown at the sight of Ameno in Homura’s arms.

The two girls headed to the mountain slope while remaining vigilant for any avalanches.

“If the weather turns bad, make sure to come back right away,” Kamikoma had warned as they left the camp.

They were going to check on the traps that the four mobile members had set up here and there among the mountain side. They carried tools for wrapping up any captured prey or firewood along with the minimum set of mountain hiking equipment. Homura truly missed hamburgers at this moment.

“……”

Homura was scared of Kanae’s current attitude, but she couldn’t stand the silence, so she started talking about the things she’d been thinking about since last night.

“Hey, can’t we switch out Ame-chan’s battery?”

“…If Ameno was fully conscious, she’d be able to change batteries herself… we should have a spare battery among the baggage.”

“Eh… she can change it herself?”

Homura was startled both at how the joking topic she’d brought up was seriously answered and at the content of the answer.

Kanae nodded as if it were obvious.

“Making situational judgements in an unfamiliar environment requires a high degree of self-autonomy. Besides, Ameno is a stereotypical self-sustaining automaton. It’s only standard that she would be able to do maintenance on herself as an exploration probe unit.”

“……Haa.” Homura let out an exaggerated sigh at the technical talk.

“…Despite how knowledge I may sound, I don’t actually know that much about the hardware behind it; it’s outside of my field of expertise. Either way, it’s beyond our ability to do it ourselves.”

“—Yeah, yeah. I suppose you’re right.” Homura raised her hands in agreement.

But… what if we used magic? Homura couldn’t help but wonder. They were on Nutella, after all.

Homura recalled the time she had seen Kanae sitting at a small desk through a window at the laboratory, absorbed in designing incantations.

“Yuri-chan… Was that spell an original you made yourself?”

—That strange spell that shone like a red jewel but was sharper than a knife, unlike any other spell Homura had seen.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone about it?” Kanae asked back instead of answering.

“Well, that’s… I don’t know. I wonder why?”

“Are you trying to make me indebted to you?”

“That’s not it at all…”

The two of them should have been heading to check the trap, but they had already passed the trap locations Homura recalled. Despite that, Kanae kept advancing forward. Though Kanae’s silent defiance of orders was worrying, Homura didn’t leave her side.

After walking in silence for a while, Kanae spoke up again.

“…Fine, I’ll tell you. We won’t meet again after this, anyway.”

“There you go again… Don’t say things that would make Hayase-senpai sad.”

“I’m just a burden to Ryou. He’d probably feel relieved if I were gone.”

Kanae glared at Homura, exactly as she expected. Homura shrugged and let the matter slide for now.

“So… what kind of model does that spell use?” Homura asked, using the same light tone she would ask ‘What kind of shampoo do you usually use?’

However, the answer she got back was shocking.

“The model is a ‘tesseract’—also called a hypercube3.”

“Tesse…ract? I’ve never heard of it before… Huh, but didn’t Ame-chan say that there are only five kinds of regular polyhedrons?”

“Just as a hexahedron has six surfaces, a tesseract is a hypercube made of eight cubes. It has a four-dimensional structure.”

“—Four-dimensional!?”

Homura unconsciously gripped the jacket pocket over her stomach.

“Yes. Like how there are five kinds of regular polyhedrons in three dimensions, there are six kinds of regular polytypes in four dimensions. It’s an entirely different branch of magic than the standard kind used among the Exploration Club.”

After saying that, Kanae seemed to focus her mind and quietly raised one hand.

A red jewel soundlessly appeared at the tip of her finger—as if it had sprouted from a gap in space. The rose-red crystal grew in size like a fast-forwarded video.

……!

Homura stared agape at Kanae’s spell.

Twin horns had once more appeared along the sides of Kanae’s head. They seemed to have a definite connection to this magic.

The jewel spun softly and changed shape before finally coming to a rest.

“You can touch it.”

“It won’t cut my ringer, right—?”

Instead of replying, Kanae reformed the intricately-shaped jewel into a simple dice-sized cube.

Homura gingerly held out her hand to it, and it felt hard and cold against her palm. To think that the magic to create high-density matter, which Misasagi had said no one had invented yet, was actually so close by…!

When she tried to grip it a bit harder, she felt resistance from it. Even as the jewel levitated in the air, it was directly connected to Kanae’s body through an unseen force.

This is… the same as the Phantom Limb Tiger’s fangs…! Homura instinctively realized.

When she tried to pulled it with a strong tug, Kanae’s arm was also pulled along with it. Kanae frowned, and soon after the jewel shrunk away and disappeared without a trace.

“Wow…” Homura admired while observing her now empty hand.

Kanae continued explaining as they resumed walking.

“Oozore-san and Hanayashiki also tried to achieve it through their own approaches, but I managed to discover a feasible pattern first.”

“A-Amazing… You’re really something, Yuri-chan…”

Homura wavered over adding ‘As expected of the Maestro’s pupil!’

Though Kanae seemed a bit proud of herself right now, Homura got the feeling she would get angry like Tsuyu would if she pushed it any further.

“Umm… about that four-dimensional shape? Polytype? Anyway, you have to form and revolve it in your mind, right? But humans can’t imagine a four-dimensional object, can they?”

Therefore, this magic must rely on a special trait unique to Kanae on Nutella, like Nanakubo-senpai—that was the conclusion Homura jumped to, but Kanae shook her head.

“Your eyes are made of two-dimensional retinas, aren’t they? Yet your brain perceives the images your eyes capture in three dimensions,” Kanae casually pointed out.

“T-That’s true, but… that’s because I have two eyes…”

“Sense of distance perceived through the different views from each eye has nothing to do with it. As long as you can form n-dimensional space within your mind, you can picture and imagine it. In that case, you can also imagine four-dimensional objects. You just think you can’t do it because you’ve never seen it with your own eyes.”

Homura gulped.

“Then… I can do it… too?”

“—Perhaps. You’d need to start by learning affine transformations.”

“Ugh… A-Ahin?”

Some despairingly difficult terminology was suddenly thrust at her. Homura got the feeling it didn’t come up in high school mathematics…

“I use mental eyes of formulas and algorithms to see in four dimensions. But you might have a different method. Someone once said that the true nature of math lies in its freedom of approaches, so find whatever works for you.”

The two girls were walking a trail far off from where they had laid the traps by this point.

Homura was desperately trying to carve the path back in her memory. Only a small part of the Bagel could be seen past the cloudy sky.

“…We’ve strolled far enough. Let’s go back to the camp.”

“You can go back by yourself. You can still turn back now if you want,” Kanae said sardonically.

Why was this girl purposefully treading into dangerous territory among the mountains and acting as if she was trying to become M.I.A. (missing-in-action)—to get herself killed? And what concerned Homura the most was—

“But what about Samari-chan…?”

“……”

Kanae’s expression sank for a moment, and then she gave Homura a sad smile.

“Samari… I’ll leave in your hands. Take good care of her like Ameno.”

“Yuri-chan…”

Homura bit her lip in anguish.

She had never thought that day would ever come that she’d hear such kind words from this girl. Especially since Homura herself felt guilty whenever she chatted and had fun with Ameno in front of Kanae.

But that just increased her resolve to face Kanae seriously even more.

“—Hey, seriously, stop this, Yuri-chan. Let’s go back together! You’re not going let them turn Samari-chan into satellite parts, right? I’m sure even Hayase-senpai—”

“It’s no good. There’s nothing I can do… This is a good chance.”

Eventually, the trees cleared away ahead of them, widening their view.

“—A frozen river…!” Homura exclaimed in surprise.

An enormous river filled with ice lay within the large valley before there.

This wasn’t their first time seeing a frozen river. They had even walked atop one during their training in Alaska. Perhaps as a reflection of the riverbed’s topography, the ice rose in large protuberances in several places, like mountains of ice. It was a unique piece of scenery that they hadn’t seen in Alaska.

The ice cut into the rocky surface of the mountain and rose up along the edge of the river.

Kanae placed one foot on the ice to check its strength, and then began to put metal crampons on her boots. Homura, who only had a trekking pole on her, started to panic.

“Yuri…!”

“—Get off me.”

Kanae threw off Homura’s arm that reflexively reached out to grab her and boldly hopped onto the frozen river, quickly leaving Homura far behind.

Her steps weren’t as balanced as the senior members, but she showed no fear as she advanced further and further. She moved at a near trot, keeping her speed up even as she jumped out bumps and cracks. Even when she skipped and fell, she just brushed it off and moved on.

Meanwhile, Homura followed after her, but it took all her effort just to keep the other girl in sight.

Homura tried calling her name several times, but Kanae didn’t turn around once.

“I can’t, go on…”

Homura was so caught up in catching her breath that she didn’t notice Kanae take a running start to make a huge jump.

“——!”

Pale blue light suddenly filled her vision, and by the time she realized it was a large fissure—a crevasse in the middle of the frozen lake, it was far too late.

The pole in her hand touched nothing but air and her body’s balance was broken, making her pitch forward. She immediately crouched to try and shift her weight downwards, but then her foot slipped and she tilted forward even further. She barely managed to grab onto the edge of the crevasse with one hand, but there was nothing but smooth ice and her glove slipped.

“Kyah… I’m fall—”

Her body spun across the ice towards the crevasse. She flailed and coincidentally grabbed the bottom end of the pole near her hand. Despite her uncertain positioning, she managed to use all her strength to stab the hard tip of the pole into the ice.

But Homura wasn’t able to stop her body’s momentum with just one hand. Her grip couldn’t beat the harsh impact of her fall and she was thrown into the air.

“———!”

Homura unconsciously shut her eyes.

She heard the piercing sound of grating ice. Suddenly, ice and snow fell down from above and her body swung back and forth in midair. She felt nothing beneath her feet.

“…Look out for falling rocks……”

When Homura fearfully opened her eyes after a few seconds, she finally understood that she was hanging in midair.

The one painfully gripping Homura’s hand was Kanae, who had heard her scream and immediately ran back to save her. Before she could fully take that in, her glove started to slip off.

“—Stupid! Grab on properly!” Kanae shouted with clear strain in her voice.

Homura hurriedly grabbed onto her arm with both hands.

“Why did you plunge straight into a crevasse!? You idiot!”

“…I’m… sorry…”

When Homura managed to look up despite her difficult position, she saw the bright sky past Kanae’s back—as well as that shining red crystal-like magic sprouting from Kanae’s free arm.

She was using the claws of that demonic arm to stab deeply into the ice wall.

“What’s the depth? How far does it go down!?” Kanae sharply asked.

“The bottom… is pitch black, I can’t see the end! It’s really deep!” Homura used her teeth to pull off the gloves on each of her hands one at a time. She desperately fixed her position and regripped Kanae’s arm with her now bare hands. “I can hold on for another few minutes, I think—”

“You can’t climb up yourself!? —Fine, no point in getting angry now. Keep hold of my arm!”

“Yeah…!”

Kanae returned her focus to her magic.

Suddenly, the claws of the demonic hand moved and gouged holes into the ice one at a time, acting as handholds to start gradually pulling the two of them up.

Kanae’s brow was drenched in sweat, as she fully concentrated on forming complex spell patterns within her mind.

Only a minute had passed, yet it felt like eternity to Homura, who could only believe in Kanae and wait.

Frightened, Homura happened to glance down as they ascended—and noticed something that was neither part of the river nor a rock in the space between the ice—

There’s… something buried… down there? And it looks big…

Thus, the two of them managed to climb back up to the surface of the frozen river.

Homura collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

Now that she looked back at it properly, she saw that the crevasse was wide enough to jump over with an all-out running start. However, without metal crampons on her boots—no, even with them, it seemed like a despairingly huge width and depth to her, especially after she nearly lost her life to it.

“……”

Kanae silently jumped over the crevasse and landed on the other side.

She was in no hurry. She knew that Homura wouldn’t be able to cross over it.

Standing on the opposite edge of the crevasse, she turned back to looked at Homura and spoke softly.

“—I’ve paid you back for saving me from the bison now.” Kanae frowned in pain while cradling one arm. “How nice for you. ‘Kanae Yuri fell into the crevasse and became M.I.A.’—Now you have a simple way to finish up any troublesome reports.”

With that, Kanae turned around and walked away from the crevasse.

Without really thinking, Homura took the precious stone hanging from her neck and waved it desperately at Kanae’s back.

“…Look, Yuri-chan! There’s a spirit stone right here!!”

It was the spirit stone Subaru had entrusted to her. Kanae immediately realized what it was. But she didn’t change her mind.

“So—So you don’t have to worry about Samari-chan being turned into parts!”

“…All the better then. Now I have no regrets left to hold me back.”

Those unbelievable words left Homura speechless. A heavy silence followed.

“See ya. Take care of Ameno.” Those were Kanae’s final words as she walked off.

Homura could only watch her in a daze.

But right in the direction Kanae was heading—

Homura saw a human figure covered in white cloth standing in the shadows of the dark forest beyond the frozen river.

…Someone’s… there…!?

Homura hugged herself as a chill ran down her body.

The faint figure stood there as if waiting for Kanae, but soon after both she and it disappeared into the depths of the mountain.

Stricken with despair, Homura tried to return to the camp.

But even more harsh trials awaited her thereafter.

She had to return to Kamikoma and the others as soon as possible and tell them about Kanae’s disappearance.

Yet as if to sneer at her, a sudden violent blizzard fell upon her.

She’d lost both her gloves and her pole in the crevasse. She could only vaguely remember the path she took while desperately chasing Kanae, and what little she did remember was mostly useless due the blizzard completely changing the landscape.

…I have to send… some kind of signal…

Nanakubo had taught her the smoke signal spell along the spell for the transport ring. She tried to chant it as she remembered it, but the red smoke released was weak and immediately blown away by the wind.

As the snow gradually whited out the scenery, Homura rested her back against a tree trunk, her breathing shallow and heavy.

Her dry throat hurt, so she ate some taffy from her provision while keeping careful track of the remainder.

I feel like I’ve been walking in circles…

They had taught her this several times in the Exploration Club and during the Alaskan training.

When your vision was obstructed in the mountains, the phenomenon known as ring wandering tended to occur, where you went in circles around the same place. Homura had laughed it off as something that only happened in the world of fiction, but she certainly wasn’t laughing now.

She belatedly remembered her compass and searched her pockets for it.

“……!”

—It was at that point that she suddenly noticed a presence nearby.

Something big was approaching from behind her, crunching the snow as it walked.

Praying it was one of the Exploration Club members, Homura turned around.

She was greeted by the sight of a golden beast with mystic fangs.

A Phantom Limb Tiger…!

The tiger stared straight at Homura, unbothered by the blizzard.

The fear she felt on the icy plain resurfaced and she was filled with the urge to scream and run.

—However, when the tiger stopped right before her, it simply brought its nose up close and started sniffing her like last time.

“……Hii…” Homura could only tremble with her back pressed against the tree.

The tiger was close enough to touch at this point.

But the tiger didn’t do anything further and started to slowly step back.

It retreated back while staring at Homura with its head kept low.

“Tour…?”

Homura unconsciously spoke that name. The Phantom Limb Tiger didn’t react.

The tiger just kept staring intently at Homura, until it suddenly turned around and walked a few steps before looking back at Homura again.

“Are you… telling me to follow you?”

Homura was quite aware how absurdly convenient that interpretation was. But at this point, she was filled with the desire to rely on the tiger, even if it was actually an illusion.

She couldn’t understand the feelings of animals like Saho. She didn’t even know what a familiar was supposed to be like.

“Where are you taking me…?”

Homura walked through the mountain forest in the blizzard, with the Phantom Limb Tiger as her only guide.

They eventually arrived at the very frozen river she had left earlier.

“I came back… No way…” Homura fell to her knees in shock.

She couldn’t tell whether this was upriver or downriver of the spot where she had parted ways with Kanae. The distinguishing bumps atop the frozen river were completely hidden away now by the blizzard.

The only thing that stood out amidst all the white was the bright fur of the tiger. It had walked up to Homura again as she sat unmoving in despair and exhaustion.

“…Sorry… I’m not Inari-senpai…”

The Phantom Limb Tiger sat down with its back straight like a giant cat and simply waited for Homura patiently.

Homura gingerly extended a chilled hand to the tiger. She had already thrown caution to the wind.

“Are you Tour…? Or are you Tour’s ghost?”

Unfortunately, Homura’s hand was unable to touch its abundant fur.

She just felt a dull resistance before her arm passed through the tiger.

Just as Touya had hypothesized, this Phantom Limb Tiger’s entire body was an illusion.

“Waaah…! Sorry…!”

When she’d tried to feel it further, the tiger had opened its mouth and bared its fangs. It seemed quite displeased—it even made its huge saber teeth appear. But it was only for an instant, and they immediately vanished.

“Hey… isn’t your body getting fainter and fainter…? Are you fading away!?”

Disregarding Homura’s words, the tiger started walking off again.

Homura forced herself to her feet and trudged after it.

—They came to a cavern within a rockface hidden in the shadow of the frozen river. It was about five meters deep. It was a small cavern, but there was no snow within it and it blocked out the harsh blizzard wind. Furthermore—

“A… door…?”

At first place, it looked like a natural cavern, but the far end of it was blocked off by a thick stone door. Over many long years, the natural rock covering it had eroded and crumbled away, exposing the clearly man-made stone door.

The tiger approached the door while repeatedly looking back at Homura, as if to urge her to follow… and then it seemed to melt away into the door and vanished.

“It disappeared… and now I’m alone again…”

Homura could no longer move within the worsening blizzard.

She decided to use the cavern as shelter and wait for rescue.

She tried opening the stone door, but it felt as if it weighed several hundred kilos and wouldn’t budge at all. She gave up and sat down with her back against the door. Her mind was hazy from the cold and exhaustion. The pain from her fall earlier, which she had forgotten in the heat of the moment, came back with full force.

Realizing she was starting to nod off, Homura shook her head and wrapped herself in the emergency sheet stored in her waist kit. The sheet was dyed orange on the outside to make it highly visible, while the inside was coated with a reflective film to preserve body temperature.

I should be able to make it through the storm with this…

Homura found it hard to sit still when she thought of how Kamikoma and the others must be worried about her back at the second camp. But what worried her the most was Kanae, who had gone missing alone in this weather. Homura was tormented by her own powerlessness.

After dozing off for an unknown time—

She suddenly lifted her head upon detecting a new presence. It wasn’t the Phantom Limb Tiger.

A small figure stood at the cavern entrance.

“—A-Ame-chan? Eeh?”

It was Ameno, who should have been resting in power-saving mode back in their tent. Homura let out a startled shout while coughing from her dry throat.

“*Cough, cough*… D-Did you come to rescue me…?”

She wondered if she was dreaming—understandable, in this situation. Ameno silently walked over and placed her hand on the edge of the stone door.

The heavy-looking door moved with a groan. Homura stepped back in surprise at Ameno’s sudden act.

It was then that she noticed for the first time that the stone door was fan-shaped and made to open and close by swinging it ninety degrees. Even so, it still weighed at least several hundred kilos and possibly a full ton, yet Ameno had managed to move it, a truly amazing feat.

“……Huh…?” Ameno murmured as she suddenly blinked her eyes. “—Homura-san?”

“…Ah, you’re awake. You’re finally awake!? You’re the real Ame-chan, right? Not Miss Power-Saving Mode, right!?”

“—What? Yes, I’m Fujimori Ameno. Where… are we?”

Ameno was confused as Homura placed a hand on her shoulder. It was at that moment that another new arrival entered the cavern.

“Haaa,” Touya panted with his hands on his knees.

Homura was once more struck by shock.

“Why is Touya-kun here? Didn’t you return to Earth? What about senpai—?”

“Right back at you. What are you doing in a place like this, idiot?”

“Don’t call me an idiot! Ah—Yukiwarimaru!”

Yukiwarimaru also entered the cavern along with Touya.

Touya peeked at the dark depths of the cavern beyond the now opened door with interest.

“This is… hewn stone. And these walls too… they’re hand-carved? Are these… ruins?”

“—Ruins?”

After that, they all managed to make it back to the camp together.

They safely made it back thanks to Yukiwarimaru, who guided them without getting lost in the blizzard. Her name wasn’t for show4.

One strange thing had happened after another today. As the party leader, Kamikoma had to focus on interrogating them on what happened over scolding Homura for being late.

However, though searching for Kanae should have been their top priority, they couldn’t do it in this blizzard.

“—Subaru-hime loaned Yukiwarimaru to us,” Touya explained.

Touya and Misasagi had retraced the party’s path to return to Subaru’s castle.

By cutting down on sleep and walking as much as possible every day, they managed to arrive in two days and a half. Sometimes they ran and sometimes they used tree branches as makeshift skis like the traditional winter hunters in Tohoku.

Once they reached the castle and explained what happened to Taga, Subaru immediately started preparations for them to return to the second camp. However—

“Subaru-hime really wanted to come too. But she said that she’s unable to head past that place, no matter what—”

‘That place’ likely referred to the former highway crossroad.

Kamikoma showed understanding towards the strong feelings binding Subaru and asked Touya a different question.

“Did Mayo use the new transport ring?”

Touya nodded.

Misasagi had used the new transport ring supplied from the UN HQ for the first time and succeeded in returning to Earth from the dual food cellar/transport room in the castle town’s base camp. She should have, at least.

The new transport ring already had the coordinates for the Seiran High transport room encoded into it, and this first transport using it added the coordinates of the Nutellan base camp to it. From now on, the transport ring would automatically jump between these two points.

According to the original plan, Touya should have waited at the castle base camp after that for the arrival of reinforcements.

“Subaru-hime couldn’t come in the end, but she provided herbs that help heal sprains and extra food provisions. She said that she’ll have Kirimaru and the other wolves pull the supplies when the president and the others arrive. Basically, they’ll be using a dog sled—or rather, a wolf sled. She also said that we can transport Taga-senpai back on it.”

“She’s really going out of her way for us… but honestly, it’s a huge help.” Kamikoma let out a deep sigh.

After that, Touya rode back to the second camp on Yukiwarimaru, just when Kamikoma and Saho were shouting “Homura and Kanae are way too late coming back!” and preparing to go search for them.

“…And then I started moving on my own?” Ameno asked, as if she were talking about someone else. Kamikoma and the others nodded with troubled expressions.

“You wouldn’t listen when we told you to stop, and even when we tried to force you, you just dragged us along, so we had no choice but to have Touya and Yukiwarimaru follow after you immediately after they arrived.”

Ameno shrank back in shame over the trouble she’d caused. Meanwhile, Homura’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Then, then, then… that means my emergency rescue call reached her, right!?”

“Yes! That’s surely it!” Ameno replied happily.

“Really now… I seriously worried what was going on with you, you know…” Kamikoma said. “Well, all’s well that ends well, I guess. Seriously though, it really made me lose confidence as a leader.”

“Ameno-chan… In that case, can you tell where Yuri-chan is?” Saho asked, but Ameno’s face turned pained once more and she shook her head.

“I’m sorry… I also want to go out and search for her right this instant. But I can’t detect where she is…”

Recalling the equipment Kanae wore when went off on her own, Homura spoke up next.

“…Yuri-chan had an emergency kit on her, along with metal crampons… I don’t think she was carrying any food… but if she can at least find somewhere protected from the wind, then…”

“…Hinooka-san, you’re acting like it’s obvious that Yuri-chan is alive,” Saho pointed out, not bothering to hide his grim expression.

Homura was startled upon having her inner thoughts exposed. Naturally, that was what Homura hoped—but she also thought that way because of the resolve she’d sensed in Kanae when they parted, different from mere desperation.

“Did Yuri-chan really disappear on her own? If this is some joke you two planned, it isn’t funny, you know? Well, which is it!?” Saho pressed Homura, making her recoil. Kamikoma stepped in to stop him.

“I’m sorry, Akiho. Don’t blame Homura. I’m responsible for this. I should have gone with them… I was worried over Taichi and couldn’t think properly… Sorry.”

“……”

Kamikoma showed a rare feeble expression. Saho uncomfortably watched in silence.

“—Yuri has always had the habit of going off to explore on her own out of curiosity on previous expeditions. I thought that was actually a reliable trait as an investigator and overlooked it until now, but… Yeah, I forgot something important. Hayase isn’t here this time.”

Yes. Hayase, the one who looked after Kanae the most, wasn’t here. His presence had been so constant she’d stopped giving it second thought.

Homura and everyone else here could only wait and hope for him and the rest of the backup to arrive as quickly as possible.

Despite the discussion still being ongoing, Saho stood up within the cramped tent.

“…I’m heading off to rest. Once the blizzard dies down, I’ll head out to search immediately. Call me when it’s clear outside.”

After declaring that, he returned to the tent he was currently using by himself.

As the remaining members then went on to discuss logistics for the wolf sled—

A strange shout came from outside. Suspecting that Saho had played a weird prank on the sleeping Yukiwarimaru, they all poked their heads out to see, and saw…

“……”

…Saho, standing dumbfounded in front of his tent.

“…Geez! I can’t take this anymore!”

Saho walked away in an angry huff. Wondering what was going on, Homura and the others walked over and peeked into the tent.

“…! Yuri…!!”

Kamikoma turned speechless just like Saho had.

Within the tent was Kanae Yuri, silently lying haphazardly on the ground, her body covered in snow.

As they all crouched down next to her in relief, Homura’s attention was caught by Kanae’s swollen eyes hidden behind her drenched and sticky hair—and the tears she was shedding even now.

The young girl rejected everything and everyone around her while gritting her teeth in humiliation and crying in silence.

Chapter 23 END

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) Orogenesis: a process in which a section of the earth’s crust is folded and deformed by lateral compression to form a mountain range.

(2) There is a story of how one of Gautama Buddha’s previous incarnations sacrificed himself to feed tigers.

(3) Tesseract: the four-dimensional analogue of the cube, a four-dimensional hypercube. It is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of six square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of eight cubical cells.

(4) “Yukiwari” means breaking through frozen snow.