kirara

Fine. One of the girls asked me to help out this morning. Still a little work left to go. I'll fetch somebody else to come with.

(Not good. This is totally not good, the way things are going.)

(Captain's KO'd and hurt, treatment takes time, now all we've got is a DPS and also me, a weird support character without many use cases...)

(Wait, no, nononobad. This is a really serious situation, I can't talk about it like a game.)

(But... I mean, this is hard. This is a tough one...)

*sigh*

What's the sigh for?

Wgaagh!

Phew, uh, okay, it's you, Utage...

In the flesh.

(Please don't pop up behind me without warning like that, you're going to jumpscare me to death.)

(What are you, a ninja or something?)

Did I spook you? Soz.

Come on, though, I'm not some kinda ninja.

Wha? Huh?

(How did she know what I was thinking...?)

(It couldn't be... mindreading?!)

I don't have superpowers or anything, you're just, like, real easy to read, girl.

(You're kidding me. Can you really tell?)

Yeah, for real real.

(Well, that's convenient, now I don't need to talk.)

Hey, slow down, Kirara.

It's not a conversation unless you say what you're thinking out loud.

Or, like, what, do you want me to just stare at you forever? Hmm?

Okay, joke's over.

I'm gonna go check up on Akafuyu. See ya in a bit~

Uh...

Hold on, Utage!

Hm?

I'm coming with you.

So, uh, Utage... what do you think about the situation we're in right now?

Um... pretty messed up, I guess.

We were expecting a normal delivery mission, right? So, not like we prepared that much.

We did get a team put together...

Buuut the captain was our big hitter, and she left a whole opening to get backstabbed in.

Haaa...

I have no laughs in me right now.

Usually, average bandits aren't, like, a match for us at all, but they've got way too many guys. Kind of out of my league, if I had to solo them.

Our doctor's not gonna do combat, and you...

Don't look at me, I'm a Logistics techie.

Oh, word? I always feel like every tech I know's pretty good in a fight.

Besides, you were good at those strategy games, weren't you? And you and the Doctor broke some kinda record one time? So, like, maybe being a commander's your thing.

What do you think? Wanna try?

Me?

You're joking, real life isn't a video game, I... I can't.

We should probably go see how Akafuyu's doing.

Aww... it's a bad habit to casually shoot yourself down.

Besides, you've totally got ideas going, don't you?

So hard to be honest, Kirara.

The wound won't pose much issue, and we've applied anti-inflammatory.

She still hasn't come around, but as long as she's not got a fever, then she should be out of the woods after convalescing properly.

Oh, okay...

That's great to hear.

But, like, how much longer is our captain gonna sleep for?

That's up to Akafuyu's own constitution. We've given her all the treatment we can, but the wound was very deep...

Even if she does wake up, she can't return to combat straight away.

Hmm? We can't just wave her in anyway?

No!

*sigh*...

The sensors I laid out indicate those bandits have been in the area the whole time. We did get in touch with a nearby squad, but it's still gonna be a while before they get here.

If the bandits attack now, while the time is ripe, I think we might...

Might be done for.

So now what? You think we take the captain and retreat?

Wait, if we go, what about the Infected here?

We've delivered the medication, so that's mission complete, but I can't just leave the villagers for dead.

Hmm... we take the medication too?

Okay, putting aside whether or not they'd buy that as a ruse, I think the bandits are after more than the meds anyway. They can fight the people here, and they have literally no way to fight back.

That's true...

So, uh...

Actually, I think we could—

Excuse me, I've brought you all some food...

A little place like ours doesn't have much, so if you can just put up with it.

Thank you, it's kind to worry about us. Was anyone from the village hurt in the previous attack?

We're all fine, thanks to your group.

Can I ask how your captain's doing?

No worries, she's not in danger now.

Oh, okay, that's a massive relief!

Right, can't forget this too.

It's those topographic maps of the place you all wanted...

Huh? Topographic maps? I didn't hear anything about that.

I didn't request any either... Did Akafuyu ask for them at some point?

...It was me.

Thanks.

The voice of gratitude is near-inaudible.

Silent since the villager entered the room, the girl seems in a rush to dodge all lines of sight, dropping her gaze to the maps she now holds.

Being hand-drawn by the Infected of the wild settlement, they are rough and crude, no more than a few abstract lines drawn as hints in parts; they could hardly amount to real topographies.

Absorbing correct information from maps like these would be far from easy.

But grasping them tight, the Higashinese girl comes off like a truly experienced hand, rapidly flipping through the sheets.

Mmhuh...

(Majorly flat terrain, very disadvantageous to us.)

(But there's places here to exploit for sure... like here. If we can do a little setup here...)

(The plan works, it's feasible. But...)

So? Did you work something out?

Attagirl, Kirara~ Look at you, you got something brewing in your head, don't you?

What?! Really? Girl, you... no! Miss, you have an idea?!

I, I...

...I think we...

Uh...

What did she even wanna say? She was just stammering. Say something or get off.

Just wasting time... You can't even hear how quiet she talks!