"You people are horrible," I said, my voice low and bitter.
The words tasted strange as they left my mouth. It was the first ti in my life I had ever called another person horrible. Not in my head. Not in passing. Out loud, directly, with intent. And the mont I said it, I realized just how heavy that word was. How final it sounded.
"Not only did you put us in this situation and force us to fight," I continued, my fingers curling into fists at my sides, "you also did sothing unbelievably inhumane to my students." My voice shook, but I didn’t stop. "Do you seriously have no sha as a human being?"
Miss Shredica didn’t flinch. Not even a little.
"If you want to bla soone," she replied coolly, her tone sharp but controlled, "then bark at the right tree—not , Miss Chiaki." She looked at like I was nothing more than a mild inconvenience. "I’m just doing my job. I’m doing everything necessary to reach my own goal. And if I have to step on people to get there, then that’s exactly what I’ll do."
She exhaled, clearly done with the conversation. "Now, Miss Chiaki, if you would be so kind, please step outside for a mont."
That was it. No remorse. No hesitation. No cracks in her composure.
I stared at her, searching—hoping—for sothing. Any sign that there was still a human being behind those eyes. So emotion. So trace of guilt. But there was nothing. It didn’t even feel like she was talking to soone who could be pitied or understood. It was like I wasn’t even worth acknowledging beyond procedure.
I finally understood.
There was no getting through to soone like Miss Shredica.
"I’ll take my leave, then," I said quietly. "Thank you for your ti."
The words felt empty, but they were all I had left.
I turned and walked out of the tent.
The air outside felt heavier than before. The noise of the camp buzzed faintly around , but none of it registered. I already knew the truth before I even fully processed it—no one here was going to help us. Not willingly. Not sincerely.
There would be no support from this place.
The only remaining hope we had was the person Princess Myrcella ntioned. I didn’t know how capable they were. I didn’t know how fast they could act. But I trusted the Princess. If she said this person would help us, then I believed her.
I just didn’t know when I’d get the chance to et them.
And ti was sothing we didn’t have much of.
Because right now—more than anything else—I just wanted to bring all of my students ho.
***
Amakawa Yuuto’s POV
After the girls left, we didn’t stop.
We kept moving forward, deeper into the forest, continuing our hunt for the demon tiger. No one spoke much. I stayed quiet, letting the sound of our footsteps and rustling leaves fill the space between us.
The forest was dense—almost suffocating. Thick trees towered overhead, their branches tangling together so tightly that sunlight barely slipped through. Everywhere I looked, it was the sa endless pattern of bark, shadow, and greenery. It felt like the forest was closing in on us the further we went.
"It looks like we’ve entered a different site," Shirakawa-kun said, slowing down as he checked the map in his hands. He glanced up, scanning the surroundings, then back down again.
He was right. This area still counted as part of the forest, but it felt different. The air was heavier. The ground felt rougher underfoot. It wasn’t the sa place we had been traveling through earlier.
Which ant this had to be progress.
"Well, at least tell we’re gonna fight sothing bigger here," Amakawa-kun said, stretching his arms casually. "I’m tired of dealing with those rabbits. Seriously, it’s starting to piss off."
"I—I’m not sure," Shirakawa-kun replied honestly. "But since we’re much deeper in the woods now, I think it’s safe to assu there’ll be sothing stronger than rabbits."
"I see," Amakawa-kun said, grinning. "That’s way more exciting."
He didn’t sound worried. Not even slightly.
Actually, none of the boys did.
Amakawa-kun didn’t seem bothered at all by how the girls felt about him anymore. Or maybe he never cared to begin with. The others were the sa. Even after being openly hated, they acted like it didn’t matter in the slightest.
That bothered .
It frustrated how unfazed they were—how easily they brushed it all aside like it ant nothing. But at the sa ti, I knew I didn’t have the right to say anything. We had brought this on ourselves. The situation we were in now was the result of our own actions.
All we could do was accept the hatred and move forward.
Suddenly, a strange sensation crawled over my skin.
It felt wrong.
We stopped at the sa ti, every one of us instinctively freezing in place. The air felt tense, almost electric, like sothing unseen was watching us.
"Was that the tiger?" Shirakawa-kun asked quietly.
It made sense to think so. This presence was far stronger than anything we had encountered before. It wasn’t subtle. It was overwhelming.
We waited, barely breathing, as the presence grew closer—slow, deliberate, unavoidable.
Then it showed itself.
"Roooooaaaarrr...!"
The sound alone sent a chill down my spine.
What erged from the trees wasn’t a tiger.
It was a massive lizard-like creature with an enormous mouth, its body towering over us. Up close, it looked like sothing straight out of prehistory—similar to a dinosaur, but not quite. Its teeth were jagged and sharp, and its thick scales looked capable of deflecting most attacks.
And it wasn’t alone.
More shapes moved behind it.
One.
Two.
Too many.
Dozens of them—maybe even twenty.
"Well," Amakawa-kun said, cracking his knuckles, "looks like we’ve finally found so worthy opponents."
He sounded excited. Almost thrilled.
I wasn’t.
There was no way these things would be as easy as the rabbits we fought earlier. I wasn’t even confident I could handle one of them on my own.
But the boys didn’t hesitate.
They stood tall, weapons ready, eyes sharp. At this point, they truly believed they were untouchable.
Unbeatable.
And sohow—
They proved it.
Because less than an hour later, every single one of those lizards lay utterly defeated.
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