“Help, help meeeeeeeee!”

Once again, a familiar scream rang out.

I strained my ears and sharpened my senses to concentrate, but the sound echoed off the surrounding trees, making it difficult to pinpoint the source.

Even when I scanned the area, the trees obstructed my view.

“That might work.”

Running toward a steep cliff nearby, I activated the jewel.

Thanks to the experience points I gained from the emergency quest reward, my current level was six. I could enhance two abilities, but I had been holding off.

“No choice. Can't afford to waste time hesitating.”

I tapped the placement area and added a new Wall.

Upon reaching the cliff, I looked up.

It was about ten meters high, maybe less. A skilled rock climber might manage it, but for most people, the cliff face—rising vertically from the ground—would be too daunting to even consider climbing.

“Activate.”

I touched the cliff face and summoned an Arrow Trap.

Defying gravity, my body was lifted upward. I felt myself become lighter, only to be pulled downward again.

Before I could fall, I quickly placed another Arrow Trap on the slope and touched it.

Repeating the process, I made it to the top of the cliff.

From here, I had a good view and should be able to spot Fuka.

I shielded my eyes with my hand and scanned the surroundings. The voice had grown distant, but... if it was Fuka...

A crashing sound and a cloud of dust erupted from ahead to the left.

I could also see that several trees had been toppled in a straight line.

“Over there!”

Using the Arrow Trap again, I descended to the ground below the cliff.

Then I placed more traps to head toward the source of the noise.

“Please let me make it in time!”

“Let's talk this out! Humans are creatures who communicate with words! Resorting to violence is the worst possible choice!”

Fuka was sitting on the ground, desperately trying to reason with her opponent.

No, this was clearly begging for her life.

Hiding behind a large tree, I watched. At first glance, it looked like she was in trouble, but she didn’t seem entirely desperate.

“Yeah, well, if you hadn’t launched a surprise attack, maybe that would be convincing!”

“Eeeeek, it was a moment of weakness, I swearrrrr!”

Overwhelmed by the furious opponent, Fuka held her head and cowered.

That short exchange was enough for me to understand the situation.

The opponent… spoke with a strong Kansai dialect, had short, boyish hair, wore a midriff-baring shirt and shorts.

Judging by her voice and outfit, she appeared to be a woman in her early twenties.

So Fuka had tried to launch a surprise attack but failed—that must be how it went.

“First, this massive arrow came flying at me, and I thought, ‘What the hell?’ Then a ball came rolling in. And while running away, you tried again, didn’t you?”

“Noooo, it was just a maiden’s instinct to protect herself!”

“Then since I’m a maiden too, I guess I’m allowed to defend myself, huh?”

“Violence only breeds more violence, you know?”

Fuka abruptly stopped her fake crying and cut in with a deadpan rebuttal.

That attitude must have pushed the Kansai-speaking woman past her limit—her temple twitched as she raised her right arm and aimed it at Fuka.

“Die, you little shiiiiiiiiiit!”

What appeared in front of the woman was a square iron box mounted on a pedestal. Each side was less than a meter long.

The front of the box had six holes in total.

“Six holes! Even my trap agrees that you should die!”

“A girl shouldn’t be yelling about holes and murder like that!”

“Shut your damn mouth!”

Way to pour oil on the fire.

That trap was a Dice Ballista. It was a powerful weapon, but the random factor made it tricky—I never liked using it.

Its mechanic randomly determines the number of shots, from one to six. If you rolled a six, it was great. But if you rolled a one, well, tough luck.

This time, it looked like she rolled a perfect six.

Given the situation, the Kansai-speaking woman had every right to retaliate.

If I didn't know anything, I might have stayed hidden, waited for her to win, and then launched a sneak attack—that would’ve been the optimal strategy. But—

“Stopppppp! I know I’m a little older and not much to look at, but I finally found someone good to leech off of!”

I considered not helping.

“If my real brother ditches me, I was planning to crash at his placeeeee!”

Maybe I should just go home…

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but wasn’t he just annoyed by you following him around? If I take you down, I bet he’ll thank me!”

Fair point!

Even while thinking that, I activated my trap.

I stood with arms outstretched between the six flying arrows and Fuka.

Six arrows struck me with sharp thuds.

“Who the hell are you?! You’re protecting that girl?!”

“Eh? Kaname-san? No way!? Why, why would you protect someone like me…?”

The Kansai-speaking woman stared in shock at my sudden appearance.

Fuka clung to me, sobbing.

“I’m so sorry for thinking you were just some easily manipulated guy! I’m sorry I didn’t realize you loved me enough to risk your lifeeeeee! What a sinful woman I ammmmmm!”

She’s crying, but... is she smiling a little?

This girl is totally enjoying her role as the tragic heroine.

“Kaname-san, I’ll treasure the life you saved... I won’t lose to you!”

Fuka wiped her tears and stood up bravely.

“This is all your fault! You’re the one who attacked first, and now you’re trying to make me feel guilty?!”

The woman who had been the victim was now being made out as the aggressor.

“This time I won’t miss!”

A Ballista appeared in front of Fuka—

—and launched, blowing me away while the arrows were still stuck in my body.

“What the hell are you doing to the guy who saved you…?”

“Kaname-san wouldn’t get mad over something like this! I know he’s smiling from the afterlife, proud of how I’ve grown!”

I’m giving you a death glare, actually.

“Kaname-san, lend your strength to this helpless girl! Take this—my blow of love and destiny!”

“No guy would be thinking thattttt!”

The released arrow looked like it had hit the opponent—but it was actually embedded in the ground at her feet.

“Did it miss?”

“Phew, just barely made it in time.”

Looking closely, half the Ballista was buried in the ground. The pedestal had sunk into the earth.

“Looks like you’ve got two Death Parade TDs, but I’ve got two as well.”

So she was a guardian who had cleared an emergency quest and been granted a second TD like us.

“Leaving you alone might be trouble later, but with all this noise, others might show up. I’ll let you off this time.”

“I won’t let you get away! This is for Kaname-san!”

Fuka shouted, her hair whipping wildly around her.

That exaggerated gesturing, the moist eyes, the flushed face—

She’s completely caught up in her own performance.

“I don’t have time to deal with this. I don’t care about you, but I do feel sorry for that guy. Sorry for dragging you into this.”

The Kansai-speaking girl clasped her hands together and bowed to me, then disappeared while firing the Dice Ballista wildly to prevent pursuit.

Once the enemy had vanished from sight, Fuka collapsed to the ground.

Then, with a “heave-ho,” she stood and walked over to where I lay face down, blown away.

She knelt beside me, gently smiled, and stroked my hair.

“I’m sorry for not noticing your feelings, Kaname-san. All this time, you were just being shy. I’ve felt your sticky stares on my voluptuous chest plenty of times. I pretended not to notice because, well, it’s a guy thing.”

“I wasn’t looking.”

“Heh, no need to pretend. Even your annoyed looks were just the flip side of affection. Cool-type guys in otome games say so too.”

“Don’t confuse fiction with reality.”

“You’re trying to act tough again. Huh? That’s strange. I think I can hear Kaname-san’s voice from the afterlife. No, no, I promised to be strong...”

She tapped her head lightly and stuck out her tongue.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed Fuka’s shoulder from behind and forced her to face me.

“...I’m seeing things... No, no, I promised to be strong...”

“You already said that. Snap out of it. I’m not dead, and this is just a game.”

Fuka stared at me blankly, then began patting my face with half-lidded eyes.

After feeling all over my face, she seemed to be satisfied, let go, and took a deep breath.

“WHYYYYYYY?!”

“Too loud! Stop yelling at such close range!”

When I snapped back, Fuka scooted back while still crouching and clasped her hands in prayer.

“Eeeeeek. Rest in peace! ...Wait, right. This is a game. Must be a bug. I should contact the admins.”

She suddenly turned serious and scrutinized my body.

“Don’t drop your mood so fast—it’s creepy. And it’s not a bug. That was a Decoy.”

Not much of a big reveal.

I just used an Arrow Trap to move the Decoy.

I had thought about using the surprise to take down the opponent, but ended up compromising because I felt sorry for her.

“Oh, I cried for nothing. Haaaaa. Still, I’m glad you’re okay.”

I had plenty to say, but when I saw Fuka exhale deeply and smile innocently, I swallowed my words.

“...I’m glad you’re okay too, Fuka.”

“Yes!”