Despite the fact that Haruka hadn’t completely affirmed Kaho’s declaration of eternal friendship, Mary was clearly trying to connect the dots between their statements. “Um, does this mean all of you met each other at some point a long time ago?”
“That’s right,” I said with a nod. “We were born in the same country. More importantly, there’s something I want to ask about. May I go ahead?”
“Of course.” Kaho smiled and lifted an index finger to her cheek, then cocked her head in a girlish way. “I ought to say that I’m completely available...”
I had to admit that she was pretty cute, but now Haruka was giving her a cold stare.
“That’s irrelevant. Right, Nao?”
I had nothing to hide or feel ashamed of, but I stammered, “O-Oh, yeah, of course.”
“You’re a bit slow on the draw, Kaho.” Yuki laughed and pointed at Haruka’s left ring finger. “Haruka and Nao just started their honeymoon.”
“Oh, a ring,” said Yoshino, audibly excited. “Wait, is that what I think it is, Haruka?!”
Natsuki covered her smile with one hand. “Yes, you’ve likely guessed correctly,” she said with a giggle. “Nao-kun just recently gave Haruka that ring.”
“What a marvelous gift!” Kaho exclaimed. “I’m too envious for words!”
“Right? Nao gave her the ring on a beautiful moonlit night,” said Yuki. “It was super romantic!”
“And the person who spoiled that romantic moment is in the room with us,” said Haruka.
Clearly there was a lot of truth to the idea that girls loved talking about romance, but...
“But I notice that Nao-kun himself isn’t wearing a ring,” Sae put in.
The girls all fell silent and stared at my left hand. It was true that my ring finger was bare, and Haruka pouted at me. Oh, come on, surely you understand that I’m not going to wear it when we’re out adventuring, right? You were wearing your own ring on your necklace rather than your finger earlier. Oh well. I’m definitely not going to talk back. I silently pulled out my own necklace and took off my ring in order to place it on my finger, then attempted to change the subject with a straight face.
“As I was saying, I wanted to ask you about your distinctive way of talking, Kaho,” I said. “Back in Japan, didn’t you talk...normally?”
“Your attempt to sidestep the topic at hand is pretty obvious,” said Yoshino.
“Mm, clear as day,” said Kaho.
“Yep,” said Sae.
“I’m not trying to sidestep anything,” I said. “But anyway, I’m not misremembering, am I?”
I had only chatted with Kaho a couple of times in the past, but if she’d talked like that back on Earth, there was no way I could ever have forgotten it.
At my second request for an explanation, Kaho puffed out her chest. “Oh, this is simply a role I’m playing. You recall, don’t you, how that ‘evil’ god—Advastlis-sama, he called himself—behaved when we first appeared before him? It occurred to me that he might be more charitably disposed to a memorable character as opposed to someone with no distinguishing qualities.”
Yoshino glanced at Kaho as if she were a pesky child. “I really wanted to tell her that reality is different from games, but her reasoning sort of makes sense to me.”
Honestly, it kind of made sense to me too. At this point, I’d probably interacted with Advastlis-sama more than anyone in Kaho’s party, and based on the kinds of blessings he’d bestowed on us, it definitely felt like he had that kind of playful mentality.
“Yeah, I guess he probably would be more interested in somebody LARPing like that,” said Yuki.
“Right?” Kaho wagged her tail, but then it drooped. “I must say, however, that I have not yet felt any blessing, nor seen any sign of divine favor.”
“Yeah, you can’t expect too much from Advastlis-sama,” said Yuki. “Oh yeah, can I ask a question myself? Your party name is Jade Wings, right? How’d you choose the word ‘Wings’ as the second part?”
Instantly, Kaho became energetic again. She stretched out her hand and declared, “O-Oh, I’m pleased that you asked! As you might imagine, there is a reason! Mayhap you recall the tale of old Cathay—jade feathers, joined together, become jade wings and soar through the Empyrean!”
Touya cocked his head. “Huh? What?”
Natuski laughed and came to his rescue. “She must be referring to the Chinese legend of the biyiniao. They’re birds that each have only one eye and one wing, so they’re dependent on one another and can only fly in pairs. Essentially, I believe it means that their goal is to make up for one another’s deficiencies as equal partners. Am I correct?”
“Yeah, you got it,” said Yoshino. “But six is probably the perfect number of people for an adventuring party, huh?”
“Yep. Three is a bit too small, but six is perfectly right,” said Yuki. “Buuut...”
“...Will it really be easy for each of you to find another ‘wing’?” Natsuki asked. “All three of you are cute, so I’m sure there are plenty of men who’d love to join you, but narrowing it down to adventurers, I imagine it would be difficult to find ideal partners.”
“Yeah, exactly. Plenty of adventurers have nasty personalities.” Yuki laughed to herself. “Maybe you’ll end up just being Jade Wings: Best Friends Forever or something like that.”
Yoshino, however, wasn’t laughing.“Ugh. I don’t really want to stay single forever,” she said with a scowl.
“Well, Yuki was just joking, but honestly, it’s probably not the worst thing that could happen,” said Touya. “Think about it—what happens if two of you find partners and girl number three gets left out? Are you gonna disband your party at that point?”