V. When Five People Gather, One of Them Is Bound to Be...? (4)

Every gaze in the room locked onto the glittering star fragment glittering in Eunha's hand.

"An object that grants wishes?"

"Yep. I'm not lying."

"Oh my. It grants them like a monkey's paw, then — twisted, with a catch?"

"Nope. It grants them exactly as asked."

The moment Eunha said it — her whole demeanor gone utterly serious — Do-woon and Rinje's faces lit with interest.

"There is a limit to its scope, though, is there not?"

"Aha, limits would make it boooring—. There aren't any."

"W-whew...... Even so, a wish like wanting the world to end would be refused, yes?"

"It'd grant that too, probably. Nobody's wished for it yet, though."

A MacGuffin the original Jujutsu Gwi-hwan had only ever named in passing, because it was too broken to actually put on the page. A mass-market Dragon○ Ball. A crystallized lump of the jujutsu that wishes upon a star.

It had been the only means of saving a world dying to the Grand Cursed Technique Reaching the Forbidden — except Eunha destroyed it on a whim, a beat meant to hammer home how self-righteous she was.

And she was playing that trump card now.

Wi Do-woon. Seol Miho. Rumira. Dongbaek Rinje.

"I should like to say you underestimate both myself and House Wi. I shall take you up on this."

"Then I vote yes~!"

"Well, now that it's come to this, I guess it's worth taking the class."

"If there's a Star's Fragment, becoming a Jutuber watched by not three million but three hundred million — the entire human race — wouldn't be that far-fetched a dream, now would it~~?"

All four of the chosen students flipped on a dime, each of them nursing an ambition of their own.

"My sincerity as your teacher has finally gotten through. I'm so very happy—."

Eunha said it with a flourish and pretended to wipe away a tear.

That's because the carrot you dangled was a diamond carrot, you know.

I pulled a pained face and leaned in, dropping my voice so only Eunha at the podium could hear.

"Is this okay? Won't you get kicked out of the Seven Asterisms?"

"That's—really fine. Nothing will happen. I'm sure of it."

She let out a little "hu-hut," then beamed an app over to the rest of us.

The Galaxy☆App, apparently.

Lamenting my childhood friend's naming sense, I installed it on the crystal tablet.

"Now then, if I scan these humble little glasses......"

"Who are you calling humble little glasses? I'll thank you to stop."

Eunha tipped the tablet toward the glasses guy. Wi Do-woon hooked a finger under his horn-rims and tried to refuse. As if that was going to stop her.

Setting aside how deeply shady that particular piece of worldbuilding was...

So the idea was to rack up Pt by hunting spirit-type Nephilim on the island, and whoever scored the most would receive the Star's Fragment.

If those kids get their hands on it, things are going to diverge from the original...

I was still turning that over with a dubious look when the app, entirely of its own accord, scanned my hand. A chime rang out, and text bloomed across the screen.

......I didn't need that.

I stared at Eunha, completely at a loss. She just pulled a face and didn't say a word.

Sweeping back the glossy golden hair that had brushed my shoulder as it swayed, she spread her arms wide.

And so the curtain rose on the Seaside School at Lost Paradise.

A few days later, we passed through a gate into Lost Paradise, a Rank-Gap barrier dungeon.

Like Minogame, who had transferred humans to the Dragon Palace and erased their existence from the world, this place had become an otherworld when a V-class Nephilim — the second beast, the one that binds time — descended upon it. The creature had been so enormous that its elongated bones now encircled the entire southern island, wrapping that exotic landscape in a ribcage of remains.

I sent the flyer — written in handwriting far prettier than it had any right to be — fluttering off on the sea wind. The scrap of paper danced for a moment, then dropped into the crystal-clear water.

What's with "swimsuits must be worn (*MOST IMPORTANT!)"? Did we come here to play?

One by one, a yacht was dropping us at beaches assigned by lottery. I was last in line, standing in front of the changing room and quietly despairing, when a bright voice called out.

"Beom—. You can come in—!"

From the dim changing room, Eunha welcomed me in a swimsuit dripping with southern-tropical flair.

She isn't even going into Lost Paradise. Why is she already wearing that?

More to the point... she really has grown.

It felt like only yesterday I'd been teaching her how to wash her hair, one step at a time, with the exact weariness of a father raising a daughter.

"Ta-da, what do you think—?"

"Looks good. It suits you, Eunha."

"Besides 'it suits me'......?"

When I answered on autopilot, she took a step in, crowding me back toward the wall, and kept going.

"What's wrong? Is it too expensive-looking?"

"I meeean—... I'm asking if it turns you on."

What kind of filthy dog-noise even was that.

Being childhood friends with the strongest person under heaven really was a trial. I had no interest in kicking this vacation off by eating a supernova, so I mumbled my way through it.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be throbbing for days."

"I did it—. Hearing it from my Beomie really perks me right up. Gimme your hand?"

Those eyebrows that had shot up like awls settled back down, and Eunha took my hand. I wondered what she was up to — but she only held on, saying nothing, for close to a full thirty seconds.

"Uh. Hey. What are you doing?"

"I cast a jujutsu."

"A buff? I can't feel any cursed energy. Cut the jokes. That's cheating to begin with, you know?"

She looked up at me with those night-sky eyes, the kind that could charm anyone who met them and leave no survivors. Then she set a fingertip to her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lips and smiled.

"A creature called a woman can cast jujutsu without using cursed energy at all. First, so that your body stays whole and well...... And this next part — since we so rarely get the chance, let's make it a secret."

Star-clouds gathered in the hands she had wrapped around mine.

No. No way.

"......Ugh. Not again?"

A star detonated.

The recoil hurled me all the way to the mainland of Lost Paradise......

With me as the last arrival, all five of us were on the island. The issued crystal smartwatches lit up, and a timer began ticking down from twenty-four hours.

Eunha would wait aboard the ship, she said, and commend the MVP once the time ran out.

"Damn it. She could've just set me down normally like everyone else. What's it gonna hurt?"

I hacked through the mangrove-choked jungle, using the Changgun Sword as a machete, and grumbled the whole way. Pushing through the densely packed trees, I came upon a hidden spring. I scooped up a mouthful and drank — clean freshwater — and I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was just wetting my throat when it happened.

"Whoa!?"

Bubbles came boiling up from the spring with a burble, and then a translucent beast surfaced.

The crystal smartwatch reacted at once.

Lucky. I'd already found a spirit-type Nephilim.

The instant I tightened my grip on the Changgun Sword and prepared to charge, a mangrove on the far side was ripped up by the roots and came flying at me.

"Kh."

I barely dodged. That had been close.

At the end of my gaze, the glasses guy sat floating in midair, a tree stump serving as his throne. Wi Do-woon — sorcerer of Qian-Kun Psychokinesis.

He could be as confident in those muscles as he wanted. Those skimpy triangle briefs were still an eyesore.

The Undine went plop and slipped back into the spring.

"Hey. Even if you want a head start, that's overkill."

I swung the Changgun Sword. Water flicked off his lenses; he pushed them back up and answered.

"How foolish. Don't tell me you intended to walk the righteous path. This time, the heretical path is the correct play."

Not the righteous path. The heretical one.

The righteous path was hunting spirit Nephilim and stacking Eunha Pt. The heretical path, I had no idea about.

I blinked at him, nonplussed.

Kyaang—

A fox's cry sounded from the left, and I turned my head.

"That's right! Humans are worth 100 Pt, after all."

Seol Miho stood there in a mismatched outfit — a black swimsuit under her fox scarf — and tightened the hooks fitted to her hands.

"And if one human is removed, a competitor disappears. That's only natural."

"Ah, no, that's not...... It says to follow the rules and compete in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠good fun."

"There's no rule that says we can't cheerfully beat a human into the dirt, now is there?"

She wasn't wrong...... I chewed my lower lip.

That girl... she wasn't just giving an example, was she?

A whistled breath of air drifted over, and I looked that way without thinking. The packed mangroves sheared apart under the vicious teeth of a chainsaw.

"Whewee~~! I almost let 3,000 points slip away~. Viewers, you're all watching, right?"

Rumira grinned, flashing those shark-sharp teeth. She'd gone with a school swimsuit — apparently catering to her viewers' more particular requests.

It was her line that finally made it click.

Three thousand Eunha Points had been placed on me, because she loved me three thousand. I had written it off as one of her usual joke comments.

"Fufufu, haah... just as I expected. You've all come. I won't complain no matter who takes him, all right?"

The last to appear, Dongbaek Rinje, said it while licking a finger.

This one wasn't wearing a damn thing.

True to the Innate Cursed Technique that let her manipulate mercury, she had wrapped herself in the metal instead. As expected of the designated sex-appeal character from Jujutsu Gwi-hwan, I supposed. She had covered only what absolutely had to be covered, and barely that.

You've got to be kidding me!

Who the hell said that when five people gather, one of them is bound to be trash?

Everyone except me is trash.