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The atmosphere turned awkward on the way, but we safely arrived at the hotel the other students are currently at. I’m fully aware that I caused the awkwardness. Maybe because I regained my real memories, something might have changed inside me.

「We finally caught up with them.」
「Have some awareness that it’s your fault in the first place.」
「I’m not sorry.」

Akira’s retort is nothing to me. I fully intend to take responsibility for my actions. I neither plan on being sorry or regretting my actions. No need to worry, while relatively larger in scale compared to what I’ve done pre-death, it’s generally peaceful.

「This is a fair warning, okay. If we think you’ll go overboard again, we’ll actually go to stop you.」
「In that regard, there’s no need to be concerned. I absolutely won’t be stopped, after all.」
「「Just stop!」」

It’s more exciting when there’s obstacles to overcome. Still, if Akira and the others start to actively move against me, I have practically zero chances of winning. Alone, there’s really no winning against greater numbers. If the four of them team up against me, I’d be captured in no time.

「Jeez, you’re such a problem.」
「You just realised that now?」
「You’re just worse than expected.」

Personally, I don’t think it’s that bad. After all, I’m the only one causing trouble. Generally, there’s not many opportunities to team up and fool around with the other twelve family members. And it’s not like we’re always together. It gets more chaotic when I’m with my childhood friends.

「I am Kisaragi Kotone, a student of Wamyou Academy. I would like to get in touch with the school teachers, may I ask you to contact them?」

We arrived at the front desk, so I tried asking the person there. I actually do have Teacher Kondou’s contacts, so what I’m doing right now is plain old harrassment. Targeted to the man right in front of me. I’m seriously encountering a lot of past acquaintances on this field trip.

「Understood. Please wait for a moment.」
「I believe it’s proper etiquette to have maintain eye contact when receiving guests, no?」

Tauntingly saying so with a wide grin, the other party turns to look at me with a really unwilling expression. I already knew that he was employed here. I’ve been thinking about how to mess with him since before the trip started.

「My peace has ended.」
「I think your peace was already gone from the moment you received information that I would come here.」
「That’s true. Ayaka wanted a reservation out of the blue, Isami and the gang just came to me with unreasonable demands, my stomach feels like it’s about to burst.」

He’s had it tough since our highschool days. From the moment you were on the caretakers’ side, stomach pain is the least of your worries. Since no matter what you do, mental stress is unavoidable. Speaking of which, it’s pretty impressive that he stayed with the class till the end. Some people actually dropped out.

「I knew about Ayaka coming, but Isami and the others too?」
「I can guess where they got the information from, but they suddenly told me to reserve the whole observation deck. Why does a regular employee like me have to directly negotiate with the manager… 」

How unfortunate for you. Even with our class’ shenanigans, he kept his diligence till the very end, so he probably just accepted this negotiation as a part of his job. He’s surprisingly good at it, after all. On the other hand, he was always made to apologise on our behalf.

「Datte. Good work.」
「You dare say that when you’re the cause of this.」

Datte Shinji. Role in our class, middle management. He apologises to those above and gets dragged around by the ones below, the most unfortunate of fates. Maybe thanks to this, he’s got thick-skinned. At about the end of highschool, he was barely fazed by anything. Though the same applied to everyone in the class.

「How has things been with the rogue’s den?」
「They’re in a party fever. It’s been really chaotic since your picture with Ayaka got posted.」

From the name rogue’s den, you can tell we’re messing around. And the contents of the chat fit the name. So many topics thrown around unrelated to each other, there’s zero uniformity. However, once we get in agreement, it’ll result in nothing short of trouble. There’s literally no chill.

「Who are coming today?」
「It’s a sudden event, so most of them can’t make it. A lot of the guys have tight schedules, after all.」

Many in the group are talented in specific niches, so events that haven’t been planned months beforehand can’t expect much attendance. Which is a relief on my part. I’m sure Datte feels the same. If everyone was coming, Datte’s going to have a serious headache.

「Now then, time to prepare my escape.」
「Not possible in your situation.」

Akira and Kyousuke are keeping tight watch besides me, after all. And hearing the word escape, both of them grabbed me by my arms. Damn, it looks like they’ve gotten extremely cautious with the previous escape incident. Now it’s impossible for me to run.

「Besides, the people who have been waiting for you have just arrived.」

And I’m done. It’s about 7 pm, so the other students are either done with their dinner or still eating. Things could’ve been worse. After all, if the students saw the fools who have just arrived, it’d likely cause a ruckus.

「Just as informed. It’s Koto-chan!」
「Give it up. I’ve already given up.」

Hearing the voice behind me, I’ve given up just like Datte. In this situation, I can’t see any other future where I can escape Isami. Datte still doesn’t know I’m Souji. However, he should know about me from the information at the den.

「This is destiny. Perform with us in a concert tonight!」
「Sure thing.」
「Eh?」

Why do you sound so surprised that I’m agreeing? You three there too. Don’t look at me like I’m some unbelievable miracle. From what Datte said, I’ve got a grasp of the current situation. Besides, I have my plans as well.

「No way. There’s no way that Koto-chan would say yes to me so easily…」
「Believe your ears, look at reality. Or would you rather we pretend I didn’t say that?」
「I don’t want that! But I do want know why you’re on board with it.」

It’s simple. I’m pretty aware that I’ve caused a lot of trouble for Akira and the other bodyguard people today. That’s why as a humble apology, I’d like to offer them a chance to hear a live concert from real artists. I’ll probably bring the quality down, though.

「Akra, Kyousuke, do you want to see a concert from EXIST? As apologies for today’s incident.」
「Will there be food?」
「Datte?」
「We have catering prepared. We’re sending several hotel staff to serve.」