We had succeeded in bringing Ms. Luminous back with us.

After returning home and rejoining the group that had stayed behind, we gathered in the living room.

Breakfast was toast, scrambled eggs, makeshift bacon, and vegetable soup.

For the toast, people could spread sheep’s milk butter or jam on it as they liked. The jams were strawberry and blueberry.

“...Even though this is a deserted island, you can eat something like a café breakfast set.”

Ms. Luminous looked as if she did not know how to react.

By the way, the scrambled eggs were something Chiyu had hurried to make after we came back.

Shion had waited without using the eggs.

With that settled, we all sat around the dining table.

I had generated and placed a chair for Ms. Luminous too, so we had no issue with the number of seats.

After we all said our thanks, we began breakfast.

Ms. Luminous was reserved at first, but she soon started eating steadily.

She might have been hungry.

“Ugh... It’s delicious. When you live alone, a warm breakfast like this tends to fall by the wayside, so I’m grateful.”

“Hehe, I’m glad.”

“Shii-chan’s our head chef. Chiyu handles the eggs.”

“You have all been surviving by cooperating through what each of you is good at, haven’t you? That’s wonderful.”

As we ate, we exchanged information.

Ms. Luminous had only been told that she would be sent to a deserted island, that the students in her class had already been sent there, and a few examples of the answers those students had chosen.

In other words, she was far behind us in terms of knowledge.

That was where the materials Minori had created came in.

She had memorized and organized the rules we had discovered, along with the mystery blackboard’s answers up to now.

“Hmm, hmm... I see. By showing the Right to Return, the students learned that there is a way to return to Japan, so they were able to avoid a major panic. Though with penalties and # Nоvеlight # rewards being set up, it feels as if we are being steered into living on the deserted island without losing control...”

She understood quickly, which helped a lot.

“As for the mystery blackboard... or whatever mastermind is behind it, all we can do is speculate. But we’re acting with the goal of returning with all our companions. Even if no one’s panicking, plenty of students have lost their composure, and we can’t realistically think about saving all of those people too.”

“Yes... I understand what you mean, Kuno. Even under normal circumstances, keeping a class of teenagers together is a difficult job. Here, although there are rules, there are no legal restraints, and on top of that, the environment of a stressful deserted island makes it even more difficult.”

Even though she was a new teacher, maybe she had already felt the trouble of dealing with adolescents firsthand.

Or maybe she was remembering her own classmates from when she was a student.

Among the boys in our class, there had been some who openly stared at Ms. Luminous’s chest or tried to flirt with her jokingly, so I could understand why she would be fed up.

As I nodded in sympathy, Chiyu and Shouko shot me looks that seemed to say, We know you were looking at her chest too.

There was a world of difference between accidentally looking and deliberately doing it while knowing it was rude.

That was what I thought, but I did not say it out loud.

“An event has already been held once, and you obtained a Right to Return, Kuno. Even so, you stayed here in order to return with your companions. I see. I can understand why everyone trusts you. That is very admirable.”

Ms. Luminous looked at me like a teacher praising a student for getting a good test score.

“Well, I made a promise.”

“There are people in this world who break promises. Someone who can keep one properly is allowed to be proud of that.”

The girls all nodded along.

“O-okay.”

Embarrassed, I decided not to keep downplaying it.

“Yes, please do. ...Now, let’s see. Hmm. So this television and so on are benefits given to you because you chose to remain, Kuno.”

“If you become one of our companions, you’ll be able to go to the bonus area too, Ms. Luminous.”

“I see, I see. Still, these materials are very well organized. As expected of you, Shijo.”

“Th-thank you.”

Minori looked quietly pleased to be praised by a teacher.

“Monsters... The addition of creatures like those is irregular. Right now, the only monster is called an Afanc, and they appear in freshwater areas. In other words, I was foolish for being happy when I found a river.”

“No, you didn’t have any prior information. That wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah, that was basically a trap.”

Shouko and I both spoke up to reassure her.

“I heard that, um... Mashiro? He searched for me. But why did all of you decide to help your teacher?”

Minori glanced at me.

I understood from her look that she was asking whether it was all right to tell her, so I nodded.

“Ms. Luminous, that is written on this paper.”

Minori handed her another set of notes.

Ms. Luminous immediately checked them.

“...I see. This is the same method mobile games use to get people to pull from gacha. If you pull the new character, the amount of items you gain in the current event increases... something like that.”

Apparently, Ms. Luminous played mobile games too.

Well, it was not strange. She was only about five years older than us.

“Mm. That’s why we can’t hand Luminuss over to another team.”

“Oh? Does your teacher not get a choice?”

Ms. Luminous seemed to take it as a joke, because she smiled.

“You’re free to decide whether to become one of our companions or not. But if you don’t, we can’t act together. Even in that case, we’d at least search for other students and help you join up with them...”

I had no intention of restraining her, but if possible, I wanted her to become one of us.

Ms. Luminous looked thoughtful for a while before she spoke.

“...I owe all of you a debt for saving me, and if your teacher can be of use, I would like to cooperate, but...”

“But?”

“May I negotiate?”

She looked around at all of us.

“Of course.”

I had already intended to search for a point both sides could accept.

“What your teacher can provide, first, is illumination and light-and-heat attacks. I believe I can place lights in every room besides the living room. The image is that I would turn them all off at bedtime. Also, by adjusting the intensity of the light, I think it may become possible to generate power from the solar panels even at night.”

“That’s great!”

“It’d be nice to have the house brighter, and lighting in the bath area too.”

“As an attack method, it’s effective as well. And your aim was good, Ms. Luminous, so you’d be a major asset in combat...”

Shouko, Shion, and Minori said that in turn.

“Next, this is a request, but after introducing your teacher to the other students, I would like to be put in charge of external relations.”

“External... relations?”

“It means handling communication and negotiation with outside groups. Between countries, someone like that would be a diplomat.”

Minori explained it to Shouko, who had tilted her head.

“Got it. So you’d become Sousuke Team’s negotiator and make deals with other teams?”

“Yes. I think Kuno’s concern from earlier is entirely reasonable. It would probably be difficult for a single student to control the entire class. However, I believe it may be possible for multiple teams to remain separate while cooperating with each other. I think this party can serve as the core of that.”