Even a gun that can fire infinitely would normally be overpowered.

Especially on a deserted island like this.

Not only would it be advantageous in fights against other people, if its user took advantage of the unlimited ammunition to train, they would probably be able to gain the upper hand even against beasts.

But among the transfer participants, there were others who had obtained magic and special abilities too.

“Huh...? Wh-what is that...!?”

Apparently the gun user had caught sight of Mashiro and froze in shock.

With a panicked expression, he pointed the gun at Mashiro.

Maybe he had mistaken him for some kind of magical beast loose on the deserted island, but...

“Black...!”

“Yes...! Water Wall!”

Gunshots rang out in succession, but Minori, who had trained diligently, instantly deployed several thick walls of water.

The bullets failed to penetrate them.

“No way...!?”

While the boy’s eyes went wide, I circled around behind him.

“Hey.”

“...!?”

Like someone had just spoken to him from beyond the grave, the boy’s shoulders jumped, and he hurriedly tried to turn toward me.

Matching that movement, I swung my spear like a staff.

“Gah...!”

It struck the gun barrel just right, knocking the weapon from his hand.

The gun flew off and fell to the ground.

—At worst, I might get 100 points deducted for having intentionally injured someone, but I couldn’t leave him alone.

Taking advantage of the instant he looked toward where the gun had flown, I dropped a stone cage on him.

“What the—”

I successfully trapped him inside the stone cage.

I thought I could hear a muffled voice, but I couldn’t make out the details, and there was no need to know.

I quickly picked up the gun that had been knocked away and used Itemize on it.

The odds had been fifty-fifty, but thankfully it went into my Inventory just fine.

What he had wanted wasn’t some ability to create and control guns, but the gun itself.

And one of the functions attached to that gun was probably ignoring ammunition limits.

Which meant that if I took the gun away, he was no different from someone with no ability at all.

If he had only been using it for hunting, I wouldn’t have done something that practically amounted to confiscation, but the way he was using it was far too dangerous.

“Well then.”

Now that I had removed one more danger factor from our future life on the island, I hurried to rejoin the others.

With the sound of fists and kicks pounding against the stone walls behind me, I chased after Mashiro.

—Something feels off.

Even counting the people who fled when they saw Mashiro and the ones I’d neutralized, it still wasn’t even half the class.

More than that, there were strangely few girls.

—The majority in the daily vote has stayed at twenty-one the whole time. Which means no one should have died.

Maybe they just hadn’t caught up to the sphere yet, or maybe they were watching from a distance—or maybe they had no intention of trying to win this event in the first place.

Whatever the reason, if they weren’t going to interfere, I’d leave them alone.

I didn’t exactly want to go around trapping my classmates in cages either.

“Red! This is bad! It started flying!”

Apparently before Mashiro could catch up, some of the other students had been throwing stones at the sphere, and in response, it had moved up to a height their stones couldn’t reach.

“Can Mashiro reach it...!?”

“Sorry, he says no way!”

I quickly checked the area around us.

The ones who had been throwing stones had also retreated the moment they saw Mashiro.

Right now, there was no one around here except us.

In that case—

“Yellow! A new ally!”

“Alright...! Come forth—fluffy!”

The next summoned beast Shouko had been struggling over.

A product of pure imagination, not something based on any clear original source.

What appeared was—a fluffy black Eastern dragon.

“Micron...! I’m counting on you!”

Obeying his master’s command, the black dragon Micron came to me.

I leaped onto Micron’s back.

“Take me to that ball of light!”

The dragon swam through the sky as leisurely as a fish swimming through the sea.

—A little more, just a little more, and it’ll be within placement range...!

“Now...!”

I wondered whether that shout had reached the ground.

There was something we had decided in advance.

This strategy had been built around three premises.

The sphere of light—

can see, and moves to escape from its pursuers.must always remain in a position visible to at least one participant.will never rise to a height that none of the participants can reach by any means, and it will not dive underwater.—In other words, it was meant to be capturable.

The sphere of light was an object that saw and thought, and it could be assumed that it would choose where to flee while obeying the rule that it had to remain visible to someone, and while understanding every player’s abilities.

And just then, the sphere’s movement suddenly stopped with a startled twitch, almost as if it were hesitating.

I had already told my companions to expect this possibility.

And at my signal—we had agreed they would close their eyes.

The sphere wanted to escape from me.

But if it left my line of sight, then it had to remain within someone else’s.

And yet, the students who had run in fear from Mashiro were far away, the students trapped in stone cages couldn’t see the sphere, and my companions all had their eyes closed.

Even then, maybe it still could have escaped if it used speed like light itself.

But—

—If a sphere did that, then who could ever catch it?

If this was an event that was actually meant to let someone capture it, then it wouldn’t take measures like that.

As a result, the sphere paused for an instant as if calculating where it could move.

Then the black dragon Micron brought it into my placement range.

And the huge net woven from vines that I placed wrapped around the sphere.

“Alright...!”

In the next instant, my vision burst white.

◇

I had been sent to a white space.

A space containing nothing but the mystery blackboard, a desk, and a chair.

What was different from usual was that I was the only one there.

“Because a winner of a sphere of light has appeared, this event will now end.”

“In addition to the Right to Return, the winner of the sphere of light will also receive bonus points.”

Apparently it wasn’t going to reveal the details of the points, but if anything remained after the added points and penalty points were offset against each other, then those points could apparently be used for special benefits upon returning home.

Well, there probably wasn’t any downside to receiving them.

“Will you exercise the Right to Return?”

“Ah... so that’s what this is.”

The reason only the one who got the sphere had been called here was to give that person a moment alone—one where there was no need to worry about their companions—and ask what they truly intended.

No matter what kind of existence the mystery blackboard was, and even if it could read our lives and our hearts, it wouldn’t react unless it was given a stimulus.

For example, suppose you asked a good person, “What would you do if you won a huge lottery jackpot?”

Before winning, maybe they would answer, “Repay my parents, travel with my friends, donate to organizations that help people.”

A wonderful answer. They might even have meant it sincerely.

But—what if they actually won a huge prize?

Could they really embody that ideal version of themselves, just as they had imagined when they didn’t have the money yet?

Maybe there were people like that, but human beings were the sort of creatures who got swallowed by desire.

In fact, there were more stories than anyone could count of people whose lives had fallen apart after winning the lottery.

The allure of a huge fortune had the power to drive people mad.

The Right to Return was the same.

The mystery blackboard was probably testing whether my resolve would waver.

“Not now. I’ll use it once we’ve saved up enough rights for all of my companions.”

I answered immediately, while thinking that it had picked the wrong person to ask. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

To begin with, I liked this life too.

Naturally, the answer from someone who wasn’t cornered would be different.

“Confirmation acknowledged regarding the postponement of exercising the Right to Return. A bonus area will now be unlocked for participant Kuno Sousuke. Party members may also accompany the holder into the bonus area.”

“Huh? No, wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“The event will now end.”

You really do just say whatever you want more than ever...!

And once again my vision was dyed white—

◇

“So-kun.” “Sousuke!” “Sousuke-kun...?” “Mr. Sousuke...!”

I snapped back to myself at the sound of my companions’ voices.

Before I knew it, I had been teleported to the area below the cliff where our base had been.

All four of my companions were there too, along with Mashiro and Micron.

But every one of them looked worried.

“What’s wrong?”

“So-kun, you were spacing out.”

“We got worried something had happened...!”

Shouko’s eyes were brimming with tears.

—Mystery blackboard, did you deliberately delay the timing of when you gave me my awareness back?

“Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”

Shion gently stroked my back as if soothing me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. More importantly, I’ll tell all of you, but I was the only one who got called into that white space.”

“...It asked whether you would exercise the Right to Return, didn’t it?”

Smart as ever, Minori seemed to understand immediately.

Maybe she thought it was exactly the sort of thing the mystery blackboard would do, since it seemed so interested in observing us.

“There’s no way So-kun would leave us behind and run.”

“That’s right...! Like, don’t underestimate Sousuke.”

“Yeah. I never doubted that for even a second.”

“I believed in you too.”

Hearing those words from my companions, spoken with complete certainty, made me happy.

“Thanks, everyone. Let’s keep doing our best until we can take back enough rights for all of us—and enough to bring our memories and abilities home too.”

All of them nodded.

When I looked up, it was still morning.

And then I suddenly remembered something.

“...Hey, I know you might be tired from the event, but—want to go gather wheat?”

At those words, everyone’s eyes lit up.

“We’re going. And we’re holding a bread festival.”

“Hehe, nice.”

“I want pancakes...!”

“A-as for me, maybe ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) udon.”

“Sounds good. Let’s eat all of it.”

I laughed too, and the six of us quickly split up between Mashiro and Micron.

Our life on this deserted island was still going strong.