Mashiro had brought back a girl.

For the moment, I spread out a mat and laid her down on top of it.

“Chiyu, can you take care of this?”

“Got it—Advanced Heal.” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

White light wrapped around the girl.

“Mmh... nnnh...”

Letting out a strangely sultry little sound, the girl’s breathing gradually settled.

“Her complexion looks better too.”

“She looks kind of worn down, so maybe she hasn’t been eating much. Maybe we should make her some soup or something.”

“Oh, if mushroom soup works, we still have some left from before.”

It wasn’t as if we licked the pot clean every time Shion cooked.

With soups and other things we made in large quantities, if I stored them in my Inventory while they were still hot, I could take them back out whenever I wanted.

We’d figured out how to use that to serve the same dish over several meals instead of all at once.

“Right, that’s true.”

Shion gave a small nod, apparently remembering that too.

“That’s Roa, right?”

“Houzuki Roa.”

Shouko said her nickname, and Minori supplied her full name.

She had long, wavy cream-colored hair, and though her eyes were closed right now, they were the same color.

She was taller than average—among the girls in our group, only Shouko was taller—and she had a figure so full her uniform was visibly straining against it. If I remembered right, she had a gentle, absentminded kind of personality.

In the classroom, she had belonged to a different group from Shouko and Shion, so none of us had really been close to her.

It was just that Shouko, who got along with everybody, and Minori, as class rep, knew her name.

“So-kun’s harem just got another member.”

At Chiyu’s comment, I felt a wave of tension run through the girls.

“Come on...”

“Half joke.”

“Does that mean the other half isn’t a joke?”

“Knowing So-kun, now that he’s picked her up, he won’t be able to be cold to her. And none of us would feel good about abandoning her either. But if we just let her join us like this, things could get uncomfortable for everyone.”

Right now, all four of them were involved with me.

If Roa alone had to live with us as some kind of guest in that environment, then yeah, that probably would be uncomfortable.

And for the girls too, if Roa was around, they wouldn’t be able to do what they usually did with me, so they’d have to hold back.

Naturally, the same went for me.

Things might be fine at first, but there was no guarantee that that kind of awkward atmosphere wouldn’t eventually lead to everything falling apart.

I understood the logic, more or less.

“We’ve managed to keep things running smoothly by putting Sousuke-kun at the center, so I think it’s better not to disrupt that.”

“R-Right. L-leaving the whole harem issue aside... if she’s going to be with us, she’d at least have to understand that this is a party with Sousuke at the head.”

“Y-Yeah. I get that we can’t just make anybody a companion...”

Shouko was the one in our class who had communicated with the most people.

That was probably why the current reality—that we had to choose who we could and couldn’t help—hit her harder than anyone else.

But at the same time, Shouko understood.

She understood how hard it was to save everyone, and how much of a burden it would put on the rest of the group if someone insisted on it.

None of us ever said, I want to help this friend too, because all of us understood that.

And if we were going to accept this girl as one of us, then every member of the group would need to be prepared for what that meant.

As long as our goal was to return together as a group, every new member meant one more Right to Return we’d need.

In other words, increasing the size of the group meant accepting that our deserted-island survival would be extended even longer.

No matter how fortunate our current living situation was, that wasn’t something to take lightly.

More importantly, even if things were manageable right now, there was no telling what might get “added” in the future.

If the mystery blackboard decided it wanted to throw some new stimulation at us, monsters could get placed on the island, or brutal events could start being held.

For a lot of reasons, we had to be careful about choosing companions.

That said—

“For now, we can’t just toss her back out there. Let’s let her stay until she’s had a chance to recover.”

“Besides, we might be able to get new information from what she tells us.”

“I’ll be able to tell whether she’s lying.”

“Mm. Until we know whether we can trust her, we should probably keep our abilities hidden too.”

“It’ll be hard to hide my Crafting Ability and Shouko’s summoning ability, but we can keep the explanation to a minimum.”

For me, for example, I could just say I had some kind of crafting ability.

For Shouko, we could say she could summon phantasmal beasts and leave it at that.

There was an enormous difference between someone knowing the broad outline and someone knowing the details, so as a temporary approach, that should be enough.

I was also curious what Roa had chosen to bring to this deserted island.

For the time being, I left Roa to the girls and had Mashiro flatten the ground.

Micron, as if to say I can do that too!, dropped her long body to the ground and began rolling over and over like a child at play.

Considering her weight, that was definitely enough to even the ground out.

Our phantasmal beasts were hard workers. They were a huge help.

Though Micron would probably need to be washed afterward.

With the two of them working together, the ground was leveled, so I deployed the base.

I set out the bath area, the Fenrir hut, the chicken coop, the stone wall, and the surrounding facilities too, though we might want to expand the range of the stone wall later.

I also placed the refrigerator in the kitchen.

“Minori, sorry, but could you help with installing the solar panel?”

“Yes, of course.”

Since it was the item she had chosen, it might have been better to leave it to her rather than messing with it myself.

I focused on placing things, and left the actual setup to Minori.

“I think this should do it.”

The device connected to the solar panel had a small monitor on it, apparently showing how much charge had built up.

“Should we wait until it’s charged up a bit before connecting the refrigerator?”

“Just to be safe, let’s do that.”

Minori and I stood back up together and decided to leave the solar panel alone for a while.

“So-kun.”

When Chiyu called out to me and I turned, it looked like Roa had woken up.

Making sure she couldn’t see what I was doing, I placed a tray, mushroom soup, and a cup of water, then carried them over.

“...Wh-where is this?”

Roa blinked in confusion as she sat up.

“Hey, Roa.”

“Sh-Shouko-san? And Iyama-san, Yomi-umi-san, Shijo-san, and... Kuno-san?”

Aside from Shouko, who she had apparently interacted with a little, she was using last names.

“One of my companions found you collapsed. For now, you should drink some water and have some soup.”

For the moment, I had Mashiro and Micron stay inside the Fenrir hut.

If we were going to introduce them, that could wait until after she had a better grasp of the situation.

“My, how kind of you.”

After bowing her head politely, Roa accepted the tray.

“A tray, a cup, a spoon... how in the world did you get things like this on an island...? No, first things first—thank you for the meal.”

She pressed her hands together in front of her chest, then drank the water in small gulps before carefully bringing the soup to her lips.

The way she moved was remarkably refined. You could tell she’d been raised well.

After drinking some of the soup, she let out a small sigh of relief.

“Oh... what a comforting flavor. Thank you very much. I’m feeling a little more settled now—eh?”

When Roa lifted her gaze, her eyes widened at the sight of our house.

“Yeah, it’s a shock, right? I get it, I get it.”

Shouko nodded sympathetically.

“These wonders were all created by our king, Kuno Sousuke.”

Chiyu, don’t throw out incomprehensible jokes at someone you’re barely acquainted with.

Look at her. You’re confusing her.

“K-King...? C-come to think of it, in that dream, I believe the one who answered with ‘Crafting Ability’ was Kuno-san... So then, this splendid house was made by you, Kuno-san?”

So she remembered that too.

Maybe more people had been listening to what I said than I thought.

“What did you choose, Houzuki-san?”

Shion smoothly shifted the conversation away from my ability and onto a question.

“To be perfectly honest, I never thought I would truly be sent to a deserted island. But when I heard Kuno-san answer with ‘ability,’ I found myself thinking of the ability I would want if that were the case.”

Which meant Roa also had some kind of valuable ability.

“And what ability was that?”

Minori asked.

“An ability that lets me know what other people want.”

We all tilted our heads.

W-What exactly was that supposed to mean...?

No, wait. If you could tell what other people wanted, that would make negotiation easier, and it would also make it easier to earn goodwill.

Shion too had originally assumed our classmates would all be transferred together, which was why she had chosen an ability to tell when people were lying. Maybe Roa was the same type.

“So you chose it to help group life go more smoothly?”

As if confirming that, Shion asked the question—and Roa shook her head.

“No. I simply love taking care of people. Seeing the look on someone’s face when they’re happy makes me happy too. So I thought that if I could understand what the other person wanted, maybe I could make them even happier.”

That was not the answer I’d expected.

A classic devoted-helper type... just taken to the next level?

When I looked at Shion, she nodded, still wearing a confused expression.

Which meant this really was Roa’s honest answer.

“Ah! I remember now! Roa, don’t you work at a maid café?”

“Oh my, had I told you that, Shouko-san? Yes, that is true. Of course, it isn’t that kind of indecent establishment, you understand. It is a café for ladies and gentlemen who appreciate the concept of maids and masters.”

So, one of those concept cafés.

I didn’t know much about them, but I had heard that they sometimes got a surprising number of female customers too.

I definitely hadn’t expected one of my classmates to work at one, though.

“Have you been alone this whole time, Houzuki?”

“Yes. I nibbled on tree fruit I recognized, and on the second day I was fortunate enough to find one of the new water sources, so I used that as my base of operations... But then a bear started using the water source as well, and I became frightened and left. While moving, I got lost in the forest... During the event, I could barely do anything at all, and eventually I lost consciousness. Then when I woke up, all of you were right in front of me.”

Shion nodded at that too, confirming she wasn’t lying.

I see. So there were people who still hadn’t even been able to move properly by the time of the event.

And just because something new got placed didn’t mean it automatically became a lifesaver.

For an ordinary girl, coming face-to-face with a wild animal would be terrifying, nothing more.

If she had just managed to hold out until today, maybe she could have eaten the newly added fruit.

But in that case, maybe she never would have met us.

Which would have been better for her?

Still... that ability of hers—to know what people wanted.

Honestly, part of me wanted to borrow that power and use it to learn what my companions wanted.

They did tell me their wishes now and then, but I could tell they were still holding back out of consideration for me.

I appreciated that consideration, but I liked crafting. If there was something I could do, then I wanted to do it.

“Mm. We should test it first. What do I want?”

Chiyu stepped forward.

Roa looked at my childhood friend, then flushed bright red.

Then, lowering her gaze, she answered in a small mumble.

“Um... w-well... Iyama-san seems to want, um... con... ‘contraceptives.’”

“Correct.”

Chiyu... your mental fortitude is ridiculous.

Still, Roa’s ability seemed to be the real deal. The accuracy looked pretty high too.

A strange silence settled over us, and Roa resumed eating.

Then, after a little while—

having finished every last drop of the soup, Roa slowly stood and bowed deeply to all of us.

“Thank you very much for saving me. And I realize this may be terribly presumptuous, but if you would be so kind... would you consider hiring me—as your maid?”

The polite, soft-spoken beauty had just asked to work for us as a maid.