The return journey bus felt like a silent prisoner transport.
The laughter present during departure had vanished, replaced by an awkward deathly silence. The elementary school children no longer played; they sat stiffly upright, occasionally glancing at the very back row, the main core seat of this joint camp incident.
Darius.
He wasn't tied up; Shizuka in the end still maintained the remnants of her dignity as a teacher. However, on his left and right sat Yukino and Yui, forming a human "containment device."
Shizuka herself sat right in front of Darius. If that young man made the slightest suspicious movement, his nape would immediately feel instant sanction.
His mouth wasn't gagged, but no one dared speak to him. However, Darius himself wanted to speak.
"...Construction of this isolation wall is only temporary, virus incubation period is unpredictable. You all have the potential to become carriers. After returning to the city, you must conduct self-quarantine for at least fourteen days..."
His voice wasn't loud, but in the quiet bus cabin, his voice sounded very clear. He sounded like a highly dedicated epidemic prevention officer, conducting final safety education.
No one responded.
Yui lowered her head while tightly clutching the hem of her shirt, as if blaming herself for failing to help Commander complete the "Scorched Earth Plan."
Yukino leaned against the window wearing earphones with eyes closed. However, her slightly trembling eyelashes showed she wasn't really sleeping. In her mind, magical scenes from last night kept replaying. Bridge explosion, sprinting teacher, cracked ground... She felt her sanity value had plummeted to a dangerous number.
Strangely, when she thought back to interpersonal relationship problems she used to often complain about, all of that felt very distant and ridiculous. Compared to world destruction, what meaning did ostracism have?
At the corner of her mouth unseen by anyone, Yukino smiled very faintly before returning to her original cold expression.
Hachiman sat in the middle section of the bus, observing all this in silence. He witnessed the entire series of events from "Silent Village Great Escape," "Bonfire Purification Ceremony," to last night's "Bridge Bombing Attempt Incident." He felt he wasn't on a joint camp, but trapped in a Cthulhu-themed RPG game session.
His desire to tsukkomi had been completely submerged by extraordinary helplessness. It seemed, something was wrong with this world.
The bus slowly left Chiba Village. When passing the village entrance, a small shadow stood at the roadside waving vigorously.
That was Rumi. On her face radiated a bright smile she had never shown before.
Darius saw her. He didn't wave back in return, but only calmly stared at that figure until it disappeared from the rearview mirror.
Shizuka sitting in front took out her cigarette box for the umpteenth time. She took one stick, held it in her lips, then pulled out matches.
*CLICK!*
Didn't light.
*CLICK!*
Still didn't light.
Her hand trembled terribly. Finally, annoyed she put the cigarette and matches back in her pocket, then massaged her temples hard. She felt close to having a nervous breakdown.
Inside the bus, almost everyone who experienced last night's events carried more or less psychological trauma. Only Darius remained calm. His gaze penetrated the bus window, staring at the distant sky.
[Scorched Earth Plan: Failed.]
[However, core personnel zero casualties.]
[Successfully recruited 'Heavy Infantry' (Zaimokuza).]
[Confirmed loyalty from 'Survivor Hero' (Rumi).]
[Successfully collected extreme combat data from 'Berserker' (Shizuka).]
[Most importantly, loyalty level and execution capability of 'Witch of the End' (Yukino) and 'Pink Hazard' (Yui) have been tested in this operation.]
[SCP – Sobu High Branch, despite obstacles, core team solidarity has actually strengthened.]
[We have maintained the fire of hope.]
The corner of Darius's mouth lifted forming a small smile difficult to detect. This wasn't failure. This was merely strategic withdrawal.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
The bus entered the already familiar city and finally stopped in front of Sobu High's gate. Students descended from the bus like prisoners who just got parole, they ran away because they just wanted to quickly escape from that walking source of chaos.
Darius was the last to descend. He inhaled deeply the city air; the familiar exhaust fume smell made him feel very comfortable.
Just then, his gaze landed on a new poster on the school gate bulletin board. It was a beautifully made promotional poster, displaying several students in different uniforms smiling kindly.
At the very top of the poster, written in an elegant font was a large sentence:
[Welcome to Shuchiin Academy Student Council who have come to our school to conduct cultural exchange activities!]