I gradually felt the headache worsening, and let go of the hand that had been holding him back.
It was only natural that I'd lose a straight-up strength contest to that man, so even if I tried to stop him by force, he'd just wrench free with brute strength.
If you asked whether I could do anything a little more clever, I had nothing to say...
No, enough excuses. Honestly, I was tired. Trying to hold back two people who fought every day with a body already aching like this—how was I supposed to feel motivated?
You could call it irresponsible, sure, but once you've had your skull cracked one or two times, you stop being able to laugh it off so easily.
"Hey, you. The more I listen, the more..."
"And what are you supposed to be?"
"Shut up. You think you're the only one suffering here? We've all been rolling along while dropping dead left and right. Everyone here! This time too, it'll work out somehow!"
"That won't work on the Great Lake. If the Manager gets drowned, it's over. Or that thing might eat us and we'll never be able to turn back time again. Do you understand? If we keep moving by the standards we've used until now, we really could be finished! And then we won't even be able to kill that bastard..."
"...Fine. Let's say you're right. Let's say if we keep going like this, we all die, and I... can't... no, can't go back. So what if we take a break for a little while? Do those damned whale bastards get stronger? If you've been ruining the mood this whole time, then at least pretend to fit in, for fuck's sake!!"
"That's pretty funny, Mr. Heathcliff."
...There was no point trying to stop them, and if this kept up, the argument would only get worse.
Maybe... it would even come to blows like before.
I crouched low in advance, ready to wedge myself between them.
I wasn't someone like Ms. Ryoshu, who could stop people that precisely on the spot.
"What do you know about anything, talking about common sense? Have you ever even met a whale? Been to the Great Lake? What are you acting like you suddenly know everything for? Do you even know what life on a ship is like? Hah, of course you don't. A cushy bastard like you, mumbling some lover's name or whatever, dozing off against the bus and then throwing a tantrum whenever you get the chance!"
"...Enough."
"The things that crawl up from below the water and fall from the sky. All of them have to be killed... acid storms, tuna tsunamis, brain-pressure storms, and countless other lake disasters so numerous I can't even remember their names! The mountain-sized waves those storms cause, and the damn monsters that show up again after they pass! Everything about that hellish lake where the comrades you trusted die the moment you look away, and everyone keeps turning into lunatics!"
Ms. Ishmael's gestures and movements, which had been growing more heated by the second, suddenly went still.
...It's coming. Just a little more.
"Someone like you... a halfwit playing at some dazed little love game... would never understand, even if you died a hundred more times."
"I told you to stop!!"
At last, Mr. Heathcliff's fist swung toward Ms. Ishmael.
Haah... I had been waiting for this moment, but I'd have to stop it.
Right now... this was the perfect timing for them to lose their tempers and lunge at each other.
When a person's mind is fixated on one thing, their guard against everything else drops. It was the ideal opening.
I fully activated the eyes I'd been keeping on standby and calculated the ideal movement.
Based on that result, with one hand I caught Mr. Heathcliff's fist, and with the other Ms. Ishmael's forearm.
"Oh?"
With exquisite control of force, I grabbed both of them and twisted just enough to keep them from touching each other.
"Kkh..."
"Ugh...!"
...Success.
And immediately after, I shoved them apart so they were thrown far away from each other.
If I let them get close again, it'd be a total waste of time.
"...Both of you, stop. You already know you've gone far enough over the line, don't you?"
Cold sweat ran down my face from a head that still hadn't recovered and had been pushed to its limit, and both arms trembled from having used more strength than they should have been able to bear.
My body had clearly reached its limit. But I'd broken the momentum.
If things went well... maybe this could be smoothed over here.
"Hey... move. She crossed the line first..."
"Shut your mouth. You're not exactly any different."
"What..."
"It's true this is an anger-inducing situation, and I can kind of understand why you rushed in."
"Then why..."
"Don't ask me back. That still doesn't mean you were allowed to do that. If you knew all of your pain was being borne by someone else."
"....."
"It's not like I stepped in because I wanted to. I just... was a little tired, that's all."
Mr. Heathcliff only then stared blankly up at my face. Had he finally regained some of his senses?
Haah... why did I have to be the one to step in, even as a patient?
Well, one down.
"...And Ms. Ishmael."
"Ha..."
"I'll keep this short. You know why I stepped in, right?"
"Hah, and now the person who was acting all superior and just watching until a moment ago is saying that..."
Good, she caught on in the first two words. So she had no intention of listening.
Then...
"...Hey, Ms. Ishmael."
I know how to turn the gaze of a frustrated, tightly sealed-up person.
If you hit the mind hard all at once, it gets a little better.
I pressed my palms against both her cheeks and pulled her face close.
"Look at my face properly. Let's see if you can say that again."
"....."
"You're not going to tell me I don't know anything about the Great Lake too, are you?"
"...Ah."
"...Looks like you've come to your senses a little?"
Done. Situation over.
I felt like I'd become a somewhat terrible person, but... in any case, the immediate crisis had been avoided, so let's move on.
As for the order of things, I'd have to hand it over now.
I stepped precisely between the two of them, then held my aching head and looked toward Mr. Dante.
He was the one with the authority to decide how the prisoners would be handled, not me.
"Mr. Dante... no, Manager. Give the order."
"
Mr. Dante looked at me and made a foolish sound.
Come to think of it, I hadn't been this proactive very often.
...Honestly, even now, if those two hadn't crossed the line, I probably wouldn't have stepped in.
The Manager, Mr. Dante, watched me for a long while... then calmly addressed the two of them, who were staring back blankly at me.
"
"....."
The order that was given was isolation.
In a situation where no one could possibly find the right answer no matter who you brought in, the work was simply being put off temporarily.
"I don't exactly want to go looking at that face either."
"...Yes."
"Come on, come on. If that's settled, you two should head inside. You know there's nothing good about staying here now."
I forcibly pushed the backs of the bus's two troublemakers and sent them back to their room.
If this commotion reached Mr. Vergilius too, he'd probably hold a meeting, and then the situation would improve a little.
One problem solved.
As I wiped the sweat from my head, Mr. Dante came over and patted my shoulder.
"<...Good work.>"
"Not at all. I should've stepped in a little earlier."
...To be honest, I just wanted to rest. My head hurt. I was exhausted. I felt like I could die...
If I had my way, I wouldn't even want to pick up scrap. I'd just lie down somewhere comfortable and...
Right, like those people from the Gaze Office, drinking happily and watching us from over there.
...Wait, were those bastards actually just sitting there and watching us in this serious situation?
"Wow... I thought that guy was just some bookish type, but he's got more guts than I expected. Usually, among people like that..."
"Sis, shh! Shh!!"
"Haah..."
Those people really knew how to act during a crisis...
Anyway, the precarious moment had passed to some extent, and the prisoners had been given a little time.
It would've been nice if one of the usual mood-makers had stepped up and taken the lead here... unfortunately, the first to speak was Ms. Faust.
"Dante, I did not mention it because there had been no major disputes since the first mission, but... discord among the prisoners' work is regarded as a management failure and may be assigned as a future point of responsibility."
"
Haaah... sometimes it really feels like Mr. Dante has the more brutal job than the rest of us.
He gets so little in return, yet bears far more responsibility.
Even now, it wasn't like he could solve this on his own. If he'd asked Ms. Ryoshu for help, maybe, but otherwise...
The word absurd seemed to have occurred to more than just me.
Ms. Otis, the bus's number one sycophant and loyalist, looked thoroughly dissatisfied too.
"How is this the Manager's responsibility? Those fools were the ones who tried to fight on their own, were they not?"
"Preventing such things from happening is the job of management."
"You bastard..."
...I hadn't wanted to step in and mediate this side too.
"Enough, enough. The situation's been over for a while, so everyone calm down and cool your heads. Don't get worked up."
I quickly soothed Ms. Otis, who seemed ready to start arguing again, then looked toward the Gaze Office side, where they'd been trading banter earlier.
If it was Mr. Rain, quick on the uptake, maybe he'd say something here.
"Now, now... since we've got an estimate, I think you can start gathering scrap soon."
That's right.
Rather than talk in this atmosphere that had already sunk into the abyss, simple repetitive work was far better.
...Though I wasn't sure whether I should be relieved by that.
Still, if you told me to go back to how it was before... hmm...
Let's just quietly gather scrap!
No matter how you looked at it, this was better than before. Yeah.
...And so, for the prisoners, a few days began—slightly uncomfortable, yet at a glance almost boring.