Black Badger

We were at a bit of a disadvantage.

Android Jake’s energy had drained badly in the middle of all that chaos. Kairos sprinted into Zone 2 even faster than expected, but Jonathan had already been steadily clearing obstacles there.

“Steal the energy bar!”

The seniors shouted.

“Loot it! Steal it and feed it to Jake!”

Kairos didn’t follow their cries.

Instead, he headed straight for an obstacle connected to a Creature.

All the monsters or byproducts placed around the obstacle course were harmless enough, like the Rhythm Arbiter.

That said, obtaining the energy bars was far from easy.

The next one was tied to the leg of a bird of prey perched on top of a pole nearly three meters high.

Kairos tilted his head up and looked at the Creature.

Fweee!

He whistled.

Fwee! Oo~fwee! Oo~

“A bird?”

The seniors, apparently so dumbfounded they regained some composure, stared.

“Why is he so insanely good at whistling?”

Kyle had also been exceptionally skilled at whistling.

In fact, his whistles were even stronger than the sound Kairos was making now—when Kyle whistled, horses grazing lazily in the distance would come galloping over.

He had even taught Rei and me how to whistle.

...Not the time to sink into memories like that.

“Use creature control!”

As Kairos refilled the energy and ran for another obstacle, Trevain shouted.

“Stop acting classy and use creature control, Black!”

[Senior. Half of these are monster byproducts, and half of the remaining half aren’t even monsters.]

Kairos replied while kneeling to dig into a patch of ground that looked completely empty.

[I’ll close the score gap.]

And he did.

The tamer dug up a cocoon-like pod from underground, something like a root vegetable. He opened it with ease and pulled out an energy bar.

He snatched another from the back of a squeaking reptilian Creature that was trying to scurry away, then calmly retrieved one from the center of a snake Creature’s coils.

Meanwhile Jonathan was just as busy.

No matter what strange sounds Kairos made or bizarre things he did, Jonathan paid no attention and methodically cleared the artificial obstacles one after another.

Common-sense quiz.

Language puzzle.

Cube and counterweight balance challenge—move them within the fixed number of rotations to perfectly balance the scale....

Why is he this good?

“How many obstacles are left ahead?”

Most of the obstacles installed in Zone 2 had already been broken through.

Ruta Ayer muttered anxiously.

“I think we’re short by one....”

“We got it!”

Leeho, who had been leaning so far forward he looked like he’d fall out of his seat, thrust his fist into the air.

“We got it! It’s even now!”

“Looks like they’re not swapping runners.”

People murmured as they watched Jonathan sprint toward Zone 3.

“There’s only one obstacle in Zone 3!”

The final area.

Its shape was a little different from the previous two.

For one, there were no mushrooms, and it stretched long like an actual relay track—roughly a hundred meters.

And in the middle of Zone 3, which looked like a short sprint lane, there was a single obstacle that granted an energy bar.

A Creature sitting atop a square box.

Tentacles like octopus legs were wrapped around both the lid and the body of the box.

What is that now?

“Run! Black, run!”

“They’re keeping the same runner!”

“Wait.”

As Jonathan sprinted forward and the seniors around me got excited, Bobby suddenly sucked in a breath.

“Is that... Optatio?”

What’s that?

The moment I turned to Bobby in confusion, the announcer spoke.

[Both teams enter Zone 3 without changing runners!]

Since runners could be swapped at any time, there was no obligation to do so.

[The two teams currently have identical energy! However, Jonathan is still ahead of Jack!]

Their running speed was nearly identical.

Unless something happened, that meant Jonathan would reach the obstacle first.

But strangely, the team members were no longer fixated on the race itself.

Instead, they started frantically looking around and shouting things like:

“Anyone desperately need the bathroom right now?!”

Huh?

“Emergency poop! Anyone getting the signal?!”

“Anyone on a brutal diet or so sleep-deprived they could pass out instantly if they lay down? Or anyone trying to quit smoking or drinking?!”

“What are you talking about?”

I furrowed my brows, unable to understand what was happening.

“What is everyone doing?”

[The Creature guarding the box in the center of the course is called Optatio.]

The one who answered my question wasn’t the team, but Kang Ju.

The Personnel Director’s smooth explanation echoed across the field.

[Optatio only opens the box for those who speak what they truly desire.]

“Huh?”

[The name means ‘wish’ in Latin. Curiously, this Creature seems capable of understanding every language spoken by the one standing before it.]

I was left speechless by Ju’s unbelievable explanation.

A single Creature that looked like a plant with a large flower bud, ten mollusk-like legs sprouting from it.

[And it also understands what the life-form standing before it truly wants. Unless one speaks their genuine desire, the box will never open. It is one of the Creatures researchers are most curious about, and one of the most mysterious Creatures humanity has ever discovered.]

Jonathan reached Optatio.

Only then did I remember having encountered that monster long ago.

The Optatio I had seen in the Empire had been far smaller than this one.

It had been tightly wrapped around a count’s seal box.

At the time, I had assumed it was simply some magically enchanted plant....

“What one truly wants?”

“Taleb!”

As I muttered blankly at the sight of the Creature, someone called my name.

When I turned, I saw several pairs of eyes fixed on me with intense enthusiasm.

“You might work too, right?”

“...What?”

I didn’t understand what they meant.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re still not fully healed, right?”

The seniors came closer as they spoke.

“So if you say ‘health,’ wouldn’t the box open?”

I couldn’t answer immediately.

I blinked, meeting the expectation-filled gazes being fired at me.

Clearly they hadn’t managed to find anyone on the team who was quitting alcohol, quitting smoking, or desperately needed the bathroom, so now they were searching for someone with a vivid, unmistakable desire.

What I truly want....

A beat late, I answered.

“I don’t think it would open....”

“What? Why? Are you short on money or something?”

“...Money? Well, I’m always short on money. But if you answer with ‘money,’ does it usually open?”

“Almost never.”

That figured.

“Then couldn’t you just answer ‘happiness’?”

At that, the seniors looked at me like I clearly didn’t get it.

“That answer’s taboo!”

“...Why?”

“If you think broadly, isn’t happiness the correct answer?”

“No. Because if the Creature says it isn’t, the emotional damage is pretty severe. And in reality, it often really isn’t.”

I see.

That... somehow made sense.

“So normally you go up when you’re feeling a really strong primal desire. If you need to clear it urgently without that kind of situation, the standard move is to use a broad word.”

“So for you it isn’t health?”

Instead of answering, I nodded.

After staring at the Creature for a moment, I murmured,

“I genuinely have no idea.”

“That’s normal.”

I’d expected criticism, but unexpectedly Ruta Ayer answered calmly.

“People usually don’t know what they truly want.”

Which was why no one had confidently volunteered for third runner, and everyone had instead been searching for someone who desperately needed the bathroom....

[Jonathan reaches Optatio first!]

The people around us let out groans.

“Please don’t let him solve it in one go.”

The seniors held their breath and stared fixedly at the Badger facing the Creature.

“Let his daily life be so peaceful that he doesn’t even know what he wants!”

“He barely has any expression to begin with.”

“I am kind of curious what that senior would answer.”

People muttered.

“He feels more like a machine than a person....”

But surprisingly, Jonathan Kudo didn’t hesitate.

He stared straight at the Creature.

Then he said:

[The past.]

The Creature spat something out from its flower bud—a seed, maybe.

Ptuh!

[Ah, unfortunately, that is not the correct answer!]

“If you’re wrong, it spits on you too?”

Luke Lyle said in disbelief.

“What an utterly rude Creature.”

But I couldn’t respond to the younger rookie’s mutter.

Because I couldn’t take my eyes off Jonathan, who looked completely shocked.

He had gone stiff at the Creature’s firm rejection.

Had he been absolutely certain of his answer?

His eyes were wide open, and he almost looked too stunned to even think of another response.

Someone clicked their tongue.

“Of all things to answer.”

The tone was closer to reproach than contempt.

“It’s a good thing that wasn’t the right answer. If it had been, how do you think the people around him would feel?”

Would they?

Get angry and grieve?

Feel pity and try to change the situation?

Ricardo and Ska probably would.

If what Jonathan wanted most was the past, that meant no matter what happened, he could never obtain what he wanted.

It also meant the present held no importance.

But it really was a difficult question.

There was a reason everyone had been searching for someone who desperately needed the bathroom earlier.

Nothing was stronger than the body’s instinctive needs....

[Ah, and at last Jack also reaches the Creature!]

“BLACK-JACK!!”

The seniors, who had briefly calmed down, instantly lost their minds again.

“That’s not it! Just go!”

“Just run for the finish line first! If total energy is the same, the one who arrives first wins!”

“Overtake him!”

But once again, Kairos ignored the seniors’ advice.

Instead, after catching his breath, he walked toward the Creature.

[After politely asking Jonathan for room, Jack now stands before Optatio!]

I watched Kairos approach the Creature with the android in his arms.

The drone zoomed in on Kairos’s face.

The surroundings fell silent.

Everyone seemed curious what the most famous figure in Center Core truly wanted above all else.

Even the stands, which had been roaring when Kairos caught up to Jonathan, fell into silence.

The smiling tamer.

The same confident smile he often wore during the finals of Creature-control tournaments.

Holding that smile at the corner of his lips, he looked at Optatio and said:

[Victory.]

Optatio withdrew all of its legs.

“WOOOOOOAH!”

“Did you hear that?! Did you hear Jack Black’s answer?!”

“Holy shit, that’s so cool! Too cool!!”

“BLACK-JAAAAACK! TAKE ME! LET ME BE YOUR ONLY DEFEAT!”

“That’s so damn manly....”

“AAAAAAAH!”

The cheers exploded.

Seniors losing their minds. Spectators unable to recover.

Standing amid that wall of noise, I let out a helpless laugh.

That really is such a him answer.

I don’t know what exactly is contained inside the word victory for him.

But regardless, it was a perfect answer for Kairos, and I felt relieved that what he wanted wasn’t something impossible to obtain.

I smiled as I watched him claim the energy bar and finish the relay.

And now that the most chaotic relay theme was over, I thought «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» I’d finally be able to peacefully watch the last morning event.

Maybe while deciding what to eat for lunch.

***

That was my miscalculation.

[You wish to modify a weapon! Which staff member do you seek out first?]

“TAAALEEEEB!”

“HILDEBERT TALEEEEB!!”

“AAAAAAAH!”

The moment the prompt appeared, I screamed at the sight of two seniors charging straight toward me.

“What is it?! What is it?! Why me?! I don’t know science!”

But the two seniors came sprinting toward me with terrifying intensity.