The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

To be honest, I was pretty excited too.

When I was a man, I hadn't stayed in hotels all that often.

Even thinking back to trips with friends, it was mostly during the school trip in high school or the department MT during university — basically, we booked a pension, threw some blankets on the floor, and all crashed together.

Even after graduating from university, when we went on trips with friends, we usually just found a nearby pension. A hotel was far from our usual scene in many ways.

A cozy place with three proper beds, and beyond the window, the literal nightscape of the city unfolding.

...Most of that nightscape was probably thanks to people working hard, but whatever — we were having fun right now, so I decided not to think about it.

"It's delicious!"

Claire, beaming brightly, said that as she picked one snack of each kind from the bags of snacks we'd bought on our way to the hotel and laid out on the table.

It almost made me think of Mia.

The difference, though, was that Mia would’ve stuffed her mouth full and puffed out her cheeks. Claire, at least, was putting them in one at a time.

Sure, the snacks were tasty — but more than that, it was the joy of the whole situation.

Was it really that fun?

"If it were Claire from the game, she'd have been full of snark even while eating."

Alice said that after seeing the look on my face as I watched Claire, and Claire froze, holding a twisted snack in her hand.

"...And you would've been full of complaints while eating, wouldn't you?"

Claire shot Alice a sidelong glare and popped the twisted snack into her mouth.

Alice seemed to have no retort for that.

...Well, heroines in games aren't usually perfect right from the start anyway.

Honestly, if they were perfect, there wouldn't be much fun in capturing them.

Relationships between characters are most interesting when they complement each other's flaws and support one another.

"......."

"......."

As we crunched through our snacks, the two of them fell silent.

When I looked up, I saw them both staring at me.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's just a little annoying seeing you act like none of this has anything to do with you."

"You must've had your own flaws too, you know."

Well, of course — I'm human after all—

Ah, right, they’re still talking about the game.

Claire’s and Alice’s flaws were pretty blatantly shown right from the start of the game.

Both in their outfits and their personalities.

Meanwhile, in the latest game we’re playing now, my own flaws hadn't been revealed yet.

I remember seeing online that even early players were complaining, saying Sylvia Fangryphon was way too much of a perfect superhuman — it wasn’t just me who thought that way.

Well, usually characters like that reveal their flaws later on.

No need to worry about flaws that haven't even appeared yet.

If I’m going to get teased eventually, better to just take it easy and accept it.

"You’ve got that smug ‘enlightened’ look again, it’s making me mad."

"Better brace yourself — once your weaknesses show up, we're going to roast you."

...

Claire aside, it feels like even Alice is getting a little trickier.

Well, maybe not out of control, but more like she’s finally unshackled — so it’s fine.

As I shamelessly kept munching on snacks without saying a word, the two of them narrowed their eyes and stared at me.

*

"This feels kind of strange."

"What do you mean, strange?"

Alice asked, hearing Claire mumble while lying back against a pillow and staring up at the ceiling.

"It's not even been a whole day yet, right? It's not even midnight, and we’re not that far from home either, but somehow it feels like we’re in a whole different world."

Alice said that in a slightly dazed voice.

"Strictly speaking, you are in another world right now."

"...That’s not what I meant, sis."

Just saying.

"What I meant is, have we ever really gone out somewhere just by ourselves like this?

Usually, when we went out, it was with teachers or school staff from the academy."

"And escort soldiers too."

Alice added, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah. Escort soldiers too. It wasn’t exactly easy to move around freely."

Although, to be fair, we still kind of went wherever we wanted back then...

But that was mostly because we had missions to complete, not for fun.

Coming from an ordinary liberal arts high school background, it was hard for me to fully relate, but maybe for them it was just like attending regular classes.

Of course, very different from normal classes, but still.

"Now that you say it, I guess I do feel a bit of that strangeness too."

Though for different reasons.

It wasn’t about the academy or anything —

It was just the strangeness of being back in this world again.

Maybe my family was still living peacefully somewhere.

Maybe even now, one of my friends was working overtime in one of those distant office lights.

I hadn’t told Claire or Alice yet, but—

Since I had made it back here, if time allowed, I kind of wanted to see my family or friends, even just once.

I was curious.

How had they lived after I disappeared—?

And,

And, honestly...

I was a little excited too.

Thinking about family or friends did dampen my mood a little, but looking at these two in front of me—

Honestly, it might sound ridiculously otaku-ish, but—

—didn't this feel exactly like being on a school trip from a Japanese manga?

Of ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) course, I’m fully aware that I’m way past the age for school trips.

Plus, according to our ID cards here, all three of us were legally adults.

But still, outwardly, we looked like mid-teens.

Just because our ID said 18 didn't magically add two years to our appearances.

Back when I was in high school, school trips were always group tours.

Classes moved together like a big package tour, and at best, it felt like a slightly freer MT (membership training trip).

That was fun in its own way, but it wasn’t exactly something I longed for.

There were always classmates I didn’t get along with, and others I had no interest in getting closer to.

Meanwhile, in the manga I read back then, during school trips, close friends would form their own small groups, sneak off to explore different places during the day, and share rooms together at night.

I don’t actually know how real Japanese school trips work, but still.

...Maybe the reason I kept thinking about that was because these two were literally characters from a Japanese game company’s game.

"Hey, sis?"

Ah, I must’ve made a pretty silly face just now.

"Honestly, even when I lived here before, I never really traveled around for fun. I was always busy with work."

Well, commuting counts, I guess.

"So, tomorrow, let’s visit some sightseeing spots together. If you have somewhere specific you want to go, or even just a general theme, tell me. I’ll plan the route accordingly."

At my words, Claire and Alice’s eyes sparkled.

Looks like they had been studying a lot while learning to read and write.

Well, if that made them enjoy it more, that was fine with me.

*

The next morning.

We left the hotel a little early.

It overlapped a bit with rush hour, but luckily, we weren’t heading for the subway.

The hotel we were staying at was right in the middle of Seoul.

We had splurged on it, so just walking around meant there were tons of tourist attractions within reach.

"This city is the capital of this country, right? Then I want to see something traditional."

Alice offered her opinion.

Following that, I debated between a nearby traditional village and a museum that required a subway ride.

I decided on the traditional village.

The museum was nice, but it felt less like "having fun" and more like "studying."

Since this was our first real outing like this, I wanted us to walk the streets, explore, and eat freely.

"Ah, sis, what’s that outfit?"

Claire immediately spotted something interesting.

"That’s a hanbok. It's the traditional clothing of this country. I think if you wear it, you can get free admission to nearby palaces."

You could often spot people wearing them around here —

Usually Korean couples, or else foreign tourists.

And come to think of it, to everyone else, we probably looked very much like foreign tourists.

"Would you like to try wearing one?"

Thinking about it, even though I’d lived in Seoul for years, I’d never worn one myself.

"I want to!"

Claire exclaimed, and I nodded, turning to look at Alice.

Alice was giving Claire a "you’re hopeless" kind of look, but—

Just like Alice could read my expressions, I could read hers a little too.

I clearly caught the flicker of curiosity and excitement on Alice’s face.