The fact that Inugami Hibiki had disappeared was discovered in the middle of the welcome party. Once Ryuzaki declined to Welkano, who was sitting next to him, and then to Chief Bergel, he left the square and headed for the heavy duty branch school.
　Soraki Kyousuke, Sakuma Shoko and the others were standing by to escort Benii, who was not feeling well. It was to consult with them. He sent a signal to Goubayashi with his eyes and asked him to stay where he was.

''Yes!　I'll take a cab to 74.　How did he get caught?　Caught!
No, not yet. Let's see, here's Mr. X's move. I'll take the bus from here and...

　On the deck of the branch school, Kyousuke and his friends were playing Scotland Yard.
　It's a board game made overseas. Ryuzaki doesn't know the detailed rules of the game either. It was one of the items seized from the old castle.

''The current position is 102.''
No!
"So, Himemizu, I told you earlier that I would take the subway to the right...
'Yeah, I said it too...'
Well, you have to hold me back even harder!
I mean, you're really good at fooling people, aren't you, Utsurogi? Is that growing up?
Ha, it's kind of complicated...

　I have no idea what they're talking about if I don't know the rules, but I'm glad they're having fun.
　Now that Benii was in good shape, he was participating in the board game. Or rather, it was all the remaining members of the heavy duty branch school who were playing. They were Kyousuke, Ei, Rin, Benii, Sakuma, and Zekou. It was surprising that Zekou, who was supposed to be unable to communicate with the language, was participating as a player in a board game that looked reasonably complex.

'While Rin and the others are lost, Zekou's readings are too accurate and scary...'

　And I hear he's doing quite well.

　And this is not the time to be thinking about such a drinking problem. Ryuuzaki raised one hand to discuss the situation.

You're not going to be able to get it right. Yahooo.

　Rin is the first to notice and greets me with a full-body wave.

''Ryuzaki, is the welcome party over already?''
No, not yet. We're having a bit of a problem, so I just wanted to give you a heads up.

　When he told them briefly, they all tightened their expressions... I'm not sure if it was a little bit, but the air was laced with tension.
　Kyousuke places what looks like a memo board in hand on the deck.

'What happened?'
As it turns out, the Inugami have disappeared.

　The tension mixed in the air was greater and more certain.

　In the first place, the reason Kyousuke and the others are escorting Benii, who is sleeping in this heavy duty branch school, is largely due to that Inugami's report. On this island, there are vampires. When it comes to the ability to sniff out their presence, Inugami is probably better than Beni.
　Ryuzaki thought he had told her not to be reckless on her own, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect on the lone wolf.

''Inugami-san........ Should I have been the one to follow you?

　Sakuma says pensively. Indeed, she's almost the only student who can currently hold the reins of Inugami Hibiki. But it's no use saying that here.

'What do you mean by disappearing, in the first place?　Did you just disappear from the welcome party?
'Yes, Utsurogi. So we don't know if that guy was in danger yet. But....
''Well, if Inugami is going to act alone, it's because it's all about the bloodline.......''

　Kyousuke crossed his arms and nodded.

'If it's possible that Inugami has engaged those guys, we'd better hurry.

　Ei said from beside him.

'Inugami didn't become a monster through the Transitional Degeneration Gate, she was born a werewolf race. The bloodline has no reason to keep her alive.

　His words were true. If the Inugami had encountered the Blood Clan as a result of acting alone, the situation could even have gone from bad to worse. The uncertainty of the situation was creating a strange uncomfortable feeling.
　Already, the 2nd year 4 group had Koganei kidnapped by them and Washio was murdered. On top of this, even Inugami, is a very uncomfortable thing to do.

Anyway, this is no time to be playing Scotland Yard.

　Rin said so once and for all and began to put away the board game she had spread out on the deck. It's a good idea to be able to have a good time with them. Rin taps Zeku on the shoulder.

'Yeah, yeah, let's do it again another time. Catan and Dominion. I don't know the rules, but Sacchan knows them all.
So what are you going to do? It's getting dark, and now we're going to look for vampires?

　Kyousuke's statement was probably not directed at Ryuzaki alone. He is also checking with Benii, who is part of the same blood family. Although Beni seems to be in better physical condition than in the daytime, but considering that he's developing thirst, he can't let himself be reckless. On the contrary, the blood family may even be aware of Beni's ill health and are working on it.
　Since Beni didn't say anything, Ryuzaki decided to express his opinion.

'First of all, let's see if we can tell Welkano-san and Chief Bergel about Inugami's disappearance.

　With that, Ryuzaki breaks his fingers.

'Before you say they don't fully trust us, it's possible that those people are related to vampires. I don't want to bypass them too much.
'But if you have a connection to vampires, you'd know about Inugami anyway, so there's no point in hiding it, right?

　That, too. I realized after being told. After all, when you think on your own, your mind can't help but become stiff.
　At Kyousuke's words, Ei puts in a capture.

''Rather, if they have a connection with vampires, it should be taken as unnatural not to tell them that Inugami has disappeared from us. It would be better to tell them that the Inugami have disappeared and use their reaction to divine the situation.
'Ei, what do you mean by that reaction...?'
'In other words, Kyousuke, if they were well-meaning people who knew nothing about it, they would show a sympathetic response to the disappearance of the Inugami. If they weren't. If they didn't seem too serious, or tried to treat the information in an evil way, then we can assume that they are connected to the blood family.

　Ei's point was so valid that it was perfectly natural if you think about it in theory. He's a man you can clearly rely on in times like these. He had been completely down with seasickness during the voyage, but for that reason, his statements at times like this were highly reliable. Kyousuke, Rin, and Sakuma nodded at every word Ei said.

　Which brings us to the next problem.
　First of all, we have to realize once again that we are completely behind the curve against the vampires that are probably hiding on this island. Does the other party know about Beni's situation? What purpose does he have in contacting us? Is Inugami safe? If he is safe, where is he?

　All kinds of information is lacking, by far.

'If it's just a fist fight, we can't lose...'

　Ryuzaki rolled his eyes as Kyousuke spat out a rare line of dialogue that didn't suit him.

''Utsurugi, you're being very bullish...''
'Kyousuke-kun, you know. He's in the midst of characterization, looking for a new identity.
Don't talk like that.

　With a pechin, Kyousuke slapped Rin. Sakuma looked at it with slightly envious eyes.

　I don't want to get too far into this karma-heavy triangle, though.

''Well, as long as we can't move Asuka, there's no doubt that Utsurogi and Rin are the strongest force in the real class, but if we don't know what they're doing and where they're located, we can't get a handle on them, that's for sure.

　If you think about it, most of the crises that the class had been in before were situations that could be resolved by frontal arm strength. It's a pattern that didn't exist in this case, where there was little information to attack or defend, and you couldn't move properly.
　That's why Ryuzaki had no way to move and came to consult with Kyousuke and the others. As a result, he got some fruitful opinions, but still no progress has been made.

'Anyway,'

　With that, Kyousuke stood up.

'If the Red Moon vampire is on this island and has already made contact with Inugami, they know we're here. We don't know what they want yet, but it's better to have our classmates act as one team to some extent.
Sure, yeah.

　Ryuzaki nodded.
　The vampires of Red Moon aim to take in the students who have passed through the transference degeneration gate and turned into monsters as a force to be reckoned with. It's dangerous to act alone on this island. First of all, we will take the utmost care to prevent any more students from going through the gate.

　This is what we call "protection".

　And now that the Inugami has fallen into enemy hands and is missing, we need to talk about "offense" as well.
　The question is how to do it.

You smell like water, Mr. Chairman. I can't believe you're having this conversation without us.

　He heard a voice from behind him. Ryuzaki turned around, and before he knew it, Gillman's Uozumi Salmonichiro was standing there with his back to the boat's edge.

''Whoa, everyone's back.''

　Rin said in a bright voice. She was right, the fishermen weren't the only ones there.
　The students of Year 2 Class 4 were just returning in a trickle up the ramp that stretched toward the sandy beach. Among them, of course, was Goubayashi. Kyousuke and the others welcomed the others back as normal, but Ryuzaki was a little, confused.

　The welcome party was in "the end of the party". This is the reason why the party was in full swing, so Ryuzaki sneaked out. Not many minutes had passed since then. Could it be that they all snuck out of the welcoming party and came here together?
　At the back of the jungle, from the direction of the square, the light of the bonfire could still be seen illuminating the night sky.

'Chairman, I hear the Inugami are gone?'
Do you have any idea what's going on?
Did those vampires do this to you?

　The students giggled and crammed up against the deck as they pushed their way to the deck. Ryuzaki sent a bit of a resentful glance at Goubayashi. I thought I had given a neat signal with my eyes to stay there, but.

'That gaze, Ryuzaki. I took it to mean 'take care of everyone in class'.

　Goubayashi said with his arms crossed.

'Everyone in that class passed around something like this, so I decided to get out of the welcome party.

　Saying that, Goubayash took out a small piece of paper.
　It's something like a folded memo pad. Next to Ryuzaki's quizzical face, Kyousuke picked it up and opened it.

''The Chairman and Inugami are missing. If you're curious, pass it next to me'. Oh, I've seen guys turning these things around in class. I didn't get it passed around to me, though.
"Kyousuke-kun......... Let's not interrupt the little friend stuff at this time........

　Ryuzaki looks at Kyousuke's open notepad in silence. Just by looking at the handwriting, he knows in an instant who it is in the class, but he doesn't mention it. At the welcoming party, my classmates from year two and four were lined up in a circle with the merchants of the maritime caravan. The student who wrote this was at the end of the line, and Goubayash was at the other end of the line. In other words, it was safe to assume that everyone in the class had read through this note.

　Their presence here would mean the consensus of their classmates.

'As expected, I'm not so heartless that I can't just disappear from my classmates and drink it all away.

　Nekomiya said in his usual pretentious tone.

'You wouldn't want something like Washio to happen to you again.

　Hakuba's mannerisms are not curt, but his tone of voice is somewhat strong.

"This guy is a thing, Ryuzaki. It's another otherworldly class meeting.
Yeah. I guess it's better that way.

　At Kyousuke's words, Ryuzaki nodded.




　However, there was no new fact that had to be made here. The 5th Otherworldly Class Meeting that was hastily held on the deck was solely focused on how they should act in this Albadamba in the future and how to find Inugami.
　Both Kyousuke and Ryuzaki were a bit confused by the fact that their classmates' resolve was harder than they had expected. When, or perhaps it should be said that the late change was already in place, they had a strong sense of evasion about mourning Inugami, and they weren't trying to turn away from the fact that they would have to set things up with the vampires in order to avoid it, or anything else.

'That means it's not just Kyousuke-kun who's growing up,'

　Rin said, as if to give him an earful.

'For starters, I'm going to tell Mr. Welkano and Chief Berger tomorrow that the Inugami are gone.

　Ryuzaki said to them all.

''After that, I'm going to see how they come out and change my response. So the question is, how do we find Inugami?

　In the midst of it all, there is a girl who raises her hand timidly.
　It's Alraune's Hanazono Hana. She's the type of student who doesn't usually assert herself very much, so all of our gazes were turned towards her at once.

''Well I'm going to ask the trees and grasses on this island and try to find them.''

　This was a statement of intent by the flower garden to make use of Arraune's ability to hear the voice of plants for the first time outside of the vegetable garden. A short distance away from there, Mushikasa also nodded. Every time he nodded, spores flew, and the other students retreated.

''Well, I think I'm going to ask the mushrooms on this island and try to find them, too.
I wonder if there are mushrooms on this island.
There were some pretty noxious ones growing in there, so it should work.

　As Ryuzaki scratched his cheek anxiously, Mushikasa commented emphatically.

''I see, then I'll have to ask the tentacles that are native to this island too...''
Can tentacles grow wild...?
There were some pretty noxious ones growing in there, so it should work.

　Tentahara also commented emphatically.

'Well, I get it anyway. That's the way to look for the most clues. Utsurogi, I want you and Rin to guard Hanazono and the others.
Okay, okay.
I'm in charge.

　If it turns out that this one is looking for Inugami's whereabouts, the vampires won't leave it alone. They can overwhelm the Knight-class vampires, and send Kyousuke and Rin as their guards.

　Amidst the other ideas that flew out, such as having flight capable students search for them from the sky, Ket-Sea's Nekomiya Miya made this suggestion.

''If we find out where Inugami is, it's better to have a light rescue squad on standby that can rush in immediately. I need me who can use the 《Kage Crossing》 and the rest of you need a light student like Sarutoyo.
All right. I'll leave the organization to Nekomiya. The students who were transferred to the rescue team can always be contacted at any time........ But it's better if it's not the branch school (here). I want you to stay near the village where we held the welcome party.

　This rescue team will be accompanied by Goubayashi as an escort. They should be a team with high average fighting ability, but they're also a bit inadequate to deal with a single pawn. In that respect, Goubayasi would not fall behind a vampire of a pawn level.

''Well then, I'll join you in the protection of this branch school.

　In an unusually clear voice, Harao Maki said. Since the number of students with pawn-class combat abilities is limited, they were planning to place them in such a position anyway, but it was still unexpected that he would offer to do so.

'The protection of the branch school is actually Asuka's guard, right?　I'll go around too.

　That said, it was Kaoru who raised his hand. Yes, the protection of the branch school is the protection of Beni.
　As long as they didn't know how they were going to get out, they couldn't leave the ailing Benii unprotected.

　How could the conversation go so smoothly when the students were actively working together? Ryuzaki couldn't hide his surprise. I've been worried alone, sometimes consulting with my trusted friends, and thinking about the division of the group with a headache, but I realized how inefficient it was.
　Maybe the class was finally starting to show some real unity.

''I hope everyone else will continue to prepare for the trading session tomorrow and beyond with a nonchalant look on their faces. The problem of Inugami and the vampires on the island is an urgent matter, but even this trade fair is an event that we can't afford to lose. If this one succeeds, we may even be able to get Beni's blood, and when we cross over to the continent again, we may be able to prepare materials for the Caterpillar unit.

　They all nodded at Ryuzaki's words.

　A battle against vampires might happen here in Albadamba. However, if possible, they did not want to involve the islanders and merchants in that battle. Not just for humanitarian reasons, either. We didn't want to distrust them.
　After splitting up into a search and rescue team and a branch school escort unit, the remaining members prepare for the trade fair. It's not a large island, but it's not small either. Even if a battle does occur, it is necessary to proceed with maneuvers that will prevent awareness from turning to that side.

　That is, of course, if Welkano and Chief Bergel had nothing to do with vampires.

　From the looks of it, those two were just humans. If they weren't vampires, there's something we can do.

...Sakuma.

　Ryuzaki approached the succubus girl, who had been silent until then.

''If I asked Welkano-san or Chief Bergel to cast a [Fascination] on you, could you do it?

　Sakuma made a look as if he was caught off guard when he was asked that question. He knotted his mouth, dropped his gaze and wandered away. The conflict that emerges. Ryuzaki didn't miss the fact that Sakuma's gaze went towards Kyousuke for a moment.
　Roughly, I guess.

''I get it. If you need to prepare your mind, I won't force you to do so. There's no need to rush to get your mind ready. Okay?
Yes.

　Sakuma must have guessed the meaning of what was being said.
　If the question of whether or not he can use 《Emersion》 makes the situation unstable, it's better to dismiss it as something that wasn't there in the first place. Even more so if Sakuma needs to prepare for it in order to strengthen his resolve.

''Ryuu-chan, if you need 《Embellishment》, please call me.
Yeah, I'm counting on you. Kaoruko.

　The fifth class meeting was to end with roughly such a discussion.




　Early the next morning, Kyousuke and the others would leave to search for Inugami.

　The search members were Hanazono, Mushikasa, and Tashidate Hara. Kyousuke and Rin will be their bodyguards. Ei also joins the team, making a total of six people. When walking through the jungle, Ei's abilities are difficult to use, but combining with him to get a bird's eye view from the sky is great.
　Since the team didn't have a single team leader, Kyousuke was appointed as the leader.

''Well I'm not that gala.
So what's the gala?
That's a racket.

　I spent the night with Rin to come up with a one-shot gag, but it didn't go over too well.

"Utsurogi, you shouldn't try to make your character too weird.

　He even ended up having Mushikasa worry about him unnecessarily.

''Mushikasa, Kyousuke is making an effort to come out of his shell and become a new Kyousuke. That's a good thing.
'Ei, you don't need to say anything else...'

　"It's hard to say which is better, 'empty' or 'weird character', but aside from that.

Let's stop joking around. I'm going to search for the Inugami now.

　The quiet sound of crashing waves echoed on the sandy beach. The sky was dark blue with the sun not yet up, and the late returning stars were twinkling here and there. It's early morning indeed. A sea mist drifting toward the beach obstructed my view.
　In fact, I would have liked to go looking for them as soon as last night when the search was decided, but Ryuzaki stopped me from doing so. It's too dangerous to search at night. This is a strange land, with a dense forest inhabited by demonic beasts and even more vampires lurking around. The islanders are not necessarily on our side either. After taking various circumstances into consideration and making as many concessions as possible, we decided to begin our search at about the time when the night had just barely dawned.

"Inugami-san..... You're safe, right?

　'Potentially,' said Hanazono, 'I'm not optimistic.

'I'm not optimistic.

　Ei releases a cold word.

''But there's no need to be pessimistic. The information about contact with vampires is itself just an analogy that we have figured out. It is also possible that they are simply wandering through the jungle chasing after butterflies.
'Yeah...'

　Hanazono nodded firmly at his words.

''So, Kyousuke-kun. What are you going to do now?''

　Rin asks Kyousuke, who looks towards the jungle.

'What do you mean?'
That's what I mean. Aside from tentacles and mushrooms, plants and trees grow all over the place. If we let Hana-chan talk to you about them one by one, the sun will set...
First, let's go over to the square where they had their welcome party yesterday.

　Kyousuke said, looking around at them all.

'Which way did Inugami get out of the welcoming party and head to? Let's follow his footsteps first.''