Regrets

Also, it is not like Yumeko's safety is a guarantee. What if she ends up pressured into maintaining the barrier? When people are in danger, they do all types of crazy things. Many participants dislike Yumeko too.

Kouta shook his head. But the reason they disliked her was for petty reasons. With the circumstances the way they are now, surely even those people will refrain themselves.

"Sorry if I have been destroying the mood-"

Mikami shook his head. "No, I was just thinking during the plane journey. I honestly felt relieved after hearing that message. I still plan to scold her thoroughly when we see each other again, but unlike before, at least I have confirmed that she is alive."

'For now.' Kouta did not say that part knowing that his friend was struggling not to say that too. If what Iwa Kasumi said is true, she can barely sustain that barrier. Even if all those people help her, the reality is the girl is doing most of the work. If she continues at that pace, she will end up like Kogami Yori.

"Are you sure? It seems Terashima Sumire knows where the portal is exactly; maybe she can send you over."

Mikami shook his head. "I know she won't like that. I just remembered where I saw this other key-" He trailed off. "Kiryu-san has one of these."

"Then the other two should be with people who are close with Lila." Kouta paused. "Hey, what about you?"

Mikami blinked at his words, and Kouta continued. "I'm asking if you have one."

"Why are you asking me? She was closer to you than me."

"Because if I think of people she is closest with, other than Kiryu-san, Yumeko, I think Iwa Kasumi, and then that leads me to you."

He watched his friend pause and debate for a few seconds, Mikami insisted that he did not have one. But he eventually turned quiet.

"I think there might be something like that, but I will have to go back to my house."

The Hamano household? Kouta frowned when he heard those words. It won't be easy to reach that place; the enemy surely has important households like that safely guarded; however, if that is the case.

"Are you saying you had it when you were younger?"

"Both Kasumi and I got those keys from my mother."

"The mystery continues." Kouta placed his hand on his forehead. He does not understand why Mikami's mother would have these keys.

But the keys aside, then Lila must have the lock. 'I have never seen her with anything like it before, but if these keys look normal, then perhaps the lock is normal looking too. I probably missed it.'

"I will head back home; you stay here with Takehiro."

At those words, he looked at his friend, alarmed. "Wait, you can't. You know it isn't safe to be alone."

The infected tend to target people who are alone rather than large groups to focus on spreading the infection faster.

"Relax, unlike you, I have had antibodies towards that drug."

Right, Mikami was part of that organization for a while, so he most likely has a degree of immunity towards it. But, that does not reassure him. Mikami patted his shoulders.

"The one I am worried about the most is you."

Kouta looked down at the ground when Mikami heard those words. "It seems you figured it out. I have acted calm this entire time, but how can I possibly be calm?" Kouta raised his voice. "I should have been there. Why did I come late? Why did I have to find traces of her blood where the dome disappeared?"

The thing that stood out the most to him that day was the key charm she got from Lila. He found it on the ground; it was covered in her blood.

HYOU4 took it away as evidence, so he did not get a chance to examine it for long, but how could he possibly mistaken his sister's blood? She must have gotten hurt somewhere.

"I understand that you want to rush, but no trying to sing on your own. Kasumi made it clear that they discovered that we have to sing in teams. Kouta, stay put. We have to wait until Takehiro regains his strength, too; we can't have him push himself in that state."

Mikami left with a few more words, and Kouta punched the nearby tree with his hands, causing his fist to bleed.

'Yumeko, idiot. You have to stay healthy until I pick you up.'

…..

It was hard for him to sleep at night; no ever since Yumeko disappeared, he has had a hard time sleeping at night. Normally, he would take sleeping pills to fall asleep, but he wanted to stay awake tonight. Most people would complain about sleeping on the cold ground, but that was the last of his concerns.

"Guh-"

Kouta turned his attention to the couch where he insisted Takehiro sleep. When his friend woke up earlier, he tried to sleep on the ground. 'Such a stubborn guy.' Why is he being considerate in his condition?

This is the other reason why he wanted to remain awake. When Mikami left earlier, he left instructions. It turns out Takehiro had a terrible fever.

He removed the towel on Takehiro's forehead and resoaked it into a fresh batch of water before placing it back on his head.

"This is uncool. Ruka would laugh at me for being this weak." Takehiro mumbled.

"I think you should worry more about her lecturing you for ending up like this."

"I couldn't ignore the children, Kouta. The adults aside, the children could not survive on their own. That large-scale earthquake separated many families together. It left children who could barely walk on their own. How could I ignore them?"

'I wanted to scold him and tell him to worry about himself, but it is not like I do not understand. I would have done the same.'

"Did you find a safe place for them?"

"There aren't many safe places here, but I left a good guard. Karashima-senpai always had that guy following him around, right? I left him."

"I see."

"Did Lila-chan look well?"

"She did. It seems just being with Haruka-senpai is enough to put a stupid smile on her face."

Takehiro laughed. "Thank goodness. I was worried that Karashima-senpai was truly dead. If that happened, I wouldn't put it past her to personally destroy the world before the enemy does."

"Hey, don't suggest something that scary."

"No, I am serious. Have you never thought about it? I mean, Lila-chan often said she would do anything for Karashima-senpai, and you saw how she reacted whenever there was a new bad rumor about him. I just figured if she reacted that way towards rumors, how would she behave if something bad happened to Karashima-senpai? If he truly died, there would be hell."