gyaxa | Study Trip on an Uninhabited Island part 1

Kuguri: Oh… so this is the flower garden?

Nagi: All the flowers are in full bloom… So pretty.

Are you sure we can take as many as we want? This must’ve been expensive…

Drone Sensei: You may use this area however you’d like.

Toi: Oh, look over there, Ani-sama! Those little red berries are so cute!

Ryui: Are those fruits?

Drone Sensei: Those are Chinese bayberries. They’re not fully ripe yet, but you can eat them.

Tao: A lot of the plants seem to be edible, too.

Kafka: We’re going to be eating well. That’s great!

Liguang: Mm. We do have some hungry young mouths to feed.

Ten: Oh right, did you guys spot your badges anywhere?

Ryui: Nope.

Kiroku: It wasn’t… anywhere.

Ushio: If they lost it in the forest, there’s no way they were gonna find it on the way here in the first place.

And the badges are so light, the wind could’ve just—

MYAHH?!

Tao: What’s wrong, Ushio?

Ushio: O-One of my badges… it’s gone…!

Kiroku: Huh?

Kafka: Let’s check how many badges we all have.

Toi: I have all three.

Tao: Me too.

Nagi: Ah… I’m missing one.

Liguang: So Kurama and Hachinoya are one short as well.

Kuguri: Look at you all dropping them without a care… Are you trying to be Hansel and Gretel?

Drone Sensei: Goodness! This month’s goal was to make sure we didn’t drop anything, wasn’t it?

Toi: It was?

Ushio: But there’s no way I dropped it! All we’ve been doing is walking like normal…!

Kuguri: But it’s gone, is it not?

Ushio: Well, yeah, but…

Ryui: … So maybe we do got a traitor on our hands after all.

Nagi: Ryui.

Ushio: You think someone here stole my badge?

Kiroku: Huh…?

Tao: There’s no way, right?

Ryui: Nobody on Team Air was around to steal it. We can’t rule out the possibility.

Ten: Oh? So who do ya think did it?

Ryui: You, if you're gonna joke around like that.

Ten: Welp, guess I was asking for that. But if we think about it realistically…

Wouldn’t Kiroku have had a better shot than me? He’s been hanging around Ushio this whole time.

Kiroku: Wha…?!

Ushio & Ryui: There’s no way he’d do that!

Nagi: Deep breaths, guys, deep breaths.

Liguang: Murakumo. Don’t go raising unnecessary suspicion.

Ten: C’mon, Ryui started it.

Liguang: And you just made it worse. Once we talk it out, we won’t have any reason to point fingers at anyone.

Ryui: So you have a good reason to think otherwise, Lu?

Liguang: … Both the survival challenge and the badge scrimmage are but one part of this study trip.

I don’t think there’s a single person among us foolish enough to sacrifice their relationships with everyone else in order to win.

Kafka: That’s exactly right. Everyone who works at HAMA Tours is a good person!

Tao: … Yeah.

Kuguri: Very nice deterrent you’re making, hm?

Ryui: … That’s not all that convincin’, though.

Ushio: ……

Nagi: Uh, sorry to interrupt, but Toi has an idea.

Astaroth: Kukuku…

Ryui: !! You… What do you want?

Astaroth: Nothing more than to while away the time.

That one had the gallantry to ask me to find you mortals’ so-called “badges” using my divinations.

Ryui: Toi did…?

Kiroku: Uh… Toi-kun…?

Tao: He seems a little different from usual…

Nagi: I know this is new to some of you, but don’t freak out. Toi’s at a delicate time in his life. The darkness is calling to him.

Ryui: Haah?! What are you babbling—

Kuguri: Ah…

Ten: Huh.

Tao: Well… everyone has that sorta phase, don’t they?

Liguang: (Heh… Reminds me of how Linxing tried sporting an eyepatch when she was younger.)

Ushio: I guess that phase is different for everyone, huh? I didn’t go through it at all, though.

Nagi: Sorry, Ryui. I didn’t think we could explain it all right now… so I thought we should just roll with this for now.

Ryui: … Tch.

Kafka: So… you’ll help us find the missing badges?

Astaroth: Do not make me repeat myself.

Ryui: But if you do that, then Toi will…

Astaroth: Hah, a trifling matter such as this should have nary an effect on him. And you were going to respect Toi’s wishes, were you not?

Ryui: … Fine.

Astaroth: Hark ye, ignorant mortals.

The possessions you lost have been sealed in darkness and reside in a realm far deeper than the depths of the ocean and far beyond the reach of the light shining above. Their souls, however, waver at the present hour.

If you have the courage to brave that relenting darkness, then go forth. Crawl forward like a pathetic worm toward the treasures you seek…!

Ten: … Come again?

Ushio: Our badges are in an area neither of the teams have been to yet, but are on the move right now.

Kiroku: (Kurama… understood that…? Wow.)

Toi: Ugh…

Ryui: Toi. Here, take a break for a little.

Nagi: How’d they get there…?

Liguang: Not by any of our hands, that much is clear. We can rule out everyone on Team Air too.

Kuguri: Oh?

Kiroku: Then… who took them?

Liguang: Perhaps…

This is another test we’re being put through.