“What time is it now, Major General Kamiya!”

“16:50. Drive safely but quickly, Hayami-san!”

“Don’t give contradictory orders!”

Hayami-san and I had dumped all the post-battle reports and processing onto the reluctant paratrooper commander. We teleported to Chinen Base, hurriedly rented a car, and rushed to the meeting spot in front of the Shisa statue on Kokusai Street.

This morning, I had ordered everyone to meet at 17:00 sharp. As the club president, I couldn’t afford to be late.

Officers are expected to strictly adhere to punctuality, so I have a strong obsession with not being late myself.

“17:00! I see it! Over there!”

A large Shisa statue stood in the square in front of the monorail station.

“I’ll park the car, so you go ahead, Major General Kamiya.”

“Thanks, Hayami-san!”

Barely making it on time, I got out of the passenger seat and rushed towards the Shisa statue.

“Huh? No one’s here…”

To my surprise, no one was at the meeting spot despite it being the appointed time.

Did I get the location wrong?

But there couldn’t be another Shisa statue this big.

As I looked around, a military jeep screeched to a halt in front of me.

“Sorry, I’m late, Yu!”

Kotomi burst out of the back seat of the jeep.

“No, honestly, I just got here too… Wait, Suo-senpai and Marin-chan are with you?”

“Yeah, we had to meet up for certain reasons.”

“Thank you for the ride, Natori-san.”

Marin-chan thanked Natori-san, who was in the driver’s seat.

“Hehe, now that the kids are out, it’s time for some adult fun. I plan to drive along the sunset coast with Natori-san.”

“We still need to finish the cyberattack report, so back to the lab we go, Dr. Kirigaya.”

“Natori-san, you’re so mean! See you soon, Hinoura-san!”

“Uh, yeah, see you later…”

Dr. Kirigaya waved energetically from the passenger seat as they drove away, and Kotomi returned a small wave with a wry smile.

“You’ve gotten pretty close with Dr. Kirigaya, huh, Kotomi?”

“Uh, yeah… kind of…”

Kotomi’s response was a bit hesitant.

Did something happen?

“Wait, if you came by military jeep, what about shopping?”

“Oh no! I didn’t buy anything!”

Seeing Kotomi realize she hadn’t bought anything and panic, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

We’ll just have to do all the shopping at the airport gift shops on the last day.

“Looks like the Suo siblings managed to do some shopping.”

“We had some trouble after shopping, but thanks to Natori-san, we got our bags back safely.”

“What kind of trouble? Did Suo-senpai get lost or something?”

“You’re too rough with me, junior… No souvenirs for you.”

“Sorry, Suo-senpai. Thanks for remembering the souvenirs.”

I wagged my tail as I thanked him.

“Geez… what a greedy guy…”

Grumbling, but still kind, Suo-senpai handed me the souvenir bag.

“Wow, this is heavy. What did you get me… What’s this?”

“It’s a pair of Ryukyu pottery Shisa statues.”

The terracotta Shisa statues were about 20 centimeters tall and quite large.

Honestly, they’re a bit of an inconvenient souvenir…

Did Suo-senpai buy these as a joke to get back at me for treating him poorly? But when I glanced at him,

“Aren’t they great? Handmade by a pottery master, with protective powers. Really a great purchase.”

Suo-senpai explained with a pure, proud smile.

Oh… he’s serious.

[Those Shisa statues cost several hundred yens each. I tried to stop him…]

Marin-chan’s ESP whisper confirmed it.

She sighed, looking unsatisfied behind Suo-senpai.

Heavy… in many ways…

“Thanks, Suo-senpai. I’ll display them at home.”

“Yeah, you do that.”

Trying to sound indifferent, Suo-senpai was clearly pleased.

So, Marin-chan, please stop giving me those jealous, dagger-like looks from behind him.

“Looks like everyone’s here.”

Perfect timing, Hayami-san parked the car and came over.

“Thanks, Hayami-san. Let’s hurry back because I’m worried about Mina.”

As I said this and walked towards the rental car, everyone quietly followed me.

Wait, I was supposed to be nursing Mina at the pension, so why didn’t Kotomi or Suo-senpai question my presence here?

Wondering about this, but genuinely concerned about leaving Mina alone, I decided to ponder it later.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Welcome back”

“We’re home. Oh, you’re awake. Are you okay, Mina?”

When we returned to the pension, Mina greeted us at the entrance, wearing a cardigan.

“Yes, I’m feeling much better.”

“Sorry for leaving while you were asleep.”

“No, it’s fine. I just woke up a little while ago. It seems like a lot happened while I was asleep.”

“””What!”””

Suo-senpai, Kotomi, and I jumped in surprise.

“I saw on the news, there was a small-scale battle near Okinawa’s territorial waters. The enemy fleet surrendered to our formidable navy.”

“Oh, the news.”

The usual official report from the high command.

In exchange for letting the navy take credit, the navy handled the captured enemy ships and prisoners.

“By the way, what should we do for dinner?”

“Oh… I forgot. I was going to ask Suo-senpai to buy some groceries, but I forgot.”

Marin-chan’s remark made me hold my head in frustration.

I had planned to contact Suo-senpai before the urgent call came in.

“In any case, we were all too busy to go shopping.”

“I barely left the Okinawa Soul Armor Research Institute today…”

It seemed that Suo-senpai, Kotomi, and I had too much going on on the third day to worry about dinner.

But going out now would be tiring for everyone, and taking Mina out, who was just recovering, didn’t feel right.

“Oh, right. I made some rice porridge for Mina in the rice cooker before we left.”

Opening the rice cooker, I found the porridge had swelled up more than expected, making enough to share with everyone.

“Sounds good. After all the rich food we’ve been eating, our stomachs could use a break.”

“Yeah, I agree with my brother.”

“Me too. I had a lot of food at the research institute’s cafeteria with Dr. Kirigaya for lunch. Yu’s homemade porridge sounds wonderful.”

Everyone agreed.

In the midst of this,

“Everyone is being so considerate because of my recovery… sorry.”

“That’s not it, Mina.”

I stopped Mina, who was about to apologize.

“We all want to enjoy the last night of our Okinawa trip together. And tonight, we have a game tournament, right? Eating delicious food is important, but making these kinds of memories is also part of the fun.”

Everyone nodded enthusiastically.

To be honest, I had dumped a lot of the post-battle paperwork on someone else, so I would have to follow up on that later.

It seemed Kotomi and Suo-senpai also had things they needed to do but prioritized Mina’s itinerary.

“Everyone…”

“Alright, let’s eat the porridge quickly and start the game tournament.”

“By the way, isn’t our stomach trouble because we ate your cup Soki soba late last night?”

“””””Oh…”””””

We thought we had managed to cover up the morning chaos with Mina’s condition, but Hayami-san remembered.

“Well, well, Hayami-san. I’ll blow on the first bite of porridge for you.”

“Blowing on food is a way to spread adult bacteria to babies, so it’s not recommended. But I’ll allow it.”

Porridge isn’t the same as baby food.

Hayami-san, always quick to treat us like babies, could be easily won over.

“Alright, I’ll prepare the dishes. Marin-chan, help me.”

“Yes, Kotomi-senpai.”

“Here, you still have a sunburn. Use this anti-inflammatory cream my friend gave me.”

“Thanks…”

“Mina, do you want one of these Shisa statues? There are two.”

“Even considering it’s a match with Yu-kun’s, I don’t need it.”

“Hey Kamiya, don’t give away my souvenir right in front of me. And Shisa statues come in pairs for a reason.”

“But Mina’s house is close to ours, so it’s fine, right?”

With lively chatter, our last night in Okinawa began.

After a light dinner,

“Alright, I can play blue! One card left!”

“Kotomi, you didn’t say ‘Uno!’ Two-card penalty!”

“Noooo!”

“Draw 4, Kohou-senpai.”

“I’ll counter with another Draw 4. Marin-chan, how does it feel to make your dear brother draw eight cards?”

“Kohou-senpai, you can’t counter a Draw card with another Draw card. Official rules say you must draw the required cards and end your turn. See, here’s the rulebook from the official site.”

“No way! We’ve always played that way in the Toraho family!”

We stayed up late, enjoying the game tournament.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Ugh… Did I fall asleep?”

Rubbing her eyes, Lieutenant Hayami stretched and looked at the airplane’s seat monitor.

The flight map indicated we were approaching our destination.

Realizing how quiet it was, she glanced at the students’ seats.

“Oh dear, they must be exhausted from last night’s game tournament.”

With the plane preparing to land, Lieutenant Hayami thought about waking everyone before the seatbelt sign came on. She rummaged through her bag.

“Looking at their sleeping faces, they’re all still just adorable kids, including Yuu-sama.”

She whispered to herself, snapping a photo of the sleeping Yuusuke and the others, who were piled on each other in their seats.

As she put away the camera, the announcement for landing came on.

Through the window, the familiar landscape brought a sense of nostalgia.