Chapter 5

Gaaaah, fuck! The hell are you telling Hinata, Hakaze-senpai?! I can't make any sense out of it!

God dammit! Is he really gonna be okay, Adonis?!

I don’t understand why you’re asking me this. We receive updates on their current status while watching them from the hotel—

But it seems there’s a time lag before it reaches us.

To make matters worse, the footage has no sound and it's all in still frames, so we can’t even read their lips. It’s impossible to tell what they’re saying.

So it’s difficult for us, who aren’t in the desert with them, to get a grasp of their current situation.

Besides, Hakaze-senpai and the others are likely not even in the same country as we are, so it would be difficult to rush to their aid.

It’s frustrating, but we have no choice but to look on helplessly.

Argh, shit! Isn’t there anything we can do?! Actually, why the hell’re you so damn calm?!

Even when our friend got caught up in some whack-ass situation?!

I’m not calm. But it seems that I don’t show those kinds of emotions often.

Whatever! ‘Cause important guys like you can’t let the common people know when you’re upset or it’ll make ‘em worried, ‘s that it?! You’re a big shot back in your country, right Adonis-sama?

Don’t lash out at me, Oogami. You likely just want me to share in your anxiety.

But unfortunately, no matter how much we lament the situation, we can’t change anything. We should stay calm and come up with a plan to overcome this, instead of wasting our energy flailing about.

Isn’t that right, Sakuma-senpai?

……

You know that mask makes you look like a fucking eboy, right? C’mon, are you listenin’ or not?! Adonis is talkin’ to ya!

Actually, I’ve been wonderin’ what the hell’s up with that dumb-lookin’ mask.

Don’t go tryin’ to get a laugh outta us when we’re in this kinda situation, ‘kay?! Read the room for once!

……

Oh, yeah, sorry about that, UNDEAD. But can you not talk to my manservant so casually?

Manservant…? The hell’re you goin’ on about. Sakuma-senpai, and now Yuuta? Bastard, why’re both of ya so damn weird today?!

He’s right. For some reason, Sakuma-senpai ignores us whenever we speak to him, and he’s avoiding making eye contact as well. But when Yuuta orders him to do something, he obeys readily.

This is clearly very weird. Could this be due to those so-called orders?

Each of us were given orders we were supposed to follow.

However, we were told that these orders were just for fun and not very serious.

My orders were that I’m not allowed to eat or even talk about a certain foodstuff.

The mental toll is quite severe, but not enough to hinder my activities as an idol.

And I’m not supposed to touch any animals other than humans—Wait, ain’t it against the rules to say what our orders are?

I can get a pretty good idea of it from what you just said. You’ve always been bad at keeping secrets though, Oogami.

Yeah… I dunno anything ‘bout orders or whatever, but it’s annoying as hell if we can’t do anything about it.

I can deal if I’m the only one goin’ through it, but it’s weirdin’ me out that you guys’re actin’ different than normal too. I just can’t get over it.

Like. In this kinda situation, Sakuma-senpai would be talkin’ our ears off, not even carin’ if anyone’s listenin’. So it’s weird he’s so silent—

Oh, I get it. You got your mouth zipped up by your orders.

Makes me feel better. You’ve been ignorin’ us for so long, I started thinkin’ we’d pissed you off accidentally and now you hated us…

Ahaha, so that’s why you’ve been so irritated this whole time, Oogami-senpai. When you start seeing red, you just take it out on anyone and everyone around you, huh?

By the way, it looks like the leader of each unit also got these “secret orders” in addition to their regular orders.

And apparently these secret orders are no laughing matter.

Hah? And how the hell do you know that, Yuuta?

Hmm, I wonder why?

Ya li’l shit, what’s with that attitude? I’m your senpai, so when I talk to you, you better look me in the eye and answer! Rude as hell!

You’ve got some surprisingly old-fashioned values there, what with sticking to that seniority system. Can you really go waving the banner of rock ‘n roll with that kind of attitude? ♪

The hell did you say to me…?

Calm down, Oogami. Yuuta, you shouldn’t say anything to instigate him, either, since he’s worked up about Hakaze-senpai right now.

Right, right. You guys in UNDEAD are so close—I’m jealous.

Maybe even a bit too jealous—