If the pure white earth of Antarctica is a fresh cream cake, then the ones that decorate it are the colorful fruits. Red strawberries, green melons, yellow pineapples, peachy peaches.

「Rather than a cake, it looks more like a furikake!」

Colorful wreckage was strewn across the snow for kilometers.

Rintaro silently laid his hands on the “what used to be King Victory” that had traveled more than 10,000 kilometers with him. He had borrowed it from the collection of General Tagaraak, and he had no idea what kind of complaints he would receive.

「Now that we’ve lost our ride home…」

He would like to build a tomb for King Victory, but at this rate, he would be building his ow tomb. After all, this is Antarctica, a living hell at minus 30 degrees Celsius.

「All the food, tents, and cold-weather goods were burned up.」

「……Sorry, I thought it was the Hero Headquarters.」

「Then I’d like to ask for my coat back as a sign of apology.」

「I don’t want to! Are you trying to strip a girl naked in the middle of Antarctica!?」

Kirika held her coat tightly against her chest and shook her head.

For Rintaro, getting his coat back would be like pouring water on a hot stone[1].  Unlike Kirika, whose energy was constantly overflowing from within, and Samecchi, who boasted an unparalleled regeneration power even for a mysterious being. The cold is a matter of life and death for the human Rintaro.

「How about I carry you and fly back?」

「If we were to fly over the unobstructed ocean without a break, I’d probably freeze to death before we got past the Antarctic Circle.」

Their way to return home had been completely cut off. They had no choice but to promptly contact Ark Dominion for a rescue.

However, all the tools for survival until the arrival of the rescue team has been completely burned off.

「The only thing that was safe was the sleeping bag, huh… Samecchi, when will the rescue arrive starting from now?」

「Hero headquarters is on high alert right now, so considering their safety, it will take 5 days at the earliest.」

「I see, 5 days huh, I see…… Fufu……」

Rintaro fell down with a bang as if his strings had been cut. How could he return home alive after being left for more than 100 hours in an extremely cold hell where he could not even stand for an hour?

「Anikiiiii!」

「Senpai! Stay strong!」

Rintaro’s consciousness became more and more distant in this hopeless situation.

…………

While Rintaro’s group were facing difficulties in Antarctica, Samejima Asaka, a Hero Headquarters employee, was returning to her apartment in Shimotakaido for the first time in a long time. She used to live alone, but recently, when she opened the door, she would smell a nice aroma that stimulates her stomach.

「Welcome back Asaka-san! I heard you were coming home today, so I made dinner for you!」

「Is it shrimp chili again?」

「Spot on!!」

Asaka is hesitant to complain after having someone cook for her, but the only dish Retto makes is shrimp chili. As a result, since the beginning of the year, Asaka has been steadily disliking shrimp more and more.　

Since she had been staying at the heroes’ headquarters for a long time, she was even impressed by the taste of junk food when she tasted it for the first time in a long while.

「I changed the seasoning today, what do you think!」

「It’s painful.」

「I see, then I’ll try to make it a little less spicy tomorrow!」

It’s not the level of spiciness, but the menu that needs to be changed in the first place. Looking at his back washing the wok while humming, Asaka asked Retto.

「By the way, Kurenai-san, are you fine with cold places?」

「Hahah, Asaka-san, could it be that you are seriously asking to go the South Pole, No way, Geez!」

「You are right, though.」

「Seriously?」

Through her glasses, Asaka’s eyes were so cold that not even the slightest hint of joking could be seen.

…………

「……N? ……This is……?」

When Rintaro woke up, the sky was cut.

As his consciousness gradually awakened, he gradually came to grasp the situation he was in. Rintaro understood that he was stuffed into a sleeping bag for one person and that he was under a crevasse.

A crevasse is a crack in the icy earth. The circumstances suggest that he did not fall into the crevasse, but were “placed” there by the girls.

It may seem a little rough, but Rintaro, who had lost his tent, was grateful for the respite from the cold wind. It was very warm in the sleeping bag, but it was so tight that he could not move a finger.

However, Rintaro remembered that he had only one sleeping bag with him. Rintaro began to worry that Samecchi and Kirika might be left out in the cold in minus 30 degrees Celsius.

「Where the hell did they…… go……?」

「We are here, ssuyo.」

「Owaaaaah!!?」

A voice came from Rintaro’s chest, where he should have fit completely in the sleeping bag. Rintaro hurriedly peeked into his sleeping bag and saw flaxen hair.

「W-w-why are you here?」

「Because it’s cold outside, ssumon!」

「Don’t “it’s cold, ssumon” me! What kind of situation is this!?」

When Rintaro turned his head around, he saw his own set of clothes carefully folded and placed above his head. At the top of the set of clothes, “his pantsu” was folded neatly into a square.

Of course, none of those things are now where they should be.

「F-F-Fortunately, I still got my clothes, right……?」

「That was in the way so we don’t need it, was what Kirika said, ssu.」

「Kirika…… so where did Mayuzumi go?」

「Please don’t move too much, Senpai. The cold air would enter.」

The voice of his junior colleague, a voice he had grown accustomed to hearing over the years, was indeed heard from behind Rintaro. No wonder his cramped one-person sleeping bag was so tight that he could not move a finger.

The warm feeling on his stomach and back made Rintaro understand the situation, whether he wanted to or not.

「Mayuzumi, Could it be, you are also……?」

「This is an emergency treatment. Early symptoms of hypothermia require immediate and appropriate warmth, but this was the only thing that could keep you warm…」

Whenever Kirika said something, Rintaro would feel her warm, moist breath fall on the nape of his neck. Even though it was a whisper, the voice was clearly audible in the quiet, icy world.

Perhaps enjoying Rintaro’s reaction, Kirika continues her words with a deliberate allure to it.

「do you know……? Which parts of the body should be warmed in case of hypothermia…」

From behind, Kirika’s arm stretched smoothly from under his arm.　Smooth and warm fingers slowly stroked Rintaro’s cold chest.

「Of course, the center of the body where organs gather, but the most important thing is “blood”. It’s the heart, and other parts with thick blood vessels…」

As if prying open Rintaro’s stiffened crotch, the slender leg that was forcibly inserted entwined with Rintaro’s leg.

「For example, the thighs……」

「Hiyaaaaaaaaa ! !」

When about 90% of their body was in close contact, Rintaro screamed involuntarily. Even though he twists his body, both of them hold him tightly, and he can’t even escape. Of course, even if he escaped, there was no way to survive in a world of minus 30 degrees.

「No one will come even if you yell……. This is Antarctica, after all.」

「Aniki is a shy person, ssune, That’s new, ssu.」

「Don’t worry, senpai, rescue will be here in just 115 hours.」

「Just count the stains in the crevasse and they would already arrive, ssuyo.」

Rintaro’s eyes, which had almost fallen asleep, were now bright. If he continued in this condition for another 115 hours, he would definitely develop something else even if he made it out alive.

「Awah…… Awabababababababa……!!!!!」

「Rest assured, Senpai, we will never let you die.」

「I’ll die! Stop this, I am going to die！」

Rintaro’s heart was beating harder than ever before. Sweat seeping from his body made the three of them stick together even more closely. In a world of minus 30 degrees Celsius, Rintaro’s body temperature was at an all-time high.

At that moment, an unfamiliar sound reached Rintaro’s ears, mingling with his own heartbeat that shook his eardrums.

「Wait…… I hear something.」

「Really, ssuka?　Samecchi can’t hear anything but heartbeat, ssu.」

「I really heard it!」

It was the sound of a civilization that would rarely be heard in Antarctica: the keen sound of a jet engine.　 Rintaro looked up at the sky and saw red wings flying high in the sky through the crevasse.

---

[1] a drop in the bucket; a drop in the ocean; pointless exercise; waste of time; (something that is) too little, too late; 

<72: The Pure White Land of Redemption
74: Farewell, Loneliness, Till We Meet Again>