6 days have passed since our reincarnation.

Hideki and Ayame are talking in front of the Water Filtration Girl.

Or, to put it more accurately, I am talking to myself in front of her. I pretend I don't notice that she's there.

"...apparently your Cheat Skill can become more effective when you level up." (Hideki)

"Hmmm. So that means her Potion skill, which is already so useful for our class, can become even better?" (Ayame)

"Yes. And if it does, maybe it'll even be able to heal Kengo's burn scars and Ikko's broken arms. At the very least, we won't have to worry so much about getting injured or sick." (Hideki)

"Why doesn't she want to go with the scouting team then? Didn't they say they would help her level? that she didn't have to raise a finger, except to deliver the finishing blow on whatever they find?" (Ayame)

"I'm not sure. Maybe she simply doesn't want to help us. I don't know her mind, but I'm sure she has her reasons." (Hideki)

"But what about our injured? what about Ikko? His arms are so swollen they look like thighs, and his chest so mottled with black bruises that it resembles the body of a cow. And Kengo is constantly in pain, even though when she's around he tries to put on a brave face. Shouldn't she at least try for their sake?" (Ayame)

"We shouldn't push her, Ayame. It's her decision. It's not our ability but hers. Let her do what she wishes." (Hideki)

"You're right, Hideki. Let's respect whatever she decides to do in the end." (Ayame)

The tree that Water Filter Girl is sitting behind remains silent throughout my (our) little dialogue. Of course, Water Filter is normally silent, but there is a difference between her silences. When you've observed her a while, you start being able to tell them apart. Some are anxious silences, some timid silences. This time her silence has a different quality to it. One (if one wished) could call it a contemplative silence.

Sensing that my duty is done, I wander off to another part of the camp, and let her think things over by herself.

* * * * *

Since I was a child I have practiced conversing from Ayame and Hideki at the same time. I don't enjoy it. Usually I find it very draining, particularly when I'm caught off guard. Nonetheless, it could be said to be one of my "advantages" or "capacities". As I've just done with our Water Filtration Girl, I have the option of communicating not directly, not by speaking to the intended recipient, but by having them overhear me discuss things with myself. In no other case is such a monologue acceptable in real life. Other times, my aim is not so much to communicate something indirectly, but to show something, through the drama I enact, in order to provoke a response.

 Sometimes it does not have to involve a drama, or any direct interaction between Ayame and Hideki. All I have to do is talk with both my voices at the same time.

Such an instance took place 5 days ago, when our class was transported to the "Alternate Dimension" (as the members of the otaku tribe have since named it).

I was standing in front of the Goddess, standing in front of the Goddess, listening to her saying the same thing to me in two identical white rooms. As my conversation with her went on, I quickly realized that she, Goddess though she claimed to be, was not omnipotent: she did not notice the split nature of my being...

As a result, I was mistaken as being two separate people and received two unique Cheat Skills. The first, originally given to Ayame, is called [Studious Advance]. I am not the only person in the class with this skill. Apparently, it is also possessed by Kumi, a former top student and manager of the basketball team, and Miyu, who, like Kengo, had been trying for the idol industry before our reincarnation.

I am still not sure what [Studious Advance] does. Talking to Kumi, it ostensibly has something to do with "reaching your goal by your own efforts". Miyu, on the other hand, interprets it as something along the lines of "overcoming disadvantage of talent"

...who knows!

My second Cheat Skill, originally given to Hideki, is called [Thespian Bureaucracy]. Again, as with [Studious Advance], this skill is not unique to myself. I am told that our injured ikemen, Kengo, has this confusingly titled skill as well. However, I hadn't had a chance to talk to him before he was wounded, so I do not know what his thoughts on it are. I suspect that it has something to do with the skill I acquired after the battle with the monster: [Dissolve]. My new skill, by the way, is either unusable, or I have not met the right conditions to use it.

So neither of my Cheat Skills are really unique. However, I do possess something that could be called a fourth Cheat Skill... But this was not something the Goddess gave me.

It is the ability to transfer the Cheat Skill associated with its respective "focus". When I focus completely through a single person, then both Cheat Skills will transfer to that body. Accordingly, if I split my focuses between Ayame and Hideki, my Cheat Skills will also be split across my two selves.

This is the result of the status window when I place my focuses in Hideki.

[UNKNOWN] [Lesser Human Lvl. 1]
[Magic Points: 5/5] [Hit Points: 18/18]
[Total Combat Power: 20]
[Skills: Dissolve Lvl --]
[Unique Skill: Thespian Bureaucracy]
[Unique Skill: Studious Advance]
[Unique Skill: Identification Lvl 1]

With Ayame my combat power is 10, but with Hideki it's 20.

Skills seem to come in passive and active types. Takashi's [Manifest Weapon] would be an example of an active skill, activated by the user themselves. Water Filter's skill is another example. Chiho's skill, on the other hand, would be an example of a passive type skill. For now it seems that both of my Cheat Skills are passive type abilities.

* * * * *

The mood in our camp is one of discontent, anxiety, and suspicion. People are aggravated by others talking when they're trying to sleep. A few of us, through no fault of their own, have aroused the ire of the class simply by being bad snorers. And the fact that we've had nothing to eat for the past 6 days but the same mealy fruit has done not a little to exacerbate the general impatience.

In the evening, when the scouting parties returned, disagreements would break out between the leading group and the malcontented.

Something of a faction has formed around Takashi. The event that finally brought this to light occurred yesterday evening. Earlier that day, the scouting group (consisting of Tomoyuki, Kumi, Chiori, and a few others) had gone about the camp replacing the teammates that had been injured. Takashi was not invited, and while they were away he made a group of his own among the people who remained.

When Kumi and her scouting party came back, a small confrontation ensued. I didn't see how it started, but I did catch what happened. Takashi himself was silent, but the people on his side would accuse the group in charge of giving everyone else the jobs they didn't want (digging out the latrines, making shelter, climbing trees for fruits, etc), and reserving for themselves the privilege of gaining levels, under the pretext of "scouting for other food sources".

The members of the leading group would reply that they were the ones that had found--in the first place--not only our all-important source of water, but the fruits (without which we would starve) and the giant leaves (without which our nights would be even more uncomfortable), and that therefore they were in fact the most productive members of our little society. They hiked for hours at a time, they risked the most, all the while that the others were failing to dig proper latrines, failing to clean the campsite, failing to create proper stable shelters, and so on.

To this, Takashi burst out that "people shouldn't have to do things they don't want to", that one group can't monopolize all the level-gaining, that everyone should be responsible for their own food and the construction of their own shelter, that, in this way, people would be more motivated to do things that they believed in, instead of submitting to what amounted to an unjust and illegitimate rule.

To this, the members of the leading group replied that everyone should contribute to the common weal, that someone who falls injured for the sake of the class should be taken care of by the whole class, that people should assigned to things suited to their abilities, that having people thusly distributed would maximize efficiency and minimize overlap, that everyone will have a chance to gain whatever levels they please once we manage to stabilize our situation, but for now, this sort of distribution is necessary.

To this, the people on Takashi's side would respond "If everyone is distributed to what they're most suited for, then why isn't Takashi in the scouting group?" They would accuse the scouting group of trying to ostracize Takashi, of refusing to utilize his ability out of envy, of secretly desiring to outlevel him.

The members of the leading group would reply that, though Takashi's Cheat Skill was the most combat-ready of all, for now the most important thing was for proper tools, weapons, and shelter to be made, which requires Takashi's ability to cut through hard materials. Then, changing the subject, they accused Takashi of not communicating properly when all he had to do was express his desire to be part of the scouting party, instead of turning things into a troublesome conflict.

Takashi would cry indignantly that he did not want to be a part of the scouting party at all, that he had himself been approached by people wondering why he wasn't invited, that he felt that everyone should have a chance to express themselves through their Cheat Skills, that he felt everyone should have the equal privilege of gaining levels, that they shouldn't be consigned to gathering toilet paper and making washroom pits just because they were less popular. "Less popular!" he repeated vehemently.

And so on.

* * * * *

A day ago, the scouting party had encountered a giant Caterpillar during their expedition. Killing it had given Yoshi a level up. Chiho informs me they're planning to explore that area further to see if they can find more of those creatures.

As their scouting party prepares to leave, they catch sight of the Water Filter shyly approaching them.

"Do you want to come along after all, Tomoko?" (Chiho)

"Mm..." (Water Filter)

Thanks to me.

So, with the Water Filter Girl in tow, we make our way from the camp.

As for Takashi, his scouting group had left earlier that morning, headed in another direction.

With Ayame, I sit sleepily beside Yui, against the trunk of tree that shades our injured Ikko and Kengo from the sun. Now and then, I (or another of the acting nurses) pour a draught of potion water into their mouths and onto their wounds.

With Hideki, I follow Chiho's scouting group away from the stream, helping Water Filter and the other girls as we pick our way down a forested hillside.