Chapter Text
In a fantastical alternate high school world, there existed a wide variety of extraordinary students.
For instance, a hero's party from a fantasy world, a group of undead, an imperial army of little girls, a whole faction from a Royal Selection, and so on and so forth…
They were all people from different worlds who, by a twist of fate involving the press of a red button, had unexpectedly arrived in this mysterious school world to begin an ordinary, peaceful student life.
Now, an unimaginable disappearance incident had just taken place in this school world!
“The culprit who kidnapped Barusu is among you!”
Sporting short pink hair with eye-covering bangs, dressed in a detective coat, and holding a pipe in her mouth, Ram pointed solemnly at everyone in the classroom.
“Why the heck are we suddenly doing a detective deduction?!” Satou Kazuma slammed his hands on the desk and stood up, shouting in utter bewilderment.
“M-Masaka! Could it be that I'll be treated as the culprit, and then get subjected to that, and that, and THAT?!” Darkness, the masochistic Crusader, suddenly clutched her arms with a look of disbelief and collapsed, squirming onto the floor.
“Could you please stop making a mess of things?!” Kazuma was utterly speechless.
“Wait a moment. Subaru-kun's disappearance probably wasn't a kidnapping, was it?” The class vice-representative, the Undead King Ainz Ooal Gown, stroked his chin with a puzzled expression.
“Hmph~ There are plenty of people who have it out for Barusu. Maybe he was abducted to be used in human experiments.” Ram cast a grim look around the room as she pulled deductions out of thin air.
“What on earth is she talking about?”
“Well~ who knows.”
Albedo the succubus and Shalltear the vampire were completely clueless.
“Sister, just who is the culprit?!” Wearing a matching hairstyle with short blue hair and dressed in a maid uniform, Rem had a deadly serious look on her face.
“What a complete waste of time, I suppose…!” Beatrice, with her petite little girl frame, held her forehead in sheer exasperation.
“I think that perverted man holding a shield from the next class is the most suspicious!” Ram gave a dark smirk.
“Rem understands!” Rem pulled a morningstar out from under her skirt, ready to charge out the door.
“Wait, I don't think it's that simple!” With long silver hair and the appearance of a witch, the half-elf Emilia hurriedly stopped Rem from rushing off.
“Please, calm down.” Floating in mid-air, the extremely lazy little cat Puck waved his paw.
“It feels like things are getting messier and messier…” The Goddess of Water, Aqua, rested her cheek in her palm, looking rather lost.
“Didn't Natsuki Subaru just get sucked away by a black hole? How does that count as a kidnapping incident?” Holding her evil god familiar cat, the Arch-Mage Megumin blinked at Ram in the center of the classroom.
“Allow me to point something out. Don't you all find that black hole somewhat familiar?” Ainz chimed in with a deep voice.
“It seems like a black hole also appeared last time when we were sucked into that desolate other world, didn't it?” The devilish little girl, Tanya, faintly remembered the bizarre circumstances from back then.
“Oh! That time we were taken to the world full of golems!” Tanya's subordinate, Visha, suddenly came to a realization as she recalled the scene.
A sudden black hole had sucked the entire class into a desolate other world crawling with golem automatons. That adventure had truly been thrilling! It was practically enough material for an entire movie.
“I see. So that is what happened.” The demon tactician Demiurge pushed up his glasses.
“Needless to say, it is glaringly obvious.” Ainz sighed.
“As expected of the Supreme Being.” Demiurge wore an expression of pure adoration.
“So the current situation is that student Natsuki Subaru was taken to another world once again by that black hole. It is not an ordinary kidnapping case.”
Ainz slowly explained, wanting to keep the others from being led astray again.
“Hmph~” Ram huffed softly, looking somewhat unconvinced.
“What should we do now? How do we bring Subaru back?”
“We must act quickly. We cannot delay any longer, I suppose.”
Both Emilia and Beatrice were deeply anxious.
“Well… this is quite troublesome,” Ainz remembered that they had found their own way back last time. Did they really have to rely on Natsuki Subaru to figure it out himself this time around?
“I'll go find Roswaal…” Beatrice was just about to look for that clown teacher when, suddenly, two groups of people pushed the door open and barged in.
Carrying a shield on his arm was the Shield Hero, Iwatani Naofumi, followed closely behind by the raccoon warrior Raphtalia and the little bird Filo.
There was also the thief who was one of the candidates for the other world's Royal Selection, Felt, along with the two knights: Tomato and Eggplant—no, the cheat-code Reinhard and the Greatest Knight Julius—as well as the beastman Garfiel and the merchant Otto.
“Hey, Naofumi, did you find Natsuki Subaru?” Kazuma looked at the Shield Hero, then glanced over at Julius. “By the way, who were you again?”
“Stop joking around, I am Julius!” The 'Finest of Knights' held his forehead with a darkened expression.
“We searched the entire school, but we couldn't find where Natsuki Subaru is.” Naofumi crossed his arms and shook his head in regret.
Behind him, Raphtalia and Filo likewise had failed to spot where Subaru had gone.
“Could he have been kidnapped by someone?!” Felt looked serious and earnest, still suspecting that the guy had been abducted.
“Hmph~” Ram hummed softly in strong agreement.
“It is all my fault for not staying by Subaru's side at all times, leading to him being taken away.” Reinhard sighed, blaming himself.
“That's not the case. Natsuki Subaru was merely sucked away by a black hole. He might have gone back to that world full of golems again.” Tanya explained the situation to Naofumi and Felt's group.
“The golem world? You mean that other world you guys talked about?!” Felt suddenly grew excited. “Then that guy is pretty lucky, isn't he!”
“Is that lucky? Isn't that just purely bad luck?!” Kazuma retorted.
“Wait a moment. If it really is that golem world, maybe Subaru-kun isn't in any real danger?” Ainz analyzed silently.
After they had visited that world last time, things had already been resolved, and they had even made friends with the people there. Presumably, there wouldn't be any danger.
“Then when will Subaru be back?” Emilia furrowed her brows, still very worried.
“Well… perhaps we should proceed with more caution.” Ainz secretly contacted the Pleiades battle maids who were searching outside the school, ordering them to stand by on the perimeter.
“Alright, let's go find Roswaal. He should have a way…” Beatrice was growing impatient. Just as she was about to move, the clown-dressed teacher suddenly pushed the door open and walked in.
“Every~one, thank you for waiting so~ long.”
“Speak of the devil, and he shall appear!” Kazuma raised a hand and deadpanned.
“Did you come up with any ideas, Roswaal?”
“You should call me Sen~sei!”
“I got it, so stop beating around the bush!” Looking at Roswaal's carefree expression, Beatrice desperately wanted to punch him.
“Roswaal-Sensei, you have a way to find Subaru-kun, don't you?” Emilia asked very politely.
“Of course~ Please, look at this secret—pro~p!” Roswaal swiftly pulled a secret crystal ball out from behind his back.
“What's this? A performance prop?” Kazuma knitted his brows.
Tanya, Ainz, Emilia, and the Shield Hero's party all stared, wondering what on earth this crystal ball prop was actually used for.
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