After Annie accidentally beat that Water God to death, no one among the group made too much of a fuss about it—except for the somewhat neurotic Black Rabbit. Before long, everyone had entered the city in the Little Garden world alongside Black Rabbit and her other friend, a man named Jin Russell.
Of course, it was only a city on the outermost fringe.
"So, in other words!"
"The 'community' you keep talking about is more or less like the 'guild' Annie mentioned, or an organization like a 'company' as I understand it. Am I right?"
"Unfortunately, someone has beaten it to the brink of destruction. There are only a handful of you left, and even your community's name, flag, and home have been taken away?"
"Am I wrong?"
As they sat chatting comfortably over tea in a little shop by the street, Izayoi Sakamaki heard Black Rabbit explain roughly what had happened. He suddenly grinned and asked teasingly.
"..."
Jin Russell, the leader of a community that had even lost its name, didn't dare speak. He simply bowed his head low, looking timid and dejected.
From his reaction, it was easy to guess that Izayoi had accurately summed up and exposed the situation from the few things he'd heard the two of them say.
"Mm..."
"Yes."
"Almost all the members of our original community were dragged into a Gift Game by a Demon Lord and forced to participate. Then... then it was destroyed..."
"We lost our name and flag..."
"All that remains of our home is a single castle where people can live. Nothing else can even grow there—not even grass..."
"Our community used to be very powerful. We had planted our flag across almost the entire East District, but in the end..."
Black Rabbit didn't continue.
But the rabbit