“Okay,” Itsuki said, his voice faltering a little. “Justice really is a difficult concept, isn’t it?” he pondered. I could tell he was trying to change, and that prompted me to ask him something.

“Once the waves are finished, what do you want to do?” I asked. We were still locked in a fight with no end in sight. Once I’d achieved a satisfactory result, I planned on returning home, but I wondered what Itsuki was planning.

“I’m thinking of staying in that world and doing some traveling,” he told me.

“Traveling? Where to? Why?” I asked.

“I want to help people in trouble. I’ve decided to try and bring satisfaction to other people rather than myself. To choose to continue to think about things. Even if people end up throwing stones at me, I won’t make excuses,” he said. He had it worse than I’d expected—the “justice” sickness. But as for the arrogance, the self-justification he’d been full of before, there seemed to be less of it now. I really wanted to believe he was making progress. Itsuki had caused all sorts of problems, but he had saved people too. Rishia was a prime example—even if he had messed up after that.

In any case, Itsuki was changing.

“Let’s both continue to do our best, Naofumi. We can start by using the time waiting for Kizuna to recover as productively as possible,” Itsuki said.

“Of course. You can start by getting some rest,” I said.

“I will,” he replied. I decided to do the same.

More conflict awaited us tomorrow.