Everyone's home?

　In the evening, I used the transporter gate to get home.
　The moment I ponied up in the transporter room, I sensed the presence of all my friends on the map in my brain.
　Emily is in the kitchen, Celeste and Eve are in their rooms.
　Everyone else is already gathered in the salon.

　The ability to figure this out in an instant, I knew it was useful ......, but I also noticed a drawback.

'Can't you tell when someone you don't know is visiting or something?'

　This is a vanadium dungeon, currently off-limits to all but my companions--the Lyota family.

　However, just as I've invaded other dungeons, even if the dungeon is closed, there is a way to force your way in.

"Hmmm.
What's going on?
Wow!

　I was startled to the point of jumping up and down when someone called out to me out of the blue.

　It was Sakura.

"I... when...
When did you say when? I asked you three times.　What's wrong with you that you're the one who's been distracted?
What?

　Surprised, I check the map in my brain.
　I can see that Sakura, who was supposed to be in the salon a while ago, is right in front of me.
　It's not like her powers are buggy.

'Was I thinking so much?'
Yes, just enough to grab your chopsticks in the crease between your eyebrows.
That much?

　He chuckled.

'What?　Did you take on some more trouble?
Do I look like the kind of guy who takes on that much?
Not a lot of things, but it's the last thing you need to worry about, uncle.
Mmm.
What's the big deal?
No, I'm not abbreviating it. I'm not giving you that stuff.

　I told her what I just felt while I was rushing into Sakura's story.

I see. But aren't you thinking that too much?
No, you don't want to be prepared for something as dire as that. It would be a bad idea to be unprepared for a situation like that.
Uh, maybe.

　Sakura nodded as if to say, "Hmm.

What do you think it would be like if someone other than us, say an intruder, was there?
Hmm.

　I tried to think of a few possibilities.

"First, what if they're all killed?
It's so heavy all of a sudden.
But in that case, you're not sure you'd be able to tell by your ability.
Yeah, you never know when you're dead, that's a common pattern with these abilities.
And the next thing you know, they're all in one place.
Like robbing a bank?
That's how it feels.
But sometimes we all get together in the salon, right?
'Yeah, I know. Some say they're all locked up in their own rooms for now, but that's the same thing.
Ummm, hey, Uncle, do you know what that ability is that we're doing?　You could tell by the color or the size or the flashing of something that the status is changing.
No, I don't know.
So we won't be able to give them a sign.

　Sakura twisted her head.
　I thought about it a lot, too.

　I thought of a way to deal with it that I just realized, so that it wouldn't get muddy.

'If something goes wrong, how about running away to the basement?
The basement?
"Uncle's Basement, Testing Room.
Yeah.

　You mean that room.

　It's a room with a bit of a special feel to it, even among the dungeons we've been in.

　We converted this vanadium dungeon into a mansion-like structure with the help of Vanadium himself.

　The mansion resides almost entirely in the basement level.

　The second floor in the mansion and that large basement room I use for testing.

　It's a vanadium basement floor in terms of classification.

　It's just like a loft and underfloor storage.
　I wouldn't call the loft an upstairs, and I wouldn't call the underfloor storage a basement floor either.
　It's just a separate space in the floor.

"Why can't someone just run in there when something happens?　Only uncles use that place anyway.
'No, I'm not sure about that either. Sometimes Emily's in there cleaning up.
'Really!　I've never seen it before.
It's a fact. I haven't seen it in there, but I know it's after Emily cleaned it up.
Oh ...... I see.

　Sakura has been in this world, this mansion, for a long time now.
　She is well aware of Emily's awesomeness.

That was amazing, wasn't it, Emily?
Yeah, it's great.

　We nodded at the master of space, Emily's awesomeness.

So you're saying that it was someone other than Ms. Emily - no, it's a pattern that Ms. Emily was the only one who got away.
That's what I mean: ...... Yeah.

　I clapped my hands with a pop.

'What do you have in mind?'
Yeah, we could have one in every room.
All the rooms?
Yeah, we could put a room in every room that's not used, a room to escape to.
...... Oh.

　Sakura also clapped her hands.

'Great, that, and it sounds easy.'

　We nodded to each other and headed over to her to ask Vanadium for help.