chapter4 · 063-ep63

Episode 63: The Day of the Summons

Three days later, after school.

I headed to the place Saeki-san had sent me, returning to the Program's training facility for the first time in a while.

A while.

...Though it'd only been a few weeks since the Program stopped.

Maybe because I'd come here so many times while I was participating, just passing through the entrance felt strangely nostalgic.

The reception desk and hallways were the same as before.

The only difference was that there was practically nobody here.

No, seriously. Nobody.

I hadn't seen a single person yet.

Well, apparently only some participants had been called in, so maybe that was normal.

The designated meeting place was on the second floor.

Just as I started toward the stairs,

"Himura-kun, got a minute?"

Someone called my name from behind.

I turned to see Kashiwazaki-san hurrying toward me.

Her blond hair swayed around her shoulders. When she reached me, she paused to catch her breath a little.

"Kashiwazaki-san?"

"You're alone right now, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Good. Come with me a moment."

Without waiting for my answer, Kashiwazaki-san started down a corridor in the opposite direction from the stairs.

Huh.

What was this?

It looked like she'd specifically waited until I was alone!?

She glanced back once along the way to make sure I was following.

I mean, I was coming.

Of course I was.

I'd been single my entire life. I'd never had a beautiful older woman summon me somewhere deserted to talk one-on-one.

Of course it was about work.

Even I knew that.

But surely I could entertain another possibility for a second without getting punished.

...Nope.

Not a chance.

I'd barely even had a proper conversation with Kashiwazaki-san.

"Okay, we should be fine around here."

Kashiwazaki-san stopped in front of an unused conference room and checked the way we'd come.

She really had picked a place no one would pass through.

Wait, could it actually be that kind of thing?

"There's something I want to confirm with you, Himura-kun."

"What is it?"

"When I appraised you before, you had several Skills, didn't you?"

"Huh?"

That was so far from the question I'd imagined that I didn't really know how to react.

So Appraisal could see that much after all.

"You saw them, then."

"Of course. When did you get them?"

"When?"

"Appraisal shows me what Skills you have now, but not when you acquired them. I was wondering if you'd gained them after joining the Program~"

She was asking when I'd acquired the Skills, right?

I didn't know how much of my Job, Job-Exclusive Skills, or Observer her Appraisal showed. Better to answer only what she'd asked.

"I got them in the first dungeon I entered. All before I joined the Program."

"So when I appraised you, you already had all of them?"

"Yes."

"Ahh, I see. Of course you did..."

Kashiwazaki-san heaved a deep sigh and let her shoulders slump.

I'd just answered honestly, but she looked incredibly disappointed.

Sorry about that, I guess.

"Is something wrong?"

"So it really wasn't my eyes playing tricks on me."

"You thought your eyes were playing tricks on you?"

"Well... to be exact, I decided they were."

"That doesn't sound like you thought it at all."

"Don't worry about the little details."

It sounded like something she really should worry about.

"I'd never heard of someone gaining Skills without reaching Level 10, you know? And I'd been appraising people all morning that day. I thought maybe I was tired and saw a weird display."

"But you did see it, right?"

"I did."

"Then shouldn't you have reported it..."

"I pretended I didn't see it!"

She said it outright.

Wow.

When someone admitted something wrong that boldly, for a moment it almost sounded like they'd made the right call.

"If I reported it, I'd definitely get more work. We'd have to investigate the acquisition conditions, interview you, check whether it happened to other participants... See? It's a pain just thinking about it, isn't it?"

"But that's your job, Kashiwazaki-san, isn't it?"

"It is. That's why I didn't want to do it."

This woman was a lot more honest than I'd thought.

"Anyway, I have a favor to ask you, Himura-kun."

"A favor?"

"If anyone asks when you got those Skills from now on—"

Kashiwazaki-san stopped mid-sentence.

Her eyes, which had been on my face, shifted slightly upward.

Above my head.

What?

Was she seeing something with Appraisal?

I had a bad feeling about this.

The next moment, the corners of her mouth slowly rose.

It was a devilish smile.

I knew calling a woman that was rude.

But that was honestly what it looked like.

"...What is it?"

"Before that, can I confirm one thing?"

"Yes?"

"Battle-Armored Enchanter..."

"Huh!?"

My voice came out louder than I'd expected.

I hurriedly checked around us.

Nobody had come.

Thank goodness.

No, this wasn't good at all.

The day after I'd evolved, she'd discovered the Unique Job I hadn't told anyone about.

Appraisers were terrifying.

"You evolved into a Unique Job."

"Uh... well, yes."

So she could see my Job too.

If I'd wanted to hide it, maybe I should've stayed away from Kashiwazaki-san.

But she'd approached me this time. What was I supposed to do?

"Are you planning to tell anyone about this?"

"I haven't decided. I only evolved yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"Yes."

"That really is recent."

Well, it was yesterday.

I'd just had my six-thousand-use party and evolved right then and there.

"Not even Kujō-san or Saeki-san?"

"I haven't told them."

"You were planning to keep quiet about it, like you did before?"

"Like before...?"

"You didn't tell them about your Skills either, did you?"

"Nobody asked."

"Isn't that what keeping quiet means?"

Was it?

It'd feel weirder to go around announcing, "I've got tons of Skills," without anyone asking.

"Well, never mind."

Kashiwazaki-san gave a small nod and checked above my head again.

"If you want to keep the Unique Job quiet too, I won't tell anyone."

"Really?"

Honestly, I'd appreciate that.

I'd only evolved yesterday.

I'd tried Battle Armor Form just once.

If I reported it to the government already, they'd probably ask all sorts of questions about its abilities and evolution conditions.

I wanted to test it properly myself first, at least.

"On one condition."

Here it came.

From that devilish smile, I'd figured she wouldn't do it for free.

"What condition?"

"What we were just discussing. If anyone asks when you got those Skills, I want you to say it was after I appraised you."

"Huh? What would that accomplish?"

"That way Kujō-san won't get mad at me."

"I see."

That was incredibly easy to understand.

If he found out she'd spotted them during the first Appraisal and hadn't reported them, Kujō-san would definitely be angry.

I remembered him lecturing Kashiwazaki-san while holding Kanzaki down with one hand the other day.

Apparently she didn't want to go through that again.

"Won't I get in trouble with you?"

"You'll be fine. You'd just be answering the way I told you to."

"You're straight-up asking me to get our stories straight, aren't you?"

"Don't put it like that. It sounds awful."

How else was I supposed to put it?

"Anyway, you didn't have them when I appraised you. Your Skills increased afterward. That's our story."

"Even if you say it's our story..."

"Unique Job."

"Understood."

I answered instantly.

That was dirty.

She knew exactly what I wanted to keep quiet about and used it against me.

"Then we have a deal."

Kashiwazaki-san smiled in satisfaction.

She started to pass me, then stopped right beside me.

"Then let's keep this just between us."

She whispered softly in my ear.

Close.

No, too close too close too close.

Her breath brushed my ear, and she even smelled sweet.

I couldn't tell if it was perfume or shampoo.

I knew this wasn't the time to think about that.

But close was close, and I was at the age where a nice scent didn't go unnoticed.

Kashiwazaki-san laughed like she was enjoying my reaction, then walked away down the corridor.

I was left standing there alone.

My face wasn't red, was it?

No, I was fine. Probably.

She'd agreed to keep my secret, but somehow I'd wound up helping her conceal hers too.

And after that up-close encounter with Kashiwazaki-san, I even felt like I'd gotten a little something out of it.

Man, I was easy.

I took a deep breath before leaving the corridor.

Pulling myself together, I made it to the designated meeting place.

It was a spacious training room we'd used before.

When I went in, there were more people than I'd expected.

Hearing "some participants," I'd pictured five or six.

There were actually over a dozen, and not just students—adults too.

Among all the faces I didn't know, I spotted Mibu.

She noticed me as well and lifted a hand in greeting.

"You got called in too, Mibu?"

"Yes."

"Know what we're doing?"

"I have a rough idea."

"Wait, you know?"

"I think Kujō-san will explain the details shortly."

Apparently Mibu had heard something, since her father was involved in the Program.

"It's not the Program resuming, is it?"

"This is separate from that."

Figures.

Better set aside my hopes of getting to test Battle Armor Form to my heart's content for now.

"Ah, Ren-kuuun."

A cheerful voice came from beside me.

One I hadn't heard in a while.

Fujigaya Rio.

My senpai, a year older than me.

I hadn't seen him since the dungeon expedition a little while back.

"You got called in too, Rio-senpai."

"Yeah. Makes sense the three of us would all be here."

Rio-senpai looked between Mibu and me.

"Why?"

"Because we're pretty strong."

"You say that about yourself?"

"It's true, so why not?"

Rio-senpai didn't look embarrassed in the least.

"Still as overconfident as ever," Mibu said.

"And you could stand to have a little more confidence in yourself, Iroha-chan."

Rio-senpai laughed easily, but Mibu had a crease between her eyebrows.

Even on the expedition, they'd already seemed pretty familiar with each other. I still couldn't tell whether they got along or not.

While I was thinking that, a woman exactly my type caught my eye at the edge of my vision.

On closer inspection, it was Gokō Nanami-san.

My mentor.

Well, of course she'd be my type.

Seeing her after so long was making my heart race a little.

Then my eyes met Nanami-san's.

She gave me a gentle smile.

Ahh. What a lovely smile, as always.

...Wait, that was just a normal greeting smile, right?

She wasn't angry about something, was she?

No, most angry people wouldn't smile so beautifully.

But Nanami-san could absolutely keep smiling while saying, "Ren-kun, can I have a word?"

Had I done anything she'd scold me for?

I'd slipped into a Gate without telling anyone, fought monsters alone, um, and had another fight with Kanzaki.

Ah, no good. It was nothing but things Nanami-san would get mad about.

A lecture was looking like a real possibility.

"What's wrong, Ren-kun?"

"Nothing," I told Rio-senpai, looking away from Nanami-san.

No, I was overthinking it.

She'd just smiled at me like normal.

Just then, several adults entered the room.

Saeki-san led the way, with a few instructor-looking people behind him.

Behind them came Kujō-san, along with Kashiwazaki-san, who'd just asked me to get our stories straight.

She was looking over some documents like nothing had happened.

Impressive.

Anyone who didn't know better would take her for an ordinary, serious, capable staff member.

When they had all lined up in front of us, Kujō-san stepped forward.

"Sorry for calling you in on such short notice."

His familiar, carrying voice rang through the room.

"I'll tell you up front. This isn't about resuming the Program today. You'll have to wait a little longer for that."

I'd known it, but it was still disappointing.

It'd been suspended for over two weeks. They could start it up again soon, couldn't they?

Especially since I'd gotten a new Job yesterday and really wanted to train right now.

"It's not a test, either. We're not here to pick a few of you out of this group, so don't worry."

I heard small sighs of relief around me.

Some people had apparently been nervous because they thought it was a test.

Kujō-san looked across all of us.

I thought he'd continue immediately, but he paused for a moment.

"We called you here today to ask a favor."

A favor.

From Kujō-san to us?

"Ordinarily, this is something we should handle ourselves."

Even the people who'd been talking quietly fell silent.

Saeki-san and the instructors beside him had grave expressions too.

"But right now, we're short on people."

Kujō-san breathed out once and faced us again.

"That's why I'm asking you to lend us your strength."

With that, Kujō-san bowed deeply to us.