chapter01 · 022-ep20

Episode 20: The Video My Little Sister Brought Home Had Me In It

I got home in the evening, tossed vague answers at Mom's "Welcome home" and Seina's "You look kinda pale, no?", and shut myself in my room.

Sitting on the bed with the door closed, I noticed the hand pulling out my phone was clammy with sweat.

I opened the streaming app explorers use most, put my finger on the search bar — and stopped. ...Wait, what do I even type?

I don't know that girl's name, her age, or who she's with. All I know is she was in the Nanyo dungeon this afternoon, lightly equipped, using a slim sword.

Left with no other option, I searched "Nanyo dungeon" — and the very first result popped up instantly.

『[Solo Challenge] Stellarion's Tono Akari Dives a D-Rank Dungeon Alone』

Stellarion? As in, THAT Stellarion?

Forget having heard of them — I just plain know them. An explorer idol group put together by a Nagoya production company. They're on TV, and their faces are plastered all over the station ads. Five members, all of them based in Nagoya.

The girl I saved was one of THEM? Tono Akari. Seeing the name, the face finally clicked into place. And then the number below it sank in too.

View count: 420,000.

Huh? 420,000?

I looked again and it hadn't gone down. If anything, it was climbing. Until yesterday, this channel probably averaged a few tens of thousands, and solo dives aren't even a frequent format for them. And now it's at 420,000?

Nothing but bad premonitions from here on out. The thumbnail was fine — her smiling mid-stream — the problem was the related videos lined up underneath it.

『[SHOCKING] Mystery Figure Instantly Kills 14 Bare-Handed』

『"Thy End Is Not This Day"』

『Black-Hooded Man: Identity Theories, Compiled』

They're clips. Already uploaded. And all three are already pulling tens of thousands of views.

And hold on — the second one is my line AS THE TITLE. What is going on.

I set the phone down without a word and stared at the ceiling. ...I don't want to watch this. But if I don't check, I'll never know a single thing.

I opened the archive and dragged the seek bar to near the end.

On screen, Tono Akari got caught in the trap, and the frogs closed in. Too unbearable to watch — I skipped ahead a little, and something black entered the frame.

Ugh, I'm on camera. I mean, obviously I'm on camera.

The below-knee hem of the black cloak sways with every stride.

My face doesn't show. The hood's shadow swallows everything from the nose up — and since the camera was filming from below, that part came out pitch black.

Phew. Thank god. Not identified — at least not by face.

『—Fear not.』

My own voice, coming out of my phone.

『Thy end is not this day.』

"Pfft—"

The phone slipped out of my hands. It only dropped onto my knee, but the playback refused to stop.

『—Stay back.』

"Stop."

『—None shall pass beyond my back.』

"I said stop."

I scrambled to grab it and hit pause, but my finger slid off and it started playing again.

『—None shall pass beyond my—』

"GYAAAAAAAAH!"

I buried my face in the pillow and kicked my legs, and the bed creaked and groaned.

The lines I wrote myself, in my own voice, playing from a video with 420,000 views. What kind of torture is this?

After being dead for about thirty minutes, I picked the phone back up and opened the comments. Knowing full well I shouldn't.

『Who IS this guy???』

『14 bare-handed is just straight-up abnormal』

『The lines are so dated I laughed, but the moves are the real deal』

『He's hiding his face, so he's got a past, right?』

『There's a theory he's a retired top-ranker』

『Not giving his name is so cool』

『'I am not one worth naming' completely stole the show』

『So glad Akari-chan's safe』

Grown adults, theorizing in deadly earnest. Retired top-ranker? I literally JUST became an explorer, people.

No — wrong, all of it is wrong. A Lv 69 high schooler's mouth ran off on its own, that's the whole story.

And then the door opened without a knock.

"Big bro, big bro, BIG BRO!"

"WHOA?!"

I slammed the phone face-down onto the bed with enough force to crack it.

"How many times do I have to tell you to KNOCK before it gets through to you?"

"I did! Knocked twice!"

"I didn't hear it!"

"That's just you not listening, big bro!"

Seina marched straight in, phone in hand. Her eyes were absolutely gleaming.

"Hey, look at this! It's blowing up SO hard today."

"Don't want to see it."

"I haven't even said anything yet!"

"Anything you bring me with that face is basically never good news."

"Just look!"

She pressed the screen right into my face. Too close. On it, a black cloak was drop-kicking a frog into next week.

I know. That's me.

"Right? Insane, right? Bare-handed. BARE-HANDED. Fourteen of them! FOURTEEN!"

"O-oh, wow. Amazing."

"That reaction was paper-thin!"

"I'm tired today, alright?"

"Then listen to this part. Here — HERE!"

Seina cranked the volume to maximum.

『—Thy end is not this day.』

My own voice, at maximum volume, ringing through my own room. No, seriously, stop.

Seina looked up at me, grinning from ear to ear.

"Big bro, there's someone out there of your species!"

"Vol— volume! Turn the volume DOWN!"

"Why?"

"The neighbors will hear!"

"That's the most pointless thing you've ever gotten mad at me for."

Seina hopped onto the edge of the bed and cheerfully rewound the video.

"One more time!"

"Don't."

"'Thy end is not this day!'"

"Don't imitate it."

"You used to say stuff too, big bro! 'My right arm aches' and all that."

"I never said that."

"You did! I've got a recording."

"What?"

"Second year of middle school. Summer. Right after a bath, in front of the mirror."

"When did you even record that?! Delete it. Delete it right now."

"Kyaaah!"

"Quit the monotone."

Seina held the phone above her head and ran, and I gave chase on ribs that were only barely healed. Then we ended up wrestling on the bed and slid off it together.

"Ow ow ow! I'm still an injured man here!"

"Oh, right."

"'Oh, right,' she says."

Seina got up, plopped herself down on the floor, and started the video right back up. Hey. Show a shred of remorse.

"But man, I thought they'd gone extinct, and one was still alive."

"Don't call it extinct."

"You're a natural monument. Somebody's gotta protect you."

"Who's a natural monument?"

"And this guy is STRONG, you know. That's the unfair part!"

"Unfair?"

"Your dark history was weak, big bro. This guy is strong, so he gets a pass."

I couldn't help looking at the ceiling. That was, hands down, the most piercing thing anyone had said to me all day. And she absolutely, definitely has no self-awareness about it.

"Strength really matters, huh."

"A middle schooler is not supposed to have that one figured out."

"No?"

I wanted to yell that the strong one is ME. But the moment I said it, my life would end in this room.

"Hey, big bro, why don't you give it a try?"

"Huh?"

"It's trending right now. You could buy a black cape and everything."

I bought one. Yesterday. For 180,000 yen.

"No — I already graduated, so."

"Uh-huh."

Seina stared at me. Fixedly. ...W-what?

"Then why are you sweating so much?"

"It's hot."

"It's April."

"I run hot. Always have."

"Last April you were complaining it was cold, weren't you?"

"Throw away your memory!"

While we were carrying on, footsteps came up the stairs.

"...What's going on?"

My big sister. Her usual loungewear hoodie, hair still damp from the wash.

"Big sis, listen! There's this video blowing up today, right?"

"Seina, stop!"

"It's big bro's own kind!"

"For the last time, I am NOT of his kind!"

No. Of all people, do NOT show it to this person.

But Seina, ignoring my interception entirely, thrust the screen out at her.

My big sister leaned in to look. On screen, the black cloak drop-kicked a frog, and it played all the way through "—None shall pass beyond my back."

Then she went silent for about three seconds.

"...Huh."

She raised her head and looked at me. Our eyes met — and she said nothing more. ...No, come on, say SOMETHING.

Bad. I'm sweating worse than before. "I run hot" got me out of it earlier, but this volume is beyond what "runs hot" can plausibly explain.

"See? Same as big bro, right?"

"...It is."

"Right?!"

"Mm. The spitting image."

Seina threw her fists up in triumph. She has NO idea what's actually going on — how is she landing a perfect bullseye?!

"Hold on — you're getting on board with this too?!"

"I am. It's a strong resemblance."

"It is NOT!"

"It is, it is!"

My big sister turned her eyes back to the screen, smiling.

"He's strong."

"...Yeah."

"All that, bare-handed? Even I couldn't."

Please, stop.

She knows that's me. She knows — and in front of Seina, she says nothing. THAT is what's the worst for my heart.

"School's the day after tomorrow. Bed."

"Okaaay!"

A while later, the two of them left the room. Just before the door closed, Seina swung just her face back in.

"Hope you can be a strong dark history someday too, big bro."

"GET OUT!"

"Kyaaah!"

"I SAID quit the monotone!"

The door closed, and I collapsed into my futon. I never want to do anything ever again today.

What even IS a "strong dark history."

Seina's phrasing is brutal every single time, but this one was on another level. And the worst part — for all its brutality, there isn't a single word of it I can deny.

I picked up my phone and looked at the screen one last time. The view count had passed 500,000. It's STILL climbing?!

The day after tomorrow is the entrance ceremony.

Now — how did being a normal high schooler go, again?