chapter02 · 036-ep31
Episode 31: Monday, and I Was the Only One Who Knew Nothing
Monday morning, I woke up to the pain in my back.
Where the orc got me yesterday. When I tried to sit up, a weird "nngh" escaped me.
But there was something to check before that.
Opened my status.
Lv: 90
"Yes!"
I pumped a fist under the covers.
Not a dream. Ten to Lv100.
I don't know what unlocks. Not knowing is the good part. Something me-from-back-then wrote becomes real, one more time. Just thinking about it made the back pain feel a little better.
Felt like it, anyway. When I actually got up, it hurt like normal.
I reached for the phone by my pillow — and stopped there.
Yesterday, after I cut the stream, I switched every notification off. Comments, socials, everything. Decided I wasn't looking.
One reason.
I shouted "Gather, light. Banish the night, scorch the shadows, leave no trace" in front of hundreds of people.
Two lines. Deadpan.
The comment section after that would melt me on contact if I saw it. Melt me, and I'd soak into the futon. And then I couldn't go to school. So: not looking. The end.
I dropped the phone into my bag without so much as glancing at the screen and went downstairs.
"Mornin'."
"Mornin'."
In the living room, Seina was already gnawing on toast. Morning practice day, apparently — she was in her jersey already.
Seina looked at me, toast still in her mouth, and her eyes went perfectly round.
"Big bro?!"
"Morning. What? Something on my face?"
"Are you going to school today?"
"Obviously. It's Monday. Why is 'staying home' the default here?"
"H-huh... I see..."
Seina's eyes were visibly swimming.
"What's with that reaction."
"It's nothing!"
Seina swallowed her toast and suddenly leaned across the table at me.
"Anyway — I watched yesterday's stream!"
"Oh, how far?"
"All the way!"
"Seriously? The whole thing? Man, yesterday's me really delivered, huh. That was a trap room. A TRAP room. Ninety of them."
"'Gather, light! Banish the night, scorch the shadows, leave no trace!'"
Seina raised a butter knife to the ceiling and struck an utterly unnecessary pose.
"STOP."
"'Pierce the heavens, Radius!'"
"You memorized the WHOLE thing?!"
"Grosssss! Ahahaha!"
Seina folded over in her chair, kicking her legs, howling.
"Trust me. Nobody on this earth knows better than the man himself."
When the laughing fit passed, Seina grabbed her bag and stood up. Morning practice, apparently.
Pulling on her shoes at the door, she looked back at me, face only.
"Big bro!"
"Hm? What?"
"Do your best!"
"At what?"
"Everything! Off I go~!"
The door shut. I could hear her laughing right up until it closed.
What's gotten into her. So hyped up, first thing in the morning.
I bet she finally noticed how cool I was yesterday. The chant aside, the sword-swinging part WAS cool. I thought so myself, watching it.
Chewing my toast, I sat there nodding to myself, alone.
Twenty minutes by bike to school.
The April morning wind felt good. My back still hurts, but my legs on the pedals were light. Lv90 legs. Hills stop being hills.
Somewhere around the school gate, something felt slightly off.
More students than usual were walking while staring at their phones. And the screens were mostly the same color. A dark room, a streak of white light running through it.
"Chikusa..."
"The wall, apparently..."
"Fifteen years old..."
Fragments like that drifted past my ears as people went by.
Chikusa. Where I was diving yesterday.
Did something happen? Now that I think of it, at the very end of the stream, I'm pretty sure the word "wall" scrolled past in the comments. Back then, "it's a holy sword" and "he chanted" had my head at full capacity, and I had nothing left over for anything else.
Well, whatever. Someone will tell me at lunch.
I changed shoes at the entrance and took the stairs two at a time.
Just as I put a hand on the door of Class 1-3, it flew open from the inside.
"Ichinose-kun!!"
Yano.
Her eyes were locked in dead serious.
"G-good morning, Yano. Energetic as ever this mor—"
"Come with me!"
"Huh?"
"Just come! Sit! There! SIT!"
I got dragged by the arm and planted into my own seat.
The instant I sat down, I was surrounded.
Yano. Horiguchi. Nishino. Kuzumi and Matoba from the back seats. And past them, half the class was sort of watching us.
"Uh, what? It's not my birthday."
"LOOK at this!"
Yano thrust her phone right in front of my eyes.
On the screen, a man with his face blurred stood holding a silver-white sword at the ready.
I know him.
I know him — because he's me.
『—Gather, light. Banish the night, scorch the shadows, leave no trace』
My own voice rang through the classroom.
"GYAAAAAAAAH!"
"That's you, isn't it, Ichinose-kun!"
"N-no it isn't."
"It absolutely is!"
"It's not, it's not, it's not. Who even IS that? Some total stranger. Wild, right? What a cool sword, huh? Great — okay, I'll be going n—"
"You're NOT running!"
Matoba pressed my shoulder down just as I tried to rise. Small, but freakishly strong.
"'Dun-geon. Strolls.'"
Yano said it, one syllable at a time.
"Chikusa D-rank. Fifteen years old. D-rank."
Her fingers went up one at a time.
"Ichinose-kun. What did you say last Monday?"
"Um. 'Nice weather today,' or something?"
"You said you were diving Chikusa! You said you were D-rank! And the fifteen part — you ARE fifteen, we're in the same class!"
"W-well, you know. Coincidences happen."
"THREE coincidences at once?"
"They can happen. Some people win the lottery."
"NO THEY DON'T!"
Yano's voice was loud. Kids from other classes walking the hall stopped outside the door.
"...I looked it up."
Horiguchi, front seat, raised his face from his phone.
"The Guild's public data. Registered counts by rank — you can filter by region and age."
"Wait, that exists?"
"It does. The explorer-course kids use it for career research."
Horiguchi turned the screen toward me.
"Nagoya City. Age fifteen. D-rank."
At the very bottom of the table, a single number.
"One person. There is only one."
"And the possibility that this one person is secretly somebody else?"
"He's TELLING you there's only one!"
"...Fair."
I had nothing. Not one syllable.
If such a person exists, it's me.
...Actually, seeing the number laid out like that — I'm kind of amazing, aren't I?
I got a little happy about it. This is really not the moment.
"Also, the VOICE!"
Matoba said it, still pinning my shoulder.
"It's exactly you, Ichinose. I heard it plenty at karaoke."
"There are a million similar voices in this world."
"...Same."
A low voice.
Kuzumi. Tall, a man of few words — the guy who harmonized three songs with me at karaoke.
"I can tell because we harmonized. On the high notes, your breath runs out a little. Same."
"Kuzumi! I thought YOU were on my side!"
"...Sorry."
"If you're sorry, don't SAY it."
"...But it's the same."
Everyone nodded along, deeply.
Done for. Completely checkmated. Data on one flank, ears on the other.
"Ichinose-kun."
Yano said it, slowly.
"You told me you weren't streaming, didn't you."
"I did."
"And you said if you ever did, you'd tell me. Didn't you."
"I said that too."
"Liar!"
"Sorry!"
I bowed my head, fast.
No excuses here. Last week, I lied, flat-out. That part gets a straight apology.
"I'm really sorry. It was too awkward to bring up."
"Too awkward HOW?!"
"Well, because—"
I lifted my head.
"You all watched it, right? Me shouting two lines?"
"We did."
"Having someone in my own class see that is so embarrassing it genuinely wasn't survivable. It's 'Gather, light,' you know? Deadpan? In front of hundreds? If I were in your position, Yano, I'd have a full week of teasing material lined up off that alone."
Silence.
Yano's mouth hung open.
"...Huh?"
"Huh?"
"...THAT'S your issue?"
"That IS the issue. What else is there?"
Silence again.
Yano looked at Horiguchi. Horiguchi looked at Nishino. Nishino looked at Matoba. Matoba looked at Kuzumi. Kuzumi looked at the ceiling.
"Ichinose-kun."
Nishino raised her hand, timidly.
"Um... the wall..."
"The wall?"
"..."
"Oh, the news thing? Something happened at Chikusa, right? Everyone was talking about it at the gate this morning. Man, I was RIGHT THERE yesterday and didn't notice a thing. Who do you think did it? Wish I could've seen it."
The classroom went dead silent.
Yano's phone nearly fell out of her hand. Matoba snatched it out of the air.
"...Ichinose-kun."
"Hm? What?"
"Do you seriously... not know?"
"Know what?"
"The one who damaged the wall was YOU!"
"Huh?"
Yano rewound the video.
A white line crossed the room. Orcs vanished, in order.
And then the line reached the wall, and ended there.
Yano paused it.
Zoomed in.
One perfectly straight groove ran through the wall. End to end of the room.
"Ah."
I remembered.
The line definitely reached the wall. Reached it, and ended there. I saw that much. I saw it — but then I immediately turned toward the drone and froze solid, so I never actually looked at the wall itself.
Dungeon walls.
They teach you in elementary school. No attack leaves so much as a scratch. Explosives, heavy machinery, large-scale magic — none of it works. In all recorded history, damage has occurred exactly zero times.
Zero.
"Wait. Me?"
"YES!!"
Half the class yelled it at once.
"Huh, no way. Seriously? Me? Whoa, that's ama—"
"AMAZING is not the point!"
"No, it IS amazing. It's the wall. THE wall. First in the world!"
"Why is the person himself the most hyped one here?!"
"Because it's hype-worthy! Wait — so the morning news was me too?"
"Yes! ALL of it was you!"
"Whoa. Seriously... incredible..."
I looked closely at the groove on the screen one more time.
It's straight. One clean line, end to end of the room. Deep enough to fit a finger.
【Heaven-Piercing Radiance】. The one me-from-back-then wrote with the most fire he had, at the very top of the holy-sword page.
Fires a slash of light; wipes out an area.
That's all it says.
Nowhere does it say the "area" excludes walls. Me-from-back-then probably never once considered that dungeon walls don't break.
You did it, me-from-back-then.
...Or should that be "you really did it now"? Which is it.
"Ah — wait, hold on."
A thought hit me, and I raised my hand.
"Isn't this... actually kind of a huge deal?"
"You're asking that NOW?!"
"Ichinose-kun, have you seen anything today? The morning news? The internet? Anything?"
"Nope. All notifications off."
"Why?"
"I figured the comments about the chant would melt me."
"THAT is not the issue either!"
Yano faceplanted onto her desk.
"Unbelievable... this guy slept like a baby all night, not knowing about the wall...?"
"Slept great. Ten hours."
"HOW do you sleep that much?"
"I was tired."
"What is your mental fortitude even made of?!"
The chime rang.
Our homeroom teacher came in, saw the knot of us frozen in the middle of the classroom, and raised an eyebrow a fraction.
"Alright, seats~. Everyone crowding Ichinose-kun — dismissed."
Everyone drifted back to their places.
Yano sat down and said, under her breath:
"...You're telling me everything later!"
"Yes. I'm prepared for that."
"Also, I subscribed. Last night."
"Wait, really? Thank you."
"This is not a thank-you moment! I'm still mad!"
She subscribed while being mad at me, apparently. Good person.
Honestly, not one word of the morning classes entered my head.
Faking attention at the blackboard, I kept thinking the whole time.
I damaged a dungeon wall.
First in the world.
Dangerous. Grinning. No — cut that out.
I know, okay? This is probably not a "grinning" situation. The Guild, important people, all sorts of places must be in an uproar right now.
But the feel of that swing was real.
That one stroke reached the wall.
I want to swing it again someday, properly. One more time.
Though with that chant — never in front of people. Absolutely never.
From the back of the classroom, whispers reached me.
"He's the real deal..."
"Having him in the same class is insane, right?"
"Does that make him above S-rank?"
"Nah, it's the sword's performance"
The sword's performance.
Yeah. Let's go with that. More peaceful for everyone.
Lunch break.
"Ichinose-kun, school store. You're treating me today — punishment for lying."
"Oh, so there's a fine?"
"There's a fine."
"How much?"
"One yakisoba bread."
"THAT'S IT?! Fine, I'll buy you two."
"YES!"
Yano and I stood up — and the classroom entrance went noisy.
A crowd was forming in the hallway.
I knew this sight. Entrance ceremony day — the crowd around those upperclassmen. Identical.
"Eh—"
Beside me, Yano froze.
"Wha— wait, huh, WHY?!"
The crowd parted, and through the gap walked one girl.
A second-year's ribbon. Shoulder-length hair tied back in one. Posture dead straight, no hesitation anywhere in her eyes.
Anyone at this school probably knows her. Stellarion's Tono Akari.
And I know one more thing about her.
The person caught in a trap at the Nanyo dungeon, surrounded by monsters.
The person I rescued in the black cloak, saying things like "Thy end is not this day."
Bad.
I couldn't have told you what exactly was bad. But my body moved first.
"Ah — I'll go ahead to the school store."
"Eh? Ichinose-kun?"
I pulled just my wallet out of my bag and headed for the back door.
I'm only going to the school store. It's lunch. A normal high schooler going to buy lunch is, from every possible angle, completely unremarkable. Completely.
My hand touched the back door's handle.
"Ichinose Saku-kun. Of Class 1-3."
At the front door, Tono-senpai's voice rang out, clear as a bell.
"Are you here?"
I pulled the handle.
The door came half open.
"That's him!"
Half the class pointed at the back door simultaneously.
"Back! The BACK door!"
"He's leaving right now!"
"It's Ichinose-kun! That's the guy!"
The loudest voice of all was Yano's. The same Yano who'd been frozen and trembling beside me thirty seconds ago — the instant it became a chance to talk with Tono-senpai, she sold me out without a flicker of hesitation.
Horiguchi was pointing too. Nishino. Matoba. Even Kuzumi had a silent palm turned toward me.
"You TRAITORS!"
"She's calling for you!"
"Have you already forgotten the yakisoba bread, Yano?"
"You haven't even bought it for me yet!"
Airtight logic.
Tono-senpai turned toward me.
Half out the back door, I stood there frozen.
"...Where are you going."
"Um. The school store."
"This will only take a minute."
"O-okay."
I closed the door and went back into the classroom.
The entire class wore faces of profound accomplishment. Not one of them looked like a traitor.
Tono-senpai looked straight at me.
Top to bottom, once. Not appraising eyes — verifying eyes.
"Chikusa, Floor 15. The trap room."
"Yes."
"That was you?"
For exactly one instant I considered lying, and stopped. I only just paid this morning's interest on a lie.
"Yes. That was me."
Tono-senpai let out a small breath.
"I nearly stepped on one of those traps there last month."
"Wait, seriously?!"
"Floor 12. Same kind. I noticed it in time and backed off — but if I'd triggered it, I probably wouldn't have gotten out."
"Yeah... those things really do spawn forever. You kill them and kill them and they keep crawling out of the floor, and they're stronger than the normal ones, too."
"...I know. That's why I came. To ask how you got through it."
"How, well..."
"I watched you swing that sword. Watched it over and over. But that alone doesn't tell me enough."
Her eyes were serious.
She hadn't come to check up on a rumor. She came because she genuinely wants to know.
Something about that... I liked it.
The eyes of someone who seriously loves exploring.
"At first I was fighting with the katana, but there were too many to keep up. So I called one more."
"Called."
"I have a skill that calls weapons."
"With a chant."
"...With a chant."
Somewhere in the classroom, someone snorted. I'm fairly sure it was Matoba. Just you wait.
Tono-senpai didn't laugh.
"I see."
"Ah — but that room gets a little more manageable if you hug the walls. Nobody can take your back. And if you can grab a corner before they surround you, it's far easier."
"The corner."
"Yes. Also, they spawn from the patterns on the floor, so if you keep your distance from those—"
Before I knew it, I was talking with hand gestures and everything.
Tono-senpai watched me steadily the whole time.
"Ah, sorry. I talked too much."
"No. That helps."
That was all she said, and then she went quiet for a moment.
Then, tilting her head just slightly:
"...Hey."
"Yes?"
"Your voice... somewhere, I feel like I've..."
My heart leapt.
The Nanyo dungeon. The black cloak. "Thy end is not this day."
That was the King's cadence. Nothing like how I talk now. The voice, too — it must have been lower back then.
It was. It should have been.
"...No, never mind."
Tono-senpai shook her head.
"Imagination. I've listened to the stream so many times — that's probably it."
"Ah, right? Wait, you've watched the stream that many times? Whoa, thank you!"
"...Why do you get ENERGIZED there?"
"Because having viewers makes me happy, doesn't it?"
"...You're a strange person."
For the first time, Tono-senpai smiled — just barely.
"Sorry for showing up out of nowhere. I'll come again."
"Eh, again?"
"I still have things I want to ask."
That was all she said, and she turned on her heel. The crowd parted again.
Nobody in the classroom spoke until her back disappeared.
The instant it did, Yano collapsed.
"...Tono Akari... smiled... in front of Ichinose-kun..."
"She did smile."
"In front of ME... thirty centimeters..."
"No, that was at least a meter."
"IT WAS THIRTY CENTIMETERS!"
Matoba was trembling, smartphone clutched in both hands.
"I should've filmed that..."
"Don't film that."
"Also, Ichinose — you just gave Tono Akari a strategy lecture!"
"I did."
"With hand gestures."
"Looked like fun, didn't it."
"It WAS fun. You got a problem with that?"
I said it honestly.
Talking dungeons with someone who actually gets it is fun. Tono Akari or whoever else — fun is fun.
Yano looked up at me from her spot on the floor.
"...You really do love dungeons, Ichinose-kun."
"I do. LOVE them!"
Instant answer.
Yano, for some reason, smiled a little.
"Yakisoba bread. THREE."
"It went up."
Midway through fifth period, the homeroom teacher called for me.
"Ichinose-kun, got a second?"
Out in the hallway, she made a slightly troubled face.
"The Guild phoned the school just now."
The Guild.
My spine straightened.
"They want you at Nagoya HQ today. Your guardian has already been contacted."
"Today, huh."
"If possible — right now."
She lowered her voice a little.
"...I have a general idea of what this is about. I saw the news too."
"Ah — you saw it too?"
"I did. When I realized it was a kid from my own class, I nearly sprayed my coffee."
"Sorry."
"Nothing to apologize for. You didn't do anything wrong."
She smiled, every bit as neat as her blackboard writing.
"I'll handle the early-leave paperwork. Go carefully."
"Yes, ma'am."
When I went back for my bag, I got surrounded again.
"What happened?"
"The Guild called me in. HQ, even."
"HQ?!"
"Why?"
"Probably the wall thing."
"Whoa, this is the real deal..."
Yano grabbed my bag.
"Ichinose-kun!"
"Hm? What?"
"Before you go — at LEAST look at your phone!"
"Ehhh..."
"You're taking the train to HQ, right? Look on the way. I'm begging you. If you walk into the Guild knowing nothing, you WILL say something weird, Ichinose-kun."
"I won't."
"Who was it that stood in the middle of the classroom this morning saying 'I wonder who did it'?"
"...Me."
"EXACTLY!"
Couldn't deny it.
"Fine. I'll look. Properly."
"Promise!"
"Promise."
"And THREE yakisoba breads!"
"Tomorrow for those."
As I left the classroom, Kuzumi's voice came from behind.
"...Ichinose."
"Hm?"
"The sword was cool."
When I turned, Kuzumi was looking away. His ears were faintly red.
"Heh. Thanks."
I decided that settled the score for being sold out.
From the school's nearest station, I took the subway.
About twenty minutes to Nagoya Station. Early afternoon on a weekday — the car was nearly empty. I took an end seat and pulled the phone from my bag.
Turned on the screen.
Notification badges, on every single app.
One deep breath.
Alright. Looking. I promised. Even if the embarrassment melts me, a subway seat inconveniences no one.
First: Tritter.
The account I'd made when I created the channel — Seina had insisted, "a set is the basics." I'd posted exactly once, the first-stream announcement. Followers: about thirty, if I remembered right.
Opened it.
Followers: 42,000
"Huh?"
It came out audible. The grandmother across from me glanced over.
"Ah, sorry."
Apologized in a small voice, then looked at the screen again.
Thirty became 42,000.
"No no no no NO!"
My thumb started scrolling the notifications all on its own. It wouldn't stop. Likes, reposts, quotes, follows, likes, follows, reposts. Months' worth of notifications stacked up in a single day.
Next, I opened my YourTube channel.
Subscribers: 138,000
"A hundred and thirty—"
I clamped a hand over my mouth. The grandmother looked over again.
Yesterday morning, there probably weren't even 300.
That's about 450 times. No — this is not the time for math.
Whoa. This is huge.
My heart was hammering. I'd braced for embarrassment — but this was the other thing. This was the happy kind. 130,000 people want to watch me dive dungeons.
Dangerous. I'm grinning. Grinning on the subway makes me look like a threat to society.
I straightened my face and opened the trends.
Third from the top, a familiar string of characters.
『#DungeonStrolls』
"Ohhh..."
Two below that:
『#GatherLight』
"OhhHOHH..."
I wanted to pretend I never saw that second one.
I wanted to, but my thumb had already tapped it.
They keep coming, they keep coming. Clip videos. Videos looping nothing but the chant moment. Edited videos with "Gather, light. Banish the night, scorch the shadows, leave no trace" filling the entire screen. Videos of people striking poses with umbrellas in their own rooms.
"Stop... not with umbrellas..."
The view counts were all 100,000, 200,000. The clip from the original stream said "3.8 million views."
3.8 million.
The black-cloak video from Nanyo had the whole world in an uproar at 500,000. This is more than seven times that.
I very nearly melted.
But as I kept reading the comments, something shifted.
『If you laughed at the chant, watch the groove in the wall and try laughing again』
『I laughed, then got goosebumps』
『No, it was just genuinely cool』
『Line two finished me completely』
『The way he hesitates for three seconds with his life on the line before saying it — so human, I love it』
『This kid just straight-up loves dungeons, I bet. The way he moves looks like fun』
My scrolling thumb stopped.
It says it was cool.
It says it looked like fun.
I see.
So that's how I looked.
If that's how it looked — fine by me. Because it WAS fun, actually.
The embarrassment hasn't changed one bit. It hasn't — but just a little, I survived without melting.
The next thing that caught my eye was an icon I knew.
A major explorer streamer with over two million subscribers. Someone I've watched since middle school. That person had quoted a clip and written a single line:
『If that wall damage is real, this changes the history of exploring. I want to talk to him.』
"No WAY...!"
It came out loud. The grandmother didn't look over anymore. Guess she got used to me.
THAT person. On MY video. "I want to talk to him."
I screenshotted it. Pure reflex.
Below it, another streamer's quote:
『A fifteen-year-old D-rank solo-clearing the Chikusa Floor 15 trap was already impossible. Even if it's the sword's performance, the wielder is wrong.』
『What's the holy sword's name? Anyone know?』
『Want to hear it from his own mouth』
Not saying that. 【Heaven-Piercing Radiance】 — never on stream, not if my mouth splits open. ...Probably.
There were explorer analysis accounts calculating the groove's depth from the footage, the Guild's official account posting only "under investigation" with tens of thousands of quotes hanging off it, a professor at some university commenting that "if structural damage is confirmed, this constitutes a major case for dungeon research."
And in the middle of all of it, there I was, face blurred.
Me, holding a silver-white sword, shouting with a perfectly straight face.
"This got huge, huh."
The second I muttered it, the subway pulled into Nagoya Station.
I scrambled to my feet, bowed to the grandmother, and got off. The grandmother, for some reason, gave me a tiny wave.
Above ground, the April sky was infuriatingly clear.
Guild Nagoya HQ is a five-minute walk from the station.
When I reached the building, my phone buzzed. Notifications are off — only incoming calls still get through.
The screen said "Big Sis."
"Hello?"
『Saku. Where are you now.』
"In front of the Guild. Just got here."
『Good. I'm inside too.』
"Eh? You too, big sis?"
『With Clan people. And Guild people.』
Her voice was, as always, short and calm.
『Did you look at your phone?』
"Did I ever. Big sis — 130,000 subscribers!"
『I know.』
"Also, that streamer I've watched forever said he wants to talk to me!"
『I know that too.』
"Isn't that insane?"
『Obviously. My little brother.』
I could tell even through the phone. Right now, big sis is making the smug face.
『Saku.』
"Hm?"
『Bring that energy in with you. Important people. Lots of them.』
"Lots of important people?"
『Lots.』
"Eh — how many is lots?"
『Come in and see.』
The call ended.
I stood in front of the Guild Nagoya HQ's automatic doors.
In the glass, a high schooler in uniform. My back still hurts, and yesterday's graze is still there. From every angle, an ordinary first-year.
And this ordinary high schooler, apparently, was the first person in the world to damage a dungeon wall.
Alright.
Somehow... I'm getting a little excited.
The doors opened.