chapter02 · 039-ep34
Episode 34: Did Something Good Happen?
The moment I woke, I opened my status.
Lv: 100
Not a dream.
"Hehe."
A strange sound escaped me there in the futon.
- Three digits.
At the very bottom of the skill column, the two new ones from yesterday sat lined up.
【Summoning】
【Appraisal】
The Summoning one, I hadn't tried yet. I spent the whole ride home on the bus last night thinking about it, but I'd decided against testing it at the house. Whatever comes out, I don't have the courage to call it up in my own room. If a dragon or something popped out, the house would simply cease to exist.
So: today, after school, in a dungeon.
The instant I decided that, it was over. My face started grinning all on its own.
After kicking my legs under the covers for a while, I got up.
"Mornin'."
"Morning. ...You're in a good mood this morning, Saku."
Mom turned around in the kitchen.
"Huh? Am I?"
"Your face has gone completely soft."
"It's your imagination."
"You were home late, though. Did something good happen?"
"Mm. A little."
I could feel my own face going soft again even as I said it.
Mom didn't ask anything more. Just said "I see. That's nice," and set a fried egg on my plate. That's Mom for you — she never digs deep at times like this.
At the table, Seina was gnawing her toast.
She saw me and froze mid-bite.
Then she scooted back a little, chair and all.
"Ugh, GROSS."
"That's the first thing out of your mouth today?"
"Why are you grinning?! Come on, you're being gross!"
"I'm not grinning."
"You ARE! Look in a mirror! You are SO gross!"
"Don't say 'gross' twice."
"Wait, what — did you get a girlfriend?!"
"I did not. Why does everyone go there?"
"Then what?"
"My level went up!"
"That's IT?!"
"What do you mean 'that's it'? It's a huge deal."
Seina's shoulders dropped with a clunk.
"Laaame... Big bro, you seriously have nothing in your head but dungeons!"
"I do."
"He just owned it!"
"There's nothing else to own."
Just as Seina was getting back to her toast with a "BOR-ing," footsteps came down the stairs.
Big sis. Lounge hoodie, hair fresh from the wash. The usual morning look.
Big sis took one look at my face.
Then, without asking a thing, she took barley tea out of the fridge.
Poured a glass. Took a sip.
Without so much as glancing my way, she said exactly one word.
"Congrats."
"Uh?"
I couldn't bring myself to ask what of.
Big sis said nothing more. Another sip of barley tea, then a small smile with just the corner of her mouth.
A complete, one hundred percent smug face.
How does she always know, that woman.
Seina, toast still hanging from her mouth, looked back and forth between me and big sis.
"Huh? What? What is it?"
"Nothing."
"'Nothing,' says the pair of you with the world's least 'nothing' faces!"
Even after I got to school, the grin wouldn't stop.
Pedaling the bike, changing shoes at the entrance, climbing the stairs — the whole time, my head kept chewing on it.
Summoning.
What's going to come out?
The notebook's pages flipped past in my head. The soldiers. The twelve seats. Their subordinates.
Which one comes out — no idea whatsoever.
No idea. And that's the fun of it.
"Hehe."
"Ichinose-kun!"
The instant I opened the classroom door, I locked eyes with Yano.
Yano studied my face, hard.
"...Did something good happen?"
"Huh?"
"Your face. It's a whole event."
"This much?"
"This much. I could see it from the hallway. I was thinking 'somebody's coming along grinning to himself' — and it was you, Ichinose-kun."
"Ugh..."
Embarrassing. Embarrassing — and still the grin wouldn't stop.
"So? What happened?"
"A little something."
"That is not a little-something face. Girlfriend?"
"Why is everyone asking me THAT?"
"'Everyone'?"
"My little sister asked too. First thing this morning."
"Even your little sister's on your case..."
Yano's face turned briefly sympathetic.
Then Horiguchi turned around.
"Win the lottery?"
"Didn't."
"Then subscribers? Hit 200,000?"
Matoba leaned out from the back seats.
"No. Well — no idea. Haven't looked."
"LOOK! It's your own channel!"
"If I look, the grin will probably double for the rest of the day, so no."
"You're grinning plenty hard already."
Nishino said that, laughing.
From every direction came "What?" "What happened?" I repeated "a little something" over and over. Like I could ever say it. My level hit 100, so now I can call up the retainers I wrote in middle school — that.
Then, from the back seats, a low voice.
"...Level?"
Kuzumi.
Everyone looked at Kuzumi.
Kuzumi, cheek propped on his hand, watched me steadily.
"...Did I land it?"
"Landed it."
I gave in and nodded. Why does this guy always hit the bull's-eye? He's been like that ever since we harmonized at karaoke.
"Wait, your level went up?"
"To what?"
"Umm..."
"Did it go up by something you can't say?"
"Actually... 100."
The classroom went quiet for exactly one second.
Then it detonated.
"A HUNDRED?!"
"Three digits!"
"Wait — Ichinose-kun, you registered in March, right?"
"One hundred in ONE MONTH?!"
"Ichinose, what ARE you?!"
Yano was hammering the desk.
"Well OF COURSE you'd grin! Of course you'd grin! Why didn't you SAY anything?!"
"Thought it'd cause a riot."
"It IS a riot! One is being caused right now!"
It was.
But somehow it didn't feel bad. Everyone's shocked, yes — but they're laughing. Telling me it's amazing.
Uh-oh.
The grin became even harder to stop.
First period, math. I watched the equations march up the blackboard, grinning.
Second period, English. I stared at the textbook and its parade of unknown words, grinning.
Midway through third period, the homeroom teacher called my name.
"Ichinose-kun."
"Yes."
"...Are you all right? You've been smiling all through class."
The whole class giggled.
"I-I'm fine."
"Did something good happen?"
"A little something, yes."
"I see. That's nice."
And she smiled as beautifully as she writes her blackboard.
"But do take proper notes, hm?"
"Yes..."
I looked down at my notebook.
Almost pure white.
The only thing on it, barely, was a tiny doodle in the corner. Apparently drawn without any conscious permission from me.
A magic circle.
No ruler, no compass — and yet a strangely clean circle. Three years of middle school; the hand remembers.
I GRADUATED, you know.
I erased it in a hurry.
At break, I gave 【Appraisal】 a try.
The lite version, usable even in plain form. A knockoff of the King's Magic Eye of Truth — it tells you a monster's name and its difficulty, apparently.
Stealthily, I pointed it at the yakisoba bread on my desk. One of the three I owed Yano, as promised.
Not a valid target.
Fair. Not a monster.
Then, since I was at it, I pointed it at Yano beside me.
Not a valid target.
Thank goodness. Not a monster.
"Ichinose-kun, why did you just look at me and make a relieved face?"
"I didn't."
"You did!"
"Ah — here. Three yakisoba breads. As promised."
"Yaaay! ...You just dodged the question."
"I dodged nothing."
I dodged it.
Lunch break. I'd just gotten back from the school store when the corridor stirred.
A crowd had formed again.
Through the middle of it walked Tono-senpai.
Today, nobody in class sold me out. Because before anyone could, Tono-senpai came straight for me.
"Ichinose-kun."
"Ah — Tono-senpai. Hello."
"...Good mood, hm?"
"Huh, you can tell?"
"I can. It's written on your face."
Even Tono-senpai said it.
"Did something good happen?"
"A little."
"I see."
Tono-senpai didn't ask any further. Instead, out came her phone.
"A follow-up from the other day. I wanted to hear a bit more about the trap room. Also—"
She turned the screen toward me.
A Tritter post.
『Might've seen the black cloak at Akazu, the Seto D-rank. Was resting on Floor 20 and something passed right beside me. Hood up. The Nanyo guy, no?』
Oh no.
The grin retracted in one instant.
"Seen this?"
"No. First time."
"Posted last night. Tens of thousands of shares already."
There was a small light in Tono-senpai's eyes.
"The one who saved me at Nanyo. Probably him."
"I-is that so."
"He's gone outside Nagoya. Seto."
Tono-senpai said it with her eyes still fixed on the screen.
"I want to meet him and thank him properly. I never got to, that day."
"R-right."
My voice nearly flipped an octave. I wrestled it flat. A single streak of sweat crawled down my back.
No. Calm down. She doesn't know. Tono-senpai is looking for "the man in the black cloak." Not for Ichinose Saku.
Who is standing right in front of her.
"Ichinose-kun, if you're diving D-ranks — if you ever see him, tell me."
"Y-yes! Of course!"
Tono-senpai tilted her head, puzzled.
Then we went on with the other day's talk. Hugging the walls in trap rooms; where the spawns come from. I answered with hand gestures. Somewhere in there, it got fun again. Dungeon talk really is fun.
By the time we wrapped up, a bit of the grin had crept back.
"...Thank you. Very helpful."
"Not at all. Same here."
"I'll come again."
"Yes. Anytime."
After Tono-senpai left, Yano crumpled to the floor. Second time today.
"Twice... Tono Akari, twice..."
"Yano, you alive?"
"Not alive..."
Before the school day was out, my phone buzzed.
The middle-school group.
Osawa: "Hey, Saku."
Osawa: "You see Tritter?"
Osawa: "Black cloak showed up in Seto."
Osawa: "The Nanyo guy."
Miyake: "Saw it! That guy's SO cool!"
Yamabuki: "Who IS he, though."
Yamabuki: "Saku, you know anything? You dive the D-ranks, right?"
Saku: "No idea."
Right after I hit send, a tiny sting in my chest.
Sorry, Yamabuki. It's me.
Four read receipts. A short gap — then one new message, and only one.
Fujidou: "Saku."
Fujidou: "Where were you yesterday after school."
I flinched.
Phone face-down on the desk.
Eyes on the ceiling.
Fujidou is always the first to notice.
After thinking a while, I flipped the phone back over.
Saku: "A stroll."
Fujidou: "...I see."
That was all.
The not asking is the scariest part.
But, still. He notices, and he chooses not to ask.
Once I thought of it that way, it made me a little happy.
The sixth-period chime rang.
Bag grabbed, up and out of my seat.
"Ichinose-kun, stroll today too?"
Yano asked it around the last of her yakisoba bread.
"Stroll, stroll."
"Energetic today!"
"I am energetic. Extremely energetic."
"'Cause something good happened, huh!"
"It did!"
I had zero intent left of hiding it. Out of the classroom, onto the bike, toward the station.
Today is the day I test Summoning.
Same train, same bus as yesterday, out to Akazu.
I came around the corner of the stone wall.
"Huh?"
My feet stopped.
People.
Not one or two.
Twenty-odd of them in front of the authentication gate. Someone flying a drone. Someone standing a camera on a tripod. Someone holding up a phone. Someone in a folding chair, unmistakably dug in for a war of attrition.
There was even someone holding up a hand-lettered sign.
『Mr. Black Cloak — we're waiting right here』
Beside the gate, the stray cat was grooming itself, looking deeply inconvenienced.
I stayed tucked behind the corner of the stone wall, unable to move for a while.
Yesterday, this place had nobody. Yesterday, right here, I thought "I can dive with no one seeing me."
Today, this place has twenty people waiting for the black cloak.
"You have got to be kidding me."
I said it small. Even the grin didn't dare come out now. What came out instead was a little laugh.
What even is this. I ran away from people waiting for Ichinose Saku, became the black cloak — and now the people waiting for the black cloak have assembled.
Whichever way I run, somebody's waiting.
Phone out, map open.
Seto City, Akazu. Dead end. So then — next.
My finger scrolled the map. Owariasahi. Nagakute. Nisshin had stakeouts yesterday. Toyota too.
No — wait.
The stakeout people gather where the black cloak "showed up yesterday."
Which means any place he "hasn't shown up yet" has nobody at all.
I stopped my finger on the map.
The grin came back.
Well, that works.
Just go somewhere different every single day.
Today: somewhere that isn't here.