chapter02 · 057-ep51
Episode 51: The Week Before the Midterms
Monday morning. The moment I walked into the classroom, Matoba was there waiting, phone held aloft.
"Ichinose — Toda's Floor 150. True?!"
"Eh — how do you even know?"
"Tritter. In front of the Toda field office: 'Dungeon Strolls just walked out with the deepest floor's magic core!'"
"Ugh — someone saw me?"
Saturday evening, there shouldn't have been a soul in front of the field office.
No — maybe there was. On the way back, through the paddies... I have a feeling I was walking along grinning. That face is probably on camera too.
"So?! Are you C-rank now?!"
"Not yet. I'm a little short on taxes."
"A little?"
"About 480,000."
"THAT'S NOT 'A LITTLE'!"
Matoba shoved his phone screen at me.
"And look at this. The trends!"
At the very top of Tritter's trending list, there it was.
『#DungeonStrollsAlmostCRank』
"Eh — what is this?"
"It's been number one since Sunday morning."
He scrolled with his finger.
People I didn't know, lining up numbers I didn't know, going at a terrifying pace.
『Think about it calmly — a guy who just started high school is one step from ten million in taxes paid. How is that a thing』
『The Emperor's core alone was five million in taxes. Add Toda's deepest floor on top. Run the numbers and he's basically met the C-rank requirements』
『Fifteen and C-rank — probably the youngest in Japan on record』
『Normally, C-rank is a thing you make in your late twenties, your thirties』
『In Japan, at best one person a decade』
『No, 'one a decade' is underselling it. There's no precedent to begin with』
Some of the big-name explorer streamers had quoted it too.
『D→C is a wall that takes even talented people years. Watching a guy stand at the brink of it barely a month into high school — honestly, I can't make sense of it』
Someone claiming to be a former Guild employee had a long explainer up. How explorer ranks work, how high the D→C wall stands, the weight of ten million in taxes. And at the very end, a single line: "If he keeps climbing at this pace, there's no telling where he stops."
There was even a post saying it had made a morning info show.
"No, no — that's overselling it."
I handed the phone back to Matoba.
Somehow, none of it felt like it was about me.
I'd only dived Toda's paddies, one floor at a time, with Hati and Skoll. It was fun, and I couldn't stop. That was all there was to it.
And on the far side of the screen, that had become "once in a decade."
"Ichinose. Do you have any idea how insane you are?"
"I've got a bit of one now."
"A BIT?!"
A few of my classmates were watching from a distance. Their eyes were a little different from the usual "Dungeon Strolls guy" looks.
Somehow, it left me just a little restless.
In the seat next to mine, Yano rested her chin on her hand.
"Ichinose-kun. You were in a dungeon again last weekend."
"Saturday only. Sunday I studied, like a proper student."
"...Really?"
"Really, really."
"Then we're having a study group this week too!"
"Eh — this week too?"
"It's the last week before the midterms? Of course we are!"
The same thing as last week, at the exact same energy.
This week, I'd decided: dungeons were off the table.
The tests start next Monday.
I went over the notes written into the scope printout. Math, English, modern lit — those were mostly locked down. What was left: classical Japanese, chemistry, world history, and then—
"That's a lot."
Until last week, just killing the "?"s in my class notes had taken everything I had. This week was the final polish on every subject.
Monday night, I wrote out every single classical auxiliary verb.
Tuesday night, I solved every chemistry calculation problem, straight down the end-of-chapter section of the textbook.
Wednesday night, I read the world-history dates aloud, from one end of my notes to the other.
Silently. Steadily.
One floor at a time.
—No. This week I wasn't supposed to be thinking about dungeons.
But put it as "one floor at a time," and somehow I felt like I could keep going.
Thursday, after school.
This week's study group wasn't at a family restaurant — it was the school library.
"At a family restaurant, Matoba just eats fries the whole time."
"That's just mean?!"
"You were about to order a second platter last week."
Called out by Yano, Matoba had no comeback.
The six-seat table at the back of the library. The same six as last week.
What was different from last week: every face was a little more serious.
Four days to the tests.
"...Ichinose."
Kuzumi, beside me, held out his chemistry textbook.
"...Mole problems. Don't get them."
"Ah, those. I just redid all of them Tuesday."
I wrote the formulas out in the margin of his notes.
"A mole is basically 'buying particles in bulk.' Like how a dozen pencils is twelve — take six times ten to the twenty-third atoms or molecules, bundle them into one set, and that's one mole."
"...In bulk."
"And the weight — each bulk set has its own weight fixed in, so—"
Library, so: small voices.
Kuzumi listened in silence, nodded in silence, and then, in silence, started solving.
Three problems. All correct.
"...Got it."
"Ohh — a perfect run."
"...Ichinose. You could be a teacher."
"No, no — no chance."
Across from me, Nishino's head popped up.
"Ichinose-kun — chemistry for me too."
"Me too!"
Even Yano raised her hand.
"Everyone's on chemistry?!"
"Chemistry's the one killing me!"
In the end, the back half of that day's study group was basically my chemistry lecture.
The librarian shushed us twice.
Horiguchi didn't sleep this week.
Instead, he was dragging a highlighter through his world-history textbook at a terrifying pace.
"Horiguchi — did you just highlight the entire thing?"
"...All of it's important."
"If all of it's important, there's no point in highlighting anything."
"...There is. Highlighting calms me down."
That, I could kind of understand.
Matoba, vocab book in one hand, muttered away the entire time. No fries, and — surprisingly — he could actually focus.
Yano worked through three chemistry problems, then flopped limp onto the desk.
"...My brain's about to blow a fuse."
"Break time?"
"...Yes."
Yano turned just her face toward me.
"Hey, Ichinose-kun."
"Hm?"
"When the tests are over — what are you going to do?"
"Dungeons!"
"Instant answer."
"Obviously. I've been holding out two whole weeks."
"...Wasn't it one week?"
"Emotionally, two."
Yano gave a little laugh.
"...Me too, you know."
"Hm?"
"When the tests are over, just a little—"
There, Yano stopped.
"...No — never mind. I'll say it after the tests!"
"What — now I'm curious."
"After the tests!"
With that, Yano buried her face back in the chemistry workbook.
What was that about, I wondered.
Friday, lunch break.
On the way to the school store, I ran straight into the two second-years on the stair landing.
"Ah — Tono-senpai! And Akane-senpai."
"Ichinose-kun."
"...Ugh."
Akane-senpai's face went openly sour.
But then she studied my face, hard, and frowned.
"...You."
"Yes, what can I do for you."
"You haven't been to a dungeon before the tests, have you."
"I haven't. On weekdays."
"ON WEEKDAYS?!"
"I went Saturday."
"You WENT!"
"What's more, I made it to Floor 150."
"...What?"
Akane-senpai froze.
Tono-senpai's eyes went round.
"...150? The deepest floor?"
"Yes. The deepest floor."
"...Ichinose-kun — on the last day of Golden Week, you were at 125, right?"
"Right. Saturday, I went from 125 straight to 150."
"Twenty-five floors in one day......"
Tono-senpai's face had become something beyond description.
Akane-senpai, after staying frozen a while, suddenly grabbed my shoulder.
"And — are you hurt?!"
"Eh? No."
"Sore muscles?"
"Just a little."
"Did you stretch?"
"I did. After my bath."
"And the tests. Have you been STUDYING?!"
"I have. Every weekday."
"......"
Akane-senpai stared my face up and down for a good while, then — hmph — let go.
"...Fine, then."
"Akane — fussing over someone again."
"I am NOT fussing! It's confirming. Confirming."
Tono-senpai laughed a little, then looked at me.
"Do your best on the tests. When they're over, let's dive together again."
"Yes! I'd love to!"
"...I'm coming too, you know."
Akane-senpai added it in a mutter, face turned pointedly away.
"N-not that I want to dive with YOU or anything. I'm going because Akari's going."
"Yes, I know."
"...Getting an instant answer is kind of annoying too, you know."
Told off again this week.
Saturday.
I'd set the alarm for six.
I was awake before it rang.
The moment I woke up, I was thinking about Toda.
Today, no dungeon. The last weekend before the tests.
I know. I know it — and my body still turned itself toward the dungeon backpack on its own.
"No. Not happening."
I shook my head and sat at my desk.
When I came down to the living room, big sis was drinking barley tea.
"Morning."
"Mm."
Big sis looked at my face.
"Today."
"Studying. Today and tomorrow — studying!"
"...Mm."
Big sis didn't say anything more than that.
But that whole day, she sat across from me at the living-room table, reading a book. Nothing but the sound of a page turning now and then — not one word.
Less surveillance, this was.
More like — keeping me company, maybe.
Past noon, Seina came home from club and sat down beside me.
"Big bro, no dungeon?"
"No dungeon. Tests are coming."
"...Look at you, so responsible!"
"You've got tests too, you know."
"Mine start Wednesday next week!"
"Then go study."
"I wiiill. Right next to big bro. And I'm asking you about every part I don't get!"
The three of us sat at one table, each of us studying.
Big sis read her book, Seina worked through an English workbook, and I wrote out the classical auxiliary verbs one more time.
Every so often, Seina would go "Big brooo," I'd explain, and big sis would add exactly one line from the side.
Quiet — and, in its own small way, a good Saturday.
Sunday night.
The final polish on every subject: done.
Every note in the scope printout had its red check. Every "?" in my notebook: killed.
Tomorrow, the tests begin.
Monday is math and classical Japanese.
I lay on my bed and looked up at the ceiling.
I opened the Guild card screen.
Cumulative taxes paid: 9,516,000 yen
A little over 480,000 to go. Once the tests are over, it'll be reached in no time.
And then — Summoning. This time it's Hati's turn. It's a promise with Skoll.
And then — the stream. A promise with Seina.
And then — Yano's "I'll say it after the tests."
And then — the promise to dive together again with Tono-senpai and Akane-senpai.
When the tests are over, there's a whole list of things waiting.
"Heh heh."
I grinned — then hurriedly shook my head.
No. Tests first.
I closed my eyes.
In my head, I went through the math formulas, one by one.
Quadratics — translations. For x: plus moves it left.
Yano's face came to mind, and I laughed a little.
Hope she doesn't get that one wrong tomorrow.