chapter02 · 064-ep57
Episode 57: Yano's Job
Sunday morning, Yano was waiting in front of the Guild's Nagoya HQ.
Not her usual uniform — a track suit that looked easy to move in. Hair tied back in a single ponytail, backpack on her shoulders.
"Ichinose-kun, morning!"
"Morning. You're early."
"I was so nervous I woke up at six."
"I get it. I couldn't sleep the day I registered, either."
"You too, Ichinose-kun?"
"Well — I was with four friends."
Yano smiled a little.
Then she looked up at the HQ building and swallowed hard.
"......I'm really doing this. Registering."
"Want to back out?"
"I'm NOT backing out!"
Instant answer.
"......I'm just a little scared. What if I get some weird Job?"
"That, I think you're safe on."
"How can you say that for sure?"
"There's probably no Job weirder than mine."
"......Oh."
Yano snorted a laugh.
"True!"
"Don't say 'true.'"
Mishima-san was at reception.
"Ichinose-sama. Today you are accompanying a friend's registration, I see."
"Yes. This is Yano, from my class."
"N-nice to meet you. I'm Yano Rui!"
Yano bowed, stiff as a board with nerves.
Mishima-san smiled, textbook-perfect.
"Welcome, Yano-sama. I am Mishima, of reception. Now then, let us begin with your Job appraisal."
Mishima-san led us into the appraisal room at the back. On a pedestal sat a crystal-like terminal.
The same one I'd held my hand over during spring break.
It read 【Chuunibyou】 back then. All four of my friends exploded laughing.
"Please hold your hand over this."
"......Y-yes."
Yano slowly held her right hand over the terminal.
Light coiled into a whirlpool inside it.
A pale green, like young leaves.
A translucent screen floated up before Yano's eyes. A screen only she could read.
"If you touch 'Disclose' at the edge of the screen, we will be able to see it as well."
Yano gingerly extended a finger. The words on the screen became readable to me too.
Job: Tamer
"......'Tamer'?"
Yano cocked her head.
Mishima-san smiled warmly.
"A Tamer is a Job that can tame dungeon monsters and make companions of them. It's on the rarer side — perhaps a few percent of all explorers nationwide."
"Monsters...... as companions?"
"Yes. You can fight alongside your tamed monsters, or have them assist your exploration."
"......Wait. Then—"
Yano's eyes lit up by the second.
"That means I can make friends with monsters?!"
"Many Tamers do describe it that way, yes."
"......!"
Yano clapped both hands over her mouth.
Then she whipped around to face me.
"Ichinose-kun, friends! It says I can make friends with monsters!"
"I heard, I heard."
"Isn't that amazing?!"
"It is. That's a seriously great Job!"
"Right?!"
Yano was bouncing up and down in front of reception.
Mishima-san watched her, looking fond.
Thank goodness.
Not a weird Job.
No — more than that.
I think that was the first time I'd ever seen Yano look that happy.
We picked up her Guild card and got on the subway.
Destination: Kanayama dungeon.
F-rank. The first dungeon I ever dove.
Kanayama, closed since the spring-break incident, had finally reopened last week. The inner sections, it seemed, stayed sealed.
I felt a small weight lift at that.
"Kanayama — that's the first place you dove, Ichinose-kun?"
"Yeah. Spring break. Only weak stuff spawns — goblins, rats — so it's for beginners. ......Though it was closed until last week."
"Huh? Really?"
"Stuff happened."
"'Stuff'?"
"Stuff."
Yano didn't press further.
"......I wonder if I could befriend a goblin."
"Goblins are probably a no...... they smell."
"They smell?!"
"Pretty badly."
Yano was poring over the beginner pamphlet from the Guild, face dead serious.
Three sticky notes marked the Tamer pages.
"......It says a Tamer can't make a monster a companion unless the monster 'trusts' them."
"Trust?"
"'Without killing it, without weakening it too far — talk to it, and get through to it.' That's what it says."
"Talk to it."
"Yeah."
Hugging the pamphlet to her chest, Yano looked out the window.
"......You know, I've always been the type who wants lots of friends."
"You have?"
"Yup. My classmates, club people — I want to get along with everyone. I'm greedy that way."
Yano smiled, a little embarrassed.
"So when I heard I could make friends with monsters too — I don't know. It just made me really happy."
"Very Yano."
"Right?"
Yano grinned.
In front of Kanayama dungeon, fitting for a Sunday, a few parties of explorers were around.
Some of them turned at the sight of me.
"Oh — Dungeon Strolls."
"The C-rank one......"
"Huh? At an F-rank?"
"Who's the girl next to him?"
"Thank you very much."
I smiled and passed through the gate without stopping.
Yano's eyes went wide.
"......Ichinose-kun, you're used to this."
"My big sis taught me."
"As expected of an S-rank......"
Yano held her Guild card to the gate.
A green lamp lit up.
Yano swallowed, softly.
"......It opened."
"It did."
"......Can I go in?"
"Yeah. Let's go together."
The two of us passed through the door.
Kanayama dungeon's first floor was a cave of rock.
Nothing had changed since the first time I came. Rough-hewn stone walls. Moss glowing here and there. Cool, still air.
"......Wow."
Yano looked up at the glowing moss on the walls and let the word slip out.
"It's beautiful......"
"Right?"
"What you told me was true. Dungeons really are beautiful."
"Yeah. They're completely different place to place. Toda's rice paddies, Shidami's ancient burial mound—"
"Ichinose-kun, you're talking fast."
"Sorry. Habit."
"It's fine. You look like you're having fun."
Yano giggled.
From deeper in the corridor came a dry, skittering sound.
A gray rat.
Cave Rat Difficulty: F
A rat about the size of a cat. The kind I'd felled dozens of back in spring break.
The rat looked this way and squeaked, sharp.
"......Ichinose-kun, that one."
"A rat. The weakest thing here."
"......You think I could make it my friend?"
"Want to try?"
Yano nodded.
Then, as if recalling the sticky-note page of the pamphlet, she lowered herself into a crouch.
Bringing her eyes level with the rat's.
"......Hello."
She spoke to the rat.
The rat flinched, whole body trembling, and bared its teeth.
"I'm not scary. I'm Yano Rui. Today's my first time in a dungeon."
The rat backed away, inch by inch.
Yano didn't move.
Still crouched, one hand held slightly forward, she just waited.
"......Won't you be my friend?"
The rat stopped.
Its nose twitched, sniffing.
One step forward.
Another.
Its snout touched the tip of Yano's finger — just barely.
And in that instant, Yano's palm glowed a pale young-leaf green.
A pact has been formed with the Cave Rat
"......Huh."
Yano froze.
The rat had set its front paws, daintily, on Yano's palm.
The face that had been baring teeth was now a blank, bewildered one.
"......Ichinose-kun."
"Yeah."
"......I made a friend."
"Yeah. You did!"
"I did......!"
Yano's eyes slowly welled up.
Then she gently scooped the rat up in both hands and nuzzled her cheek against it.
"Nice to meet you. Hey — can I give you a name?!"
The rat squeaked softly.
"Um, um...... it's gray, so......"
Yano pondered, dead serious.
"......Heine!"
"Heine."
"Heine the Gray."
"Cool name."
"Right?"
The rat, newly christened Heine, clambered up onto Yano's shoulder and curled up there, satisfied.
For the next couple of hours, the two of us made the rounds of Kanayama's shallow floors.
Yano could barely fight at all. Of course not. Registered that very day — Lv 1.
But Heine turned out more useful than expected.
Heine would shove his nose into gaps in the rock and sniff out hidden monsters. In front of trap spots, he'd squeak-squeak to warn us.
"Heine, you're amazing!"
"Rats are this smart?"
"Heine's the smart one. Not rats."
Yano puffed out her chest, petting Heine.
Monsters that did show up, I dispatched without effort.
Beside me, Yano — Heine along — tried talking to a few of them.
The goblins, unsurprisingly, were a no.
"They SMELL!"
"I told you."
The blue slime, once spoken to, quivered — wobble, wobble — and wiggled away.
"......I got dumped."
"First time I've ever seen someone get dumped by a slime."
"Don't laugh!"
Deep on Floor 2, Yano gained one more companion.
A small glowing insect. Something like a firefly, feeding on the rock moss.
"......Hikari."
"That one's literally just 'light.'"
"Cute, right?"
Heine rode her shoulder; Hikari sat atop her head.
Somehow, she looked like she was having the time of her life.
No — she actually was.
So was I.
Evening. We left Kanayama dungeon.
Just before the gate, Yano stopped.
"......Heine and Hikari. Can they come outside?"
The pamphlet said this:
Monsters contracted by a Tamer cannot leave the dungeon. When their Tamer exits, they return to the pact crest and dwell within the Tamer's body. The next time the Tamer enters a dungeon, they can be called out again.
"......So if I come again, I'll see them again."
"Yeah."
"......Right."
Yano petted Heine on her shoulder, then Hikari on her head, one after the other.
"I'll come again. Promise."
Heine squeaked softly.
Hikari flared, briefly bright.
Both little bodies turned to pale young-leaf light and sank into the back of Yano's hand.
On the back of her hand, two small leaf-shaped crests surfaced.
"......So they're in here."
Yano stared at the back of her hand for a long moment.
Then she raised her head and looked at me.
"Ichinose-kun."
"Hm?"
"Thank you. For bringing me."
"I just came along."
"No."
Yano shook her head.
"If you hadn't talked about dungeons like they were that much fun, I probably wouldn't have come."
In the evening light, Yano smiled.
"......Dungeons are fun."
"Right?!"
Instant answer.
That, more than anything today, made me happy.
On the subway home, Yano kept staring at the crest on her hand.
Now and then she'd trace it with a finger, grinning to herself.
"......Let's come again."
"Yeah. Anytime."
"Next time, I'm making friends with that slime."
"After it dumped you?"
"Revenge!"
We waved goodbye at Yano's station.
Alone in the car now, I gazed out the window.
It was a good day.
Yesterday, I fought alongside Vira at Shidami. Today, at Kanayama — Yano, and Heine, and Hikari.
Completely different days — and both were absurdly fun.
Dungeons really do hold every different kind of fun.
Tomorrow, back to school.
Finals are coming soon.
The face reflected in the window was grinning.