ch341-ch360 · 352-ch352

Chapter 352: Kasumi-san's Affair

"Can't you stay over, just for tonight?"

One man telling Kasumi-san to stay the night......

Father-in-law, isn't it.

December 31st, New Year's Eve.

Today we visited Kasumi-san's family home; after being treated to sushi at lunch, we took our leave.

Incidentally, this time it wasn't a surprise—they told me properly in advance that we'd be coming.

"How many times must I say it. I'm at work early tomorrow morning. Things get busy for a while—my next visit won't be until February."

Kasumi-san cuts down the clinging father-in-law without mercy.

When the year turns and standard time hits midnight, new dungeons are born at random all over the world.

The Adventurer's Association gets swamped dealing with it.

Standard-time midnight is 9 AM on January 1st in Japan.

Kasumi-san has to be at the branch by six tomorrow morning, apparently.

"Mmm—then at least leave Haruki-kun behind. Haruki-kun, let's go on the first shrine visit of the year together!"

"Don't say such silly things! Keep that up and I'm not bringing Haruki-san here ever again!"

I can't refuse him myself, so I'm saved by Kasumi-san doing it for me......

"Haruki-kun, thank you for the souvenir. Do give your father and mother our regards. Tell them we should meet again soon."

Mother-in-law, meanwhile, wants to meet MY parents......

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"This view, too—it's been a while."

On the way home from Kasumi-san's family home: a Tokyo Tower date.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm? We were just here the other day, you know?"

"Ah—right, we were...... It's just that, somehow, this past month's memories are positioned BEFORE the six months' worth, order-wise."

It feels like the six months of memory from before the amnesia got added on after the memories of the time I'd lost it.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm. That's a complicated one."

"And on top of that there's a month's worth of dream memories, so it all feels like ages ago."

I register the events from while my memory was gone as things that happened over half a year ago.

And beyond that, I fought on without sleeping for a month and a half......

In reality only a month and a half passed, but inside the dream it felt far, far longer.

Going by when the 'silver spear' showed up, it must actually have been running parallel to real time.

But for me, it feels like I woke from the dream and the memory continued on seamlessly from there.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm? A dream, you say?"

"Yes. While my memory was gone, I was dreaming the whole time. Saying 'the me on the other side' is a weird way to put it, but it felt like my lost memories were in there, in the dream."

That makes no sense at all, huh.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm. Might I ask what the dream was about?"

The number of 'mms' is climbing, isn't it......

If she goes full mmm-mmm-mmm mode like this, she'll get absorbed in thinking and stop answering altogether.

"A dream about fighting a Wraith. My attacks passed right through, and I couldn't beat it at all. The mechanism was probably that beating the Wraith would bring the memory back."

"Huh?"

"Eh? Wait—didn't you know? At the time, before the treatment, my memory had already come back the moment I entered the dungeon...... If I hadn't beaten the Wraith, it probably wouldn't have come back. Well, maybe that trio's 'Heal・Extreme(Evil)' could have brought it back anyway......"

Or maybe the 'Heal・Extreme(Evil)' would have reached into the dream and smitten the Wraith, for all I know.

"No, I knew that. It's just...... I was so sure...... that, um...... my kiss was what brought it back...... Isn't that why we came here today? For the big reveal? Something surprise-like?"

There's no surprise here.

But—a kiss, really......

"Pfft. Surely that's...... pfft."

"Ah! You laughed! But isn't it strange for memory to come back so suddenly? When I tried to think what happened right before, the kiss was the only thing I could come up with! Dr. Amamiya said the lost memories might never return! If a miracle happened, what else could it BE but the kiss! Laughing is mean!"

Given the situation, maybe—but it was just so terribly maidenly of her......

"Would've been nice if it were true...... No—let's just say that's what happened!"

"Fine, I don't care anymore! So you lost your memory all on your own and got it back all on your own! Understood perfectly! Hmph!"

Ah—now she's sulking.

But it didn't come back by my power alone......

"Hear me out before you get mad, OK? It's thanks to you that I could beat the Wraith. In the dream, when I couldn't beat it and was completely stuck, you handed me the 'silver spear.' That's why my memory came back, you know? So—thank you, Kasumi-san."

"Eh? The silver...... spear? The me in the dream?"

Ooh, good reaction.

Actually I just snatched it off the black armor, but let's dress the story up here.

I genuinely do think it was thanks to her, and my gratitude is real.

"Yes! Even against the spectral Wraith, the 'silver spear' you handed me in the dream dealt real damage. What came after was the hard part, though......"

It took time just to figure out the 'silver spear' worked, and it was still a long haul after that.

"Wraith...... spectral...... undead...... dream......"

"Kasumi-san?"

Mmm-mmm-mmm mode?

This is going to take a while......

"Haruki-san, wouldn't that be a Lich, not a Wraith?"

"Eh? Um, it was a see-through spectral skeleton. Is it a Lich if you call it one? Well, the name doesn't really matter......"

Does she have some hang-up about this?

"It matters a great deal! In the dream, did you not fight anyone else's skeleton besides yours?"

There IS a hang-up......

Huh? Did I talk about the skeletons?

"You know an awful lot. Not just mine......"

"Haruki-san—wasn't it skeletons of me, Kinoshita Ao, Furuta Yukiya, and Hoshino Chiharu?"

'the helmet warrior,' 'the black armor,' 'Blue Shadow,' 'the all-rounder samurai,' and 'the fake Aikawa,' a.k.a. 'Sword Saint-chan.'

Those are the five skeletons I confirmed in the dream.

But I haven't told her about the dream—not even on the phone calls.

She knows not just how many skeletons I saw but exactly who they were. That's wrong......

"......How do you know that?"

I venture, timidly.

"Well...... how to put this...... Haruki-san, are you familiar with the rumors about the Floor 50 boss monster?"

Kasumi-san says this in a low voice, glancing around.

A rumor? Why this, all of a sudden?

But a rumor, huh......

I think I heard once about a man on the job forum who tried to form a 'Holy Knight Order' made up of nothing but 【Holy Knight】s.

Why 【Holy Knight】, though?

That's because the Floor 50 boss monster is......

"Li—"

"Shh! Not here. We'll continue this when we're home."

......Tch?

Which would mean what I was watching was a dream of Floor 50...... huh?

Whaaaat, seriously—.

Isn't that a huge discovery?

No wait—if it's a rumor, that means someone else has had a Floor 50 dream too, right?

True, this isn't the place for it.

It's a lot better than Christmas was, but Tokyo Tower is still packed.

Looking around, there are especially many foreign tourists today.

They're IN Japan—no surprise if they understand Japanese.

Better safe than sorry.

"All right. It's our first time here in a while—let's just enjoy the view today."

"Again—it has NOT been a while?"

We can talk dungeon business anytime.

Right now, let's enjoy the date.

Come to think of it, our 'dates' are always dungeon dates—without an occasion, the two of us hardly ever go out just the two of us.

"Well, for ME it's been a while. Besides, that guy wasn't me in the first place, was he?"

"Wasn't it? Turning pale over a goblin—your cute side is exactly the same?"

Mmm-mmm-mmm.

Is she still mad about me laughing at the kiss thing?

"Then that settles it—that wasn't me. I was fine my first time fighting a goblin, after all."

The sushi......

Lunch was top-grade.

"Still, this is a problem. That would mean I came to Tokyo Tower with a different man and even kissed him."

"Ah, that's an affair!"

"Caught, am I? He was such a wonderful gentleman that the devil got into me."

As for how wonderful—about as wonderful as me, I'd say.

"And the other party was a minor, I hear. That's a problem, no?"

"True. Then let's seal the witness's lips."

"Ah......"

Literally, she means......

"Welcome home, Haruki-san. This Haruki-san, after all, is the one I want. The moment you called my name, I knew right away, you know? Your voice was so gentle...... Call my name more. More and more, please......"

"Kasumi-san...... I'm home, Kasumi-san......"

Wasn't that a bit short, though?

So one more time......