ch341-ch360 · 356-ch356

Chapter 356: 【Aikawa Natsuki】A Bear's Cub Is a Panda, a Troublesome Child 【Part 1】

SIDE: Aikawa Natsuki (Haruki's Party Member)

'Gugaaah!'

A shaggy, furry arm I can't believe is mine smashes into a bear.

No—it SLASHES it.

Fresh blood.

Blood drips from my elongated claws.

(Please! Stop!)

I desperately try to rein my body in, but it won't obey.

Once it's come to this, it won't stop—can't be stopped.

Once I've fully 'Beast-Transformed,' I'm simply one of the beasts.

A beast that mercilessly savages whatever enemy is nearby......

(No, if this keeps up......)

'Gen-chan!'

I rip through the woman who threw herself between us with a diagonal slash.

Ahh......

I've gone and done it AGAIN......

'UGAAAAAH. Why!? Why did this happen!?'

The man, returned to human form, cradles the woman and wails.

Even so, I don't stop.

But it ends there......

I wake up.

I don't know how this story ends.

Whether the man also got killed, or was killed by the man......

︙

︙

"Hah, hah, hah."

This dream, again—how many times has it been now......

Even though I've seen it over and over, every time I wake up, there it is......

When did I start having this dream?

When I first started staying overnight in the dungeon, the very first dream was of Mother.

Then came dreams of waiting alone at home for Father......

I think the first time I had THIS dream was around the 'everyone to Floor 30' operation.

Probably because I hit Level 30 and 【Partial Beast Transformation】 came to cover my whole body.

(If this keeps up, that's what I'll become, huh......)

The range my 【Partial Beast Transformation】 can 'Beast-Transform' keeps widening.

If I could 'Beast-Transform' my whole body back at Floor 30, then now that I've broken past Floor 40......

That even my heart will turn beast—that's what the dungeon is telling me.

So for now I keep 【Partial Beast Transformation】's release limited to just my arms and legs.

(For now, anyway—not that I've fought in the dungeon much lately.)

Honestly I should quit using it altogether, but I use it in limited doses on pure misplaced trust—if something happens, those two would manage somehow.

If I run wild, Haru-kun would probably 【Gate】 me off somewhere.

【Partial Beast Transformation】 cancels when my MP runs dry.

Same as the 【Berserker】's 【Frenzy】.

All they'd have to do is leave me on the deep floors until then.

The other one, Watanabe-san, apparently stopped that Umemoto-san by slicing his legs clean off.

She'd slice my legs off without a moment's hesitation.

And Shiraishi-san reattached the legs properly, apparently—Umemoto-san was dancing his 'Dance' without any trouble afterward.

You might think, then just go all-in on 'full-body Beast Transformation'—but even KNOWING they'd reattach, getting your legs sliced off is scary.

Besides, one half of my safety net currently has amnesia and is completely useless.

If something happened, he might not save me.

And on top of that, having this dream every single day, the anxiety never runs out......

"Honestly, showing me a dream like THIS on Christmas of all days!"

What a horrible story.

But I suppose Christmas means nothing to the dungeon.

Either way, I get to say goodbye to this horrible dream for a while.

The dungeon closes from tomorrow, so even if I wanted to sleep there, I can't......

︙

︙

I wake up.

I didn't have the dream today, so I wake up feeling good.

I look around: familiar classmates sprawled asleep across the floor and the sofa.

With the dungeon closed, I stayed with Miki and Hina for the first two or three days, but yesterday, New Year's Eve, I stayed over at Saori's.

Her parents were away, so it was me, Eko, and Shiro-san for the sleepover—and after all the ruckus, the three of us were asleep before the year even turned.

Me too—phone in hand, and the next thing I knew, I was out.

Still—not dreaming really is nice.

I'm half-tempted to rent a room outside myself.

The room next to Miki's—Umemoto-san's old room—is vacant, and I thought about taking it, but I asked the rent and gave up.

I get a decent sum every month myself, but even so, not THAT much.

Dr. Amamiya is apparently paying Miki and Hina's rent.

(Miki said it was cheap for human-experimentation compensation—I dread to think what experiments she's getting......)

I am looking, on the off chance a good room turns up—but with exam studying too, there's a case for staying in the dungeon as much as possible, so I can't decide.

Even so, that dream is unbearable......

On the board I posted to yesterday, they said a dream like this, left as is, is absolutely going to happen......

(Lucky eyes, lucky eyes. Oops—the proper term is "a feast for the eyes." As an exam student, I'd better watch my words.)

I shake off the unpleasant thought and let the utterly unruffled faces of the three high school girls soothe me.

Saori especially.

A beauty's a beauty even asleep.

Then—blink—Saori's big eyes snap open.

"Did you just do something?"

That's her opening line.

False accusation.

I was only looking......

"I didn't do anything, though?"

"Hmm, really? I got this weird prickly feeling all over, though?"

If she got the creeps from being watched by me, that's just rude.

"Anyway, it's already nine. Aren't we going on the first shrine visit of the year?"

"Were we? I fell asleep without noticing~ And yesterday we never did get Shiro-san's romance stories out of her......"

Get four high school girls together and the conversation inevitably goes there.

Saori said Shiro-san, but yesterday's target was ME.

'Since when have you liked him?'

'How did he confess?'

'You've held hands already, right?'

And so on, and on. A full interrogation.

But while Shiro-san pumps everyone else for details, she never talks about herself.

"Maybe she's into girls, who knows."

"I can hear you!"

I turn around to find Shiro-san just sitting up.

It was a joke, but she heard.

"Morning, Shiro-san."

"You were awake?"

"Yeah, I was! Since you were peering into Saori's face! Who're you calling into girls—THAT'S you, isn't it? Saori, watch out!"

Oops—and I was being watched the whole time.

But Saori doesn't seem to mind at all.

It's a regular occurrence.

"Oh dear. Natsuki-chi too? What a pickle."

There you have it.

And then SHE apologizes to me—'sorry, sorry~'

How rude.

Tell her I have a proper boyfriend named Soushi, and Shiro-san goes "Gisou, gisou."

Gisou—disguise? This girl's started coining words like Souma-san.

Has she been reading?

Speaking of Souma-san's writing—the library committee went to that Ariake event; did they make it back in one piece?

"The heck, shii? Shaddup, shii."

Eko's up too, then.

Shall we head to the shrine, then?

"Come on, it's past nine already? Get ready to go!"

I fling the curtains open with a snap.

Sunlight as an alarm clock.

"Bright...... I'll melt, shii."

Are you a vampire or something......

Besides, saying that with a tan that deep has zero persuasive power.

"Hm? Saori, what's THAT? Was that there before?"

Shiro-san notices something out the window.

"Eh—which, let's see?...... Eh? What IS that? That wasn't there yesterday, right?"

Outside the window, a familiar black shadow floated over the wide garden.

That's......

A 'Dungeon Gate.'