Chapter

ch41-ch60 · 052-ch52

Chapter 52: Toward the White Light

Is this the Sanzu River?

My dead grandmother takes my hand and guides me onto a boat.

So the boatman must be my dead grandfather.

You should've died.

That's what he's saying.

Suddenly, light shines from behind me.

A warm, white light.

It looks like the last thing I saw.

Wait, no.

All four of my grandparents are still alive.

I try to get off the boat in a panic, but Grandpa and Grandma grab hold of me.

What strength—I can't get off.

There must be... something.

Isn't there something?

There is.

A long pole.

The kind you use to push off the riverbed and move the boat forward.

If I just have this...

[Charge・Spear] could activate with a competition naginata, and this is clearly just a long pole no matter how you look at it.

It's not a spear.

But if I don't do it, I'll be done for.

([Charge・Spear], [Charge・Spear・Strength Up], [Charge・Spear・Endurance Up], [Charge・Spear・Agility Up], and while I'm at it, [Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear])

Uwooooooh.

It activated!

So the afterlife really was a dungeon!

I throw Grandpa and Grandma into the river.

And then I run.

Toward that white light.

︙

"Ah, another nosebleed. [Analyze・HP]. ...Yeah, his HP hasn't decreased at all. Hmm, this isn't an injury—it's some kind of illness. Just to be safe, [Heal]. Watanabe-san, we're out of tissues. Could you get some?"

"...Yes. I'll go get some from the surface."

Aah... the light... it's fading away...

I reach my hand toward the 'Dungeon Gate.'

"Ah, you're awake? Kasugano-kun, can you hear me?"

Huh.

What was I...

"...Is this heaven?"

"It's a dungeon, so if anything, it's closer to hell."

"So the afterlife really was a dungeon..."

"You really aren't okay. You don't remember?"

Remember?

That's right.

That moment.

The moment when my feet, which wouldn't lift until now, finally moved.

Having realized everything, I tried to activate [Charge・Spear]...

And that's when I noticed I didn't have a weapon.

But I couldn't back down.

"I see. So I lost."

But if you ask whether I remember, I remember it vividly.

I lost the match but won the contest.

"Ah, another nosebleed. Do you have some kind of chronic condition?"

"No? Nothing specific. I haven't been to a hospital or anything."

"You should get checked at a proper hospital. You hit your head today too, so let's go straight to the hospital."

I kind of want to test out a feeling I grasped in the afterlife, so I want to grab a mop or something and go to my usual tree.

"I'm fine."

I stand up to show her.

I feel pretty good actually.

"W-wait, that's no good. I told you to rest."

"K-Kasugano-san."

Ah, Watanabe-san is back.

"I'm so sorry. What have I done? Ugh. I'm so sorry."

Whoa.

She's crying.

What's going on?

"It's alright. It was a contest. These things happen."

"Ah, another nosebleed. Watanabe-san, tissues, tissues. We need to get to the hospital quickly."

"In that case, I'll go. I'll go with him."

"No no, I'm really fine."

"That's right. It's fine. Leave this to me—I'll be forming a party with Kasugano-kun."

"Huh?"

She just dropped a bombshell.

"Wasn't that our deal? If you couldn't form a party with Watanabe-san, you'd form one with me."

Hmm. I feel like I might have said something like that.

"When did you make such a promise? No, wait. After what I just did. Just now, I lost."

"But he says he lost, doesn't he?"

Well, it wasn't exactly a surprise attack, and I could actually deal with it.

It's just that due to circumstances deeper than the sea—no, deeper than the Sanzu River—I was caught off guard.

Apparently, the depth of the Sanzu River is determined by the depth of the karma of the person crossing it.

It looked pretty deep, so those grandparents must have been quite the sinners.

May they rest in peace.

"A loss is a loss."

"Besides, it looked like you lost on purpose."

She's pretty observant.

"That's right. Why didn't you dodge?"

I can't tell them that.

"Ah, another nosebleed. This is no time to be fooling around. We'll talk later, let's hurry. Watanabe-san, please take him to the hospital. The general hospital right outside the branch would be best. They understand dungeons there."

Ah. Come to think of it, the medical community and the Adventurer's Association don't get along well.

How does [Heal] cure things?

What kind of effects does it have on the body?

Modern science can't explain it.

So the medical community apparently can't allow its use.

But really, it's about vested interests, right? That's what the internet community thinks.

"Shiraishi-san... I'm sorry. Let's go, Kasugano-san."

No, I don't need to go to the hospital or anything.

She pulls me along firmly.

"Should we call an ambulance?"

Since she said that, I decided to go along quietly.

In the end, I ended up staying at the hospital that day.

I told my mother I wouldn't be coming home today without explaining the situation.

Apparently, she's been convinced lately that I'm coming home late because I got a girlfriend, so she didn't ask anything.

She was grinning when I got home yesterday too—she's a good match for Shiraishi.