ch421-ch440 · 428-ch428

Chapter 428: The Fastest Return

"Aikawa might be a genuinely serious case. If it only ever happened against people, fine—but......"

Two days of the three of them beating us up.

And with Kasumi-san joining in the beating, I took my frustration out on Soushi instead.

I can at least beat Soushi, all right.

We'd invited Aikawa to train too instead of just watching, but Ao-san noticed something was off.

Her level had stopped moving, so I'd half-feared danger—but it wasn't even a contest.

Her hips were drawing back before it even started......

Right up through Floor 40's battles, nothing like this.

Even against skeletons she'd unleash the power of 【Idol】 and fight like a one-woman army—the moment training meant fighting people, her hips drew back and she couldn't swing her sword straight.

"I'm sorry......"

"No need to apologize. Against monsters, you seem fine."

Aikawa's apology was—for knowing about this and never telling us.

Ao-san knows it perfectly well, but deliberately changes the subject and tells her it's all right.

"The problem is that we don't know: is it because it's people, or would anyone stronger do it to her too? If she suddenly freezes up against the Floor 50 skeletons, that's a disaster."

What Chiharu-san says is fair—but I'd bet it's only against people.

The cause was being attacked by those foreign adventurers on New Year's.

That's become her trauma; ever since, the dreams she has in the dungeon have all been about that time, apparently.

She's tried all sorts of countermeasures—not sleeping in the dungeon, staying at the vampire girls' place, and so on—but none of that fixes the root.

"Once we're out of here, we'll have Dr. Amamiya introduce a specialist. It's all right. We'll take it slowly and work through it."

"Ehh. Dr. Amamiya's introduction, you say?"

Aikawa eyes the proposal warily.

Speaking of which—

It's fine, the doctor she introduced got my memory back...... Huh? Didn't they say it WOULDN'T come back?

Is she a quack!?

"Natsuki...... I'm sorry......"

"Why are YOU apologizing, Soushi?"

The biggest problem of all is that none of us had noticed.

We'd heard Aikawa has that dream.

But we'd brushed it off—dreams in the dungeon are just like that, we figured.

Honestly, Soushi, get it together!

She's your girlfriend, you know......

I steal a glance at Kasumi-san.

Kasumi-san never had the Floor 50 dream—what does she dream about?

Am I really seeing Kasumi-san—properly?

"?"

Kasumi-san tilts her head: what is it, staring like that?

I hurriedly turn the conversation back to Aikawa.

"Well, for now, having her hold the rear guard might be the way to go. 【Dance】 costs no MP and is always available, so having her with us is plenty useful to me. And the 【Idol】 side's skills can buff too, right? Perfect."

Come to think of it, back in the early days the formation was Soushi in front, Aikawa behind.

I want to level Soushi too—once we're home, back to that formation for leveling.

"Ah, sorry. The 【Idol】 ones only work on myself."

"Hm? Why not? Isn't 【Singing】 an ally-stat-up skill?"

If anything, it's the listeners who get buffed—the singer's own stats don't move, right?

"That's the lower-rank 【Singer】 line's skill, and I haven't learned it. The 【Idol】 side has skills that raise the range and such too, but I haven't learned those either."

Why haven't you learned them?

Those are the important ones!

Well—knowing Aikawa, that tracks.

If anything, I should be thanking the heavens she ever became a 【Dancer】 at all.

"Well, no immediate problem, then. Nobody's in the mood for special training today anyway. Let's head home and rest."

"I can still go."

"Quiet. I'm asking Haruki-san to close up the 'Gate,' so!"

"Natsuki, you want anything to eat? We should put in an order with Shiraishi-san."

"Hmm. Meat, maybe? STEAK!"

"I'll take grilling duty, then."

"Really?! Yay!"

"Then let's hurry home! Have Shiraishi buy the best meat there is!"

"Make it Matsusaka beef!"

Even Chiharu-san, who had frowned at heading back to the new place while the sun was still up, loses to appetite......

Could I turn this into a win, I wonder?

Well—thank goodness Aikawa herself seems in good spirits.

As for the dream—just for tonight, let's have her skip it.

We'll be blasting through, so feel free to stay up all night waiting, okay?

︙

︙

"Are you really all right going alone?"

After an early dinner, Kasumi-san holds my hand, worry all over her face.

For the record, this is Floor 1 of the Chiba Dungeon, so holding your hand back is perfectly fine.

"Yes. I've got plenty of MP left, and with the 'Eye Gates' I'll be zipping along—it'll be quick."

Right now the 'Left Hand Gate' sits in a small room inside the Floor 42 fortress; the trip back, I make alone.

The 'Left Hand Gate' stays where it is, and I alone leave this dungeon.

The 'Hand Gates' are in this dungeon and the 'Foot Gates' are in the World Tree dungeon, so all I can use are the 'Eye Gates.'

On the way back: no boss rooms, and I avoid combat wherever possible.

There's no one else in this dungeon, so I don't even need to worry about trains.

Just run.

Once I'm back at Floor 2, I'll park the 'Left Eye Gate' somewhere convenient and walk straight out of the dungeon.

The surveillance staff and the 'Blue Ocean' staff should be outside; I report that I've come back ahead and move to Chiba.

Then I enter the dungeon normally from the Chiba branch, come to the new place, and rejoin everyone.

After that, I set out the 'Right Eye Gate' and bring everyone over to Floor 2 of this dungeon.

That would be the fastest possible return.

"If it were just me, I think I could keep up, you know?"

"No—crossing a 'Gate' scrambles your sense of direction. Until you're used to it, chained jumps are hard. So this time, buffs only, please."

On raw stats, Ao-san's Agility is higher—level gap.

And she's a buff holder herself.

If it were just running, having her tag along and feed me continuous buffs would be faster.

But this time I intend to fly on the 'Eye Gates.'

There's a top speed you can only reach alone.

"Haru-kun...... You could wait until morning, you know?"

No—if the sun's up, running the desert is impossible. Night is actually better. Run the desert by day and I'll come back crispy.

Besides, this was just the original plan for tomorrow morning, moved up. Think of it as lucky that we get home early.

"Haruki."

"I'm off. Aikawa, I'm counting on you."

A fist bump with Soushi, then I take the 【Dance】 buffs from Aikawa.

"Start!"

The instant the second box step ends, Chiharu-san clicks the stopwatch.

I'm off.

While the dance buffs last: two minutes, back to Floor 39!

"Ah, hold on. Just thought of something—you, in that outfit......"

'Ninja Spring Shadow' dances through the desert night!

Nin-nin!