arc2 · 032-ch32

Episode 32: Interlude - Saito Honoka

(Sigh, this is the worst. Maybe I should ask Mom to let me change cram schools...)

　Honoka Saito let out a sigh quietly enough not to be heard by those around her, while cursing under her breath in her mind.

"Hey hey, Yasu-kun! What are you doing this break?"

"Oh! I'm curious too!"

"Me too, me too!"

　Yellow voices could be heard as I was repeating what I learned in the class that just ended. The girls making that "kyaa kyaa kyaa kyaa" ruckus were female students from the same class as Honoka. Surrounding those female students was Yasunori Ando, a male student called Yasu by everyone around him.

　Ando was handsome enough to make anyone mistake any random guy for a potato just by being near him, and he was tall to boot. Despite having such a good-looking face, he wasn't stuck up or had a bad attitude—on the contrary, he was gentle in manner and was admired not just by girls but by the boys in the class too.

　Even Honoka, when she first saw him, was so overwhelmed by his handsome aura that she got nervous and actually mistook him for an entertainer.

　Honoka had never spoken directly to Ando, but since her friends talked about him all the time, she knew quite a bit about him.

"My break? Haven't decided what to do yet."

"Eh! Th-then then then then! Let's go watch a movie together!? Summer〇rds!"

"Oh, that sounds nice. I actually wanted to see that too."

　The female student, perhaps overwhelmed by having successfully invited Ando, her high-pitched voice went up an octave and the noisiness increased.

　I mean, you're exam prep students. Study already. While Honoka thought that, she also realized people are free to do what they want on their days off, and she wanted to watch movies too. But she couldn't help but furrow her brows.

　The reason wasn't that they weren't focusing on studying, or that they were being noisy and annoying with their "kyaa kyaa." It came from pity and disgust—do they know Ando is a madman and yet they're still flocking to him?

　This Ando guy. I don't know what's wrong with him, but apparently he did dungeon exploration right before summer break of his third year of middle school to level up. Not level 2 or 3—he supposedly raised it all the way to level 10.

　To level up by going into a dungeon, generally you attend training facilities to level up. But most training facilities won't let you in unless you're a university student or older. There are some that accept high school students, but I heard they're pretty expensive.

　Idols and rich people who appear on TV apparently hire explorers for high fees the moment they turn 15 to do level grinding for them, but that's a whole different world.

　In other words, this Ando guy, despite being just a third-year middle schooler without even being at an explorer high school, went into a dungeon himself and leveled up through his own efforts.

　He's insane. Honoka seriously thought he might have had a death wish.

　Since he goes to a different school, Honoka didn't know his original face, but given that he became this handsome, there must have been some value in leveling up. But if he had made just one wrong move, he could have died. Why would anyone enter a dungeon? Honoka couldn't understand it.

　If he wanted to be an explorer, there are explorer high schools. They have well-equipped facilities, you can form solid parties, and if your grades are good, you can even get into top-tier guilds.

　Yet instead of going to such a well-equipped high school, he did dungeon exploration. If this doesn't make someone a madman, I don't know what does.

　Even explorer high schools have fatal accidents every year, and dungeons are places where that happens. Yet during the period of being a third-year middle schooler, he went into a dungeon. And from what I heard, he was diving into the dungeon with just two people.

　Exploring with just two people makes no sense. It's beyond disbelief—even terrifying.

　Explorer high schools recommend exploring in parties of at least four people. But with two? That's not exploration anymore; it would be more accurate to call it attempted suicide.

　No matter how cool someone is, Honoka thought it was questionable to be worshipping a madman like that.

　Plus, Honoka despised explorers. Ever since she heard that her cousin, who had been so kind to her, was raped by an explorer.

　At the time, Honoka was still in elementary school, so she didn't know the details, but she vividly remembered—even as a child—how her cousin, who had been so intelligent and beautiful, was always scared of something and looked worn out.

　Before she knew it, she stopped showing up at family gatherings, withdrew into her room, and even quit university. Honoka's mother told her this later.

　And the worst part was that the explorer who raped her cousin wasn't charged with any particular crime.

　Japan, which had been rebuilt by explorers, has enacted laws called the Explorer Laws to provide preferential treatment to explorers. Not only tax incentives for explorers and explorer guilds, but different laws also apply to them compared to ordinary people.

　There are no facilities capable of quietly confining explorers with their powerful abilities, no staff to monitor them, and no massive costs to maintain them. Therefore, for a certain level of crime, it ends with fines or penalties to the guild—there's no such thing as imprisonment.

　On the other hand, if someone crosses the line with their crimes, there's no imprisonment—death penalty is the only option. That was the punishment for explorers.

　From the time dungeons first appeared, explorers with power far removed from ordinary people were seen as problematic, and as a countermeasure, heroes of the past established explorer high schools, dedicating themselves to cultivating the conscience of explorers themselves by providing thorough ethical education.

　Thanks to those efforts, many explorers in Japan are decent people. But sadly, not all explorers are like that. Recently, explorers who are like punks are increasing, and this is frequently being addressed as a social problem.

　Because of that past, Honoka hated explorers, and she also hated this atmosphere where Ando, a fake explorer, was being fawned over.

　◇

"Alright, let's end it here for today. We'll start from here tonight, so don't be late."

　With those words, the university student instructor who taught English left the classroom. The afternoon class had ended, and it was break time.

　As always, Ando was surrounded by girls during break time and making a ruckus.

"Eh—! We can't go home together today!?"

"Sorry! Apparently a friend is coming over, so I decided to go back with them."

　With the "waa waa" sounds behind her, Honoka quickly packed her things and left the classroom. The girls' pace of going home was slow, and for Honoka, who wanted to get home quickly, they were nothing but a nuisance. It's best to leave before they block the way.

　Leaving the classroom, the heat of summer assaulted her. It was evening, so there was no daytime sunlight, but Honoka walked through the sweltering heat of the still-bright twilight.

　Since it was in front of the station, there were no cicada sounds, but instead the bustle of the night was spreading. The Hachioji Dungeon was nearby, so there was a large entertainment district in front of the station, and this area was also full of liveliness.

　Honoka, who disliked the noisy clamor, chose a quiet route home with fewer people since it was still bright. She took out her music player from her bag and listened to her favorite songs on her way home. It was Honoka's modest pleasure as an exam-prep student.

"Hah? What's with you, ugly!? Don't act so high and mighty!"

　A dirty curse could be heard on the usually quiet street.

　Looking in the direction of the voice, two men were complaining to a woman. They probably tried to pick her up and failed. They were yapping away that she was ugly or whatever, making sore-loser remarks toward the woman who was fleeing like she was in a hurry.

　Honoka, who had been watching them with a cold look, now found her gaze growing even colder. The reason was that the men were wearing explorer high school tracksuits.

　Just the fact that explorers she already disliked were making a fuss about someone being ugly or whatever, ignoring their own faces—such a petty appearance made Honoka's gaze drop below freezing. That gaze crossed with one of the men.

"Hey! What are you looking at! Move it!"

　I failed. Honoka unintentionally lowered her gaze, ignored them, and tried to walk faster to pass by them.

"Yes, let me through~"

"H-what is it..."

　While her heart was strongly saying, "You're in the way, move it, shithead," the words that came out were weak. At that sight, the two men's faces twisted sadistically.

"Well, you were looking at us with such an amazing face that I thought maybe you wanted us to talk to you."

"Th-that's not..."

"That there's such a thing? You're lucky, you! We just happened to be looking for someone to play with."

　The distance kept closing. She wanted to refuse them, but her voice wouldn't come out well. She wanted to run away, but her legs were trembling and wouldn't listen to her.

"Then let's go to a hotel right away."

"That's too fast, you lol"

"Shut up. You're the one who's fast, lol"

"Hah!? Don't say that!"

　The men were making gross faces and grinning as they talked, but none of the conversation was getting into her head. She couldn't believe they were even human—it felt like she was having a bad dream.

"Come on, let's go."

"No!"

　Her hand was grabbed and pulled. She shook it off in reflex, but the grinning face from just a moment ago had changed into a terrifying expression full of anger.

"You. Better listen to what I say while I'm still being nice about it."

"Doing it in that alley would be worse than a bed for you too, right?"

　This is no joke. She'd rather die than be touched by men like these. She seriously thought that, yet she couldn't bring herself to run away.

　Looking around to see if anyone would help, this was an alley with few people. Even so, there were people, but everyone turned their faces away and walked quickly past, trying not to get involved with Honoka and the others. The opponents were explorers. Getting involved would only bring losses.

　Honoka's blood ran cold at the fact that no one would help her.

"Hey! Let's go already!"

"It's okay, it's okay. We'll make sure it feels good for you properly."

　While saying such disgusting things, the men were gripping Honoka's hand strongly again and trying to take her to a hotel.

　The unreasonable reality of wanting to resist but being unable to. In Honoka's mind floated the figure of her cousin, who had always smiled so gently.

"Lala la lala la"

　At that moment, a strange humming could be heard. A cheerful humming that didn't match the atmosphere at all.

"You guys look like you're having fun. Let me join in too. What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

　The owner of the humming called out to them. At that voice, both Honoka and the men turned around.

　There was beauty.

　She was so beautiful that my vocabulary after only living for 14 years and some months couldn't express it. Her face's structure had the perfect beauty of an artistic sculpture, her skin was as white as porcelain, her hair had a luster that surpassed silk, and the strength of her gaze seemed to express a purity of heart that would make you stop breathing just by being glared at by her.

　Everything was beautiful.

　Even Honoka, who had built up resistance by seeing the handsome Ando from the same cram school class, was captivated by her.

　A silence like time had stopped. She was wrapped in an aura where speaking without permission felt like something to be hesitant about.

　Honoka was captivated and held her breath, while the two men were sweating nervously, looking at each other's faces trying to decide how to move.

　A human whose face is this well put-together is definitely an explorer. And not with some half-assed stat allocation either. And her appearance matches the person who's been causing a ruckus in the explorer high school class lately. In that case, there should still be a possibility of winning.

　The two men's consciousness decided on the direction of defeating the intruder in front of them. An explorer had gotten involved with explorers. There were no excuses beyond that, and no conclusion that could be resolved through discussion.

"Oh? What's with the sudden enthusiasm? Ready to go?"

　The two men took out wooden weapons they had stored in their storage.

　Weapons that can be stored in storage are only dungeon-produced weapons or super-high-end items made through special manufacturing. Those who operate in Floor 1 all store wooden weapons dropped by Wooden Goblins or Wooden Ogres for emergencies.

　The intruder also took out a weapon from storage to match the two. However, the weapon she took out wasn't a wooden weapon. It was a round metal bar like a metal pipe.

"Shit! She really is the Iron Pipe Princess!"

"It's okay! The Iron Pipe Princess is also a District 2 explorer like us! We can take her with two people!!"

"Iron Pipe Princess? What's that. Lame."

　Even though the intruder was facing two opponents, she didn't look scared at all—she stood there not caring about anything.

"Hey! This one's injured!"

"For real! It's a chance! Let's take her to a hotel and rape her too!!"

　As the men said, it was hard to tell since she was dyed by the sunset, but looking closely, there were countless painful cuts all over her body, and the clothes she was wearing were stained red with blood. Yet in that condition, she had come to save me.

　At that fact, Honoka's heart felt like it was going to tear apart.

"Please run away! I'm fine! At least you!"

　Even though she had been too scared to let out a voice until now, when it really mattered, her voice came out properly.

"Shut up, ugly! We're gonna rape you too later, so shut up and stay there!!"

　The men hurled abuse at her, but she thought she didn't care what happened to herself as long as she could protect her.

"Whoa, that's harsh. If your face is low-class, is your intelligence low-class too? Well, I mean, going into a dungeon and leveling up only to end up with that face... you know?"

　But, the intruder didn't obediently follow Honoka's words. Rather, she mocked the men as if provoking them.

　At those words, the men's wariness toward the intruder from just a moment ago disappeared, and instead, I could feel their anger amplifying.

"Oh, and you don't have to worry about me either. I just got involved because I saw a chance to punch someone, that's all."

　She probably said something joking to make Honoka not worry. But the content was so extreme that she couldn't help but wonder if she was a madman after all.

　But, that thought might have been correct. The moment she said that, the intruder's face changed to one that brought to mind a fierce bird of prey.

"Here it comes!?"

　The men also raised their weapons and braced themselves. But, such an action turned into meaninglessness in an instant.

　It really was just an instant.

　With flowing speed, she swung the iron pipe down at the right man's weapon, and it was destroyed in two without any resistance. Then, she struck the still-unmoving man's temple horizontally with the iron pipe, and just that alone sent one person crashing into the wall, making him unable to fight.

　It was like watching a fast-forwarded video.

"Hah?"

　Even to the man who let out such a deflated voice, the intruder destroyed his weapon and struck his temple, just like the first person, making him unable to fight.

　It really was over in an instant.

"Sigh~ these guys are too weak. They're so weak but got that worked up. It's embarrassing for me."

　Without even a single breath out of place, the intruder had beaten down the two of them. Her appearance looked rough, perhaps because her weapon was a weapon, but to Honoka, that figure looked endlessly beautiful.

"Hey hey, what's with this? They're not dead, right?"

　At the familiar voice, I turned around to find Ando. Had he run here? He was lightly sweating and breathing heavily.

"Huh? It's Yasu. Didn't you text that you'd wait at cram school?"

"Yeah, I heard something bad was happening and that Saito-san was getting involved, so I came over, but it looks like it's already finished."

　Ando turned his gaze toward Honoka. It seemed like he had come to help Honoka.

　Even though they had never spoken before, for Ando to try to help her from explorers—Ando was handsome not just on the outside, but on the inside too.

"Yeah, that's true. She was getting harassed. You okay?"

"Getting harassed, didn't Suzuka save you?"

"Ah~ some gross guys were getting all worked up and barking, so I wanted to punch them and got involved, but well, the result is okay."

　It seemed like she was embarrassed about saving Honoka, because she was giving Ando the same insane excuse she had just given.

"More importantly, your injuries are pretty bad like you said in the mail. I'll use recovery magic."

"Yeah, please. The bleeding's stopped, but at this rate, I'd make Mom worry."

　Ando seemed to be able to use recovery magic, and he healed her wounds.

"You saved me."

"At your service, Princess Suzuka."

"Hey, stop that seriously. Because of you, it's gotten hard to be in the classroom, you know that?"

　The two of them were chatting happily. Are they on good terms? Honoka was completely left out, but just gazing at her—Suzuka—made her happy.

"More importantly, what do we do about this?"

　Ando pointed to the man rolling on the ground and asked. They had tried to forcibly take Honoka to a hotel, but it ended in an attempted crime. The police were afraid to get involved with explorers, so even if we turned them over to the police, nothing would probably happen.

"It's decided, obviously. Strip them naked, take photos with their student IDs."

　Suzuka said something incredibly horrible with a look of pure enjoyment.

"...Seriously, you?"

"Obviously? You have to teach stupid people a lesson or they'll repeat it. If they show up in our sight again, we'll spread the photos. Oh, you wanna see them too?"

"I-I'm fine..."

　The content of the conversation was terrible, but Honoka was thrilled that Suzuka had talked to her.

"Okay. Then, go home carefully now. Here, Yasu, you take that one."

"Seriously, are you for real? I don't want to see naked guys... See you later, Saito-san."

　With those words, the two of them dragged the two stretched-out people and disappeared into the narrow alley.

"Suzuka... my lady..."

　Honoka, who was left behind, whispered Suzuka's name as if she were feverish with heat.