chapter01 · 025-ep25
Episode 25: "Abyss"
There are two kinds of silence over the phone. The kind that comes from searching for words, and the kind that comes from someone lining up all their words before they begin.
Makabe-san's silences were always the second kind.
"I'll start from the beginning."
Midnight in my six-mat room. I was sitting seiza on my bedding. It didn't feel quite right to hear state secrets in my pajamas, but there didn't seem to be time to change.
"Special Management Category: Unconquered Labyrinth 'Abyss.' A dungeon discovered three years ago, which humanity has never reached the end of. Information has been sealed until today for two reasons. There was no prospect of clearing it. And—it's continuing to expand."
"...Expand?"
"Its area of influence is growing year by year. The latest projections put it in a metropolitan area within a few years. We can no longer buy time by keeping it sealed. The agency director will announce its existence the day after tomorrow, together with the launch of a national operation to clear it."
Though I wasn't holding a teacup, my hands had curled around an invisible one.
"There are records of five solo attempts. All five withdrew. ...Hiiragi-san. I don't need to give you their names, do I?"
Rei. Mio. Maru. Yagarasu. Kokoro.
Their faces came to me, one after another. Then the conversation we'd had in this six-mat room a month ago. If five S-ranks had all tried a dungeon and decided it was impossible alone—
"That day's 'hypothetical,'" said the level voice, "has, as of today, ceased to be hypothetical."
"...Makabe-san. You did say things that supposedly don't exist suddenly become real one day."
"I did. It's the statistics you least want to see come true that do. Most of my eighteen years have been like that."
So, I asked, what could I help with? He wouldn't have called me in the middle of the night for nothing. I could speed up work on the qualification curriculum. If they needed records from the five's active days, they could borrow my notebooks anytime.
"I'll approach you formally after the press conference."
That was all Makabe-san said. Then he said something a little less like a statistician.
"Hiiragi-san. Things will get noisy the day after tomorrow. ...Please carry on as you usually do. Your usual self is stronger than any number I know."
The call ended. Statisticians could be hard to understand sometimes.
Before bed, I wrote just two lines in my notebook.
【"Abyss" is real. The place all five withdrew from.】
【Put tabs on the five's pages, in case Makabe-san asks me for anything.】
I finished the tabs in twenty minutes. Well prepared, if I say so myself. ...I didn't think about what I was preparing for.
◇
The press conference began at two in the afternoon, two days later.
I had it playing on my terminal as I washed rice. By the time the rice was done, I'd forgotten about it.
"—In light of the foregoing, we are making public the existence of the unconquered labyrinth 'Abyss' and announcing the launch of a national operation to clear it."
Even through the screen, I could tell the room was in an uproar. Questions began with raised hands that looked almost like cries for help.
"Are we to understand that five S-rank explorers failed to conquer it alone? How do you intend to clear such a place?"
"Our conclusion is that individual fighting strength cannot clear it. The operation will therefore design and deploy several of our strongest fighters as a single team. To that end, we will appoint a dedicated operation commander."
"Who will command it?"
"We cannot disclose personnel choices at this stage."
That refusal made the room's murmuring jump a level.
At the edge of the platform sat a pair of glasses I recognized. Makabe-san never once lifted his face from the documents as he read out the numbers in a level voice. Projections of expansion. Five solo attempts. Zero successes. With each figure, the room grew quieter. Numbers had that power. He'd spent eighteen years learning it.
By evening, "Abyss" filled every news feed.
And by night—the commander's name leaked.
◇
The first post came from an anonymous account no one could identify.
"Top candidate for operation commander: civilian. Former Genbu training coach Hiiragi Shinichi (42). Explorer rank: B-rank."
Honestly, when I saw the name on my screen, I spent about three seconds wondering which Hiiragi Shinichi they meant. Plenty of people share a name.
In the fourth second, the hand holding my teacup stopped.
The world reacted faster than I did.
【What? B-rank?】
【Hold on. Abyss is the place all five of humanity's strongest ran back from】
【Does anybody still not know who raised those five?】
【Training and command are different jobs. Would you make a great doctor captain an aircraft carrier?】
【I'm a student of the course. Sensei's retreat criteria saved my life. He's got my vote】
【I'm a student too, and that's why I'm saying don't put Sensei on the front line of this. He belongs in the classroom】
【Be serious. This job puts five of the strongest lives in his hands. What's his track record? Streaming?】
Support and opposition flowed past at the same speed. What struck me—no, "struck" isn't quite the word—was that names I recognized as course regulars were on both sides. The angry people on either side were probably angry for the right reasons.
On a late-night debate program, two commentators waved around the same set of documents.
"We can acknowledge his record as a coach. But command is different. He has never led S-ranks in the field."
"Then tell me: who in this country has?"
The program ended without reaching a conclusion. Of course it did. The person whose name they were debating hadn't answered anything yet.
Three messages from Hina-chan.
"Sensei, I saw the news."
"Don't read the comments, okay? Promise me."
"...But I think I know better than anyone in the world how incredible you are."
I answered in one line. "Thanks. I'll cook rice and go to bed like usual."
It wasn't a lie. I cooked the rice. Whether I slept was another matter.
Before turning out the light, I wrote just two lines in my notebook.
【The world's noisy. It seems I'm responsible for about half of it.】
【Decide one thing before tomorrow's lesson.】
◇
The following night, the waiting count for lesson forty-four climbed so fast the display kept changing. It broke its record twice before the stream began.
"Good evening, this is Shin. If anyone's new, here's the usual: this is a course for beginners. No flashy techniques. No talk about the strongest gear. It's dull. Probably shockingly dull."
【We know】
【We know, but surely today can't stay dull】
【Sensei, the news!】
【Is the commander thing true?】
"One thing at a time. First, today's assignment."
For an instant the comment section seemed to freeze on the word "Huh?" Then everyone started laughing. I was perfectly serious. A classroom was still a classroom. However loud the world got, someone here would be entering the third layer tomorrow morning.
"Lesson forty-four: 'Checking Your Gear.' The louder the world gets, the closer you should check what's in your hands."
Retie the rope. Check your pack's center of gravity. Review the standard message you send when retreating. As usual, I made it shockingly dull. By forty minutes in, the comments had mostly returned to the usual classroom.
"...All right. That's it for today's assignment. One last thing."
I put down my teacup.
"I have an announcement."
【Hm?】
【An announcement?】
【...Don't tell me】
"Starting today, I'm putting this course—on hold for a while."
The classroom that had gone on for forty-four lessons.
For the first time, it went completely still.