chapter02 · 033-ep33

Episode 33: "Entry"

I washed rice on the morning we entered, too.

"Humanity's First Public Abyss Clearing Operation Begins at 6 A.M. Today"

"Chief Commander Hiiragi Shinichi (B-rank) Will Enter the Dungeon on the Front Line"

"Global Concurrent Viewership Forecast in the Hundreds of Millions; Agency Expands Connections on a National Scale"

I looked at three headlines and turned my terminal face down. I didn't mess up washing the rice once this morning. Seven servings. The biggest breakfast I'd made in forty-two years.

I made seven rice balls from the cooked rice. All with pickled plum inside. Not for luck. They're just the best thing for a tired body.

Two messages from Hina-chan.

"Sensei! There are so many people and reporters by the shaft!"

"Also, Maru-san skipped breakfast because he said, 'I'm eating Pops's food on-site'! That's NOT business as usual. It's a first in history!"

...A heavy responsibility. I put the bamboo-leaf-wrapped bundle at the top of my pack.

◇

The entrance to the Abyss was an enormous shaft by the sea.

A crowd had gathered outside the cordon before dawn, and press drones darkened a patch of sky. With all of it behind them, six people stood in full gear. Their backs were more relaxed than nine days ago. A good sign.

"Pops, you're late."

"Sorry. I was wrapping the rice balls."

"Good. I'll protect the pack even if it kills me."

"Protect yourself before the pack, please."

As usual, I held three lines up to the camera.

"Objective: everyone goes in, and everyone comes home."

"Retreat criterion: the moment even one person can no longer put their 'next step' into words."

"After return: observation report meeting (everyone's reports)."

"—We're off."

【It's not 'Off you go' today】

【Sensei's going in too... a B-rank into an unexplored labyrinth】

【Anyone saying they're worried is a noob. All nine days of training were public】

【Please, all of you come home】

We descended the shaft. At even intervals, Yagarasu-kun drove glowing markers that doubled as broadcast relays into the rock. That way, we laid down both a marked route and a signal path as we went. The sounds of the world faded overhead, replaced by a low wind rising from below, like the Abyss breathing.

6:40 a.m. We began crossing the first level.

◇

The first barrier appeared twenty minutes later.

"The Thousand False Paths."

A labyrinth layer where corridors of the same width, height, and reflected light kept branching like a honeycomb. I'd read about it in the records. But the moment we entered, I understood. This place was built out of malice toward the very idea of a map.

"I spent nineteen days here," Rei-kun said.

"Additional note. I spent thirteen. All my coordinate calculations became useless on the third day. That is all."

"Twenty-two for me. Even I lost the exit, and escaping's my specialty."

"I... turned back after seven days," Kokoro-chan said.

"I didn't count," said Maru-kun. "Counting in this layer would break you."

A layer that had swallowed weeks of each of humanity's strongest, one at a time.

I could tell from the speed of the comments that the world was holding its breath. What would all of humanity's wisdom come up with here? At the center of those expectations, my first instruction was this:

"Everyone, match your stride. Mark the route three ways. Don't hurry. —This is a layer where you throw away speed."

【...That's it?】

【Stride length lol. In an unexplored labyrinth, stride length lol】

【Remember this moment, whoever laughed. This man's 'boring' changes common sense every time】

◇

Our progress was dull to a fault.

Seventy-centimeter strides, matched through training. Three marks at every fork. Every thirty seconds, roll call, with everyone saying their "next step" aloud. Maru-kun led, Mio-san drew the blueprint, Yagarasu-kun scouted, Kokoro-chan stood at the center of the circle, and Rei-kun kept time at the rear. Hina-chan translated everyone's words for everyone else and passed them along.

The anomaly came in the second hour.

"Sensei." Yagarasu-kun reported with less than a one-and-a-half-second delay. "There's a fork up ahead—with our markings on it. All three, perfect."

Our marks had appeared ahead of us on a path we'd never taken.

"Here we go. Just like the five of you reported."

I put three years of hypotheses into words.

"The Thousand False Paths copies what intruders have 'seen' and makes more corridors. The scenery, the light, even the marks we've made. Every visual landmark betrays us. That's why each of you lost weeks in here. —But..."

I looked at Hina-chan.

"There should be one thing it can't copy perfectly. Hina-chan, the log."

"Yes! From the seventh fork to the eighth, it was 206 steps on the way out. ...But on this same corridor coming back, it's 203! Three steps shorter!"

That's it.

"The false paths copy appearances, but they can't reproduce dimensions perfectly. They're always a little shorter. That's why we matched our strides. At seventy centimeters a step, every last one of you is a living ruler now."

Mio-san took a breath.

"Additional note. That means if I compare the step-count log for every fork against my blueprint, I can remove all the corridors whose dimensions don't match—the false paths—on paper. Estimated time, twenty minutes. That is all."

【Oh】

【OHHHHH I get it, I get it now! THAT'S why the stride length mattered!!】

【The markings were 'bait for it to copy,' and the real map was the step counts】

【The labyrinth countermeasure is 'walk properly.' Seriously...?】

Twenty minutes later, a thousand paths had vanished from Mio-san's blueprint, leaving a single true route.

◇

12:50 p.m. First barrier cleared.

Alone, they'd spent weeks. As seven, we'd spent six hours.

Rei-kun rested his hand on the rock wall at the exit and stood there a while. As if he'd come back to leave nineteen days' worth of something behind.

【Six hours】

【Nineteen days became six hours】

【The basics are incredible】

【↑ That's number one worldwide right now】

【The basics are incredible (now a universal phrase)】

I handed out rice balls in the hall beyond the barrier.

"We'll have the report meeting when we're home, but there's one person I want to recognize now. —The person who didn't miscount a single one of those 206 steps."

"Huh!? I-I just... counted them...!"

"Doing that 'just' for six hours without letting your attention slip once—that's the fundamentals. Be proud of it."

"You're the best ruler in the world, Hina," Maru-kun laughed. Hina-chan turned redder than her pickled plum.

◇

Toward the end of the break, Yagarasu-kun came back from scouting ahead.

"Sensei. It's a descending Grand Corridor up ahead. No sign of enemies, straightforward layout. —But the air's strange. Sweet. Smells like right before you fall asleep."

"Additional note. This matches the estimated distance to the second barrier in the records. If our advance information is correct, what lies ahead isn't a physical layer—it's an area of mental interference. That is all."

Everyone's face tightened. I called roll.

"Your next step?"

"Forward." "Forward." "Additional note. Forward." "Forward, then." "...Forward." "Forward!"

Six voices. Good. Everyone answered. I stood and shouldered my pack again—and that was when it happened.

"—Huh?"

Hina-chan turned toward the empty darkness and tilted her head slightly.

"That's strange... Did somebody just call my name?"

Nobody had.

The second barrier had already begun.