c1-c20 · 007-ch7

Chapter 7: The Uncle and Another Ordinary Morning

"Shibasaki-san, Shibasaki-san! Look at this, look at this, look at this!"

In the living room bathed in pleasant morning sunlight, as I carried freshly made bacon and eggs to the table, Maika-chan came running from the bedroom, making a racket. This girl is so energetic in the morning.

"Maika-chan, good morning. Breakfast is ready."

"Morning. Wow, looks delicious again today. But never mind that, look at this!"

Unsuccumbed by the temptation of breakfast, Maika-chan showed me her smartphone screen. Displayed on it was a battle scene between a monster and an explorer.

But wait, this looks kind of familiar...

"Huh, is this the Blood Ogre from yesterday?"

"Yes, yes, that's right! This is absolutely blowing up right now!"

"B-blowing... what?"

"Shibasaki-san, you don't know?! It means something incredible is happening!"

"Something incredible?"

"Huh? Well... um, how should I explain it... Anyway, this video is spreading like crazy!"

Video spreading? I don't quite get it. But I can understand that something amazing happened since Maika-chan is more excited than I've ever seen her.

"But how is there footage?"

"Shibasaki-san, you saved Negomin yesterday, right!"

"Oh right, Negomin is the person Maika-chan mentioned."

The answer finally came to something that had been nagging at me since yesterday. That's right, Maika-chan had mentioned her.

"Negomin was attacked by a Blood Ogre, and apparently she was streaming at the time. And the part where Shibasaki-san saved her was perfectly captured on camera!"

"Camera...? I didn't see any camera though."

"These days there are all kinds—small handheld ones, head-mounted types!"

"Ah, she did have something attached to her head. You really know a lot about this, Maika-chan."

"This is common knowledge! It's just that Shibasaki-san is too clueless!"

I don't know about that... I think Maika-chan is just unusually knowledgeable.

"Shibasaki-san, you do some pretty unconventional things during combat... We're used to it, but it seems that went over well on social media."

"Unconventional? I don't think I do anything particularly strange. If anything, I'd say I'm more normal than average."

"Fighting with a single broom is definitely weird no matter how you think about it!"

"Well, that's... but it's convenient..."

The weapons I use break easily. That's why it's a hassle to prepare replacements every time. In that regard, cheap cleaning tools give me peace of mind since I can break as many as I want, whenever I want. Plus, being able to smoothly transition into cleaning after finishing processing monster corpses is an added bonus.

"Ugh, why did I go to the bathroom at that time?! That was my chance to get an autograph!"

"By the way, Maika-chan, what about your high school entrance ceremony? Don't you need to change?"

"That's next week!"

"Right. In that case, can I ask you to handle navigation again today? Sanada-san is on paid leave until today."

"Well, okay."

"Then I'm heading to the office soon. Maika-chan, you can eat first."

"What about Shibasaki-san's breakfast?"

"I already ate."

"Geez, you're always way too early. Let's eat~"

I managed to calm down the excited Maika-chan and successfully got her to eat breakfast.

Alright, I need to leave the house quickly while I can.

I hastily finished preparing for work and was about to leave the living room. Just then, Maika-chan, who had been drinking corn soup, stopped and spoke to me.

"Hey, it's the Shinjuku Dungeon again today, right?"

"Well, today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow—yeah, that's right."

"...Be careful when you go today. I think there are a lot of people gathered at the Shinjuku Dungeon right now. Shibasaki-san has become super famous, so I'm sure tons of strangers are going to talk to you."

"Ahaha, what are you talking about? There's no way people would come to the Shinjuku Dungeon. And getting talked to? It's not like I appeared on TV or anything. That's not gonna happen."

"I'm serious!"

"Okay, okay, I'll keep it in mind."

It's not that I don't believe Maika-chan at all, but I'll take it with a grain of salt. With that thought, I opened the front door.

I wonder how long Maika-chan's trend obsession will last this time.

...Famous, huh. Being told that, even if it's a lie, makes me nervous. What if a TV station wants to interview me? Should I talk about my work ethic or something?