arc02 · 044-The_Hope_Mio_Grasped_2

Episode 44: The Hope Mio Grasped (2)

On the date and time the fortune-teller had given her, the person Mio was looking for would come to a park in Saitama.

She drew big marks on the calendar, and to improve her impression even a little she bought new clothes and went to the salon too, preparing thoroughly.

It was fairly soon, so things got hectic, but she had nothing else to do, so there were no particular problems until the day.

If anything, it heightened her anticipation.

And that worked against her.

The day itself.

Her heart pounded so hard, and the nerves made her want to throw up.

(Why, on the very day, of all things…! R-right! Alcohol!)

The fortune-teller had said it.

That it would be good to have a drink before going.

Remembering that, Mio bought four cans of chuhai at a convenience store near the park a little past noon.

It wasn't evening yet, but she didn't know the specific time.

Determined not to miss them no matter what, she drank and strolled around the park from the middle of the day.

Even though the cherry-blossom season had passed, here was the picture of a woman having a one-person drinking party in a large park.

Before she knew it, she'd drained all four cans she'd bought.

She hadn't been much of a drinker in her past life, and this was her first drink in this life.

She didn't know the pace or her limits.

The result.

She ended up completely plastered and wandering the park.

(Ugh… I feel sick………… why am I, always, like this……)

Mio already had no room to look around her.

Even though it had become fully evening, she couldn't possibly search for the person she was looking for.

(Aah… it's no good anymore……)

Her unsteady, unreliable legs tangled.

THUD

She fell face-first onto the ground.

(It hurts……)

She couldn't think of anything.

That was when.

"Are you all right!?"

She heard someone's voice.

Someone nearby was saying something.

(Aah… please… anyone, just help me)

"First things first, I'm getting you up!? Whoa, you reek of booze!!"

Suddenly her body was lifted, and everything from her stomach came rushing back up.

"…………Ugh"

"Ah, w-wait—"

"Huuurgh."

She emptied everything out.

Worst. This was the worst.

"Uwaah………… t-this is the worst…"

"Urp, sorryyy."

She could only apologize.

The man who'd called out to her didn't leave even then—he looked after her. So kind.

"First, let's sit on a bench nearby. I'll lend you my shoulder."

"Thaaank you…"

He lent her his shoulder and stayed close all the way to the bench. So kind.

"Here, drink this. It's water."

"…………water"

"Yes, water."

"Sorry, and thanks."

He even bought her water. So kind.

"Right then, I'll be going. Take care."

"Wait, don't leave me."

She didn't want to be alone.

He might be an NPC, but she wanted to cling to that kindness.

"Huh? No… you should call someone you know and have them come get you."

"I don't have anybody like that."

"Ehh… what am I supposed to do here?"

"Just, stay here a little while."

"Ehhh………… haah. Only for a bit, okay."

The momentum of the drink had her making selfish demands.

Maybe thanks to throwing up, maybe thanks to the water, maybe thanks to sitting on the bench.

Her head gradually started to turn again.

It was already evening now.

She vaguely looked around, but other than the person beside her, she saw no one.

(This… is this…)

"……Do you believe in fortune-telling?"

She was remembering the fortune-teller's words.

Today, in the evening, in this park, a young man.

"No, not in particular."

"I see. I was told that if I came here today something good would happen—that I might find what I'm looking for."

"Haah. Is that so."

"Maybe it's you."

"Huh? What are you talking about…? If this is that kind of talk, I'll be taking my leave after all."

Surely that's it. It had to be.

Thinking that, she asked.

"Past lives, reincarnation—any of that ring a bell?"

◇

She'd said it. Mio's mouth had moved before her mind did.

She'd gotten ahead of herself, but the man who was about to leave stopped moving and answered her.

"……What is that supposed to be? If this is some shady recruitment pitch, I'm declining."

But if that's the case—thinking so, she decided to try a bluff.

"Sorry, sorry—it's not a recruitment thing. I just thought, if you happened to know about VTubers, maybe we could talk."

"Ohh, the V stuff. Unfortunately I'm not exactly well-versed in that, so————"

"Bingo. I knew it—you're a reincarnator, aren't you."

(Here it comes, here it comes, here it cooomes! I knew it, another reincarnator! This is the person I've been searching for!)

"Because it's 2016 right now. Almost nobody knows what a VTuber is, and there is absolutely no way anyone connects 'V' with 'reincarnation', right?"

"…………"

In contrast to Mio, who was leaping for joy inside, the man put on a sour face and looked wary.

Looking closely, he was quite young.

She didn't intend to make him wary, so she meant to clear up the misunderstanding right away—but the man spoke first.

"So it's you, huh. The so-called Enishi Rian. Which would make you a reincarnator too?"

The video had been watched.

He knew about her.

It hadn't been for nothing.

"I knew it! You watched the video! I tried it on the off chance somebody would notice, but nobody ever contacted me, and I was getting pretty down about it."

"How the hell would anyone get that from that? I figured it was just character backstory. That thing is never taking off, by the way."

"So that rough way of talking is the real you, huh."

"And that polite one's the real you, huh."

It felt like the distance between them was a little shorter than before.

From there they decided to talk it over in a karaoke room.

Mio's drunkenness had cleared completely, and she felt the brightest she had in these ten-something years.

◇

After entering the karaoke place, they introduced themselves first.

Then Mio told him why she'd been looking for Takeru.

Strictly speaking it wasn't Takeru she'd been looking for, but now that hardly mattered.

The anxieties she'd poured out.

Takeru listened to them properly.

She asked whether he'd met a god, whether he knew anything, but Takeru knew nothing either.

The anxieties she carried, the fears she couldn't tell anyone—she could tell Takeru, and only Takeru, without hiding anything.

To Mio, who doubted reincarnation itself, Takeru denied it.

"True, there are plenty of baffling points. But at the very least, you don't need to doubt that you reincarnated."

"Why?"

"I remember the moment I died perfectly."

"I-I'm pretty sure I died too, though…"

"Then it's even more certain. If you're uneasy because your memory of your own death isn't clear, then this should settle that."

"That's true, but. Out of curiosity—how did you die?"

"An accident. I was on a bus—it took a sharp mountain curve too fast and went over the edge. What caused the accident itself, I don't know. But that I died, that much is certain. Legs crushed under the crumpled frame. Glass shards stuck in me all over. The feeling of bleeding out. Breathing getting harder as the bus went up in flames. My consciousness faded bit by bit—there was never going to be any surviving that."

For an instant, she forgot to breathe.

It was exactly the same as hers.

And Takeru had apparently stayed conscious right up to the brink of death.

If that was the case, then surely she too had died and reincarnated—she could accept that.

In a situation like that, Mio could absolutely not have survived.

Takeru had cleared away Mio's anxieties, but Takeru himself still seemed to be suspicious of her in some way.

Mio, who truly had no ulterior motive and had purely been looking for someone she could talk to about this, told him everything truthfully.

Thanks to that the misunderstanding was resolved, but Mio ended up being thought of as an airhead.

◇

After that too, including idle chatter, they talked the whole time.

Since being born into this world, she'd surely never talked this much.

Among all of it, what left the deepest impression was talk of the dungeon.

Takeru was apparently a first-year in high school, and he kept diving into the dungeon.

He was an unbelievably capable person.

At the same time, she learned a shocking fact.

"…………Actually, I've got 【Plunder】 too."

Plunder.

A skill with truly nowhere to be useful.

Mio had had the same starting skill.

Naturally, Mio had looked into this skill as well.

【Plunder】 has many restrictions. In particular, when it comes to stealing skills, it's doubtful there's even anyone who can use it.

Of course, there was a way—the one a certain someone had pulled in the past, stealing an ally's powerful skill—but doing that ends your life as an adventurer. And at minimum you have to raise your level to 10 to secure one skill slot.

Regarding that 【Plunder】, Mio, who had an enormous amount of time on her hands, had considered one possibility.

Couldn't 【Plunder】 be used to grow a same-name skill?

Skills with Lv. notation, like XX Arts or XX magic, grow as proficiency accumulates.

Then if you stole many such skills with 【Plunder】, wouldn't it be added to proficiency and grow?

That was the possibility.

Naturally, there were people in the world who'd had the same idea.

But verifying it was too difficult. After all, you'd have to reach Lv. 10 or higher while holding only 【Plunder】 as your skill, and in that state you'd have to learn magic skills that monsters possess.

But if 【Plunder】 itself could be grown————.

So she asked.

"If you plundered 【Plunder】, what do you think would happen?"

"That's…………"

Takeru fell silent.

He seemed to be spinning his thoughts at high speed.

Takeru had probably noticed the same thing as Mio and tried to look it up online.

But right here there were two 【Plunder】 holders. And for Mio it was an unneeded skill.

So.

"It's not like I need 【Plunder】 or anything. If you can take it—take it."

She meant to give it to Takeru.

She didn't know if it would be any help to him, but she hoped it would be.

He gripped the right hand she held out.

"Plunder."

The instant.

Something slipped quietly out of Mio.

Surely 【Plunder】 had gone to him.

"It worked. You okay over there? Anything feel off with your body?"

"For a second it felt like something drained out of me, but nothing's wrong. If anything, I feel a little lighter."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Might just be in my head."

"Well—if you're fine, that's all that matters."

"Aren't you a softie."

She meant it.

He was extremely kind.

Kind enough to make Mio want to depend on him.

"Today was a good day of gains for both of us, huh."

"Yeah, thank you, truly."

"Yeah—same to you."

◇

After leaving the karaoke place and parting, a little while later Mio let out a deep breath.

The fun of moments ago turned all at once into loneliness.

Even though it was mid-April, it felt strangely chilly.

Gazing at the contact info they'd exchanged, she consoled and fooled herself—'I can message him anytime.'

Back at her solo apartment, she collapsed onto the bed.

The anxiety she'd had until yesterday was gone. But the loneliness had only deepened.

She wanted to talk more.

She wanted to be near him.

There were various things she was curious about, but all of it hardly mattered.

(I plan to face the people of this world in my own way, but even so, the number one spot is still next to him……)

The sense of security was different.

Above all, she'd been able to smile from the heart.

She felt like she'd gotten herself back.

Before she knew it, despite it being the middle of the night, Mio had booked the fortune-teller.

◇

Paying double with the express fee and forcing a reservation in, Mio rushed to the fortune-teller the very next day.

"Thank you for the other day. Thanks to you, it went well."

"That's wonderful to hear. Nothing could make me happier."

"Now then. Today, I'd like to be as close to that person I met as possible, so, um, if I could learn some good method, or his address, that sort of thing… I was thinking."

"I see… An address is a bit much, as expected, but I'll convey the image I saw, so please search for the rest yourself. What you do after that is up to you."

"Understood. Please do."

And so Mio identified the apartment building where Takeru lived, confirmed a vacant room, and decided to move. She pushed the real estate company quite hard. Money is powerful at times like this.

For the move, she needed an excuse.

To be by his side, she mustn't get in his way and be disliked.

Conversely, if she could be of help to him, he might need her.

So she racked her brains desperately and squeezed this out.

"Gather 【Plunder】 holders and have Takeru get stronger and stronger."

Surely he'd be pleased.

Mio's head was full of Takeru.

Meeting Takeru.

That was the first hope Mio had gained since coming to this world.