part2 · 085-ep85

Episode 85: A Foreign Body in the City

He walked on down the mountain path.

Ren made his way in silence.

The surface, for the first time in ten years. Go down the mountain, and there would be the town he once knew. That was what he'd thought.

Before long, the mountain path came to an end. The view opened up.

"......"

Ren stopped walking.

He could see the town.

But—

"...I don't know it."

The words slipped out of him.

More buildings than before. Wider roads. It was a town he should have known — and yet it looked like somewhere he'd never been.

The small devices people carried in their hands caught his eye too. Looking at their screens as they walked. Talking with someone. Taking pictures.

Ten years ago, there had been no sight like this.

Ren entered the town, glancing around as he went. Passersby kept stealing glances at him.

Combat clothes in black. Light armor to guard his body. On his feet, special shoes from the dungeon.

And—

A beard ten years in the growing. Uneven hair, cut by his own hand. An expressionless face, sweeping over the surroundings.

In the middle of the town, he stood out, plain as day.

"...What's with that person?"

"No idea... never seen them before."

"Shouldn't we call the police?"

The voices carried to him. Ren turned around.

"......"

Their eyes met. The woman hurriedly looked away.

"...?"

Ren tilted his head. Why had she avoided his gaze? He didn't know.

In ten years, Ren had not spoken with another human being once. He hadn't even had the chance to use the words a person needs.

Fight monsters. Secure food. Live.

That was all his life had been.

So he had never once cared about how people looked at him, or how they reacted.

Ren kept walking, unbothered. His destination was decided.

The place he used to live.

But—

"......"

Ren stopped partway along the road.

"...Was it this way?"

He turned down a road on memory alone. But there was nothing he recognized.

"......Wrong."

After walking a while longer, Ren turned back. He tried another road. It still didn't match his memory.

Buildings that had stood ten years ago were gone. The roads had changed too. New buildings had sprung up, and the old landmarks had vanished with them.

"...I don't know."

Ren came to a stop.

All that remained in his head was the town as it looked ten years ago. He was walking by that memory alone, and still, everywhere he went looked like somewhere he didn't know.

He took the wrong road again and again. Each time, he turned back and looked for another.

"......"

Even so, he never thought of giving up. The place where he'd lived — that much, he remembered. Believing it, he kept walking.

And then—

"...Here it is."

Ren stopped.

The house where he'd lived with his parents. The place Ren had spent his life up to fifteen. Ten years ago, when he'd left home, it had certainly been here.

But.

"......"

No house. No yard. No fence.

All that was there was an empty lot.

"...It's gone."

The words slipped from Ren's mouth.

One step forward. He looked around. No matter how many times he checked, the house wasn't there.

"......"

Ren stood there without a word.

For ten years, he had thought of one thing only: coming back someday. If he made it back here, he'd be home. That was what he'd believed.

And yet—

Nothing remained of the place he had come back to.

The neighbors were watching him.

An unfamiliar man. Black combat gear. A face full of beard. Standing motionless, for a long time, on an empty lot.

"...What is that man doing?"

"Who knows... I've never seen him before."

"Shouldn't we call the police?"

Around then.

A woman was walking along a nearby street.

Kanzaki Mizuki. Twenty-five years old. An A-rank adventurer, and leader of the three-woman party 《Astra》.

Walking along, Mizuki suddenly stopped.

"......"

She stared at the street before her.

Why had she come this far? She didn't know herself. Before she realized it, her feet had carried her here.

The house where Ren used to live, long ago. Ten years back — the place she'd visited again and again, up until the day Ren disappeared.

"...I came here again."

Mizuki murmured, quietly.

Ten years since Ren vanished.

That day, when they were fifteen, Ren had suddenly disappeared. Without any sign at all.

After that, Mizuki had searched for him again and again. She asked her friends from school, checked every place she knew, visited everywhere Ren might have gone, over and over.

But—

She found nothing.

"...Back then."

Mizuki lowered her eyes. Even now, she sometimes thought it.

If only she had stayed closer to him that day. Wouldn't something have been different? Couldn't she have kept him from disappearing?

"...If only I'd noticed more."

There was no answer. But that regret alone, even now, ten years on, had never faded.

There was a limit to how far one person could search. No clues. No information.

So Mizuki chose a different path.

She became a model.

The entertainment world could connect her with so many people. If she made a name for herself, information might reach places it never had before. The connections she made there might turn up a clue to find Ren.

And—

If she became famous. If Ren saw her somewhere, someday — maybe he would be the one to reach out.

That small hope was there too.

But then, three years later.

Dungeons appeared in the world. And from them, humanity discovered all manner of things it had never known.

Among them—

were potions that healed wounds.

When Mizuki learned of it, she thought:

Could it be? That dungeons still held items no one knew about?

If something could heal wounds, then someday, an item that could find a person might be found too.

Something that could find Ren. Something that could tell her where he was.

Such an item might be sleeping in some dungeon, somewhere.

Of course, there was no basis for it. It was nothing but hope.

And still—

Mizuki didn't want to give up.

So she quit modeling. And became an adventurer.

To enter the dungeons. To search for Ren. To find him, someday.

And—

If she and Ren ever did meet again — she didn't want to be the person who could do nothing, like before.

That day at fifteen, when she could do nothing — she never wanted to repeat it.

So she became strong.

She trained. Fought. Found comrades. And climbed her way to A rank.

To find Ren.

And—

For the day she would see him again.

"......"

Mizuki looked toward where the old house had stood. Even now, ten years later, coming here made her chest ache, just a little.

"...Ren."

Quietly, she spoke the name aloud.

There would be no answer. That was what she thought.

But—

A little way ahead, a crowd had gathered. At its center stood a man.

And in front of him—

were two police officers.

Mizuki stopped.

"...Did something happen?"

She watched from a distance.

One of the officers spoke to the man.

"You. What are you doing here?"

"...I came back."

"Came back?"

The officer looked around. There was no house there.

"This is an empty lot."

"...I know."

The officers exchanged troubled looks.

And then—

"What's your name?"

Mizuki was listening to the exchange half-absently.

The man answered.

"......"

After a moment's pause.

"...Kurose Ren."

"......"

The instant she heard that name—

Mizuki's feet stopped.

"...What?"

She hadn't misheard.

Kurose Ren.

The name of the childhood friend who had vanished without warning ten years ago.

Slowly, Mizuki looked at the man.

A face hidden under a beard. Uneven hair. Unfamiliar black gear.

Nothing like the boy he'd been ten years ago.

Even so—

Deep in Mizuki's chest, the memories overlapped.

The boy of fifteen. The childhood friend always at her side. The name she had searched for, for ten straight years.

"...No way."

Mizuki took a step forward.

Ren turned around. Their eyes met.

Mizuki's eyes went wide.

"...Ren?"

Ren looked at her, unmoving.

"......"

After a long moment.

"...Mizuki?"

For the first time in ten years.

the two of them met again.