ch81-ch100 · 090-ch89

Chapter 89

"Thank you... thank you very much...! I will repay this debt, without fail...!"

Sniffling, voice thick with tears, Watanabe Yuki bowed his head — and Toru couldn't manage much of a reaction, just a "yeah" and a nod. Maybe he ought to have done something else, but nothing in particular came to mind, so it couldn't be helped.

For the time being, he tried waiting in silence for Watanabe to finish crying — but apparently no one had thought "come on, let's get to the next topic already," because for a while, the only sound filling the rundown apartment was Watanabe's sobbing.

A beauty's sobbing is a little bit sultry, huh, he thought — but that seemed like something better left unsaid, so Toru kept quiet.

After some time of that, Watanabe pulled out a pocket tissue, blew his nose with a long honking slurp, and bowed his head again, looking apologetic.

"S-sorry... I got a little overcome... Shirazawa-san, I'm sorry too. You knew Hayasaka-san — you had your own things to talk about, and yet..."

"No, it's fine. Mine was just something I wanted to ask, that's all. Weight-of-business-wise, yours is far heavier, Yuki-kun."

Shirazawa answered lightly. Apparently she hadn't known that Watanabe Yuki had been working as an explorer to save his little sister.

"Ahh, what a touchin' story, yeah. When ya use the Kumanoi Potion on your little sister, better have somebody there with ya. Seein' as it's Toru-bro-related business and all — me or little miss Azumaya here would do just fine. Seein' as we're joinin' 'Cleaning Sword' now, too."

"Quite so. I would not mind accompanying you myself, either — provided Watanabe-sama has no objection, of course. Silencing medical professionals happens to be one of my fortes."

A butler deliberately keeping his tone light — and a Kujo Reiko adding her piece with an oh-ho-ho smile.

Come to think of it, Kujo Reiko had a solid track record of healing her own injuries over and over with high-grade potions — so it was possible she'd cured things that weren't exactly external wounds, too.

"Ah ha... um... thank you... when the time comes — I'm sorry, but I expect I'll be in your care. I'd be grateful."

"Not at all, nothin' worth fussin' over. In exchange — just a quick li'l hotel, nothin'-of-the-sort, yeah? Hahaha. Just a friendly joke, ain't it?"

"How vulgar."

Azumaya's cold one-liner put a temporary lid on things.

Having apparently given up on the perpetually grinning butler, Azumaya let out a small breath, turned her gaze to Shirazawa, and prompted her — go ahead. Meaning: time to state her business.

Asking her to talk in this atmosphere was honestly pretty rough, Toru thought with a bystander's sympathy — but Shirazawa didn't look particularly bothered. She nodded and turned to face him.

"What I wanted to talk about... um, it's hard to sum up neatly... but first — I don't want to hold you back, Hayasaka-kun."

"...Huh?"

Right off the bat, he had no idea what she meant. At Toru's tilted head, Shirazawa gave a wry smile that said fair enough, and went on.

"Three years ago, when you told me to break up — I said yes because I thought I'd never be any help to you. This time, you told me 'if anything happens, call me' — so I called for help. Because — what if I could've been saved, but died because I didn't call? That'd weigh on you, right?"

"...Well, yeah."

"But that doesn't mean you can keep protecting me forever, does it. I'm not a princess in a video game — all that would do is get in the way of what you want to do. You worked as a cleaner because it was what you could do to hold off the 'Dungeon Rampages.' So — from now on?"

A desperately earnest, deathly serious gaze.

Slightly cowed by all this, Toru could do little as Shirazawa thrust her face in close and kept going.

"You picked up the Holy Sword and the Cursed Blade, Tia-san became your ally, and now you can do things even an A-rank explorer can't. Hey, Hayasaka-kun — what are you going to do from here? What do you want to do? I get that you can't keep being a cleaner. And I've sort of sensed that you're planning to make your way as an explorer, too. But you probably can't do it like an ordinary explorer — right? Because you're Hayasaka Toru."

In a way, it was a ferocious vote of confidence. Being told "you could never do things normally anyway" by an ex-girlfriend ought to warrant at least a wry smirk — but the feeling of agreement was stronger.

Right — probably so.

It wasn't that Toru himself thought he was some odd case.

But as for his current situation — just look at it. Even he thought the road ahead looked dubious.

"I don't want to drag you down. I don't want to get in your way. If there's one thing I refuse to be, it's your baggage, Hayasaka-kun. I know it's cowardly to say this right after you saved me, but... I like you best when you're being you."

"…………"

What to say — how, even, to answer.

Even Toru, hearing this much, could be certain of Shirazawa Kana's feelings for him. Part of him was exasperated — seriously, you liked me this whole time? — but somewhere in his chest, something also went warm — she kept liking me, all this while.

She never said she wanted to get back together.

Probably because she thought it would be in his way. Just as she'd said herself — she didn't want to drag him down. Because she was that kind of person, Toru could look back on their time as lovers with nostalgia, could feel grateful, could feel guilty, too.

Walking side by side with a girlfriend, chatting about whatever meaningless things, the two of them laughing happily together — that was not what Toru wanted now.

And it was Shirazawa, of all people, who had grasped that — when Toru himself had hardly thought about it at all.

"...Ah... right. Probably won't turn out like a 'normal explorer,' no. Any way you slice it, that one's just too strong."

Saying so, he looked at Tia. The holy-sword swordswoman was in an ordinary blouse and skirt now, and blinked back at him, blank-faced.

Toru thought a moment, then pressed his thumb to Shirazawa's forehead — still hovering way too close — and pushed her back to a proper distance, and continued.

"First — the thing we've gotta deal with, or, uh, handle, is the Demon business. That Gilgeil, the guy who was supposedly some Demon King executive. No idea what he's plotting or what he's moving for, but if he keeps poking at us, we crush him. And leaving him alone doesn't look like it does us any good either. But going all-in on just that probably isn't smart either — feels like tying up our hands is part of the goal... and besides, blowing Demons to bits isn't exactly my idea of a good time."

"...So what do you want to do?"

"I wanna go to labyrinths people don't really visit. Like... uhh... ones that aren't famous, or where the administration's grip is weak, or where they've got no connections to call in high-rank explorers — there's a fair number of those, right? The kind they just keep maintained, and only finally call in the high-rank explorers once there are signs of a 'Dungeon Rampage.'"

Come to think of it, S City's Kamioka Dungeon hadn't been much different. If that was how it went even in a regional city without any particular inconvenience, there had to be any number of labyrinths out there that wanted explorers — and couldn't get them to come.

"I'm apparently blowing up or whatever, so — ask the viewers and such, pick out places like that more or less on the loose, and go explore 'em... if I had to name a 'thing I wanna do,' that's it. Though, well — only really thought of it just now, 'cause you asked."

But saying it out loud, it didn't feel half bad.

'Anthem' had come to this town, sure — but there had to be towns that couldn't call in high-rank explorers. There had to be labyrinths with no profit in them that nobody spares a glance — like the old Sugai Dungeon. If nobody's going, I'll go. Now, I can.

What he wanted to do with mythic-class weapons picked up by sheer chance was absolutely, in no way, to go viral, turn famous, and get buddy-buddy with idol explorers and high-rank explorers.

Within arm's reach, he wanted to do what he could.

And that reach had widened to a joke of a degree — probably, that's what all this was.

"Yeah. I think that's very you, Hayasaka-kun."

To Shirazawa, offering a smile steeped in something bitter, all he could return was a wry one.

◇◇◇

"Now then — with Toru-bro's stance out in the open, we've got a proposal from our side, too. Ojou's never gonna get around to sayin' it, so I'll say it myself."

The butler, done holding his tongue, broke into a wide grin, trampling the mood underfoot, and pointed his index finger at the ceiling. Of course, all there was to see in the rundown apartment's sorry excuse for a ceiling was the LED light. Meaning: first item.

"Toru-bro — no, wait — Hayasaka Toru-san. How's about takin' me, Ojou, and Azumaya into 'Cleaning Sword'? Straight talk: let's make ours a li'l more of a clear-cut alliance."

"...Ahh... a clear-cut alliance, meaning?"

"At the start, it was Ojou's whim, reachin' a hand out to Toru-bro — but with how things've gone, that was the keenest of keen insight, truly. That's Ojou for ya. The Kujo house ain't keen on seein' Toru-bro get used by some other 'house,' neither. Me and Ojou — we think well of ya. And we figure — leave ya be, and it gets dangerous."

Lines stripped of all varnish, delivered in that same grinning, slack manner.

They gave Toru no offense. If anything, they left an odd gladness behind.

This butler loved Kujo Reiko from the bottom of his heart — whether that was the love between a man and a woman, Toru couldn't say, though probably not — and precisely because of it, he lived at a remove from everything else. Or so Toru had privately assumed.

And that man was opening his chest and speaking his honest mind to Hayasaka Toru.

Calling the likes of him — agreeable.

"Toru-bro. Lemme lay out the merits of takin' me and Ojou — well, and Azumaya — as clan members. First: the safety of them cat folks next door — those two — we can cover that, within what's possible. Toru-bro on his own absolutely won't have hands to spare. Course, if it's an enemy too strong for us, we're beat — and in that case, I grab Ojou and skedaddle — but your everyday dregs and riffraff, we can bounce right off."

"And your side's merit?"

"Good on ya for askin'. Give-and-take sits cleaner when it's squared both ways. 'Course we've got our merits, too. First — by gettin' involved in the trouble Toru-bro keeps landin' in, the Kujo house gets its hands on more information than the other houses. Demon-related intel bein' the crown jewel — but no question we'd hold the informational high ground elsewhere, too. Then, same as before — securin' the labyrinth resources Toru-bro brings home, that's another. And—"

The loose grin folded away once, and then the corners of his mouth rose in a proper smirk. The butler raised a second finger, and said:

"—Toru-bro. Hangin' around you — it's fun."

Right? said the butler's glance, turning backward.

Kujo Reiko, who had been listening with a grave face, glided half a step forward without ever leaving her seiza. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, the butler slipped aside, and the space between Toru and Kujo Reiko opened.

"Toru-bro-sama... no — Hayasaka Toru-sama. Would you not take me — take Kujo Reiko — into your clan? Joichiro spoke of merits... but as for me, personally — I simply wish to go on playing, and playing most enjoyably, at Toru-bro-sama's side."

The young lady's beaming smile was so blinding he thought he might dissolve — but Toru somehow held out, and managed a smile of his own.

"Of course. Put like that, there's no reason to refuse. You're — uh — welcome aboard. If anything, we'll probably be the ones leaning on you."

"Yes! And quite naturally, I shall meddle in your affairs to my heart's content!"

Oh ho ho ho! — rang her grand laugh.

These days, hearing that laugh actually put a little cheer in him. I've gotten pretty thoroughly poisoned, huh, Toru thought with a wry smile — the fact that he didn't mind one bit included.

◇◇◇

Incidentally — or rather.

By flow of conversation, by force of circumstance, Shirazawa Kana, too, ended up joining 'Cleaning Sword' — though she herself wore a rather complicated face about it.

"If we consider the possibility that Shirazawa-sama might be targeted, leaving her be is not an option. Kept separate from Toru-bro-sama's activities — for the time being, I — yes, I, Kujo Reiko — shall train her, together with Watanabe-sama!"

Oh ho ho ho! — to the grandly laughing Kujo Reiko, Toru discreetly offered up a prayer. A good deal of divine favor could be expected from her, after all.