ch81-ch100 · 092-ch91

Chapter 91

Saito Megumi had a complicated feeling sitting in her, one she didn't quite know what to do with.

Gathered in the room Mido Airi used at their hotel in S City — who knew which night of the stay it was by now — were Kagurazaka Chizuru, the cameraperson Shingu Sanagi, the elf Ilseria, and, sitting seiza on the floor, their manager Hamamatsu Nanami.

Megumi had the chair; Chizuru and Sanagi shared the two-seater sofa. Ilseria lay sprawled across Airi's bed, fiddling with her mobile. And at the center of it all sat Nanami in seiza — while Airi, who had gone out saying "I'll just pop out and buy some snacks," was taking her sweet time coming back.

Not that she'd been gone an hour or two — it was more the level where pinging her mobile might come off a bit annoying. Airi, at any rate, was hardly the type to go striding down a prefectural road lost to herself and practically in her underwear, the way Chizuru once had, so it was less worry than a strong feeling of won't she hurry back already.

"Still, though — a woman under ordered suspension crashing at an old senpai's place to drink herself miserable, then downing an antidote potion and sitting seiza to show she's sorry. That's pretty incomprehensible, honestly."

Ilseria said it without taking her eyes off her mobile screen. There was no edge whatsoever in her tone — it had the simple quality of a remark made purely because she found it strange. For better or worse, she was a woman with precious little second meaning to her.

"Well... to be honest, I've been wondering whether I should even keep managing 'Anthem'... and, one more honest thing — it was Sadoyama-senpai I found more dependable than Habaki-san, so..."

"This Sadoyama-san — he's the section chief of S City's Labyrinth Department, isn't he? He led our escape back in the Kamioka Dungeon. I'd gathered he's an old clanmate of yours, but there's quite an age gap between you. What exactly was your relationship?"

"...I was picked up by the clan leader at the time, back when I was still in my early teens. I was more or less an orphan... and I wasn't the only kid like that... back then, the systems and such were still nowhere near what they are now..."

"Ah — the era of underage explorers, isn't it."

Unlike Megumi and the others, who had entered explorer training school in middle school, children who were still minors had gone into labyrinths back then. The very concept of mana affinity had yet to spread, and whether a child had any aptitude for labyrinths apparently made no difference at all.

The reason Nanami's generation, in the first place, saw so many orphans — children utterly alone in the world — was the "Chain Dungeon Rampage" of the era before. There were simply too many such children for national support to reach, it was said. If you wanted to go on living, you had to stand on your own feet and walk. Megumi could not begin to imagine it — but surely it was that clan leader, in his day, who had gotten Nanami walking.

There must have been many, too, who could no longer walk at all.

And not a few, they say, were the ones made to walk when they never should have been.

And — following the thread of the story — that leader had been killed by a Demon. If so, then raging mad enough to lose her reason over it wasn't impossible to understand. It would be a lie to say nothing like sympathy welled up at all. But that did not mean 'Anthem' — that Megumi and the others — could be treated as expendable on its account. That much had to be kept separate.

In any case, for the moment they waited on Airi. The question of just what state of mind had brought Hamamatsu Nanami — who had been drowning her sorrows at her senpai Sadoyama's home — back to the hotel to sit seiza before Megumi and the others would come after Airi returned. And considering Airi had deliberately gone out shopping and left Nanami sitting seiza on standby, Airi, for her part, had her own thoughts on the matter — perhaps.

It wasn't as if Nanami were the only one with a past. Airi surely had one too, and so did Chizuru. Even Sanagi, who hardly spoke a word, had hers, of course. Megumi... well, didn't. Nothing worth the telling. But then — did that mean those without much of a past needn't be respected? Ought to be brushed aside? That's where the argument leads, isn't it.

"But that Demon — I've never even heard of it, you know. An older elf might have known of it, but if the stories weren't handed down, then it must no longer have been a threat to us elves."

Ilseria said it like a tossed-off afterthought, and Nanami's temple gave a twitch — but even she didn't erupt. If she got angry here, there'd be no salvaging it, Megumi thought; but Ilseria's remark was probably no probing move — just plain, garden-variety tactlessness. "Your benefactor was killed by someone who no longer even counted as a threat" — that was hardly a thing worth going out of one's way to say.

— And.

"Sorry for the wait. I was shopping at the convenience store just nearby — and I ran into Sadoyama-san there. He seemed to have come to the hotel on some errand or other."

Wearing her usual soft, floaty smile, Airi returned with a shopping bag crammed full of snacks, breads, and drinks. First she distributed chocolate to Ilseria; sour-cream-flavored snack crackers to Chizuru and Sanagi; something fried-potato-ish to Megumi; and before Nanami, still sitting seiza, she set down a box of Calorie Blocks with a plonk.

"Well then — shall we have our talk? Do take whichever drinks you like."

◇◇◇

Between what Mido Airi had to report — "I had a little talk with Sadoyama-san" — and the story Hamamatsu Nanami told afresh, there was no discrepancy; and the focus of the discussion settled not on poor Nanami-san's tales of the old days but on: so then, what do we do from here?

"Now, then. Hamamatsu Nanami-san — placed on suspension by Sensei, and yet off drinking herself miserable at Sadoyama-san's place — there was something you wished to say to us, was there not?"

Munching on cookie-biscuits of her own, Airi turned a gentle gaze on Nanami. Ilseria, at last giving up her sprawl, tossed chocolate into her mouth and looked at Nanami with open curiosity — but the one Nanami was watching was Megumi.

For the obvious reason: Megumi was the leader of 'Anthem.'

"Please let me go on working as your manager. I did consider that it might be better to quit — but I don't want to just throw you all away. I will never again do anything driven by personal grudge, and I'll work in ways that do more good for everyone."

"...That's what she says — but what do you think, Megumi-chan?"

A wry smile escaped her at how smoothly Airi tossed it to her. 'Anthem' was a national project to begin with; being leader carried no great authority. What she could do would amount to something close to self-destruction — appealing to Sensei — Habaki Ryo — that if Nanami-san stayed on as manager, she'd had it with Anthem. Possible or not possible? Possible.

"For now, leave me aside... Sanagi — you're not against it, right?"

Put the question to Shingu Sanagi, whose answer was a foregone conclusion, and she nodded with zero delay. Less "haven't given it thought" than "nothing to think about."

"Chizuru?"

"...As for the discourtesy she committed against Toru-sama — I will be honest, I still have my feelings on that matter. But a grudge rooted in her past, a failure to keep control of herself — those are not things I am in any position to berate her for. If she means to do things properly from here on, then from me, about all there is to say is 'I'm counting on you.'"

It was a thoroughly Chizuru-like answer, clean and clear-cut. Had it been the Chizuru of just days ago, the answer would probably have been different. Talking it out really had been the right call. Humankind has words — so talking things through is what people should do. With those they want to get along with, at the very least.

"Anything from you, Ilseria?"

"Your problem, no? Do as you like. Whether Nanami's around or not, I'm fond of you lot — I'll go on helping you out properly."

"...Come to think of it, I never asked — why are you fond of us? Why do you mean to help us?"

"Making children like you shoulder the fate of the world — isn't that just pitiful?"

She said it like it was the most obvious thing... truly, with perfect naturalness. Megumi could tell that this silver-haired elf, girl that she looked, meant it from the heart. The very idea of lying to a human was, in her, probably a thin one.

"I see. Thanks for that. Umm... Airi — what do you think?"

"To be honest — nothing in particular. I think how I see her will change with the work she does from here on... perhaps? And if I could have my wish, I'd want her not to betray us. Nanami-san took us to heart, and helped us, and was good to us, after all."

"............"

Ah — that faint, brisk little smile was a face braced into being. Megumi had taken it for anger, but it was the opposite, she now understood.

Airi was frightened.

One way and another, they'd become 'Anthem.' And Hamamatsu Nanami, a former explorer, had guided them when they couldn't tell left from right. Labyrinth exploration streaming — Nanami herself had hardly understood it — yet she had studied up on this and that, and backed them up. All that time, all that time, she had protected them. That was plain fact.

That fact, Megumi didn't want made into something that never was.

And yet — if they could not believe her, then it ended here.

Phew — Megumi let a breath out, rose from her chair, took the still-standing Airi by the hand, and sat her down in it. She gave a light pat to the shoulder of the dear friend watching her in bewilderment, and settled herself squarely in front of the 'elder sister' still seated in seiza.

Meeting her eyes, Megumi could see she trembled with unease.

Could see that she was the same as them... just a weak human being, nothing more.

"Nanami-san. Are you trying to use us as tools for your revenge, Nanami-san?"

"No — no, I mean — you're wrong... it's not that all of it's wrong... but tools, I never — I never thought of you as tools. What I was trying to do was protect..."

"Why didn't you go on as an explorer? If you wanted revenge, you could have kept diving into labyrinths solo, raised your explorer rank, grown strong."

"...Because I thought I... could never reach it..."

The hands in her lap clenched tight, with force enough to make them creak. Back teeth gritted, brow creased deep — Megumi had never seen Nanami like this.

It wasn't that she'd been dying to see it.

If Nanami had wanted it hidden, it could have stayed hidden.

Circumstances simply no longer allowed it.

"Nanami-san. Look at me. Please, look at me. I want to believe you — and if I decide to believe, then I truly will. I will put our lives in your hands. We are no longer in the place of 'can't really trust her, but I'll go along for now.'"

Having taken instruction from Soma Kengo — the S-rank explorer called 'the Hunter' — she had come to realize something: all this time, they had done their labyrinth exploring entirely within the safe zone. There had been no shortage of slightly dangerous moments — but a true desperate corner, like this last one, they had never experienced.

Because Nanami had carefully chosen where Megumi and the others explored. She did her groundwork, checked it against her own experience, and had them explore only with ample safety margins secured. Under normal circumstances, the B-rank Kamioka Dungeon should have been easy even for Megumi and Chizuru alone. Should have been — yet it had not turned out that way.

"Not me — it was impossible for me, Megumi. I knew that already, the day that man died. That's why I went along with Habaki-san's plan — raising up a hope for the new generation. If you all truly grew strong, you would never lose to the likes of them. I wanted there to be people who would never lose to the likes of them... but maybe... maybe I was also thinking, you might be the ones to defeat the one who killed him... because I never could..."

The tears fell in fat drops.

Just as Chizuru's had, only days before.

What she had been carrying had grown past what she could carry, and come spilling over... and after that there was only a girl, crying. The same as a baby wailing at the dark of night — simply too powerless against the reality in front of her, frustrated past endurance, with nothing left to do but cry.

Honestly, though — no helping this one, huh.

So thinking, Megumi took her elder sister's hand and gently embraced her. Not that the thought why on earth am I the one doing this? entirely escaped her.

But, as Airi had said — she was grateful to Nanami too. The mistake itself and the handling of it afterward had been nothing to praise; but someday, Megumi might blunder just the same. Were Nanami a complete stranger, she would never have gone out of her way to accept her. She had no intention of preaching that all the world should forgive. But if some stranger said "don't forgive her" — she would not obey.

I will forgive her.

For now — this once.

"All right, Nanami-san. I'm asking for your support. We're going to get strong. Far stronger than now. It's just a feeling, but I think we can do it. Though mind you — I don't really think I'm cut out to be an explorer, myself. So support me properly, okay?"

"Ngh — th-thank you... Megumi...! I'm sorry... I'm sorry — what a pathetic woman I am... when it should be me... guiding you all...!"

She said it through streaming tears — but the reason practical combat technique had never been drilled into Megumi and the others was the policy of 'Sensei' Habaki; and in the meantime, once they had climbed all the way to A-rank, technical instruction had passed beyond Nanami altogether.

It was something she had felt in her bones from Soma's teaching: get half-baked instruction in how to use your mana, and you'd likely end up boxed in small. To keep that from happening, they had been set to prioritize the taking-in of mana above all else, honing no techniques, simply exploring labyrinths.

The world fused, and mana manifested in this world — or perhaps people became able to use a mana that had been there all along — and freaks like Megumi and the others had come into being. Immature freaks, still. And yet Megumi, who had only ever explored labyrinths in safety, was stronger than Hamamatsu Nanami, who was supposed to have passed through the border of death.

That was, no doubt, despair — and hope, too.

If it were humanity's hope she was asked to carry, she'd want to bolt. But the hope of a more-fragile-than-expected elder benefactor — that much she could shoulder.

— Pipipipipi.

Mid-thought, listening to Nanami's sobs, Megumi's mobile announced an incoming call. Whether the timing was good or bad, it snapped Nanami out of it: she let go of Megumi with a start and rushed for the box tissues stocked in the hotel room. There came a long, wet snuffle of a nose being sniffed back — but nobody remarked on it. Pulling the mobile from her pocket with a wry smile, Megumi found the caller listed: 'Hayasaka Toru.'

"Hello? This is Saito Megumi."

〈Ah... sorry for callin' at this hour. It's Hayasaka. Uh, so... is this an okay time to talk?〉

The voice that came through was deeply apologetic in tone and, at the same time, phenomenally couldn't-be-bothered. Even if someone said they'd taken one look at the man's explorer history and underestimated him — well, Megumi couldn't quite deny that maybe twenty percent of that was only natural. That said, it wasn't as if one ought to take a dismissive attitude toward him.

"Um — yes, it's fine. Besides, I can't imagine you'd call with no reason, so — you have some business, don't you?"

〈'Preciate it. It's business, yeah, but... uh... have you heard the stuff about the Demons? It's, uh... related to that — there's something I'd like to ask of Kagurazaka-san...〉

"The things called 'Demons' — well, I've heard about them, vaguely. Or rather, all anyone has is vague information, isn't that so. And so — Hayasaka-san wants a favor from our Chizuru?"

She said that last part deliberately on the loud side. Sure enough, Chizuru's eyes went wide as she stared at Megumi, and Ilseria, chocolate in mouth, choked in surprise. Nanami, who a moment ago had been in tears, wore a what-on-earth-is-going-on bewilderment — but it wasn't as if Megumi had any idea either.

〈Ah... yeah, that's right. If that's all right, I was hoping to talk to her in person, though.〉

"That's no problem — but may I hear what the request is, first?"

A precaution, that question. She couldn't imagine Hayasaka lying at a time like this to drag Chizuru somewhere — but having him act on his own in a situation Megumi wasn't tracking would be a problem too. Nor was she quite so foolish as to dump it wholesale on Nanami as she was now with a "you're the manager."

The answer came, sure enough, in that couldn't-be-bothered tone.

〈So — seems there's Demons being sheltered behind the Kagurazaka main house, and meeting them needs the Kagurazaka main house's permission, or some such story... uh... sorry 'bout this, but I'm hoping Kagurazaka-san can show me the way. I don't know the place, and it sounds like they don't take walk-ins.〉