Akatsuki Translations

I woke up. Looking at the clock, it was 2 AM. Since the weather in the dungeon was the same all day, my sense of time was distorted. No light from outside was coming in yet. I remembered that this is what night was like.

The sound of a car could be faintly heard. I looked to the side, but no one was there. Instead, I heard the sound of the shower running. It seemed like Misuzu was taking a shower. Well, we did do that and fell asleep afterward. Had Misuzu been awake all this time?

I wasn’t sure if this was really the real world. Being in a hotel with a woman at 2 AM in the morning, doing these things before even graduating from school, I felt oddly grown-up.

*Brrrr brrrr brrrr*

As if waiting for me to wake up, my smartphone rang. When I checked it, there was a single message:

[I want to see you]

That was all it said. It was from Evie. Even though it was just a short sentence, knowing that Evie’s heart was always with me made me happy. I checked to see if Misuzu had come out of the shower room yet.

The sound of the shower was still going. I ran my finger across the screen of my smartphone, sending a message to another woman despite having just spent time with the woman I liked the most.

[Sorry about yesterday]

I sent just one sentence. Before I knew it, I had written that and sent it. The reply came back immediately. Evie must have been waiting for me without sleeping.

[I’m glad. You’re in the middle of getting along with Misuzu, right? I like you so much that I couldn’t help myself… I’m sorry]

Just thinking about how much she cared about someone like me made my chest ache. I quickly wrote another reply and sent it. The response came back immediately again.

[Me yesterday]

It was a slightly erotic photo of Evie.

[Everything about you is beautiful]

[Come and make sure of it all soon]

“What are you doing?” Misuzu’s voice startled me, and I panicked. I managed not to drop my smartphone and hurriedly closed the screen. Then I turned to face Misuzu. She was only wearing a bath towel and sat down beside me. I was allowed to remove this bath towel.

The beautiful girl on the other end of the phone would allow me to do the same to her. And Imari, who was waiting at home, would also allow me to do the same to her. I remembered my overly handsome face that I had seen in the mirror. Objectively speaking, it was probably at a level where I could get stabbed.

“Suspicious,” Misuzu said.

“It’s nothing,” I replied.

“Well, whatever. More importantly, what should we do today?” Misuzu asked.

“Ah, yeah, I need to contact Imari too, so let’s go home,” I suggested.

“Yeah, you’re right. Hey, Yuuta. I think you’re angry about what happened with Koharu, but I’m a little worried about that girl,” Misuzu said.

“Yeah, a lot happened. I hope Sakaki-san is doing well,” I said.

I thought to myself, what right did I have to say that? Back then, I was the one who abandoned Sakaki-san.

“Yeah, well, she sent me a few messages, so it seems like she’s doing fine. Yuuta,” Misuzu said.

“Wh-what?” I asked.

“It’s not really good news, but Koharu said something about Ikemoto cheering her up,” Misuzu told me.

“Ikemoto?” I was surprised.

“Yeah,” Misuzu confirmed.

“He managed to get back safely from the dungeon?” I blinked in disbelief. I thought that if those women caught him, there was almost a 100% chance that Ikemoto would be in a state where he wouldn’t be allowed to leave the dungeon.

Moreover, on the news the day after that incident, they reported that Ikemoto was missing. In other words, he was missing until morning. If those people were treating him like a dungeon pet, he should have been in a terrible state by now.

“Seems like it. On top of that, it looks like Ikemoto is also giving up on going to a D-Rank,” Misuzu said.

“Even though he wanted to go so badly? Did he get scared of the dungeon after going missing and having a terrifying experience there?” I wondered.

“If that were the case, I’d be happy since it doesn’t harm us, but it’s the complete opposite. He’s inviting other boys and entering the dungeon on their own. You know, the ones who were close with Ikemoto… What were their names again?” Misuzu asked.

“Onoda and Gotou?” I suggested. When it came to Ikemoto’s close friends, it was these two. They stood out more than me, but it seemed like Misuzu didn’t know them either. Misuzu seemed to be the type who didn’t remember people she wasn’t interested in very well.

“Ah, yeah, those two. Apparently, they were also invited and gave up on going to a D-Rank,” Misuzu said.

“Challenging the dungeon without going to a D-Rank at this time of year is extremely difficult. Did their parents give them around 10 million yen?” I wondered.

Why did those women let Ikemoto out of the dungeon? Even I could imagine what he would do if they let him out of the dungeon.

“Seriously, what’s going on? It’s kind of creepy,” Misuzu said.

“Are Ikemoto and the others coming to school?” I asked.

“It seems like they’re attending school normally,” Misuzu replied.

“If they’ve decided not to go to a D-Rank, they must be serious about becoming explorers, right? That’s a pretty laid-back approach,” I commented.

“About that… They seem to be looking for you, Yuuta. ‘If you come to school, we’ll beat you up so badly that you won’t be able to move again.’ That’s why they’re telling classmates to contact them immediately if they see you. Koharu sent me a message saying ‘Yuuta shouldn’t come to school.’”

“…” I was at a loss for words. I didn’t have the slightest intention of being easily killed by someone like Ikemoto, and if they tried, I would retaliate. However, I still didn’t understand what those women were thinking. They should be able to tell what kind of personality Ikemoto had just by looking at him.

He had a high sense of pride and would needlessly bully the weak when he saw them. Those women must have known that Ikemoto would target me. So why did they let him out of the dungeon? Wasn’t that contradictory to their actions when they didn’t target me before?

“Yuuta. About Ikemoto… It’s kind of hard to believe, but even though he’s attending school, he’s already at level 15,” Misuzu said.

“Level 15?” I was shocked. That meant he could go up to the third floor. We had barely finished the second floor thanks to our gacha luck, Evie’s financial power, and staying overnight in the dangerous dungeon. And yet, Ikemoto had reached level 15 in such a short period.

No matter how you looked at it, those women were helping him level up. I had heard of people raising the levels of their dungeon pets, but did they even help him search for the stairs? Or did they treat him as part of their party?

“There’s no way that’s possible. It hasn’t even been three weeks since then,” I said.

“Right?” Misuzu agreed.

“It would take at least half a year to reach level 15 while attending school,” I explained.

“Anyway, it seems like Koharu is being harassed a lot by Ikemoto, and I feel sorry for her. It looks like she’s being forcibly taken to the dungeon too,” Misuzu said.

“It’s impossible to forcibly enter the dungeon,” I pointed out.

“That’s also a strange story. Yuuta, should I go to school to check on the situation? You don’t want to meet Ikemoto, right?” Misuzu asked.

“No, if that’s the case, I’ll go. Misuzu, you absolutely must not go to school,” I insisted.

“But if what Ikemoto is saying is true…” Misuzu started.

“I know. But it’s not an option. I didn’t mention it, but Ikemoto had a crush on you. If he’s reached level 15, he must be really elated, and he’ll definitely approach you. You’re not suited for close combat, Misuzu, so you’d be at a disadvantage at school. And I don’t want to see you talking to Ikemoto.”

The situation wasn’t good. If only Ikemoto was at level 15, there were ways to deal with it. However, if Onoda and Gotou were also at level 15, we would need Evie and Misuzu’s help. But the thought of those three seeing Evie and Misuzu also irritated me.

Wasn’t there a way to handle this without involving the two of them? The biggest problem was the women who were thought to be mid-level explorers. If they made a move, there was nothing I could do in the current situation. As I thought about it, a person immediately came to mind.

But that person… I turned my attention to the messages from Nagumo-san on my smartphone.

Nagumo-san had contacted me while I was away. The only people who had contacted me during my absence were Imari, Nagumo-san, and my stepmother. Nagumo-san had sent two messages. I had been too scared to open them, but I finally did.

The feeling of opening Pandora’s box probably wasn’t just my imagination. Nagumo-san seemed like the kind of person who would bring nuclear weapons to a children’s quarrel…

[Are you in the dungeon right now? When you get back, contact me and I’ll take you out to play.]

I wanted to refuse intensely. He was a very nice person and I respected him. But our levels were too different, and if I carelessly contacted him, I had no idea what would happen. The other day, when we came out of the dungeon, he was fighting Raiden-sama…

[You’re not back yet? Well, I’m not in a hurry, but contact me soon.]

That was all. The second message had arrived five days ago. I had kept a person, who I was honored just to receive messages from, waiting for five days. It couldn’t be helped since I was in the dungeon, but was he angry?

“Were you looking at that earlier?” Misuzu suddenly peeked at the screen.

“Ah, y-yeah,” I stammered.

“Oh, that’s a relief. I thought it was from Evie for sure,” Misuzu said.

It was from Evie. I’m sorry. Forgive me. I’m a cheating bastard. No, it’s not cheating. I like all three of them and want to have all three of them. Yes, that’s what I somehow wanted to convey.

“It’s understandable that you’d make a difficult face. Nagumo-san, huh… If we told this person about Ikemoto, he might turn Ikemoto into minced meat,” Misuzu joked.

“Absolutely not! Don’t ever ask Nagumo-san to do something like that!” I exclaimed.

“I-I know. I was just kidding,” Misuzu said.

Misuzu probably didn’t understand. It would be like the entire self-defense force coming to stop a fight between kindergarteners. It was just that wrong. In any case, this person was terrifying. You should never carelessly make stupid requests to him.

“But aren’t you going to reply? If it’s been five days, he’s probably been waiting for a while, right?” Misuzu asked.

“Do you think he’d wait that long for someone like me…?” I wondered.

“If he wasn’t waiting, he wouldn’t have sent a second message. From this second message, I sense a vibe that he’s really worried about being hated by you, Yuuta,” Misuzu said.

“There’s no such vibe. If you say something rude, Nagumo-san will get angry,” I warned.

“He can’t hear us anyway, so I can say what I want now,” Misuzu said nonchalantly.

“You’re fearless,” I sighed.

I didn’t want to say anything bad about Nagumo-san, even if he didn’t know about it. If by some chance he found out… No, it wasn’t that I had anything bad to say, but if by some chance he found out, I would be killed.

“Hehe, hey, send him a message saying ‘I just got back.’ Let’s continue until morning,” Misuzu said playfully.

“You want to do it again?” I asked.

“You don’t like it?” Misuzu questioned.

“It’s not that I don’t like it, but…” I trailed off. Misuzu was being so aggressive that I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop.

“We can continue from earlier. There’s more beyond that. It’s okay, right?” Misuzu teased, touching me.

What was beyond this? Wasn’t it just simply feeling good? But that wasn’t bad either. Yeah, not bad at all. Alright. Following Misuzu’s words, I sent a brief reply to Nagumo-san. And then…

“You finally came back, huh?” Nagumo-san appeared. That’s right. This person is like that. He was wearing sunglasses and casual clothes as usual. Misuzu, startled that another man saw her in just a bath towel, hurriedly hid her body under the blanket.

However, Nagumo-san seemed to have no interest whatsoever in her charm 58 body. Instead, his eyes were focused on my lower half. Of course, I was wearing my underwear properly. But well, it was morning, so various things were getting lively.

“You’ve got quite an impressive thing attached,” Nagumo-san commented.

“Ha, haha. Nagumo-san, you sure come quickly after receiving a message,” I said nervously.

“Well, yeah. I was abroad on some business. But as soon as I got your reply, I came. That’s normal for friends, right?” Nagumo-san said.

“Y-yes, that’s normal for friends,” I agreed.

It definitely wasn’t normal. Rather, if a friend showed up with no delay after sending a message, their friend would be totally creeped out. But I couldn’t complain. I wouldn’t dare, even if it killed me. Because it was scary. Even more than his high level, it was just somehow scary.

“Then let’s go play. I’ll take you abroad,” Nagumo-san said.

“Huh? Eh? But I don’t have a passport or anything prepared,” I said.

When my parents got along well, I had experience traveling abroad. But after their relationship turned cold, I never went abroad, and after dungeons appeared, going on overseas trips itself was considered dangerous.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I don’t have a passport either,” Nagumo-san said nonchalantly.

Of course, no one would complain even if you didn’t have a passport. But I think they’d say something to me. I can’t say it though. Then Nagumo-san grabbed my hand. I could completely predict what would happen next, and it seemed like Misuzu, who had been silently watching the situation, felt the same way.

“W-wait, don’t tell me! You’re planning to go abroad like this!? Wait, today is an important day for us, so if you’re going, take me too—” Misuzu protested.

Ruthlessly, Nagumo-san showed no interest in women whatsoever. Misuzu, who had been hiding under the blanket, had the blanket pulled off, and even though her bath towel fell off, he didn’t even glance at her. My vision distorted, similar to the sensation of entering a dungeon. I thought to myself that I should properly tell him “I need to be back by morning.” I was escaping reality by thinking about such things.