Akatsuki Translations

“It was almost like being attacked. This doesn’t count as cheating, right?” I muttered to myself.

Although it felt good, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being terribly violated. I was relieved to have been freed from the spell before things got really serious. That bitch. It would be best to avoid contact with Sakaki-san from now on.

Anyway, I had a promise to keep with Evie, so I was on the train heading towards her hotel.

Morning with Misuzu, afternoon with Sakaki-san, evening with Evie. I think I can call the incident with Sakaki-san an accident, but still, it’s pretty awful. If there were guys who liked each of these girls, they’d probably want to kill me. As I was pondering my life, a message arrived.

【Where in New York is Yuuta?】

It was from Evie.

“Wow, that guy is something else,” I heard someone say.

“I can’t believe such a handsome guy exists,” another voice chimed in.

“Tch, handsome guys should just die,” someone grumbled.

While I was getting tired of being stared at since acquiring this face, I tilted my head in confusion at the nonsensical message. New York, New York…

“Ah,” I remembered. I was in New York about 10 hours ago. Nagumo-san is really free-spirited. I wonder if he’s still watching from somewhere? Or has he already gone back? As I wondered, I replied to Evie’s message.

【I was in New York 10 hours ago. I’m back in Japan now. Nagumo-san suddenly took me abroad around midnight yesterday, saying “I’ll take you to a foreign country.”】

Thanks to that, I’m worried about Misuzu’s mood now. Right, I need to contact Misuzu. Come to think of it, all my contacts are women. Well, Nagumo-san is a man, but he looks almost like a girl… I thought he was a gruff old man…

No, even that appearance might not be Nagumo-san’s true form. When you reincarnate at level 500, your appearance changes. But it’s said that most often, you take on a form close to human. I’ve never seen that form of Nagumo-san. Level 1000 and above is the dragon form, meaning Nagumo-san should have one more form.

*Ring ring ring.

Ring ring ring*

“Ah, it’s from Mark-san,” I noticed.

Not all my contacts were women after all; there were David-san and Mark-san. Blonde, muscular David-san and black, muscular Mark-san. I felt like their presence had been quite helpful too.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Y-Yuuta. Are you really in Japan?” Mark’s voice came through.

“Yes, of course I am,” I replied.

“Oh no. I might be killed by Evie,” he groaned.

“Huh?” I was confused.

“Well, you see, could you be nice to Evie? As soon as I said I’d return to America, the boss piled on work like a demon. I can’t go back until the day we enter the dungeon. I’m even filming right now on a private jet,” he explained.

“Ah, I see,” I said.

A part of me felt relieved. Somehow, I just wanted to rest alone right now.

“Well, see you. If I don’t get fired, let’s meet again,” Mark said.

“Uh, okay?” I responded, still confused.

It seemed to be a day for strange phone calls. Evie’s message was incomprehensible too.

“Nagumo-san, are you there?” I called out.

With my plans with Evie canceled, I decided to head home. On the way, I suddenly felt curious and spoke out. But there was no reply. It seemed he wasn’t around. I wondered if he had been watching over me all this time because of what I said earlier.

He’s really caring, or maybe overprotective, or a bit scary.

More than that, having lived most of my life without much parental affection, I was happy about Nagumo-san’s attitude. Remembering Nagumo-san’s girl… no, boy… no, the sunglasses-wearing old man form, I sent a message.

【Thank you for watching over me. The matter with Ikemoto has been settled. It was right to kill Ikemoto, wasn’t it?】

After a while, I received a reply.

【Don’t regret it. I’ve got your back. I’ve also educated those idiot women.】

It was a short message, but I felt like he had thought a lot before sending it. I wonder what Nagumo-san’s “education” is like. In that area, it would probably be more of a reward for those women… I didn’t think about it any further.

When I returned to my apartment, I took a shower and went straight to bed. For some reason, it smelled like Imari.

The first day off was hard, but on the second day, I just gathered information about the Kofu Dungeon. I spent the whole day doing just that, and Imari, who had suddenly fallen ill when I returned, had been with me since the first night and was now cheerfully preparing dinner for the third day.

“Hum hum,” Imari hummed, seeming energetic.

She had apparently passed the high school entrance exam she took just to fool her mother’s eyes. It was a famous high school that even I had heard of, but she didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of going there.

Well, in this day and age, no matter how famous a high school you go to, if you haven’t entered a dungeon, you can only hope for a certain level of success. I saw online yesterday that times are accelerating towards such a state.

Now, while waiting for Imari to finish making dinner, I was looking around to see if there were any interesting threads about explorers. Then I found one:

【I want to succeed, but I don’t want to enter dungeons. Can someone tell me what to do?】

Anonymous: 【There’s nothing you can do. This is the era we live in. Give up.】

OP: 【FYI, I’m graduating from T University this year. A senior from a certain first-rate company I’m supposed to join told me, “If you want to be on the elite track, get to Level 3 before joining.”】

Anonymous: 【Try to reach Level 10. That alone will make you extremely successful.】

Anonymous: 【Academic background is now worth less than fertilizer for fields. It’s the same even if you’re from Japan’s top university.】

Anonymous: 【It’s unbelievable that just being Level 10 can get you an annual income of over 10 million yen.】

OP: 【But if you enter a dungeon, you’ll die 99% of the time, right?】

Anonymous: 【But some people survive.】

OP: 【Don’t lump me in with those monsters. Want to know my PE grades?】

Anonymous: 【I’m not interested in your personal information.】

Anonymous: 【Tonight’s dinner is tempura. My cute little sister made it for me.】

Anonymous: 【Can I have that sister?】

Anonymous: 【Don’t reply seriously. He must be imagining the sister.】

Anonymous: 【That’s right. Real sisters aren’t cute.】

Anonymous: 【No, my sister is cute.】

Anonymous: 【I won’t believe it until I see a photo.】

Anonymous: 【Photo of chest armor and tempura】

Anonymous: 【Big brother, please marry me.】

Anonymous: 【Calm down lol. Your Japanese is weird lol.】

OP: 【You guys, pay more attention to me. Didn’t you all say that exercise is for idiots? Didn’t everyone say that if you want to succeed, you should just study hard? Why has the world become like this?】

Anonymous: 【Please direct your complaints to the dungeon.】

Anonymous: 【I’m in 3rd year of middle school, and there was a monster in my class who reached Level 7 in just over a month. He killed a delinquent classmate who was Level 15.】

“Huh? Is there someone from my class reading the same thread?” I wondered.

“Hey, Yuuta. How long do I have to hold this tempura?” Imari asked.

“Sorry. It’s fine now,” I replied.

OP: 【I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.】

Anonymous: 【Is it someone favored by the dungeon?】

Anonymous: 【Definitely. He became so handsome that when he came back to class after a while, everyone was stunned.】

“Ah, so that’s how they reacted…” I muttered.

“What are you looking at?” Imari inquired.

“Various things,” I answered vaguely.

“Hmm, dinner will be ready soon, so could you move your laptop?” she requested.

“Got it,” I complied.

Anonymous: 【We need a photo.】

Anonymous: 【Stop it, idiot. If his face is revealed, he’ll seriously be killed.】

Anonymous: 【This is real, so seriously stop it.】

Anonymous: 【When explorers make requests, the server admins are extremely cooperative.】

OP: 【Never mind such scary stories, let’s talk about me.】

Anonymous: 【This guy is still here?】

Anonymous: 【I told you to give up.】

Anonymous: 【If you want to succeed, enter the dungeon.】

OP: 【Isn’t there any way around that?】

Anonymous: 【Go to a D-rank.】

OP: 【They say it’s full of muscle-heads there. I don’t really get along with those kinds of people…】

Anonymous: 【Die】

Anonymous: 【Idiot】

Anonymous: 【Scum】

Anonymous: 【Fool】

Anonymous: 【Apologize to the whole world for being born】

OP: 【You don’t have to go that far!】

Anonymous: 【By the way, that guy enters the dungeon with the most beautiful girl in the class, a beauty rarely seen even in Tokyo.】

OP: 【I’m a bit motivated now.】

Anonymous: 【Die】

Anonymous: 【Idiot】

Anonymous: 【Scum】

Anonymous: 【Fool】

Anonymous: 【Apologize to the whole world for being born】

OP: 【You don’t have to go that far!】

Reading this thread, I thought about how scary rumors can be. I finished looking up all the information I could find online about Kofu, ate the tempura, took a bath, and it was time to sleep.

“Imari, I have something I want to talk about. Do you have a moment?” I asked.

“Yeah, sure,” she replied.

Tomorrow we’ll be starting the third floor. Before that, there was something I wanted to talk to Imari about, so I called out to her as she was getting into bed. It had become completely normal for us to sleep together now.

If it was an everyday thing, I might have thought about it more, but I’ll be gone for two to three weeks when I enter the dungeon. Thinking about that, I started to feel that it was okay to sleep together at least when we were together.

I no longer resisted Imari getting into bed, and she embraced me. We hugged tightly and kissed. I often wonder if I like Imari. I probably do. But I also like Misuzu and even Evie. Among them, only Evie accepts the idea of a harem. I knew this problem really needed to be resolved somehow.

However, there was one thing I wanted to tell Imari more than anything else. It was something I could only tell her.

“…”

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Imari’s face was right in front of me. My heart was pounding. It wasn’t because I was nervous about doing this with Imari. I was nervous about whether I should really say it. Even so,

“Imari. I… I killed someone in the dungeon,” I confessed.

“…”

Naturally, Imari was shocked and speechless for a moment. I had decided to keep this from Misuzu and Evie. Normally, it would be impossible to keep it from Misuzu, but Sakaki-san had said she would explain that Ikemoto died trying to save her.

“Whether you tell Misuzu or not is up to you. If you don’t want to, I’ll cover it up smoothly,” Sakaki-san had said.

“…Will you really cover it up?” I had asked.

“OK.”

“What’s the catch?”

“I don’t want to tell Misuzu about Kazuya either, so it’s fine. Besides, I’m a woman who wants to be used conveniently by handsome guys, so Rokujou, you can think of me that way. Call me when you want to use me conveniently. I’ll do anything for you. Even if it’s murder, sorcerers are good at it.”

So I decided not to tell. I ended up owing Sakaki-san unexpectedly. But honestly, I was grateful. Her acting completely unfazed helped my mental state a lot.

But keeping quiet about Ikemoto to all the party members was too much to bear, so I decided to at least tell Imari.

“Can I ask why you killed him?” Imari asked.

I thought she might try to distance herself from me after hearing this. But instead, Imari held me even tighter.

“Yeah. I want you to hear it,” I said.

I told Imari everything. About how I had been bullied by Ikemoto all this time. How he had tried to kill me. And how I killed him in return. I told her everything. Throughout it all, I was happy that Imari kept holding me.

“What’s that? You didn’t do anything wrong, Yuuta! Even if you had killed him outside the dungeon, it would have been self-defense. If he had lived, I would have killed him. Definitely. So even if he had lived, his lifespan would have only been different by two or three days.”

“Don’t say such scary things,” I replied nervously.

“I’m serious,” Imari insisted.

“I see. I’m glad I told at least you, Imari. I feel a bit better now.”

“Yuuta, are you feeling down?”

“I did it with resolve, but of course, I still have some thoughts about it. But I’m okay. Especially after hearing what you said, Imari.”

“Yuuta… don’t feel down about someone like that. Isn’t it good to think that you can live each day feeling refreshed now that the pest is gone? I love you. Even if everyone in the world comes to hate you, I’ll continue to love you.”

“…I love you too, Imari,” I said.

“…”

Imari’s face showed confusion. I had never told anyone that I liked them or loved them before. Perhaps it was because my heart was weakened by the Ikemoto incident. No, I felt that something had definitely changed within me after the Ikemoto incident was over.

I felt like I could now say I liked someone, and even if they ended up disliking me as a result, I could still say I liked what I liked and be okay with that.

Misuzu and Evie were still constantly on my mind. Should I tell them that I like them too? But then what? Could we all get along if I told all of them I liked them?

“I’m sorry. I’m unreliable, but please stay by my side. I don’t want you to be away from me, Imari.”

“O-okay. I understand. I’ll always be by your side.”

It was a selfish way of using words. Above all, why were we having this conversation in bed? I wanted to tell someone about this, but I didn’t want to be hated. I thought Imari would be okay with it, but I was still scared. So I kept holding her and talking in a situation where Imari couldn’t leave.

Probably, if Imari had been scared at this time, I might have violated her. That’s how much I didn’t want to let her go. What? Was it me, not Imari, who was so insistent on being together?

Ah, I really don’t understand myself. I don’t understand others either. There’s no way I could let go of Imari. There’s no way Imari could come to hate me.

“Imari,” I called.

“Yes?”

“From tomorrow, we’re going to enter the third floor again. If possible, I want to clear up to the fourth floor by March 15th. So I’m thinking of staying in the dungeon until March 15th. Will you be lonely without me?”

I continued the conversation while holding Imari’s body tightly. I had a feeling our relationship would become like that.

“I’ll be lonely. And if you explore so quickly, will I be able to catch up?”

“Well…”

That was something I had been thinking about for a while. If it’s just about leveling up, I think we could manage using methods like we did with Lean. Also, the dungeon properly prepares quests for those who enter alone.

After all, it’s common for party members to be missing. There’s a need to replenish party members at times. It seems the system isn’t set up to make that completely impossible.

Also, I wanted to level up quickly to understand the dangers explorers face. If the level difference is like with Ikemoto, we could manage with money and equipment if we knew in advance. But in terms of stats, we would still be at a disadvantage.

We need to reduce such situations as much as possible.

After the fourth floor, we’ll be at level 25. If we work hard for another 25 levels to reach level 50, we might be able to at least escape from level 100 people. From what I heard from Sakaki-san, it doesn’t seem to take that much time if it’s just leveling up and quests.

Get Imari to catch up with us in three weeks, and then, hopefully, the four of us can reach level 50 in about two months. The most common level range in Japanese dungeons right now is around 100. So in less than three months, we could be in a pretty safe situation.

“Do you want me to wait?” I asked.

“Of course I’d prefer if you waited. After all, didn’t you enter the dungeon without waiting for me to get your father’s approval?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But it seems like your uncle doesn’t intend to stop you from entering the dungeon anymore. So is there really a need to keep challenging with a dangerous three-person party composition?”

“Well…”

Actually, I had been planning to discuss this with Imari and decide. I thought it would be better to ask Imari what she wanted to do before talking to the other two, rather than talking to them first and then telling Imari after the decision was already made.

“Sigh,” I exhaled.

I moved away from Imari for a moment and sat on the edge of the bed. Imari immediately got up and sat next to me.

“Did you start wanting to do various things?” she asked.

“Y-yeah. To be honest, I did. But I have to hold back.”

She seemed to understand my feelings.

“Imari. I know you might feel anxious, but I still think we should finish exploring the third and fourth floors. It’s not that I’m not thinking about you. But I want to get stronger as quickly as possible.”

“What about my quests?”

Imari, who wasn’t very interested in explorers before, seemed to have been researching a lot about the dungeon lately.

“It’s okay. It’s common for explorers to have missing party members. There are even people who have gone up to the 10th floor alone in the dungeon. Of course, they completed quests too.”

“So I have to wait again?”

“I’m sorry. But it’s just a little more patience.”

“…Really?”

“Of course.”

“Yuuta, you really don’t stop when it comes to the dungeon, do you?”

For some reason I don’t understand myself, I feel rushed to hurry. I want to level up. I can’t help but think that. I grabbed Imari’s hand with my trembling hand, shaking from a certain feeling.

“Are you scared?” she asked.

She seemed to notice my hand was shaking.

“Yeah, I’m scared,” I admitted.

“Why?”

“Lately, my mind has been strangely clear. I can find answers to anything if I think about it a little. Even when I killed Ikemoto, I could clearly see how to kill him, as if there was a single path laid out. When I killed him exactly as I saw it, I was able to do it without any particular problems. Imari, what do you think I am?”

“…Yuuta is always hesitant and worrying. You seem just the same as always to me.”

“I see…”

“Yeah.”

“Imari.”

“Yes?”

“Can I… just for a bit?”

“Yeah. It’s okay. I’ll comfort you.”