Chapter 26 – Amamiya Satoha-chan’s Furious Scolding
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After it was decided that I’d be transferred here for an extended period of time, I rented a small, weekly apartment. I put the documents about the murderer and her crystal in order after coming back from Hiro’s home and then wrote a long report on my tablet PC.
Once I finished, I stretched my arms and took my smartphone out of my pocket. My older sister bought it for me, but I had only installed the minimum required applications on it ever since then. I swiped to my barren home screen and opened the talk app.
Right now it was deep in the night, the day having already changed. As such I’d end up contacting him quite late in the night, but I received quite a few favors from him yesterday. I’ll thank him and ask what he has been doing afterwards.
…If he asks me why I’m getting in touch at such a late time, I won’t be able to answer. The friend list of the talk app has only two entries. My sister and Hiro.
…It’s just that I’m not really used to it.
“Excuse me for contacting you this late in the night. You helped me out very much today. It is after you cleared the dungeon and fought me, but were you able to take a proper rest? I think you still have some fatigue remaining in your body, so let’s enter a vortex together in a few days! …A-And sent!”
I pressed the button while pouring my feelings into my thumb. Just when I tried to close the talk app after breathing out, the message received an “already read” tick. I was surprised by that unexpectedly quick response. I was sure he wouldn’t look at it before tomorrow morning.
For a while I stared at the talk app’s screen while trembling. Hiro first expressed his gratitude towards me in a long-winded speech.
I feel like he’s got quite a few quirky parts to him, but at the same time, he also has this sort of methodical side to him, I guess. Rather than being level-headed, I’d say his parents brought him up well. Though I don’t know whether I should be saying that, seeing how I’m as old as he is.
Afterwards, his writing became rather casual. He went on to explain to me at length what happened after I left. He mentioned that he had received a powerful item, making me think that he’s quite a lucky fellow. But, as he was talking, around the time when he was going on about buying equipment at the station, things started to become suspicious.
I could hear a stream of cute plopping sounds as the messages streamed in. By the way, his avatar was a beautiful nightscape. Mine was…the default picture showing a person’s figure.
『Well, just listen to this, Satoha』
『That last dungeon clear was just before the last train』
『I really enjoyed it a lot because I could fight the boss from the get-go』
…It’s said there are four common types among vortexes, regardless of their basic rank. First, the crowd type where you’ll be attacked in numbers with each unit being weak. Second, the elite type where each unit has a certain level of strength while being low in numbers. And third, the defense type which has many traps but a decreased number of occult beings.
Ah, another plopping sound.
『So, I got off the train just now and am about to return home』
…And the fourth one, the one being hated the most, is the boss battle type with the boss possessing an overwhelming amount of strength.
It’s not wrong to say that all of those types are dangerous in their own ways, but the boss battle one is the most frightening since you’ll be attacked by a mighty foe all of a sudden.
Reading those carefree messages, the corners of my mouth started to twitch. In the morning, he charged into an ant vortex which was infested with a ridiculous amount of ants, and then he fought against me. And after doing various things that didn’t include resting, he went into three D-Class vortexes.
Is this what it means to be a “warrior”? Is he so suited for it that you could even say his soul was made for this…?
『Hiro』
『Can I call you right now?』
Plop, plop.
『I’m outside, so it’s fine, yeah』
『What is it?』
I took the white earphones out of the bag I had placed next to my bed and connected them to my smartphone. Afterwards, I loudly typed on the screen’s keyboard.
『I have to scold you』
｡ ₊°༺🫀༻°₊ ｡
Late at night. A coldness that seemed to pierce my skin, and the wintery silence filled the air. As I was heading back with just some street lights illuminating the way while the moonlight was dazzlingly flooding the sky with its bright, pale light, I got a phone call from her.
“…Hello. Excuse me for calling you so late at night.”
Her dignified, cold voice reached my ear through the phone. The difference between her phone voice and her direct voice was startling; I wonder why.
“Good evening, Satoha. We talked just recently, but have you been doing fine since then?”
White puffs of breath escaped towards the night sky, matching my reply to her.
“…Yes, I’m doing fine. Though, not as fine as you.”
“Aye, Satoha. Right now I could probably win the liveliness award of the year.”
I had stayed in contact with her while being jolted around inside the train. I feel like it’s been quite some time since I talked with someone through the messaging app for private matters. And having a phone call with someone else was even further back in the past, so I’m quite happy here.
“Well, you see, Satoha, that last dragon boss took a pose as if telling me to toss the weapon away and come at it…”
“Now listen.”
Just when I planned to cheerfully tell her everything, I was interrupted by Satoha with a deadly serious tone. I feel like her voice now is way scarier than the one during our battle today…
“Hiro, after you cleared a dungeon, you fought against me, a high-ranking Occult Slayer. I might have gone easy on you, but still.”
“Yeah, it was fun.”
“……I think you’re not aware of it because of the adrenaline rush from fighting, but your body has accumulated exhaustion. And yet you invaded three vortexes in such a state. This is clearly a problem.”
“Hmm? Really? Certainly today I went to the limit, but I still feel relatively good, you know? Look, even now I can still jump like this.”
I hopped around on the spot. I think she probably heard me doing that through the phone’s microphone.
“……It also includes mental exhaustion.”
“It was fun, so I feel like it’s being replenished in no time.”
“……”
Silence turned into sound on the other end of the line. At least I got the impression that it was passed on through my smartphone.
“Hiro? Listen, if you continue with such a lifestyle, your body definitely won’t last. I’m worried about you.”
“I’m happy that you care about my wellbeing, but it’s no problem. Tomorrow I will look for dungeons again and raid as many of them as I can after school.”
“……”
After another spell of silence, her tone completely changed, her voice becoming high-pitched.
“Hiro? Please go to school tomorrow, directly head back home, and take a day off. No matter what. You need rest.”
“…Don’t wanna.”
“Okay, then I will give you two options. Either you enter dungeons tomorrow or you rest and then enter a C-Class dungeon together with me the day after tomorrow. I will accelerate my plans. Enduring for one day will allow you to go to a place that’s a lot more fun, you see?”
“Alright. I’ll go hunt dungeons tomorrow and we’ll go to a C-Class the day after tomorrow.”
“That option doesn’t exist.”
I heard an artificial, deep, deep sigh through the smartphone while walking the street at night.
“How regrettable. Hiro, when you fought me today, you told me all sorts of things, didn’t you? Something about me being the best, 『Amamiya Satoha, the way you handle your spear is beautiful』, and some such.”
“…!”
“Now you have the possibility to go to a dungeon with such a wonderful person by just holding back for one day, and yet…was all of it a lie?”
“Eh? No…umm…”
“Hmm? What is it? I didn’t quite hear you. Where did all your earlier liveliness go? Didn’t you mention some liveliness award of the year?”
She took a dig at something I said randomly. I started to truly sweat for some odd reason. Something that I didn’t experience even once during the whole day.
Just what did I tell her during our fight…? Rather, did I really go that far…? I think I did… It’s so friggin’ embarrassing that I now feel like digging a hole and hiding in there.
Although both of us focused on not injuring the other, a battle is a battle. Why did I make passes at her during such a sacred time…?
She started to slowly talk while I had become speechless.
“Hmm, I see. Maybe it’s just too late in the night. As I thought, you must have accumulated quite a bit of fatigue. You should take a rest tomorrow and go with me the day after. Ah, come to think of it──”
The way she was intoning her words was awfully unnatural.
…I’m being cornered here. I gotta get away.
“Ah, yeah. Now that you mention it, I’m somehow pooped right now. I…right, I’ve gotta go to school tomorrow, so I want to go back home and jump into my bed. Thus, I’m going to hang up now. Satoha, let’s go together the day after tomorrow.”
“Oh my, is that so? Then you’re going to take a break tomorrow, right? Have a good night, okay?”
“…Sure. Satoha, you too.”
I ended the call, returning to the previous messaging screen. I don’t really know why, but I sprinted back home at full speed, being spurred on by an impulse I cannot quite describe.
｡ ₊°༺🫀༻°₊ ｡
After having talked to him while lying on the bed, I suddenly stood up. I removed my earphones, rolled up the cord, and put it back into my bag. Then I picked up the cup on the table and drank some of the green tea which had now become lukewarm.
…I was pretty sure that he had said all that during the battle to rile me up, but…even though he had talked so cheerfully up until that point, he suddenly fell silent when I mentioned his words.
Somehow I feel like I’ve understood how to handle him, even though it’s our first day. But still, he meant those words seriously, huh…?
“…Hehe.”
I plugged my smartphone into the charger and turned off the light.
Tightening my face which had relaxed somewhat, I switched my focus. I’m soon going to raid a C-Class…”branch vortex” with him. He will need to overcome a wall at that point. I’m curious to know whether he’ll really be able to do so.
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