Chapter 2 (1/2)

As Kujo k.u.miko pressed the floor with the mop, there was a sound of small switch being pressed along with sound of gears turning. The floor split open and a hole opened up.

It was a floor trap.

“Uaaah!”

“What are you getting scared for?”

Seki Midori, who was frightened by the sound suddenly hugged me. He’s a man, he shouldn’t be such a scaredy cat. He blushed and smiled embarra.s.singly so I smiled as well. Well, I guess it couldn’t be helped since Seki gets scared easily.

“S, sorry. But it doesn't look like a particularly dangerous trap.”

“No, it is a dangerous trap. Floor traps are deadly if you underestimate them.”

I stood in front of k.u.miko and decided to investigate the trap. I peered in with a torch and figured it was roughly two or three meters deep. The hole didn’t seem to have any walls inside of it. Perhaps there was a tunnel that this trap led to.

“It seems like going down isn't an option.”

I nodded at k.u.miko.

Even if we decided to take the risk and jump down, there was no way to get back up. Plus, we didn’t know what sorts of other traps were waiting below. It was too risky.

“It’s too big of a risk to go down without a rope. Plus, if we landed on a pile of rubble, we’d sprain our ankles or dislocate something. Especially in situations like this, when we don’t know if any help was on its way, a leg injury could be a death sentence. This really is a sinister trap.”

Usually, traps are a.s.sociated with stupid laughter after celebrities fall into them on variety shows. But traps were originally designed to catch animals. From hunting mammoths in prehistoric times, to the more modern era in Vietnam, where traps were an effective and simple way to kill an enemy.

Thus, the person who set this trap really intended to kill.

“k.u.miko, be careful. The situation is more dangerous than I thought.”

“If it’s for Wataru-kun, I don’t mind risking my life.”

This extremely hilarious woman was saying something extremely hilarious. So I decided to give an extremely hilarious answer back.

“Ha! Then k.u.miko can become my human s.h.i.+eld and die.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to stop me. Even if you tried to hide your embarra.s.sment, telling me to die is too much…”

Seki chided k.u.miko, who had a flabbergasted expression.

“Well, it can’t be helped since s.h.i.+njo-kun is like that.”

“Yea, that’s how Wataru-kun is. I was wrong to expect him to say “I’ll protect you!” like a man with door-in-the-face technique.”

What’s this? When did you guys get so close? You guys seem strangely in tune. I don’t like it.

Just as I tried to speak to convey my displeasure at the two who were shrugging with secretive smile, a rambunctious and carefree group of people came up behind us.

“Oh- It’s k.u.miko-chan!”

“Thank goodness. Kujo k.u.miko-kun, you were here.”

It seemed like a group from Cla.s.s A. Even though I never bothered to memorize anyone outside my own cla.s.s, I recognized the guy who seemed to be the centre of that group. Excluding us, for them to a.n.a.lyze the situation and get this far before the teachers, they truly seem like a smart bunch.

“Oh my, you guys are here too!”

k.u.miko already returned to her calm and exemplary student demeanor when she replied to them.

Also, the tall and handsome guy who called k.u.miko “Kujo k.u.miko-kun” was one of the top students, Nanami Shuichi.

He’s rich, good looking, and ranked first place in the grade. And despite being in the first year, he was a starter in the Basketball Club. I could concede up until that point. However, he caught the eyes of the Student Council President and was appointed as the Vice-President. Even during school events, he showed his leaders.h.i.+p abilities. He was someone who didn’t seem real and would only appear in something like shoujo mangas.

Since he has such high specs as a human being, if you were wondering if he had many girlfriends or received many confessions, the truth was that he didn’t get many of them at all. He’s like a pie in the sky. Only those who were extremely confident in themselves would try to go for him. For example, the other student who was also in the Student Council despite being in the first grade.

I remembered that and glanced at k.u.miko, but she coldly ignored me. It was probably something she didn’t want to remember, but for me, her lack of reaction made it boring.

Either way, Nanami Shuichi was a boy who was better than others. A natural and gifted leader who leads students better than any teachers. Because he was so noticeable, even though I’m not interested in others, I remembered his full name.

“It’s a relief. I was worried because you weren’t in the cla.s.sroom. Ara, isn’t that Cla.s.s F’s s.h.i.+njo Wataru-kun and Seki Midori-kun?”

“h.e.l.lo. It’s an honour for Vice-President Nanami to know someone like me.”

This is the first time I talked directly to him. I was just an ordinary student in Cla.s.s F and not some exemplary student like him. So it was really strange for someone like Nanami Shuichi to know my name.

“Well, since I’m in the Student Council, I’ve memorized everyone’s name and face. Of course, even if I wasn’t in the council, I would still learn about everyone because we’re all comrades in the school.”

His refres.h.i.+ng and straight tone honestly made it sound like he was twisting his words. Seki looked happy that someone famous was talking to us, but I personally don’t like Vice-President Nanami.

He’s such a model student that it seemed suspicious. Even if he’s not like that wh.o.r.e k.u.miko, and his inside and outside was the same, he was the type of person I didn’t want to be comrades with. Well, even if I did say negative things about him, that can become problematic on its own, so I won’t do anything about it.

“That’s that, but this floor trap, just who made something so dangerous…?”

“Vice-President Nanami, there’s traps all around here. So it’s best not to move around too much.”

I warned him and what happened later would not be my problem.

I gently tugged Seki’s hand and left the place.

“What is it, s.h.i.+njo-kun?”

“Come back to the tunnel quietly.”

I directed Seki with a small voice and k.u.miko followed silently as well. The Cla.s.s A group was over there and she could have stuck with them…. but oh well.

That place was dangerous. There was no way there would only be one trap. The Cla.s.s A group that Nanami led, I didn’t care if they were smart or not, were too careless.

It was a trap that could easily kill. If we prowled around there any more, we were bound to fall into one. Since I already warned them, if somebody gets killed after, it would be their own fault.

We’ll thank their sacrifice and not fall into the trap they fell into. Then immediately, something clacked and a door appeared on the wall to the right.

Was that a trap or a hidden pa.s.sage?

I had to think for a moment before confirming that it was indeed a trap.

From inside the wall, a monster that looked like a pig-faced human charged out.

It was armed.

“Oi! What’s that!?”

“I don’t know! Let’s run!”

I sincerely hoped it wasn’t some pervert with a pig mask. No... Even if it was a pervert, now was not the time to care. There was no way that the creature approaching with a dull gleaming axe, a battle axe, in hand was friendly.

If this was indeed an RPG dungeon, that would be a monster called an “orc”. I could hear the screams from behind, but we ignored them and ran with all our might.

I had no desire to fight an opponent with a bladed weapon while we didn’t have proper weaponry at all. Also, since we knew nothing about how strong it was, fighting was not an option.

“Uwaaaaaa! It’s scary! s.h.i.+njo-kun, what’s that!”

“Shut up and keep running!”

Seki was shouting while crying. I thought it was pathetic as a man, or was he the normal one. Compared to k.u.miko, who was a girl and running ahead of us, Seki was definitely the weird one.

I was glad she wasn’t one of the crying girls, but she muttered something as she ran.

“Orcs… Could they be the same as the ones from game apps?”

“k.u.miko, I never knew you had game apps on your smartphone.”

It was something I didn’t expect from such an exemplary student. It was all good and well that we managed to run away, but we were reaching the end of the tunnel. The only weapons in our hands were the torch in mine and the mop in k.u.miko's.

“Even if we keep running, we’re going to run out of room”

“Do you have any idea on how to kill them?” k.u.miko asked.

Since we outnumbered those things, maybe we could do something.

“I saw three of those pig faced things and two small green things with horns on their head like an oni.”