Chapter 5 (2/2)
It's your fault, d.a.m.n it.
”BOO!”
”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!”
Ooyama shouted. Apparently Yurippe decided to turn around with her torchlight s.h.i.+ning at herself, leaving him sh.e.l.l-shocked.
”Hey, hey, don't do something so meaningless. When did we make Ooyama our clown-c.u.m-emotional-punch bag? Stop bullying him.
”It's just shock therapy...”
”Don't try and do that again. What kind of a leader are you, huh?”
”One that cares for the group! It's a bit cruel, but you felt compa.s.sion running through your veins when I did it, right Ooyama?”
”Yeah, I got it I got it! So let's go back...”
”No way. Let's go!”
The world's most unreasonable leader. Ever.
We continued walking down the absurdly long staircase.
”How many floors have we descended?” Yurippe asked when everyone came down.
”27th.”
I could only shrug, but Chaa had meticulously kept track of it.
”Whoa. Already at 27th... For what purpose, exactly?”
”Why not ask the boss when we see him?”
”If this is really a game, what will we do if we really defeat the boss?”
”What's so bad about it? It's our current mission,” Noda replied.
”So you're accepting this? Just like that?”
”Huh? What do you mean?”
”I'm saying this is the afterlife. Our main task here is to take revenge on G.o.d.”
While we're at it, why isn't Yurippe clarifying on what the group's goal is? Why me?
”Afterlife? Revenge on G.o.d? What kind of a setting is this...?”
”I don't know either, but that's how it is.”
”This is a game, right?”
”Sad to say, it's reality.”
”Reality...? How can this kind of weapon exist in reality?”
The one YOU are holding on to? Why not you answer that yourself?
”Then what are you...? Aren't you the female protagonist?”
”Female protagonist? What's that? I'm the group leader, can you understand that?”
”She's my wife, too.”
I can't believe Chaa decided to crack a joke at this one heck of a bad time.
Noda just stood there staring, ghostlike. Then again, we're all ghosts anyway.
”So... I'm not a protagonist...”
”If you really want to cla.s.sify things, then you're probably a secondary character, I suppose. You're already on our team, so stop your yapping and listen to me.”
”Huh... what secondary character... I don't want that!”
”Argh!”
Noda pushed Ooyama away and ran like the wind.
”He ran away...”
”Ran away, huh...”
”Wanna chase him?” I asked, flas.h.i.+ng my torchlight in that direction. I can't even see his silhouette now.
”We're already here and you want to go back? Not me.”
”So you're leaving our group mate behind?”
”He's just in charge of telling us that a boss is at the lowest floor of the dungeon! He's just an NPC, I suppose.”
”Is this some superbly new and original way of splitting the responsibility?”
”He's just that kind of guy,” Chaa said.
Hey, don't you have the slightest bit of guilt?
”Well then, let's go.”
”Are we really moving on? What a leader.”
”Wait a second, Hinata-kun.”
Yurippe walked up to me all of a sudden.
”It seems like you have not made a decision. Any grievances you want to share?”
I've never seen her this scary for a long time now.
”Am I different from before?”
”After Chaa joined the team you've become very gloomy. Complaints, complaints, complaints. I can read your mind!”
”Huh...”
”Are you jealous? You must be!”
”How am I jealous? Who am I jealous of? Don't make empty accusations!”
”You must be jealous of Chaa, cause he said I'm just like his wife.”
”Hmm, so this guy thinks I'm in the way or something? Sorry, didn't notice. I'll take note of that.”
THUMP! He slapped my back hard.
”Wait, you don't have to be so sensitive!”
The way the group is responding... it's not right...
... Hmm? Am I really jealous of Chaa?
To be honest, he's not a bad-looking guy at all. Also, we all just saw how he managed to easily overpowered that violent runaway. (Let's not go into how he did it, shall we?)
So...
It's alright even if I'm not around?
Yurippe, the one who always makes me worry the most, now has a dependable partner.
Might as well just call me the extra character.
So now I'm nothing but Ooyama's bodyguard?
I kept pondering while we continued to move on.
”Let's eat.”
We had our meal when we found a room comfortable enough for the four of us.
Yurippe was laughing and chatting with Chaa at the same time.
Ah, it didn't make me feel good.
Ha! This IS jealousy!
But why?
Isn't this a good thing? This completely unwanted person is now best friends with someone whose dead girlfriend looks exactly the same.
I have nothing to worry about. No more responsibilities to shoulder.
Casting my personal feelings aside, this group is perfectly alright.
Somehow, this doesn't feel right.
Give me a second. Hmm... Is it really alright?
I have a feeling. A very bad feeling.
AH! I remembered.
Our group mate just ran off!
After Chaa joined our group, I kept my mouth quiet, and Yurippe's dictators.h.i.+p has gone so far that it would've made Caesar proud. As a team, we're at the worst possible scenario!
”Hey Yurippe, I've a suggestion to make.”
”Hahaha, your wife's really dumb!”
She's not even listening.
”Yurippe, listen!”
She turned around and looked at me after I resorted to shouting.
”What.”
She looks extremely unhappy. Not like it matters.
”Let's go look for Noda.”
”No... duh...?”
”Don't tell me you've forgotten about him?”
”Oh, that guy. What's up with him?”
”Let's go look for him.”
”What're you saying? We're already here. Where do you think this is?”
”I know I should've mentioned this earlier. It's my fault. Now let's go look for him.”
”Don't even try and get me to do something so unproductive.”
”Well, it may be unproductive, but a teammate's a teammate. Someone alone this far down will feel lonely. We should go look for him.”
”I have an idea,” Chaa said.
”What?”
”Let's split into two groups. Yurippe and I will go further down, and you and Ooyama can go look for Noda.”
”... what?”
”Whoops. Sorry. You can go further down with Yurippe then. I'll go look for Noda with Ooyama.”
”Why are you apologizing?”
”I wasn't sensitive enough.”
”Hmph... so, what do you want?” Yurippe asked.
HA! I get to choose again!
- Look for Noda with Ooyama.
- Venture down deeper with Yurippe.
- Ask Yurippe to change: School uniform -> Bikini!
What choice should I make...
Hey. What the... why is the third choice there?!
After arguing with the Socratic me...
”Chaa and I will continue going down. Yurippe and Ooyama will look for Noda and bring him back here.”
”HUH? Why?! I don't understand!”
”At the bottom of this cave is the boss. If what Noda said was true then fighting is inevitable. So if that's the case, Chaa and I will fight it since we're the fittest. If we fight it together and all of us fail to beat it, then we will never ever reach the surface anymore. Also, bringing Noda back is your job as leader, Yurippe.”
”No way! As leader, I should beat the boss.”
What are you, some 5-year-old kid?
”It's extremely dangerous!”
”Duh. That's why.”
”I'll leave the last hit for you.”
”That kind of a small thing? This guy won't be able to do it,” she said, while pointing at Chaa.
”Indeed.”
Don't agree with her, darn it!
”Then this guy and myself will go look for Noda. Let's go,” Chaa said, patting Ooyama's shoulder.
”So it's come to this... hey Ooyama. I gotta tell you this. If you really want to be an author, you'll fail immediately if you don't drop your silent att.i.tude!”
”Okay, okay, I get it, stop repeating yourself...”
”Excellent.”
Hmm. I feel like Yurippe is slowly invading my personality.
”Well then, since we've decided on what to do, let's quickly finish up and move!”
After the meal, we split into two groups, and pray for each others' safety.
”Hinata-kun, this is my parting gift. I call on thee, detoxify! Now you'll have nothing to worry about!”
”WHAT?! So all this while I've been poisoned?”
”Well then, let's go.”
”When I find that fella, I'll tie a rope to his neck and drag him all the way back here.”
”I'm counting on you!”
”See you!”
And the two groups parted.
”Hmm, now that you mention it...”
Just seconds after moving apart, Yurippe remembered something.
”What's up?”
”The two of us haven't been alone like this for a long time now...”
Yep. Stop lagging. Have you only just noticed? I realised long ago. Er, wait, Maybe it's just me being too sensitive.
”It feels like our fight was ages ago.”
”My apologies, I don't recall ever fighting with you. The only thing I have etched in my mind is a one-sided fight and you trying to kill me.”
”I'm just a female! Are you that weak? I was the one who defeated Chaa as well. The only thing you're good at is jumping off the top floor of the school building. I'm actually a bit worried for your battle against the boss.”
”That's just cause I haven't been serious.”
”And when are you going to start being serious?”
”Hmm, that'd be the time when you're in danger.”
”I think you'd be finished even before I will be. So you can't treat things seriously even when you're in danger?”
”It's my nature, apparently.”
”Sigh... Hinata-kun, you really make worry.”
Excuse me? Who's talking now?
”Hinata, take this.”
”Hmm?”
Yurippe handed me the pinwheel.
”What for?”
”I'll lend this to you. Don't spoil it, alright?”
”Then hold on to it yourself.”
”I'll let you use it as a talisman for now. I prayed that you won't die.”
”Oh...”
I stared at the pinwheel.
You can't die here anyway...
Well, at least she cares about me.
”Thank you.”
I put the pinwheel in my pocket.
This staircase is absurdly long.
”What a wide s.p.a.ce...”
Yurippe aimed her torchlight down, but all we could see was absolute darkness.
”Seems like the last floor, no?”
”I feel the same thing too. For some reason, it feels like the final boss is down there, waiting for us...”
”I wonder what the final boss is. Maybe it's the ant.i.thesis to someone like Tens.h.i.+.”
”Or maybe it's a fire-spewing dragon!”
”We can't beat it without magic if it is, don't you think?”
”I thought you received Ooyama's magic blessing?”
”Yeah. All thanks to him I'm still standing here alive.”
”I can see the ground now...”
”Yeah.”
The ground was lit up by the torchlight in Yurippe's hand.
All I could see was mud on the ground. It looks like an unpaved road, as if signifying there's nothing else ahead.
”AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
Yurippe wasted no time in shouting out the moment she reached the ground. Echoes came back not long after.
”Mmm... this place is so broad. Why don't you try too? You'll get this very nice feeling.”
”How charming... however, I get the feeling we're merely announcing our grand arrival to the final boss.”
”Let me tell you something.”
”What?”
”The final boss... won't move.”
”Why?”
”Well, the boss has to sit on the throne and give some prologue! It won't just attack us immediately.”
Speaking of which.
It was your idea to address this... thing as the ”final boss”, huh, Yurippe?
Don't tell me you don't know anything about the danger that lurks ahead?
Looking at her walking ahead and s.h.i.+ning her torchlight everywhere absent-mindedly, I wonder why in the world I did not ask her about it.
Whatever it is, I have no choice but to follow her in order to have the slightest chance of surviving.
”Take a look.”
”You can NOT be serious...”
The boss was sitting on the throne after all.
Well, not exactly; just something that looks like it. It's strikingly similar to the one used by the headmaster...
It was a girl. She was sitting on that throne of hers, cloak wrapped around her. I couldn't tell whether she was a student from school as well.
”This is only her first form.”
”What do you mean?”
”Once her HP bar is half empty, she'll turn into some other form.”
When you put it like that, it seems like it really is going to happen.
”Well then, let's hear your prologue.”
Yurippe pointed at the girl, waving the torchlight at her like how a professional would use a sword.
Yes, yes, but please be reminded that we're empty handed! What if it really becomes a monster?!
”... How shallow-minded,” she said.
Come on, continue.
”... Let's start.”
”So short!”
We don't even know what to say now.
”Hey wait a second, so we have to fight you now? You're not going to say anything fancy? Or give us an introduction? There’s too many mysteries left! If we beat you I'd feel so much less accomplished. Gah.”
”What are you?”
Come on. I'll wait. Just say something.
Guess not. She's just keeping her lips sealed.
”She must be partially mute.”
The girl stood up.
As the cloak fell off her, we could see a sword. Not again...
”Darn, she might be another angel of this dimension... and it looks like she's fond of fighting too.”
”The fight's about to start.”
”How do we fight?”
”I'm thinking...”
”Thinking?! We don't have that much time!”
In the blink of an eye, she moved in front of us like some teleportation skill.
She's THIS fast?!
”Uh oh.”
”If this is some shounen manga, there would be a ”TO BE CONTINUED” tag underneath this to save us...”
Tough luck...
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