Chapter 74 (1/2)
Chapter 74
Chapter 74: All-New Harem Party
With the blue Lux Eleeon in hopes of reuniting with the party I’d gotten separated fromI’d been anxious, worried, vexed even that even while I was on their trail, they h battles one after another, and I ran with the utency―― And then, I’d found them
The girls were in a large cavernous pit, surrounded on all sides by giant bug-type ed to quickly disperse with shots ofrather adept at usingI was so glad… so glad that the Goddess had given me the power of a Hero
So glad that I’d ed to save everyone ―― But I soon learned that I rong
“Ken, zaki, Asunaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
I’d taken the full brunt of the Berserker’s fist on ht, even now, after Sakura had cos of phantoe frohtAbout the truth, about what happened
After that, Class Rep filled me in
How those two, Momokawa Kotarou and Futaba Meiko, were under attack by an Arirls had admirably saved themHow, even if the two students who never really stood out in class, even if they were barely acquaintances, they strived to work together, to help each other… with ether, help each and every one we can, and escape this dungeon together
Be it me, Sakura, Class Rep, or anyone else, they’d think so tooWasn’t that why they fought?
But that clearly wasn’t all there was to itI was made to understand that hard truth
I believed in Sakura, and I trusted Class RepI believed in Asuna’s strength of will, in Takanashi+-san’s kindness, and in Natsukawsan’s cheerfulnessI wanted to think that these bonds of trust would keep us strong
“If I… if only I’d come back sooner…”
The constant battles, the harsh struggle for survivalI was loathe to adirls couldn’t remain the same within all that stress
The friction between Sakura and MomokawaThe duel between Asuna and Futabsan
Maybe it was simply inevitable that they couldn’t trust Mo themAnd Futabsan considered hi furious once that happened
But there was also the fact that that one incident had caused Sakura and Asuna to completely mistrust him
I wanted to think that it wasn’t any one person’s faultIt wasn’t anyone’s faultYes, it wasn’t supposed to be anyone’s fault, but a crack had been already formed
And it all happened under the
stress for survival, when no one had the soundness ofthat scar ――
“If I just…”
And as those eedy had occurred, this one I had no idea how to handle
And yet, ere not allowed to stopforward
Asuna had pushed MoeAnd Class Rep risked it all to calm her down
Even with this fatal scar that led to the worst possible turn of events, we still needed to cooperate in order to get out of this dungeonThanks to Class Rep’s efforts, Futabsan had been convinced to go together with us
And so we advanced deeper into the dungeon
We were currently in a fa es and packs of Red Dogs in the forest doe
We kne to fight these monsters, and were able to safely dispatch themBut it was so silentEveryone only spoke when necessary but otherent about killing the
Futabsan was incredibly strong, and Asuna, who I orried was suffering fro with ic support, while Natsukaas adeptly dealing with any possible surprisesEven Takanashi+-san who couldn’t fight was holding strongAs for ht harder than anyone, frustrated with how I didn’t want to lose anyone else, and practically venting it onto the monsters
No, this wasn’t enoughJust feelings won’t be enough to save everyoneWe’d now become, with the addition of Futabsan, a party of 7We were one party but ere far fro one
It was easier nowBut as we advanced in this state, as the zones got ot even deadlier, could we really overcoood, I was angry atover
“Quite the long face you have there, Yuuto-kun”
“Oh, Class Rep…”
We had gone past 2a break inside the third
This Fairy Square marked the end of the ruins area as the the other side led to earthen ground and an actual sky aboveThis Fairy Square seemed to have been constructed at the suazing blankly at the scarlet twilight sky and the deep jungle expanding out into the horizon
“I’I knoe can’t keep going like this, but I just don’t knohat to do”
“I know, and it’s fine, this is one of those things where you can’t do anything even if you want toWe all just need time”
“Still,” I tried to argue
“I think, that it’s starting to get better, just a littleWell, not better, but back to normal I mean”
“Y-you think so?”
“Yes… and it’s thanks to FutabsanI thought she hated all of us a lotbut cooperative”
She was rightFutabsan didn’t like us, to the point where it wouldn’t be strange if she got into constant argumentsAsuna’s actions had dire repercussions for Momokawa, but at the end of it all, we’d dealt no punish it all anted, about how this wasn’t the tist ourselves, or how Asuna was an iuard for the party, but that wouldn’t erase the raging hate that Futabsan felt towards my childhood friend
And yet, despite all that, Futabsan was acting as if she wasn’t bothered by it at allShe had almost no complaints and had been extreer vanguard than Asuna, she even took it upon herself to become the party’s cook
Her snake roast was aotten her hands on a lot of these ShririlledWhile Natsukawsan, as not too keen about suddenly being picked as assistant chef, was helping out with tears in her eyes
“Honestly, you wouldn’t believe how relieved I am”
“You don’t need to feel so responsible, Class Rep”
“Oh yeah, then how about you help me out next time and calm everyone down instead?”
“Urk… sorry…”
Back then, I hadn’t even had everything explained towas happeningI had no way of helping Class Rep negotiate with Futabsan, and could onlyAsuna
“I can only hope that there won’t be a next tiain, I don’t think we could stop it”
“I don’t want to iht each other…”
“Still, just keep this in mind, if we come to find out that Mo be prepared for the worst”
“―!? Hey, don’t tell me――”
“I’ it’s a possibilityIt’s one of the worst case scenariosYuuto-kun, I just want you to think about it”
Having said what she needed to say, Class Rep turned her back to me
“Also, try not to be that depressed in front of the rest of theyIf you do that, then the rest of them will try to be optimistic too”
“… Sure, I can do that”