Chapter 25 Reunion
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
While feeling the refreshing morning breeze, I leaned on the balcony railing and watched Tsuchimiya-senpai as he went to school.
After seeing Tsuchimiya-senpai disappear into the school building through the park, I sat down on a pure white chair and took a sip of the slightly cooled tea on the table.
I have a feeling that today will be a special day. …No, every day is a special day for me.
Since that day, my world regained its colors. I no longer feel the sense of impatience that used to chase me every morning when the sun rises.
I have obtained what I wanted, or rather, something even greater than that.
When I think about today and tomorrow, my heart leaps with excitement. I’m alive right now.
It was just yesterday when I returned to school, but things are surprisingly peaceful here. It’s true that compared to before, there are still fights happening here and there, and couples engaging in sexual activities in various corners, indicating a lack of discipline. However, since skills are sealed and the School Management Committee keeps a close watch, there haven’t been any horrific incidents like mass murders.
Well, groups of people who want to do as they please have already started to emerge, so it may still be tough ahead.
Of course, I had anticipated this case, but now I really don’t understand Kingdom’s objective. It might require a completely different analysis from what I’ve done so far. In any case, I need more information.
So instead of worrying about that, I want to focus on enjoying the present moment with all my might.
How to cure my illness? Of course, that’s important, but it’s just a possibility that it can be cured. I will certainly look for ways to treat it, but if in the end there is no such method, I will be at a loss.
That’s why, even if I’m called a momentary hedonist, I will enjoy this moment with all my might!
The immediate major event will be the reunion of Tsuchimiya-senpai and Asagiri-san.
It’s clear that those two have feelings for each other, but the problem is that Tsuchimiya-senpai is completely oblivious to not only Asagiri-san’s feelings, but also my feelings. Right now, it seems like he’s hesitating to even meet Asagiri-san, but I need to kick him from behind and make them meet already.
Even if they meet, it won’t be easy, but I’ll observe from a higher ground and intervene appropriately to bring them together.
First, they need to settle their own feelings before my plan can even begin.
I also want to satisfy my s*xual desires as soon as possible.
So, it might be a good idea to be careful so that Tsuchimiya-senpai doesn’t attract any bad bugs.
That was unexpected for me too. The material seems to be fine, so I thought that if I tidy up my hair, it would look decent.
Even though Tsuchimiya-senpai is strong, if I think about it carefully, he’s only level 1. Tsuchimiya-senpai, who is sweet to girls no matter what, could easily be taken advantage of by some girls using force.
…And because of that, I’m starting to feel uneasy. It seems like it would be better to finish the reunion event between Tsuchimiya-senpai and Asagiri-san as soon as possible.
After getting ready, I left the girls’ dormitory to gather information. The opportunity came quickly.
First, I decided to explore the facilities inside the school building. Yesterday, I went to the special zone and did some shopping, but I was surprised to see that the products sold in Japan were displayed in the stores as they were. Since it’s this time, many stores would still be closed, so I’ll explore them later.
In the school, the most noticeable change is the teleportation facility. It used to be a bike parking area on the left side after entering through the main gate, but now it has become a grand building that looks like a temple.
When you go inside, there is a large lobby, and the door at the back leads to a room with a transit magic circle for diving into the dungeon. On the left side, there is a locker room, and on the right side, there is a trendy cafe.
The walls of the building are covered with a large bulletin board, which contains announcements from the School Management Committee, information about the dungeon, as well as papers with requests for student recruitment and information sharing.
Since classes are still in session, there are only a few students around.
I looked into the café and was surprised to see they even sell alcohol. But the prices are really high. The essential things you need for daily life, like at the special zone and school cafeteria, have the same prices as before. But for other things, the prices are much higher. For example, the daily lunch costs 350 yen, but a special rice bowl costs 8,000 yen. It seems like they want to show a clear difference in the living standards between those who take dungeon exploration seriously and those who don’t. If you see someone nearby enjoying luxuries you can’t afford, you would want to be like them too. It’s a way to motivate students to go to the dungeon without forcing them.
The school store used to be like a small convenience store, but now it’s expanded and has shelves with basic items for dungeon exploration like weapons, armor, and camping gear. It seems like it’s even open 24 hours.
There’s also a facility in the basement of the main building where you can use magic, but I think I’ll pass on that for today. I’m more interested in the library, where there are apparently a lot of books from this country.
As I left the school store and headed to the lobby on the first floor, I noticed a familiar girl coming from the direction of the student cafeteria.
That’s… Asagiri-san!?
The moment I saw her, I felt a chill. She seemed so different.
There was no trace of her usual cheerful and lively atmosphere; instead, she had an icy, expressionless demeanor. Despite that, her presence was strong, not just because of her beauty, but also because of the intimidating aura and dark energy radiating from her. It’s like she’s a demon king.
The students coming from ahead are so afraid that they’re sticking to the walls to make way for her.
Uh-oh…
I know what went wrong. I thought she would be down, but my thinking was too naive. I never expected it to be this bad…
I had this careless idea of pushing Tsuchimiya-senpai to go meet Asagiri-san himself and if they got together successfully, I thought I could lose my virginity to him the next day. But this is a situation that requires immediate action. I need to offer Tsuchimiya-senpai to Asagiri-san as soon as possible, even if it’s just a second.
But knowing Tsuchimiya-senpai, it’s not going to be easy. I had planned to observe their chaotic romantic comedy from a distance and enjoy it, but I have to change my plans. If things continue like this, it might turn into a splatter horror instead of a romantic comedy.
The best thing to do now is to bring Tsuchimiya-senpai and Asagiri-san together before the news of his return reaches her. If I knew about this situation earlier, I would have dragged Tsuchimiya-senpai in front of Asagiri-san right after he returned yesterday, no matter how difficult it was. The longer the time between his return and meeting her becomes, the stronger Asagiri-san’s anger will be. If two days pass, it wouldn’t be strange for her anger to turn into a desire to kill. I can just make it on time now.
When Asagiri-san comes to the lobby, she changes direction and walks toward me.
My heart pounds and cold sweat runs down my back. It’s an incredible pressure.
Fortunately, Asagiri-san passes by me without noticing. This direction must be towards the school store.
With trembling hands, I take out my smartphone and send a message to Tsuchimiya-senpai.
’I’ve spotted the target! It’s an emergency! Come to the school store right away!’
If he hurries from his classroom on the 2nd floor, he should be able to reach the school store in one minute.
Frustrated by the casual response, I continued sending messages like an air traffic controller looking up at the enemy’s formation of heavy bombers.
’Forget about that! Hurry up! Run! Run!!’
* * *
As I was going down the stairs, my phone vibrated again. I’ve been receiving urgent messages from Higurashi one after another since earlier.
Higurashi seems really worried, this must be something serious.
I started to think that it’s more serious than I initially thought.
Is it something more than just a discounted cup noodle for one person?
I can’t even imagine what it could be. Could they be selling cats at the school store? It’s a dormitory managed by people from another world, so there’s a slight possibility that pets are allowed.
Gil-san, who just reads manga, hasn’t explained anything about the dormitory rules.
It’s a little sad to think that I won’t be able to see Nyaruko-san anymore. I have to go and check it out for myself.
I sped up and headed towards the school store.
Upon arriving at the school store, I quickly looked for Higurashi.
Is she inside the store?
I peeked through the glass from outside and glanced back to check outside again, and that’s when I noticed a familiar face.
It was Asagiri. It was the scary Asagiri, with a cold and tired expression on her face.
I had heard about it, but I couldn’t believe she was always like this.
Asagiri seemed unaware of me and was heading straight for the entrance of the school store. It was hard to approach her in this state, but I couldn’t just leave her like this. I gathered my courage and spoke up.
”Hey, Asagiri. Long time no see!”
Asagiri turned to me with a cold gaze and tilted her head slightly.
”Do you need something?”
Her voice was so cold, it felt like an icy blade. Just that was enough to make me feel uneasy. Things were different now. Asagiri was never the kind of girl an ordinary guy like me could easily talk to. I was scared of this and didn’t want to get close to her.
”Um, well, it’s not a big deal… I was just wondering how you were doing. If you’re doing well, then that’s okay. Sorry for bothering you. Well then… huh?”
Asagiri’s hand grabbed my wrist as I tried to leave in a hurry.
”Ah…”
Her trembling lips made meaningless sounds, and her eyes widened as if she had seen something unbelievable.
”Is it… Tsuchimiya-senpai?”
”Huh? …Yes, I’m Tsuchimiya.”
Asagiri’s expression crumbled and tears began to flow.
”What!? Hey, are you okay, Asagi——”
When I felt a heavy impact in my stomach, my body bent into a ‘く’ shape and flew through the air. Asagiri had tackled me from the face to my stomach.
As expected of Asagiri. The sharpness of her step was completely different from before, and I could not react at all. If it were not for the Magic Spearman’s defense barrier, my organs might have been in trouble.
With Asagiri’s arms firmly holding my waist, I prepared for a body landing.
After a long time in the air, I landed on my rear and slid over 10m (32.8ft) with Asagiri still clinging, finally stopping on the shiny waxed corridor.
Then, Asagiri buried her face in my stomach and cried loudly.
”Sen…senpai! Tsuchimiya-senpai! I… I! Ahh!”
”It’s okay, calm down.”
I placed my hand on Asagiri’s soft hair and gently stroked it. Asagiri put all her strength into her arms and pressed her face against me, causing me to lie down as I continued to pat her head.
In the hallway, some students were peeking at us. Just next to us was the staircase I had come down. It was good that there were few people in class. I’m worried that the security camera in the school store will capture me flying in the air. I hope the newspaper club won’t catch wind of this as “This Week’s Shocking Footage!”
I continued to pat Asagiri’s head as she tried to say something in her distress. I never imagined Asagiri would end up like this; something must have really pained her. If there’s anything I can do to help her, I want to be there for her.
My shirt was becoming soaked with warm liquid, but it was from my cute kouhai’s tears. I didn’t mind at all.
After a while, it seemed that Asagiri was finally calming down.
”Senpai… Are you really Tsuchimiya-senpai?”
While burying her face, Asagiri asked in a weak voice.
”Yeah, there’s no mistake, it’s Tsuchimiya Takeru.”
As I answered, she clung to me tightly while crying.
”W-Where have you been all this time? What were you doing?!”
”I was inside the dungeon all this time. I just came back yesterday.”
”A-All this time?!”
”Yeah, all this time.”
”Already… enough!”
Asagiri pouted and started hitting my chest.
Sorry, I’m only level 1, so I wish you could go a little easier. It seems that the defense barrier doesn’t work against subtle attacks.
”Ugh… I’m sorry, I stained your shirt, senpai.”
”Don’t worry. If Asagiri gets it dirty, then my shirt would be honored too.”
When I responded, Asagiri pushed her face against me happily.
”Asagiri, if there’s anything troubling you, you can tell me anything. I want to be there for you.”
As I sat up and quietly spoke, Asagiri stopped moving suddenly.
After a while, she looked at me with a determined expression. I felt like I was being drawn into her beautiful blue eyes, and my heart skipped a beat.
”I-I like Tsuchimiya-senpai.”
Huh? Um, what do you mean? Oh, I like Asagiri too, yeah. As a cute kouhai.
”I really like you. I love you! Please go out with me!”
”Huh!?”
Huh!? Asagiri likes me!? She wants to go out with me!? Wait, I’m… happy. I’m really happy that she thinks of me that way. It would be really happy and like a dream to go out with such a beautiful girl.
But, did Asagiri really like me and confess seriously? But what about me? My reasons for wanting to go out with Asagiri are superficial, like because she’s pretty or cute. I like her, but if asked if I love her, I’d hesitate. Are these reasons enough for Asagiri’s serious feelings? Do I even deserve to go out with Asagiri?
”Asagiri, I’m sorry. I understand how you feel——”
”Eh? T-Tsuchimiya-senpai!?”
Asagiri’s eyes clouded with anxiety.
Ah, is this going to make her cry? Is this choice really the right one? What should I do!?
”That’s enough! Take this, you scoundrel!!”
At that moment, with a satisfyingly loud sound, a shock ran through my head.
”Let’s stop talking about that!”
”H-Higurashi!?”
”Higurashi…san?”
There stood Higurashi, holding a large flyswatter in one hand and standing tall with her hand on her hip.
”Seriously… I just bought this flyswatter blade from the school store. It seems like I made it in time.”
No, I don’t understand. What is a flyswatter blade? Is that considered a weapon?
”By the way, Asagiri-san. Let’s talk alone, just the two of us.”
”…!”
Higurashi, carrying a flyswatter on her shoulder, said in a low voice like a villain, causing Asagiri to tremble with fear, her body twitching.
”It’s about Tsuchimiya-senpai… It’s an important conversation between women.”
Asagiri held her breath for a moment, took a deep breath, and then nodded vigorously with a pale face.
”Y-Yes, I understand… I’m ready to listen!”
So, what does this mean exactly?
What’s going on!?
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.