It was currently the middle of July, with the last third of the month fast approaching. A whole week has passed since the event now widely called the Disaster of the 12 Labyrinths. Even now, search operations for the missing as well as memorial services for the fallen were being aired on TV.
While other schools were already having their summer vacations, our high school still had no firm plans in place, so never mind even a target date for its reopening.
<<Why am I always getting asked for these ridiculous consultationsssss>>
While I was relaxing in my room, Aihara-kun began a rant in the group chat I had with my friends. As for whether we were actually friends with him, well, we did work together back then, so it was looking like we were on the path to being friends. Honestly, the thought of that was kinda scary.
<<Consultations? Like for Awakening training and stuff?>>
Ignoring his message would have been kind of rude, plus it sounded interesting too, so I decided to ask.
<<There are those too, but the more troublesome ones are those from residents within the 2-kilometer radius from our school. They’re consulting me, thinking I can somehow do something about the forced evacuation the law is making them do.>>
“Ehh…”
I was so shocked by his reply that I let out a sound not in text form but in real life. Those just weren’t requests people should direct to a high school student. Like, that was a matter to be discussed with the government.
<<It seems like there’s this idea spreading that if Awakened Ones like me and my mom were to be on constant standby near the Dungeon Gate and continuously thin down the monsters there, then they don’t have to evacuate at all.>>
<<That’s not an idea that an ordinary family would even come up with, is it?>>
<<I agree. I would expect that kind of request from the city hall…no, actually, I think it should be someone from the prefectural level at the very least.>>
Uoyama-kun weighed in too, agreeing with how absurd the request was.
<<I think so too. But those people aren’t exactly thinking straight. They’ve all of a sudden lost the house and property they’ve been living on until this incident, and all the support they’ve been given is a small financial aid and a temporary stay at an apartment building that will evict them after some time, whether they succeeded in finding a new place to live or not.>>
“Mmmm…”
Well, that’s true but…
A small mercy, at least to us, in this recent tragedy was that the four of us and our families lived outside of the 2-kilometer-radius dungeon danger zone, where people were to forced to evacuate. However, for those who unfortunately lived within that zone, that policy must be unacceptable. After all, their way of life was taken away from them without warning.
<<But it’s not like it’s a matter than you can solve, Aihara. Not really.>>
<<Yeah, but I can’t be too frank in turning them down either, can I? Like, that’ll just make them hate my guts. So, what I do is be evasive and direct their hate toward that old man and even the country. But man, their eyes sure are scary.>>
<<Don’t let it get to you, I guess>>
That was all I could say to him. I lacked the ability to come up with any solution to that issue. And when thrust into a situation that was beyond unreasonable, force oftentimes was the only solution people could think of.
Still though, that line about Awakened Ones living near Dungeons so that other, normal people could continue to live there, that was something gaining traction on TV and online as well. The forced evacuation policy was, at least at present, placed a great strain on economic activities as well as on the way of life of people of the country.
Just to name a few issues: land shortage, population drops in the affected areas, population explosions for Kyoto and Nara, compensations for lost properties, providing temporary lodgings as well as temporary work for those forced to evacuate, and many more.
Listing those in my head, a sudden thought came to me: if we didn’t reduce the size of a forced evacuation zone soon enough, wouldn’t our country be in a dire situation?
Apparently, some countries like the US built houses that pretty much walled in dungeons and offered those to Awakened Ones, so they were able to reduce the area of their forced evacuation zones. The people who consulted with Aihara-kun likely heard this story too.
But anyway, there was no way two people—him and his mom—could routinely cull a dungeon by themselves. Honestly, even if the 3 of us—me, Kumai-kun, and Uoyama-kun—were added to the mix, it still would be pretty rough. Kumai-kun and Uoyama-kun were just C rank in stats, so, as much as it pains me to even think this, such a task was beyond them.
Especially for Uoyama-kun. If possible, I hoped he would never ever use that Human-Monster Unification Ritual. He was lucky this time that he was able to return to being human, but if reports I had seen in the news were to be believed, that forbidden technique could have him become an invalid or even have him turn into a monster. There was no telling if the next time would go as swimmingly.
As for the person himself, he looked like he was willing, eager even, to try it again. Meanwhile, Kumai-kun and Aihara-kun only had noncommittal expressions on their faces back then, so it seemed like they weren’t keen on stopping Kumai-kun.
At any rate, while I felt sorry for the people in the neighborhood, those within the danger zone, that didn’t change that what they wished for was impossible.
<<You guys be careful too. Don’t go agree to something fishy and then feel later that you got cheated.>>
<<I meannnnn, nobody would even ask that kind of thing to me>>
<<Same>>
<<Yeah, I think that’s only a you problem, no?>>
<<WHAT!? Whyyyyyyyyy!?>>
And Amen for that.
…but there was a nonzero chance somebody would ask us the same someday. Come to think of it, ever since that day, our home phone have been ringing a lot more than usual. Maybe I was just imagining it, but could those calls be about something similar to what Aihara-kun got consulted with? And maybe the only reason I didn’t know of them was that my parents were shielding me from them?
And on further thought, I had some relatives living rather closely to the border of the danger zone. I wasn’t really close with them, but it wouldn’t at all be strange if any of them wanted talk with me about the danger zone.
…regardless, it would seem this area has become a lot harder to live in.
So, for the sake of my family, I intended to continue culling in the Salamander Dungeon and start doing the same in the Draugr Dungeon when a Dungeon Store was properly established there. That was my plan for now, and I was not likely to do more than that. The adults—politicians, police officers, and the like—should be the ones to come up with the solutions and executing said solutions.
While I was busy thinking of those stuff, I noticed that the group chat had at some point devolved to talking about fetishes. I promptly put my phone on sleep mode upon noticing. As I was placing my phone on my desk, I turned to look at the alarm clock by my bed. Deciding that I should start getting ready, I rose from my chair. I was headed out to meet with Togo-san, after all. I needed to prepare properly so as to not be rude to him.
* * *
I went to the same cafe in front of the station we had been meeting in. Sitting in one corner of the shop was the person I was meeting with, but…
“A-are you alright, Togo-san?”
“Yeah, nothing to worry about. Just a tiny bit tired due to a lack of sleep, I guess.”
Togo-san said so while smiling like usual, like he had everything under control. And yet, there were definitely dark circles under his eyes. The circles under his eyes were rather faint, but he could have just been covering them up with make up. In which case, wouldn’t that mean he had some serious dark circles there?
A week has passed since that incident. Was a prefectural government employee’s work really that much…?
“At any rate, I apologize for calling you here. When it should be me who is supposed to go to your home.”
“Ah, no, don’t worry about it. It looks like you’re awfully busy anyway.”
If anything, having him visit my home now would likely be more problematic.
I went out of the house rather sneakily this time, so nothing like my neighbors calling out to me to talk about some weird topic or the bereaved family from the recent tragedy accosting me happened. But who knew how things would play out if Togo-san—who pretty much exuded the aura of an “elite”—came to my home. Seriously, I couldn’t predict it. Nothing might also happen, but in the case that something did happen, I was certain it would be some flavor of bullshit. Or at least, that was what my intuition was telling me.
“…you look very troubled. Is the present situation weighing heavily on you?”
“Well…a little, I guess”
When the manager approached to give us menus, I placed an order for an orange juice.
…and then I turned my face slightly to the side.
“I’m also a non-Awakened person. And as such, I’m in a position where I have no choice but to rely on you adventurers to resolve the issues brought about by dungeons and monsters. Even so, I want to say that you don’t have to carry this burden.”
“…thank you.”
“If anyone should be thanked, it’s you and your friends.”
With a broad smile on his face, Togo-san took a sip of his coffee.
“Many lives have been lost in the Disaster of the 12 Labyrinths. But compared to the other affected areas, the area you guys fought in had a far lower number of casualties.”
“Well…”
“Family members of the fallen might call me insensitive for saying this, but I’ll say this nonetheless: it is thanks to you and your friends that so many lives were saved that day. As someone who is part of the government in this prefecture, no, more than that, as an adult, I wholeheartedly want to give you brave souls the respect you deserve.”
Togo-san straightened his back and then declared so with a serious expression on his face. That made me feel a bit embarrassed, honestly. But thanks to him, my chest felt a tiny bit lighter.
This was my fourth time being caught up in a dungeon overflow. Despite that, I still wasn’t used to seeing dead people—especially their faces—and in the back of my mind, I sometimes wondered if I could have done things any better.
The time I spent with family, friends, and the girls all helped in making those feelings fade away, but I was afraid the emotional scars from the recent disaster was simply too big to fade away completely from my heart. And then, here came Togo-san, validating our actions. It would seem I was a simpler guy than I thought I was.
“A-anyway, what happened to that janitor?”
In attempt to hide my embarrassment, I kinda forced the change of subject. I didn’t know whether he had an idea why I did so or not, but he went along with it, albeit with his brows knitted together upward.
“I have been so busy with helping those affected by the disaster, so I personally don’t have all the details…but from what I heard, he’s being detained in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. I believe that what he did is being considered as a terrorist attack.”
“I see…well, that sounds fitting for what he did”
Honestly, I had no sympathy at all for that old man. He caused the death of upwards of a hundred people, and brought about the harm of at least double that number. I couldn’t say that was in the scope of an ordinary crime anymore.
“I don’t know exactly what kind of punishment he’ll get, but an acquaintance of mine in the Tokyo MPD commented that he’ll likely never again step foot outside of jail.”
“…if anything, that might be the better outcome for him.”
“Right? To the bereaved family, even a hundred deaths won’t ever nearly be enough”
Yeah. If I were in the surviving family members’ shoes, I’d likely ambush him as soon as he got out. Back when I met up with my friends and Aihara-kun, I sincerely agonized over whether I should swing my zweihander to cut off his limbs and turn him into a limbless, daruma doll. To people who were hurt and to those who lost loved ones due to him, even burning at the stake might be a too kind of a punishment for him.
I could maybe understand his desire, his desperation to become an Awakened One, but that was rather irrelevant to the conversation.
“By the way, how are things at your school? I don’t believe the prefectural government has received any reports from your school regarding when it will reopen”
“Ahh…I don’t think there’s any hope left on that end.”
First of all, the school building itself was no longer usable.
The school building was damaged and many people died there, but more importantly, there was the Dungeon Gate that appeared there to consider. I didn’t know if they were going to tear the entire building down or maybe repurpose some of it, but either way, a Dungeon Store would now have to be built near the Gate.
But building a new school building somewhere else was…difficult, to put it mildly.
The school administration was busy explaining, appeasing, and whatever else to the family members of the students who passed away. But I supposed the more pressing concerns were the lack of funds and manpower to build another school building.
It was just my guess, but the school would likely be closed for good. Although, they seemed to at least be discussing among themselves what to do with the enrolled students, along with playing with the idea of continuing on with only online classes.
…but even if transferring somewhere else was the guaranteed outcome for me, I didn’t know where to start. At that thought, I unconsciously let out a dry laugh. Like, I didn’t know how transferring schools were done, but hopefully, that didn’t involve studying as hard as I did for my high school entrance exam. And I really, really studied hard for that.
“…if you don’t mind, may I suggest which new school you should attend?”
“Huh?”
Just when I was considering—partly as way to escape reality—about devoting myself to being an adventurer, Togo-san slid over a brochure.
“[Adventurer Vocational School]?”
I read aloud the text written on the cover and then spontaneously looked back at Togo-san.
He simply smiled at me.
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