Chapter 8
It was a noisy morning for the world.
'Humanity's Strongest, Kenjo Rei, Descends on an Unknown Beginner's Course—The Shock of His Calling Someone "Teacher"'
'410,000 Concurrent Viewers Break the National Record. Who Is "Shin"?'
'Clan Genbu's "No Involvement" Statement Draws Attention Again'
After looking over three news headlines, I turned my terminal facedown. The notifications had been ringing nonstop since last night, so I had already muted it.
As for me, I could no longer claim that things were peaceful. Even so, what I had to do hadn't changed. Cook rice, leaf through my notebooks, and prepare for the night's stream. Day nineteen of my wholesome unemployed life.
Or so it should have been...
Before noon, the chime rang.
The chime in this apartment meant either a delivery or the neighborhood circular. I opened the door—and saw neither.
A tall man in an expensive coat stood upright in the dimly lit outside corridor, gripping the handle of a carry-on. It was a face everyone in the world knew from their screens—and one that only I knew in person.
"…Rei-kun."
"Teacher. It's been a long time."
Humanity's Strongest swordsman bowed deeply on the open-air corridor of a thirty-two-year-old apartment building.
"It's been two years and fourteen days."
"You were counting?"
"I was."
He answered instantly. He had always been this sort of man.
◇
Humanity's Strongest was sitting seiza-style in my six-tatami room.
It would have caused a commotion if the world had seen it, but he wore an utterly serious expression as he held the tea I'd served him in both hands. It was tea he'd brought as a gift, in a tin that probably cost about as much as my food budget for a month.
Rei looked around the room once. Four cardboard boxes by the wall. Thirty-thousand-yen secondhand streaming equipment. Then he said nothing. Instead, his knuckles whitened around the teacup.
"Do you live here, Teacher?"
"The rent's fifty-eight thousand yen. It's a good place. It's quiet because it's far from the station."
"…I see."
Humanity's Strongest stopped talking about the rent after that. He set down his teacup, placed his hands on the tatami, and bowed.
"Teacher. First, let me apologize. I disrupted last night's stream. I intended to come today, visit you, and explain everything in order. And then—that Super Chat was me, too."
"I knew it was you."
I had suspected as much. The reason that single R had made me uneasy every time I saw it was that it was the initial of a familiar name.
"That was too much. I'll return it."
"I can't accept it. It's tuition."
"The course is free."
"It's eight years' worth of back tuition."
His eyes said he wouldn't take no for an answer. He had always been this sort of man.
"…So. You said you'd 'tell me everything,' but…"
Rei nodded. He stayed silent for a while, then looked up.
"I have two years' worth of things to tell you. But I realized it would be wrong to tell them only to you, here."
"What do you mean?"
"Because the world still has it wrong. Everyone's making a fuss over your course without knowing you. The order is backwards. —Let me be on tonight's stream—as a student."
"It's a beginner's course. Ours."
"I'm still your student."
He answered instantly. …Well, there was no rule saying I had to check a guest's rank.
"There won't be an appearance fee."
"I'll send a Super Chat."
"You don't need to send one ever again."
◇
That night, the moment I pressed the button to start the stream, the viewer-count display stopped updating.
The redrawn display started at 【210,000】, and as I watched, the number of digits kept changing. Apparently, after yesterday's uproar, the whole world knew something was going to happen tonight.
"Good evening, I'm Shin. There seem to be a lot of first-time viewers, so let me say the usual thing. This is a course for beginners. I won't be covering flashy techniques or talking about the strongest gear. It's dull. Probably shockingly dull."
【We know】
【You're lying about that opening spiel just for today】
【Behind you! There's someone behind you!】
"And today, we have a guest. He insisted. —Go ahead."
Rei sat down beside me on a cheap cushion. He bowed deeply toward the camera.
"I'm Kenjo Rei. I'm an S-rank explorer. Today, I've come as one of the students in this course."
The comment section exploded. Or rather, it stopped moving altogether. An overload warning appeared in the corner of the screen and refused to go away.
【It's really hiiiiim!】
【Humanity's Strongest is sitting seiza-style on a cushion】
【He said, "as one of the students"】
【"Shin-sensei" is #1 worldwide!】
"I should say this up front," Rei continued quietly. "I didn't come to talk about techniques today. I came to talk about what happened eight years ago. —Teacher, is that all right?"
"…Keep it brief. Today's lesson is 'How to Fall.'"
【He was really planning to do a normal lesson even now?】
Rei began to speak.
"Eight years ago, I was seventeen and had nowhere to go. I kept failing promotion exams, and every dojo and every clan told me I wasn't worth taking in. Everyone called my sword 'rough' and 'sloppy.' But not one person taught me in words how to fix it."
【…Hey, this is】
【Same as Hina-chan】
"At the last place I ended up, a coach stopped my exam recording after three seconds and said, 'Your center of gravity rises at the start of your step. You'll die on the third floor like that.'"
【It's a perfect match】
【Even the three seconds match】
【I can't stop getting goosebumps】
"For the next three years, this man didn't teach me a single technique. How to stand. How to retreat. Center of gravity. Breathing. Where to use potions. …Everyone, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? It's all the same as what he's been discussing in this course. In other words, what you've all been listening to for free every night is—the making of Humanity's Strongest."
The viewer counter stopped updating again.
"When I ranked up to S-rank, this man laughed and sent me off, saying, 'There's nothing left for me to teach you.' At the core of my sword, this man's notebook is still there. Before entering a dungeon, I clench my toes inside my shoes. I haven't missed a day in eight years."
Rei stopped speaking for a moment. Then he looked straight at the camera.
"This man made me Humanity's Strongest. —And yet, the industry cast him aside. While no one even knows his name, he is lowering humanity's death rate for free, from a six-tatami room. I came here today to tell the world that."
The comment section was no longer made up of recognizable text. Exclamation marks in languages from all over the world flowed like a waterfall.
As for me.
Beside him, I took a sip of tea, then quietly shook my head.
"Rei-kun."
"Yes."
"Your talent is what made you strong. I only gave you a map. You were the one who walked."
I had only said what was true. Rei was the one who practiced his swings until dawn for three years, and the one who kept clenching his toes inside his shoes. All I had done was put it into words beside him.
But for some reason.
Rei stayed motionless for a while, lips pressed together. The eyes of Humanity's Strongest seemed to shine a little, perhaps because of the lighting.
"…That map—"
His voice sounded as though he were forcing the words out.
"The fact that it isn't sold anywhere in the world. The fact that you're the only person on Earth who can draw it. —You're the only one who doesn't know, Teacher."
The comment section's dam broke.
【He's crying. Humanity's Strongest is crying.】
【I'm crying too】
【I never thought "I only gave you a map" would make me cry】
【Teacher really has no idea. I've never seen such genuine obliviousness before】
【World, this is Teacher】
【T-Teacher…! Kenjo-san…! I can't even stand in front of my screen anymore…!】
Even Hina-chan was breaking down. What a troublesome classroom.
"…Um. If you're talking about map inventory, I still have four cardboard boxes."
【Inventory?】
【The hundred notebooks?】
【Humanity's national treasures are packed in cardboard boxes】
"Well, we'll talk about that another time. —Now then, we're already over time, so let's get to today's main subject. Lesson Nineteen: 'How to Fall.' Actually, there's something you should do before practicing how not to fall."
【You're going to do it!?】
【You're really doing a normal lesson after this!?】
【That's exactly like Teacher】
Later, this stream would be remembered as a legend under the unpretentious name 'The Intrusion Episode.' In the end, no one knew the exact final concurrent-viewer count. The aggregation server gave out first.
◇
After the stream ended, I walked Rei to the station and returned to find the terminal I'd left facedown still vibrating on my desk.
The call history listed Association, media, unknown number, unknown number, unknown number. It didn't look as if I would be returning to my peaceful unemployed life anytime soon.
Just as I sighed, the screen lit up again.
【No Caller ID】
I hesitated for three seconds over whether to answer, then did.
"Hello?"
There was no reply.
It wasn't a silent call. When I listened closely, I could hear someone drawing breath on the other end, again and again. They would start to say something, then stop. Start, then stop. The way the silence fell was terribly awkward and terribly earnest.
I had lived by observing people for twenty years. There are silences you can understand even without a voice.
"…Mio?"
The call ended.