Chapter 40
The Welcome Party Is Over, and It's Time for an Adventure
I'm sorry...!
Takanashi-san bowed her head, deep furrows forming between her brows as cold sweat trickled down her face.
She had woken up around the time the welcome party ended, after falling asleep with a full stomach.
No, you don't have to worry about it that much.
No. Even though it was daytime, I let my guard down far too much. I never imagined getting full would make me this sleepy...
The grim past she had mentioned so casually made my cheek twitch.
Given Takanashi-san's circumstances, she probably had never had the luxury of feeling sleepy after a full meal. That made it even harder to get angry at her.
I urged her to raise her head.
"It really was fine. Don't worry about it."
"Yes... I'll be more careful from now on."
She somehow lifted her face, but Takanashi-san's expression remained gloomy.
"A body of flesh is so inconvenient... If this is what it's like, perhaps I would have been better off as a machine."
"Takanashi-san. Don't say things like that."
I shook my head at her ominous words.
"You've worked incredibly hard all this time. You should be allowed to eat lots of delicious food and sleep peacefully, at least for now."
"But..."
"Besides, this is a clan. Master and the others are here. You don't have to push yourself."
Ishiyama-san didn't look like a bad person, and just as I'd said, there had been several allied ability users around us at the time.
A situation that would require Takanashi-san to remain on guard was unlikely to arise.
"I see..."
"Of course, when push comes to shove, I really count on you. So, if anything happens, please help me."
I meant it. Seriously, if anything happens, please save me.
I appeared to have more talent as an ability user. However, Takanashi-san completely outclassed me in what you might call a warrior's mindset. Her experience was on another level. Comparing us was laughable.
What would have happened during the lycanthrope spiritual disaster if she hadn't been there?
Perhaps my desperation got through to her, because Takanashi-san blinked in surprise before saying,
"I'll support you with everything I've got."
She gave me a crisp, beautiful salute.
Even as my eyes were drawn to the enormous breasts that swayed with the motion, I somehow managed to nod in response.
As we stood there doing that in front of the shop, Riko-senpai poked her head out.
"You two—how long are you going to stand out there?"
"Well, you were the ones who wouldn't let us help clean up."
They'd refused our help because we were the guests of honor.
For the record, Kinue-san skipped cleanup by saying she'd just remembered an urgent errand, while Tatsumin-san tried to help but was sent home because her mascot costume was far too cumbersome.
Ishiyama-san, meanwhile, was in the restroom, saying, 'My, my stomach has exceeded the limits of its capacity. I must rest for a while.'
Rather than having an upset stomach, that expression of hers made it look like she'd hit her stress limit after talking to more people than she could handle all at once.
I had nearly reached my limit too, so I understood perfectly.
Dealing with people is hard.
"Come on, come on in."
"Thanks..."
"Excuse me."
"If you're leaving, then go home!"
"Oh. My apologies. I'll return home."
"Takanashi-san. I was joking, so don't take it seriously."
"...?!"
I led the wide-eyed Takanashi-san back inside.
Despite all the commotion caused by so many oddballs during the welcome party, the interior had been cleaned perfectly.
Inubozaki-san greeted us as we entered with an elegant bow.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, young master and young lady."
"Ah, no, thank you..."
"Mei-yan. It's showing. Your maid side is showing."
"Huh?! I messed up?!"
Inubozaki-san clutched her head, her tail puffing out to an enormous size.
Her breasts swayed enticingly beneath her maid uniform as she did so. No matter how useless she might have been originally, she was an incredibly busty beauty now, so it was quite a sight.
While I was having those slightly improper thoughts, she trudged over and sat down at the counter.
"Damn... I feel like my maid ratio has been rising lately."
"Maybe you'd actually be more stable if you just accepted being a maid."
"No way. I still haven't given up horse racing, boat racing, pachinko, or going around stirring up online flame wars...! I've given up teasing kids in parks, though. The cops have been keeping a closer eye on me lately."
"Seriously, wouldn't society be better off if this person just stayed a maid...?"
At the very least, I wished she would give up needlessly starting online fires along with her antics in the park.
As for all that public gambling... well, that's probably within the bounds of a personal hobby, so I don't intend to lecture her about it.
"No way! I like ruining other people's fun from the sidelines! And yet now I find peace in other people's smiles! What is happening to me?!"
"Isn't that a good thing...?"
"I only want to live according to my pleasures...! God, what have I ever done to deserve this...?"
"Lots of things, probably."
"Wow, Otaku-kun. Your shyness has completely disappeared."
"Well, yes."
When it comes to people—specifically oddballs, weirdos, and hopeless human beings—I can be pretty assertive. That's just how I am.
On second thought... doesn't that make me a hopeless person too? That's a bit of a shock.
No, I can interact normally with my friends too, so I'm in the clear. Surely. Probably. Maybe.
"Huh?! Hopeless Human Alert?! This is bad! My desire to serve is acting up!"
"Kikimora is amazing. I'm really realizing that now."
It can even react to what's going on in my head—is that magic? ...Right, this is a world with magic.
"Speaking of which, where's Master?"
"If you're looking for Grandma, she's in the back putting away the dishes."
"—Commencing service."
"Ah."
With her eyes oddly vacant, Inubozaki-san walked toward the back of the shop without making a sound. She wasn't taking long strides, and her skirt didn't flutter at all, yet she moved incredibly fast.
In the literal blink of an eye, they had headed toward wherever Master was likely to be.
Inubozaki-san's departure was immediately followed by Ishiyama-san's return.
"Hah! The time of my triumphant return!"
She came toward us with unnecessarily grandiose gestures.
Then she ran a finger along her eyepatch and gave me a smug look.
"This feast was quite enjoyable. However, from here on, it is the hour of darkness. I shall await the coming of the end in my own castle..."
She apparently meant, 'I had a wonderful time at today's welcome party. But it's getting late, so I'll be heading home now.'
It was relatively easy-to-understand chuunibyou talk. Takanashi-san stared at her in bewilderment beside me before needlessly becoming wary, thinking, 'Is she plotting something...?!'
"Ah, Ishiyama-san. I had a great time too."
"Heh. If the young ones enjoyed themselves, then that is enough. But do not get confused. I abandoned the name Ishiyama Iwako long ago. I am now 'Rosso Vendetta'—the Red Avenger!"
"Ah, right, sorry. Um... Rosso-san."
Since the full name was a bit long, I decided to call her just Rosso.
She made a slightly dubious face for an instant, then quickly put on a fearless smile.
"Very well. We shall be comrades in the same clan. Names are of little consequence."
"Exactly! It's all about the heart, Rosson!"
"Eek... Young people are scary... Gyarus are scary...!"
Rosso-san turned pale and looked away as Riko-senpai went in for a shoulder hug with a huge smile on her face.
Her chuunibyou mask came off in seconds, but she somehow escaped the fake gyaru-senpai, pulled herself together, and continued.
"Farewell, everyone. The darkness of night bares its fangs at all who walk beneath it... At the very least, do not let your guard down."
"Ah, yes. I'll be careful on my way home. You take care too, Rosso-san."
"Heh... To worry about me is surely the greatest 'waste' in this world. And yet I am the one who rules the darkness..."
Rosso-san struck a mysterious pose with her index finger pressed to her forehead.
But there was one more thing I wanted to discuss with her.
"Um, Rosso-san, I have a small favor to ask..."
"What is it, young one? Do you wish to beg for my mercy? However, the timing is poor. Tonight, the needle of history has already advanced too far..."
"No, the favor isn't for today."
'This' was something we'd discussed and decided on beforehand with Master and Takanashi-san.
Though I was a little nervous, I told Rosso-san, who was looking at me curiously.
"We'd like you to go to the dungeon with us."
"...Huh?"
Rosso-san let out a dumbfounded sound at my words, then—
"Eeeeeeeeeh?!"
She opened her eyes and mouth as wide as they could go and screamed.
＊ ＊ ＊
After about twenty minutes of being rocked by the bus.
The day after the welcome party, the sun was hidden behind thin gray clouds, but it was still well within the daytime when we got off at the bus stop we were aiming for.
We were in one corner of a town with a ghost-town atmosphere and no sign of people. Birdsong drifted over from an abandoned field a short distance away.
The dungeon's cordoned-off site should be only a few minutes' walk from here.
I readjusted the luggage on my back as I felt the clammy air. Even with the sturdier body I'd gained as an ability user, I didn't find the humidity and temperature pleasant.
As I wished for even a little wind, one hyperactive person stood beside me.
"Heh heh heh. We finally made it. We really made it."
Takanashi-san stood on my other side, and we both looked at her with expressions that were hard to describe.
She was a dark elf with tanned skin and large, round eyes. Her silver hair reached to about her shoulders and was tied up on one side with a scrunchie.
She wore a light jacket over a black T-shirt covered in mysterious words that looked like English. Her ample breasts pushed the jacket apart on either side, loudly insisting on their presence.
Healthy thighs peeked out from beneath her denim miniskirt, making her dazzling in their own way.
She looked like a beautiful gyaru on the outside. Inside, however, she was a hopelessly obsessed otaku—and a self-proclaimed gyaru.
"It's finally time to show my juniors what I can do! My hype is through the roof, Tapioca-maru! De☆ploy!"
Riko-senpai planted both hands on her supple waist and struck a smug pose.
...Why is she here?