Chapter 6 — I Don’t Understand the Logic, but I’ll Trust You
Passing through the door in the shrine atop the pyramid, Yogiri and Tomochika found themselves in a small room.
“Not much here, huh?” Yogiri said.
“I guess it’s just a waiting room.”
The square room was about ten meters across, with a set of couches in the middle. For a single party, it was plenty big.
“I guess we should look around,” he said. There were no windows, and just a single door on the far wall. The left wall had two doors, while the right had one. The door they passed through to enter the room had disappeared, much like the gates in the Prison Area. The doors on the left led to bathrooms marked for “men” and “women.” Yogiri peeked into the men’s bathroom, which seemed perfectly clean and ordinary. According to Tomochika, the women’s bathroom wasn’t any different. The right door led into a small kitchenette. There were tanks for hot and cold water, as well as tea and tableware. The last door led out into nothing. Outside was just an endless white space.
“I guess we can’t go anywhere. You think we’ll fall if we step outside?” Tomochika asked.
Hmm. In any case, I cannot leave either. I attempted to pass through the walls to observe the exterior of the room, but was unable to, Mokomoko observed.
Yogiri tried to reach out through the door, but his hand was blocked. Though it appeared to be an empty white space, it seemed there was actually a wall there.
He closed the door and sat down on one of the couches.
“Hey, I know it’s kind of late to bring this up, but isn’t this kind of a bad situation?” Tomochika said, sitting down across from him.
“Seems that way. If they leave us trapped in here, we’ll just starve to death.”
“That sounds like a pretty effective way of beating you, doesn’t it?” In a situation like this, he wouldn’t sense killing intent from anyone since they were just leaving them stuck inside.
“Well...I suppose if it comes down to it, I can try something to get us out. But it seems strange for him to whip everyone into a frenzy over trying to kill me if he was just going to let us starve to death. It’s kind of annoying, but the Great Sage does seem to be enjoying the situation.”
The Great Sage was watching everything unfold. There was no way he’d be satisfied with the two of them being left to starve to death.
“I guess that’s true. They’ve put quite a bit of work into this whole thing already.” Either Tomochika had accepted Yogiri’s conjecture or simply turned defiant in the face of an inescapable fate, but regardless, she seemed to put her worries behind her. “Do you think we can eat these?” she asked, pointing at the snacks laid out on the table between them.
Do you not think that is being too naive? asked Mokomoko.
Yogiri picked up one of the cookies. He didn’t get a bad feeling from it, so it was unlikely to be poisoned. He tried taking a bite. “Yeah, I think they’re fine. They’re pretty good too.”
“Oh, you’re right.” Put at ease by Yogiri’s confirmation, Tomochika began snacking herself.
I believe it is common sense to avoid the food provided by an enemy...
“In that case, we wouldn’t be able to eat anything,” Yogiri replied. Ever since coming to this world, never mind joining Cavern Quest itself, they’d always been playing into the hands of the Sages. They could have thrown suspicion on anything they consumed in that time. He felt it was weird to suddenly start questioning the snacks in front of them now.
“Out of curiosity,” Tomochika asked, “how would your power get us out of here if they did leave us to starve?”
“Hmm. In a normal prison, I’d just kill the bars or the walls to make a way outside.”
“But we’re floating in some sort of weird empty space, right?”
Indeed. We are in an entirely different place, unconnected to the pyramid that led us here.
“I don’t know that much about physics or space and dimension stuff, so this is going to sound pretty dubious,” Yogiri said. “Is that okay?”
“I’d be more confused if you did explain it to me with physics,” Tomochika replied.
“I think this space is pretty close to where we just were. Or like a valley overlapping it.”
“Okay, I’m already lost!” she exclaimed.
“Yeah, well, I guess there’s no guarantee I’m right anyway. It’s like how you can suddenly slip into another world when you’re spirited away, right?”
“You make it sound like that’s a normal thing that happens...but okay, I think I understand. Maybe.”
“Anyway, if we assume it’s something like that,” Yogiri continued, “my power can kill the walls between this space and that one, making a hole that we can move through. That would take us back to the place we were before.”
“That sounds like a pretty big ‘if’ to me.”
“I can only explain things through my senses, after all. I don’t know the logic behind it.”
Though he had no proof he was correct or any way to prove his assumptions, she had no option but to assume that his vague conjecture was right. Explaining the logic that made a foreign world work was a losing proposition in the first place.
“So you think that you can at least get us back to where we were?” she asked.
“Probably. That’s the feeling I get.”
“That’s pretty vague...”
“That’s why I said we should just wait for a while.”
“Yeah, I don’t understand the logic, but I’ll trust you.” Though he knew explaining it in a way she would understand would be difficult, it seemed he had at least convinced her he could do something about their situation.
“Oh, if you can do that, can you just break the wall or whatever between worlds and get us back home?” she asked again.
“Yeah.”
“You’re right, that would be too easy. It’s not like our worlds are that close—wait, you can?!”
“If we run out of other options, I can do it.” Yogiri frowned. From his perspective, that was the absolute last resort. He wanted to avoid doing it at all costs. “I guess I should explain now.”
Without knowing what was going to happen in the future, he couldn’t rule out the possibility of using this method as an emergency escape to get them home safely. If that happened, he likely wouldn’t have the time to explain it then.
“Doing it is simple enough. All I have to do is kill all the stuff between this world and ours.”
“The ‘stuff’?”
“I don’t know what it is either. But it’s got to be something. Maybe even other worlds.”
Well...we have acquired the coordinates of our home world, but we have no knowledge of how to use them, Mokomoko interjected. It is impossible to tell exactly what kind of distance separates us now. I do not know how to convert the information into an intelligible measure of distance.
“So...we don’t really want to do that, do we?” As Tomochika worked through the consequences that would entail, her face started to pale.
“Yeah. My power is mostly for protecting myself. I can’t kill everything in my way just because I want to go home. But if we’re left with no other options...”
“I don’t know if I’m ready to do that in any situation!” They didn’t know what exactly lay between them and their home world, but if it was possible there were any worlds with intelligent life there, that would mean annihilating all of them. That was far more of a burden than two high school students could bear. It was only natural that Tomochika would hesitate to do so.
“That’s why even though I don’t really know what’s happening right now, I figured we’re going to be wrapped up in whatever the Sages are doing. Hopefully we can find a way home in the middle of that.”
“Yeah. We do need to find a way home somehow...”
Right now, their objective was simply to clear Cavern Quest and make it back to the surface. Their prospects of getting home weren’t looking good.
◇ ◇ ◇
Hanakawa and Sora progressed smoothly through the Prison Area. After defeating the dragon, the rest of the enemies on the floor were quite weak. It seemed that every few floors would have a boss monster of some sort, so they could expect things to be easy for a time. Even Hanakawa could handily dispatch the zombies and goblins that were attacking them now. Sora herself didn’t seem to have much in the way of combat ability, so dealing with the small fry was left to him.
Well...if Sora’s fans were to begin appearing to deal with enemies as weak as these, that would be problematic in its own way!
While they were certainly strong enough to defeat the enemies they now faced, there was no need to rely on suicide attacks now.
However...there is still one other problem...
At some point, Hanakawa’s outfit had changed. On top of his usual kung fu outfit, he now wore a happi emblazoned with Sora’s name, the kind of flashy coat often worn to idol concerts back in Japan.
“Sora?”
“What is it?”
“Er, would you perhaps know anything about this thing I am now wearing?”
“Isn’t it something you made?”
“Uhh...never mind.” There was no way an idol would make outfits for her fans designed to cheer her on. Sora must have assumed Hanakawa had made the clothes himself to support her.
Does this mean that Sora’s Fanatic Fans ability might activate at some point and summon me to her side? Am I going to self-destruct to help her at some point?
So far, he still had full control of his body. However, as much as he had chosen to fight the enemies before them of his own accord, he couldn’t say for sure that Sora’s abilities hadn’t influenced that decision.
“Ah, there are more.” Sora pointed.
“Leave them to me!” As a pig-headed beastkin came around the corner in front of them, Hanakawa held out his right arm. A ball of energy fired from his clenched fist, blowing away the pig monster. For enemies this weak, he didn’t need to waste time gathering energy. The amount floating around him naturally was more than enough.
The battle was effortless, but it still introduced a new problem: he was now holding a glow stick in his right hand. The multicolored, glowing stick looked exactly like one you might see at a concert.
“Well, umm...I suppose should we find a dark place, it could come in handy...and it is not like it cost me anything.”
Though it was becoming quite clear that Sora’s powers were affecting him, Hanakawa decided to ignore it for now. If he were to leave Sora and encounter another boss, he’d be in quite a bit of trouble. Acting like one of her fans for a while was much safer.
Turning the corner where the beastkin had emerged, they found the gate they were looking for. Passing through the gate, they ascended to the next level. They emerged into a new corridor stretching off in a single direction. Hanakawa tensed up as he noticed three figures ahead of them.
“Oh, it’s Akino!”
The trio turned to look at them. It was Ryouko, Carol, and Celestina, the concierge from the hotel.
“Hello,” Sora greeted her two classmates. “I see you two made it here as well.”
“Yeah, we figured we needed to join the hunt or else we’d get left behind,” Carol explained.
“Could you at least pretend to be the least bit apologetic?! Your abandonment of me was as cruel as it gets!”
“Oh, sorry!” Carol replied instantly.
“So flippant! No substance at all! If Sora had not arrived, I would have certainly died!”
“No one lives forever, you know?” Carol answered.
“Uhh...you’re really getting into it with that outfit, aren’t you, Hanakawa?” Ryouko commented, apparently unable to think of anything meaningful to say.
It seemed these two really couldn’t care less about him, so instead of pressing the issue and hurting his own feelings more, he gave up and changed the subject.
“I see you managed to unite with Miss Celestina.”
“Yes. I was progressing alone through the pyramid, so I requested to travel with them,” the concierge replied.
“Celestina is super strong!” Carol exclaimed. “She’s cutting through enemies like a hot knife through butter!”
“Then, perhaps the five of us should proceed together?”
“I don’t really mind, but what about you, Celestina?” Despite Hanakawa’s expectations, it seemed Carol had some reservations about joining back up with him.
“Wait, you actually have objections to us joining you?!”
“Of course you may travel with us,” Celestina replied. “You are all still guests of the hotel.” Celestina didn’t hesitate to accept them. The fact they had visited her hotel once should have been entirely irrelevant at this point, but it still seemed important to her.
“You use thread as a weapon, correct?” Hanakawa asked.
“Correct. It has been effective against all of the enemies I have encountered so far, so please rest assured.” As she spoke, a monster in the distance was sliced to pieces.
“Will it work against dragons?” Hanakawa pressed.
“Yes, the dragon was no issue. And I presume you had no difficulties with Gorbagion’s Four Heavenly Kings?”
“Four Heavenly Kings? I cannot say we encountered any such fellows. I cannot imagine forgetting an encounter with such a dim-witted-sounding individual.”
According to Celestina, a number of people claiming to be subordinates of the Demon Lord Gorbagion had been hunting other adventurers.
“I see. I suppose different gates lead to different routes, then,” Celestina concluded. “That said, it is quite likely we will encounter them again, so please remain on guard.”
“Even if we do, I have full faith in you, Celestina!” Hanakawa said. She had saved him immediately before his arrival in Cavern Quest. He had witnessed how strong her thread was, so he had full confidence in her abilities. Ryouko and Carol clearly couldn’t care less about him, and Sora seemed to recognize him only as one of her fans. It seemed Celestina, in her desire to protect the guests of her hotel, was the friendliest face here.
“Then let us proceed. The next gate appears to be in this direction.” With the aid of the Philosopher’s Stone to tell her where the next gate was, Celestina could then use her threads to scout the path ahead. With her help, escaping the Prison Area should have been easy.
The moment he thought that, Hanakawa suddenly lost consciousness.
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