Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 14 - Chapter 2

Episode 2: Yurika’s Stand by Me

Kenji was well aware that he and Koutarou didn’t see eye to eye when it came to their ideas about relationships. But he thought that was only natural when he considered Koutarou’s upbringing.

After losing his mother and watching his family fall apart in the aftermath, Koutarou became very selective about the people he got close to—especially girls. He never wanted to lose someone like that again, and he certainly wasn’t anxious to be in the unenviable position his father had. So if he was going to be in a relationship, it would have to be a serious one with someone he thought he could protect. Someone who was right for him.

And though Kenji understood Koutarou’s feelings, he had a different approach to things. He indulged in shallow relationships with girls that he knew he could get out of easily. That way, he could see if things might work out in the long run—if it might turn into something serious—and then jump ship if not. Not only did that solve the same problem, but Kenji’s method was more realistic than Koutarou’s.

But ultimately, Koutarou and Kenji were coming from the same place. Koutarou’s personal experience, and Kenji’s experience after looking at Koutarou, enabled that. They only appeared to be at odds on the surface because their methods differed. Which was why, regardless of how often they butted heads on the subject, it never hampered their friendship. Somewhere deep down, they both knew they were on the same page.

That said, Kenji was starting to worry. They were now in their second year of high school, and Kenji thought that Koutarou should at least get some experience with love. He’d received chocolates from several girls last Valentine’s Day, and Kenji didn’t think that it would be impossible for Koutarou to form a relationship with one of those girls. And so now, as far as Kenji was concerned, it was time for Koutarou to show some guts and make a move.

“Hey, Kou. You’re always saying that I’m insolent or careless or whatever, but...”

“I’m right, aren’t I? I’m sure the girl you were going out with the other day is crying by now.”

“I’m not talking about me. I mean, even if I reluctantly admit that I’m careless, there’s a problem with you too.”

“With me?”

“Yeah. Carelessness isn’t the only thing that makes people unhappy. People also end up unhappy if they’re with someone overly serious like you.”

“That’s not true. People are at their best when they’re serious. That’s what being a man is all about, right?”

“Good grief... You really are stuck in your ways.”

About as expected, Kenji wasn’t getting through to him. In light of that, he decided to tell Koutarou about something he’d been keeping quiet.

“Kou, I’ve never told you this before now, but I’ve had my heart broken countless times because of you.”

It was true he’d been avoiding admitting it for quite some time. He had his pride to think of. But he put it aside for the moment because he was putting his best friend first. That was just how worried he was about him.

“Don’t try and pin that on me. I’m pretty sure that’s exactly because you’re so careless.”

“That’s not it. There have been plenty of girls that told me they couldn’t go out with me because they liked you.”

“They were probably just using that as an excuse.”

“As if there would be that many girls that would use you as an excuse! Do you understand what kind of a coincidence that would have to be?! Even if some of them were lying, there have still been a good number that honestly liked you!”

Getting a bit worked up on the subject, Kenji slammed his fist into his desk. The whole class turned towards him in a startle, but they soon looked away. That wasn’t the first time Koutarou and Kenji had been so noisy, after all.

“That might be true, but that has nothing to do with me.”

“It does. Just think about it. You’ve never gone out with anyone. That’s why all the girls that like you back away and give up on their own.”

Finally having gotten that out of his system, the volume of Kenji’s voice dropped a few notches. He then looked right at Koutarou and spoke in a whisper that only he could hear.

“They all see what’s hiding behind your smile. That’s why they give up. You get it, right? Just by doing nothing, you made those girls unhappy...”

“Mackenzie...”

Though Kenji’s voice was hushed, Koutarou could tell that he was serious. He could see it in his eyes.

“Those girls wouldn’t have to suffer like that if you had a girlfriend to begin with. So how about it? Is there really no girl you’re interested in?”

If there was someone Koutarou was interested in, no one was winning by him not acting on it. That’s how Kenji saw it.

“Hmm...”

Normally Koutarou would just brush off this kind of conversation, but he understood that Kenji was worried for him and decided to at least give it some thought.

“For example... what about my little sister Kotori? You know her. She’s a little obsessed with me, but she’s cute in a way.”

“Kin-chan, huh...”

Matsudaira Kotori, nicknamed McKinley, was Kenji’s precious little sister. She was something of a spoiled girl and used to follow Koutarou and Kenji around whenever she could. If they left her out, she would cry out of loneliness. The image of Kotori desperately chasing after them had left a strong impression in Koutarou’s memories.

Because of that personality of hers, Kenji had become protective of her and had high requirements for anyone that wanted to be her boyfriend. Koutarou was one of very few people he considered up to spec. Kenji believed he could entrust her to him. For Kenji, having Kotori and Koutarou become a couple would solve two of his worries at once.

“I think she’s a good girl, but I haven’t seen her for a while, so that wouldn’t feel right.”

“You last saw her over New Year’s, right?”

“I think so.”

It was just half a year to Kenji, but it was a little different for Koutarou. The time he’d spent in the past made it quite a bit longer. So, strictly speaking, he hadn’t seen her for over a year. Koutarou did think she was a nice girl, but since they hadn’t seen each other for so long, he had no idea what she was really like now. On top of that, Kotori’s own feelings needed to be taken into consideration.

“Okay, fine. Forget Kotori for now. But what about them?”

“Them?”

“Don’t play dumb. I mean the girls over there.”

“Ah...”

Koutarou looked in the direction Kenji was pointing and saw the girls of room 106. It was currently lunch break, and the group of them were chatting together after eating their lunches. The only exception was Yurika, who was sitting the closest to Koutarou. She had eaten her fill, gotten sleepy, and was now in the middle of taking a nap.

“You’ve gotten pretty close with all of them lately. Is it because of the play?”

“Ah, yeah, well, something like that.”

As Koutarou casually looked over at the girls, Sanae noticed his glance and turned around. She cheerfully waved her hand at him, which alerted the other girls that Koutarou was looking their way. They all looked over and smiled at him before returning to their conversation.

“Considering they’re like that, I think you have a chance with all of them.”

“I think you have the wrong idea. They’re just all really nice.”

“You can’t just call it there. Try grading them. I bet the girl with the highest points will ‘feel right,’ as you put it.”

“How am I supposed to grade them?”

“Grade their personality and looks. And then add or remove points based on any special memories you have with them. Aim for something like 50 points being friends, 75 being someone you’d like as a girlfriend, and 100 as someone you’d like to marry.”

“Huh... Well, I guess that kind of makes sense.”

“Then give it a shot. How about starting with Nijino-san, who is oh-so casually asleep over there?”

“Yurika, huh? All right, gimme a sec.”

Kenji pointed at the closest girl, which just so happened to be Yurika. As Koutarou looked at her, he began thinking over the scoring rubric in his head.

Yurika isn’t unattractive. If anything, I guess I’d say she’s cute? But her personality’s a problem. She’s lazy and whiny...

From Koutarou’s point of view, Yurika’s personality detracted a lot from her looks. Because of that, if he were to grade her on just those two aspects, she would fall below even the friend benchmark.

And then you add or remove based on special memories...

With Yurika’s looks and personality decided on as a baseline, it wasn’t that hard to add or remove points from there. Koutarou scanned his memories, flipping through everything that had happened since the day he met Yurika. Things only got better from there.

It was terrible at first... but looking back at it now, there were a lot of misunderstandings too... And lately, there have been a lot of plusses...

Yurika was timid and weak to pressure, so she’d made a terrible first impression with Koutarou. However, as time passed and she matured, Koutarou came to see her for who she really was. Lately, she’d even been impressing him. It was quite a reversal in her favor. She was still lazy and whiny, but he knew that he could trust her when he needed to.

“...All right.”

“What’s the score?”

“Hang on, I’m totaling it up now.”

After finishing grading each event, Koutarou added the points together.

H-Huh...? W-Wait a minute, is this...?

Koutarou was confounded. While Yurika’s points had taken a hit out of the gate, they’d steadily gone up with everything else he considered. She’d passed the 50-point friend line while they were working on the first play. And by the time the second play rolled around, she was rapidly scoring more points and had easily passed the 75 and 100 point lines. And it had only gone up since then.

H-Hey, wait... This has to be wrong...

Koutarou was astonished as he added on the last two points, one from Yurika scoring high marks on a test and the other from when they went out for takoyaki together as her reward. But even though he’d added it all up himself, Koutarou couldn’t accept the score. He took a moment to start over from scratch and make sure his math was right. But even then, it all checked out.

“To think something like that was...”

“How was it?”

“I-I didn’t get the kind of score I was expecting...”

Koutarou tried answering as calmly as he could, but he could feel his emotions rampaging inside of him. Yurika’s final score was 322 points. The result was the same no matter how many times he counted it. Certainly, that wasn’t the total he thought she’d get. He’d never imagined that she would get a score that would warrant marrying her three times over. Moreover, that score was still increasing on a daily basis.

“I see. That’s too bad.”

“Y-Yeah...”

“Then what about the other girls?”

“The others...?”

However, that would only be the start of Koutarou’s bewilderment. There were still eight other girls he had to consider, and Koutarou didn’t think their scores would be much different from Yurika’s.

As Koutarou was fretting over his new problem, Yurika was wandering through a frequent nightmare. In this nightmare, she was walking around lost in a dark place where she was plagued with accidents as death came for her. And it wasn’t just once, but a total of three times. First she ran out of food and starved to death. Next she ran out of strength as she was attacked by some kind of beast. And finally, she was blown up by a bomb.

“Why is it always meeeee?!”

As red flames engulfed Yurika, she woke up.

“Eh, huh...?”

“What’s wrong, Yurika?”

“M-Maki-chan?!”

Maki, who was sitting next to her, stared at Yurika with wide eyes. Yurika’s sudden shouting had startled her, not to mention everyone else nearby.

“A-Actually, I had a scary dream.”

Since it wasn’t really anything to hide, Yurika gave her an honest answer. Kiriha couldn’t help smiling. It was a very Yurika-esque thing to say, after all.

“To think you’d be able to dream in a noisy place like this... That’s rather impressive, Nijino Yurika,” she commented.

“I don’t think impressive is the right word. She’s just an idiot.”

“Sanae-sama, isn’t that going a little too far?”

Sanae was dumbfounded. Ruth tried to soften the blow a little, but she had a wry smile on her face. In truth, she was just as dumbfounded.

“So, Yurika-chan, what kind of scary dream was it?”

Shizuka, however, enjoyed disturbances like this as long as they weren’t too serious. She was looking at Yurika intently, her eyes full of curiosity. She couldn’t wait to hear what kind of dream she’d had.

“Well, I was walking around a dark place, and then terrible things happened to me and I died. Three times, even...”

“Terrible things... like food poisoning?”

That was Sanae’s best guess. Considering how Yurika spent her life, that was the only thing she could image.

“No! I starved to death, was eaten alive, and then blown up!”

“They’re kind of the same thing.”

“They’re completely different!”

Yurika’s face turned red as she adamantly protested. In the past, she would have just gotten angry that she was being made out to look like an idiot, but things were a bit different now. She didn’t want the boy she loved to get the wrong idea about her, and so her anger gave way to embarrassment. That’s why she desperately wanted to correct this misunderstanding.

“Oh yeah, there was a game like that...”

The only one who had a different reaction from the rest of the group was Theia. She had a nostalgic look in her eyes as she nodded repeatedly.

“A game? What are you talking about?”

That word seemed to catch Yurika’s attention. She temporarily forgot about her embarrassment and asked Theia for an explanation.

“There was that dungeon crawler game that Koutarou and I used to play, remember?”

“Aha!”

Once Theia brought it up, Yurika remembered it. It was a while back, but there was a time when she and Koutarou would frequently argue as they played a game that involved exploring a vast labyrinth.

“Something similar to what you described happened in that game.”

“Really?”

“Yes. If I remember, Yurika ran out of healing items and was left to die. I think Yurika A was killed by a monster. And Yurika B—”

“I remember now!” Sanae clapped her hands together with an enthusiastic smile. “Theia was haphazardly controlling Yurika B, and she walked into a trap and blew up!”

“What?!”

Suddenly it all came back to Yurika. The game in question was extremely difficult, and required the player to create many characters to challenge its depths several times over. But halfway through, Theia gave up on thinking of names since it was becoming a hassle, and just named the characters after the people in room 106. The name Theia defaulted to for magicians was Yurika. But Theia’s playstyle was rather rough on magicians, and they often wouldn’t make it out of the dungeon alive. Theia would create new characters to replace them, so the original Yurika was followed by Yurikas A and B.

And Yurika now recalled that all three of them met with violent ends. But since it was too much of a pain, Theia never bothered to recover their bodies and revive them. She did give it a try once, but it didn’t work out. She’d beaten the game shortly after that, and no one had touched it since. So even though peace had returned to the world and all was well otherwise, there were still three abandoned corpses in that cold, labyrinthine dungeon.

After dinner, Yurika sat herself down in front of the TV and picked up a game controller with a strained look. Sitting next to her was her ally Sanae. The two of them were going to challenge the game in question.

“How does it look?”

“Ah, the save data is still there!”

Yurika pointed at the TV screen with a big smile on her face. Since the game cartridge was quite old, there was no guarantee that the save data from when Theia was playing it remained. But fortunately, the game’s battery was still alive, and the save file was there just like she’d hoped.

“That’s good. But Yurika, why are you doing this? Couldn’t you just erase the data and make it like it never happened?”

“Because... isn’t it really scary knowing that three of your corpses are lying in an underground labyrinth?”

“...How?”

Sanae simply tilted her head to the side in a confused fashion and blinked repeatedly. Having been a ghost until recently, she didn’t exactly see the issue.

“I feel like it’s a bad omen. That’s why I don’t want to erase the data until I’ve revived them or properly buried them.”

“Hmm, I guess I can kinda understand that... Good luck then, Yurika.”

“Yes.”

Yurika was going to recover her bodies. Even though it was a game, she didn’t feel alright knowing she’d been left behind like that. And since she was such a scaredy-cat, she was sure she’d never be able to sleep well knowing that the game rested right below her, in the lower half of the wardrobe. She began thinking of the inside of the wardrobe as a part of the labyrinth. If she erased the save data and that didn’t solve her problems, she’d never be able to recover. That’s why she wanted to find her corpses and either revive them or bury them.

“Now that I think about it, I had a lot of trouble with this game...”

Theia, who was staring at Yurika’s back as she started the game up, mumbled to herself. After spending so much time playing the game before, she’d gotten a bit attached to it.

“You beat the last boss, right?” Koutarou joined in as he watched Yurika too.

“Yes. Even though the enemy was closing in, he was casually drinking tea with his subordinates.”

When Theia was playing the game, Koutarou had helped her out. Because of that, the two of them had traversed most of the underground labyrinth together. They were just like Yurika and Sanae now were.

“But in the end, I didn’t get to fight the rare monster.”

“That stuff’s all based on luck. There’s nothing you could do about that.”

Theia had only one regret after beating the game. That was that she had never been able to defeat a secret monster that very rarely appeared in the dungeon. The chances of encountering it were extremely low and defeating it took a long time. It was something she wanted to do, but she was quite busy at the time and had unintentionally gotten distracted from the game and moved on.

“Well, you’re a busy girl, so it’s not like you have much time for games.”

As of late, Theia had only gotten busier. She’d been chased out of her home country and had to take care of the citizens that had fled the nation with her. She certainly didn’t have time to casually be playing video games. Partially because he’d become her vassal, Koutarou understood that quite well.

“That’s true.”

However, Theia showed a bright smile.

“But truth be told, I played games in part because I wanted to get along better with you. And that’s not necessary anymore, right?”

“You’ve gotten friendly with everyone, after all.”

“Indeed.”

Koutarou remembered seeing Theia play video games by herself. Unable to leave her alone, he would often sit down next to her. But now she was different. She was sitting by the tea table with everyone else, smiling and surrounded by friends.

“Theiamillis-san, I understand how you feel.”

Harumi, who was sitting at the same tea table with them now, joined in on the conversation.

“In my case, it was the plays.”

Harumi put a hand to her chest and smiled happily. At first, she had worked hard on the play for Koutarou’s sake. He was the one who’d gotten her involved, and it was her desire to draw his attention that had made her agree to it. But as she got into the play, she became fast friends with the drama club and everyone else working on the production. She wanted to live up their expectations. Harumi was now sitting at the tea table in room 106 exactly because she’d held fast to those inspired feelings and let them lead her. Overall, it was quite like what had happened with Theia. A single spark had led to all this.

“I see. I’m glad it was of use to you.”

“Yes. Thank you very much.”

Theia and Harumi exchanged smiles as they drank their tea. The two girls had both changed a great deal since they first met.

“It seems I’m in quite an awkward position considering I was an enemy until recently...”

That was where Clan, who was lying down on the wall and reading a book, joined in. When she thought back to how she used to be, it was quite a source of embarrassment. She couldn’t help but turn red and smile bitterly.

“What are you saying, Clan-sama? Most all of us were once enemies. It’s not like you were the only one.”

Ruth comforted Clan, whose shoulders were drooping rather dejectedly. Apart from Shizuka and Harumi, all the other invaders had once been enemies due to a conflict of interests. Though Clan had made enemies of everyone due to timing, Ruth didn’t think she had to worry about it.

“It’s just as Ruth says. And considering how things turned out, it must be said that I was your ally from the very start.”

Ruth wasn’t the only one on Clan’s side; there was also Kiriha. To her, the older girl with the glasses was a precious friend she’d made when she was just a child. While it had taken a while for both of them to realize that, Kiriha had always considered herself on Clan’s side. That’s why, though her words were as calm as always, the light in Kiriha’s eyes was much more reflective of her younger self when she spoke of it.

“Thank you, Pardomshiha... You too, Kii...”

Thanks to that, Clan was able to smile again. She then opened up her book and started reading once more. She had to bury her face in it in order to hide the tears that came with her smile.

“Then, strictly speaking, I guess I was everyone’s common enemy, wasn’t I?”

“That might be true. I remember everyone working together to hide their wrongdoings in order to defeat you, Shizuka.”

“Is that true, Theia-chan?!”

“Yes. Though it made no difference in the ensuing commotion...”

“Oh my...”

The one that had united the girls, for better or worse, was Shizuka. They’d all had to pull together in an attempt to defeat her, and that alliance was what later laid the groundwork for them to coexist on peaceful terms. In the end, that even included Shizuka too. The relationships that had first taken form in this tiny apartment now stretched beyond the very galaxy.

“...”

And as they all indulged in a little nostalgic reminiscing on the subject, only one person refrained from joining the conversation: Aika Maki. She used to be an evil magical girl, and she had the shallowest connection with room 106 and the people in it. She’d known Yurika the longest, but since she’d always been after her life, she felt like that wasn’t exactly in her favor.

Compared to everyone else, Maki’s relationship with the others was lacking. That was only natural since she’d only recently been introduced to the circle of friends. But that troubled her. Time would eventually solve the problem, but her outsider status stuck out like a sore thumb at times. It made her wonder if she even belonged here sometimes, and this was one of those times. She had to wonder if she deserved a place among such good friends.

If she had just been a captive, she wouldn’t have to worry like this. It was the fact that she could decide for herself where she wanted to be that tormented her. Since she’d only just turned her life around, Maki still didn’t know who she was or where she belonged. She barely knew what to do with these things she was discovering that were precious to her. And it was almost all too much for her. That’s why she wanted to abandon her freedom and have Koutarou put a curse on her. Her role as Koutarou’s captive would be clear and defined that way. As his tool or his property, she would know what she was to him and where she stood.

It really is like Landlord-san said... I have to do something...

Koutarou noticed Maki’s hesitation. That said, it wasn’t like he noticed on his own. He’d only started to pick up on it because Shizuka had said something about it the other day. And as he looked at Maki now, he began wondering what he should do about it.

Maybe I should just start with the short term for now... All right.

He still hadn’t found a solution, but he’d come up with a way to alleviate her worries and moved to implement it right away.

“Aika-san, do you have a moment?”

“Yes. What is it?”

When Koutarou called out to her, Maki quickly looked up. Before he had even really said anything, she came to his side. She looked like a puppy waiting for her master’s orders.

This really isn’t good...

He could feel the anxiety coming from her, which only reaffirmed his drive to do something about it.

“Aika-san, how much do you weigh?”

“Let’s see... Probably around 42 or 43 kilograms, I think.”

“So you’re below 45?”

“Yes. Is there something wrong?”

“We’ll be going bug hunting later, right? When we do, I was thinking of suspending you in the air with rope and having you go further above us.”

Koutarou drew a simple figure on the back of a newspaper to demonstrate his idea. It was a picture of Maki being lifted into the air using a pulley and rope.

“I’d like you to be in charge of the canopy like this. If you’re 43 kilos, using a pulley and rope that can handle 50 kilos shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I understand, but... is this supposed to be me, Satomi-kun?”

“Yeah.”

“Heehee, I’m not this cute you know?”

Maki had been perplexed at first, but after Koutarou explained what he was thinking, she quickly returned to her normal expression. As a result, her gloomy mood from a moment ago disappeared.

Aika-san...

That in and of itself troubled Koutarou. If that was all it took to cheer her up, just how worried and lonely was this poor girl really? With that painful thought, it took a lot of work for Koutarou to maintain his smile.

“You know, you can tell me that I suck at drawing.”

“You suck at it.”

“Shut it.”

“Jeez... You’re the one who said I could say it. And besides, Satomi-kun, I can use magic, so something like this isn’t necessary.”

“You idiot.”

Koutarou smacked Maki’s forehead.

“Ouch!”

Maki let out a cry of pain and clapped her hands over her forehead. But contrary to her outburst and gestures, her eyes were sparkling with glee.

“Using magic on the bug hunts is forbidden.”

“Why? It would be more convenient that way. Ah, don’t worry. I won’t charge you for it.”

“That’s not the problem.”

“...Then what is?”

“Bug hunting only has meaning when it is done using a child’s intellect and courage.”

“A child’s... I understand. Heehee, a child, huh? Teeheehee...”

Maki narrowed her eyes and let out a cheerful giggle. When she did, Koutarou was finally able to relax.

This girl really needs to find happiness...

Seeing Maki finally regaining her smile made Koutarou feel that way.

But Aika-san isn’t the only one that needs to...

Alongside Maki, there were eight other smiles in the room. Koutarou had only realized their value very recently. But those smiles belied all kinds of troubles. And every time those troubles came to the surface, the smiles would vanish. Koutarou hated that. After all, every single one of those girls had a score of over 300 points.

Although, that’s a problem I should have realized by now...

Koutarou had a reason to stake his life to protect all nine girls. He would probably die for any one of them. That’s what it meant to have a score above 300. That’s why Koutarou wanted them all to find happiness, regardless of what form that happiness took. That’s just how much they had done for him. He didn’t mind at all if his happiness came last.

Landlord-san?

Looking at each the girls in turn, Koutarou’s eyes met with Shizuka’s. After glancing at Maki for a brief moment, she smiled. That gesture was enough for him to understand what she was thinking.

Yeah. We can’t have any one of them be unhappy...

Right now, Shizuka just happened to be sympathizing with Maki, but that wasn’t something limited to just the two of them. The girls all paid attention to each other, and Koutarou firmly believed that such goodhearted and considerate people should never be allowed to be unhappy.

And as he was thinking such things, Sanae’s face suddenly filled his field of vision.

“Koutarou, Koutarou, this is terrible!”

Seeing her serious expression, Koutarou’s face turned pale.

“What’s wrong?!”

“Yurika died again!”

“What?!”

Since Koutarou already had the girls’ wellbeing on his mind, his first alarmed thought was that Sanae actually meant Yurika had really died. But he soon realized that it was a misunderstanding.

“Hngh, I... I...!”

The Yurika in question was bent over in front of the TV and weeping bitterly. She was continuously beating on the floor with her fists.

“I hate gameees!”

The reason was obvious. Yurika’s adventure had ended in a grand failure.

Unlike modern ones, older generations of games were often unforgivingly brutal. The slightest misjudgment could lead to a game over. And indeed, the game Yurika was playing was one of that variety. Shortly after entering the dungeon, her whole party had been wiped out. She got lost, walked into a trap, and was attacked by an enemy.

“Well... that was kind of expected.”

“Satomi-saaan, if you knew that, then help me instead of being so mean!”

“But you were so enthusiastic about doing it yourself.”

“Please don’t just have faith in me at weird times like this!”

Yurika was carefree, careless, and let her guard down often. Because of her peaceful personality, she wasn’t suited for games like that. Lately her sloppy life had started to shape up, so Koutarou thought the new and improved Yurika might even be able to handle a game like that. But just like with studying, it wasn’t something she could do right away.

“Okay, okay. Theia?”

“Yes.”

Being called upon by Koutarou, Theia inched closer. Since she was the one who played the game to completion before, she would be the perfect advisor for recovering the corpses. Not to mention she was the one responsible for leaving them there in the first place.

“Theia and I will help, so give it another try.”

“You can count on us.”

“Really?! I knew you were both good people since we first met!”

Yurika took Koutarou and Theia’s hands and shook them up and down emphatically.

Oh...

But when she realized that she was holding Koutarou’s hand, she instinctively stopped.

“You sure turn on a dime... What’s wrong?”

“I-It’s nothing! Let’s get started right away!”

Since she didn’t want Koutarou to ask anything more than that, Yurika quickly let go of his hand and picked up the controller again. She then continued the game, this time following Koutarou and Theia’s advice while Sanae cheered her on. But it still wasn’t pretty.

“You sure died quite a bit.”

“Indeed. You’ve almost reached the character limit.”

“Koutarou, what happens if you reach the limit?”

“If you reach the limit, you’ll have to delete old characters to make new ones.”

“But the old ones are dead inside the dungeon, right?”

“Yeah. So if she kills any more, she’ll have to delete the dead characters.”

“I can’t do that! I’m doing this because I can’t delete them!”

“Settle down. You still have one last chance.”

In going about her dungeon crawling haphazardly, Yurika had gotten several adventurers killed. She only had one last chance to get it right. She was standing on a razor’s edge.

“To begin with, let’s create your final party. Lend me the controller.”

“Please don’t call it the final one!”

“It’s okay. Just calm down.”

“I can’t!”

Taking the controller from Yurika, Theia began the creation of a new party of characters. There was a trick to doing so, but since explaining that would take too much time, Theia took over and did it for her.

“Ah, the names...!”

“Heh, I’m forming the Satomi band of knights.”

In total, Theia created five characters. Two fighters called Koutarou and Theia, a thief called Ruth, a priest called Sanae, and a magician called Yurika C. Apart from Yurika C, they were the elite characters that she had used several times before.

“Why am I the only one who’s done half-assed?!”

“I didn’t feel the motivation coming. I wonder why...”

“Don’t ask me!”

After creating the characters and buying them weapons and armor, Theia headed for the underground labyrinth. Before anything else, they would need to level up their characters for a while, so Theia handed the controller back to Yurika and returned to the tea table.

“Yurika, don’t go too far in right away.”

“I know. I’ve been punished for that several times already.”

“Yurika, I’ll look at the map, so just walk the way I tell you, as I am the leader.”

“Thank you very much.”

Until the characters grew stronger, there wasn’t much else they could do, so Theia left the grinding to Yurika.

“Good work, Your Highness.”

“Thank you, Ruth.”

Ruth set a cup of tea in front of Theia and then handed out some to everyone else in the order they were sitting at the table, ending with Koutarou.

“Here, Master.”

“Thank you.”

She then clutched the now empty serving tray to her chest and began watching the events unfolding on the TV screen. It was rare for Ruth to show interest in games.

“Ruth-san, are you interested in that game too?”

“Well... I was a bit curious about what Her Highness said before.”

“What I said?”

“Yes.”

Ruth sat down opposite Koutarou and nodded to Theia. She then began talking with a serious expression.

“There is actually something I wish to request of you, Master.”

“A request? Sure, I don’t mind.”

Koutarou had no reason to decline anything Ruth might ask of him. She was always helping him out, after all.

“So what is it?”

“Um...”

But for some reason, Ruth was hesitating. Since she always gave clear answers, this was rather unusual. Moreover, her cheeks were turning red. After mumbling for a while, Ruth looked up at Koutarou and finally said it.

“...Well, I was wondering if you could form a band of knights, Master.”

Ruth typically didn’t ask things of other people. She felt like simply making a request was shameless, and moreover, she was asking for something as strange as a band of knights. She was only willing to because it was Koutarou, but she was still embarrassed about it. She felt like she was digging a hole and burying herself in it.

“A band of knights... You mean that?”

Koutarou pointed at the TV. Theia had created a party of characters called the Satomi band of knights, so that’s what first came to mind when Ruth said something about a band of knights. Ruth, however, shook her head.

“Not that. I mean a real band of knights.”

“A real band of knights? What do you mean?”

“Master, you are a knight that has been appointed directly by Her Highness. That makes you an established knight, which is considered a high position of nobility in Forthorthe.”

“Nobility...? When did you become so important, Satomi-kun?”

Harumi, who was sitting nearby and listening in, opened her eyes wide. She only knew Koutarou as Koutarou, so hearing that he was now nobility didn’t feel real to her.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve become important... Ah, sorry, Ruth-san. Please continue.”

“Of course.” Ruth continued explaining after nodding slightly, “Master, an established knight is permitted the charge of both territory and a band of knights. In this world’s terms, it would be equivalent to the Satomi family having a private army. That is what I would like you to establish.”

“A-An army?” Koutarou was astonished. “You’re talking about an army in this room?”

There were already ten people in the small six tatami mat apartment. It would be impossible to station an army there on top of that. The best he could do would be to arrange some miniature soldiers. And that seemed far too outrageous a request coming from Ruth.

“Are you serious?!”

“That’s not what I meant; I just wanted you to establish the organization! A band of knights doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a lot of soldiers! There are plenty of pacifistic families that only have very few soldiers!”

Her face still red, Ruth hurriedly shook her head. What she wanted was for Koutarou to create a band of knights under his name. She had no expectation of him gathering an army.

“A-And then... if you’d let me join...”

Ruth was an established knight herself, so she had her own band of knights as well. But since Koutarou held the highest rank of knight there was, given to him personally by Alaia, Ruth could also join his band of knights. In other words, Ruth wanted the honor of being a member of Koutarou’s band of knights, even if that could never be publicly revealed. On top of that, the Blue Knight establishing his first band of knights would be a historic and monumental event. Both as someone who’d been born a knight and as a woman of Forthorthe, belonging to that band of knights would be like a dream come true.

“Oh... That’s an interesting idea you’ve come up with there, Ruth.”

That was when Theia, who had been listening to Ruth, joined in.

“But it’s unfair if you’re the only one!”

Theia puffed up her cheeks. As a princess, she couldn’t join a band of knights, and she was currently rather unhappy with that.

“Your Highness, you are the one who makes use of the band of knights. If anything, I would love to trade places with you.”

“That’s true. Then I am in favor too! But... I won’t trade.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I will forever serve you alongside Master.”

“Good. So there you have it Koutarou. Hurry up and announce your establishment of a band of knights. I will approve it right away.”

“Wait a second! What are you going on about without me?!”

“Are you not satisfied with something?”

“How am I supposed to know?! I don’t even know what’s going on!”

“Ruth is saying that she wants to join your band of knights. As a knight yourself, you must know what that means, right?”

“Well, I do, but...”

For a knight, choosing a band of knights was a life-changing decision. It was on the same level as a marriage. Koutarou understood that well.

“Or are you scared of taking the responsibility?”

“...”

Truth be told, that was exactly was Koutarou was feeling uneasy about. Having Ruth join his band of knights meant that he would be responsible for her the rest of his life. It wasn’t anything to be taken lightly. It would be like taking Ruth as his bride.

“Don’t worry. Everything will remain the same. You made a promise with me, right? That you won’t die until you’ve seen us all live full, happy lives...”

“That might be true...”

Koutarou had made a promise with Theia in the past—that he would make sure that all girls lived their lives happily. And he would make sure he saw to it, even if he hadn’t made that promise. So having Ruth join his band of knights shouldn’t change anything. It was just as Theia said.

“Besides, Master... You once told me that you would fulfill any one wish I had. I would like to make this my wish. Please.”

“I did promise that, didn’t I?”

He’d made that promise with her before their last battle. That he would grant any wish of hers if he came back alive. That wasn’t the kind of promise he could break, even if that meant forming a band of knights. But there was also one more reason giving Koutarou a push forward...

It’s possible this might solve my other problem too...

That reason was Maki, who was currently happily counting money before their bug hunt. The existence of an organization like a band of knights might give Maki the foundation she needed.

“How about it, Koutarou?”

“Wait a minute, Theia... Aika-san.”

“Hmm? What is it, Satomi-kun?”

Maki stopped counting and twirled the pen in her hand as she looked at Koutarou. She was in a good mood, and there was no trace of her previous gloominess in her cheerful smile.

If she can smile like that because she has a purpose, then...

With that, Koutarou made up his mind.

“Aika-san, you’re greedy, right?”

“What are you telling a girl all of a sudden...? Well, I might be a little strict when it comes to money.”

“Then I have an offer to make you.”

“What?”

“It seems like I’ll be making my own band of knights, so how about you work for me?”

“Work? What do you mean?”

Maki had a perplexed look on her face and blinked repeatedly.

“Since it’s a band of knights, you’d technically be a squire, but you would primarily be working as a treasurer.”

“Treasurer?”

“Since this is all official business, I want to make sure our finances are in order and the capital is flowing properly. But I’m not really good at that kind of thing.”

“Master, if you need someone to manage finances, I— Mhhmph!”

Ruth was about to offer to take the job. She was confident it was something she’d be able to handle. But Koutarou didn’t let her finish her sentence. He forcibly grabbed on to her, pulled her closer, and covered her mouth. Surprised by that sudden action, Ruth froze up. But then she began to internally panic when she realized she was so close to Koutarou.

M-Master, what are you...?!

He was holding her securely, and Ruth could barely struggle against him. She had no choice but to give up her weak resistance altogether. When she did, she began imagining all sorts of things.

“It’s a boring job, and you can refuse if you want... but how about it?”

“I’ll do it!”

Maki answered immediately with a smile and large tears falling from her eyes.

“I see. Then it’s decided.”

“Yes!”

Maki nodded happily as her tears continued to fall. She felt like someone stranded who had just been rescued. Shizuka was probably the only other person in the room who understood what was really going on. Ruth was rather clueless, and subsequently quite confused by Koutarou’s actions and Maki’s tears. But when Koutarou let go of her, he whispered something into her ear.

“I’m sorry for taking your job away, but Aika-san needs a goal to strive for right now...”

“Oh...”

In that moment, tears began pouring out from Ruth’s eyes as well.

Master... you...

It wasn’t the answer that Ruth had expected, but it exceeded her expectations in a different meaning. Koutarou was going to form a band of knights just like Ruth and Theia wanted. And he was going to take responsibility for those who joined. Ruth had wanted to be a part of it for the sake of the title; that was all she’d hoped for. But Koutarou was going to provide much, much more than that. That’s why, even though he’d let her go, Ruth wasn’t able to move for a little while longer.

By the time Yurika had gotten her characters up to a sufficient level, the rest of room 106 was in the middle of discussing something completely unrelated to games.

“How cool, Maki! You’re a magical knight now!”

“I’m really just a treasurer. I’m only a knight in name.”

“Koutarou! I want to join the band of knights too! I’ll be in charge of the chores!”

“Not yet. You can’t become Theia’s ally yet. Keep trying to take over this room for a while.”

“Boo! Why can’t I join under the assumption that I’ll overthrow the current lord?”

“Higashihongan-san, let’s wait for everything to calm down a little more before we join the band of knights.”

“You’re joining too, Harumi? What position do you want?”

“Um... maybe his secretary?”

“All right! You, me, and Maki makes three of us. We’ll form the magical knight trio!”

“You’re not gonna let Yurika join?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Maki, magical girl teams have always consisted of either two, three, or five people.”

“I see... I’m a magician, but I never knew that...”

“Kiriha-san, you could probably join as a strategist.”

“And with your martial arts, you could probably join as a normal knight.”

“Your Highness, it seems like there are a lot of applicants.”

“Very good! That makes me proud!”

“Veltlion, I will be your science advisor, of course. Right?”

Yurika had put down the controller and turned to the group to report on her progress, but she was perplexed by the situation.

Um, have I been forgotten? In more ways than one...

Yurika’s eyes started to moisten. Being abandoned in the game was one thing, but Koutarou and the others leaving her behind in real life was an even bigger problem.

“Oh, Yurika, are you done leveling?”

“How does it look?”

But it seemed like Yurika was worrying over nothing. Koutarou and Theia noticed her right away and moved over to in front of the TV, which puzzled Yurika for a different reason.

Something really is different from before...

With that vague notion lingering in her mind, Yurika looked up at Koutarou and Theia. When Koutarou sat down next to her and leaned in some, she recalled when she had hugged him from behind a while back. On that day, she’d felt like they needed one another. Recalling it, her heart started to beat faster and she suddenly got bashful.

“I-I’ve gotten to the level you asked me to!”

Yurika quickly wiped her tears away with both hands. She didn’t want anyone to see them. And with her hands over her face as she wiped them away, she also hid her red cheeks as well.

“Yes, it seems like you’ve reached level 8. With this, we should be able to proceed.”

“Good job, Yurika. This is where the game really begins.”

“Th-Thanks.”

Fortunately, neither of them seemed to notice, and Yurika nodded firmly as she patted her chest in relief.

In total, there were three dead Yurikas in the game. Theia recalled the location of the first, the original Yurika.

“It’s just past this point.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. It was when I ran out of healing items. Yurika was already out of mana, so I prioritized the other characters. That’s when she died.”

“Theia-chan!”

“That’s why I sent another character with a bunch of healing items here—”

“And replaced the dead Yurika”

“That’s right.”

“Aaaauuuuugh!”

“S-Sorry! But it was thanks to Yurika’s sacrifice that we were able to beat the mid-boss! So rejoice!”

“I can’t rejoice if I’m dead!”

“Okay, okay. I was wrong. But let’s push on ahead, okay?”

“Uuuhh... Something doesn’t sit right with me.”

Theia was guiding Yurika by relying on a map she’d created herself while playing the game. Since the labyrinth was made using a simple wireframe and repeating textures, it all looked the same. If it wasn’t for Theia’s guidance, a search and rescue operation would be difficult.

“It should be around here.”

“Really?!”

The characters Yurika was controlling had reached their destination. She then commanded them to search the area. And at last, a joyous message was displayed on the screen: “Found Yurika’s corpse.”

“There she is!”

Yurika pointed at the TV with an excited smile on her face. She was ecstatic to have finally found her first corpse.

“...Koutarou, this is kind of surreal.”

“...Shh, Yurika will hear you.”

Koutarou and Theia didn’t quite share her reaction, but now that Yurika had safely completed her first goal, morale was high.

“All right. Just two more to go! Where’s the next one?”

“Before that, check Yurika’s inventory. She might have something we can use.”

“I understand... Huh? She doesn’t have anything at all.”

“It seems like the monsters devoured most of her because she was down here so long...”

“Whaaaaat?!”

Yurika imagined how the magician must’ve looked, and her face turned pale. As a result, all the excitement from having found the corpse in the first place was now gone.

“No time for tears! We’re moving on to the next one! I’m curious about Yurika A and Yurika B!”

“Hnnngh, I’m sure they’ve been devoured too...”

Yurika continued playing through her tears, but her suffering had only just begun.

Theia had remembered where the first Yurika had been because she’d died before a major battle, but her memory of Yurika A was vague. Since she’d died during a round of regular dungeon crawling, it was hard to say exactly where it happened.

“Hmm, I think it was around here...?”

Theia tilted her head as she checked her map. Based on what she’d scribbled down, she was certain that Yurika A was close by, but she didn’t know her exact position.

“How did the search spell go?”

“She’s still out of range. We’d have to try it repeatedly around this area.”

“Sounds like it’ll take a lot of time, so brace yourself, Yurika.”

“Augh, okay...”

Normally Yurika would whine more than that, but she was so concerned about Yurikas A and B that she didn’t offer a peep of complaint. That was when a helping hand reached out to Yurika.

“Veltlion, may I say something?”

That hand, surprisingly enough, was Clan’s. She closed the book she was reading and laid down on the wall she was using as a floor, looking down at Koutarou.

“What?”

“While having me analyze the game’s data to pull the correct locations might be going too far, couldn’t you have Sanae use her spirit sight?”

“I see. That’s just one of Sanae’s talents...”

Since Yurika was playing the game, she wanted to do it without using any cheat codes or unfair help. That would include having Clan analyze the game to pinpoint the corpses. However, Sanae’s spiritual powers were just an extraordinary sense she had, similar to sight and hearing. Koutarou felt like that should still be allowed, even if it was toeing the line.

“Sanae, can you do it?”

“I tried it on this game once.”

Sanae pulled out a mystery game that was about a serial killer from the pile of games lying next to the TV and showed it to Koutarou.

“But I couldn’t see the killer, only numbers and old men.”

Sanae and Koutarou had played it together once upon a time. Sanae wanted to know who the killer was, so she’d tried cheating and using her spiritual powers to figure it out. But even with her spirit sight, she wasn’t able to learn anything useful. They’d ended up having to play through to the end to find out.

“What do you mean? It doesn’t work on games?”

“It’s probably something like this...”

A confused Koutarou tried asking Sanae for details, but it was Kiriha that answered him. She began explaining her own theory.

“When humans play games, they absorb information from the television screen. Which means that any spiritual traces are not in the game itself, but in the television. If she gets anything from using her powers on the game itself, it’s probably from the creators of the game.”

“So she could just use her powers on the TV then?”

“That won’t exactly work. The television has been used for far more than just this game, so if she used her powers on it, it would be difficult to narrow it down to information pertaining to that particular game.”

Far more than one game had been played on Koutarou’s TV. It had also been used to watch countless shows. So extracting the residual thoughts and feelings concerning any one particular game, much less finding specific information like where Yurika A and B had died, would be next to impossible.

“So it’s no use, huh? I thought it was a good idea...”

“That still might be the case. There are other things Sanae could use her powers on.”

Koutarou’s shoulders had visibly drooped in disappointment, but Kiriha was still confident.

When Sanae tried using her spirit sight, a broad grin flashed across her lips.

“Ah, this works! It’s probably around here!”

She then confidently pointed to a specific point on the map.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I mostly see complaints about Koutarou, but I can see faint traces of disappointment in Theia where she failed.”

“Well done. Your spirit sight is most useful.”

“But, Theia...”

“Hmm?”

“If you want to kiss him, just do it.”

“Waaaaaaaah! You don’t have to look into anything you don’t need to!”

Sanae had used her powers on Theia’s hand-drawn map. By reading the emotions associated with specific areas on the map while they were being filled out, she could get an idea of what had happened there. She then looked for places where Theia had failed and felt disappointed.

“Yurika, turn at that corner. Then when you reach the end, turn right.”

“Okaaay.”

Following Koutarou’s directions, Yurika headed towards her destination. And before long, her second objective was complete: Yurika A was recovered.

Though she’d managed to find Yurika A’s corpse, Yurika’s face went pale at her accomplishment. That was largely due to where she found the body.

“Th-The last corpse was better off...”

Yurika A had died next to an underground lake. But as time passed, it seemed like the monsters had pulled her into the lake, and they found her body all the way at the very bottom. What was even worse was that as her body decayed, it had generated a cloud of miasma in the area, further decaying the corpse. Many of the girls imagining the scene before them felt relieved that it wasn’t them.

“D-Don’t feel bad, Yurika! Let’s go find the last corpse!”

Not even Theia could say anything, so instead she suggested that they quickly move on.

“Um, Theia-chan, you... you know...”

With tears gushing out of her eyes, Yurika slowly approached Theia like a zombie.

“I-I’m sorry, Yurika, I never expected she would be buried underwater! It was my fault!”

Theia caved to the strange pressure washing over her and earnestly apologized.

“But it’s a game, Yurika! It’s just a game! Calm down!”

“It might be to you, Theia-chan...”

Yurika continued approaching, but the oddly intimidating aura she was emitting seemed to run out of steam. Before her outstretched hand reached Theia, it stopped short. But that did nothing to abate the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“L-Let’s move on! Sanae, could you find the last spot?!”

Having narrowly escaped death, Theia picked up the controller herself to get them away from the lake as quickly as possible. She then headed in the direction of the last location she could vaguely recall.

“Hmm, about that... Something is strange...”

That was when Sanae, who was in charge of navigation, cocked her head to the side in a befuddled manner.

“S-Strange? What do you mean?”

Since Theia was anxious to resolve all of this as soon as possible, Sanae’s words troubled her.

“Well, I can’t really tell where Yurika died. Theia, is this really the right place?”

“What floor does it say on the map?”

“Floor 8.”

“Are there a bunch of marks for bombs drawn on it?”

“There are. Almost the entire floor is covered with bomb marks.”

“Then there’s no doubt about it. This is the place.”

As Theia recalled, Yurika B had died somewhere on the eighth floor. But it didn’t seem like that to Sanae.

“But it’s strange... Yurika’s presence is kind of spread throughout the entire area like a mist.”

“Kiriha, what could that mean?”

“Let’s see... It could mean that you weren’t focused too much on Yurika or the characters as you were exploring this floor. That might be why their presence isn’t focused single location on the map, but it is rather spread throughout. What were you doing on this floor?”

“Well, I think... Ack!”

The blood drained from Theia’s face. She had an idea as to why she hadn’t been so focused on the characters when she was drawing the map for this floor.

“Wh-Who knows? I don’t really remember... I must have been busy back then.”

Bur rather than revealing that reason, she attempted to hide it. She had to cover up the evil she had committed in the past in order to protect herself. But there was one person in the room who didn’t care anything about that...

“I know. When Yurika B died, Theia was half-assedly exploring while humming. I think she was using Yurika B alone, and then she walked into a bomb and went kaboom.”

“H-Hey!”

“D-Does that mean...”

Even someone as unfamiliar with games like Yurika could figure out why Theia had sent down Yurika B alone into a minefield.

“D-Did you throw me... Did you throw Yurika B out there to use her as a living mine detector?!”

“N-No! That’s not true!”

Theia hurriedly denied the accusation, but Yurika pressed the matter.

“Then why?! Why did you have me walk out all alone in a dangerous place like this?!”

“Th-That’s...”

Theia couldn’t answer her. The truth was just as Yurika had surmised.

As Theia was exploring the eighth floor, she ran into the problem of the minefield. In order to get past it, she created a large amount of dummy characters to send through the area. Yurika B was one of those characters. They were killed, revived, and sent back into the minefield several times over. As a result, she was able to locate all the bombs, clear the area, and complete her map.

That was why her memories of the area were so dispersed. Because each character had died so many times and their deaths were relatively expected, none of it made a profound impression on Theia. All she really remembered was the experience of the floor itself, which was why Yurika B’s location felt like a mist to Sanae.

“That’s...”

“Theia-chan!”

This day marked the first time Yurika beat Theia in a fight. But even though Yurika was the supposed winner, she looked as though she’d suffered a disastrous defeat and was crying bitterly.

Theia was rubbing her head as she explored the underground labyrinth. She actually had quite a large bump on it now. She’d been quite mercilessly attacked, but she knew good and well that she deserved it. As penance, Theia even volunteered to continue the search herself.

“Really, Theia-chan... You don’t think of how others feel at all.”

“The past me was a fool. Forgive me.”

“Jeez... Just this one time, okay?”

“Y-Yes. Sorry.”

Yurika was still angry. But it was nearly a year ago that Theia had been playing the game originally. Comparing them, Theia then and Theia now were like two different people. Taking that into consideration, Yurika was able to forgive her, albeit just barely. She ultimately knew that no good would come from continuing to hold Theia’s past offenses against her.

“That aside, how does it look?”

Waiting for an opening, Koutarou extended a friendly hand to Theia. She answered him, feeling a sense of relief.

“Not good. The search area is too large. I have to go in and do what I can, then fall back and repeat.”

“Yeah, that’s no good, is it?”

Unable to rely on Sanae’s help any more, they had no choice but to search the entire floor. It would take time to find what they were looking for.

“Say, Satomi-kun...”

“Yes, Senpai?”

“I was wondering about something.”

That was when Harumi joined in on the conversation. She wasn’t very good at games, so she’d stayed quiet for a while. But sensing that they had reached a dead end, she decided to speak up. Now that they were stuck, maybe even her input would be useful.

“The map of this area is complete, right?”

“Yeah. Right, Theia?”

“Indeed, it’s completed... but what about it?”

Koutarou and Theia were immediately interested. Like Harumi had expected, they were desperate.

“Well, if you threw Nijino-san and the others into the minefield until—”

“Aaauuugh...”

“—the map was completed, then she should have been alive until then, right?”

“That’s right. I revived and used her several times.”

“Aaauuugh...”

“Then shouldn’t she be in the area of the map you finished last? You stopped reviving her because the map was complete, right?”

“Aaauuugh...”

“Ah, of course! Theia!”

“Yes, I’m headed there right now.”

Theia had been centering her search around the path leading through the floor from the seventh to the ninth level, but she’d actually found the stairs to the ninth level just halfway through the floor. From there, she went through the rest of the floor for the sake of completion. Theia realized exactly where she was going with this, and went immediately for the end of the area. She was sure she was onto something.

“How clever! That’s Harumi for you, the perfect woman!”

“You’re exaggerating...”

Harumi started blushing as Sanae complimented her. She was embarrassed by the exaggerated praise, but she was happy that she could be of use to Koutarou and the others.

“Koutarou, the search spell reacted to something! Looks like Harumi was spot on! Yurika B is just up ahead!”

“All right!”

“Finally, the last one... though she’s been blown up...”

Koutarou rejoiced at Theia’s report while Yurika started tearing up. It was just a game, but she was deeply attached to the characters named after her. She thought about everything she’d been through to reach this point as they approached her body. She couldn’t help being emotional. They were just a few steps away from completing their quest. But then the screen suddenly changed—they had encountered a monster that dwelled on the eighth floor.

“Hurry up and kill it.”

“I know. It’s probably just a weakling any— Wait, what?”

To her surprise, it was a monster that Theia had never seen before. It looked similar to a zombie, but it was bigger and stronger. The battle music playing was even different from the norm. In fact, it was the same song as the one that had played during her battle with the final boss.

“Koutarou! C-Could this be...?!”

“Whoa, there it is! The rare monster! To think it’d appear now...”

This was the rare spawn that Theia had longed to fight. The monster had been designed after a person that the creator hated during his time in school, and defeating it gave the player a medal to commemorate their achievement. Whether or not you had that medal was one of the hottest topics among kids in the days the game was popular. And the appearance of this monster meant only one thing.

“Sorry, Yurika! It seems I have terrible luck!”

“Wh-What are you saying all of a sudden...?”

“Yurika, calm down and listen carefully. You can’t escape from this monster.”

“Then let’s hurry up and beat it, Satomi-san.”

“But this monster is strong. Very much so. In fact, it’s stronger than the last boss.”

“...Which means?”

“This is where Yurika C dies”

“Nooooooooooo!”

And so their adventure reached its end with yet another of Yurika’s corpses abandoned in the underground labyrinth.