Even then, Jougasaki still believed that Kiraboshi was joking.
That she was testing me.
That she, consumed by the madness of the Dungeon, couldn’t fully trust her friends and was testing me by pretending to be violent and showing murderous intent.
Such a shallow assumption was shattered in one blow by a fist slammed into her face.
“――!!”
A blow that shook her brain, a punch that crushed her face.
The storm of explosions had left her with almost no sense of pain, but even so, her brain reeled, and her body and heart trembled from the impact, as if the bones in her nose had been shattered.
Unable to even scream, Jougasaki’s head was shaken from side to side, blurring her vision.
――All damage within the Dungeon is converted into Magical Power.
But the pain resonates through the body and into the heart.
Normally, she would have run out of Magical Power and died long ago, but Jougasaki was somehow being kept alive by her medicine.
But that was not salvation.
It meant that she could inflict an infinite storm of violence until the effects of the medicine wore off.
“Hh… hh…!”
Unable to even scream, Jougasaki was relentlessly toyed with, and she desperately raised her hand.
Wait.
Please.
Even if it’s a test, this is too much――!
“P-Please wait, Kiraboshi-san… this is beyond a joke…!”
“You can still call it a joke, so you’re quite something yourself… I admit it. You are strong.”
“…”
“You’re an even crazier woman than I thought. But I can’t afford to lose either.”
“Losing or winning, it’s not about that…”
“And? I’m not just good at hitting, you know? I’m always fantasizing… in the bath. In bed. About what I should do to you and the Kamase Sisters. Then I can’t stop, it’s so much fun…!”
Kiraboshi, having pulled back her fist, grinned, raising her lips into a crescent shape.
Could there be more?
But Jougasaki’s sense of pain was already numb, so even if she was hit more, she wouldn’t…
Suddenly, her forehead was grabbed, and the back of her head was slammed.
Immediately after opening her eyes wide in pain and surprise, what filled her vision was――her left hand.
Kiraboshi’s fingertips touched Jougasaki’s eyelids.
As they were forcibly pulled up, and Jougasaki’s eyeballs were forced open, what she saw was…
Right before her eyes.
She neatly aligned the index and middle fingers of her right hand, and slowly, slowly, filled her vision――inside her eyeball――
“H-Hii… w-wait…!”
Unbelievable. Such an act was not permitted to humans.
It defied not only the path of humanity but even the path of beasts.
Yet, without any anguish or hesitation, she slowly brought her fingertips together like the beak of a bird.
Slowly, slowly, slowly…
Without deviating from her aim, as if in slow motion, she pecked at Jougasaki’s left eyeball like a bird’s beak――no, wait, stop, please, this is a joke, no, no――
Puchu
“――――!!!”
Along with the sound of something being crushed, the vision in her left eye disappeared.
At the same time, it felt as if her nerves were being directly dug out.
An abominable sensation as if the inside that people should never touch was being forcibly scraped away, causing Jougasaki to scream incoherently and thrash her legs.
Even so, she didn’t stop. She wouldn’t stop.
As if happily destroying a newly acquired toy, she was so happy, so happy――
“Today, I’ve been invited to a friend’s house, so let’s have a friendly Home Economics Lesson.”
“H-Hii… a-ahh…”
“First, to tenderize the meat, we thoroughly beat the heated body.”
Again, intense pain. Jougasaki’s face shook from side to side.
“Next, to loosen the soft parts, we firmly insert our fingers and stir it like a raw egg.”
“――! ――!!!”
“The trick at this time is not to crush both, but to leave only one. If you do both, you won’t be able to see what I’m going to do next. Then, the effect of the spice called terror is halved. You mustn’t add too much salt and pepper.”
But it’s okay.
Even if I fail, I can redo it with a recovery Potion. I won’t use it now, though.
She smiled like a real teacher, saying, “We’ve learned a lot,” and looked down to see where to cook next…
A cracking sound was heard, and her whole body trembled.
It wasn’t a real sound.
It was the wall of Jougasaki’s heart that she had continued to protect so strongly that had cracked.
――I believed in my friends.
My poor friend, who had been swallowed up by the madness of the Dungeon.
To correct her, Jougasaki believed in her mother’s teachings and tried to save her by offering herself…
But that was wrong.
Wasn’t the being I was dealing with now a genuine――incomprehensible Monstrosity that had even fallen outside the category of recognition as a friend or a human――?
Such a suspicion arose and eventually turned into conviction.
If she was just being beaten, I could understand it as a tantrum from a human being.
As a page of youth, there might be times when you fight with your friends and slap each other’s cheeks.
But.
A woman who smiles while hitting people, starts talking about Home Economics Lesson in a humming tone while stirring people’s bodies, and appraises the next place to hit, has already――exceeded the realm of humans.
It was beyond my comprehensible range.
…It couldn’t get any worse than this.
She would show mercy soon.
She was hiding her desire to be friends with me――such fanaticism was shattered by even greater fanaticism.
No good. I’ll exceed my limits. I’ll be exceeded.
Even if I endure it, I’ll be broken.
If I’m not careful, I’ll really be killed…
That’s the limit.
I really can’t take it anymore.
If that continued, Jougasaki Kawai would――no longer――this person――no more――!
“W-Wait… hic… I, I surrender…”
“Hmm?”
“P-Please, Kiraboshi-san… any more than this, and I’m really… i-im, impossible…!”
Jougasaki pleaded, tears streaming down her remaining eye, as if begging for forgiveness.
Please forgive me. I understand. I understand now.
Your madness has been sufficiently conveyed to me――
“If I get hit any more… I… I won’t be able to believe in you…!”
“I see. So, you’re giving up on your friendship with me?”
“T-That’s…”
“Hmm?”
“…………”
Even so, the next words didn’t follow.
I’ll stop my friend, I’ll stop now.
I can’t go out with you. Those words just wouldn’t come out.
Once she said it, Jougasaki would be abandoning her faith, her instincts.
Because it would lead to abandoning her “origin.”
Not reason, but instinct refused.
Even if I die here――
“…That’s your answer, Jougasaki-san.”
“…………”
“I think it’s a commendable attitude. I hate you, but still. Even if it’s twisted, I don’t dislike the way you stubbornly try to stick to your beliefs.”
“T-Then…”
“So I’ll――play my trump card, too.”
Kiraboshi developed her Inventory, even showing a hint of joy.
Reaching into the black vortex, she slowly, as if to incite terror, took out――
Bruoooooooon――!
For some reason. The sound of a rotating blade that I had heard somewhere before.
A blade for cutting wood that you would never hear in the Dungeon… no, not even in reality, was taken out by her with glee as she rotated it and slowly raised it in front of Jougasaki.
Why?
For some reason, Jougasaki had seen that blade before,
“I didn’t want to use it except when killing because it leaves complete evidence behind… But if you’re serious, I have no choice but to get serious too. This is the final test of endurance.”
“…………Huh?”
“If you die, I’ll be questioned by the wealthy Jougasaki family and the Labyrinth Agency, and I’ll be cornered.
Even if you just survive, the Magical Power marks left on your body will reveal that I was violent, and I’ll be cornered.
I’m in a disadvantageous situation right now.
…So, from now on, I’m going to thoroughly trample on you.”
“――――”
“This is a battle to capture the opponent’s heart.
I’ll break your heart and instill in your instincts that you must never go against me again.
Even if you survive, my crime won’t be revealed unless you sue me.
Conversely, if your heart isn’t broken… I understand that it’s the worst possible move, leaving clear evidence behind.
Well…
If you sue me for my crime, my friendship with you will never return, right?”
I’m going to do terrible things to you from now on.
If you really believe in your friends, you’ll remain silent no matter what is carved into me――
In front of Jougasaki, whose heart was completely bound by taking friendship and terror in reverse, Kiraboshi distorted like a clown and laughed.
“That’s right. Just one last thing, is that okay? This weapon, it’s the first time I’m using it on a girl. I never imagined you’d be the first… but if you don’t mind, could you give me your feedback? It’ll be helpful for when I use it next.”
“N-Next?”
“Now, let’s get to the finishing touches of the lesson. We’ll tenderize the meat by pounding it, then chop it up nicely and divide it into delicious portions.”
Kiraboshi stood up unsteadily, and at the moment she took a stance, making the blade ring with a “whoosh” sound…
–I’m going to be killed.
Shirogasaki felt a true sense of danger for the first time in her life–and she remembered that day.
The forgotten memory of entering the dungeon behind the school with the Kamase Sisters and encountering a monstrosity.