Amidst the rain of explosions, where even pain became indistinct, Jougasaki Kawai vaguely wondered:
Why… did it come to this?
To Jougasaki Kawai, Kiraboshi Yoshiko was a figure worthy of being called the ideal friend.
Always diligently serving as the Class Representative, excelling in academics, never violating school rules, and striving to unite everyone.
Some might have found her nagging and boring, but to Jougasaki, she was the epitome of a model student, a girl worthy of being a friend.
Truthfully… even as friends, there were times when she felt a distance from the Kamase Sisters.
Their words sometimes carried subtle barbs.
But Kiraboshi-san earnestly supported her, who was unfamiliar with the lives of commoners, and when she asked for help with class assignments, she joined the same group without a hint of displeasure…
She truly was the ideal friend.
And yet, this kind-hearted girl—
Why…?
Why is she binding me and using me as bait for monsters?
I can’t understand.
I simply can’t understand.
Friends are supposed to cherish each other, share hardships, and overcome difficulties together—
Not just a target. Using someone as a shield against monster attacks should never be allowed.
“Ugh…”
The rain of explosions stopped.
Not even knowing why she was alive, Jougasaki, her sense of pain fading, raised her head.
A giant, star-shaped Monster floated in the Dungeon.
Facing the Boss, a metallic figure shrouded in gray, Kiraboshi—even to an untrained eye, was overwhelming it.
“Hiss…!”
With a barbaric weapon gleaming metallically on her fist, she dodged the smaller stars guarding the Boss and unleashed a powerful upward swing.
There wasn’t a spot on the Boss’s armor that wasn’t cracked; it looked like a castle on the verge of collapse.
—The sound of something being launched.
Kiraboshi pulled back, taking refuge behind Jougasaki, who was bound to the shield.
Immediately after, an explosion and intense pain—after sacrificing Jougasaki’s body, Kiraboshi swiftly transitioned to an attack.
Minimizing the interval spent on bomb disposal, Kiraboshi launched a full-on assault on the Boss.
Like a raging typhoon.
There was nothing left of the earnest, kind Class Representative; she was like a ferocious beast.
Her dark, gleaming eyes shone with murderous intent.
As if embodying the idea that violence was the true nature of humanity, she struck, struck, and relentlessly struck—
“Oooooh—” The air vibrated.
Before Jougasaki’s distorted vision, a purplish gas erupted from the Boss.
The Boss’s armor peeled off like collapsing bricks, losing its buoyancy and crashing to the ground.
Enveloped in dust, the Boss’s form glitched and disappeared… with a clink, a Magic Stone rolled away.
“…………”
Kiraboshi, still cautiously on guard before the Boss—was unharmed.
Covered in the dust that had been kicked up, and sweating from the battle, but her school uniform, which she had worn straight from school, was without a single scratch.
The way she took a breath and slowly relaxed her stance, as if it were an everyday occurrence, had a certain charm reminiscent of a seasoned martial artist.
—It shouldn’t be, but—
Jougasaki was momentarily captivated by her back.
But the moment she retrieved the Magic Stone and turned towards her…
She realized that her feelings had been a foolish misunderstanding.
Kiraboshi, a crescent-like smile on her face, her eyes still shining with murderous intent… had not yet lowered her guard.
If the Boss was gone, the Dungeon raid was over.
She should have put away her barbaric weapon, but for some reason, she slowly approached Jougasaki, as if closing in on a new Monster…
And kicked the shield away.
The shield, which had been leaning at an angle, collapsed, and Jougasaki rolled onto the ground. Her friend, a faint twist of her lips, approached.
The reason, of course, was to save Jougasaki, who had been used as bait… right…?
“Ugh… K-Kiraboshi-san… if you defeated the Boss… th-then… hebu!?”
The reply was the sole of a shoe crushing her face.
Her dignity was trampled as it ground into her face, and Jougasaki struggled, thinking, “Wait, this is wrong.”
Using Jougasaki as bait was an unforgivable act, but it wasn’t incomprehensible.
There might have been a tactical reason to draw the Boss’s attacks.
But this…
Her current actions had nothing to do with combat; she was simply, pointlessly, resorting to violence—!
“K-Kiraboshi-san, why…?”
“Why? This is where the Dungeon gets serious, you know?”
“…Huh? Huh?”
“The opening act is over. So now, I just have to face the real Boss I need to defeat. …So, Jougasaki-san, let’s continue our earlier conversation. About our friendship.”
“W-What are you saying!? You just defeated the Boss, and besides, this isn’t how you treat a friend—gafu!”
She slammed her shoe into her abdomen with all her might.
As she writhed in agony, she felt a heavy weight on her body, and she almost threw up as she looked up.
Kiraboshi was sitting on her stomach, adjusting the iron weapon attached to her fingertips, breathing roughly like a beast.
Like a rutting male taking a mount position over a female, about to pounce—
“H-Hii…”
Even the airheaded Jougasaki understood instinctively.
That this was not how you treat a friend…!
“…Jougasaki-san. You still haven’t answered my question, have you? Are you my ‘enemy,’ or just an unrelated stranger?”
“B-But, that’s—”
She was punched instead of being allowed to reply.
Ignoring the frog-like scream that escaped her lips, Kiraboshi grabbed her by the collar and forcibly pulled her up.
“You know, there’s something I always think when I look at you. Jougasaki-san, you don’t have a sense of reality, or a sense of danger, do you?”
“…”
“Maybe it’s because you’re rich, well, I didn’t have a sense of danger before entering the Dungeon either, but—you know what? If you let your guard down in a Dungeon, you can really die. Just like that.”
“I’ve seen a lot of people like that…” Kiraboshi said, and Jougasaki’s throat tightened.
It wasn’t because she was afraid of the violence.
It wasn’t because she was trembling at her threatening words.
It was because the face she saw up close was so… so joyful.
Not the reserved smile she wore at school.
Not the happy smile she wore when spending time with family and friends.
Just the joy of trampling on others, a bully—no, even beyond that, the joy of a dominator.
Jougasaki’s hidden instincts trembled at the sight of her, who felt an overwhelming pleasure in manipulating others at will and standing above them, a joy that was twisted as a human being.
—This human being is not the human being that Jougasaki knows.
A different species, completely different…
—No, that’s not it.
She’s not that kind of person.
The real Kiraboshi Yoshiko is kinder, more righteous, more sincere, more earnest, and treats everyone equally, the ideal friend—
“So, I want you to have a sense of danger first. If you let your guard down, you can really die, you know?”
“…”
“With that in mind, please answer me one more time. Are you going to stop being my friend? Or are you my enemy? If you’re my enemy—”
I have to kill you here.
Because it’s right to exterminate the Monsters lurking in the Dungeon.
Kiraboshi put her hand on Jougasaki’s neck, cutting off her breath.
Even in a Dungeon where all damage is converted into Magical Power, Jougasaki struggled, trembled, and shed tears at the terror of suffocation—
Even so.
Even so—she is my friend, Jougasaki deeply wished.
If she has been consumed by the fanaticism of the Dungeon.
Correcting that mistake and returning her to a normal human being is Jougasaki Kawai’s pride—and the fanaticism she should believe in.
There is only one answer.
“…I am. Even so, I’m Kiraboshi-san’s friend. I’ll be the only friend who saves your heart…!”
“…………”
“So please, don’t try to threaten your friends. That’s something that shouldn’t happen in reality…!”
Friends should get along.
Friends shouldn’t hurt each other.
That’s why her actions are wrong, and Jougasaki must stop that madness, even at the cost of her own life—!
“Then let me ask you. About the time I was almost killed by those friends, Kamase Aneki and Kamase Imoutoya. Did you stop them?”
“…Eh?”
Kiraboshi loosened her grip, and Jougasaki coughed.
The earlier elation was replaced by a gaze from emotionless eyes, looking down on her as if she were an insect, coldly…
“You stopped the attempted murder of your friend, which you kept insisting was a joke, a misunderstanding?”
“…That…”
“You didn’t actually have to save me. You weren’t there. But afterwards, did you ever take my side in this? Did you ask Aneki or Imoutoya to reflect on their actions? You dismissed everything as some kind of mistake, a misunderstanding, didn’t you? You pushed it all onto me? And if it was a misunderstanding, then what’s happening right in front of us now?”
Kiraboshi’s fist rose slowly.
In that instant, Jougasaki felt a chill she had never experienced before, and tears welled up from the bottom of her heart.
Why?
She didn’t understand.
It was the exact same situation, with her about to be struck, but something was different.
An invisible Magical Power, a spirit. A coldness.
Something different from all of those, something that, as a living being, she should instinctively fear the most.
–Murderous intent.
A sense of danger towards it.
“So, you see? If you really want to be friends with me… I want you to almost die once, just like I did, and then tell me. If you can still say you want to be friends with me then, I’ll let you win.”
“…!”
“But be prepared. I’m going to get serious from here on out, so I can’t take responsibility if you accidentally die. …But that’s fine, right? The Kamase Sisters felt like it would be okay if they accidentally killed me, too.”
How nice, you get to have the same experience as your close friends.
As Kiraboshi slowly raised her fist, Jougasaki held her breath.
“Now, let’s fight, Jougasaki Kawai. Let’s see if your twisted beliefs win, or if my warped violence does. Show me with that body of yours.”
With a thud.
A dull sound, like bones breaking, echoed through the collapsing Dungeon.