Chapter 70: Exploring Shinjuku Dungeon With Everyone
It was a Sunday in early May.
The three of us—me, Otama-chan, and Manamin—were inside JR Shinjuku Station.
“Ah, Ko-chan. Isn’t it that way?”
“Eh? But the sign says Luminous Shinjuku is this way.”
“There’s another one that says it’s that way, you know?”
“Huh? Luminous is in two different places?”
“Manamin, do you know?”
“Summer vacation’s about to staaart~♪ Fun things are waiting for you, Pre-te-ar~♫”
“Hey, Manamin!! Take off your earphones!! Help us figure out which way to go!!”
“You, Tamama, right when it was getting good…! Look, I suck with crowds. I’m trying to escape reality here, so you guys figure it out.”
“Honestly, Manamin…!”
“Ah, it’s okay. I found the directions to Shinjuku Dungeon. We just need to head towards ‘Luminous 2’.”
“Ko-chin, you’re a lifesaver. Geez, thanks to Tamama, my Pretear medley got cut off.”
“That’s because you weren’t taking it seriously, Manamin!”
“…Morning glories bloomed~♪ Smiles bloomed too~♪”
“Ah, she’s already back in her Pretear world! And hey, I thought you were just tugging on my clothes, but you’ve even got your eyes closed! You have zero intention of walking on your own, do you!?”
All around us, people using the station were walking to and fro.
“…Shinjuku Station is a true labyrinth.”
It was so vast, I couldn’t tell what was where.
I did work in Tokyo for a time, but it was mostly in a place you could practically call Saitama, and most of the companies I dealt with were around Ueno.
I wasn’t very familiar with the west side of the Yamanote Line.
“Found it. That’s probably the exit.”
“Ah! There’s Shi-chan! Shi-chaaan!”
“W-Woah…!”
Otama-chan spotted Shi-chan waiting at the station exit closest to the dungeon and rushed over to her.
Manamin was left stranded.
“My lifeline…”
“We’ll be at the dungeon soon, so you’ll be fine. Look.”
“I’m at my limit… Hate crowds…”
“Maybe we should have come by car after all…”
There was hardly any parking around Shinjuku Dungeon.
We’d decided it would be impossible to park and came by train, but it seemed to have been a burden on Manamin.
Incidentally, near Shinjuku Dungeon, there’s a ward Explorer Association and a shipping company reception, and apparently, it’s common practice to either sell your drop items there or have them delivered home.
Being able to return from the dungeon empty-handed—cities sure are convenient.
Well, more importantly right now was Manamin.
“Manamin, just hang in there a little longer. Shi-chan’s here too.”
“…Okay…”
Manamin grabbed the hem of my shirt and pressed her body close to mine.
A sweet scent of shampoo wafted from her.
“H-Hey…”
“Please… help me…”
“Honestly…”
She’s so talkative in front of us or in the dungeon, but completely useless otherwise.
Maybe Manamin really does need someone to look after her…
“…No, this is bad.”
I’m getting sucked into Manamin’s way of thinking.
“Ko-chin, hurry, into the dungeon…”
“…Yeah, yeah.”
Well, I guess it can’t be helped for now.
With Manamin clinging to me, I headed towards the Shinjuku Station exit.
☆★☆
“Everyone, thanks for coming all the way out to Tokyo today!”
Shi-chan waved and greeted us.
“Once we go out here, Shinjuku Dungeon is right there. Oh… Manamin, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, you know…”
“H-Hey…”
Manamin pulled on my clothes, pressing herself even closer.
“M-Manamin! Why are you sticking so close to Ko-chan!? You can’t do that!”
“Keke… Ko-chan says it’s fine.”
“Hey, don’t say things that’ll cause misunderstandings… You said you were scared of crowds, so that’s why we’re like this, right? I figured it couldn’t be helped if you’re not good with them.”
“Eh, eh? Is that true?”
“Well, Tamama ditched me and ran off to Shi-chan, you know. I need Ko-chin to support me or…”
“Aargh, fine, I get it! I’ll hold your hand on the way back! That’s good enough, right!?”
“Then, until we get to Shinjuku Dungeon, I’ll stay like this with Ko-chin…”
“No! You’re bothering him!”
Otama-chan approached Manamin from my opposite side and took Manamin’s hand.
“There, this should be fine, right!”
“Keke, guarded on both sides now… I’m safe.”
Manamin then looped her arm through mine.
“H-Hey…!”
“Ah, Manamin, I said no!!”
“If you’re going to abandon me, Ko-chin, then shake my arm off.”
“It’s not like I’m abandoning you, but this is…”
As this was happening…
“Eei!”
My right hand was suddenly grasped tightly by someone.
“Sh-Shi-chan?”
“It’s not fair that everyone else is having fun, you know? I want to join in too.”
“It’s not like we’re leaving you out…”
“Is that so?”
Warmth spread from Shi-chan’s small hand.
I couldn’t speak.
My heart was pounding.
“Sh-Shi-chan, you can’t either! B-Because, look…! We’ll be in the way if we spread out too much!”
“Natsume-kun, do you think so too?”
“Eh…”
Shi-chan smiled sweetly, looking up at me as she asked.
No good, I have zero resistance to this, my brain’s not working.
“Ah, yeah… Let’s not…”
That was all I could manage to say.
“…Okay, I understand.”
Shi-chan quickly let go of my hand and walked ahead of us.
The feeling of her grip lingered, and my palm tingled slightly.
“Look, everyone. Over there.”
Following Shi-chan’s finger, we saw a small building with a large monitor mounted on its wall.
The monitor displayed things like ‘Mana Density Inside the Dungeon’ and ‘Current Magic Stone Prices.’
The building itself was made of bare concrete.
“That’s the entrance to Shinjuku Dungeon, said to be one of the deepest in the country.”
☆★☆
About ten people were already waiting to enter Shinjuku Dungeon.
One by one, they touched their Explorer licenses to a device and went inside.
“Alright, I’ll go in first.”
I know my childhood friends are strong Explorers, but when going into a dangerous place, I should still be the first one in.
“Natsume-kun, I’m counting on you. Wait for us at the bottom of the stairs, okay?”
“Now that we’re here, I’m fine too.”
“Honestly, Manamin…”
“Okay, I’m heading in.”
I touched my card to the reader and entered the building.
Inside, there were two escalators, one going up and one going down.
“So this is the Dungeon Gate, huh…”
Just as expected of Tokyo, it’s very modern.
I rode the escalator down to the basement.
The first basement floor was an inorganic space, like a station passageway.
I couldn’t tell if it was Exit 1 or 8, but I felt an urge to look for an exit anyway.
“It’s pretty intricate in here…”
If I just wandered around, I’d probably get lost in no time.
For now, I’ll wait for everyone.
A little while later.
“Ko-chaaan!”
Otama-chan came down the escalator.
“Wow… It looks just like a real station.”
“Yeah. Dungeons sure are something.”
As I said that and looked around again…
Squeeze.
“Heh…?”
I felt a sensation of my left hand being gripped.
Looking to my left, Otama-chan was holding my hand, her face bright red.
“O-Otama-chan…?”
“W-Well, it’s not fair that only Shi-chan… and Manamin too…”
“Not fair, you say…”
It’s no use after all.
My heart’s pounding, and I can’t think straight.
And then, I become conscious of every single one of them…
…I feel a little guilty.
I really need to face my own feelings.
After a short while, Otama-chan let go of my hand.
“…Let’s have fun exploring today too, okay?”
“Ah, yeah…”
While all this was going on…
“Keke, nothing can scare the great Moonbow Hermit-sama!”
“Everyone, sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s be careful, okay?”
The four members of Team Secret Base had assembled.
“Kuh, no stream today, huh…? Such a waste of a monetization chance…”
“You can just exchange magic stones for cash normally, can’t you? Besides, today’s goal is…”
“Dungeon Hote on the 20th floor, right? We get electronic money to shop on that floor based on how much damage we deal to the Floor Boss, Danpen, so…”
“So we just need to blast him with maximum firepower, right?”
Now that we’d confirmed our objective,
“Alright, let’s go, Team Secret Base! Today, we’re shopping at Dungeon Hote!”
“Oooh!”
And so, we proceeded deeper into the dungeon.