Rakuna successfully cleared the dungeon, and was receiving 『Blessing』-like congratulations from viewers, but…
“Hey—what’s your name?”
“N-Narakino Rakuna… is what I’m called…”
Watching from behind, the intermediate-ranked explorer Shiiba Chigiri edged closer to Rakuna, her breathing rough with excitement.
Rakuna swallowed hard at the sight, then slowly hoisted the backpack that had been lying on the ground onto her shoulders.
“So you’re not from the Kamijiki family, huh. But that’s obviously Kamijiki-style martial arts, right? Hey, where did you learn it? Did someone teach you? Or are you maybe Lord Kamijiki Genbu’s secret child? Maybe?”
“Huh…? K-Kamijiki…? Lord Genbu…? Um… I’m sorry, I don’t really understand…”
Chigiri kept firing off questions at high speed, as if she were rattling them off in a single breath.
Narakino Rakuna—who showed up out of nowhere in free-to-play gear, and used martial arts that looked just like the kind performed by a hero she admired.
Chigiri, intensely curious about a girl with far too many mysteries, kept closing the distance.
Rakuna, meanwhile, let out a long breath—“Suuuu…”—and slowly, cautiously stepped backward.
When Chigiri sped up, Rakuna countered with rapid backpedaling of her own, maintaining a fixed distance the whole time.
〝What are these two even doing? lol〟
〝Abyss-chan’s high-speed backpedal is low-key amazing, I’m dyingｗ〟
〝I can feel the ironclad willpower of “I will NOT let you get close”ｗ〟
〝The contrast between Shiiba-san sparkling-eyed and Abyss-chan desperately serious is way too funnyｗ〟
〝What exactly are we being made to watch?〟
〝Ah, Abyss-chan turned into an AI bot again…〟
〝Also, Kamijiki Genbu is like an 80+ year-old grandpa, right!? No way he has a secret kid in their teensｗｗ〟
The comment section, too, was flooded with confusion and nonstop quips at the bizarre game of tag.
Then, suddenly, Chigiri collapsed with a thud.
Her brain had been running hot, but it seemed her body had finally realized her leg was injured.
“Uwah!? A-A-A-Are you okay!?”
Rakuna hurriedly set her backpack down, then inched closer while holding it up like a shield.
Chigiri, still keeping her face lowered, gave a soft chuckle—“Heh.”—and spoke.
“I’m sorry, Narakino-san. You reminded me of someone I admired, and I got way too excited. I might’ve been a little out of it.”
It hadn’t been “a little,” but the pain from her injury seemed to have finally brought her back to her senses.
Looking calmer, she rose slowly and rummaged through her jacket pocket.
She pulled out a palm-sized cube and gently tossed it at Rakuna’s feet.
When she held out her hand and murmured, “Thaw,” the cube rapidly expanded, transforming into a black coat.
“Looks like your clothes melted a bit from the dissolving fluid. That’s an exploration coat. If you want, you can use it.”
“…Th-thank you.”
Seeing Chigiri settle down, Rakuna finally let out a breath of relief.
And then—
“Heyyy, heyyy~”
A bright, cheerful voice rang through the room.
Entering the boss chamber through the iron door was Himezawa Yuko, the blonde gyaru police Officer.
Waving her hand, she approached the two with a beaming smile.
“Narakino-chaaaan, long time no see—since yesterday! Today’s stream was insane too. And on your second stream you’ve got this many viewers? That’s way too crazy!”
Himezawa held up the screen of her heavily decorated smartphone.
It was the live broadcast of 【Narakino Stream (Temp)】.
Rakuna was on-screen, hiding behind her backpack.
Seeing that, Chigiri leaned in and froze with her eyes wide open.
“T-Ten—one hundred thousand concurrent vieweeeeers!?”
“Eeeeeeh!?”
At the same time, Rakuna peeked out and made the exact same reaction.
“Hey—why are you surprised too!?”
“Ah, no… I’ve been trying not to pay attention to it…”
Rakuna’s concurrent viewer count kept climbing—she was going viral again.
An accident involving an invasive-species dungeon, on top of special-grade monster proliferation.
Then Rakuna’s declaration that she was getting “serious,” followed by her one-punching Tera Slime with martial arts extremely similar to Kamijiki-style.
Trending words multiplied—“one-punch,” “clone,” “Genbu,” and many more related to Rakuna.
There was no end to the list of contributing factors.
However, there was another major factor besides those.
The two of them still hadn’t noticed it.
“Also, Narakino-chan—you were amazing when you saw the comment saying, ‘The boss room is in trouble and the explorers are in danger.’ You suddenly started running, totally single-minded, straight for the boss room. Even though you’d been exploring all timid up until then.”
“…Y-yes…”
“No, seriously—Narakino-chan, you were super cool!”
“…Eh. …Ah, yes… …Heh-heh-heh…”
“But you hit a dead end and smashed a wall again, right? What if you 『Connection』 like yesterday? The old man’s gonna chew you out again, y’know? Heeheehee!”
“…Y-yes… I’m sorry…”
Listening to their exchange, Chigiri was stunned.
Because she had thought Rakuna was just a free-to-play girl who had wandered into the boss room by accident.
“…Narakino-san… did you come to help me…?”
Hearing the murmur, Himezawa turned to face Chigiri.
“Yo yo, Chigirin, good work too. How was your trip to Hakone Town? Nice place, right?”
“Ah, yes. It was great in a lot of ways. Wait—you know who I am?”
“Of course I do. I was a fan too, you know? Five years ago!”
“F-Five years ago… hahah…”
“Hey hey, gimme your autograph—right here!”
“Isn’t that your police notebook!? You can’t have me write on that!”
While snapping back like that, Chigiri suddenly realized something.
“Wait—how did you know I was here traveling…?”
“Huh? Because I’m watching on two screens, obviously!”
As she said that, Himezawa pulled out another smartphone.
On it was Chigiri’s own stream.
“Though, I only started watching Chigirin’s stream because of the flameout scandal!”
At Himezawa’s words, Chigiri narrowed her eyes.
“A flameout… scandal…?”
“…Huh?”
“…Huh?”
Both of them furrowed their brows and froze with puzzled expressions.
A bad feeling shot through Chigiri as she took out her own phone and began operating it with a serious stare.
“Uhh—did I say something extra I wasn’t supposed to…?”
Sensing the mood, Himezawa whispered to Rakuna.
But Rakuna, still hiding behind her backpack, could only tremble silently.
“…What… is this…”
And then Chigiri found it.
A raging online firestorm, with her being paraded as the culprit who released Mega Slime into the beginner dungeon.
“Wait… I didn’t do that…!”
〝Yo, is this for real?〟
〝Yeah, it’s burning HARD〟
〝Honestly I came here because of Chigirin’s flameout〟
〝Does Shiiba-san even gain anything by doing that?〟
〝Was it for clout?〟
〝She’s not as popular as she used to be〟
〝People are making all kinds of guesses and losing it〟
〝Well, without Shiiba-san’s unique skill, you can’t artificially create an invasive-species dungeon…〟
〝If she did that, she’d be totally screwed legally〟
〝Wait… the police came here—was it because of that?〟
Even as the comment section split between defenders and skeptics—
“…I don’t think she’d do something like that…”
Rakuna raised her hand from behind the backpack.
“…She kept telling me to run away… the whole time. Even after she hurt her leg and couldn’t move, she still told me that… She doesn’t look like someone who’d put others in danger for her own benefit… And she even gave me clothes…”
〝Oh…〟
〝Abyss-chan is saying what she thinks…!〟
〝That Abyss-chan who turns into an AI bot around people…!〟
〝Kinda moving. Though “and she even gave me clothes” made me laugh a little〟
〝Abyss-chan’s right!〟
〝Yeah! Yeah!〟
Hearing that, Himezawa nodded once.
“Yeah. I know. I know Chigirin isn’t the culprit.”
““Huh?””
At the unexpected answer, Rakuna and Chigiri both stared, wide-eyed.
Ignoring the two of them, who looked utterly lost, Himezawa continued.
“The reason I came here was for Narakino-chan. I wanted to thank you.”
“Thank… me?”
“Yup. When you entered the dungeon, you filmed the explorers who were already inside, right? Turns out one of them was the one who made this an invasive-species dungeon. You caught them on camera—clear as day—releasing the Mega Slime!”
“…W-what…!?”
It had happened right after Rakuna entered the dungeon.
She had spotted an explorer ahead, and, frightened, hid for a while as she watched from the shadows.
That caution paid off—she had captured the moment of the crime perfectly on video.
Himezawa stepped into the frame of Rakuna’s tracking drone and pointed straight at the camera.
“So, anyway— The old man absolutely nailed the culprit, bam, got ’em! We’ll dig into who they are and what their motive was from here, but for now! Chigirin isn’t the culprit! I’m counting on you for that, you hundred thousand black eggs!”
〝For real!? They caught the culprit!?〟
〝Uwahhh thank godddd〟
〝Then say that from the start, gyaru copppp!〟
〝[BREAKING] Slime releaser caught! Spread this!〟
〝Who started saying Chigirin was the culprit anyway〟
〝She just happened to be here and rumors took off, huh〟
After checking the comments, Himezawa nodded, satisfied.
Then she turned back to Rakuna and Chigiri, straightened her posture, and saluted.
“Narakino-chan and Chigirin! With one wrong step, this could have turned into a catastrophe, and yet you handled it admirably! On behalf of the police—no, on behalf of the residents—I offer our sincere gratitude! Thank you so much!”
“No… I didn’t do anything…”
“No no—if Chigirin hadn’t held things back in the boss room, who knows what would’ve happened! And some certain someone kept getting lost because they have zero sense of direction! Gyahaha!”
“…Y-yes…”
〝Ooooh〟
〝For a second I thought this was gonna get bad, but looks like everything’s solved〟
〝Glad the suspicion on Shiiba-san got cleared〟
〝Thank god…〟
〝Man, the air tastes good again〟
〝Crap, I totally swallowed the rumor whole…〟
〝Me too… sorry, Shiiba-san…〟
〝I’m gonna go apologize in Shiiba-san’s chat〟
The tense mood from the flameout uproar flipped completely into a peaceful atmosphere.
On Chigiri’s channel, a flood of superchats poured in alongside messages saying “I’m sorry.”
Seeing that, Chigiri panicked, waving her hands. “Everyone, wait! It’s fine—what’s wrong is the culprit!?”
Then Himezawa, as if she’d just remembered something, asked Chigiri:
“By the way, Chigirin—you said something about the bullet train. You good on time?”
“Ah! Oh no! I have to go!”
“Also, if you’re coming from Tokyo, I think using the limited express is easier, you know? And cheaper.”
“Got it! Next time I come, I’ll do that!”
Smiling, she waved and started toward the iron door exit, but—
“…Ah. I forgot the most important thing…!”
She turned back—
—and suddenly, hugged Rakuna.
“…Eh?”
“Narakino-san… thank you. For everything, really. I’ll never forget what you did for me. I’m going to get stronger with you as my goal. Today I was the one being helped the whole time, but someday I’ll be strong enough to stand beside you. And one day, I’ll absolutely repay this debt! So, let’s meet again, Narakino—”
Mid-sentence, Chigiri felt something was off and looked into Rakuna’s face.
Rakuna’s head lolled like a baby’s with no neck control, her eyes rolled back, and foam bubbled from her mouth.
“Kyaaaaa! N-Narakino-saaaaaan!?”
“Whoa! A crab!”
〝Uwaaaaa Abyss-chaaaaaan!〟
〝She died of shock from getting hugged! Aaaaaa!〟
〝She was screaming just from people getting close, so yeah, makes senseｗ〟
〝Also who the hell is yelling “crab” at a time like thisｗｗ〟
〝Hey, make that gyaru cop shut upｗｗ〟
(TL Note: woah there buddy! Dont go talking about my fav like that)
And so, with police coordination as well, the invasive-species dungeon incident was resolved without issue.
Except for one person who, unfortunately, was not “without issue”…