A night had passed since that completely chaotic first exploration and first stream.
Awakened by the chirping of sparrows, Rakuna quickly got ready and headed to school. In one hand was her breakfast: a boiled egg.
Learning from yesterday’s mistake, she’d decided to always carry one around as an emergency measure for when she got hungry.
Even though she was hurrying down the slope, her eyes remained dark and hollow. The reason was simple: Rakuna still hadn’t been able to sort out what happened yesterday.
Even if she hadn’t meant any harm, she’d destroyed a dungeon wall, destroyed a rescue drone, and gotten arrested by the police. And more than anything, when she thought about how more than thirty thousand people had seen her like that, her whole body started trembling. Her ears burned hot, and her heartbeat sped up.
Rakuna’s goal, at least on paper, was to become popular through streaming—to become popular and make lots of friends.
But yesterday’s stream had been far too far outside anything she’d imagined. What Rakuna was aiming for was the kind of “strong and cool” explorer she’d seen as a kid—the sort everyone admires. Instead, yesterday she broke multiple prohibited rules and, in the end, wound up in police custody. It had been nothing like the admiration she’d pictured. And on top of that, it had been seen by thirty thousand people—and she didn’t even understand why so many people had been watching in the first place.
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t find an answer. The same thoughts just looped around and around in her head. She was so absentminded that she went to school in casual clothes instead of her uniform.
§
—Kiiin, kooon, kaaan, kooon.
During break time in the classroom, Rakuna sat at her desk as usual, spacing out and lost in thought.
“I ended up watching streams all day again yesterday, toooo~”
From beside her, she heard voices chatting about streaming.
Rakuna had become an explorer in order to get popular through streaming. To get popular, make lots of friends, and be fawned over.
For someone like her, that was a topic she couldn’t help but react to. And “yesterday” was exactly when she herself had streamed. Thirty thousand people had watched.
(—Maybe they watched mine?)
That hope swelled in her chest. But the thought that her classmates might have seen that disgrace made her feel like she could throw up.
(—No, maybe I’d rather they didn’t…)
Torn by the conflict, Rakuna clutched her head and shook it hard left and right. Of course, she didn’t have the courage to butt into their conversation, so she quietly moved closer from behind and strained her ears.
“Huh!? Don’t tell me you’re still watching that girl?”
“Heeey, what do you mean ‘stiiill’? Yeah, sure, Chigirin used to blow up way more in the past, but even now she’s super cute and hilarious, you know? And she’s never even gotten into a flame war.”
Rakuna didn’t know anything about other streamers. She didn’t have a smartphone, so she couldn’t even look things up. Naturally, she had no idea what kind of streamer this “Chigirin” was.
(—What’s a flame war? I mean, yesterday I did technically get ‘flamed’ by a dragon’s breath, but…)
For now, she slumped her shoulders at realizing it wasn’t about her—while at the same time, somewhere in her heart, she felt a bit of relief.
“You know, Chigirin was already B-rank when she was our age. That’s insanely amazing, right? Total genius, right?”
“Well… yeah, that part’s true, but…”
“She’s got a stream slot up for tonight too. I’m so excited~! Seriously, she’s my reason for living!”
Listening to her classmates, something clicked for Rakuna.
“Oh, right. You can reserve a stream in advance, can’t you?”
She immediately rummaged through her ridiculously huge backpack in the corner of the classroom and pulled out her white streaming drone. She tapped at the LCD screen with her fingers.
“Uhh… okay, start the stream at 18:00 today, and…”
Reservation complete.
It was the first time she’d set up a slot. And then, she found herself thinking about the viewers.
“I wonder how many people will come watch. It won’t be zero, I’m sure, but…”
Yesterday, viewers had gathered without her realizing it—if anything, it had basically been an accident. But this time she’d be streaming with a clear awareness of being watched.
Just that thought alone nearly made Rakuna feel faint.
And if, on top of that, about thirty thousand people gathered again like yesterday… what would even happen?
“I feel like I’d explode from embarrassment…”
Muttering softly, Rakuna shook her head and forced herself not to think about it. At this point, it felt legitimately dangerous to her life.
Next, she thought about what she’d actually do on today’s stream. Part of her wanted to pretend yesterday never happened and start fresh, but she put that aside.
As an E-rank, Rakuna could still only enter beginner dungeons. To do the kind of “strong and cool stream” she wanted, she needed to be able to go at least into intermediate-level dungeons.
Which meant the first thing she needed was to raise her rank.
“…Come to think of it, I’m E-rank, but how do I actually get promoted?”
Rakuna’s knowledge about explorers was basically nonexistent. Since she didn’t know anything again, she decided to go to the library and look it up.
§
『Illustrated: An Explorer’s Introduction Even a Gorilla Can Understand』
Apparently, the requirement to be promoted to D-rank was simply to enter a dungeon.
It also said that the amount of “magic essence” you gained—earned by defeating monsters or clearing a dungeon—was part of the promotion requirements, but for a gorilla who dove in solo, you basically didn’t need to worry about it.
She met the condition.
But what bothered her was whether yesterday’s exploration actually counted. She’d caused so much trouble that it wouldn’t be surprising if it had been invalidated.
Thinking that, Rakuna stood up immediately and left the library.
She headed to the public phone on campus. She wanted to check her rank. She put in the 100-yen coin she pulled from her pocket and called the police’s exploration division.
“Haaah… I’m nervous… I’m really bad with phone calls…”
Muttering, she reached into her pocket. She took out a black egg and placed it on top of the phone.
“Alright. I’ll pretend the other person is a talking black egg. Not human—just a black egg.”
As she mumbled on like that, the call connected.
『Yes, this is the Odawara Police Station Exploration Division, License Section.』
“Hii—! O-okay… calm down… the other person is… a black egg…”
『A black egg?』
“Uh, um… about my explorer rank… I wanted to check my promotion…”
『Ah, understood. Then could you please tell me the name and license number printed on your Explorer license?』
“Y-yesh.”
She took her Explorer license from her pocket and gave her name and number.
『—…Thank you for waiting. Narakino-san, as of yesterday you have been promoted to D-rank.』
Hearing that, Rakuna let out a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed yesterday’s exploration hadn’t been invalidated after all.
『By the way, if you give us an address, you can also confirm it easily by email. You can also set it so you’ll receive a notification when you’re promoted.』
Useful information from the staff member. Since Rakuna hated phone calls, she decided on the spot to receive emails.
“Ah… then please. Um, l-let’s see, the delivery address is… Kanagawa Prefecture, Ashigarashimo District, Hakone Town—”
『Ah—no, no, I mean email isn’t that kind of address… um, like, network-wise, it’s—』
—Click. Beep, beep.
“Oh. It hung up.”
She’d been in the middle of talking, but it looked like the public phone time had run out.
“Well, they told me I got promoted, so I guess that’s fine.”
And so, today’s stream content was decided.
She would enter a beginner dungeon and aim for promotion to C-rank.
As soon as school ended, she’d rush home, eat dinner, and start the stream.
“It won’t be zero people, right? Ugh, I’m nervous…”
Her heart was pounding, but somehow she was also excited at the same time—a strange feeling she’d never experienced before.
Muttering her worries, but looking oddly happy, Rakuna returned to the classroom.
Incidentally, even though it had only been one hour since she set up the slot, the stream page already displayed: “2,000 people waiting.”
Of course, Rakuna had no way of knowing that…