“Hm? Do you feel nothing when you see her in such attire? Is my granddaughter unattractive, perhaps?”
“No! She’s perfectly fine in that regard!”
“Then I can’t imagine you were only thinking about their abilities.”
“Err, I... Haha...”
“Come on, Ren!” Akira shouted in a huff. “You have to refute that!”
“Well, it matters not. Regardless of what you proposed, it was her decision to accept. Again, a problem of self-awareness.”
Shizuku glanced at Akira.
“Aww, I’m sorry...”
Akabane then slipped right between them.
“I don’t care what your family problems are, but your methods disgust me. You conceal your identity and try desperately to find a problem that isn’t there. You lack delicacy.”
“Didn’t I tell you to stay out of it? This has nothing to do with you.”
Shizuku tried to do away with Akabane, but the other, weirder Akabane brought his face in close.
“But wait, I say, Iwao Aoyagi!”
“Stop saying my name, you! And put some clothes on!”
“Hmph. There is one thing that I must ask of you!”
“What? Make it quick; I don’t want people thinking we’re friends.”
“Then perhaps I shall do this, so that we can take our time!”
Ryuutarou used Vanishing Whirl to hide himself.
I’d seen a lot of angry “Show yourself, intruder!” in anime and whatnot, but this was the first time I had seen someone try more of a “Hide yourself, intruder!” approach. I probably wouldn’t ever see it again. That said, it was much easier to talk when Ryuutarou disappeared. Whenever I saw him, my instincts screamed Do not approach! It felt like I couldn’t just... talk to him.
“So? What is it?”
“Perhaps you have come face-to-face with a side of Akira that is difficult to accept. But is that all you’ve witnessed here? Have you not seen anything greater than that?”
“Hm?”
“Indeed, I’ve come to notice something about Akira. In this world, she is able to freely express and enjoy herself. Her smile is bigger than ever. I know very well that these smiles come from the heart, uncaring of appearances or diplomacy. Have you ever seen Akira in such a state?”
Shizuku didn’t respond.
“I certainly hadn’t. I’ve seen her on occasion since we were young, and every time, she was as reserved as a caged bird! Yet in this world, she is free, and she flourishes for it—almost as though she were a different person! She is cheerful and sunny, and she glows with such human charm! Have you truly not noticed?”
“I’ll have you know that we’re family. Of course I noticed.”
“Good! Then stop focusing on these trifles and look at what really matters! If she needs more extreme clothing to be herself, then I say she should be free to bare as much as she pleases! Strip and shine! It’s just a game, after all; you don’t have to be mad!”
Eww! You didn’t have to punctuate that by reappearing! That was a waste of a speech that was actually kinda meaningful!
“Grandpa, I love this school. I don’t want to leave! Please don’t make me go!”
Akira’s pleading was met with a sigh from Shizuku.
“This is clearly some sort of misunderstanding. I wasn’t planning to make you leave. I just wanted to grumble about it. This miscreant is right—you obviously enjoy yourself much more here. That is, in part, thanks to this Takashiro boy, isn’t it? I’d best thank him, then.” Shizuku turned to me and bowed her head. “Takashiro, thank you for all you’ve done for Akira.”
“Oh, it’s no prob. Having her around is more fun for me too.”
“Now, I complained about her attire, but I like to think that I’m not as stubborn as her father. You are going to retrieve something that will render our worries unnecessary, right? If so, I’m willing to turn the other cheek for now.”
“Oh, Grandpa, thank you!”
Akira flung her arms around Shizuku.
“Hahahaha! How many years has it been since you hugged me?”
Watching them, Ryuutarou laughed nihilistically.
“It seems your fears were groundless, after all.”
“No, my dear brother. I believe your words may have changed his mind, after all. Thank you for your help.”
“Oh, please. Friendship is beautiful, is it not? I myself am touched by this truly lovely sight. But now, I shall take my leave.”
With that, Ryuutarou disappeared once more.
Well, whatever. I’m not gonna ask him to come back.
“So, Grandpa! Since we beat the boss, do you wanna see the rest of the dungeon? I wanna go even farther!”
“Sure, I don’t mind. It feels better to have these secrets all out in the open, so I’ll gladly enjoy myself.”
“Good idea, Akira. Let’s get going!”
Now that all of our problems had been solved, we were free to enjoy our dungeon raids.
Yano grinned. “I’m in. Let’s go!”
“Absolutely,” Maeda said with a nod. “I’d love to come too.”
Akabane chimed in with, “Agreed!”
Off we went for another run. We were out of Special Warp Stones, but if we were lucky in this little look-see, we might be able to pick one up along the way. Thus, we warped to B81F!
“Here we go, ladies and gentleman!”
Upon arriving at the save point, we saw the familiar stone walls of Aswarth’s. The area was like a plaza, with a path leading deeper in.
“Hmm. We’re not getting the usual ping.”
Aren’t we supposed to get a clear condition?
“Well, there’s a path. How about we follow it for now?” Akira suggested.
Thus, we proceeded along the path. Eventually, we ran into a wall with the anime girl lion head—but larger—embedded in it.
A dead end? I didn’t notice any forks.
“Great job making it here, chosen ones!”
Huh? That was the same anime-girl voice!
“This door leads to even more trials ahead. Only those who are skilled in the scholarly and military arts can get in! Seeing as you’ve come this far, I guess you’ve nailed that last one!”
I smirked. Yeah, you know it!
“So the scholarly arts, then! Bring me proof that you’ve all finished your summer vacation homework!”
“Whaaat?!” all of us, except for Maeda and Shizuku, screamed.
“Finish your homework, give it to the school, and bring the QR code they give you! Then you can keep goin’.”
Homework?! What kind of loser does homework?! Doesn’t everyone just speedrun it at the last minute?!
“Looks like you don’t all have it. Then get the heck outta here! Byeee!”
In a flash, our merry little band was forcefully expelled from the dungeon. We slackers couldn’t help but cry out in frustration.
“Gaaaaah!”
What a cowardly trick! Who would bring homework into a real-deal race?!
Shizuku sighed. “Goodness me. You didn’t do it either, Akira?”
“You all had better do your homework soon,” Maeda chided us.
“Dammit!” I cursed. “Stupid homework!”
“We’ve gotta hurry, guys!” Akira shouted.
Yano was on the verge of tears. “Waaah! I don’t wanna! This game sucks! Grrr!”
“This is when the real suffering begins!” said Akabane.
I did my best to get motivated. “Now’s not the time to be standing around! We’ve gotta go home and do our homework on the double!”
“Yeah!” Akira agreed.
Just then, something dawned on all of us.
“Oh nooo! Someone else was just in the same situation as we are!”
They were mad too! They had something to do too!
“It was Yukino and Homura!”
Did they take down the Hadean Rose just before we did?! Wow! You go, twins! I thought they might have it harder thanks to the level difference, but we were the ones who ended up behind!
“Noooo! Girls, hurry!”
We made our way back to the floating cottage as fast as we could.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next day, we were in the cottage fighting a desperate battle... against our summer homework.
“Gaaaaah! Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
Who knew that the ultimate condition to continuing Aswarth’s Undersea Ruins would be conquering our homework?!
This was entirely unexpected. I had to say, they’d gotten me good. The whole purpose of summer vacation was to game all day and night. This wasn’t the time to be doing homework! That was supposed to be done a day or two before the opening ceremony and the first day of classes. You didn’t start it until after the semester had technically begun.
You would look at what order your classes started in and prioritize their homework in that same order. Sometimes, you had to make tactical sacrifices if it seemed impossible; you’d have to have the resolve to flunk the class. It wasn’t something to be done in the middle of summer! Maybe they had done it knowing all too well how us gamer life-forms worked.
Are all summer vacation events like this? But no, wait. Even Yukino and Homura got caught in this devious trap, and they’re third-year students.
“Ugh, I’m beat. I just can’t bring myself to do this.”
Yano yawned and stretched out on the couch.
“Hey, you! Stop loafing around! Focus! Now!”
I called Yano out, but her reaction was less than reassuring.
“Pssh. I can’t focus when somebody won’t stop yelling at me!”
“Mmgh. My sheer determination just manifested as a yell, okay?”
“Shut up, or I can’t concentrate!”
“Oh? So if I’m quiet, you can? Then I’ll keep quiet; just keep it up!”
“Ugh.”
“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, Takashiro,” Maeda admonished me.
She had diligently finished her homework long ago, so she was playing the role of supervisor in our cottage study session.
“Huh?”
“You got this one wrong. And this one, and this one, and... ouch. That one too.”
“Wha...?”
“You’re rushing too much. I understand you want this done, but you have to think it through.”
“Gnngh!”
“That’s what happens when you rush, dummy. Gotta take it slooow.”
“Actually, Yuuna, you should probably go faster.”
“Urk! But look, Akki’s not doing anything! She’s just sitting there!”
“Huh? Me? O-Oh, yeah.”
“Wow. You too, Akira? We’ve gotta hurry, or they’ll get ahead of us.”
“Yeah, I know. But Grandpa let me go after seeing me, y’know? I think I might actually be fine as I am now. It’s such a relief that I think I’m losing my motivation. All this time, I was just so afraid of my family.”
“It ain’t a parent’s job to take away their kids’ fun. What he did was normal!”
“She’s right. You’re always so bubbly and friendly, Akira. I can’t imagine someone wanting to take that away from you.”
“Yeah. It was a big surprise, but I’m actually kinda glad Grandpa came to check up on me.”