AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!!!!
WAAAAaaaaaaAAAAaaaaa!!!!
No good. No good. No good, no good!
This is bad. This is bad. Bad, bad!!
I panicked and before I knew it, I'd blurted out something outrageous. I'd said it.
I'm an idiot, a fool, a complete blockhead. What am I doing—nnngh!!!!
And my mistake was practically the same as Lady Yomido's!
A-Anyway, I need to chase after Pakira.
Wait—I teleported using the Save Crystal in the deepest level. Seriously!?
What do I do?
"Right. I can trace the logs from the Core!"
I stood in front of the pedestal that served as the dungeon Core's control panel.
There it is. She's on the 40th floor? Alright.
I used a Save Crystal to teleport to the 40th floor.
"Pakiraaa!"
The 40th floor.
It was a passageway enclosed by massive stone walls, with a river flowing through it.
Was it like this? I don't remember the details.
"W-What do I do?"
At that moment, I... had a flash of inspiration.
It's the [Ring of Fortune]!
Wait, can this thing search for people too?
"Well, let's give it a try."
I entered Pakira into the search.
There was a single response. People and treasures, huh. Worth a shot.
And... the color was purple.
"Probably because I searched for a person."
The purple light moved bit by bit. I followed it carefully.
And when I caught up, Pakira was fighting monsters.
Small dog-sized crab-like monsters were swarming toward her.
Pakira launched fireballs and slashed with wind blades.
Her Relic [Rank Up] had boosted the power of Pakira's Relics.
At that level, she could wipe them all out without breaking a sweat.
And after she'd annihilated the crabs, I appeared before her.
"Pakira."
"Wof..."
"Um, it's a misunderstanding!"
"........."
"Pakira?"
I thought she was going to run away right away, but Pakira just stood there.
"...I knew it was a misunderstanding."
"Huh?"
"I knew you were misunderstanding. There's no way you'd say something like that."
She was right. It wasn't something you could say unless it was an accident.
"Th-then why did you run away?"
"Well... I mean... when someone suddenly says something like that, I got embarrassed and just..."
Pakira tugged on her hood with both hands, her face turning bright red as she looked down.
W-well, yeah, it was embarrassing. And I was the one who said it, so I was the most embarrassed of anyone.
"Sorry..."
"W-well, it's fine. So then. What were you actually trying to say?"
"Um, I was going to say... hold hands and sleep together."
"You were missing the 'hold hands' part?"
"Y-yes. Sorry..."
"Sigh... — and that's how you meet Lady Yomido, right?"
"Yes. That's what she told me personally."
"That's also pretty embarrassing, but..."
Pakira mumbled something under her breath in a tiny voice.
"Pakira?"
"Fine. Let's do it."
"Are you sure?"
"I too am interested in a goddess who resembles me."
"Understood. When should we do it?"
"Tonight."
"Huh?"
"Tonight. I don't have anything particular to attend to. Wof, if you have plans we can do it another day, but what do you say?"
"O-OK. Tonight is fine."
S-sudden, isn't it?
I don't have anything particular to do either, so it's fine, but still.
Even so, this came out of nowhere and caught me completely off guard.
We headed back to the deepest level.
The bosses who had gathered there were nowhere to be seen.
Since there wasn't anything in particular to do, I decided to go through the dungeon core's log for the first time in a while.
"Huh. That's unexpected."
Nothing had changed significantly.
Though I was curious to see that Mirece was in the middle of constructing a shopping mall on the 30th floor.
"Well, whatever."
I was completely wrung out, so even though it piqued my interest, I didn't feel like going.
Which meant I also wasn't in the mood to try making any monsters.
After a quick check, I stepped away from the pedestal.
"Beep… beep…… Singular point…… detected…… singular point…… detected…… beep beep……"
The pink ball was back. It was circling above my head.
Annoying.
Before long, Shesh and the others returned.
It must have put up a fight, because Shesh looked satisfied.
Juicy and Isibara were still fired up — it must have been quite the battle.
Shesh was drinking. Agaro was drinking too.
Were they going to throw a party or something?
After a while, I got a message from Axe and was sent to the deepest level.
Alexander and Mires returned too.
After that, everyone hung around chatting and making noise, and we had dinner at the Bellk Dining Hall.
Most of them stayed at Heizen, but I chose to head home.
That was when Pakira said she'd forgotten something and came home with me.
At the house, it looked like Mineha hadn't returned yet.
Pakira went straight to the bath the moment she got back. I planned to go in after her.
"I'm done."
"O-okay."
Once Pakira told me she was out, I took my bath.
When I got out and returned to the room, Pakira was sitting on the bed.
She was dressed differently from usual — casual clothes, or more like loungewear.
"............"
"......"
"............"
"Um... would you like some tea?"
"Y-yes, I would."
"I'll prepare some."
I put tea leaves from the bottle and water into a crescent-shaped vessel.
Mixed it into tea. Poured it into a cup and handed it to Pakira.
"Oh. That's good."
"I mix three types of tea leaves."
"Ho."
I drank some too. Calming.
"Haaah..."
"Today was a rough one, huh."
"It was. But I'm glad nothing happened."
At first, I was ready to just authorize total destruction, no matter what.
So I was glad it resolved peacefully.
Even though it was basically my fault.
"W-well, I suppose it's about time, then?"
"E-um..."
"Time to sleep."
"Y-yes."
I nodded.
Pakira slowly lay down on my bed.
Somehow.
For some reason.
I couldn't tell you why.
We were just going to sleep holding hands.
That was all it was, yet my heart was pounding in this strange, peculiar way.
"You. What are you doing?"
"Ah, um..."
"Hurry up."
Prompted, I lay down right beside Pakira.
"Here."
She held out her hand.
At that moment, Pakira's cheeks had turned red, as if she were embarrassed.
Her large white cat ears drooped limply, and her long-and-short white tail flicked about.
I gently took her hand.
The soft, warm sensation made me hesitate.
Strangely, that only made me feel even more embarrassed, and I shut my eyes tight.
"Good night. Wof."
I thought I heard Pakira's voice from somewhere far away.
When I suddenly opened my eyes, I was in a mysterious white space with fog rising toward the night sky.
"............"
I was standing all alone in the mysterious space.
Tall, slender black pillars stretched endlessly at regular intervals.
There was no mistaking it.
It was Lord Yomido's mysterious space.
"What is this place?"
When I looked toward the voice, Pakira was standing right beside me.
She was firmly holding my hand.
And Pakira didn't seem to notice.
"............"
As I was wondering what to do, a figure appeared from deep within the mysterious space.