"Whoa! This is way darker and longer than I expected. I can’t even see the exit—hell, I can’t see what’s inside at all."
"The tunnel has a gentle curve to it. That’s probably why the light from the other side isn't reaching us."
Having reached the tunnel entrance, Hugo’s face paled at the sight of the pitch-black interior.
The darkness inside was a complete void, severed from the sun-drenched world behind them; beyond the reach of the sunlight, visibility dropped to zero.
Hugo was just starting to think that investigating this place would be a massive pain when Melt did the exact opposite. She immediately took action, jogging straight into the gloom.
"Kyaa!?"
"Pffft!"
On her fifth step, she tripped over something and took a spectacular tumble.
Hugo felt a brief sense of relief seeing her catch herself with her hands as she fell forward, but another problem immediately presented itself.
The mini-skirt of Melt’s academy uniform had flipped up perfectly over her backside, putting a pair of pink panties on full display. Hugo hurriedly averted his eyes, but his reaction was a split-second too late.
"……Did you see?"
"Ah, no… I mean, I saw something, but it was just for a second, and it was so dark I couldn't really tell, you know?"
"……Really?"
"Really! More importantly, look! This happened because you tried to rush into the dark like that! Don't you have a light or something?"
While answering her honestly, Hugo couldn't shake the awkwardness and forced a change of subject, asking if she had a way to light their path.
Melt puffed out her cheeks with a dissatisfied pout, but perhaps because she knew the fault lay with her own recklessness, she didn't press him. Instead, she answered his question.
"I do. Just a second…"
"Oh? Uh…?"
Melt extended her right index and middle fingers, waving them through the air as if drawing a heart.
As Hugo watched in confusion, the ring on her index finger began to glow, and a cross-shaped light shot from its tip.
"Here you go. Oh, and make sure you hold it by the hilt, okay? If you grab the blade part, it’ll slice you right open, so be careful!"
"The hilt? The blade?"
Wondering what she meant, Hugo took a closer look at the light Melt had produced. He realized that what he’d thought was a cross was actually something else.
It looked less like a religious cross and more like a large ceremonial knife. Just as Hugo clapped his hands in understanding, Melt puffed out her chest with a proud look and began explaining her Magic Item.
"Pretty good, right? This is the power of my Magic Item, [Sword Ring]! I can manifest my own Magic Power into the shape of a blade and release it!"
"Heh! That’s a pretty versatile ability! …Wait a minute…?"
As he stared at the knife made of beautifully glittering purple Magic Power, Hugo reflected on her explanation. He turned back toward Melt as the image of a certain character flickered in his mind.
With his thoughts leaning heavily toward his identity as the Nichiasa otaku Yugo Kurei rather than the inhabitant of another world, Hugo Clay, he began to categorize the girl tilting her head at him.
(A beautiful girl from a distant place, purple color theme, a total klutz, can create blade-shaped light... wait. Could it be that she’s—?)
The reason his heart was pounding wasn't just because he was staring into the eyes of a beautiful girl like Melt at such close range.
Finding commonalities between real people and fictional characters and getting overexcited about it was a bad habit of otakus, he knew, but such thoughts were simply part of his nature. Sensing something was off, Melt waved her hand in front of his face.
"Helloooo? Hugo? Why are you spacing out? I’ve got the light ready, so let’s go find that locomotive!"
"A-Ah, yeah, right. I’ll walk point. I’ll let you know if the footing is bad, so just stay behind me."
"Okaaay! You can leave your back to me, partner!"
Snapped back to reality, Hugo felt a twinge of guilt as he took the lead and stepped into the tunnel.
Melt gave a playful reply as the magical knife emitted a steady glow, illuminating the darkness. Relying on that light, the two of them ventured deeper and deeper into the tunnel.
"Oh, there it is! That must be it."
A short while later, Hugo spotted the black train they had seen earlier ahead in the purple light. They picked up their pace as they approached.
The Magic Locomotive sat there, silent and cold, without even a wisp of smoke. Finding the lack of movement suspicious, the two grew increasingly cautious as a clear sense of wrongness settled over them.
"……Something’s wrong. I don't hear anyone inside."
"There should be passengers and engineers, right? Did they abandon the train and leave?"
The Magic Locomotive had stopped inside the tunnel due to some kind of mechanical failure, just as they had expected.
However, there were no voices coming from the people who should have been on board.
Instinctively sensing danger, Hugo activated his Blaster and clad himself in armor. Pointing toward the entrance of the rear carriage, he gave Melt an instruction.
"Melt, I’m going in first. You follow me."
"U-Understood…! Your back is in good hands, Hugo…!"
The words were the same as before, but the tension in Melt’s voice was on a completely different level.
Nodding to her, Hugo reached for the door to the carriage, slowly pulled it open, and stepped inside.
"Excuse me! We’re from Luminous Academy! We’ve come to check on everyone! Is anyone here!?"
He shouted at the top of his lungs and waited, but no one answered.
The silence was absolute. There was no sign of life in the forward carriages either; it seemed the train was completely deserted.
(What happened? Did everyone abandon the train and leave before we got here? Even so, it’s bizarre for there to be absolutely nobody left…)
If the passengers had abandoned the train to walk to the exit, that would explain the absence, but it was highly irregular for not even a single engineer to remain behind to investigate the failure.
Maybe there was only one staff member and they had led the passengers out, but it still didn't sit right with him.
As Hugo’s unease grew, Melt, who had been waiting outside, followed him into the carriage.
"Hugo, how does it look? Did you find—kyaa!?"
"Melt!? Whoa, you okay? That’s twice now."
"N-No, that one was different! The floor was all slimy!"
Having entered the carriage in a state of high alert, Melt had managed to perform her second spectacular tumble of the day almost immediately.
Thinking her body was just stiff from the tension, Hugo deactivated his Blaster for a moment and reached down to pull her up. At that exact second, a familiar, mocking voice echoed from behind them.
"Hahaha! It seems you've brought quite the dim-witted partner along, Hugo Clay! Well, as a pair of hacks, I suppose you're a perfectly matched duo!"