March 31st.
I headed for the Shinjuku Dungeon first thing in the morning.
I made my way directly to the Shinjuku Branch of the Japan Explorer Association without even leaving the station, and I found someone already waiting for me in the lobby.
Worried that I had kept her waiting, I hurried over at a jog.
"Good morning, Hinata-san! I am terribly sorry to have kept you waiting! I look forward to working with you today! Ossu!!"
"U-Um, I haven't been waiting that long, so please raise your head... Also, why the athlete-style greeting...?"
The person waiting for me was Hinata-san, the woman I had rescued from the Goblin Knight the other day.
To be more specific, her full name is Mashiro Hinata. She’s a twenty-year-old university student with a petite frame, though as her viewers had pointed out in the comments of her previous stream, certain parts of her figure are exceptionally prominent.
Her features are cute rather than beautiful, but her posture is impeccable, giving her the aura of a well-bred young lady.
At a glance, she seems quite gentle and easygoing, but the fact that she’s diving back into the dungeon only a few days after her previous party was wiped out suggests she isn't just a fragile girl.
For all I know, she might actually be a battle-hardened warrior who’s perfectly fine with a life-and-death struggle. Since I was the one who made the somewhat awkward proposal to join up, I figured it would be safer to stay on her good side.
After all, I was the one who rejected her when she first suggested forming a party, only to turn around yesterday and beg her to team up.
Fortunately, Hinata-san didn't seem to harbor any resentment over my prior rudeness—at least not on the surface.
She gave a strained smile at my stiff attitude.
"I’m looking forward to working with you as well....Well then, shall we change first and meet up in front of the Dungeon Gate?"
"Understood, Ossu!!"
"Um, please just speak normally. Like you did before..."
"Understood, Hinata-san."
With that settled, we headed to our respective changing rooms to get ready.
Once we were fully equipped, we met back up in front of the Dungeon Gate—the turnstiles that led into the dungeon, which no one can pass without a Dungeon Exploration License.
"Shall we go, then?"
We passed through the gate and entered the dungeon.
We emerged into the 1st Floor plaza of the Shinjuku Dungeon, but we didn't head for the lower floors immediately. Instead, we approached the Black Obelisk standing in the center of the hall.
The Black Obelisk displays your status when touched.
However, it also possesses another special feature: the party formation function.
Hinata-san and I touched the Black Obelisk at almost the same time. In that instant, a display similar to a status screen appeared in my field of vision.
It listed the names of everyone currently touching the obelisk. I reached out and tapped Hinata-san’s name.
Immediately after, a prompt appeared: "Would you like to send a party request to Mashiro Hinata? Yes / No." I selected "Yes."
I couldn't see her screen, but a message must have appeared in Hinata-san’s vision, informing her of the request and asking for her confirmation.
The moment Hinata-san reached out and tapped the empty air, a notification popped up in my vision: "Party has been formed."
Incidentally, the person who sends the request first is automatically designated as the party leader.
A party is disbanded the moment any member leaves the dungeon, though it can also be dissolved at the leader's discretion.
In terms of mechanics, the only real function of a party is the equal distribution of experience points.
Furthermore, for the experience points to be shared, all members must be near the defeated monster—specifically, it's said they must be on the same floor and within thirty meters. The time I saved Hinata-san from the Goblin Knight was a perfect example of how that works.
"Now that the party is formed, let's start the exploration."
"Yes, let's. Oh, and Samejima-san."
"What is it? Ah, regarding how you address me—you can just call me Takeo. It makes me feel all restless when a senior calls me with a polite suffix."
I cut Hinata-san off to get that out of the way first.
I didn't know if this would be a long-term partnership, but it felt awkward to be called "Samejima-san" the whole time.
"Is that so? Um... well then, I'll call you Takeo-kun, okay?"
"Yeah. That's fine."
"But even if you call me a senior, it's not like we went to the same school, right?"
"Oh, I mean that you're a senior in life."
For some reason, Hinata-san made a complicated face.
"Um, calling me a senior in life... I suppose that's technically true, but we're only two years apart, you know? Being treated like I'm so much older is a bit, well..."
"?"
Did she not like being called "Senpai"? For now, I decided I’d stick with calling her "Hinata-san." I gave a noncommittal nod and said, "Got it!"
"So, what was it you wanted to say, Hinata-san?"
"Oh, right. Um, I checked with you yesterday, but let me confirm once more. I’m going to be streaming today's exploration on my channel. Is that really okay?"
Hinata-san pointed to the drone camera floating beside her.
Explorers are required to record their activities, but when in a party, it's sufficient if just one member is filming.
In her previous party, it seemed Hinata-san had handled the recording with her drone camera. Incidentally, the drone was apparently her personal property. I guess she really is a wealthy young lady.
Regardless, I intended to record with my helmet camera just in case, but today Hinata-san would be streaming as well. In fact, it seemed she streamed every single day she went exploring.
Since we were in a party, her image would be broadcast, but mine would be too. She was checking to make sure I was okay with that.
"Yeah, it's fine."
I nodded. It wasn't like I had anything to hide.
"Thank you. Well then, I'll start the stream."
Hinata-san activated the drone's camera and began the broadcast.
Almost instantly, the synthesized voice of a VOICEROID began reading out comments from the drone.
'Morning!' 'Hiya~' 'Morning-kon!' 'It's here!' 'It's starting!' 'Hinata-chan, you're cute today too!' 'I was worried after what happened, so I'm glad to see you're back!'
The comments scrolled by at high speed.
And then—
'Hm?' 'Wait, what?' 'Huh!?' 'Wait! Is that Leveling Junkie Bro!?' 'Aieee!? Leveling Junkie Bro!? Why is Leveling Junkie Bro there!?'
Just as the viewers began to notice my presence, Hinata-san spoke up.
"Good morning, everyone. This is a bit sudden, but I've decided to do a dungeon stream today. And, well, this is Takeo-ku—um, Leveling Junkie Bro-kun... no, that's not it, um..."
She seemed to be struggling with how to refer to me on the stream.
I mean, "Leveling Junkie Bro-kun"... I didn't really care about the nickname, but being called that in person was a bit much.
"Takeo is fine, Hinata-san."
"Ah, right. Um... I've formed a new party with Takeo-kun here, so please be kind to him."
"Hey there."
I gave a casual greeting to the viewers on Hinata-san’s channel.