Hiiragi-san’s sour mood hadn’t improved even by the time lunch break rolled around.
“What’s wrong, Hiiragi-san? You’ve seemed upset since this morning...”
“...It’s just something personal,” she replied.
I walked over to her desk and kept my tone as light as possible, but she only gave me a curt, brief answer. It really seemed like something unpleasant had happened.
“Is it about the news from this morning? The death of that minor explorer?”
“!”
It seemed I’d hit the bullseye. Hiiragi-san kept her eyes fixed on her desk for a moment before looking up at me.
“...Yes, that’s it. My father and I had a bit of a disagreement after we heard the news this morning.”
Her expression clouded over visibly. She looked like she was about to go into more detail, but Yuji, who had approached us, cut her off in a low voice.
“Hold on. It’s better if we change locations before we talk about this any further.”
“...Yuji?”
“Doesn’t seem like the kind of thing we should be discussing in the middle of the classroom.”
I looked up and glanced around. Several nearby students who had been looking our way quickly averted their eyes. It seemed they had been eavesdropping. I couldn’t really blame them for wanting to know why Hiiragi-san had been in such a foul mood all morning, though.
“Well then, Hiiragi-san. Shall we go somewhere else?”
“Yes.”
Agreeing with Yuji’s suggestion, we grabbed our lunch boxes and left the classroom. We sat on a bench in the courtyard, eating our lunches as we listened to her story.
“So, basically, your father told you to quit being an explorer?” I asked.
“Yes. we only talked for a short while before I had to leave for school... but he just unilaterally told me to quit.”
Viewing it as a father's concern for his daughter's safety made it sound noble enough, I suppose, but my honest impression was: Why now? Yuji seemed to share my sentiment, judging by the furrow in his brow.
“You’ve been going into dungeons as an explorer for nearly six months now, right? Honestly, it feels a bit late for this,” she said, letting out a long sigh to vent the frustration built up in her chest.
It appeared Hiiragi-san felt the same way we did. And why wouldn't she? Though the numbers were small, news of explorer fatalities had been broadcast before. For him to suddenly demand she quit now...
“It seems he panicked because a minor died in a nearby dungeon. Most of the explorers who died before were adults—people who were explorers by profession. Plus, those were accidents in other prefectures, so I think he viewed them as something happening far away.”
Another sigh escaped Hiiragi-san’s lips. I wasn’t sure what to say. Yuji and I could only look at each other, wearing awkward expressions.
In short, because a fatal accident happened in the neighborhood and the victim was the same age as his daughter, he finally recognized it as a problem close to home.
Sigh...
“Since there hadn't been any fatal accidents involving minors yet, and I’ve been bringing back meat every week without a scratch, they didn’t realize the dungeons were that dangerous. Familiarity is a terrifying thing. They took the information from TV and magazines at face value and treated it like a slightly dangerous theme park attraction...”
No, no, isn't that just deflecting the issue? If he were truly concerned for his daughter's life, he should have urged her to quit much sooner.
Before I could speak, Yuji voiced his doubt first.
“Isn’t that a bit strange? If you look at the Dungeon Association’s website, the statistics for deaths and serious injuries are right there. If your parents had looked, surely they would have realized how dangerous it was?”
“They seemed to recognize it was dangerous in a general sense, but they didn't see it as an imminent threat to me....Hirose-kun, can you look at the number of traffic fatalities on the police website and truly feel that danger as something bearing down on you personally?”
“That’s...”
“Even if you know it’s dangerous, it’s hard to recognize it as something immediate and close by, isn't it? It’s the same thing. People can’t recognize danger in its true sense until they actually experience an accident or witness it firsthand.”
Hiiragi-san was right; people were probably just like that. Because of some baseless confidence, they believe that "I'll be fine" or "they'll be fine," never accurately perceiving the risks. They don't think about what "dangerous" or "safe" actually means; they just swallow what they're told without deep reflection. Drunk driving, drug use... if you wanted examples of people ignoring known risks, you could find plenty.
“My father told me to quit, but I have no intention of stopping now.”
“...Is that okay?” I asked with concern.
Hiiragi-san had clearly declared her intention to continue, but even if her father was being a bit much, there was no doubt he was worried about her.
“Yes. Thanks to Kokonoe-kun, I’ve been able to continue exploring with low risk, but they've demanded all sorts of impossible things from me that put my life at risk before, haven't they? It's only fair that I get my way for once.”
Hiiragi-san said it was fine while wearing a strangely intense smile.
“Uh... okay?”
“My mother feels guilty for making me become an explorer for the sake of the shop, so I think if I persuade her a bit, she’ll take my side. Since I haven’t had any real injuries so far, persuasion should be possible.”
“...”
“My father... he’s a bit more troublesome. Once he says something, he’s the type who won’t listen to anyone else.”
Hiiragi-san looked down at her lunch box, troubled for a moment, then looked up at Yuji and me.
“Hey, Kokonoe-kun, Hirose-kun. I have a small favor to ask...”
“...A favor?”
I had a vague idea of where this was going.
“Do you have some time after practice today?”
“Oh, yeah. Aside from training with Juzo-san, I don’t have any other plans, so I should be okay. How about you, Yuji?”
“I’m fine too.”
Since we usually just went straight home after training with Juzo-san, we had the time.
“In that case, would you two mind helping me persuade my father?”
“Wait... Yuji and me?”
“Yes.”
Hiiragi-san nodded lightly in confirmation, while Yuji and I exchanged a glance. Isn't that... probably impossible? We’ve never even met her parents. Would the words of total strangers even be effective?
“We haven’t even met your parents, Hiiragi-san.”
“I know. When I say 'persuade,' I don’t mean I want you to talk them into it. I want you to be my partners for a spar.”
“A spar?”
“Yes. I want you to spar with me in front of my parents, like we always do in practice.”
I see. In other words, she wanted to persuade them by demonstrating her skills as an explorer. Indeed, seeing is believing. Showing them Hiiragi-san’s spear work would be more persuasive than any verbal explanation.
“I get it.”
“If that’s the case, it might be good to have Gramps coach us on a more 'performative' spar today,” Yuji suggested.
“Ah, definitely. It’ll be more persuasive if it looks a bit more polished.”
The training we received from Juzo-san was extremely practical. It was far too brutal for a demonstration. Eye-gouging, striking vitals... an ordinary person would definitely be horrified. We’d need to practice specifically for a demonstration, or it would likely backfire.
“Thank you.”
“But well, we don’t know if a demonstration will actually convince him, you know?”
“Yes, I know that. But giving him a strong impact will at least give me a foothold for the conversation.”
“Well, if you're okay with that...”
Going by Hiiragi-san’s description, her father sounded incredibly stubborn. I hoped it would go well.
“I told him I’d talk to him when I got home, so my father should be waiting expectantly.”
Once she knew she had our cooperation, Hiiragi-san’s cloudy expression cleared up, replaced by something much more lively.
When we finished lunch and returned to the classroom right before the end of the break, the eyes of our classmates focused on us. Seeing that Hiiragi-san’s mood had improved, I could hear sighs of relief coming from those sitting near her. She had been projecting a "stay away" aura since this morning, after all.
When the afternoon classes began, the teacher informed us that an extraordinary school assembly would be held after school. There was to be a talk for all students regarding the death of the minor explorer. Since a high school student from the same prefecture had died, the school probably felt the need to take some kind of official action.
Once classes ended, all the students gathered in the gym, and the assembly began.
“Therefore, as a policy of this school, we request that all currently enrolled students exercise voluntary restraint regarding dungeon exploration.”
At the Principal’s declaration from the podium, a loud murmur of conversation broke out among the students.
Voluntary restraint... he hadn't called it an outright ban, but it was effectively the same thing. Since the school rules hadn’t been officially revised yet, they simply wouldn't use the word "prohibited."
“Quiet! The Principal is not finished speaking!”
“You lot, shut up!”
The teachers standing along the walls of the gym shouted to quiet the students down. In response, the buzzing gradually subsided. After about three minutes, the gym was finally quiet enough for the Principal to resume.
“This request is made with your safety in mind.”
No... if anything, this was a preemptive strike to avoid the school's liability. From the school's perspective, they just wanted it on the record that they had officially requested restraint.
The gym buzzed again, but it was quieter than before, and no further warnings were shouted.
“Personally, I do not want the tragedy of one of our students dying while enrolled to occur. Everyone, please think on that.”
The Principal spoke as if he were concerned for our well-being, but was it just my cynical nature that made it sound like he was simply saying, "Just don't die while you're our student"?
With the Principal’s closing remarks, the assembly adjourned. The students began to leave the gym, starting with the third-years, talking among themselves as they went. As I headed back to the classroom, I listened in on the conversations of students who held explorer licenses.
“Hey, what are you gonna do?”
“About the restraint thing?”
“Yeah. You gonna skip the dungeon this weekend?”
“As if! The Principal said it was a request, not a ban. It’s fine.”
“But a high schooler actually died...”
“That’s because they were a rookie, right? It’s got nothing to do with us!”
“My allowance is tight this month, so skipping the dungeon isn't an option!”
“Exactly. There's a new designer bag coming out next month, so I have to earn some cash in the dungeon now.”
“Besides, that rookie who died... they got killed by some trash on the first floor, right?”
“Seems like it. Dying on the first floor is almost impressive, isn't it?”
“Totally. Those guys were just clumsy. It doesn't matter to us since we can dive much deeper!”
“Should we hold off for a bit and see how things go?”
“Hmm, well, I guess that’s fine, but...”
Everyone was acting so cocky. Integrating the conversations I overheard, there were three main opinions. First, the rookie died because they were pathetic. Second, they were high-level enough that it wasn't their problem. Third, they should actually follow the request for a while. The first opinion was common to almost every conversation, but opinions were split between the second and third.
However, the vast majority pushed the second opinion, and very few favored the third. The request for restraint had become a mere formality almost as soon as the assembly ended.
“I wonder what that whole assembly was even for,” I muttered.
“Who knows? It doesn't look like anyone intends to listen,” Hiiragi-san noted.
“Once you have a certain amount of skill, being an explorer is like a high-paying part-time job. Very few people are going to just say 'okay' and stop when they're told to,” Yuji added.
Back in the classroom, the three of us continued discussing the assembly. Other students were also split into groups, debating the request.
“In the end, it’s just the school building a defensive line for when something happens, isn’t it? So they can say they told the students to stay away.”
“Probably,” Yuji agreed.
“I agree,” Hiiragi-san said. “If they were serious about stopping students, they would confiscate our Explorer Cards under the pretext of keeping them safe at school, just like they do with driver's licenses.”
She was likely right. In our school, getting a driver's license while enrolled is a violation of the rules, and the license is held by the school until graduation. Since an Explorer Card is required to enter a dungeon, they should have confiscated them if they were serious. It wasn't impossible to get a card reissued at the Association, but given the government wasn't particularly fond of minors exploring, they’d likely reject the request.
“Hey, everyone, get to your seats. We’re starting homeroom.”
The homeroom teacher entered. Perhaps because of the assembly, there weren't many announcements, and homeroom finished in a few minutes.
“Well then, shall we go explain the situation to Juzo-san and have him coach us on our demonstration?”
“Yeah, I doubt Gramps will say no.”
“I hope so.”
We packed our things and left the classroom together.