As I tucked my digital camera into my bag, I caught Saori-chan looking at me with a bewildered gaze. I tried to strike up a conversation, doing my best to sound natural.
"It’s been a few days, hasn’t it? It’s already past noon, but... good morning, Saori-chan."
"Good morning."
"Aren't you in the middle of your shift? What are you doing out here?"
"That’s my line! Mika-chan mentioned you might be coming, but what were you doing pointing a camera at the tent?"
Yeah, it didn't look like I was going to talk my way out of this one.
Well, it wasn't like it was a big deal that she’d caught me, but I should at least swear her to secrecy.
"I’m just running a little favor."
"A favor?"
"Yeah, for Mom and Dad. They asked me to come get some pictures of Mika in action at her job."
"Pictures of her working...?"
Saori-chan tilted her head, looking a bit perplexed as she tried to process that.
"Yeah. From their perspective, I guess it’s like a 'growth record' photo? Oh, but keep this a secret from Mika. If she gets embarrassed and deletes the data, I’ll be in trouble."
"Oh, uh, okay. But is that really all right? She’ll be furious if she finds out."
"If it comes to that, I’ll just win her back with some sweets."
Saori-chan gave me a look of slight exasperation.
But, well... for now, I’d say I successfully swore her to silence.
"Anyway, back to my question, Saori-chan. What are you doing here?"
"Eh? Me? I’m... ah!"
Something about my question seemed to trigger her memory. She checked her watch and let out a panicked cry, her expression turning grim.
"I’m sorry, Onii-san! I’m out of time, so I have to go! Please enjoy the event!"
"Wait, time?"
"It’s time for my lunch break! Well then, Onii-san, see you later!"
"Ah, right. Good luck, Saori-chan."
With a quick bow and a hurried apology, Saori-chan dashed off toward the tent housing the merchandise area. I stood there, watching her retreating back until she disappeared into the crowd.
Apparently, she really was cutting it close to the shift change.
"...Guess I’ll head over too."
Feeling a twinge of guilt for making her waste time on small talk, I began walking slowly toward the merchandise tent, following in her wake.
As I approached, I made eye contact with Mika, who was busy working the counter. I raised a hand and called out to her casually.
"Yo, Mika. Looks like you’re working hard."
"Ah, Onii-chan! You actually came..."
"Is it a problem that I'm here?"
"No, it's not that, but..."
Mika looked down, her face flushing a deep red with embarrassment. Honestly, I didn't see what there was to be so embarrassed about.
While I was talking to the blushing Mika, another sales clerk—a college-aged girl wearing glasses—had been watching us. She finally spoke up.
"Kokonoe-san, is everything okay? Is this guy an acquaintance?"
"...Yes. He's my brother."
"Oh, I see."
Apparently, she’d thought Mika was being hassled by some creep. The wary look in the glasses-wearing sales clerk’s eyes softened, if only slightly.
"Ah, sorry. It seems I’ve interrupted your work. I’m her brother. Thank you for looking after Mika."
"Is that so? You're her brother..."
Seeing me bow and offer a polite greeting, the clerk finally lowered her guard. She seemed like the type who took good care of others.
"So, Onii-chan, what did you come here for?"
"What for...? Obviously to see the event. You gave such a passionate presentation about it yesterday that you got me curious."
"Ugh..."
"Of course, I also figured I’d see how my sister’s doing at work while I’m at it."
Mika looked utterly crushed as she realized she was the direct cause of my visit.
The glasses-wearing sales clerk watched our exchange with a small smile before making a suggestion.
"You two are close. Well then, Kokonoe-san, why don't you show your brother around?"
"...Eh?"
"You're about to go on your lunch break anyway, aren't you? Why don't you go walk the venue with him?"
"But the shift change..."
"Leave the rest to me. There’s less than five minutes until the changeover; I’ll be fine on my own for that long."
The considerate clerk urged Mika to take an early break. Mika looked at me, uncertain of what to do.
Well, since she was being so nice, we might as well accept the offer.
"Mika, she's going out of her way to be kind. Let's take her up on it."
"Eh? But..."
"It's fine, it's fine. I'll explain things to your relief, so hurry up and go."
The glasses-wearing sales clerk gave Mika a gentle nudge from behind. Faced with such insistence, Mika couldn't refuse. Though she looked a bit reluctant to leave her post, she finally stood up.
She took off her happi coat and hat, then stood beside me holding a convenience store bag.
"Well then, I’ll be borrowing Mika for a bit."
"Please take good care of her."
Mika and I both bowed slightly and thanked the clerk.
"Don't mention it. Oh, and your lunch break ends at 2:30 PM. Don't forget, okay?"
"Yes! Thank you so much!"
With that final reminder, the glasses-wearing sales clerk gave us a small wave as she saw us off.
Once we were a short distance away from the merchandise area, I turned to Mika.
"Since you’re on break, I assume you haven't eaten yet. Want to head to the dining area first?"
"Yeah."
"Then I’ll treat you, since I caused a bit of trouble back there."
"Wait, really?! Awesome!"
Mika let out a cry of delight and clung to my arm. My offer seemed to have made her incredibly happy.
"You seem pretty thrilled about it."
"Of course! There were so many things I wanted to try, but the food stalls at this event are so expensive! There was no way I could afford them on my own."
"Well, even if the prices have come down since the early days, they use plenty of dungeon ingredients. It's bound to be pricier than normal stall food."
"Even so, isn't it crazy to charge over 1,000 yen for a single pack of yakisoba?"
I'm sorry... I actually ate that earlier. It was quite delicious.
I kept a straight face and continued listening to Mika’s grievances.
"The whole venue smells amazing, but us part-timers can't afford to eat anything. This job is absolute torture, I swear."
"...I see."
"Yeah! If I gave in to temptation and bought lunch here, my entire day's wages would just vanish!"
"Yeah, I guess they would."
Working a job because you need the money, only to lose those wages to the food stalls at the workplace... talk about putting the cart before the horse.
"Lunch is our own responsibility, so most of us just eat convenience store bentos. Don't you think they could at least provide a staff meal?"
Mika held up her convenience store bag and continued to vent. It seemed her frustration with the food situation had been bottling up, as the complaints kept pouring out of her.
...What should I do about this? Well, there was really only one solution.
"Look, I'm paying today, so just get whatever you want to eat."
"Yes! Thank you, Onii-chan!"
"Hah..."
While I had some wiggle room in my finances, I didn't have a ton of cash on hand... I wondered if it would be enough.
Suppresing a slight sense of anxiety, I let Mika lead me by the hand toward the dining area.
A row of empty containers now sat on the table. Mika pressed her hands together in front of her.
"Phew... thank you for the food."
"You're welcome. Though, you really put it away, didn't you?"
"Well, there were just so many things I was curious about!"
Mika wiped her mouth with a paper napkin, a satisfied smile on her face. Her mood seemed to have done a complete 180. Feeling relieved, I started cleaning up the empty containers and putting them into a plastic bag.
"So, what now? You have about thirty minutes left of your break, right?"
"Yeah....Hmm, what should we do? Onii-chan, do you want to check out the local products exhibition area?"
"I already took a walk through there before I came to find you."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. There were some... interesting things."
Like fake skill scrolls and a very shrewd old man.
"Then, hey! Did you see the skill scrolls I told you about? Were there any left?"
"Yeah, they were still there. But stay away from those. They're bad news."
"...Are they fakes after all?"
"I can't say for certain, but even for a 'limited special price,' the cost is just too weird. Even if there's a chance they're real, it's better not to touch something that suspicious."
"I see... Sigh."
Mika let out a disappointed sigh.
While my Appraisal Analysis had confirmed they were fakes, I couldn't exactly declare that based on an appraisal result in the middle of a crowd like this. If the Association really was using them as a trap to smoke out people with the appraisal skill, there was no telling who might be listening.
As I was comforting the dejected Mika, an announcement blared over the speakers, followed by a roar of cheers from a corner of the grounds.
"What was that?"
"Oh, that's right! At this time, they’re holding mock battles between explorers at the stage area."
Checking her watch, Mika happily explained the source of the noise.
"The mock battles... the ones you said were so great?"
"Yeah! It’s like the hero shows on TV—they really fly and leap around!"
"Heh."
Listening to Mika’s excitement, I looked toward the stage area.
"Hey, hey, Onii-chan. Let's go over there!"
"To see the mock battles?"
"Yeah! I think it's worth seeing at least once!"
"I see... well, let's head over then."
"Yeah! Oh, but before that..."
Mika pulled her phone out of her pocket and started tapping away.
"...What are you doing?"
"Setting a timer. I can't get so absorbed in the fight that I miss the end of my break. Okay, set for ten minutes before. That should do it."
"Right. Let’s go."
Once she was done with her phone, I grabbed the bag of trash from the table and stood up. There was a large bin set up in a corner of the eating area, so I tossed the bag in, rejoined Mika, and started moving toward the stage.
The seating in front of the stage was already packed, and the standing area was overflowing with people. Fortunately, the fight hadn't started yet; the MC was still in the middle of warming up the crowd.
Mika and I moved around, searching for a spot where the crowd was a bit thinner, but my frustration grew as we heard cheers without being able to see what was happening.
"That's quite the crowd..."
"It's a popular event, so it can't be helped."
"But we can't see the stage like this."
"True... wait, maybe we can see from over there?"
Mika pointed toward a spot that looked like it might afford a glimpse of the stage. It was almost directly to the side, which meant we wouldn't see the whole performance, but the density of people was definitely lower.
"...Well, beggars can't be choosers. Let's try it."
We pushed through the gaps in the crowd and reached the spot.
"Phew... well, we can technically see it."
"...Yeah."
We could see the stage, but only just. It was going to be impossible to get a full view of the action.
"Was it like this yesterday, too?"
"No. There were fewer people yesterday, so it was easier to find a spot."
I couldn't help but complain about the sheer number of people.
"Then why is it so packed now?"
"Who knows? Maybe it showed up on the news or something..."
"I guess that's possible."
It wouldn't be surprising if a TV station or two had covered an event of this size.
While Mika and I were lamenting the crowd, the MC finished his introductory speech.
"Now then! I'd like to introduce the explorers who will be performing for us today! Everyone, please give them a big round of applause!"
The crowd broke into a thunderous ovation.
"First up! The E-rank explorer, Koichi Mizusawa!"
A male explorer stepped out from behind the stage. The applause intensified as he was welcomed with cheers. He was wearing the official armor sold by the Dungeon Association and carried a wooden pole about the length of a man's height. Perhaps he was a spear user?
"And next! Also an E-rank explorer, Yoji Miyano!"
Another wave of applause and cheering rose up, but I didn't hear it. I was too busy staring at the next explorer to step out. I froze, my mind racing.
...Miyano-san? What in the world is he doing here?