While Mika and I stood there drawing the gaze of everyone around us, we waited for a few minutes until the first person we were expecting finally appeared.
"Sorry to keep you waiting!"
The first to join us was Saori-chan, carrying a Boston bag roughly the same size as Mika's.
"Ah, Saori-chan!"
"...Good morning, Saori-chan."
"Good morning... Wait! Mika-chan?!"
Mika, who had been desperately averting her eyes from the surrounding stares, seemed to have her tension snap. As if she had seen a savior in hell, she rushed over to Saori-chan and grabbed her hands, her face lighting up with joy. Saori-chan, on the other hand, looked utterly bewildered by Mika’s unexpected enthusiasm.
Well, anyone would be confused if someone suddenly charged at them with a beaming smile the moment they arrived.
"Wait, uh, hold on, Mika-chan! O-Onii-san? What on earth is going on...?"
"Ah... well, you see..."
I gave the confused Saori-chan a brief explanation of how Mika had ended up in this state—how they’d drawn so much attention at yesterday’s sports festival, but I’d carelessly forgotten to bring any disguises, leaving us stuck in the middle of a crowd of students with nowhere to hide.
Upon hearing this, Saori-chan glanced at our clothes and let out a small sigh.
"Goodness. What were you two thinking? We did something quite flashy at the sports festival yesterday, you know. If people who’ve drawn that much attention are standing around the station completely defenseless, there’s no way kids from our school won’t notice. Of course you're going to get stared at."
"Y-Yeah. You’re right..."
"That’s exactly why I borrowed this hat from my mom before I left."
As she spoke, Saori-chan pointed to the peaked casquette she was wearing. It was true that even a single hat could drastically change the impression someone gave at a glance....Sigh.
Feeling pathetic about my own oversight, I grabbed Mika by the shoulders—she was still clinging to Saori-chan—and pulled her away. It would probably be a nuisance to Saori-chan if she kept clinging like that.
"Alright, Mika, that's enough."
"Eh, wait! Let go, Onii-chan!"
"If you keep hugging her forever, you'll just be a bother, won't you?"
"Uuugh."
"It's no use giving me that resentful look..."
Once I peeled the disappointed Mika away, Saori-chan looked somewhat relieved. Saori-chan... sorry about my sister, okay?
A few more minutes passed. While the three of us waited and chatted, Yuji and Hiiragi-san appeared at the meeting spot, both lightly disguised with things like hats and sunglasses.
"Yo, morning, you three!"
"Morning, everyone... Oh? Don't tell me Kokonoe-kun and Mika-chan came just like that?"
Yuji, who had added a small shoulder bag to his usual explorer set just like I had, and Hiiragi-san, who was carrying a large Boston bag like the other girls, greeted us as they walked over.
As expected, Hiiragi-san gave us a dubious look, sounding slightly surprised as she questioned Mika and me for not wearing any disguises.
"Ah, yeah. A bit of a mistake, or rather, I just wasn't thinking..."
"..."
While I made excuses and averted my eyes, Hiiragi-san and Yuji directed lukewarm stares at me, both heavily laced with exasperation. For a while, I tried to ignore their gazes by pretending not to notice, but I finally couldn't take it anymore.
"I'm sorry. I just completely forgot about the disguises..."
Haaah...
As I apologized with a slight bow, twin sighs escaped their lips.
Hoping to move past my blunder, I suggested we should hurry through the ticket gate now that everyone was here, but Hiiragi-san stopped me. She pointed out that if we moved as we were, we might attract attention and cause a stir inside the gates and on the train, so it would be better to get some disguises now. She had a point. If people started calling out to us on the train, there’d be no escape, and it would become a massive hassle.
So, as an emergency measure, we all headed to the convenience store attached to the station to buy hats and masks. The hats they had were simple designs that prioritized functionality over style, but they were fine for our purposes, so I bought two and we put them on.
When we returned to our original spot with our simple disguises, the number of gazes directed at us decreased noticeably....Talk about effective.
"Alright, now that we're ready, let's go."
"O-Oh."
"Right."
"Yeah!"
"Yes!"
Led by Yuji, we passed through the ticket gate. When we reached the departure platform, a surprising sight jumped into view.
On the opposite platform, a swarm of young people who looked like student explorers, all carrying large luggage, were crowded together in a space that barely seemed large enough to hold them.
"Whoa, what... is that?"
Mika unintentionally let out a voice of surprise.
"Isn't it a swarm of young people heading to the nearby dungeons?"
"Even so, there's a lot of them..."
I replied to Mika's murmur while staring at the crowd of youths, and Saori-chan, standing next to me, spoke in a bewildered tone.
Even though it was still early in the morning, there really were a staggering number of them....Maybe around a hundred?
"...It might be our fault."
"You're right. Just as Hirose-kun said, there's a possibility that this commotion was caused by the demonstration we did yesterday..."
Hearing their conversation, I silently nodded in agreement. Considering the age group of the youths gathered on the platform, there was a high probability we were the cause. I didn't recognize any individual faces, but most of that group were likely students from our school.
Seeing someone from their own generation—someone who became an explorer at the same time as them—perform a demonstration like that... they probably felt that if they worked hard, they could do the same.
"Does that mean our actions set fire to their motivation?"
"Or maybe it's a desire for fame, curiosity, or perhaps ambition..."
"Either way, yesterday's demonstration might have sparked the emotions that were smoldering inside them," Yuji and Hiiragi-san replied to Saori-chan's question in troubled tones.
Of course, we probably weren't the only cause, but if the students of our school overdid it because of this and ended up dead or injured... Just thinking about it made me realize how much of a headache it could become.
While we were watching the people on the adjacent platform with those thoughts in mind, an announcement signaled the arrival of a train. Then...
"Whoa, it's completely packed..."
"Even though it's Sunday morning, it looks like a commuter train during rush hour..."
"Everyone looks like they're suffering..."
"They're all carrying large bags. Even if the number of passengers was lower than during rush hour, the actual density inside the car probably wouldn't be much different."
"I wonder if the windows will break with that many people inside..."
We watched the people as they forced themselves onto the over-capacity train, our expressions a mix of exasperation and pity. Occasionally, a few people looked through the windows with gazes that seemed to beg for help, so we averted our eyes and offered a silent prayer for their souls. I mean, it’s not like we could actually help them.
The train, packed tight with people, departed the station indifferently and on schedule, regardless of the passengers' plight.
"...I don't ever want to ride a train like that."
Yeah.
Right after seeing the packed train off, our own train arrived. We sat down in the empty seats and let out breaths of relief at our own travel environment, which, while taking more time, was reasonably comfortable.
Truly, everyone, thanks for your hard work on your "commute."
We arrived at the station closest to the dungeon, a place we had become accustomed to visiting over the past six months. We immediately stowed our overnight luggage in station coin lockers and headed to a nearby convenience store to buy food for lunch. Since several other major convenience store chains had recently opened near the station, the customer traffic that used to be concentrated in one place was now dispersed, so the inside of the store wasn't that crowded.
It was a full-blown convenience store war zone out here.
"Alright. Lunch secured."
"There were fewer customers than when we came before, so quite a few items were still left even at this time."
"It means sales are down for the store, so it's probably not a good thing for them. Well... it helped us out, though."
After each of us bought sandwiches or onigiri for lunch, we returned to the station rotary where the shuttle bus to the dungeon arrived and departed. The first shuttle seemed to have already left, and the queue had thinned out significantly. At this rate, it looked like we could all barely squeeze onto the second bus.
While lining up at the end of the queue, we briefly confirmed today's schedule to pass the time.
"For now, the plan for today is to dive into the dungeon until around 19:00, then head to the hotel we're staying at after finishing dinner."
"Until 19:00...?"
Saori-chan repeated the return time with a slightly uneasy expression. Well, until now, they'd only been diving for a few hours at most. It was natural to feel anxious after suddenly hearing a dive schedule of nearly half a day.
Seeing her like that, I spoke with a more serious tone.
"Yeah. It'll be the first long-duration dungeon attack for you two, but if you intend to continue as explorers, it's something you'll have to experience eventually."
"..."
"...You'll be okay, right?"
Hearing my words, Mika and Saori-chan gasped and then exchanged looks filled with anxiety. They had probably made up their minds when they heard they were going on an overnight trip, but it seemed the reality was finally hitting home now that it was being said to them face-to-face.
Then, after a short silence, Mika and Saori-chan turned their determined gazes toward us... mainly toward me.
Yes!
"...Good response. Well, we'll be diving with you, so if it's just exploring the surface floors, I don't think you need to worry too much. Just don't let your guard down or get overconfident, okay?"
"..."
Mika and Saori-chan nodded their heads vigorously.
Well, they should be fine like this.
"Alright. Then, about the hotel..."
"We should probably contact them to let them know what time we'll be checking in."
"You're right. If we don't contact them until late, they might treat it as a cancellation."
"Ah, that's possible... Then, it might be a bit early, but I'll try calling them now. Is checking in at, say, 21:00 okay?"
"If we include dinner and travel time, that sounds about right, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. For a tentative schedule, I think check-in at 21:00 is fine."
"Got it."
The signal strength wasn't too bad since the number of dungeon users had increased, but the dungeon we were heading to was deep in the mountains, so I decided to contact the hotel now while I had the chance. I took out my smartphone and dialed the number for the hotel I’d registered in advance.
The receptionist picked up on the third ring.
"Hello. This is Hotel Saiun."
"Ah, excuse me. My name is Kokonoe, and I have a reservation for today."
"Yes. Mr. Kokonoe... right? I will check, so please wait a moment....Yes, I've confirmed it. We have a reservation for five people in two rooms. How may I help you?"
"Um, about the check-in time... would it be okay to check in around 21:00?"
"Yes, that's fine. Our hotel accepts check-ins until 23:00, so if your check-in time is going to be later than that, please contact us again."
"Ah, yes. Understood. Well then, I look forward to it."
"The same to you. We'll be waiting for your arrival."
I hung up while giving a slight bow to the phone and told the others that checking in around 21:00 was fine.
"They said it's fine. Also, they mentioned calling again if it looks like we'll be even later."
"I see. Then it looks like we don't have to worry about the hotel."
"Yeah."
Just as we were feeling relieved that our lodging was confirmed, the second shuttle bus to the dungeon entered the rotary.
Alright. Now then, shall we devote ourselves to dungeon exploration to our heart's content?