While bewildered at being suddenly approached by girls I didn't know, I tried to maintain my composure as I asked why they had stopped me.
"Umm... can I help you with something?"
"Sorry to bother you so suddenly. Um, well... this."
"Wait, what!?"
The girl on the right thrust her smartphone screen toward me. What was this all of a sudden? Did she want me to look at it?
I leaned back slightly to get the screen in focus and scanned the video playing on it....Wait, seriously!?
"Um... the person in this video is you, right!?"
The footage on the girl's phone was from the cheering competition we’d performed at our recent sports festival. Even though it was shot from a distance, the quality was good enough that our faces were somewhat recognizable during the mock battle. It wasn't crystal clear, but anyone who knew us personally would have no trouble identifying us.
...Where the hell did this leak from? Well, I had to try and play it off for now.
"Umm... what is this?"
"Eh, you don't know? This is a hot video with over a hundred thousand views!"
"...Pardon?"
Wait, a hundred thousand views? What on earth was she talking about?
As I reeled from the girl's words, the other one chimed in with more details.
"All sorts of rumors are flying around on the internet about this video right now... Do you really not know? People are saying that whoever can move like this must be a famous high-level explorer, or a truant who skips school to grind in the dungeon, or even a high school dropout explorer who's a dungeon addict..."
"I never thought I'd actually meet the person from the rumors in a place like this!"
Hey now, those are some pretty wild rumors... Even if a few bits of truth are mixed in there, what the hell?
I kept a calm facade to mask my internal panic while digging for more information. Fortunately, it seemed individual names hadn't leaked yet, but the school's name had already been exposed. It was likely only a matter of time... What a mess!
"I-I see. But this is probably just a case of mistaken identity. There’s no way I could move like that, honestly..."
"Ehh! But you look exactly like the guy in the video!"
"I mean, we might look similar, but look at this resolution... Like I said, I can't do anything that impressive. It's just a coincidence."
"But, still..."
After a few more strained rounds of back-and-forth, the girls finally accepted my excuse that they had the wrong person, though their dubious expressions told me they weren't entirely sold on it.
...They were definitely still suspicious.
"Um, we're sorry. We made a scene even though we had the wrong guy..."
"No, don't worry about it. I'm sorry for getting your hopes up."
"Please excuse us."
"Ah, right..."
The girls gave a light bow and walked toward the building's exit. They kept glancing back at me with suspicious looks the whole way out, though.
Still... Sigh. This has turned into a real headache.
Once they were out of sight, I let out a long sigh and scanned the waiting area. In the back, I saw Mika and Saori-chan peering into a bag filled with drop items while Yuji and Hiiragi-san watched over them. It was such a peaceful scene that I felt bad breaking the mood with what I'd just learned.
Holding our numbered ticket, I headed back toward them. Yuji noticed me approaching and looked up with a puzzled frown.
"I thought you were taking a long time just to get a ticket... Did something happen?"
"A little bit, yeah..."
"..."
Seeing my strained, stiff smile, Yuji's expression immediately shifted to one that said he knew something bad had occurred.
"Our turn is coming up soon, so I'll give you the details later. Anyway, here's the ticket."
"...Oh."
After handing the ticket to Yuji, I sat down and pulled out my phone to verify the information those girls had mentioned. I needed to see the problematic video for myself. I hadn't been able to check it thoroughly in front of the girls earlier.
I opened a video sharing app and searched for "sports festival." The results were endless. When I filtered by upload date, there were nearly a hundred videos related to sports festivals uploaded in just the last few days. Since various high schools were holding their first festivals since the dungeons appeared, there was a lot of buzz surrounding explorer students. However...
"Whoa..."
A small groan escaped my lips. Multiple videos specifically featuring the demonstration from our cheering competition had been uploaded.
Worse yet, every single one had over a hundred thousand views and an unusually high number of likes.
"...What's wrong?"
"Ah, no... it's nothing."
"...I see. Well, we're about to be called, so don't get too sucked into your phone."
"Ah, yeah. Got it."
I gave Yuji a slight nod and quietly closed the app, shoving my phone into my pocket as if I could hide the problem there.
Sigh... How am I supposed to tell everyone?
"Ticket number fifty-three. Thank you for waiting, please come to the reception counter."
While I was agonizing over how to bring it up, our number was called. Yuji stood up and signaled for everyone to move.
"Everyone, looks like it's our turn. Let's go."
Okaay!
Mika and Saori-chan replied cheerfully, their voices full of anticipation. Hiiragi-san and I shared a small smile at the sight. Since this appraisal included magic items, the payout was bound to be good... It made sense that those two, who were both broke and in debt, were excited. With this, they could likely pay me back in full, though they probably wouldn't have much left over for gear or savings.
And then...
"That concludes the procedure. Thank you for using our services."
"Thank you very much."
The clerk at the counter bowed, and we returned the gesture before moving away. We didn't want to block the line for the people behind us.
We returned to an empty corner of the waiting area to review the results.
"That was a better price than I expected..."
"Yeah!"
"It was."
In response to my comment, Mika and Saori-chan beamed with joy. They looked absolutely thrilled. Even though the individual price for shallow floor items was low, we had a high volume of them, and it added up to a significant sum.
"We did it, Saori-chan! Now you can pay back the money you borrowed from Onii-chan!"
"Yeah! Combined with yesterday's share, I can totally pay it off, Mika-chan!"
"Saori-chan!"
"Mika-chan!"
"..."
Mika and Saori-chan hugged each other right there in their chairs, celebrating their escape from debt. Talk about an over-the-top reaction. If people see two girls who look like rookie explorers doing that, they're going to think I'm some kind of shady loan shark.
And as for you two! Yuji, Hiiragi-san! You both know the situation, so stop looking at me with those disdainful eyes just to play along! You're going to cause some weird misunderstandings with everyone else here!
"...Sigh. Alright, alright, everyone. Let's wrap up the comedy routine and have a talk."
I let out an exhausted sigh and clapped my hands, forcibly ending their poorly-acted skit. I really couldn't play the villain in their little play any longer.
Then again, even after a long dungeon exploration, the fact that Mika and Saori-chan could pull off an impromptu performance like this meant they had much more mental leeway than yesterday. I guess the good news about their debts really did wonders for their spirits.
"Ah, my bad. We went a bit too far with the joke."
"Sorry about that."
"Sorry."
"I'm sorry."
"...Sigh, it's fine. More importantly, there's something I need to talk to you about away from prying ears. Can we move somewhere else? We're standing out a bit too much."
I glanced around the waiting room. While it wasn't crowded, the girls' skit had definitely drawn quite a few eyes.
It was definitely not the place to discuss the video.
"You're... right. We should probably move."
The other four looked around and noticed the attention they'd attracted, looking a bit sheepish. Well, it was their own fault for the performance.
"Let's rent a meeting room. We won't have to worry about being overheard there," Hiiragi-san suggested.
"Good idea. Let's go handle the paperwork quickly. We're just attracting weird looks here."
"Got it."
"Sure."
"Okay."
"Yes."
After handling the rental, we hurried out of the waiting area and into a private meeting room.
Once inside, we set our bags in the corner and sank into the chairs, letting out a collective breath. Why the rush? Because after the skit, several other people had approached us, asking—just like the girls from before—if we were the ones in that video.
I had managed to play dumb, but they had looked just as skeptical as the first pair.
"...So, Daiki? Is this what you were going to tell us?"
"...Yeah. I was approached the moment I went to get the ticket."
"...I see."
"...Yeah."
Sigh...
Both Yuji and I let out heavy, exhausted sighs simultaneously.
Hiiragi-san, also looking weary, pulled out her phone. "For now, let's confirm the video and what's being said online. We can't decide how to handle this without knowing exactly what's out there."
"That's... a good point. Let's look together."
Following Hiiragi-san's suggestion, all five of us started scouring the web. The sound of the sports festival video filled the room, punctuated by our bitter groans.
After about ten minutes of focused research, we had a general grasp of the situation.
"...As far as I can tell, individual names haven't leaked yet."
"But it's only a matter of time. Even if no one is aggressively doxing us yet, the school's been identified," Yuji pointed out.
"And it's not like the school restricted information about the sports festival. Eventually, a student will post something on social media just for the clout," Hiiragi-san added.
In today's connected world, a single spark is all it takes for ordinary people to have their private lives laid bare. If you're active on blogs or video sites, your entire lifestyle can be pieced together. Fortunately, I don't do either.
As I was brooding over this, Mika spoke up hesitantly, raising her hand.
"Um... this is hard to say, Onii-chan, but I just searched for stuff related to our school... and while there are no full names on the boards, someone posted initials."
"...Are you serious?"
"...Yeah. D.K, Y.H, M.K, Y.H, S.K... It's all of our initials."
"Ugh..."
Hearing Mika's report, I slumped over the table and buried my face in my arms. This was definitely coming from someone at school....Wait, someone at school?
I lifted my head and looked at Yuji and Hiiragi-san.
"...Yuji, Hiiragi-san? I just thought of something. How many views do the videos not featuring us have?"
"Views for other videos? Hold on... Huh? That's weird..."
"...You're right. The view counts for anything not related to us are incredibly low."
"I thought so..."
I sat up straight and voiced my suspicion to the group.
"Everyone, let's check if other videos are blowing up like ours."
"By that, you mean if they're causing a similar frenzy?" Yuji asked.
"Yeah. It feels like... I don't know, like our video is the only one being singled out. It feels like it's being made popular. I think someone might be intentionally fanning the flames."
...!
The realization hit everyone at once. Once I said it, the possibility was impossible to ignore. After all, we all knew someone who had a very good reason to be doing exactly that.
"So, what do you say? Shall we look into it?"
Without a word, everyone nodded in grim agreement.