The term-end exams were finally over, and for the first time in a while, we all gathered in the clubroom. Since no one was wearing a particularly gloomy expression, it seemed everyone had performed reasonably well.
"First off, good work on the exams, everyone."
"Good work!"
When I offered those words of appreciation, everyone replied with expressions that seemed to relax just a little.
"So, how did it go? How were the results? No one failed anything, right?"
"Yeah, I think I’m in the clear," Yuji said.
"I’m alright as well," Hiiragi-san added.
Judging by the total lack of anxiety on their faces, Yuji and Hiiragi-san seemed to have handled it without a problem.
On the other hand...
"I’m a little unsure about Japanese History, but I don't think I failed," Saori-chan said.
"I think I hit around the average score, so I should be okay," Tatebayashi-san followed.
"I’m a bit worried about math..." Mika admitted.
"Don't worry, it’ll probably be fine," Hino-san whispered.
Saori-chan and Tatebayashi-san seemed to have survived, but Mika and Hino-san clearly had some lingering doubts. We had spent time during our study sessions trying to crush their weak subjects, but since those were their weak points to begin with, they lacked confidence.
As I was checking in on everyone’s performance, Yuji turned the question back on me.
"What about you, Daiki? How did you do? Did you survive Classical Japanese?"
"Ah... yeah. Well, I’m fine....Probably."
I scratched my cheek with my fingertip and averted my eyes from Yuji's gaze. I believed I had avoided a failing grade, at the very least. But if someone were to ask if I’d stayed above the class average? That was a different story.
"...Onii-chan."
"...Kokonoe-senpai."
"..."
Faced with the looks from Mika and Hino-san—eyes that seemed to say they had found a kindred spirit—I instinctively looked up at the ceiling in silence. I felt as though something precious within me was being ground down with an audible rasp.
After staring at the ceiling for a moment, I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
"W-well, whatever. At any rate, it looks like we’ve all managed to avoid failing for now."
"...Yeah, I guess so," Yuji muttered with a look of mild exasperation.
Ignoring him, I turned toward Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san to continue the meeting.
"Tatebayashi-san, Hino-san. There’s something I want to check with you two. Is that okay?"
"What is it?" they asked in unison.
"Well, as you know, everyone in this club except you two is an active explorer. I wanted to see if you two have any interest in trying out the explorer profession yourselves. Of course, I’m not saying you have to do it just because you're in the club. If you're not interested, just say so."
At my question, Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san looked at each other with bewildered expressions and fell silent.
"..."
"Well, I suppose it’s hard to give an immediate answer to a sudden question like that. You don’t have to decide right now, so just give it some thought."
"Okay."
I looked away from the pondering pair and addressed the other four.
"So, about this weekend. What’s the plan?"
"By 'the plan,' you mean whether or not we’re going into the dungeon, right?" Hiiragi-san asked.
"Ah, yeah. Exactly. Exams are over, but we won’t have the results yet. If anyone’s too stressed about their grades to focus, it might be better to just take the weekend off."
If you head into a dungeon dive while distracted, you’re liable to sustain an unexpected injury. It’s always best to approach exploration in peak condition, both mentally and physically.
"True. I don't have anything in particular to worry about, but..."
Hiiragi-san’s gaze drifted between me and Mika. Yes, she was right. The only ones harboring seeds of academic anxiety were me and my sister.
As Hiiragi-san and I were having that exchange, Yuji cut in.
"Hey, can I have a second, you two?"
"Hmm? What is it, Yuji?"
"I didn't bring it up before because of the exams, but the Old Man said he wanted to see you two once the tests were over."
"...Juzo-san did?"
A summons from Juzo-san? Did we do something wrong?
As Hiiragi-san and I tilted our heads, unable to think of any reason for the summons, Yuji elaborated.
"Yeah. He said he wanted to talk a bit about how we’re going to spend our summer vacation."
"...Summer vacation?"
I was still confused, but Hiiragi-san seemed to realize something. Her eyes widened slightly.
"Hirose-kun. Is this perhaps about that long-duration dungeon exploration we mentioned doing over the summer?"
"Yeah. He said he wanted to talk to us about that before the break starts."
Hearing that, it clicked.
Lately, our record for dive depth had stalled at the 30th floor. This wasn't because we lacked the ability to go further, but simply because we lacked the time. In a dungeon, the deeper you go, the longer the return trip becomes. Consequently, no matter how much time you allocate for a dive, you can only spend about half of it actually descending. Since we usually did our dungeon exploration as day trips on weekends, we only had about half a day at most to push forward.
For student explorers, this was still a high level of activity. But compared to the pro explorers who competed for the deepest records, it was nothing. Those at the top basically set up camp inside the dungeon for days on end to keep pushing.
That was why we had planned to use summer vacation to spend several days diving—to finally reach the deeper floors. We had mentioned this to Juzo-san quite a while ago, so it made sense that he’d want to speak with us about it.
"I see. In that case, should we head to your place sooner rather than later?"
"I don't think it’ll be a problem if we’re a little late. He didn't say it was an emergency."
Even so, keeping him waiting wasn't ideal. I glanced at Hiiragi-san; she gave a light nod of agreement, so we decided to head out early.
I turned an apologetic gaze toward Mika and the others who had been watching us.
"Um, well. That’s how it is, so..."
"Ah, yeah. Don't worry about us, Onii-chan," Mika said. "It's not like we had anything specific planned, and it would be bad to keep Juzo-san waiting."
"I-Is that so? Sorry about this..."
I gave them a small bow, feeling a bit awkward about cutting things short.
With that, our club activities for the day were concluded. While we were off to meet with Juzo-san, Mika and the other three were apparently headed to a nearby family restaurant for a post-exam celebration—and to discuss the proposal I’d just made. I figured it would be easier for Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san to decide if they could hear about the explorer life from people their own age.
"I’ll leave those two to you, then," I told Mika. "And just to be safe, I'll say it again: you don't have to pressure them into joining us, okay?"
"I know. I'll tell them about my own experiences if they ask, but I won't force them. We've seen enough of that nonsense from Goto-kun and his lot."
"Right. Well, I’m counting on you."
"Yeah. Good luck with the talk with Juzo-san, Onii-chan."
After that brief exchange with Mika, we parted ways at the school gate and started walking toward our respective destinations.
On the way to Yuji's house, we talked more about Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san.
"What do you think they’ll do?"
"Who knows?" Yuji replied. "But if they decide to give it a try, I’ll leave their training to Mika-chan and the others as planned. Though we’ll obviously step in to help."
"I agree," Hiiragi-san said. "But they don't necessarily have to become explorers. Since they’ve joined our club and established themselves after the sports festival, those other guys should stop their aggressive recruitment. If they don't want to dive, we can just have them focus on the club's academic achievements as regular members."
Hiiragi-san was right. If they didn't want to be explorers, focusing on the club's official achievements was a perfectly valid alternative. Their pass rate for professional certifications would likely be higher if they focused on studying rather than trying to juggle dungeon dives and exams. If even one person in a newly formed club obtained a certification, it would be a solid initial result.
At the very least, it would count as an achievement for this academic year, which should keep the school from disbanding us... wait. If we were going to be busy with the explorer profession ourselves, maybe it was actually better to have Tatebayashi-san and the others focus on the club's administrative and academic goals?
"Well, the rest is up to them," I said. "They can decide after hearing what Mika has to say. It won’t be a problem whichever path they choose."
"...I suppose you're right," Yuji agreed.
"Indeed."
While chatting, we arrived at the front gate of Yuji's house. We passed through as usual and headed toward the dojo where Juzo-san would likely be waiting.
However, when we opened the door and peeked inside, the dojo was empty. I suppose he wasn't always just sitting there waiting.
"He’s not here... Maybe he’s in the main house? Sorry, Daiki, Hiiragi-san. I’ll go call him, just wait here a second."
With that, Yuji walked off toward the house to look for his grandfather. Hiiragi-san and I exchanged a quick glance and stepped into the dojo. It was a familiar place to us by now.
Once inside, we opened the windows for ventilation and placed cushions in our usual spots to prepare for the meeting. Still, Juzo-san and Yuji didn't appear. Just sitting and waiting was boring, so I thought about making some tea... but I wondered if that was allowed.
"They haven't come yet," Hiiragi-san noted.
"Ah, yeah. You're right."
"...I’ll go brew some tea. Would you like some, Kokonoe-kun?"
"Eh? Ah, yeah. Thank you."
Before I could move, Hiiragi-san, who apparently also felt the need for something to do, went to prepare the tea.
...Now I really had nothing to do.
After waiting about fifteen minutes while sipping the tea Hiiragi-san had prepared, Yuji finally appeared. He had changed from his school uniform into casual clothes and was carrying some tea sweets.
When Hiiragi-san and I gave him a look that said "Finally," he wore a slightly guilty expression.
"Sorry, sorry, kept you both waiting. I took a bit longer than I meant to."
"It's fine, we haven't been waiting that long," I said.
"We’ve already been having tea," Hiiragi-san added.
Yuji bowed his head slightly as he sat on a cushion.
"So, where's Juzo-san?"
"He's on the phone right now. He'll be here in a minute. Here, I brought some sweets, so help yourselves."
"Thanks."
"Thank you, Hirose-kun... Would you like some tea?"
"Ah, thanks. I'll take some."
We snacked on the sweets Yuji had brought while waiting for Juzo-san.
About ten minutes later, the Old Man himself finally stepped into the dojo.
"Pardon me. Even though I was the one who called for you, I kept you waiting."
"Ah, no. We came without an appointment ourselves, so please don't worry. Also, we've already helped ourselves to some tea."
"Ho ho, don't hesitate to drink as much as you like."
"Here you go, Juzo-san."
"Ah. My thanks, Hiiragi girl."
Juzo-san sat on his cushion and took a slow sip of the tea Hiiragi-san had prepared. I waited for him to finish before speaking.
"So, Juzo-san. I heard a bit from Yuji, but why did you call for us? Something about summer vacation?"
"Hmm? Oh, right, right. That was it. I called you lot here for that very reason."
Juzo-san's expression sharpened as he straightened his posture, his eyes scanning our faces. Sensing the change in atmosphere, we also sat up straight and focused.
"You lot mentioned that once summer vacation starts, you intend to dive into the dungeon on the premise of staying overnight, correct?"
"Yes. With day trips, we can't spend enough time to explore past the floors we've already reached. If we want to go deeper, staying overnight in the dungeon is a necessity."
"I thought as much. Based on what I've heard, it sounds like your allotted time is currently being swallowed up just by the commute to your current depth. If you intend to go any deeper, staying in the dungeon will be essential. However, you lot..."
Juzo-san looked at the three of us—or rather, he looked at Hiiragi-san and me with a gaze of absolute conviction.
"Wild camping... no, do you have any experience with serious, multi-day camping?"
"..."
At Juzo-san's question, Hiiragi-san and I let our eyes wander as we fell into a heavy silence.
Finally, in a voice that sounded like it was being squeezed out of me, I answered...
"...Um, we did a little bit during a school nature retreat."
"...Me too," Hiiragi-san whispered.
"...Sigh. Just as I thought."
At our replies, Juzo-san let out a massive sigh and began rubbing the bridge of his nose.
I... I was sorry.
Camping might be a popular trend these days, but wild camping—let alone serious, survivalist camping—wasn't something you just stumbled into without a specific reason, right?