I spent some time in my room looking things up and handling my daily slime-slaying routine. Before I knew it, the sun began to dip low, and a warm evening glow started flooding the room. Since it was summer, the days were longer, but it seemed a considerable amount of time had passed since I’d returned home.
I gave my body a good stretch without getting up from my chair to loosen my stiff muscles, then left the room to clear my head.
"...Hm?"
As I headed downstairs and passed the living room, I heard voices coming from inside. Three voices... Three? I thought it was still a bit early for Father to be home, but when I peered inside, I saw three figures chatting on the sofa. Ah, the third person was Saori-chan.
Mika noticed the sound of the door opening and glanced my way.
"...Huh? Oh, Onii-chan, you were home?"
"Hey now, 'you were home' is a bit harsh, don't you think?"
"Well, you were still asleep when I left the house. I didn't hear a sound after I got back, so I assumed you’d gone out somewhere."
"..."
When she put it like that, I didn't have much of a comeback.
I averted my eyes and scratched my cheek with my index finger to hide my awkwardness. Then, I spoke to Saori-chan, who looked like she wasn't quite sure how to react to our sibling banter.
"Uh, hello, Saori-chan. It's been a while."
"Um, hello."
When I greeted her with a light wave, Saori-chan gave a polite bow in return. I recalled that the last time we’d met was on the final day of the study session, so it really had been quite some time.
As we stood there looking at each other, the conversation stalled for a moment... until Mika couldn't help but interject.
"Onii-chan, Saori-chan, why are you two just standing there staring at each other in silence?"
Huh?! (Ah?!)
Called out by Mika, who was half-glaring with her cheeks puffed out, Saori-chan and I both jerked our heads away from each other.
I quickly offered an excuse to soothe my sister's prickly mood.
"Haha, sorry, sorry. I was just wondering what to say after the greeting... and my mind went blank."
"Geez... So, Onii-chan, what are you doing down here?"
"Hm? I just came down to take a break and heard voices, so I decided to peek in. I don't really have any specific business."
"I see..."
It seemed she wasn't actually that upset, as Mika's mood recovered immediately. Having confirmed that, I entered the room and headed for the kitchen. Since I’d come down for a break, I felt like having a drink and catching my breath.
"By the way, Mika, Mom told me you two went out earlier. Where did you go?"
"Eh? Where...? We were shopping at the shopping center district."
"The shopping center district? You guys were there too?"
"Eh? Does that mean... you were there as well, Onii-chan?"
"Yeah. Well, I met a friend as soon as I got there and we moved to a different spot, so I wasn't really around for long."
After all, I’d gone straight from the shopping center to that exotic meat restaurant. Even if I’d left the choice to someone else, checking the destination in advance is vital. Truly.
As I sat there momentarily lost in thought about my meal with Shigemori, Mika sensed something was off and looked at me suspiciously.
"...Did something happen?"
"No, nothing. More importantly, Mika."
"...What?"
"Sorry about the other day. Even if it was meant to be a surprise, that was in poor taste..."
"That? Oh, you already apologized for that, so it's fine... Are you sure nothing happened?"
"Yeah."
After apologizing for the previous lizard meat "surprise," I gave Mika a vague smile as she looked at me worriedly. I think this apology held a much more sincere sense of contrition than the first one.
I took a pitcher of cold-brew coffee from the refrigerator, poured a glass, and settled into an empty spot on the sofa. Normally, I would have gone straight back to my room, but there was something I wanted to ask.
"Anyway, Mika, Saori-chan. How is the dungeon exploration going? I've had you two diving together during summer break, but you aren't overdoing it, right?"
"We aren't. We're proceeding within a reasonable range, just like you guys told us to."
"Yes. Like Mika-chan said, we've been given various items by you and the others, so we're able to progress without overexerting ourselves."
Mika and Saori-chan answered my question with perfectly straight faces. However, I caught a hint of lingering dissatisfaction in their tone.
The reason was likely the timing.
"Is it that you're feeling frustrated because all the other newcomer explorer parties are racing ahead, while you two aren't making much progress because of our restrictions?"
!?
Mika and Saori-chan both wore expressions that said, How did he know?! I let out a small sigh at their reaction and took a sip of coffee to moisten my throat.
As they waited with bated breath and worried expressions to see what I would say next, I spoke up.
"We've been going to the dungeon a lot lately too, so we've seen firsthand how the number of rookie parties has surged since summer break started. I understand why you'd feel impatient seeing how far others are getting."
"Then—!?"
"But the answer is still no. The more you rush, the higher the risk of injury."
...
At my refusal, the expressions of Mika and Saori-chan, which had briefly brightened with the expectation that I might ease the rules, clouded over. I understood their impatience, but moving forward while driven by that feeling only invited avoidable mistakes and injuries.
The three of us sat there in a silent stalemate, each waiting for the other to yield. Then, Mother spoke up from the side with a small sigh.
"Hah... you guys, that's enough glaring."
"..."
"Daiki. I don't know the specifics, but I understand you're setting these limits because you're worried about them. But simply imposing your will on them is just control, isn't it? Talk it out properly, and find a compromise where you can both agree on something."
"...Yes."
At Mother's words, I regained a bit of my composure. It was true that it was wrong to just force my ideas on them without listening to their perspective.
Seeing me look away and reflect on my behavior, Mother turned her gaze toward the girls.
"Mika, Saori-chan. That goes for you two as well. Daiki isn't setting restrictions just to be mean, right? As your senior, I think he's giving instructions based on his own experiences—what he thinks you should learn and what you need to do first. It's true that you don't have to follow every word blindly, but you should discuss it, listen to what makes sense, and adjust things to fit your current level. If you just rebel without talking to him, you're just being selfish."
"...Yeah."
"...Yes."
Mika and Saori-chan, who had been secretly rejoicing at Mother's intervention when I looked dejected, were now being lectured themselves. Just like me, they became dispirited and began to reflect on their own shortcomings.
In other words, Mother was the clear winner in this situation. Not that I’m sure there were winners or losers to begin with.
Admonished by Mother, the gathering in the living room broke up, and the three of us moved the conversation to my room. It was better to talk about bloody topics like slaying monsters away from Mother, who wasn't an explorer.
And also, there was the matter of money.
"Well, I was thinking we should talk, but..."
"Was that the email from just now?"
"Yeah."
As I was about to start the discussion, I picked up my smartphone and frowned, prompting Mika to ask. I had noticed the notification light blinking and checked it to find a single email.
The sender was...
"It's from Yuji. He says, 'Sorry, I can't make it to the next exploration!'"
"By 'the next one,' do you mean the one you said would be the last dive before the Obon break?"
"Yeah, that's the one. We'd decided to take a break for Obon. Everyone has various plans with their families, after all."
Our family was planning to visit my grandparents in neighboring prefectures, Yuji had events hosted by his family dojo, and Hiiragi-san was helping out at her shop. In short, dungeon exploration was impossible during the Obon period no matter what.
That was why we'd been shortening our rest days and going to the dungeon at a high pace lately, but...
"He said there was a change to the event scheduled for Obon, and he has to travel earlier than planned. With the original schedule, the overnight exploration would have been fine, though..."
"The event—that's the martial arts event Yuji-san's family dojo is hosting, right?"
"Yeah. I heard from Yuji that it's an event where they invite related schools to discuss the future of the martial arts world following the appearance of dungeons, including some practical demonstrations."
I relayed what I had heard from Yuji previously to Mika and Saori-chan. Apparently, it was currently a busy season where inexperienced explorers were knocking on dojo doors to learn self-defense, leading to a massive surge in new students. Even small dojos that had been barely scraping by were seeing a steady stream of explorers who couldn't get into the larger ones, making it an unprecedented golden age for the martial arts world.
However, that trend was merely riding the dungeon boom. It was inevitable that the number of students would decrease over time. The event was apparently for various schools to gather and discuss the future before that happened.
"So even if things are going well, they can't just be happy without a care."
"Certainly, once the peak passes, demand will only decrease. It's natural to think of countermeasures while they still have some leeway," Saori added.
"Yuji mentioned that if they recklessly expand their facilities or organization without looking ahead just because things are good now, they might eventually get swept away in a storm of mergers and consolidations."
Looking back at history, there was no shortage of such examples. Companies that expanded their business scale all at once while riding a boom, only to fail because they couldn't grasp the actual long-term demand, leading to fatal results.
Well, I suspected the current dungeon boom would be long-lived, given the support from the government and the economic world, but it was dangerous not to maintain a sense of crisis.
"Anyway, since Yuji can't go, the overnight exploration we were planning is canceled. I'll double-check with Hiiragi-san later, though..."
"I see, that's a shame. You said opportunities to dive overnight are rare, so you were going to go as much as possible during summer break..."
"Well, if something comes up, there's nothing we can do. It's not something we should force."
It was certainly a shame, as Mika said, but it wasn't a delay we couldn't make up for. Since we don't know how far the dungeon goes anyway, we just have to keep at it patiently.
As I was giving up on the next exploration, Saori-chan spoke up as if she'd realized something.
"Ah, then Onii-san. That means the day you were planning to go is now completely free, right?"
"Hm? Yeah, I guess it is."
"Then on that day, why don't you dive into the dungeon with us? I think seeing our current status directly will be a good reference for how much you should ease the restrictions."
"...Ah, that's true. Seeing is believing, and it'll be easier to judge if I see it for myself."
Having left them somewhat to their own devices since summer break started, it was true that I couldn't say I fully grasped Mika and Saori-chan's current progress. Since they were explorers, their movements could change remarkably even with just a single level up.
Besides, if they had used some kind of powerful skill scroll... there was a possibility they had achieved surprising growth.
"...Alright, then let's do it. I'll have you show me how much you've grown."
"Then, if you see that we've grown, will you ease the restrictions?"
"Yeah. Well, I can't decide on my own, so I'll have to consult the others. But I promise I'll try to persuade them to ease up if you're ready."
Yay!
Hearing my answer, Mika and Saori-chan high-fived each other with joyful expressions. I suppose that just showed how much our rules had been bothering them... and how much they had been feeling impatient watching the other rookie parties.
At any rate, if the overnight explorations are finished for now, I guess the first half of summer break is over. I thought it would be long, but it's surprisingly short. If you let your guard down, summer break will be over in the blink of an eye.