After finishing our check on the exhibit's progress, we parted ways with Mika and the others and headed for Yuji’s house. Mika and her group were going back to their classroom to continue preparing for their class's project. Given the nature of their display, they had a lot to build, so they likely wanted to squeeze in work whenever they had a spare moment.
Since our own work was proceeding smoothly for now, we probably wouldn't need to gather in the clubroom every day. I thought it might be a good idea to suggest to everyone later that we only meet every two or three days until the day before the school festival.
"Even so, every class seems so busy with preparations," Hiiragi-san remarked as we walked.
"Yeah, everyone looks really fired up," I replied. "Though, while some places are buzzing, the ones that aren't doing much are eerily quiet."
"Ours is one of those, isn't it? The first-years are pumped because it's their first festival, and the third-years are giving it their all to make final memories, but the second-years overall are... well, you know?"
Just as Hiiragi-san said, as we peeked into the various classrooms on our way to the school gate, a clear trend emerged. The first- and third-years were generally full of excitement, while an atmosphere of indifference drifted from the second-year classrooms. It was a stark difference in motivation toward the festival.
The fact that the classrooms were so quiet probably meant that most second-years who weren't in culture-related clubs were out dungeon exploring. It made sense; even if they only went for a few hours after school, they could earn tens of thousands of yen if they were lucky. If you wanted to enjoy high school life to the fullest with entertainment, food, and fashion, it cost money. Furthermore, it was rumored that achieving results as an explorer would give them an advantage when applying for jobs at high-paying dungeon-related companies... It was understandable why more students were prioritizing their lives as explorers.
"That's true... but if that's the case, I'm a little worried about the actual day of the festival," Yuji said.
"The second-years are still putting on stalls, so it’s not like the atmosphere will be terrible," I noted. "But the sense of disconnect will be hard to ignore."
"Right," Hiiragi-san agreed. "Visitors are sensitive to that kind of thing. On the day of the festival, the floors with the second-year classes might be totally deserted. People tend to gather where things are lively, not where it's quiet."
Lively floors for the first and third years, and a silent floor for the second years... That sounded like a disaster waiting to happen. The school festival was supposed to be a fun event, but it was still part of the school's curriculum. It would be bad if the faculty thought we weren't taking it seriously. While the students running the stalls couldn’t control whether customers showed up, we should at least run our businesses properly even if the halls were empty.
An image flashed through my mind of the entire second-year class being summoned to the gym after the festival to be lectured.
"I definitely want to avoid the 'deserted' look. But even if we tried to put more effort into the class exhibit..."
"We probably wouldn't get much support," I said, cutting Yuji off. "Everyone already agreed to just do something simple to save face."
"That's right," Hiiragi-san added. "Even the current stall is set up to meet the bare minimum requirements. If we did anything more, like serving handmade food, the paperwork would become a nightmare."
If we were to serve handmade items, we’d have to clear various hurdles with the health department. There would likely be a lot of pushback against going that far.
In that case, the only other option was to focus on the interior decor, but we could probably fake that by just putting up some appropriate-looking items. Something like an Asian theme or a Western theme—just picking a "style" and sticking to it.
"In that case, faking it with some interior decorations might be our best bet," I suggested.
"That might be the safest way. If we ask everyone to bring something from home, it’ll probably look the part."
"Well, we should probably standardize the vibe of the items people bring to some extent," Hiiragi-san noted.
"True. If we mix too many different tastes, it'll just look cluttered. It’s safer to decide on a general theme."
A "multicultural" taste has its own charm, but it can easily turn into a chaotic mess if not handled well.
While discussing how to easily make the class exhibit look halfway decent, we left the school behind, which was currently buzzing with festival preparations.
Once we arrived at Yuji’s house, we stopped by the kitchen to grab some drinks before heading up to his room. Since our main business was the appraisal report Yuji had received from the Association, I decided I would go greet Juzo-san later. First, we had to deal with this.
Hiiragi-san and I set down our school bags and sat on the cushions Yuji had laid out.
"Now then... shall we take a breather first?" Yuji asked.
"No, no, let’s handle the main topic first. Better yet, can you show the appraisal report to Hiiragi-san and me? There’s no one else around to overhear us, and I want to see what’s actually written in it."
"I agree," Hiiragi-san said. "I want to know as soon as possible what kind of amount is so hard for you to say out loud, Hirose-kun."
"...Fine."
Yuji might have wanted to lighten the mood with a joke before getting to the point, but Hiiragi-san and I were tired of the stalling. We had been kept in suspense for several hours since hearing that an appraisal report with a shocking figure had arrived this morning. It was only natural to want to dive right in.
Under the weight of our expectant gazes, Yuji took an envelope out of his desk drawer. The Dungeon Association mark was small but clearly embossed on the front, identifying the sender at a glance.
"This is what arrived this morning."
"Well, the outside looks like the usual envelope from the Association."
"The contents are the issue. May I take it out, Hirose-kun?"
"Of course. But there’s a fairly shocking amount written on that report, so please don't shout, okay?"
Ignoring Yuji’s warning, Hiiragi-san and I pulled the appraisal report from the envelope and checked the contents.
Perhaps because we had been warned, no shouts were heard. Instead, all that escaped our mouths were muffled, strangled groans of pure astonishment.
"Gah..."
"Whoa..."
Hiiragi-san and I stared at the report, checking it two or three times, but the numbers written there didn't change. I looked at Yuji, suspecting a prank, but he simply shook his head with a stone-faced expression.
So that means... this is real? What in the world is this number?!
"Hey, Yuji, is this for real?"
"I'm certain it is. Though that's the total amount with everything factored in."
"So it's really..."
"Yeah. That's the appraisal value for the magic bag we submitted... fifty million yen."
Whoa...
Seriously? Fifty million for a single magic bag? I suppose it was an all-inclusive figure. The value of the item itself, the confidentiality of the undiscovered dungeon, the prevention of information leaks regarding the bag... it surely included a hefty amount of hush money. Still, the fact that they sent the notice the very same day meant it was an amount they were more than willing to pay to keep things quiet.
Hiiragi-san and I, our faces twitching, spent a long moment looking back and forth between Yuji and the report.
"There's more," Yuji continued. "A letter was enclosed stating that when we go through the payment procedures, they want us to visit the Association branch to meet with the person in charge. It says they’ll explain the details then."
"Does that mean... they're inviting us to sign a non-disclosure agreement at the same time as the payment?" I asked.
"Most likely. After all, the letter specifies the contact person and a set date and time. It’s probably someone with the clearance to handle this kind of information."
"In other words, we’ve come into contact with information that isn't disclosed unless you have a certain rank and qualification. We weren't planning on talking anyway, but we really have to be careful with how we handle this, or it'll be bad."
It seemed we had stumbled upon information far more sensitive than I had initially realized. It was likely about the existence of the magic bag itself. An item like that would cause massive upheaval in the logistics industry. If the volume of transported goods could be reduced to a fraction of what it was, every logistics company would want one, and those who couldn't get one would go under, leading to a flood of unemployment.
The government and the Association probably didn't want to officially acknowledge its existence until they were fully prepared to manage the impact.
"Yeah. And we can't just process the bank transfer and skip the meeting because it’s a hassle. If we did that, they’d definitely put us on a watch list."
"I wouldn't dream of it," I said. "At this point, the least troublesome path is just to follow their procedures quietly."
"Exactly. It seems they’re being considerate of our status as students, as the specified meeting time is this coming Saturday afternoon."
"Saturday afternoon... They really are being accommodating. From their perspective, they probably want that non-disclosure agreement signed as soon as possible."
They had sent the appraisal report the very same day, so if they could, they’d probably have wanted it signed today. Waiting until the weekend showed a significant level of consideration. I wondered if Uwajima-san and his team had acted as intermediaries, vouching for our discretion?
"I guess so. Anyway, I need you two to keep Saturday afternoon free. We’re heading to the Association."
"Understood. I'll keep it open. Though my only other plans were either going to a dungeon or looking at properties anyway."
"Right. I'm fine too," Hiiragi-san said. "I didn't have anything else scheduled."
"No problem here either," Yuji added.
For now, it seemed like everyone was free to go.
...Wait. As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt a sudden wave of melancholy. Is it okay for a high schooler's weekend plans to consist solely of dungeons and property viewings? To not have a single plan to just go out and hang out with friends on Saturday or Sunday...
"...What's wrong, Daiki? Why the sudden gloom?"
"No, I just realized something I probably shouldn't have..."
"What did you realize?"
"A high school life with absolutely no plans to just hang out on the weekends..."
...
Hearing my words, Yuji and Hiiragi-san both looked like they’d been struck by lightning, falling silent with expressions of utter dismay.
One could argue that dungeon exploration was "hanging out" with friends, but it was a dangerous activity filled with blood, sweat, and monsters. Sure, we were moving our bodies and sharing a significant portion of our days together. It was fulfilling in its own way, but it suddenly struck me that this was fundamentally different from what a high schooler's weekend should be.
"...Maybe instead of just dungeons and properties, it would be good to actually go out and play for once," I suggested.
"Yeah, you're right. We've been hitting the dungeons a lot lately. It might be good to blow off some steam for a change."
"...Yes, that's true. Occasionally, a weekend spent just messing around might be nice."
We recalled our past weekends and let out small sighs in unison, our eyes looking a bit hollow.
During the week, we didn't have enough time to go deep, so we hung out reasonably well, but maybe we should have focused more on having fun on the weekends too. The deeper the floor you explore, the more time it takes to travel, so lately we could only really make progress on the weekends. While we could act on the shallow floors during the week, our unique skills made it undesirable to be active where there were crowds. Consequently, our serious dungeon sessions were always pushed to the weekends.
"Since we don't have any property viewings for a while because of this situation, it might be good to skip the dungeon and just spend the whole day playing..."
"Yeah, it might be nice to just play around all day for the first time in a while..."
"Right. That might be good for once..."
We looked at the calendar on Yuji’s wall and discussed how to spend the upcoming weekend. Saturday afternoon was taken by the Association meeting, but fortunately or unfortunately, Sunday was a blank slate for all three of us. In terms of money, we all had plenty, so there were no obstacles to going to a theme park or something similar.
That said, since we hadn't really "played" properly in so long, we ran into the immediate problem of not knowing what was currently popular or what we should actually do for fun.
"...Hey, even if we say 'play,' what are we actually supposed to do?" Yuji asked.
"I don't know? Generally, people go shopping, go to theme parks, watch movies, or hit the arcades, right? I'm not really feeling any of it, though."
"Maybe we shouldn't overthink it and just go to some theme park?" Hiiragi-san suggested. "I'm sure once we're there, it'll be fun... probably."
We continued to discuss our weekend plans with complicated expressions.
The shock of the fifty-million-yen appraisal felt trivial compared to this sudden realization. Truly.