The moment I spoke, a silence fell over the shop as if time itself had stopped. I suppose it made sense; I had just thrown cold water on a heated, spiraling confrontation. Everyone turned their gazes toward me, filled with a mixture of surprise and unease. The other customers looked at me as if they couldn’t believe I was sticking my nose into such a mess, while the staff gave me worried looks, clearly concerned that I was involving myself with a troublemaker.
Kishi, meanwhile, shot me a look of pure, hateful resentment, clearly annoyed by my interference.
"Um, young man... is what you’re saying true?"
Haranishi was the first to break the silence, a look of bewilderment on his face. I gave a small nod and offered an apologetic expression.
"Yes, probably. I recognize the markings on that bow. When I broke it earlier, the clerk said they’d dispose of it. I think it might have accidentally gotten mixed back in with the good ones..."
"I see."
Haranishi seemed to accept my explanation. More than that, he looked like he’d found the perfect way to de-escalate the situation. It certainly made things easier; while handing out a discarded item was a blunder, it meant they hadn’t intentionally provided a defective product to scam anyone. If both sides were at fault, they could call it even and settle the matter. For both Haranishi and the shop staff, leaving things vague by acknowledging mutual mistakes was a much better way to avoid further resentment than trying to establish a clear winner and loser in a situation that was already spiraling.
Well, it was better for everyone except the one person who had caused the commotion in the first place.
"Don't give me that! You suddenly butt in out of nowhere and have the nerve to say it wasn't their fault the bow broke?! Do you really think I'm going to fall for such a transparent lie?!"
"Look, even if you think I'm lying... it's a fact that I broke that bow through my own carelessness. It was definitely the shop's mistake to hand it out, but I'm not making up stories just to protect them."
"Then why are you suddenly interfering?! It doesn't make sense!"
"To be honest, it was just hard to stand by and watch things get messy because of something I caused. I know it’s meddling, but I felt I had to speak up."
Kishi clearly didn't appreciate my intervention. He glared at me with a deeply resentful, piercing gaze. Because Haranishi was there acting as his guardian, he didn't lunged at me, but I didn't miss the way his body twitched as if he wanted to grab me by the collar. If Haranishi hadn't been there, I have no doubt he would have tried to start a fight.
As a result of my explanation, the suspicion began to fade from the eyes of the surrounding customers. They seemed convinced that the staff hadn't intentionally sabotaged the game as Kishi had claimed.
"..."
"That’s enough, Kishi. Drop it."
"Senior Haranishi!?"
"You understand now, don't you? The quality of these bows and arrows isn't great, but they aren't cheating like you said. I know you've caused a scene and feel like you can't back down now, but don't cause them any more trouble."
Haranishi spoke to the agitated Kishi with a gentle, reasoning expression. Kishi looked awkward for a moment, catching his breath and falling silent, but he soon turned a fierce look back to Haranishi and spoke with grim determination.
"E-even you're saying that, Senior Haranishi?! They're definitely cheating! Otherwise, there's no way I'd fail a game like this! I use a bow in the dungeon too! Someone like me... I..."
"Kishi..."
As Kishi let out a pained cry, looking like he was on the verge of tears, Haranishi watched him with a look of pity. It seemed there were some complicated circumstances at play here. Even so, taking those personal issues out on the shop staff was completely uncalled for.
In fact, the eyes of the staff and the other customers were already beginning to turn toward him with shades of exasperation and reproach.
"I'll handle things here. You go on home ahead of me."
"...Fine. Sorry."
After a moment, Kishi—having finally run out of steam—let himself be persuaded by Haranishi. In a state of dejection that made his previous fury look like a lie, he gave a small, defeated bow to the staff and the customers before walking out of the shop with heavy steps. Wait, what? The guy who caused the whole scene is really just leaving without a proper apology?
Everyone in the shop, myself included, was left stunned, simply watching him walk away.
Once Kishi was gone, a heavy, awkward atmosphere lingered. Perhaps it was because such a massive uproar had ended so anti-climactically. I knew it was better to leave things vague to avoid future grudges, but this kind of ending felt... unresolved. It was like a bad case of indigestion.
"Everyone, I'm truly sorry for the disturbance."
While we were all staring blankly at the door, Haranishi's voice rang out. I turned to see him bowing deeply from the waist. He held the position for about ten seconds before raising his head with a look of profound regret.
"I am truly sorry. Even though I was the one who was supposed to be watching him, things ended up like this."
"Ah, no... As long as the misunderstanding about us cheating is cleared up, we're okay..."
"Normally, I would have made him apologize properly, but... he's in a bit of a... no, a very mentally unstable state right now."
"Yes, it certainly seemed that way..."
Haranishi apologized and explained with a pained expression, and the female student clerk nodded tentatively, still looking a bit bewildered. Everyone here had seen Kishi's erratic behavior, so as Haranishi said, a normal apology probably wasn't possible in his current state. From the shop's perspective, they probably wanted a formal apology to clear their reputation, but forcing one from Kishi while he was in that condition might have looked worse than just letting him leave.
Because Kishi had exposed so much of his inner turmoil during his outburst, several very telling details had slipped out. Most people here had gathered the general gist of why he had spiraled.
"He's not a bad kid, but a lot has happened recently, and his nerves were frayed..."
I didn't know the full story, but based on what Kishi had shouted, it seemed he had recently obtained his Armed Exploration Permit for Special Underground Structures and joined a temporary team consisting of Haranishi and some older college students. During a dungeon exploration, Kishi had made a coordination error and committed friendly fire against his own older brother, who was acting as the vanguard. Fortunately, the other teammates had stepped in immediately, so it hadn't been a catastrophe, but the injury had been serious enough to require a recovery potion. Although the team tried to comfort him by saying friendly fire happens in the heat of battle, the fact that he had shot his own brother left a deep scar on his psyche.
To make it worse, Kishi had taken up the bow to imitate Haranishi. His failure in this school festival game had overlapped with his failure in the dungeon, triggering his breakdown. He had convinced himself that his mistake in the dungeon hadn't been a fluke, but a sign that his skills were fundamentally pathetic.
"I can more or less guess the situation, but that doesn't make it okay to take it out on us..."
"Yes, of course. Having personal problems doesn't give anyone the right to lash out at others. I'll make sure he reflects on this properly. I am truly sorry for everything!"
"No... you don't need to apologize that much. Just please make sure he doesn't do this again."
Haranishi bowed deeply once more. Since an External Guest was being so incredibly sincere, the store clerk found it hard to press the matter further. With a sigh that suggested she was resigned to it, she looked at the other staff members before finally accepting the apology.
I guess that’s that, then.
"Thank you. I'll give him a stern talking-to."
"Please do."
Thinking the situation was finally over, I prepared to finish my interrupted game, but Haranishi turned toward me.
"I'm sorry, I caused you a lot of trouble too."
"Ah, no. I should be the one apologizing for interjecting. I was worried things were getting worse because of what I'd done..."
"No, because you spoke up, I was able to stop him before he did something even more foolish. Thank you, truly."
"Don't mention it. Please, don't worry about it."
Haranishi offered his thanks with a light bow. It was true that if I hadn't stepped in, Kishi might have reached a boiling point and made the situation even more disastrous. I accepted his thanks, gave a small nod, and moved to give him some space... but then he spoke again.
"And, I'm sorry, but could I ask you something?"
"Huh? What is it?"
"By any chance... are you one of the students who gave that grand performance during the club activity introduction at the sports festival?"
"! Uh, well... what do you mean by grand performance?"
Ah, crap. Did he recognize me? We hadn't hidden our faces back then, and since it hadn't been that long, I guess it was only a matter of time before someone noticed. I’d heard that the video of our appeal demonstration had gone viral and gotten quite a reaction... maybe he was one of the people who’d seen it. Or maybe he’d heard about it from Kishi.
Either way, I had to be careful not to trigger a fresh commotion here...
"I heard you did a model appeal demonstration. Even from an explorer's perspective, I heard it was incredibly high-level. I saw the video online after hearing the rumors, and even to my eyes, those movements were truly impressive."
"Ha... well, I was one of the people involved, but I never expected it to be rated so highly."
"Don't be modest. That was the result of serious training. Any explorer who has raised their level enough can mimic the movements, but a demonstration that polished and captivating is rare. For someone like me who only has a passing knowledge of martial arts, it would be impossible."
He was laying on the praise. Haranishi looked me straight in the eye with genuine admiration while I awkwardly looked away. While I was happy to have the demonstration recognized, I felt a massive wave of guilt knowing that our primary goal had actually been a countermeasure against annoying recruitment. If we’d done it purely to promote the club, would I have been able to accept the compliment more easily?
Meanwhile, the staff and other students had overheard us and realized who I was. They were staring at me with wide, shocked eyes. Yeah, this is bad. At this rate, I’m going to become the source of a new scene.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"I used to have a little confidence in my own skills, but seeing that made me curious about what kind of training you all do."
"Ah, well... could we maybe talk about this somewhere else? I don't want to cause any more trouble for the shop..."
"! Ah, you're right. It would be better to talk outside."
Finally noticing the stir he was causing, Haranishi looked embarrassed for a moment. He gave me and the staff a quick bow and then left the room.
Since the flow of things dictated that I had to follow him, I turned to the girl who had been managing my game to apologize for quitting halfway.
"Sorry, I'm going to have to head out. Thanks for everything."
"Eh? Ah, yes! Wait, the prize..."
"I'm stopping in the middle, so I don't need one. Sorry for all the noise we made..."
"No, it's fine! Um... good luck with your talk!"
"Haha, yeah. I'll do my best. Thanks."
The girl was staring at me in total shock. It made sense; she’d spent the last few minutes treating a customer like just another senior, only to find out he was a local celebrity who’d caused a school-wide sensation. I gave the staff one last nod and stepped out of the shop.
Haranishi said he wanted to talk, but I really hoped it wouldn't turn into anything troublesome...