After parting ways with Hashimoto-sensei in front of the Consultation Room, we headed toward the clubroom. Quite a bit of time had passed, so I figured if Mika and the others were still hanging around, it might be good to check in with them.
I also thought I should probably let them know the school's stance, which had come up during our talk with the teacher. If we handled things poorly, the school might start keeping a close eye on our activities.
"Hmm? I don't sense anyone inside. I wonder if they've already headed home?"
As we drew closer to the clubroom, Yuji fixed his gaze on the door and muttered his observation.
"Looks like it. The door is locked."
Hearing Yuji's murmur, I lightly rattled the handle just to be sure. It was definitely locked.
I knew Yuji wouldn't misread someone's presence at this distance, but it never hurt to double-check.
"Maybe they went somewhere else for a change of scenery after they finished talking?" Hiiragi-san suggested.
That was a distinct possibility. It had been an important conversation, but parts of it were quite gloomy—bitter, even. Once the heavy talk was out of the way, it was only natural to want a change of pace.
Maybe the four of them had gone to a family restaurant? Stress-eating sweets to make up for the heavy mood?
"Probably. Either way, if they're not here, we have no reason to stick around. Shall we head home?"
"Yeah. We've been talking for a long time, so it's about that time anyway. Let's head out."
"Yes, let's."
Convinced that Mika and the others were gone, we left the front of the empty clubroom behind.
We exited the school together, chatting for a while as we walked before eventually splitting off toward our respective homes.
"Well, see you two tomorrow."
"Yeah. Daiki, make sure you listen to Mika-chan if she needs to vent later. Today's talk was probably quite a shock for her, too."
"Good luck, okay?"
"Haha, I'll do my best."
I gave a noncommittal response and a weak smile as I accepted Yuji and Hiiragi-san's "encouragement."
I had brought up that incident quite out of the blue, so it wouldn't be surprising if she had a bone to pick with me.
My feet felt a bit heavy as I arrived home. When I opened the front door, I saw two pairs of women's sneakers lined up in the entryway. One pair I recognized immediately—the ones Mika wore to school.
That meant the other pair, which was roughly the same size, belonged to...
"Oh, Daiki. Welcome home."
As I was pondering the owner of the second pair, the living room door opened and Mother appeared.
"You're late today. Mika and Saori-chan are waiting for you upstairs."
"Wait, Saori-chan is here too?"
"Yes. They both came home together a little while ago and said they needed to talk to you. They asked me to tell you to come up to Mika's room once you got back."
"Oh, I see. Okay, thanks. They're in Mika's room, right?"
After thanking Mother for the message, I went upstairs. I dropped my bag in my own room first before heading over to Mika's. Even if I was keeping them waiting, I didn't want to go in while still lugging my school gear around.
I made sure to open and close my door with a bit of extra noise so they would know I had returned.
"Mika, you in there?"
Still in my uniform, I gave a light knock on her door and called out.
The response was immediate. Before I even heard a reply, the door swung open to reveal Mika, also still in her school clothes.
"Welcome home, Onii-chan. We've been waiting. Come on, get in here."
Mika grabbed my hand and pulled me into the room.
"Ah, Saori-chan. Hey."
"Welcome home. Sorry for the intrusion."
Following Mika's lead, I stepped inside. Saori-chan, who was sitting on a cushion in the center of the room, gave me a polite bow and a greeting.
"Don't just stand there, Onii-chan. Sit down, sit down. Here."
"Oh, thanks."
I took the seat cushion Mika handed me, placed it on the floor, and sat down facing the two of them.
Immediately, they both leaned forward slightly, their expressions clearly showing they had some grievances to air.
"Honestly, Onii-chan! You really caught us off guard today! I thought you were just going to give Asami-chan and the others a progress report, but then you come out with that terrifying story..."
"I was listening to it thinking it was some kind of urban legend, but I never imagined you guys had actually been the ones involved... It was a total shock. I'm just glad you're all safe," Saori-chan added.
Mika and Saori-chan glared at me with disapproving half-glances, criticizing my sudden revelation.
I had told the story because I thought it was necessary to convince Tatebayashi-san and the other, but it must have been a hell of a surprise for Mika and her friend as well.
"Sorry, sorry. Well, it was an old story... although I guess it's only been a few months. Come to think of it, I've told you two plenty about how to fight monsters and navigate dungeons, but I haven't really touched on anti-personnel vigilance."
"Since becoming explorers, we've heard rumors that those kinds of things used to happen, you know? But we never dreamed that you were the actual victims, Onii-chan..."
"We were just caught up in it. It's not like they targeted us or got the drop on us from the start, so it was relatively easy to handle."
"Easy to handle?"
Saori-chan tilted her head, looking genuinely puzzled by my choice of words.
"Yeah. I mean, it's basic, but an ambush relies entirely on the first strike. You attack when the opponent doesn't know you're there—when their guard is at its absolute lowest."
"That's true. If you miss the first blow, the target goes on alert and the difficulty spikes instantly."
"Exactly. And in the incident we encountered, those ambush conditions were ruined from the start. There were already injured victims at the scene, we could deduce what kind of weapons caused the wounds, and a dungeon is a closed space with limited hiding spots. In other words, we could guess exactly where the assailants were hiding and what kind of attack they were planning. Once you know that, the rest is..."
I let the sentence trail off, a fearless smirk playing on my lips.
Seeing me like that, Mika and Saori-chan's expressions twitched. Mika hesitated for a moment before voicing the realization that had dawned on her.
"Wait... so basically, you made them move exactly the way you wanted them to?"
"Bingo. When we arrived at the scene, we were officially just bystanders who found some injured people. Even if we knew for a fact it was a human attack, we hadn't actually witnessed the crime. If we captured a 'suspect' based on pure speculation without proof, we might have been the ones accused of being attackers. So, what do you do? Assuming the assailants were still nearby, we guided them to act in a way that was convenient for us."
Unless there was clear evidence, there was always a chance they would feign innocence. But these were dangerous people who attacked fellow explorers instead of monsters; we couldn't just let them roam free for the sake of our own future.
If there was no clear evidence, we would simply have the opponent provide it.
"By 'guided,' you mean you intentionally let yourselves be attacked, Onii-chan?"
"Yeah, to get solid proof that they were the assailants. Looking at the victims, it seemed we had arrived early enough that the attackers hadn't harvested their loot yet. They had taken a risk to get those results; I figured they wouldn't want to walk away empty-handed just because of a little interference. My guess was spot on. As soon as we made ourselves look like 'vulnerable' rescuers, they attacked us with everything they had."
"But you were... okay, right?"
"Of course. We were expecting it. There's no way we'd fail to handle an attack we were waiting for, right?"
I spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, asserting that there had been no danger at all.
Mika and Saori-chan looked at me with a mix of admiration and total exasperation before letting out long sighs.
"I mean, I guess if it's you guys and you know the attack is coming, there's no way you'd lose."
"Those poor assailants picked the wrong targets. It was like moths to a flame."
Mika and Saori-chan offered their assessments with weary looks.
"...I wonder why I don't feel like I'm being praised here?"
"Because we're not praising you. Sure, you could handle it, but even if it was necessary, I can't honestly praise the act of intentionally inviting danger."
"She's right. You're always lecturing us about safe dungeon exploration, and yet you're out there setting traps to catch rogue explorers..."
Scolded by the two of them, I felt a bit sheepish and averted my gaze. My bad.
If I were to offer an excuse, though, the moment we stumbled onto that scene, the culprits had likely already marked us. From their perspective, they probably wanted to silence us in case we'd seen something. Since we couldn't just abandon the victims and run, I think being attacked was inevitable.
"I tried to make the best choice available at the time."
"The best choice... was fighting them?"
"We couldn't just leave the victims, and if we'd let the assailants go, they would have just kept doing it. If that kind of crime becomes common, the atmosphere in the dungeons would turn toxic. We'd have to be on high alert against other people at all times. If you're constantly worried about someone stabbing you in the back, you can't explore or interact with anyone properly."
At worst, if the idea that "an injured explorer means an attacker is nearby" took root, it would become standard practice to abandon anyone in trouble and flee.
If that happened, we'd see far more people dying when they could have been saved by a single beginner recovery potion. If paranoia takes over, people stop asking for help and people stop offering it.
"That's true. If I had to walk around thinking the party in front of us might attack us, I wouldn't be able to explore at all."
"Hey, Mika-chan, in that situation, the people in the party in front of us would probably be terrified that we were going to attack them, too."
"Yeah. And because everyone's paranoid, some tiny little misunderstanding would trigger a fight..."
Mika and Saori-chan imagined the scenario and looked like they had swallowed something bitter.
One group of attackers might not ruin everything overnight, but the seeds of distrust would have been sown.
"Exactly. Ensuring your own safety is the priority, but if you have the ability to handle it, it's better to hunt down rogue explorers early. Obviously, I'm not going to go looking for trouble, but you have to brush off the sparks that fall on you. While making sure you have evidence that you're the victim, of course."
I lightly tapped my chest, indicating where the body camera had been. With footage of the assailants launching an unprovoked attack, there would be no doubt about who was in the right.
"When you put it that way, it's hard to stay mad at you, Onii-chan."
"It really is. You just dealt with the trouble that came your way, and in the process, you saved people and kept the dungeon safe. If anything, we should be telling you 'good job.'"
Mika and Saori-chan looked at me with complicated expressions, though their eyes had softened considerably.
Now that the talk about the attackers had reached a lull, I asked about the thing that was really bothering me.
"Anyway, how were Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san doing? I know I dropped a lot on them out of nowhere."
"They were both pretty shaken. We've been teaching them as seniors, but the fact that the people right in front of them were actually involved in a violent incident like that... it was a different level of shock."
"Even after you left the room, they both looked pale. They haven't officially given up on being explorers yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they changed their minds."
"I see..."
It made sense. Unlike Mika and the others, who had been toughened by their own experiences, the juniors didn't have that kind of mental resistance yet. It must have been a massive shock.
Then again, it was the kind of reality you couldn't ignore if you wanted to make a living in the dungeons. I'll have to keep a close eye on what conclusion Tatebayashi-san and the other eventually reach.
Nobody wants to work in a place where you're constantly looking over your shoulder, after all.