It's been a few days since the final battle with the Demon Lord…
I'm back in class at school again today.
From days that changed at a dizzying pace—never knowing if I'd survive tomorrow—I've returned to my old everyday life.
It's what I'd wished for all along: to come back to my world and live normally.
But to be honest, after more than three years of doing nothing but moving my body as a Hero, I just can't seem to focus on lectures.
Should I really keep going to school like this? Back then, I got into high school without thinking about the future at all. It was a promise I made to Grandma.
Over there, I was sick and tired of fighting. And yet now that I'm back, I keep wondering how I ought to live from here on out.
Maybe either way, I'm destined to crave whatever isn't in my current life.
Anyway—P.E. is next.
"Ugh, a run?"
When the P.E. teacher announced the day's plan, the guys in class openly grimaced.
"Run" just means laps around the schoolyard. Everyone started jogging, a bit lethargic, at the teacher's command.
I checked that the magic item was still limiting my skills and physical ability, then followed along.
Ugh—my body feels heavy. Because in my head I still felt like I did when I fought the Demon Lord, the reality of how little my body would move when I actually started running shocked me.
I'd better get used to this quick, or everyday life will be rough.
In the other world, defeating monsters raises your level and boosts your physical abilities. Of course, there's also leveling through basic training, so I did that at first.
Running as training… this might be my first time since then.
"Stop! Everyone, hold position right there!!"
I don't know how long we'd been running when the teacher's shout made everyone halt.
Another earthquake, apparently. Luckily this one too was just barely perceptible—not enough to cause a fuss.
But… I think I hear a rumble, like the ground itself. Should I disable the skill seal and see if my danger-sense triggers? No, probably not necessary. It's not like there are monsters.
It'll stop soon—so I waited, thinking that…
"Hey! Look at that!!"
A classmate's voice, tinged with panic. I looked over to see cracks opening in part of the schoolyard—splitting wider—and right there… were Horii-san and a few others.
My body moved on its own—that must be my Hero experience kicking in. I grabbed Horii-san's hand a few meters away and took off at a run, half-dragging her.
"You guys run too!"
I grabbed her because she was right in the middle of the most dangerous fissure. The classmates nearby moved when I shouted, scattering in all directions.
"Kyaa!"
"What is this!?"
But the fissure widened unnaturally. The ones in danger of not making it out are… Kitamura and Aizawa-san!
Tch—no time to disable the magic item.
There are things you can do and things you can't. First, do what you can. That's what I learned over there.
We need to get Horii-san and me to safety first. As we ran, the ground started to emit a mysterious glow.
"What is this!?"
I don't know who said it, but I was thinking the same thing. I could feel a magical force—though I wanted to chalk it up to my imagination.
No good! The crack is spreading faster than we can run. It's not even a big quake—why!?
"Hurry, Horii-san!"
The moment I thought "this is bad," the ground swallowed us—Horii-san and me—sliding us down into the fissure.
"Kyaaaa!!!"
I heard Horii-san's scream as we slid for a while like down a chute and finally stopped. Good thing we were in gym clothes; otherwise, with her in a skirt, it would've been a disaster.
I immediately looked up to see if we could climb out—but the fissure we'd fallen through had sealed over smoothly for some reason.
This is…
Around us stretched what looked like a passage wide enough for two cars to pass—no, a cave—running left and right. And even though no sunlight reached here, it wasn't dark. At regular intervals, torches burned bright red.
Could it be…
"Hey, what just happened?"
"Hard to say. We fell into a quake fissure, that much is obvious."
Her voice pulled me out of my thoughts. Thanks to the slide, it didn't look like either of us was hurt.
Playing dumb aside… I'd seen this before. It looked exactly like the dungeons I'd entered several times in the other world.
Coincidence… right? It has to be coincidence. Anyway, we need to get out of here first.
"What should we do? Wait here for help?"
If it were just me, I could manage—but what do I do about Horii-san? There's no precedent for a situation like this, so you can't speak in generalities, but if she doesn't want to move, forcing her would be wrong.
"Hellooo! Anyone there?"
While she hesitated over my question, a shout came from not far away. That voice… Kitamura. I'd seen him fall into the crack too, so it had to be him.
"Kitamura!?"
"That you, Amabashi!?"
Close. Sounds like they're coming this way.
I should at least disable the skill seal while there's time. If I touch the magic item and focus…
"Something wrong?"
Horii-san's voice snapped me back.
The instant I released the skill seal, my danger-sense flared in the distance. And thanks to presence-detection, I could "feel" the state of the area within a certain range.
As expected, Kitamura and someone else were running toward us.
"Nah, just trying to figure out what's going on."
I kept my voice calm. Fortunately, the only responses nearby were Kitamura and that other person. Aside from that… there were very weak traces that read as enemies.
Just like the first floor of a beginner's dungeon.
"Hey! I found Amabashi and Horii-san!"
"Horii-san!"
The one with Kitamura was our classmate Aizawa-san. She's a fairly well-known track athlete, if I remember right—slender, with a runner's build.
"Thank goodness—looks like you and Aizawa-san are okay," Horii-san said, visibly relieved. Honestly, she and I had barely ever talked beyond greetings; having another girl there likely helped her feel safer.
"What is this place!?"
Kitamura, meanwhile, was a little worked up—understandable, given it's his first time in a place like this.
Back there, I had mapping and other dungeon-useful skills… well, others did. I didn't. Danger-sense and presence-detection will have to do.
"Let's get out of here fast, okay? What if there's another quake?"
"Wait, what is this, anyway? Some underground school facility? With torches and all?"
Now that the immediate panic had passed, they were thinking ahead. Aizawa-san and Kitamura seemed to be reasonably close friends and were talking through the situation.
Maybe they weren't panicking because the brick walls and floor made the surroundings look like man-made structures.
"I've heard there's a basement storage area, but nothing this archaic. And these torches—what are they…?"
Maybe pulled along by their tone, Horii-san's curiosity was piqued. The strangeness of the situation intrigued her.
Still, the place does feel off.
What is this, really? A dungeon?
I could feel a magical presence from the torches. They're almost identical to the quasi-permanent, never-dying torches in the dungeons over there.
Which would mean the faint "enemy" pings from danger-sense and presence-detection are…
"Let's just head for the exit, okay?"
No, that won't do. I can't be the one ignoring priorities.
It's definitely an unknown location. Our gear is gym clothes and sneakers. I shouldn't fully disable my magic and ability limiters. If I show too much, people will think I'm a monster.
If this is a dungeon, I'll go like this until a truly troublesome enemy appears.
With a Hero's experience and skills, we can get out of a place like this—even if there are monsters.
Whatever the case, the priority now is getting my classmates out of this dungeon look-alike and back outside.