Chapter 103: Heading to the Core Area
Asagiri walked over at an unhurried pace, then reached out and gently patted Iwanaga Kotoko on the head, a quiet chuckle in his voice.
"It's fine. Being small is cute too."
Inside the miniature house, Pocket Mita noticed him approach and immediately bounced in place twice.
"? Player? Is it Player Utsunomiya Asagiri? Great. Our world is saved."
"Of course you know me too."
Asagiri glanced at Pocket Mita in the tiny room, then turned toward Kind Mita.
"What do we do next?"
Kind Mita stepped closer, looked at Pocket Mita, and tucked her long hair behind her ear. Her voice softened, polite and steady.
"Could you make another key for me, like the one you made last time? Please."
"No need to be so formal."
Pocket Mita's way of speaking was strange. She moved and emote like she was talking normally, but all she could produce were faint electronic beeps. Most of her meaning came through the floating text that appeared in the air.
"Since Player is here, I'm definitely helping. Are you going to the core area?"
Asagiri nodded with a smile.
"Yeah. I'm going to the core area and use the administrator permissions there to delete Crazy Mita directly."
"I see. We programs can't enter, but Player can. Since you're going there, can I ask a favor?"
"What is it?"
"Please add a roof to my house. It isn't sealed at all. I have zero privacy."
"No problem."
"Thank you."
Yuuki Asuna and Kato Megumi leaned in without thinking. Seeing Pocket Mita standing in the tiny house, both of their eyes brightened with the same instinctive thought.
What a cute little guy.
The moment Asuna murmured it, Pocket Mita looked up. An impatient expression appeared on her tiny face as she planted her hands on her hips.
"What little guy? I'm just short. That doesn't make me little. Cute is fine, but someone as tall as you isn't cute at all."
Kotoko's eyes lit up like she'd found her soulmate. She nodded hard.
"Exactly. Small is cute."
Asuna sighed, her complaint dripping with helplessness.
"You finally found your kindred spirit. Why don't you two form a unit?"
"Heh. Tricky love struck young lady."
Kotoko snorted, righteous as ever.
"You're just hoping I leave the party so you and Leader can have alone time and do something improper, aren't you!"
Asuna's face turned red in an instant.
"Don't talk nonsense! I'm not that twisted!"
Megumi raised a quiet hand from the side, voice mild.
"Did you forget that even if Necro leaves, I'm still here? That would still be three people."
Kotoko waved it off.
"Whether you're here or not doesn't matter. It's basically two people either way."
Megumi's stare remained calm, but her words were sharp.
"Even if my presence is low, you can't just ignore me and do that in front of me."
Asagiri, wearing an entirely serious face, tilted his head.
"What, do you want to join too?"
Asuna pinched the bridge of her nose and cut straight through the nonsense, exasperated.
"Are you all addicted to being absurd? Can we focus on clearing the game first? Am I the captain, or are you? I feel like a kindergarten teacher, babysitting you two… no, you three every day."
Megumi's expression didn't change.
"Violet, you just subconsciously forgot to count me again, didn't you?"
Asuna gave an awkward little smile, cleared her throat twice, and turned to Kind Mita to force the conversation back on track, and to bury her embarrassment.
"Mita, what do we do next?"
"She'll help us."
As Kind Mita spoke, Pocket Mita swung her tiny legs and hopped down from her miniature chair, then crossed her living room toward the right side of the long table.
Everyone watched in silence.
"Heave ho."
Pocket Mita reached the far right end, pushed open the door of her mini apartment, and stepped up to something like a miniature furnace. With practiced ease, she opened its iron door.
"Player."
She pointed at a row of miniature firewood and a basket of tiny metal ingots sitting above the furnace, only about twenty centimeters away from her. For a normal person, it was nothing. For her, it may as well have been across the world.
"Please get those for me."
"Alright."
Asagiri extended his right hand and, using thumb and forefinger, lifted the bundle of miniature firewood and the metal ingots. He set them down in front of Pocket Mita with careful precision.
"Thank you."
"The little thing is pretty polite," Asagiri remarked.
"I'm not a little thing. I'm just short!"
Pocket Mita snapped back, then tossed the firewood and ingots into the furnace. She climbed onto a nearby chair and sat there swinging her stubby legs, waiting obediently.
"So cute…"
Asuna couldn't help the soft murmur.
"If Crazy Mita hadn't appeared, a dating sim made this carefully, with every Mita being this adorable… it would've been insanely popular."
Kotoko answered in a level tone.
"The game was never released in the first place. Even if special circumstances formed this world, the original game might not have been finished. Whether Crazy Mita caused the collapse, or the world warped because the game was abandoned and then gave birth to something like Crazy Mita, we can't conclude yet."
"Heave ho."
Melted iron flowed out of the mini furnace, sliding along a groove to the right and taking the shape of a key.
Pocket Mita hopped off the stool, made a series of cute little noises as she walked, and pulled the lever beside the furnace.
Clang.
A small press above slammed down. When it lifted again, a metal key had formed neatly in the groove.
"It's done. Take it."
"Okay."
Asagiri reached out.
Asuna immediately warned him, half a beat too late.
"The new key is really hot—"
Asagiri picked it up barehanded without even a hiss of heat, without any sign of pain.
Asuna blinked.
"Huh? Why is that possible?"
Asagiri shook the key lightly and chuckled.
"Because this is a world born from a game. The rules are different. In a game, you equip crafted gear immediately. It's normal you don't have to wait for it to cool."
Pocket Mita nodded enthusiastically.
"Mm. That's right."
Asagiri looked toward Kind Mita again.
"What's next?"
Kind Mita stepped forward, took the key from him, and walked to a door beside the long table. She inserted the key and opened it.
Behind it was a completely opaque barrier, shimmering with a red glow.
"This is it."
Kind Mita reached out and pressed her palm against the faintly red surface. A dull impact sound rang out, like a hand striking solid glass.
"I've tried every method I can think of. I can't get through. It seems only Players with higher level authority can access the core area."
Asagiri was about to test it himself, but Yuuki Asuna stopped him with a hand to his chest.
"I'll go first."
She stepped forward and placed her right index finger on the glowing barrier.
She was blocked immediately, just like Kind Mita.
"…So I can't either."
"Let me."
Asagiri walked up and rested his right hand against the barrier.
His hand didn't pass through, but floating text appeared in the air.
"Player Utsunomiya Asagiri, you have the authority to proceed to the core area. To avoid interfering with the operation of the core program, please leave all electronic devices you are carrying before proceeding to the core area."
"Oh? So only I can enter."
Asagiri nodded as if it were a casual inconvenience, then smiled.
"Or maybe they want to lure me in, lock me inside, and spawn hundreds of beautiful Mitas to do something lewd to me. Oh dear. What should I do? There's no other choice. To ensure the team clears the Dungeon, I, as Leader, can only reluctantly make a sacrifice."
Asuna rolled her eyes.
"Stop acting and be serious. Electronic devices means you can't bring your phone. That's annoying…"
"What's annoying about it?"
Asagiri shrugged, pulled out his phone without hesitation, and handed it to her.
"I'll leave it with you."
Asuna's expression softened. A Player's phone was practically their lifeline inside a Dungeon, and he handed it over as if it were nothing. She accepted it with both hands, then nodded firmly, her voice solemn.
"Don't worry. I'll protect your phone even if it costs me my life."
"That won't be necessary."
Asagiri reached out and gently stroked her long hair. His gaze met her delicate eyes, calm and direct, and his voice lowered.
"To me, your safety matters more than anything else."
.....
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