Can Someone from a Tradition-Ridden Village Pull Off a Narou-Style Story in a Modern Dungeon? ～The Higher Being Behind Me Is Way Too Much of a Final Boss～ - Chapter 50: Now Then, Let’s Put Our Backs Into Content, Content Today Too! (Patreon)

One week had passed since returning from Shiome Village.

Senano’s achievement in dealing with the Unlit Shrine was recognized, and she successfully graduated.

She herself had written about Sorayodo no Oohito in her report, but some strange things happened, such as all of it being deleted as unnecessary and absurd information before the report was accepted. Aside from that, however, things were mostly going smoothly.

From here on, she would be active as a formidable Enri Bearer, the youngest person ever to reach S Rank.

She would, but...

“Hah, hah, Senano-san, w-wait, wheeze, wheeze...”

She had a source of trouble.

“Honestly, it’s only been five minutes since we started running.”

“A, a break...”

Her usual early morning run.

Ei, her housemate, had joined her.

Perhaps the incident at Shiome Village had given Ei something to think about, because ever since then, Ei had started joining Senano’s training.

That itself was very welcome, and Senano had a favorable impression of it, but the problem lay in Ei’s characteristics.

“Phew...”

Ei stopped, grabbed their collar, and fanned it open and shut.

Seeing sweat trace along their collarbone and flow down inside, Senano’s face went bright red and she turned away.

“Senano-san?”

“Y-You’re a girl, so stop opening your chest that much! That’s not elite!”

“It’s fine! I’m a boy today!”

Ei said that and gave her a confident thumbs-up.

But if that was the case, then Senano’s inner state was in serious trouble in its own way.

“Could it be that you doubt me? Then I’ll take my top off completely...”

“Wah, waa!? Stop that!”

With a scream that made her voice crack, Senano grabbed Ei’s hand.

Then she shook her head.

“I get it. I believe you. I believe you, so absolutely don’t do that.”

“? Understood.”

“I’ll confirm one last time. Today, you’re a feminine boy, right?”

“Yes! I’m a boy!”

The figure making fists in front of their chest looked, no matter how one viewed it, like a slender girl.

Seeing that appearance, the fact that Ei was male, and the T-shirt clinging tightly to him with sweat, the elite mentality within Senano wavered for an instant, but she immediately pulled herself together.

“I-I see. Well, I don’t particularly care either way. An elite always produces results without being swayed by the situation.”

“As expected of you, Senano-san!”

Ei took Senano’s hand with an impressed look.

The moment he did, Senano felt her face suddenly heat up and looked up at the sky.

As usual, it did not seem likely that a blue sky would be visible in Kaien City.

“Please train me hard from now on too!”

“Gh, o-of course!”

The biggest problem at present was that whether Ei’s gender was male or female, Ei was exactly Senano’s type.

On top of that, Ei kept innocently making active physical contact with her, so it was unbearable.

By repeatedly hypnotizing herself into believing that she was an elite, she was just barely maintaining her dignity as someone of S Rank.

And there was one more source of trouble.

“Ah, Senano-senpai!”

“She’s here. (Despair.)”

“Ah, Hakane-san, good morning!”

From beyond the morning mist, her junior appeared, wearing the same jersey.

Her face was shining like a loyal dog that had found its master.

“Good morning! Senano-senpai, and Ei-chan.”

“Yes, good morning!”

“...As beautiful as ever.”

Senano didn't miss Hakane’s muttered remark.

Over the past few days, Senano had noticed something.

It was the BIGLOVE directed toward her from Hakane.

They had run together over the past few days, and Hakane’s line of sight, as well as the strange gaps in their conversations, were extremely similar to Senano herself when she was being toyed with by Ei.

Through the sample known as herself, Senano had seen through that strangely excited state as love.

Hakane likely never imagined that feelings she had kept hidden for several years would be exposed to the person she loved because of a variable-type sacrificial pseudo-medium.

(Well, my feelings toward Ei are probably just because I never had many chances to interact with people until now. I’ll get used to it. I just need to get used to it.)

The elite rephrased “loner” as “solitary” in her mind.

At the same time, she firmly hypnotized herself into believing that she was normal.

Mental adjustment was a basic skill for an elite.

“...Senano-senpai, so good...”

Perhaps unaware that her thoughts were leaking out, Hakane muttered that while staring at Senano.

Senano pretended not to notice her gaze.

Before long, Hakane’s eyes snapped wide open and she pointed at Ei.

“Ei-chan, I absolutely won’t lose to you...!”

“Yes. I look forward to working with you today too!”

Hakane, as a rival in love, and Ei, as a companion working hard together, exchanged their usual greetings.

It had been their routine these past few days.

(Hmm, my stomach hurts!)

A junior of the same sex was directing romantic feelings toward her.

That alone was enough of a problem, but that junior’s romantic rival was a calamity-lord-class pseudo-medium.

On top of that, Ei had something like an attachment to Senano in his own way.

If the two of them truly harbored hostility toward each other, Hakane would almost certainly die immediately.

If it ended with only her death, that would be the better outcome.

(There’s also the possibility Ei might eliminate everyone connected to me... No, no, I’m overthinking it. No way... There’s no way, right?)

Senano nearly imagined a yandere Ei waiting at the end of the worst possible future, so she gave herself a mental scolding and glossed it over.

In front of her, Hakane was showing Ei some kind of paper.

“Ei-chan, look at this!”

“What is this?”

“From now on, I’m going to be able to take on disposal work for Aberrant Entities!”

“? I don’t really understand, but congratulations!”

For the time being, Ei gave a congratulatory clap.

Senano also raised her voice in admiration.

“Oh, not bad. If you can actually dispose of Aberrant Entities, that makes you D Rank, right?”

“Yes. It will be in the form of having a professional Enri Bearer assist me, though. And. Now. Then.”

Hakane held out the paper to Senano as if to say that this was the main point.

“Right in front of me, there happens to be a professional Enri Bearer I’d like to use as a reference! Please, would you help me?”

“Me?”

“Yes!”

Hakane vigorously bowed her head and held out the paper as though she were handing over a love letter.

It was a mission authorization form.

Everything except the place to write Senano’s name had already been filled in.

“Hmm...”

“Is it no good?”

Senano looked at Ei.

If she had been alone, she would have wanted to accept immediately, but if Senano moved, that meant Ei would move with her too.

For now, they were maintaining the relationship with Hakane thanks to a misunderstanding born from Ei’s innocence, but there was no telling what would happen after this mission.

(But... this child needs interaction with people besides me too.)

Eventually, Senano accepted the paper.

Not for her own sake or Hakane’s, but for Ei’s growth.

Without being aware that she had naturally assigned priority that way, Senano turned a smile toward Hakane.

“I’ll say this now, but I’m strict.”

“That’s exactly what I want...!”

“Hakane-san, do your best!”

Ei cheered Hakane on as though it were none of their concern.

Looking at that scene, it somehow seemed as if there was no problem.

“So, what kind of Aberrant Entity is it? We went to the sea last time, so somewhere else would be nice.”

“Please rest assured. The one I’ll be handling this time is a small-scale Aberrant Entity that appeared in a certain household.”

Saying that, Hakane puffed out her chest and smiled.

It was as if she were certain she would be able to complete this mission.

『Sora, is this child content too...?』

『A junior character is necessary! It’s good that we were spared the trouble of cultivating one ourselves!』

『Humans aren’t vegetables.』

The sky today looked like it would be clear as well.

■

The first thing Seika felt was the air inside the house beginning to make excuses.

It was a creepy weight, as though it had prepared the reason something had happened before anything even occurred.

On the day her older brother died, Seika had been looking at her smartphone in her room.

She had been exchanging messages with a friend through an app, and after her friend stopped replying for a while, she began watching short videos.

It was her usual lazy daily life.

Yes, as usual.

Across the hallway, her mother was calling her older brother’s name.

She had probably gone to tell him to take a bath.

She called his name once.

There was no answer.

A second time, with irritation mixed in.

But even then, no answer came back.

A third time, her mother stamped her feet as if making a show of her irritation and headed toward the room beside Seika’s.

The fourth time did not become a voice.

Because it was her mother’s piercing scream.

Her brother’s room was dark.

Her mother clung to the bed, her father turned pale as he called an ambulance, and her grandmother carried her little brother downstairs.

Only Seika watched the scene with a dreamlike sense of floating.

Even among all that, there was something she clearly remembered.

It was the monitor in her brother’s room.

Even though the monitor was still on, the screen was completely black, and only the sound remained as crushed noise.

Seika did not listen to that sound until the end.

Because she had the illusion that death had become an electronic tone, slipped through her eardrums, and entered her brain.

Later, the police tilted their heads, the doctor chose vague words, and no one said the “cause.”

No.

They did not know.

That was what made the family most uneasy.

Her grandmother pressed her hands together in front of her brother’s portrait again and again.

She wasn't praying.

It looked as though she were searching for something.

On the night of the funeral.

Her mother murmured in the living room.

“...Our family, a long time ago.”

Seika remembered.

That in that instant, the back of the house took a very slight breath.

“We used to enshrine a god, didn’t we?”

The words were light.

That was exactly why they stabbed deep into Seika and the others.

After that, the household shrine returned to the family.

It had been in the back of the closet and was covered in dust, but it wasn't broken.

When the household shrine returned, her grandmother said nothing.

She merely lowered her eyes.

And the number of apologizing voices increased.

Her father in the morning, her mother at night.

Seika didn't know who they were apologizing to.

Even though Seika didn't understand, the house grew quiet as if understanding was already assumed.

Her grandmother died a week after that, on a rainy day.

It was old age.

But her mother murmured.

“...They continued, didn’t they?”

With those words, a sequence was born inside the house.

Seika woke up in the middle of the night.

From the direction of the kitchen, there was a sound like paper rubbing together.

When she went to look, there was nothing there.

Only the space in front of the household shrine was slightly dark.

Rather than dark, it was deep.

It gave her the illusion that if she took one step there, she would fall endlessly.

In the morning, her mother was simply dead in front of the household shrine.

Her posture, leaning forward while sitting formally, made it look as though she was merely seated.

Until she got close, Seika couldn't recognize it as just a death.

Her mother’s face had not been crying.

Seika remembered that face.

It was the face of someone who had finished apologizing.

The relieved face of someone who had gotten into a fight, done something wrong, apologized over and over because they were at fault, and finally been accepted.

That was why Seika did not grieve.

Her mother had been forgiven.

After that, her father barely spoke at all.

When he returned from work, he would stand in front of the household shrine and remain there for a long time without saying anything.

Seika understood.

He was waiting.

She did not clearly know what it was.

But she was certain it was a judgment.

From that day onward, her little brother would crawl into Seika’s futon at night.

“Something’s watching.”

Her little brother was still very young and had only recently become able to speak.

His words were halting and unclear.

But they were not wrong.

And her father died on a quiet morning.

The bathroom door was half open.

The water had been stopped, and the bathtub was empty.

Her father had collapsed inside it as though sitting, still wearing his clothes.

His eyes were closed, and his expression once again looked as if he had accepted it.

In that instant, something inside Seika snapped.

(Next is me.)

She had never prayed, never pressed her hands together, and had lived while clinging to her former everyday life.

Therefore, she would not be able to die peacefully like this.

She was sure she would suffer more, twisting her face in regret as she died.

That night, Seika stood before the household shrine.

Her little brother was holding his breath behind her.

Neither of them pressed their hands together.

“...I don’t want this.”

Seika’s voice was trembling.

At that moment, the house creaked.