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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 172 Part 2

―― Territory『The Wailing Forest』 ――

―― countdown: 08:19:00:59 ――

「No need to be shy.」

Since there’s still a lot left in the pot.

It’s a slapdash takikomi gohan, but it’s surprisingly tasty.

Well, all thanks to the Yuki-chan rice and the special dashi soy sauce.

「… T, thank you.」

Perhaps feeling refreshed after getting some sleep, Kotarou-kun’s complexion is looking a little better.

He obediently accepts the donburi and gives me a thanks.

I stir the boiling rice dish with a spatula.

The radish and carrot, which have become soft and flaky, float a strangely purified look on their faces.

They’re hard to eat as they are, so I crush them and mix them with the rice.

The meat of the mysterious monstrous bird is producing some nice umami.

It’s nowhere near as good as the camp food made by Kurumi-senpai, but it’s done with a normally palatable taste.

You can’t go to war on an empty stomach.

Eating up the meal as if shoveling it down, I replenish my calories.

Even Kotarou-kun, who has been acting all reserved, is now wolfing down his meal with gusto.

It’s not really worth crying over as you eat, but it’s not that I don’t understand his feeling.

Food eaten when you are really hungry tastes really good.

After putting down the pot, I put a kettle with a pack of hojicha in it on the kiln.

As I pour some hot tea into the donburi, I drink it all at once.

「Phew….」

At last, it feels like relief is finally settling down.

Even if they are not necessary, sleep, food, and rest are all essential human rituals (routine).

Or so I think.

「Now then, let’s hear what you have to say.」

「Ehh, ah.」

I pour some tea into Kotarou-kun’s donburi as well.

「W, will you listen, to what I have to say…?」

「Yeah.」

There’s something I’d like to ask, too.

So let’s exchange information, shall we?

「T, then, first of all, when we entered this other world…」

First of all, I’d like to ask what kind of quest it is, but let’s read it from the flow of his story.

According to Kotarou’s story, it seems that this quest is a game called『Onigokko』 that takes place in the other world (raid) Onigashima.

From what I’ve heard, the rules are the same as the children’s game called『Onigokko (tag)』.

We, the participants, win if we can escape from the『Onis』 without getting caught.

If the onis catch us, those who get caught will also become『Onis』.

I mean, rather than turning into onis in the manner of a role (rule), they’ll turn into genuine onis and get trapped in the raid.

Well, how should I put it, it’s a pretty high-risked game.

「I did my homework, but I didn’t expect it to be such a high-level raid…. Even the lowest level onis roaming the island are a m, monster.」

I wonder if these guys are homo-ish too.

In a way, that certainly is terrifying.

Leaving the homo oni samurai aside, even against the lol Four Heavenly Kings, Kotarou-kun and the other members of the『Hero Group』 would simply get trampled down.

Overwhelmingly, they’re lacking in class ranks.

「I know it’s an excuse, but it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Even if we don’t fight, we’d get some reward simply from hiding, so they said… Aargh, damn it. I, I, I went and ran away, abandoning my asshole slave!」

「Asshole slave.」

「For it to be such an unreasonable of an other world (raid), as expected, I’m just a coward and scummy otaku who can’t do anything right….」

No, the『Super Class (Hyper)』 and『Extreme Class (Ultimate)』 other worlds (raid) are generally out of the ordinary and unreasonable quests, though.

The Extreme Class ones, in particular, are dens of iniquity where limitless high-ranked beings reign.

Even the Zakurosan from the past, if the pre-reincarnating mama Nue had been there, I think our defeat would have been inevitable.

「My, my precious asshole slave!」

Kotarou-kun is spilling his repentance, but here and there, there sure is a lot of points to retort at.

I’m particularly curious about the asshole slave, and only about half of the story registers in my mind.

Not good, I’m curious.

I hope he’d clarify whether the term Asshole Slave refers to an anal specialty or is an adjective that includes female genitalia.

By the way, anal is an adjective, not a noun.

If you translate Anal, it would be something along『butthole one』, and if you translate『butthole』 itself, it would be Anus.

In other words, if we translate anal intercourse into British, anus sex may be correct, but it seriously doesn’t really matter.

「I get the story.」

About half of it.

When they raided in, he got separated from his comrades and was sent inland instead of to the safe area on the outer perimeter of the『Onigashima』.

The ones who got sent there were not only Kotarou-kun, but also his party member Shiho-san, and even a number of other girls as well, apparently.

These girls were captured by a group of onis and held captive as they were.

In front of Kotarou-kun, who was also captured, they ended up being toyed with by the onis.

There seems to be some onis with female bodies as well, and Kotarou-kun was also reverse-raped.

However, he saw an opening and succeeded in escaping.

And then he ran into me while he was on the run, something like that, I guess.

「It’s only natural for me to be scorned… After all, I abandoned my asshole slave and ran away.」

「Asshole slave.」

「Ultimately, I’m still the pathetic otaku I’ve always been, but…」

Kotarou-kun, who has been holding his head in his hands, directs an entreating-like gaze at me.

With swollen, tear-stained eyes, a runny nose and the like, he’s making one hell of an awful face.

Usually in the classroom, I feel like he was more of a cool, cynical boy, though.

「I, I’m… the real me is just a timid, gloomy otaku who can’t even look people in the eye when I speak to them. I’m doing the so-called high school debut, you see.」

「Yeah.」

I see, so he’s just like me, huh.

I never chatted while making eye contact with people either.

I was ignored with the determination to absolutely never make eye contact.

「I happened to become a comrade of Kazuto, a popular figure in the classroom, so I thought this would be my chance… I became a follower of a normie, so I thought perhaps I could become a normie myself… I’m just an otaku bastard who got carried away and put on airs like that.」

*Sniff sniff* Kotarou-kun sniffles.

「I know I’m a clown (pierrot). But, even so, feeling so pathetic for abandoning Shiho, who asked me to save her, and running away, I… I beg you, T, Touma-kun. Please save her! If it’s something I can do, I’ll do anything!」

「Yeah.」

I get it.

I totally get it.

Kotarou-kun, who is doing a dogeza, raises his mud-covered face.

「Then, let’s go.」

「Huh?」

「It’s time for oni extermination.」

◇ ◇ ◇

―― Territory『The Wailing Forest』 ――

―― countdown: 08:18:00:59 ――

「Mm.」

At any rate, it seems that Kotarou-kun has become my party member.

I wonder if the reason why there’s no display of Seiichi and Subaru-kun is because of a distance-related matter.

I still don’t quite understand the party-related system of the Interface.

Name, 『Uesugi Kotarou』

Rank, 10+20+30+11

Abilities, 『Human』『Arts User (Magi)』 『Onmyouji』『Jingikan』

Existence Level, ☆☆☆☆

「Harem Master」 「Male student of the first-year third group at Toyoashihara Academy」

To put it bluntly, he’s weak.

For the likes of third step class, he should have at least hit the max level cap.

Given things, I guess I have no other choice but to train him as he personally wishes.

I think it’s going to be a rough treatment, but fortunately we’re in the middle of a raid quest.

Even if we make some mistake and end up going beyond the limit of his life support, we’ll probably manage somehow or another.

But that, too, is inevitable.

The trial required to exceed one’s limit is, in short, 『load』.

Like muscle training, you have to destroy and reconstruct yourself.

You have to become stronger, more flexible, and revive stronger so that you’ll never be destroyed again.