High School Hack and Slash Chapter 87×1
Asagi-sou Mysterious Tales
*Chirp~, chirp~* The chorus of cicadas echoed through Asagi-sou.
Although the dormitory had been subjected to various magical remodeling by the hands of a certain club, the summer heat was unrelenting.
In the club room of Adept Orders, where a wind chime rang, lies Saki, who looked as if her soul had been drained.
「U~… Danna-sama… Shizuka-nee-sama….」
It was the third day since the participating members of the outdoor school departed.
The one who soon was beginning to show symptoms of withdrawal was Saki.
「Saki-chan, pull yourself together.」
「Saki-chan, here’s some cold barley tea.」
Even the Craftsman class members, who tended to work energetically, were melting limply in the corner of the club room as if their batteries had run out.
「Ah~, yup. I believe it’s something akin to a withdrawal symptom.」
Rinko, who was flapping an uchiwa (jap. fan), was also cooling off in the clubroom, unmotivated.
「Ahaha… It can’t be helped. With Touma-kun gone, as expected, right?」
Mikan, who was polishing the weapons with a squeak, perhaps due to being unable to concentrate, was not making any progress at all, either.
「Ah~… Good graciousness. Isn’t everyone slacking off too much?」
Otoha, sitting on a bamboo bench, was submerging her feet in a water-filled tub.
There was no particular reason in her making strange voices matching the neck turn of the electric fan.
In general, all of them were exposing figures bereft of any shreds of motivation.
Though, according to the policy decided by the club, they were expected to refrain from doing any dungeon dive while Touma and the others were at the outdoor school.
If that was the case, them having nothing else to do was the traits of Toyoashihara Academy.
「Ah~, I want to eat chilled watermelon or tomatoes~.」
「… Shall I go and pluck some?」
Akehi, who was lying listlessly in the tatami zone, reacted.
「Ah, yes. The tomatoes growing in the dormitory field are sweet and tasty, but… Them sometimes exploding when you take a bite is a bit.」
「Ahaha. Otoha-chan, you turned bright red the other day too, after all, right?」
「If you pluck and then chill it, it shouldn’t explode, though.」
It meant that at room temperature it would explode without mercy.
Once you thrust a knife into it, it would turn into a regular tomato, but Otoha was of the whole tomato gnawing faction.
「Then, I’d like to have some coconut juice….」
「That thing, you never know where it’s walking, right? … This morning looked like it sprouted in the direction of the open air bath, though.」
It was an expression in violently improper Japanese, but there was no retort from the numbed club members.
However, as far as the boarding students of Asagi-sou were concerned, it was certainly true that their sanity would not last if they had to fret about every little thing.
To begin with, the Asagi palm tree was known to be a very moody being.
When it was in a good mood, it would gladly drop a coconut with merely a single word, but when it was in a bad mood, it would relentlessly blow a coconut crash at you.
In front of Otoha, who was idly thinking about fetching some ice from the basement with her feet remaining submerged in the tub, a small object that looked like an upright konnyaku with arms and legs ran past her.
There was a high possibility that her ending up naturally wondering if their dinner had escaped was more because of her brain boiling from the heat, rather than her being used to such things.
「It, it’s bad~.」
The one who rushed into the club room was the one who had been expanding the underground warehouse using her『Dungeon Creator』 skill, Umeka.
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「Err, let’s see. In short, does this mean that the basement of Asagi-sou has become a dungeon, I wonder?」
In a hastily held club meeting, Rinko, still holding the uchiwa in her hand, confirmed.
Most of the club members seated at the table were plopped down and looked like drooping pandas, so the sense of high tension was faint.
「No, umm… Rather than became, it’s more like… It’s have been there from the beginning, or something….」
Umeka, who had now turned into the defendant, was speaking in an evasive manner.
The name『Dungeon Creator』, an unregistered (unknown) class that even the person in question did not quite understand, was a poor one.
And then, although the person in question was unaware of it, it was loaded with skills that allowed her to actually create dungeons.
However, when it came to this case, it was a false accusation.
「This, umm, I was trying to expand the space of the ice room. But if we built any more basements, it seemed like we would no longer be able to maintain the structural strength of the dormitory, so I turned it downwards.」
「Yes. We have a blacksmith workshop (Factory), we also built a theater room, and we even have a prison that we built as we got carried away, after all….」
The last facility was not a place to confine prisoners, but used as a playroom of sorts.
It was a full-fledged one, with triangular wooden horses, restraint devices, whips, and obscene sticks arranged.
There were also cases where boys from other dormitories who broke in selfishly were dragged away, but they would start crying and apologizing before they were locked up there, so it had never been utilized.
「Then, you see… There was this strange basement-like space, from which….」
「Such a thing came out, huh….」
When Mikan looked back toward the corridor, there was a bouncing parasol that looked like something out of a period drama.
The handle part was that of a radish-like leg, and it was moving by itself.
Other than that, there were various other types of Tsukumogami (objects that acquired souls) striding around, such as a paper lantern with eyes and mouth attached, a raccoon-like tea kettle with arms and legs, a hard to describe sticky black mass, and a tire-like thing that rolled on its own.
At first, they seemed to be trying to scare the dorm residents, but what they were facing were the numbed Asagi dorm residents.
Instead of an electric fan, some tried to abduct the fan that had arms and legs, while others tried to bait it with sweets.
Perhaps disappointed that they did not get the reaction they were expecting, they were now loitering around the dormitory as they pleased.
「Well, whatever, as long as they don’t cause harm to the dorm residents, can’t we just leave them alone?」
Otoha, dressed in hot pants and a tank top, abandoned her thoughts as she licked a popsicle.
「As the dorm leader, I’m not so sure about that….」
「Even before now, null mobs have been popping up, so it’s too late for that, no?」
Kurumi, who was handing out homemade popsicles to every club member, threw in a retort.
「Yeah that. It seems like these days it’s kind of popular to keep a null mob in your room, you see. If we start exterminating them at this point, I think there will be a coup.」
Getting soothed by having some jellyfish-like thing float in their rooms, and there were even some miscreants who secretly coexisted with them as they used them as adult toys.
「Hmm~, looks like the rumors of Asagi-sou being a haunted house are going to spread more and more.」
Mikan, petting the konnyaku-man with arms and legs that had climbed onto the desk, let out a sigh.
Being handed a cookie, the konnyaku-man happily sat down and began to eat it crispily.
「Whoa. I think it’s kinda cute.」
「Then. As such, Umeka-chan is acquitted. I mean, to do an extermination and the like, it’s hot, and above all, it’s such a pain….」
「I wonder if you’re being too lax these days, Otoha.」
Rinko, with her finger on her forehead, let out a deep sigh.
「But why were these kids in a place like the basement of the dorm, I wonder?」
「Err, there was some sort of ostentatious box that looked like it was being sealed there. But I thought it was in the way… And when I broke it….」
It was one presumptively guilty sloppiness.
It was an act that made the false accusation judgment dubious.
「Hmm~. Even during the passing down of the Sorority, I think I was told none of such a strange matter~.」
「I’ve caught it!」
Saki, who was running around the hallway, was holding a small cat in her arms.
The brown tiger cat, with a face of resignation in many ways, was unresisting, its two-pronged tail wagging lazily.
「Saki-chan, let me pet it.」
「Pet it.」
「Those girls sure are lively, aren’t they…?」
Perhaps having their interest attracted by its adorable feline appearance, the club members who had been lazing around also began to surround it and love it together.
「Yup. Looks like everyone’s spirit has come back a little, I suppose?」
「You’re right! That’s why, Ume-chan, there’s no need for you to worry about it, either~.」
「Yes. Glad to hear that. There was a strange hole in the box I broke, and somehow it was connected to a raid area-ish place, and from the inside… I could hear death metallic shouts like, I shall bear this grudge~, or I’ll destroy humanity~, or something, but… There’s no need to worry about it, right?!」
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「… Aa~, s.o.h.o.t….」
Otoha, emerging from an ishibitsu (box-shaped funerary urn made of stone) that was adorned with eerie decorations, groaned in a husky voice.
She was dripping sweat under her heavy armoring full armor.
「It was cooler inside~.」
「… I want to drink some barley tea.」
「… Roasted green tea is also fine.」
The figures of the group coming out from inside one after another were fully equipped for a dungeon attack.
While being started with eyes of they were doing something strange again by the dorm residents they passed by, they returned to the club room (provisional).
Inside the club room, where the wind chime was tinkling, the girls, who had removed their equipment, were drooping in exhausted state.
「Good job, everyone.」
Meiron handed out some Dutch coffee, which was slowly extracted over time from the water.
Most of the club members gulped down their crispy cold glasses in one gulp.
「Senpai. I want another cup~.」
「Yes. Drinking too much, chills your stomach, it’s a no go, okay?」
Everyone crowded around the kettle of cold barley tea that Meiron had brought.
「Haa, I’m back to life…. Just what was the deal with that outrageous metal monster?」
The one spouting the dangerous lines was not an electric guitar, but a wooden biwa (jap. lute).
「It used a skill I’ve never seen before, but it wasn’t very strong, was it~?」
「Or rather, I didn’t feel any killing intent from the start, I suppose?」
Perhaps that could be said to be a blessing.
Since as they did not go through Rashomon, the undead system didn’t function, even if the worst case scenario were to occur.
「The tournament to decide the head seat that had become vacant started, or something, geez, I can no longer tell what is what.」
「There were a lot of cute ones there, weren’t there?」
That was not in sexual meaning, but in a small sundry-ish fetishism.
The mystery tournament to decide the head wound up in an indefinite end, though.
「There’s no problem on that part.」
「Will be back soon.」
Otoha and the others tilted their heads at the twins, who were holding their glasses with both hands and letting out a sigh of relief.
「I don’t quite get it, but I told them not to do any mischief, so it should be fine, right?」
As far as the residents of Asagi-sou were concerned, that was their natural daily lives.
It was one act of a summer vacation with nothing to write home about.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
High School Hack and Slash
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Tftc