Ch.17Taiga, and Sasits

*Swish-!*

As the clock struck midnight, the streets of Emoshita City were enveloped in a peculiar atmosphere.

A strange luminous fog filled the surroundings. It was clear evidence that this small city had begun merging with the hidden world.

“….This is.”

Only then did Taiga look up at something floating above his head.

‘Level: 1’

Large text was displayed above Taiga’s head. It seemed that while Taiga couldn’t access a full status window, he could at least grasp his own level and that of enemies.

Soon after, Taiga witnessed the clear evidence of strength that appeared above my head.

‘Level: 5’

“You’re surprisingly strong!!! Shirtless Man!!!”

Taiga immediately threw in a jab.

“What’s with the Shirtless Man!! Seriously!!”

Just how fixated is this guy on my bare upper body?

“Anyway, can you feel it? My power.”

I immediately struck a pose to show off my muscles.

“It’s kind of humiliating… to be weaker than a guy like this.”

Taiga muttered resentfully.

“Hmph. Jealousy… the privilege of the weak. Enjoy it while you can.”

I slicked back my hair.

“Arrrgh!! So annoying!! This is basically like a game, right? Kill a bunch of monsters and your level goes up.”

Taiga’s expression turned menacing.

“Let’s go hunting!! Hunting!!”

Taiga shouted.

Such enthusiasm. I smiled as I picked up my steel pipe.

Well… had he stolen the protagonist Sasitsu’s destiny? That worry crossed my mind.

‘But… does it really matter?’

It’s just a matter of sequence. If fate follows its course, Taiga would become Sasitsu’s companion. I could think of this as leveling up Taiga in advance.

——–

“Gurrrrrr!!”

“Gurluk!!!”

The scene of the first victim’s murder was definitely a hotspot for monsters. Slimes were popping up everywhere.

Slimes again….. One could complain, but this was still the early game. The first hour of gameplay, so to speak. The only mobs that would appear were slimes.

“Gurrrrrr!!!”

The slimes were more ferocious than usual. And their hatred was directed solely at me.

“Ah… they ‘hate’ me.”

I murmured with my eyes closed.

It made sense. I had killed Gurluk, the hero of the slimes. It wasn’t unreasonable for his subordinates to hate me.

“I understand your feelings. But… if you’re warriors, then face me with your strength. Turn that hatred into power!!!”

I shouted as I charged toward the slimes.

“Kieeeeeeek!!!!”

I swung my steel pipe and burst one slime.

KWAAANG-!!

The slime’s body exploded helplessly in one hit. Now I could take out slimes in a single blow.

I had taken yet another life. Such a sinful existence I lead…

Taiga was glaring at me.

“Do you have to fight while acting so ridiculous?”

Taiga looked at me as if I were a pitiful creature.

No. Ridiculous? Can’t he feel this passion that only men can understand?

——-

Anyway, an army of slimes surrounded us.

“Hyaaah!! Die!!!”

Taiga enthusiastically swung his baseball bat, smashing the slimes.

“Kihahahahaha!!! There’s a certain satisfaction in smashing with a bat!!! Hyaaah!! Take that!!!”

Taiga seemed genuinely excited to unleash his destructive instincts. Um… seeing it up close is kind of scary.

Despite being level 1, his former delinquent experience shone through. Taiga fought quite well. Well… he’s a high-performance character in the game too.

The protagonist’s companion bonus appeared immediately.

Ding-! Ding-ding-!

Thanks to his slime-smashing hunting method, Taiga’s level began rising at a frightening pace.

Ding-!!

Taiga’s level had already reached 5.

That’s right. He was now the same level as me.

‘What about all my efforts during spring break…’

Thud-!!

I collapsed onto the ground. To be honest, I felt an immense sense of reality hitting me.

The days of spring break flashed before my eyes.

Hard training at the kendo dojo from morning till evening, the murderous routine of hunting slimes with my heavy body for three weeks straight to finally reach level 4. Then risking my life to defeat the overwhelming Gurluk to finally reach level 5.

He achieved in one day what took me all that dedicated effort.

‘Ah… is this what they call snake heart?’

An overwhelming jealousy I never felt during my web novel writer days surged within me.

“Hmph. Caught up to you.”

Taiga spoke in a triumphant tone.

“…There’s… there’s strength that can’t be expressed in numbers.”

I desperately tried to claim a moral victory. My three weeks of effort wasn’t in vain!!!! No!! It couldn’t be!!!

“Really? But you were mocking me with numbers earlier. What was that about? Hmm?”

Taiga patted my head as he spoke.

“Y-your level 5 is just water weight!!! My level 5 is compressed muscle from real combat!! That’s it!!”

I shouted as I charged toward the slimes.

“Kieeeeeeek!!!!! Let’s see who can catch more!!!!”

I tried hard to maintain a positive mindset.

“Sounds good!!! If you lose, you’re my lackey!!”

Taiga, who loved competition, immediately charged toward the slimes, swinging his baseball bat.

———–

After the frenzied slime hunt.

I looked up to see above Taiga’s head.

‘Level: 7’

Meanwhile, my level remained at 5. Despite hunting quite diligently, it hadn’t increased at all.

Smirk-!

Taiga looked at me with a sadistic smile.

“How cute.”

Taiga patted my head and delivered a devastatingly powerful line. His triumphant smile was the cherry on top.

So… there’s only one thing left for me to do?

“Taiga. Should we take a break from slime hunting? I have something to do.”

I spoke to Taiga in an eerily calm tone.

“Huh? Suddenly?”

“I’m just going to go commit suicide real quick.”

Ah… my will to live had completely disappeared. It felt like I could die without regrets right now.

“Hey!!! Stop with that calm expression, it’s scary!! Please!!! You look like you’re really going to die!!”

Taiga immediately grabbed me.

“Ugh… urgh…!”

Tears began flowing from my eyes.

“You’re such a pain!!! Pull yourself together!!”

Even as Taiga said this, he wiped away my tears.

“Hueeeeeng!!”

I buried my face in Taiga’s chest. I just wanted to be healed by some maternal love, anything would do.

“W-wait… my chest?!! You pervert…!”

I could hear Taiga’s flustered voice, but I had no intention of moving an inch from his chest. I need healing!!

“There, there. Stop crying. Good boy. Good.”

Finally, Taiga gave up and patted my head.

———

About 5 minutes later, I was healed.

“Phew… mental recovery complete.”

Indeed, the power of motherhood is great.

“You really switch moods quickly…”

Taiga muttered in disbelief as he looked at me.

“So are we just hunting slimes until 2 AM? I want to fight some stronger enemies.”

Taiga asked me about the plan.

“Huh? You’re asking for the opinion of a level 5 bug like me? Shouldn’t the great level 7 Taiga decide?”

My inferiority complex reared its head again.

Damn. The more I think about it, the more unfair it feels.

“This guy really holds grudges…”

Taiga snorted in disbelief.

That’s when it happened.

“You… you guys can see this too?”

As a rather cool and serious voice reached us, Taiga and I turned our heads.

Beyond stood our protagonist, Aiueo Sasitsu Seso. Sasitsu for short.

He was holding an old wooden club as a weapon from who knows where. This guy… he’s quite adaptable. Truly protagonist material.

“Ah… Aiueo. Are you here to fight these monsters too?”

I asked.

“Just call me Eo. It’s easier to say.”

Our cool guy, Sasitsu, said in a calm tone.

“Eo… you’ve extracted the coolest part from the hiragana sequence Aiueo!! Genius!!!”

I couldn’t help but admire him.

Eo. It had a certain vibe to it. No one would ever guess that the original name was the uninspired sequence Aiueo.

Sasitsu had managed to extract extreme coolness from his cursed name. This was an incredible achievement.

How should I put it… like sprouting a seedling in a wasteland.

“Then I’ll call you Sasitsu!!”

But I decided to just call him Sasitsu. Everyone calls him that. It’s good to be consistent with names.

“Why did you reach that conclusion?!!”

Sasitsu raised his voice in a manner unbefitting a cool guy. Hey, is the cool attitude just an act? I wondered.

“I… I want to call you Sasitsu.”

I deliberately acted dejected.

“Hmph… names don’t matter. It’s not important.”

Our protagonist Sasitsu belatedly tried to act cool. For someone who says that, he seemed quite concerned about his name… but out of male camaraderie, I decided to pretend I didn’t notice. I had my own chuunibyou phase too. Yes, everyone goes through that. Being a high school freshman doesn’t exempt you from chuunibyou.

“Oh. So there’s another human who can see monsters.”

Taiga seemed intrigued by this fact.

“Ishimori Norio, found dead today. He was killed by monsters. Humans killed by monsters die of heart attacks. It seems they die from accumulated mental damage rather than physical damage.”

Sasitsu made a cold analysis.

So my job was simple. Just praise the protagonist.

“…We already know that.”

However, Taiga, unable to read the room, spoke dismissively.

“…I see.”

Sasitsu responded in a cool tone, but his voice trembled slightly with embarrassment.

I’m sorry, Sasitsu. I apologized to Sasitsu in my heart.