Chapter 73: As Long as I Can Destroy It, Right?
“Well then… do your best.”
Leaving those final words behind, Mana, too, vanished from before Taketsuru and the others as though she had never been there at all, dissolving into the night like an illusion.
At the very same moment, a familiar voice echoed directly inside my head.
“I’m exhausted… I’ve never had to stand in the spotlight before. Was… was that about right?”
“Not even close. Your manner of speaking kept changing every few seconds. Pick one and stick with it. Were you trying to sound lofty? Polite? Innocent? It came across way too much like you were making everything up on the spot. If you weren’t literally a goddess, the whole performance would’ve fallen apart.”
“Ugh… but… my normal way of talking doesn’t sound dignified enough. And I don’t really know how else I’m supposed to talk…”
As soon as I pointed out how wildly inconsistent her “character acting” had been, the voice in my head began muttering quiet excuses under its breath.
Well, that was something we could improve later.
For now, it wasn’t worth dwelling on.
Personally, I thought the way she’d spoken to me when she first contacted me in my head had been the best version.
Apparently, though, that style had required her to consciously play a role. Since she never actually talked like that in everyday life, she couldn’t reproduce it naturally while improvising.
Then again…
She’d never needed to step into the spotlight before.
She’d always remained behind the scenes while everyone else handled the improvisation.
“Now all that’s left is seeing what Taketsuru and the others decide to do.”
“I’m probably the last person who should say this… but those children aren’t exactly normal, are they?”
“We’ve got a hero from another world, a modern-day ninja, an ordinary university student… and then Kuwajima, who’s hopelessly lost in her own delusions.”
“Isn’t that an absurdly mismatched party!?”
She wasn’t wrong.
And, incidentally…
Although Taketsuru hadn’t chosen to use it, the fastest and most efficient solution available at the moment would be to summon the Holy Sword and literally carve open a path through the entire scenario.
That was almost certainly the quickest answer.
The problem was…
Taketsuru himself seemed determined to avoid summoning the Holy Sword unless absolutely necessary.
I’d already made it clear there was no real danger involved, so unless Niwashita-san became so overwhelmed by stress that the event had to be forcibly terminated, he probably wouldn’t resort to it so casually.
In fact, that was precisely why I’d intentionally sacrificed a little realism by explicitly telling them there was no genuine danger.
After all…
If someone brought a drawn Holy Sword into a haunted traditional-village event, the genre would change entirely.
A test of courage wasn’t supposed to include Punch and Kick as selectable commands.
“Well then… I guess all we can do now is sit back and watch how things unfold.”
“I’ll focus everything I’ve got on maintaining the illusion.”
Our jobs were already finished.
From this point onward…
All we could do was quietly observe.
“So… what do we do now?”
The moment Mana disappeared from sight, Taketsuru spoke.
Despite being thrown into a situation that made absolutely no sense, all four of them remained remarkably calm.
Among them, Taketsuru and Meiko adapted the fastest.
Even in circumstances that would normally throw most people into complete panic, they carried themselves as though this were just another ordinary day.
Well…
Niwashita-san probably didn’t even consider this a dangerous situation in the first place.
She looked perfectly serious on the outside, but she was probably grinning from ear to ear inside.
That was just who she was.
“First things first. We need reconnaissance, a plan of attack… and ideally a map.”
“If it’s scouting, leave it to me. Sneaking around without being spotted by villagers is kind of my specialty.”
“…Okay. We’ll stay here for now. Nekoyanagi-san, could you check out the surrounding area?”
“Roger.”
The instant she answered, Meiko lightly kicked off one wall, then another, using the building itself as footholds before springing effortlessly onto the roof.
Without making so much as a single footstep…
She disappeared into the darkness.
Mm.
Ordinarily, participants would probably begin with a map and basic knowledge of the village’s layout.
But this was only a two-day, one-night event.
If the attraction were aimed at ordinary tourists, distributing maps beforehand would probably be necessary.
This time, though…
With Meiko here, it wasn’t needed.
“Let’s finalize as much as we can before Nekoyanagi-san gets back. Basically, we only have two choices: head for the shrine… or head for the car.”
“Couldn’t Taketsuru-kun use his Hero powers to free all the villagers or something?”
“Heroes aren’t that convenient!!”
Taketsuru reflexively fired back in a loud whisper at Kuwajima’s innocent suggestion.
Then…
He glared toward empty space—
—or rather, toward me, beyond that empty space—
before letting out a weary sigh.
“If this were really a life-or-death situation, I’d use force without hesitation if it meant protecting Sumire-neesan. But from everything we’ve heard, punching and kicking people is completely off-limits, right? Which means… a Hero is basically just a guy who’s stronger than average.”
“Ah…”
“Heh… In peaceful times, Heroes aren’t useful for anything. If anything, we’re just dangerous people with way more strength than we should have…”
“There, there. Yuu-kun didn’t do anything wrong. You’re amazing just for being alive. You’ve already worked so hard… you don’t have to keep pushing yourself anymore.”
“Sumire-neesan…”
Kuwajima had stepped squarely onto a landmine.
Taketsuru’s otherworld PTSD resurfaced.
And Niwashita-san immediately comforted him with practiced gentleness.
Honestly…
He was every bit as emotionally exhausted as Meiko, just in a completely different way.
Still, this was exactly the sort of situation where both his incredible physical abilities and his calm judgment would shine.
There was really no reason for him to be so discouraged.
“W-Well… leave it to me, Taketsuru-kun!”
Feeling responsible for his sudden depression, Kuwajima puffed out her chest with exaggerated confidence and tried to cheer him up.
Unfortunately…
She was aiming in entirely the wrong direction.
“Believe it or not, I’m actually pretty good at that one tag game. We’ll crush whatever Kirishiro-kun has planned in no time and laugh about how easy it was.”
“That’s… some confidence you’ve got.”
Whether her words truly reached him or not was hard to say.
But at the very least…
Her desire to encourage him did.
Taketsuru’s fearless grin slowly returned.
“Yeah… You’re right. It’d annoy me if everything went exactly the way that guy planned. Let’s clear this thing perfectly and rub it in his face.”
“Agreed.”
“I’m with you.”
“Wah!?”
Without anyone noticing…
Meiko had somehow returned.
Even Taketsuru jumped when he realized she was suddenly standing beside him.
As expected of a modern-day ninja.
She might technically be an ordinary civilian, but she was an “ordinary civilian” whose abilities existed on a very different gradient from everyone else’s.
Ignoring everyone’s startled reactions, Meiko lowered her voice and calmly delivered her report.
“First off, here’s the rough map I put together. The watchtower is here—in the middle of the eastern section. Our current position is around here, a little southwest of that, roughly the center of the village. The shrine is all the way at the northern edge, while the road leading to the car is on the opposite side at the southern exit. The villagers are patrolling in a fairly random pattern, but security is definitely tighter around the shrine, the watchtower, and the southern exit.”
“Yeah… they’re really making us run all over the place.”
“That said… I’ve got a suggestion.”
After gathering such remarkably detailed intelligence in such a short time, Meiko proposed something that would probably solve the scenario brilliantly…
Though from the perspective of a traditional cursed-village event…
It was perhaps a little too practical.
“There’s a small hill around the northwest side. From there, you’ve got a clear line of sight to the shrine. Hardly anyone’s guarding it. If someone’s confident with throwing rocks or something similar, we could destroy the shrine from long range.”
“Oh, I’m great at throwing rocks. Honestly, in another world, rocks are secretly the strongest weapon around.”
“Then here’s the plan. Taketsuru-kun throws the rock at the right moment. At the same time, I’ll cause a disturbance around the watchtower and draw the villagers over. While everyone’s distracted, Tae-chan and Niwashita-san make a break for the exit. Once they’re safely away, we’ll catch up. Taketsuru-kun… you can escape on your own, right?”
“Who do you think you’re talking to? Easy.”
“Wait just a minute! Destroying the shrine from long range is completely lacking in atmosphere, don’t you think!?”
Unable to stop herself, the disembodied voice blurted the objection directly into all four of their minds.
The four participants merely blinked in confusion.
“But… as long as it’s destroyed, that’s what matters, right?”
“Nobody ever specified how we’re supposed to destroy it. So I figured sniping it or blowing it up might be fair game too.”
“If Kirishiro-kun were designing this, he’d definitely close loopholes like that first. So if it’s still possible, doesn’t that mean it’s allowed?”
“…………”
For some reason…
I felt the voice’s attention shift toward me.
Naturally.
Just as Kuwajima had guessed, I’d already considered the possibility of someone trying exactly this.
But this was essentially a pre-opening test.
I had deliberately left the loophole in place because I wanted to see what desperate participants would come up with when pushed into a corner.
Ordinarily, the intended flow would involve observing the villagers’ patrol routes, exploiting blind spots, assigning one group to lure patrols away while another moved in to destroy the shrine, creating a tense game of forced cat-and-mouse.
There were even plans for additional mechanics.
For example…
If participants had spent time befriending the villagers beforehand and earned enough affection, a persuasion event could allow them to be spared once.
If this attraction were going to become a permanent event…
Balancing features like these would be essential.
The longer guests stayed—or the larger the group—the more villagers would need to appear, along with more dynamic events to keep the experience engaging.
Still…
This was only a pre-opening.
None of that mattered yet.
Right now…
The priority was identifying problems by watching unusually creative players do things no ordinary participant would ever attempt.
“This is exactly why shrine destruction should probably have conditions attached. Something like, ‘Use one of the crowbar-like objects placed throughout the village,’ or ‘We’ll grant you the power to destroy it, but all four participants must each strike it at least once.’ But for this test… it’s fine.”
“Are you sure it’s fine? At this rate, it feels like they’re just going to escape normally…”
“Yeah.” I answered without the slightest hesitation. “Trust me.”
Hearing my confidence, the voice reluctantly addressed the four participants again.
“It’s completely devoid of atmosphere, so I’d rather you didn’t… but just this once, destroying it with a thrown rock is acceptable.”
In reality…
The shrine sat roughly two hundred meters away from that hill.
The abnormal part wasn’t the loophole.
It was the fact that Taketsuru could casually throw a stone that far, at night, with enough accuracy to destroy the target.
I was just an ordinary university student you could find anywhere.
The problem was…
My best friend and my childhood friend both had one foot planted firmly in the realm of the abnormal.
Honestly, it made life difficult.
Even so…
Whether this loophole should actually be closed before the full release was still up for debate.
For now…
It didn’t matter.
Because a much bigger problem was about to reveal itself.
“Alright then. Let’s make a quick escape.”
“Sounds good.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s do our best~”
With official permission from the mysterious voice, all four of them exchanged determined looks.
Even now…
Hope shone brightly in their eyes.
Ten minutes later—
──────
Traditional Village Tag
Taketsuru Yuu: Normal
Nekoyanagi Meiko: Normal
Kuwajima Taeko: Captured
Niwashita Sumire: Normal
──────
“Ku-hahahaha! My name is the great Goetheschwarz Sanzen Sanbyaku Sanjuuin! This was merely one move in my grand strategy to expose your schemes! In other words, I allowed myself to be captured on purpose! So don’t dare suggest that I simply blundered, understand!? S-Servant Number One! Ein!!”
Kuwajima had been caught spectacularly.
Now she was tied securely to the festival watchtower in the center of the square.
“E-Ein! If you insist, I shall graciously permit you to rescue me at once! Should I unleash my true power, there’s no telling what will become of this pitiful spectacle! Are you listening!?”
“…Is that girl… kind of pitiable?”
“She’s a good kid.”