19. Cracks in the City

"Hmm, guess I should replenish my junk food supply before heading to the dungeon."

I stopped by a store with a red WM logo on the way to the dungeon.

I missed out on a MacBurger earlier.

Seki would get all motherly and scold me if I ate too much junk food, which was a bit of a pain.

It wasn't that I was hungry since I had just eaten, but this kind of junk food went to a different place.

For me, it was an important nutrient, a luxury item that needed to be replenished regularly.

"I want a vanilla shake too, and maybe some fries and nuggets..."

My rank had gone up, and so had my strength, so I didn't mind carrying a bit more. I might as well splurge on some food and buy a little extra.

As I happily entered the clean store and looked at the menu panel.

From below, a loud growling sound came from someone's stomach.

Was it from behind the counter?

I quietly peered over and saw a girl crouching down, squeezed between the counter and the wall.

I recognized that face. It was Rindo Kazuha, Nanami Shuichi's childhood friend.

"Um, Rindo-san, was it? What are you doing in a place like this?"

"Ah..."

The barely audible small voice was drowned out by the loud growling of her stomach. Her stomach was speaking more eloquently than her mouth.

I thought a girl would be embarrassed to have her stomach rumble so many times, but Kazuha just stared at me with lifeless eyes, crouching down and huddled up.

Man, wasn't she looking awfully gaunt?

Her white school uniform blouse was visibly dirty. Even when she looked at me, she didn't move from her squatting position on the ground.

Her black hair, tied up with a scrunchie, had no luster, and her pale, thin cheeks looked utterly exhausted.

It wasn't so much that she was sitting down, but rather that she had collapsed deep inside the store and couldn't move.

"Could it be... are you hungry?"

"Ugh..."

A weak reply. I decided to buy a MacBurger set for now and offered it to her.

When I held the burger up to her nose, she bit into it ravenously. She devoured it in an instant, gulping it down.

I was a little surprised.

That wasn't how a normal girl ate.

"Hey, wait a minute, if you eat that fast... you'll get a stomachache."

"Zzzzzzz..."

Kazuha also gulped down the cola that came with the set at an incredible speed. Was she also thirsty?

No, juice wasn't good when you were thirsty. Thinking that, I offered her water, and she drank that down in an instant too.

What was this? It was a little interesting.

Feeling like I was feeding a wild animal, I also gave her fries and nuggets. Kazuha grabbed them with her hands and devoured them ravenously, lost in the moment.

She was eating single-mindedly, without caring about appearances. She must have been terribly hungry; it felt more like she was inhaling the food and stuffing it into her stomach rather than eating.

After she finally calmed down, having polished off three servings, Kazuha let out a big sigh and gave a blissful smile.

In front of Kazuha, still crouching in the small gap in the counter, a lot of scattered remnants of food lay around.

Having eaten this much all at once after being so hungry, wouldn't it put too much strain on her stomach?

"Drink this too, so you don't get a stomachache."

I also made her drink a health potion and an antidote potion.

I didn't know if an antidote potion would work as a stomach medicine, but from experience, I thought it had a digestion-aiding effect. The potion Seki had made for me was already proving useful.

Kazuha gulped down the blue and orange potions I handed her, her throat making a "gokugoku" sound.

The current Kazuha would probably swallow anything I gave her. My first impression was that she was a more reserved girl, but she really seemed to have been in an extreme state.

After the replenishment and recovery, the luster finally returned to Kazuha's hair and skin.

The light returned to her dark eyes, and at the same time, her emotions seemed to return as well, as her lips began to tremble.

"S... Shinjo-kun, thank you... ugh, ugh..."

One moment she had a blissful smile on her face, full from eating, and the next she started crying.

Tears like pearls glistened and fell from Kazuha's downcast eyes, which she wiped with her sleeve, but they continued to overflow and wouldn't stop.

"H-hey..."

"I'm... I'm sorry... I, I..."

I was bewildered by her sudden crying.

No matter how much she endured, the tears wouldn't stop from Kazuha's eyes. It looked like she had finally gotten enough moisture, and the tears that had dried up were now overflowing; I couldn't bear to watch.

I could still understand starving and collapsing, but not even realizing she was dehydrated.

Anyone could drink water for free if they just went to the park.

"Hey, Rindo-san. What in the world happened?"

Even I, who had ignored most things as someone else's problem, couldn't help but ask about this.

"I ran out of money..."

"I heard that the student council was properly distributing gold coins even to students who couldn't go into combat. And Rindo-san, you're Nanami Shuichi's childhood friend, aren't you?"

If she asked Nanami, the leader who was running the student council, for help, there was no way she wouldn't get money.

Rather, she should have been treated as a privileged class.

"That's why..."

Kazuha began to tell her story, bit by bit.

In a word, Rindo Kazuha had been severely bullied by the female students of the student council.

Moreover, the biggest reason was "because Kazuha was Nanami Shuichi's childhood friend."

Most of the student council members, especially the girls, were Nanami Shuichi's sympathizers.

Nanami Shuichi seemed to be trying to treat everyone equally, but the sharp-witted women keenly sensed that "Kazuha was being given special treatment by Nanami Shuichi."

Somewhere along the line, a rumor spread that Kazuha was being treated specially because she was Nanami's childhood friend, and that became the fatal blow.

And Nanami, who was always at the forefront of adventures, working hard for everyone...

Didn't notice the fact that Kazuha was being bullied in the shadows.

No, it wasn't just Nanami's fault.

It was also my fault for thoughtlessly healing Kazuha's leg disability.

Originally, Kazuha had been somewhat out of place in the class, even being forced to be the class representative.

Because she had a mild disability in her ankle joint, she had barely escaped being the target of bullying by being seen as a pitiful child.

As a result of that delicate balance being broken, Kazuha was completely ostracized by the female student council members in the city.

No one sympathized with her or helped her, and she was no longer able to receive the distribution of gold coins.

Once Kazuha became the target of bullying, she was subjected to harsh insults wherever she went and wasn't even allowed to drink the spring water that should have been freely available.

Kazuha, persecuted by the student council, was physically and mentally wounded and exhausted, and she had been crouching down in the back of the deserted fast food restaurant, about to die a lonely death.

"Hey, if you were dying, you should have told Nanami to help you!"

"But... that's... uwaaaaaaaaah!"

Kazuha burst into tears, unable to hold back. Ah, I see...

This was my fault. The root cause of Kazuha being bullied by the female students was that she was treated specially by Nanami Shuichi.

There was no way she could ask Nanami, the cause of it all, for help.

If she cried to Nanami for help, what would happen afterward? Nanami, who was out earning gold coins, was hardly ever in the city. The bullying would only become worse and more insidious.

This time, it might not just end with passive persecution.

That was why the timid Kazuha couldn't do it. There was an unbearable fear that was worse than hunger or thirst.

"What student council? Damn bastards..."

There was a term called the banality of evil.

The students in the city weren't all heinous criminals; they were all just ordinary high school students.

Perhaps excessive stress from the mass transfer incident was the trigger.

Ordinary people began to persecute Kazuha out of jealousy, envy, or just for fun, and finally drove her to the point of near starvation.

Just because negative actions couldn't be done in the city didn't mean people couldn't be harmed.

Bullying, ignoring, insults, ostracism, persecution... Even without laying a hand on someone, it was possible to drive them to death by ganging up on them.

What happened in Genocide Reality was just the commonplace occurrence of rotten humans gathering together in any world.

Even though it was just that, a searing hot emotion raged like a storm deep within my chest.

Driven by my rage, I pulled out all the remaining gold coins from my rucksack and handed them to Kazuha.

This was absolutely not sympathy!

"Shinjo-kun..."

"This is all the gold coins I have right now. Take this and hide somewhere. If it's not enough, I'll bring you more."

Kazuha being bullied was also my responsibility for easily teaching her how to heal her leg.

It was against my will, but since I had gotten involved, I had to take responsibility to the end.

It would be bad if Nanami Shuichi helped her, but if I, the outcast, helped her...

"Shinjo-kun, no! I don't want something like this!"

Kazuha rejected the offered gold coins and clung to me with all her might. I inadvertently fell on my butt. She slammed her body against me with that much force.

She looked at me with tear-swollen, bloodshot eyes and let out a heartfelt scream.

"But, you don't have money because..."

"No, it's not that! Shinjo-kun is going somewhere, isn't he? I don't want to be in this city anymore either! Take me with you!"

Even if she asked me to take her, the place I was going was a dangerous dungeon.

It wasn't a world where such a weak girl could survive.

Ah... there was the Garden on the fifth floor underground.

A safe hidden room, she could hide and live there without being found by anyone. She could also escape the student council's persecution.

I had originally wanted to make it a safe zone shelter for Seki.

Could I shelter one more person?

"Hey, Rindo Kazuha, if you want to come with me, be prepared to take risks."

"I'm prepared. There's no place more dangerous than this city. I'd rather die than stay here."

That was true.

Kazuha was about to be killed in this safe city, so she would try to escape.

But that alone wasn't enough.

If she wasn't prepared to fight, she would only be a burden if I took her along, and I didn't want to see an innocent girl die because of my responsibility.

"Going to the dungeon means becoming an adventurer. It's a place where even your life isn't guaranteed, and even I might not be able to save you. Do you understand, Rindo? I'm telling you to be prepared to fight for yourself, not to run away. Make an effort to survive."

"I'll do my best... not to be a burden to Shinjo-kun. If the worst happens, you can even abandon me."

While saying that, she probably meant to ask me to save her if her life was in danger.

Even if that happened, well, it was my responsibility once I decided to take her. Kazuha's determination seemed somewhat genuine, so I guess I'd take her along.

"I don't mean to scare you, but the dungeon is really dangerous. Don't have the naive idea that I'll save you; have the will to save yourself."

"I have the will!"

Perhaps it was because she was desperate, but her voice had strength.

With this firmness of resolve, she might not be too much of a hindrance.

"Hmph, I see. You're still weak, but you had the courage to ask me for help. For now, I'll take that as good enough."

"Shinjo-kun, please. I'll do anything, so please let me go with you..."

It was too late for a lot of things.

If she had that kind of resolve from the beginning, she could have used her childhood friendship with Nanami to establish a dominant position in the city. She should have made up her mind earlier.

I sighed at Kazuha, who was desperately clinging to my body like a drowning person grabbing at a straw and wouldn't let go.

Well, whatever. Kazuha was still alive. The fact that I had accidentally discovered her here was also Kazuha's luck. Let's just say that the courage to barely survive had arrived just in time.

"There's a safe room deep in the dungeon where you might be able to hide and live. I don't mind taking you there."

"Please, take me there."

Alright, it was decided.

I gathered the gold coins that Kazuha had scattered on the floor.

"Then, first, take this gold properly. Use this money to get some equipment. Ah, not just equipment. The hidden room has food and water, but no change of clothes or daily necessities, so go and replenish your daily necessities in the city, filling a rucksack."

"I understand. What kind of equipment should I get?"

"Before that, Rindo, what's your job?"

"I'm a cook, but it's a useless job, you know. Nanami-kun told me to help everyone with cooking, but everyone said I was useless and they didn't need me."

It was pitiful to say, but it was one of the worst jobs.

Even in this wild game where you could eat raw monster meat without any problems, cooking skills existed.

It might be interesting to do as role-playing, but even if you were good at cooking, the only effects were things like a difference in fullness recovery, which was really trivial.

Almost no one cooked in the dungeon. Adventurers even begrudged the effort of grilling meat and usually just ate raw ingredients.

"It doesn't matter, but it's incredibly ironic that a cook is starving."

"Yeah..."

I looked at Kazuha still wearing her school uniform. It was dirty because she hadn't been able to wash it properly, but it was made of sturdy cloth.

If she was going to wear something over it, heavy equipment would be impossible with Kazuha's stamina.

"If you put on metal armor, you won't be able to move. Even hardened leather armor might be too heavy. For Rindo, leather armor is probably the best you can do. And like a cook, why don't you equip yourself with a paring knife or something?"

She would be paper-thin in defense, but if she didn't get hit, it wouldn't matter.

I wasn't expecting much in terms of attack power either. It would be good enough if she threw stones from behind or shot a basic Fireball.

We just needed to make it to the fifth floor underground, so it would probably work out somehow.

Kazuha and I went to get equipment and buy daily necessities.

There was a pharmacy in Genoria too, and I was surprised that they even sold women's sanitary products.

I hadn't really checked the city's shops properly, but maybe there were more items than in the game.

When I told her that the hidden room had a water source and a bath, she firmly bought towels, detergent, and soap.

The fact that she immediately thought of that probably meant that her survival skills were higher than mine.