2. Pitfall

The moment Kujo Kumiko pressed the floor with the mop handle, there was a small click of a switch, and almost simultaneously, a clanging sound echoed as the floor opened up to the left and right, revealing a hole.

It seemed to be a pitfall trap.

"Whoa!"

"What are you so surprised about?"

Seki Midori(Ed: lol, Deku?) startled by the sound, clung to me. For a guy, he was awfully timid.

He blushed and smiled sheepishly, which made me smile too. Well, Seki was just naturally timid, so it couldn't be helped.

"S-sorry. But it wasn't that big of a trap, was it?"

"No, it was a pretty significant trap. If you underestimate a pitfall, you could get killed."

I stood in front of Kumiko and decided to thoroughly examine the pitfall. Peering down and illuminating the bottom with the torch, it looked to be about two to three meters deep.

I couldn't see the walls of the hole. Perhaps there was another passage below, and this pitfall led to it.

"We can't climb down, can we?"

When Kumiko asked that, I nodded.

We might be able to jump down if we forced it, but we would lose any means of climbing back up. Moreover, there might be more traps waiting below. It was too dangerous.

"We can't go down without a rope. If we suddenly fell onto the stone pavement from this height, we'd sprain an ankle. If we were caught off guard and fell, we might even break a bone. In this situation where we can't expect anyone's help, injuring a leg could be life-threatening. This is a truly terrible trap."

When I heard "pitfall," I usually only associated it with the silly falls of comedians on variety shows, but originally, it was a lethal trap used for hunting animals.

From the primitive era when humans started hunting mammoths to the recent Vietnam War, pitfalls were simple but effective tools for killing enemies.

In other words, whoever set this trap was serious about killing.

"Kumiko, don't push yourself. The situation is more dangerous than we thought."

"I'm willing to die for you, Wataru-kun."

A frivolous woman was saying frivolous things.

I decided to reply frivolously as well.

"Hah, then I guess I'll have you die as a meat shield for me, Kumiko."

"That's the part where you should at least try to stop me! Even as a way to hide your embarrassment, telling me to die when I say I'm willing to die is too cruel, don't you think...?"

Seki, wearing a wry smile, comforted the dumbfounded Kumiko.

"It can't be helped. Shinjo Shinjo-kun is just that kind of person."

"I see, it's Wataru-kun, after all. I was wrong to expect him to man up and say something like, 'I'll protect you,' based on the principle of reciprocity."

What are you two doing? When did you become so close?

Don't form such a weird alliance, it's creepy.

I was about to complain to the unpleasant duo, who shrugged and exchanged meaningful smiles, when...

A group of people chattering without any sense of urgency came from behind them.

"Oh, isn't that Kumiko-chan!"

"Good. Kujo Kumiko-kun, you were here."

It seemed to be a group from Class A. I didn't remember every student from other classes, but I recognized the male student at the center of the group.

Excluding us, they had come this far ahead of the adult teachers while checking the situation, so they were indeed a group of honor students.

"Oh, so you all came too."

Kumiko, responding in a cold voice, had returned to her prim and proper honor student persona.

By the way, the tall, handsome man who called out "Kujo Kumiko-kun" in a clear voice was Nanami Shuichi, the top student in the grade.

His family was wealthy, his features were beautiful, and his grades were consistently at the top. He casually belonged to the basketball club, claiming it was for exercise, and was a regular member even as a first-year.

So far, I could still understand it, barely. But wasn't it too much that he was appointed as the student council vice-president by the student council president, despite being a first-year, and displayed leadership in school events? He was an unrealistically handsome guy who seemed to have stepped out of a shojo manga.

Despite his high specs, he didn't have a specific girlfriend, and apparently, he wasn't confessed to all that often. He was a male version of a flower on a high cliff, and only someone with considerable confidence would try to approach him. For example, someone who was also in the student council despite being a first-year.

Thinking that, I glanced at Kumiko, but she coldly ignored me. Was it a past she didn't want to remember? Her lack of reaction was boring.

Anyway, Nanami Shuichi was that kind of outstanding man. A natural-born leader who could lead students more effectively than any teacher.

He was so conspicuous that even I, who had no interest in others, had memorized his full name.

"Good, I was worried because you weren't in the classroom. Hmm, are those Shinjo Wataru-kun and Seki Midori-kun from Class F over there?"

"Well, how embarrassing. For Vice-President Nanami to remember someone like me."

This was the first time I had spoken to him directly.

It was surprising that Nanami Shuichi remembered the faces and names of students like me from Class F, let alone the prominent honor students.

"I'm a member of the student council, so I remember the faces and names of the students. Even if I wasn't, we're all classmates from the same school, so it's only natural."

The way he was so refreshingly polite and yet subtly condescending was irritating.

Seki seemed happy to be addressed by a famous person, but I didn't like Vice-President Nanami.

He was too much of an honor student, making him seem suspicious. Unlike the actually bitchy Kumiko, even if his saintly facade was real, he wasn't the type of "comrade" I wanted to be.

Well, saying such critical things and stirring things up would only lead to trouble, so I kept quiet.

"Even so, this is a pitfall. Who on earth would set up something so dangerous...?"

"Vice-President Nanami, there are traps here, so it's better not to walk around too much."

I gave a warning, just for appearances. What happened after that was none of my business.

I gently took Seki's hand and quietly left the spot.

"What's wrong, Shinjo-kun?"

"Just be quiet and slowly go back to the original passage."

When I whispered instructions to Seki and moved, even Kumiko followed us without saying anything.

Since her group from Class A had arrived, she should have gone with them, but oh well...

This place was already dangerous; there couldn't be just one trap.

I didn't know how much of an honor student group Nanami's Class A was, but they were too careless.

There was a pitfall that could easily lead to death. If they kept walking around here, they would surely fall into some kind of trap.

I had given a warning; if they went ahead and messed up, it was their own responsibility.

While appreciating their noble sacrifice, we would withdraw to avoid getting caught up in it.

Immediately, there was a clanging sound as if someone had stepped on something, and a door opened in what had been the right wall.

Could it be a hidden passage instead of a trap?

I thought so too, but it seemed it was a trap after all. A human-like monster with a pig's face jumped out from inside the wall. And they had weapons!

"Ah, what's that!"

"I don't know, just run!"

It couldn't be that a pervert was disguised in a pig mask. No, whether they were disguised or not didn't matter at this point.

The guys approaching with dull-shining machetes and battle axes couldn't be friendly.

If this was really an RPG-style dungeon, then those were orcs, monsters.

I heard screams from behind, but we ignored them and ran with all our might.

Without decent weapons, I didn't want to face hostile beings with blades.

I couldn't gauge their strength yet, so fighting here wasn't an option.

"Uwaaaah, that's scary! Shinjo-kun, hey, what are those things?!"

"Shut up! Just run with all your might!"

Seki was already crying out. I thought it was pathetic for a guy, but maybe that was normal.

Kumiko, despite being a girl, had a calm face and was running ahead of us, which was rather abnormal.

I was glad it wasn't a crying girl at a time like this, though.

While running, Kumiko muttered, "Are those the pig monsters called orcs that appear in the smartphone game?"

"Kumiko, you play smartphone games?"

Unexpected for an honor student.

Well, we had managed to escape, but eventually, we would reach a dead end. The only weapons we had were my torch and Kumiko's mop.

"If we keep running like this, we'll eventually be cornered."

"Should we think of a way to fight them off?"

Kumiko asked.

That's right, since we had numbers on our side, we might be able to do something if we lured them in.

"Um, there were three big ones with pig-like faces and two small green ones with demon-like horns."

"Seki, you were so scared... but you were watching carefully, good job. It's helpful that you're observant, but if we don't have weapons, at least pick up some pebbles."

Even pebbles were better than nothing. The seemingly beautiful stone pavement of the dungeon had stones scattered here and there if you looked closely.

They could be used as projectiles to keep them in check; it was much better than having nothing.

If I trusted Seki's eyes, there were three orcs and two goblins.

Assessing the enemy's strength was important; I would try to watch carefully next time if there was one.

For now, we had run to about the middle of the classroom area, but the monsters hadn't followed yet.

We shouldn't fight them alone; we should ask the other students for help.

Assuming there were thirty students in one class, by simple calculation, there should be one hundred and eighty students and six teachers here.

Compared to the number of enemies, that was an overwhelming number of allies.

If we dealt with it normally, it would be easy, but everyone was scattered in classrooms and hallways, and I didn't think they could cooperate and fight back.

Raising our voices carelessly might just cause a panic.

"Basically, while the others are being attacked, we..."

"Everyone, help us! Enemies with weapons are coming!"

Nanami Shuichi rushed in, carrying a male student whose shoulder had been deeply slashed.

Even in that state, he had enough composure to carry a comrade and escape. Nanami was indeed different. Maybe he should change his last name to Dekisugi (too perfect).

If he was capable of that much, I thought he should have considered such a situation from the beginning and had a weapon ready...

But thinking normally, you wouldn't expect to be attacked by monsters. Even I didn't feel that much of a sense of crisis until I saw them.

"Alright, I don't know what's going on, but I'll do it!"

Responding to Vice-President Nanami's shout, a large male student with a mop rushed in.

Ah, he was also famous among the first-years. What was his name again? I knew it.

An ultra-high school-level physique, with long black hair swept back. Sharp eyes like an ancient warrior. He was in the kendo club, I think, and had been commended at the school assembly.

He was the owner of a heroic tale: after winning the prefectural tournament in the individual category, he was harassed out of jealousy by upperclassmen from the same club, and he single-handedly beat them all. His name was... what was it?

"Mikami Naotsugu-kun! Please!"

"Leave it to me, Vice-President!"

That's right, he was called by some embarrassing name like "Invincible Mikami." I think he was in Class C.

I didn't know his reasoning, but Nanami Shuichi usually addressed people by their full names, so Vice-President Nanami was too convenient a character for remembering people's names.

"What are you laughing at, Wataru-kun, at a time like this?"

"Shut up, you virgin bitch. We're going to help Mikami too."

They were enemies we had to defeat anyway, and if a strong character was taking the lead, we could figure out how to deal with them.

Mikami from the kendo club thrust the mop handle with all his might into the throat of the leading orc that had rushed in.

The orc made a sound like an egg cracking and collapsed backward in one blow.

It was a terrifying thrust; it looked painful just watching.

The orc fell without even letting out a scream, its throat crushed. Probably instant death.

Wasn't thrusting prohibited in high school kendo? That was amazing. Truly invincible.

The enemies were scattered. It could probably be said that we had succeeded in spreading them out by running around.

I didn't know who from Class A's group had died, but your sacrifice wasn't in vain.

I used the torch to burn the face of a goblin, a small monster about the size of a child.

It was wielding a short sword, and it was sluggish, probably because it was exhausted from just running a short distance, so it was easy.

The goblin's face sizzled against the torch flame. It let out a high-pitched "Gii!" and recoiled.

When I hit it again with the torch as it was recoiling, it dropped its short sword.

After that, I kicked its short legs to make it fall, and then stomped on its head with all my might.

I kept kicking its head until it stopped moving.

What? These guys weren't that strong.

I picked up the short sword and thrust it into the goblin's chest. That should kill any normal creature.

The feeling of killing a living thing with my own hands was indescribable.

My uniform was stained with green blood.

"Shinjo-kun, you can kill so easily..."

"Seki, you just throw stones from behind!"

Even as I said that, I knew it was impossible to suddenly tell a normal high school student to fight.

If you weren't used to violence, you couldn't suddenly tell them to kill each other.

In any case, we had easily won the first battle like this.

I picked up the battle axe from the orc that Mikami from the kendo club had defeated and tried to hand it to Mikami, but he refused.

"I'm better with my usual weapon."

"I see, then I'll be using this."

Mikami nodded, so I decided to use the battle axe.

If there were going to be more battles, there was no time to be hesitant.

"Seki, you light the way with this torch. Even weak goblins will be intimidated by a torch."

"Okay."

While he was saying that, Kumiko had already thrust the other weak goblin to death with the mop.

I thought I was somewhat used to violence, but Mikami Naotsugu and Kujo Kumiko, were they really just ordinary high school students?

Even in such an emergency, there were surprisingly people who could kill.

Belatedly, the remaining two orcs came towards us.

Vice-President Nanami's companions came carrying many mops, and everyone thrust at them together, so we were able to defeat the monsters.

With this, we had defeated the initial five that appeared. So, war was about numbers after all.

Apparently, in the initial monster attack, two students from Class A had died, and one had their shoulder deeply slashed and was seriously injured.

If the injured person was left as they were, they would probably die.

"Let's be careful of traps and move forward together."

With Nanami Shuichi's decisive words, volunteers were selected from the students to move ahead. This must be what they called charisma. Even the teachers, who should have taken the initiative, were completely relying on Vice-President Nanami.

Since I had ended up with the battle axe, I couldn't very well avoid participating in the fighting. I followed behind Vice-President Nanami's combat group.

I wasn't very good at group activities, and I didn't particularly want to cooperate, but I was going to move forward anyway.

Moving with their group in front would be effective, and I wasn't confident enough to move alone yet.

However, it was like déjà vu.

The structure of this dungeon... I felt like I had seen it somewhere before.

"Seki, you can wait with the teachers at the back."

"If Shinjo-kun is going, there's no way I can't go..."

Was that how it was?

He was trembling every time a trap activated, but he was a loyal friend.

"For self-defense, take this."

"Okay... ew, this is a bit dirty..."

Seki frowned, looking at the short sword stained with the goblin's green blood.

Sorry for not having a place to wash it. But even for self-defense, it's better to have a weapon.

It would be best if we didn't need it, though.

I didn't care about others, but since I had the battle axe, I made up my mind to at least protect my friend Seki's life.

"Kujo-san is going too, right...?" "Good, we were worried on our own!" "Let's do our best together."

A group of three girls, apparently joining Vice-President Nanami's combat group, came over talking among themselves. They were clueless and carefree because they didn't know they might die soon.

Having so many girls around felt a bit oppressive. They probably weren’t coming to me, but approaching Kumiko after seeing her face.

"They're all students from my Class A. The long-haired one with glasses and big boobs is Sashiki Ena, the energetic brunette is Matou Aya, and the quiet bob-haired one is Tachibana Mio. Wataru-kun doesn't need to become friends with them, though."

Kumiko leaned close to me, whispering in my ear. As always, her sense of personal space was nonexistent. I recognized the others, but "big boobs" she spat out as if discarding something unpleasant. What a way to introduce someone. Well, you're flat-chested, after all.

She glared at me without me even saying it.

Alright, alright, you probably want to say you're not flat-chested, just not *that* big.

I didn't care about some random girl's boobs, and I didn't want to hear other people's names, so it was all the same to me.

From the start, I had no intention of getting chummy with unfamiliar students in a place like this.

Those traps and monsters were no joke. In a situation where you didn

't know who would die, I thought making acquaintances was rather dangerous.

Right now, when I was struggling just to protect myself, I didn't want to get emotionally involved with others.

So, I gave a vague reply to the three girls who casually greeted me while standing next to Kumiko.

This was the situation.

I couldn't take care of even more unfamiliar girls.