Chapter 1: Coolness, Fragrance, and Dungeon

“I think it’s this way.”

The person with an androgynous, slightly feminine appearance—probably a boy—muttered to himself as he pushed aside the obstructing grass and branches.

An unmarked path.

He moved slowly but surely up a slope that could not even be called an animal trail.

“Yeah, it’s uphill, so I should be right.”

He wore a black long coat with a collar high enough to cover his mouth.

From beneath the hem, well-worn jeans were visible on his legs.

On his feet were stylish lace-up boots that looked troublesome to put on and take off.

Contrary to their appearance, the boots had steel plates built into the shins and toes.

They were heavy but well-ventilated, useful for both offense and defense, and his favorite pair.

“Oh, am I almost at the top?”

His smooth brown hair clung to his sweat-dampened forehead.

He brushed it back and pushed through the thicket in front of him.

Despite his expectant tone, his expression lacked emotion and seemed oddly calm.

“Ooh!”

His field of view suddenly opened up, and a voice escaped him.

A gentle uphill slope spread out before him, covered in a beautiful field of flowers.

Just as he thought he had finally arrived—and leapt out of the bushes—

“Kishaaa!!”
“Whoa!”

A centipede, roughly the same size as the high school boy despite its compact build, lunged at him from the side.

“You little—!”

Though startled, he calmly sidestepped the centipede’s body slam as it passed by.

In that motion, he slid the knife he was holding into a gap in the centipede’s armored shell.

“Gisha?!?!”

As it reared back in agony, he slipped beneath its underside.

He immediately drove the knife upward from below toward the area around its face.

The centipede’s legs flailed all at once, then after a few seconds stiffened and went still.
Right after that, its whole body went limp and collapsed toward him.

It was quite heavy.

He quickly slipped out from underneath so he wouldn’t be crushed.

Then he let out a small breath.

“Even when I use high-level presence concealment, only these centipede-looking things still attack me accurately… why is that?”

Thinking about the future, it might be better to figure it out sooner rather than later, but—

“Eh, whatever.”

With little interest, the boy exhaled and turned his gaze toward the area near the top of the slope.

“Alright, let’s go.”

More than the monster, his destination mattered.

He climbed the hill-like flower field.

At the end was a sheer cliff.

Compared to the surrounding areas, it jutted out sharply and prominently.

From the tip, he looked down below—and unlike his previous calm expression, a melting smile spread across his face.

“This is it! This is what I wanted to see!”

It was no wonder he was so excited.

Because spread out below him were, quite literally, all four seasons.

“This is a dungeon-exclusive view.”

He pulled out his smartphone and began photographing the scene below from various angles.

It was a beautiful yet strange sight.

On the far right of his view stretched a cherry-blossom-colored forest.

For some reason, cherry blossom petals fell endlessly from nowhere, drifting like snow.

As he moved his gaze leftward, the scenery gradually shifted into green, eventually becoming a forest of fresh verdure.

For some reason, bright green leaves there also fluttered down like snow.

Moving his gaze further left, the colors transitioned again, this time into autumn hues, becoming a fully crimson forest.

Just like the petals and fresh leaves, autumn leaves drifted down endlessly like snow.

Going even further left, the colors graded into white, becoming a completely snow-covered landscape.

Here too, snow continued to fall from nowhere.

Illuminating these forests of four seasons was sunlight reminiscent of a summer evening sun.

It wasn’t hot, only bright, and it bathed the entire seasonal panorama below.

Trying to capture even the fantastical atmosphere itself, the boy kept pressing the shutter on his smartphone.

“Man, that was satisfying.”

With a content look, he put his smartphone away.

From here, he would have to retrace a harsh path back, but having seen the scenery he wanted, the return trip felt trivial to him.

“Alright, time to head back.”

And with that, he returned into the thicket once more and descended the treacherous slope.

This was a dungeon located in Chofu City, Tokyo, called the Chaotic Four Seasons Grove.

The cliff where the boy stood was a place dungeon challengers paid no attention to—a location far off the main routes.

Or rather, it was the cliff surrounding the forest, likely serving as a wall to prevent explorers from leaving the area.

The boy enjoyed photographing things like dungeon-exclusive scenery seen from places ordinary explorers would never visit, or rare sights such as monsters’ sleeping faces.

The next day.

Semitsuki Academy High School.
Second Year, Class B.
Classroom.

During lunch break, Totsuka Ryo took a rather large bento box out of his bag and placed it on his desk.

At that moment—

“Ryo.”

—he heard someone call his name, lifted his face, and looked over.

There stood a familiar figure.

A tall, handsome guy with long hair, wearing his school-issued gakuran in a sloppy way.

“…Kaoru.”

He was Ryo’s childhood friend from Class A, Mogamo Kaoru.

Some of the girls in the classroom let out excited noises at the sight of Kaoru, but Ryo had little interest.

“Is it okay if I sit here?”
“It’s probably fine, isn’t it?”

Kaoru pointed to the seat directly in front of Ryo and asked, but since Ryo didn’t know who usually sat there, he answered casually.

“Alright, I’ll borrow it then.
So, what’s your lunch today?”

“Hm?
This.”

Ryo answered and opened the lid of his bento.

“Fried chicken bento, extra fried chicken, no rice, no side dishes.”
“That’s basically just cramming fried chicken into a bento box to its limit.”

As he spoke, Kaoru picked up one piece of fried chicken from Ryo’s bento and popped it into his mouth.

“Hey!”
“Just one, just one.”
“It’s really just one, okay?”

“Did you make this fried chicken yourself?”
“Yeah.”
“I see.
As expected, it’s insanely good even cold.”
“Heh~”

He was unhappy about losing a piece, but being praised made Ryo puff his chest proudly.

“By the way, you went to a dungeon yesterday, right?”
“Yeah.”

Licking the oil off his fingers, Kaoru asked, and Ryo nodded in response.

With his mouth stuffed full of fried chicken, Ryo pulled out his smartphone.

“Is it okay if I look?”
“Mm.”

Busy eating, Ryo handed over the phone as if to say look all you want.

Kaoru took out a pocket tissue, wiped his hands, and accepted it.

Then he gasped at the full overhead view of the Chaotic Four Seasons Grove displayed on the screen.

“Hey.”
“Mm?”

“Don’t you want to try streaming after all?”
“Too much trouble.”
“I’ll handle all the equipment prep, editing, and uploading.”
“Not interested.”
“If you change your mind, let me know.”
“I probably won’t.”
“I see.”

That’s a shame—he said with mock disappointment, then picked up another small piece of fried chicken and tossed it into his mouth.

“Hey!
You said just one!”
“I’ll treat you to fried chicken and fried chicken forever if you start streaming.”
“…………………That’s tempting.
Seriously tempting.”
“I’m kidding.”
“If you joke about that again, I’ll get mad.
Like, seriously-squared mad.”

Seeing Ryo radiate genuine anger despite his usual expression, Kaoru shrugged slightly.

“Got it.
Then if I bring it up next time, assume I’m serious.”

Thinking that using fried chicken as bait would be the final trump card, Kaoru handed the smartphone back to Ryo.