Mokushiroku Arisu - Volume 02

  Prologue 1 - About Hell and Purgatory

  I don't need friends.

  I don't need cozy relationships.

  But yet, in a confined room.

  "Love you, love you, I love you ~ ♪"

  My classmate, Kiryuu Kiri, sang a popular song passionately.

  What a pretense she was putting on.

  The skirt of her sailor uniform fluttered, and danced.

  Before me, Endou Yousuke chose his song earnestly, and Yuuyami Himi happily clapped her hands to the beat.

  We were in a karaoke box.

  I always thought of karaoke boxes as peaceful places, as where untroubled idiots sang their idiotic songs in an idiotic manner; but at that moment, I was there, forcibly brought there against my will ———

  "Hey! Shinnosuke-kun, are you hyped?"

  With a mic in one hand, Kiri winked at me.

  Himi and Yousuke shouted

  ""Yay!!""

  I had absolutely no idea what that 'yay' was about. To begin with, have I ever in my life uttered that idiotic exclamation, 'yay'? No, never. Absolutely never. In the first place, I have no idea what kind of enthusiasm a person must have to make that utterance.

  I averted my half-opened eyes in exasperation.

  Upon doing that, immediately to my right; a guy in the same grade as me ——— Hishiro Shiro, who had been eating from a pile of potato chips ——— grinned and said,

  "Hey Shinnosuke. You should try to have more fun."

  "It's because I'm not having fun."

  "Even though you say that, you're actually enjoying......"

  "I'm not enjoying myself. Rather, it's horrible."

  "Don't be shy. Since your personality is so horrible and you seem to have no friends at all, you might not know this, but......"

  "I still don't have any friends."

  "You have us, right?"

  "Your joke isn't funny."

  "It was us, your good friends, who were the first to come rushing to save you when you were in a bind earlier......"

  "Huh... what, you're trying to make me feel indebted to you guys...... don't you feel embarrassed saying that?"

  "No, the one who's embarrassed is you, right? In a karaoke box, the one who's trying to embarrass others is, on the contrary, the one who's embarrassed."

  "Shiro, it's okay to feel embarrassed."

  "Embarrassing ~"

  "......"

  "Embarrassing ~"

  This time, Yousuke who was right before me said it in unison with Shiro. The two of them were enjoying themselves like little children, and as I gave them a hard look...... "I'll kill them," I thought to myself. "I'll kill them the next time we enter a labyrinth."

  But it was impossible right then, so with a look of disgust,

  "Jeez...... isn't this bullying?"

  As I said that, the big-breasted, beautiful, high school idol-like girl who had been singing and dancing, Kiryuu Kiri, reached the hook of her song and as it entered the break, she beckoned to me and said,

  "C'mon Shinnosuke-kun! Let's sing together!"

  "Absolutely no way."

  I expressed my resolution.

  However, the cruel enemy who knew no mercy continued his attack.

  Shiro said,

  "All right, it's your turn next. As your good friend, I've already entered a song that you should be able to sing."

  "Huuh!?"

  With a jerk, he passed me the mic. I tried to push the mic back, but with my right leg injured during the last labyrinth raid I couldn't use any real strength. The mic was pressed on me.

  "T-This is a joke right!? Hey Gunjou, you should also say something to these fools."

  Seeking help, I turned my eyes to the only girl in this karaoke box who should feel embarrassed at singing.

  Next to me on my left, Mizuiro Gunjou.

  She should feel the same way I do.

  Reason being: She is an elite magician who's successfully raided several Eternal Labyrinths and already has more than 20 corporate sponsors.

  And in this world, one who wants to obtain such strength shouldn't have even a second to spare for cozy relationships.

  Because in this broken, insane world that cannot be saved at all, obtaining overwhelming strength requires you to pay an unbelievably large price and make huge sacrifices.

  "......"

  That's why Gunjou should feel the same kind of exasperation as me. My comrade in exasperation. Of course I don't believe in things like comrades or friends, but at that moment I looked to Gunjou for help as a fellow exasperated comrade.

  I looked at her, thinking: You should also say something.

  However, her strong-willed, almond-shaped eyes, were looking intently in the direction of the dancing Kiri with envy and a temptation.

  "What, you want to sing as well!?"

  "Ehh?"

  Gunjou looked at me in surprise. It's easy to see that her cheeks were flushed.

  "There's no way that would happen, right!? Erhm... I didn't intend to hang out with these brats, just so you know! Erhm... but if you really want me to sing that badly, then I have no choice but to sing...... but-but, if you don't tell me that you really want me to sing that badly, then I definitely won't sing. Get it!?"

  Upon hearing that, wearing a gentle smile, Himi handed over the song selection remote and said,

  "Erhm, Gunjou-san, I really-really want to hear your singing voice very badly."

  Gunjou immediately took the remote.

  "...... I don't have a choice, huh~...... It's because you really want to hear me that badly that I'm going to choose a song, get it? I really don't want to sing, just so you know!"

  "............"

  What the f**k was wrong with her?

  I didn't feel the need to listen to her words any longer. Damn traitor. Trash. My foe. I knew it, "comrades" are an illusion. There's no meaning to cozy relationships. Even if it was for an instant, I was a fool for believing there was someone who was like me.

  Kiri's song ended.

  "Aah, feels good! Oh! Shinnosuke-kun is holding a mic!? Shinnosuke-kun, are you singing next? What are you going to sing!?"

  "Eh? N-No, this isn't......"

  Speaking over my protests, Shiro said,

  "All right, I've been waiting for this!"

  "I'll kill......"

  But,

  ""Yaay!""

  Cried both Yousuke and Himi.

  As I thought, what kind of emotion does one feel when one says 'yay'?

  Claps resounded.

  Gunjou looked at me happily, with eyes that seemed to be expecting something.

  The music started.

  It was Enka. Indeed, it was a famous song often heard at the end of the year, and one that even I could sing.

  "Erhm...... Just for the record, I'm not going to sing, you know?"

  But, everyone remained silent and looked at me with eyes filled with anticipation.

  "I'm not joking...... I really won't sing, you know?"

  Everyone just grinned and looked at me. They were looking at me with faces that said, If you really don't sing, you'll look really lame.

  "............"

  For some reason, my heart started pumping furiously. My entire body filled with a nervousness that was even worse than what I feel each time just before entering a labyrinth, a place where I can die in an instant if I make a mistake in judgment.

  On the TV screen where the lyrics display, appeared the amount of time left before the intro ends ——— 6 seconds.

  Only 6 seconds left.

  If this were a labyrinth, it would no longer be possible to clear it. There would be too little time left. There would be a need to activate Escape magic and bail.r />
  However, there is no escape. With my leg injured, I couldn't get out of this karaoke box.

  This must be a joke, right? Does this mean that I really have to sing?

  My body stiffened.

  How did things turn out like this? Why do I have to go through this? Even though this is not a labyrinth, it feels like hell.

  I gripped the mic in my right hand tightly. I could feel my palm covered in sweat.

  3 seconds remaining.

  It started.

  The song started.

  Driven to the wall,

  "Aaah, jeez, damn! I just have to sing, right!? Only one song!"

  """"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy!""""

  Except for Gunjou, the rest gave a chorus of 'yay's with unbelievable delight.

  Amid the peak in tension, I had no choice, really no choice but to sing the Enka ———

  "Here's your Oolong tea."

  A female server entered. The server glanced at me, smiled and nodded with a grin, making a face that must be undoubtedly thinking, "You seem to be enjoying yourself. That's great, really great."

  "Ah......"

  I thought.

  "Aaah!?"

  I thought.

  But, I couldn't stop singing at that point. While it's embarrassing and disconcerting, if I were to stop, I think my embarrassment would become even more obvious.

  So I continued to sing.

  Even as the Oolong tea is handed to me, I couldn't stop singing.

  If I sing, it's like hell.

  If I don't sing, it's like purgatory.

  The server left.

  I sang the Enka sadly.

  Maybe because they've noticed that, Shiro and Yousuke seemed to stifle their laughs.

  "Cute", I could hear Kiri say softly.

  I'll definitely kill them later.

  No doubt about it.

  Or... Can someone please kill me now?

  "............"

  Putting that aside, this is a story about songs.

  A story about using Headphone Fuzz《 Intra-Cerebral Magic Activator 》s[1], filling our neural matter with cursed songs, risking our lives in desperation, hollering magic.

  And then killing girls.

  Killing girls who contract an illness.

  And about this world where we kill girls ———

  "Shinnosuke, your Enka singing is really good. Why don't you enter another song? How about Tsugaru Kaikyou......

  "Hey, stop fooling around!"

  "Eh? You prefer J-Pop?"

  "No!"

  "How should I put this to you, when the server came in, you were pretty high......"

  "Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

  I shouted through my Enka.

  * * *

  Chapter 1 - The Heart to Trust Comrades and Despair

  A nightmare.

  A nightmare that I often have.

  A nightmare in which I couldn't save my little sister, who was afflicted by the Labyrinth Disease.

  Maybe it's impossible for me.

  It's a dream in which I have that fear.

  A dream in which, my little sister Saki smiled, and in the instant I thought that I would soon be able to save her.

  She disappeared.

  I wailed

  Lamenting my weakness.

  But,

  "............"

  The nightmare I had that day was different. In the first place, it was a nightmare that nothing to do with the Labyrinth Disease.

  It was a dream about karaoke.

  A dream about what happened the other day, when I was forced to sing at the karaoke booth despite my protests.

  The worst dream I could have.

  And then,

  "Ugh."

  My face grimaces, and my body quivers from the feeling of being pulled back from the nightmare suddenly.

  My face grimaces. My eyes open wide.

  I awake from my nightmare.

  I am in the labyrinth. In the dungeon of an alternate dimension, born out of a girl with the Labyrinth Disease.

  The girl is right before me.

  The diseased girl.

  In the world covered with flower beds.

  Red, blue, yellow, various colors.

  A girl stands in the center.

  The girl is being manipulated by a gigantic hand that has black skin like that of a devil.

  Held in the right hand of the girl, is a chainsaw, and with a throaty whine, it is raised up with a powerful swing.

  I then realize.

  Just now, after getting kicked on the head by her, for a few seconds,

  "Kuh, I see...... I was out cold!?"

  The chainsaw grinds.

  I try to dodge, but my body won't make it. The teeth of the rotating chainsaw cut the flowers apart.

  The petals dance.

  And, just as my head is going to go together with them,

  "Hey, what're you doing!? Don't space out Shinnosuke!"

  A girl kicks me from behind.

  It's Mizuiro Gunjou. With golden hair and strong-willed eyes. Her petite body quickly stands before me.

  I can only feel myself get sent flying from her kick.

  "Argh."

  I cry out like a blockhead. Thanks to that, my head didn't get decapitated. I roll around on the flower bed. Choking smell of the flowers. As the scenery swirl around me, I can see Gunjou using her magic.

  The 《Headphone Fuzz》 plugged into her cute left ear is playing a cursed song that's not really cute at all. A curse fills her brain to the brim.

  And then,

  "...... Sea Moon Wheel switch!"

  Gunjou uses her magic.

  Instantly, multiple transparent, jellyfish-like balls filled with water appear around her, and they start rotating with a buzz.

  The grinding chainsaw and the buzzing jellyfish collide. Collide. Then, the chainsaw gets severed.

  Overwhelming. Gunjou is far stronger than the diseased girl.

  Gunjou grabs the neck of the diseased girl.

  "Checkmate! This time too, I've used my strength to save the world!"

  The diseased girl makes a fearful looking face.

  I look hard at that, and narrow my eyes.

  But, Gunjou has no mercy for her. If she doesn't kill her, she'd be killed. This is such a world. More importantly, if the girl isn't killed, the hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of humans who would get swallowed by the labyrinth brought forth by the girl would disappear.

  That's why there is no need to get meaninglessly emotional about it. If one relaxes for even an instant, not just one's own life, but the lives of many people would be robbed away from them.

  So.

  "............"

  So ---

  "It it me...... who is the savior!"

  Gunjou hollers as if she were saying that to encourage herself. And then, she breaks the neck of the girl. The girl dies. Easily.

  Instantly, the scenery changes.

  The flower beds disappear.

  The place is the maneuvers venue.

  Inside the gymnasium prepared and operated by Kichijouji High for the purpose of exterminating diseased girls.

  The girl we just fought was a fake.

  An illusion.

  A simulation.

  It was a virtual dungeon generated by the school's practice machine and sent to our brains using the 《Headphone Fuzz》 attached to our ears as an intermediary.

  My class, year 1 class 5, were having an exercise in labyrinth raiding inside that dungeon.

  Our homeroom teacher, Honjou Tsukasa, says.

  "Okay, Arisu Shinnosuke was a little unsightly at the end but...... for today's exercise, our class is again the fastest one to clear the labyrinth. You guys are pretty good."

  Looking around me, there are twenty students of class 5 in the maneuvers venue.

  In the virtual dungeon, only Gunjou and I had broken through into the room where the diseased girl was, and there was apparently nobody else around m
e, but that was just an illusion, and everyone had been moving helter–skelter nearby, it seems.

  Lying on the ground, I look around absent-mindedly.

  Gunjou, who is beside me, immediately looks down at me with cold eyes and says.

  "...... you're being laid back again, what on earth are you planning?"

  "About?"

  "Your true power is not at that level right? In the first place, the power that you showed me in the labyrinth born out of that 《Asahi Momoka》......"

  "Is at this level right? That's why I almost died."

  "You exterminated the girl."

  "Huh, that's strange. That should have been you right?"

  Gunjou glares at me. And says.

  "...... if you weren't there...... I would have died, and the world would have ended as well. You were the only who did everything, but yet, but yet why're you letting me take the credit......"

  At that moment, our homeroom teacher, Honjou Tsukasa says to us.

  "What're you guys arguing about?"

  I answer.

  "She's mad at me for losing consciousness and lazing around towards the end."

  "No way."

  Uttered Gunjou in a surprised voice.

  Honjou Tsukasa-sensei nods in agreement.

  "That's true, Shinnosuke. The simulation this time is just a rank 3 labyrinth you know? So what's up with that predicament you were in?"

  "I'm a little sleep-deprived."

  "For crying out loud...... compared to him, Mizuiro Gunjou, you were wonderful today as well. As expected of an elite from the Mizuiro house."

  If it were the usual Gunjou, she would be puffing out her chest, full of confidence, but now, with a face that seems to be unable to agree with that, she looks down at me one more time and leaves the place.

  "And also, Hishiro Shiro, Yuuyami Himi, Endou Yousuke, and Kiryuu Kiri, the four of you had good movements as well. Just what I would expect of those, together with Gunjou and Shinnosuke, the 『Hero Team』, who had stayed until the end and cleared the labyrinth in that 《Asahi Momoka incident》.

  『Hero Team』.

  Right now, it's name of the team made up of the six of us.

  We probably have become famous, as the team of heroes who stayed all the way till the end and cleared the unexpectedly high level labyrinth born out of the diseased girl called Asahi Momoka, which might have caused the deaths of 3 million people in Kanagawa if things had gone bad.