Ch.131 The Day Before I Became a Girl

Author's note:

For this chapter and the next one only... It's the appearance of the extremely rare pre-TS Haru-chan.

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"Phew..."

Evening commute time.

I stretched my exhausted body on the station platform.

Crowds are tiring after all... Just commuting to work is exhausting.

Ahh, I'm finally done with work.

Looking up at the cool night sky, I trudge off with my fellow suit-wearing friends who all have the same face.

But it's still a long time... 8 hours of work.

Well, strictly speaking, it takes 30 minutes to get ready in the morning, an hour's commute each way, and in the end I end up coming to work early and working overtime for 10 hours.

Then I went home and changed, so it took 13 hours.

It's taking more than half a day, so of course it's tiring.

Ahh, my student days were great.

Especially at universities...

I've never been the type to be involved in sports or hang out with friends after school or on weekends, even as a student, so I'm doing my best just to live this life.

I wake up in the morning, go to work, come home, eat and sleep.

Physical strength is something you're born with.

Just because you go to the gym for a bit doesn't mean you'll get there anytime soon.

In the first place, only people who are physically fit to begin with can work hard at the gym every week.

I'm different.

People are born with different basic specs.

The basic principle is to "try the best you can."

People like me can understand this kind of thing, but apparently people who are full of energy don't.

Of course, since their foundations are already different, everything else would also be different.

◇◆◇

I was holding in both hands some ready-to-eat foods and alcohol that were on sale at the supermarket.

Well, I have some foods I have made back at home, but it was on sale so...I just bought it without thinking.

--Even for someone like me, when something gets popular, I would give it a try.

So, even though I know it wouldn't suit me anyway, I decided to try diving into something called a "dungeon."

Apparently, a world just like the game has appeared on Earth.

...Come to think of it, there was a time when I thought, "They're saying some strange things on the news..."

Talking about dungeons, monsters, levels, drops, etc.

I always thought that those were just introductions for people who didn't know about some kind of game, but about 3 years ago I found out that that wasn't the case.

...I always thought that those small talks at work was about a game.

And I replied to them with that mindset.

As expected, It's not good to pretend to know everything and reply half-heartedly.

◇◆◇

After returning home from work by train, I did some shopping at the large supermarket in front of the station, then took the bus for a bit.

I'm heading to a place 30 minute walk or a 10 minute bus ride away.

It's the area in front of the station that has become a residential area - a new shopping street.

There are only shops that seem to be selling out due to the dungeon boom... new shops are lined up, driving out the old shopping district.

When it comes to dungeons, money flows in a flashy way.

The income is high, but the amount of money spent is also much more than in a normal business.

That's why some places seem to be busier than normal train station areas.

"……………………………………"

Hmm, there hasn't been much change in the product lineup... Oh, new streaming equipment... Oof, that's really expensive.

After strolling for a few minutes through the rows of shops selling everything you need in the dungeon, from tools to medicine and equipment, the gate to the dungeon came into view.

The people like me in suits, looking enviously at the people in school uniforms or casual clothes that had just come out.

Ah, they just went back from the dungeon... How nice.

For us office workers, we can only go for a dive after work.

But I'm not sure about making dungeon diving my full-time job...it's not stable, and on top of that it's an extreme physical labor, so if I catch a cold and end up in bed for half a month I'll have no income...

Creak.

Inside the building next to the gate, I unconsciously walked to the locker room.

They even have large lockers for people like me who want to pop in and earn some extra cash after work.

I guess this is what they mean by being pampered.

Just kidding.

...I slowly take off my suit, hang it up neatly, and start putting on my usual gear.

Maybe because this is modern times, it's great that albeit small, we still get a private locker room.

I'm the type of person who doesn't want to be seen naked even in a hot spring, but I don't want to see other people's hairy bodies either.

Even if I'm a man with a skinny body that's not worth being seen, there are still things I don't want to be seen.

Dungeon.

Mysterious areas suddenly appeared all over the world.

The monsters that emerge from there will cause disasters that will overflow from the dungeon if left alone.

If we were to exterminate them one by one, there wouldn't be enough soldiers in any country.

So it became civilians' job to do so.

Creak.

My favorite sniper rifle these days - along with weapons like this.

When I was a kid, people could get arrested for weapons like this, even if they were fake...the world can really change so easily.

...It seems that in many countries, the threat of monsters itself caused great chaos, but above all, it was economic chaos.

After all, the items dropped in the dungeons were all things that never existed on Earth, and even now they cannot be manufactured, so naturally they sell for a high price.

What happens if it gets circulated in large quantities?

That's why now, dungeon-related expenses are taxed so heavily that a day's worth of dungeon exploration by an intermediate ranked explorer is "limited" to several times the daily wage of an office worker.

It's true that every country is good at one thing: making money.

Oh, and paying taxes every year is such a pain because of that too.

...Even so, even with my skills, I can easily earn about 10,000 yen by diving for just 2 or 3 hours.

That's the reason I'm not really motivated.

I can't afford to have another side job.

Well, it was because I had an aptitude for dungeons... but that can be said for other things too, so it's fine.

That's why I'm going for a dive again today on my way home from work.

As a person like everywhere else.

Beep.

My name and the appraised status I received last year or the year before are displayed.

A gate where you enter by swiping a card key, like at the entrance to a company.

...I feel like I'm wasting my time when I go home from work and do a side job.

If that's the case, I would be enjoying a drink with the prepared food and alcohol I just bought.

Well, everyone is doing it, right?

You can earn as much from this as you would from a normal job, right?

Above all, I can also buy more expensive alcohol, right?

It can't be helped, since it's for the sake of delicious alcohol.

And so I am here today too.

Acting as pawns in the GDP race, which is a government-led side job.

...Even though I know it's bad, it's so appealing that I can't help but do it, and it's somehow comforting.

◇◆◇

It's been just under two hours since I started diving.

I'd dived deeper than usual, so I thought it was about time... Is what I thought when I reached the next floor.

...What is this place?

Today, I am lucky enough to find a different route than usual, which turned out to be a shortcut, and I managed to dive quite deep.

I was on guard for a while... I was on guard for FOEs, the monsters that ignore the characteristics and floor divisions of the dungeon and suddenly appear to kill anyone, but if I were to believe my detection skill and my eyesight... it seems there are no monsters here.

Also, it's too small for a dungeon floor.

"……………………………………"

Still, with my gun at the ready, I tiptoe along the walls, holding my breath and keeping an eye on my wristband, and there I can see-

... A spring?

It's a spring.

It's not big enough to be called a lake. (TL: From this, I can now confirm that it's "wishing spring", not "wishing fountain", and I'll refer to it as such from this point on)

It's not that big, just a water source.

...I thought that water monsters would attack me, and since it seemed to be one floor...I thought it was a large room with monsters swarming from all sides, but it seems I was wrong.

...Maybe there really aren't any monsters.

None of them are showing up in my detection skill.

There are quite a few irregular floors like this.

About once or twice a month, which is about 10 to 20 times a year, so the odds of encountering one are so-so.

...A special floor huh, how strange.

Hoping to find something good, I decided to explore every nook and cranny.

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Author's note :

This arc is going to be the story of one year ago, when Haru-chan became Haru-chan.

Haru-chan has gotten used to it and is quite prim and proper now, but at the time she actually...

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