NOVEL NEXT As we stepped out of the cafe, the pleasantly warm weather welcomed us. Compared to the skyrocketing temperatures of late spring in Korea, Kivotos in early summer felt like paradise itself.
“So, where do you think we should go now?”
“Ahaha, actually, this area is new to me too. So, it’s a bit hard to say for sure where’s good…”
If it were Mika, she’d definitely have been here at least once, but I genuinely have never been outside the Trinity Autonomous District because I was just too busy. Arriving at the meeting place safely was all thanks to the map app.
“…You confidently said to just go out and trust you, and that was all said without any plans?”
Hina, if you poke my bones with those horns, it hurts for me too…
“Hmm, well, during times like this, you just wander wherever your feet take you, Hina-chan! If you see something interesting, take a look, and if something looks delicious, eat it! Besides, it’s in the D.U. shopping district, so there should be plenty to find, right?”
“Sigh… Since I don’t really know much anyway, Mika, just take the lead. You said you wouldn’t let me down, so I guess I have to trust you.”
Well, that may be true…
“Ahaha, did I say that?”
“…”
“Yep, I definitely did. Hina-chan, let’s head over there first!”
Hina’s silent stare felt keen. With her mask on, the intimidation level was off the charts. She looked like a mini Saori, but unlike the Saori I could surely beat, Hina was actually scary.
…I don’t even know what to say. Let’s just walk! I can think while walking. It’ll work out somehow!
I snatched Hina’s hand which would likely form a pout just by looking at it.
“Wait! Why are you holding my hand…?!”
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
What’s the deal? Isn’t it normal for girls to hold hands while walking around? Maybe I had gotten that wrong? I don’t think Hifumi has ever explicitly rejected me.
…Could it be that Hifumi just couldn’t refuse?!
“…No, it’s fine. Let’s just walk.”
Hmm, it seems like Hina’s reaction indicated that wasn’t the case. Maybe she was just surprised by the sudden holding of hands. Sorry for doubting you, Hifumi!
Holding Hina’s hand, I led the way while scanning the surrounding stores. As expected, there were clothes stores, cosmetics shops, and various restaurants lined up one after another. Plus, being the central area of Kivotos, there were quite a few people around too.
While I was brainstorming where to go next, Hina suddenly piped up.
“People are staring at you for some reason.”
Huh? Me?
“Hmm? It doesn’t seem like it’s just my imagination…”
It was true; I was definitely garnering a lot of attention. Could it be ‘coherence’? I remember receiving similar looks when I went shopping with Hifumi before.
After all, the princess wouldn’t just be a princess for nothing, right? Just standing still, her beauty radiates. Who could not be drawn to that?
Honestly, it wasn’t that bad back then, but this time the attention was likely boosted by Hina’s presence beside me. It wasn’t that people recognized Hina’s identity…
“It’s probably because we’re such a mismatched pair wandering around together~☆”
It’s probably because of the unusual combination of Trinity’s angel and Gehenna’s devil. Anyone would glance over seeing these two holding hands, even in disbelief.
If it were me, I wouldn’t understand either. It really is an incompatible combination in reality.
“I don’t think that’s the reason, but let’s just go with that.”
No, Hina. Even if that’s the case, isn’t it a bit much for me to be self-congratulatory here? I at least know why the attention is on me.
To be honest, dressing in casual clothes makes my already radiant looks shine even brighter. Having lived as a guy my whole life, understanding women’s fashion is quite difficult, so I usually pick clothes I think look nice from a guy’s perspective. Besides that, I do rely quite a bit on Hifumi for guidance.
Today’s outfit was a simple combination of a white off-shoulder blouse and beige mini skirt. On top of that, I styled my hair neatly into a ponytail using a scrunchie I usually wear on my wrist.
Honestly, with the mini skirt… at first, I felt a bit self-conscious about it. But after wearing it, I got used to it. After all, mindset is everything.
It should be that with such clothes, being more self-aware will only make you more embarrassed, but since the street is filled with female students, robots, and beastfolk, I don’t feel self-conscious at all.
If I had my way, I’d prefer wearing pants, but since I went around daily wearing T-party uniforms, I just hadn’t thought about pants recently. Originally, the issue was that there weren’t even any pants in Mika’s wardrobe to look for. However, I recently bought a few pairs, so if I remember, I might wear them.
“Well, I feel like a lot of attention is directed at Hina-chan too~”
“Ugh, no way that could be the case. I wore a mask to draw less attention.”
I’m not entirely sure about that, but even with her hat and mask covering her face, Hina’s beauty wouldn’t be hidden, so I think quite a few people might still be looking at her.
Moreover, a mask covering the lower half of the face often shifts attention toward the eyes, leaving a better impression. Honestly, women like Saori or Hina, with those kinds of eyes, seem incredibly cool when their lower face is obscured by a mask.
“Ahaha, as long as my identity isn’t revealed, I don’t really care about others’ gazes. Oh, Hina-chan! Let’s go check that out over there!”
“Huh? What’s that…”
As Hina blinked a couple of times at where I pointed, she looked at me with a strange expression as if asking if I was serious.
“That’s it☆”
An escape room cafe. It was a place I had personally wanted to visit at least once, but I had never experienced it since I didn’t have someone to accompany me and going alone felt off. You might think I could just go with a friend, but none of my guy friends would pay to visit a place like that…
“I’ve heard about it through the grapevine. Alright, let’s give it a shot.”
Hina’s attitude seemed a bit worried as she was unsure just how fun it would be. I also hadn’t tried anything like this before, and I had heard that the quality varied widely from place to place.
Hmm, since it’s located near Sanctum Tower in D.U., I guess I could put a bit of faith in that…?
*
Unfortunately, most themes were currently being used by other guests, leaving only the mid-level difficulty zombie apocalypse theme, a high-difficulty murder mystery theme, and a horror-themed school exploration concept.
Since Hina and I were both first-timers at escape room cafes, we wanted to try something easy, but that didn’t work out. I figured we’d have to wait about 20 minutes, but unexpectedly, Hina expressed a willingness to try rather than wait.
She chose the zombie apocalypse theme. The detective theme felt too much like student council work, while she didn’t particularly enjoy the horror theme.
“In our zombie apocalypse theme, any use of brute force to subdue zombies will be considered a failure to escape.”
This might sound strange, but it wasn’t entirely unwarranted as some students were exceptionally physically capable. One fine example was currently right here.
“The time limit is 60 minutes, and you can use hints up to three times. For those who escape without hints at a difficulty level of medium or higher, we have special souvenirs, but be warned, the difficulty increases in that case.”
After safeguarding our belongings in a locker, we entered the room under the guidance of the Robot Employee.
The first area had a lab-like structure. Given it was a concept, it probably wasn’t perfectly accurate, but the atmosphere was certainly alive.
[To start, please touch the screen on the tablet next to you. You can also signal for hints through the tablet, so keep that in mind.]
With that, the Robot Employee closed the door and left, and immediately the lights in the room dimmed to about half.
“…Let’s just do as instructed for now.”
After saying that, Hina raised her hand and touched the screen of the tablet, and a video began to play.
[You are a researcher belonging to a national research institute tasked with solving the zombie apocalypse crisis, and you’ve miraculously succeeded in developing a cure. However, one of the researchers hid the fact they became infected during the development process, leading to the research institute transforming into a zombie den.]
“Ahaha, interesting setup! This is going to be fun!”
“Mika, shush. The video isn’t over yet.”
…Looks like Hina is already deeply immersed in this scenario. This really was a problem of not knowing how to play, huh?
[You’ve hidden with a sample of the cure in a lab that’s been taken over by zombies. Now, you aim to contact the government for rescue, avoiding zombies in the institute, to reunite with your family who is under government protection. The key to resolving the zombie crisis is in your hands, but parts of the research facility system are out of order due to the zombies. Find clues to solve this and request rescue.]
[59:59]
As soon as the video ended, the timer started ticking.
“I get the gist. So, zombies will probably be waiting in the next area.”
“Yeah. Since they said that using force against zombies means failure, right? Of course, there’s no way they’d be real zombies… So they must feel like robots impersonating zombies!”
The premise was quite engaging. Hina seemed eager to participate actively.
“First, this door. It’s locked with a padlock, and I’ve never seen a lock like this before.”
The lock Hina pointed to required moving the central button up, down, left, and right to input a password. What’s that type of lock called again?
Next to it, it says to press the central ring twice before entering the password and then pull down on the lock. It’s kind enough to be detailed about the not-so-obvious instructions for beginners.
“Clockwise, starting with 1 to 4 for each direction. Maybe it would help to interpret the clues as numbers.”
…Hina, weren’t you new to this too? How come you’re so quick on the uptake? I’m feeling a little betrayed.
As Hina, who seemed to have kicked her brain into high gear, clutched the table looking for clues, I decided to check the side with the beakers and test tubes.
[RINSE]
In front of a beaker filled halfway with what appeared to be water, there was black text in English. Rinse? That’s a bit random. Let’s just remember it for now.
Next, I checked the row of 8 test tubes. Four were empty, while the other four contained brightly colored liquids.
Hmm… Wait a minute, these test tubes have measurements. From the left, they read 70ml, 30ml, 10ml, and 90ml. Clearly, these must relate to the password.
“Mika, I figured out the password for the door.”
Just as I was about to call Hina over to share what I discovered, I jumped in surprise when she called my name. Seriously? Hasn’t it only been under 3 minutes? Did she already solve one?
“Eh, already? How?!”
I momentarily put aside what I found and decided to move toward Hina’s side.
“The first line on the first page of this report states, ‘Only death is our salvation and escape.’ I figured that might relate to that lock. But since there wasn’t much important content on pages two and three, I quickly flipped to the last page, and during that process, I noticed that the first sentence of every even-numbered page starts with a number.”
…?
What is this?
“If I’m correct, the password is 13213414.”
At this point, the Gehenna Student Council really is practically spinning from just Hina’s contribution, huh? I realize anew that the diligent student council president is a complete cheat character that disregards balance.
Click—Click—
Brimming with confidence, Hina began unlocking the padlock in front of the door.
“…It opened?”
“It really did.”
In under 5 minutes, the padlock was dismantled by Hina’s hands.
“Whoa! Wow…! What? Hina-chan! This is unbelievable! That’s amazing?!”
With it being mid-level difficulty and all, isn’t this worth a whole lot of applause? At least that’s what I intended to think.
President Hina, you’re incredible! Beyond awesome!
“Ahaha, well, if that’s the case, we won’t need to use hints. If I just rely on Hina-chan, it’ll be a total victory☆”
Anyone would think that’s setting a flag, right? However, as those words escaped my mouth and I opened the door, I found myself face-to-face with one of the robot zombies roaming the next area.
“Whoa—?!”
I slammed the door shut at lightning speed and dropped onto the ground.
Honestly, I was startled, but the disguise was way too realistic… I thought I had seen a real zombie!!!
“…Looks like that lock wasn’t the end, huh?”
I tried to seem calm, but hearing Hina chuckle, I finally raised my hand to cover my face.
Ah, I’m so embarrassed…