Hydrangea Grand Hall. The Restaurant District.
"Hey, you, kid! Eat up, don't hold back!"
"Y-yes..."
"Kids love meat, right? Have as much as you want."
"Y-yes."
"Beep... beep-beep... beep beep beep...------"
"............"
"Gwahahahaha! Still as round and hard as ever. Drink up, drink up!"
"I'm a minor."
So right now I was stuck with a flashy weirdo sporting a massive afro and a devastatingly handsome young man in loose traditional garb.
Oh, and a floating pink sphere and a boisterously laughing fellow with a twisted headband. I was completely surrounded.
"I'm really diggin' these meat-wrapped dumplings. Hey you, these are great!"
So what — no need to stand up and show off just because you like them.
And talk about fashion sense — a gold short-sleeved jacket over a white T-shirt.
To top it off, the shirt had "DOHA" scrawled across it in rough black letters.
"DOHA"...? I felt like I'd seen that somewhere before.
Plus yellow star-shaped glasses frames.
Guess this world had party supply stores too.
"Beep... beep... maximum... anomaly... detected... beep beep beep..."
Wait, what is this pink sphere? Seriously, what is it?
"Heh heh heh ha ha, this pink sphere. It's saying something, you know!"
Whoa, it's slapping at it. Completely drunk. This old guy.
"Oh my. The After Life Vision System ver β rarely produces anything beyond beeping sounds, doesn't it?"
A good-looking young man in casual wear rattled off at rapid speed.
What is that obviously systematic name? Wait, I've heard it somewhere before...
Anyway, how did things end up like this?
That was— right, when I arrived here at Hydrangea Grand Hall.
My stomach was completely empty by then. Come to think of it, I remembered there was a restaurant district.
So I decided to stop by and wandered into the restaurant district, when this shop caught my eye.
It was called "Cider-Tei Second." Sure enough, it was the second branch.
Remembering they'd mentioned something about splitting off, I went in and found it nearly full.
I was just about to give up when a staff member asked if I was okay sharing a table.
And that's how I ended up at this hellish table seat.
"Hey hey, hey-yo! Meat, baby, yo-yo! I'm meat, you're you! Kid, eat more, yo!"
"I-I'm eating."
Honestly, all this meat is doing me in.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! When you're young, you eat and drink, eat and drink, drink!"
"I'm a minor."
"Oh my. This salad is delicious, isn't it?"
A handsome young man in loose robes. The only one eating salad.
Beep... beep-beep... beep-beep-beep... ———
A pink sphere started circling around the table.
Oh, the old guy splashed sake on it. But smaller spheres around it formed a barrier and deflected the liquid.
Quietly incredible. More to the point, these people — they're First-Class delvers, aren't they.
Wait, wasn't there some kind of System on the Hope List?
Come to think of it, Tsuchiha was on there too.
So maybe the young man in loose robes and the old guy with the twisted headband were the same kind of thing.
But I never imagined this whatever-System would turn out to be non-human.
Well, the name itself sounds pretty non-human no matter how you look at it.
But aren't non-humans not allowed to become delvers anymore?
"Hey, speaking of which, ya. Heard about it, ya?"
"What about?"
"The Big Wave! It's about Wof, ya."
Me?
"Oh. Something happen?"
"Four people from 'Impregnable' who challenged Wof all ended up in the same room, ya! For real, amazing! Oh man, crazy crazy, ya ya!"
"Oh. So that means he'd have to face four of them alone?"
Face them? What does that even mean.
"Gahahahaha! Now that's something! As expected of challengers from 'Impregnable.' Being young really is something else. Come on, drink, drink!"
"I'm a minor."
Even though I'm not even participating... Oh, this lemonade is good.
And it seems they don't know I'm Wof.
Well, it's not like my face photo is circulating anywhere.
In this world, such things are still at the sketch-drawing level.
"Beep beep… beep… notice… err… beep beep"
A serious error!?
"Um, it's saying something about a serious error."
"Oh yeah, hey, kid. What's an error?"
"Hmm. The Afterlife Vision System ver β is producing words beyond just beeping? Most intriguing."
"Gahahahaha! Hey. How did this round thing become a delver? Something like this shouldn't be able to become a delver anymore, right?"
"That? Apparently it somehow became a delver, and somehow rose to Class I."
What the heck, that's scary... but honestly, that works out fine.
Ah, but Alhazard Abramirin would probably be into that sort of thing.
"Gahaha, light horror, huh."
"Hey, kid. You eating?"
"I am."
"Right, right. I was surprised when I saw the schedule they handed me today. Seriously. You're entering an exhibition match?"
"Yeah. Been a while since I entered one."
"And your opponent is Gymnema Sylvester… the 'Sea Marshal'?"
"Hey, no shortage of opponents around here. Oh yeah. Oh yeah."
"Gwahahaha, youth is wasted on the young. I'm too old for that. If I were twenty years younger, I'd take on the 'Impregnable' myself, but..."
"John, even that's a bit much."
"Beep beep... beep... beep beep...———"
"That's our John for you. Nice joke."
"Gwahahaha, the wife would kill me if she found out."
"Haha..."
Ah, lemonade's good.
"What the hell is this, some kind of demon hellscape?"
The one who blurted that out was a girl in a blue-and-green two-tone outfit.
Her eyes were mismatched — one blue, one green. Adorable features, draped in a robe.
A full-plate knight in a full-face helmet stood at her side. Looked tough.
"Oh, Rolif. And Guildvald."
"You're the Dancing Princess. Hey, Rolif. And Guildvald. Hey hey. Hey."
"Gwahahaha, the Dancing Princess! And still as stiff as ever, Guildvald."
"…………"
"Beep beep... beep...———beep"
Rolif. And Guildvald.
Something about those names felt familiar.
"Oh hey, even the 'Dancing Princess of Water and Wind' eats at a place like this, huh."
"I thought you preferred the kind of place Aruverudo would go to."
So, a high-end place.
Aruverudo seemed like the type to frequent members-only or invitation-only establishments.
"I go to places like that too, but I don't let the venue decide where I eat when the food is good."
"Beep… beep… beep…"
"By the way, who's this kid?"
Rolif looked at me with suspicion.
Well, I was sitting alone in the middle of the underworld, so I could understand the curious stares.
"I'm sharing a table."
"This one's Yo. Kid, yo."
"Bahahaha! An underage brat! Come on, drink up, drink up!"
"I'm a minor."
"Beep… large-scale singularity…"
A large-scale singularity!? Was that about me?
Rolif looked surprised.
"This is the first time I've seen her say anything other than 'beep.'"
Ah, so that's how it was.
"So, do you need something from us?"
"Nope. What a grumpy oddball."
Rolif sighed and headed up the stairs near the counter, saying, "Well, let's go."
The shop had a second floor, which was set up as a VIP room.
"Whew, same as always, yo. Little miss tomboy dancer, yo."
"Gahahaha! What a lively girl."
"Grumpy? Well, you've got a point there."
"Ho ho. Hey, yo. Kid. Eat up, eat up, yo."
"I am eating. Um, are you drunk, by any chance?"
"Oh? You noticed? Actually, everyone here except me is wasted."
A handsome young man in a yukata, cool and effortless.
As expected. The afro guy. Going on about "chekera-yo-yo" and whatnot.
"Gahahaha! Come on, drink up, drink up!"
"I'm a minor."
Well, it's about time I got out of this hell.
The question is how.
The lemonade was good, though.