Chapter 40

After breakfast, Senpai Amagi and Senpai Kashino left together for school.

Since they’re in Class 2-A, as Hinata mentioned, it seems that second-year students are assigned to classes based on their rankings, which means their rankings must be high as well.

“All of the students in our dorm are in the top rankings. Akoya-chan and Erisa-chan are among the ‘Seven Seats’ in their second year.”

“Seven Seats… does that mean the top seven students? That’s incredible!”

“…What about Suzuri-san…?”

“Ah, wait a second. I’m getting a call. If it’s going to take a while, you can go ahead without me.”

Akizuki-san moved to the window in the living room to take the call.

I was curious about what Nanami-san was about to say, but just as I was about to ask—

“…What? What do you mean it’s going viral? A video from a doll’s camera… whose doll is that… is that for real? Uh-huh, uh-huh… So the S-Channel account wasn’t theirs, but it was posted on their behalf? And it’s from Himeno’s…?”

The atmosphere felt tense—Nanami-san seemed curious too, as she stopped putting on her shoes and glanced at Akizuki-san.

“…She’s recognized as a doll operator, with the same authority as a student? But is the video content really… what, it leaked outside too? Three million views… does that mean someone influential shared it? Have they confirmed…?”

Akizuki-san looked at me. After ending the call, she came up to me, placing her hand on my shoulder.

“I’m not sure if congratulations are in order, but… something big has happened, it seems.”

“Wait… hold on, I don’t quite understand…”

Akizuki-san moved even closer—close enough that I could feel her apron-pressed chest.

“Listen, brace yourself. The environment around you has drastically changed from yesterday to today. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on at the academy, but it’s safe to say that a huge number of people know about you now. It wouldn’t be strange if all nearly 3,000 students were aware of it.”

“…Is it about yesterday?”

“Yesterday… I did say I ‘handled’ it, didn’t I?”

I wasn’t sure what happened to the clown, or if I’d really defeated it, so I said I’d ‘handled’ it.

“…’Handled’ as in, you defeated it, right? Practically by yourself?”

“N-no, I’m not sure if I really defeated it…”

“I don’t have all the details either, but a video of someone who looks like you in action was posted on an external video-sharing site and on S-Channel yesterday. The external video was quickly made private, but the S-Channel one went through automatic evaluation, which is why the channel is now inaccessible—under review, they said.”

“W-wait. I didn’t post any videos. I thought about doing it since I heard it would affect my grades, but that’s as far as I got.”

Akizuki-san seemed shaken, but so was I.

There was no one filming at that time, and we didn’t have time for that anyway—

As I thought that, a memory from yesterday’s dungeon came back to me. At the time, I had asked Cipher if it could move smoothly through the dungeon.

“I have the ‘Hover’ ability. No problem, no problem.”

After that, I had been shown Cipher’s status card. Back then, I was too distracted by other things, but there had been something listed in the abilities section aside from ‘Hover.’

(…Something like… Optical Camouflage and… Record. Recording…?)

“Yesterday during the dungeon practice, you brought a doll, didn’t you?” Nanami-san asked.

“…That Cipher doll is equipped with a high-performance camera that covers all directions. It probably automatically recorded everything in the dungeon without you even realizing it.”

If what Nanami-san was saying was true, then I had seen Cipher’s camera in action without recognizing it as ‘filming’—I’d simply assumed it was helping me navigate.

“So… someone managing Cipher’s data must have posted the footage?”

“That’s right. If the video posted on S-Channel was recorded by your doll, then the achievements in that footage will be evaluated just like any other video. From what I’ve heard, you even rescued some students from being attacked by monsters. This kind of thing usually earns you a medal… why didn’t you mention anything about it yesterday?”

“I-I did tell you that I entered the dungeon, didn’t I?”

“Mmm… Suzuri-onee-san would’ve preferred to hear about your heroic exploits directly from you, not through some phone call. Do you understand this heartache? I don’t care about secretive Tsukasa-kun anymore! Now, you’ll be all over the place, becoming a famous person and struggling to deal with it.”

“Wh-what…?”

With an unreasonable bit of scolding, I was shooed out by Akizuki-san as I left the house.

“…So, what should we do? Enter through the back entrance?”

“Um… well, I think it should be fine. It’s only been a day, so I don’t think the news has spread that much.”

“…But Suzuri-san said that Fujiwara-kun is going to become a famous person.”

“Haha… Becoming famous is the furthest thing from what I’d expect.”

It’s true, not many people would find themselves in such a situation during their first dungeon dive, but calling me famous is just too far-fetched.

I decided to forgo Nanami-san’s suggestion to use the back entrance, and instead, after descending the back hill, I headed towards the north gate of the academy and the first-year building—but there was already a crowd gathered at the gate. Not thinking about what they could be waiting for, I just walked right into it.