I Became a Raid Boss-Chapter 195: Are we trapped? (1)

"Yuki’s mornings are early."

Except for the rare occasions when she stays up late chatting or playing games into the early hours, she always wakes up early to start her day.

gulp

The first thing Yuki does after waking up is drink water.

As usual, she chooses lukewarm water over the cold water kept in the fridge, and after quenching her thirst, she exhaled deeply.

The two people lying beside her were still far from returning from the dream world.

"Hehe..."

"Ugh..."

At that moment, Da-eun shifted her body and then pulled the sleeping girl beside her into an embrace.

Suddenly held in Da-eun’s arms, Kana frowned and groaned in frustration, but her pleas fell on deaf ears as Da-eun, still lost in dreamland, couldn’t hear her.

For a moment, Kana grumbled in dissatisfaction, but her face soon returned to calm.

It seemed that, despite the slight discomfort of being trapped in Da-eun’s arms, Kana, who usually liked burrowing under the covers to sleep, actually found it surprisingly comforting.

Yuki, watching the scene silently, finished changing clothes and left the pension.

This was another one of Yuki’s usual morning routines.

She either ran along the walking trail, did some light stretching, or sometimes both.

This time, she chose the second option.

Yuki stretched her long body and warmed up.

thunk

"...Hmm?"

Just as she was stretching, an unwelcome guest approached.

As Yuki moved her body, something brushed against her head, causing her to look up.

pat

As if that was a signal, raindrops started to fall heavily.

"Ugh."

I haven’t even finished yet.

Since I’ll be showering anyway, should I just get drenched and keep going?

Yuki shook her head.

drip drip drip

The intensity of the rain increased dramatically.

Now, the rain wasn’t just falling like drops, but pouring down in sheets, hitting Yuki’s head.

"..."

The clothes Yuki was wearing quickly became soaked, sticking to her body, and she shut her eyes, feeling the discomfort of the wetness.

"...It was clear just a moment ago."

"It doesn't seem like this rain will stop anytime soon."

Da-eun said.

I had wondered why she was staring out the window for so long, but I now understood she was contemplating this.

"How do you know?"

"Huh? It just feels like that."

"Ah, I see."

Ignoring the silly conversation next to me, I turned my gaze outside the window.

Indeed, judging by the intensity of the rain, it didn’t seem like a quick passing shower.

The sky was dark, and even though it hadn’t been a few hours since the sun rose, the view outside was shrouded in darkness, as if it were night.

"Kanaya!"

Thud!

Just as I was leaning against the window, feeling the weight of something press against my back.

I didn’t fall forward, but I felt a slight shake, as if someone had carefully controlled their strength before pressing against me.

From behind, a pair of white arms reached out.

Naturally, they weren’t my arms.

"Hehehe."

"..."

Soon after, a light weight was placed on my head.

"Get off."

"Hehe, Kanaya's smell is always so sweet. We use the same shampoo, but why does it smell different from me? It’s so strange!"

She was continuing to poke fun at me, but I wasn’t having it.

What the hell was she doing, burying her face in my hair?

"...I’m going to shower."

"Huh? No, no, I'm not saying it smells bad, it really smells sweet. Ah, you thought I meant odor? Well, I’ll call it fragrance instead."

"It’s not about the word choice."

sniff sniff

Trying it as a test, I gently brought a lock of hair from my collarbone up to my nose, but it really didn’t have any noticeable scent.

If I had to point something out, it was just faintly the scent of shampoo, but it wasn’t strong enough to notice unless I focused on it with my eyes closed.

I tilted my head...

"It doesn’t smell."

I was a fool for believing Da-eun’s words.

"What? What? You actually smelled it because I said it smelled sweet? Kanaya really likes sweet things, huh?"

"The premise is wrong. The conclusion is wrong, too."

"Hmm. That’s not possible. The fact that Kanaya likes sweet things is an absolute truth!"

"Don’t use ‘absolute truth’ in situations like this."

"Then does that mean you don’t have to eat chocolate anymore?"

"..."

"Heh, I’m joking. But what I said earlier wasn’t a joke."

She was talking about the fragrance.

With a playful tone, her breath, brushing past my hair, descended onto my neck.

"Thinking back to when we were in Cilvia, it seemed like it was the same scent. So it’s not the shampoo, but your unique scent. After all, if it was shampoo, it wouldn’t smell the same on your body."

"Da-eun."

sniff sniff "Hmm?"

"You’re really creepy."

Is there any better word for someone who buries their nose in another person’s body and starts commenting on it?

"...Hah."

Da-eun swallowed audibly.

Anyone else might have thought I shocked her with my words, but I knew.

Da-eun wasn’t the type of person to be affected by that.

"To think I’m getting rewarded for this in the morning. What a lucky day."

"Of course."

I couldn’t understand why she liked this so much.

But if I voiced it, Da-eun would just ramp up her behavior.

I know she’s just messing around, but...

Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder, "Is she being serious?"

sniff

"...?"

Just as I was contemplating Da-eun’s intentions, another breath brushed against my shoulder.

"...What are you doing?"

I turned to find Yukki’s face inching closer.

Without skipping a beat, Yukki looked up from her phone.

"It’s true."

"What’s true?"

"You really smell sweet."

"Now you’re saying it too?"

Had Da-eun’s nature somehow infected Yukki, or had it been the other way around?

It felt like a question too difficult to solve, so I gave up trying to figure it out.

"How can you have this kind of smell? It’s so strange."

"Yeah. I agree. It smells amazing, doesn’t it?"

"Right."

"I think you guys are amazing."

The two of them went on about fragrances and body smells...

I pushed through their nonsense.

"...Ah! Kanaya’s running away! You were calm until Yukki came over! This is all Yukki’s fault!"

"Isn’t the cause something you started? It’s your fault."

"No. It’s both of you!"

After breaking free from them, I dove into the bed that hadn’t been made yet.

Da-eun looked at me with an expression full of longing, but when I glared at her, she averted her eyes sheepishly.

"By the way, with this rain, it looks like the sightseeing plans are off. It’ll be tough to eat out, too. Good thing we bought food in advance."

"Do you think it might stop later?"

"I hope so."

Da-eun muttered, her gaze still fixed on the window.

"As I said earlier, I don’t think it’s stopping anytime soon. Well, if it stops later, we can go out then. For now, let’s just relax. But it’s kind of strange. The weather forecast didn’t mention rain."

"Weather forecasts are wrong sometimes."

"Wow, deep mistrust there."

"It’s true."

"Well, that just means forecasting is difficult."

Da-eun lightly shrugged in response to Yukki’s words.

"Anyway, I hope it clears up. We have to leave tomorrow, and it’s a shame to be stuck in the pension the whole time."

However, contrary to Da-eun’s wish, the knocking on the window continued through the night without stopping.

"...Still?"

"Yeah. Still."

I nodded while sitting on the chair by the window, watching the outside.

"It’s really endlessly pouring. I thought it wouldn’t stop quickly, but I didn’t expect it to last through the whole day. The intensity hasn’t even decreased."

"The weather caster seemed confused. They didn’t predict this much rain."

"Forget about predicting the amount; they didn’t even predict the rain at all."

Da-eun sighed.

She then turned to me.

"It’s clear now. Kanaya has to step up."

"...Huh?"

"Kanaya, with your sword, cut through the storm clouds!"

And so, swish swish!

"Then the rain will stop."

She made an awkward gesture as if trying to act out the storm-clearing move.

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...Is this some sort of ritual to make the rain stop?

"That was obviously not a great display of cutting through clouds with a sword."

"Yeah, that wasn’t obvious at all."

"Right, right."

"Sigh."

Even though I’d tried to soften the words, Da-eun didn’t seem to notice.

She pouted her lips in response to my lack of appreciation.

As I knew she wasn’t genuinely upset, I ignored her and continued to mumble.

"Will you do it?"

"...Can you do it?"

"I asked because I thought you could."

"I was just saying it... Who thought anyone could cut through storm clouds?"

"I think Kanaya could do it."

"Wow, you’re something else."

Da-eun patted my head with a grin.

"...I think I could do it now, after thinking about it."

"Yeah. Though I’ve never tried."

"I’m sure it’d make the news though, if it did happen. Something like ‘What’s the mysterious phenomenon that split the sky?’"

"That’s true."

If I were to use magic to split the storm clouds, people would definitely notice.

Both Da-eun and I knew this conversation wasn’t serious, but we continued chatting because we had nothing else to do.

"Never thought the rain would last until the day we leave. It’s a shame, but today’s not the only day."

We’ll leave today, and come back on a sunny day later.

As I was about to nod in agreement with Da-eun’s childish way of comforting, Yukki, who had been checking her phone, suddenly spoke.

"Wait."

"Huh?"

With a sudden, unwelcome bit of news, Da-eun’s face went blank.