Side: Kasumigaseki

The reconciliation with Kusanagi Academy had been settled, and the civil servant who had touched off the whole problem was pulled from the assignment. For now he had been transferred to another department in the form of a secondment, but sooner or later he would be demoted as part of a personnel reshuffle.

Still, it was hard to lay the blame on him alone. The center handed down its orders unilaterally, and his had been the role of carrying out things with no legal basis behind them—all while forbidden from venting his frustrations about classified matters to colleagues or even family.

This time, though, the fault clearly lay with the man in charge, so there was no one who could cover for him.

"Oi, oi…"

And on this very day, a violent tremor ran through the Bureau of Paranormal Countermeasures.

America had decided to disclose the Paranormal Spaces—the dungeons. They had begun laying the groundwork among the G7 and the Western nations, and word of it had reached the Bureau as well.

"So they got their domestic situation in order, did they?"

"From what I hear, the President was keen on disclosure from the start. Rather than go down as a President who hid it and let his term run out, he'd sooner be remembered as the President who made the call and went public."

The current American President was in his first term, but his approval ratings were languishing, and there were whispers of trouble for his second term. As a catalyst for that second term—and, in the worst case, even if he lost, as a way to leave a legacy within his term—that was his honest, unvarnished motive.

And of course, with the global situation shifting, the very act of keeping the dungeons secret was becoming a liability—that loomed large too.

Being backed into a corner and forced to admit it after the fact was the alternative. For anyone in power, making their own call and going public was the obvious choice.

"There are high hopes for the economy and employment, too. In the West, the immigration issue is becoming a powder keg behind the scenes. A lot of people are predicting it'll be the twenty-first-century gold rush."

The officials seconded from the various ministries each gave their explanations, and the Bureau shared a picture of where things stood. The same report had surely already gone up to the Prime Minister. Depending on the Prime Minister's decision, Japan, too, would need to start moving toward disclosure.

The Western countries, along with Russia and China and many others, had spent the past several years building up concrete plans for disclosure, and were in a state where a single decision could open the dungeons.

The ones lagging in their preparations were Japan and the developing nations. The reasons for the delay differed from country to country, depending on their circumstances—but in Japan's case, there was a sizable faction expected to react with excessive revulsion to the very act of taking up weapons and entering a dungeon, and the government was struggling to deal with them.

What's more, in a Japan that was called a spy's paradise behind closed doors, foreign nations' covert operations carried on even into the present day, and neighboring countries were obstructing the country's preparations to disclose its dungeons.

"So when's the disclosure date?"

"…May first of this year."

"Hahh?!"

With dungeons being put to military use and their yields traded on the black market, America had judged the situation grave enough to decide on an early disclosure.

"That's not even a week away!"

Everyone who heard it was indignant, but it was hard to lay the blame on America alone.

For several years now, America had been strongly urging them to prepare, since immediate disclosure was a possibility depending on the situation. While the basic stance—upholding the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and so on—remained unchanged, they were demanding that Japan, too, disclose and begin exploration under the same conditions.

It was no doubt because they wanted the disclosure of the dungeons and the large-scale start of dungeon exploration to be carried out by every nation in the world at once. They were wary of the dungeons' rights and benefits shifting the world's balance of power.

"So what do we do, then?"

"Who knows? That's a political call."

There were several simulations for dungeon disclosure, but in Japan's case the leading one was a policy of having the state fully manage the dungeons and bar civilians from entering.

The reasoning, deeply rooted, was that this way civilians wouldn't bear arms, and the public could be protected from phenomena of unknown cause—such as the enhancement of physical abilities inside the dungeons.

But it had stalled, its feasibility uncertain, with no end of obstacles: negotiations with landowners, the legal framework, securing personnel and budget for exploration.

"If word gets out about the boost to physical abilities, people are going to make a racket."

"…Yeah, they will."

There were paranormal phenomena—magic, in the common parlance—and the dungeons also yielded any number of substances and relics that defied analysis.

On top of that, in the medium term, the enhancement of physical abilities wasn't simply a matter of athletic performance; there was already research in the West suggesting it had beneficial effects on intelligence, health, and beauty as well.

Because long-term observation hadn't been possible, Japan's experts kept their present assessment a negative one. Worldwide, though, many countries were moving in the direction of opening it up to their citizens.

The Bureau, quiet for the first time in a while, was a picture of expectation and unease mingling over the road ahead for both the world and Japan.

Side: Amahashi Kakeru

It looked like the entrance to the dungeon was being sealed up tight. They were building a wall around the prefab hut. On top of that, it seemed a security guard would now be stationed there during the daytime.

Not just the students but the teachers, too, were puzzled by the response. To anyone who didn't know about the dungeon, it must have looked bizarre.

"Hey, foreigners do hugs and kisses and stuff for greetings, right? You hugging Filia-san and the others too?"

Between classes, when I was already at my limit just keeping up with the lessons, I got swarmed by Kitamura and the other guys.

"I'm not. This is Japan. They go along with the manners and customs over here."

Don't give me that openly disappointed look. Honestly…

"It's not fair. You're the only one surrounded by beautiful women, and here I am with nothing but dudes, covered in dirt and sweat day in and day out at club practice."

No, you're the one who picked that club. And I'd think club practice is fun, too.

"Do they smell nice after a bath or something? What do they wear around the house?"

"I want to do a homestay at your place too, Amahashi."

Every last one of you, a bunch of perverts.

"Let's do a mixer!"

No, we don't need a mixer. Sure, I've got no intention of getting in the way of them meeting people—but with you guys as the other half, it's nothing but worry.

"Even if you did a mixer, wouldn't Amahashi-kun just end up taking them home anyway? Sorry to say it, but with you, Kitamura-kun, I think the outcome's a foregone conclusion."

"Right. With looks at that level, they can have their pick of anybody. Even Amahashi-kun would have a hard time. Someone a little older and more on their level would be just right."

The girls are realistic, huh. I really do think they've got it exactly right.

"…You'd go that far?"

"I mean, it'd be weirder for people who look like models like that to not have boyfriends."

"Right? I can't see them giving the time of day to grabby guys like Kitamura-kun, at least."

Among the girls, there were a few with the genuinely pure aim of making friends with foreigners. On the other hand, the fact that they understood they lived in different worlds was impressive. Though they meant something pretty different by it.

Come to think of it, once they could support themselves, they'd probably move out of that house eventually. I had a feeling they'd just go and make friends and find partners like anyone else.

Noctia I couldn't really say about yet, since I didn't know her that deeply.

It felt something like loneliness, and something like relief. Well, more than anything, the best thing would be for them to be happy.