Pandora of Fantasy And Reality Chapter 110

LET’S DANCING!

At the hotel’s corridor.

Kanaho had just gotten out of bath. Her hair was damp.

Her skin was faintly flushed. She was walking back toward her room.

「We played a lot too today~」

She seemed happy.

It was a trip that included an offline meeting, but both Anri and  Chloe were able to have fun though various things happened in the first  day.

She was on her way back from the large public bath toward her room.

On the way she heard some talking voices.

At the corner ahead, she saw a senior from her school――Ichinose Maya.

(Ah, it’s senpai.)

Kanaho and others who were having fun at the beach happened to catch  sight of Maya inside the life saver hut when the rain came down hard.

She also saw Akito there. She thought that the two were close with each other but――.

「Oji-sama, please don’t fail next time.」

「Maya-chan, I’m seriously getting worried with your future now.」

――She got to hear a disquieting conversation.

The atmosphere also felt somewhat odd. Kanaho hid herself at the  corner and listened to the conversation. She took out her smartphone and  pretended to browse something with it.

The conversation that she was focusing at was about something that surpassed Kanaho’s imagination.

「Hearing you using drug is creeping me out you know? Ponsuke-kun will get disillusioned with you if he learned this.」

Kanaho’s eyes snapped wide open.

(Ponsuke――san?)

「This isn’t the time to be choosy with the method. I’ll be able to make him fall for me for sure if it’s now!」

「Just that idea is already creeping me out.」

「Not as creepy as Oji-sama who used the power of your own company just to get rare item.」

It was a conversation with a tall middle-aged man.

It seemed that they were relative or acquaintance, but the conversation was far more shocking than that.

(Drug? J-just what are they talking about?)

The man――Jun pressed his hand on his forehead.

「This made me feel guilty toward Ponsuke-kun――no, toward Naruse-kun.」

「Why!? Didn’t you say that you will root for my love!?」

「I never imagined that you would go as far as using drug for that!」

Kanaho learned that Akito was Ponsuke from the conversation.

She realized the reason why her chest felt strangely murky when Chloe mentioned how he was hitting on her.

(I see. So that person is Ponsuke-san.)

However, thinking carefully something was strange.

About Maya.

And then the red haired Yakumo who was also at that hut.

The faces of two people who were usually in the guild surfaced in her mind.

(Could it be, she’s Alfie-san?)

It was well-known even inside the guild how those two held heavy crush toward Ponsuke.

The two were problematic to the extreme even inside the guild that had a lot of troublemakers.

Based from the conversation, Kanaho realized that Maya had tried drugging Akito.

「Please Oji-sama. Overlook it just for today. At this rate, Akito――Ponsuke will get taken away from me.」

Jun fell into thought when faced with Maya’s pleading before he reluctantly nodded.

「I-I get it. I’ll mix it into the drink from the room service. The mark will be――」

「No, please wait. That will make it suspicious. Put the drug inside the pot for brewing the drink――」

「Eh, seriously? Maya-chan, are you serious!?」

Kanaho who was listening to that conversation gasped as she looked at her smartphone.

(I should record this conversation just now!)

She thought that she had to let Akito knew, but she was in a state of  disbelief just now when topic about drug and other things suddenly came  up.

After all, she had also ran into Akito sometimes at school.

(W-what should I do? T-that’s right! I should ask advice!)

Kanaho hurriedly returned to her room.

Maya and Jun had finished planning and parted from each other.

At the other end of the corridor.

There was another person who was listening to the conversation like Kanaho.

It was a woman with blue hair――Yumi.

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At the hotel’s restaurant.

Yumi who was going back to her room because she had forgotten  something was approaching the table where Leona was sitting in great  hurry.

「Reona-chan, trouble. It’s trouble!」

「What’s wrong? Did you meet your seventh or the eighth first love?」

Reona thought that this trouble her best friend Yumi was screaming  out was about another romantic matter. She replied back while calmly  drinking wine.

It was sparkling wine with low alcohol content.

Yumi sat down and spoke without lowering her voice.

「Wrong~! I’m completely devoted to Ponsuke-kun~. M-more importantly listen to me properly. I found him! I found Ponsuke-kun!」

Reona looked at Yumi with exasperation.

「……Did you find a man with orc-like appearance? Good for you. You can invite him to make a summer memory with you.」

「I’m telling you that’s not it! Remember, today――we saw Naruse-kun in a hut didn’t we?」

「We did. But for him to go around hitting on girls despite coming here with two girls is just questionable.」

In the first place she was puzzled about him coming here with two girls.

Perhaps the girls were his relative, or perhaps he was friend with one of them.

Reona felt like that wasn’t it though.

「It’s those two! Don’t you think that they look familiar?」

Reona tried to remember after Yumi said that……two faces came to mind.

「Mariela and Alfie huh? But, apparently you don’t usually use your  own face in game you know? They must be just someone else who looks  familiar.」

Yumi shook her head.

「We ourselves are using our own physical data in Pandora! That doesn’t matter. After that Ponsuke-kun’s name came up.」

Reona too stopped moving her hand that was holding the glass.

「……You must have misheard. Besides, it might be just a nickname.」

In the first place could such coincidence happen?

Reona was doubtful, but a part of her heart thought that the possibility was high.

「And then, and then! ……I think, this girl who was talking might be  Alfie-chan. She was talking about putting drug inside a drink.」

Reona fell into thought for a while. And then she drained her glass of wine before standing up.

「……Let’s go.」

Yumi followed Reona who was showing a reliable appearance.

「As expected from Reona-chan. You’re always giving support to my love.」

Reona turned around.

「Haa? I’m just going to save papa――I mean, ponsuke-kun. There’s no  way I can leave him alone amidst those two who are like hungry beasts.  You too mustn’t go near him.」

「Why!? Reona-chan you fathercon!」

「You love addled brain should just be quiet.」

The noisy duo left the restaurant. There was a group sitting on a nearby table watching them leaving in a daze.

It was Blaze――Naoto and his party.

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「This is bad. This is super bad!」

「Guild master, will finally get devoured huh……」

「Those two, are they perhaps Noin-san and Fran-san?」

They were a group of young people in their twenties.

They left the restaurant and had a group discussion.

They put together the conversation that they overheard from Yumi and  Reona and came to a realization that Akito was apparently Ponsuke.

And then they got an understanding.

(Perhaps he went around hitting on girls to get away from those two?)

――They thought.

Naoto thought calmly.

「……Imagine, that those two manage to rescue Ponsuke-kun safely. What do you think will happen after that?」

Everyone’s mind was filled with nothing but bad premonition.

「He’ll just get devoured by a different duo.」

「No, didn’t that girl mention something about papa?」

「Won’t it be the same either way? It won’t end with anything good anyway.」

Naoto held his head in his hands.

「That’s right isn’t it. It’s pointless even if he get saved by those two.」

The plain woman raised her hand slightly.

「U-umm. I understand that high school boy is the guild master  but……the girls with him, the women in this restaurant just now, and the  high school girls with him, they are all pretty aren’t they? Isn’t this  something that boy will be happy about?」

The men averted their gazes.

「Even if they are petty at the outside…」

「Perhaps it’ll be nice if it’s just one night stand.」

「But I get the feeling that those girls won’t ever let go once the guild master lay his hand on any of them.」

Naoto wanted to give help.

However, they didn’t know where Ponsuke was.

In the first place they didn’t have any connection with each other in real life.

In the previous offline meeting, he saw the boy’s face and thought what if, but…….

「Anyway, if we meet him in Pandora and he look like something is troubling him……let’s treat him kindly then.」

Everyone nodded with a gloomy expression.

Someone said.

「There will be bloodbath in real life huh……in the first place, I  wonder if guild master will be able to login after the maintenance is  over.」

A family was passing beside Naoto’s group that was walking away.

That family was the Saeki family.

Kira was passing beside the group with a shocked face.

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「Trouble! It’s big trouble you two!」

Kira called out to Nanami and Yukine.

He called them saying that he had something to discuss with them and  arranged to meet in a place that was like a rest area inside the hotel.

Nanami was a bit surprised seeing Kira.

「……Kira-kun, it feels like your casual clothing is a bit feminine.」

Previously Kira was always dressing himself with the purpose of  getting called boyish, but it made his outfit to expose a lot of skin  instead which conversely made him looked obscene.

However, right now the way he dressed looked more feminine than before.

「M-my outfit doesn’t matter here. They are hands-me-down from my big  sis after all……wait, we should talk about Ponsuke-niichan right now.  That Naruse-niichan is actually Ponsuke-niichan!」

Yukine was surprised hearing that.

「Fue!」

Nanami fell into thought and talked to Kira.

「It’s not good to spread out Ponsuke-san’s identity just because you found out you know? Is that all?」

Yukine was surprised.

「Nanami-chan’s reaction is weak. Eh? Could it be that Yakumo-senpai is Mariela-oneesama?」

Kira ignored Yukine who was entering her own world and continued.

「Even I have that much common sense. But that’s not it. The  Nee-chans……the Nee-chans are going to devour Ponsuke-niichan!  Ponsuke-niisan will get killed!」

The middle school trio――excluding Yukine were shocked.

「N-no way. Even though it’s those two, they can’t possibly do something like devouring Ponsuke-san.」

「Even I doubted my ears. But, I definitely heard it. Besides, it’s  not just Mariela-neechan and Alfie-neechan. Noin-neechan and  Fran-neechan are going to eat him too.」

The two turned pale.

They were interpreting the word devour literally.

Yukine was the only one among them who could possibly notice the  actual meaning, but she was currently in distress. She was muttering to  herself and fully immersed in her own world.

「Onee-sama is nearby both IRL and in game……c-could it be, this is what they call red string of fate? Aa, what should I do here!」

Kira’s eyes became teary.

「We need to save Ponsuke-niichan……or he will get killed for real.」

Nanami hugged Kira who was in such distraught.

「I-it’s alright. Let’s return right away. First we should talk with a hotel staff――」

Like that they dragged Yukine who was off to her own world and the three of them talked about the situation to a hotel staff.

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On his way to the lobby, Jun ran into a hotel staff who had a troubled face.

「What’s the matter?」

「P-president! N-no, actually there are some children telling us quite a story.」

It seemed there were some middle schoolers who reported to the hotel staff that a murder might occur here.

A female staff took the three to a different room in order to listen  to their story, but based on what she heard, it seemed to be a  misunderstanding.

「However, we can’t possibly just ignore it in case something really  happen. If possible we want to resolve this matter quietly but, the  manager is currently absent.」

The manager would return before long, but for now the staff was at a loss of what to do.

「Fumu, let me hear the detail.」

And then Jun listened to the story――and felt shocked.

The name that came up was Naruse Akito――Ponsuke.

The staff was smiling wryly.

「By devoured, they must mean……well, it must be that kind of meaning.  More importantly, if I remember correctly that customer is  president’s――」

Jun’s thought sped up.

(Wait. Wait! Just now, there was also Fran and Noin mentioned. Could  it be they are here? Those two!? Wait a second……won’t there be bloodbath  if those two find Ponsuke-kun?)

Jun considered the worst scenario.

He thought that it would also be dangerous to allow Maya and Yakumo  to act as they were, but there another women who harbored feeling for  Ponsuke inside the game appeared.

(It won’t be strange if a real murder happen after that! In the first  place, the possibility that Maya-chan won’t do that is low! W-what  should I do!)

It would become a big trouble if he missed a murder incident while getting absorbed with rare item.

Jun spoke to the bewildered staff.

「……Leave this matter to me. For now, are there any staffs who are currently free?」

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It felt like it was noisy inside the hotel for some reason.

Kanaho who was accompanied by Anri and Chloe had seen hotel staff  walking through the corridor with strangely fast pace several times.

Chloe became curious.

「I wonder if something happened.」

Anri laughed while saying.

「Perhaps there is a murder incident or something? You know, a high  class hotel that just get opened during a summer vacation feel like just  the right setting for that kind of drama.」

Kanaho smiled wryly.

「The kind of suspense drama you mean. Well, it’s true that the atmosphere here seem fitting for that kind of stage.」

Chloe didn’t get it.

「……Like the scene in detective or psychological movie? I can’t really  imagine it but, I wonder if this restlessness is because something  happened?」

Anri shook her head.

「No, as expected there’s no way that’s the case. But, if a police also come right now then there’s no denying it.」

The three were searching for Akito’s room.

Kanaho returned to her room in great hurry, but she actually didn’t know about the location of Akito’s room which was vital.

Because of that the three of them were searching.

Even so they didn’t think that they would be able to actually find  him but, both Chloe and Anri were proactively joining the search――they  were strangely motivated.

Kanaho reached the corner of the corridor.

「We can’t possibly knock the doors one by one, and hoping to run into them at the corridor is also――」

But, when she turned the corner she found some staffs talking.

「Are they here?」

「No.」

「……Umm, perhaps it’s already」

「Don’t say something so unlucky.」

「But」

「Anyway continue the search. It’s Naruse Akito-sama. A high school boy whose height is around――」

The three were holding their breath seeing the hotel staff’s atmosphere that was far from ordinary.

They heard Akito’s――Ponsuke’s name got mentioned.

Anri covered her mouth with her hand.

「Eh, just now they――」

Kanaho was flustered. Chloe spoke calmly to her.

「Anyway we should also search. I thought that something isn’t right  because of this atmosphere but to think that Ponsuke is involved」

Anri became tearful.

「G-got it. Let’s search. Hurry.」

Chloe gave instruction.

「Let’s split up. Looks like he isn’t in this floor, then we should――」

The situation was gradually getting overblown.

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