Chapter 95 - Declaration of Love and Truth

“Rifreya, aren’t you cold? Use this. I bought it yesterday, so it is clean.” (Hikaru)

I take off my overcoat and put it on Rifreya.

It is an overcoat made of stiff and hard cloth, but it should be better than having nothing.

“…Are you not cold, Hikaru?” (Rifreya)

“No, I am pretty resistant to cold.” (Hikaru)

“You don’t sound convincing at all with that pale face… Ei!” (Rifreya)

“O-Oi!” (Hikaru)

She slides towards me to the point of sticking her body to mine, and then puts the overcoat to cover the both of us.

The heat of us both was being concentrated by the overcoat, and it was warm.

But it is a pretty embarrassing situation.

“See? With this, we are both warm.” (Rifreya)

“Yeah, but…” (Hikaru)

“Fufu… I spent the night sitting on the stairs with my previous party too. But I didn’t in my wildest dreams think that I would spend the night sitting side by side with a man in this way.” (Rifreya)

“Same here. I didn’t even have any intentions of getting close to anyone in this city after all.” (Hikaru)

“Really?” (Rifreya)

“Yeah. You could say getting along with you was a big miscalculation.” (Hikaru)

“Saying something like that again…” (Rifreya)

After that, we didn’t say a single word for a while.

In this darkness that’s ruled by silence, we were just feeling our body heat.

…Once this battle ends, we won’t be diving together again.

She will become a templar in her homeland, and I will be living in this dungeon forever.

She might come meet me every now and then. I would be fine with that.

Being like this, I find it hard to let go of her.

Those are my honest feelings.

Yesterday, Rifreya brought me out to the light of the sun. Even if only for a brief period of time, I managed to forget about Earth.

If it is her, I might be able to walk in this world. I certainly did feel that.

I want to be with her forever.

Things would be so easy if I could just say that.

But the more I think about that, the more I treasure her, the more I have to keep her away from me.

It would make the 7 billion people in Earth watch her.

“…Hikaru, I love you.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya mutters.

Who knows how many times she has confessed already.

I can’t even tell why she has liked me this much.

But that might be just how love works.

“Just by being like this, I feel so fulfilled that I don’t need anything else… To the point that I forget about my household, and about my little sister.” (Rifreya)

“…Is that so.” (Hikaru)

“…That’s why, Hikaru, even if this ends… I want to be together with you forever. Diving the dungeon together, renting a room together…without the time limit…forever.” (Rifreya)

“Rifreya…” (Hikaru)

She managed to say what she didn’t manage to say before.

I gave a time limit of 2 weeks. That’s because that’s the duration of the Viewer Count Race. Because I was thinking of using her in that time frame only.

But I didn’t expect Rifreya to hold this much interest towards me in that period of time. ‘She will most likely notice her misunderstanding and take distance from me’ -I thought that’s what would happen.

Just seeing the reaction of Alex, anyone can tell that Rifreya is an outstanding beauty.

Peculiar platinum blonde hair, big almond color eyes, glossy lips with a tint red, and her proportions are on the level of a model.

A girl like that should have as many choices as she wants.

That’s why I couldn’t believe that she would be swayed by a plain guy like me with no redeeming qualities.

I thought she was simply telling herself she liked me because I saved her life and was doing all this out of a sense of duty.

…But…there were no lies in her words just now.

Her words rang seriously and earnestly.

“I…can’t be together with you anymore, Rifreya.” (Hikaru)

That’s why I clenched my teeth and answered in this manner.

…I am attracted to her -to an unbearable degree.

I want to be together with her too.

Just how fun would it be to continue exploring together with Rifreya and Grapefull?

I feel like I would be able to find meaning in my life for this twist of fate that was coming to this world if it is together with her. My time with her was so special that I could feel confident about this.

Even so…

It is exactly because of this…

That I can’t be with her anymore.

“…It is not…that you hate me, right?” (Rifreya)

“If I were to answer that, I would be one mean person. That’s why…I can’t answer.” (Hikaru)

It is because I love her that I can’t be with her. There’s no way she would acknowledge an answer like that.

But, in regards to the reason…it is still not over yet, but it might be okay to tell her.

No, I must tell her.

If she takes distance from me with that, that’s okay.

There isn’t that much time left. Once the Demon Lord is defeated, the Viewer Count Race will end.

I have borrowed the help of Rifreya to an unbelievable extent already.

“Then, why…? I…was a good party member, right? We have finished clearing the 3rd Floor, and we could have explored the 4th Floor and maybe even the 5th Floor. If you don’t tell me…I…won’t be able to give up.” (Rifreya)

“Rifreya… You know…I am not from this world.” (Hikaru)

“Eh?” (Rifreya)

She opened her eyes wide at my sudden confession.

I said something incomprehensible, so this is natural.

“I came from a different world to this one. Around…40 days ago. You might not be able to believe this though.” (Hikaru)

“That’s just… No, this is the truth, right, Hikaru?” (Rifreya)

She distanced herself slightly from me, tilted her body this way, and looked straight at my eyes.

Those eyes of hers had the light of someone that wanted to face me with sincere feelings.

“The reason I can’t be with you is there. We otherworlders are being watched by the people of our world. Like gladiators made to fight as entertainment. Even at this very moment.” (Hikaru)

“Being watched, you say… But no one is watching.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya looks restlessly around.

If I hadn’t been given the information beforehand in the Status Board, I wouldn’t have believed that I am being watched 24/7 by people either.

“Don’t look at me like that. As if I would make a stupid lie like this… Even now, 800 million people are watching us, and even listening to this conversation.” (Hikaru)

“800 million, you say… I haven’t even heard of that amount of people before.” (Rifreya)

The word million might not be a denominator you hear in this world.

Rifreya once again directed a gaze of suspicion towards me.

Of course she would. If I had been told this at the time when I was on Earth, I would have doubted the other party’s sanity.