Chapter 156: Operation Crossing The Bridge 1

Chapter 156: Operation Crossing The Bridge 1

See? Theres a manhole right here.

Ah, youre right.

I was showing Mei-chan to a round, metallic lid fixed on the roadside, a manhole from any angle you look at it. Id noticed that these were here on the first day we started exploring this isekai town, but chose not to bother looking through dirty sewers since I had no particular reason to. Until now that is.

I mean, Sakurai-kun cant do anything if were underground, right?

Yeah, I dont think he can penetrate this deep. Actually, I dont think hell be able to sense us going through the sewers at all.

Mei-chan affirmed my theory, and I believed in her intuition.

Now there was the issue of whether the sewers linked to the other side of the lake. I wasnt exactly a fan of going in there if I could help it, but like the saying goes, when push comes to shove.

Lets get it over with I guess huh, how are we supposed to get this open, anyway?

I think they used some special metal rod that fit in the holes.

The dungeons manholes also had the little holes on the lid. Although, they werent something we could stick some fingers in and pull.

Huh, this sure sucks. And with the shape its got, it doesnt look like I can use my tentacles either

Hmf!

Mei-chan stomped and the manhole popped up and out of the way.

There we go.

Thanks. Alright, so lets send Rem in first.

I thanked Mei-chan for her excellent usage of brute force, and had Rem #3, our proverbial canary, dive in and check for danger.

I scanned the sewers from above. Inside, I could see that it was lit up with the same white light panels found all over the dungeon, so there wont be any problem checking our surroundings once inside.

This was a dungeon sewer so it wouldnt be strange to find monsters living inside, for example, insect types or giant alligators. In the sewer zone I was previously at, there were Jiras, those fish-Goma like monsters, so those could be in there too.

GUGO, GUGAGA!

A little time later, #3, who Id sent in to scout had returned.

All clear, it looks like.

Ill go in first then.

Sure, thanks.

Mei-chan volunteered to go in first. She didnt use the attached latter and just jumped all the way down.

There was a good bit of distance to the bottom but she you know what, Im not going to bother.

She was now very used to her Berserker body so she had no problem with feats of acrobatics like this, Im sure. She wouldnt do it if she was unsure of whether shed land unscathed.

As a Shaman, I needed to do research and experiments to figure out the extent of my abilities, but maybe other types of Jobs had a learning curve more instinct based. Or at least, thats how I think Mei-chan had it.

Kotarou-kun~, its safe down here~

Ok, Rems there and Mei-chans confirmed the safety too. This was more that enough. I should get going.

KHSHASHA.

Ah, sorry Arachne, youre gonna have to wait here.

This was simply because of the fact that Arachne Mk. II was too big to fit through the hole.

Oh right, and Mei-chans main weapon, the halberd, and that big shield wont fit either so we were not taking those.

We were only going in to see how the route looked, so we werent abandoning our stuff or anything like that.

Huh. Its not that different from the sewer zone actually.

The construction was practically the same as the sewer zone I once traveled with Tendou-kun and the Yankee Party. So I was honestly expecting suddenly hearing GyoGyoGyo! and getting assaulted by a school of Jiras but that hadnt happened at all. So far.

Since this was a people-less ancient town, there wasnt any wastage flowing with the water in these sewers and it actually didnt smell so bad. Actually, now that I think about it, every place where those Jiras popped up stunk like ass. I bet it was those fish mofos that were stinking up that whole zone.

Kotarou-kun, I think around here should be where the lake is.

Mei-chan, with ever the sharp senses, could easily navigate inside these repetitive sewer tunnels.

You mean if we go straight through here, well be on the other side?

Yeah, it should be this direction.

Right, lets go then. There werent any bends or branching paths so we just went straight For about 3 minutes, after which we had to stop.

Damn, its completely caved in.

Great. Just great. The whole tunnel was caved in right at the point where wed be completely across. Large blocks of the concrete-like stone had closed off our path.

Though it wasnt exactly sealed tight. There was just enough space to let a little amount of sewage through.

GU, GAGA

I tried having #3 squeeze in from somewhere, but she found no gaps wide enough. And even if we could squeeze into the sewage way somehow, I dont know how long wed have to hold our breath before coming out the other side. And I wasnt willing to go that risk.

Looks like this is a dead end. Lets go back and look for another route, I suggested.

Yeah, too bad huh, Mei-chan agreed.

We headed back the way we came.

We arrived at the bottom of the manhole where Arachne was on standby. I put my hand on the ladder to climb up when,

Experiment?

Yeah, I want to see if you can tell me apart from my clone.

Id of course already told Mei-chan about my newly acquired Curses, including 2Shade, but I had yet to show her this one in action. This will be the first time shes seeing my clone Curse.

So can you turn around for a bit?

Sure.

Alright, lets do this nice and proper.

Expand, Reflect, and so Walk. It is All yet is One, for Reality is None 2Shade.

I used the full canto for maximum effect. Fuzzy black smoke began rising up from the shadow extending from my feet, and in the blink of an eye, the darkness moulded into human form and took a shape completely identical to me.

The clones Id used before, when fighting Reina, were all wearing the school gakuran, but since this Curse copies whatever Im wearing currently, this time, it was more casual, with an open tracksuit and t-shirt inside.

Ok, done. You can turn back this way.

What the!? There really are two Kotarou-kuns!?

Mei-chan was super surprised. Id had this reaction from others too so I knew that me and my clone were one in the same as far as outside appearance goes. You could look at it from any side or angle you want, but thered be absolutely no difference. There was no player 2 color scheme and neither was the clone slightly transparent. No difference at all.

As you can see, theres no difference on the outside, but Im trying to test if people with good instincts can tell somehow.

Basically, since you have really good Berserker instincts, I want you to see if you can tell which one the real me is. Sakurai-kun seems to have good instinctive judgement too so I want to make sure I can use this against him.

I had the clone talk first, and I continued after. One thing to note here is that the voice didnt change at all between the two of us. So pretty much like no changes in the VA.

Oh, huh, I see? Lets see, mmm, nope, I cant tell at all, Mei-chan sulked.

Really? You cant tell? I asked.

Im the real Kotarou, cant you tell!? I forced.

Hes lying, Im the real one, its me, Mei-chan! I pleaded.

Eh, EH!? I, wait, what, umm, I dont know~ Mei-chan began deliberating nervously.

I thought Id mess around a bit, and started doing the old cliche where a shape-shifting monster starts causing confusion among friends and allies. Mei-chan was looking to back and forth to the two of us with an increasingly frustrated expression.

So you really cant tell?

Yeah, I honestly really cant tell. But I have a feeling its you!

And without any warning to me or hesitation on her part, Mei-chan picked out the real body, in other words, my body, and swooped me up in a tight hug.

What the, hey

Her chest was touching my face. No, it was more correct to describe my face as completely muffled. H-holy moly. What is this soft and warm, whats with this great smell. What in the what is I dont even.

Did I get it right?

S-sure did.

Hurray~

She cheered and squeezed me even tighter. Yeah, I can die, like this, in boobies

Phew I sighed to calm myself after being released, So how did you get it anyway?

I wonder, intuition maybe? I just kind of got this this has to be Kotarou-kuns real body kind of feeling.

Oh.

Oh shit. If her intuition is this hardcore, theres a big chance Sakurai-kun might be able to do it too. Once he figures out that my shield clone is in fact a clone, the whole plan will go up in smoke.

Ok, can I try again?

Sure, I dont mind.

I needed to see what sort of success rate this intuition of hers was capable of. If it turns out that she gets it right 50% of the time, I can still mark it down as dumb luck

I got it, youre the real Kotarou-kun!

And so I kept getting smothered in boobies.

Mei-chan, what compels you to hug me so?

Having had my face drowned in those enormous jugs 10 times in a row, my brain had already turned to mush and I lost the mental faculties to even question her actions anymore. Yeah, this is fine

HA!? I came to my senses with a start.

Kotarou-kun, you seemed really out of it, whats wrong?

I mean, Id have to be legitimately homosexual if I didnt feel anything from that sheer amount of boobs-to-the-face goodness.

But now was not the time to lose myself to pleasure. Dammit, my head still wasnt working straight. It was still filled to the brim with Mei-chans boobs.

Well, uh, anyway, so Mei-chan, you kinda just had 100% accuracy there. Was it really that easy to tell?

Well, she said, thinking on her words, I can somehow just tell yknow? But I dont think others could do it as well as me.

So you mean, its because weve known each other for a this long? Maybe you can sense a vague difference in presence or something.

Yeah, I bet its just that. Im pretty sure I can say that I know you best.

That sweet yet deadly experiment done with, what I learned was that there wasnt a big chance that Sakurai-kun would see through the clone decoy. But then again, it wasnt perfect and I didnt want to put all my eggs in one basket.

I wanted to get one more counter-measure in place, if at all possible. So what is it that Im missing?