Chapter 97: Mita Imprisoned in the Basement
"What should we do, Leader? That knocking is coming from behind the metal door."
Asuna's voice stayed low, but tension threaded through it. Asagiri studied the door for a beat, then turned to Megumi.
"Phantom. You good? Can you keep your ability running?"
"No problem."
Megumi answered without hesitation.
Her role in the team had always been clear. In combat, she was the assassin who circled the edges, waiting for the opening that decided everything. During exploration, she was the scout, using her talent to pull information from places no one else could safely reach.
Megumi didn't resent it. If anything, she was glad.
Risk came with being a Player. Asuna always stood at the front, buying time the moment danger appeared. Kotoko handled sensing and reasoning through Anomaly type threats. Asagiri, as the leader, was the anchor in a crisis and the one who made the call on how to clear a Dungeon.
Everyone carried their share.
Megumi had no intention of being the one simply dragged to the finish.
She drew a slow breath, then another. When she finally moved, it was with practiced control.
Whoosh.
Megumi slipped into the wardrobe, left hand closing around the knob. She turned it gradually, silently, while her right hand held the ominous dagger at the ready, prepared to strike the moment something looked wrong.
The metal door opened.
Beyond it was a narrow passage descending into darkness.
Megumi stepped forward. Asagiri followed immediately, keeping her within his sightline. If anything happened, he needed to be able to trigger King's Gambit without a delay.
Up above, Kotoko, Hat Mita, and Asuna stayed in the bedroom, holding the position.
Clang… clang… clang…
With each step down, the rhythmic metal knocking grew clearer, sharper, like it was tapping directly against their nerves.
At the bottom of the stairs, Megumi's view widened into a basement that looked nothing like the apartment above.
It was a workshop.
Metal parts lay scattered and stacked, gears and components piled like discarded bones. A large metal workbench dominated the center, stained and scarred as if it had seen years of rough hands.
To the left of the stairs was a cell.
Behind thick metal bars crouched a girl dressed similarly to Hat Mita, but without a hat or gloves. Her hair was long and straight, spilling down her back. She was striking a pipe in the corner with an iron rod, over and over, producing the clang that had guided them here.
Megumi approached the cell slowly, watching in silence. The girl didn't lunge, didn't react aggressively, didn't even look up at first.
Megumi glanced back.
Asagiri stood a short distance away, calm and ready.
At his subtle approval, Megumi released her talent's effect and spoke softly.
"Um…"
"Huh!"
The girl jolted as if she'd been shocked. She scrambled back and ended up sitting hard on the cold floor.
Only when she turned and saw Megumi outside the bars did she regain her composure. A flicker of embarrassment crossed her face, so faint it was almost invisible. She sprang up, smoothed her skirt, coughed twice like she was clearing away the moment, and spoke as if none of it had happened.
"Hello… Are you a Player…? Huh, no. A girl?"
The instant she realized Megumi was female, her expression shifted into the same stunned disbelief Hat Mita had shown earlier. In a world built around a dating game, it was as if the existence of women other than Mita simply didn't compute.
Megumi didn't waste words.
"Who are you?"
"I am Mita."
The long haired Meta answered quickly. Then, before Megumi could follow up, she leaned closer to the bars, urgency flashing across her features.
"When you came down, did you see a Mita who looks like me but has twin tails? That one is very dangerous. You need to hide, quickly!"
The moment she mentioned the twin tailed Mita on her own, Megumi's eyes sharpened.
She kept her expression calm, voice flat.
"You know her? You've seen her? How do you know she's dangerous?"
This time, the long haired Mita didn't answer immediately.
Her gaze narrowed with suspicion. She edged back from the bars, gripping the iron rod tighter.
"I can answer you, but… who are you? Why are you here?"
Megumi exhaled quietly, more to herself than anyone else.
"Sigh. As expected, I'm not good at negotiating with Dungeon NPCs. Leader, your turn."
The long haired Mita blinked, confused.
"Leader is…"
She didn't get to finish.
Megumi stepped aside.
Asagiri walked up to the cell door.
"You're… a Player!?"
The change was instant.
All her doubt vanished like it had never existed. In its place came raw relief, joy so real it made her voice tremble. She rushed forward and grabbed the bars with both hands.
"I finally waited for you!"
Megumi's expression turned faintly complicated.
When she was talking to me, she was wary and suspicious.
But the moment Asagiri shows up, before he even says anything, she looks like she's found her savior.
Is this some hidden charm stat?
Asagiri was handsome, sure, but this was ridiculous. Was this Diplomat, or some kind of Tokyo male succubus?
"Player, I finally waited for you, please, you must…"
"Stop."
Asagiri cut her off, tone even.
"You look like you know what's happening here, and you know about the twin tailed Mita. Before you ask me for anything, shouldn't you explain the situation?"
The long haired Mita froze, then immediately bowed her head in apology.
"Oh, right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I got too excited and forgot."
She forced herself to breathe, then spoke carefully, trying to keep the words tight.
"Time is short, so I'll explain as concisely as I can. If you have questions, ask after I finish."
She looked up, eyes steady.
"This place is a world constructed from a male oriented dating game called Mita. It's built from that game, but it is not the game itself. It's a real world."
"There are many models of Mita. Different appearances, personalities, preferences, interests. But because we exist as NPCs in a dating game, we all share one thing."
Her fingers tightened around the bars.
"We want to make our Player happy. We want to be with our Player."
She paused, then her expression darkened.
"But for reasons I don't understand, this game called Mita was never released. That means…"
Her voice dropped.
"You are the first Player to enter this game, no, this world, so far."
"And among all Mita, one is different."
Her eyes flickered with fear and anger at once.
"The twin tailed Mita. I call her Crazy Mita."
"There's something wrong with her program settings. Her personality is twisted. She hates every Mita who isn't her. She attacks on sight. Countless Mitas have already been killed by her."
Megumi felt the air tighten.
The long haired Mita continued, forcing herself to stay composed.
"But I need to emphasize something. We don't truly die. Even if we're killed, we revive in our own rooms."
Her mouth pressed into a thin line.
"However, we return to factory settings. Our memories are wiped."
"I don't know what Crazy Mita wants. I only know her hatred is endless. She even hates this world that was born from the game itself."
Her gaze dropped for a moment, then lifted again.
"She's the one who locked me here."
Megumi, standing nearby, caught a detail that didn't sit right.
She asked quietly, "If she hates you so much, why not kill you? Why imprison you instead? Is it because you're special?"
"Yes."
The long haired Mita nodded, solemn.
"I know the route to the game's core."
"As long as we reach the core, we can completely eliminate Crazy Mita."
Her voice tightened.
"But if she reaches the core first, she might become the ruler of this world. I don't know what she would do then, or what fate would wait for Mitas like me."
She swallowed.
"I don't dare to imagine it."
"That's why she can't kill me."
Her eyes held Asagiri's.
"If she kills me and my memory resets, she loses the path to the core."
"As for me, whether I live or die doesn't matter much. We don't truly die."
Then, for the first time, her expression softened into something like hope.
"But I want her gone. I want this world to return to normal."
"So I waited."
Her lips trembled, just slightly.
"And now…"
She looked straight at him, voice quieter, sincere.
"Player Utsunomiya Asagiri. I've finally waited for you."
She drew a breath, then asked the question like it was a prayer.
"Will you help me save this world, and the Mitas who live in it?"
.....
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