As Long as You Have the [Shop] Skill, the Dungeonized World Is a Breeze ~The Bullied Youth’s Payback

Chapter 11 – Undesired Reunion

After that, I strolled around town for a while and found a bustling crowd that was full of activity.

There was a community center that seemed to be distributing food to the citizens. Most of their customers were homeless people, but there were also some people who were still dressed fairly tidily.

They had probably taken shelter here after their houses had become dungeonized. Even so, there were still some among them who had smiles on their faces. That was probably because they still had some place that they could rely on to support them.

But as time went on, this vigor would soon fade. As the dungeonization intensified, more and more people gathering here would increase, so this community center wouldn’t remain a safe place forever.

As the number of people increased, the food supplies would eventually be unable to keep up. When that happened, something would definitely start.

―A scramble for food, that is.

In the process, the weak would be weeded out, and only the cunning and powerful would survive.

“Master, is there anything Sol can help you with here?” (Sol)
In places where there were people, Sol was properly using telepathic communication. Sol was really reliable in keeping her word.

“No, I’m just looking around. It’s about time to go home, I guess.” (Bouchi)
Just as I was about to leave, I suddenly noticed a single gaze fixed upon me from inside the grounds of the community center. It was a kid that looked to be about 5 years old. It was a little girl with adorable facial features, wearing a skirt.

“―Birdie-saan!”
The little girl cried out, pointing at m―no, it had to be Sol, who was perched on my shoulder. Then, she ran towards me with sparkling eyes.

I looked left and right to see if there were any cars on the road.

My gosh, where in the world are her guardians?!

Despite my concern, the little girl ran across the road and approached me.

“It’s a birdie! Birdie-san!” (Little Girl)
Oh dear, looks like I’ve been caught.

“Hey hey, can I… touch Birdie-san?” (Little Girl)
“…..Just don’t hurt her.” (Bouchi)
“Yup!” (Little Girl)
Telepathically, I said, “Sorry. Just keep her company for a bit, would you?”

To that, Sol replied, “As you wish,” and jumped down from my shoulder to the ground so that the little girl could touch her.

“Waaah, so fluffy! So cute~!”
The little girl was gently stroking Sol’s with a delighted look on her face. Humans can still be innocent and cute when they’re young…

It was lamentable how they could grow up to have such a dark side to them later on. I was also a human, and even I had my own dark side.

Animals were good, but I also liked to interact with small children. They were always open with their true feelings. If they felt a certain emotion, they would always show it as it was, and there was never a single hidden side to them. Because of that, I didn’t feel stressed when interacting with them.

But when I played too much with children, I ended up piling on stress in a different sense. Even though it went without saying that I had more stamina than them, if I were to continue playing with kids for a long time, I would always end up getting tired before they did. To this day, I couldn’t make any sense of that.

“Hey, whuz her name?” (Little Girl)
“Her name is Sol.” (Bouchi)
“Soru? Sol-chan!” (Little Girl)
“Puuuu~!” (Sol)
“Ahaha, Sol-chan, nice to meet you!” (Little Girl)

By the way, where was her guardian? How long were they going to leave this little kid alone?

I glanced over at the community center and tried to find an adult who seemed to be looking for this child, but there were too many people, and no one seemed to be searching for her.

“Geez… Hey, little missus.” (Bouchi)
“Little… missus? Thas’ not right, you know? Ma-chan is Ma-chan though?” (Ma-chan)
“I see. So your name is Ma-chan. Then Ma-chan, it’s not good to suddenly go running out into the road. You might get run over by a car.” (Bouchi)
“Eh…ah, I’m sowwy.” (Ma-chan)
The fact that she was apologizing meant that she understood that there were cars passing by this place. Anyway, she probably just liked animals. After seeing an owl, she most likely couldn’t help herself and came on over.

I patted her head as I told her, “As long as you understand, that’s good. Next time, be careful, okay?”

“Eheheh, yup!” Ma-chan giggled and responded with a pure, innocent smile.

And then, at that moment―

“Mahinaaa! Where did you go, Mahina!”
I thought I heard a girl’s voice coming from the direction of the community center.

“Ah, that’s Onee-chan’s voice!” (Ma-chan)
It seemed that her guardian had finally come to pick her up.

I stood up, thinking that it was about time they showed up. But when I directed my gaze toward the community center, I flinched.

Over there―I saw a face that I recognized.

“Onee-chan!” (Ma-chan)
“….! Ah, Mahina! There you are! Wait up!”
After checking left and right before crossing the road, she hurriedly ran over. Ma-chan ran over, hugging her legs while giggling.

“Guess what! He let me touch the Birdie-san!” (Ma-chan)
“Geez, Mahina. Um, I’m terribly sorry for any trouble this child may have caus…ed…? Eh?”
Figures, she would notice. I wasn’t wearing a disguise or anything.

She looked at me directly and froze.

“…..Bouchi…kun?”
“….Sigh. So you’re safe… Totoki.” (Bouchi)
The one before me was none other than my classmate and our class rep, Totoki Koine.