I Run the Protagonist’s Favorite Café in a Hopelessly Depressing Game World - V1 Chapter 10

Trapped Underground

I feel the hard chair against my butt.

My hands and feet are tied with rope, and the knots are insanely tight. If I were a normal person instead of me, there would have been no way to escape.

“……”

On top of that, Sophia is standing right in front of me with a gun aimed at me.

Her eyes don’t have a single opening.

If I make any weird move, she’ll shoot.

Her cold stare says it all.

“Why don’t you hurry up and reveal who you really are?”

“When you haven’t even asked me any questions?”

“Being tied up deep underground with a gun pointed at your face and still acting this cocky takes some real guts, I’ll give you that. …If you value your life, drop that carefree attitude right now.”

Sophia presses the muzzle of the gun against my forehead.

The sharp, cold metal digs in.

“…Okay, okay, I got it.”

I can’t raise both hands, so I show surrender with my whole posture instead.

I could break the ropes if I wanted, but if she puts a lead bullet in me at zero distance… I might actually die. I’m still human, after all. I don’t have some convenient defense that lets me bounce off bullets.

Well, if I sense her about to pull the trigger, I could reflexively dodge.

…Alright then.

What should I do?

I’m stuck.

Sophia is telling me to reveal my identity.

I’m the world’s strongest witch from my previous life, except I’m a guy. Nice to meet you.

There’s no way she’d believe that. It would sound like I was begging her to attack me.

But since it is the truth, it makes things even harder.

She’s probably thinking I was sent by someone to infiltrate the lab. And that someone is almost certainly a witch who’s hostile toward Sophia. Even in this world where life is cheap, the act of “creating humans” is taboo. A lot of people hate her for it—so much that she has to hide deep underground like this.

The names floating through Sophia’s head are probably higher-ups in the Witch Association or teachers from the academy.

…Probably around there.

In reality, I have nothing to do with any of them.

But even if I explained honestly, she wouldn’t believe me.

It was a complete checkmate.

“You’re still hesitating at this point?”

“I’m not hesitating, it’s just…”

“Then hurry up and say it.”

The gun muzzle digs harder into my forehead. It hurts.

Well, no, I lost my sense of pain, so it’s just my imagination.

“Haa…”

At this point there’s no choice. I’ll steel myself and spit out a bunch of lies. I get my tongue ready.

All I need to do is convince Sophia. I don’t have to tell the truth. As long as she hasn’t developed some perfect lie detector or some ridiculous item like that, I should be fine.

Something she’d buy… like dropping the name of the academy head. In the game they were like cats and dogs, so she should believe it without question. Please believe it.

With all that going through my mind.

I gather my courage.

And I’m about to open my mouth.

Right at that moment.

“…What’s this?”

The ground starts shaking so hard it feels like the earth is about to split open.

Sophia frowns, her beautiful eyebrows drawing together.

“Did you do this?”

“A guy who’s not even a witch couldn’t cause an earthquake.”

“True… but the timing couldn’t be worse.”

If she still had emotions, she definitely would have clicked her tongue at how bad the timing was. For me, though, the timing was perfect.

“Earthquakes only happen once every few hundred years, if that. I thought it wasn’t worth considering, so I built the lab deep underground.”

“So… no earthquake proofing or anything?”

“Would you put snow countermeasures in a place that never gets snow?”

“Then we’re heading straight for being buried alive.”

I drop the polite tone, stand up, and undo the ropes while she’s distracted.

“I don’t have any particular problem with that.”

“Yeah, of course other people’s lives don’t matter to you.”

In this world, life is cheap.

I’ve said it many times, but that fact affects how everyone here thinks too.

Basically, unless it’s family or a friend, whether someone else lives or dies doesn’t matter. In a world maintained by witches sacrificing themselves, worrying about some stranger isn’t just hypocrisy—it’s practically heresy.

It’s not that Sophia is especially cold.

This is the normal, everyday way people feel.

I rub my reddened wrists and tilt my head.

“You don’t want to get buried alive either, right?”

“…True. I’m not the world’s strongest witch, so I don’t think I could survive being buried alive.”

Wait, does she seriously think I’d be fine even if I get buried alive? No way. I’d die like anyone else.

“The world’s strongest witch wouldn’t survive it either.”

“You talk like you know.”

“Just a guess.”

Oops. My mouth slipped.

I whistle casually and look away.

I didn’t want her getting any weird ideas, so I ended up saying too much.

“Anyway, let’s get out of here.”

“Well, that’s the best option… by the way, when exactly did you undo the ropes?”

“The knots were loose or something. They just came undone.”

“No way— never mind, we don’t have time for chatting.”

The moment Sophia gives me a suspicious look, the shaking gets even worse. The lab looks like it’s about to collapse any second.

No time left for talking.

We start running—though I keep it limited to normal human speed.

“What about Shikiko and Tamaki?”

“Those two will be fine. They’re not robots that only move on command. They’re probably already outside the lab by now.”

“Huh.”

Right.

They’re artificial, but they’re still human.

Not robots that depend on external input.

They’re humans who act on their own and have their own will.

“You… your name was Sophia, right?”

“Did I ever tell you that?”

“Just from the flow of conversation.”

It was a complete lie.

But because I said it so confidently, she seems to have bought it.

She snorts and waits for me to continue.

“From the feel of your magic power, you’re a witch, right? Why aren’t you running faster? A witch should be able to—”

“Aftereffects of magic. I got heart failure. Any exercise beyond normal daily movement causes breathing problems… and in the worst case, I die.”

Right now we’re only jogging at a light pace.

Just saying “heart failure” doesn’t tell the full story, but depending on how bad it is, even slightly getting out of breath could… even our current speed might be life-threatening.

That worry must have shown on my face. Sophia pulls her eyebrows tight and glares at me.

“I’m not afraid of dying. I used to be a witch, after all. I left my attachment to life behind in the dungeon. …The reason I’m still running like this now is solely because I’m worried about Shikiko and Tamaki’s future.”

A crack splits the ceiling ahead with a sharp sound.

A fluorescent light falls, about to land right on Sophia.

I reflexively kick off the floor, grab her around the waist, and pull her close.

“This is…”

We dodged the light, but it’s over now.

The crack in the ceiling spreads wider.

It’s not just the lights anymore.

The whole ceiling starts collapsing, the ground itself coming down on us.

I use my enhanced eyesight from magic to search for any gap where we won’t get crushed by the falling debris.

“Over there.”

Still carrying Sophia like luggage, I slip into a crack in the wall.

Right behind us comes a tremendous roar.

When I look back, a massive boulder has settled right over the entrance of the crack, completely blocking it.

It’s way too heavy for any normal person to move.

“…Just asking, but do you have any way to get us out of this?”

“I might be able to do something if I use magic. In other words, without magic, we’re helpless.”

Sophia lets out a sigh.

“From the size of this gap, we probably have one to three hours of oxygen. But the carbon dioxide level will hit its limit before the oxygen drops too low.”

“Any chance of rescue in that time?”

“Only Shikiko and Tamaki know this lab exists. I don’t think those girls would come save me, so… no, probably not.”

“Checkmate, huh.”

“Yeah.”

I sit down with my back against the wall.

…In truth, this wasn’t the end. Back when I was the world’s strongest witch, I’d been through situations like this so many times it was ridiculous.

If I got serious, I could probably break us out without any problem.

But that would mean Sophia finding out who I am.

The fewer people who share my secret, the better. It’s not that I doubt Sophia would keep her mouth shut, but she has no obligation to protect my secret in the first place.

In other words, once I reveal myself, there’s a high chance the equation “Aoi Komeiji equals me” will spread.

…Should I kill her?

The thought rises naturally as an option.

If Sophia weren’t here, this situation wouldn’t be a crisis at all.

Her existence isn’t a necessary condition for the story to progress.

Even without her, we can still reach a happy ending.

“No, I can’t.”

I slap my own cheek.

That’s way too self-centered.

I can’t treat other people’s lives lightly.

This is their first life, after all.

For me, who lost my sense of reality because of magic’s aftereffects, that was the final line. A rule I must never cross. If I break it even once, I know I won’t be able to stop. I’d use any means necessary to achieve my goal. I’d turn others into shields, into convenient tools, kill monsters—become a monster that only pursues the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

I shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut tight.

So no more weird thoughts can come up.

While I’m doing that, Sophia must have been confused by my sudden strange behavior. She frowns and asks,

“Are you into pain or something?”

“No.”

“You suddenly started hitting yourself.”

“I needed to cool my head.”

I almost got hit with a completely ridiculous misunderstanding.

A chill runs down my back at the near miss to my social reputation.

“Haa…”

After that half-hearted exchange, the whole thing suddenly feels stupid.

So what if my identity gets exposed? Well, it’s not good, but even if it does, the chance of me getting captured and turned into a lab rat seems pretty low.

Because I’m the strongest.

The world’s strongest witch, recognized by everyone.

There’s no one who’s given up on being human as much as I have.

Even if they sent an army of ten thousand, I’d end up winning alone in the end.

So it won’t be a problem even if my identity comes out.

No problem. I’ll go with that. For now.

“…Sophia.”

“What?”

“I’d like you to keep what you’re about to see to yourself, if possible.”

Even as I say it, I’m sure it won’t stay secret. Basically, this is just escapism. Driven by something like compulsive escapism, I’m trying to save Sophia.

“What you’re about to see…”

She gives me a look full of suspicion about what I’m planning to do.

I don’t answer with words. I just shrug my shoulders.

“……”

I look up at the ceiling.

By my senses, we’re about twenty-seven meters underground. Since it’s on the edge of the capital, there shouldn’t be any buildings directly above us. Pretty sure there’s no foot traffic either.

I gather magic power in my right hand. I condense enough to punch straight through layers of earth.

“That’s—”

Sophia’s eyes widen in shock.

A man controlling magic power.

Her expression makes it clear that’s what she wants to say.

“Let’s hope I don’t mess up and bury us alive.”

I slam my fist into the ceiling.