Surviving in a World Teeming with Monsters with the Useless Skill 【Everyday Items Master】! I Was Just Hunting Wild Animals with a Crowbar, So Why Is Everyone Screaming It's an S-Rank Monster? - 85

Chapter 85: Cleaning up the Rest of the Locusts

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After taking a short break, I left the department store with Ui and saw Shachimaru and the members of the Ferocious Shark Gang mopping up the remaining members of the Grasshoppers.

“Oh! Aniki! We saw the fight with Inago from the ground! At the end, you got swallowed up by Inaba’s teleportation magic, so we couldn’t really tell what happened… but how did it end?”

“Inago jumped to the moon using its proud leg strength.”

“Inago? Not Inaba? C’mon.”

I brushed off Shachimaru’s questions with vague answers and observed the cleanup operation of the remaining Grasshoppers. The Grasshopper remnants clearly couldn’t match the Ferocious Shark Gang’s training. It was practically one-sided—Grasshoppers were being taken down and left sprawled on the ground.

“…Hey, Shachimaru… Is it just me, or is the Ferocious Shark Gang actually pretty strong…?”

“Huh? We are strong. We cut off young recruits at adventurer rank B, after all.”

“But I could’ve sworn I handled the whole gang at the welcome party without breaking a sweat…”

“Well, that just means Aniki’s strong.”

“…Ah, I see! It’s just that the Grasshoppers are way too weak!”

Satisfied with that reasoning, I clapped my hands. Shachimaru gave an awkward laugh in return.

“Ahh… I guess that’s one way to look at it. Hehehe…”

At that moment, Ui spoke up to Shachimaru.

“Shacchi! Tacchan, you know! Tacchan’s amazing! He shut down every single one of the Gross Gross Bug-san’s attacks! He only defended at first, but after that, it was all counters! So crazy!”

“Whoa… I paired him with Inaba based on compatibility, but now I’m seriously jealous. Aniki! Let’s team up on the next raid!”

“Ehh!? No way! Ui-chan’s gonna team up with Tacchan again next time too!”

Watching Ui and Shachimaru fighting over me, I couldn’t help but feel both flattered and a bit embarrassed.

“Anyway, good job today. You and Inaba can head back to base and relax first.”

“Yeah? Then I’ll take the liberty of heading out first.”

“Bye-bye, Shacchi!”

Ui hugged me tightly, and a dimensional distortion enveloped us. Darkness. After that, we had teleported straight to my room.

“Luna~ We’re home~… Oh, she’s asleep.”

Before the operation, Luna had been feeling lonely, so I’d planned to spend some time with her—but unfortunately, she was sound asleep. There were traces of tears at the corners of her eyes. She must’ve felt really lonely. The thought tugged at my heart.

“Still, I couldn’t exactly take her to a battlefield…”

It was a tough situation. There was no way we could be together all the time like before. At the very least, I’d have to make sure to give her extra attention when I wasn’t on missions. Just as I was thinking that, Ui spoke up.

“Pay attention to Ui-chan too~!”

“Alright, alright! Quit mashing your head into me!”

Startled by Ui’s sudden headbutting—she’d been subtly glued to me ever since we teleported—I let out a surprised yelp.

“Hey, how about you back off a little? It’s getting hot.”

“It’s not hot! It’s actually cool and comfy!”

“There’s no way that’s true.”

When I forcibly peeled her off, Ui let out a playful yelp and flopped onto the bed. 

“Kyaa!”

“Don’t make too much noise and wake up Luna.” 

I warned her.

“Ehehe~ Okay~”

Ui looked genuinely happy. She’d always been clingy since our reunion, but today she was especially cheerful and affectionate. I sank into a chair and sighed.

“Man, I’ve been moving around way too much lately. My body’s so worn out…”

It was true. I’d never had much stamina to begin with. I could only handle combat maybe once every few weeks. But ever since joining the Ferocious Shark Gang, it had become almost a daily occurrence. I seriously needed a break. Just then, Ui popped up, her bunny ears twitching as she slipped behind me.

“Customer-san, are you feeling tired~?”

“Ahh, that shoulder massage is a serious lifesaver… Feels so good…”

As Ui massaged my shoulders, I couldn’t help but let out a moan of relief.

“You’ve been working really hard these past couple days, Tacchan~ Good job~”

Hearing her appreciation, my mood lifted immediately.

“You too, Ui. I couldn’t have taken down that escaping Inago without you.”

“Ehehehe~ Really~? Heehee… I don’t usually get compliments like that, so I’m really happy~…”

I looked up to see her face, and sure enough, she was blushing, her expression melting into a bashful smile. So I asked her.

“You don’t get complimented? No way. You’re one of the most capable people I know. Don’t you get praised all the time?”

“Geez~! Not at all! I’m super embarrassed now, so cut it out~!”

“Come on, I mean it. You’re even cute, and that bunny suit too… Well, yeah, it was a bit surprising, but still, you’ve got tons of praiseworthy points.”

When I said that sincerely, Ui let out another bashful laugh as the strength in her hands weakened.

“Ehehe… hehe… Heehee…That’s not true… Ui-chan is really dumb…”

“Ui?”

I looked up. She still wore a smile, but her eyebrows drooped slightly.

“…What’s wrong? I mean, sure, I’ve always thought you were a little… Scatterbrained, maybe…”

“Ehhh!? Geez~! Tacchan~!”

“Ow ow ow! Too much pressure! You’re pressing on it too hard! I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I definitely think you’re pretty dumb!”

“Geez~! Next time you tease me I’m gonna get mad—mm…? Eh?!”

“How can you not notice stuff like that?”

Yup, she’s definitely kind of dumb. 

I gave her head a silent pat.

“So?”

“…Wh-What is it, Tacchan?”

“Well, you were just about to vent, right? Go ahead. I’m a man with wide emotional range, you know.”

I joked, and Ui hesitantly pulled my head into a hug. Then, after taking a deep breath like she was summoning courage, she spoke.

“…Ui-chan is dumb, right? No matter where I go, people always make fun of me…”

I looked at her silently. She went on, voice barely above a whisper.

“Even before the dungeons showed up, my parents always called me dumb. I got teased at school too… And after the area got quarantined, everyone left, and I was all alone…”

Ui was twenty now. The dungeon outbreak had happened four years ago—she would’ve been sixteen then.

“Even when I became an adventurer, even after becoming a raider, they’d say, ‘Ui-chan’s too dumb to be a reliable teammate’… My skill makes it hard to team up with people, too…”

“…”

I imagined what that must’ve been like.

Sure, having a smart ally definitely helped. With Botan, we could coordinate with barely any words. Angel always anticipated the next move with her quick thinking. Ui’s teleportation magic was hard to use in tandem. One wrong destination could mean death. And even without that, you needed high physical ability just to keep up.

Her skill required trust in Ui and capability on the other person’s part to coordinate. I thought teleportation was a very powerful skill. Having just one person with it could dramatically expand your strategic options. But from a tactical perspective, it leaned too much toward solo play.

Unless you were fine with being thrown midair or had top-tier mobility, it was hard to synchronize. But people like that were rare. Naturally, within any organization, Ui would end up being deployed alone.

It was a sound judgment. Shachimaru probably made that same call based on that factors. But that wasn’t what Ui wanted.

“It’s always like this with Ui-chan… Ui-chan is always alone… I don’t mind it when I’m around a lot of people, but I never have any close friends and people are always making fun of Ui-chan from a distance…”

Ui let out a little laugh.

“Hey, Tacchan. Do you know why Ui-chan wears a bunny outfit?”

“I don’t have the slightest idea. I’m curious though.”

“This… I wear it because it stands out. When I stand out, people talk to me a little more.”

Her arms tightened around me.

“Tacchan, I like you because when I talk to you, you actually respond. Everyone else, they just find me annoying and make faces at me. So lately, I’ve been having so much fun. Just having someone who talks to me is really fun.”

“Ui…”

I reached out and touched her arm. Then, softly, I whispered.

“Then we’re fine. You really are a bit of an idiot and pretty loud, but honestly… I kind of like that about you.”

“…”

Ui’s arms stiffened with a twitch. 

“Ui?” 

I looked up at her face.

There she was—blushing more than I’d ever seen, on the verge of tears, pupils wide as she stared at me.

“――Eheh, ehehahahahahaha! G-geez! That was… That was so embarrassing, eheh! A-alright then! See you later, Tacchan! Bye-bye!”

Before I could react, Ui activated a teleportation spell and was swallowed by a distortion in space, disappearing in an instant. I was left standing there, dumbfounded.

“…Wait, what just…?”

As I blinked a few times in confusion, Luna, who I thought had been asleep, muttered in a sulky tone,

“…Onii-sama is a playboy.”

“Wha—!? Luna, how long have you been awake—wait, no! Where did you even learn a word like that!?”

“I don’t know! Hmph!”

For some reason, Luna seemed upset as she said that, then rolled over to face the other way. I had no idea what was going on and could only let out a helpless sigh in my confusion.

“Huhhhh…?”
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