Although he didn't understand why, Hajime turned back to look at the corner of the passage where Rabbit was staring—at that moment, a gigantic monster appeared around the corner.

The monster had the same white fur and dark red stripes as a rabbit, but its appearance was completely different. It was more like a bear, except this one had three sharp claws and arms of unusual length.

Hajime suddenly understood that death was right before his eyes in its true form. A strong sense of fear washed over him, and he couldn't help but want to scream.

However, a furry white object appeared in front of Hajime...

"Rabbit, rabbit?"

Yes, those were the rabbit ears of the rabbit standing sideways, seemingly blocking the way between Claw Bear and Hajime.

Its actions seemed to be protecting Hajime. The other party was a demon, a being incompatible with humans, so that was impossible. Hajime thought so, but a flash of thought in his mind seemed to indicate that his guess was correct.

The rabbit stared at the Claw Bear, bent its ears, and pointed in the direction of the inside of the passage.

"Are you telling me to run away?"

"Chirp."

That seems to be what it means.

Why? Questions kept popping up one after another. The rabbit seemed to be getting impatient and let out a loud "chirp". Hajime immediately came to his senses and ran away.

The claw bear didn't seem to intend to let its prey escape. It then let out a loud roar and rushed over. Relying on its super speed that didn't seem like its huge body, it approached in an instant and swung out three ferocious claws.

As if anticipating this, the rabbit created an afterimage and dodged it with a graceful sideways leap. Then, the rabbit kicked the rock wall, reversed direction, and, circling behind the bear, unleashed a low-flying spinning kick, like a sweeping kick.

Although there was a heavy impact, such a blow seemed meaningless to the strongest Claw Bear on this floor. Not only did it not fall, it didn't even stagger.

The Claw Bear immediately swung its long arms behind it, and the wind slash flew out from its claws and immediately attacked the rabbit.

"Chirp woo woo!"

The rabbit was sent flying, parallel to the ground like a cannonball, and then crashed directly into the wall.

The rabbit fell limply to the ground, dark red blood oozing from its shoulder to its abdomen.

Although he barely escaped death on the spot, he was unable to fight anymore.

The clawed bear approaches and swings its claws at the rabbit in pursuit of prey.

The rabbit showed no fear, no attempt to flee, and even less averted gaze. It was as if saying—this was its own dignity.

Perhaps because he disliked the rabbit's look, the Claw Bear growled and swung his claws down mercilessly -

“Refine, refine it~~!”

“Chuck!?”

Suddenly, the wall behind the rabbit collapsed like mud, and a hand reached out, grabbed the rabbit, and pulled it into the wall.

Not to mention the rabbit itself, even the Claw Bear was surprised. When both sides came to their senses, the rock wall had returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened.

Afterwards, the Claw Bear's angry roar echoed in the void.

“…Mmm? Mmm?”

In the space within the rock wall created by Hajime's "Refined," the rabbit leaned against the wall to recover from his injuries and spoke to Hajime, who was looking at him worriedly.

"Uh~...Are you asking me why I saved you?"

Hajime could probably sense what it was saying, and after confirming it, the rabbit nodded in response.

Hajime had a troubled expression.

"Haha, I don't know either. It just seems to me that that bear monster is incredibly strong... Leaving you, who wanted to save me, to face such an opponent... The thought of that makes my body move on its own."

The rabbit stared at Hajime with its dark red eyes, as if looking at something unbelievable. Then it noticed that Hajime, who was sitting on the ground with his knees hugged, was trembling slightly.

That undoubtedly revealed Hajime's fear. Even facing a rabbit would make him flinch, so facing a higher-level monster filled with murderous intent would naturally make him even more afraid.

But even though he was afraid, Hajime still came back.

He returned to die for a monster he had just met, a monster of a different species, simply because it had saved him once. And I'm afraid Hajime himself didn't have such a clear intention.

“…Chuck.”

"Uh, are you thanking me? Ahahaha, are you really a monster?"

The rabbit rested its rabbit ears on Hajime's shoulder, as if to comfort the trembling Hajime.

Hajime was surprised by the rabbit's behavior, and his trembling stopped slightly, and a smile appeared on his face.

After that, through gestures and the atmosphere, the man and the beast managed to communicate, and finally began to explore in order to return to the ground.

This is also because neither of them wants to separate from the relationship.

That day, Hajime and Rabbit discovered a mysterious substance.

It was a fist-sized crystal buried deep within the wall, emitting a blue-white glow.

After investigation, it was discovered that the ore possessed enormous magical power, had an extremely high permeability to other ores, and had the characteristic that the magic power could move according to the will of the person who came into contact with it.

"This is...if that's it!"

"Mum, chirp?"

The rabbit tilted its head cutely, and Hajime seemed to have come up with a good idea, with an unprecedented expression of excitement and determination on his face.

Two weeks later, the wonderful duo appeared in front of the strongest claw bear on the floor.

A rabbit monster with metal armor on its feet.

The other was a human covered in metal armor—Hajime.

"Come on, Rabbit. We need to move past that guy's corpse and head towards the road ahead!"

"Mmmmm! (Okay, let's go, friends!)"

Regardless of how they were able to communicate so perfectly, it was surprisingly Hajime who struck first. With a clang, the head shield dropped, revealing a rough metal face, its eyes gleaming.

Then, at the moment when the blue-white stone on his chest suddenly glowed, Hajime thrust his palms forward, and immediately released a shockwave of magic power compressed to a high density! The Claw Bear was sent flying by the unexpected flash attack.

In a moment of desperation, the Claw Bear seemed to defend itself with its arms. Its arms were twisted in strange directions, dripping with blood.

The rabbit seized this opportunity and attacked quickly from the side.

The broken claws swung out, hitting the metal armor and sending out a strong shock wave.

Then, Hajime's feet and hands gushed out magical energy, and he flew into the air, attacking from the opposite direction.

Hajime, following the momentum of the advance, swung his iron fist, knocking the Claw Bear's massive body off balance. At that moment, Rabbit's roundhouse kick landed at the perfect moment. Combined with the sharp blades that had unknowingly extended from his armor, the Claw Bear's massive arm was instantly severed.

The Claw Bear howled in agony, perhaps out of the instinct of a beast cornered, it wildly waved its remaining arms, sending out countless wind blades.

However, all those wind blades were blocked by Shi's iron body, and the rabbit was unharmed because it hid behind Shi.

Hajime seized the split second and grabbed the Claw Bear's arm, tearing it apart with the force of his armor. Simultaneously, the crystal on his chest fired a massive magic cannon, punching a large hole in the Claw Bear's abdomen.

Although the Claw Bear still wanted to resist, without its arms, it was just a meat target.

The rabbit's kick came from the air like a meteorite, and the claw bear had no power to resist.

The next moment, the claw bear's head was smashed and it died on the spot.

Silence returned to the cave... After a beat...

A mechanical voice sounded, and Hajime, who was wearing steel armor, raised his hand, and the rabbit jumped up and high-fived him.

With a snap, the delightful sound of victory rang out.

"This proves we can fight. Let's move forward, rabbit!"

"Chichichi! (Alright, let's move forward together, Iron Boy!)"

Rabbit jumped onto Hajime's shoulder, and the two of them advanced deeper into the abyss with clanging footsteps.

"I had this dream."

"...So you made that armor?"

Hajime, dressed in steel, was at the Oscar mansion at the bottom of the abyss. Yue looked at Hajime helplessly, while Hajime tried his best to avoid her sight.

Indeed, defensive strength is not a big deal, but it is undeniable that all of Hajime's advantages, especially his spear skills, will be offset, so it is understandable that Yue would be unhappy about this.

However, facing adversity in the cave, using the things there to create steel-reinforced armor and then going on a rampage... This scene is very cool! It's a kind of romance!

Because Hajime is a boy after all!

"...Anyway, take it off first."

"..."

Hajime expressed his dissatisfaction with his entire body. Although Yue said, "Just use your prosthetic arm," Hajime immediately closed his mask. This was a rejection, and the eyes within the mask glowed in defiance.

Yue sighed at Hajime's reaction, her eyes changing to one of "I really can't do anything with boys," and she licked her lips seductively.

Hajime's back trembled, and he kept backing away. Although he wanted to escape immediately, but...

"...Then it's okay if you don't take it off. I'll help you strip off your armor."

After that, it was obvious that not only his armor but also his clothes were stripped off.

◆This store manager is also good

The bustling TSUTAYA store—a super chain that sells everything from movies and books to gashapon toys, even merchandise and claw machines—is packed with people during holidays, eager to buy the latest releases.

However, the number of people at this shop was a bit "abnormal" because the shop was packed with customers, like a theme park parade. Even if TSUTAYA is convenient, this number of people is too unusual.

Moreover, almost all the customers are men, and none of them are flipping through books. Instead, they are looking at the products, walking around, and repeating this behavior over and over again.

To others, they looked suspicious, and under normal circumstances, they would have immediately attracted the attention of the staff with a fake smile. However, the staff in this store seemed to be accustomed to it and focused on their work as if nothing had happened.

“Oh, really…”

One of the part-time students, Nagumo Hajime, sighed softly and checked his watch. He wasn't praying for a quick end to his shift, but rather that the usual time was approaching.

At that moment, the door to the staff lounge made a soft sound and slowly opened. The store instantly became noisy, and everyone stared at the door, even a perverted person with a dangerous expression was breathing heavily!

Under everyone's gaze, a person walked out of the opened door.

"The manager is here!!"

“So, so beautiful…”

"Can you believe it? She's already over twenty... Isn't that amazing?"

A warm atmosphere descended upon the shop, as if one had met an idol. The person who appeared was the shop's manager, Manager Yue, wearing a TSUTAYA uniform and apron.

Petite, she approached with small, flowing steps, her soft, flowing blonde hair swaying gracefully. At first glance, she looked like a delicate porcelain doll brought to life. However, cute wasn't quite enough to describe her, for even with her expressionless face and petite figure, she exuded a sexy charm and a commanding presence that overwhelmed everyone.

She is none other than the Queen of TSUTAYA! The invincible Queen!

“…Hajime, Shia, have you finished the inventory?”

"Ah... yes, we finished the inventory this morning, Manager."

"Yes, Manager! We are ready for war."

Today was the release date for a new book by a renowned author, and Hajime and fellow part-time student Shia had already finished inventorying the special section early in the morning. "...Yeah," Manager Yue nodded in satisfaction, slowly scanning the shoppers of the "Manager Yue Fan Club" scattered throughout the store.

Instantly, the customers lined up in front of the special sales area, marching in unison like soldiers. They must have been well-trained customers, waiting for the Queen's orders.

“…Yeah, let’s buy it.”

““““““Yes, Queen!!”””””””

The Queen has given her an order! As a store manager, no, as a service provider, can she order customers around? But now, no one would complain about her like that. Even Hajime, who had only recently joined the part-time job, could only mutter inwardly.

The Queen's servants all headed towards the cashier counter, new books in hand. However, before that...

"...Hmm? Just one copy?"

Manager Yue tilted his head, his eyes asking, "Will you only buy one for me?" He was so ruthless, as expected of Manager Yue. He was ruthless for sales!

"Of course I'll buy another one. No, I'll buy two more for both preaching and collection purposes!"

"...I also recommend the products here."

"I'll buy it! I'll buy three copies of that work too!"

Truly merciless, Yue, the store manager, smiled faintly as she looked at the customer who came to check out with six books in hand. Then, tilting her head again, she looked at the customer, who was fascinated by her smile, as if asking, "Aren't you buying anything?" The result was obvious.

"Manager! I want to buy five! So please give me your phone number later—"

"You're trying to run away after buying so little! Manager, I want to buy the most expensive item in this store."

"Ha, you idiot! It's not just about the price. Some things, even though they've been stocked, aren't selling well. Wouldn't the manager be happier if you bought something like that? Manager, do you still have that 'Chupacabra Complete Works' I saw last time? By the way, could you please have dinner with me next time—"

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