# 031. Fangaku ## 01. Volume 01 ### 001. Initialization ### Opening Text We are those who look ahead We begin every action with emotion We advance based on reason We provide meaning with our wills We take all in hand We live We die We weep upon the borderline We laugh upon the borderline We carry burning hearts We trust in possibility We are those who are bound to this place ## Initialization Good morning! For today’s Depths Speedrunning recommendation, we have selected a fairly important but quite dangerous run! Let’s take a look at the long version which has more than 80% positive reviews! ### Overall Summary “I have to get this one out there right away: I woke up one morning and found I’d become a busty dark elf.” “And there’s this closed space within Tokyo called the Depths Region where people gather to complete a multi-level open world called the Tokyo Depths.” “In this story, I transfer there and get caught in the never-ending party that is speedrunning the Tokyo Depths with my friends and upperclassmen.” ### Initialization ● Good morning! I am a generative prose AI called Bisai Plus! - -sama, using your personal privileges, I will now go through Tokyo Depths School to access statistical records on the 4th Bottom Level Speedrun of the Tokyo Depths and recreate it in narrative form. Far too much occurred in that past event to realistically absorb it all, so I will take the spotty records and include my own speculation to generate a version of the event told as a story. These records will be drawn from all across Underground Tokyo. That is a large area, so this will take some time. Please be patient. A documentary-style account will also be created following the people and events I determine to be relevant to the incident, so a virtual author will be used to determine the format. Which virtual author would you like? ▼Kawakami Minoru Eh? Excuse me. I am such a well-made AI, I can be taken aback by such things. But, um, I can do that. That is your personal preference and it is not my place to criticize. Anyway, selection made. I will now reproduce the events of the 4th Bottom Level Speedrun of the Tokyo Depths as a narrative to the best of my ability. The Tokyo Liberation led to the formation of the Tokyo Depths in Underground Tokyo. The many levels of that massive dungeon are said to be an open-world-style alternate world managed by the Motherless Mother, but it was the 4th Bottom Level Speedrun which led to a reassessment of the world. This will be a long story. The characters in that story are still working at a 5th and 6th attempt, so you can use this to follow in their footsteps. Ver. Kawakami Minoru Start… ### 002. Prologue: Have You Ever Woken Up and Found You’re a Dark Elf? Yeah, I guess not. Most people haven’t It would be a problem if they had And it’s a problem for me that it’s happened to me Okay, that’s the end of that (not really) ▼000: Have You Ever Woken Up and Found You’re a Dark Elf? ### Summary “Yeah, that doesn’t happen to normal people. But now my future plans are completely shot. So that’s how my day’s going.” ### Prologue ● It was a terrible morning. “Ugh.” I must have been hoarse because my voice was weirdly high-pitched. The first thing I saw was the ceiling of my dark room. I saw the spell ceiling projected onto the blank textured ceiling panels. I saw the white walls supporting that ceiling. A sunbeam shined through a gap in the curtains to my side. Staring at those colors and shapes long enough let it sink in that I was awake. I was currently lying face up in bed. Angled a bit diagonally. I became suddenly aware of how sweaty I was as I took a breath. … That was a really weird dream. ● I dreamt I was standing alone in an empty world of pure white, unable to do anything at all. The dream seemed composed of nothing other than my personal anxieties. The dream only left me with the vague impression of a flat white land. I felt chilled afterwards. “Brr.” But it was spring now. The beginning of a new season. In March, I had been a 3rd year in middle school, but no longer. I knew what high school I would be attending next week. For several days in a row, I had hung out with the friends who would also be going there, but I was alone for today. My younger brother said he would be bringing his girlfriend over, so last night I’d been thinking about heading out to view the early cherry blossoms. “Yeah, I should do that.” ● Time to go. I could even snag a distant look at my soon-to-be school. Divine Punishment City – Yokohama’s Shihouin Academy had been a girls-only school until two years ago. I would be attending the engineering section, which was well respected in JUAH. Anyone who lived in Kawasaki would occasionally see the R&D work on the 500m “magic wands” and I was so glad that was enough to get me a recommendation. … I hope I get to ride a cowling broom, or even one of those cutting-edge gunbrooms! They’d apparently passed some laws governing witch delivery services recently, so you saw a lot more of them flying around now. Things like that really reminded you that we lived in a post-Tokyo-Liberation world. I really didn’t understand all of that stuff, but I couldn’t just lie around all day. Time to get changed. I opened the motion-controlled wall sign frame and found it was 8 AM. My parents had to be up already. After preparing myself as best I could… “Hm?” When I got out of bed, I noticed something in the mirror by the entrance. “…” That’s weird, I thought. I normally saw a dumb-looking boy with a tan reflected there. “…Huh?” I lifted the track jacket I wore as pajamas and saw something very different from usual. In other words… “Why am I a dark elf (♀)!?” ● This is the undeniably sweaty story of those of us who lost our identities and worried endlessly over what to do about it. ### Preview “Next time, I begin my school life in Tokyo. Wait, what’s this about an escaped lesser water dragon attacking the school!?” “Lucky for you, we upperclassmen show up in the nick of time and solve the problem by very physical means! You get to watch the nonsense a high-level unit can pull off.” “Next time – Act 1: For a Tutorial, Watch Some Dragon Busting. We’re going to make this exciting.” ### 003. Prologue ## Act 1: For a Tutorial, Watch Some Dragon Busting Today is a sunny day But with localized lesser water dragon attacks Everyone, please watch your step and your gear As you make your way to school This morning ▼001: For a Tutorial, Watch Some Dragon Busting “Isn’t this going to get me killed!?” ### Prologue ● The blue morning sky shined overhead. Far in the distance, the ceiling terrain seemed to fade away into a dazzling azure sky where the sun rose and the clouds flowed. White cherry blossoms scattered below that sky. Those blossoms spread out across a huge city. This was the city center. The sign on the tall train station building read “ National Railways – Underground Tokyo – Tachikawa Station ”. A great many people were walking to and fro at the very center. Mainly on the city streets. There were so many people moving in so many directions, but the uniformed students provided some patches of unified color. Their voices left the crowd and continued on past the cars and aerial ships traveling by. Sign frame school emblem plates wavered near their uniforms. The schools those emblems indicated were those students’ destinations. Their conversations all wandered from topic to topic. “Did you see yesterday’s run!? Ryukaku-san is as monstrous as ever!” “On my way back from Iidabashi for special duty work, this guy gave me a look that said he didn’t like my Expression. Pissed me off so much I gave him a glimpse of my Expression power.” “Excuse me! Do you have a compressed sleep charm!? For 2nd period! I need to sleep in my bottle!” “I got a discount ticket from a friend at MUEE, so want to go to Tama Tech tonight?” “Ugh, I didn’t eat breakfast. Think I have time for one of those celluloid-flavored things?” They were broadly divided into three colors: white, blue, and black. The white ones took a path to the northwest. ● The street veered away from the Tachikawa Station shopping district, but the four-lane street stretched from east to west. To the south was a residential district with a railway line. To the north was a park with a forest forming a wall around it. A bulletin board style sign frame hovered above that street. It provided information on the traffic for both surface cars and in the sky. On that street’s sidewalk, a small voice spoke from a group of girls in white walking between the right lane and metal fence next to the forest to the north. The voice contained both confusion and curiosity. “A dark elf?” ● “Yeah…” A school’s front gate sat in the forest. And a dark elf stood before that white gate. Yes, that’s right. This was that dark elf’s first day here. … I really do stand out. Until this morning, she had been at a midway waiting zone on the border between the Depths Region and the outside. She had spent two weeks there undergoing adaptive training for the Depths Region. And this morning, she had entered the Depths Region early and gone through the citizenship process at the local government office. But… … I really should have taken a taxi like the receptionist suggested. Specifically, the receptionist had said: “You won’t know how to get in since you’ve never been there before, right? Then it’s safest to take a taxi.” But since everyone would be walking to school now, the dark elf figured she could just follow the others. She had assumed she could accustom herself to the school’s vibe as she did so. But… … I really stand out looking like this. While she looked down at her hands again, someone called out to her. The other commuters all shifted their attention from her to the speaker. “Transfer student! The office asked me to show you around the school.” ● The girl was in my year and her name was Ushiko. I had never met her before. Just like I was a dark elf Expresser, she said she was a Jersey cow Expresser. She had saved me earlier when I couldn’t figure out how to “enter” the school. Even the Tutorial sign frame given to me by the local government found this custom odd. Anyway, it was Ushiko who had guided me this far. “Thank you for all your help.” “I don’t mind at all. I will be joining the upperclassmen in my party for a Depths speedrun today, so I am excused from my classes for the day. That gave me some extra time.” “Anyway,” she said, turning toward me at the front gate. “After coming this far, you cannot return to a normal life. You understand that, I hope?” ● Ushiko was mildly interested in the transfer student. They had only just met. The girl had been stuck at the school’s front gate because she “couldn’t find it”. … This land really is like a playground for the local Depths Asama Shrine and for the other gods. She had been accurately guided to the “shrine path”, but this kind of trouble was rare. It may have had to do with the lesser dragon that had formed in some water in the Tama Tech area this morning. The Tachikawa police had sent out their Central Depths Unit, which had likely disturbed the ley lines in the Depths Region. … It was fortunate I was here to help, but this girl is very easily “called”. The advanced AI called Tutorial had been caught in it with her, meaning the girl hadn’t just triggered the right conditions. It meant she and her possessions were being targeted. Were dark elves closely related to spirits? That might be good to look into later. And… “Tokyo Depths School here can be seen as the center of Underground Tokyo. The vast underground cavern here was first discovered after the Tokyo Liberation . Investigations have revealed the Tokyo Depths begins in Kokubunji where the Musashi Michi Road once was, but right here still remains the most stable ‘entrance’ to the Tokyo Depths.” “Yes, they taught me a lot during the classroom lessons at the midway waiting zone. Including that…people like me can live here.” “Oh? It’s nothing so dramatic.” “Maybe not,” she admitted. “It’s just…I had a weird nightmare and then I woke up as a dark elf and found my entire life transformed.” ● Ushiko listened to the dark elf. “I have no idea what’s going on in my life anymore.” “Really?” “Yeah. Everyone I knew was walking on eggshells about it and I had planned on majoring in engineering, which includes using spells, but now the ‘mold’ of my very being has changed, which means my qualifications from when I got my recommendation are no longer valid and I have to change all my plans.” “You see,” said the dark elf. “It’s like the entire world either betrayed me or isn’t sure what to do with me. …It’s such a pain.” “Oh, dear,” was all Ushiko could say. And she saw a smile on the dark elf’s face. But on the inside… …I could have handled that better. ● To become an Expresser like the two of them was to change from your past self. That girl was a transfer student. … She must have made that choice for a reason. Was it her relationships with the people in her life? The better one’s relationships with their friends and family, the greater the change to their life the Expression process caused. If they gained an unwanted form, then it was unwanted for both them and the others in their life. So… … The way she’s talking, I must have screwed up somewhere. The dark elf had said it was “such a pain”. That was a simple enough description. But Ushiko knew one thing. … If her issues can really be summed up as “a pain”, she wouldn’t have chosen to come here. Ushiko had failed to realize that and pushed too far. She felt bad for that, but she doubted apologizing would help soothe the dark elf’s pride. I will make this up to you eventually, she decided just before Tutorial interrupted. ● It was nearly 8:30. There were no more other students around anymore. That wasn’t exactly why, but Ushiko thought for a moment before speaking. “Do you know what kind of place this is?” “No, I honestly don’t know anything.” “You don’t?” “Nope,” replied the other girl. “Like I said before, my life was turned upside down overnight, so I was afraid to get my hopes up or look into it too much.” … Afraid of another unpleasant surprise? Ushiko kept that thought to herself. This was all speculative anyway, so she cut off that line of thinking. … You’re being silly. Those fears were unfounded. Ushiko at least was willing to promise that. But it wasn’t like the girl had any reason to trust her at this point. So she decided to give something of an introduction. “Listen, this area is known as the Tokyo Depths Region . The Tokyo Depths are a periodically-updated multi-level open-world dungeon and it is also a site of conflict with the mysterious phenomena flooding the streets here, as well as the bonds, corporations, and states linked to them. Also…” She looked to the northern sky where a long shape was visible even higher than the clouds. “ Musashi there is one of the Five Great Peaks who saved Tokyo during the Tokyo Liberation . They too have their influence on this place, making the competition here fierce even by Tokyo’s ‘anything goes’ standards.” ● “Let’s go,” gestured Ushiko and the dark elf followed. “Okay,” she nodded, but she was honestly feeling a little concerned. … Tutorial is right. I kind of was just complaining there. She had been a little too open with about her current circumstances. Ushiko’s personality helped, but that wasn’t something you should unload on someone you had just met. … Yeah. But this place was not like her home. That must have become all too clear to her now. Her hands, her skin color, the shape of her shadow on the street, and the height of her gaze. All of it had changed overnight and she wasn’t sure how to describe the shock of that. ● Her relationships were the same. There was no going back to the boy she had been, but everyone still acted like she was the same person as before. But they would all gradually realize that, other than her memories, the person they were speaking to was not who she had once been. ● How had that made her feel? Saying it out loud would just sound like complaining. And really, she didn’t have a great grasp on her own feelings there. But while she tried to figure it all out… … I’m definitely stewing in it. She had a feeling staying at home would be a bad idea. That was why she had come here. And… “––––––” She passed through the white-pillared gate to the school. ● “Good morning.” Ushiko greeted the gate pillar and it bowed back, so the dark elf did the same. “You weren’t kidding when you said ‘anything goes’.” “It isn’t just us Expressers, everything can express itself here. There are times when it seems like wordplay has taken on physical form, but sometimes it doesn’t. This world is built on a foundation of Contradiction Allowance and you can really see that here in Tokyo.” The dark elf nodded and walked on the red brick sidewalk instead of the stone-paved street. The street was surrounded by forest on either side. A stream flowed by too. “Wow, this place is great.” But the things she saw seemed to waver in and out of existence. “Hm? Now I’m seeing a campsite? Oh, no, it’s back to a forest.” “You won’t be able to see it if you look away. Most of the school was originally the Showa Memorial Park. After the Tokyo Liberation, the park was mostly transferred up to Surface Tokyo, but the 1st Showa Memorial Park’s lingering ‘regrets’ will still display its old appearance here.” “Um, so it was a park and then a school, but there’s also the depths below. Does that mean there are three ‘phases’ overlapping here?” “Yes. Once you’re used to it, you can focus your gaze and mind on the school phase when you arrive, but if you can’t do that, your eyes will tend toward the forest.” “Oh, so I’m only seeing the way to school because of you?” “Yes. By watching me as I walk to school, you are focusing on that path.” ● I see, thought the dark elf as she began walking while keeping her eyes on Ushiko’s back. Sure enough, the view opened up around her. Like opening a book, the forest parted to the sides, revealing stone pavement and sidewalks drawing out a gentle curve. “I need to be careful about this.” “At the start of the year in April, the upperclassman will guide the new students in. But you are transferring in mid-term.” Ushiko walked on ahead, matching her pace to the dark elf’s. The dark elf could tell that much. And as Ushiko walked, her tail, which had a ribbon tied around it, swayed side to side. But… … She’s huge. Her height. Not her butt. Well, also her butt. And also also her chest. Wait, what is “also, also”? No, it doesn’t matter. Or does it? And I’ve never seen someone supporting her boobs with a harness. Or is it an exoskeleton? ■ Powered Harness “Is there a tutorial for everything? And I guess that’s the same type of thing the guards wear in Kawasaki.” “?” When Ushiko looked back, the small battery hanging from her horn cowling swayed. “Did you have a question?” “Not really. I’ve just never seen someone who regularly wears a powered harness.” “My, my.” Ushiko smiled a little. “I need to remain in control of my body during combat. And outside of combat, I use it to preserve my posture in relation to the ground.” “I see. So is there a lot of fighting here?” “You generally can’t die here, so things have a tendency of getting out of hand. But…” “But?” “You should be getting to know a number of people and phenomena soon, but you need to be careful. Not all Expressers are based on species like us. Some embody celestial bodies, weather conditions, chemical substances, scientific phenomena, machines, weapons, and even historical figures. The disaster-class Expressers – that is, Expressers of natural disasters – are no joke.” ■ Expression “For a while, it was popular among outsiders to stay in Underground Tokyo for a while to try their luck at the ‘Expression Gacha’.” “I need to be careful since mine is so rare.” “Hee hee. Where are you headed? The faculty room? I can show you the way.” “Oh, I want to go to the library to get my slow life started.” “Your…slow life?” ● “Huh? I’d heard I could work through the Depths while enjoying a relaxing slow life here. Was I misled?” “Oh, I suppose you could describe it as a relaxing slow life. And the library would be a good place to go for that.” “Oh, good. That’s a relief. Kawasaki was a pretty wild city too, but I actually prefer things more on the quiet side.” Just as she said that… “–––––!!” The forest on the left was blown away and something emerged. It was a dragon. “What’s that? Some kinda training?” Ushiko tapped her on the should with a big smile. Before yelling. “That would be a wandering encounter!!!” ### 004. Prologue ## Act 2: How About You Try Dying Just Once? Don’t worry, don’t worry It won’t hurt a bit Oh, but do be careful Not even death can cure stupidity ▼002: How About You Try Dying Just Once? “I’m not going to die in the ‘heading out’ sequence, am I!?” ### Previously “Last time, I turned into a dark elf girl and transferred to Tokyo Depths School. I was supposed to enjoy a slow life at the Tokyo Depths, but instead…” “You were in big trouble because a lesser water dragon attacked! That’s when we came running and provided a physical solution to the problem. And this time…” “You’ll be participating in the Depths Speedrun with us. We’ll be hunting a Boss Wyvern. First is the ‘heading out’ sequence everyone loves!” ### Prologue ● Far too much had happened that morning for the dark elf’s liking. … I know I chose to come here because all the changes made staying at home too awkward, but still. She had expected life here to be different, but this was ridiculous. Anyway, she had been protected from the exploding dragon. She was led by the hand to the area alongside Tokyo Depths School. Through the woods, she could see the white school building and the midway entrance to a passageway leading somewhere else. ● “What is this?” It was a white passageway. But it had burn marks in places and slash marks several meters long. While she was wondering what that was about… “Hey, this way. It’s too soon for the school building. We’ve got something else to do first.” The dark elf was guided down the passageway by the tall girl – Ushiko – who had protected her and three others she assumed were 3rd years. The redhead who had defeated the dragon. The girl who had protected her from the exploding dragon and then cast a healing spell on her. The girl who had apparently fired from behind them. Those three led the dark elf to what appeared to be a library. ● The inside of the library was a vast space surrounded by bookcases. At the entrance, Ushiko raised a hand toward the leading three. “I can make a good guess what’s about to happen, but I need to go report to the Chancellor.” “You go do that. If 3rd Special Duty Officer ‘Balance Point’ is there, that’s who you really need to report to, so do that.” “I will,” said Ushiko before bowing to me. “Don’t worry. Your whole world isn’t going to betray you again.” “Eh!? Um, okay…” Was that the right way to respond? I didn’t know as she waved to me and departed. She left. Only then, seeing her standing next to the bookcases, did I realize just how tall she really was. And the redhead pointed behind herself. Far back there was a large door presumably leading to another room. “You know more or less what this means, right?” ● I know what she meant by that. So I raised my hand. That opened a motion-controlled sign frame. “Tokyo Depths School Student No. 010103, ‘Dark Elf’ arrived in the library at 8:50 AM on March 15.” “You were a little delayed by the morning’s excitement, weren’t you?” That girl shook her ears which were fluffy with fur. The fur was the same brown as her hair and she had a tail with a similar coat, so I guessed she was a dog Expresser. She began using a sign frame to communicate with the students at the library counter. An instruction came in from the librarian on duty and the library’s “interior” began to move. “Set the Bookcase Data Control to speedrunning mode!” With several acknowledging voices, the students began moving and rearranging the bookcases. “…? What’s happening now?” “Hm? Oh, you’ll see later, but they’re using the bookcases to activate a large-scale environmental spell.” “They’re activating a spell by moving bookcases around?” ■ Bookcase Data Control Spell “It is a Showa-era Lives block game. The spell only works in the Depths Region where Kotodama are highly effective, newcomer.” Apparently she had heard of me. … Dark elves are pretty rare. Meanwhile, the blue-haired gunner stepped out in front of me. “Stand still, okay?” She opened a black sign frame in spell mode. She used the sign frame to check me over from head to shoulder, chest, and belly. “Oh? Were you receiving a tutorial?” She too had ears and a tail. Except her ears were pointier and her tail was fluffy. That made her look like a fox, but… … Are there black foxes? I wasn’t sure. And while I thought about that, the black fox girl raised her head. But her gaze was directed toward the redhead. “No problems. The ether explosion didn’t effect her and she isn’t carrying anything dangerous.” “I got through too.” “Wait, huh? What’re you talking about?” “Well,” said the redhead. “You know why you’re here, don’t you?” ● Why was I here? I provided the answer. The same one I had given all morning. “Um, I was told to go to the library at 8.” “Not that, idiot. Give the real reason.” “Oh,” I realized. Now I got it. She wanted the substance, not the preface. So I waved my hand. A new sign frame appeared. Just one. But this was different from the one before. The screen displayed a general-use divine net browser. … Um, how do I get to the school email page? ■ Sign Frame Sign Frame: A divine net browser console displayed in the air. Can be used for communication, browsing, or activating spells and divine protections. In the Depths Region, usually provided by the Asama Shrine. “You have to contact the shrine or school first, right?” “Oh? You’ve actually done your homework.” “They teach you these things before you arrive here.” “Wow, sorry, but I don’t really understand it.” The dog girl smiled a little at my failure. She finished up the additional work she was doing at the counter and approached me. “I’ll help you with the MC setup later.” ● The MC setup. I knew what that meant. “Yeah, you’ve gotta have that mortal combat button set up!!” “She means motion control!” “That’s right. If you only have one motion control set up for opening a sign frame, then opening multiple frames is a pain.” So… “Can I have your sign frame privileges? I don’t need privileges for your personal information or personal settings – I just want to check the school-related stuff.” “Oh, yes! Feel free!” “Okay, I’ll copy over my settings. …Sakura? I know you’re listening.” What’s she going to do? I wondered. Then an external divine transmission arrived at my sign frame. “Hello, hello, hello! Thank you for using Depths Asama Shrine sign frames! Your settings change is accepted!” Light blossomed all around me. Countless sign frames opened all at once, sorted by type. “There, all done.” ● “Whoa, did hundreds of sign frames just open at once!?” I’d never done anything that crazy even during my Kawasaki days. Because after opening so many, closing them all would be a pain. And even if you did set it up to control the entire group at once, it wasn’t often you would need to open so many. … Well, there was that one time I fell victim to a sign frame crasher… So I was shocked by the skill and flare with which she had done this. Maybe she was oblivious to that, but the dog upperclassman extracted a few sign frames from the group. The rest all closed and… “Hm. Hanako-san, take a look at this one. And this one too. You only have to pretend.” “How do you make sense of all this?” The redhead accepted the sign frames even as she complained. The 3rd year called Hanako scanned through the screen. “So, uh, what am I supposed to be seeing?” “Can you read the part that begins with ‘henceforth’?” “I can read that, yes! Stop making fun of me!” “Sometimes you give us reason to question your vocabulary skills…” “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” said the redhead. Then she turned to me. “Henceforth, you shall be a member of the Tokyo Depths Exploration Team called Angel Stare.” Listen. “That’s why you’re here today, but this was on the instruction of Chancellor ‘Galaxy’. That Chancellor is a huge pain in the ass, so just accept it. Starting today, you’re a member of Angel Stare.” “Um, okay. But what is Angel Stare?” ■ Angel Stare “Oh, hey, Tutorial. So you’ve actually got some useful info in there after all. Anyway, I’m Hanako. Make sure to show me some respect, okay?” ● “Listen,” said Hanako, beckoning over the dark elf newcomer. At the counter, the librarians bowed but also waved back. “Today, we’ll be doing a speedrun of Depths 1F. And you’ll be coming with. I have two tasks for you to complete there in addition to the main mission. So try your best to get them done if you can.” She walked toward the large door in the back. The dark elf followed after her, as did the other two who were carrying gear cases. Hanako stopped in front of the large door. “What’s your name? Oh, and I mean your nickname.” ■ Nickname (Naming Rules)