Track 2

(It took until dawn, but that was a pretty big paycheck for a one-off. Ahh, I’m sleepy.)

Hm…

(Who?)

W-Welcome back, Ten.

…Renga-san. You look like you’ve been up all night. What are you doing here?

I was waiting for you…! But I kinda fell asleep on the sofa at some point.

…...

Well you see, yesterday your ex-girlfriends chased after you when you left the restaurant and—

Ah~, sorry for getting you mixed up in that situation yesterday. Any idea what those two were up to after that?

Ah, no, I don’t…

Truth is, I met up with those two pretty soon after that. I guess the three of us kinda hit it off? We partied so hard that I completely lost track of time and only got home just now.

...…!

(With that, you can’t stick your nose into my business anymore, yeah?)

Well, good night~. I barely got any sleep, so it’d be great if you didn’t wake me up ‘til noon.

Ah…

...…

(Wow, waiting for me. He’s like a loyal dog.)

(Well, not like I care since it means he’ll believe even the dumbest lie….)

(My phone…? Jeez, who is it…)

…Chief?

Hey, yeah, I was sleeping just now…

Huh? A Morning Team meeting soon?

HWAAAAH! The birth of a LEGEND is upon us!

I-I mean, we’ve already kicked things off ages ago, but HAMA Tours is about to make another LEGEND all over again!! I just! Can’t!! Contain!!! All this EXCITEMENT!!!! I can feel it bursting through meeeee!!

Hey, settle down. You’ll break something.

If you keep headbanging like that, you’ll break your neck!

He’s already been doing it for five minutes… Yachiyo has strong bones. It’s amazing.

Uhh. I was called here. You guys seem pretty excited, huh? What’s going on?

Ah, everyone’s here now. Alright, let’s continue our discussion.

Ten-kun, don’t be surprised when you hear this. It turns out…

It’s been decided that the Morning Team is set to appear on terrestrial TV¹!!!!

…What?

“Escape from S” — “ES-S” for short! We’ve been chosen to appear on that mega popular TV show!!

“ES-S”...That show, huh? The live broadcast one where if you can escape the Searchers within the time limit, you win a prize.

Yes. This show is extremely popular for its exciting escape dramas and ever-changing thrilling mysteries.

Even just a normal clear is rare, but if certain missions are completed, it’s also possible to get a “True Clear.” But you knew that, right, Ten?

More or less.

The reward for a true clear is the ability to produce a commercial for free and have it air on prime time television.

For the continued development of HAMA, and for the sake of HAMA Tours, we have no choice but to participate. ♪

Agreed. I’ll also do my best for the chief and the others.

Sigh. I can already see how troublesome appearing on TV is going to be.

(Ooh. Nice one, Liguang-san. Keep it coming.)

If you can expect that the profit will be enough to compensate for it, then perhaps there’s room for consideration. There is merit to Oguro’s words.

(Oh. Guess I couldn’t rely on him. Being a ward mayor’s already a huge pain because of the exposure, though.)

By the way, how did all of this get decided anyway?

It’s not like there was a public recruitment for performers, right? Even the rewards for a true clear of the game aren’t aimed at the general public.

Could it be that the Boss was pulling strings behind the scenes?

No, this time it was Renga’s suggestion.

Renga-san’s?

…...

(Oh, right. He’s been staring at me from the corner looking all depressed. What’s his deal?)

Hey, Ten!

…I…I s-saw you, last night…!

…...

(Huh?)