The Old Man NPC answered with an eerie smile.
* * *
"He also said something about there being a law or something..." Hosokawa said hesitantly.
"So why exactly does chasing the cat turn into a trap?" Itsuki asked me.
"It's on the map—this floor's name is 'Alice in...' Get it? Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, chases a rabbit and ends up lost in Wonderland. So chasing the rabbit doesn't actually get you anywhere—if anything, it just puts you in more danger."
"Heh, I get it."
Itsuki accepted the explanation without much fuss, so at least it hadn't been a waste of breath on my part.
Still, the story Hosokawa told us had a distinctly horror-flavored edge to it. And yet I couldn't imagine he was lying.
"Hmm, well, unless we actually talk to that NPC ourselves, there's not much we can say for sure~"
Yuu grinned at my muttering.
"I knew you'd say that, Rei!"
With Hosokawa guiding us, we headed for the overpass where the Old Man NPC was supposed to be.
But...
"Huh? He's not anywhere," Yuu said, glancing around.
"No... he was right here just a moment ago..." Hosokawa murmured, looking stunned.
"Hmm, maybe he's a wandering-type NPC?"
Hearing my guess, Satoshi spoke up slowly.
"If it's a wandering type, finding it won't be easy."
"Great, just great. This isn't going to convince Gouda..." Yuu muttered, troubled. Hearing that, Hosokawa seemed to sink further, shoulders drooping.
"You want to help Gouda? Even after he tore into you like that?"
"Yeah. Back in our world, he always looked out for me. So over here, I just... want to be useful this time," Hosokawa answered, looking a little embarrassed.
"Hmm. Well, either way, we should probably find him and explain."
Having given up on the Old Man NPC, Hosokawa and the rest of us headed back to the bench where Gouda was supposed to be waiting.
But he wasn't there.
"He told us to wait for him! And now he's the one who's gone!" Itsuki snapped, clearly annoyed.
"Well, he never actually said he'd wait or not wait. And honestly, he's not obligated to follow our lead in the first place.
He's gone missing, so should we just call this case closed?"
(Chasing down a missing person is a hassle, and it's not like we owe him anything more...)
"NO WAY!"
Yuu and Itsuki shot back in perfect unison.
Satoshi, looking indifferent either way, was busy checking something on his menu screen.
"I'm sorry, but it's difficult for me alone. Could you please help me look for Gouda?" Hosokawa looked at me with pleading eyes.
The other three watched to see how I'd respond.
(...)
"...Fine."
A warm-hearted, caring guy who can't turn his back on someone in trouble—
man, I could really get behind that version of myself. (Ha.)
(Truth is, I just couldn't say no in front of the other three.)
Even so, this floor was huge. How were we even supposed to search it?
Oh, right!
"Hosokawa, are you friends with Gouda in-game? If you are, we could check each other's location data..." I asked, a little hopeful.
"I'm sorry. We're not friends..."
"Ah, I see..."
(Honestly, given how things are between them, I'm kind of amazed he even wants to help.)
While thinking that over, scanning the area, my eyes landed on two familiar female players.
(Those two—weren't they here earlier too?)
Better to ask and risk embarrassment than stay ignorant forever, I told myself, and worked up the nerve to speak to them.
"Excuse me! Weren't you sitting on that bench a while ago?"
"Huh? Oh, um, yes..." one of the two girls answered.
(Okay, she is way too on guard right now...)
"I wanted to ask you something. Do you know where that big guy went? The one who was sitting there?"
"..."
(Why the silence?!)
Seeing me struggle to get anything out of her, Yuu stepped in to help.
"Sorry to bother you so suddenly. We're actually friends with the guy who was sitting there—we got separated. Did you happen to see where he went?" Yuu asked with an easy, disarming smile. The moment the girl looked at his face, her expression completely changed.
"Oh, yes!"
(Wait, what? Why's her reaction totally different now?)
"You mean the guy who was here earlier, right?"
"We couldn't really see his face clearly, but we saw him being approached by a man with a low voice!"
"And then he left the building with that person, right?"
"Yeah, that's right! They looked pretty friendly, walking off together... That's really all we know, though."
Once she finished, Yuu answered with a smile. "I see, thank you! That really helps a lot."
"Oh, it's no trouble at all!"
"So, um, what high school do you two go to~?"
(Seriously?! I asked that exact same question earlier!)
And just like that, the girls launched into their own little interview session—this time with Yuu as the subject.
(Ah. So it wasn't the question. It was the questioner.)
I watched the exchange with mild resentment until Yuu finally wrapped up the conversation and came back over.
"Sounds like he went off with someone. Wonder who it was."
"Probably the player who first told Gouda about the good hunting ground you get to by chasing the cat," I answered, working through it out loud. "Whether they were waiting for the moment he'd be alone, or it was just chance—either way, it's not looking great for him."
While the five of us were still puzzling over what to do next, a commotion rose up from outside the building.
"What's going on?" someone said.
We looked outside to see what the noise was about.
Right in the middle of the street, just past the building's entrance, a crowd had gathered.
And in the center of it—some kind of small animal. A cat?
"So this is the famous cat everyone's talking about..." I heard Itsuki mutter.
Curious just how adorable this legendary cat's face might be, I edged through the crowd to get a look.
Covered in dingy, grimy white fur, it was, to put it generously, not cute at all.
Its name tag read: Mocking Cat.
Looking closer at its face, the corners of its mouth were pulled up in an unnaturally sharp curve—like it was looking straight at me and grinning.
No—not grinning. Sneering.
Its gaze felt like it was sizing up every human in sight, one by one.
"Yeah, this thing is definitely suspicious," I said.
If we wanted to track down Gouda, chasing this cat seemed like the only option left.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, a pop-up effect flared to life around the cat, and a Condemned Rat materialized.
"Whoa, seriously?!" Itsuki blurted.
"Wait, it summoned that thing?!" Satoshi called out.
The five of us, along with the crowd that had been cheering moments ago, drew our weapons and threw ourselves into battle against the Rat.
"Yes! One down!" someone shouted.
"Easy, easy," another voice called.
More Rats fell one after another, each kill drawing another round of cheers from the crowd.
"Man, this thing's a total pushover—three hits and it's done, ha!"
(So this Rat's about the same strength as the first one, huh...)
Wait.
(That Rat over there—isn't it trying to run?)
One particular Rat seemed to be prioritizing movement over combat entirely.
(Some are fleeing. Some aren't.)
(Looking closer—only the ones missing certain limbs are behaving differently.)
(Could it be switching to some other AI pattern, something outside the normal combat behavior?)
(If that's true, then it's not fleeing at all—it's heading toward a destination.)
(Alice in...)
(The cat isn't the rabbit...)
(The cat is what lures humans in.)
(So the boss has to be wherever it's leading them!)
In that instant, every question that had piled up in my mind since arriving in this world came crashing together at once.
And I froze, standing dead in the middle of the battlefield, thinking.
"Hey! Big bro, why'd you freeze up?!" Itsuki shouted, startled by my sudden strange behavior.
"Rei, what's wrong?" Yuu asked.
"Getting somewhere?" Satoshi added.
To their words, I said—
"Sorry! I'm almost there, just gimme a sec to guard me while I think, kay~?"
I asked, turning to the three of them.
"GOT IT!" all three answered together, laughing it off despite themselves as they moved to guard me.
I set my left hand against my chin and sank back into thought.
(Even for a tutorial, these starter monsters are way too weak.)
(Is that intentional? Made to be defeated easily on purpose?)
(But why...)
(An AI pattern that triggers from being attacked—does the trigger depend on which limb, or how many hits, or which spot?)
(No time.)
(No time to test them one at a time.)
(So let's rule out every possibility at once!)
With my thoughts finally in order, I called out to the other three.
"Yuu, Itsuki, Satoshi! I need you to attack the Rats exactly how I say!"
The three of them, who'd formed a guard around me, all turned to face me at once.
"Satoshi, hit the front-right leg and back-left leg. Itsuki, front-left and back-right. Yuu, both front legs!"
All three nodded at my voice.
Then I turned to face my own Rat. My target: both hind legs.
Honestly, hitting only a specific spot without touching any other part is harder than it sounds.
First, I swung my sword at the Rat—a deliberate miss. That was fine; that was the plan.
The empty swing seemed to alert the Rat to my hostile intent.
We circled each other, putting distance between us.
I watched it carefully. I saw tension building in its front legs.
The next instant, it leaped straight at me!
(That move—I saw it in the tutorial!)
I bent my knees and arched my back in time with the jump. As the Rat passed directly overhead, I swung my sword in one clean stroke, landing damage on both of its hind legs.
"Eeeee!"
The Rat let out a shriek, seemingly registering the damage, and thrashed helplessly where it landed.
Having lost both hind legs, it clearly couldn't move anymore.
(Wrong guess, huh...)
I looked around to check on the others. Sure enough, they'd all attacked exactly as instructed.
All three of their Rats looked just as immobilized as mine.
All except one.
(There it is! Satoshi's target.
So the key was losing the front-right and back-left legs.)
"Hey, one of them's getting away!" Itsuki shouted.
"Let it go!" I called back.
"Rei, what exactly is going on here?" Yuu asked me.
"Here's my theory: both the cat and the rat lead to the boss. But the cat is the bait route, and the rat is the clear-through route. To trigger the clear-through route, you need to break specific parts of the Rat in a specific way to set off a particular algorithm. And the reason I had you break two spots instead of one—breaking just one doesn't make it try to flee, and three hits kills it outright before the pattern can trigger. Either way, if we follow the Rat we broke correctly, we can get ahead of it and reach wherever the boss is. And with any luck, we'll find Gouda there too..."
"Hold on, how do you even figure that stuff out?!" Itsuki said.
"You've got a real knack for thinking in weird directions," Satoshi added, sounding almost impressed.
"Alright, then—let's have the rat show us the way. Straight into Wonderland."