In this Second Chance at Life, where I can see skills as clear as day, everything feels like a breeze. And to make it even better, I’m spending my days joyfully with my First Love. - Chapter 34

Riiiiiing.

“Hello, this is Sugata… Wait, where am I? Why am I in… a park?”

Sanae Sugata, the suited woman, woke up to the incessant ringtone of her Galápagos-style cell phone. As she answered the call, she looked around the unfamiliar park, trying to make sense of her surroundings.

“Sugata-kun, why haven’t you been answering? How did your contact with the target, Sajima Yasushi, go?”

The voice on the other end sounded exasperated and accusatory, as though she had been slacking off. But more than the irritation, hearing that name—the last one she wanted to hear—sent a chill of primal fear down Sugata’s spine.

As her gaze fell on the still-unconscious, heavily armed police officers around her, the memories flooded back.

Those cold, intimidating eyes. The overwhelming fear that comes only from being stared down by a predator far beyond one’s strength.

“C-contact established. I’m certain he’s the Sajima Yasushi in question. B-but, I’m sorry! Please remove me from this assignment!”

“What happened, Sugata-kun? Why are you so terrified all of a sudden?”

Even the person on the other end of the line was startled by her trembling voice. Sugata was known to be a serious, competent professional—this kind of behavior couldn’t possibly be an act.

“H-he’s a monster. Both myself and the armed officers who accompanied me—we were all rendered unconscious without even knowing how. And when I woke up, we’d somehow been moved to a park.”

“What do you mean, unconscious? If that’s the case, then we have grounds to charge him with obstruction of justice. Sajima Yasushi is a critical person of interest in the dungeon-related incidents. If necessary, don’t hesitate to use force to bring him in.”

The voice on the line was confused by Sugata’s explanation. After all, the officers she’d brought along were from the SAT, Japan’s elite special assault team.

They’d sent fifteen officers—more than enough to handle most terrorists—to accompany her, just in case the first known “occupation holder” turned out to have unpredictable powers.

“You don’t understand! It’s impossible. Even if you sent a hundred officers, or a thousand, they’d be powerless against him.”

Sugata’s voice cracked as she reported this through tears.

Her frustration at her superior’s lack of understanding was overtaken by a far greater fear—what might happen if they made the mistake of provoking Yasushi further with futile shows of force.

The person on the other end of the line fell silent, clearly struggling to process her words.

A thousand armed officers, powerless? It sounded absurd. But Sugata’s trembling voice didn’t seem like the product of exaggeration or hysteria.

“There’s a saying: ‘Don’t poke a sleeping god.’ Perhaps we should just leave him alone?”

“No, we can’t do that. There have already been casualties, and the potential for securing new resources makes dungeon investigations a top priority. This is the government’s directive.

Furthermore, with Sajima Yasushi’s name now known worldwide, we have no choice but to act. If he truly possesses such overwhelming power, we can’t risk another country abducting or swaying him. That would be catastrophic.”

“But still…”

Sugata understood the logic. Rationally, she knew the government couldn’t simply ignore someone of Yasushi’s significance, especially after hearing his name and the “Gods’ Trial” announcement from that strange mechanical voice.

But fear… fear overwhelmed reason. Yasushi was terrifying.

“I see. From what you’ve said, brute force is not an option. Perhaps approaching him with a show of force was a mistake to begin with.

If so, I’ll handle this personally.”

“Y-you, Sumida-san? But… Sajima Yasushi is extremely dangerous. Even if he’s just a first-year middle schooler, he’s capable of incapacitating armed officers with a single glance. Isn’t it too risky?”

“Perhaps. But contact must be made.

Sigh. I warned them from the start that overplaying our hand would backfire. I should have gone myself from the beginning.

No matter. What’s done is done.”

As he said that, Sugata’s caller—Kazuma Sumida, the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency—decided to head alone to Yasushi Sajima’s house.

◇

Q: Can you enter a dungeon that’s stored in the item box?
A: No, you can’t.

Well, I managed to put the dungeon into the item box, but unfortunately, I realized that it was just sitting there and essentially going to waste.

When I tested taking it out in the closet, it returned to normal, so it seems you can retrieve it, but to actually use the dungeon, it still needs to be set up somewhere.

Still, just learning that I can carry it around is a significant discovery.

For now, I figured someone like that suited woman from earlier would show up soon anyway, so I decided to keep the dungeon stored.

While conducting some tests on the dungeon and spending a few hours playfully chatting with Ichika-chan, the time had come when my mom returned from her part-time job. It was also about the time Ichika-chan began asking, “Shouldn’t you be heading home soon?”

The doorbell rang.

Ding dong.

“Yes, coming!”

My mom answered and hurried to the door. Not wanting a repeat of earlier where I accidentally made someone faint, I hid while spreading out my magical energy to ensure my mom wouldn’t end up in danger.

“Ichika-chan.”

“Yeah… I’m guessing…”

It was likely someone connected to those police officers from earlier. I mean, I did accidentally make one of them faint, so it’s possible things have gotten complicated. What if they show up with even more armed officers shouting, “You’re under arrest!”?

While thinking about such scenarios, I used the recently acquired Presence Detection skill to investigate. Surprisingly, there was only one person at the door, and they didn’t seem particularly strong.

“Excuse me, is this the residence of Yasushi Sajima?”

“If it is, what do you want?”

My mom responded cautiously, her wariness growing upon hearing my name. She didn’t even unlock the chain on the door, instead peeking through the small viewing hole to check on the visitor.

“I’m Kazuma Sumida, the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency. I’d like to have a word with Yasushi Sajima.”

The Commissioner General? That’s the top person in the police force! Why would someone like that come to a house like ours?

Normally, wouldn’t they send a lower-ranked officer? Oh, wait… that lower-ranked officer was the one I knocked unconscious earlier.

“The Commissioner General? …Why would someone from the police want to speak to Yasushi?”

“We need to hear his side of the story. From the events of the other day, it’s clear that Yasushi knows something. To protect the citizens, it’s our duty to find out what that is.”

“Yasushi hasn’t done anything illegal or dishonorable. Promise me you won’t harm him, or I won’t unlock the door.”

Even through the door, my mom was holding her ground against the Commissioner General.

With my memories of my past life, my absurdly high stats, and my antics with dungeons and other things, my mom was still standing up to protect me.

I felt a surge of gratitude as my eyes began to sting with emotion.

“Yasushi-kun…”

Ichika-chan’s voice brought me back to reality. Hiding behind her, I quietly walked toward the door.

“Mom, it’s okay. You can open the door. Cooperating with the police is technically a citizen’s duty.”

“…Alright. But honestly, it’s hard to take you seriously when you’re saying that while hiding behind Ichika-chan.”

Mom looked at me with half-lidded eyes, clearly exasperated.

“Hey, I already told you about my Intimidation skill, didn’t I?! If I’m not careful, I might accidentally knock out the Commissioner General too…”

Sighing in resignation, my mom unlocked the door and removed the chain.

Standing there was an older man dressed in a navy-blue police uniform that resembled a military outfit. Despite his white hair, his posture was impeccably straight, and he had the aura of someone kind and dependable.