Reincarnated as a Phoenix

Chapter 151 – Love Dungeon

“Ikarus-sama… you need to wake up… Wake up!”

“Huh!?! Where the fuck am I?”

What the hell? Where am I? Is this… a classroom? And why is Charlotte looking like that? She looks kinda like someone who either is a student or teacher. At least it’s good I know everyone inside here, hang on…

Is that… Zeki wearing a girl’s uniform? All of us six, wait, is that Nathan… as a girl!? What the actual fuck is going on inside here!?

Waking up at a modern school desk with the rest of my party the only students inside this small class room, I’m obviously going to be shocked and a little dazed. Unlike other dungeons, my mind feels a little confused on what world is real, almost as if I have memories being a student inside this place. I’m not stupid enough to realize all of them are false though, it’s just a strange feeling really.

“Language Ikarus-sama! You know such foul language isn’t allowed”

“Ahhh, orangey’s going to get told off again”

(Ariza) “Shh Zeki, we’ll be told off as well”

“Lotte is going to give her detention again at this rate”

“…”

Everyone inside the classroom makes a quiet comment except Petra who just seems to be writing in her notebook, or studying. Am I high right now or something? Why was I sleeping through class anyways? Think Ikarus, this is probably the only way you could’ve entered.

“*Sigh*, I’ll let this time slide Ikarus-sama but you really need to learn to stop staying up all night watching cartoons. Now, let’s back onto calculus…”

While Charlotte returns to the front of class and starts giving out extremely important information that will help you in all aspects of life, I can’t help but start to feel a little worried. Destroying something is one thing, but handling my party full of brain-dead idiots who think they’re actually part of the world? What do I do here? All of them seem like they have no clue on what’s going on.

‘Please don’t tell me I’m going to be alone like this inside this place…’

Just as I’m about to go crazy thinking I’m the only sane one here, a slight nudge from the table across from me arrives. We need to speak quietly though or the teacher-sama will tell me off again.

“Heh, it seems like we’re the only two people conscious in here Ikarus. Everyone else is into the roleplaying a little much”

“Thank fuck you’re normal. You any idea how to complete this place Petra? The entrance is way too misleading to end up studying inside a school”

“Heh, maybe it’s not misleading Ikarus. Could it be this is more just the background or the beginning that leads onto that?”

Petra’s speculation could be right but then again, all my mind can think of right now is how perverted this entire thing is. As long as there’s a sizable gap before this and then, the FBI shouldn't be getting involved and screaming, FBI, open up! Even if we are all old enough and still appear to be the same ages… I need to stop thinking about this now.

‘Yo Aesa, you here as well?’

[<Affirmative Ikarus. Aesa feels like this world could be based on something similar to Ikarus's history of watching cartoons originating from Korea or Japan>]

‘I thought I was getting anime vibes from h-...’

“Ikarus-sama! What’s the answer to the equation?”

Standing ahead of me is a grumpy teacher-sama crossing her arms for me obviously not listening in the classroom. Trying to make a reasonable guess to what was asked, I glance at the chalkboard and all I can see is a mess of numbers and symbols I have no idea on. I didn’t actually fail maths believe it or not but this is like reading a foreign language!

“Erm... what was the question again?”

“*Sigh*, you’re not even listening Ikarus-sama. I’ll just ask someone else then, Nat?”

‘Let’s just try and get through this lesson as quick as possible, then focus on how to get out of here…

__________

“It’s lunchtime everybody! I’ll be in the teacher’s lounge if you need me!”

Charlotte leaves the classroom while all of us go about getting our lunches ready. Pretty sure everyone has brought packed lunches because what else would you bring to school? This world is definitely an anime, I’m betting my life on it.

“Heh, wanna eat lunch with me Ikarus? I’m pretty certain this is your backpack”

Petra grabs two backpacks and of course, my backpack has to be the one that’s extremely pink and girly looking with flowers all over it. I’m not even going to deny it because the few memories I seem to have of this place definitely says that’s mine…

I’m also pretty certain me and Petra are dating inside here as well and that backpack was a gift from her. Even the dungeon versions of Petra still can’t help but love to try and girly me up way too much.

“This is just madness Petra, look at Nathan for example”

The most masculine of us somehow looks like that!? Even the way he’s eating his lunch is feminine, the gender bending has started to become insane! As for Zeki, he looks his normal grumpy self except with him being much smaller in the chest area than he is on the potions.

Ariza’s looks cute as shit almost looking like she belongs a year or two below than the rest of us and I guess I’m kinda the same? Body proportions are still fine but the uniforms are slightly different for us all but with matching red ribbons. Only difference has to be Petra of course.

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---Originally, I was going to show only the lovebirds like this but screw it, everyone gets sent back to gender bending school!

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“Heh, he seems happy and cute enough. You definitely have the cutest outfit out of everyone though Ikarus”

“Of course you’d say that, you’re the only one who seems to be dressed a little different”

Petra’s uniform is the only one that actually look comfortable to wear unlike the rest of us. Maybe she’s the class representative or something? Eh, I don't care that much.

Anyways, Petra’s gets both bento boxes out, obviously both are extremely pink as well and we start to indulge in our lunches. It’s mostly just rice, a bit of egg and some sushi but I can already tell Petra’s made this just from the taste alone.

The chopsticks are pissing me off considering I’ve never actually used them before though, really never saw the point considering when I came from. A fork does everything better than a pair of wooden sticks and you won't convince me otherwise...

While we’re eating lunch and Petra is now giving me and hand feeding me, we really need to discuss what to do next. At least she's purposely not saying 'say ah' or something like that this time around.

“You have any idea how we can complete this place then Petra? I know you said something about it earlier”

“Maybe it’s love related Ikarus? An action related to love and that completes it? Could be dating, marriage, admitting to love? I'm really not that sure but that's the vibe I'm getting from this place”

Thinking about it now, I can see what she’s on about but my reasoning would be a little different. Outside this place is a room filled with sinful lust and perversion, and inside this place remains a scene perfect for a high school romcom…

“So… a love focused dungeon that’s based in a Japanese high school? Yeah, you’re definitely right Petra, this has to be love focused. I’m really not looking forward to acting out an anime though”

“Heh, I doubt it’ll go how you’re expecting Ikarus. All the other dungeons have been purposely annoying after all”

‘Mmm, this sushi is really freaking good’

“True true… just don’t start screaming war is love or something like that, was that the other way around? Ah, I’ve seen so much of that sort of crap, I don’t even remember it anymore”

Anime be doing that. I can barely remember half the shows I’ve seen so we’re screwed if we have to start copying scenes and stuff from high school romances. Luckily for us, dungeons never seem to go to plan…

<*Cough cough*… Ah, you haven’t been waiting for too long, correct?>

Giving both of us a slight shock, an extremely feminine voice seems to ring throughout me and Petra’s brains. If this is similar to the other experiences, I’m pretty certain the person speaking right now is a God, or Goddess. For all I know, it could be Loki again but this woman sounds a little more klutzy than what he’s capable of.

<Ah, silly me, you two can’t respond inside here. Where was I… you two should be mentally sound in that lovely place, correct? I’ve just asked you a question again. Gosh, I really am stupid…>

‘Oh great, it's one of these beings...’

<…I’ve been told by fellow family members that you wish to complete my dungeon and not be turned into mindless husks only longing for love and passion? Probably not the best of times to be spending years madly in love I suppose, things are pretty tense right now! Everyone hates each other up here>

Heh, even Petra gives me a look like ‘what the hell is this person on about?’ Welcome to the world of dungeon exploring where this sort of thing is the norm!

<I haven’t even given a you a proper greeting yet. I am Aphrodite, the Goddess of the thing mortals lose their minds rightfully over! I’m so going back into that world when I get the chance, mortal love is just so pure but let’s not get distracted right now…>

'By the sounds of it, maybe Hephaestus and Athena gave her the heads up we might be coming over here shortly?'

<…In order to actually complete my dungeon, all you simply need to do is find true love! Wait… apparently you two are already in love? Well… that kinda doesn’t work… let me see here…>

‘For fuck’s sake, please don’t be something really time consuming to do like win a war again, only this time for love!’

It almost sounds like she’s turning pages looking for notes on the dungeon this Goddess has created. Talk about these lot being forgetful, Denver hasn’t got a clue on his volcano and she doesn’t know how to finish the dungeon.

<…Ah, right. That’s a much easier solution! All you two need to do is set up your fellow party members with each other. If you want the specific details on how to do it… erm… that’s it! What is more passionate than a kiss!? Yeah, that’s definitely how I made this place. Get each couple to kiss and you’ll be done…>

The high-pitched feminine voice then fades out of existence just leaving me and Petra looking at each with puzzled faces. It’s good we now know what to do but still, are all these beings going to be like this?

“Petra, what is it with these Gods and dungeons anyways?”

“Heh, don’t look at me Ikarus. I’m just as clueless as you”

It’s more of a rhetorical question but oh well. To summarize this dungeon up, all we have to do is get two couples to kiss. How hard can that be? Impossible actually, destroying this entire world may be easier...

“At least that confirms your suspicions Petra. Aphrodite is the Goddess of love after all, but we may be a little fucked”

“Why’s that Ikarus?”

“Because getting Zeki and Ariza to kiss is impossible…”

__________

“School’s finished class! Make sure you all get a good night sleep!”

After spending the rest of the school day ‘learning’ and pondering how to go about doing this task, the sound of the ringing bell finally echoes throughout the school and we can finally leave this hellhole. Did I ever say how much I hated school? Need something to moan about as I've been pretty good today.

“What are you up to tonight brother?”

“I’ll probably just practice and learn more about medicine. I will need it for collage after all”

“So boring brother, you need to learn to stay up playing MMOs all night. What about you boring?”

“Sword practice again. Go bother those two at the back Zeki, maybe they’ll be able to stomach you”

“Nah, I’d rather just annoy you. Orangey and sis never stop touching each other and it’s gross…”

Me and Petra wait for everyone to leave ahead of us and grab our bags following along. Zeki does a have point about the touching thing cause we’re still going to hold hands even inside here.

While we’re walking through the never-ending hallways and stairways of this mostly empty school building, we’re still going to quietly discuss the others talking behind their backs.

“Have you thought of anyway we can deal with the brother-sister situation Petra?”

I really shouldn’t say it like that but that’s basically what Zeki and Ariza are. I know there’s animes where that sort of thing happens but it still doesn’t make it right! Even if those two aren’t related by blood at all or anything like that, it’s definitely going to be comparable… this Aphrodite really has a sick taste in love it seems. I get behind the yuri gender bending aspect of it though…

“Not yet Ikarus, only way I’ve thought of is by using force but that’s a little nasty. Heh, you have any clue how we should handle the boring couple?”

Petra’s got a point; we could just physically force them to do it if necessary but we should probably leave that to last resort. I’ve got a bad feeling it doesn’t matter how we handle this; things are going to get weird and strange regardless now. That distaste for completing dungeons has returned pretty quickly it seems.

“Those two will be easy, mark my words, already have an idea for that but it’ll have to wait for breaktime tomorrow”

There’s a period of break before lunch and that’s when I’m going to conduct my scheme that’s guaranteed to work! I’ve always called them the boring couple but that’s always been more in jest than anything else. I'm pretty sure I can get them to kiss easily.

Now out of the school and into the outside anime lands, it looks exactly how you’d expect it. Japanese style town buildings, empty streets with no cars in sight and everything just looks so pristine and clean. I guess it wouldn’t be a terrible place to live in, if there weren’t so many other obvious problems.

“Assume you’re coming round mine tonight Ikarus?”

“Oh right, we have our own houses in this world. I guess I can stay the night, we don’t have parents inside here”

Pretty sure Petra has a nice two-bedroom house while I’m stuck in one of those tiny apartments that costs God knows how much yen a month. I really have no idea how this place works except I’ve already grown tired of it.

Still noticing more of this place, this entire world is vast and empty almost like an anime background, the comparison is getting boring now so I’ll stop in a minute. Doesn’t make the truth any less true though.

It’s also devoid of life like one as well, you do stumble across people walking by every now and then but all seem faceless and actually pretty terrifying to look at. Some of the other students and teachers in the school look like that as well. I wonder if we’ll become like that if we stay here too long but no chance that’s happening. We’ll force a kiss long before that.

If this world happens to be a real place, then I really can’t see it, it’s just simply too unbelievable for it to work. Maybe the people or souls are real, but the world was created like an experiment? It's the only thing I can think of, other than just using the magic excuse...

“So… let’s have a relaxing night round yours and then decide what to do tomorrow. Like I already said, reckon getting Nat x Lotte together will be a piece of cake”

Maybe we’ll make love as well tonight? Eh, probably not, might just be better to focus on getting out of here as quickly as possible. Everyone already understands my dislike about romcoms already, pleasantly surprised I haven’t been moaning about all day really.

“Heh, that reminds me Ikarus, got some leftover cake as well”

“Brilliant! Regardless of any world, my stomach will always love you the most. He’s a simple minded fellow…”