The guild hall was quiet when Suzume walked in, which was unusual for a Tuesday morning.

  Normally by now, Emiko would be on the phone with someone, and Kasumi would be lounging on one of the couches with her feet up on the coffee table, scrolling through her phone and making comments about whatever was trending. But today, everyone was already seated around the main table, coffee cups in hand, watching Suzume as she approached.

  This was because of the message she'd sent to the group chat last night.

  One that just said:

  "Emergency meeting tomorrow morning."

  Suzume pulled a seat back and sat down. She set her phone on the table and slid it toward the center.

  "So, I got an email yesterday."

  "From America," Yumi said, leaning forward with her elbows on the table. She was wearing a leather jacket over a tank top. She looked very interested. "You mentioned that part but didn't elaborate."

  "Yeah, well." Suzume pulled up the email on her phone and turned the screen so everyone could see it. "I wanted to wait until we were all together."

  The room went quiet as people leaned in to read.

  The email was from someone named Madison Cole and it was a request from Colorado, USA. The body of the message was longer than Suzume had expected when she'd first opened it, but she'd read through it three times now, and each time, the words had hit her the same way.

  Dear Dungeon Rescue Guild,

  My name is Madison Cole. I'm writing to you from Denver, Colorado, because I don't know who else to turn to.

  Almost a week ago, my father and his team entered a dungeon in the Rocky Mountains. It's an A-Rank dungeon, and they were an A-Rank party. Five players total, all experienced, all veterans. They were supposed to clear it in four days.

  They never came out.

  The Rocky Mountain Vanguard, the guild my father belonged to, recently declared them KIA. They said the dungeon was too dangerous to send a rescue team. They said the risk wasn't worth it. They said my father and his friends were already dead, and that I should start making funeral arrangements.

  I don't believe them.

  I believe there has to be a chance, even if it's small, that with players that skilled, they're still alive in there. But no one here will help me. No one will even try.

  And then I saw your videos online. I saw the people you saved. I saw you, pulling players out of dungeons that everyone else had given up on.

  Please. I'm begging you. I'll pay whatever it costs. I'll do whatever it takes. Just please, please save my father.

  — Madison Cole

  The silence stretched on for a few seconds after everyone finished reading.

  Hikari was the first to speak.

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  "A-Rank."

  "Yeah," Suzume said.

  "An A-Rank dungeon that hasn't destabilized." Hikari's voice was calm, measured, the same tone she used when she was analyzing mission parameters. "That means the monsters inside are A-Rank baseline. Level 61 to 80, minimum."

  "I'm aware."

  "Suzume." Hikari looked at her directly now, her purple eyes steady behind her glasses. "I'm Level 42. Kasumi is Level 32. The rest of the combat-capable members of this guild are Level 18 or below. An A-Rank dungeon isn't just dangerous for us. It's potentially lethal."

  "Also aware."

  Kasumi leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. Her expression was unreadable.

  "So what are you thinking?"

  Suzume didn't answer right away.

  She looked around the table instead, at each of the people who'd chosen to follow her into this insane venture.

  These people trusted her. They were willing to put their lives in her hands, with the assumption of course that in turn, she'd keep them safe.

  But this wasn't about keeping them safe. This was about saving people.

  "My sister died in a dungeon," Suzume said quietly.

  The room went still.

  "She was trapped for well over a week, alone in the dark, waiting for help that never came. And the whole time, everyone on the outside had already written her off. They said the risk wasn't worth it. They said she was already dead." Suzume's hands curled into fists on the table. "They were wrong. All that time she spent hoping, waiting, recording messages for me and our parents because she thought maybe, maybe someone would come."

  She looked up, meeting everyone's eyes in turn.

  "No one came. And she died alone."

  Honoka's eyes were wet. Kasumi's jaw was tight. Even Rina, over in her corner, had gone completely still.

  "I started this guild because I couldn't stand the thought of that happening to anyone else," Suzume continued. "I couldn't stand the idea of people being left to rot in dungeons because the guilds decided they weren't worth saving. And now there's a girl in Colorado who's going through the exact same thing I went through, and she's asking me for help."

  She stood up, pressing her palms flat against the table.

  "I can't say no. I won't say no. Even if it's dangerous. Even if the odds are bad. Even if we might fail." Her voice was steady now, firm in a way it hadn't been when she'd first started talking. "Of course, we're not just going to rush in. Let's put out an announcement," she looked at Yumi. "Declare that we're looking for any A-Rank adventurers willing to help us rescue someone in America. Even then, we're going to have to be on top of our game, but at least we won't be heading in with too much of a disadvantage. But, bottom line, we're going. If anyone wants to sit this one out, I understand. But I'm going."

  For a long moment, no one said anything.

  Then Kasumi grinned.

  "Well, shit. When you put it like that, how am I supposed to say no?"

  "I'm in," Rina said from her corner, not even looking up.

  Honoka wiped her eyes and nodded firmly.

  "M-Me too!"

  Takeo scratched the back of his head.

  "I mean, I just got here, but... yeah. Count me in."

  Hikari let out a long breath and adjusted her glasses.

  "I'll need to research American guild politics and dungeon regulations. We can't go in blind."

  "I'll handle travel coordination," Emiko said, already pulling out her tablet. "Flights, accommodations, equipment transport."

  Yumi was the last to speak, and when she did, there was a gleam in her eyes that Suzume recognized from every time they'd pulled off something big together.

  "International media coverage," Yumi said, her grin widening. "A Japanese rescue guild flying to America to save players that their own country gave up on. You know that'll be a huge news story, right?"

  Suzume shrugged.

  Suzume looked around at all of them, at this ragtag group of misfits who'd somehow become her team, her guild, her family, and she felt her throat tighten.

  "Thank you," she said quietly. "All of you."

  "Don't thank us yet." Kasumi pushed herself up from her chair and stretched. "Thank us after we pull this off and make it back alive."

  "Fair enough."

  Emiko was already typing on her tablet, her fingers moving at an inhuman speed.

  "I can get us flights out by... Thursday if we push. That gives us two days to prepare, and we'd be heading into the dungeon as soon as we touch down."

  "Do it," Suzume said.

  Hikari stood as well, her expression serious.

  "I'll start pulling together everything I can find on American dungeons. Layout estimates, monster types, previous clear attempts. If we're going in, we're going in prepared."

  "Yumi, the—"

  "Way ahead of you." Yumi was already on her phone, presumably making the declaration through there.

  As she watched the others work, Suzume exhaled.

  [Colorado, huh. Never thought I'd end up there.]

  She pulled out her own phone and started typing a reply.

  Madison,

  We're coming.

  — Suzume Aoi, Dungeon Rescue Guild