Rendezvous
After climbing through the 1 meter wide hole in the ceiling, I made my way to the library entrance, while leading the other two along like a shepherd with his sheep. Unlike what I initially expected, the double doored entrance wasn’t locked or barricaded. With a casual push, we entered the decrepit library.
The other two followed behind closely as I walked trepidly through the dust filled air. It was quiet, yet the visual signs of destruction were still present under the moonlit night. Cabinets overturned, bookshelves destroyed, sheets of paper scattered across the floors, for all intents and purposes, the space looked abandoned.
As I walked deeper, I saw three corpses piled up along a corner of the room. Someone had placed a thin tapestry over the bodies, but it could not conceal the blood, as it seeped out and gleamed with the moon’s reflection. Going by the viscosity of the red liquid, as well as the putrid smell the bodies gave off, the corpses- these people had died recently.
Although I wanted to ignore the bodies and continue ahead, the other two insisted on stopping. They pleaded until I was finally forced to consent.
The teacher whose name I didn’t bother remembering walked over to the corpses and lifted up the tapestry, enough for him to see what lay underneath. After a brief span of silence, he layed back the tapestry and with a grim face, walked back over to where the Library girl stood.
“It’s Mr. Tanikawa, Irie, and Kawasaki…” He spoke briefly, his tone hushed, as if an invisible force was pressing down on him.
The library girl’s face scrunched up briefly before she turned towards me. She hesitated for a moment, before explaining, “Mr. Tanikawa was an English teacher for the 1st years, Irie was a 2nd year, so was Kawasaki- they were both part of Volleyball club… They were all people from the Survivor group.”
“I see…” I spoke with an indifferent voice. My eyes found themselves staring down at the dirty blue tapestry in front of me.
I could feel the heat of the Library girl’s stare baring down on my back, but I chose to ignore it. She seems as if she wanted to further continue the conversation, but did not know how. She opened her mouth for a span of 3 seconds, before closing them again. Seemingly having given up, she stepped forward, and turned back to face the tapestry. The teacher followed suit, and stood beside her.
They clasped their hands together, and bowed. Their eyes closed, while their expressions serious, a hushed prayer leaked out from their mouths.
“...”
““...””
After close to 2 minutes passed, I couldn’t help but ask, “... Do you do this all the time?”
The Library girl stopped mid prayer and turned back around to face me. Her expression showed an absent minded expression before she made an “Ah-ha!” gesture. She paused long enough for her to take a single breath before she said, “Well, as often as we can. The President was against it at first, but since I kept insisting, he eventually just let me do as I pleased.”
“Emiko was a Miko (Shinto Priestess). Seeing all the dead everywhere around the school, she couldn’t just ignored it all without doing something.” The teacher, having seemingly finished his prayer, turned back around and supplemented.
The Library girl- Emiko’s expression reddened slightly as she awkwardly scratched her cheek. While looking a bit embarrassed, she said, “I really couldn’t help it. I used to help my grandfather out at his shrine during the summer, so… I just felt it was… right.” She briefly turned to glance at the tapestry, before continuing, “While I don’t know what everyone’s religion was, or their specific preference…I just- paying respects to the dead is the very least I can do.”
She ended her words with a somewhat bitter smile. A look of contemplation covered her face. Her eyes, seemingly stared off into the distance, lost in some ambiguous thought that she could not quite grasp.
I did not respond, and after a silent minute passed, she awkwardly coughed, stating, “W-well, I can’t really do it as often as I would have liked. I’ve been busy with training and stuff… but I try to make time. Back in the cafeteria, before we met back up, I also did the same thing for the people who died tonight.”
I considered her words for a moment. After a slight pause, I asked, “...Even Satou?”
“Huh?” Emiko slightly widened her eyes. A soft voice leaked out from her parted lips.
“Did you pray for Satou’s death too?”
“...” She tilted her head down, her lips quivered into a frown. After a bit of hesitation, she bitterly laughed and spoke with as much contempt as she could muster. “No. While my Grandfather taught me that all men were equal after death… Satou, when he died… he was not a man. For a monster like him…” She bitterly laughed once more, before turning around and walking deeper into the Library.
I stood there for a moment, my mind swirling with varying thoughts. It was only after the Teacher followed Emiko’s receding figure, did I push the thoughts aside and followed suit.
We made our way deeper into the library, all the while, our eyes scanned vigilantly across the room. We were making our way down towards the only set of stairs that connected to the 3rd floor, and when we got there, the sight before our eyes shocked us.
The air swirled with dust and tiny micro-particles of destroyed wood. Up ahead, was a slight that embodied so much chaos and destruction, that one couldn’t help but think it was a work of art.
“T-the staircase is…” Next to me, Emiko’s words awed as she stared with widened eyes.
The staircase was utterly destroyed. Someone deliberately broke the support beams and forcibly crushed the stairs under the weight of several heavy unit Oak and Mahogany bookshelves. Each shelf probably weighed more than 600 pounds each, and under all their combined weight, added to that, the force of the drop, the stairs couldn’t help but cave in and break.
As we quietly gawked, a voice from up above suddenly broke the silence.
“Hey! Over here!”
We turned towards the source of the voice, and from the third floor, a person’s head poked up from behind the wooden railings. I squinted to get a closer look. The head adorned with a streak of brilliant black hair belonged to one of Kido’s woman. The transfer student.
Prompted by her sudden shout, hushed commotion began above us. Moment’s later, two people joined the woman. One of the was the President. His face flashed a look of relief the moment his eyes landed on us.
“P-President!” Emiko inadvertently cried out as she brought her hands up to cover her mouth. A restrained sob leaked out from her throat.
“A-ah, Emiko! Sensei! Hide, y-you guys are alright!” The President’s voice outwardly spoke in an ecstatic tone.
“Hide!” From next to him, an equally as excited voice called out. I would have been happy, but the source of that voice was Kido.
I gave a weak obligatory grunt before I asked, “What happened to the stairs?”
“Ah, well… it was sort of a precaution. If more monsters streamed into the library, things would get progressively worse if we got surrounded. We already lost a few people on our way here, so we couldn’t be careless.” The image of the tapestry and the three corpses briefly flashed in my mind. Before I could say anything, the president was already continuing ahead.
He spoke with a somewhat awkward expression. “We’ve already barricaded the doors and all the windows on the third floor, so destroying the only other entrance seemed like a good idea at the time.”
I nodded in consent. Before I could respond, once again, I was interrupted, this time Kido’s voice vibrated from above. “Hide, wait right there for a second! We’ll toss down some rope for you guys to climb.”
***
POV Change
Cielle woke up with a start.
Her head jolted upwards, causing her to accidentally hit the metal ceiling above her. She groaned out in pain, while grasping her newly formed bruise with two pale hands. Her eyes repeatedly blinked, but all she saw was darkness. Her arms, legs, as well as the rest of her body also ached, mostly due to her uncomfortable position which she fell asleep in.
It took her a while to remember that she had fallen asleep in a Ventilation shaft.
“...Nightmare…” She mumbled lowly, reminiscing over the cause of why she woke up.
She repositioned herself within the narrow confines, and stretched out her legs before she laid down on her stomach and thought about her next course of actions.
She did not know where she was. Her proximate location in relevance to the school building was currently unknown. Whether she should backtrack or push further ahead… she could not decide. On one hand, moving backwards entertained the thought that more monsters would be waiting for her, while moving forward left her little choice but to wander the ventilation systems, lost and alone.
Considering the upsides to both options… was currently impossible for the current Cielle. The only thoughts that filled her mind were negative, and depressing. Thinking positively was something she unconsciously blocked out in fear of ruined expectations.
After some more deliberation, Cielle’s fear towards the monsters ultimately won out. Collecting the [Black Gemini] around her, she crawled further ahead, into the darkness, without the faintest idea as to where her destination might lead her.
****
After climbing up to the third floor, we found ourselves in a open area, devoid of bookshelves. The light that leaked into the room seemingly illuminated this spot with an almost breathtaking brilliance.
In fact, the scene itself would have been immensely beautiful if it weren’t for the fact that within this space, people with injuries of varying degrees littered the floor.
I reflexively grimaced. The sight was by no means easy to digest, even for someone like me who's seen and experienced things an average high schooler had no business experiencing. A few of them were conscious, namely two people, an old man whose expression was close to death, and a chubby youth whose head probably only reached up to my shoulders. The rest were unconscious.
From behind me, I could hear a set of footsteps growing increasingly louder. I turned, only to see the President walking over. A complicated expression decorated his face. Staring at the open space in front of us, he frowned while stating, “Only about 5 noncombatants survived.” His face grim, he unconsciously emphasized the word, ‘five’. “That was how many people we were able to transfer to the library before the shadow lurkers attacked.”
A small amount of guilt dots my heart. In truth, it was because I recklessly killed the Wisp elite that all of this happened. If I hadn’t done that… If I had waited even just a bit longer.. I pushed the thought aside. Dwelling on the past was meaningless. I did not have a skill to reverse time.
I swiveled my neck around while my eyes swept past the open space. Frowning, I asked, “Where are Hina and the others?”
The President’s face cramps as he hears my expression. After an almost imperceptible pause, he answers. “Hina… and the others are back behind the book shelves.” He points towards a row of book shelves that lead to an open study area. “For the most part… they are there, but, Hide… The-”
Before he could finish speaking, I was already moving ahead. My steps continued, undaunted. Whatever the President had to say could wait. The immense pull caused by my fear and worry for the girls was too much for me to ignore.
As I walked past the row of bookshelves and turned the corner, the first thing I saw was Cher’s prone figure, lying atop a dusty, unused table.
Her face was pale, yet somewhat serene. Her chest steadily rose and fell at an even pace, indicating that her breathing was steady. I noticed that under the information in her window panel that my [Identification] skill provided, she was still under the effects of [Anemia] and [Shock].
I immediately noticed that she did not have an [Amputate] status or anything similar.What’s more, like the last time I checked, Cher’s HP was at max.
“....”
Thinking things over a bit, I could only infer that the system, due to the actions I directly took, had caused Cher’s regeneration point to shift. Instead of regenerating her arm when her Hp reached max, it instead regenerated her HP to its maximum value while keeping her arm a stump.
This in turn, exposes a weakness in the introduced system. It is not as omnipotent or all healing as I first impressions had previously suggested. While it some ways, it was indeed beneficial, increasing a person's’ healing capabilities way above what it normally would be before the apocalypse, it still can’t fully heal every ailment known to mankind.
An unfortunate example of this was Cher’s still severed arm.
As to why this was the way it was, I could only begin to ponder. In fact, just off the top of my head, I can already list several reasons why. There wasn’t enough body tissue or something similar to grow a new arm out from nothing. Maybe the system’s healing power is based on human physiology. Since its inherently impossible for a person to regrow a man back before the apocalypse, the same sort of rules applied to this new world? Or the magic and items I had at my disposal simply weren’t suitable/effective enough to cause such a high level healing to work
Probably, in all likelihoods, there is a skill- or there are several skills out there that can regenerate lost limbs or maybe even contain greater effects. Unfortunately, the me right now has no power in acquiring such skills.
I stood there and absentmindedly stared at Cher for a short while, my mind lost in thought. Eventually, I came back to my senses, lulled by a faint whimpering.
Walking further into the study, I saw Hina for the first time. Her current appearance was one that left me in shock and immediately caused a sense of dread to blossom within my heart.
Hina had been crying. Her eyes were puffy, and red. Tear stains wettened her cheeks and snot unceremoniously slid down from her nose. She seemingly did not care about any of this as her soft hiccups of sadness continue to persist.
Again, that feeling of dread that I unconsciously started fostering increases. I immediately close the distance between us, and without reserve, ask, “What happened? Hina?”
It wasn’t even attempting to comfort her, rather, I wanted to find the source of this bubbling unease.
Hina looks up at me with red eyes. She opens her chapped, dry lips in an attempt to answer, but what comes out is a heavy heave. Her sobs drown out whatever she had wanted to say.
I frowned. The feeling of dread only further increases. My head swerves, and my eyes scan the room. It was just at this moment that I finally came realized; Cielle wasn’t here.
The expression on my face instantly darkens. In a grim voice, I ask again, “Hina, what happened? Where… where is Cielle?”
The moment Cielle’s name left my lips, Hina’s expression instantly worsens. Her reserved, poorly restrained sobs come gushing out, like a fountain of never ending tears and snot.
Rather than feeling sympathy, this course of events, Hina’s actions, only serve to irritate me. I was frustrated. I didn’t know where Cielle was, and Hina wasn’t helping. The growing unease and dread only further rise.
“Where is she?!” My voice was louder, but I didn’t care. I continued to ask, half yelling at this point. “Where is Cielle? HINA, where is your sister?”
Hina’s sobs only further worsen. Her eyes squint shut in a vain attempt to hold the tears back.
I unconsciously gnashed my teeth. The feeling of dread continues to rise. I was falling into a sea of unease and anxiety.
In my fit of agitation, I briefly looked away and just then, my gaze focused on the table in front of her. A outdated, dull gray walkie talkie rested on its surface.
Without even thinking about it, the moment my eyes rest on its cheap plastic hue, my hands made a grab for it. I quickly fiddled with it, turning the channel to the one we had previously designated to Cielle's own version of the device, but to my utter disappointment, all that came out was static.
"Damn it..." I cursed under my breathe as I threw the device into the darkness. My attention once again focused onto the crying girl's figure.
I grabbed Hina’s shoulders, and before I could even think about what I was doing, I began to shake her. Her head whipped back and forth in the process, as I once again asked, “Where is Cielle?”
In between my shakes, Hina’s hiccuping sobs break off in whimpers. Eventually, she screams out in a tone filled with self-mockery and despair, “I don’t know! I don’t know, I don’t know I don’t know!”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Her shrieks were loud, and seemingly pierced my ears with a cold wave of air. Looking down at her, I could see the snot drip down from her face in conjuction with her tears. In her eyes, I could see the growing sense of instability, along with it were obvious signs of grief, worry, anxiety, and… guilt?
“I don’t know!” Hina shrieks out once more. “I don’t know…*sniffle* W-where is my sister?”
The empty eyed stare she gave me was haunting. It left behind a cold sense of despair, yet, it only served to further entice the flames of frustration and concern that was currently growing within me.
With her pale-death like stare, her hiccuping sobs began to die down.
Unfortunately though, her previous fit of hysteria and my equally as disconcerting fit of angered anxiety, brought the attention of the others. I heard a set of rushing footsteps and before long, a hand clamped down on my shoulder, and attempted to pull me away.
“Hide, stop! You’re hurting her!” The president outwardly speaks, the grip on my shoulder tightening in the process.
Hearing his words, only further angered me. I shrugged off his shoulders, and glowered at him. The moment our eyes met, the President’s expression instantly faltered. He went rigid and unconsciously took a step back.
I ignored him. Instead, my feet began walking even before I noticed. They backtracked out of the study area, down back into the row of bookshelves, and soon, I found myself back within the empty space.
I took a deep and heavy breath, the mask of indifference which I usually wore came back to me in the process. My eyes scanned the room before me, along with all its inhabitants. I saw Kido, his harem, the President’s group of people, and the 5 noncombatants who survived.
I stared down at every one of them before, in a cold, harsh voice, I asked, “Where is Cielle?”
***
Cielle crawled through the ventilation shaft.
In the midst of her depression and fear, she had long since stopped knowing how much time had passed. To her, the time she spent within this dark, cold, metallic space felt both infinitely long and infinitely short.
She crawled and crawled. Every now and then she’d stop and heal her bruised and battered limbs. Although this shaved off some of her mana, in return, the glowing trail of [Dark Gemini] that constantly followed her continually expanded.
This brought some sense of comfort to Cielle’s fear filled mind. To her, [Dark Gemini]- her skill was her life support. In a moment of danger, it could either save or kill her. Cielle constantly prayed for the former.
Eventually, after an unknown amount of time of walking, the darkness began to lessen. Cielle instinctively knew that she was getting closer to an opening, yet, despite this realization, Cielle’s movement speed did not increase. It stayed steady- almost slowing down.
In no time at all, she was in front of a metal frame that overlooked out into a deserted hallway. Through the slits between the bars, she could finally see the outside of the vents. It felt like forever since the last time she saw the faint flickering of moon light.
In front of this possible escape, Cielle hesitated. The fear of monsters- more specifically, the fear of fighting monsters alone instantly floated to the surface of her mind. She hesitated.
She hesitated for a long time, before finally deciding to leave. Her thin, porcelain white fists balled up and began beating down on the metal.
BAM BAM BAM
The noise droned on, as thoughts of the others filled Cielle’s mind.
****
Third Person Perspective
“Where is Cielle?”
The question hung dryly in the air. Nobody answered Hide for a long time. It was if time had suddenly stopped, and nobody was capable of moving.
In fact, the situation wasn’t far off. Instead of time, something else had stopped everyone cold on their feet. It was Hide. The expression on his face, the coldness in his voice, the deathly aura that seemingly evaporated off of him, gripped everyone’s hearts with a mixed feeling of fear and reverence.
For a long time, nobody spoke.
While everyone continued to hesitate, a set of soft footsteps come out from in between the row of bookshelves. It was the President.
His expression was flat and somber. Seeing the back of Hide’s cold and silent figure, he too hesitated. He hesitated like the rest of them before he swallowed down all of his apprehensions and finally spoke. His words broke the ensuing silence, as they filled the space around them.
“After you told me to leave and protect Cher, I parted with Cielle. That was the last time I saw her.”
Although Hide did not turn around even once to face the President, it was clear as night that his mood had worsened. An almost imperceptible, quiet sigh leaked out from his slightly parted lips as his brow furrowed in frustration.
‘I shouldn’t have told her to go.” He thought, his mind reeling in regret. ‘Maybe things would have been better had Cielle stuck with me… We could have fought the shadow goblins together… we could have returned together…’
“Does anybody else know where she was?” Hide asks once again, his voice vibrating through the air to no one in particular.
There was another silence, but this time much shorter than before.
“Cielle… did this person have long, black hair that covered all the way down to her eyes?” A previously unconscious student suddenly speaks up. A faint quiver could be heard in his voice.
Hide instantly glanced down at the source of the voice.
There, near the back of the room, was a short, slightly overweight teenager. His hair was short and his face was covered in numerous freckles. His expression was pale and still showed the effects of the Wisp gas from earlier. With a quick glance, Hide confirmed that the fat teenager was level 2.
Without uttering a single word, Hide turns the teenager and nods.
Locking eyes with Hide, the teenager develops a cold sweat. Before he had the chance to regret, prompted by Hide’s nod, he gulped down his rising nervousness and continued.
“I-I saw her. S-s-she was wearing baggy clothing right, a sweater that dropped down all the way to her knees?” He nervously glanced up at Hide. A moment passed before Hide solemnly nodded. After seeing his approval, the fat teenager immediately continued, his voice rising in a somewhat nervous, yet excited fervor. “W-while I was being dragged away by everyone, I saw her running towards us- t-towards the library. I don’t think the others notice, ‘cause of how many monsters there were, but I have pretty good eyes, so I did.
“Anyways, Just before she arrived… t-that was when the first explosion happened.” He briefly paused to look up at Hide. The expression he saw instantly caused him to pale, as he hurriedly finished his report. “S-s-s-she was blasted away due to the impact. I saw her body fly towards the corridor before the ceiling came down and blocked the entrance…”
The fat teenager’s words began to die down, but Hide’s ears were still ringing. His mind caught on that single word, “Explosion”. He heard the loud blasts when he was fighting the waves of shadow lurkers. He definitely heard it, and what’s more, he definitely knew who caused it.
With unhinged anger boiling in his eyes, his head immediately swiveled and his eyes scanned the room. It only took him but a moment to locate the person he was looking for.
There, in the back of the room, leaning back against a wall was an adolescent girl with above average looks. On her head rested a witch’s hat, one that was originally a stage prop from a play two years back.
Without pause, Hide immediately began to stomp towards her. His expression currently twisted in a way he never thought possible.
Noticing the obvious shift in atmosphere, the President’s face tinged in panic. He ran up to hide and grabbed at his shoulder, fearful of what he might do in his fit of rage.
“H-hey, Hide,” He spoke, trying to appease him. “Don’t do this man, it’s no-”
In fluid motion, the instant, the President’s hand clamped down onto Hide’s shoulder, a clenched fist flew and hit deep into the pit of the President’s stomach. Although Hide had not thought about it, his skill [Hard Scale] had activated as smoothly and as naturally as if he were breathing.
The fist that buried deep into the President’s diaphragm was as heavy and as fast as an steel ball. It caused him to heave out a heavy and labored breath, before, in less than a second, he crumpled down to the floor.
Hide continued forward as if nothing had happened.
Seeing the President go down, a worried expression flashed briefly onto Kido’s face. Without any trace of hesitation, he immediately stepped in and blocked Hide’s bath. He held his arms up wide, and with a pleading look on his face, he almost begged, “Hide, stop. Miki didn’t mea-”
Before Kido could finish his statement, Hide suddenly vanished before his eyes.
Immediately after, a distinct, “Eep!” Rang out from behind him. In an instant, Hide was now directly in front of the Wizard hat girl.
The other girls from Kido’s circle of friends, had all been standing besides the Wizard hat girl. The instant Hide’s figure appeared before their eyes, they were all taken aback and instinctively took a step backwards.
Without pause or concern, Hide’s hand blurred and grasped onto the Wizard hat girl’s collar. He pushed her against the wall and glared. He did not say anything at first, merely glaring at her with a look that could kill while he gnashed his teeth.
Miki was usually a very calm and confident person. You could even call her prideful. Right now, the girl’s usually haughty expression was nowhere to be seen. Her whole face was pale, and without her realizing it herself, transparent liquid had already congregated in the corners of her eyes.
Seeing this, everyone was momentarily taken aback, not only because of Hide’s sudden movement skill, but also because of the ferociousness he was currently displaying.
Under his grasp, Miki tried to struggle.
She shifted her shoulders, and pulled. She rocked her body and tried to escape Hide’s grasp, but it was all useless. She was like a mouse caught in a mouse trap. Truth of the matter was, Hide’s strength was simply too strong. The difference in their stats was simply too great of a chasm.
Finally, after what felt like eons of struggling, in a desperate, pathetic voice, she pleaded, “I-I didn’t mean to do it, I swear, I swear!” The panic in her eyes was clearly visible as she madly wove words like fine tapestry. “I didn’t know she was there, I didn’t know, I didn’t know!”
In the face of her please, Hide only continued to glare at her. In fact, rather than calming Hide down, Miki’s almost deranged pleas had caused his grip on her shirt collar to tighten. “Because of you… because of you, our healer- no, Cielle… because of you, Cielle is…”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-” In his anger, he seemingly did not hear Miki’s desperate please. Her violent struggle only intensified. Spittle and saliva began flying out everywhere, while she frantically shook her head and helplessly screamed, “Don't kill me, don’t kill me, don’t kill me!”
Hide’s eyes blaze red, his free hand slowly lifted up above him to form a pale, white-knuckled fist. The knuckle was clenched tight enough to draw blood, but Hide did not care. In fact, the pain in his fist only served to intensify his anger.
Before he had the chance to attack, several figures immediately rushed towards him, and grabbed him down, all in an effort to restrain him.
2 people - Kido and Kikkawa, the teacher rushed up and tried to hold back Hide’s raised arm. Although they exerted their combined strength, it felt as if they were merely hanging on to an immovable statue. Hide’s fist did not budge even a single inch!
On the other side, The president held onto Hide’s shoulders, hoping to hold him back from further harming the girl. Next to the President was Emiko, who was attempting to wrestle away the arm that held Miki by her collar.
While all of this was happening, Hide simply stood there, unmoving and simply glowered down at the pale faced person in front of him. Miki, in comparison was desperately pleading. Her eyes swam, while she constantly muttered, “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me, don’t kill me…” Snot was brazenly dripping down her face, and tears stained her rosy cheeks.
Hide, who maintained his grip on the girl did not seem to mind nor pay attention to the people who tried to restrain him. All this time, Hide did not notice, but once again, he had unconsciously activated his [Hard Scale] skill.
A tense, soundless silence passed.
After what felt like forever, Hide let out a tired sigh as his raised fist finally unclenched and dropped down, and the grip in his other hand loosened.
In response, Everyone else’s expressions lightened as their own hold on him weakened. They each let go, and began to take a step back away from him. A round of relieved sighs could be heard all around, and the President could be heard muttering, “Good… things finally stopped escalating… if it went any further then-”
Just as everyone let their guards down, Hide’s once dropped hand suddenly blurred forward.
SMACK!
A resounding clap filled the room. Hide had slapped her, and immediately after, Miki fell to the floor. The back of Hide's hand was slightly, red, but it could not compare to Miki. Her right cheek was had noticeably reddened, and her eyes were in a pseudo state of both fear and shock.
In fact, everyone else around her was shocked as well. Outside the president and his group, Kido’s harem were also taken aback, their hands held to their mouths to hold back their surprise. Kido himself was the most affected. His fist balled up until his knuckles whitened. He was currently glaring at Hide, who in turn, simply coldly looked down at the fallen girl.
Hide’s expression was dark, and imposing. And overlord’s domineering atmosphere wafted around him, while his dark frigid eyes burned with fiery intensity. In a low growl, he spoke solemnly, “Unless I expressly order you to, don’t ever use that skill of your without my consent. Next time… if you disobey… I won’t hesitate to kill you.”
The Wizard hat girl, whose face had just now started to swell, instantly bobbed her head. Her nodding caused a mixture of tears, and mucus to fly everywhere around her vicinity.
Without giving her another glance, he turned around and stalked away. He pushed past the gathered crowd around him, ignoring everyone’s stares in the process, and proceeded down deeper in between the row of book shelves before he finally arrived at the Study area.
There, a still sniveling Hina, who was still grieving over the loss of her sister, quietly sobbed. She had not gone into the main area to watch the commotion from before. Her body and mind simply did not have the energy, nor motivation to do so.
He continued to walk until he came to a stop by Cher’s unconscious side. Hide looked down at her pale countenance with a complicated expression. He stared for a moment before, in a somewhat gentle voice that completely contrasted his earlier disposition, he said, “Hina, watch over Cher for me, okay?”
Hina, who was still stuck in a daze of dreary grief and with tears still streaming down her eyes, managed to hiccup a faint response, “Okay, b-but why?”
Hide briefly glanced back at Hina. His expression was flat, conveying almost no emotion. Without saying anything, he turned back around and began walking out of the study area, down in between the rows of bookshelves, and finally into the main space. Hina had instinctively followed.
Upon seeing Hide, everyone’s gazes immediately focused on him, but he ignored it. In his heart, these people had failed him. To Hide, a single Cielle was way more valuable than a hundred- than a thousand of these people.
Finally, Hide stopped his march just right at the edge of where the stairs used to be. In a serious tone of voice, he spoke, “Do you even need to ask?”
His right foot hovered over the edge, as he craned his neck back to stare at Hina. “I’m going to find Cielle.”
With those last words drifting lazily in the air, Hide followed through with his step, and his body immediately vanished into the darkness below.
***
Author's Note: If you liked this chapter (I especially liked writing this chapter), please rate or review. It helps me out.