The Day Before Part 1
The very next day, the sun rose early in the morning, and a feeling of unequivocal fatigue hit me like a sack of bricks as I struggled to get up. I was still reeling from yesterday’s endeavor, and my body’s current condition showed for that. Muscle ache everywhere, joint stiffness, and a muddy sensation that wafted over me like a thin film of fog were just some of the symptoms that plagued me. In a sense, I felt like an old man with a withered body.
Nonetheless, I knew that this was all consequential. In truth, nothing on my status panel indicated that I was under any status effects or something similar, meaning that this was still the leftover symptoms from last night’s [Physical Strain] and [Physical Exhaustion].
Even with all this pain circulating through my system, I still chose to grit through it all and prepare for the coming day.
Of course, I could have always used [Sensory Remapping] to mitigate or downright cancel out the pain, but in the end I did not do so. In a sense, I felt a bit ingratiated to the pain. It reminded me of the upcoming danger and the inherent risks involved with tomorrow. This sensation of awareness that kept my mind and psyche constantly close to the boundary of life and death was something I held with great value.
When I woke up, it was still early in the morning. Only a thin veil of reddish yellow seeped through the windows as everyone around me lay still asleep.
It was worth to note that I slept in the same room as Cielle, Hina and Cher. Their quietly sleeping figures were huddled up in a rather warm looking bundle near the corner of the room. An amalgamation of thick emergency blankets, old jackets, and stiff linens covered their adolescent bodies.
It was a scene I was familiar with, so I had grown somewhat immune to its allure.
Outside our original group, the others slept in different rooms. The arrangement was that everyone was divided into 4 rooms. The cafeteria survivors slept in one room, the President’s group in another, and Kido’s group was also separated away from the others. It goes without saying, but my group also slept by our lonesome.
This natural separation brought on a clear feeling of alienation among the others- especially the cafeteria survivors, but in the end, there was nothing I could do about that. It was only natural to keep those you don’t fully trust away when one was at their most vulnerable.
After I woke up, the others soon followed. First it was Cielle, then Hina, and then Cher who woke up last with a still dazed expression all over her face. After all of us woke up, we headed out to eat breakfast.
Breakfast was usually held at the abandoned classroom where we held the previous meeting. I don’t know since when, but it had become routine for the whole group to have breakfast together. There was really no significance in this, but if I were to make a mountain out of a molehill, then it would probably be out of caution.
Nobody wanted anybody else to eat more than they should. Eating together just allowed everyone to keep an eye on everyone.
This sense of desperation was truly laughable, especially if you consider the fact that the rations from the bomb shelter weren’t evenly distributed. The cafeteria group always received the bare minimum, while the combatants received almost three times as much. This difference was only natural though. It was normal for people who fight to receive more benefits, and for those who don’t to receive less.
Not only that, with the change brought about by the world system, the higher level a person was, the faster their metabolism digests food. Also, the more a person trains, the more stamina they consume. The more stamina they consume, the more food they needed.
This was the irrefutable logic behind everything, and nobody could stand to argue against it. Even the ones who suffered the most under this system could not stand up against its imperial might. They were the ones who suffered the most, but they were also the ones who relied on it the most. For people who could do nothing but resign their fate to the strong, this was only logical. This was only natural.
Anyway, because of everyone’s constant training, and even after we’ve already stretched out our supplies to dangerously thin levels, food that should have lasted a good 8 weeks, could hardly last for 2. Even today, for some of us (namely the cafeteria group), this morning’s food rations would be their last.
****
On a usual day, the time spent between breakfast and the rest of the day was time spent on training.
Mainly for everyone else, this meant stat training.
Now, it was common logic that as the higher a person's status was, the harder it was for them to level. This was primarily because, the more a person's status inflated, the harder and harder it was for them to put sufficient stress on their body in order to activate whatever conditions were necessary in order to stimulate stat growth.
While magic type stats like wisdom and intelligence were both equally harder and sometimes easier to level up, this sort of exponentially increasing difficulty held especially true for physical type stats.
The solution we came up with to stimulate the right conditions needed in order to increase our stats was through combat.
For the past 2 weeks, the others constantly sparred, all with the goal of increasing their stats and combat ability for the upcoming fight.
Of course, there were also a few exceptions to this. The Wizard hat girl did not train her explosion magic simply because of how overpoweringly destructive it already was. For Cher, her sparring sessions were a bit different. While she did still retain the original goal of stat leveling, she also had a secondary goal of familiarizing and adjusting herself to her missing right arm. Loosely speaking, it was an accelerated form of rehabilitation.
Both Cielle and Hina sparred less often than the others. For one, Hina had been helping me quite often these few weeks, but the main reason was that, being the magic types, the sisters had other means of increasing their most important stats. Mainly they monopolized on their [meditation] skill. It was only on the occasions when the duo wanted to train and practice their magic did they spar with the others.
As for me, I almost never participated in these training sessions. The main reason for that was because stat training was almost completely useless to me. I was also always busy, either with scouting out the main building or with creating equipment.
Today was different though.
Today was the last day before the Dungeon Boss fight, and since it was the last day, the whole group decided to hold a giant training session. And just for today, I decided to participate.
We gathered at a hallway intersection a little bit away from our main base. Looking all around me, almost everyone was decked out in armor, with their various weapons ready. To the left, I could see Hina and Cielle doing light stretches in their loose fitting gym wear. Kido and the President were doing a few practice swings with their swords, while Cher was gleefully testing her new shield.
Even the cafeteria survivors had gathered in a vacant classroom to watch.
Looking at this scene in front of me, I felt a bit helpless. Everyone was really motivated, and you could practically feel the fighting spirit exude from their skin. In comparison I was a bit… underwhelmed.
I wasn’t wearing any armor, and I wasn’t particularly brimming with fighting spirit. Rather, I was actually pretty tired. Stifling a yawn was probably the most enthusiastic thing I could do today.
In comparison to everyone, I was only equipped with my dagger, and cyclops club. And these two pieces of weaponry were simply the nearest objects I grabbed on my way out of the classroom.
“Er… everyone…” I weakly called out to them whilst helplessly scratching at the corner of my cheek.
“Wait a moment, Hide!” An enthusiastic reply from the President. “Wait just a moment, let us finish warming up first. You’re usually not here for our training, but we usually warm up before we spar. It helps prevent injury.”
All around me, heads bobbed in agreement and voices grunted in approval as the President spoke his enthusiastic response.
“...Ah, okay…” I meekly replied, as I sat down near the edge of the hallway. With nothing else to do but helplessly twiddle my thumbs as everyone prepared, I sighed out a despondent breath of stale air as I lamented over the tiring start of the day.
Under everyone’s behest, I had hesitatingly agreed to participate in today’s training session, so it was true that I was a bit caught off guard by everyone’s enthusiasm…. Well, it’s not like being enthusiastic is a bad thing, rather, it's the opposite. Training hard and getting stronger will definitely increase our survival rate, it's just that… I had originally thought that there’d be a more… depressing atmosphere.
This gym class type atmosphere really caught me off guard. It reminds me a bit of my time in school… Being the only person without a partner for the rest of the period… playing catch with the wall… stretching with the teacher… Recalling these memories filled me with an odd sense of alienation.
“It’s ironic… days like today are a lot less lonely than back then…” I bitterly smiled while a small breath of air leaked out from my slightly parted lips.
“Okay, Hide we’re ready!” While my mind muddled around with these useless thoughts, an enthusiastic voice called out from the distance. Looking up, I saw the President pump his fists in anticipation as he beckoned me with the tip of his wooden sword.
I let out another tired sigh as I unsteadily rose to my feet. “Well… let’s get this over with.”
As I approached the others, I nonchalantly spoke, “Okay… so this is obviously the first time I’m doing this, so what’s the procedure? Are we just fighting one on one or…?”
“What? No.” An immediate response from Kido who was standing next to the President.
The President in turn nodded in agreement. “Usually, we do a mix of one on one, and team battles, but considering your presence, we thought it was only reasonable to change a few things. For today, we’re going to do 4 vs 1.”
“Wait, isn’t this a little excessive...” I immediately protested. I was feeling tired today, and I seriously did not want to expend any energy on this.
“No, in fact, I feel that even with Kido, Hina, and Cielle - the four us still might not be enough.” The President continued as he readjusted his glasses. “The difference between you and everyone else is just that wide of a gap. Look, you might not realize it yourself, but just your demeanor shows it.
Coming in here with almost no armor, all while sporting that easygoing expression. It pains me to say this, but that’s the attitude of the strong. ”
“Er, wait- that’s just because…”
That’s just because I had completely misunderstood this training session. Looking cocky and arrogant wasn’t my intention at all...
“Either way, fighting you alone is practically fighting the boss itself.” Kido spoke with a somewhat excited smile on his face. Kido bent his legs and tilted his sword downward. Whether he realized it or not, the tip of his blade was completely pointing in my direction.
The President followed suit as he too quickly entered a fighting stance. With his sword raised in front of him and his posture lowered like a jaguar waiting to pounce, he glanced meaningfully at me. “Then, please go easy on us….”
From behind the duo, I could see that Hina and Cielle were also rearing to go. They looked as if they weren’t willing to listen to any of my complaints, as they prepared their magic and readied for battle.
Seeing all four of them so adamant with such serious expressions, I could say nothing in rebuttal. Swallowing the sigh that had built up in my throat, I eventually agreed, “Fine then. I’ll fight you, let’s just get this over-”
Even before I could finish my sentence, the battle had already started.
Without warning, a black crystalline spear shot out from Cielle and zoomed towards me at breakneck speeds. This was the solidified version of Cielle’s [Black Gemini], and its speed and damage were way beyond that of her original attack.
As the black spear approached, my body instinctively reacted and moved on its own.
My hand immediately went for the dagger by my side, and [Dissect] unknowingly activated. I slashed towards the incoming projectile, and as if I was cutting butter with a hot knife, my dagger bisected the spear into two unequal sized pieces.
The two projectiles zoomed harmlessly passed me where they continued further before piercing through the metal lockers behind me.
I shot a quick glance back at the yet to be disintegrated spears in black before turning around to stare at Cielle. Off in the distance, standing behind the others, she smiled provokingly as a layer of sweat dripped down her slightly flushed cheeks.
Seeing such an expression, I could do nothing but helplessly mutter to myself, “She’s getting more and more dangerous…”
“What a monster…”
“To think he completely sliced Cielle’s attack like that…”
Meanwhile, the President and Kido both wore bewildered expressions as they looked at me with a sense of trepidness. They had not attacked yet, and upon closer inspection, I could see that Hina was actually applying some enforcement magic on the both of them. That is to say, they were still in the middle of their preparations.
Things like [Fury], [Haste], and [Defense], Hina’s full arsenal of support spells were haphazardly applied to the two of them.
Seeing this scene before me, I couldn’t help but twist my mouth into an off-key smile. Back when Hina and I fought together, she almost never used those types of spells on me. It wasn’t that I directly told her not to, or that she didn’t want to apply them on me, but rather, back then I did not need it Our level gap was already substantial, and buffing me up would not indirectly gain Hina any experience when I killed a monster.
Because of that negligence, support spells became a sort of neglected branch of magic for Hina. This neglect completely showed in her fight with Satou, and it seems that for the past two weeks, she’s been actively training to get over that particular weakness.
While Hina continued to cast her buff spells, I did not outright attack them, but rather, I waited patiently until the process was done. After all, this was a training session, so it would only be right to fight these two when they were at their peak.
“OOOOo!” With an enthusiastic yell, Kido signaled the finalization of his buff spells, and suddenly dashed forward.
The President wasn’t one to wait either, as he too rushed towards me the moment Hina’s last buff came into effect.
The President was a bit faster, as he easily overtook Kido’s dash and closed the distance between us in the blink of an eye.
Seeing his resolute expression with his sword already in mid swing towards my torso, I responded in suite and began my own attack. I took a single step forward, and with the hilt of my dagger, I parried the President’s incoming blow.
The President’s grip on his weapon loosened, and using this opportunity, I rushed past him and intercepted Kido even before he could start his assault. I stabbed my dagger towards the direction of his chest.
Despite training for the past few weeks, It was overly apparent that Kido still retained his habit of relying on instinct to fight. His eyes widened in surprise at my incoming attack as he hastily raised the base of his sword to block.
Kido’s reaction was what I had hoped for, and as his sword rose to his chest, I quickly retracted my dagger before following up with a kick to the base of hs saber.
The unexpected attack sent the surprised Kido reeling backwards, while also simultaneously dislodging the weapon away from his hand in the process. I also used the force of my kick to send myself forward, back towards the President who had yet to recover from our brief exchange earlier.
I raised my dagger in front of me, and just as I was about to attack, an inexplicable sense of danger overtook my body.
This sense of danger was one I had been slowly nourishing, a sort of sixth sense born from my recent increase in [Sensory Remapping]. It was a sense that I had yet to grasp hold of completely, and one I’ve dubbed with the temporary name of [Battle Sense].
I did not bother to check what the source of the danger was, nor where it originated. My body reacted faster than my mind as [Shadow Sprint] activated and I instantaneously teleported a few feet away from my previous location.
From this safe vantage point, I could see two individual spear of [Black Gemini], the pieces of the original spear that I had bisected earlier, One came from the right, while another came from the left. They both rushed forward at a blistering speed and collided at where I previously stood.
Had I been a second slower, I would have undoubtedly been ruthlessly pierced.
Seeing such a horrific scene and imagining an equally as horrific outcome, I could not help but shiver in shock. I mused over Cielle’s tactic of reusing her failed attacks. While actually solidifying [Black Gemini] took a considerable amount of mana and required no small amount of concentration, moving them around was just as easy as moving around her regular [Black Gemini].
Their speed alone was scary, but the way she purposely shaped them into imitation javelins was just too ruthless.
Glancing back at where the two black icicles had collided, I noticed that the spears had not stopped, and continued forward. Rather, they continued to ram right into each other, completely obliterating the two projectiles into a thin fine powder of black.
Despite having lost her arduously produced weapons, Cielle still wore a self satisfying smile. Seeing this smile, a wave of inexplicable danger washed over me, but I could not deduce why.
Seeing this happen close to their vicinity, The President and Kido hastily retreated backwards, a knowing look written all over their faces.
“Hina!” Cielle suddenly yelled from behind the others.
“Got it!” Hina responded back with calculating smile as she quickly brought her hands forward towards me.
I felt a sudden gust of wind, and immediately knew Hina had used [Aerokinesis].
“!?”
It was at this moment that I finally connected everything together, and realized what their plan was.
With Hina’s use of [Aerokinesis], the tiny particles of Black Gemini which Cielle would have been hard pressed to control individually, scattered throughout the battlefield, and ominously approached me.
Even though I realized their plan, reacting to it was a whole ‘nother problem. By this point, it was already too late. Cielle’s [Black Gemini] had completely dominated the battlefield, and almost instantaneously, my skin began to tingle in pain.
Of course, my skin was just the first and mildest part of my body to feel [Black Gemini]’s effects. What made this attack scarier than Cielle’s normal solidified spears was that this had the potential to seep into every pore and orifice of a man’s body.
My eyes were next to feel the pain, as nail biting pain constricted my pupils and caused my eyes to uncontrollably tear up. Although this was bad enough, it was not the worst. Just that slight gust of wind that Hina caused, sent a good portion of the black particles rushing towards my mouth and nose and into my body.
First it was the insides of my cheek, then my throat, and finally, a burning sensation in my chest overwhelmed me. My lungs were instantly racked in pain, and I could not help but double over and let out a dry, yet pain filled cough.
The irritating itch on my skin, the stinging sensation in my eyes, and the searing pain in my chest, their dangerous combination almost brought me close to unconsciousness. As I fought through the pain, I forced myself to look at Cielle, who stood back in the distance.
Instead of an angry, reprimanding glare, I could not help but float a dangerous smile. Cielle, no- the combination between Cielle and Hina, without a doubt, these two were the most dangerous out of the four. Their battle sense, creativity, and teamwork were unparalleled.
The weeks I’ve spent training and fighting alongside them weren’t all in vain. These two were like dragons among sheep. Tigers in the middle of a petting zoo.
Without pause, and after seeing my pain, Hina immediately initiated attack. She mentally focused and out from the pavement, a thick wall of concrete sprung up from behind me.
For hina, controlling concrete was a difficult process, but nonetheless, possible. For her mastery of [Terrakinesis], soil was the easiest, rocks and concrete were a bit more difficult, but possible, and things like metal or steel were still far out of her reach.
The concrete/earth mix wall behind me instantly shot out several earthen spikes, almost piercing my body full of holes. I practically threw my whole body forward in order to barely scrape by. With the debilitating pain that wracked my system, just moving was both a mental and physical challenge.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Before I even had the time to relax, more attacks rained down upon me.
Hina’s tactics were unabashedly ruthless. She wettened the floor with water, haphazardly threw fireballs hurtling in my direction, and further pushed particles of [Black Gemini] my way through the use of wind.
I frantically avoided all this, all the while my body continued to endure through the pain in my skin, eyes, and chest.
I was forced into a corner as I helplessly jumped a step forward. As if she had been waiting for this opportunity from the start, Hina cracked a slight smile before she snapped her fingers.
Instantaneously, two concrete walls shot up from the ground and surrounded me on both my left and right sides.
After they had risen just above my head, the two walls immediately rushed forward, directly towards me with the intention of squashing my body whole. Seeing their incoming approach, I knew I could not dodge.
I had completely fallen into her trap.
I gritted through the pain, and immediately activated [Hard Scale].
BAM!
Both approaching walls collided with my stationary body. Rock and debris flew everywhere, and dust wafted through the air. The walls had collided, but like a stone statue, I did not waver.
Other than a few superficial scratches, thanks to my timely use of [Hard Scale], I was practically unharmed.
I glanced at the others from a distance, as I coughed out another dry but pain filled cough.
“He actually stood up to that…”
“What’s more he’s virtually unharmed…”
The President and Kido both wore shocked expressions. In comparison, Hina and Cielle’s faces were grim, yet knowing. It was as if they had expected this outcome from the very beginning.
I would have commented on their faith toward me, but unfortunately, the pain in my lungs still persisted. It was painful just to breathe, much less talk.
Seeing me currently in pain, the President and Kido began to regain their composure. For some reason, their current expressions really irritated me. The fact that they hadn’t entered the fight when Cielle’s [Black Gemini] wafted through the air, plus the fact that my pain caused them to calm down, those were all really irritating things for me to think about.
Because of my rising annoyance, I immediately used [Sensory Remapping], and shut off my sense of pain. Instantly with the alleviation of the pain, I could not help but leak out a light hearted sigh. The irritation on my skin, the stinging in my eyes, and the gruesome pain in my chest- all these things immediately disappeared.
My face immediately shifted from an unsightly grimace to a laid back poker face.
I shot a glance toward Cielle and instantly felt bad. At first, I truly did resist using [Sensory Remapping] to cut off my pain. After all, this was probably the strongest counter against Cielle’s magic, and I felt that it would have been a bit unfair to just destroy her combat potential like that…
If Cielle couldn’t use her abilities to the fullest, then it wouldn’t be very good training now, would it?
Cielle returned my glance with one of her own and the instant our eyes locked, her mouth instantly formed a cute “o” while her eyes simultaneously widened. Her expression was one of realization.
“I forgot…” Cielle murmured absentmindedly. “I completely forgot that Hide could shut off his sense of pain…”
Hearing her sister mumble out incoherently, Hina’s eyes also widened in realization. “... We’ve been fighting the others for so long that we’ve completely forgotten about Hide…”
Seeing their flabbergasted expressions, I could not help but feel a bit guilty. With the cheat like function of shutting off my pain, I completely suppressed Cielle’s battle potential.
She helplessly shrugged as she sighed while a bitter expression overtook her face.
As for the two guys who overheard Cielle and Hina’s short exchange… their faces were that of unbelievable shock.
I could already guess that these two had sparred previously with Cielle on numerous occasions, so they probably knew just how scary she truly was when she actually tried but… to think that Cielle whom they were helpless against had been completely suppressed by me so easily…
“Well, ready guys?” I light heartedly spoke out from amidst their current state of shock. Hearing my easy going speech, the duo immediately looked at me with apprehension. The two braced their weapons at the ready, but they did not rush to attack though. Traces of [Black Gemini] still lingered in the air around me after all. Even if they did not affect me, they could still affect the both of them.
Seeing their lack of initiative, I had no other choice but to move into action. After all, this was still a sparring match, so if no one attacked, it would not be a very good training session.
Without warning, I rushed forward. As I ran, my body was almost completely parallel with the ground, and in less than 2 seconds, I had already closed the distance. Since this time around, I was actively aiming to hit them, I switched weapons and attacked with my cyclops club.
“Aah!”
“Ouch!”
“...”
...The resulting battle was that of a one sided beat down.
While they did fight somewhat fiercely, the difference in level and battle prowess was apparent from a mile away. The fight was completely one sided. It was only Hina’s interference that stopped the whole situation from turmoiling down into an instant defeat. And even then, with Hina’s help, they still could not land a single scratch on me.
She interfered with her water and earth magic, but in the grand scheme of things, those attacks were ineffective. In fact, as the battle drew out and I grew more and more comfortable with their particular fighting style, Hina’s magic became impediments to Kido and the Prez. I began using their bodies as meat shield against Hina’s attacks.
This was highly effective, mostly because the majority of Hina’s spells are Area of Effect type skills. They were the type meant for crowd controlling. On a battle like ours, where friendly fire was an increasing risk, Hina simply could not pull out her true potential, especially with my particular fighting style put into play. My habit of sticking close to my enemies and using their attacks to my advantage severely put Hina at a disadvantage.
“Ahhhh… I give up, so tired… My body hurts…” In the middle of the fight, the President, who could not land any hits and received both friendly and enemy fire was came close to giving up.
“Nnn… Not yet…” With a flick of her risk, Cielle sent a stream of [Blue Gemini] floating towards the Prez, immediately healing him. All the while she did this, her expression was that of complete stoic boredom.
Seeing her make such a face, I could not help but feel a tinge of guilt once again.
“Ahhhh… No… You revived me again…” Meanwhile, the President, who had gone through several heals bemoaned as he almost cried out in agony.
Albeit boring for the person in question, this was what Cielle’s role had ultimately culminated in the end. She was a healer and thanks to her constant heals, the President and Kido were subjected to near constant fighting. They were like undying, unwilling zombies. No matter how badly they got beat, they still rose to receive more beatings.
They wanted to quit, but Cielle was just too dependable.
This sort of senseless battle dragged on for a while, but nobody dared to stop it.
****
6 hours passed.
In the end, I fought everyone.
It wasn’t just Cielle, Hina, the President, and Kido… No, it wasn’t just with those four, but I also fought with the other combatants. In truth, I was fighting nonstop, and by the end of it all, I felt it was a bit unfair.
Throughout the day, everyone had the opportunity to switch out and rest intermittently. Everyone had breaks and time to rest, everyone but me that is. I was the only one who was constantly battling. It was like I was the main attraction, and they all formed a pleasant line to take turns and ride.
It was a completely unfair, but they shoehorned me into fighting using the excuse that “fighting me was like fighting the dungeon boss, so it was good experience”.
By the time 6 hours passed, not even I could withstand that much continued activity. Before anyone could object, I took a self imposed break and immediately left the scene. Everyone continued to spar, while I went away to go get some rest.
In truth, although I say that, I didn’t really have anything to do. Taking a nap might have been good, but honestly, I wasn’t feeling particularly sleepy, and my stamina regenerated whether I was asleep or not.
I was practically loitering around the east building with nothing to do, and I didn’t want to go back to where the others were, in fear that they would drag me back to fighting.
With nothing to do, I racked my brain for anything, before eventually deciding to go downstairs. I wanted to check on the Gilas.
I traveled down into the basement and was quickly engulfed into a world of darkness. Unlike before, when this place was dominated by Gilas, this darkness was not all encompassing. I turned my head to the right, and down the hallway that lead into the unfurnished classrooms, I could see the faint flickering of light near the distance.
I walked towards the light, and soon, a girl who sat idly besides a closed door came into view.
By her side was a lit, makeshift torch. The torch partly illuminated her face in an orange radiance. Looking closely at the girl, aside from her slightly thinly appearance, one’s first impressions would be “ordinary”. With her knee-length skirt, and unassuming grey cardigan, she was dressed in a way that did not attract attention. Her slightly messy, yet still relatively neatly braided hair, coupled with her round spectacles, and droopy eyelids, her appearance culminated to the singular phrase - “ordinary”.
She did not have an eye catching appearance, but that did not mean she was ugly or unattractive. Rather, she was the type who looked prettier and prettier the more you stared and scrutinized.
She was the same girl I had originally assigned as look out back at the library. Her name was Narise. I only remembered her name because this girl was a bit… odd.
The girl- Narise, who had been idly sitting down, lost in a sort of daze saw me approach from a distance, and immediately jumped in surprise. Upon realizing it was me, she immediately bolted up from her seat and stood upright with absolute attention. Like an awkward soldier, she saluted me, all the while arching her back as straight as possible.
“...I told you not to do that everytime I came down here….” I sighed while halfheartedly dismissing her sort of cringe military salute.
“Haha…” She wryly rubbed the tip of her nose while awkwardly smiling. “Sorry, Boss, it's a bad habit.”
“That’s a weird habit to develop… also, I told you to stop calling me boss.”
“Sorry, Boss.” She apologized automatically.
“I told you to stop.”
“Sorry, Boss.”
“...hah…” Seeing no further point in the conversation, I dismissed the issue with cadence.
“So, what brings you down here?” Narise asked lightly as she adjusted the tip of her glasses. One of its lenses had a crack running through it.
“Ah, well nothing important really…” I did not admit that I wanted to escape from the others upstairs because I was tired of fighting. “I just wanted to see how the Gilas were doing.”
Narise was the guard/look out of the Gila eggs. She was the sole person who watched over the Gila eggs that had been left behind after the battle. This was not something I had assigned, but rather something she had actively volunteered for. And for the past few weeks, watching over them was practically the only thing she did.
It would not be an exaggeration to say she has spent almost every waking minute down here. Even at night, when everyone slept, she slept in the basement beside this door. When everyone ate breakfast, and had the rations distributed, hers would be set aside separately, because she preferred eating down here, where she was closer to the eggs.
For a girl, the thought of being alone for extended periods of time in the dark by herself would have been a terrifying thought, but unexpectedly, Narise was completely unperturbed by it all. Rather, she did not find anything odd about her current behavior…
The moment I mentioned even the slightest interest in the Gilas, Narise's expression immediately brightened. In her excitement, she haphazardly waved the lit torch around, as she nearly jumped up and down in glee.
“Oooh, I’m glad you asked,” She practically oozed out eagerness. “It’s been so long since someone asked me that question. Their doing fine, just fine! Here, let me show you.”
Without further prompting, Narise excitedly opened the door to the room, and walked inside. I quickly followed inside.
The classroom was rectangular in shape and lacked any furniture. Torches were evenly placed on all four walls, and illuminated the room with a sort of solemn vibrance. The room itself was completely empty, except for the empty eggshells that laid strewn in the middle of the room. A thin film of green, non-acidic fluid oozed out near those empty eggshells.
Back then there had been 3 dozen eggs. Almost half of those eggs hatched, while the other half still remained in incubation.
All this while, Narise, had been having “fun” interacting with the new borns.
From besides me, Narise waved the torch around excitedly. Her expression was a mix of adoration, motherly care, and reverence.
Further inspecting the room, near the corner of the classroom, 10 tiny bodies, smaller than that of a chihuahua, laid curled up into a ball. These were the newborn Gilas.
Upon spotting the Gilas, Narise almost squealed in excitement, as she began to quietly approach them. I followed her closely, all the while keeping a hold of the handle of the dagger I kept stored beneath my shirt.
As I approached, in the receding darkness, I got a better view of the newborn Gilas. The Gilas were small, and rather stout looking, much like the appearance of a human baby. The only difference was though, that this “baby” was covered from head to tail in a thin layer of exoskeleton.
Unlike their predecessors, the newborn Gilas had pale, almost translucent white exoskeleton. At first, because of their appearance, I originally thought that the newborns were a completely different species from the Black Plated GIla, but as it turned out, they were still labeled as [Black Plated Gilas] when I used [Identify] on them previously. In the end, I could only conclude that the Gilas might just come out white, and were the type who gradually changed the color of their exoskeleton as they grew older, or maybe as a response to their environment.
“Last night, two of them hatched!” Narise exclaimed as she excitedly stared down at their docile figures. “At first, I was kind of worried, you know, about what to do now that the little “family” has increased, but luckily these little ones subside over the left overs from their egg shells… although it might be a problem when they get older and they completely eat up their shells... By that point they’ll need a new source of food… ah! What if they older ones end up eating the younger ones! We can’t have that, we really can’t have that, family shouldn’t be eating other family members!”
Narise prattled endlessly as she continued to one sidedly talk about her “obsession”.
“Ah, that’s right, I haven’t told you about their names yet, have I? Well, we certainly can’t have that… This one’s Kuro, this one’s shiro, that one over there by the wall is Midori, the one newborn that hatched last night… that one over there is named Aka… I know, I know what you might think….
I realize that I’m pretty bad at naming names, and calling them all by color is pretty mundane, but even I can add in some variation!
The one to your left is named Weiss, the one next to Weiss is Schwarz, and that one is…”
“Narise.” In the middle of her long narration, I could not hold back anymore and interrupted.
“Huh? What’s up Boss?” She asked, an unknowing innocent look danced on her face as she momentarily pried her attention away from the newborn Gilas, and turned to look at me.
“...”
Seeing her growing excitement and attachment that bordered on obsession, I grew a bit worried. These things before her weren’t pets. They were monsters. Things that had the potential to kill and harm humans.
“Narise, I know you're taking care of these guys, and I appreciate that.” It was because of Narise's obsession over the Gilas that made her stand out from the others from the cafeteria group, but still, her obsession over them was growing at an increasingly rapid pace as the days passed by. “It isn’t smart to get too attached to these things.”
“...”
“In the end, you know perfectly why I agreed to let you raise these things in the first place, right?”
“...yes…” A quiet, almost inaudible voice escaped from her slightly parted lips. That single word was cracked, and full of raw emotion.
“... In the end, we might end up using these things as bait, resource material, or leveling fodder. Getting attached to these things… in the end, it’ll only be painful… especially for you.”
“...” Narise entered a contemplative silence. Her head was tilted downward, and the shadow casted by the flickering torches made it almost impossible to discern what type of expression she was making. After a while, I could hear a quiet, resigned sigh escape from her throat.
She looked up at me with a slightly off expression. Her face was neither crying, or smiling. A sort of blank stare that conveyed nothing yet everything, all at the same time.
Narise opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She hesitated for a moment, before finally managing a cracked, “... I know…”
She looked away once again and this time, turned to stare at the pack of docile newborns that lay resting beneath our feet. She stared for a good second or two before unhesitatingly, she bent down and reached out for one of them.
She grabbed an idle Gila- the one she had pointed out as Weiss from before- and hugged it close to her chest, much like one would a small kitten. The image of her hugging the Gila was like that of a mother would to baby, or a child to her beloved pet dog.
“I know what you wanted to do with them from the start…” She explained. In a quiet voice. Her arms gently caressed the Gila with a sort of fond tenderness. The Gila- Weiss, had resisted at first, but slowly stopped as it cuddled deeper into the crook of Narise’s chest. “I knew, but… I couldn’t help it.
I always loved animals since I’ve been little, and even now I love them. I probably love them more than people… haha…. And I know, I know that monsters are the ones responsible for ruining… ruining everything. Their the ones that attacked us, they're the ones that are keeping us locked up in this school, they're the ones that killed a lot of my friends and classmates… I know that but…”
Her gaze which had grown exceedingly harsh and bitter as she had continued to speak, suddenly turned gentle. She looked down at the creature within her arms, before sweeping her gaze out to look at the other white clad Gilas around her. “...These little guys have done nothing to harm us. They are innocent. And, you know, it's kind of funny… They’ve just been born into this world, but already, their hated…
...I find that… really pitiful.”
A sense of deep and ingratiating pity. It was this sort of emotion that drove Narise to her attachment. To her obsession. By clinging to something that hadn’t been exposed to the hells’ of this world she… she found a reason to struggle.
I kind of understood what she meant. It was a vague sort of kindness that was truly unneeded in this new type of hell, but… even if it was unneeded, as a person, as a human, it's impossible to not have them.
Afterwards, I did not pursue the matter any further.
I inwardly reasoned to myself that having someone look after these things while the others were away wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I mean, despite her obsession, she was doing a fairly good job as a caretaker… Plus, who knows, with her current interactions taken into account, if she survives through this whole ordeal, maybe, just maybe, in the near future, Narise will end up developing a monster tamer skill or something similar.
This was a vague sense of expectation.. One I did not mind clinging to…
For two hours, I spent my time down here, in the darkness with the strange girl who liked monsters more than people.
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Author's Note: If you liked this chapter, and this fiction in this general, please don't forget to rate and review.