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My lips immediately stopped humming when I heard someone knocking on the clubroom door. I was satisfied with how the books on the bookshelf looked anyway, so after putting the dust brush down, I turned towards the door. "Come in." I said with enough volume before sitting behind my desk.

Kenzou came in, wearing his usual cold expression. In his hands was a piece of paper that I didn't quite recognize. "Good afternoon, Ueda-san." he spoke quietly as he walked up to my desk.

"It's still too early for club activities. What brings you here?" I asked. He placed the paper on my desk wordlessly. I blinked several times, trying to read its contents, but for some reason, I couldn't get past the header. I reached for it to read it again up close and then I looked up to him. "You..."

After a moment of silence, he exhaled deeply through his nostrils. "I quit, Ueda-san." he said.

I looked at the paper again and it was indeed the necessary document for quitting a club. My head went blank. I stared at it for a few seconds before it finally sank in. "But... why?" were the only words I could think of.

"I just realized that I'm not meant for this kind of stuff. You should just find someone else." he answered nonchalantly. "If this upset you, I'm sorry. And thank you for your help these past few months. I learned a lot. Well then, I'll get going."

I wasn't sure if I understood every word that he said, but before I could formulate a sentence to say to him, he had already left.

My hands folded the paper and placed them neatly under the heavy documents on my desk. I felt like vomiting.

How could I blame him? This club had been a mess ever since Ryosuke and Masashi were gone. We tried to recruit new members but none of them were close to passing our standards. Lately, our operations haven't been going smoothly. It was the same for our training too. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if even Shiho decided to quit.

"The inter-campus event is in two months, too." I muttered to myself. Every year, Japan held an inter-campus event all over the country where different schools would participate. There were plenty of programs included in the event, but there was one particular program that everyone looked forward to. It was called "Battle Tournament". Two teams of one to five members that represented their schools would compete in one arena and the winning school will be given the title "Home of Royals". The team that won the competition will be given tougher missions that are almost on the level of what the professional sentinels were handling. Kyoto High held that title for two consecutive years because of Masashi and me before the new members joined. But maybe it's the end of the streak for this school. I doubt that Kenzou would be interested in joining.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I didn't notice the time passing. But I had decided to tell Shiho about Kenzou quitting. After locking the clubroom up, I went to the infirmary where Shiho served as an assistant nurse.

"Oh, you're looking for Narumi-san?" the school nurse took her eyes off of her computer and looked at me. "She left for a bit. Take a seat if you want to wait for her here."

"Okay."

I let myself drop at the seat in the corner. I'd never felt this exhausted before and I hadn't even done any physical tasks. Moments later, I heard rushing footsteps coming from outside. There were several people coming towards us. I let out a sigh, I thought I had made it clear enough that running in the hallway isn't allowed.

As I stood up, planning to check the commotion outside, the door had already been slammed open by Fujimoto Mitsuki who was catching his breath. My eyes widened and my brows furrowed upon seeing his clubmates behind him panting, an unconscious man on his shoulder, and the absence of Takahashi Haruto.

"What the- What's wrong?" I asked, rushing to their aid. I immediately took the man off of Fujimoto's shoulder.

"Ueda-san!" Koshimizu stepped forward, panicking. "We need your help!"

After calming down, we let the unconscious man lie down on one of the beds in the infirmary.

"Now..," I started. "..tell me what happened."

Koshimizu took the initiative and told me about the details.

"Right now, Haruto is still in that building, waiting for rescue!" said Murayama. Worry was evident in her face. "We already called for help but..."

So Takahashi is the main issue here. Then I don't think the situation is as bad as they think it is.

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll go there right now." I said, her eyes lit up a bit.

All of a sudden, Koshimizu gasped. "Guys! He's awake!" she said, pointing to the man on the bed.

We were all startled when he suddenly started screaming, gripping the bedsheets, and flailing uncontrollably. His widened eyes gazed into nothingness. Even the nurse was shocked and backed away.

"Sir!" I yelled, trying to restrict his movements. "Please calm do-"

He just threw me across the room. My back hit the concrete wall on the other side of the infirmary. It had happened so fast that I couldn't react or defend myself. Though it didn't hurt that much at all, I felt a familiar sensation when the man overpowered me.

Come to think of it, there was something odd about the story. Why was a man like him trapped inside an abandoned building with food supplies? As if he was prepared to stay there for a long time? Did he stay there on purpose? Or maybe... someone forced him to stay there...

Takahashi is still in that building right now...

He chose this mission...

The mysterious man with unexpected strength...

Shit! I don't have my sword!

I screamed with all my might. "Everyone!!! Get out of there!!!"

The man on the bed suddenly stopped moving. Until his skin got ripped apart by the muscles that bulged from inside his body. The human that was once on the bed was devoured by the new entity that came from within him, shattering his limbs so that the new ones could break free. His skull exploded as the monster let out a deafening roar. The walls and the ceiling collapsed as it kept growing in size, destroying everything around it.

Just like that, the man had turned into a monster. The same kind that killed my friends.

"Fujimoto-senpai!!!" Murayama screamed. I rushed towards them. My eyes widened as I saw Fujimoto taking a hit trying to protect the three girls behind him.

"Everyone! R-Run!" he muttered as he tried to maintain his balance.

"Get out of here!" I yelled to them and thankfully they listened. They rushed out of the room, leaving me, Fujimoto, and the monster alone.

"U-Ueda-san..." Fujimoto held the huge wound on his chest before collapsing.

I felt my blood running cold seeing him almost lifeless on the ground and his blood painting the floor red. When I tried to run towards him, the monster blocked my path, as if to deliberately force me to watch him die hopelessly.

"H-Hang in there!" I yelled although I could no longer see him behind this huge monster in front of me. "Please!"

[ END OF CHAPTER ]