[HARU'S POINT OF VIEW]

Koshimizu-senpai rushed to the man and checked his pulse. The pent up air in our lungs was relieved when she confirmed that he was alive.

"It seems that this man has been trapped here for a while and no one noticed." said Murayama-san.

Fujimoto-senpai senpai followed and then crouched to pick the man up. "But don't you think it's quite strange? He had supplies of food." he remarked, inspecting the surroundings. "If he was left here by accident, why does it seem like he was prepared to stay here for long periods of time?"

Koshimizu-senpai let out a deep breath. "We don't know the answers yet, but we need to get him out of here." she said.

Fujimoto-senpai started to lift him up after partially transforming his upper half for some extra strength. "Should we get him out first and continue the mission later?" he asked.

"I think." Murayama-san responded.

So we decided to carry the man and leave the building. But as we were about to exit the room, the ground started to shake.

"What the hell?" Fujimoto-senpai exclaimed.

The low rumbling of the floor alerted everyone, prompting us to rush out of the building. We started to run through the dark hallway back to where we came from, but I guess things wouldn't be so easy for us. Hundreds of blood-red glowing eyes blocked our path in the distance. Deafening screeches filled our ears, keeping us from communicating. We immediately stopped our tracks and tried to turn back but we saw the exact same horrifying sight.

"Oh no! We're surrounded!" shouted Koshimizu-senpai.

"Shit... shit shit shit shit." Fujimoto-senpai muttered, slightly trembling.

I felt small hands grabbing me by the arm tightly. It was Murayama-san. "W-What should we do!?" she asked in fear, it was almost hard to hear her due to all the noise around us.

"Murayama-san, I'll handle this side, please handle that one." I replied, pointing to the other end of the hallway.

"Eh!?" she yelled before finally mustering her resolve. "O-Okay!"

She will handle the direction where the exit was. They'll slowly tear through the monsters until we get out while I blocked the ones that were behind us.

Well then, let's get started.

"Fujimoto-senpai, Koshimizu-senpai, please help her clear the monsters as much as you can." I said as I walked past them.

"Leave it to us." Koshimizu-senpai replied, determined.

I took a deep breath before extending my arms forward. One after another, dozens- no, hundreds of huge, monstrous rats collided with my barrier that blocked their path. Each second that passed, the barrier's form felt heavier and harder to maintain as they kept pushing through, desperate to break in.

I took a quick glance behind me and saw my clubmates slowly but steadily clearing the path for us. Koshimizu-senpai was causing an electroshock-chain each time a group of monsters touched each other, taking multiple enemies out in one fell swoop. Murayama-san kept pushing on and blew the monsters away using her ability. Though it wasn't strong enough to deal serious damage to the enemies, she was very useful in keeping them at bay. Fujimoto-senpai multitasked. With one hand, he carried a full grown man, with the other, he slashed any monster that got close to us.

Good. They're creating distance now.

"Haru!" Murayama yelled out my name from afar.

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Slight cracks from my barrier started appearing from the sides, creeping their way to the center. That familiar mixed feeling of headache, nausea and my ribcage tightening almost made me lose balance. I turned my head to glance behind me, and they were already by the exit while I was left behind to keep the hallway from being flooded by viscous rats once again.

"You go ahead!" I shouted back, hoping my voice would reach them amidst all the screeching noise. Well, I assumed that it did, but I only received gasps and looks of disbelief and terror as a reply. "I need to hold these monsters!" I added, but that didn't seem to register in their minds as they still stood there in silence. "You get that person out of here and call for help! I'll wait for you!"

"I'll stay with you!" said Murayama who was about to walk up back to me when she was stopped by Koshimizu.

"No! There's nothing else for you to do here!" I responded. "This is not a Code Yellow Expedition! There was a mistake! Call for help before my barrier collapses!"

Though reluctant, they decided to rush out of the building. If they truly believed the words that I said, I should be the only one left in this place by now.

"Well then, let's see what you got for me."

. . .

. .

.

[ FLASHBACK: Two days ago]

The Fujimoto club sat around the long table inside our club room with the club president at the back end of the table. In front of him was his laptop sitting on the table.

"A total of 57 emails, Haru-kun." he said calmly though overwhelmed. "57 requests had been sent to our club."

"That number is absurd." I commented.

"The top clubs in this school receive 80 emails per week on average." said Koshimizu-senpai who was sitting at the front end of the table. We turned our heads towards her as she spoke. "Even for an above average battle club, 57 requests is a tough number to reach."

That was true, we used to receive none, actually.

"This is probably thanks to Haru-kun." Fujimoto-senpai remarked while smiling at me. "The news about you going toe to toe with a Code White opponent boosted the reputation of our club."

I scratched the back of my neck. "It's not like I was the one who defeated it."

He stood up from his seat and walked up to me only to tap me on the back harder than he should have. "Man, you don't understand!" he said laughingly. "Most of us couldn't even imagine doing what you did! Nope! Never!"

"He's right, Haru-kun." Koshimizu-senpai seconded.

Fujimoto-senpai laughed out loud. "Oh man! Meeting you and taking you in was such a huge blessing!" he added. Well may be that was too much, even I cringed at that statement. "You deserve a reward or something!"

"A reward?" I looked up at him.

The group pondered for a few seconds but came up with nothing. "What do you even want, Haru-kun?" Koshimizu-senpai asked.

"Nothing in particular." I replied.

Fujimoto-senpai scratched his head. "It's kinda frustrating that we barely know anything about Haru-kun. You're always silent and would only speak if necessary." he remarked. But from my point of view, I always tell too much. "Hey, Murayama-san." he said, turning his head to her who was sitting across me. "You've known him longer than we have, right? Any ideas?"

She shook her head. "Not really. We've only known each other since the start of the school year when Kazuki introduced him to me."

Fujimoto-senpai let out a sigh. "This is bad. We have no idea how to reward you at all..." he said in agony.

Murayama-san lifted a finger as if she'd come up with something. "How about.." We all turned our attention to her. "How about letting him choose our first expedition?"

Fujimoto-senpai and Koshimizu-senpai's eyes lit up. "That's brilliant, Murayama-san!" they exclaimed.

With that, I was sitting on Fujimoto-senpai's seat, scrolling through the emails on his laptop with my clubmates behind me. We've received all sorts of requests like escort missions, extermination, etc. The people behind me could hide their excitement as we were reading through our options.

"These are all interesting missions." Koshimizu-senpai remarked.

I kept scrolling down until I reached request number 28 in which I saw a sneaky odd name. Laughable. I had met quite a few strong individuals. They had many differences, such as their ideals, goals, or even ways of fighting. But they all had one thing in common.

They were hungry for a challenge. They always stood on top of others, there was barely anything that could get their heart pumping. No stimulation, no danger, their strength was merely for display. And so when an opportunity to test their limits arrive, they always foolishly and arrogantly dive in for the thrill.

"What's wrong?" Murayama-san asked.

"Is that what you've picked?" Koshimizu-senpai leaned closer to the screen. "Monster extermination, code yellow... Uh.. request sent by.... Watanabe?"

. . .

. .

.

[ END OF FLASHBACK: Present]

My footsteps sounded quiet on the surface of the barrier beneath my feet. I refused to walk on the floor flooded by blood.

The pieces of cleanly-cut rat flesh scattered all around the hallway, even the walls was painted by blood. Though this wasn't the worst thing I had ever smelled in a long time, I hurried up my pace. Aside from it reeks in here, my clubmates might return soon.

I didn't have to search for long. After reaching the second floor by stairs, I was met by none other than Watanabe Ichika. She stood across me with her arms across her chest and a demonic grin on her face.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation, 715-san."

[END OF CHAPTER]