Chapter 10
“Lay him on the couch!” Ise yelled as he kicked open the front door.
“What's going on!?” Ace shouted in confusion as Ise and Ivory barged in with an injured Roku in tow.
“We’ll explain soon, get Ise his bag first!” Ivory commanded.
Ace ran to the other side of the house, bursting into Ise’s room and tearing through the closet until she found a black duffel bag. With the bag under her arm, she ran as fast as she could back into the room.
“What do you need the bag for? Can you not heal him?” Ace’s face was turning pale as she stared at the gaping bloodied hole in Roku’s kneecap.
“I cannot heal him properly until I am healed.” Ise muttered as he rooted through the bag.
“Until you’re heal-” Before Ace could finish her question, she noticed the bloody mess that was Ise’s arm.
Ise, however, was unconcerned with his own injury. Instead, all his attention was focused on healing Roku.
“Finally!” Ise found what he was searching for and pulled a vial out from his bag along with a syringe.
“What is it?” Ace asked.
“It's medicine. As close to morphine as I could get, with a few add-ons mixed in.” Ise responded as he stuck the syringe into the vial, pulling out the liquid.
“Morphine? What the hell is morphine?” Ivory asked.
Ise didn’t answer, he was too focused on the task at hand. Carefully, he inserted the needle into Roku’s leg.
“Is that going to heal him?” Ace asked.
“No, it just stops the pain and should slow the bleeding. It will help until I can heal him.” Ise began focusing all his energy on healing his arm.
“I can handle the pain.” Roku mumbled as he began to sit up.
“No! Stay down Roku! Don’t move!” Ise commanded, no longer focused on his own arm.
“It’s not my first time almost losing a limb. I’ll be fine.” Roku begrudgingly grunted.
“There is a giant hole through your kneecap! The only thing keeping it attached is a few small strands of muscle on both sides! How are you still conscious, let alone not worried!?” Ace questioned.
“Because I’m in the service of a world class healer.” Roku responded.
The group stayed silent after that. Ise finished healing his arm and made short work of Roku’s knee. In only a few minutes, it was as if it had never happened. But it did. The wounds were gone, but the cause still existed, and they would have to deal with it. Ise laid on the ground in triumph after successfully healing Roku, and Ivory explained what had happened to Ace.
“Don’t tell Lee.” Roku said once Ivory finished explaining.
“I thought you and him were close, you were the one advocating for him when I said we should kick him out. Why do you want to keep him in the dark now?” Ivory asked in confusion.
“......” Roku clenched his teeth, thinking of what to say.
“We should not keep him in the dark. This affects him too.” Ise tiredly said.
“It affects him more than any of us.” Roku cryptically said.
“Is Evan going to try and kill Lee? He and I were the ones he didn’t want after all......If he is going to kill Lee in retaliation, why shouldn’t we tell him?” Ace was confused by Roku’s lack of clarification.
“No, it's not that. I promised Lee I wouldn’t say anything about our past until the time was right. But there’s no avoiding this now.” Roku stood up off the couch and seemingly tested his newly regenerated knee.
“The target that Evan is after......Is Lee’s brother.” Roku clenched his teeth after he spoke.
A stunned silence washed over the room. The revelation meant something different to each person. Questions flooded their minds, who is this brother? Why is he Evan’s target? Where is he? But they all reached the same conclusion: they were already more involved in this than they had realized.
“This brother of Lee’s, I take it he does not live here?” Ise broke the silence with the first question.
“No, he lives where Lee and I did before we came here.” Roku answered.
Another paused silence swept around as everyone tried to figure out what to do next, and how this would affect their next run in with Evan.
“Should we warn him? Tell him that Evan is after him?” Ace questioned.
“Yeah, maybe he can help us. If he’s strong enough that Evan needs to assemble a whole team to take him down, then we won’t need to worry if we get him on our side!” Ivory clapped in triumph at her idea.
“No! We won’t ask him for help!” Roku yelled, the intensity of his refusal shocking everyone.
“Why not? He’s already involved in this, and we got involved because of him! Why should we be targets because of this guy who none of us know except you and Lee!?” Ivory yelled back.
“Stop Ivory! It’s true we don’t know Lee’s brother so it can feel unfair to get dragged into this, but it is precisely because we don’t know him that we can’t make any judgments. Roku clearly has his reasons as to why he wants to keep him out of this. That is evident from his desire to not mention this to Lee. As a team, we need to trust each other.” Ise scolded Ivory for her outburst.
“I agree. We’ve found ourselves in a predicament. We need to prove ourselves at this upcoming event, but now we’re going to be hunted by Evan and his goons, who we know next to nothing about..........Our only move is to face this challenge head on. Evan seems to know a lot about us. Even more than we know about each other. Roku, can you tell us about where you’re from and about this brother that Evan is hunting? If we know who Evan was planning on going after, we can gauge where he stands in comparison.” Ace was uncharacteristically levelheaded.
“...........I can’t. Lee came here for a fresh start, to escape his past. I followed for my own reasons. I told him I wouldn’t say anything, so I won’t. But I can say that what Evan said was true. Diran is the strongest......” Roku sighed in disappointment as he talked.
“.......So, his brother's name is Diran. Thanks for the info.” Ivory leaned all the way back in her chair.
“I’m serious. Don’t mention anything about this to Lee.” The look in Roku’s eyes proved his seriousness.
Before the discussion could continue any further, as if on cue, the door handle began to rattle as someone attempted to open it. The rattling continued for ten seconds, with no sign of the door opening any time soon.
“It's locked!” Ace yelled out.
The rattling stopped as the jingle of keys could be heard before the door was finally opened. Lee emerged, covered from head to toe in mud and dirt.
“Oh, you’re all here. Good. Good.” Lee said when he noticed everyone staring at him.
“Seems like it was uneventful here.” Lee remarked as he walked further in.
“Yeah, no, we got attacked because of your bro-” Ivory was interrupted as Ace not so discreetly elbowed her in the gut, knocking her and her chair down.
“........Which way is it to the shower again?” Lee asked, breathing heavily.
“...Down the hall, first door on the right........We’ve been here too long for you to not know where the shower is.” Roku answered.
“Yeah, no, I know. I’m just kinda out of it.” Lee then walked down the hall and turned towards the door on the left, before realizing his mistake and entering the shower.
“.......I'm with Roku now let’s not tell him.” Ivory got up clutching her ribs.
“No, we can’t keep him in the dark. I know he’s an idiot.......but I think there’s more to him than that. We can’t lie to a teammate like that.” Ace protested.
“I agree with Ace. Even if we wanted to keep him in the dark, we have to prepare for Evan. We can’t all be ready but him, he needs to know that we will be targeted.” Ise said.
“.............Okay. We tell him what happened, but we keep Evan’s real motive a secret.” Roku caved in.
“I don’t care what we tell idiot number one, get over here and heal me Ise I think idiot number three broke my ribs.” Ivory was still clutching her chest.
“I barely touched you! Next time don’t try and tell him what we are specifically discussing not telling him!” Ace yelled back.
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“You were just saying we can’t keep him in the dark! Which is it!?” Ivory argued.
“Who is idiot number two?” Roku asked.
“You!” Ivory loudly yelled, clutching her ribs tighter.
“Stop! Calm down.” Ise tried to deescalate the situation and prevent the team from bickering further.
“The point is we were discussing what we should do, and before we came to a decision, you tried to tell him. It does not matter what I want or what you or Ace wants. We need to decide together. Every mission we have failed so far has been because we have failed as a team.” Ise said.
“We are still failing, because we are deciding if we lie to a teammate or not. We cannot do that. We cannot leave a teammate in the dark, or we’ll never get better.” Ise shook his head in disappointment.
“Yeah........we have to tell him. But we can’t tell Lee why Evan’s after us. At least not until we’ve dealt with him. Trust me on this.” Roku said.
Everyone thought silently for a minute, the only sound in the air being the distant sound of Lee’s shower. For the first time, the house's ambience began to feel like a home.
“......Is everyone okay with that? We tell Lee about Evan, but leave out Diran being his real target?” Ise broke the silence, leaving the course of action up to the group.
“I don’t like the idea of lying to him, but Roku clearly has his reasons. He knows Lee better than us, and maybe his brother is a touchy subject. I'm okay with not telling him for now, but eventually he needs to know.” Ace said.
“Yeah, whatever. If this is what everyone wants, then I'm cool with it.” Ivory calmed down after Ise healed her ribs.
“Thanks.” Roku sighed.
“We really don’t know a thing about each other, do we?” Ivory sighed.
“No, I guess we don’t” Ise also sighed.
“You guys finished here? Because we’ve got places to be.” Lee burst out of the shower with a towel around his waist.
“Huh!? What are you talking about?” Ivory was shocked at Lee’s second sudden entrance.
“Well, I heard you say something about not knowing each other, and that’s exactly what I was thinking about earlier, so I have a solution!” Lee said as he walked toward the stairs.
“Pack your bags, we’re going camping!” Lee excitedly proclaimed.
“Do we have time for that? I thought you left because you had a plan on what to do about the qualifier thing, shouldn’t we be training and preparing?” Ace asked.
“Don’t worry, the two things are connected! Two stones, one bird. You know the saying. Just trust me, get your stuff, anything you might need, we leave tonight!” Lee shouted as he entered his room.
“I didn’t agree to anything!” Ivory yelled back.
The group paused for a moment; the serious atmosphere dissipated because of Lee’s strange conduct.
“Isn’t it two birds with one stone?” Roku asked quizzically.
“.......I think we should go along with it.” Ise said.
“Yeah, we need to prepare, and it sounds like he has some ideas on how.”
“......I like camping.” Ivory said.
“Hm.” Roku stifled a chuckle.
Everyone got up, went to their rooms, and got their stuff ready. They each convinced themselves they were going for different reasons, training, getting away from Evan, but the truth was, everyone just liked camping.
***
“You spent all day setting up.... this?” Ivory asked when they finally arrived at their campsite.
The campsite they arrived at was comprised of a few logs around a fire pit, some tents, a few targets hidden around the surrounding trees, and a trail that lead off into the forest.
“There's a bit more, but yeah, this is it.” Lee answered proudly.
“Why did you make it so far away?” Roku groaned and plopped on one of the logs near the fire pit. The campsite was an hour’s commute from the group’s house.
“We had to go this far out here so our training won’t disturb anyone.” Lee answered as he sat next to Roku.
“.......I call this tent, I guess.” Ace picked the tent furthest out from the camp and put her stuff inside.
“I’ll take this one.” Ivory tried to claim the tent next to Ace’s, but before she could, Roku threw his bag across the camp, into the tent.
“.........Never mind.” Ivory picked the next tent over.
Once everyone claimed a tent, they all found themselves sitting around the pit as Lee attempted to make a fire.
“So... what’s your plan with bringing us all here, Lee?” Ise asked once Lee finally got the fire going.
“I’ve got some ideas for what we need to do to improve, and the training we need to do to achieve that improvement. But first......we need to fix our team.” Lee’s words took a more serious tone.
“Yes, I think we are all aware that this team of ours needs fixing.” Ise agreed.
“So, my solution is......we start over.” Lee said.
“What do you mean? Like start a new team?” Roku perked up, confused by Lee’s words.
“No, I mean we start from the beginning. We need to trust each other to function as a team. Right now, we know close to nothing about each other. So, what we do is we restart, we get to know each other, we start anew, but this time with nothing held back.” Lee’s words caused an air of uncertainty to wash over the group, everyone had something they had been keeping secret, and they were unsure if they wanted to share.
“It’s only fair if I start. My name is, well, I guess I don’t need to literally reintroduce myself....... Anyways, you all know I’m not from around here, but I haven’t said where I’m from. The truth is....” Lee paused and looked at Roku, before Roku nodded, giving him the okay to tell the team the truth.
“Roku and I came from the plateau.” Lee pointed at the distant floating island; the outline showed against the night sky.
“......You’re serious? People live up there!? I thought that was a myth!” Ivory responded with shock, and a hint of excitement.
“Why did you come here?” Ace asked.
“Don’t worry, we’re not running from the law or anything. I just......wanted to restart. Up there I worked as a ‘hero’, basically what an adventurer is down here. I worked on a team with Roku, my older brother, and a few others. For a long time, I was in my brother's shadow. I felt like I had no control over my life. He was stronger than me, faster than me, just better than me. And that was reflected in our missions. I just felt like a side character in my own life. I became sad and bitter. One day after trying my hardest against a villain, putting it all out there, trying to change, only to almost die.......I would’ve died...... If it wasn’t for Diran coming to save me at the last second. After that, I finally just had enough. I realized that if I was to live life the way I wanted, I had to leave. So, I came here, and Roku came with me. That’s why I want to succeed down here. I can’t go back after finally getting the courage to try and change.” Lee finished.
“What was life like up there?” Ivory asked.
“Well, technology was a whole lot better.” Lee chuckled.
Despite Ivory’s fixation on life on the plateau, a different point had stuck with Ise and Ace. They figured out why Roku was so insistent on hiding Evan’s motive. For Lee to come all this way to find his own life and escape his brother’s shadow, only to find out that his brother’s influence had followed him all the way here, it would crush Lee’s spirit.
“I.....” Before Ivory could ask any further questions, Ace began talking.
“I want to protect people. I don’t know where I come from, I don’t know who my parents are, and I don’t know the nature behind my power. My youth was spent going from village to village. Living and trying to do good, until I inevitably messed it up......and hurt someone. I know what it's like to be scared and alone, which is why I want to help people. I have this power which I know can be used for good, but I can’t. The more I try to help, the more people I hurt. But for some reason, I just can’t stop trying.” Ace laughed, as tears fell from her cheek.
“I’d probably be happier if I just gave up and stopped trying.... but I know I’d hate myself for that. I’m tired of running. I’m tired of messing up and running away. I want to learn to control my magic. If I don’t, then I’ve been cursing myself and my strength for nothing. I want to be able to help people. That’s why I want to succeed with this team, with you guys. Because......I'm tired of restarting.” Ace finished.
“Ace......That’s......I-” Ivory was interrupted before she could find the words.
“I used to be a bad guy. Strength was all I cared about. I thought I was the strongest around, and that gave me the freedom to do what I wanted. I went around living my life fighting to fight, no real purpose to it, just fighting for the sake of it. It was fun. Until I lost to Diran. I wasn’t the strongest anymore. And if I wasn’t the strongest, who was I? I was able to do whatever I wanted because I thought I had earned it. I was the strongest, so the world was mine. But it wasn’t, and I’m not. I didn’t know what to do, so I joined Diran. I tried being ‘good’. But I don’t think that changed anything. I know that what I was doing is bad, and I don’t really want to go back to it. But I still want to fight strong people, because I like it. I want to be strong, but I don’t really know why. Why should I be strong? What should I do with this strength? I felt like I should be asking those questions, but I didn’t really care enough to ask them because even though I was weaker than Diran, I still got to enjoy fighting strong opponents with him. Until Lee said he was going to leave, and without thinking, I did too. Maybe it just sounded fun, or maybe there was something else to it. I don’t really know.” Roku nonchalantly gave rare insight into his mind.
“Wow, this is the most I think I’ve heard you talk.” Lee and Ivory said at the same time. Roku just shrugged.
“Well, that’s a lot to take in Roku. I-” Ivory was once again interrupted.
“Like Lee and Roku, I’m not from around here.” Ise started up.
“Are you from the plateau too?” Ivory asked excitedly.
“No, I’m from.......another world.” Ise dramatically said.
“............what?” Lee’s eye twitched as he asked.
“I’m from another world. In my world, there were no magic powers, monsters, heroes, or anything. I was a doctor. I helped heal the sick, not with magic, but with medicine. I lived a pretty ordinary life; I had a wife and kid. One day while walking to the store, I saw a kid crossing the road, and a truck that didn’t see him. I ran into the road and pushed the kid out of the way of the truck at the last second, but I got hit and died as a result. I was met in the afterlife by some deity. They sent me to this world and told me that if I defeated the ‘Great Evil’ that plagued this world, they would return me back to mine and grant me my life back. I was gifted magic to accomplish this task......But I cannot do it. I refuse to harm another person. I am a healer, a doctor, and I swore an oath to never bring harm to another person. That is why I came here. That is why I need you. I need a team strong enough to defeat this Great Evil. Because I cannot do it alone.” Ise pleaded.
You’ve got to be kidding me, he was ISEKAI’D!? Not faux isekai’d like Roku and I, but legit isekai’d. Truck-Kun sent him to the next life, literally, and now he has to kill a great evil that’s just gonna end up being another demon king. I can’t compete with that. What are the odds that the first person who joins my group when I finally break away from being Diran’s side character turns out to be the most obvious protagonist of all time. If I stick with him, I’m literally destined to remain a side character.
No. No. I told myself I’d change. This life is real, there are no protagonists or side characters, only people. I’m changing, I’m improving. I won’t revert. This isn’t a Shonen or Isekai story, this is real life. No more narrating.
Lee reeled in his thoughts before he freaked out, but the shock, and disappointment, showed on his face.
“.......what’s a truck?” Ivory asked, focused on the unfamiliarity of Ise’s world above everything else he said.
“It’s like a wagon or carriage, but it drives on its own, no horses needed. The plateau has them too.” Lee answered.
“How do they work?” Ivory asked.
“Before we go into detail about all the differences of my world and the plateau, isn’t it your turn to share?” Ise asked.
“I don’t really have a tragic backstory or anything. I was born here, grew up here, and never really left. It would be fun to go somewhere else someday, especially to the plateau.........I guess I do have one secret.” Ivory’s tone lowered when she realized she’d forgotten something.
“What is it?”
“It’s......I don’t really know how to describe it. It’d be best if I show you directly, the secret I hold within my case.” She dramatically spoke as she got up and went to her tent.
Lee had been wondering about that case since he first saw her carrying it when she first tried out to join their team. She had brought it along to both their missions but had never opened it. Lee was itching to finally learn what was inside.
Ivory emerged from her tent; Lee’s question looked like it’d finally be answered.
“I forgot it at home.”