The Forsaken

Each step I took was like a mouse frightened by a cat who was following it.

After all, I was walking with the same person, who randomly barged into my room. But that's not the actual reason why I was frightened. It was the damn punch that she gave me…

She should've woken me up normally, well technically it's my fault, I shouldn't have fallen asleep in the first place.

But still… She could've at least been a bit more gentle towards me. Well, maybe it could be her way of a 'good morning'.

Besides the fact that she punched me, I still feel somewhat grateful towards her. It would've been worse if Hiroshi saw me lying on the ground back there, he might've even kicked me out if he saw that. And she also reminded me of the shower that I wanted to take last night. Though it wasn't my intention to open the door without clothes on, it somehow just opened, don't ask me how it happened.

Also, it looked like she was caring about me back there, considering the fact that she was patiently waiting for me.

Perhaps the line of that book worked on her, well if that's the case I'm grateful towards the book, even though I don't know the title of it. Well, I'm not planning on using her in any way, but building a relationship with her might help me.

After all, she did treat me a bit differently compared to the last time we interacted. Still, I can't be sure, I don't know her at all, it was only my second day at this place.

After a few moments, she stopped. Turning her gaze towards me, before she started talking.

"We're here."

It was quick, I didn't even realize the room was this close. I shouldn't have left my room last night, everything was a waste of time, I simply sighed.

Once again she turned her gaze towards me, her expression was strange, a confused one, but I somehow sensed an angry one behind it though I don't know why.

"What's wrong?" I asked, unsure of why she was glaring at me like that.

"Hmph!" She turned her head away, crossing her arms, while her cheeks were slightly puffed.

"…"

"What's up with her?" I said, in a low tone, against the wall behind me.

"!"

"I heard that…!"

After that, we both just glared at each, however the two of us wore different expression.

"…"

"…"

After that, everything seemed quiet.

Eventually, she broke the silence by opening the door, the same one that I opened last night.

It was light, I could see the room that I couldn't properly see before because of the darkness.

But this time there wasn't a strange feeling, perhaps it only happened at night. I'm sure that something was up last night, like some kind of mysterious being lurking around in the shadows.

The room had a huge table, and it looked like the room was used for meetings or an audience. Even the chairs were a piece of art, everything was maximally detailed.

Hiroshi sat on one of the chairs, patiently waiting, while looking at the ground.

"Welcome, good to see you again!"

Hiroshi gently waved at us, after seeing us entering the room, though on the surface it was just a smile, but I could sense that he was going to announce something unexpected to me.

"What do you think?" Hiroshi asked, while ignoring eye contact and looking at the ground.

Before I could answer his question the girl who'd punched me instantly started stepping forward after hearing his question.

"Why did you choose him?"

Hiroshi chuckled, both shocked and confused at the same time. He didn't expect a question like that from her, from the reaction he gave it seemed like she wasn't quite the talker.

"Now, don't make a habit of asking these unnecessary questions. I wouldn't pick a random person, and especially a hopeless one."

She looked at him with disbelief.

"… T-then why?"

"…"

"It's because—"

Hiroshi didn't say the reason, it seemed like he was suddenly distracted by something I couldn't see. He was staring at the air, and he looked beyond surprised. The expression he gave was somewhat strange, it wasn't exactly fear—it was something else, something I'm clueless about.

I knew that he could be seeing things, considering his old age, but I knew that wasn't the case.

"… What's wrong?"

She tried to come closer, but stopped, unsure of what to do, it was clear that she thought that it was her fault that this happened. Though I'm not sure if it's something bad, I don't think this is something that you would consider "good".

In a low voice, he slowly uttered in a weak voice."I guess everything comes to an end…"

But it was something I couldn't understand, what did he mean by that?

By the look of her face, she didn't quite understand what he meant as well.

Was it something only he knew, something only he'd understood?

Moments later he reassured us that it was nothing and that we didn't need to worry about it.

With a reassuring smile, Hiroshi began to speak again.

"Well, let's move on to the real subject."

The real subject?

What could he mean by that? From the look of his usual expression, I can't imagine what he's going to announce.

Suddenly he stood up, slowly walking towards the girl and gently placed one of his arms on her shoulder.

"Well, first of all, this is Lucy, you're neighbors with her, and I hope you're going to get along with her."

He looked deep into my eyes before continuing.

"Of course, that's not the only reason why I called you here. I asked Lucy to bring you here because I knew she would, others wouldn't have done it."

Is that it?

It wasn't.

Once again he glanced at me and took a deep breath before he spoke again.

"Remember? I was also offering you a job, though it's not a usual one, and neither an easy one."

Without hesitation, I nodded.

"I accept it."

I didn't even know what job it was, but I knew I would have regretted it if I didn't accept it, and I don't have anything to lose either way.

"…Oh? Very well then…!"

And from the look of his eyes, it seemed like he was expecting me to accept it anyway.

Hiroshi patted on the chair next to him gesturing me to sit down.

He cleared his throat.

"… You're lost aren't you?" He said, in a warm tone, and his eyes were reassuring, reminding me that I'm not alone in this world where I knew nothing of.

I was confused by his sudden words.

"Lost? … Sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

He leaned a bit closer towards me, closing the distance between us, avoiding eye contact again.

"Then… Explain yourself, who are you…?" He said, expressionless, and finally looking directly into my eyes.

"…"

"I—"

He was right, I don't know myself, but did he notice that?

He stood up, turning around, making me only see his back.

"The first time I saw you, I noticed your eyes, your clothes, everything I saw was strange, it was something I couldn't understand. The crowd only saw the surface, but I saw part of something that didn't make sense, and even now I don't understand it." He said, in a calm and somewhat in a way to make something sound understandable when it isn't.

"…"

What in the world…

I was left wondering about his words, he kept saying things in a way I could hardly understand.

But before I could even begin thinking, Lucy stepped forward, standing between Hiroshi and me.

"Hey! Hey… Are you finally losing your mind? Perhaps you're getting old, you aren't suited for this anymore. Your words aren't making any sense…"

But instead of being annoyed or upset, Hiroshi just patted her head, with a reassuring face that everything was fine.

"Geez, are you kidding me? You're taking him in… Someone even you don't understand?"

Lucy is caring, but I've noticed she isn't great with words, especially with Hiroshi. Though I'm not sure if she's always like this with him, this might've happened because I was here.

But once again, it was something I had a hard time processing.

Hiroshi doesn't understand me? What is the meaning of that, I mean he's talking like he knows and understands everything, but for me it was different, it seemed that wasn't the case for me, yes, he doesn't understand me.

And I don't know if it's good or bad, but from the look of his face, he doesn't either, but then why? … Why did he help me back there?

I wanted to panic, my mind was blown away by the sudden thoughts, but thankfully I didn't.

After all, all this happened in a single day, I couldn't possibly process all this information in a single day—no, it wasn't even a day, not even half a day, it was night back then, and now it's morning. To be more precise, everything happened way too fast. I could barely process everything, and I wasn't prepared for any of this.

But I'm pretty sure Hiroshi was aware of this, I know that he saw me last night. But without him I wouldn't have a place to stay, living in those nasty conditions is a death sentence.

In the middle of my thoughts, Hiroshi sat down on the chair next to me again.

"You must've been confused by my words, although they're a bit strange, they're the truth. Remember about the legend I told you about?"

I gave a quick nod, and then he continued.

"It was strange, you have something different from everyone else. And… Your fate."

"What about it?" I asked out of curiosity.

"…It's something beyond—"

Before he could finish Lucy jumped him, putting herself between us again.

She took a small step towards Hiroshi, leaning a bit against his shoulder before she whispered something I couldn't hear.

Hiroshi sighed.

"Fine…" Hiroshi said, giving in to whatever Lucy said.

"… I'm welcoming you as a new member to The Forsaken."