Chapter 10
After a week of recovery, Hisashi was allowed to be discharged from the hospital. At first, he even almost fell to the floor after being in bed for almost more than two months if not for Sukehiro and Ryuya who assisted him.
"Ya really thinned out, huh?" Ryuya said. Although Hisashi already recovered, his body still took the brunt of heavy injuries and a long coma so he is still quite a bit skinny compared to his usual appearance. Especially because he isn't healed through normal recovery magic.
"Yeah. Don't worry, it won't take me long to defeat you and brother." Hisashi said with a smile before Sukehiro hits him on the back of his head.
"Shut up. You're not even allowed to train for months and you want to catch up to us? You have to be my bathroom seat first before that happens."
Soon, Hisashi's life returns to normal. He also starts to attend his classes. Although his peer's opinion of him changed, they still have a negative impression of him and some of them even blame Hisashi for what happened to Koyori because they know that they always hang out.
This, of course, didn't affect Hisashi, and even started to hang out more with Koyori and some of her friends with a positive impression of him.
After some days of his normal life, he decided to take Koyori's secret about her apples.
"We don't have classes tomorrow right? Then come to the house tomorrow early." Koyori requested to which Hisashi agreed.
As early as sunrise the next day, Hisashi appeared at Koyori's house. There, Masaru was waiting for him. Koyori already told her parents that she and Hisashi would hang out the next day.
"You may be her savior but if you hurt her, I wouldn't forgive you, understand?" He questioned.
"Yes sir!" In which Hisashi saluted. Koyori came running down the stairs and the two started running to the mountains with Koyori leading.
"I thought you're not allowed to be exhausted?" Koyori asks as they jog.
"Yeah. But occasional exercise is allowed."
After half an hour's trek from the foot of the mountain, Koyori points to a small hole in the mountain. The two enter the hole which can barely fit a 6 feet tall man. Contrary to its entrance, the insides of the hole are large. They lit a torch and walk for a bit before being greeted by a seven feet tall rock door. At its side is a three feet stone tablet with a small circle-like space in the middle.
Koyori just looks at Hisashi before taking out her bracelet and inserting it in the said space. Then suddenly, the door made a loud noise
*Rubble* *Rubble*
It then slides open and Koyori smugly smiles at Hisashi. "Let's go," Koyori said before standing on a stone to put the torch in a small metal container for it. She then took her bracelet and enters the door where Hisashi follows.
There, Hisashi was surprised to see a brightly lit room with stones and many different rooms.
"Wha- What is this place?" He nervously asks.
"It is a dungeon," Koyori said and it confuses Hisashi. He thought for a second before Koyori follows.
"Yes. It is similar to the story that you created. Ichika-chan showed it to me while you were sleeping."
"Chan? We're barely three years apart from her."
"Still. It's cute. Anyway, come with me and I'll show you to MY place."
The two then started to tour the place. The place is quite big and there were also different floors. There was a room for books and scrolls, a room for jewels and accessories, weapons and armor, an empty room, a room full of clothes, a room with gold and treasures, a weird unlockable room, and lastly, a room for plants and trees. Hisashi found it weird given that he learned about plants in school, however, it was replaced by excitement.
"There're so many fruits! Not just apples. The middle is apple trees but there's also orange and a mango tree."
"Hmph!" His excitement gave Koyori material to be happy.
"Wait, if this is a dungeon, then how were you able to access it safely." He asks.
"I don't know. However, when I was a kid, three years ago, I got lost after I ran away from my dad. I was stuck in the forest when a voice whispered to me. They told me to follow their voice. There, I saw the bracelet on the ground which showed a lighted path to this room."
"Huh… That was weird."
"Yes, I agree. After that, the voice disappeared, and ever since I started to go here once a month. I always harvested apples. It was even weirder because they rot a lot slower than normal fruits."
Hearing this, Hisashi runs to a nearby apple tree, climbed it, and took two apples. The two ate one each and Hisashi confirmed the similarity.
"If this is a dungeon, then are there many kinds of dungeons? What do you think?" He asks Koyori.
"Ah! Uh… I'm not sure… I only started to call it dungeon a while ago. Also, the key seems to be the bracelet with an apple." Koyori said before handing out the bracelet to Hisashi.
He looks at it before looking at the back of the flat apple and saw a weird engraving. It was composed of 13 equally sized circles with line segments connected to each circle's center point. The thirteen circles were positioned in a way that one circle was in the middle with six surrounding it and another six tangent to the first six.
No matter how he tries to remember anything, there wasn't any memory or dream about this said pattern.
'Weird, I sense a large fixed amount of mana in the engravings. However, it was also faint and as if it disappears as soon as I touch it.'
"Koyori, can you touch it again?" With his request, Koyori touches it again which surprises Hisashi because the mana starts to increase and it flowed through their body. It even begins to light up.
"Koyori! Let go of it!"
"I can't! I don't know why!"
When the two try to let go of it, they found out that they can't. It was as if, they were even being sucked in. The light becomes stronger and the flow of their mana even starts to flow through each other.
Even though Koyori, hasn't even awakened her sorcery, her mana flow through Hisashi's body. The same can be said of Hisashi as his mana flows through Koyori's body.
The light intensifies as the continuous flow of mana goes through the two kid's bodies.