Chapter 2

Stepping out from the other side of the gate, I looked around and saw that I, alongside the rest of the makeshift party, was now inside a long cave lit up by several glow stones. This sight is one I've come to know very well because most dungeons end up being large caverns or caves. That's not to say you will only run into those as a hunter. No, sometimes you'll encounter extensive catacombs or vast battlefields. You may even step into a misty forest filled with decrepit trees.

No matter where you end up, you must always have your guard up. Because hiding behind every corner could be a monster waiting to attack and end your life. A fact I've come to know very well being an E-ranked hunter. Because to those like me, even a standard goblin could mean you'll be in for the fight of your life.

"Good, now that everyone is here. Let's continue onwards. Stay alert, people." Tanagawa said as he brandished his sword and led our party forward.

Our small party began advancing. It was decided that the healer, Sakura Emiko, would be placed near the rear guard for her protection. Considering that this was, in fact, her first-ever raid, Tanagawa placed her back so as not to be attacked. This meant that I would be guarding her from behind. Being an E-rank hunter meant that my power level was only slightly stronger than that of a civilian. This resulted in me being placed towards the back of every party I joined to not get in the way and to allow those stronger than me to handle the more powerful threats. Annoying as that was, it was the most logical course of action.

Up ahead, the fighting had already begun. Several feet away, I saw Furutani unleash a small ball of water that impacted the chest of a tall, wolf-like beast. Sending it crashing back into the wall of the cave with a grunt, the beast quickly regained its bearings and roared at the mage.

Tanagawa moved back to avoid a wide slash from a beast with serpentine-like features. Just as it was about to try and take a bite out of the man's neck, Tanagawa stabbed his sword into the beat's neck. Killing it. The rest of the party began engaging with the rest of the magic beasts, using swords, daggers, and even magical attacks.

"Damnit! One of them got past us!" A familiar hunter with two daggers in her hands yelled. This was Yamada Kanon. A C-ranked assassin-type hunter who I've encountered frequently in my dungeon raids.

Running past her and several other occupied hunters was a goblin with a jagged dagger in his green hand. The goblin was slightly shorter than the average Japanese adult, but its size shouldn't fool you. I watched as the goblin's wild yellow eyes locked onto Sakura. The goblin dashed towards her with a grin that showed off its crooked teeth. Sakura took shaky steps back, but due to her inexperience and fear, she became frozen. Leaving her wide open to any attacks.

I eyed the situation quickly and ran towards Sakura as well. I was able to reach her with seconds to spare, thanks to me being much closer to her. I grabbed her shoulder and yanked her behind me. Sakura gasped as she fell back on her butt. The goblin croaked in annoyance due to the fact that its prey was taken momentarily. It then thrust its dagger towards me with the intent to skewer my stomach.

Using my past experiences with goblins, I used my much longer leg to kick it in its chest. Stunning it. This, however, didn't go without consequence. The goblin changed the trajectory of his thrust at the last second, which caused his dagger to stab deeply into my right thigh. I gritted my teeth and pushed through the pain; using my carefully created opening, I swung my sword vertically. Inflicting a long but shallow cut across the goblin's now bloody chest.

"Geh!" I groaned and fell on my left knee. Warm blood began to seep out from where I was stabbed. I pressed down on the injury with my right hand to ebb the blood flow.

"L-look out!" Sakura yelled in fright, drawing my attention back to the goblin. I looked up and saw the green magical beast dashing towards me. It raised its dagger over its shoulder with a sinister grin on its face. I raised my sword and glared at the goblin defiantly.

Bring it on, you bastard! Just before the goblin could stab his dagger down into my throat. A man dressed in reinforced clothing and a chest plate slid beside the goblin. He bashed it away onto the cave wall with a swing of his shield. The man roared and sliced the beast's head off its shoulders with a wide swing of his broad sword. The man grinned in satisfaction and turned to me with a condescending expression.

"It seems that whenever we meet, you're at death's doors, Hikitani. You really should consider retiring." The man said as he swiped the blood of his sword with a swing of his arm. The man had long, ashy blond hair and brown eyes. His name was Mori Kenji. A C-rank fighter hunter that I've had the displeasure of running into several times during my raids. "E ranks like you just bring the team down. Just do yourself a favor and let us do all the work."

I glared at the man's retreating back as he laughed. I turned my attention down to my bleeding leg and winced. Damn, at least the goblin missed my artery. "Let me help!" Sakura said as she ran to my side.

I watched as she flipped open her book and raised her hand over my wound. Bright green magic erupted around her hand and over my injury. Slowly, I felt the pain disappear as my wound stitched itself together.

"It's Hikigaya? Right?" Sakura asked as she looked up from my leg. I nodded. "Thank you… for saving me. I just froze. I thought I was ready to be a hunter, but it's not as easy as everyone said it would be."

"Don't mention it, it was nothing." I said. "Those who say that don't know what they're saying. They just talk for the sake of talking. You never know how you'll react in a situation until you're in the middle of it. So don't get stuck on what happened; you'll get better; it is your first time in a dungeon, after all."

Sakura smiled at me and nodded. My words seemingly improved her mood. I looked away from her and stared down at the cave to see the raiding party finish off the remaining magic beasts. After a few more seconds, my injury was gone. The only indication that I was injured was the blood-soaked around my jeans and the thin slit in the fabric. Wow, this is what a healer is capable of?

"There, how's that?" Sakura asked with a smile. I looked over my leg and found it pain-free, as if it had never been injured, to begin with. Good as new. Standing up, I looked down at Sakura with gratitude.

"Better. Thank you, Sakura." I said. She nodded and stood to her full height; she was a few inches shorter than me.

"It's the least I can do. You did save me first, after all." Sakura said. I nodded, and we began to catch up with the rest of the party.

As we walked, a trail of dead magic beasts lay strewn around the cave. Their bodies were already stripped of their essence stones and any valuable items. Sakura looked at them with fear and disgust. From then on, our raid continued to move through the dungeon. Scavenging and mining anything worth of any value while harvesting essence stones from the defeated magical monsters.

At some point, I even managed to defeat a goblin by myself. Earning me an E-ranked essence stone. The battle between us was close, and I suffered several minor injuries, which Sakura healed quickly. I apologized every time she had to heal me, and she waved my apologies away. She simply said it was her responsibility to heal the party she was a part of. At that point, I learned that Sakura Emiko was a nice girl. Someone who tried their best to be kind to everyone. She reminded me too much of Yuigahama.

After an hour of fighting and exploring, we all reached an odd, large opening lit by red torches. Looking ahead, I saw Furutani waving us over with a large, excited grin. Sakura looked at me with a confused expression.

"Is this the boss room or something?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure. In my experience, you don't typically see anyone in the raid team look pleased to find the boss." I said.

"What's the matter? Did you find the boss room?"

I asked as Sakura and I reached Furutani and the rest of our raiding team. They were looking inside the opening with grins and wide eyes.

"Take a look for yourselves!" Furutani said with a face-splitting grin and followed behind the others as they ran inside the room.

Frowning at his odd behavior, I followed after everyone and looked over at what had their undivided attention. Turning my head, I felt my sharp, dead eyes grow wide at the unbelievable sight. Sitting in the center of the large cave opening was a huge pile of essence stones and mana crystals. There were stones of different classes, not just E. Essence stones ranked B, A, and even S were there! Just waiting to be picked up!

No way! With just a sliver of that, I can pay for Komachi's college tuition!

"I'm going to be filthy rich!" Mori said with a hungry grin. The rest of the party echoed his sentiment and ran towards the pile of riches. Even Sakura and Furutani ran towards the treasure trove, where they each picked up a white, star-like stone in their hands. I followed behind them and picked up an essence stone myself. It was the first time I ever held an A-ranked essence stone, and a small grin grew on my face. An A-ranked stone could easily fetch several million yen alone.

Wait… this doesn't make sense. Why is something like this just sitting around in the open? I looked around the room and saw that instead of the usual rough cave formations I had grown accustomed to, there were now smooth stone bricks that looked out of place in the cave lining the walls. Turning my head back to the room's only entrance, I now saw two massive doors resting against the room's stone walls. It was then that I saw it. A large tablet-like sign rests high above the top of the cave entrance.

To all those who fall to temptation, may God have mercy on your soul.

I spun around towards everyone with panic crawling up my chest. "We have to get out of here!"

Furutani and Sakura looked at me with confused looks as they paused to collect more essence stones. Mori turned to me, annoyed, as he stuffed his traveler bag with more stones. "Huh!? The hell are you talking about, you shitty E rank-"

That was all Mori could say when suddenly several explosive cracks echoed inside the room. The floor beneath us exploded into chunks and collapsed into a seemingly endless abyss. The sounds of panicked screams and yells filled my ears as I felt a sense of sudden weightlessness come over me. My hands grabbed the air uselessly as I fell deep into the darkness below. My yell flooded my hearing, and everything around me disappeared.

"Aaaaghhh!"

x x x

One Year Ago…

I sat in one of the police station's interview rooms with cold indifference. My eyes remained frozen on the two documents on the table before me. The documents were crinkled and damaged as if they were soaked in water and then dried with a hairdryer. But the state of the documents wasn't what drew my attention. It was what was written on them.

One document was a vehicle registration form, and the other was an Identification card. With numb fingers, I picked up the ID and read its contents. Hikigaya Naomi. My mother. My deceased mother. On the card was a picture of her, smiling politely. I placed the card down gently and then raised the vehicle registration. It was for a 2005 Toyota Corolla, and the car was registered to a Hikigaya Hideaki. My father. My deceased father.

"Here you go, Hikigaya-kun. Have something to drink." A police officer said with a somber expression. He placed a cup of freshly made tea in front of me. His eyes looked at me with pity.

Off the side of the table sat a woman dressed in a gray suit; she was also looking at me with an expression of sorrow. The police officer walked back around the table and took his seat. "Now that you've had time to inspect them, can you confirm that these documents belonged to your parents?"

I looked down at the documents and nodded numbly. "Yes. These belong to them."

"I see… what I'm about to say will be hard to hear, Hikigaya-kun. But please bear with me. It's vital you listen well. You see..." The officer said slowly.

From there, he explained that a dungeon break had occurred a week ago in Funabashi. In said break, several dozen innocent people were killed in the battle that followed between the giant magical beasts that escaped the gate and the hunters that were there. The officer then went on to explain that in the aftermath of the intense fight, investigators found the remains of all those who were killed, leading them to find these two documents belonging to my parents. After searching several days and nights for any sign of them, it was revealed that they had not survived the battle. These documents and security camera footage showed that they were, in fact, there. The footage I was shown further cemented that my parents were there. That they died there. I watched them die.

If I had been focused during that moment, I would have noticed that the footage would cut away to a different shot whenever the hunters were on screen.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Hikigaya-kun. If we need anything else from you regarding the investigation, I will reach out to you personally." The officer said as he stood up and collected all the presented documents. "Sato-san here will now take over."

The officer then left the room, leaving me and whoever this person was alone together. The woman nodded at the police officer with a smile and sat down in his once-occupied chair. My eyes zeroed on the badge hanging from her breast pocket. It read 'Child Protection Service Agent'. "Hello, Hikigaya-san. My name is Sato Aiko. As I'm sure you've noticed, I'm an agent for Japan's Child Protection Services. I'm sure you must be grieving, but we must discuss your and your sister, Komachi-chan's, current situation."

Sato began to devolve into a long talk regarding the situation between Komachi and myself. Due to her young age, there was a solid argument to bring her into foster care. But for myself, considering I was only a few months away from being eighteen and a legal adult. I would be forced to take care of myself despite the situation.

I wasn't sure how it was possible, but I felt my heart be ripped from my chest again. I've just lost my parents, and now I was facing the very real possibility of losing my sister. My emotional state must have been evident to Sato because she began talking about how I could avoid having Komachi taken from me. If I wanted to take custody of my sister, then I would have to prove to the government that I could financially provide for Komachi until she turned of age. It was only thanks to our specific situation that Sato and the government were being as lenient as they were.

"If you think you are unable to provide for both yourself and Komachi-chan, then we can-"

"No!" I said fiercely while bolting to my feet. "I won't be losing Komachi! I can provide for us both. No matter what!"

From that point on, it was all a blur. I had to sign off on dozens of official documents for Sato to confirm that I was fully intent on providing for my sister. I wasn't sure how I would do so, but no matter what. I would not lose my sister.

x x x

The next few days after that were hard. Komachi had taken the news terribly. She was devastated and inconsolable. I did everything possible to help her in any way I could, even if it meant that I had to bury away my grief and sorrow. I had to be strong. I couldn't break as well. Once the funeral was over, Komachi and I met with the family lawyer to discuss our options.

Due to our parents having a life insurance policy, we were granted a decent-sized sum of money. That money would help us stay afloat for the next few months, but it wouldn't last; things had to change. So, with a heavy heart, I ended up selling our family home and moving us to a small but affordable apartment near Yachiyo. The only thing left for me to do was head to Sobu to inform them of my next move.

"Are you sure you wish to proceed with this, Hikigaya?" Hiratsuka-sensei said somberly. I nodded; my expression was stern and resolute.

"I am. I can't take care of Komachi if I don't work." I said and handed her several forms. The forms were all signed by myself, indicating that I would officially be dropping out of Sobu High. Hiratsuka-sensei frowned but took the papers regardless of what she was feeling. She placed those papers down and stood up; she offered me a small smile.

"Very well then. If you ever need anything, anything at all. You have my number." Hiratsuka-sensei said and hugged me. I felt the walls I built around all my bottled-up emotions shake. Ready to break. No. I can't. I have to be strong. After a few more seconds, I pulled away.

"Thank you. For everything."

"Don't mention it, Hikigaya. Take care of yourself."

x x x

"Hikki! Hikki, wait!"

I stopped mid-step and turned around. Standing outside the school's main gate, I saw Yuigahama, Yukinoshita, and Isshiki looking out of breath. As I watched them try and catch their breath, I couldn't help but notice that I hadn't seen any of them in the past month or so. The seemingly world-shattering conversation we had in the club room seemed almost insignificant.

Maybe I shouldn't have come during a school day.

"Is it true, Senpai? Are you... are you really leaving Sobu?" Isshiki asked. The other two girls nodded alongside her question.

"It is." I said. Hiratsuka-sensei must have told them.

"Hikki, are you... are you okay?" Yuigahama asked while taking a half step forward. But despite herself, she seemed hesitant to get any closer to me. They all did.

"Of course not. My parents are dead, and I sold off my house." I said coldly. I watched Yuigahama flinch slightly. But with everything on my plate, I didn't care too much.

"That's not..." Yuigahama whispered with tears in her eyes. Yukinoshita looked like she wanted to say something, but a look of regret overcame her usual calm and cool demeanor.

"Hi-Hikigaya-kun... I-"

"Listen." I said, cutting Yukinoshita off. "I understand you're all worried about me, but there's nothing you can do or say to help. While you three have to worry about relationships and grades, I have to worry about how I'm going to put food on the table for Komachi and myself."

I turned around and started walking again. "I suggest you three just move on. Soon enough, things will return to normal. You'll see."

"Hikki..."

"Senpai."

There was so much I wanted to say to them. So much more I wanted to do. But if I kept looking at them, I knew the dam I had built would crumble before them. Knowing how they are, they wouldn't let me leave if I did. So I pushed them away. It was better this way. There was no reason I should drag them down alongside me.

Something genuine, huh? In the end, I was the one who couldn't say what needed to be said. Without that, how could they understand?

Goodbye.

x x x

Authors Note

Hello, everyone. I hope you enjoyed today's chapter. I decided that this story will be taking up a two-chapter per week upload schedule. So, expect a new chapter every Tuesday and Friday.

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