Back To Another Start?

CHAPTER 16

Bearing through the intense pain he felt at that moment, he managed to lean up against the wall, but his throat still ached, so he couldn't bear to look around.

There were eight other people stuck in the cave with him — a toddler included — he was about two years of age.

His sister was still next to him, attending to his wounded arm. There weren't any medical supplies near and healing the wound completely meant that he would have permanently lost his left hand.

" Hey guys, you should come see this!" A female voice called out from the distance.

They all ran to see what she was calling them to while his sister remained, leaning against the wall by his side with her gaze fixed on his wounded arm. Her reaction seemed off, making him think there was something obviously wrong with the wound.

" The sword he used, what did it look like?" She inquired, slowly reaching out her hand towards his head.

He slowly turned towards her at that moment, throwing in another question of his own,

" Was it you who saved me?"

" You were screaming so loud I was able to figure out where you were from the first moment." She said, forcing in a slight giggle as she chuffed her hair with his hand, "You'll be fine, I promise."

He had never been used to getting the little brother treatment, nor did he care whether she was trying to console him — whatever it was she was doing just felt really annoying.

" I'm fine." He scoffed, turning away his gaze.

He gritted his teeth at the pain he felt immediately after that, muffling the groan that was about to escape his lips.

" Stay here." She said, running off into the distance.

" Hey..." His voice drifted off once again in his bid to call her back.

The floor of the cave was still slightly muddy and he could see clearly that where she was headed wasn't where everybody else had gone off to.

*******

A few minutes went by, and his aching body slowly began getting better. He could turn around his neck with any troubles as well as move his remaining limbs but his back still ached.

The moment when he hit his back against the wall, just before he lost his left arm, had left a scar on him, and he would be lucky if it was only temporary.

After leaning against the wall for about an hour, he stood up and slowly staggered forward without any particular destination in mind.

" Where are you going?" A voice came from behind, hinged and a bit pitched as well. It sounded like that of a boy who was suffering from a cold.

He turned around to see a boy leaning against the wall with a toddler in his arms. The child was asleep while he was continuously tapping his right foot on the ground, his right hand placed atop his ruffled white hair — an obvious indicator of their family relation.

He had fair white skin and emerald green eyes — a trait that stuck out like a sore thumb and, coupled with the birthmark by the side of his face, was all it took for Megumi to know who it was.

He was the Fujiboma household's first biological son — eight years of age and suffering from the same defect as him — lack of external energy affinity.

He paused for a moment, staring intently at the boy before giving a reply as he turned around and walked further away,

" I'll be back."

" Great, they all left me behind, again. If this continues on then we're all gonna die here." He thought, looking towards Megumi as he staggered off into the distance.

The wounded boy had to keep himself going by supporting himself with the walls of the cave, walking into one of the three routes that split in the middle of the cave.

One of them was obviously where they had come from but he was headed to where his sister had just come from. He knew that she was going to retrieve his lost limb while risking the confrontation with the high-grade demon.

He couldn't let that happen, considering his current condition and the situation at hand. If there was one person he was sure to stand by his side, though not the best, then it would be her.

" Rikiyo!" He called out at the top of his lungs, slowly staggering forward, " Rikiyo!"

He kept on moving forward after calling her name a few times — he couldn't sense any release of abnormal amounts in the distance which meant that she wasn't fighting. Her hearing was decent enough so she would be able to easily hear his voice considering the distance.

As he walked forward, he was suddenly tugged by his arm and pulled into a corner by the cave.

" Shhhh."

He was immediately shushed by a familiar female voice as his back was forcefully but slowly placed against the wall.

" Why didn't you stay back?"

" It's dangerous back there, the demon will kill you if you try to fight it." He warned, his gaze intently fixed on her with a look of concern on his face.

She paused for a moment, slowly peeking into the distance,

" There are two other routes going towards the left and right a few meters from here; I was checking to see if I could find an exit, and then I was going to come back for your missing hand." She explained, slowly taking another peek.

" You should go back. Tell the others that I'll be back shortly."

With that, she looked at him one last time before turning away and taking a step forward.

" Hey wait..." He called back to her, instantly prompting her attention as he held out his mercurial finger, "Promise me you'll come back."

She did the same as well, and thus, their pinkie swear ritual was initiated. He had other plans in mind for that moment, a thought that had come to him at the last minute — perhaps his way out of there? But it all depended on his sister.

Ding!

[Target identified]

[Would Host like to bind with the target]

[1%... 12%... 76%…]

[Binding Successful]

" Megumi, let go." She said, pulling away her hand and promptly snapping him out of his daze.

He quickly apologized and turned a bright smile towards her before walking back as she had asked him to.

He arrived back at the middle of the cave a few minutes later to see all the others who had run off walking around the place with horrified looks.

He could hear their hearts beating out of their chests even from the distance and the glare they sent towards him the moment he walked in only made his fears worse.

" One, two... five..." He stopped midpoint of his head count, possibly the very cause of their fears.

The once ten-numbered group now had three members of the head Boma families missing. The two boys he saw earlier had gone missing as well.

" Does he know where they went?" One of the girls asked looking towards him with a cold stare.

It was obvious what it was all about. They found him apart from the group and on the verge of death — of course, some idiot would find a reason to pin the blame of bad luck on him, even find a reason to blame for it.

A shroud of resentment would grow over time until they begin to see him as a wall in their way, something they have to deal with no matter how he distances themselves from him.

Were he to let one wrong word slip, then a long argument might as well be what it would take to have the whole group come crumbling.

" I have no idea who you're talking about."

" Those eyes of yours, I know for one that you're obviously lying." Another girl cut in.

" That's enough, Ayane; let's not start unnecessary fights." A boy intervened; he seemed to be the oldest of them all, " Let's go through this one more time; maybe we'll figure something out."

" Right now, all I know is that all routes from here don't lead to an exit and I'm not sure if there are others. My familiar can't go too far, unfortunately, so we still have to our current strategy."

" Er, there're two other paths leading out from here." He pointed out, pointing his fingers behind, "That's where my sister went."

" Two? I'm sure there weren't any routes there an hour ago."