Heart of an Ultra (Ultraman Tiga/Oregairu/Anime Multicross SI)

[k4rn0]

Episode 0: The Light of Despair

"Despite being the youngest of the Mars Colonies up to that point, the settlement of Rafael-II seemed to be the most promising. Built on top of an underground ice reservoir, close to the northern polar of the planet provided it with a stable supply of water.

The TPC top scientists had also by then developed its latest line of solar panel model, capable of storing hitherto unheard of amounts of energy. Atmospheric and terra-forming effort also allowed it to sustain large amounts of food procduction and artificial gravity stations made it liveable. It is, by all account, a thriving and prosperous settlement.

-An Introduction to the Mars Colony: On Rafael-II


Rafael-II Colony, Mars, 2027

The tides of people surged upon the street like river after a broken dam; a swirling, rushing mass of bodies pushing and pulling and pressing against one another in a blind panic like a herd of sheep before a pack of wolves. Shrieks and cries and the sound of feet stampeding across the road rose into the air like a terrible, clamouring orchestra.

They were endless; from every nook and cranny, from every small turn and building, from every wide road and every tight alleyway they came. Men and women and children of all ages. Most flee on their feet, others in their cars or in other vehicles, caught in a tight jam. The streets were practically packed with people, it would be like going against the waves of the ocean. In other words, it would be nothing less than suicide.

A tiny hand pressed itself firmly against my own, holding on for dear life. I looked down, and a pair of terrified brown eyes looked at me. "Onii-chan?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The panicked sound of the people as they flowed into the street was near-deafening, but I could hear clearly the words that were spoken to me not an hour earlier.

Keep her safe, Masaki. Whatever you do, keep her safe.

I opened my eyes and exhaled. We have no choice. If we want to survive, it was through the crowd. We can't wait for them to simply die down. It would be too late by then. And I have to-

Keep her safe, Masaki. Whatever you do, keep her safe.

Just remembering those words was almost enough to make me choke. Something wet stung the corner of my eyes, but I held them down. Now was not the time for tears. Tears could come later if we get away-

No.

When we get away.

I pressed the hand that latched onto me. Don't let her go I told myself. Whatever you do, don't let her go.

"Come on, Koharu," I said. "Stay close and don't let go of my hand no matter what."

The girl's eyes widened. She looked at the crowd rushing across the streets. If it was possible, there seemed to be even more people than a moment before. Then she looked back at me, lips quivering. "B-b-b-but, Onii-chan, th-the crowd-"

"We don't have a choice, okay?" I knelt in front of her. Looking at her right in the eyes. "If we wait too long, it'll be too late. The evacuation ships would already have left before then, so we need to get away now."

"I-" Koharu bit her lips. Tears glistened at the corner of her eyes, but she nodded nonetheless. "O-okay, Onii-chan."

She's so brave.

I nodded and stood up. "Right. Like I said, stick close to me and no matter what happened, don't let go of my hand. Understand?"

"Y-yes, Onii-chan." She said. Her grip on my hand tightened and she was holding onto it as if our lives depended on it. Because our lives did depend on it.

We ran, following along the edges of the surging crowd where there were far fewer people, but still enough space that we weren't squashed against the building besides us. I had to keep pace with the crowd, but at the same time, I also had to be mindful of Koharu - she was smaller than I was. Brave, but small nonetheless. There was no way her legs could keep up with mine if I ran too fast.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA…….!"

Suddenly, there came a high, whining sound that pierced through the air like a dagger. The building shook, windows bulging and then shattering into a thousand pieces that fell onto the street. Screams and shouts of surprise followed as people ran and dove to take cover or to avoid the falling glass.

"Get down, Koharu!" Even as I said that Koharu had already ducked. Without thinking, I pulled her towards me, covering her smaller form with my body. Keep her safe, Masaki.

"....AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…….!"

Despite the panicked cries of the crowd, the piercing sound from before did not stop. Scathing it rang; like unwrought iron scratching against rusted steel - screeching and scraping higher and higher until it came to a sudden and abrupt end followed shortly by a single thunderous clap.

The world turned golden for but a moment before the earth shook and reverberated. Once. Twice. Thrice. I looked behind and so did Koharu. The earth shook just in time for us to see the explosion.

A flash of gold lit up the end of the street. Then came an onrush of inferno that swept up the road. The flames bellowed, rising to engulf a pair of buildings on either side of the road. A few seconds followed before the buildings next to them exploded and went up in a firestorm, and then the buildings next to them. And the ones afterwards. Each explosion was bigger than the last and louder and coming nearer and nearer. All the while, the fire on the street rush onwards like a red, burning river. Closer and closer, the fire seemed to flood towards us.

"Come on, we have to go!" I shouted to my sister who had been frozen stiff by the sight.

What followed was a terrible wake. Any semblance of order was dead. Left and right and back, people ran, shouting and screaming, shoving and falling over one another in a blind panic to get away from the explosions. Away from the flame. And away from the source of that terrible shriek that heralded it all.

We ran through twists and turn and ran faster even as we left the explosions far behind us. Through empty narrow alleyways that could choke a cat. Through highway streets that are doubly cramped with people and vehicles. We ran with a hand over our heads to shield ourselves from broken glass and falling debris while our other hands gripped at each other. Faintly, I realized that we were sprinting now, running ourselves ragged…

Fast… We have to move fast…

Everything turned into a blur, we melted into the crowd, becoming a part of the stampeding horde of human bodies. There was no time to think about edges, crowd density, or even the falling debris from the building around us. The only thing we were thinking at that moment is that we have to move. We have to get away.

Keep her safe. I must keep her safe.

Something hot and burning stung my eyes even as I ran with Koharu. The world dimmed around me and a haze settled over my sight. The only things I could think of were my legs, strained and at their limits, my muscle begging me to stop; the stampeding crowd flowing around us, their forms blurry and out of focus; and Koharu's hand, so small, so weak, grasping my hand.

We didn't dare look back. To the terrible shriek. To the rising inferno. To the silent shadow passing through….

We have to get away…

We ran until we find ourselves half-climbing up a gentle slope of a small hill that overlooked the landscape.

"Onii-chan, have we- have we arrived yet?…" The voice beside me caused me to stop dead in my tracks. Koharu looked half-dead. Panting and heaving and covered in sweat.

"Y-yeah…" I said. This is the place. The place where they told us to go. The emergency assembly point for the evacuation. We've finally reached safety.

We weren't alone in that regard. There were other people around us on that hill. Hundreds. Perhaps a thousand. It was a tired and shambling rabble that gathered on the hill. Most stood around aimlessly about around or sitting in the rare empty spaces, or lying flat on the street - too tired, or worse, too wounded to carry on. A dozen makeshift tents had been set up around us.

Scattered amongst the crowds on that hill, I could also see some men and women in white - medics too few to handle this many people.

I looked around us, there were half a dozen ambulances and medical vehicles on the hill long with a few private cars and motorcycles. That was it.

Where are the evac ships?

I looked up, hoping to see something in the sky, but there was nothing. No plane. No helicopter. No ships.

This is where we were supposed to go, right? But where are the ships?

"Onii-chan?"

Panic settled in. No, no, no. Did I make a wrong turn somewhere? Was I mistaken somehow? Or-

"Hey, you there!"

Suddenly, a woman in grey and blue approached us. Instinctively, I placed Koharu behind. On her front pocket, was a golden badge with the letters H.D.I.

The Human Defense Initiative.

It was an anti-kaiju task force founded a few years ago. With the rise of kaijus around the world, an organisation was needed to combat the increasing threat they pose to the people. It was a global organisation with branches in most countries.

Since their founding, the HDI had been involved in countless kaiju incidents ranging from intensive combat operations to evacuations of areas under kaiju attacks to safety protocols establishment for kaiju attacks.

"You alright there, kid?" The woman asked in English.

"We're fine," I replied. "Just a bit tired." I looked around. "Isn't this where we're supposed to be evacuated?"

She shifted uncomfortably, swaying left and right. Underneath her helmet, her eyes were dowcast and tired. "Yeah. It is." She said. She glanced at Koharu then after a while she added in a low voice. "But the evacuation ships have left."

"What?!"

"Onii-chan," Koharu tugged at my sleeve. "Wh-what's wrong?"

I looked at her. Could I tell her?

"Nothing's wrong, Koharu," I mustered the most reassuring smile I could muster. "Nothing's wrong, just… give me a few minutes,"

I turned back towards the woman who'd been staring at our exchange. "When did the evac-ships left?"

"Half an hour ago," She said. "Kid, you need to-"

"How could they leave us like this?!"

"Look kid, there were too many people, alright?" She snapped. "Even if we waited, we couldn't possibly fit them all inside the ships. You'd have to wait until they returned."

"B-but the monster-"

"Kid, calm down." She placed a hand on my shoulder. "You're not the only one stuck in here, okay? Everything's going to be alright. The evac ships are already on their way back here. Five more minutes. Hang on until then, okay?"

I took a deep breath. "O-okay,"

"Good, are you and your sister wounded or something?"

I shook my head. "No, we're fine. Just… just tired."

The woman nodded. "Why don't you just sit down for a moment? Catch your breath. Rest. They'll be here soon enough." Then she frowned. "Is your parent..?

"I… my father is away. On earth. My mother she-" I bit back my tongue. Behind me, Koharu was looking at our exchange worriedly. "She… she…"

"So you're alone here, right now?"

"Y-yes. My sister doesn't know it, but…" my voice dropped to a whisper. Koharu musn't know. She musn't suspect,

The woman nodded, glancing at me and my sister. "There's a tent here for the women and children," She pointed to one of the tents on the hill. "Why don't you rest there for a while and-"

"Onii-chan, what's going on?" Koharu finally had enough.

I opened my mouth to say something, but was cut off when-

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA…….!"

A terrible roar shook the earth.

People shouted and cried. The crowd around the hill reverberated with panic and confusion. Some broke off, running away down the hills. North, south, east, any ways except where the city are.

"Dammit," The woman cursed, in Japanese, surprisingly. She pulled a radio from her pocket and shouted. "This is Hiratsuka speaking. We need those evac ships right now-"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA…….!"

Suddenly, came again that terrible, terrible cry. We both stood frozen, transfixed by the sound. And then there was silence. Suddenly someone shouted and immediately there were gasps and cries. More than a few people pointed at something.

My sister and I rushed to a nearby railing overlooking the settlement. From the top of the hill, we could see the entire colony. Rafael-II was like a pale jewel set in the centre of a red barren desert. Small white igloo-like houses circled the outskirts, divided into neat rows and grids. These were the sub-urban and residential districts where most people live and dwell.

Other large buildings were scattered about the colony. Giant glasshouses enough to cover entire fields worth of crops. Light-grey factories towering like giant steel behemoths; sometimes, standing by their lonesome or surrounded by a cluster of smaller buildings around them. Other times they formed into entire complexes connected to each other by large, pipe-shaped high walks like a giant spider web, silver and glistening. There were the solar farms; rows and rows of azure glass that might have been mistaken for glistening lakes.

The closer you were to the middle of the colony, the more large buildings you encountered along the way - until you reached the very centre of it. Reaching high into the sky, like fingers of frozen ice crystals were a series of marvellous towers and skyscrapers. They might not be as tall as the ones on earth and yet they overshadowed every other building in the colony. White, they shone, usually, like spires made from snow and ice and cut diamond - but sometimes also gold, high at noon or early morning in the rare moments when the sun flared undisturbed by dust or clouds.

Now those same towers shone red and black. Flames engulfed them on all sides, blazing and roaring like misshapen mountain tops, shifting away whenever the wind blew. The buildings around the towers were overrun by inferno, singing them black with soot as the high temperature caused glassess to bend, break, and shatter. Dark grey clouds of smoke loomed over them all, ashes and hot embers rising through the air.

It almost seemed like a gathering of storm clouds rumbling with thunder and flashing with lightning.

What remained of those towers were deformed, black with soot, burning, or a combination of all three. Whatever building wasn't destroyed was already halfway to becoming ruins. They were now little more than jagged spires like rent mountaintops. Nearby, one of the taller buildings swayed before suddenly crashing into the ground, sending plumes of embers to the heaven above and bellowing with a storm of dust across the ground.

And that was when I saw it.

A great shadow loomed behind the dust cloud. Tall, taller than most of the buildings around it. It took a single ponderous step, and the ground quailed at its approach, roads and sidewalks straining and cracking, debris rising into the air. Boom-boom-boom. Like rolling thunder behind a storm cloud.

Its shape was vague, mingling with the smoke and the dust and the flame around it until a shaft of sunlight pierced through the cloud, but there was no mistaking it.

It was the kaiju.

Spoiler: The Kaiju

Gold platings covered its hands and head, shining in the blae around it. In the place of hands, it had a pair of sickles gold and silver along the tip. Its hides seemed half made from stones; dark-red granite around the torso, black bedrock along the back and tail. It stood upon its two legs as large tail swung around behind it, crashing into nearby buildings, and sending them tumbling to the ground.

Its eyes peered around, two pools of molten gold that held everyone who saw them in a frozen grip. There were crystals on his shoulders and chest, the colour of bright, azure blue, like the skies of the earth.

…It was beautiful. In the same way, volcanic eruptions and thunderstorms were beautiful. A beast of death and destruction. The wrath of nature personified.

Slowly, it made its way from the centre of the city down to the outskirts, lumbering and ponderous, but invincible and unstoppable. An unbound force of nature, destroying anything in its path, crushing everything under it.

Suddenly, the crystal on its forehead sparked with lightning. It took me a second to realise what was about to happen. And another second to react.

"Get down, Koharu!"

I grabbed her and dropped both of us down on the ground. Don't let her go, Masaki, their voices rang in my ear. Whatever you do, stay with her.

The world turned white in a blinding flash of light. The ground shook violently. Shouts and screams rose and fell. There was a faint sizzling smell of smoke and electricity mingling in the air.

I held onto Koharu, covering her figure with my body. If something were to happen to her…

No. It's going to be alright. Everything is going to be alright, I just have to hope.

The ground shook again. The thunder was closer this time. The scream, louder.

A part of me, a very small part of me, wondered if it was our time yet. Would it be quick? Over and done with in a flash? Would there be pain? A few more earthquakes rumbled. Sometimes out in the distance. Other times seeming to encroach on us. All too close for comfort.

But I was still alive. Koharu was alive too. Her chest heaved and fell. And she looked half-dead with how tired she was, but she was alive. Unharmed. And that was all that mattered at that moment.

Slowly, ever so slowly, we rose up to our feet. The monster's cries echoed into the air, but we were still alive.

"Look!" Someone shouted. Then suddenly, the people around us cried and pointed towards the sky. Faintly, we could also hear some cheers resounding about in the crowd. We dared to look up.

High in the sky, a dozen or so silver streaks pierced through the heaven like glittering daggers. They were too far for us to look at them directly, but there was no mistaking the white and blue colourings of the planes.

"It's the Human Defense Initiative!" Cheers rose at that. Louder and with more people joining in.

The Human Defense Initiative. Originally a part of the Terran Peace Consortium, it had outgrown its parent organisation, turning into a de-facto independent anti-kaiju organisation funded by many countries around the globe. One of its main duties now was on fighting kaiju, dealing with cases of their attacks, and defending people from them.

For this, they were armed with a plethora of weapons - IFVs, tanks, masers, even helicopters and planes.

And now, they've arrived.

"We're saved!"

"Now that monster doesn't stand a chance!"

"Go get that kaiju!"

More and more people cheered as the planes passed by above us, even Koharu looked in awe at them, for a single moment forgetting her fatigue or her wound or our entire situation.

"-Who ordered the sortie?!" The woman - Hiratsuka - was the only one not cheering, instead hissing into her radio. "We still have civies around here, the possible collateral damage can immense and where are the ground support? Why aren't-"

My head throbbed. Instinctively, without prompting, I brushed my hand across my temple, fingers trying to slowly massage the incoming headache. It did little to help. Images came unbidden into my mind of a creature similar to this one, but different with golden adornments and dark scales, underneath a bright blue sky in a city not on this planet. The memory was hazy, vague, like a dream of a dream.

Even as I tried to suppress the headache, the planes soared above before suddenly plunging at a sharp angle, coming down towards the monster. The sound of their jets and machines blared in the air loud and shrill though not enough to drown the chaotic cacophony below. Closer and closer they came until finally the bombardment began.

Bursts of red streaks of light pierced through the sky like a shower of arrows, travelling in the blink of an eye, and exploding as they found their mark. The kaiju's shrill cry stopped. A storm of dust and debris shrouded the colony.

Loud cheers erupted around the hill. The planes wheeled around, circling above the sky-

-Before suddenly one of them burst into flame as a golden flash of lightning from the shrouded city rent it asunder. There was less cheering. Another burst of lightning. Three other planes flashed before slowly plummeting to the ground, smoke trailing above them as they did. The cheering died. The remaining planes scattered in a blind panic. There was no organisation. No plan. Their flight was haphazard, scattering in all directions.

The dust cloud cleared and the monster emerged, looking no worse for wear. It cried, shrill and high, its voice scathing through the air. Its horn flared with a golden burst and then a flash of lightning erupted from it. The wind howled. Two more planes were torn asunder, burning wreckages leaving a bloody trail in the sky. Around me, there were gasps, sobs, and cries of fear and panic.

I looked at Koharu. She stood frozen like a statue, looking at the battle, no, the massacre above. Her skin had paled considerably.

We can't stay here. I realized. We're too close to the kaiju. (Kovvu. A part of me treacherously whispered. It's called a Kovvu.)

I grabbed Koharu's hands. She straightened up as if electrified. She looked up at me…and then she knew exactly what I was thinking.

She might not have looked it, but she was smart enough for an eleven-year-old. Her hand shook as she grasped mine. Her palm was slick with sweat. She glanced back at the colony. The fighters were circling about the monster, peppering it with all the lasers, missiles, and ammunition they had to little avail. The monster struck back. A flash of golden lightning and one more plane crashed into the colony below.

Then Koharu looked back at me. Her hands were shaking violently now. She opened her mouth, but her lips trembled and her tongue was frozen. Whatever words she wanted to say just wouldn't come up.

I knelt beside her, making sure to look at her eye to eye. She looked back at me. There was terror there, yes, but also determination. And understanding.

"Koharu," I said, trying to sound as gentle, but as clear as possible. "I know you're probably tired now, but we're going to have to keep going for a little while. Alright?"

Slowly, almost reluctantly, Koharu began to nod-

Then suddenly she perked up.

"Onii-chan," She pointed at something behind me. "L-look!"

What is it this time, another monster?

I turned around, fearing the worst before a flash of light forced me to turn back.

Was it the Kovvu? Had it suddenly struck here? But no, this light… it was different. That was the only I could put it. The Kovvu's shots had been like lightning; sudden bursts of gold that sundered all in its way.

This light… this light was all-encompassing. For a single, frozen moment, the world turned white. The figures around me blurred into shadows before the shadows too were swallowed up by the vast storm of light. There were cries and shouts. I could only hear Koharu's voice very faintly though my hand grasped hers as tightly as I can.

Is this the end then?

As I thought of that, the light subsided and I could see once again. Immediately I start looking left, right, and back. That light… where had it come from? That question was easily answered when I looked at the colony below and there it was.

A sphere of light hovered above the ground, right in the middle of the colony, not far off from the monster. It was not as all-encompassing as before but somehow it still burned as bright as it did a moment ago. A harsh light, but no less beautiful for it. Like a white-hot core of a burning star. Nearly impossible to look at, but also impossible to turn away from the moment you lay your eyes upon it.

It was not just me. Everyone was staring at the light. It held us all captive in a hypnotic trance, mesmerizing us with its splendour, forcing us to look at it in all its terrible might.

Voices nagged in the back of my mind, but I couldn't hear them.

Suddenly the light shifted. Arms and legs grew from it. A neck too and a head until it coalesced into a giant humanoid figure, taking the shape of a man. Tall and proud and erect it stood. A Titan, easily matching the height of the Kovvu. Its figure was wrapped with light, bright and brilliant and luminous, shining like a second sun in the middle of the colony. The dust that hung about the air suddenly cleared, chased away by the light.

Something warmed up within me. Hope…and familiarity

"Beautiful…" Beside me, Koharu started. Awestruck.

The people around us didn't seem all that different. Wonder and astonishment filled their faces.

"Wh- what is that…?"

"An…an angel?"

"A giant of light?"

No. A voice whispered. Not an angel. And yet what else was anyone supposed to think when they saw the figure clad in the light?

The Kovvu cried. A high-pitched wail stirred through the air, but the giant of light stared at the monster like a statue. Unmoving. For some reason, it was the most terrifying thing about the it. The Kovvu's horn flashed. Bursts of gold erupted from it.

That was when the giant of light moved.

His stride shook the earth, the ground quaking beneath his feet as he lunged at the Kovvu. In a matter of seconds, he had covered that entire distance, standing right in front of the kaiju. The kaiju did not have time to react before a punch sent it staggering back, lumbering feet pressing against the debris on the street.

The giant did not let up. A high kick on the side found its mark and the kaiju was sent crashing into a nearby building. Dust and smoke filled the air around them, but the giant's luminous figure was as clear as lightning cutting through storm clouds. He charged again towards the kaiju, but a single strike from kaiju's coiling tail forced it back.

Slowly, lumberingly, the kaiju stood back up on its own two feet. Staggering, but not defeated. It roared. A blaring sound like a bellowing trumpet. A challenge. Then it barreled towards the giant. With every single step it took, the earth shook and dust was kicked up into the air as it crashed against the giant of light.

This time, it was the giant's turn to stagger back. He planted his feet into the ground, rending through paved roads as the kaiju slowly pushed it back.

A bladed hand gleamed in the air. The kaiju struck with its sickle-like hand. The giant raised its own hand to defend itself. Sparks flew as the two meet in the air. The kaiju wailed, but the giant was silent. If the blow had done any damage, if the giant felt any pain, he did not let it show.

Instead, the giant spun. The kaiju's own momentum was used against it, its body stumbling as it suddenly faces no resistance. As the kaiju passed harmlessly past it, the giant grabbed hold of its tail with both hands and dragged.

The fallen kaiju clawed at the earth, sickle-like hands tearing through the pavement in an effort to hold onto something, but it was futile. The giant held its tail in the vice grip, dragged it and swung. The kaiju flailed uselessly in the air as the giant spun it around. Once. Twice. On the third spin, the giant let go.

Eighty-eight-thousand mass of flesh, bone, and scale leapt high into the sky before coming down with the mightiest of crashes. The ground shook, some people stumbled and fall, but everyone's gaze was on the fight.

There was a fair distance now between the kaiju and the giant of light. Just like it was at the beginning of the fight. After a while, the kaiju managed to stand back up, but it was not at all unscathed.

The kaiju stumbled about as if dizzy. There was an awkwardness to its gait, the way it walked whilst leaning on one of its legs. It wailed and cried, but its shout was no longer as fierce. It held none of the edge, none of the challenge or bravado it had shown previously and there was a painful, almost sad undertone in its lamentation.

Everyone was holding their breath, but to me, it was as clear as day. The fight was already over. The rest was just a matter of detail. The kaiju knew this. The giant knew this.

Yet still, the kaiju stood up. Still, it roared with defiance, though its voice was a far outcry from when the fight started. Still, it walked, stumbling and limping, slowly towards the giant, sickle hands raised as if to strike. Continuing on either out of spite or out of some vain hope that it might. Just. Stood. A. Chance.

The giant stood still, observing its opponent. Then, as if coming to some understanding and decision, it nodded. Suddenly it drew back its arms, holding them close to its side.

There was a change in the air. Time seemed to stand still as if everything; every person, every creature living or dead, every tree and rock, every buildings and ruin, every dust and debris, every molecule and every atom was holding its breath. The entire world was holding its breath.

Then the giant sprung, crossing its arms in front of it. There came a rushing of air from where the giant stood. The wind whipped at our faces and our hair. A faint smell of iron hung about the air and there was a taste of blood on my tongue.

Slowly, almost excruciatingly, the giant pulled its arm apart wide, spreading them wide across its side. As it did, motes of white-blue light coalesced around it, emerging, stretching, and following the movement of the giant's arms.

The wind turned into a gale and then a storm. A howling and screeching and screaming orchestra rent the air. When the giant's arms were stretched across its body in a crucifix-like manner, that orchestra rose into a crescendo. Until at last, the giant sprung, holding its hand in front of it in an L-shaped manner.

A wailing sound was heard then. It began thin and high, yet piercing all the same until suddenly it exploded and the very air was ripped asunder.

A beam. No. A storm of light emerged from the giant's hands. A white-hot-core veiled beneath dark blue steam. The outpour of energy was tremendous. We were far enough from it, but its power was felt all the same.

The earth around us shook, and people cried out in pain or in panic, but none dared to move away, none dared to take their eyes off, even for a moment. They had to see this for themselves. in the place of hands, it had a pair of sickles.

The beam streaked across the air like a blade clear blue steel and struck the kaiju dead where it stood, sending its staggering back. The kaiju wailed, but its cries were drowned out by the sheer outburst of volume coming from the beam. Sickle hands were raised to defend themselves from the attack, but these were smitten the moment they came into contact with the light.

The kaiju writhed, its body gloweing with the same shade of white-blue beam. Its sickle hands melted, parts of it dropping into the street in the burning husk. The light of the beam seemed to swallow it and all the surrounding areas.

Hopeless. It was hopeless. The kaiju's cries of pain and despair could be heard loud and clear before they abruptly stopped, cut off like an orchestra suddenly cut short.

Then the beam died away and there was silence.

The giant stood still, arms still in their L-shaped form.

The kaiju too had fallen silent. Its arms —what's left of them anyway— were stumps that hung loosely about its side, like the arms of a puppet whose strings had been cut off. There was a gaping hole in the middle of its chest. Its mouth flapped, opening and closing, but no sound came out of its throat. A white-blue thrum ran across its body.

The kaiju took a step.

The giant remained still.

The kaiju took another step—

And fell down almost immediately.

Then, just before it hit the ground, it exploded, its entire body lit up before bursting apart like a supernova. A small mushroom cloud of dust and debris and fire rose poured out from the middle of the city.

"Onii-chan!" A voice from my side brought me back to the present. Koharu.

"Get down!" I said, immediately lying on the ground, taking Koharu with me. We weren't the only ones either. Most of the crowd quickly dove to the ground the moment the explosion happened. Cries of surprise and shock intermingled with screams of fear and terror.

A moment passed and then silence. Koharu and I looked up.

Where the kaiju once stood, now there was a gaping crater in the middle of the city. Dust clouds danced around it, swirling, rising, and dissipating slowly into the air. Not even the ruins had survived the explosion. It was as if that part of the city had never existed in the first place.

Not far away from that crater, the giant stood, tall and proud, and victorious, though its light had dimmed somewhat and I could see the shadowy outline of a humanoid figure veiled underneath the harsh light.

Silence reined on the hill, on the crowd, and on us. Silence seemed to reign over the entire city. Perhaps other people had watched the battle too. From a safe distance on one of the nearby hills, or from under the ruins and rubble of the city. If they had any thoughts, or any comments, or anything to say about it, none dared voice them. A quiet stillness hung about the air until—

"Yes!" A shout, a cry of ecstasy and joy. Beside me, a nearby man leapt, shouting from the steel railings. "That's how it's done!"

It was as if a spell had been broken. It began with the quiet murmurs, the hush whispers, the mutterings said between breaths, before suddenly growing. More and more people talked and much louder than before. There were cries and shouts now, most filled with joy and relief.

"The kaiju, the kaiju's gone!"

"Are we okay? Is everything going to be fine now?!"

"That giant, that giant of light saved us!"

"We're saved thank god!"

"It's all thanks to that giant?"

"What is it, anyway? Is it an angel?"

"Ha! That'll teach that kaiju!"

More and more joined in. Joy filled the entirety of the crowd. Joy and relief from having escaped a so-close death. Even Koharu joined in.

"Awesome…" She whispered, then, much louder still. "That giant's awesome! Onii-chan, what do you think?"

I didn't answer her, rather I couldn't. Despite the joy-filled faces around me, I feel like I couldn't breathe. Despite the euphoria and the warmth and the relief that permeated through the air, an icy hand hovered over my heart, ready to crush it in a vice grip. The cries and shouts of the people were of thanks and praise, but I remained silent.

Something crawled from the back of my mind. A shambling, creeping feeling made its way to my gut. The hair on the back of my hand stood. Fear. I realized that I was afraid. Before I could do anything about it, one man beside me shouted, arms raised towards the giant as if trying to get its attention. "Thank you, thank you! Whoever you are!"

The giant of light suddenly turned around…

…and it was as if a shadow had fallen over it.

It was faint, almost unnoticeable as if a cloud had fallen over the sun. Then it grew. The giant still shone with light, but it was so much weaker, so much…lesser.

With each passing second, each moment, the shadow grew and grew while the light dimmed and dimmed until it was only a faint glow.

Then the light disappeared altogether and the shadow was all that remained.

Spoiler: The Giant of Light?

A shadow. That was the best way I could put it. It was as if I was staring into a chasm leading to a deep, dark abyss. The giant's body looked like it was formed from the bedrock of that chasm - archaic stones deep, deep below the earth that had never seen a trace of sunlight and seemed alive with writhing shadows.

A misshapen figure, a caricature of a human being.

A demon.

There was less cheering now among the crowd.

The worst thing was its eyes; a pair of cold-wite flames smouldering at the edge of the abyss. Light at the end of the tunnel, but not one that promises any peace or comfort. Instead, they burned with a cold hatred that could consume the entire world with their gaze alone. The cheering died down almost instantly the moment those eyes found the crowd.

Run!

I couldn't move. I froze in terror as those eyes gaze upon me. Those cold and merciless eyes. Among the crowd, joy and relief make way for confusion and apprehension before darker emotions took hold. Doubt…and fear. Even Koharu now looked uncertainly at the giant who stood perfectly still.

Koharu…

One word came to my mind. A single, overpowering voice that drowned any other thought I had in that moment.

Run!

My eyes widened.

Immediately, I took hold of Koharu's hand and began to run away from the former colony. Away from the crowd. Away from that giant. Away from those accursed, hateful eyes.

"Eh, o-onii-chan?!" Koharu half-cried in surprise. "Wha- what's the matter?!"

"We need to get away, right now!" I shouted, avoiding the crowd as I did. "That giant… that giant is no friend of ours."

Murmurs and chatters emerged from the crowd then. This one was more worried. More afraid. Some people shuffled about anxiously, I couldn't see what they saw exactly, but I can tell that they'd arrived at the same conclusion as I did. Even as we ran past more and more people, I could hear footsteps behind us, at first wallowing and unsure before suddenly springing along as if to follow our example…

That was when I heard it; the same rumbling in the air as if before a storm. A faint smell of iron…

The hair on the end of my back stood up.

"Koharu! Get dow-"

A single flash of light overcomes us, drowning us in white. I saw Koharu opening her mouth.

A shadow loomed above me, covering or me.

Hiratsu-

And then, I knew no more.

—​

…In a short amount of time, the four Titans later named Darramb, Hudra, Camearra, and Tiga wrecked untold havoc across various parts of human civilizations. Working either together, or at the very least in a concert with one another, they would strike centres of advancements, economies, cultures, and politics. Tokyo, Paris, New York, London, Jakarta, Berlin, Cairo, Istanbul, Delhi, Moskow, Beijing, etc. Very few major cities of large world powers were spared from their destruction.

Human civilization teetered on the brink of collapse. Tens of millions were dead from the Titan's attack as a whole and many more found themselves displaced. The world economy spiralled out of control, various revolutionaries and armed groups turned violent, the TPC's legitimacy took a blow from which it may never recover, kaiju attacks rose to exponential level, and the HDI and SRC were barely keeping it togther. In those twelve months, the world seemed, for lack of a better phrase, as if it was about to end. In that year, humanity had a brief taste of the apocalypse.

It was the beginning of the Year of Darkness

- The Modern Apocalypse: The Year Humanity Stood Still

___
​

Author's Edit: Credit to CaffeinatedDragon for help developing the outline, gists, and other details of the story. It wouldn't have been possible without you.

 

[k4rn0]

Episode 1 Part 1: The Repetitive, Monotonous, Routine Existence of Their Youth Is Changing

Spoiler: Opening Song

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhqRSzKZ_pY

bro·ken adjective
/ˈbrōkən/

1. having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order.
2. (of a person) having given up all hope; despairing.

-Oxford Languages

—

Looking Back On High School Life
Keigo Masaki
Grade 11, Class F

—​

I didn't know what to expect when I entered High School.

I have some conjectures. Some assumptions. Some inkling of a thought about what I might encounter there. But for there to be expectations, there must naturally be some grounded supposition from which to derive an expectation from. The only things I had were guesses.

Truth be told, I wasn't even sure if I should go to this particular school. So many things could go wrong; mistakes waiting to be made.

Thankfully it turns out that high school…. wasn't as bad as I feared.

The lessons were not that harder than I expected. I could keep up with them. The teachers were helpful and kind for the most part. And, surprisingly, I made a few friends… or at least people I like to think are my friends. They were…interesting to say the least with all their little quirks and personalities and flaws.

It took me a while before I realized that… I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed going to class and learning things.

I enjoyed spending time with my friends.

I enjoyed it all. I was enjoying my youth.

But with this revelation, came too a certain fear born from another realization. A sense of melancholy and a creeping, dreadful sense of inevitability.

That was when I realized a sad truth about my high school days; their fleetingness.

No matter whether one likes it or not. No matter how bitter or sweet one's youth was. No matter what one does. No matter if one spent their youth indulging in its spices or dangers, or preparing for that tomorrow that yesterday seemed so far away. Everyone. Every single teenager capable of some semblance of thought has to face the reality that their days of youth will inevitably come to an end.

I like to say that I am a mature person; that I am looking forward to the future. To adulthood, to one day finally do away with my childishness and juvenility, to implement my plans for the future and achieve my lifelong dream.

However, instead, I will do the mature thing and shamelessly admit that I am rather fond of my immaturity and I loathe the thought of one day having to let go of them, even for the sake of my dream.

A friend An acquaintance of mine once remarked that change is a necessity in the world that we live in. She spoke of change in terms of development, of improving oneself to better face the world. It is an idealistic stance, an admirable stance but to it, I want to add one more thing; change will come whether one likes it or not. It is easy to say 'change yourself for the better', but the thing is, change often comes as much unconsciously as consciously, perhaps more so than we like to admit.

That is, perhaps, the saddest and most comforting thing about youth; no one is really prepared to let go of it. Most of the time, people simply…grow out of their youth.

And so with melancholy and sadness I realized that my youth will one day come to an end.

Yet, even so-

Even if my youth a sham, even if its a lie, even if all these precious memory I'd attained were nothing more than mirages and illusions and that I would one day look at them in a mix of regret, nostalgia, and what-ifs, even still-

I want to treasure them.

I want to protect them.

I want to cling to them.

And for all that I know it is impossible, I never ever want them to end.

—​

Chiba, Japan, 2030
Orimoto Kaori's room was just the same as when I'd left it 30 minutes ago; as quiet as a grave and almost as dark as one. The air had that placid quality about it - that cool, stifling stillness right before the first crack of dawn. Silence stretched inside, broken only by my own breathing and the soft snoring of the person lying on the bed.

Darkness covered the unlit room. Shadows danced in the dark corners, spilling into the floors and walls, hiding beneath every piece of furniture, behind every nook and cranny - except for a small gap in the windows. The curtains of the windows were open ever so slightly, allowing rays of sunlight to pierce through the dark like a gleaming blade.

The light that filtered in illuminated the figure curling on the bed - only a small part of her though. A fair-skinned face and a tuft of brown hair was the only thing that could be seen from the shadowed heaps of blankets and pillows.

Sighing slightly, I ventured, "Kaori?"

The only reply she gave was a soft snore.

As expected, I found Orimoto Kaori just the way I left her - sleeping like the dead without a single care in the world, the soft rising and falling of her chest was the only outward sign that she was alive.

There are times - not infrequent - when I wondered what I would do without her. And then there are times like these, times when I wondered what she would do without me.

"Kaori, wake up." I called again. Perhaps if I mentioned food she would wake up? "Wake up, Kaori. Breakfast is ready."

Her soft snore told me exactly how well that worked.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose before glancing at a nearby electric clock. Any more than this and there'll be some serious chance of us arriving late to our respective schools.

"Kaori, come on. Wake up."

I grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her lightly. Kaori slowly turned in her bed. Now her face was facing mine while her hands rubbed her eyes. Good. Perhaps this morning will be different than the other-

"Huh….hnggg….Five… more….. Minutes……Onii-san……" was the only reply she gave before she turned back around down to the bed and returned back to her sleep.

It would have been cute if it wasn't so troublesome.

"Kaori…." I rubbed the bridge between my eyes. A spiking headache was coming along. Despite my frustration, I couldn't help but smile. It was an amusing sight to see the usually energetic Orimoto Kaori like this. I might have let her off the hook if we weren't at risk of running late.

I glared at the nearby electric clock. Its digital light slowly counted the seconds as they passed by. Thirty minutes ago it had rung for a few furious minutes before falling dead silent. Despite being a very expensive clock it was next to useless in front of the sleepy beast known as Orimoto Kaori.

At this point, it would all end up like usual; with me waking Kaori up when the sun was already high in the air and the electric clock showing that she had overslept by an hour. What followed would be a frantic rush to shower, change clothes, and eat, almost in the span of just half an hour…

I looked at the alarm clock. 6:15:47 it said on the screen with bright green letters.

Overslept for an hour…

6:16:02 The clock said.

…Well Kaori almost always looks kinda cute when she panics.

Carefully, without disturbing Kaori as much as possible, I reached my hand towards it. The first time Kaori bought it, she was very enthusiastic in showing me its features. Apart from the loud, but relatively useless alarm, it also has manual control so you can adjust the time setting as you wish.

There were some sounds of buttons being pressed and a few slight, almost unnoticeable pings.

I put the alarm clock back in its place. 7:30:43 it now says.

I cleared my throat.and put on as terrified a face as I could muster.

Then I shook Kaori roughly on the bed.

"Kaori! Kaori!" I hid my excitement beneath a thick veneer of panic. "Wake up, Kaori!"

I rocked Kaori's shoulders back and forth as hard as I dared. Instead of opening her eyes, she shut them closer together.

"Hngg… just five more minutes, Onii-san…" Kaori grumbled.

"There won't be anymore five minutes. It's already seven-thirty, you idiot!"

"...Eh?"

Kaori shot up from her bed. Eyes brown and wide and frightened. She glanced at the electric clock. "Eh?! It's true!" She sprang from her bed as if it was made from lava. "We're going to be late! Why the hell didn't you wake me up before, Onii-san?!"

"I did try to wake you up before!" I replied hotly. Outside I was panicking. Inside I was trying to hold back my laughter. The corners of my mouth twitched upwards, but the shadow of the room hid them from view. "You simply went back to sleep, you idiot!"

"Argh!" Kaori threw her arms up in the air. "I need to take a shower- Wait no. I need to eat my breakfast first." She half ran to the door before suddenly freezing at the precipice. "No, no, no. I haven't prepared my books for today's lesson yet."

"Just go eat breakfast first," I said. "They're getting cold already and Aunty's been waiting for you."

"Eh? R-really?" She looked at me. Kaori's face had turned a worrying pallor pale. "I g-guess I better go then!"

And then she left immediately, leaving me all alone in her room.

I looked around.

The sun had not fully risen, but had risen enough that - although dimly lit - you could see the entire room quite comfortably. In that short moment, light and darkness seemed to war inside the room.

The room wasn't a mess, but it was…untidy. The books on the bookshelves were all stacked neatly, but without any particular organization so that fiction and school books could be found in the same row. Kaori didn't leave any clothes sitting on the floor, but her cloth hangers were stacked to the brim. Her school bag lay beside her bed, opened wide with her books spilling from it.

"Should I clean up her room myself then…?"

It was seriously tempting to do so. Aunty loved to say that I have something like an OCD. Seeing a half-messed up room like this, makes me itch to get a broom and start cleaning.

I placed a hand over her bag, then paused and withdrew my hand.

No, that wouldn't do. This was Kaori's room. She has to clean it up herself.

"Well at the very least, she has improved somewhat…"

Back when I first lived with her, Kaori barely even cleaned her room. Most of the time, she simply let Aunty do it. It was only after I talked (read:nagged) her incessantly that she decided to start doing it herself. Sometimes.

Living with the Orimoto family for the last four months had not been an easy task at first. There were a lot of awkward moments, some fights and tassels here and there, some words traded that we regretted later. But we managed to make it work, mostly through Uncle and Aunty's patience and Kaori's own effort to get me out of my shell.

I walked around the room until I reached her study desk.

"Hmm?"

The middle of Kaori's study desk was a half-meticulous, half-chaotic arrangement that was not so much messy as it was haphazard - as if Kaori was in the middle of tidying it up before she decided to sleep. Some of her writing utensils were stacked neatly in cases on the edge of the table, but just as many were scattered about it.

A book laid open in the middle, the contents were as haphazard as the table; with words written by pencils and pens intermingling with one another and notes that were not arranged in any particular order, as if written on the fly and on a whim.

Despite myself, I smiled.

Orimoto Kaori wasn't the smartest person. She wasn't intelligent, outside of social gatherings. She was not even the most hard-working person, more interested in chatting away on her phone than doing her homework. It almost landed her in trouble a couple of times.

Still, just because she wasn't studious, doesn't mean that she was completely lazy. It doesn't mean that she doesn't try. The content of the book was proof enough of that. It was filled with chicken scratch notes, erasure marks over erasure marks, and words crossed, replaced by smaller notes cramped above or below it.

She wasn't the best nor was she the most hard-working, but she was willing to put in the effort. She was willing to try. And perhaps, just perhaps, given time, she could improve.

It was a small blessing, but I supposed I should be grateful.

I surveyed the room once more, noticing the alarm clock still showing the wrong time.

I should set the clock back. I thought. I picked up the electric clock, fiddling again with the buttons and just as I was putting it back on place, there came a loud, thunderous roar from below.

"ONII-SAN, YOU JERK!!!"

Ah, she'd found out already, huh?

—​

"Mou, you could have just woken me up normally, you know? No need to pull off a prank like that."

As she said that, Kaori stared at me in what should have been a glare, but looked instead more like a pout.

We were sitting together, across one another, around the table inside the dining room. There was a plethora of food arranged in front of us - grilled fish, stir-fried vegetables, rice, and miso soup - but Kaori was touching none of them.

I sipped my own bowl of Miso soup before looking back at Kaori. "If I didn't do that, you'd probably go back to sleep the moment I left, then we'll all be late for real."

"Hmph," Kaori turned away from me, mouth puffed in indignation.

"He's right, you know Kaori-chan?" A soft, mellifluous chuckle came from beside us. We both turned to find a brown-haired woman standing at the edge of the door, beaming with a smile, one hand on a tray full of mugs and glass, the other placed over her mouth, covering her smile. "Ara-ara, it seems after all this time, Maachi-kun has finally wised about you."

"Okaa-saaaan…." Kaori groaned.

"Aunty," I nodded respectfully. "Good morning."

"Though I must say though Kaori, it was quite funny seeing your panicking face like that in the morning," Her other hand fell, so that her beaming smile was visible to us.

"Eh? I guess it kinda was…" Kaori placed a hand on her chin, pondering. Then, suddenly, she grinned, sporting the kind of smile Aunty had. "Yeah. I guess it was quite funny now that I think of it." She began to chuckle before it turned into a burst of laughter. "What the heck? Why didn't I realize that it was a trick sooner? It's hilarious!"

It was a bizarre sight to see her jump from being incredulous to laughing at her own stupidity like it was nothing. To simply write off her mistakes with a chuckle in such a short amount of time, even managing to find humor in them and joke about it. Orimoto Kaori enjoyed her waking youth the same way she enjoyed her sleep - seemingly without a care in the world.

To others, Kaori might come across as baffling, genki, or airheaded. To an extent that might be true. Others, meanwhile, may even think that she's devious in a way or fake. However, I've known Kaori for years even before I moved into her house. That's just the way she is.

It was just as Hachiman said. Though others may have looked into her words, there were no deeper meanings in them. No malice. No hidden intentions. She simply says exactly what she thinks without any filters. She may be blunt, even insensitive at times, but she was never evil or malevolent, at least not intentionally.

In that sense, you could say that Orimoto Kaori is doubly cruel.

The smell of coffee suddenly wafted in front of me - a rich, caffeinated smell that caught my attention the moment it entered my nose.

"Here," Aunty said, depositing the mugs of coffee around the table.

"Thanks, Okaa-san!"

"Thanks, Aunty."

With that, Aunty took her own seat on the side, between me and Kaori.

Outside of their hair and eye colors, Orimoto Ayako and Orimoto Kaori looked almost nothing alike. The older women's features were more rounded whereas Kaori's were sharp. Her hair flowed around her shoulder, tied to a side ponytail whilst Kaori's hair was wavy and cut into a short bob. Kaori was more lanky. Aunty was more muscled. If it weren't for the hair and eye color, you wouldn't be able to tell if they were even related at all.

Besides coffee, Aunty had also brought a cup of milk and a small bowl of sugar cubes. I poured the milk into my coffee and threw three sugar cubes before gently stirring them together. Kaori grinned at that and sip her own mug of coffee, without putting anything inside them.

"Oy, is something funny?" I asked.

"Nothing," Kaori replied. "It's just, it's funny seeing you put that much milk and sugar into your coffee. You're kinda like a kid there, Onii-san. It's hilarious."

This girl…

"A kid, huh? Well, at least I haven't woken up late every morning for the past two weeks like a delinquent." It was a lame reply, but it was the quickest I could come up with.

Kaori didn't answer back, instead opting to avert her eyes entirely from me. "Ehehehe….well…."

At least, she looked guilty instead of trying to laugh it off.

"He's right you know, Kaori," Aunty said, smiling slightly in a way that was half-chiding and half-amused. "You've been waking up late in the morning these past few days. Is there a problem?"

"Eh?"

"Also," I added. "You've been staying up all night. I saw your lights being turned on last night when it was very late."

"Huh? It's nothing much really," Kaori said, waving it off. "I'm just helping Tamanawa and Chika prepare for the student council president election."

Aunty beamed. "Oh? Is that so? That sounds quite interesting."

I frowned. "The election for the student council president for Kaihin, you mean?"

"What do you mean? Of course, it's for my school,"

"This is the beginning of the school year." I said. "I thought Kaihin's Student Council President Election starts in Autumn?"

"It does. However Tamanawa-kun said that we should get a 'HEADSTART' ahead of the other candidates to 'MAXIMIZE' our advantage," I cringed at the way she pronounced the English words. Worst, she was doing an eerily accurate impression of Tamanawa. "So well he asked about what other people think of him and I spent the night DMing my friends and checking their social media on what they think about Tamanawa-kun."

"Is that so?" I asked. That is curiously very diligent of him, trying to scout his own electability. I had met Tamanawa before, only a short while, but I wondered If I'd made a stronger impression than I intended. "Even so… maybe I should have a talk or two with him about this. Election or not, this shouldn't be a reason for you to sleep late at night."

"Huh? No way." Kaori said, shaking her head frantically. "I- I mean If you two were to meet again or something I don't think I can handle it."

"Hmm? Why?" Aunty looked at Kaori. That comment caught Aunty's attention almost immediately. "Did something happen between Masaki and this Tamanawa person?"

"Etto…How should I say this…?" Kaori furrowed her brows, trying to find the right words.

I coughed to the side. "Well, let's just say our first impressions of one another weren't really…the best."

That was putting it mildly, I probably would have strangled the guy if Kaori wasn't there. And vice-versa.

Aunty frowned but did not divulge further.

"Right," Aunty sat down and clapped her hands. "Let's eat. Itadakimasu."

""Itadakimasu.""

Breakfast was a light-hearted affair in the Orimoto household. There wasn't a strong emphasis on keeping quiet and eating in silence and it wasn't like we were strangers, so as we ate we also talked and chatted with one another.

"So Hikigaya joined your club, huh?" Kaori asked as she sipped her green tea.

"Yup," I said. "He joined two weeks ago along with Yui."

"Really? That sounds like a riot." Kaori put a finger on her chin. "That's strange though. I don't think Hikigaya ever joined any club back in Middle School. Maybe I should pay a visit to this club of yours sometimes. It might be fun to see him again."

"Well, you might be in for a surprise." I said.

"Eh?"

"Let's just say that Ha- Hikigaya… he's...not like the person you told me about."

"Huh? That sounds quite vague." Kaori tilted her head.

"It'll be better if you see for yourself."

Kaori grinned. "Alright, that's a promise then, Onii-san!"

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "Just tell me when you're about to do it." The last thing I wanted was to give Hachiman a heart attack.

We changed to other conversation topics after that. I couldn't exactly remember everything we talked about that morning. Just like I couldn't the hundreds of other similar conversations that we have here, on this table previously. It was not the first time we'd done something like this; having breakfast together, talking together. It was something of a morning ritual for the Orimoto household. A routine.

Not all our mornings went like this. Sometimes Kaori would wake up later than usual, so we wouldn't have much time for breakfast chatting. Other times we don't have much to talk about. Occasionally, Aunty and Uncle weren't able to join us. However, that simply made the time when we actually can get together much more valuable.

It was fun. It was peaceful. And I enjoyed every single moment of them.

"Don't worry about the dishes," Aunty said after we had finished. "I'll do them all,"

"Thanks Aunty. I'll be taking a shower,"

"Oh, I need to go prepare my books!" Kaori said.

Twenty minutes later, I stood in front of the mirror inside my room, already showered and trying to put on my uniform.

Spoiler: Keigo Masaki

At the surface, only a few would be able to tell that Kaori and I were closely related. My brown hair was a different shade from her; shaggy and neck-length with bangs where Kaori was short, curly, and cut to a relatively neat bob. My eyes were reddish-brown like clay where Kaori's looked like a pair of chocolate; warm and sweet.

That was where most of the similarity ended, however. In all other regards, I took after my father. My skin was paler. My limbs were long and thin. I was more slender than Kaori and taller as well. Among most groups, I was easily among the tallest. Some people might say that I looked mature for my age, though overgrown might be the right word instead.

I finished wearing my uniform and glanced at something in front of me.

On the upper corner of my mirror was plastered a single photo.

It was an old photo. One of the few that I managed to find and save in time.

It depicted a happy family of four. A mother. A father. A pair of kids; one boy and one girl.

It was the last photo we ever took together.

"Well, I'll be going now. Mom, Dad…" My hand tightened. "Koharu."

—​

By the time I arrived in the living room, Kaori was already there wearing the navy-blue blazer of Kaihin. She was lying on the sofa, whilst the TV played in front of her.

The video's quality was clunky, intercepted by buzz and stasis, however it showed clearly the image of a Twin-Tail kaiju rampaging through what seemed to be an abandoned mine. The video followed it as it crawled its way around the earth tossing dirt and debris into the air. Nearby mining equipment crumbled beneath it, their remnants scattered about like broken toys.

"This, right here. Is the first ever recorded appearance of a kaiju caught in a video." The calm voice of the narrator contrasted against the chaos of the kaiju attack shown on the footage.

Ah. I've seen this before. It was a documentary about the Age of Kaiju, detailing the time between decades preceding the first kaiju's appearance to the present.

About three decades ago was what many would consider the height of human achievement. World peace has been soundly established for decades with the founding of the Terran Peace Consortium or the TPC. Peace ushered in an age of stunning technological advancement, particularly in space programs.

Many called it the Neo-Frontier age; a New Age of Exploration to the stars themselves. With new technologies in space travel, humanity pierced through the boundaries of the Earth. First as matters of simple exploration, then, when it was possible, into the matter of settling outside the earth. With new technologies to help them, humanity began building colonies and bases in places like the Moon and the Planet Mars.

With new possibilities brought by the establishment of these frontiers, humanity seemed to stand on the cusps of greatness.

Then the first kaiju appeared.

"Twin-Tail is the first ever kaiju species encountered in modern times. A subterranean kaiju who lived far beneath the Earth, it was disturbed by a mining company that had dug too deep, disturbing its rest. As a result, the kaiju rampaged through the entire mine; there were dozens of casualties and hundreds were wounded before it was finally put down. This unfortunate tragedy would be the hallmark of human-kaiju relationships throughout the years to come."

The existence of the kaiju shocked the entire world, yet humanity would not have time to breathe, as a dozen more kaijus appeared in the following months.

The Rising, it was called as dozens of kaijus slumbering deep inside the Earth or living in the uninhabited wilderness away from the eyes of people made their appearances.

"At first, kaijus mostly appeared in wild, nearly uninhabited areas untouched by humans; forests, deserts, deep seas," The image showed a Gudon walking through the wilderness. "Gradually though they began to encroach on human settlements, first on outlying villages, isolated communities, and the like." A Neronga lumbering around an empty village. "Then they slowly moved on to bigger targets. Towns. Cities."

There was some serious mishandling in the early days of the kaiju's appearance. It wasn't surprising. The situation humanity finds itself in was unprecedented - nobody knew what to do. Early efforts mostly consist of evacuation and the study of kaiju, spearheaded by the TPC and its child organization, GUTS, an international organization dedicated mainly to disaster-relief and supernatural research.

"In the beginning," The narration continued. "There were very few efforts to combat kaijus, unless they were threatening major centers of economies or politics. What few there were were mainly efforts to divert them away from human populations. This all changed, however, with the coming of Golza."

The image shifted to a city in flames. Skyscrapers fell to the earth; smoke and dust plumes rolled like storm clouds, rumbling with fires instead of lightning.

Suddenly a sinister silhouette emerged from out the storm - like a shadow from a nightmare.

"Golza - the Earth Shaker Kaiju - awoke right underneath the capital of Mongolia, Ulan Bator. The result was nothing short of catastrophic. Tens of thousands were killed in the following hour and hundreds of thousands were wounded or missing or displaced. The cost was in the hundreds of billions of dollars."

"Golza himself would continue on to rampage across Central and East Asia, racking up kills in the hundreds of thousands - possibly millions before it disappeared, never to be seen again."

"In the wake of Golza, the international community could no longer sit idly by. It was becoming apparent that the problems posed by the kaijus were ones that transcended national boundaries and posed serious security concerns. The Terran Peace Consortium - that had replaced the old United Nations - spearheaded the founding of various international organizations meant to deal with the kaiju problems."

The image changed to a large conference room. Hundreds of officials from across many fields and nationalities all in one room.

"Two of these organizations rose above the others. The first was the Science Research Circle - the SRC - that was founded specifically to research, catalog, and study the various kaijus that appeared around the world. The other was the Human Defense Initiative or the HDI, an organization to combat the rising threat of kaiju, recruited from various militaries around the world."

"As the years went by, they managed to stem the tide of kaiju attacks or at least minimize the damages caused by them. Humanity began to regain its footing, adapting to the new circumstances of living in a kaiju-filled world. For some time there was peace and even the possibility of reinvigorating the old dream of the Space Frontier."

"Then everything changes."

Abruptly, the scene on the video cut to a scene I was all too familiar with.

"It came first not on Earth. But on Mars."

A red barren desert as far as the eyes can see. Hazy skies with sand-ridden clouds and heavy dust storms permeating through the air. A dim sun whose brightness was a far cry from that on earth.

Beneath that half-dead sun was a jewel set in the middle of the desert.

"Rafael-II was considered by many to be the crowning jewels of the Mars Colonies. It was one of the most heavily-populated territories on Mars and boasted advanced state-of-the-art architecture and city planning. It was even considered to be the future capital of the Mars Colonies."

The video played on, showcasing Rafael-II in all its glory; its tall glass-like spires, its snow-white domed houses; its fields of solar panels; its heavy industrial complexes…

And then a shadow fell over it all….

"Kaori!"

A voice broke my attention away from the television and Kaori's from her phone. Aunty stood at the edge of the door to the living room. For a half-a-breath, I swore she was glancing at me before looking back at Kaori. "Perhaps you should turn off the television? Masaki's been waiting for you."

"Huh?" Kaori looked at the TV screen showcasing Rafael-II. And then she looked at me, eyes wide and panicked and alarmed. "Oh shit!"

Fast as lightning, Kaori's hand grabbed the remote and turned off the Television. I was so surprised I didn't have time to react.

"Onii-san, I- I'm so s-sorry about that!" Immediately Kaori turned to me. "It- it wa-wasn't my intention to play that video, I got bored a-and I wasn't paying attention t-to th- the TV-"

"I-it's fine, Kaori, it's fine." I said, raising both hands. They were shaking slightly, but I tried to smile and reassure Kaori. "R-really, I also didn't announce myself, so it was unintentional, right?"

"Unintentional, huh?" Kaori murmured.

She went silent after that and I didn't know what to say. The silence stretched on to an awkward point until finally it was all broken by a cough.

"If you two are done," Aunty said. "Perhaps you should all prepare to go to your schools?"

"Y-yeah.

"Th-that's true."

Aunty nodded, then she turned to me. "Masaki, can you please come with me for a moment?"

"O-Okay," I replied.

Aunty turned around and went to the kitchen. I followed her behind.

On the kitchen counter were two prepared bento sets wrapped in clothes. She handed both of them to me. "Here," She said. "I've prepared some bento for you and Kaori."

I gingerly accepted them. "Thanks Aunty,"

She smiled. "I'm sorry about Kaori earlier by the way."

"I-it's fine. Really." I said.

"That girl," Aunty shook her head. "She could be so careless at times."

"Don't worry. She…has gotten better." I said. "She's more attentive now, more…sensitive to those kinds of things."

"Yes. She has certainly grown more mature, don't you think?" She glanced at the door leading to the living room and sighed. "Sometimes, I worry for her, you know? If she would one day accidentally hurt someone she shouldn't, or someone she doesn't want to hurt…"

"I don't believe she wants to hurt anyone," I said. "She's kind, at heart. And people can see that when she actually does pay attention."

"Yes." Aunty said. "She has somewhat learned to temper herself these past few months, ever since you lived with us."

Has it already been that long? Time flew by so fast and before I knew it, four moths has already passed since I started living with the Orimoto household.

It was…difficult, at first, to adjust. Earth was so different from the Mars Colonies. The sun was different. The sky too was different. The land itself was different. Even with my new memories, I had trouble fitting into all of these. That was not even taking the culture clash into account.

The first few weeks were hectic, trying to learn and acclimatise to so many different and new things. There were many trials and errors. Many mistakes I made along the way. Sometimes I even wondered if I should return back to Mars.

Aunty Ayako and Kaori were one of the reasons I decided to stay. They were so…warm. So accommodating. Despite the many troubles I gave them, they still decided to take care of me. Aunty Ayako sometimes reminded me of Mom…which I had a hard time dealing with.

Karoi though… Kaori and I had a bit of a rough beginning. She cared for me definitely, I could see that clearly. But she can also be so blunt sometimes. Insensitive. She's nice, but sometimes she can get careless. More than a few times, it had led to a fight between us, though we ended up reconciling after each time.

We both have mellowed out a bit since we first met. I learned to tolerate her antics and understand that she never meant any harm even if she may be…insensitive. She, in turn, learned to be more considerate of others. It was…a good thing I suppose.

Aunty then turned to me. "And I have you to thank for helping her mature."

I shook my head. "If anything, she's the one who chose to change. I didn't have much part in it."

"But would she have done that without your presence?"

I closed my eyes, making an appearance as if deep in thought. I knew the answer to that, of course. "I believe she will. Though I'd imagined it would probably take a while."

"Then it's better for it to happen while I can watch her than if I can't."

I pursed my lips at that. "Maybe…"

Aunty chuckled. "You should go now, Kaori's probably waiting for you."

"Yeah." I said.

Kaori was indeed waiting for me in front of the house, wearing the Kaihin High School uniform. She stood with her bike on her side and she smiled when she saw me as I came up to my own bike.

"Shall we go then?" I asked.

"Sure," Kaori replied, climbing to her bike. "Hey, how about we race to the main street?"

I hummed and climbed to my own bike.

"No." I said. "I think I want to take it easy for today."

"Eh? That sounds so boring, Onii-san." Kaori said that, but she tagged alongside me, nonetheless, following the pace of my bike steadily, neither faster or slower than mine.

We rode peacefully through our neighborhood; a quiet sub-urban area in the richer parts of Chiba. As we rode on the side of the road, new-come greeneries bloomed around us. We passed through groomed trees and carefully-grown bushes, bristling with young and eager leaves and occasionally a hint of color that promised delicate new flowers in the coming weeks.

Spring had come late into the country. Until a few days ago, I still needed to wear a scarf around my neck to stave off the cold every time I went outside. Even now, the air had that frozen chill about it that was not entirely the usual morning crisp. A pale haze settled over the sun, its golden light dimming ever so slightly as if veiled by a thin layer of mist. Winter's hand had gripped hard and its shadow seemed to dance slyly around the edges of spring.

Still, though spring may have come late into the country, it was quick in catching up. There were more leaves now around this entire neighborhood than there were yesterday and though the cold persisted, that had not stopped the greenery or the hint of flowers, glistening with dew from the morning chill as they were.

Suddenly, the white haze over the sky dispersed and the sun blazed forth with all its golden glory.

I stopped my bike looking to my right, towards a turn leading up to another street in the sub-urban neighborhood.

The street I was looking at leads to a special part of the neighborhood. Those who lived there can be considered to be either the very top of the middle class or the lower part of the upper crust of society. The richer part of an already affluent neighborhood.

You could see it clearly in the buildings; they were bigger, taller, and polished with more modern, western-style architecture. Occasionally, you might find some people from the other part of the neighborhood looking at them with half-longing, half-envious stares.

From behind me, I heard the sound of Kaori's bike being put on break, tires lightly scratching the road.

"Hey, why are you stopping?" Kaori asked.

I didn't reply to her immediately. Kaori didn't know, but I've already gone into that part of the neighborhood, more specifically, I've visited a single house inside it. I wonder if he's already going to school.

"Onii-san?"

"Hikigaya," I replied, without looking back at Kaori.

"Huh?"

"That street," I said, pointing at it. "Hikigaya's house is that way,"

"Wait? For real?"

I glanced at her and smiled. Kaori's surprised expression was rather hilarious. She placed a hand over her mouth as her eyes widened like a pair of saucers.

"How do you know?" Kaori asked, turning to me.

I shrugged. "I went there myself for a pair project last week." I said. "What? You don't know he actually lives here?"

"No. I don't." Kaori said easily. "Heh. Guess that's another thing I didn't know about him." She began to chuckle. A chuckle that quickly turns into a full blown laugher. "Hahaha. It's hilarious! How come I never noticed it? It's like, he's been hiding underneath my eyes this whole time."

"Underneath your nose," I said.

"Hmm? What?"

"That phrase. The correct phrase is 'underneath your nose' not 'underneath your eyes'."

"Ohhhh," Kaori said.

She fell silent for a moment, looking at the street expectantly. Was she waiting for Hikigaya to show up at any moment now?

"Hey," Kaori said, breaking the silence. "Wanna wait for Hikigaya? I think it'll be alright if we cycled to school together."

I thought about it for a moment.

On the one hand, seeing Hachiman's reaction would be quite priceless, especially when he's realised that he's been living so close to Kaori all this time.

On the other hand, I really don't want to push him. He already has enough in his plate being shafted into the Service Club and all.

"No," I said. "I don't think we should. Besides, I'm pretty sure Hikigaya is already on his way to school,"

I know a thing or two about opening the wounds of the past and I'm not going to inflict it on Hikigaya as funny as his reaction might be. There's light teasing and jabbing and then there's pushing the trauma button into someone who was already broken.

There are just things you don't do to another person so easily like that.

Kaori's shoulders dropped slightly. "Heh, I guess you're right." She sighed. "Still, it's a bit funny huh? We live so close to each other, but we never knew about it."

She smiled. It was a strained, forced smile completely unlike the carefree Kaori I'd grown to know.

"Yeah…" I said, giving a rueful smile of my own. "I guess it is."

Just as we were about to cycle our bikes, Kaori spoke again.

"Hey, Onii-san," I turned, she avoided my gaze, looking in all directions, except at me. "Do you… do you think we could pay a visit to Hikigaya some other time? In the future, I mean."

I raised an eyebrow. Kaori? Taking an interest in Hachiman? Perhaps some of the things I said stuck to her. "Alright,"

Kaori nodded. "That's a promise then."

We continued our ride.

We paused at an intersection a few minutes later in the busier part of Chiba. It wasn't really a part of Chiba, more of its outlier, but the difference between here and our neighborhood was as different as it can be.

The streets were wider here, cars and automobiles thronged the road - it wasn't quite a morning rush yet, but it was close. Half an hour later and we might have seen a proper morning rush.

Buildings lined either side of the streets; offices, shops, cafes, small restaurants and the like. There were blazons and signs, and, in the night, bright neon lights glimmering like colorful mismatched stars in the distance.

And the people. There were so many people here. The broad sidewalks were filled to the brim by pedestrians, almost overflowing with them; salaryman and woman in their suits and shirts, high school students in their uniforms, ordinary people going about their business as usual. I gripped the handles on my bike, palms slightly sweating. So many people.

I could hear Kaori chuckling from beside me. "You're still gawking whenever we ride here? You're hilarious, Onii-san,"

I mutely nodded in assent and Kaori chuckled again.

A year spent living here and still, entering this part of the city often filled me with a sense of anxiety…and excitement. There were so many buildings here. So many people. Rafael-II had been relatively large and populous as a Mars Colony went, but it pales in comparison to the bigger cities on Earth. Even this intersection, which was not really inside Chiba yet, can easily compare to the busiest street back in Rafael-II.

"But man," Kaori continued. "This place sure does change a lot, huh?"

According to Kaori, this place wasn't always like this. Quite the opposite; a few years ago, you could even say that it was considered one of the quieter parts of the city. It didn't have half as many buildings as it did now. There were public parts and empty lands, even a wood or two, if I remembered correctly.

5 years ago, however, when Golza attacked Japan, it caused untold destruction across a dozen cities, and hundreds of other small towns and villages scattered around the country. Chiba became one of the most popular destinations for refugees, partly owing to the heavy presence of the Human Defense Initiative that allowed them to beat Golza back when the kaiju came to pay them a visit.

Through cooperation and combined efforts, the Human Defense Initiative and Japanese Self Defense Army managed to beat back Golza - the monster that had terrorized East and Central Asia for the better part of a year - at the borders of Chiba. Both organization's prestige went up almost immediately and the city too saw a fair share increase in popularity.

An influx of refugees and newcomers quickly flooded the city. The next few years were a furious race of trying to accomodate them; housing them, feeding them, finding them jobs and livelihoods. Luckily, the government was quick to realize Chiba's propaganda potential as the place where Golza was beaten back and promptly loaded the city with cash.

Businesses, private and otherwise, were quick to capitalize on this. The Yukinoshita group was particularly influential, having a hand in many of the more lucrative and big business deals and construction works around the city during this period.

A chiming bell sound brought me away from my reverie, back to the present. The bell rang again, throughout the intersection. A few pedestrians stopped and pointed at something above them.

On the top of one of the taller buildings in the intersection was a giant TV screen showcasing a helicopter view of a city with the banner BREAKING NEWS running below it. Abruptly the camera moved around until it came upon a trail of destruction.

There was no other way to describe it; broken houses and toppled buildings followed each other in succession like a string of wreckages. It was as if someone had carved a sinuous, ruinous line across the city. Smoke, blown by the wind created jagged black pillars that in the air, rising high into the heavens above and even from the helicopters few you could see traces of fires bellowing below.

Besides me Kaori gasped. Many of the pedestrians now stopped to stare at the screen. The interaction was as quiet as it could be as the voice of the reporter came through the line.

"We are reporting live from Osaka where the kaiju known as Gomora has recently rampaged through the street," The reporter said over the hushed silence. "The kaiju, who was discovered near the city at approximately 5 AM in the morning by the local SRC branch, woke up an hour later and began an indiscriminate attack throughout the city, destroying anything in its path.

"Thankfully evacuation efforts, spearheaded by the Human Defense Initiative high officers, General James Ironwood and Specialist Winter Schnee managed to minimize potential casualties in the areas. However, material losses are expected to rise in the millions at the very least as Gomora's rampage brought it all over the city. It was not until other HDI units were deployed in the area that the kaiju managed to be killed for good.

"This is the KCB, reporting live from Osaka."

The screen returned to normal afterwards, but the atmosphere along the intersection was anything but.

One man shook his head. "Damn kaiju," he said, looking balefully at the screen. "always ruining lives for our average folks."

"Yeah. That's correct. These kaiju tracks are getting too out of hand, don't you think?"

"You're right, the government should take stronger measures against these beasts."

"Tell that to the SRC. Bunch of kaiju-lovers, the lot of them. I bet if it weren't for them, the HDI would have killed it the moment it was found."

"Why would you think so?"

"The TPC probably tried to capture it alive at first. It's a protocol they developed at the SRC's behest. They're one of those groups who likes to harp about capturing kaiju alive. They're the one who's always against killing kaijus even when they attack."

"I heard if it weren't for them, the government would have taken harsher policies against kaijus."

"Really? That sounds so stupid."

"Dangerous thinking is more like. How much more could folks like us take this? Bad enough we're always the ones under attack? Why shouldn't we strike back at them."

I gripped the handle of my breaks as the talks and whispers reverberated through the crowds.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Emotions are fundamental parts of human beings. Despite outward technological advancement, at the core of it, humans are more than capable of acting irrationally. They feel sadness and joy. They laughed and they cried. They got angry. They forgive. They love and they hate.

Humanities' hatred towards kaiju is completely reasonable. It's hard to argue against that when every week, there are those who lost a family or friend from a kaiju attack, directly or indirectly. The fact that most kaijus are animals who can't understand humans, who act on their instincts, who are driven by human encroachment are cold comfort at best and insensitive at worst, to those who've lost a loved one to them.

It's unsurprising that to many, kaijus are enemies.

It was completely understandable. Completely reasonable really.

Still…

Even so………

"Onii-san…"

I turned to find Kaori looking at me worryingly.

I shook my head. "Come on Kaori, we're going to be late."

"R-Right,"

As we continued about our way, the crowds and pedestrians too had continued their walk, occasionally chattering in small groups about the news they'd just heard.

I pedaled my bike in a fast and steady motion, Kaori keeping behind me without trouble. We rode our bikes in silence, until we reached another intersection. Traveling straight would bring me to Sobu High, wherehas Kaihin High School can be found by turning left and traveling through another maze of streets .

"Right, I'll be leaving then, Onii-san,"

I nodded at her. "Be careful Kaori and take care. I'll see you later."

"See you later!" Kaori said as she sped with her bike. Usually I would have scolded her to slow down, but this time…this time I simply couldn't find it in me.

I rode alone. In silence and in a far, far slower pace than before.

There was no need to rush. It was still early enough in the morning that I could ride peacefully, slowly taking in the scenery around me.

The city of Chiba was a veritable concrete maze.

The outlying urban area from before was nothing compared to this. Tall skyscrapers reached into the heavens like durasteel fingers of a giant. Large monstrosities of steel, concrete, and glass stood wherever I look. State-of-the-art buildings, erected by the top and brightest architects in the country, bloomed with shining walls surrounding the roads like a labyrinth. And then there were the crowds.

The sidewalks had to be twice as wide as before, and yet it was positively bursting with people of all age, size and occupation. A band of high school students in brown blazers rode their bicycles past me, laughing and talking all the while. Scattered about the crowds were some salarymen in black suits walking in quick strides as if late for a meeting. Shopkeepers gathered in front of their stores, setting everything up in preparation of opening.

Though much of the country did suffer during the rise of the kaiju, Chiba seemed to be a city that managed to thrive despite it, or perhaps exactly because of it. Kaori once said to me that 5 years ago, you would not even see a quarter of the crowd as you do now. However, the influx of people from all over the country stimulated the economy, bringing life into the city.

I had to be careful. Not because of the cars and other vehicles on the streets - though these were plenty alright - but because of just how many people there were. The first time I rode here, it was nearly impossible for me to not bump into a person or two or having to stop my bike dead in my tracks when one person or another suddenly passed me.

Thankfully, the task had only become slightly difficult over the course of four months when once it had been damn near impossible.

I followed through the usual route I did, making this turn and that turn. It was confusing the first time I did it and I had gotten lost once or twice before. Now though, I can confidently say I know the route like the back of my hand.

I stopped only when I reached the main entrance of my school.

Looking at it from the front, the Sobu High School in front of me vaguely resembles that of the Sobu High School in my recollections….except I know for a fact it was almost twice its size..

The gates were of large steel bars, twice as tall as the average high school boy. The front yard was practically a miny park; a field of green dotting with so many trees and bushes it might have passed for a forest if not for the occasional benches and tables being placed here and there.

And then there were the buildings. The Sobu High in my memories was huge, but the Sobu High I arrived in was practically monolithic.

In front of me, at the very center, lay the classroom building; three stories high and rectangular with bright shining walls and windows; holding fifteen classes for each grade, forty-five classes in total, far more than the ones from my memory. To my left lay the special use building about as tall, but twice as thick as the classroom building and asymmetrical with one of its sides jutting out on the entrance. And then there was the building to my right. The one I did not remember. The TPC Course building. The newest building in the entire Sobu High School complex. It held special courses for those who wished to enter the TPC after graduating.

All of these buildings were connected by three long passageways; one in the main entrance, one in the middle, and one in the far back.

The three main buildings were not the only buildings or facilities in the school. There was a tennis court in the back along with the soccer field that was encapsulated by the track field. A dojo had been built long before the TPC but had recently been expanded on to house more clubs. Really the entire complex was more a small campus rather than an ordinary high school.

The school was not always like this, I've found out. Ten years ago it wouldn't be that much different from the other high schools in Japan. From the pictures I've seen, it used to be a lot more like the Sobu High of my memory.

However, everything changed when the TPC headquarter was established off the coast of Chiba. When that happened, Chiba became the center of TPC operations and the organization was quick to curry favor with the locals. In little time, the TPC cooperated with the Chiba government to build new schools or improve pre-existing ones. Sobu High was the latter.

The TPC sponsored and provided additional funding and in exchange the school would become a recruitment pool from which new candidates would be scouted and approached to enter into the larger TPC bureaucracy. On top of that, the TPC also hosted student exchange programs. First in small numbers and only temporarily, then more permanently. By now, foreign students comprised about 20 to 25 percent of the student body.

No matter how many times I looked at it, the sight of the school always drew a breath on me; the sun slowly reaching its peak, golden lights shimmering in the windows; the trees and bushes in the front yard, sprouting and blooming with new leaves and grass and even flowers here and there; the crowd of students mingling around; walking, talking, hanging about every place.

I took a few minutes to survey the view in front of me and sighed. "It hasn't gotten old yet…"

I should probably enter right now. It wasn't quite morning rush yet, but the clock was ticking. More and more students were coming in, I think-

"Yahallo Maachi!"

I turned around. A pink-haired girl with a chinese bun smiled and waved as she ran up to me. I returned her smile with my own.

"Yui," I said. "Yahallo to you too,"

Yuigahama Yui's grin widened. If I was like any other boy, perhaps I might have blushed; I might have stuttered and gotten into my head some very wrong and embarrassing ideas. As it stands, it would take something really bad for me to enter that situation.

I met Yuigahama on the very first week in school, back when the groups were still being sorted out and everyone was trying to get a feel of one another. We made our acquaintances when I helped her during a group project. Since then, I've been involved with her and her other friends; hanging out with them during recess, having lunch together, that sort of thing.

"So how was your weekend, Maachi?" Yui asked. "Did you do anything fun? Did you go out somewhere?"

"Nothing much I'm afraid," I said, dropping off my bike and hauling it from the side. "Well, Kaori and I did went to that new restaurant on Saturday, but I stayed home for the most part, really; watching TV, playing video games, reading books,"

"Ehehe, is that so?" Yui turned her head away murmuring. "...That sounds kinda boring though, huh…"

"Oy! Who're you calling boring?"

"H-huh? Y-you heard that?"

"Of course I heard that. You're right beside me you dunderhead."

"D-dunderhead! Th-that's mean! you're mean, Maachi!"

Yui began hitting me on the side. Playfully. Even from the corner of my eyes I could see her lips slightly turning upwards.

"Hey, can you please stop?" It wasn't really painful or anything, only slightly annoying having to deal with it along with having to haul my bike.

Yui stopped and crossed her arms. "Hmph, that's what you get for being a meanie, Maachi,"

Even though she said that, there was no hiding the smile blooming across her face.

"Yeah," I said. "Sorry about that."

Yui smiled and we began walking slowly past the gate and onwards to the school entrance. The moment we entered the gates, the shade from the nearby trees blocked the sun from us. A cool spring breeze blew softly through the newly-grown leaves with just a promise of flowers and the barest hint of winter.

On the main cobblestone path around us students walked, talked, joked, and mingled with one another. The bell wouldn't ring for another thirty or so minutes, so there was still a lot of time to spend.

"And what about you?" I asked.

"Eh?"

"What about your weekends? Did you do something fun?"

"A-ah, w-well," Yui played with one lock of her hair, looking furtive. "I guess it was just the usual; hanging out with Mom and Dad, playing with Sable, going out with Yumiko and Hina." She frowned. "Well, something kinda happened yesterday, actually. It's kinda funny, hehe,"

"Oh?"

"So I went to the mall with Yumiko and Hina on Saturday." Yui began. "We were checking out this brand new Cafe that just opened up a-and while I was there, I bumped into Hikki!"

I turned my head to face her

"Right? That's my reaction too," Yui said. "Anyway it's kinda hard to believe that it was him at first so I walked up to him and it was definitely Hikki. I mean there was no other person with that kind of eyes- A-ah not that there's anything wrong with his eyes of course! Just that it's kinda…kinda…"

"Distinctive?"

"Yeah, that!" Yui nodded furiously. "So, I came up to him and said hello and, well, I asked if he wanted to hang out with us," Her face fell. "But Hikki, erm, said that he has to do something for his sister and he was kinda busy anyway, so he can't join us and then he left,"

So he bumped into Hachiman, huh….

Hachiman….I wondered what he was doing there. More importantly, I wondered what he thought of the whole debacle. For him to refuse is to be expected, but is it because he really has things to do or is it because he felt he didn't want to be a nuisance?

"But that's not all." Yui continued. "So after that, me and the others went to the clothing store and then I bumped into Yukinon!"

"Huh." That was interesting. "Go on."

"Well she was looking at this fancy dress on display and it looked really expensive and she was staring at it really seriously so she didn't notice me until I came up to her," Yui smiled. "She looked kinda cute being surprised and all that, so because I kinda run into her and we were checking out clothes at the same time-"

"You ask her to join you?"

"Y-yes," Yui said, nodding. Then her face suddenly dropped.

"She refused?"

"Y-yeah….She said that she has things to take care of and then Yumiko come along and suddenly there's this weird vibes between them and they just kinda stood there, staring weirdly at each other, and Hina was also there and she and I didn't know what to do. Then Yukinon said she has to look at other clothes and Yumiko took us out of there." She chuckled. "What a coincidence, huh? Meeting Hikki and Yukinon in the mall like that…."

"I suppose so…." What are the chances? For her to meet the rest of the Service Club like that? Was something supposed to happen-

Suddenly, Yui looked at me. "W-well I'm telling you this, because I was wondering if you were also there in the mall the other day and if I might have missed you or something, hehe…"

…There was something in her tone, a wistful, hopeful note in her words.

I looked at Yui, she wasn't looking at me anymore, instead she was looking up at the tree, where the sun shyly peeked through newly-grown leaves, waiting for me to answer.

"That would've been hilarious," I said. Then I shook my head. "But no. I wasn't there in the mall at the time, I was in my home…"

"I- I see……"

Silence fell between us.

It wasn't exactly an awkward silence, but it did feel like there was something I missed. Something I wasn't getting at.

"Is something wrong, Yui?"

"Huh? Y-yeah. Everything's alright Maachi."

So I was missing something.

I thought back to her words and began to wonder. Hachiman, Yukinoshita, Yui and me. If I'd been at the mall during that Saturday, that would have made for the entire Service Club-

My eyes widened. I looked at Yui. She'd fished out her phone and was tapping and scrolling all over it.

If I'm wrong then it would only make the situation more awkward, but if I'm right…

"Hey, do you wanna go out sometime?"

"H-huh?!" Yui stumbled along her walk, dropping her phone before barely catching it. She sighed in relief, before nervously looking back at me. "Wh-what did you s-say?"

"It's just…. I realised that the Service Club hasn't hang out together. Outside of club time I mean." I smiled at her. "What do you say we all go out somewhere? Me, You, Yukinoshita," My smile turned to a grin. "And Hachiman can be there too."

"Ah, Hi-Hikki," She turned her face away in embarrassment. "I mean- I don't mind it. N-not at all, but, erm, well- it's just-"

Her voice dropped to a quiet whisper. "I…I don't want to be a bother to them. Yukinon or Hikki."

I see…

So that's how she feels about being around Hachiman and Yukinoshita, huh?

"Is that so…?" I asked and Yui nodded.

It wasn't an unreasonable conclusion to make. In fact, in a way, she was right. Yuigahama Yui was a wrench in the spanner that was Hachiman and Yukinoshita. Her presence was a chaos factor, disturbing their idle routines and paradoxically making them closer and taking them further away from each other.

Yui brings changes, but changes can be dangerous and people naturally avoid dangers. They avoided the new, the unfamiliar. If she tries too hard, she would risk driving them both away. Loners and outcasts are once-bitten, twice-shy. There was no telling what would happen if she pushed her boundaries too far.

Maybe, I should leave it at that. There were already enough changes as they are. Too many and the entire thing will go off the rails. If Yuigahama Yui decided, by herself, that there was no need to push that invisible boundary, then it was only right to respect her choice.

But……

"Still, don't you think it'll be fun?" I asked.

"Huh? Well I guess so….."

I nodded. "Then, let's do it. Today, in the club room, we'll ask them to hang out together with us."

"Eh? Are you sure it'll be alright?"

I smiled. "I'm sure. At least, I think neither Yukinoshita or Hachiman would hold it against you if you ask them."

"I…I see…" Then Yui nodded. "If that's how it is, then- then we'll ask both today,"

I chuckled at that declaration of hers.

I still didn't know what it was that I seeked. What it was that I searched for by getting myself involved in something like this.

But I knew at that moment, what it was that I wanted - for Yuigahama Yui to know that she has a place in the Service Club, even if she didn't feel like it.

Because if Yuigahama Yui didn't have the right to interfere in the dynamic of the Service Club, then that applied to me tenfold.

It was selfish. It was disgusting. It was irrational and yet that's how I - Masaki Maki - felt.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Suddenly Yui dropped her bag and began rummaging through it's contents.

"Here." She said, producing a small bundle.

I took them and gingerly opened them. Inside were a dozen cookies carved into different shapes. Some of them seemed half-cooked or over-cooked. Only a handful looked to be properly baked. The toppings too seemed haphazardly cobbled together with little thought for spreading them equally.

It was, in other words, a mess, but I could tell that she worked hard on it and compared to how she originally started…

"I've gotten a lot better since Yukinon, you, and Hikki helped me, so…thanks for that." Yui smiled nervously at me and I couldn't help but sigh.

Yuigahama Yui can be such a nice girl sometimes; always wanting to get along with everyone, always wanting everyone to get along with each other. More than once, I found myself astounded at how nice she was. You'd expect someone like her; high in the social caste, popular to the boys, always skirting around the rules when it comes to school uniform to be a bitch. A queen-bee. Or someone drunk with what has been given to them.

Not her.

"I appreciate it," I said.

We were close to the classroom building entrance now when we spotted a blonde girl standing in the front.

"Ah, that's Yumiko," Yui turned to me. "Maachi, I'm going to go ahead first."

I nodded. "Go ahead,"

"Right, see you later then, Maachi!" Yui said, turning around and running up to Miura.

"See you later too, Yui…."

I stared at the bundle of cookies in my arm, then sighed.

Change. Such a small word that can be terrifying, exhilarating, and rewarding at the same time.

What other changes would I encounter today, I wondered.

—​

Compared to the hallways through which I came, the locker room for the second year students on the second floor was relatively empty. Some students here and there absently lounged about, particularly around the door, but for the most part it was devoid of people. That was why I was surprised when someone actually called out to me.

"Yo, Maachi!"

The shrill voice caused me to turn around. Two boys walked up towards me; one with dyed-brown hair, the other blonde. Even from afar I could probably tell who they were.

"Tobe, Hayato." I smiled when I saw them coming. "Good morning to you."

Hayato returned my smile with one of his own. "Good morning to you too, Masaki,"

"Hehehe, Good Morning too, Maachi." Tobe said. "Man, it's been awhile since we saw each other, huh?"

"It's only been a few days since you guys left for that tournament in Tokyo," Unlike me, Tobe and Hayato were members of the soccer clubs. Ever since Sobu High's partnership by the TPC, the soccer club had enjoyed a somewhat brief surge in quality and popularity, enough to be recognized on a prefectural level and sometimes beyond.

A few weeks ago, during the start of the school year, the soccer club received an invitation for a friendly tournament match between various prestigious high schools in Tokyo. It was that tournament that Tobe and Hayato went to a few days ago.

"So how did the tournament go, by the way?"

Tobe rubbed the back of his neck shily. "Hehe, we did quite well. Most of the first rounders were easy-peasy and we made it to the semifinal of the match. There're some tough teams that we came up against, but Hayato here pulled us through the worst of them. It was thanks to him that we even managed to get that far."

Hayato smiled humbly. "Tobe and the others worked hard too, though," he said. "We wouldn't be able to get to the semi-finals if it weren't for you guys."

Tobe chuckled, then his face fell slightly. "But yeah, it was on the semifinal that we met the team from Shuchi'in Academy."

"Shuchi'in." My eyes widened. "That rich academy from Tokyo?"

"It is,"

"Yup."

Shuchi'in. That would be where Kaguya and Shirogane are if I wasn't mistaken. I knew that Tobe and Hayato would be meeting some pretty high-ranking school, but I didn't expect it to be something like this.

"Man, that soccer captain of theirs is really something else."

"Captain?"

"His name is Shijo Mikado." Hayato explained. "He was the captain of the Shuchi'in soccer team during the tournaments and is considered to be their top players."

"You don't get it Maachi, the guy's a monster." Tobe said, shaking his head. "He ran through our defenses like it was nothing and made shots that were like really, really hard to do. It was crazy."

"He is certainly incredible," Hayato nodded. "To be honest, I can't even get mad at him. He was simply that good. I guess Shuchi'in really isn't one of the most prestigious non-TPC academy in the country for nothing."

It was an open secret these days. The most prestigious schools in not just Japan, but around the world are those that are in some ways linked to the Terra Peace Consortium. The organization had come to replace the UN and in many ways had come to surpass it. Socially, economically, politically, and culturally it holds far more sway and influence than the UN ever did in its height.

"Still kinda sucks that we lost though… they didn't call that Shoji guy a Boy-Fucker for nothing." Tobe said.

Hayato coughed beside him. I raised an eyebrow. "It's what they call Shoji-san around the high school soccer club circles."

"Ah." Yes. I think I remembered something like that.

"In any case, I don't think there's much of anything we can do right now except to train harder ourselves and do better next time."

"Yosh," Tobe said, suddenly getting fired up. "Next time we meet, we'll be the one who beat the Shuchi'in soccer team."

Hayato smiled, and then he turned back towards me. "And what about you Masaki, did you do anything interesting on the weekend?"

"Me?" I asked as I opened the door to my shoe locker and took out my indoor shoes. "Nothing interesting really. I just stayed for most of the time, you know? Doing chores, and finishing up my homework. That sort of stuff, really."

"Wait, that's it? Jeez, that sounds kinda boring though right?"

It was the same response I'd gotten from Yuigahama. I shrugged. "Maybe, but that's just how I went."

Hayato chuckled. "Well, different people relaxed differently."

"Yeah, I know that. It's just…. Isn't it kind of a waste though? Don't you have someone to hang out with?"

"Hmm…" I thought for a while. "I guess…there was that one time I went out with Kaori to the mall and helped her do her homework assignment."

Tobe sighed. "That's not what I meant…"

"Huh?"

"Ah, forget it. It's just-" Tobe cut himself off. "Wait, homework!"

He sprang into action as if jolted by a bolt of electricity, immediately he went to grab his back, opened it, and began rummaging through its contents.

I sighed. "Tobe…don't tell me you forgot your homework again…."

Beside him, Hayato frowned before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Tobe…"

"Huh? Wait, no, no, no. It's nothing like that. I was just looking for this." His hands emerged from his bag and out came a small red paperback book. He then handed the book over to me. "Here, Maachi-bro. Thanks for letting me borrow it."

I recognized that book. Societies and Kaijus, 2011-2026 by Dr. Serizawa Isiro. Carefully, I took the book from Tobe's hands.

"It was, like, super easy to read and I got everything I needed for Oobleck-sensei's essay. Thanks a bunch."

"You're welcome, Tobe." It was an old book, well-kept, but well worn. The white paper had turned slightly yellow around the edges. And if I opened them, I knew that I would find inside small notes cramped between the lines, sentences and paragraphs underlined once or twice, and a familiar signature at the front of the book. I held it tightly.

"Ah, I know!" Tobe suddenly said. "Why don't you hang out with us during lunch today? I'll treat you as thanks for this."

I smiled. "That sounds wonderful Tobe, but, erm," I shook my head and rubbed the back of my neck. "I have another plan for lunch today."

"Aww, but we barely hang out with each other since last week, ya know?" Tobe's face fell and he looked like a kicked puppy.

I suddenly wanted to take back my words, but I held firm. "Yeah, uhm… sorry about that, but, well, you see…"

And now I was stumbling around with my words. Great.

"Well, what about tomorrow, then?" Hayama cuts in. "Will you be free tomorrow?"

Hayama. You're a life-saver.

"Tomorrow sounds fine." I said quickly. "I don't think I have any plans for tomorrow."

"Alright!" Tobe said. "Tomorrow it is then, Maachi-bro. Deal?" He held out his hand. I took it.

"Deal." I said.

Tobe bumped his fist. "Yosh, see you later in class then!" He looked at Hayama. "Hayama, wanna head to class now?"

"Sure, Tobe." Hayama turned to me. His eyes lingered on for a moment, lips quirking to a smile that seemed to know more than it let on. "See you later then, Masaki-san."

I gave off a smile of my own. Half-gratitude. Half-knowing. "Yeah, see you."

—​

The school bell rang, signalling the end of class and the beginning of lunch period.

"That's all for today, I suppose." Dr. Oobleck said. "Thank you for your attention and please don't forget about the assignment I gave you.

He walked to the door of the class and the moment he left was the moment the class sprang to life.

Abruptly, chairs and tables screeched as people rose from their seats. Chattering and laughter began to buzz through the once quiet room like a bee nest roused from idleness. People gathered around one another, in pairs or in small groups. Some went out of the door - either to the cafeteria to buy their lunch or to hang out somewhere. Others stayed inside the classroom.

I reached out to my bag under the table and took out my own lunch box.

One group that stayed behind were composed of girls and boys. They gathered around the table near the front corner opposite the door. It was Hayama's clique - his blonde hair was too distinctive to be missed. Tobe, Ooka, and Yamato gathered around him, talking and joking at one another. Occasionally, Hayama would butt in on their conversation, but for the most part, he seemed content to simply smile, nod, and enjoy their company.

The girls gathered around Yumiko much in the same way the boys did Hayama. It was near-impossible to miss her - one of the few girls inside the class with blonde hair. Yui and Hina sat around her table on chairs they'd taken from nearby seats. There were not that many people inside the classroom - the buzz from before had slowly died out over the minutes. In the newly quiet atmosphere, their conversation could be heard loud and clear.

"...so what do you guys think about this dress, it looks pretty right?" Yumiko's voice easily carried over from her side of the room to mine. She held out her phone for the entire group to see, even the boys.

Ooka took a glance at it. "Hmm…. It looks rather nice?"

Beside him, Yamato nodded, but Tobe and Hayama were strangely deep in their phones. The first held it out to the latter as he talked excitedly, while Hayama seemed to be engrossed by it to the point of taking out his own phone to see what it was.

Even from across the room, I could catch the slight twitching of Yumiko's eye.

Suddenly Hina spoke. "Ah, I think it will suit you rather well, Yumiko-chan." She glanced at Tobe and Hayama deep in their phones. "What about you, Tobe?"

"What?" Tobe perked up and then he noticed the phone held out by Yumiko. "O-oh! Yeah! I think it looks good on you, Yumiko-chan…"

He lightly elbowed Hayama who looked up from his phone, just then realising what it was that had occurred, he opened his mouth, likely to go along with it-

But before he could speak a word, another voice chimed in

"Ah, I- I don't know. I don't think it suits you well, Yumiko."

Yuigahama Yui's quivered as she spoke, but it was heard loud and clear.

Almost all of a sudden, silence fell across the group. Tobe stopped fiddling with his phone. Hina eyed Yui nervously from her side. Hayama looked between Yui and Yumiko, discreetly.

As for Yumiko herself-

"Huh? What did you say Yui?"

It sounded less than a question and more like a challenge. Yumiko stared at Yuigahama directly to her face. Yuigahama glanced nervously around, eyes darting from corner to corner, except for Yumiko's eyes.

Abruptly, I stood up, my lunch forgotten for the moment. Something a lot more important than my grumbling stomach just occurred. No one seemed to notice me. Everyone was fixated with the drama unfolding in front of the class.

"Ahahaha, I mean, well…" Yuigahama waved her hand, as if trying to dispell the tension that suddenly gripped the atmosphere. "Well… this kind of thing just doesn't suit your usual style, is all."

"And what the heck, do you mean by that?" Yumiko asked.

"H-how should I put this…" Yuigahama rubbed her hands together as if feeling a sudden cold. "Well, the red colour j-just kinda came off as a bit s-strong, like the gold bi-bits kinda made it l-look gaudy. And well, i-it looks good, b-but it just doesn't suit Yumiko-chan's usual style, y-you know."

Her words came jumbling and stumbling all over the place. Yet her voice carried clearly through the room.

Yumiko's eyes widened, her mouth slightly opened, but no words came, so instead, she bit her lip.

Yuigahama for her part still couldn't see Yumiko eye-to-eye, but she stood by her words and did not take them back.

I balled my hand into a fist, feeling sweat drenching my palm.

It was a stalemate. Yumiko was annoyed, but she wasn't angry enough to suddenly berate Yuigahama. Yuigahama was scared, but she stood her ground. A cold wind blew through the entire class. The growing tension suddenly froze into ice, helding everyone down where they stood.

Despite my clothing, I shivered. I could feel the frosty wind from outside piercing through my skin, hairs rising at the back of my hand. And I felt as if I'd eaten snow for lunch.

It was a stalemate. Something have to give way.

If the issue couldn't be resolved the normal way, then-

Yumiko opened her mouth-

I took a single step-

"If I'm honest… I think it does look kinda weird on you, Yumiko."

Just like that. The tension from before was cut with a single slash. Almost instantly everyone's gaze turned to Hayama.

Despite the abrupt attention on Hayama, he smiled easily as if they were passing winds.

"I'm not saying that you won't be able to make it work," Hayama said smoothly. "But, well it just doesn't feel like 'Yumiko' you know?" He flashed a thousand-wat smile. "I think Yumiko already looks great as is, so why not search for something closer to your usual get-up?"

"Y-yeah," Yui nodded furiously.

"Ahahaha…y-you think so, Hayato?" Yumiko's cheeks blushed, suddenly meek at his words. It was like watching a roaring flame reduced to flickering cinders.

Hayato nodded. "I know so,"

"J-jeez, Hayato. Don't say stuff like that," Yumiko's entire face practically turned beet red.

Tobe whistled. Ooka and Yamato grinned. Hina chuckled. Even Yuisports a smile, though nervously, of her own.

The icy tension that previously gripped the entire class suddenly melted. Some smiled and chuckled at the rom-com scene that had played out in front of them while others went about their previous work as if nothing had ever happened. Sooner or later life went on.

I stood, staring at Hayama's clique now returning to their normal atmosphere. It took me a few moments to realized I was smiling. Immediately I washed it off before someone could call me a creep and walked back to my own desk.

That was a close call. For a moment there I thought I had to intervene myself. I didn't know what I would do if that was the case. Perhaps called out to Tobe and Hayama for some 'important business'. Tobe might be dumb at times, but he's not stupid and Hayama will certainly play along with it. Or maybe make a fool of myself by 'accidentaly' stumbling and falling to the floor in order to draw everyone's attention to myself.

People are likely to forget their drama when there's an emergency happening around them.

I frowned. I've been spending too much time with Hachiman.

Then again, perhaps my solutions would only make the situation more awkward so…

I shook my head. I was overthinking things yet again. What's done is done, no one was harmed and everything ended as well as it could be.

I grabbed my lunchbox and began walking to the door of the class. I had already made plans for where I would have my lunch, but even if I didn't, I needed the change in atmosphere. The drama was over, but it's shadows lingered on my mind. The ice might have melted outside, but I could still feel icy hands grabbing hold of my heart. There was fear, yes, but there was also something else too…

Guilt pierced through like a sharp cold dagger and it wouldn't leave me so long as I'm in the class.

As I passed through the threshold, I couldn't help but catch a glimpse of Yuigahama. She seemed well, listening and chuckling with Yumiko as if that whole debacle hadn't happened in the first place. The moment I looked at her though, she caught my stare with one of her own.

She blinked.

I blinked.

Then in what felt like ages, Yuigahama Yui flashed a small, subtle, and knowing smile that was uncharacteristic of Yuigahama Yui.

Despite myself, I nodded and smiled right back at her.

And we both went back about our days.

—​

The hallway bridges connecting the classroom building with the special use and the TPC course building were long and wide and transparent. The walls to my side consisted primarily of glass-pane windows that looked so clear, they seemed almost fragile. As if a strong enough breeze would be able to shatter them. Yet I knew for a fact that they could withstand bullets, earthquakes, and fires far, far better than any ordinary glass windows.

From where I stood inside the hallway bridge, I have a rather extensive view on the world outside. Students in their normal uniforms mingled about in the courtyard, hanging out together or eating their lunches while others in their jump suit played badminton nearby. Above them, the sun had reached its zenith, cutting through the previous morning haze, yet still somewhat gripped by the pale shadow of winter.

While students sometimes hang around them, the passageways were mainly popular for their vending machines. Not just drink or snacks, but also wholesale meals; breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Japanese or foreign, as good as any home-made food. They were famous no only with students, but also with teachers, staffs, clerks, and janitors. If you want a quick, ready-to-eat meal without having to queue up in a line, the passageways vending machines were a must.

I walked to one of the vending machines selling drinks. There were a variety of beverages on display; soft drink, juice, coffee, tea, milk, mineral water and the likes. I decided to pick a box of apple juice and a bottle of mineral water to wash my lunch down. I placed a few coins inside to pay for them, but the last one tumbled off my fingers just before entering the threshold. It landed sideways and began rolling on the smooth white floor.

"Damn it," I chased after the coin and just when I was about to bent down for it, a hand suddenly picked it up.

I looked up. Perfect smile. Perfect rows of teeth. And perfect pairs of blue eyes.

Hayama Hayato chuckled softly as he held out my coin in his hand. "Yours?"

"Y-yeah," I said. He grinned and handed it to me. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

I placed the last coin inside the vending machine. It whirred and the two drinks I'd ordered fell into place. When I finished picking up my drinks, Hayama walked purposefully towards the machine and began picking out his own drinks. I was just about to walk away when he suddenly spoke.

"I didn't see you in the cafeteria back there." Hayama said.

I turned around to face him. "I was just about to pass by there. Just need to grab some drinks "

"Hmm. I think we have some empty space in our table, do you want to sit with us?"

"Thanks, but like I told you, I have some other place I want to go to."

"I see." Hayama smiled. "How's Kaori-chan doing these days?"

That threw me into a bit of a loop. I've introduced Kaori to Hayama right the moment after she heard I was inside the same class as him. It's not that I have never heard him ask about her, but it's not just something he usually does.

"She's doing quite well." I said as smoothly as I could managed. "She still has a habit of taking things too easily and she hould probably start waking up more early, but academically speaking, she's doing quite better."

Hayama hummed, pressing some of the buttons in the vending achine. "I'm sure she would improve quite a lot with someone like you watching over her."

"Nah," I said. "I just gave her the occasional push and pointers. Most of it came from her own hard work."

"No," Hayama said. "I really think you played a big part of it."

…For some reason, I felt like we were having two conversations at once.

I sighed, but smiled patiently. "Hayato… can we please just get to the point? Why were you looking for me?"

Hayama sighed. "I just came here to thank you."

"I'm not quite sure what I did to earn your thanks."

"For Yui."

I fell silent at that.

"She was always kinda shy, you know?" Hayama began placing his coins inside the vending machine. His face reflected on the smooth glass. "Even back to when we started getting to know each other. We were friends, but at the same time… she had some reservations, some things she was afraid to say out in the open. We knew it deep down, but… it wasn't something anyone is comfortable addressing and it wasn't like it has been causing any problems."

He placed his last coin inside and turned his gaze towards me. "She's been a bit more confident and open lately, about her interests and about her own life, even if it wasn't necessarily some things the rest of the group understood or agreed on. And because of that… she's a lot more comfortable around us. Yumiko is still getting the hang of it, but I think she'll get used to Yui's new antics quickly. So for that…thank you."

I shook my head. "Yui is the one who chose to change. I wouldn't be able to do it if she wasn't willing to do it in the first place. If anything I should be the one thanking you for helping her out back there."

"And would she have done it, without some nudging on your side?"

We stared at each other for a moment and it was me who turned away.

Would she? That was the schrodinger cat. Perhaps she would, given the right time and the right circumstances. If that was the case then my involvement had only sped up a process that was already underway. The seeds of change were already there and the only thing I did was give it enough nourishment to grow by itself.

On the other hand, if she wouldn't then what does that mean for my own involvement in her current development? It's not like I brought those changes up out of nothing. In that case, the correct metaphor would be like planting seeds on the ground where it originally wasn't supposed to. In other words, something unnatural.

The vending machine whirred and Hayama's drinks fell into place.

"Then you should also thank Hachiman and Yukinoshita." I said after a while. "The Service Club are the ones that helped her be more open about herself."

"I see….so it was a team effort from the Service Club, then?"

I sighed. I was getting tired with all these double-meaning conversations.

Hayato and I…have something of a strange vibe going on between us. A passing glance there. A knowing comment here. And occasionally some double-sided sentences just like this.

Hayato had probably caught on to something about me. I wonder what it is. It couldn't be that he'd figured it out, most likely he thought I was just someone who knew him previously.

Well if that's the case he wouldn't be wrong.

"People can change of their own free will, you know, Hayato? With or without the help of others.."

"Some people are freer than others." Hayama said. "It's not as simple for everyone."

Was he talking about Yukinoshita or himself? I sighed. Even when I wasn't that involved in Yukinoshita or Hayato, I was still dragged by their drama.

"No it really isn't." Not everyone is born equal. That is the reality of life. It is only natural that some had more things than others.

Still-

"But even so, I think it's worth seeing what's on the other side."

"What's on the other side, huh?" Hayama looked at me.

Silence was my only answer.

Hayama sighed. "See you around then…Masaki."

He started to leave, his footsteps echoing in the empty hallway and his white indoor shoes reflecting smoothly across the floor.

One step.

Two steps.

Three-

"Oi Hayato."

Hayama turned around, in time to catch the can of soda I threw at him.

"You forgot your drink."

Hayama paused to look at the reflection in the can he was holding, then he raised his head towards me.

I smiled. "Take care of yourself, alright?"

Hayama's smile was one that didn't look so happy. "I'll try…Maachi."

And with that, I left for my own lunch plan.

—​

There was a spot on the first floor of the special use building around what had been originally a nurse's office but recently converted into a full blown infirmary and behind the first floor of the cafeteria.

It was peaceful and quiet. Strangely so. Especially considering how it was placed near the cafeteria where hundreds of students ate and talked among on another in a rowdy din. From here, the path directly to the tennis court and behind it the soccer field surrounded by the track course, and beyond them, the sea from where a cool breeze blew thither and hither. The air had a faint smell of sand and a taste of salt.

I walked through the empty, open hallways of the buildings. There were very few people hanging out around here, just a motley group or two here and there about the place. The high noon sky blazed on a sky dotted with clouds and, despite the mild tuch of winter in the air, not many seemed keen on playing tennis or soccer in the fields.

I looked around, casting my eyes about until they landed on a single student sitting near one of the stairs.

He sat there, alone, beneath the shade of the special use building, peacefully eating his lunch. He sat with his back towards me, observing the near-empty field as the sea breeze blew softly caressing his slightly unkept black hair.

I began walking purposefully towards him. The sound of my steps echoed in the hallway, but I made no attempt to hide them. He seemed engrossed with his thoughts, chewing at his food mechanically, not bothering to savor their taste. He didn't even notice me until I was two feet away from him, turning around when my shadow suddenly fell on top of him.

If there was one thing I could say about Hikigaya Hachiman it was that his eyes weren't rotten at all. At least, not by their physical looks alone. They were the color of a very dark gray, almost black, more iron than steel, but they didn't seem weird or creepy, they looked perfectly normal. They were slight eye bags beneath his eyes indicative of a lack of sleep, but they weren't so prominent.

Those eyes widened slightly when they saw me.

I waved my hand. "Yo, Hachiman"

"Yo." He said lamely.

I smiled. "Would you mind if I eat here, today?"

He rolled his eyes but said nonetheless. "Go right on ahead."

It had become a habit of mine to eat my lunch with hachiman from time to time. Not every day and not on every occasion, but it had become frequent enough occurrences that he seemed to have grown used to it.

I unwrapped my lunch box next to him. "How is it going with you, by the way?"

"Hmm? Just the usual, I suppose…" He took a bit from his riceball, falling quiet.

From the outside, it didn't seem like he paid much attention to our conversation, but I know that was just because of his social awkwardness. It often made it an uphill battle to start a conversation with him. I needed a bait to get the conversation going and to catch his attention.

Thankfully, Yuigahama already provided me with just the right bait.

"So Yui told me that you both met each other in the mall, the other day."

"Huh?" Hachiman raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, I guess that did happen…"

"Really? What were you doing there, anyway?"

"Ah, well, I was just looking for a new book to read." He said. "I just bumped into her on my way to the bookstore. Nothing really happened all that much."

"Is that so?" I said. "Hmm… any new releases I should be aware of? History? Fiction? Light novels?"

"I don't think so. Nothing really caught my eye, pretty much the same stuff for the past few weeks." He paused, then added thoughtfully. "Well there was a new classroom isekai series on the shelf that I noticed. I heard it was a pretty hot thing, but just by looking at the cover and the description alone, it seemed like your standard trash really."

I smiled. Now we're really getting somewhere. "Huh. I might give that one a read."

Hachiman blanched. "You know, I really don't get your fixations with them. Aren't you tired of dealing with the same junk over and over again?"

"They have a certain charm to them," I said simply. "At least for me."

"At this rate, you might get as bad as Zaimokuza."

My eyes twitched. "I'll ask you to pretty please not lump me together with him."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. But don't say I didn't warn you if you start spouting some chuuni nonsense or getting some trashy light novel ideas of your own like Zaimokuza–"

"Is that my name that I heard being called upon?"

We both froze dead in our tracks.

Oh God. Please no-

A giant shadow suddenly enveloped both of us.

"Why, if it isn't my comrades in arms?! Fate has truly blessed us with this most fortuitous of meetings!"

Slowly, fearfully, Hachiman and I turned our backs.

A giant figure stood on the hallway, wearing his Sobu High uniform underneath a deep black trench-coat the color of a moonless night. On his hands, he wore a pair of fingerless gloves that fit neatly on him.

A wind suddenly blew across the hallway, billowing his coat around like a cape.

"My, my," Zaimokuza Yoshiteru rambled on. "to think that I would encounter not one, but two of my comrade in arms during my journey. What a fortunate coincidence this is!"

"There's nothing fortunate about this meeting, you damn chuuni." Hachiman said.

"Zaimokuza-san. Good afternoon," My usual politeness kicked in. "What are you doing here?"

It took me a moment before I realized my mistake. Hachiman shot me a glare that said; Why? Why the heck do you feel the need to ask?!

"Ah you see, Sir Masaki," Zaimokuza said. "I was on my way after a meeting with scholar Hiratsuka in one of the administrative buildings when I chanced upon you."

Wait a minute-

"However, you seem to be preoccupied in a discussion with Prince Hayama of your own class, so I decided not to intrude. When you were done, I followed you all the way to the cafeteria where I admittedly got a bit lost, before seeing you sneaking off to the back of it." Zaimokuza nodded. "And that is how I find you both here."

"Wait. Hang on." Hachiman said. "Are you saying that you stalked him here or whatever?"

"S-stalking. My word! I would never do such a scandalous thing, I would have you know Hachiman,"

"You just practically admitted to it, you chuuni!"

I coughed, gaining the attention of them both, and turned to Zaimokuza, smiling nervously. "And, erm, what were talking about with Hiratsuka-sensei?"

Hachiman shot me another glare, but I tried my best to ignore him. I was trying my hardest not to think on how he had been stalking me all the way from that lounge room and how I didn't manage to catch him.

"A-ah, well," Zaimokuza coughed. "Just some trivial matters cornering my career choice. You see, ah, for the career option, I decided that I want to become a screen writer for films and scholar Hiratsuka wishes to discuss the matter further with me. Not-nothing quite serious really."

"I see," I said, nodding along. I still smiled, though it was getting more strained by the moment.

"Wait a second," Hachiman said. "I thought you wanted to become a novelist?"

No! Wait, Hachiman! Just nod along and-

"Ah, well I did. But you see, after giving it much thought and deliberations, I decided that becoming a screenwriter would be a much better career option. Artistically, it would allow me far more freedom to express myself visually and audibly. Also," He coughed. "I recently found out that the majority of light novel authors ended up having to compete with one another for the market and most of the time, they don't end up selling quite well."

"And…how long have you thought about this?" I asked tentatively.

"Why, just yesterday,"

My smile twitched.

Urge. To facepalm. Must. Resist.

Hachiman didn't bother hiding his disappointment as he groaned and covered his face, muttering something about a wishy-washy chuuni.

"A-anyway," Zaimokuza continued nervously. "m-may I sit here and eat my lunch with you two?"

Hachiman and I shared a single pained look with one another. On the one hand, Zaimokuza can be so cringy and annoying that it can be unbearable just to have him around. On the other hand, he can sometimes be so pitiful that it's difficult to refuse him anything.

I rose to speak first. "Ah, you see, Zaimo-"

"Hachiman, Maachi, Zaimakouza, yahallo!"

A sing-song, high-pitched voice interrupted me right at that moment.

A figure walked towards us from the direction of the tennis field, wearing the dark and light green jacket of the Sobu High sports uniform. His hair was white, almost translucent and his pale skin seemed almost too delicate even for the light of the slightly sickly sun. Small hands gripped a tennis racket that at first glance seemed sightly too large for them.

Totsuka Saika seemed to sparkle as he ran up and smiled at us. Despite myself, I felt a breath hitching at his approach.

"H-hello Saika-kun," I managed.

"Y-yahallo, Totsuka." Hachiman said, almost managing not to stammer.

"And good afternoon to you too, Sir Totsuka." In contrast, Zaimokuza seemed to be the only one not affected among the three of us.

Totsuka's smile widened and if possible, his face seemed to lit up even more. For a single moment, the wintry veil was lifted from the air and sun shone with all its springtime glory.

Totsuka glanced around us, taking note of all three of us. "Were you guys having lunch together or something?"

"Erm…"

"That is…"

Hachiman and I traded glances. It was true that we were eating our lunches together, but Zaimokuza only barged in just recently.

"Yes," Zaimokuza said easily, "why, we were just about to partake in our high noon feast right now!"

Hachiman and I glared at Zaimokuza. We opened our mouths at the same time-

"He's not-"

"You just-"

"That sounds nice!" Totsuka said.

-Only to abruptly close them again.

"D-do you mind if I eat with you guys?" He asked, gesturing at the small lunch bundle in his other hand and looking at us with a slightly pleading look. Totsuka, if you stare at us like that, it's really not fair you know? How are we supposed to refuse you right now?

"S-sure," Hachiman said.

"I-it's fine," I nodded.

"Of course, Sir Totsuka, the more the merrier, as they say."

"Alright!"

Both Totsuka and Zaimokuza sat down at the same time. I eyed the latter carefully. Did he plan this? I really wouldn't put it past him to do something like this, though I suspect that in this case at least, he was just oblivious to the mood as usual.

Totsuka unwrapped the bundle he had, revealing a small, black lunch box. Not unlike the one I have in my hand.

"Hmm, you brought a lunchbox too, Maachi?"

"Ah, yes." I opened it, revealing the inside of its content; cold coleslaw salad mixed with sauce, salted rice cooked in vinegar, some bundle of stir-fried vegetables from last night, and a few fried chicken to go along with them.

"Wow… that looks delicious."

"It's certainly impressive."

Hachiman eyed the meal critically. "You cooked all of this by yourself?"

"Ahaha, not really," I said. "Aunty made it for me."

"Did your aunt make you lunches like these every day, Maachi?" Totsuka asked.

"Only sometimes. Other times I cooked all of it by myself. Occasionally, Kaori would even chip in."

"Kaori, huh…?" Hachiman murmured.

I winced. That was a slip-up on my part. Orimoto Kaori was simply a topic of conversation that Hachiman and I wordlessly agreed not to breach. That was a can of worms I'm still unable to solve.

"It must be nice to have a sister who cooked for you like that." Totsuka said.

"Yeah," Hachiman agreed, then muttered. "My own sister on the other hand…"

He had a dark look on his face. The one that said he was deep in his own rotten monologue. I should probably stop him before he went too far.

"Ah, it's only rarely though. Most of the time it's just me or Mother…"

"Heh." Hachiman smirked. I really hope he wasn't thinking something self-deprecating. Moreso if it was from something I said.

I should turn the topic of conversation away. "Anyway, Totsuka. What are you having for lunch?"

"Ehehe, I'm kinda embarrassed though…" Despite that, he opened the lunch box anyway, allowing us to see.

Totsuka's lunch was…something unexpected. I was expecting something similar to mine. There was some salad, some vegetables, and a healthy amount of rice, but there were a few other things as well.

"That's…a lot of meat." I commented.

Indeed. There were some fried chicken not unlike the ones I have. Beside it were strips of roasted beef, what looked like to be pork cutlets, some diced chicken breast, and smoked salmon filet.

"Hehehe, well I decided that I should built some muscle after that training exercise just like Yukinoshita-san told me to, so…"

In contrast to our home-made meals, Hachiman and Zaimokuza's lunches were mostly store-made or bought from the vending machine. Hachiman had a few tuna and salmon rice balls, bread, and max coffee to wash it all down. Zaimokuza bought an instant ramen cup, iced tea, and some rice balls as snacks.

A chorus of "Itadakimasu." soo reverberated throughout our little group followed by the munching of foods and clacking of cutleries.

"So what were you guys talking about when I got here?" Totsuka asked. "Seems you guys were pretty into it,"

"Ah, you see, Sir Totsuka, I was just regaling them with tales about my visit to scholar Hiratsuka concerning my career path."

"With Hiratsuka-sensei, huh? So what did you choose for your career option?"

"I have given it much thought and after some deliberation. I decided that I want to become a screenwriter for movies!"

I rolled my eyes. Hachiman took a long gulp of his Max Coffee as he turned away from the scene.

Totsuka though took it quite enthusiastically. "That sounds so cool, Zaimokuza!"

"Ahahaha, you think so, Sir Totsuka? Why I already have some ideas for a film I want to write…"

Totsuka then turned to Hachiman. "And what about you, Hachiman?"

Hachiman coughed, choking on his coffee with the sudden question.

"Ah, you see, I guess I want to be…" He trailed off. An unreadable expression dawned on his face and he blushed in embarrassment. "I…I want to be a…"

"Hachiman hasn't decided yet." I said, quickly. "He's still considering his options."

Hachiman shot a glance at me. "Y-yeah, something like that. Besides, choosing a career is something you really have to think over seriously."

"I see," Totsuka said, nodding along. "I guess it is something really difficult."

"By the way, Totsuka," I asked. "Do you already have a career in mind?"

Totsuka hummed, a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm… I honestly haven't decided."

I raised an eyebrow. Hachiman did as well.

"I'm surprised. I thought you wanted to become a tennis player or something."

"I mean, I do want to become a tennis player," Totsuka said. "And it'll be nice if I can get that as my future career but also I'm considering all of my options here." He sighed. "Something like that isn't really a guarantee, so I think thinking this through couldn't hurt. Maybe I could even work with the TPC. Lots of our alumni did that, didn't they?"

Indeed, since this was a TPC-sponsored school, many students who graduated from here also wound up working for the TPC as a result.

Totsuka still wants to become a tennis player. It's just that he was also thinking up a backup plan in case it fails.

Totsuka turned to me. "And you Maachi, are you still thinking about yours too?"

I swallowed a spoonful of beef and rice and sipped my juice. "Kinda," I said after a while. "But if I have to say… I guess I wanna try working with the TPC."

"The TPC, huh? That's really going big." Hachiman said. "It does make sense though. I mean, Sobu High is practically a TPC recruiting ground, so it's a sensible career path."

Zaimokuza spoke for the first time after a while. "Still, in what capacity will you be working inside the TPC? Tis' a very large organization, comprised of many nationalities that works across various fields from science, military, humanities, and the likes."

"One branch I'm thinking of is research, actually. Something in history and archeology."

Totsuka asked. "So… kind of like Oobleck-sensei?"

"In a sense. The TPC has a historical and archeological research branch under their humanities department. And since humanities is a relatively new department in the TPC, they're still looking for a lot of new blood to join their ranks, so the job opportunities are there."

"I see…"

"Hang on," Hachiman said. "you said, that is one of the things you're interested in."

"The other one…is the kaiju department."

A stunned silence soon followed my declaration.

The sun was high in the pale sky. The wind blew a slightly chilling spring breeze across the hallway.

Totsuka spoke up first. "You mean… like the Human Defense Initiative?"

I shook my head. "No. Not the Human Defence Initiative. Besides, they don't even work for the TPC anymore."

"Isn't the HDI part of the TPC though?"

"Only on paper." I said. "Though the HDI is technically placed under the TPC and was founded by it, it's practically a de-facto independent organization of its own now with its own internationally funded budget, equipment, structures, and even recruiting grounds."

Zaimokuza nodded. "Indeed. I've heard that there were even rumors that the HDI is seeking full independence from the TPC."

Totsuka asked, "But, Masaki-san, if you're not going to join the HDI, then what?"

"I'm thinking of GUTS, actually."

Raised eyebrows and confused stares met my statement.

"GUTS?"

I nodded. "Mhm. The Global Utility Task-force for the Supernatural. GUTS."

Hachiman's eyes shot up in recognition. "I've heard of them. Isn't that the anti-kaiju organization before the HDI?"

"They're not an anti-kaiju organization. At least at first." I said. "GUTS was originally founded to solve various scientific and environmental anomalies around the world. Mostly relating to natural disasters, man-made or otherwise. Think of an international disaster-relief and disaster-investigation squad."

"I've read about them before," Zaimokuza chimed in. "During the Rising their early efforts consisted mainly of evacuation and the study of kaijus. As more and more kaijus started appearing, they also underwent some militarisation and were given access to more and more weaponries to fight against the kaijus. In this capacity, you could say that they were the precursor of the HDI."

"I see…" Totsuka said, nodding along.

"However," Zaimokuza continued. "When the HDI and SRC were founded, GUTS' prominence slowly declined. Most of its workload in combating kaijus were relegated to the HDI, while its research efforts went to the SRC. As a result, it had receded to the background somewhat, returning to its roots as a disaster relief and research organization, mostly dedicated to evacuation. Though occasionally it does enter into combat or research efforts."

Hachiman hummed. "Huh. You know a lot about them."

Totsuka raised an eyebrow. "But if that's the case, then why do you want to join GUTS? Wouldn't the HDI be a better choice? Or the SRC?"

I scratched the back of my neck. "If I have to say…I guess it's because both organizations don't fit me really well. With the SRC I'll probably be stuck doing research in a lab all the time and… I'm not really a science guy. With the HDI, while I do have the physique I'll probably have to enter some combat or military training first and… that can be hard."

"But I have to say, Sir Masaki. Isn't it a bit of a far cry from your first career choice as a historian working under the TPC?" Zaimokuza asked.

"Ah, about that." I said. "Since kaiju combat and kaiju science were all put into the HDI and SRC respectively, GUTS is usually the ones that handle the social and economic aspect of kaiju attacks. They do things like estimating the possible damage cost of a kaiju attack or social-relief efforts for kaiju victims. They also worked to properly document various kaiju and interaction cases outside of combat or scientifically related things."

That's what I said to them, but it wasn't the entirety of it. Not really.

There was no doubt in my mind that I will probably end up becoming an Ultra down the line or at the very least, encountering someone who can become one. Becoming a member of GUTS would allow me to cover my bases in either case.

If I do end up becoming an Ultraman or at least, something that can compete with the other kaijus, then being amongst the front line evacuation efforts would allow me to respond quickly to threats. On the other hand, if it was the latter, then an access to the files and archives would help me immensely in tracking down and, if it came to it, helping the people who do.

"Men, Maachi," Totsuka said. "You really have thought this through, huh?"

"I have to," I said. "You have to think about these kinds of things carefully and seriously."

I wasn't looking at Totsuka or Hachiman or Zaimokuza anymore. Instead I stared at the tennis field as spring wind blew through. Leaves and branches tumbled in the wind's wake. A hint of flower could be smelled in the air.

"Then again," I added. "This is all still in the future. We shouldn't dwell too much on it."

"Mhm… That's true I think." Totsuka said.

"I guess it is." Hahiman nodded, assenting. "Thinking seriously of the future is all well and good, but you should never forget the present because of it."

"Y-yes, of course. It's all still in the future." Zaimokuza coughed loudly.

Yes. It's all still in the future, a far, far future I hope. When all these, repetitive, monotonous, routine youthful days are all in the past. When I would look back at these carefree days and hit with the bittersweet pang of nostalgia-

Still-

Even so-

The wind suddenly changes. A chill pervaded in the air now, the cold hands of last year's winter reaching out, almost smothering the promise of flowers carried by the spring wind.

—​

Chaos almost descended into the classroom the moment the bell rang, marking the end of school hours. Almost immediately, everyone straightened up in their seats. Those who had been dozing off or even sleeping immediately raised their heads from the tables.

There was anticipation in the air. The clattering and shuffling of tables and chairs could be heard as people reached for their bags. Some had even stood up from their seats altogether. The sounds of chatting suddenly burst through the room like a water balloon.

The door of the classroom suddenly opened, and a white lab coat fluttered in the air.

"Alright, everyone, please settle down first."

Hiratsuka-sensei put an end to the chaos, before it could manifest completely. Anticipation and excitement quickly changed into confusion the moment our homeroom teacher walked inside the class. Some stood dumbfounded staring at her.

"Settle down, everyone, settle down." Hiratsuka-sensei repeated herself. "I have an important announcement to make for everyone. So please sit down first. This is going to be short. I promise."

It was as if the balloon had been deflated. The rug was pulled from under everyone's feet. An awkward moment soon followed as people returned to their seats. Disappointment and confusion evident in their faces.

Hiratsuka-sensei coughed to gain everyone's attention. "Now as you all already know, the school has plans for the second year students to go on a field trip next week."

The students nodded almost in unison. Assentment and agreement rippled through the entire class.

"Some of you may have heard the rumors, but let me say make it clear for everyone here. The destination for our current field trips would be the New Chiba Village Cultural Park. Specifically for the first day, we'll be going to the Akasaka Cave site."

I frowned at that. I knew about the New Chiba Village Cultural Site, a niche vacation in the mountains south of Chiba city. Akasaka though…

Confusion or consternation bloomed across the faces of the students around me.

Yumiko raised her voice. "The Akasaka what now?"

"It's a prehistoric cave site, discovered two years ago near Mount Atago," I said. "It's a pretty big deal in the archeological field, especially since it held traces of human existence to as old as twenty-thousand years ago."

"Sounds like a bore." Someone muttered.

"Yeah, it's kinda boring isn't it?"

"I thought we were going to some place exciting, but this…"

My eyes twitched. I want to say that it was more than that. However, I doubt they would listen to me. If I said that the findings inside the cave included the oldest homo sapiens tooth bones in Japan, traces of human occupation that dated back to the Japanese Palaeolithic Era, or that the entire site single-handedly upturned much of what was known of Japan's pre-history, it would all probably enter one ear and out the other.

Suddenly someone raised a hand.

"Yes, Hayama-san?"

"Forgive me, Hiratsuka-sensei," Hayato said. "But I thought we already have plans for going to Osaka?"

"Yeah, that's what Branwen-sensei said last week right?"

"Now that I think about it, I did remember him making that announcement during that time, but I thought he was just drunk as usual."

"Like, for real, the guy is a literal shark for alcohol."

Hiratsuka-sense coughed nervously to the side. "That was the original idea." She admitted. "However, as some of you may have already known, the city of Osaka came under attack by the kaiju Gomora this morning. Unfortunately the hotel we were supposed to stay in, and three others we reserved for emergencies, were destroyed during the event. Most of the sites we also planned on visiting are also temporarily closed for an unspecified amount of time because of this."

"Wait, seriously?!"

"For real?!"

"All four hotels that the teachers reserved…unbelievable."

"Damn," Tobe said. "It's the Kaiju Field Trip Curse all over again."

Beside him, Ooka chimed in. "I never really believed in any of that stuff, but after so many times, I kinda wonder..."

"The Kaiju Field Trip Curse…. It's just like last year!"

The what now?

"The Kaiju Field Trip Curse?" I asked. "What's that?"

"You don't know?" Hachiman asked, beside me.

"No. What is it? Is it something that happened last year?"

"Oh yeah, you weren't here in the first year."

"That's right." I said. "I only entered Sobu High in my second year."

"Well." Hachiman said. "So you know how we second years have two field trips, one in the first semester and then another one in autumn?"

"Yes…?" I haven't put much thought into it, but now that I think about it, it does feel a little strange, especially since the first year below us and the third year above us only have one field trip each. "I thought it was a privilege for us second years…"

Since the first years were usually too busy with orienteering themselves around the school environment and the third year was dedicated to university exams, I didn't think it strange that the second years would be granted a privilege of having two field trips.

However, that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Nah," Hachiman said. "It's not like that at all. This first field trip was actually supposed to happen last year. You could say the current field trip is something of a replacement. Technically speaking we were supposed to do it during the autumn of our first year. To Okinawa, if I remember correctly."

"Okinawa… Autumn…" That's around September to November and Okinawa…wait. "Hang on a second. Wasn't a pair of twin-tails and Gudons discovered in the island during October that year?"

Surprise dawned on Hachiman "Y-yeah. That's the one. The whole prefecture was wrecked a bunch before the HDI and SRC managed to get things under control. The hotels we were supposed to stay in got destroyed."

"If that's the case then couldn't they just move it elsewhere?"

From the corner of my eyes I could see Miura snorting.

"Oh they did." Hachiman said. "Their next choice fell on Nagoya city and the field trip was moved to November instead."

I frowned. "Nagoya city… wait. Nagoya city was where a Golmede previously resided. It was discovered accidentally during a construction project."

"Huh. You're quite knowledgeable on kaiju subjects."

"I read some from time to time." I said. "So what happened next?"

"Right. So the teachers then decided to move the field trip to Niseko around the time of winter." He glanced at me. "Can you guess what happened next?"

"Sodom." I said. "A volcanic kaiju who previously lived in Papua New Guinea traveled to Mount Asama and made his home there underground." I remembered that because it was one of the first kaiju news stories from Earth that reached Mars right after the end of the crisis.

"...right again Makipedia." Hachiman looked genuinely astounded.

"I- I see. Then in spring…"

"A trip to Kobe city. I'm guessing you also know that one?"

"...That would be when the SRC discovered a live Jelga specimen outside the city's coast."

"Bingo." Hachiman said. "Well at that point, it was already late into the final semester and the students and teachers were too busy dealing with the final exams, so it was decided to shelve it for the next school year."

"Ahem." A cough interrupted us. We both turned to find a Hiratsuka-sensei staring at us. "Hikigaya-san. Keigo-san. If you're done with your little chat. Please pay attention to what I have to say."

"Sorry, sensei."

"Ah, s-sorry, sensei."

A cursory glance around the classroom revealed that most of the students had their eyes glued at us. Tobe gave a mischievous smirk. Hayama looked sorry for us. Miura shook her head. Yui smiled sheepishly at us. And then there was Hina who…

…was in the middle of a very serious nosebleed session.

No. Seriously. Yumiko, Yui, someone, go get her a handkerchief or a tissue before she bleeds out to death.

Hachiman and I turned away from one another. My cheeks must be blushing red and suspect Hachiman was much the same.

"Now," Hiratsuka-sensei said. "We can't exactly visit Osaka because of the recent kaiju attack that happened on it. Luckily, the teachers had already anticipated such an eventuality…. We already have a backup plan in mind. The New Chiba Cultural Village is that backup plan. We have already booked a nearby hotel and every possible arrangement has been made."

Murmur rose amongst the students.

Someone raised a hand.

"Yes, Haruta-san?"

"But sensei… what if it also got attacked by a kaiju?"

It was a logical question considering the track records we have so far.

Surprisingly, Hiratsuka-sensei seemed prepared for the question as she took one step forward. "Don't worry," She said. "Branwen-sensei and I already have five more backup sites in plan that can be used for a field trip! Not including this one. We've prepared everything for these five field sites, including lodging, food, and transportation. All of it. No kaiju attack will catch us unprepared this time!"

A gust of spring wind suddenly bellowed from the open windows, sending her coat fluttering.

"W-woah… they really are prepared, huh?"

"I guess so. They've fully learned their lesson after last year."

"Hehehe…Don't you think Hiratsuka-sensei looked kinda funny?"

"Urk," Hiratsuka-sensei froze as if struck.

"Alright!" Tobe pumped a fist. "We're finally doing our field trip, aren't you excited Hayato-kun?"

"Hahaha…. I guess I am a little bit."

"Yeah…and besides. We're doing this near Chiba, right? No monster would ever go to Chiba, this place is brimming with HDI troops. Anyone who did will be blasted to smithereens by the HDI and TPC."

It's true. Since Golza's defeat and since Chiba was made into the East Asian headquarter of the TPC, anti-kaiju security here was increased to near impenetrable level. The Miracle of Chiba - the battle against Golza - also cemented that reputation.

Hiratsuka-sensei clapped her hand in front of her. "Right. Any more questions?"

A flurry of hands rose suddenly.

"Sensei, where will we be staying?"

"Is there anything special we have to bring with us?"

"Alright. Settle down. Settle down everyone. One at a time. First off, for where we will be staying-"

—​

Almost the entire class immediately rose from their seats the moment Hiratsuka-sensei left. Activities that emerged before she arrived returned twice over. This time though, most people seemed preoccupied with the topic of the upcoming field trip. Some complained about the sudden changes. Others immediately formed groups, most likely for room or sitting arrangements.

Hayato, Tobe, Ooka, and Yamato talked excitedly amongst themselves, more likely they're making plans of what they would do during the field trip. Hina and Yumiko were together, but surprisingly Yui wasn't with them, instead, she bounded off to the sides near where Hachiman sat and began talking to him. I could already guess what it was she was going to talk about.

That sight brings back some memories from during the start of the school year.

"Eh? K-keigo-san? What are you doing?"

"We're going to buy MaxCoffee and some sweets… and then you're going to tell Hikigaya about the car crash."

"W-what?! Wait! I'm not ready yet! I haven't prepared anything!"

"Too bad. You had a year to prepare."

I'd confronted Yui about Hachiman, a week into the start of the school year and forcefully dragged her to him when she told me about him. She confessed right on the spot, apologized on the spot profusely for not coming clear last year. Hachiman, for his part, seemed to take it well enough, though I wonder how much of it had been my presence.

Since then, Yui had been something of a…puppy beside Hachiman; striking conversations at him from time to time, sharing notes during literature class, that sort of thing. Hachiman himself didn't seem to know what to do about it. It was probably one of those moments.

Well, I shouldn't disturb her then.

I picked up my bag and began walking towards the door of the classroom. Yumiko and Hina sat together, looking at their phones as the boys talked with one another. It seemed they'd hashed out the details for what they wanted to do for their field trip and were just waiting for the boys to finish.

As I passed them by, I heard shoutings and cries coming out from Yumiko's phone. I stole a glance just in time to catch the image of a man standing near the corpse of Gomora.

I frowned and scuttled closer towards Yumiko. No, I was not mistaken. Yumiko's phone was playing out a video, catching the moment where a man slowly marched towards what appeared to be the head of Gomora. The kaiju's eyes were closed as if asleep, except that it did not seem to breathe.

One of its horns was broken. Its face is covered in scars and gashes and cracks. Blood dripped from the wounds - some as small as a stretched palm, others as wide as the man approaching it was tall - made by the missiles and projectiles from the weapon used against it in the previous battle. As it lay there on the ground, it seemed asleep, at peace.

The man approached it, slowly, but brusquely. His steps were heavy as if his shoes were made out of lead. A crowd from behind him, swarming behind him like ants before a cup of sugar.

The man stopped three feet away from the corpse. Looking it up and down and eyeing it carefully.

A moment passed.

Suddenly, he punched the kaiju's corpse.

It was such a shocking thing that it took me a while to register what the man was doing.

"Damn you…. Damn you, you kaiju bastard….!"

His shout echoed out from the video. He punched and kicked and at one moment even tried to tear off the wounds that covered the kaiju's face, as if trying to pull it apart by himself. It was not for long though.

Others in the crowd began to join him. They crowded over the kaiju's fallen head, punching, kicking, hitting it with sticks and metal debris. Behind them, others in the crowds, threw rocks and stones and whatever it was they could find near them. All the while the shouts and cries suddenly grew.

"Go to hell you bloody kaiju!"

"I lost my family because of you!"

"Our home, our children, bring them back!"

I felt something cold coiling around my stomach as I watched the video. I couldn't help but ask;

"What are you watching Yumiko?"

Yumiko turned abruptly, only realizing that I was right behind her. "Huh? Oh. This? It's just a video showing the aftermath of Gomora's attack on Osaka this morning. These people here, well they were gathering around Gomora's corpse sometimes after it was killed."

I looked back at the video, where a woman suddenly climbed over Gomora's head and began hitting it with a metal bat she carried along the way as others cheered for her.

"It's… pretty sad." I couldn't help but say.

"I guess so." Yumiko said absent-mindedly, her eyes glued to the screen.

I really didn't have any right to judge. Nor can I say that I understand exactly what those people were feeling at that moment. They've lost their loved ones, their homes, their belongings. Even if Gomora was a brute beast who could barely grasp what it was doing, it didn't change the fact that people had been hurt by it.

Yet at the same time… it didn't feel right. What they were doing to Gomora's corpse…it doesn't sit well with me.

Kaori once said that I'm something of a soft heart. I really couldn't stand watching something sad or tragic or painful right in front of me. So, instead, I pulled my eyes away from the screen and walked towards the pair talking on the side.

"Hachiman. Yui." I called

They both turned to face me. Yu's face tilted slightly to the side. "Yeah, Maachi?"

"I'll be going right ahead to the clubroom. See you there."

"Ah, well see you, Maachi!"

"See you later."

I was about to turn around and head for the door when I remembered. "Oh right. Hachiman."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the info." I said.

"Huh?"

I sighed. "The Kaiju Curse. Thanks for explaining to me what it was all about."

"Ah, well it was nothing." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"It wasn't nothing." I said again.

"I mean it wasn't anything big-"

"Even if it's small," I interrupted him before he could weasel out an excuse. "I still want to thank you for it. So thanks….Hachiman."

"Erm, well," He blushed and turned aside.

Beside him, Yui puffed her cheek. "Mou, Hikki you should learn to just take a compliment or two, you know?"

"I… f-fine." He said.

I smiled at that. "See you guys then."

With a flourish I turned around and headed right toward the door.

The halfway was crowded by the time I exited the classroom as oter students exited their own classes. A cacophony of sound rummaged through the hallway as the afternoon sun dipped towards the west. There was an air of ease and relaxation throughout the classroom building as I passed it by, moving towards one of the hallway bridges that connects it to the other buildings on campus.

I moved through the hallway bridge. Down below in the courtyard, I could see students walking out from the classroom building - some still in their uniforms, others wearing the sport jacket and pants, members of the sports club, no doubt. I crossed through the lounge room - thankfully Zaimkuza didn't seem to be stalking me like last time - and entered the special-use building. There were groups of students here and there mingling about - school clubs meeting after all the lessons were over.

Then I stopped in front of a door.

The room I was facing seemed to be an empty classroom. The sign above the door was blank. To those who don't know, it might as well just be another unused room.

I looked to my left and right. There were not that many students in this part of the special use building. A wind suddenly swept across the hall. A soft, chilly breeze that that rang loud and clear and thunderous in the near empty hallways. Despite the blazer and shirt and scarf I'm wearing, I shivered.

As that wind blew through, it was the best time, I decided. I reached out to the door and knocked. One. Two. Three.

I waited for a second. Then two. Then five. When five became ten. I frowned. No answer.

I reached out and knocked again at the door. This time louder. Still no answer.

I walked up to the windows on the door and lifted myself on my toes. The room inside was empty. There was a long table lined in the middle of the room with four chairs sitting around it, but there was no one there. That was strange.

There was a first time for everything I supposed. I reached a hand towards the handle of the door and, surprisingly, it slid open. Just as I saw, there really was no one inside. So Yukinoshita really hasn't arrived here yet?

I glanced at the table. On it lay a tea set; a few saucers and cups, a sugar bowl, a cream pitcher, and a large teapot. They looked deceptively simple but remarkably well-crafted, and I knew that they probably cost more than my entire weekly allowances. All of them were still stacked neatly on one side. I looked under the teapot and it was empty.

Perhaps I should make some tea before anyone arrives.

I grabbed the teapot and walked towards a student table sitting at the back of the room. An electric kettle sat in the middle of it accompanied by a few small boxes containing a variety of tea leaves and herbs, and a pitcher holding some water. I didn't know if we would have any guests today, so black tea is the safest option there is.

I placed a few spoonfuls of black tea leaves into the kettle, poured water into it, and started. A few minutes later, the machine rang, signaling that the tea had reached a boiling point. I poured the content of the kettle into the pot - the smell of black tea wafted through the air. I took a single, careful sip with one cup I had and winced.

The tea was bitter. Too bitter. The taste came out strongly. I must've used too much leave.

I put some water from the pitcher into the pot and tasted it again. It was a bit better this time.

I was pouring tea into all the other cups when the door of the clubroom slid open.

Long, black silky hair trailed in the spring wind, footsteps echoed softly on the floor.

I smiled as I saw her enter the room.

"Good afternoon. Sensei."

Yukinoshita Yukino blinked in surprise, but she wiped it off in a single instant, replaced by cold recognition. "...Good afternoon."

I gestured to the teapot and cups. "Would you like some tea?"

"I wouldn't mind."

She moved around the room and sat down as I poured tea into one of the cups and placed it in front of her. "Here."

Yukinoshita regarded the tea with cold, critical eyes. For a few long seconds she simply sat, staring at it. I was beginning to wonder if I'd made a mistake before she took the cup and slowly sipped it.

She quirked an eyebrow - it was the only expression she wore as she took a second and a third sip.

"So…how was it?" I asked nervously.

"Shoddy." She said mercilessly, her eyes suddenly flashed at me and it took all my willpower not to flinch. "It's too watered down and there's too much sugar, but it had a strong stabbing bitterness at the beginning. I assumed you put too much leave during the boiling and tried to overcompensate with water and sugar afterwards?"

There wasn't much I could give her, except a shrug and glum nod. "Y-yeah, I think so too. Sorry, sensei." I moved towards the teapot. "I'll see if I can make it again then,"

"No." Yukinoshita suddenly said. "They're shoddy, but they're not terrible. At the very least they could be drunk without wanting to make me vomit."

Ouch. Is she still mad about that? I thought she was willing to forgive me at that time for my first try. I should've known better. Yukinoshita Yukino rarely forgives and never forgets.

"I see… I'll try to do better next time then, sensei."

"Do better. Don't just try." She glanced at me for a few moments, icy eyes stabbing. Judging.

"Yes, of course." I said.

I poured myself a cup of tea just as I'd intended before.

A bit of silence stretched before us for a few moments. Until I broke it first. "By the way," I asked as I placed a spoonful of sugar and a dash of cream. "Were you here before? The club room was already open so I assumed you actually arrived first."

"I did indeed arrive here first," Yukinoshita said. "however… I had some other matters to take care of."

"Really? What kind of matters?" I took a seat and sipped my own tea. Creamy and sweet. Just the way I like it.

"...None of your concern."

My eyes flickered towards Yukinoshita to find hers boring down on me. Her expression looked as if it was carved from ice. An invisible line had been drawn on the metaphorical sand. A warning.

I looked away. Face flushing with embarrassment that I hope could be hidden by the afternoon sun.

"Oh. Erm…sorry."

"It's nothing really."

An awkward silence then stretched on between us.

"Keigo-san," Yukinoshita-san said, catching my attention. "About your-"

The door slid open suddenly with a thump. A slightly hunched figure walked in, indoor shoes echoing on polished floors. Hachiman raised a hand as his beady eyes regarded us.

"Yo." He said half-heartedly.

I smiled when I saw him. "Yo, Hachiman,"

"Hikigaya-kun," Yukinsohta said softly, voice cold like a winter wind. She suddenly looked at Hachiman and he backed away at the intensity. "Hikigaya-kun, can you please knock on the door first before entering?"

"Ah, s-sorry."

I ignored the hostile glare she was giving and turned to face Hachiman. "Come on, Hachiman, take a seat next to me,"

Presently I stood up and gestured at the chair next to me.

Perhaps it was because of Yukinoshita's glare, but Hachiman complied without much effort. His chair scraped against the floor before he plopped down to sit on it.

There was an awkward silence the moment he sat. I took the opportunity to grab the kettle and pour some hot tea into the cup in front of Hachiman.

Unfortunately, the silence didn't last long enough.

"Honestly," Yukinoshita shook her head and sighed in exasperation. "I thought it was a wild animal that was coming through the door just now."

Hachiman seethed. "Wild animal…is that really what you think?!"

"It seems I stand corrected. It's not a wild animal that came through here, just a very dumb one."

"I'm a human being!"

"A moron then, or an idiot."

"Urk!"

"Now, now, sensei." I said, trying to sound playful and chiding. "No need to be harsh to Hachiman like that."

"It can't be helped if he doesn't even understand what I'm saying in the first place."

"I can understand you perfectly well, you know?"

"Pardon me. But the evidence I've gathered so far doesn't seem to match with your words."

"Yukinoshita. Please." I looked at Yukinoshita and she looked back at me. We both stared at one another. Probing. Judging.

Finally she sighed, opened her book and began reading.

I turned to Hachiman. "Do you want anything, tea? Coffee?"

Hachiman rubbed the back of his neck nervously, eyes darting between me and Yukinoshita. "Urm…Coffee sounds good."

I nodded. "The creamer and sugar are there on my side of the table, by the way."

There was still some leftover water from the kettle as well as some instant black coffee on the other table. I poured the mixture into a cup and placed it in front of Hachiman. At the same time, he grabbed the cream and sugar and put them into his coffee until it was a near-white concoction.

Tentatively he took a sip and smiled.

I turned to where Hachiman was looking to find Yukinoshita staring at us with a perplexed expression on her face

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Hachiman asked.

"...Nothing." Yukinoshita said quickly. "I'm just surprised you are able to taste the coffee through all that cream and sugar."

"Life is bitter, so coffee at least should be sweet."

I couldn't help myself, I chuckled.

Beside me, Yukinoshita sighed. "That would have sounded so much better if you hadn't mixed it with your rotten worldview."

"Hah? Says the girl who immediately deem anyone who doesn't conform to societal convention like knocking on doors as an animal. In that regard, aren't you the one with the rotten worldview?"

"If you can't even follow basic social politeness, then can you really call yourself a human?"

I sighed. They were going at it again.

Roses are red. Skies are blue.

Yukinoshita and Hachiman trade barbs and argue.

Well less arguing and more like bullying in Yukinoshita's case. She was almost always the one who started it and the one who came out of it mostly unscathed. Hachiman himself had yet to grow enough confidence or quick wit, to match her. Those were some things I was trying to change, but it was a slow process altogether and more often than not I found myself having to stop Yukinoshita before things went too far.

"-So by your definition, I'm not a human at all?!"

"Yes."

"Urk."

I sighed. It was time to step in and-

The door slid suddenly open , and a cheerful tone rang through the room. "Yahallo!"

I smiled. I couldn't have asked for a better timing. "But Yukinoshita-sensei," I began. "doesn't that make Yuigahama an animal too by your definition?"

Yukinoshita raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Eh, Yu-Yukinon…?"

Yukinoshita's eyes darted to the source of the sound, to a meek Yuigahama Yui standing nervously in the precipice of the door. Her eyes widened. "I…I…"

"Yu-yukinon. W-what's Maachi talking about?"

"That is…" Yukinoshita swallowed, took a deep breath and composed herself before looking back at Yui. "Yuigahama-san, can you please knock first before you enter?"

"S-sure, bu-but what's this with me being an animal and all?"

"Erm…"

Since she wasn't willing to speak up, I did so instead. "Yukinoshita here is talking about the differences between animals and humans. Based on her definition, you technically would fall into the animal category."

"Wah, is that true, Yukinon?" Yui turned to her almost immediately.

"Please don't misconstrue my words, Keigo-san." Yukinoshita said.

"I mean by your own words, you said 'those who cannot follow basic social politeness like knocking on doors are no better than an animal'. Thus, since Yui didn't knock on the door when she arrived, she's an animal."

"Yukinooon…!" Yui whined, walked to Yukinoshita, grabbed her shoulder and rocked her back and forth. "Meanie, cold, ice queen!"

"That is, erm, no. What I meant to say was, erm…."

Yukinoshita was a stuttering, stammering mess. Her logical brain was unable to process the chaos brought forth by Yuigahama Yui.

I think that's enough. It was time to redirect some of the heat.

I leaned on the back of my chair and said. "Well, not that I can blame her though, Yui. Based on how you sometimes act in class, I guess you can be mistaken as an animal."

"Mou, Maachi, you meanie!" Yui turned to my side of the table and began throwing ineffective punches and rocking me back and forth.

"Oi, settle down. It's all a joke, okay?"

"Hmph. You guys are all making fun of me," She said, crossing her arms in front of her. Well she wasn't wrong. "And here I thought I was going to give you guys my cookies."

Silence swept across the room, spring wind breezing through the window.

Hachiman and Yukinoshita slowly blinked. Once. Twice Thrice.

It was Hachiman who broke the silence first. "Erm, give us what now?"

He sounded afraid, as if he wanted to make sure he had heard wrong.

"Pardon me, Yuigahama-san, but what was it you said?" Yukinsohita asked with a slight tremor in her voice.

"Huh? Hikki? You're here too? Oh yeah!"

Yuigahama unslung her bag, opened it, and rummaged inside. She produced a small lunch box, "Here." Yui opened it, revealing the contents inside; batches of cookies, some near-baked,others almost burnt, but at least half of them seemed properly made. "I baked these on the weekend so we can all have something to eat during club time!"

Despite her cheerful tone, both Hachiman and Yukinoshita edged their chairs away from her.

Hachiman coughed. "Erm…thanks but I've already eaten so I'm full."

"I'm full too," Yukinoshita, for once, agreed with Hachiman. Her pallid skin seemed paler now. "Though I do thank you for the effort, Yuigahama-san, there's really no need for something like this…"

"Huh? But I wanted to, though…" Yui whined. "Come on you guys. Just take a bite. It's good, I promised."

Yukinoshita and Hachiman traded glances at each other, daring each other to start first.

"Sure, they looked nice enough," I said

With an almost audible crack, both Hachiman and Yukinooshita's head suddenly whipped to my direction. I glanced at them and only nodded confidently. Let me handle this. Hachiman winced, but nodded in thanks. Yukinoshita's only reactions were a quirk of her eyebrow and a twitching of her lips, before she too nodded. Both looked on with evident relief and gratefulness.

I gingerly took a single cookie from inside the lunchbox, one that seemed decently baked and ate it. It was slightly dry and it spent too much time in the ovens, but compared to how Yui started, it was a marked improvement.

"Hmm… this is quite good…" It was the truth, it might not have been a master baker stuff, but it was definitely good.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Hachiman and Yukinoshita staring at me with slack-jawed expressions and shock.

I washed it down with my milked tea and swallowed it. It left a strange, but not unpleasant strawberry-mint aftertaste.

Yuigahama giggled. "Hehehe… you really think so, Maachi?"

"Of course!" I said. I took another one and dipped it inside my tea before eating it. From the side of my eye, I glanced at Hachiman and Yukinoshita still staring at me with questioning, shocked gazes. I swallowed the cookie before speaking up. "In fact, why don't you guys take some for yourself too?"

The look of betrayal and indignation they gave me was the complete opposite of the grateful expressions from before. They stared at one another for a few moments. Hachiman looked away first. Pensively, he reached out towards the lunch box, picking one of the better made cookies and took a careful, measured bite, wincing as he did.

He closed his eyes as he chewed and swallowed…before promptly opening his eyes back again.

"Huh." He said, looking at the rest of the cookie in astonishment. "This is…surprisingly well done."

Yui blushed. "Y-you really think so, Hikki? Hehehe… hey! What do you mean 'surprisingly'?!"

Yukinoshita frowned and took one of the cookies. The frown soon disappeared, giving way to awe. "This is…adequate. Shockingly so."

Yukinoshita and Hachiman used PRAISE. It's super effective!

"I-is it really that shocking?" Yui seemed to melt when they both nodded, a furious, blushing mess. "Hahaha, it was nothing really though…"

"I wouldn't say it's nothing." Yukinoshita said. "It seems like you've really improved in the past few weeks."

Hachiman nodded. "You must've worked real hard for it…"

"Ah, ah, ah, well, I-I did have Maachi to help me so…"

"Yui!" I hissed, but it was too late.

Both Hachiman and Yukinoshita turned as one to face me

"Oh?" Yukinoshita raised an eyebrow. "Is that so…?"

"Huh." Hachiman said, tilting his head.

"Y-yeah, he helped me a lot b-back there."

"I wasn't aware of this…" Yukinoshita said.

She and Hachiman stared at us, an unreadable, but puzzled expression adorned their faces, like a pair of cats trying to figure out a very twisted ball of yarn.

An awkward atmosphere suddenly enveloped the room.

"Erm, that is-"

"We are-"

Yui and I spoke at the same time, stumbling through our words. We glanced at one another, though Yui's eyes didn't quite meet mine.Yui had a hard time dealing with awkward situations and right then she was a confused, embarrassed mess.

I sighed. I guess I should speak up first then.

"I-it's nothing big really." I said, trying to hide the slight flush on my face. I didn't even know why I was embarrassed in the first place. It's not like we have anything to be ashamed of. Only that Hachiman and Yukinoshita just looked at me like parents who saw their kid with his hands on the cookie jar. "I just met Yui at the bakery the other day, she was looking for ingredients for her cookies. One thing led to another, and I just… ended up teaching her how to cook, I guess… that's it."

"I see…" Yukinoshita nodded. "Still, I'm surprised that she managed to improve so much under your tutelage."

"I didn't tutor much of anything." I said quickly. "I'm actually also a beginner in cooking, so it's more… like we were both learning together and well..."

"I don't know how to put it," Yui chimed in. "but with Maachi-kun it's kinda like we were both helping each other out at the same time."

She glanced at me and we both smiled at one another.

Hachiman looked to and fro between me and Yui and he hummed thoughtfully. "Hmm…so that's how it is…" He picked up another cookie and took a bite. "Makes sense though.."

Beside him, Yukinoshita sighed. "So basically, because your skill levels are the same, Yuigahama-san had an easier time absorbing your lessons?"

"Erm, I wouldn't put it like that."

"What was it the Americans say?" Hahiman asked aloud. "Make it simple. Make it stupid."

"H-hey, that's not nice Hikki!"

Suddenly the conversion was interrupted when a phone suddenly rang. Yui, Hahiman and Yukinoshita all looked at me.

"Excuse me," I said, before rummaging through my pocket and fishing out my phone. There were a few new messages on display, but what caught my attention was the sender.

I sighed. Never a dull moment with her, huh. I closed it back. "Anyway, if you guys have any comments or criticism for Yui's cookies, I think she's all ears."

"Wait, what?"

As Yui said so, I placed my hands on Yui's shoulders and pushed her towards Hachiman and Yukinoshita.

"Wait a second," Yui protested. "What about you Maachi, don't you have anything to say also?"

I opened my mouth to answer her, but the phone rang again as a slew of new messages entered it. "Sorry," I said, "I have a text I have to take."

I knew personally from experience that if I didn't answer back immediately, it would continue until I eventually did.

"From who?" Yukinoshita asked.

I chuckled. "Sensei… a guy's gotta have his secrets, you know?"

Immediately I walked back towards the door, not waiting for Yukinoshita's reply. As I slid it open, I glanced back at Hachiman.

If he knew exactly who it was that was texting me, he would have killed me on the spot.

—​

The hallway was thankfully empty when I exited the room. The only sounds were the whispers of the wind and the quiet muffled talking in the room behind. The only denizens there were were the shadows cast by the afternoon sun slowly slanting across the floor.

I took out my phone. Just like when I opened it before, there were some new messages inside my inbox. All of them from a single name:

Hikigaya Komachi.

I sighed. Didn't she have something to do during this time? Wasn't she part of the Student Council or something like that? That should've made her quite a busy person, yet somehow she managed to snip in during moments like these. It wasn't the first time she'd texted me. That fact alone would've given enough reason for Hachiman to skin me alive.

Komachi: Masaki-onii-san how are you?

Komachi: Did you see my brother during lunch?

Komachi: Masaki onii-chan, this is Komachi, so how is it going with Onii-san?

Oh so that's what she's on about? I wondered ow she knew. Did Hacchiman talk about our lunches with her? Quickly I sent her a response.

Me: Don't have anything better to do?

Me: Aren't you a member of the Student Council?

Not ten seconds later, her reply came through.

Komachi: We were actually supposed to have a meeting, but our president is running suuuupeeer laateeee…..

Komachi: Anyway, how is it with onii-chan? Did anything interesting happen?

Me: Not much really, we just ended up talking about career options and all that.

Komachi: Whaaat that sounds sooo boring

Me: Though we were actually joined by two other guys; Totsuka and Zaimokuza.

Komachi: I think I've seen Totsuka-san, but I who's Zaimokuza?

Huh. Komachi didn't know about Zaimokuza.

I grinned from ear to ear.

Well in that case…

Me: Zaimokuza's a realllyyy good friend of your brother.

Me: In fact, you should probably ask him about Zaimokuza from time to time.

Komachi: Is that so?

Komachi: Well anyway, I really hope you keep working on onii-chan, Masaki-onii-san

Me: Thanks, Komachi.

Komachi: Oh, oh! And how is it with Yukino-chan and Yui-chan? Did anything interesting happen between them and Onii-chan?

I hummed, trying to think of an answer.

Me: Just the usual. Yukinoshita still treated him poorly and Yui-chan is still shy as always

Me: Though Yui-chan did give him the cookies she baked last weekend..

Komachi: AHA!

Komachi: Has Yui-chan confessed to him, yet?

Me: No, she hasn't, I'm afraid.

A pause. And then-

Komachi: Mouuu, Yui-chan. Why couldn't she just tell him right away? Doesn't she know that things would only get more difficult the longer she waits?

I sighed at her antics.

Me: Give her time.

Me: These kind of things isn't just something you can throw out in the open.

Me: And besides, she's only confessed about the car crash two weeks ago.

Komachi: I guess…

Komachi: So the mood still isn't right, huh?

Komachi: This is sooo frustrating

Komachi: If it continues like this, Komachi would have no other choice but to just tell onii-chan right away!

My eyes twitched. I twas an empty threat but I couldn't simply left it to chances.

Me: Don't do that please. Besides, he hasn't really known her all that well has she?

A few moments passed then-

Komachi: I guess you're right,

Komachi: Even so, can't you do something about Masaki-onii-san?

Me: I'll go and try to talk to Yui, maybe help her out from time to time.

Me: But honestly? I'd like to give Hahiman some more time. Knowing him… he probably still has a hard time getting it through his head.

Komachi: That's the best thing I can expect, I think. Thanks for looking out for my brother, Masaki-onii-san!

Masaki: I mean, I am going to confess my love to him, so I guess I should take care of him.

Komachi's line suddenly exploded

Komachi:...HUH?!

Komachi: WAIT.

Komachi: WHAT

Komachi: WHAT'S THIS?!

Komachi: MASAKI, ONII-SAN WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!

Komachi: MASAKI ONII-SAN?! MASAKI ONII-SAN?!

Komachi: MOU!!! WHAT IS THIS LOVE TRIANGLE AND SUDDEN FORBIDDEN LOVE DEVELOPMENT?!

Mei: Nah, just kidding.

I smiled as my notifications erupted.

—​

By the time I arrived back inside the room, things had more or less descended to their usual routine. Which is to say, both Hachiman Yukinoshita were arguing heatedly while Yui tried to play peacemaker only to be relegated to the peanut gallery.

"-Your taste in Coffee might not have been terrible," Yukinoshita said. "but your taste in literature certainly is. Is that why you always scored low in Japanese?"

Hachiman's eyes twitch erratically. His veins popped out the side of his head. "Oi, oi, oi, I'll have you know that I scored third in Japanese in a school like Sobu, doesn't that warrant more recognition?"

"The fact that you pride yourself in your average score and want to earn recognition simply because of your passing grade points to you being a narcissistic person."

"Wanting basic human decency is not narcissism!"

Yui stood in front of them, an awkward spectator to their arguments. She raised both hands in a placating manner. "Hehehe, I don't know Yukinon… I mean third in Japanese isn't something to chide at, s-so I think Hikki's pretty impressive there!"

"S-see?!" Hachiman said.

Yukinoshita sighed. "Maybe it is by your standard, Yuigahama-san. Though admittedly, it might be skewed by your lower rankings in Japanese."

"T-that's mean Yukinon!"

"It's not her standards that's skewed, it's yours!"

"Oh? Considering your-"

I walked up to Yui as the arguments divulged once more. She took notice of me, smiling nervously. I sighed and shook my head. "Again?"

"Yeah…" Yui chuckled. "Hehehe, they're at it again."

"Seriously!" Hachiman said. "How is it that you manage to run a club like this? Your human relation policies are horrendous!"

I coughed and cleared my throat immediately drawing the attention of Hachiman and Yukinoshita. "Well, I do agree that the Service Club needed a better human relations policy." I said and smiled. "I put forward the motion as such and vote that we do so immediately."

I glanced at Hachiman who seemed slightly surprised. It took him a moment to raise his own hand. "I agree wholeheartedly. Yuigahama-san?"

"Eh?" Yui shifted as all the room's attention turned to her. "Erm… I agree, I guess…?"

"That's the majority vote and so the motion is passed-"

"The motion is vetoed. All your votes are denied and considered invalid." Yukinoshita's voice was as cold as an executioner's blade. She smiled sadistically. "I am the sole president of the Service Club, after all. My word is law."

"T-tyranny. This is nothing less than an autocracy!" Hachiman complained.

I nodded. "I agree as well, Hachiman, how about we staged a revolution?"

"Hmm that sounds quite good." Hachiman rubbed his chin as if he was thinking hard.

Yukinoshita cleared her throat. "You do realize I can both hear you clearly, right? What kind of stupid conspiracy aired their plot so blatantly?"

She glared at us. A frozen, chilling glare. The air turned cold for a single moment.

Hachiman flinched. I was sweating bullets on my palm, but I coughed instead to hide my nervousness. "W-Well Catherine the Great's coup against his husband was successful even though it was leaked early to her enemies."

A strange, awkward silence ensued.

Yui tilted her head in confusion. "Erm…what?"

Hachiman raised an eyebrow. "Catherine, who now?"

Oops I did again.

During a conversation, it is always awkward when you make a joke or a reference about something that the other party simply didn't know or care about.

Because of that, I don't usually talk about those things from Hayama's group.

Thankfully, Yukinoshita came to my rescue. "I believed Masaki was referring to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, who overthrew her husband in a coup attempt." She explained. "One anecdotal story said that the coup attempt was leaked too early when one of the conspirators asked about it to an official of her husband who he thought was in on the conspiracy, but was actually not. Despite this leak, the coup was a success."

"Ah I didn't know that."

"Is your history grade as low as your Japanese? You're truly a hopeless case."

"Hey, it's not my fault! Where do you get off using such obscure historical anecdote as a measure of my worth!" Hachiman said. "A-and besides, Oobleck-sensei just talked way too fast, you know?"

"Are you seriously blaming your teachers for your inability to comprehend your lessons?"

Yui chuckled nervously and said. "I mean, I don't know, but like Hikki's kinda right though. Oobleck-sensei loves to talk really, really fast, even Hayato and Masaki had a hard time listening to him."

Yukinoshita stiffened. I winced. Hayama Hayato isn't a name that should be bright lightly in her presence.

"It's kinda difficult if you're not used to it," I admitted, trying to alleviate some possible tension. "I kinda have to ask extra questions or compare notes with others just to keep up."

"Even so," Yukinoshita soldiered on. "responsibility still lay in the students to comprehend the material given by the teachers"

Yui looked away. "Ah, w-well…"

"I mean," Hachiman said, "the teacher also has the responsibility of making sure his lessons are comprehensible in the first place. Just blaming it all on the students is kinda irresponsible."

I expected Yukinoshita to give a quick remark. Maybe a witty quip. Or perhaps a cutting statement or an insult to Hachiman.

Instead she fell suddenly silent.

For a little while, the only sound inside the room was our breathing, and the soft afternoon breeze.

"I…suppose you have a point." Yukinoshita spoke so softly, it was almost a whisper, but her voice carried through the quiet.

Hachiman looked taken aback. Yui gave an incredulous. 'Ehhhh??"

I too stared in amazement. Yukinoshita agreeing with Hachiman without being prickly or backhanded about it? It was as rare as…

"Don't be overconfident though," Yukinoshita turned to Hachiman. "You still have a lot to learn by the looks of it…"

It might have been meant to be a cutting remark, but the way she delivered it, it sounded half-hearted. There seemed to be something in Yukinoshita's mind. Her eyes rolled to the side, towards the widow and falling sun, as if looking at something far, far away.

"Yes," She muttered beneath her breaths. "The teacher does have to make sure their materials are comprehensible, so what does Hiratsuka-sensei mean by…" She continued on in a voice too low to hear.

Hachiman and I looked at one another. Despite her efforts, we could both hear some of her words. What exactly is Yukinoshita Yukino thinking about-

Abruptly, Yui chuckled nervously, dispelling the awkward silence that fell on the room. "Hahaha, man that was kinda fun though, right?"

"What is?" I asked.

"You know, chatting together, erm bartering with one another."

Hachiman said. "Uhhh…. I'm not sure that's the word I would use. Also I'm pretty sure you meant banter."

"I.. concur." Yukinoshita Yukino said, chiming in, though her mind seemed awfully occupied.

"No I mean, erm," Yui threw up her hands in despair. "Ah! You guys are both the same!"

"Yuigahama-san… I feel insulted."

"Yah, me too."

"Argh, no that's not what- I mean," Yui deflated. She took a deep breath then sighed. "It was fun, at least for me, doing stuffs like that, just, erm… speaking up what's on our mind." Her eyes flickered towards me. Pleading eyes. Hopeful eyes. "So, uh, I…I wish we could do that more often."

Oh.

So that's what she's aiming at.

Slowly the memories of the morning's conversation between Yuigahama and I resurfaced.

"Ah," I said suddenly. "By the way, I was wondering about something."

"What is it?" Yukinoshita asked.

"Erm…are you guys free next week?"

Yukino and Hachiman looked at me, suspicions clear in their eyes.

"Oh! Oh! I think I'm pretty much free during that time." Yui said, catching on quickly.

Yukinoshita didn't share Yui's enthusiasm. "I don't believe I have anything important scheduled during that time currently." She said, then she added. "It could change though,"

Hachiman coughed and turned aside. "Well, erm, I guess I have to check my own schedules."

One yes. One tentative neutral answer leaning on rejection. One thinly veiled rejection.

Less than I hoped. More than I feared.

"Why do you ask, Keigo-san?" Yukinoshita said, as usual, cutting right to the heart of the matter.

There were two ways I could approach this. First is to make up a lie on the spot. Tell them that I needed their help for some reason and then use it as an excuse to hang out together. Yukinoshita would probably help if it was reasonable enough. Hachiman might need more prodding, but against me, Yui, and Yukinoshita, he can probably be forced to do it.

Besides, my entire relationships were already built on top of lies. What's one more to add to the list?

"Well, sensei…" I gupled.

That was one way, but there was also another way.

Simply be honest about my intention.

"It's just…" My lips felt suddenly dry and my throat strangely parched. "I thought ...maybe we could go out together, hang out together-" I was about to say as friends, but I bit it back. That was a step too far. "-if you guys are free, that is."

It was dangerous. It was unlikely to work. It was what I wanted to do.

If I couldn't even be honest about wanting to hang out together like Yui does, then there was no reason for me to even join here in the first place.

Yui clapped her hands and smiled. As expected, she agreed with me immediately. "That sounds wonderful, Maachi!"

"I think I have to pass though…there might be something in my schedule after all…" Hachiman said.

Yukinoshita nodded. "Same, I'm afraid. I don't feel like that would be a good use of our time."

Ah…

So it's that way, huh?

Yui balked. "Ehhhh?! Come on, you guys! Don't be like that!"

"Personally I don't see much reason for us to do something like that." Yukinoshita said. "Besides, haven't we already see each other in

"Erm, well. It's different! That is, well…"

"Yui." She froze when I called out to her. "It's alright."

"Eh, but Maachi-"

"If Hachiman and Yukino don't want to come. It's not nice to force them to." I said.

Even in very close relationships there are boundaries that each party set up. A rule. A line. If one party tried to cross it, they risked straining their relationships. Friendships. Marriage. Even families can be broken by less.

That's why, recognizing those boundaries and respecting them, is one of the main keys to maintaining a relationship.

It was painful to admit but the reality of it was that Hachiman and Yukinoshita simply aren't ready for that kind of thing. It's been what? Three weeks since the Service Club had existed? Maybe less? Perhaps it would be normal for friends who'd known each other during that time to start going out, but Hachiman and Yukinoshita aren't really normal.

"I…I guess it won't be nice if I do that." Yui sighed. "S-Sorry, it's just, I kinda wish we could hang out together, outside the club hours, I mean."

"Why would that be important?"

"Huh?"

Yui and I turned.

It was Hachiman who spoke up, chin resting on his hands. Rapping his fingers on the table, he looked at us.

"I mean, I don't really see the point of doing something like that." He said. "So why should we do that?"

"I just…" Yui sagged, her shoulder drooped. "I just…I want us to get closer with one another… that's all really…"

An awkward silence followed Yui's soft declaration.

Hachiman looked away to the window, the luminescent sun almost hiding the faint flush that ran along his cheeks. Yukinoshita suddenly found her cup of tea more interesting than anything else. They were pointedly not looking at Yui.

I sighed and shook my head. For all their intelligence, Hachiman and Yukinoshita can be such a mess when dealing with the feelings of others. Especially if those feelings were spelled out so clearly and earnestly and Yui was as clear and earnest as she could be at that moment.

"Well… hanging out together isn't really a prerequisite of being close with one another." Hachiman said after a while, glancing furtively at Yui, but avoiding her eyes altogether. "There are long-distance spouses that maintain their marriage while one works overseas for years and then there are friends out there who have never met each other in years yet are still thick as thieves when they reunite again."

"Your examples betray your criminal nature," Yukinoshita added beside him. "But your points are valid. Just because you spend a lot of your time with another person, doesn't make you automatically close with them."

"Ahahaha….I see…." Yui wobbled slightly on her feet, unsure of what they meant by that.

I sighed again. Even if I couldn't understand the true meanings behind those words, I knew what it was in essence. A deflection. A way for them to gently turn down Yui's wish without completely rejecting it altogether. This way they've drawn a vague, shadowy line across the metaphorical sand.

Yui smiled nervously, she might not comprehend or even know it at all, but she can grasp the gist of it. A boundary had been set. To cross it would mean risking her currently new and still fragile relationships with both of them.

Things were playing out just as I thought it would; Yukinoshita and Hachiman gently turning down her request. Now all that is left for me to do is to do some damage control and try to placate Yui. At least that's the most logical thing to do at this point.

However-

"But, the opposite isn't really true."

Everyone's gaze turned towards me when I spoke.

I never really was the most logical person in the room.

And besides, one of those points really irked me.

I continued on. "Just because you're far away from someone doesn't mean that the heart will grow fonder. If anything, the reverse is more likely to happen and you may ended up meeting again as familiar strangers."

Hachiman and Yukinoshita were using the kind of logic I disliked. Using roundabout, pedantic languages to avoid a direct argument that is presented.

So that's why I'll use it against them.

"If that's the case then wouldn't hanging out and making time for one another be the better option?"

"Those things don't necessarily guarantee the success of a relationship, though." Hachiman pointed out.

"But at the very least you tried," I said. "If you tried hanging out with people, reaching out to them, getting closer to them…if it all ended up in failure then you can say that it was simply never meant to be. On the other hand… if you don't even make the effort, don't even try and still expect to grow closer or still be as close to one another, ten you're hoping for a miracle. If you don't do anything at all, then you won't get anything in the end."

Bam!

The table almost seem to crack suddenly at the unexpected blow. Nearby teacups and plates rattled.

Hachiman had stood up from his seat, hands on the table. His body was shaking as he looked at me.

"Even so…something like that isn't a guarantee." Hachiman's voice was cold and soft. "And besides, isn't that…isn't imposing yourself upon others like that selfish of you?"

He glared. A freezing glare that could rival even that of Yukinoshita's.

I found myself looking away, unable to meet his gaze. This is no good, I've accidentally pushed a button.

Yukinoshita and Yui stared at us. A pair of shocked spectators who looked as if they were watching a train crash in slow motion in front of them, but unable to do anything but see it through.

"Maybe…" I admitted. "Maybe it is selfish…"

For a few precious seconds, the only sounds there were were our breathings, the striking of the clock, and the soft breeze outside the room.

Then-

"Ah, by the way, Maachi, any idea where we should go?"

It was Yui who spoke. She was staring at me, though occasionally she sent a furtive glance or two at Hachiman.

She'd just cast me a safety net and I wasn't about to let it go to waste.

"Ah, well…. I'm thinking of doing some shopping, actually, so….maybe LaLaPort Tokyo Bay?"

I was just throwing suggestions at random. There was little thought I put into them.

"That sounds a bit far though…oh how about we go to MARINPIA, instead? It's a bit closer to here and there's this brand new Cafe that had just opened up so we could check it out ourselves!"

"That sounds interesting, maybe-"

The conversation between me and Yui went on for some time. Slowly the tension from before receded. Hachiman sat back on his chair, looking with a faraway look outside the window. Yukinoshita had resolved to continue her read through of the novel Moby Dick in English.

After deciding when and where to meet up, Yui and I sat down. The atmosphere inside the club had returned to normal back then and we retreated to our daily routines from before; Yukinoshita arguing (read:abusing) the hell out of Hachiman with me and Yui trying to play mediator and middleman; Yui playing with her phone, occasionally chiming in to talk about what she'd found interesting while the rest of us commented; Hachiman and Yukinoshita reading in silence and peace until either Yui or I talk to them; me, making another, better, pot of tea in the back as I watched the rest of them.

The hours passed quickly. The sun had slanted down towards the horizon by then, illuminating the outside sky. The heaven seemed aflame in orange and gold and red. A fiery light like burnished copper spilled into the club room, casting long, dark shadows from the chairs, tables, and people inside.

In that single moment, simultaneously blazing in the evening light and bathed in the shadows, were the Service Club members. Yuigahama was chatting about a certain topic that managed to gain the attention of both Hachiman and Yukinoshita who listened attentively and, occasionally, provided some commentaries of their own.

It was like seeing a painting come to life before my eyes.

Towards that picturesque scene that seemed so lively and vivid and immortal, I steadily walked with shaking legs, and trembling hands holding the tray of tea and coffee I'd carefully prepared.

"Thanks, Maachi." Yui said as she took her iced tea.

"Thank you, Masaki-san," Yukinoshita said. The smell of hot black tea wafting in the air in front of her.

"...Thanks." Hachiman said, in barely a whisper, eyes slightly narrowing at me, but still he took the coffee and condensed milk drink I'd made.

I took my seat, somewhere between the three of them, but pulled back jus a bit so that I sat like an observer. My own drink in hand; this time a hot mug of chocolate and milk sweetened with sugar, and sipped.

Maybe, one day, I'd look back fondly on these times with a sense of nostalgia or longing. Maybe, one day, I'd look back on today and cringed, wondering what exactly the hell I was thinking of when I embarked on this little journey. Maybe, one day, I'd look back with a sense of grief and sadness for the mistakes I made.

But at that very second, that very moment, the only thing I cared about was bathing in the warmth of everything around me.

Selfish.

That's what Hachiman called me and he was right.

I truly am selfish.

Because even though I know it's impossible-

-I wish for these peaceful days of my youth to never end.

Maybe, sometimes in the future, I would have to save the world. Or help another person do it.

But today?

Today I just want to enjoy another one of these repetitive, monotonous, and routine existence of my youth.

—​

I stopped and knocked on the door in front of me.

A few moments later, a voice answered.

"Enter."

I drew a deep breath, smiled, and entered.

The student councilor room was bathed in the soft orange glow of the evening light. A desk and chairs stood in front of me, opposite to the window, as if carved from the shadow. A single figure sat behind the desk, half-illumined by the light, half writhing in the shadow. I smiled. "Good evening, sensei."

Dark-gray eyes flickered at me as I came through the door. Lush black hair that reached down to her waist, white shirt and blue tie tucked underneath black vest and white lab coat, hand with a pen hovering over a piece of paper - Hiratsuka-sensei looked almost like the mature older woman she sometimes believed she was and other times liked to believe she was not.

"Oh, Masaki? Good evening to you too. Feel free to take a seat," She gestured towards the cushioned chair in front of her which I immediately drew and sat on. "Now, what is it? Do you need something?"

I fished out a pair of keys from my pockets. "I'm here to return the key to the clubroom, sensei."

"Oh, is that so? Thanks." She took it from my hand and placed it in a drawer. "You know I was expecting Yukinoshita back there."

I shrugged. "I volunteered to do it myself, today. It's the least I can do after all she's done for me."

"I see…" Hiratsuka-sensei nodded. Then she reclined back to her chair and from the breast pocket of her waistcoat took out a box of Seven Stars cigarettes. A rattling sound came when she tapped her filters on the desk before rolling her cigarette and letting it up. For a single second her entire face flickered in the light of her lighter.

She inhaled her cigarette deeply and blew; soft smoke trailing after her breath before she spoke again. "So how are you doing today?"

"I'm…" The normal reply would be to say something along the line of 'I'm doing good today', but that wasn't what Hiratsuka-sensei wanted to hear. "...I guess I'm trying to do better today."

"Is that so?" Her eyes glinted in the orange light, I couldn't tell if it was from the evening sun or from the light of her cigarette. "And how is it going, by the way?"

"I…to be honest I don't really know." I admitted, bashfully. "There arethings that worked out quite well." Yui's face came to mind. "and there are things that are moving slower than I liked." Hachiman during lunch. "Then there are things that just aren't working at all no matter how hard I try." Yukinoshita, Hachiman and Yui in the club.

"Well…. It's best to focus on the things we can change at the moment." Hiratsuka-sensei puffed a breath of smoke shaped like a perfect ring. "By the way, that trip you planned with Yuigahama sounded like it would be a lot of fun."

My eyes widened. "You heard that?"

"I was passing by the hallway when I overheard it." Hiratsuka-sensei smiled. "You and Yuigahama did quite well, even if the result wasn't what you'd wanted."

I blushed. I wanted to hide my face away, tucked it in where she couldn't see it. I really hoped the evening sunlight would hide whatever redness bloomed on my cheeks.

Suddenly, Hiratsuka-sensei puffed up her chest proudly, "Persuasion is an important skill to learn as an adult. I'm proud as a teacher that I can impart this important skill unto you, youngsters."

"How the hell did you get that idea in your head?" I sighed. "Besides, it's not like Yui and I persuaded them to do anything in the end."

Yui really wanted us to hang out together, but at the same time I had to tread the careful lines around Hachiman and Yukinoshita's distance. A line drawn across the sand by their shared pain and experiences. In the end the latter gave out.

Still…

"Though… yeah, I guess I really did have you to thank for it." If it weren't for Hiratsuka-sensei I might not have gotten involved with the Service Club in the first place anyway, so I suppose she was right in some ways. "That said I still have a lot to go on that front,"

"Everyone has their own struggles, so don't sell yourself short, Masaki, besides," She smiled, a smile that bounded between pride and amusement. "You're the one who took quite the initiative back there."

Were you watching us from the start or something?!

"I-it was Yuigahama's idea at first," I said quickly. "I just followed through with what she wanted."

"Did you catch on to it or did she tell you?"

"I…." I frowned. Yui hadn't explicitly told me to hide it, yet the way she said it, the way she spoke, and the atmosphere around us that morning, it all had an air of privacy about it. "...sorry, but I can't tell you."

Hiratsuka-sensei nodded, she knew, but she understood the discretion at least. "Still, even if it was Yuigahama's idea in the first place, you pushed on with it nonetheless, so give yourself some credit. That begs the question though."

Suddenly, she took out the cigarette from her mouth and leaned towards me over the desk. Her eyes were intense and in that dim evening light, they seemed to glow with fire. "Why did you want to go on with it?"

"Because I wanted to." I said easily.

It was just a thought. A whim. Some things that crossed my mind and drove me to take those first few steps. You could say that I was simply being impulsive, following through what I thought in the heat of the moment. And when those first steps yielded some results… I simply go through with it, I keep pushing through. Until I hit a dead end.

"Is that so?" The gleam in her eyes was hidden by a veil of smoke. "But then… Why did you want it?"

Why?

Was it because I wanted friends?

Was it because I wanted to do the right things?

Was it simply because I was looking for amusement?

Who am I that actually wants these things in the first place?

Who am I?

What am I?

Too many questions. Too many things that were still lost on me…

"I… I'm still trying to figure it out."

"I see…" Sensei nodded. "And how are you feeling about it?"

"...Scared." I said. "And- and terrified. And, well, confused, I guess."

I looked at Hiratsuka-sensei, waiting for her response, but instead she simply stared at me. Go on, she seemed to say.

"I- I don't know. I don't know if I truly…I want this, yes, but I don't know how far and- and to what extent," My words came up tumbling and stumbling over one another as I tried to get them across. "A-And even if I did… I'm afraid… afraid that I'll ruin it somehow, some way." I shook my head. "Does…does that make any sense?"

Can she even understand what I was trying to say?

Even so Hiratsuka-sensei merely smiled cryptically. "I get the gist of what you're trying and, Masaki, fear of failure is a normal thing to have."

Fear of failure. It's not a wrong way to put it, but at the same time it doesn't convey the entirety of what I'm trying to convey.

"It's…it's not just that," I said quickly. "It's also… I…I…"

I swallowed a lungful of air. Suddenly it felt very hard to breathe in. The air seemed to press inside that small room. Pressing against my chest, pushing into my lungs, crushing it and-

A pair of hands placed themselves on my shoulder.

I looked up to see Hiratsuka-sensei standing up from her chair. Even through my thick clothing, her palm felt warm, but also firm somehow as if planting me on the ground. She smiled and in the darkness of the room, it was impossible to tell if it was a proud smile, a reassuring smile or another smile altogether.

"I think the fact that you're willing to try - willing to make the effort - proves that at the very least, you're not as… broken as you think you are."

Broken. Yes.

That's what I am. What I really am.

A broken boy. A bird whose wings had been clipped. A pot shattered into pieces.

Broken is what I am ever since that fateful day illumined by the evening sun when I lost everyone.

Mom….

Dad….

Koharu…

Why did I survive? Alone amongst the refugees atop of that hill overlooking Rafael-II? Why am I the only one spared? Was it because of my memories? Was it because I have some mission, some purpose I need to fill somewhere and somewhere down the line?

It was wrong.

It was unfair.

But-

"You can't change the past, Masaki," Hiratsuka-sensei continued. "The only thing you can do is…move forward with what you have."

"Move forward," I murmured. "Yes."

It was the only thing I could do. Move forward even if I still have so many questions.

But that was alright.

I have time, if nothing else. Another year, maybe two. To figure things out and at least-

I looked back at Hiratsuka-sensei, back against the sun, her figure seemed to burn.

-At least I'm not alone.

Inside that room lit only by the bleeding light of a dying sun, the shadow seemed o dance and grow around us.

Yet I wasn't afraid in the slightest.

I'm still here.

I'm still alright.

…

I smiled even as I felt so miserable. "Thanks, sensei."

…

Forgive me, everyone, for being alright.

—​

Author's Note: Welp this chapter is an Oregairu-heavy and a gigantic one at that. Mostly because I have a lot of setting ups and world-building to do. It could have been longer. There was a lot of cutting in the editorial process.

The rough first draft for this chapter and the next one had more crossover-ish elements from Kaguya-sama and RWBY. In it the Stut-Co from Kaguya were supposed to be Stut-Co in Sobu High. Team RWBY and JNR were also supposed to make an appearance during the Lunch scene.

However, as I made the second draft, I made the decision to cut many of these crossover elements, and focused mainly on the Oregairu cast. A decision I did not regret since it allowed me a more in depth exploration of the characters and their interactions with one another.

As you can probably tell, Masaki's appearance made a lot of changes to the characters and their dynamics. Some of these are subtle, others are more prominent. There will be Interlude chapters in the futures detailing how or why some of these occurred.

If you have any questions, suggestions, constructive criticism, or if you just wanna send some love to this story, feel free to comment down below!

 

[k4rn0]

Dramatis Personae

The dark is generous.


Its first gift is concealment: our true faces lie in the dark beneath our skins, our true hearts remain shadowed deeper still. But the greatest concealment lies not in protecting our secret truths, but in hiding from the truths of others.
The dark protects us from what we dare not know.


Its second gift is comforting illusion: the ease of gentle dreams in night's embrace, the beauty that imagination brings to what would repel in the day's harsh light. But the greatest of its comforts is the illusion that dark is temporary: that every night brings a new day. Because it's the day that is temporary.
Day is the illusion.


Its third gift is the light itself: as days are defined by the nights that divide them, as stars are defined by the infinite black through which they wheel, the dark embraces the light, and brings it forth from the center of its own self.
With each victory of the light, it is the dark that wins.
-Revenge of the Sith Novelization​

The Service Club

Keigo Masaki
Main Protagonist of the story. A polite and nice guy at first glance, but also a deeply traumatized boy who's trying to piece himself back together.

Spoiler: Keigo Masaki

Age: 17
Birthday: September 7
Horoscope: Virgo
Special Skills: Martian boardgames, Martial Art, Multi-lingual
Hobbies: Sha'rah (a recetly invented Martian board game), Hanging out with Friends and Families, Reading (Light novels, History, Western Literature)
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Seehiah (שאהיה) "God who took evil." & Chauakiah (כוקיה) "the God of joy."
Ars Goetia Demon: Marchosias (also Marchocias)


Hikigaya Hachiman
A loner and a twisted human being with a cynical world-view, but deep down has a kind heart.

Spoiler: Hikigaya Hachiman

Age: 16
Birthday: August 8
Horoscope: Leo
Special Skills: Things one can do alone like quizzes and riddles, Talking to myself
Hobbies: Reading
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Iabamiah (יבמיה) "word of God creating all." & Reiaiel (רייאל) "the expected God."
Ars Goetia Demon: Astaroth (also Ashtaroth, Astarot and Asteroth)


Yukinoshita Yukino
The Ace who seemed to have it all; looks, grades, and wealth,. Kind but has deep-seated issues and a prickly personality.

Spoiler: Yukinoshita Yukino

Age: 16
Birthday: January 3
Horoscope: Capricorn
Special Skills: Houseworks; cooking, laundry, cleaning, etc, Aikido
Hobbies: Reading (general literature, western literature, classics), Horse riding
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Ieliel (יליאל) "The helping God" & Ieialel (יילאל) "God hearing lamentations."
Ars Goetia Demon: Amii (also Auns, Hanar, Hanni)


Yuigahama Yui
A nice girl; popular and kind-hearted, but has difficulty standing up for her desires.

Spoiler: Yuigahama Yui

Age: 16
Birthday: June 18
Horoscope: Gemini
Special Skills: Email, Karaoke, Getting along with people
Hobbies: Karaoke, Cooking (working on it)
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Levuiah (לוויה) "The swiftly harkening God."
ArsGoetia Demon: Saleos (also Sallos and Zaleos)

 

[k4rn0]

Sobu High TPC Academy

Class 2-F

Hayama Hayato
Prince of the high school; popular, good-looking and smart, but he might be too nice for his own good and the good of others.

Spoiler: Hayama Hayato

Age: 16
Birthday: September 28
Horoscope: Libra
Special Skills: Soccer, Guitar
Hobbies: Reading, Appreciating films, Indoor football, Playing guitar, Marine sports
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Vehuel (והואל) "the great and exalted God." & Rehael (רהעאל) "the quickly forgiving God."
Ars Goetia Demon: Malphas


Kakeru Tobe
At first glance a delinqent, loud-mouth, overexcited, and boisterous. though a bit shallow, he's a nice guy.

Spoiler: Kakeru Tobe (Bottom left corner)

Age: 16
Birthday: August 29
Horoscope: Virgo
Special Skills: Soccer, Games
Hobbies: Soccer, Watching action movies, Karaoke
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Levuiah (לוויה) "The swiftly harkening God." & Iehuiah (יחויה) "the all-knowing God."
Ars Goetia Demon: Gaap (also Tap, Coap, Taob, Goap)


Miura Yumiko
The empress of Sobu high. Imperious and alpha-bitch-y, but also has a mothering side to her. Has a crush on Hayato.

Spoiler: Miura Yumiko

Age: 16
Birthday: December 12
Horoscope: Sagittarius
Special Skills: Tennis, Nail Art
Hobbies: Shopping, Karaoke
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Imamiah (עממיה) "the God hidden in darkness." & Nithael (ניתאל) "God the king of heaven."
Ars Goetia Demon: Murmur (also Murmus, Murmuur, Murmux)


Ebina Hina
A friend of Yumiko and Yui. A proud and easily excitable fujoshi. Likes too pair the boys around her with each others.

Spoiler: Ebina Hina

Age: 16
Birthday: July 14
Horoscope: Cancer
Special Skills: Drawing pictures, Standing in long lines
Hobbies: Reading (Historical novels, mainly Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Bakumatsu)
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Sealiah (סאליה) "the God who stirs all men." & Hahuiah (חהויה) "God the good in Himself."
Ars Goetia Demon: Naberius (also Naberus, Nebiros and Cerberus, Cerbere)


Totsuka Saika
Captain of the tennis club. Looks like a girl, but actually wants to be seen as more manly.

Spoiler: Totsuka Saika

Age: 16
Birthday: May 9
Horoscope: Taurus
Special Skills: Tennis, Jigsaw Puzzles
Hobbies: Handicrafts
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Hahasiah (החשיה) "God, the impenetrable secret." & Lauiah (לאויה) "The exalted God."
Ars Goetia Demon: Gusion (also Guison, Gusayn, Gusoin, and Gusoyn


Zaimokuza Yoshiteru
A chuunibyou and sellf-proclaimed writer. Wishy-washy with a soft heart that is both sensitive and resilient to criticism.

Spoiler: Zaimokuza Yoshiteru

Age: 16
Birthday: November 23
Horoscope: Sagittarius
Special Skills: Swordsmanship, Writing (trying to improve), Mentak concentration
Hobbies: Reading (Manga, light novels), Games (RPG, SLG, Galge), Watching anime, Internet
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Iehuiah (יחויה) "the all-knowing God." & Daniel (דניאל) "God the merciful judge."
Ars Goetia Demon: Furcas (also Forcas)

Staff of Sobu High

Hiratsuka Shizuka
Student councilour who guides and monitor her students. Caring, but with a baggaged past that is not all sunshines and rainbows.

Spoiler: Hiratsuka Shizuka

Age: Private
Birthday: Private
Horoscope: Unknown
Special Skills: Martial Arts
Hobbies: Going for a drive, Motorbike riding, Reaing (Manga and Harlequin books)
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Unknown
Ars Goetia Demon: Unknown

 

[k4rn0]

Friends and Families

Orimoto Kaori
Masaki's cousin. A student of Kaihin. Formerly Hachiman's crush. A big-sister type who can get along with almost everyone, but can be shallow and insensitive.

Spoiler: Orimoto Kaori

Age: 16
Birthday: February 21
Horoscope: Pisces
Special Skills: Communication, Fashion
Hobbies: Shopping, Biking
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Hahasiah (החשיה) "God, the impenetrable secret." & Habuhiah (חבויה) "God the kindest giver."
Ars Goetia Demon: Belial (also Belhor, Baalial, Beliar, Beliall, Beliel)

Hikigaya Komachi
Hachiman's little sister. The cutest little sister in the whole world, Hachiman will tell you. Has a bratty side to her, though.

Spoiler: Hikigaya Komachi

Age: 14
Birthday: March 3
Horoscope: Pisces
Special Skills: Having a weak cute body, Cooking, Helping my brother
Hobbies: Saving money, Mocking my brother
Shem ha-Mephorash Angel: Umabel (ומבאל) "God above all names elevated." & Iabamiah (יבמיה) "word of God creating all."
Ars Goetia Demon: Seir (also known as Seire, Seere, or Sear)

Human Defense Initiative

To be added

Terran Peace Consortium

To be added

Science Research Circle

To be added

____



​

Here we are. The obligatory character sheets for every multi-crossover series. To be honest, while this started out as a chore of sorts, I quickly realized that I wanted more than just a quick sheet to look for character info. I wanted it the character bio give and add something to the story I'm writing, either explicitly and implicitly.

Needless to say, more will be added in the coming chapters as the story progressed. I have to say while that on the one hand, making character sheets can be such a pain, on the other hand it's also so much fun to fnd out some quirky facts aboutsome of the characters that were only mentioned in passing. I'll admit that I'm not completely happy with how it turned out and I might change the some of the pictures down the line, but for now, I'm done.

Also quick question to the readers, what kind of vibe do you get from Masaki (the main character) either through his thoughts, actions, or through his interactions with the people around him?

 

[clonezero]

To be honest with you, I checked this story out because of it being a Ultraman Tiga cross and as someone who hasn't watched Oregairu, the slice of life vibe most of the chapter gave of felt disconnected to both the prelude and the parts of the chapter showing the world and it's kaiju problem.

I think the problem I'm having is the light and upbeat rom com elements taken from Oregairu isn't exactly meshing well with the darker Ultraman aspects for me. It feels like two stories side by side rather than one story with elements of both.

Masaki makes sense I guess. His goals, motivations, attitude, his inner thoughts, etc makes sense and is believable for someone with a past like his. The hints of self loathing at the end though suggests that him being "the hero" is gonna be a work in progress.

On the RWBY characters, I think my biggest issue is how their names stand out in a sea of Japanese people. The story does adequately explain their presence, it's just a bit weird for me. I think it's just something that one gets used to with time.

I do wonder how much of a cross will this be with RWBY? Because if it's just the characters then I think its fine but if stuff like Aura, the Faunus, and the Grimm gets added then I feel that just will complicate things.

If I was to summarize my opinion then its that this chapter felt daunting to read. There was so much stuff to digest.

 

[k4rn0]

To be honest with you, I checked this story out because of it being a Ultraman Tiga cross and as someone who hasn't watched Oregairu, the slice of life vibe most of the chapter gave of felt disconnected to both the prelude and the parts of the chapter showing the world and it's kaiju problem.

I think the problem I'm having is the light and upbeat rom com elements taken from Oregairu isn't exactly meshing well with the darker Ultraman aspects for me. It feels like two stories side by side rather than one story with elements of both.

Click to shrink...

I admit that much of this is because of my own inexperience in writing share-world crossover. Actually, this is the first shared-world crossover I ever write that has gotten this big and with series that are so radically different. It's a fun and hard process and not without its fair share of faults as you know.

That said... I also admit that some bits are intentional. Masaki hanging out or planning to hang out with his friends is meant to show that he's living in something of a bubble. A boy trying to shake off his past and piece himself back together and a rose-tinted youthful world that seemed so ephemeral and care-free.

On the RWBY characters, I think my biggest issue is how their names stand out in a sea of Japanese people. The story does adequately explain their presence, it's just a bit weird for me. I think it's just something that one gets used to with time.

I do wonder how much of a cross will this be with RWBY? Because if it's just the characters then I think its fine but if stuff like Aura, the Faunus, and the Grimm gets added then I feel that just will complicate things.

Click to shrink...

That is something that is said in other sites as well. The original draft had more crossover-ish elements and more non-Japanese inside. Team RWBY, for example, was supposed to make an appearance during thee lunch scene. However, I decided to cut many of them and focused instead on the Oregairu cast and the world-building at large.

No. There won't be any Aura or Grimm or Faunus added (the world's complicated enough as it is), though I do have plans for more RWBY characters to appear.

If I was to summarize my opinion then its that this chapter felt daunting to read. There was so much stuff to digest.

Click to shrink...

Is that so? I'll admit that the original plan was only for a 10k to 15k chapter. I might consider cutting it into separate parts if more people come forward to complain about it.

 

[k4rn0]

怪獣

'Strange Beast'

"Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy. They do not attack people because they want to, but because of their size and strength, mankind has no other choice but to defend himself. After several stories such as this, people end up having a kind of affection for the monsters. They end up caring about them."
— Ishir⁠ō Honda

Children of the Earth

'Natives of the earth. Giant specimens found deep below ground, untouched wilderness, or the fathomless depths of the sea. Some say that the kaijus heralded the End of Times; the beginning of a New Era. Other speculated that they are creatures of a bygone age come again. Sign of an Old Thing returning maybe?'​

Gomorra
A dinosaur-like kaiju known for its ferocious strength and bull-like appearances. The second kaiju species to ever be found. Discovered deep underground in the Johnson Islands.

Spoiler: Gomora

Title: Ancient Monster (古代怪獣, Kodai Kaijū)
Height: 40 m
Weight:20,000 t
Type: Two-legged, Land-based, Semi-subterranean
Alignment: Earth

Sodom
A subterranean kaiju species who were mostly found around volcanoes.

Spoiler: Sodom

Title: Super High-heat Monster (超高熱怪獣, Chō Kōnetsu Kaijū)
Length: 59 m
Weight: 77,000 t
Type: Four-legged, Land-based, Subterranean
Alignment: Earth

Twin-Tail
A prehistoric kaiju from the Jurassic period. Specimens can be found both on sea and land though it is speculated that the sea is its natural habitat because of the limitations it had on land. Natural preys/enemies of Gudons.

Spoiler: Twin-Tail

Title: Underground Monster (地底怪獣, Chitei Kaijū)
Height: 45 m
Weight: 15,000 t
Type: Amphibious, Subterranean
Alignment: Earth/Sea

Gudon
A subterranean kaiju species from the Jurassic period known for its whip-like hands that it used to burrow deep underground. A natural predator/enemy of Twin-Tail.

Spoiler: Gudon

Title: Subterranean Monster (地底怪獣, Chitei Kaijū)
Height: 50 m
Weight: 25,000 t
Type: Land-based, Subterranean
Alignment: Earth

Jelga
A shellfish sea monster who lived in the sea floor.

Spoiler: Jelga

Can't insert image to site, unfortunately. Here's a link to the wikipage.

Title: Deep Sea Shellfish Monster (深海貝獣, Shinkai Kai-jū)
Height: 42 m
Weight: 66,000 t
Type: Sea-based, Seafloor-based
Alignment: Sea

 

[k4rn0]

Alien Factors

'Visitors from the stars. Parts of a Natural Order not native to the earth. For some reason they started appearing once again as they once did aeons ago. Could this be a sign of things to come?'​

C.O.V. (Kovvu)
A mysterious alien kaiju that first appeared on Mars. Considered to be an alien, hence receiveing the designation Visitor-0

Spoiler: C.O.V. (Kovvu)

Title: Space Combat Beast (宇宙戦闘獣, Uchū Sentōjū)
Code-Name: Visitor-0
Height: 77 m
Weight: 88,000 t
Homeworld: Star M91
Type: Two-legged, Land-based, Space-based?
Alignment: Stars, Heaven

 

[k4rn0]

Servants of the Abyss

'The Twisted Ones.'​

Golza
A subterranean kaiju that was discovered underneath Mongolia. It would go on to rampage across East and Central Asia, causing great damages in lives and materials before suddenly disappearing after a year. Only one specimen has ever been found so far. Considered to be the deadliest kaiju before the advent of the Titans.

Spoiler: Golza

Title: Earth-Shaking Monster (大地を揺るがす怪獣, Daichi o Yurugasu Kaijū)
Code-Name: Behemoth, Hypocenter-0
Height: 62 m
Weight: 68,000 t
Type: Two-legged, Land-based, Subterannean
Alignment: Abyss, Earth

 

[k4rn0]

Titans

'Bane of Mankind. Dreadlord. City-Breaker. Despair-Bringer. Hope-killer.'

Four Giant Humanoids that suddenly appeared across human civilization, causing calamity wherever they went. It is estimated that the Titans caused hundreds of millions, possibly up to a billion casualty, dead, wounded, or missing and an incalculable amount of material losses, directly or indirectly. They were active in a twelve-month period later dubbed the Year of Darkness that is, until now, considered the single greatest calamity that has ever fallen on humankind. After the Year of Darkness, they suddenly disappeared and there have been no sightings of them whatsoever.

Spoiler: The Titans

Information Classified.​

 

[k4rn0]

Episode 1 Part 2: The Stirring Dreams Drove Him Onwards....

"…Ever since their first appearance, attempts had been made to classify the various different kinds of kaijus that emerged throughout history. Naturally, the vast multitude of kaiju species makes this an uphill battle - if not an impossible one. If it weren't for the fact that some kaiju species were known to breed and reproduce, like Twin-Tails or Red Kings, one might be tempted to simply lump them all within a single category as "strange beasts". In other words, reducing them to a mere aberration of nature - an exception to the natural laws - and some indeed does.

Dr. Funaberi Yumi's classification in The Catalog of Kaijus is perhaps one of the more popular and widely used. She divided the various kaijus based on their genetic closeness to other similar creatures across different kingdoms. While the more modern approach to kaiju classification has been to classify kaijus as a kingdom in themselves, Funaberi herself in Catalog refrains from doing such, preferring to attach them to pre-existing Animalia, Plantae, Mollusk, and other Kingdoms.

Funaberi's classification, while popular, did not remain unchallenged for long. Various kaijus experts and biologists quickly rose to challenge her classification, though only a few managed to gain much popularity. Dr. Yuka Ohta was one such person. In a work titled Strange Beasts, she classified the myriad of kaijus species into twelve different groups. Her work managed to challenge the hegemony of Funaberi's in the years after its publication.

While academics were busy classifying kaiju through biological lens, militaries and anti-kaiju organizations took a more practical approach and classified kaiju by the level of threats they posed and the dangers they have in case of an attack. Chief amongst these was the Human Defense Initiative's Five Level of Threats which became a standard around these groups as anti kaiju organizations grew in power and size. They used a mixture of scientific analysis as well as real-world data of after reports from kaiju attacks for their assessment.

However, across all these varied and wildly differing modes of classifications and divisions, an exception had been made to one particular group of kaijus - if they could even be classified as such.

This group existed consistently throughout these classifications, with the same individuals being put inside, sometimes under different names, but all referring to the same set of creatures. In the latest edition of Catalog, Funaberi abstained from putting them inside a single kingdom. In the Strange Beasts, Yuka Ohta created a new thirteenth class just to put them in. In the HDI's threat level assessment they were rated as an S-Class level threat separate from the usual five. The protocol when encountering them, for all HDI personnel can be summarized as evacuate and flee on sight.

Catastrophes Manifest. The Harbingers of Tragedies. The Bane of Mankind.

The Titans."

—Year of Unnumbered Tears, 2027-2028 by Dr. Serizawa Isiro

—​

The dead were everywhere.

Strewn across the street beneath a molten sun, hanging from broken buildings, crushed beneath fallen debris. Men and women and children. Old and young. None were spared.

Some had gashes or wounds, flowing with half-congealed blood where steel or stone or glass had struck them. Others were covered in soot, sometimes found half-blackened near roaring flames, other times little more than overcooked corpses, dimly lit by traces of cinders or embers. Here and there was a hand reaching out from piles of ruin, grasping for help that never came.

"Koharu!" My voice was strained as I ran through the lifeless street. "Koharu, where are you?!"

Around me was death and destruction.

I nearly wretched the moment I saw corpses scattered on one intersection. Some burnt by flames, most rotting away in the heat; their innards spilling, flies and ravens pecking out their carcass.

Yet I continued on.

She has to be here somewhere. She has to.

"Koharu, answer me!"

Some of the streets gaped wide where titanic footprints imprinted themselves upon them. Houses and buildings were rent asunder as if a giant line had been made through them. Fire roared inside many of the buildings; pillars of flames, reaching high into the sky, smoke clouds gathering like a storm.

Where I looked there was ruins and debris; buildings broken and burning, towers torn asunder and pulled down, streets and roads cracked and battered. Corpses littered all of them. Slack-eyed and wide-eyed, lying on their backs or on their fronts, mouths opened or closed. Like dolls playing the moment of their last seconds. Forever.

"Koharu-" I cut off when I saw a figure lying alone on the street. "No."

Immediately I ran towards her. Smoke filled my lungs, the stench of carcasses made me want to wretch, but I ran nonetheless.

"No, no, no," My hands reached her, despite the sun burning above, she felt as cold as ice. Her eyes were wide and terrified, black blood staining her clothes. "Wake up Koharu! Wake up!"

I shook her, but no matter how hard I tried, she did not stir.

She's just a child. No please, she's just- she's just a child. It's not going to end like this.

"Onii-chan is here now, so you can wake up now, please…" She's just asleep, right? She must have! I- I can't be too late. I…I can't be.

My vision blurred. Tears strung at my eyes.

"Koharu… please wake up…"

It can't end like this. It wasn't supposed to end like this.

Why? Why did it have to be her? Why?

Her eyes stared at me, unblinking and cold. Eyes that judged. Eyes that accused.

Keep her safe, Masaki. Whatever you do, keep her safe.

I was supposed to protect her.

Why? Why didn't you?

"It's all my fault…" I gulped, the words felt heavy but they were true. "I- I couldn't protect you, I'm sorry, Koharu…I'm sorry."

Sorry. The words seemed to echo in the silent street. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. The wind blew with hot air and ashes, but the word was as heavy as ever. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

"I-"

"Your guilt will not bring back the dead." The voice was soft, barely a whisper, but it cut through the tension like a knife. "Nor will it protect the living."

I looked up and stared.

The woman did not look like she belonged here; in this place of death and desolation. And yet…there she was.

Her white hair glistened like silver, spilling from her head down to her shoulders, long and straight. Her skin was like snow, unmarred by the burning sun above. She wore a silvery robe - white at first glance, silver at the second that seemed to be made apiece - neither woven nor cut. Her head was covered in a hood that did not conceal her face.

A luminescent light thrummed along her entire form. She seemed half-glowing and half-transparent. Like a ghost. Like an angel.

"Yu-Yuzare…" The name came to me before I realized it. "What are you doing here?"

"To seek," The woman - Yuzare said. "To find, and, if needed, to aid and advice." She sighed. A long tired sigh. "Not that the first is often possible, restricted as I am by this form. It was not my main purpose, you see, so the effort and energy allocated to it is…minimal." She shook her head. "And even then…I failed in my main purpose as you might have already known."

She glanced down—

At Koharu still cradled in my arms.

"Can you—"

"Not even in the fullness of my power can I do so." Yuzare cut me off quickly. "The power to bring back the dead is beyond me. Even with the help of the Giants of Light."

"So…" The tears came back. I was aware again of the accusing eyes, the silent street echoing with my vain apologies. I'm so sorry, Koharu, I'm so sorry…

"This is an interesting dream," Yuzare said absently, I didn't pay attention to her. All I cared about was Koharu. I'm so sorry. "A very interesting dream indeed, almost as if it is all…"

Koharu, I-

Suddenly, too quick for me to notice, Yuzare grabbed me by the arms and pulled me towards her, forcing me to stand up. Koharu's body fell to the dirt, but I was too shocked to even get angry.

"Yuzare, what—"

"Listen." Yuzare said suddenly. "You cannot stay here, Masaki. You must leave. Quickly."

"What? Why?" Koharu's body was there on the ground. She'd get her hair dirty. Koharu always hated it when her hair got dirty. I tried to go back, but Yuzare's grip was wrought iron. I couldn't pull away from her.

"This… nightmare is no natural dream." Yuzare said. She wasn't looking at me, but around. At the broken street, ruined buildings, and littered corpses. "You'll be in danger if you stay here!"

"What do you mean?"

"All humans dream, but not all dreams are human."

"You're not making any sense!"

"There are Old things…" Yuzare stared back at me. And for the first time I realized that the look in her eyes…was pure terror. "Ancient things that slept and dreamt long before humans walked the earth. They dreamt, yet their dreams are not the same as you and me. They ruled fully the dreams they conjured. When they sleep, their dreams are as real as the flesh that clung to your bones and where dreams are real they present a danger to you and to anyone who chanced upon them. You must leave this place at once-"

"I can't abandon Koharu." I said immediately, "I can't. Not like this. Not-" I managed to pull myself free, and immediately knelt beside Koharu's body. "I can't- I can't abandon her, not again-"

I held her just like I did before Yuzare pulled me away.

Shadows crept at the edge of my sight. All I could see was Koharu, held in my arms, half-lying on the street like another one of her broken dolls. Forgotten. Abandoned. Just like I'd abandoned her on that day.

Suddenly, a brilliant whiteness swept my vision.

Light glowed around Yuzare's form. Brilliant and dazzling she stood there like an angel looking down on me. When she spoke her voice was soft but firm, gentle,but strong.

"Leave now, while you still have a chance." Yuzare begged. "He has yet to take notice of you. His power grows, yet he must bide his time. Too soon and the Four may be aware of him and even he dared not fight against them while all of them lived still. Leave now, Masaki."

"I…I…" I looked back. Koharu's body was there. The light made it almost impossible to see, but she was there. "I…please, Yuzare, please…just let me— The body at least— sh-she deserves better than this!"

My vision blurred. I tasted salt with my tongue.

I realized I was sobbing.

They didn't even get her body. Not an ash. Not a single trace of her. As if she had never even existed at all.

"I'm sorry, Koharu, I couldn't even—"

"Masaki." Yuzare's voice poured over me like cool water. "You must leave. Please."

Her voice…there was a power in there that pulled my attention. That was the only way I could describe it. Before I realized what I was doing, I'd pulled my eyes away from Koharu and back to Yuzare.

She shone now, like a nova. White light covering her entire form that I was almost unable to make up her features. "Please…Masaki…"

"I…I…" I closed my eyes and slowly, almost torturously…I stood up. My muscles felt like touted wires, my feet like they were carved from stone, my bones as heavy as lead. Decades seemed to pass before I managed to climb up to my knee and aeons before I finally stood upright. It was hard, but somehow I knew that I must, that I have to—

Abandoned her again just like last time.

Slowly, with every fiber of my being fighting me for it, I moved away from Koharu and towards Yuzare.

"Come," Yuzare said, her voice soft like a lullaby. "You need to go now,"

"Go…" The word sounded bitter as I said it. but I nodded.

"Yes, and remember, Masaki," Yuzare placed a hand on my cheek, wiping a single tear from it. "You have the light within you, but…you are also a human… with all the blessings… and all the curses it entails."

…

"-ke up, onii-san! Wake up!"

"Huh?"

A tuft of brown hair entered my blurry vision. A blink and I could see a pair of brown eyes staring down at me.

"Kaori?" I asked. The room was dark and it was hard to make out her features, but it was definitely Kaori. "What's the matter?"

"You have to see this. Come on!" Kaori pulled away from my bed and sprang towards the curtained window at the other side of the room.

I stood up from my bed, the floor creaking as I did, and walked towards her. It was strange to see Kaori up this early in the morning. My head throbbed. I had dreamt about something, but…I couldn't remember what exactly.

Suddenly Kaori grinned at me, before pulling away at the curtains.

I expected the golden morning sun to come and greet me, but instead, a wave of white spilled into my room, litting it up in a misty light. The world outside was almost entirely covered in white and I could hear the wind howling from inside my window.

"Snow?"

—​

I stared through the window as the bus rode up and down the road; riding across a wooded landscape of withered trees, barren ground, and snow.

A freak blizzard, the weather reports had called it. Three days ago, Chiba and its surrounding area was suddenly engulfed in a typhoon. School had been canceled, but no one batted an eye. We were entering spring - some rain and storm was expected. The hail of ice and snow that came the very next day was not.

A blizzard. In the last days of April. Needless to say no one was prepared for it. A couple of roads and streets were blocked by the snow, train lines were disrupted, there were even reports of a collapsed roof or two where the blizzard had hit hardest.

Chiba was not the only prefecture to have been hit by blizzards or snow. Reports also emerged from other prefectures, mostly those along the coastline of Eastern Japan; Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Fukushima, Shizuoka, Mie, even as far down south as Kagoshima had experienced some form of snow or ice hail.

Despite the strange weather they had found themselves in, the staff had gone on ahead with the field trip. They were too far gone with the entire preparation to cancel now. Most of the roads we were planning on using had been cleared. Our lodgings and destinations were not at all damaged by either the storm or the blizzard. Besides, it was predicted that weather would be stable for the next two weeks, so a three day field trip shouldn't be a problem.

Still, even though Hiratsuka-sensei and the rest of the teachers had said that, I still couldn't get rid of the hollow feeling in my stomach.

Something was wrong.

That was what my gut said to me. I don't know what or how or why, but something was brewing.

That feeling had only grown as I hitched onto the bus and watched the landscape around me.

The ground was gray and black where greens should have sprang months ago. Where it was not barren and dead, the ground was covered in snow - sometimes in small scattered patches, other times blanketing large swathes of land. Spring had been late in coming and whatever grass had managed to grow had been strangled by the snow and cold.

Only the trees seemed to have any sort of life in them. High enough to catch whatever sunlight there was, leaves sprouted across the tall branches of the trees, most of them weighed down by snow and half-frozen morning dew. Overhead, the sun hung on a hazy sky - looking more like a glowing mirage in the mist and just as fragile. What light it cast was weak, but left long shadows in its wake.

Suddenly, A wind blew and the leaves parted away almost reluctantly. I could almost hear the winds in my ear - like a bone-chilling breath followed by a rustling of leaves and branches. The wind and the branches were the only things making sound in the forest I imagined. No birds singing in the trees. No squirrels hoping on branches. No animal walking on the ground. Not that I expected any. Only the wind and trees.

In contrast to the half-frozen and half-dead world outside, the inside of the bus was as warm and lively as any other bus filled with high school students.

Rows upon rows of seats were filled almost to the brim by girls and boys chatting, giggling, and talking over one another. The lights on the bus were turned on - a bright orange hew that seemed more alive than the sun outside.

"Man, we're finally going on a field trip, huh?" Tobe faced Hayato who was sitting right beside him. "Too bad it's too close to home though. I really wish we could see other parts of the country."

"Well the teachers have to take our safety into account after all." Hayama said.

"Hmm, I guess you're right, still… I don't really get this site at all, what about you Hikigaya?"

"Huh?," A voice beside me stirred. Hachiman looked across at Tobe. "You're asking me?"

"Duh!"

"Oh well… I guess it's alright."

"But isn't it kinda boring, though, don't you think?" Tobe asked nonchalantly.

"Hah? Boring?"

"Yeah! It's just some old rocks and bones and stuff, right? Is it really that exciting?"

"Listen here," Hachiman suddenly said. "The Akasaka Cave site in Chiba is the oldest archeological site in the entire Japan. There are man-made artifacts there that were dated as far back as 40.000 B. C. That makes it the oldest archeological site in Japan! The only thing that even came close to it is the Odai Yaamoto I site in Aomori Prefecture. Even that is only dated as far back as 14.500 to 16.000 B. C."

He beat his chest out proudly. "You could say that this proves that Chiba is the cradle of Japanese civilization."

A moment of silence followed his declaration.

I frowned. Hachiman talking with Tobe or any other members of Hayato's clique was rare enough.

"W-wow, you've been there Hikigaya?" Tobe asked.

"What? No I haven't." Hachiman shook his head.

"But how do you know so much about it?"

"I read it of course."

"You're so smart, huh…" Tobe looked Hachiman up and down, as if seeing him for the first time.

"Not really…?"

"Haha, you seem really interested in this kind of thing, Hikki." Yui said. She sat in the seat behind us at the end with Yumiko and Hina.

"Of course I am." Hachiman scoffed. "I'm a proud citizen of Chiba. So I have to know all these things about its history."

"Normally, you don't talk so much." Yumiko said, even as she played with her phone. "So you can actually talk normally."

"Urk,"

"Th-that's mean, Yumiko!"

Yumiko looked at Yui and raised an eyebrow. "Hah? I don't mean anything bad by it. Besides, it's true though, right?"

"Erm, I mean…" Yui trailed off.

Hachiman's eyes narrowed. "O-oi I talk plenty of times, it's just that talking too much is a waste of breath."

Yumiko frowned at Hachiman. "What? So you think talking with us is a waste of your breath, is that it?"

"N-no…"

"Yumikoo…. Pleaseee…." Yui begged.

Hayato laughed nervously. "Well it is strange to see Hikigaya so talkative, somewhat."

"Yeah, Hikigaya, you're usually so quiet in class." Tobe chimed in.

Haciman sighed and muttered in a voice too low for the rest of them to hear. "How the heck did I end up sitting with these guys?"

"Well," I said. "If you hadn't arrived late in school this morning, you might not have found most of the seats already filled. There's still space in the back seat with Yui and the girls, if you want though,"

Hachiman scowled. "I think I'll stay here after all."

Outside the window, the landscape rolled past me. We're ascending now, following a pathway up the mountains. The trees grew denser and taller and there were occasionally bushes and shrubs, but all of it still looked as dead as before. Most of the time, whatever vegetation managed to sprout out of the ground did not seem to have much green in them.

Before I knew it, I started wondering how much of the past weeks' greenery died because of the frost, or how many animals in the woods died because of exposure to the cold. I shook my head. The landscape was making me dreary and miserable.

Instead I turned my attention back to the inside of the bus, the single spark of warmth and life in this forest of ice and dead things.

"By the way, Hachiman, why were you late anyway?" I was just picking topics out of random, just trying to start a conversation.

Hachiman scratched his cheek. "Ah, well, that is…it's because of my sister."

"Komachi-chan?"

"Who else could it be? But yeah…"

"Well, what happened?" I asked.

"Well, she kinda woke up in the middle of the night." Hachiman said. "She said it's because of a nightmare she had."

"A nightmare?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. So she wanted to sleep in my room because of that. Anyway, the temperature was really cold last night, so I ended up staying awake longer than I planned." Hachiman yawned. "Not that I got that much of a rest anyway. That nightmare must be infectious because I also had a nightmare afterward and woke up late because of it."

Something tickled at the back of my mind. A memory eluding my thoughts. A city burning and…suddenly I couldn't remember. It feels…important, like I should remember what it was.

My stomach and chest felt suddenly hollow….no, not hollow. Wrong. A feeling of wrongness, like walking into the edge of an abyss you couldn't see the beginning of.

"Hachiman… What were those nightmares about?"

"Uhm….I couldn't remember." Hachiman frowned. "Funnily enough, Komachi also couldn't remember. Haah…. Nightmares like those are really annoying."

"Wow, Hikigaya, you have a sister?"

Hachiman and I turned to find Tobe looking at us with sparkling eyes.

"Yes I do…?" Hachiman answered nervously.

"Man that's rad. I'm so jealous," Tobe said. "I think the only one of us who has a sibling is Yumiko, right?"

"Wait, really?" Hachiman asked. He seemed genuinely shocked at that.

"Yeah." Yumiko suddenly said. She wasn't playing with her phone, instead her eyes looked at Hachiman. "A little brother, to be exact. You got a little sister if I heard right?"

"Uhm, y-yeah."

Yumiko nodded in a way that seemed…understanding?

"Yeah, Tomoki also used to have nightmares, sometimes and he often ended up sleeping in my room too when that happened," Yumiko said. "Your sister have any hobbies she shares with you?"

"Not much…? I mean, Komachi really likes cute things that I don't care about that much."

"I wish Tomoki was like that," Yumiko said. "Liking cute things, I mean. He's been getting into computers a lot lately and I don't really get much of what he said. You got me?"

Hachiman nodded back in an understanding that seemed…genuine.

Beside Yumiko, Yui's eyes flickered between the two of them. Her shoulders dropped. "I…I was born an only child, so I don't know what it feels like to have a sibling."

"Ah, Yui-chan don't worry!" Tobe suddenly said. "Me and Hayato are also the only kids, so you're not alone."

"I see…" Yui said. "But what about Maachi?"

The question was asked so suddenly that I answered almost automatically. "Hmm? Yeah I do."

I clapped my mouth shut to stop myself.

"Kaori-chan, right? Man it must've been nice to have a cute little sister like that." Tobe said.

No. I wanted to say. Not Kaori.

A face floated in my thoughts; short brown hair, shirt dress stained in black blood….I shook my head.

"Hmm…but Kaori is your adopted sibling, right?" Hayama, the blessed boy that he is, came to my rescue.

"Well, technically I was the one who was adopted to her family." I said. "We are related though since she's my cousin."

I glanced at the window. Outside, the bus had come to ride atop the edge of a cliff, trees and shrubs gave way to a vast expanse of land underneath us. Even with the railings around the road, I still gulped when I saw how far up we were in the mountains.

High up here, I could see the sprawling forest we went through; a wooded land of cedars, elm, pines and the likes. Beyond it, I could see the very edges of Chiba city, silhouettes of tall buildings and skyscrapers that seemed ephemeral like a mirage. And at the very edge of the horizon was the sea Tokyo Bay, gleaming like an azure mirror. Looking at the world below, it made me feel…small and insignificant.

"Hey Maachi, is something wrong?" Yui's voice stirred me from my sight-seeing.

"Huh?" I turned. Yui had a troubled look on her face. "What makes you say that?"

"It's just… you've been really quiet this entire trip."

"Yeah, Maachi-bro," Tobe chimed in. "It's so unlike you to be quiet like this. Hell, even Hikigaya here is talking way more than you!"

"Suddenly I feel so insulted." Hahiman muttered.

"You're not feeling sick, are you?" Even Yumiko was looking at me strangely.

"Nah, nothing like that. It's just-" I turned away from their worried stares to glance back at the view, only to find that we've moved on from the cliffside and back to the dense forest like before. I sighed. "It's just… don't you guys think it's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" Hayato asked.

"This weather," I gestured to the lands outside. "All these…snow and ice and cold. We're nearing the end of April already. Spring should've come long ago., but…"

I trailed off. My words seemed to have some effect, because everyone's eyes slowly turned to the snowy landscape outside the window, as if seeing it for the first time.

"I…guess I could see what you're getting at," Yui said as she stared.

"It is strange that the weather's like this," Hachiman agreed. "Then again, this entire spring had been strange. I don't think I saw much green growing even before the blizzard."

"Yeah it's like the winter won't let up," Tobe said.

"Well… I don't know about you guys," Yumiko began. "But I heard my mother talking about some of his friends in the agricultural district that they couldn't plant anything these past few weeks because of the cold weather and nothing's really growing even when they did."

The feeling of wrongness inside my stomach grew and grew.

"But…it does look beautiful though, isn't it?" Hina suddenly said. "I don't think I've ever seen a forest like this up close. It's like we've traveled to Hokkaido or something."

"Huh, uhm, yeah totes," Tobe, who had agreed with me earlier, abruptly nodded at Hina's words. "It looks like one of those pictures of Hokkaido in the winter we saw, right Hayato?"

"It does, doesn't it?" Hayato nodded. "It looks really pretty I must say."

"Well… I-I guess it does have its charm." I didn't need to turn around to see the slight flush on Yumiko's cheeks/

I sighed. I understand what Hayato and Hina were trying to do; lifting the mood of everyone up.

Still, the feeling of wrongness remained.

"Well, perhaps I'm just overthinking it," I said. Maybe it's just that. Maybe just seeing the weather act up like this was doing something to my mood.

Still…

"Hey guys…be careful out there."

"Huh? Why, Maachi?" Tobe asked.

"Just be careful," I said.

"Maachi…you sounded really worried there." Yui said. "Is…something wrong?"

"I…I don't know," I admitted.

"Ah, Maachi, no need to worry so much," Tobe said. "Hiratsuka-sensei and Branwen-sensei have us covered, right? Besides we're in Chiba, even if a kaiju or something were to appear, the HDI and TPC would just rush in and blast them to pieces. Heck, not even Tiga or Darramb could set foot in Chiba!"

"Tobe!" Hayato hissed, but it was too late.

Silence suddenly fell on the entire bus.

All conversations seemed to have died as people turned to stare at us.

In that palpable silence, the only sound that could be heard was that of the bus as it lurched around the road.

Then it was broken.

"Did- did someone just say…Tiga or Darramb?" Someone, I couldn't tell who, asked in a voice dripping with fear and dread.

Murmur suddenly arose among the student bodies. In hushes, students spoke; Dreadlord, City-breaker, Despair-bringer, Hope-killer. Banes of Mankind. With those titles, came also names, mostly that of cities; New York, Beijing, Tokyo, Delhi, Astrakhan, Moscow, Berlin, Paris, London, etcetera. Numbers were also thrown in, varying wildly, but never lower than two-hundred-and-fifty million lives.

I sighed. The Titans was not a topic you could bring into conversation so suddenly. It was taboo and worse; some say that the very mention of their names brings bad luck. I caught a few students muttering silent prayers around me. Even now, two years after the Year of Darkness, their shadows still loomed large. I caught what I thought was a sniff and realized quickly that someone in the far front was crying. Everyone had lost something to the Titans. Everyone.

"Ah… s-sorry everyone," Tobe said, looking around at the chaos he caused. "I didn't mean to—"

"Tobe." Yumiko's voice was ice-cold. A far-cry from her usually fiery demeanor. "Just shut up will you?"

Tobe clamped shut.

The bus rode on inexorably towards our destination, but the liveliness and warm atmosphere from before was gone. It was as if the cold winds had come inside and smothered the lives of its occupants.

—​

A gust of wind rushed towards our faces the moment we exited the bus.

It was as if we'd stumbled into a winter wonderland.

"Woah, check out all these snows!" Yui exclaimed excitedly.

The parking lot we arrived in was relatively devoid of snow, but the land around it was a different story.

Pine trees placed in neat lines had their ever-green leaves weighed down by snow and frost. Like outdoor Christmas trees minus decorations. Much of the ground that was not part of the parking lot, was heaped in snow and where snow did not fall, the ground was black or gray. No grass sprouted out from them. No animals ran across them. No squirrels hopped around the branches and no birds sang on the trees.

This place may not have been hit the hardest by the blizzard, but it certainly lingered on. High up here in the mountains where the temperatures were lower than down in the city. Above, the sun seemed fragile and pale against a misty, half-whimsical sky.

A wind suddenly howled, the only sound that could be heard across the empty parking lot. A breath of frost that chilled us to our bones.

"It's really cold though." Yumiko said. She puffed a breath that turned to frosty mist the moment it left her mouth.

Hayato shivered. "It's a good thing the teachers told us to prepare for the cold weather."

He was wearing a dark blue navy overcoat, a light gray scarf, and a pair of gloves.

"Yeah, it really is." Yumiko said. She too wore for the occasion; a thick orange coat lined with furs along the neck and shoulder, dark green scarf and black gloves.

I myself wore a tan coat, red-and-green checkered scarf and black gloves.

I looked around. Other buses besides the ones I rode in lined the otherwise empty parking lot. Students and teachers walked out from them, all wearing some combination of coat, scarf, and glove.

The most eye-catching students were the ones the five buses lined at the end to my right. While most of the students from the other buses were generally Japanese in appearance, the students from those five buses were more varied; blondes and redheads, blue eyes and green eyes, darker or lighter skin tones. There are some Japanese among them , but for the most part the five international classes were composed of foreign students.

While Old Sobuh High did have an international curriculum class, it was mostly composed of Japanese students returning from abroad or those who wanted to study there after graduation. However, when the TPC partnered with it, the school began to host more international students, first through foreign exchange program and then, when Chiba was made the headquarter of the TPC East Asian branch, it started hosting them more permanently.

"Weissss, it's like a winter wonderland!"

"Ruby Rose, stop jumping around this instance!"

"Haha. Come on, Weiss-cream, give my sister some slack."

"Kamara-san, can you please, hold my back for a second? I need to get something."

"Ah, no problem."

"Lelouch, Shirley! Come on!"

"Milly, please stop dragging us around."

I couldn't help it, I stared.

Even now, almost a month after I'd enrolled into Sobu High, I still find it hard to believe that I'm in the same school with a lot of very…notable individuals. I remembered names, mostly, and faces when I could actually pinpoint it. I knew some of these people quite well, but others, I only knew their name and their vague background. _____-san wasn't that big of an otaku and that worked against my advantage.

Because of that, I decided to tread with care. There were only so many things I could do and entangling myself with too many people would severely cut away my time. Instead, I stayed mostly in the confines of my own Class 2-F and the Service Club.

…

I really, really hoped that I wouldn't have to deal with a potential war or God-forbid an immortal Queen of Darkness waiting in the shadows. No. The Dark Giants and that thing is already…

I shook my head. All of that was in the future. For now, I just want to enjoy my youth to the fullest.

A loud clap caught my attention and the attention of most of the students around me.

"Aight," A hoarse voice said over a microphone. "Alright, listen up everyone."

A man suddenly walked to the front of the crowd. Black-spiky hair and wearing a dark gray overcoat.

Qrow Branwen looked like he belonged on a bar tour rather than on a school trip with beady red eyes that flickered around and a voice that sounded as if he had just taken a smoke.

Flanking him to the left and right were other teachers; homeroom and otherwise. Hiratsuka-sensei in her dark brown coat, Doctor Oobleck in his archeologist garb modified for the cold, Baker-sensei in her thick sweaters and coat, Orimura–sensei garbed all in black. There were others too; teachers all lining up in front of the students.

"Alright, so for today, you'll be doing group work." Qrow explained over a loudspeaker. "And for that, we're gonna divide you up into groups of four. You're free to choose your group mate, so go wild and don't pester us about it."

"Each group would be handed out papers that you have to fill in the answers for," Hiratsuka-sensei continued, holding her own speaker. "At the end of each paper you would have to write a short essay three hundred to five hundred words long."

"Make sure you pay attention to the explanation given to you during this tour." Doctor Oobleck said. "Most of the questions are related to the subject of the Akasaka Cave site and the content of the essay you wrote at the end must have it as a main subject. Any questions?"

Murmur rows among the gathered crowd of students, but no one raised a hand.

"Alright," Orimura-sensei said. "If you got all of that, then get moving."

Almost immediately, the students dispersed on command. Some stuck to the people inside their classes, others reached to those outside. The previous semi-orderly division between buses and classes was gone.

I looked around. Most of the people inside my class had already formed groups. They'd probably made up their mind during the bus ride while I was too busy brooding in silence about the weather like an idiot. I searched the crowd for some familiar faces. Hayato, Tobe, Hina, and Yumiko had already formed a single group. Ooka and Yamato too had formed up with another pair of boys. Yui, strangely enough, was nowhere to be seen.

One figure stood on the sideline like a sore-thumb. A slightly hunched boy with beady-eyes that wore the look of a rotten fish. Distancing himself from any groups or individuals, Hikigaya Hachiman seemed to scowl at the crowd. He probably hated the idea of doing group assignments being the loner that he was. Despite his off-putting expression, I decided to approach him.

"Yo, Hachiman,"

Hachiman's eyes narrowed at me as his face turned to me. "Hmm? What is it?"

"Ah well, I don't have a group yet, so… can I group with you?"

Hachiman stared at me. Considering, weighing the pros and cons. Finally he grunted. "Might as well." He looked around. "We still have to get two other members, though…"

"Hikki, Maachi! Let's group together!" A bubbly voice suddenly shouted at us. We both turned around to find Yuigahama Yui, weaving through the crowd and running up to us…while dragging around a very reluctant-looking Yukinoshita Yukino.

Huh. So that's where Yui went.

I smiled at her. "That sounds great."

"Yay!" Yui held out a fist and I bumped it.

Nearby though, Yukinoshita and Hachiman seemed to have a colder reception to one another. Hachiman stared at Yukinoshita up and down as if sizing her up.

"I can feel your revolting gaze all over me, Hikigaya-kun. Did something catch your eye?"

"N-nothing," Hachiman said. "I just found it strange Yuigahama could drag you around like that."

"Hi-Hikki," Yui said. "You made it sound like I forced Yukinon or something…"

"...Indeed. Yuigahama-san is…hard to resist."

"Yu-Yukinon!"

"Still… I decided that I might as well indulge her seeing as how she is so… eager." Yukinoshita narrowed her eyes. "Not the least of my reasons is that I'm worried what would happen to her if I left her alone with you."

"Oi, I have a sense of decency you know! I wouldn't dare do something like that in public."

"So you would gladly do it if it's in private? You are a low-life criminal, after all."

"Arghk!"

Yui fidgeted. "Eh, urm, I mean, ehm… Hikki isn't the type to do something like that. S-sure he might be a creep, but he wouldn't do something like that!"

I sighed. "Yui… you're not helping at all."

"Eh?"

I shook my head. "Look we'll be up here all day if we just stayed like this. Can we just go?"

"Agh of course!" Yui squeaked. Hachiman and Yukinoshita though merely nodded, still eyeing each other like a predator.

I feel a headache coming my way.

This is going to be one of those days.

We followed the rest of the crowd through a wide, beaten, stone staircase. Woods covered the sides of the staircase; trees ladened in snow and cold barren ground; hard and gray where patches of white did not cover it. Much like the sight we'd seen on the bus ride here.

When we reached the top it was to an open clearing large enough to house all two hundred or so odd second-year high school students. In front of the clearing was a high mountain side that suddenly gaped open on the bottom into a large cave. The mouth of the cave stood impossibly wide and tall, as if torn from the mountain side itself.

The teachers stood all in front with their backs to the cave as they waited for the students to gather.

When most of the students had arrived, Hiratsuka-sensei took a step forward with her loudspeaker. "To all leaders of each group, please walk to the front to receive your group's assignments."

Hachiman, Yukinoshita, Yui, and I all shared a look with one another. We had not chosen a leader beforehand. Yukinoshita sighed and turned, making as if to walk to the front, but before she could, I strode forward and outpaced her.

I walked up to Hiratsuka-sensei who smiled as she handed me a stapled stack of papers.

When I walked back to the group, the others were staring at me.

"You shouldn't have to do that." Yukinoshita said.

"I wanted to," I said, shrugging. That was partially the truth. Yukinoshita had probably done something like this too many times in the past; pushed to a position no one else wanted, forced to carry out the work of the entire group even when the burden wasn't hers alone to bear. I wouldn't be able to call myself a clubmate of hers if I allowed the same things to happen.

"Attention, everyone. The deadline for the assignment would be in the hotel we've booked at 9 o'clock in the evening. Please remember to submit the paper beforehand." Hiratsuka-sensei's voice boomed across the field.

"Let's look at the questions, first." I said. Everyone crowded around me to get a look at the assignment paper.

"Hmm… most of the questions look simple enough." Yukinoshita said after a while.

I nodded. "Just like Doctor Oobleck said. We just need to pay attention to the tour guides and explanations."

"Yeah… things like these tend to be the same whenever we go…" Hachiman commented.

Yukinoshita narrowed her eyes. "Of course, even something as simple as this might be too much for you to handle, Hiki-baka-kun."

"Hey! I'll have you know that I did group assignments like these all the time in middle school! And I managed to do them even without anybody's help."

"That answer simply reveal—"

"Yukinoshita."

The voice that cut Yukinoshita off was cold and soft and sharp.

Both Yukinoshita and Hachiman turned to look at me, with surprise on their faces.

I myself was just as surprised to find that the voice was mine.

"Can you please, Yukinoshita-san," My back felt and rimrod as I stiffly continued. "Can you please not do this, just for a single day?"

A cold wind suddenly blew that chilled me to my bones, but I stood as straight and upright as ever.

Yukinoshita's eyes narrowed. She opened her mouth—

I stared back at her, giving the coldest and firmest glare I could muster.


I didn't know why, but just for today, I found that I have little tolerance for Yukinoshita's usual bullshit. It must've been the weather. It's doing something to my mood.

To my surprise and others, Yukinoshita closed her mouth back, though her peeled lips and grinded teeth said she wanted to say something more.

"Ah, ah! Wh-what about the essay?!" Yui suddenly said.

That brought our attention back to the assignment at hand.

"I don't have any idea at the moment on what we could write about," Hachiman said a bit too quickly. "Yu-Yuigahama?"

"Ah. I- I also don't have any idea." Yui admitted slowly and unsure. "Yu-Yukinon?"

Yukinoshita shook her head.

I sighed. "Well, worse comes to worse, we can just use the previous questions as a point of reference."

No one said any objection, Yukinoshita and Hachiman seemed like they were deep in thought. Yui glances at us, mostly between me and Yukinoshita as if she'd expected another fight to take place.

The announcement came then for students to enter the cave. Guided by the teachers and tour guides, the students walked towards the cave entrance. As they did so, they chatted happily with one another, or else engrossed in playing with their phones or taking pictures.

Our little group stood out with how awkwardly silent we were. A quiet rock amidst a churning sea of people. The cold winds blew into our faces until we reached the cave. Then, slowly, we walked into the darkness.

If everyone else had known what it was they would find inside the cave, they would probably run away screaming in panic.

If I had known what it was I would find inside, half of me would probably want to do the same…and the other half would run headlong into the cave.

—​

Author's Note: A bit of a short chapter this time, since I want to get some writing down before I go home for the New Year vacation. This is where the fun truly begins for our protagonists. I have to cut this chapter a bit short, since anything longer will probably take up somewhere between 15 to 20k long and also my update schedules would suffer.

Hope you enjoy this short update!

 

[k4rn0]

Interlude: ???

The Third asked. "Is it true then? Have you truly found one of them?"

The Second answered. "Beyond the shadow of a doubt. The energy residue is weak but it does belong to one of them."

The Fourth said. "What fun… what fun! Should we do with this one like we did to our dearest companion?"

The Second said. "Too dangerous. This one is… uninitiated, I'm afraid. Our…companion has special circumstances and a history with us. If we try to do the same with this one…well there's no telling what will happen. You know how we were when we first received our Revelations."

The Third said. "You don't need to remind me. So we destroy it then?"

The Fourth said. "What fun is there in that? I say we give it a little wakey-wakey and—"

The Second scowled. "Don't be foolish. We still have not recovered since our battle with…her. Our situation is still quite precarious. The scales are in our favor, but it could tilt either way…and we still have not recovered…the First."

The Third nodded. "Fighting on two fronts is already hard enough without the addition of a third. The Wretched are scouring the earth for us. They have always been a kind who thinks too highly of themselves, but it could be troublesome if they caught a whiff of us before we are prepared."

The Second said. "Which is why we must destroy this one before it could awaken. Snuff the spark before it became a blaze."

The Fourth said. "Oh well…the Tamers then?"

The Third shook its head. "They're still recuperating from that debacle in Osaka, I'm afraid. Fools. I warned them that the humans of this era are dangerous. Primitive, but dangerous."

The Second said. "That aside, I don't trust the Tamers for such a…delicate matter. They served us only reluctantly. No. This required a…personal touch."

The Third frowned. "But you said—"

The Second raised a hand. "I will not go there directly, of course, you brute. No. Instead I'll make use of…the Twisted Ones."

A hush fell over the group.

The Third said. "The Twisted Ones? Dangerous that. They're wild and unpredictable even when controlled and he hates it whenever someone plays with his toy."

The Second said. "He can do little now in the outside world, weakened as he is. Stealing one of his toys, directing it, and hiding my traces will be a trivial thing. The Wretched ones will think it as one of his plots and steer clear. For all their boasting, they are ever a cowardly race."

The Third said. "You have decided on this."

The Second said. "I have…unless you have any objection?"

The Third shook its head. "None from me."

The Fourth shook its head as well. "None from me too."

The Second nodded. "Good. Then we are in agreement. Send for the Tamers — anyone of them not recovering — and have them rouse monsters around Tokyo, Kyoto, and Kagoshima. That should serve as enough distractions for the humans. In the meantime, contact the Good Doctor and check his progress for our project on Mars. Stress him the importance of time. I will be leaving as soon as—"

 

[k4rn0]

Episode 1 Part 3:…Through Memories Hidden in Stone, Until…

"….Fossil evidence, though fragmentary and scarce, gave a strong indication of a period when kaiju once existed alongside humankind. This has led many scholars to reevaluate, reexamine, and revise the history of kaiju-human relationships from a relatively modern phenomenon to one that might have already existed throughout the ages.

Some suspected that perhaps kaijus did indeed coexist alongside humans throughout history. Ancient myths and fables, such as those of the Hydra, Tiamat, Typhon, Dagon, Orochi, and the likes might have contained more truth in them than we once thought. Rather than fragments of human imaginations, many now see them as proof of human encounters and interactions with the kaiju.

Yet if this was the case, it raises a few interesting questions.

How is it that kaiju simply disappeared after a certain period of time in our pre-history with fossil evidence after that period and before 2000 AD being non-existent?

What first drove the kaijus to hibernate deep underground for possibly tens of thousands of years away from any possible human detection?

And why is it that they only started reappearing now?"

— Of Monsters and Men: An Introductory Guide to Kaiju Studies by Funaberi Yumi and Yuka Ohta

—​

Despite how it appeared on the outside, the darkness only lasted for a single instance.

Then, suddenly, as if appearing out of thin air, light dawned on our faces; an orange shine of freshly-lit candles; warm and welcoming. Large, electrical lamps hung from above the cave's ceiling, their light shining brightly, but not so much to the point that it was painful.

It was as if we'd stepped into a whole different world entirely. While the environment outside was mostly variations of cold brown, gray, or white; inside the cave was bright orange or bronze or granite and anything in-between contrasting against black shadows. The atmosphere was like that of a dark room, lit by a large hearth fire. Colors warring and dividing against one another, light and darkness, fire and shadow fighting for dominion, instead of the drab outside where everything seemed to meld and freeze in a static.

The cave was larger on the inside than it seemed on the outside. As impossible as it sounds.

The walls reached so high up we couldn't see its end. The width of the cave was so wide, forty people could probably walk abreast if they squeezed in a little. Indeed, we only had to wait for a short while to enter ourselves. In front of us, the rest of the cave continued on, so long that even with the lights hanging above, it seemed to reach into the abyss. For all I know it could reach the ends of the Earth.

The walls by themselves were already impressive, but it was not by all means the main attraction. Instead—

"Wow," Yui gasped as she entered and looked. "They're so…they're so pretty!"

Pretty was not the word I would use. They looked majestic.

Running across the entirety of either side of the stone walls were cave paintings that depicted a thousand scenes.

Sprawling landscape of woods and grassland, herds of animals running through trees and plains, hills and mountains rising in the distance, rivers and lakes cutting through the land. There were also scenes of hunting; figures of men and women chasing after prey with spears and bows and arrows, a group of people constructing traps and ditches, even one where they seemed to be cutting and cooking their catches over a fire.

Other scenes too emerged as we walked deeper and deeper into the cave; depicting the lives of its previous dwellers. Figures in black and white gathering around a gigantic campfire; sometimes sittings, other times dancing. Ordinary life. People constructing huts near the cave; women sewing clothings as children played around them; hunters carrying their latest catch back into their camps. Other scenes passed by us; too many to count.

"Not just that," I said. "They're… remarkably well preserved." To find a cave painting of this detail and exquisiteness, after God knows how many centuries… This is a prehistoric gold mine.

"You'd think something like this would've eroded long ago or else disappeared altogether." Hachiman said, his voice held a hint of awe in them. Something I rarely hear from him.

"And they're so big too!" Yui said.

Yui was right, The scales of the paintings too were staggering. Some of the figures extended into almost life-like sizes of their inspirations. Landscapes stretched on for meters unend. Hunting scenes seemed to flow on endlessly through the cavern.

"Indeed," Yukinoshita said slowly as she gazed at the paintings up and down. "To think that something like this even existed back there…and still exists up to today. It could only be a miracle."

"Maachi, come on!"

"Just a while, Yui." I said as I positioned my phone near one of the paintings before taking a picture. It might come in handy later for future references.

Eventually, we reached a large, roughly-round chamber. It was big enough to accommodate all of the students and teachers who all crowded inside. In front of the crowd were the tour guides. Behind her was a giant-sized infographic about the Akasaka Cave site illuminated on all sides by light so that it could be read even from far away.

"Welcome there, students of Sobu High," The Tour guide - a twenty something year old woman in khaki coat - said over a microphone, her voice echoing through the cavern. "My name is Tenjouin Ritsuko and I will be your tour guide for this evening, so let's all have fun everyone!"

Quiet met her declaration. No, not exactly quiet. Instead most of the students were busy chatting to themselves in a low voice or else playing with their phones. Their attention turned to anything but the tour guide.

The woman cleared her throat and continued on as if nothing had happened. "Now, the Akasaka Cave site is one of the most important archeological sites in Japan. Why? Because it is one of the oldest archeological site in Japan-"

"Possibly the oldest." A voice suddenly chimed in. Doctor Oobleck walked to the front of the students, catching the attention of everyone as he did. "Researches on the Akasaka site, have dated certain stone artifacts to as far back 40,000 BC — to Paleolithic Japan. There are also other artifacts found in the upper layers dating from later periods ranging from 34,000 to 13,000 BC. But while not accepted by all scholars, it is the consensus of most that it is the oldest Japanese archeological site to date. Even older than the famous Odai I Yamamoto site."

"Yes, erm, that's right." The tour guide nervously said.

"Ah but please, carry on."

"Hmm… so that would be 40,000 to 13,000 BC for the first question…." Hachiman muttered as he scribbled over the group assignment paper. "As to the second question…"

"The Odai I Yamamoto site," I said. He nodded.

There were a total of 24 questions that needed answering — 25 if we included the essay. We decided to divide them equally into 6 questions each between the four of us while the essay would be a group effort.

"Right over here, everyone. Please follow me and watch your steps."

We followed the tour guide as she went deeper into the cave; paintings weaving along the walls like a great tapestry — a saga carved into the very rocks themselves.

Eventually we reached another big, round chamber. Tall railing surrounded the edges of the chamber and the cave walls behind the railings were an explosion of color; red and white and gold and black. Figures darted about; men and women and children, interspersed by various animals, trees, plants, and others. Landscape features are also crammed inside; rivers cutting through the land, mountains rising high into the ceilings, and the sea, ever-wide and encompassing.

"Whoa, Machi, look!" Yui pointed to something above us. She wasn't the only one, as other students too pointed at the ceiling.

I looked up and gaped.

The ceilings above were black. Not from shadows or the darkness — bright lights illuminated it completely — but from charcoal paint. Points and shapes scattered about the black void, in yellows and golds. Stars, I realized.

The tour guide's explanation then came. "Now this place right here hosts some of the most beautiful Cave paintings in the site, dating back to 17,000 BC. It is believed to be a celebration of some kind, though we don't know what."

"It is also possibly a depiction of the after-life." Doctor Oobleck suddenly said. "Observe how some of these figures looked down at the others from a higher place, that of a cloud-capped mountain… a supposed heaven you could say?" He pointed to another painting. "Observe also here. While many paintings before were that of a hunting scene or another, the figures here are featured in a dance involving both humans and animals; a sort of hunter-gatherer after-lives with prey aplenty and coming to them rather than a grueling life of constant hunt. And of course," He pointed upwards. "The ceilings above, painted with the heavenly stars themselves."

"Y-yes, that is also the case." The tour guide replied nervously.

"Ouch…" Yui said

"Poor tour guide." Hachiman shook his head.

"She never stood a chance, huh?" I said.

"She never did the moment Doctor Oobleck walked up to her. Unfortunately." Yukinoshita replied.

"That said…" I observed her once more, she was staring Doctor Oobleck was giving off another round of lecture in front of the students. Despite what had happened, she didn't seem angry at all, instead she was…smiling? "...she doesn't seem all that hung up about it though."

"Well she has less work given to her, so I guess she's happy about it." Hachiman said.

I nodded. That must be it.

"As for the twelfth and fourteenth questions…" Yukinoshita began listing off the answers from the explanations being given to us. I nodded and scribbled over the notes. We had also decided to take turns in writing down the answers. Yukinoshita had actually volunteered to do all the writings, but I was having none of it.

We continued on.

As we moved deeper and deeper into the cave, paintings still filled the walls, but they were somehow…lesser. Their sizes weren't as grand as the ones we encountered back at the entrance. They were smaller, their shapes simpler, their colors less vibrant. The lights too seemed dimmer here than at the surface — undergoing repairs, so the tour guide says.

We reached another chamber. Wherehas the others were round, this one had a rough, more oval shape to it. The stones were of a darker shade and a more jaggy cut. Wherehas the last chamber was filled with paintings from end to end, this chamber held only one, but it was one that dwarfed any other paintings before.

"Wait, is that…" Yui trailed off as her eyes widened.

Yukinoshita's breath hitched.

Hachiman's eyes were wide and open.

I myself felt my mouth hanging open.

We weren't the only ones. A murmur broke through the crowds. On the back some people stood on their toes, trying to get a better look. Others shoved and pushed forward, in order to get a clear view. More than a handful of students held their phones up, camera lights flashing around.

"And here we have the biggest cave painting on this site and one of its most important too — some would argue the most important painting." The tour guide spoke and for once the first time the students seemed to actually pay attention. "This painting is possibly the oldest known documentation of a Kaiju we have in Japan; that of a Gomora."

I caught Hayato and a few others nodding along, mostly those who were actually smart and diligent enough to pay attention.

"Possibly a Gomora." Doctor Oobleck said over his own speaker. "Remember this was thousands of years ago. There is simply no way of knowing if the kaiju depicted here is really a Gomora, an ancestor of one, or merely related — perhaps a cousin species or the likes." He sighed ruefully. "Kaiju evolution is sadly still an unexplored branch of knowledge of which there is little to go with. By the prominence of this figure, it's likely that the local populace might have revered Gomora as some sort of protective spirit - even god. Sadly these are all conjectures I'm afraid."

I winced and turned to the tour guide in worry. Instead—

"But they're not baseless conjectures." The tour guide suddenly said. She turned to Doctor Oobleck. "Two years ago in Greece; archeologists uncovered a similar cave painting of a Gomora in the island of Crete dating back to a few hundred years before the Minoan civilization. It bears some proto-Minoan inscriptions and nearby the painting was what was supposedly a sacrificial altar. It is believed that Gomora might have been worshiped as an Earth-quake god and might even triggered the Minoans' fascination with Bull symbolism. This Gomora might have been the same - worshiped as some sort of prey-bringing, earthquake spirit."

Did— did she even breathe at all?!

"But of course, we must not fall to correlation fallacy," Doctor Oobleck said in a rebuking, but respectful tone. "Just because it was how it went in Greece does not mean that the same can be said for here in Japan. Or else we might see every mythical monster as allegories or documentation of one kaiju or another."

"It's not just mere correlation," The tour guide said, surprisingly keeping up with him. "There is some evidence to back this up; earlier this year, the recent earthquakes uncovered a new tunnel network in the deeper parts of the cave. Within those tunnels were similar paintings along with some stone altars bearing fossils of animals — possibly sacrifices."

"Really?" Doctor Oobleck said. "I was not aware of that when I researched this place."

The tour guide nodded. "It's a new discovery, so we still have a lot to go through before we can open this to the public."

"I see… then might I trouble you with some pictures later on? Not that I don't believe, but it's easier to do so if I could see it for myself."

"Of course, Oobleck-sensei. Right after this tour."

"It's Doctor Oobleck, but thanks."

In contrast to the two walking archaeological encyclopedias in front of them, the student crowd were more silent. Our own group was deathly quiet.

"...Rather than laziness, I think it's because she found someone to connect to." I said, breaking the quiet.

"Wow. Someone is actually keeping up with Oobleck-sensei." Hachiman said, his tone betraying a sense of awe.

"I'm…impressed." Yukinoshita said.

"It's a bit scary though…" Yui said.

Suddenly a hand shot out from the crowd.

"Yes, Miura-san?"

"So…people actually worship kaijus?"

"Possibly." Doctor Oobleck said. "Bear in mind that the concept of 'worship' as we define it in modern times can be wildly different to how the original painters and occupants of the Akasaka site understood it. They most likely regard Gomora with reverence, fear, respect… maybe even love. Some form of bargaining rituals might've been involved; animal sacrifices to stave off earthquakes, or to ensure a good hunt." He shook his head. "Sadly, there are still so many things we don't know about early human-kaiju relations."

We continued deeper into the tunnels. Now the walls were almost devoid of paintings. What shapes or images there were seemed so roughly cut and uneven, it was hard to tell whether it was man-made or natural. The lights were slightly brighter here, but it only added to a feeling of unease — this deep underground with lights so bright, it seemed unnatural. Surreal. Like a dream.

Tobe shivered. "Maan, this is really creepy stuff… are there like graves here or something?"

The tour guide turned to face Tobe even as we walked. "Actually most of the human remains we found were placed outside the mouth of the caves, or in isolated chambers very deep below. Most likely to avoid disease and such."

"That seems smart for a bunch of primitives." Yumiko said.

"Primitiveness is just a matter of perspective, Miss Miura." Doctor Oobleck replied. "For all that we like to call these cave-dwellers savages, they are still humans just like us, they are not devoid of any ingenuity simply because they lived in a time different than ours."

We reached another chamber. While the previous ones seemed naturally carved from the stones, this chamber was definitely man-made. The walls and floors were smooth and evenly cut into an almost perfect rectangle. The size of the chamber itself was gargantuan, bigger than any of the previous chambers we visited. The ceilings above were domed to distribute weight. The entire chamber was also brightly lit by white-and-orange lamps hanging around.

Glass-pane displays and cabinets formed into neat rows and columns around the room. They show-cased various artifacts and fossils. Pieces of stone tools; arrow-heads, spear-blades, hand-hammer, and knife, most roughly cut from stone and crudely-shaped.

Human and animal bones too were on display; sometimes no more than fragmented teeths or fingers, other times almost complete skeletons; humans, deer, bison, wild cats, cows — or what looked like cows —, bulls, even a mammoth. The last one wasn't put inside a glass display, instead standing at the center of the room, its bones propped up with frames or else hung by wires from the ceilings.

"Woow, Yukinon look! An elephant! They even have an elephant here." Yui exclaimed excitedly, pointing at it.

Hachiman frowned. "I think that's a mammoth,"

Yukinoshita sighed. "Yuigahama, please be more serious. Japan didn't have elephants back then."

"Eh? Erm, I know that!"

I chuckled at their antics.

"Now we're in what many called the museum area now, please feel free to look around." The tour guide said.

As if a spell had been broken, the crowd of students immediately scattered about the room, looking at all the different displays, chatting and murmuring between themselves all the while. I caught Hayama and Yumiko's group walking over to the mammoth fossils, Tobe even already had his phone up for a picture.

Yui too fished out her own phone. Already she was eyeing the mammoth fossil. "Yukinon, let's take a photo together!"

Yukinoshita frowned. "Yuigahama-san, we still have to fill out a few more questions, remember?"

"Huh? O-oh w-well,"

I nodded. "Let's fill them up together, then."

There weren't that many questions left in the assignments.

Yui tapped her chin thoughtfully. "40,000 BC to 13.000, that would make it the….Palelith era?"

"Paleolithic era, Yuigahama-san, but quite enough I supposed."

"That's the last of it," I said. "We've filled out all of the questions, so that leaves us with only… the essay. Any ideas?"

"Not from me." Hachiman said.

"Ahaha… I also don't have any ideas."

Yukinoshita shook her head.

Yui giggled. "Really, Maachi. I thought you would have one."

"Why would you think that?"

"Well… you are always interested in history and this kind of thing, so..." Yui shrugged.

"Do I?" That was an interesting bit. ____ was fond of history. It was something that I had taken from him.

Something caught my attention. I turned to find Yukinoshita sighing and Hachiman muttering something beneath his breath too low for me to hear.

I raised an eyebrow at both of them. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing of import."

I narrowed my eyes, but they kept their mouths shut. Pulling for conversations from either of them when they aren't in the mood to talk can be as hard as pulling teeths.

I sighed. "...Well, how about this? We look around first, search for ideas and then we work on it when we reach the hotel."

"Good idea Maachi!" Yui clapped her hands, doubtless she liked the iea of not having to do more work.

"Is that fine? Isn't that a bit too close to the time?" Yukinoshita asked.

"The deadline's nine o'clock," Hachiman said. "So we still have a lot of time in the afternoon and we're scheduled to arrive at the hotel at four…" He shrugged. "Besides, we would only be wasting time here if we just keep mulling for ideas, instead of looking around."

Yukinoshita looked unconvinced, but it wasn't as if she had any other solution.

"Awesome, so let's go together right now!" Yui said.

Yukinoshita frowned. "Wouldn't it be more efficient if we go our separate ways?"

"Huh, but erm…"

"She's right though," Hachiman said. "We'll cover more ground faster if we split up. There are so many things to see here that we may not be able to see them all."

"Uh, yeah, but erm…"

I sighed. "How about this? We split up for now, but if we find anything interesting, we inform each other and then go and see it together?"

It was a compromise no one can be fully satisfied with, but no one can find any objection to.

"That sounds fine." Yukinoshita said after a moment.

"Good with me." Hachiman grunted.

"Ah yeah, erm," Yui looked around frantically, her eyes finding the mammoth fossils. "Yukinon, I think I saw something interesting this way!" Then before anyone could protest, she dragged Yukinoshita towards it. "Come on, Yukinon!"

"Eh, Yuigahama-san?" Yukinoshita was simply too dumbfounded to resist.

That left only me and Hachiman.

After a while Hachiman coughed to the side and pointed to a random direction. "Well…I'll go that way, then."

I opened my mouth. For a moment I wanted to protest. Then I shrugged. "...Sure."

—​

The display in front of me held an almost complete human skeleton, male according to the nearby info. His left hand was almost completely shattered, some bits of his ribs were missing and so too were some of his teeth. A stone spearhead was found buried near him — his weapon it seemed — and arrow-heads had been found lodged into his skull. The last one was likely the cause of death.

Hmm… If I wanted to, I could probably make a connection to Hobbes' view of human nature. However, using archeological evidence to back up a philosophical concept like that would leave a bad taste in my mouth and ____'s too probably. I think I should just make an offhand reference to it for trivias and word-padding.

I looked over at the other remains and fossils on display. Not all of the humans found in Akasaka died a violent death — some of the skeletons found gave indications that they died of old age or disease. However, for the most part, we simply don't know. The vast majority of human fossils consisted of barely half-assembled remains, sometimes only pieces of teeths or spines, that it was hard to tell.

Still I decide to take a picture of the skeleton and display info just in case. It might come in handy later.

"What are you doing?"

I looked to my side to find Hiratsuka-sensei looking at the display as well. She wore a heavy, dark brown coat lined with furs on the edges.

"Taking photographs." I said, gesturing at my phone. "I don't know what kind of ideas I could come up with so…might as well grab a couple just to be sure."

"Very meticulous."

"I prefer the word 'careful'."

Hiratsuka-sensei snorted. "'Careful' is for adults. When you're young, you want to try and experience everything yourself."

"Like you do?"

Her hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder in a grip that was perhaps…a little tighter than necessary.

"Now, what do you mean by that, Ma-sa-ki-kun? You know I'm still young, right? You believe me right?" Her voice was dangerously low.

"Y-yeah I do." I said and her grip loosened.

"Hmph. Good. So… any ideas you came to mind?"

"Well…not quite there yet, coming up with a topic is harder than I expected."

"I thought you like historical stuff like this."

"Please, sensei. I like history, not pre-history." I said. "Give me a written record. Give me archive files. Give me witness testimonies. Statistics. Pictures. Videos. Documentations."

"I see…" Hiratsuka-sensei nodded. "So to summarize, you're basically out of your depth?"

"Essentially," I shrugged helplessly.

For a while, Sensei said nothing. Instead she stared hard at the display, deep in thought. Through the glass pane I caught her reflection; her eyes boring down seeming to scrutinize everything even as she smiled playfully. Like a cat who'd been given a very interesting puzzle.

Suddenly her eyes looked back at me.

"When you find yourselves out of your depth," She said "There are two things you can do. First, search for something that is the same or similar to what you're doing. Second, ask the people who are more experienced than you."

"Something similar and people who are more experienced, huh….?"

"Mhmm."

Something similar.

I thought back to the cave paintings from before. Images floated in my head; people living in the cave and huts around the cave, hunters running through the plain and woods, a celebration or an afterlife of sorts, an encounter with a kaiju.

I opened my phone.

Just to be sure, I'd taken some photographs of many of the paintings, both from the chambers we visited before and the ones on the tunnels we used to get here. The images were there in high definition.

"I supposed I could…"

"Good. Work on it then…Masaki."

Hiratsuka-sensei nodded, then turned away, looking at the other displays or maybe she was looking at the student. As she did, though, I heard cluttering noises behind her and turned. It was the first time I noticed the huge bag she carried on her back.

"Erm, sensei?"

Hiratsuka-sensei turned back to me. "Yes?"

"What are you carrying inside your bag? It seems…heavy."

"Oh, this?" Sensei gestured at her bag. "Just some stuff in case of an emergency."

"Like?"

"Like a first aid kit." Sensei said. "Also a couple of survival blankets just in case. There's also an emergency lighter, a few packs of emergency MREs, sleeping bags, a flare gun with a total of seven shots..."

"Ermm… isn't that a bit much?"

"Better to be too prepared. Anything could happen, Masaki, anything. So it's better to err on the side of caution. You got that?"

"Yeah. I got that. But…" I smiled. "Didn't you say that caution is for adults?"

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say because the next thing I know, Hiratsuka-sensei was pulling at my cheek as hard as she could.

"What are you implying, huh? Being an adult and being young isn't mutually exclusive you know? Just because I'm an adult doesn't mean I don't have a youthful figure about me, okay?!"

"Ouch, ouch, sensei!" Instinctually I grabbed her wrist and pressed down with my own fingers. She let go immediately.

"You didn't have to pinch so hard…" I said, rubbing my still burning cheeks.

Hiratsuka-sensei snorted. "I've done worse than pinch your cheeks back on Mars."

Suddenly a knowing smile bloomed across her face.

"You did, huh?" I smiled back at her. "Yeah you did… I remember you punching me whenever I commented on your age...and whenever I needed to get some senses knocked into me."

Sensei blushed. "That was a long time ago. B-besides, I don't do that anymore, okay? Besides, didn't you get martial art lessons from me in exchange?"

"I supposed I did." I said, shrugging.

It was the day afterwards when Hiratsuka-sensei came to apologize for it. Instead I had asked how to throw a kick or a punch like her. One thing led ad she ended up teaching me martial arts for the duration of her stay in mars.

Besides, it might come in handy if I did become an Ultraman in the future.

"Hmm…" Sensei rubbed the part of her warts where my fingers had pressed. "Not bad. You still have a strong grip after all this time."

"You're the one who taught me, sensei."

I smiled.

Hiratsuka-sensei and I have known each other for 3 years now. She'd saved my life back in Rafael-II. When that light blast almost killed me. We'd gotten to know each other for a few months and kept in touch with one another when she had to return to earth. Communication between mars and earth was slow and complicated, but we almost always managed to get a message across through various means.

I owed her so much.

For saving me.

For guiding me through the hardest period in my life.

She was the beacon of light that pulled me out from the dark.

"...So thank you, sensei."

Sensei stared at me. Stunned.

Then she laughed. A small heart-felt laugh. "What's with the cheesy atmosphere, huh?"

Then she reached out and gently patted my head.

To my chagrin, the gesture only lasted for a few moments before she pulled it away.

"Anyway, I thought I saw you grouping together with the club earlier." She said.

"We did, but, erm, we kinda separate to look for ideas." My eyes darted about the room, looking for them. Hachiman was by himself looking over a stone relief no one lese bothered to even glance at. Yui was with Yumiko and Hayama. Surprisingly, Yukinoshita seemed to have broken away from Yui and was now looking over a few wild cat fossils.

"...I think I'll go and approach them." I said.

Sensei nodded.

I made to turn around, but before I could, she called to me. "Masaki,"

I turned. Sensei smiled.

"Sometimes, it's better to let things be." She said, "Sometimes you have to let things go. Everything has their appointed times. Holding onto them beyond it would only be needlessly cruel. Isn't that what you said to me back then?"

The din of the students around me walking and chatting together was loud, yet I could hear her words clearly.

I chuckled. "Throwing my words back at me like that, sensei… how unfair."

"It's an adult's privilege to be unfair."

I hummed.

"I don't know about that…" I said after a while. "Things break away when you simply leave them be."

"Sometimes," She replied. "Things have to make way for better things to come."

—​

The first one I came to was Hachiman. He was the closest one to me.

I could see why he chose this spot. This part of the museum was easily the least crowded. Most people jostled over at the fossils, trying to get a better look at the exotic and extinct animals.

The area here, however, was dedicated to various stone tools and artifacts; mostly spears, axes, knives and arrowheads, but there were also various stone tablets, relief, and cave paintings like the ones before, being put inside displays. Many of them were broken by a previous earthquake before being reassembled.

Hachiman seemed deep in thought as he stared hard at the display in front of him. So much so that he didn't notice when I approached him.

"What are you looking at?"

"Oh, erm, just this painting really,"

Hachiman gestured towards the display. Inside the glass casing held a roughly cut stone fragment. It showed shapes of people dancing around a campfire, a celebration perhaps or a feast.

"Look," Hachiman pointed to a lone figure who stood apart from the rest of the group. . "It seems that even loners existed back there."

I didn't answer immediately. Instead I bent to look over at the painting. Where the group were happily leaping and posing in exaggerated manners around the fire, the lone figure sat quietly apart from them. Away from the warmth of the campfire. Distant. Withdrawn. Alone.

It was a while before I said anything.

"You know that loneliness might be an evolutionary trait."

"Oh?" Hachiman's gaze turned to me, a slight interest in his eyes.

"Mhm." I said, nodding. "One researcher theorized that emotions and hormones that came from loneliness; the feeling of isolation, need for attention, or the likes developed as a way for humans to keep their group cohesion. Compared to other animals, humans are weak and frail so we stay in groups for our own safety. When most people are lonely, they feel sad, disconnected. It's their body telling them to connect to others."

"I think I've read something like that." Hachiman replied. "Other researchers say that when people are lonely they become hyper-aware; their sense of daggers increases, they become more-vigilant and active as a result. Loners are people who managed to make use of this evolutionary weakness and turn it to their advantage." He smiled triumphantly. "Therefore you could say that the feeling of loneliness is a superpower and loner are superhumans."

I snorted.

Then I chuckled.

That chuckle into laughter.

"Haha… sorry, but…" I said. "You're really twisted, huh, Hachiman."

"I prefer the term realist."

"No. Twisted fits you better," I said, wiping a tear from the corner of my eye. "But you're not a bad guy, no. You're twisted, but not a bad guy.."

He stared at me. Stunned.

For a few moments an awkward silence stretched between us.

It was not an uncommon thing between us, this silence. In the first place, we were both rather awkward teenagers, though I hid it better than Hachiman. We shared some interests in manga, anime, and books, but our tastes can be quite different. We don't have the same friend group outside of Zaimokuza, Totsuka, and the Service Club.

Oh and Hachiman confessed to my adoptive sister and blood-related cousin.

It was only natural then, that things would and did often get awkward between us. It was a relationship that is naturally unnatural.

Hachiman broke the silence first. I thought he'd make some excuses and leave — that was what we often did — but instead—

"You know…you don't have to do anything back then." He said. "It's not like I needed it and it's not like it's the worst thing Yukinoshita ever did. S-so, well, you don't need to stick up for me like that."

Ahh… so that's what this is about.

I see.

"I didn't do it for you. Hachiman." He opened his mouth, but I raised a hand before he could interrupt. "Like you said; I'm a selfish guy. I don't like others belittling people I like."

…

…

I smiled. "And I said it before, didn't I? I like you."

—​

Yukinoshita Yukino was taking pictures of the wild cats fossils when I came up to her. She seemed to be very occupied with her task, holding her phone in front of her, trying to get a good shot.

I waited for Yukinoshita to put it down before I approached her. "Hey,"

Very slightly, she turned her head to me. If she noticed me before, she gave no outward sign of it. "...Hey."

The look she gave me sent shivers down my spine. Immediately, I felt like straightening my postures and smoothening any wrinkles in my clothes. I tried to brush it off and appear casual.

"So…taking pictures?"

"What an astute observation." The way she glanced at me told me how well that worked. "I'm sure you would win a prize with that kind of deduction."

Suddenly the room felt just a few degrees colder. I had a hunch it wasn't because of the outside weather.

I took a deep breath.

With Yukinoshita, it was better to be as upfront as possible.

"Look…I won't apologize for what I said. Back there."

"I didn't expect you to."

I nodded. "Good, then we're in agreement then."

"...I suppose you could say we are."

Silence fell around us both again. The people around us made for a raucous throng, yet there we were; like a pair of rocks amidst a churning sea — or more accurately a rock and a glacier.

This wasn't like the awkward silence with Hachiman. There was a naturalness to it. It felt somewhat sacred. Hallow.

"You are being awfully strange today…"

Why does everyone keep saying that today?

"In what way?"

"You seem very on your guard." Yukinoshita said. "You're tense… taut…rigid…is something the matter?"

"I'm just in a bad mood is all." I said. "It's the weather, I think. It's doing funny things to me. Heh."

My poor attempt at a joke only seemed to earn me a concerned stare from Yukinoshita.

I sighed. "I'm fine, sensei. Really. It's just my mood."

"If you say so….Keigo-san."

I need to change the subject. I cleared up my throat. "Anyway, do you have any ideas yet for the essay?"

"Some…."

Her eyes flickered to the cat fossils in front of her.

I smirked. "Does it relate to cats?"

She shot back with a glare. "...So what if it does?"

"N-no problem. Absolutely no problem."

"Hmph."

I coughed to clear my throat. "Well if there's nothing else, I'm going to check on Yui."

I made to turn around but before I could—

"Keigo-san."

"Yes?"

Yukinoshita stared at me. She seemed to hesitate before she continued.

"That evening… the day before you made your request." She said, "Why did you—"

—​

Yui wasn't alone when I walked towards her. A little away from her was Hayato's own group. Most of them were fiddling around with their phones. Yui was no exception as she too scrolled through her screen. She seemed almost bored though since it didn't take long before she noticed me.

"Maachi!" She called, smiling and waving.

"Yui," I nodded.

Our exchange drew the attention of the others. Tobe looked up from his phone and smiled too when he saw me.

"Yo, Maachi bro, what's up?"

"Hey Tobe. How's the assignment?"

"Haha, easy-peasy." He replied. "Hayato here is really smart so we already done most of the questions, you see."

"Don't slack off now you idiot." Yumiko said, slapping him with her phone.

"Ouch, Yumiko-chan!"

"Don't think I'll let you off the hook." Yumiko growled. "You still have a couple more questions to answer as part of the group and you better not try to wriggle yourself out of them…"

"It's fine." Hayato said. "Tobe can help in the essay later,"

Yumiko sighed. "Hayato, you're too kind."

"Ano, I think I'll take the questions." Tobe said. "The essay is just too hard. Does Oobleck-sensei think we're college students or something?"

I turned back to Yui.

"So…any ideas yet?"

"Nothing really."

"I see…" I said, nodding along. I glanced back at Hayato's clique until my eyes met his.

I gestured slightly by tilting my head to Yui.

Hayato blinked.

Then, abruptly he cleared his throat. "Ah, erm, Yumiko, actually there's something I want to see over there."

"Hayato? Oh…erm, of course. Right. Tobe, Hina come on."

Tobe blinked. "Eh? What about Yui and Maachi?"

Yui tilted her head. "Hmm? What about us?"

Hayato sighed.

"Nothing, Yui." Yumiko said, before pulling Tobe roughly to the side.

"Eh? What is it you guys?"

Hayato shook his head. Hina sighed.

Yumiko facepalmed. "Tobe. Please learn to get a hint."

"Eh? What do you mean by that—"

Then they went away.

Leaving me alone with Yui.

Silence fell on us as we glanced at each other, nervously prodding for one another.

I rubbed the back of my head even as I felt sweat pouring over my palm. I had already talked to Hachiman and Yukinoshita before and dealing with them left me quite drained.

"So… what is it you want to talk about?" Yui asked.

"I'm sorry,"

It was better to be direct and to the point.

"Eh? What for?"

"For making you uncomfortable back there." I said "I shouldn't have snapped at Yukinoshita like that. It only made things weird and awkward."

Yui threw up her hands and waved them frantically. "Ah. It's fine! It's fine…really…"

"I just couldn't stand it." I continued looking away from her. "What she's doing to Hachiman back there. There's friendly banter and then there's just verbal abuse…still it doesn't change the fact that I messed up and made it worse."

"I… get where you're coming from." Yui said. "Yukinon can be…really unfair to Hikki sometimes, and I think it's kind of cool what you did, defending Hikki like that." Her voice fell to a hush. "I wish I could be like that…"

"Yui…"

"Maybe if I was a bit more assertive, a bit more brave, Yukinon would stop doing things like that. Maybe if I did, me and Hikki would have…"

She trailed off.

It might not have been clear at first glance with how they interacted, but Yui has a crush on Hachiman. Maybe it started when Hachiman saved Yui's dog more than a year ago or maybe it started when Yui began interacting more with him in the Service Club or maybe somewhere in the times between those.

Regardless of the details, the bottomline remained the same; Yui has a crush on Hachiman. She liked him — maybe she even loved him. I don't know. Where does one even begin to draw the line between simple infatuation and love?

"So…you haven't confessed to him, yet?"

Yui's cheeks suddenly exploded into a blush. "Wh- what are you saying, Maachi? Of course I haven't!"

I closed my ears instinctively at the sudden shout. "Yui!"

"Sorry, it's just-" She sighed. "I get nervous each time it comes to my mind."

I smiled, shaking my head. "That's alright. Only… it's been quite a while… so I thought you might have already made a move…"

"I haven't," Yui insisted. "It's just… I think the moment isn't right? Like the timing or the mood, you know?"

She looked at me then, sighing and smiling bitterly. A thousand emotions playing across her face. Forlorn. Despair. Hopeful. Fearful.

I drew a shuddering breath. Suddenly I felt the need to hug her. To comfort her.

Yui had it bad for Hachiman. Whether it was a crush or something else that much was clear.

"Ah, maybe I am just being a coward." Yui said dejectedly.

"No."

Yui blinked in surprise.

"I…I think you're right." I said. "Hachiman doesn't seem like he would take it well currently. Because of the accident and…other stuff and— and— Ugh, this is so hard to explain."

"No." Yui said, nodding. "I think I get what you're saying."

In the end, the current atmosphere between them is simply not right. It has only been less than a month since they were properly introduced to one another and Yui came clean with the car accident. And it has only been about three weeks since they started regularly interacting with one another via the Service Club.

If Yui were to confess her feelings right now, Hachiman would probably reject her and he would probably be right to do so. Both of them still had not sorted themselves up. Hachiman has baggage. A lot of baggage. Kaori aside, he has very low self-esteem (even if he is prideful) and that was something he shared with Yui. Yui herself had not truly established herself, she started being more open and confident, but not enough to bravely assert herself when it was needed.

Whatever relationship bloomed if Hachiman did accept Yui's confession would be rife with misunderstandings, awkwardness, inexperience, and end in heartbreak. Yui may not have known it, but she certainly felt that way. She might be shallow, even dumb, but she's not stupid or an idiot, especially in matters like this.

God forgive me. This was a mess.

"Well…mulling over what could have and we can't control isn't going to help us," I said. "There's nothing you can do about it now. The only thing you can do is… give it your best and see where it got you."

My words offered no comfort, no reprieve. Just a vague prodding to keep going at it without even the promise that things would go well.

"Give it my best, huh…? Alright."

"Maachi…" I turned. Yui looked around, as if making sure we were completely alone. Then she whispered. "Do you… do you think Yukinon likes Hikki?"

…

…

"What…" I gulped. "What makes you say that?"

"I mean it looked kinda obvious…" Yui said. "They like to say that they hate each other and they love to argue all the time, but they, erm…think the same and stuff and they look like they fit in really, really well with one another. They're so smart. Yukinon is the top of her class and Hikki is really smart too and they know lots of stuffs and things and I'm… I'm like…."

She trailed off.

It wasn't an unfounded fear of hers. Quite the opposite, it was perfectly reasonable to think so.

"I don't think she likes him like that," I said. "Not currently, anyway. She only has a passing interest in him right now…and besides, with the way things are…I don't think it's happening any time soon."

"Oh..."

The fact that whatever it was Hachhiman and Yukinoshita have going could grow into something more went unsaid.

Yui nodded slowly. Whether she caught that unsaid bit or not, I couldn't tell…and that was worrying.

And just before I thought I'd wrapped everything up, Yui dropped another bomb at me.

"Hey Maachi." Yui suddenly said.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Did you know them?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"Yukinon and Hikki." Yui said. "Were you, like, friends with them before high school or something?"

—​

"Attention everyone, we'll be moving to the next chambers, if you please follow the teachers and site's staff right over here."

At the call of the tour guide, the students began crowding towards the exit; an opening to another part of the cavern that seemed dimly lit. While most followed the tour guide, many still lagged behind, including our group.

"Yukinon, Maachi, Hikki, let's take a photo first!" Yui said as we Hachiman and Yukinoshita walked up to join us.

Yukinoshita raised an eyebrow. "Is that alright Yuigahama-san? Won't we be late if we do it?"

"It's fine, Yukinon. It's just one picture. Pleaaseee?"

I smiled. "Come on, sensei. It's alright."

"Just one picture." Yukinoshita said, sighing.

"Might as well get this out of the way." Hachiman said.

"Yay!"

"Where should we take the picture though?" Yukinoshita asked.

We all looked around. There were mammoth fossils and human remains that looked good for background, but they seemed too far away. Meanwhile the tour guide started leading everyone outside.

"How about that diorama over there?" Hachiman said, pointing to a cluster of statues depicting various pre-historic people gathering around a campfire. "It's near the exit so we don't have to worry about getting too far behind."

"That sounds great, Hikki! Come on, Yukinon!"

"Yuigahama-san, not so close please. Eh—"

Immediately, Yuigahama made to drag Yukinoshita towards it with Hachiman and I following close behind.

There was little time to make any cool or complicated postures. Most of the students had already followed the tour guide out and we didn't want to be left behind. As a result, we end up with messy, jumbled postures that blocked most of the diorama anyway.

Hachiman tried to move to the edge, but I would have none of it. I grabbed him and pushed him in front of me, beside Yukinoshita and Yui.

"You're not getting out of this one." I said. "Come on, this is your idea after all."

Hachiman grunted, but there was not much he could do.

"Say cheese!"

"""Cheese."""

The camera flashed.

Yui was fiddling with the phone, looking at the picture.

"Come on," Yukinoshita said after we were finished. "We're going to be left behind at this rate."

"Hai…hai…Yukinon…"

We followed along at the very back of the crowd.

This was certainly the deepest part of the cave yet. The cavern was wide and spacious, almost as big as the entrance from before. The walls were uneven in contours of dark-gray, deep blues, pitch black and everything in between. The floors riddled with fissures, cracks, and the occasional rocks jutting out like fangs. The light here seemed only recently installed. Dimly, they glowed from the high ceilings like far off stars; weak and feeble.

Sometimes it felt like we were climbing at a low angle. Most of the time it felt the opposite, like we were slowly descending down from a hill. Deeper and deeper we went. Gone now were the cave paintings from before, replaced by jagged and rocky surfaces. If not for the tour guides' assurances, I wouldn't have thought that anyone had actually lived here even in prehistoric times.

Occasionally, we would pass by certain intersections; the cavern splitting into two or three or even four ways. It was easy enough since we were following a crowd and even if we weren't there were signs posted about, always pointing to the right direction.

But as we passed by a cross intersection—

"Masaki."

The whisper came like a passing breeze. Soft. Weak. Feeble.

But to me it might as well be a clap of thunder.

Most of the crowd had already gone inside the central pathway, guided by the tour guide, but I instead turned to the pathway to my right where the voice had undeniably come from.

The pathway was narrower and darker; no lights hung above it. By the sign of it, it seemed to be, as of yet, an unexplored part of the cave.

"Keigo-san?"

Yukinoshita's voice brought me back to the present. I turned to find her raising an eyebrow at me.

"Hey, what's wrong Maachi?" Yui with a worried look on her face walked up to me.

"It's… did you hear that?"

Yui tilted her head. "Hear what?"

"Oi! We're going to be left behind at this rate," Hachiman said.

"Masaki."

Almost immediately I turned around—

And there she was…

Hair as white as falling snow.

Skin as pale as milk.

She wore a silvery cloak as she did in my memories, unblemished as if all of it was made from a single piece. Her hood was drawn, but it did not hide her face nor did it hide her eyes.

Her dark gray eyes stared at me, shining like steel.

Yuzare. The name came like an echo from a dream.

She stood there, at the end of the dark pathway. Her entire figure seemed to glow brilliantly, defying the darkness of the cavern around her. Like the light on an exploding star.

And then, just like said star, she disappeared in an instant.

I did not wait for any signal.

Before I could stop myself, before anyone could stop me, I ran towards the dark pathway.

"Maachi!"

"Keigo-san!"

"Oi, what the hell—!"

Voices called behind me, yet those might as well be passing wind as I sprinted through the pathway.

My breath ran ragged. The floors were dangerous; riddled with holes and jagged stones. But I didn't care.

I continued on.

I must find her. I must—

I stopped in my tracks.

In front of me was a dead end. Black, jagged stone walls reaching high into the ceilings. I pounded at it. Once. Twice. No echo. There was nothing beyond it.

Impossible.

I saw her. I did saw her—

"Oi, Masaki. What's gone into you?"

I turned. Hachiman panted as he ran up to me, followed closely behind by Yui and Yukinoshita. All of them with sweat glistening on their forehead.

"What…what was…" Yui sucked a deep breath.

"What happened, Keigo-san?" Yukinoshita railed at me and I flinched back at her glare.

I gulped and took a deep breath. I didn't realize it before but I was close to panting myself. My forehead and palm were sweating heavily.

"Why did you run like that?" Yukinoshita demanded. Yui and hachiman too were also staring at me and I looked away in embarrassment.

"That— I…I thought I saw someone back there." I answered.

"Eh? Really? But I didn't see anyone." Yui said, looking around.

"There was no one there, Keigo-san." Yukinoshita said. "Hikigaya?"

Hachiman shook his head. "I didn't see anything. Heck, the sign even said that this way was a dead end. What did they even look like?"

I hesitated for a few moments. "It was…a woman, and— and she was white and… glowing?"

"A- a ghost?!" Yui yelped and immediately embraced Yukinoshita.

"D-don't be stupid, Yuigahama-san. There's no such thing as ghosts."

"Then why are you shaking like that?" Hachiman pointed out.

"I-I'm not scared. I merely felt a bit cold, Hikigaya-kun."

"Yukinon, now you're scaring me."

I opened my mouth to say something before they started arguing again with one another—

I raised a hand, immediately, silencing the entire group.

"Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what, Maachi—"

Suddenly, Yui was cut off by a thunderous crash.

It came from the walls and the floors and the ceilings. Above, below, and around us. The sound of stones crushing against stones and rocks scratching against rocks filled the narrow cavern.

"What was—"

Before we could register what had happened. The earth shook.

The walls reverberated. Flakes and stones leaping out from them. The rocks in our feet were suddenly jumping around.

"An earthquake—"

"Eh? What the—"

"This is—"

"Watch out!"

And then the world crumbled around us.

—​

Author's Note: Hahaha, finally I managed to get through this chapter. Sorry for the long wait. In the end what caused it to be so long was the inter-Service Club dynamics. That and also having to come up with an entire background setting for the episode. This particular part took months before I decided on the Akasaka Cave site. Don't bother looking it up, the entire site is made up and fictional and whatever similarity there is is completely accidental.

 

[k4rn0]

Interlude: Hope-killer

No one noticed her as she ascended to the top of the mountains.

Not that there was anyone to notice her. Her path up to these snow-capped peaks had been mostly devoid of people. The cold weather had driven away the usual climbers and visitors. The skeleton crew of forest rangers and tour guides were easy to avoid. For extra measure, she had also taken a path seldom tread, a gnarled track that was as treacherous as it was hidden.

It brought her to sheer cliffs and precipitous climb and silent woods that rarely felt the touch of man. She passed through a forest of gnarled trees; elm and pine and cedars and a dozen other kinds. Some she knew, most she did not. Would those trees bloom with flowers in warm weather? Do they have sweet and fragrant fruits? There was a time when she would care about such questions and times when she think she might one day again do so.

She could have flown here, or teleported. That would have saved her time and effort, but it would be too dangerous. There was no telling who or what might be watching her, sensing for traces of her power. Besides, she rather liked the long walk. It gave her an opportunity to observe and see the world.

The world has changed so much since 30 Million Years ago, some parts so wildly that they were barely recognizable. Continents broke apart and came together. Rivers switched courses and cut through new lands. There are forests and plains now where once were vast oceans. Deserts where once were jungles. Mountains where once were abyssal depths.

Perhaps one day, when the earth was cleansed, she would walk across these lands and cataloged the changes that had occurred. It won't be long, if she has any say in it.

Finally after a long, hard, climb, she reached the top of the mountain.

Below her was a maze of wilderness. Forests and woods heaped in snow and dark gray ground from which barely anything green grew. Mountains rose to reach the skies. A heavy mist seemed to coagulate around them all, veiling it in milk-pale white.

The heaven above her were hues of rock and granite gray. Lightning flashed one after another, litting the woods for split-seconds, followed by a cascade of thunder. A wind blew, harsh and cold and strong. A storm was brewing.

It was as if everything; the land, the sky, the woods, was holding its breath.

She stared at the mountain in front of her. A quick research told her that it was a semi-popular school trip destination, somewhat new and obscure. Something about prehistoric cave dwellers and paintings.

She raised a single hand and reached out with her power, grasping, feeling for certain wavelength and energy pulses. Something resisted her Dark Energy.

Immediately, she found it, coming directly from the mountain. She changed her Vision. A thin dome of golden light wrapped itself around the mountain. More a ward than any proper Shielding. No human or animal eyes could have seen it. It was something that could only be seen by those with the Blood of the Giants who were trained enough.

"Guardians," She said. "You no longer have the strength to oppose me now."

She reached again with her powers. Strands of black nothingness entered her vision and immediately assaulted the Dome, focusing on a single point. It bent and stretched to its breaking point.

She sneered, An illusion and a weak shield to guard against humans and kaijus.

As she pushed on ahead, she could feel the energy pulse of it. It was of a familiar taste.

"Yuzare." She said the name with a curse and more than a hint of acid, "Is this all you have left? Some illusions and minor wards to keep humans and monsters at bay? Pitiful!"

She reached out with both her hands. The strands of nothingness grew into a storm of swords, piercing through the pathetic shielding, tearing it apart at the seams.

"Look how far you've fallen." She said, "Once you sat on the High Seat of the Defenders and wore the Robe of Silvermoon on your person. Once you held the allegiance of all Seven Generals of the Army of Light and carried the Key of the Gate of Dawn. Once you could have summoned the Pyramid Seal and stood your ground against the Great Old Ones and their High Priest, but no more! I am the greater now and I will not rest until I destroy everything you loved and everything you held dear!"

With a final roar, she broke through the shielding. The golden dome shimmered and flickered and then it was gone.

"Good, now with that out of the way…"

She closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on a single strand.

She waited.

Then—

Suddenly, the earth shook below her. She opened her eyes. The mountains around her quivered as if in fear, rocks and debris splitting apart from them and falling from great highs. Strong-rooted oaks and tall pines and other trees beneath swung thru and fro. The forest looked like a field of grass being swept up by a storm.

"Go forth, Earth-shaker, go forth and destroy. As your kind once did 30 million years ago under the commands of Dark Powers and foolish men. Go!"

Something answered. From deep below. The earth rumbled and groaned. And she laughed.

No one saw her that day, at the top of the mountain, though many knew her name.

Camearra she was called, though she bore numerous other epithets.

Carmilla. Mṛtyu-māra. Lilith. Tiamat. Ékhidna.

Hope-killer. The Dark Giantess. Mother of Monsters.

She laughed at that last one. You could say that some of the Twisted Ones are her children, but it was painfully fitting….

"After all this time…to think that I would be reborn as a loving wife and mother… Life is so full of such wonderful coincidences."

 

[k4rn0]

Episode 1 Part 4: …In the Shadows of Ancient Tragedy…

"It was the Age of Exploration all over again.

For all the harm and destruction that the kaijus caused humanity, there is a sense of wonder and excitement around them. How could there not be? They were giant creatures whose mere existence upended human scientific laws and social order and seemed to come out from the shadows of ancient myths, legends and fables. They presented a series of mysteries to us who dared to think and ponder.

It was a whole new world, filled with discoveries waiting to be made.

Early Kaijuology literature is often derided as chaotic and messy, yet there was no denying the passion, fervor, and wonder brimming inside their writers. The desire and hunger to know more and more about these fascinating creatures continued to grow. Not even the Year of Darkness managed to dampen this spirit — though it did admittedly take a slightly darker turn — and when the Year of Darkness ended and a new dawn began, Kaijuology continued to develop as a field.

Scientists were not the only ones partaking in the festivities and wonders of the kaiju world. The discovery of kaiju fossils dating back to the early years of homo sapiens, alongside sites that showed ancient human-kaiju encounters, brought to the fold various paleontologists, archeologists, anthropologists, and historians. An interdisciplinary approach quickly developed between all four fields as they try to discover the past relationships of humans and kaiju.

Slowly, we are piercing through the veil of mystery that is kaiju existence, bringing a little light to the dark, still unexplored world."

— Ikeyama Hori, Kaijuology Chapter II: A Short History of Kaiju Studies.

—​

Light died, drowning us in darkness.

The earth shook beneath us, tossing us about like leaves in a storm.

There was no safe way to stand, no matter how hard we tried. One moment we were almost falling to the ground and in the next we were crashing against the walls. Every step we took almost caused us to stumble. Every time we tried to stand, the earthquake threw our foot back. Every time we tried to lean against the walls, we were beaten against them. Ofen we were also hitting one another with legs or feet or arms or other limbs.

Our hands were almost always full. If we were not scrambling over each other, we were shielding our heads from the falling rocks and debris. Or trying to stop ourselves from being beaten against the walls. Or catching ourselves from falling to the floor.

We were hemmed in. Trapped. Confined.

We screamed and cried, our voices reverberating across the walls and ceilings.

At one point, we began clutching one another as if each of us was a lifeboat in a stormy sea. Someone yelped as they crashed against my chest before being torn away by another quake. Another person cursed as my elbow hit them in the face. My hand brushed against Yui's, feeling her hugging someone. Perhaps it was Hachiman or perhaps it was Yukinoshita. Someone sobbed. A taste of salt assaulted my tongue. Perhaps it was me or Yui or Yukinoshita or Hachiman. Perhaps it was all of us.

We were all going to die.

And then, just as suddenly as it came, the earthquake ended, leaving us all alone in the darkness.

An infinite blackness was all I could see, stretching on and on and on.

I found myself lying on the ground. My hands scraped against the rough stone floors. I didn't know about the others.

Did we die?

It felt like forever before I drew a deep long breath. My heart pounded against my chest, sounding as if it would burst out at any moment. In the darkness of the cave, it was the loudest sound I could hear.

"Is…is it over yet?" Hachiman, from somewhere behind me, asked.

"I… I think so." My throat felt dry. Parched. Like I hadn't drank in days.

Light flashed, breaking through the darkness. I hissed as it blinded and turned away.

"Maachi!" A voice called — Yui.

I looked up to find holding her hand out in front of me while the other held her phone in a flashlight mode.

Gingerly, I took her hand. My legs strained as I slowly stood up, groaning underneath my weight, but I pushed past the pain.

"Yui." I breathed the name more than said it. "What…what happened?"

"An earthquake," Another flash of light broke through the darkness. Yukinoshita's hand grasped another phone. I could barely see the outline of her face. "That…that was an earthquake."

An earthquake.

It all came back to me in a moment. The darkness engulfing us. The ground shaking beneath our feet. Our bodies beaten against the walls…

"Hikki! Are you alright?!"

Yui turned, her flashlight following her gaze, allowing all of us to look—

Before I realized it I placed a hand over my mouth in horror.

Hachiman's face was battered and bruised. His lip was cracked on one side. Parts of his forehead and cheeks were blue and welted. Dirt and dust covered his hair and skin. Minor small scrapes and scratches made pink trenches around the side of his head.

Hachiman hissed as the light swung to him, bringing his hand up to block it. "Turn that aside, will you—"

"Hikki!"

"Hachiman!"

Without waiting for a signal, Yui and I ran up to him, almost scrambling among ourselves.

"Are you alright?!"

"Your face is hurt. Let me see—"

"I'm fine—!" Hachiman said, voice straining. "I'm fine…"

"Yuigahama-san, Keigo-san. Let me." Yukinoshita brushed past us before grabbing Hachiman on the face.

"Hey!"

"Quiet." Yukinoshita commanded. "Yuigahama-san, please aim the light a bit higher towards the ceiling, enough to make it see but not hit any of us in the face…yes, just like that, thank you."

Beneath the light beam over their head, Yukinoshita examined Hachiman's face, turning it this way and that. Hachiman himself bore it with a stiff expression, but the way he winced and bit his lips every once in a while betrayed the pain he's in.

"No serious injuries by the looks of it." Yukinoshita said. "There's no way to tell for certain though. We need to get back to Hiratsuka-sensei as soon as possible. Over here—" She turned around the way we came and stopped.

Her phone light found only a dead end. Rubbles and debris completely blocking our way.

"Wait, but—"

She turned around. This time, Yui too flashed her phone.

Someone gasped. My heart froze. My stomach churned. It couldn't be, right?

Behind us was another dead end wall. One we'd encountered before the earthquake.

Frantically we looked between each of the dead ends. Disbelief. Shock. It couldn't be.

Yui pointed towards one of the dead ends. "Th— that's the way we came from right?"

"No…it can't possibly be that…" Yukinoshita trailed off.

Yet it was. Unlike the dead end wall from before, this one was made out of rubble, debris, and tumbling rocks, instead of a thick stone wall. It looked freshly erected. It looked new.

Realization dawned on all four of us. When it came, it came like ice cold water.

I could never recall who ran first. All that I remember was that, almost instantly, we rushed towards the now blocked entrance, scrambling over one another. Blind panic overtaking us.

"Is anyone out there?!" Despite my sore throat, I cried out. "Anyone?! Can anyone hear us?!"

"Hey!" Hachiman, usually so quiet and reserved, screamed at the top of his lungs. "Oi! We're here! We're here!"

"Anyone!" Yui cried, voice hoarse, near sobbing. "Yumiko! Hayato! Tobe! Anyone!"

"We're inside!" Yukinoshita shouted as hard as she could. "Hiratsuka-sensei! Branwen-sensei! Oobleck-sensei! We're inside!"

What followed was raucous as we screamed and cried and shouted and begged and cursed at the blocked entrance. It couldn't have been more than a few minutes. It felt, instead, as if we were doing it for hours. By the time we stopped, our throats were as dry as sandpaper, our voices as coarse, and our tongues as bitter.

I turned to Yui. "Have you tried calling?"

Yui's hand shook as she scrolled through her phone. "No signal… I can't get through to anyone…"

Hachiman showed his phone, battered and showing no signal.

Yukinoshita shook her head.

I fished out my own phone, scratched at places, but functional. "I— I also can't reach anyone at all…."

No, no, no, no, no. Please no.

Please, God. No.

"It seems…" Yukinoshita gulped. "That we really are trapped in."

—​

It was as if the darkness would last for all eternity.

There were walls around us, low-hanging ceilings above our heads, and floor beneath our feet, but ink-black was all we could see. No matter where we turned our gazes, the darkness was all there is.

Inside that infinite void, that black abyss, all four of us sat together, huddling close to one another. Waiting.

After a few more minutes of frantic shouting, failed phone calls, and discussion, we decided to wait for someone to come and rescue us.

And so we waited for a minute.

Then two.

Then three.

Then….

At first, we turned on our phones. We couldn't bear the darkness. As time went on though, it became clear that we probably had to wait for a while longer. Yukinoshita suggested that we turn off our phones to save batteries. It was a sound suggestion and neither me nor Yui nor Hachiman could refute it, even though we desperately hoped we could.

We almost instantly regretted turning them off as the darkness swallowed us in its gaping maw.

Occasionally, from time to time, one of us would turn on our phones to check the time, their faces glowing in the light like bodiless Jak o the Lantern. Other times we would cry out at the blocked entrance, in the vain hope or suspicion that someone out there was looking for us.

Blind from the dark, my other senses heightened. I could hear everyone's breathings and felt how weak it was.

Our ragged breathing from before slowed to a faint rhythm, almost as if we were asleep.

The air felt tight and cramped. Like a grave. Almost all of us knew it — at least me, Yukinoshita, and Hachiman — but we only had a limited supply of oxygen. If we stayed for too long, we would suffocate and die and this caver would be our grave for real.

Yet even without the threat of suffocating, it was as if we had actually died for real.

Cramped inside the darkness, dozens — maybe even hundreds — of feet underground. Nothing to see except the darkness. Nothing to hear except our almost non-existent breath. It really does feel like we'd been dead and buried.

More than once, I wondered if we really did die.

Someone clasped the back of my hand. Warmth filled me. I didn't need to see to know that it was Yui's.

It was something she'd been doing a few minutes into the darkness. Her hands would brush up with mine or Hachiman's or Yukinoshita's, either giving comfort or seeking it. The first time it happened to me, I almost drew away, Yukinoshita and Hachiman did. The second and third time, we were less hesitant. And the fourth time she did it, we found ourselves taking comfort from it.

Because only these occasional touches and brushing of hands reminded us that we were still alive.

"No one is coming." Yukinoshita said. I couldn't see her, but I could hear rocks and gravel crunching as she stood up.

Yui took out her phone then, turning on the light and aiming at a nearby wall. Yukinoshita was pacing back and forth around the blocked entrance.

"Why is no one coming? It's not as if we were left far behind from the crowd. They should have noticed we were gone…"

She continued on in a low voice.

Beside me Hachiman and Yui traded worried glances with each other.

"Maybe…" Everyone's attention was on me the moment I spoke. I gulped. "M-maybe the way is blocked for them so they couldn't reach us." It was a possibility we had all considered but had not spoken out loud. "Or maybe they've all evacuated from the earthquake…and we simply got left behind."

"And because of who are we left behind?"

Yukinoshita's voice pricked my like cold daggers. I shivered. Instinctually I backed away to the wall behind me, trying to make myself look smaller.

"Here we are trapped inside with no way out and possibly no one to come to us…just wonderful," Yukinoshita glared at me and in the dim light, her eyes glowed like ice. "Why do you have to go and run off like that, Keigo-san?"

"I…I…"

I looked away, half-trying to find support from Yui or Hachiman, half simply not wanting to look at Yukinoshita.

The only thing I found was more proof of my guilt.

Hachiman's and Yui's faces were dimly lit, but I could see clearly the wounds they'd suffered during the earthquake. Hachiman's face was battered with bruises and lined with scratches from chin to forehead.

Yui was only slightly better, a blue mark on the side of her temple and some scrapes on her hands from where she'd fallen.

Yukinoshita too bore some wounds. It wasn't noticeable at first but the way she held her left arm and the awkward way she walked when she paced back and forth told me enough.

Yukinoshuta didn't need to say it. It was obvious.

If I hadn't run away like I did…

If I had told them to stay behind…

If I hadn't chased that ghost…

They wouldn't have gotten hurt like this.

I hate that I'd made those mistakes in the first place.

"I… I'm sorry."

And I hate how that was the only thing I could offer.

…

…

Yukinoshita sighed. "...Forget it. Lying blames won't help us now. We need to do something."

Yui, ever eager to put away the awkward atmosphere, spoke up first.

"We can try crying out again."

"We've already tried that before, Yuigahama-san…"

"Maybe they'll hear us this time."

Yui doesn't sound so sure.

"Well we can—"

Suddenly Hachiman perked up. "Wait. Did you guys feel that?"

Yukinoshita regarded him coldly. "Feel what, Hikigaya-kun?"

Hachiman didn't answer not immediately. Instead, he slowly stood up from where he sat. He took off his gloves and raised his hand above his head, almost touching the ceilings.

"What is it Hikki?"

"Hachiman…?"

Yui and I stood up too. Hachiman was silent, holding his hand up. For a few long seconds he stood there.

Then Hachiman turned to us. "Wind."

His voice was hoarse, barely a whisper, but we heard it loud and clear.

Immediately though the rest of us also took off our gloves and raised our hands up like Hachiman did. At first, my hand felt nothing. Two seconds passed. Five. On the tenth—

Something brushed my skin, so soft it almost went unnoticed, but it was there, nonetheless.

"I felt it!" I said.

"Me too!" Yui cried.

"I also," Yukinoshita said, her eyes widened. "If there are winds, then air is coming in, somehow and if air is coming in…"

"...There's an opening somewhere." Hachiman finished. He swung his head around. "There! It's coming from that way!"

He pointed towards the other dead end. The one that seemed as if it was just another part of the cave wall.

Now that I have a better view of it. It seemed very strange. The dead end was a wall made out of stone with a rough surface. But the way it was placed was very abrupt. Sudden. Not something that would appear naturally. I looked at it much more closely, looking for any holes or opening.

There was a shadowy outline around the edges where the dead end met the walls around it.

No. Not shadows. I realized. Gaps.

I placed an unprotected hand near it. A gasp of wind blew across my skin. Feeble, but it blew nonetheless.

"Here!" I said. "These are gaps on the wall!"

Hachiman ran a hand along the edges. His finger slid almost neatly into it. "He's right. The wind's coming from behind this wall."

I pounded at the stone.

Immediately, a soft echo rang across the cavern.

That was weird. I was sure I hadn't heard it the first time I tried before the earthquake. Perhaps I simply hadn't caught it at that time?

"An echo." I looked at rest.

"Step aside," Yukinoshita said.

I moved to obey her.

Yukinoshita placed her left hand over her left side of the wall and began to push. A scraping sound was heard and then, almost imperceptibly, I saw the wall slide.

Soft wind blew into the cavern, fresh air lightening the tight atmosphere from before.

"I— it opened!" Yui cried.

I immediately moved beside Yukinoshita. "Let us help."

Yukinoshita opened her mouth as if in protest. It died when Yui and then Hachiman proceeded to stand beside us. Yukinoshita closed her mouth right, then, slowly, she nodded.

"On my mark."

All of us braced ourselves.

"One, two, three, Push!"

The stone slid slightly sideways left to right. The gap widened, but only by a finger's width.

"Push!"

Again we pushed, pressing all our weight into it.

"Push!"

"Watch out!"

Suddenly the wall gave way, sliding snugly around when we pushed it as hard as it could, letting us inside and almost causing us to stumble.

A cold breeze brushed against my skin as I caught myself. When I managed to right out my stance, I stood, gaping.

"Woah…" Hachiman said.

" It's so… big." Yui said.

Big is an understatement, the cavern before us looked downright cyclopean. Wide enough for forty people to walk abreast and nearly as tall. It was at least as big as the entrance to the Akasaka cave site. Maybe even bigger.

Unlike the entrance which was lit by bright orange light, this cavern was completely devoid of any light whatsoever. All four of us turned on our phone lights and still we couldn't see the end of it. The blackness simply stretched on and on and on. As if consuming the light around it. A gaping maw into the Underworld.

We stepped inside, looking around. The ground was rough and uneven, filled with various rocks; some no more than a pebble, others stood erect like jagged fangs. Stalagmites lined the sides accompanied by tall natural stone columns that seemed to leapt out from the shadow. The ceilings above us looked much the same with spiked rocks, tall-hanging stalactites, and the likes. If an earthquake were to happen and those rocks fell on us…

Suddenly a wind breeze inside the cavern. Cold and freezing. Its howls echoed through the cave walls like the breathing of a dragon or a giant.

"Th-that's where the winds come from." Hachiman said.

Yukinoshita nodded. "If we follow this path, we might find an exit."

"I-is it alright to just go inside like this? What if Hiratsuka-sensei and the others came for us?" Yui asked.

She was right. We didn't know if any rescue was coming our way. If they managed to clear the debris and they didn't find us here, they might look elsewhere which might waste time. Time that we may not have. We didn't know if more earthquakes would happen after all…

A message. Something to tell them that we're here and that any rescuers are on the right path…

"I have an idea." I said.

I turned around, took off my red-and-green checkered scarf and placed it near the sliding wall which we used to enter this cavern.

I stood up and turned back to the group.

"This way, they'd know we were here and where we're going at least."

Yukinoshita stared at me. Cold. Hard. Expressionless.

Then, slowly, she turned away.

"Let us be off then."

—​

I almost regretted removing my scarf like that a few minutes into our walk.

The cold wind continued to blow towards us, howling as it passed through the rocks, the columns, the stalactites and the stalagmites. I shivered as it did, my neck taking the brunt of the cold. I should've taken off a glove instead, at least if it comes to the cold, I could have put my hands inside my pocket.

We had to walk carefully. The floor's surface is too uneven with many jagged rocks, holes, and the likes. Only two of us had our phones out and about, flashlight turned on. It did little to help with the darkness. Each time we aimed our lights, shadows darted out from the shapes. They seemed alive. Writhing. Stalking. Waiting. And when the light passed them by, the darkness would return.

This was practically the perfect place to brood about death and the grave.

I thought of the cyclopean caverns of Kur, the domain of Ereshkigal where souls good and evil dwelt, eating dust and drinking offerings made by their descendants.

I thought of Sheol, the dreary and shadowy underworld from the old Jewish lore, that inescapable place where shades dwelt.

I thought of the Barzakh from the Islamic stories and suddenly the walls, the ceilings, and the floor itself seemed to close in on us, bent on crushing us till our bones break and nothing of us remains.

I thought of Yomi. I thought of Naraka and Hades. Of alma ḏ-hšuka, Xibalba, Tuonela, and Helheim.

I thought of a dozen different underworlds from a dozen different myths, legends, and beliefs. So much so that I was starting to wonder if we would encounter a pit of fire or if our lights would suddenly die and we would be consumed by the shadows.

Suddenly we stopped and I could see clearly why.

The cavern broke into two paths here. One moving to the right, the other to the left.

Yui's head flickered between the two of them. "Which way is it?"

Hachiman took off his glove and raised his hand. The wind came again and he moved it between the two paths. He frowned.

"Which way, Hikigaya-kun?" Yukinoshita asked.

"Both of them."

"Hmm…" Yukinoshita tapped her chin. "So either path could lead to a possible exit."

"Yeah…"

"Very well then," Yukinoshita turned to look at all of us. "We'll split into two groups. Yuigahama-san and I will take the left. Hikigaya-kun and…Keigo-san, you'll both take the right. Each pair will send a runner to the other group if they encounter the exit first. That way we would save some time. Let's go, Yuigahama-san." Promptly, Yukinoshita turned around and without waiting for Yui, she began to walk.

"Ah, y-yes, of course." Yui took a few nervous steps forward. Then she paused and glanced hesitantly back at us, or rather, at me.

I nodded slowly at her and Yui nodded back before running after Yukinoshita. Her footsteps echoing through the cavern.

Hachiman and I stared at their disappearing form.

"...Let's go, Masaki."

"...Okay."

—​

We walked together in silence, trudging through the shadowy caverns. The path was more narrow, the ceilings lower. Everything felt a little more cramped than before

I had my phone out, the flashlight guiding our way, but even so the path proved trickier and more treacherous than we expected. Jagged rock, stone columns, and stalagmite cast long and dark shadows in the wake of the light, often hiding other rock formations behind them, or worse, cracks and holes and pits. More than a few times we nearly stumbled.

Sometimes we encountered an ascent, the path forcing us to climb at a low angle. Other times, we had to descend carefully, watching out for the rocks, pit, and columns during our descent.

All of this while, cold winds continue to blow across our faces. Their wails echoing through the walls and in this seemingly endless cavernous depths, they were the only sound there were save for our own footsteps. With each step we took, the wind blew harder and colder and their lamentations grew louder. I shivered each time they blew and not just because of how cold it was.

Finally I could bear the windy silence no more.

"Hey Hachiman," I called as we climbed up another ascent.

"Yeah?" Hachiman asked.

I opened my mouth…and almost nearly closed them again.

I hadn't thought of any conversational topic whatsoever. Usually before talking to Hachiman, I had already prepared some topics beforehand; whether it be the weather, the latest light novels, history trivia, or even the Service Club.

"What?" Hachiman asked. "What is it?"

This time though, I'd prepared nothing. I simply wanted this terrifying silence to end.

"Do you…" Feel a little cold? Think the wind sounds a little scary? Know that Yui has a crush on you? A thousand different topics raced across my head. A thousand different trifling matters, small talks, and the likes that all merely served to fill the uneasy quiet.

Yet, instead, I said. "Nothing."

Hachiman stopped and looked at me for a moment. I squirmed furtively under his gaze.

Then promptly he turned around.

We continued on, but our pace did become a little slower. There was an awkwardness in the atmosphere around us. A tension so thick you needed more than a knife to cut through it.

I was beginning to feel sweat, glistening inside my gloved hands. I wished the silence from before would return, it would have been far, far less awkward.

Just when I thought Hachiman would let the topic die unanswered, he spoke in a low soft voice.

"...You shouldn't blame yourself too much over it."

Hachiman didn't look at me, instead continuing to walk but in a slightly brisque posture.

Oh. It was that.

I sighed. "It was still my fault. I shouldn't have run off like that."

"You shouldn't," Hachiman agreed, not bothering to lie about it. "And yeah, running off like that did get us here in the first place…"

The sweat on my palms suddenly felt very cold. Despite the thick coat I wore, I could feel the freezing wind biting into my skin. I feel like smashing my head against the stone walls.

"But at the same time," Hachiman continued. "It's not like you knew the earthquake would happen, right?"

"That's… true, but—"

"And it's not like you caused it to happen." Hachiman cut me off. "If anything, while you were to blame for running off originally, the rest is just sheer bad luck. Besides, blaming yourself for something you can't control like that… that's just plain stupid."

I chuckled mirthlessly. "I can't tell if you're trying to comfort me or insult me."

Hachiman coughed to the side. "Well think of it this way then. Maybe Hiratsuka-sensei and the others are in a bit of a harder situation than us. So you wandering off like that may have just saved us some troubles or even save our lives." He paused then added quickly. "N-not that I want anything bad to happen to the others, of course!"

"Snrk," I held back a chortle. I could only hold it back for a few moments. I laughed.

"Hahahaha…."

Only Hachiman would ever try to comfort someone's plight with the plight of another.

That cynical humor of his. It was one of the reasons I'd come to like him.

"Haha…you're a really twisted person…" I said, chuckling slightly.

"Oy! I'm trying to be considerate here!"

"I know," I said, wiping tears from my eyes even as I sniffed and my nose felt runny. "I appreciate it."

Hachiman turned and now he was really looking at me.

I flashed a grateful smile at me. "So thanks. Thank you… Hachiman,"

Hachiman turned his face away out of sheer embarrassment. Instead he focused on the climb, looking up to see where we were going then—

"Hey, look." Hachiman pointed upward. "Light."

A shaft of light shot through the darkness. Pale it was and it seemed to hold little warmth, but in the gloomy darkness it seemed to shine like a star.

"There's the exit." I whispered. We began walking and climbing much more quickly.

We reached the top of our ascent at the same time—

And almost immediately we were blinded.

We had spent so long in the darkness, that the light was painful the moment it appeared.

Winds swept across my face. Hard and unyielding and cold. So very cold.

I opened my eyes.

It was like a giant had taken a fistful of the mountain side and tore it away, leaving behind a gaping wound opened to the outside world. A world of snow and mist.

The wind blew into our faces, bringing with it bits of ice and frost. We couldn't see what lay ten feet outside from the exit. The mist blanketed it all like a veil of white. A churning, trailing ever-present fog, blocking anything from view. There could be a gaping cliffside in front us and we wouldn't be able to tell.

"Hikki! Maachi!"

We turned around. There was a small tunnel beside the one we came through, so small compared to ours that we didn't even notice it when we first arrived.

A shaft of light pierced through the second tunnel and then in a flash, Yui appeared, followed by Yukinoshita.

"You guys made it!" Yui said, smiling.

I couldn't help myself, Yui's cheery tone brought a smile to my face. "We did, huh?"

Hachiman snorted beside me.

Yukinoshita dusted herself off. "Yuigahama-san, please slow down a while next time,"

Yui rubbed the back of her head. "Ahaha, sorry Yukinon…"

"It looks like the pathways are connected, after all." Hachiman said.

"Indeed." Yukinoshita said.

"Hahaha, just like people said, all roads lead to Tokyo."

"It's Rome." I corrected Yui.

"Really? Hehehe, but…" Yui turned. "Is this really the exit?"

The world outside was covered in mist.

"It appears so," Yukinoshita said, taking a single step forward. Her shoe crunched something beneath her. We all looked down. Snow. "I doubt we would find ourselves back on the plaza near the entrance, though. More likely we've reached the other side of the mountains."

Hachiman held his phone for all of us to see. "Still no signal."

I took out my own phone, looked, and shook my head. "Not in mine too."

Yui said. "I… also don't have one."

Yukinoshita was silent. It seemed that she was deep in her thoughts.

"Should we wait for the others, Yukinon…?"

"That's a bad idea," Hachiman said. "We don't even know if they're looking for us. And even if we do. We don't know how far they are from us or how long it would take them to reach us."

"And…" I gulped. "...the earthquake might happen again and then we would really be trapped inside…"

After a moment Yukinoshita turned back to us.

"If we stay here, the risk is too great." She said. "At least on the outside we have a greater chance of actually reaching help than inside. Come on."

And with that settled, we marched silently into the mist until it swallowed us whole.

Above, behind, and around us, were white fog; billowing and churning and thick. Snow covered the ground below us, our shoes crunching them apart as we took one step forward and another. It seems a little blizzard might have occurred since we entered the cave site.

The earth was strangely even. We walked carefully at first, afraid of any stumbling rocks or treacherous pits hidden in the mist and snow, yet slowly it became clear that, wherever we were, the ground was level flat. A plateau perhaps? Or maybe we have arrived on the entrance field from before.

Then—

"Earthquake!"

Yukinoshita's cry came only a moment too late.

The ground was already shaking when the words came out of her mouth. The earth rumbled beneath us, Hachiman and Yui immediately threw themselves to the ground, kneeling and covering their heads. Yukinoshita wobbled slightly but managed an ungraceful kneel in a second. I was not so lucky.

I stumbled about, one foot moved too quickly and I found myself quickly descending to the ground as my hand reached out in the vain hope of grasping something.

To my surprise my hand touched something. A wall made of stone, even, smooth and slick like obsidian. I didn't have the time to see what it was before using it to break my fall by leaning against it. I remembered vaguely that it was dangerous to stay near walls during an earthquake and was about to move away when the ground suddenly stopped shaking.

For a moment I stood there, I stood there, bracing myself against the stone walls. The rest of the Service Club were outlines and shadowy shapes hidden by the mist.

"To think another earthquake really did happen…" Yukinoshita's voice was shaky, uncharacteristic of her. "We were quite lucky to get out when we could."

Suddenly, Yukinoshita was in front of me, half-lying on the ground. Where before her form was shrouded by mist, now I could see her very clearly.

I was not the only one.

"H-hey, I could see you Hikki!"

Yui shouted to Hachiman behind her as they both came into view.

"The mist…" Hachiman said. "It's…going away?"

It was just as he said. Around us, the mist parted, slowly at first like the sea on low tide, and then it grew. It rolled back, receding further and further and faster and faster like a reverse avalanche of snow. Before finally, a wind blew and the entirety of the mist melted away.

And that was when we found ourselves in the middle of the city.

___

​

Author's Note: Okay so this chapter turned out a lot bigger than I thought it would. I decided to split it here for the sake of pacing (and also to give myself some energy drive XD). Work is being interupted by me also having to do my thesis so update speed might get a bit slower next time.

 

[k4rn0]

Episode 1 Part 5: …Finally…

"Let us all be frank with the realities of the situation now; we as a species are standing on the precipice of chaos and anarchy.

The destruction and ravaging of many of our capitals and centers had left us vulnerable and weak. Economic depression, riots, social unrests, old turmoils and political rivalries bubbling to the surface are only the tip of the iceberg. In only a matter of months, our world order had been completely shaken to the core. And it would only get worse from here until we reach rock bottom.

The HDI, what forces remained after the disaster at New York and Paris, is stretched too thin and so weak that they had to be supplemented with staff from GUTS and SRC. Both organizations too are only a little better off. If the Titans were to attack again, we wouldn't be able to face them on the field.

I will not lie to you all; the tasks we have at hands are unenviable. Nations, world leaders, and entire populations looked to us for salvation… and I doubt we could save all of them.

The only thing we have is hope. A small hope. A simple hope. A foolish hope. Not of victory. No. That is far beyond our reach at the current moment and likely will be for the foreseeable future. But of survival.

Hold no illusion. Many people have died and many more will die. I predict casualties passing by hundreds of thousands, the millions, perhaps even billions. Dead or wounded or displaced or missing. However, if we work hard, if we put our every effort into it, we could ensure that more people will live than those who will die. And perhaps the world can be rebuilt afterward.

That is what we are going to do; to weather the storm, to minimize casualties and losses however and whenever we can. In short, to ensure the very survival of humanity itself."

— Ozpin, 2nd Inspector General of the TPC, taken from the transcript of a meeting he held right after his inauguration.

—​

We were ants standing on the footprints of giants.

The first thing we noticed was the color of the walls, shades and hues of red, glistening like half-congealed blood. In the mist they seemed ephemeral and fae-like, the stuff of half-vivid dreams and nightmares. Then, as the mist receded, the walls rose and fell, taking on solid shapes, imaginations becoming reality. Suddenly we were surrounded by buildings, tall and wide and mighty…and broken.

Everything seemed to be a ruin in one shape or another. Holes riddled through the walls of some of the buildings, wide enough to even walk through. Others were no more than remnants or rubbles, stones stacked together in vague outlines where a building or two might have stood. There was not a single building in sight that was not damaged, ravaged, or laid waste…

And yet even so, whatever remained took our breaths away and had us looking around in awe.

Around us were majestic buildings with wide open windows and tall doors all decorated with flowing patterns. All of them had to be two or three stories tall, though most were cut short around the first or second floors. Those that did not were topped by sharp slanting roofs or domes. All of them were made by the same crimson and blood-red stone polished to a shine.

Far off we could see other buildings rising in the distance. Skyscrapers, towers and spires reached up as if to pierce the sky. Dozens. Hundreds of them. Everywhere we looked we found them, like red arrows flying against the heavens. Some fluted and round and pointed, others square and solid. Even further far off we could see other buildings, not as tall as the towers, but wider and bigger with giant walls topped by cyclopean domes, palaces or castles perhaps.

Most of the buildings had been taller once, three or four stories tall, cut to less than half their old height. The walls were filled with holes, bricks and stones spilling into the street in heaps and fans. Almost all of the roofs had tumbled down in one way or another. The patterns on the buildings might have been animals or flowers or trees or vines, but time had washed away most of them into ineligible obscurity.

Most of the towers ended in jagged lines like broken teeths, abrupt and uneven. The far off places too didn't escape unscathed, their walls bursting asunder or clearly rent at places as if torn apart by a giant's hand or struck by an explosion.

Yet, even in death, even in their ruined and sorry state all of them still seemed mighty and proud, as if defiant against the ravages of time.

"Woah…" Yui looked around, wonder and awe sparkling in her eyes.

"This… this isn't a dream, right?" Hachiman asked shakily. "Because it damn feels like it."

"It isn't." Yukinoshita said. "Where…where are we?"

None of us answered her, we were too busy looking at the wonders around us.

We found ourselves standing in the middle of a wide street. The stones were cracked and at times were broken or had holes on them and yet where it was not covered by snow, we could see the smooth pale stone beneath it. Despite the weak sunlight above, it glistened and shined faintly like dull marble.

Snow coated the light gray streets and the buildings made from blood-red polished stone. Snow coated the roofs, whether broken or whole, and the walls, whether full or mere rubbles. Snow coated everything.

The sight around me held me captive. The blood-red ruins, the pale marble street, the snow…

Everything seemed so enchanting…

…So.. beautiful…

..So…

…Familiar—

"Regardless, I think surveying our surroundings would be the wisest course of action."

I blinked and before I knew it, Yukinoshita and the others were already walking straight ahead and it took me a few seconds to catch up to them.

At first, we walked slowly through the empty street, careful in case of another earthquake, afraid that the buildings may collapse at any moment with the slightest provocation. Yet they stood there, polished blood-red stone coated by white snow, red beneath white, rows and rows of buildings and towers rising wherever we looked and standing strong despite their age.

"This is so cool…" Yuigahama whispered.

"Is this…part of the Akasaka site?" Hachiman asked.

I shook my head. "No. That's impossible. The Akasaka site is a pre-historic site. This…this isn't something that could come from that period."

"I concur," Yukinoshita said. "This doesn't seem to be a part of the Akasaka cave site. At all. And yet…"

"Co-could this be a new discovery then? Are there treasures here?!" Yui started looking around.

Hachiman scoffed. "Don't be silly. This is probably just something recently discovered."

Yukinoshita nodded. "That's a reasonable conclusion. It's likely that the archeologists and other academics are still working on this site so it hasn't been opened to the public yet."

That's quite logical, but for some reason…I can't help but feel that they're wrong.

"Still…doesn't it look suspicious?" I asked. "I don't think I've seen anything like this in other Japanese historical sites. And the architecture doesn't match with anything I know from Japanese history."

"Well, it's a new discovery, after all," Hachiman said smoothly. "Maybe that's why the archeologists haven't published it yet."

I doubted it. Anything like this would probably make headline news. Or perhaps it would have—

I shook my head. No. Focus. I have to focus on the present.

Finally we reached what seemed to be an intersection, streets stretching in front and behind us, and on the sides of us. At the center of the intersection was a large dry fountain ringed by a stone bed large and wide enough to sit and lie on.

The very center of the fountain was topped by a collection of statues. A dozen figures stood there, their faces and details eroded by time. All made from a strange black-and-red metal, shining like dull bronze. The very front of the statue was a hooded figure — a woman going by her stature — holding a small pyramid in her hand.

"I'm gonna take a picture!" Yui suddenly said as she fished out her phone. "Huh…that's weird…"

"What's weird, Yuigahama- Ack!"

Suddenly, Yukinoshita collapsed, her legs giving out before her like dried twigs snapping with her arms being the only thing keeping her from hitting head-first to the street.

"Yukinon!"

"Yukinoshita!"

"Oi!"

Just as quickly we rushed to her side, Yui being the first to reach her. "Yukinon, what happened?"

"I— ugh!" Almost instantly, Yukinoshita's arm gave out. She would have fallen if Yui hadn't caught her in time.

"Maachi! Hikki!"

The commands weren't needed; we were already rushing to the left and right side of Yukinoshita, taking her respective hands and propping them with our shoulders as Yui stepped away carefully.

Yukinoshita's breathing was ragged and she gritted her as if in pain. Her eyes were the most concerning symptoms of all, they looked this way and that as if in a daze.

"She needs to sit down," I said to Hachiman.

"The fountain." Hachiman said.

Carefully, we walked Yukinoshita towards the found before gently seating her there. Despite that, Yukinoshita's body swung thru and fro, delirious. She almost fell forward before Hachiman caught her.

"We need to lie her down." Hachiman said.

I looked around, the fountain bed would have to do, but it's covered in snow. I scrubbed them off with my gloved hands. Cold water seemed to seep through my skin. The snow was gone, but the fountain bed was wet and cold and it certainly doesn't seem comfortable to lie on.

Hachiman walked up to me. Behind him I could see Yui taking turns propping Yukinoshita up.

"Here," Hachiman said, before he took off his coat and placed it above the fountain bed. "Come on, Yukinoshita-san."

"I…am…fine…" Somehow Yukinoshita managed to croak.

"You need to lie down, sen— Yukinoshita." I placed my hands on her shoulders , but Yukinoshita shook her body as if resisted.

"I'm fine…" Yukinoshita insisted. "I just…"

"Yukinon," Yui came in then, pressing her hand above Yukinoshita's chest and gently pushing her down. "Come on. Lie down. Please."

Whether Yui's words and gestures got through her or her body itself simply gave up, the result was still the same. Yukinoshita closed her eyes, slowly slumped and lay down on the fountain.

Even when she'd managed to lie down, it doesn't seem like Yukinoshita could rest. She moved about as she lay on the fountain bed, twitching and convulsing slightly as if in a spasm. Yui gently nuzzled Yukinoshita's head, whilst petting her hair, as if trying to comfort her. Hachiman stood over them, ready to leap at any sign of danger. If Yukinoshita realized any of these, she didn't give any indication, instead she shivered as if in a cold, tossing about thru and fro, wincing and groaning in pain.

Before I knew it, I followed Hachiman's example, took off my own coat and blanketed it over Yukinoshita. If not warm, at the very least I wanted her to feel as comfortable as possible.

Gradually, the spasm subsided. Occasionally her finger twitches and her feet moved slightly, but slowly, even those stopped. Eventually, it seemed as if she ceased to move altogether. Lying there, pale and cold and frail. If it weren't for her slow, laborious, near unnoticeable breathings, we probably would have thought that she'd…

"What…what happened to her?" Yuigahama asked.

"I don't know." Hachiman sai shaking his head.

"Did she…pass out?"

Suddenly, Yukinoshita opened her eyes. They still looked weak, though, numb and jumbled, looking at nothing in particular. We weren't sure if she would go out at any time.

We moved around Yukinoshita carefully, to give her as wide a breathing space as possible. Yui sat near her head and Hachiman near her foot. I stood to the side, close to Yui in case Yukinoshita needed to be propped up again.

"....Yuigahama-san…" Yukinoshita's voice was hoarse, barely a whisper, but it caught all of our attention.

"Yukinon… are you…?"

"I'm alright…" Yukinoshita said. I bit back the urge to say you're definitely not.

"Apologies…" Yukinoshita continued. "For… inconveniencing you…"

"N-no. Don't apologize for that, Yukinon!" Yui said hastily. "In fact. You don't need to speak right now. Just rest for a while okay?"

"Don't… need it…" Yukinoshita stubbornly said. "…I'm just… a bit tired… is all. Not used to… walking this far…and doing such physically heavy…" She opened her mouth to say more, but it came out as jumbled until Yui shushed her.

"So thirsty…" Yukinoshita said after a while. "Do any of you have…?"

I looked around. All of us wore a miserable expression on our faces. We had left our bags in the buses. A pang of regret hit me then as I watched Yukinoshita in pain.

"Sorry we…" I began only for Yukinoshita to cut me off.

"Doesn't matter." She said, before turning to Yui. "Yuigahama-san?"

"Yes!"

"Yuigahama-san…what was it you were about to say…before I…?"

"Ah, that! I almost forgot!" Yui took out her phone and showed it to us. "I didn't get any signal previously, but now I do. Here!"

Hachiman and I also took out our phones and just like Yui's it too showed some signals.

"It's a bit weak though." Hachiman commented.

I lifted my phone up in the air. The signal grew, but only slightly. "I think we need to find some place high to get a signal."

"Perhaps one of the towers?" Yui suggested.

Yukinoshita shook her head, still lying down. "Too dangerous. Besides, this is an archeological site. We can't just disturb the place…"

"We still need to get help though," Hachiman said.

"I think the archaeologists wouldn't mind, really." I said. "This is an emergency after all."

"Maybe one of the houses?" Yui suggested. "Some of them look pretty tall and if they have stairs…"

I shared a look with Hachiman.

"Worth a try I guess," He said, after a while.

I nodded. "Very well then. Hachiman, you stay here with Yukinoshita, alright? Yui and I will—"

"Actually," Yui interrupted me. "What if me and Hikki went on ahead and you watch over Yukinon for a while, Maachi?"

Almost instantly our head swiveled toYui's direction.

"Eh?"

"What?"

"...Yuigahama-san?"

"Why— why are you looking at me like that?" Yui asked, blushing. She turned to me. "It's fine, right? Right, Maachi?"

"I mean…I guess but…"

Yui didn't wait for me to finish and immediately turned to Hachiman. "What about you, Hikki?"

"Well I…" Hachiman's eyes glanced towards Yukinoshita's prone form. "If Yukinoshita…"

"I'll be fine… Hikigaya-kun…" Yukinoshita said. "Go on ahead… you two…"

Yui nodded, then she looked at me. "Maachi take care of Yukinon, okay?"

"O-okay."

"Good. Let's be off then, Hikki!"

"Hey, slow down a bit will you?"

They walked off to a nearby house, before disappearing inside of it.

—​

I looked back to Yukinoshita. She already seemed as if she was dozing off, maybe she really was close to passing out or maybe she was simply trying hard to ignore my presence. Maybe it was both. Not that I had any right to blame her, though.

Looking at her curling form as she lay on the right side of her body, I could clearly see the wounds Yukinoshita had suffered. The edge of her lips was cracked, no doubt from falling to a jagged stone or crashing into the rough-hewn cave walls. Her left arm occasionally twitched and spasmed and she clasped it with her right. She also kept her feet slightly apart, away from pressing against one another.

The darkness of the cave had hid all of them well, but the pale afternoon sun, dim as it was, was more than enough to bring them to light. I hadn't had the time to look at the wounds Hachiman and Yui suffered, too busy gawking at the city. With Yukinoshita though, I had no choice but to look. All the mistakes I made today were laid bare before me.

I did this.

It was my fault.

If I hadn't run—

Suddenly Yukinoshita opened her eyes. She looked up at me, blinking and weary. "Keigo-san?"

Her words, soft and hoarse as it was, caught my attention.

"Y-yes, Yu-Yukinoshita?"

She shook her head. Then, she tried to sit up.

Immediately I was alarmed. I moved in front of her and raised my hands.

"You need to lie down and rest, sen— Yukinoshita-san."

"I'm alright now." She insisted. "Besides, lying down here is getting rather uncomfortable, even with Hikigaya-kun's coat." She grimaced. "Perhaps because of it."

"You…"

"Don't worry. I—" Then she slipped it.

Before I realized I'd moved and caught her by the shoulders.

For a few moments, we froze, staring at each other eye to eye.

Then, slowly, I helped her sit upright.

"There you go,"

Yukinoshita nodded numbly at that, her eyes still fixed on me. An unreadable on her face.

I turned my face away.

A part of me, a deep part of me wanted her to shout, to snap, to get angry at me. Wanted her to scream and scold and lecture me again for what I did today. That would have been far more preferable to the atmosphere between us now; awkward and ambiguous and uncertain.

That last part irked me the most. Yukinoshita wasn't the kind of person to sit on her laurels, to dawdle and fiddle with her hands when faced with challenges. She met them head on, even when she's confused, even when she doesn't understand she—

—​

"W-will you accept, then?"

Tears threatened to break open and stained my cheeks. For the sake of maintaining some shred of dignity.

Yukinoshita closed her eyes as she stood in front of me, her backs to the window gazing out at the blazing sunset behind her. The room we were in seemed to melt in orange and bronze hues of the evening sky. The sun cast long shadows on the furniture and around us, yet Yukinoshita's shadows were the longest one of all.

Seconds passed, melting into minutes, and minutes seemed to bleed into hours eternal.

Then after what felt like an eternity of waiting, Yukinoshita opened her eyes. The small twitching of her brows and the creases of her forehead told me how confused she was.

Even so, her eyes stared back at me, burning like a pair of cold blue flames.

"I accept."

—​

My face flushed in shame. Without realizing it I'd pushed forward an image of Yukinoshita without considering what she actually felt on the matter.

I turned back to her, finding that she had turned her head away to look at the buildings. Try as she might to hide it, it was clear as day that she was a fish out of water, just as confused as I.

No. Perhaps even more so than me.

And if that's the case then the responsibility to clear things up fell on me…

"So…" I began slowly. Yukinoshita blinked and turned to me. I coughed to the side. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel better now," Yukinoshita said. "You don't need to worry about me."'

I nodded slowly at that.

Then, I cleared my throat. "Listen, what happened back there—"

"I was simply fatigued Keigo-san." Yukinoshita swiftly cut me off. "I'm just not accustomed to such strenuous activities. I'll be fine with a bit of rest."

Was that what she thought I was going to say? A part of me wanted things to be left at that, let the misunderstanding continue.

But I know I can't do that.

"N-no," I said instead. "That's not what I mean."

"What do you mean, then?"

I hesitated for a moment, only for a moment.

Then I stepped forward to her and bowed my head.

"...I'm sorry."

I couldn't see her face, but I could tell that Yukinoshita's eyes had widened,

"For what happened today." I continued. "For getting you hurt. For getting Yui and Hachiman hurt. For all of this...getting us into this mess in the first place. If I hadn't run in away, I—"

"Keigo-san." Yukinoshita's voice was as cold and sharp as a blade of steel.

"Please raise your head." She said.

I bit my lips, but then decided to comply.

Yukinoshita's gaze was hard and despite myself I turned away instinctively.

"Look at me."

My neck felt stiff and ramrod and it was painful to even turn to face her, but I did.

Yukinoshita stared at me. Eyes like daggers made of ice. Cold and piercing and harsh.

"I accept your apology for running like in the first place." She said, voice like a knife's edge. "But not for what comes afterward."

"But I—"

"Your only fault is in running headlong like that. As for the earthquake, you couldn't have possibly predicted it."

"It's still—

"It is outside of your control and I will not accept any apologies you made for it." She said, "Besides… apologizing for things like that… that's just indulging your self-guilt and unproductive self-satisfaction. It's the kind of thing people do to feel better about themselves without actually needing to do anything and it's disgusting."

Yukinoshita glared and I took an involuntary step back.

"Thus…I cannot accept such a thing."

"..."

I was struck speechless. I couldn't move.

Yukinoshita was holding both sides of her coat, slightly shivering and shaking in the cold. Yet her eyes were as resolute as ever.

"And in the end…" She continued "Blaming yourself for something that is inherently out of your control…for something you couldn't have predicted or you couldn't have known…it is simply an exercise in foolishness."

…

…

…

"Heh."

I couldn't help it, I snickered.

The wording might have been different, but the point—

Yukinoshita raised an eyebrow. "Is something funny?"

"It's just…" I smiled. "Hachiman said the same thing actually."

Yukinoshita harrumphed. "Even a broken clock is right twice a day."

"Still…" I began. "E-even if I know that…I still feel…"

"Responsible?"

"Burdened." I said instead.

Yukinoshita looked away, staring at the buildings, dull crimson walls and pallid snow. Above, dark gray storm clouds rumbled and rolled across the sky, drowning the already weak afternoon sun.

"If it's atonement you seek…" She said. "If you still feel burdened by it… then instead of wallowing around in self-loathing, it would be better for you to rectify it. Find some ways to fix your mistakes. Learn from this event. Do better next time. That's how you improve. Not by bringing yourself down further or beating yourself up with your own mistakes, but making things right."

I nodded at that.

"Guess I still have much to learn then..."

"You do," Yukinoshita agreed. "I told you when we began, didn't I? It's not going to be easy. I am not going to be easy on you."

"I know…" I said. "I…. I will do my best then… sensei..."

Yukinoshita looked at me, eyes weighing and judging.

I smiled at her.

"We're back."

We turned, finding Yui walking right up to us, followed closely behind by Hachiman.

"Did you manage to contact someone?" Yukinoshita asked.

"We did." Hachiman said. "We managed to call in for Emergency Rescue. There are GUTS personnel heading this way now. Though it will take them some time to reach us."

"That's good to hear…" I said.

"It's not just that, though," Yui said. "We also managed to contact Hiratsuka-sensei!"

My eyes widened.

Beside me, Yukinoshita stood up.

"Really? Where are they?"

"Are they still inside the cave?"

Hachiman grinned and for once, he looked….happy?

"Here, actually."

—​

Hiratsuka-sensei was the one who found us first.

We saw her first as she ran up to us from a nearby street. We didn't realize it was her until she was a dozen feet away from us.

Before we could stand up to greet her, she closed the distance, stopped and stared at all of us.

"You all are definitely not alright." She said.

I opened my mouth but Hiratsuka-sensei already unslung the bag across her back and opened it, reaching inside and taking out a large first aid box. The content of the box was slightly messy and haphazard. Most likely it had been used before and put back together in quick notice.

Then she turned back to us. "I'll cut to the chase then. Any wounds or injuries I should know about? No. Scratch that. Tell me all about the wounds and injuries you've suffered no matter how small or minor you think it is."

Her eyes fell on me and I froze. "Masaki?"

"I- I'm fine, sensei, mostly." I said. "Just some minor scratches on my face."

"That's a nasty bruise you got there on your chin for some 'minor' scratches."

What?

I touched my chin, only to regret it later when—

"Ack!"

"Don't touch it!" Hiratsuka-sensei hissed.

I obeyed, immediately putting my hands away from that sore and searring spot.

"I…hadn't realized." I said in wonder, fingers hovering above the bruise.

"Of course you hadn't." Hiratsuka-sensei said before she pressed her face close to mine. "Be still. Let me look."

My face flushed but I forced myself to look at her.

"Hmm…looks worse than it probably is," She said. "I would have used ice packs, but I already ran out of it, treating the other students from before."

"I-it's alright." I said. "I…I can manage just fine."

She fished out a small bottle from the first aid pack. "Here. Rub this on your cheek. That should help with the pain somewhat."

I did as she told me. The ointment felt like melting ice and I shivered, the pain dulling somewhat as I did.

Then, she turned to Hachiman.

"Hikigaya." She paused as she looked over Hachiman's battered face and winced. "Wow. You looked like Sasuke during the Land of the Waves Arc."

"What? You mean cool?"

"Down to that murderous glare I see. Keep that up and you might even get a chance to play him in a live action adaptation."

"More like I'd probably end up as one of the Uchiha cannon fodders during the massacre flashback."

"Don't joke about that," Gently Hiratsuka-sensei grabbed Hachiman's face. "Hold still, I'm gonna have to check you for a bit."

She turned his head this way and that, taking note of every scratches, bruises, and the likes.

"You took quite a beating," She said. "Lots of injuries, but none that seemed urgent. Most of the scratches had dried out, though we might need to clean them up, maybe even give antibiotics just to be sure."

She took out a bottle and some cotton from her bag and gave it to Hachiman. "Here. Use these to clean up your face. Normally I'd use something other than alcohol, but supplies are running low. Once you've cleaned up your face, place that ointment I gave Masaki earlier over your bruises."

"I got off fine." Hachiman said, but still he took the alcohol and cotton. He also took the ointment when I gave it to him. "Really. It's Yuigahama and Yukinoshita you should be worried about."

Hiratsuka-sensei turned to them, but before she could open her mouth, Yui blurted out.

"I— I think you should take a look at Yukinon, first, sensei."

"Yuigahama-san?"

Immediately Hiratsuka-sensei's attention turned to Yukinoshita and almost instantly she zeroed in on her, looking her up and down.

"Hiratsuka-sensei, I'm—"

"You're definitely not fine, Yukinoshita." Suddenly Hiratsuka-sensei stood near Yukinoshita. She turned to us. "What happened?"

We told Hiratsuka-sensei quickly the short of what transpired. Yui and I did most of the talking with Hachiman occasionally chiming in to corroborate our stories. Once or twice, Yukinoshita seemed to rise in protest before a look from Hiratsuka-sensei forced her to back down in silence.

After we were finished, Hiratsuka-sensei took off her glove and placed her hand on Yukinoshita's forehead.

"You don't look or feel feverish," She said. "And it doesn't seem like you suffered a cold."

"I'm just slightly tired, Hiratsuka-sensei." Yukinoshita insisted.

"'Slightly' doesn't cover it. You're fatigued and stressed out, Yukinoshita."

"All of us are, I would imagine."

"My point still stands."

Then, Hiratsuka-sensei knelt near Yukinoshita. "I'm going to check on your legs for injuries now."She glanced at me and Hachiman. "Keigo. Hikigaya. Would you please look away?"

Hachiman and I did as we were asked, turning our faces away to the empty cities around us. To the red-stone buildings covered in snow.

We heard Hiratsuka-sensei click her tongue behind us.

"You seemed to have scraped your knees a bit, but other than that...no immediate sign of any serious injuries."

"I told you before, didn't I? It was nothing—"

"No immediate sign, Yukinoshita-san." Sensei cut her off. "Just because you can't see it clearly doesn't mean that there's no injury at all."

She sighed. After a few moments, she addressed Hachiman and I. "You boys can look now."

Hachiman and I turned back and just as she said, Yukinoshita had already covered her legs.

Then Hiratsuka-sensei turned to face all of us. "Can you all walk?"

Hachiman, Yui and I glanced at each other — only for a moment — before we turned to Yukinoshita.

She sighed and, before anyone could stop her, she stood up from the fountain. She wobbled slightly at first but when she managed to gain her footing she stood as straight and as firm as ever.

"We can." She said, not even bothering to ask our opinion.

Hiratsuka-sensei looked at her then sighed, "Very well." She turned. "Follow me and stay close. The others are already waiting for you."

Then she marched down the way she came, walking down at a respectable pace, allowing us to quickly catch up beside her.

Despite the abruptness of it all, I can't help but frown at the last bit.

"Wait…the others?" Yui asked.

"Yup, the other students." Hiratsuka-sensei said.

"They're still here?" Hachiman asked.

"Yes. You guys are the only ones not accounted for, as miraculous as it is. When the earthquake happened, the way back to the entrance was blocked, so the entire tour group had to find another way out. We tried to go through the original exit of the cave, but that way was also blocked. Luckily, the earthquake also seemed to have opened up a new tunnel network which led us here to this place."

My eyes widened. "So… Hayato and Hina and Yumiko and the others…?"

"Still here." Hiratsuka-sensei said.

"How are they?" Yui quickly asked.

"Some suffered a few injuries, but most were pretty light. We did end up having to use up most of our medical supplies though and we can't exactly get and grab some from the buses."

"I see…" I said.

We stayed close together as we walked down the empty streets. Mighty buildings of red stone walls rose and fell around us. Yet big or small, all the buildings seemed in one way or another to be damaged, and all of them were empty.

"You know," Hiratsuka-sensei began. "I was really worried about you guys... I had hoped that you would be alright, perhaps managing to go back to the museum and to the entrance from before, but still… I thought…I thought… you'd—" She shook her head and sighed. "Nevermind now. So what happened to you guys? How did you end up here?"

She turned to us, but only silence greeted her.

We glanced at one another. An unspoken question traded between us. Where to begin?

I decided that I should be the one to do so.

"I…ran off towards one of the caverns." I said. "I thought I saw something, but… it turned out to be a dead end. And then the earthquake happened."

"Maachi…" Yui murmured. Behind, I could feel Yukinoshita's gaze boring down on me and beside me I caught Hachiman looking at me from sideways.

"Anyway. We were trapped for some time inside the cavern, but…luckily Hachiman caught wind coming in from one of the dead ends. Yukinoshita told us to push it open and then we found a cavern that led up to here." I smiled. "Honestly if it weren't for Yukinoshita and Hachiman's quick thinking we'd probably still be trapped."

"Hey it's not like I did much of anything back there…" Hachiman said.

"But it's true though, Hikki. You're the first who noticed that wind coming in!" Yui said.

Hachiman looked aside, embarrassed. "It's not much really. Besides, I'm pretty sure Yukinoshita would have noticed it too."

Yukinoshita was silent, instead placing a hand on her chin.

"Erm…Yukinoshita?" Hachiman asked.

"...Maybe." Yukinoshita said after a moment. "It's no use thinking about what-ifs though. The truth is you're the one who caught it first, so the credits should go to you."

"Eh?"

Yui smiled. "See, Hikki?"

"Erm I mean…"

Suddenly we heard Hiratsuka-sensei chuckling. We turned, finding her brimming with a proud smile.

"I see how it is." She said, "Well it's good to see you can work together for a common goal."

"Erm, we didn't really—"

"Argh, Hikki, don't ruin the moment!"

We continued to walk down the road, a more lively and warm atmosphere around us. The weight of the previous hours' trials seemed to have lessened somewhat.

As the rest of the Service Club bickered again — something about Hachiman's self esteem — Hiratsuka-sensei took me aside. Then, in a whisper, too low for the others to hear, she said. "Keigo-san…No. Masaki. I'm going to talk to you later. But for now, you're all alive, and that's the most important thing at the moment."

I almost seized up at that. Has she really caught on to me? Then again, I shouldn't be surprised, Hiratsuka-sensei had known me for quite a while after all.

I gulped. "Yes…Hiratsuka-sensei."

We made a turn to a wide open street, but unlike the other streets we passed through though, there were people now. A crowd slowly walked at us from the far end of the street. They were a bit away from us, but we could still make out the winter coats and Sobu High uniform that most of them wore.

"Oi Maachi! Yui-chan!"

A voice cried out to us and two figures emerged from the crowd, running ahead of the rest.

"Tobecchi! Hina-chan!" Yui cried, waving her hand as the two figures approached.

Kakeru Tobe and Ebina Hina ran up to us. Their clothes were disheveled, their hairs a tangled mess and their faces covered in dust, but for the most part they seemed alright.

"Yui!" Hina cried. "Are you alright? Oh no. What happened…?"

She tried to place a hand over Yui's bruised face, but the letter shook her head.

"I'm fine, Hina, really." Yui said,. Her eyes were glossy, tears straining to break out from them.

"Maachi-bro, you…" Tobe trailed off and I grimaced. I haven't bothered to check on my own face.

"No need to worry," I said. "It looks worse than it felt."

"Ahaha…I-I see…"

Suddenly Hina's eyes perked up. "Hikigaya-kun and… Yukinoshita-san."

Hachiman raised a weak hand. "Yo."

Yukinoshita merely sighed. "...Greetings."

"Ahem, erm, greetings to you too…"

Tobe and Hina both shuffled awkwardly, unsure of how to proceed. This wasn't the kind of situation where you can just ask how the other parties were without coming off as insensitive. In addition, Tobe and Hina rarely interact with Hachiman and Yukinoshita, so they don't know exactly how to act around them.

Some ice breaking was needed.

I turned to Tobe. "Hey, Tobe, tell me honestly."

"W-what?" Tobe asked.

"Do I…" I asked in a deliberate tone. "...Do I still look as handsome as I did before?"

Silence greeted my question as I thought it would.

Then—

"Pfft," Yui caught her mouth with her hands, but her grin slipped through with a hint of a giggle. "Maachi. That's really bad."

Hina shook her head exasperatedly. "Masaki-kun…really?"

Tobe grinned. "Hehehe, don't worry Maachi-bro, you've looked worse than this."

Yukinoshita tilted her head quizzically. "Was that…an attempt at jest?"

Hachiman stared at me in disbelief. "Back in the bus, you were all moping and stuff and now you joke at a time like this?"

I shrugged.

Mission accomplished. Everyone's mood seemed to have lifted somewhat.

"That was a terrible joke," A new voice suddenly said. "But it's good to see you though, Masaki."

We all turned at the newcomer and almost immediately Yui gasped.

"Hayato! What happened to you?!"

Hayama Hayato did not walk up to us, instead he limped with his right arm being slung across the shoulders of Miura Yumiko, Ooka and Yamato following loyally behind them.

"Y-you… what happened Hayato?!" Yui asked frantically as she walked over him.

Hayato turned away, abashed. "I…fell when the earthquake happened." He grimaced. "I didn't realize it at first, but it turned out to be more serious than I thought, though I'm mostly fine—"

"You're not." Yumiko's reply was as swift as it was cutting. "Stop playing it down. You're still very much injured. Just rely on me and others for some time, okay?"

"Yumiko, you—" Hayato stopped at the stare Yumiko gave him. He sighed. "Okay…"

Yumiko nodded. Then she craned her neck at Ooka and Yamato. "Hey, can you guys take over Hayato for a while?"

"Sure." Ooka said.

"No problem, Yumiko. You can rely on us." Yamato said.

They both walked over to either side of Hayato and slung his arms across their respective shoulders. Hayato grimaced and for a moment he seemed about to protest until he thought better of it. The sight made me blink a few times.

Yumiko then slowly walked over to Yui.

"Erm…Yumiko?" Yui nervously called.

Yumiko didn't answer, instead she placed a hand on Yui's shoulder.

"Eh?"

"Yui…" Yumiko said in a strained voice. "You…you're alive."

"Ah..I…I guess I am? Eh, what the—"

Suddenly swift as a snake, Yumiko slithered her arms around Yui's body, embracing her tightly in an instant.

"Ehhh?!"

"Stupid." Yumiko whispered, tears falling from her eyes. "Stupid, stupid, stupid Yui. Idiot Yui! You had us all worried back there, you know?!"

"Ahhh…I…I mean, s-sorry,"

After a while, Yumiko pulled back, her eyes were red and moist, yet the stare she gave Yui was as hard and unyielding as ever. "Don't ever scare me like that ever again, okay?"

"O-kay. I promise not to."

Yumiko sniffed. "You better."

"That said…" Hayama swiveled his head at each of us in turn. "How did you guys even get separated from the group in the first place?"

It was probably meant to encourage small talk, break the ice, so to speak. Instead it had the opposite of its intended effect.

"Oh, erm…" Yui threw furtive glances at the rest of us, though mostly at me.

Yukinoshita was silent, as if she did not deign to respond. Or more likely she couldn't.

I began. "You see—"

Suddenly, Hachiman stepped forward. "Oi, I think we should get a move on."

He pointed at the crowd, now getting closer to us. Ahead of the students were some of the teachers, eyes watchful and vigilant, looking around the buildings as if every corner and walls posed a danger.

"Hikigaya is right." Hiratsuka-sensei said. "There's no telling when another earthquake might happen. Best to get going before it does."

The crowd of students was almost upon us and up close we could see them more clearly. All of the students wore some sort of winter or cold weather outfits over their white and black Sobu High uniforms. Many of their clothes were slightly disheveled or ragged. Dust and soot covered many of the faces. Not at all the carefree crowd that first entered the Akasaka cave site.

Baker-sensei, a foreign teacher with blonde hair draped in a side plait and bright blue winter coat, walked over to us ahead of the crowd.

"Hiratsuka-sensei you're back." She said.

"Baker-sensei," Hiratsuka-sensei nodded at her. "What's the situation?"

"I managed to get in touch with the nearby GUTS HQ and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. They're sending people here, but it will be difficult to get to our current location because of the mountainous terrain and the harsh weather…"

"I see…"

"Also, they're having some manpower shortages."

Hiratsuka-sensei blinked. "What? Why?"

"It seems that something has happened around Tokyo. They didn't say. All they told me was that many personnels in Chiba are being diverted to Tokyo right now."

"Could it be an earthquake connected to what happened here…?" Yukinoshita asked

"If it was, it must've been really bad because by the sound of it they seem to be really short on manpower right now." Baker-sensei replied. Then she smiled. "It's good to see that you're alright, Yukinosita-san. You too, Yuigahama-san, Hikigaya-san, and Keigo-san."

A cough interrupted us. Qrow Branwen walked up to our little group

"If you kids are done chit-chatting over here." He said gruffly. "Can you please get back to the group? We teachers would rather have you all where we can see you."

The crowd was coming up behind him

"Y-yes, sensei." Yui said.

"Yes, Branwen-sensei." Hayama answered. He turned to his group. "Come on guys."

Tobe, Yumiko, and Hina walked beside Hayama as he was guided along by Ooka and Yamato propping up his arms. Hachiman, Yui, Yukinoshita, and I walked near them as both of our groups followed the course of the crowd with the teachers in the front, guiding us along.

Some among the crowd gave us some weird looks and passing glances. Occasionally, someone would come to check up on Yui, but for the most part they let us be in silence.

Instead their attention was drawn to their surroundings; to the ruined buildings and broken towers that lined either side of the wide open street around us. All made of the red-blood bricks and stones and coated with fresh fallen snows.

A sense of awe pervaded through the crowd. The students whispered and chatted whilst pointing to the sharp slanting roofs and domes, or the towers, broken and rent asunder or the flowing patterns of the buildings. Others took out their phones, camera lights flashed white many times. Some of the phones even flashed red as the students recorded their findings in videos, talking excitedly about it.

"Woah," Tobe said, as we walked past them. "These all look so cool."

"Totes," Yamato agreed. "I don't think I've seen anything like this. It's like one of those places in Europe or something."

"What do you think they could be?"

"I don't know…" I said cautiously.

I suspected that many of them had to be houses or places of residence at the very least. The city — and it had to have been a city — looked like it could housed tens of thousands of people at least. Likely even hundreds of thousands.

Even so, most of the buildings were as big as small mansions or manors. Two or three or even four stories tall. Some were ringed by stone walls complete with large courtyards enough to fit a sizable garden in. They might have been houses or apartments, or they might have been shops and small warehouses. Maybe even a combination of either. It was hard to tell with many of them.

Others though were very clearly not houses. A large building sitting in the middle of a wide plaza drew the breaths from the students around me. It was wide and thick, five stories tall at the very least, and topped gigantic domes, many of which had holes in them. It might have been a palace or a temple or a shopping center once. It was certainly not an ordinary residence.

"Incredible…" Yumiko whispered. Her sentiment was shared with the people around her.

"It really looks like a palace." Someone said.

"Yeah like one of those palaces in Europe right?"

"Hehehe, it's almost as if we'd gone overseas."

I twitched at that last comment. Give it to a bunch of teenagers to turn a gloomy wandering through an empty city to a foreign vacation. Though it's not like I could blame them, the sight was so majestic and breathtaking even I couldn't help but gape wide-eyed and stupefied.

"—This is truly incredible. I've never seen anything like this. And you are sure this isn't a part of the Akasaka Cave site, Tenjouin-san?"

"No, Doctor Oobleck. If it was, then I certainly wasn't made aware of this. I'm as confused as you are. The architecture too is completely unfamiliar to me."

"So…ano…Tour guide-san," Yui called. "So…this place isn't a part of the Akasaka site?"

The tour guide shook her head. "No. It absolutely is not. Not unless archaeologists and researchers are keeping it a secret and under tight wrap."

I raised a tentative hand. "D-doctor Oobleck."

"Ah, yes. Mr. Keigo?"

"What do you think this architecture looks like?"

"Hmm… to be honest it doesn't look like anything I'm familiar with." He admitted. "At least not from what I know of Japanese archaeology. It certainly has to be a very late or even post-Jomon period. Stoneworking like this was unheard of in Japan in the periods before then. Though the architecture is a bit strange. A small part of it reminds me of some other ruins I've seen before in the middle east or the mediterranean. But that has to be a coincidence."

A smile brimmed across the Doctor's face. "Why, for all I know, this seemed to be an utterly new discovery of a hitherto unknown culture."

"We can go sightseeing later," Hiratsuka-sensei said firmly. "For now we should for somewhere safe to rest, first."

"What kind of place are we talking about?" I asked.

"Somewhere open. A field or a plaza or a square big enough for the entire student body." She frowned. "This place might not have been bad, but I don't trust these buildings, especially that palace over there, to not fall apart when another earthquake strikes us. No. Orimura-sensei, Port-sensei and some other teachers had already scouted the way. There's a square further ahead, bigger than this and not surrounded by too many tall buildings. So we should be safe there for a while."

That seemed to bring everyone from their awestruck state back to reality. The students moved about a bit more calmly and quietly this time around.

The almost sudden relative silence allowed me some room to think. Everything had been so hectic before; the earthquake, the walk inside the cave, the city, Yukinoshita fainting, Hiratsukka-sensei finding us. Everything almost seemed to have happened

Now though, I could think for a while. And the more I think about it…

Let's start from the beginning.

First there was the voice and the apparition of Yuzare. It might have been my imagination but I remembered from my…other memories how Yuzare can only be seen by certain people. I really hope it was a hallucination or a trick of the light, but… if it wasn't then…

Then there was the earthquake. It might have been bad luck. A simple case of misfortune. Just like what Hachiman and Yukinoshita said. Besides, earthquakes happen in Japan all the time. A big one in the middle of a field tip, shouldn't be that terribly surprising in the grand scheme of things, right…?

And finally there is this city. I had never seen anything like this in Japanese history or archeology. The architecture was completely foreign from anything I know of. When was this built? By whom?

Any of these events by themselves would have alarmed me in an instant, but all of them together on the same day.

It was definitely not a coincidence.

There were too many questions, but all of them lead to only one conclusion.

The Ultra Ancient Civilization.

The Giants of Light and Darkness.

The War.

We're in danger. I realized.

A pit grew inside my stomach. A gaping maw, gnawing and chipping away at me as I walked further and further into the empty ruins. I looked around again. At the palaces, the towers and buildings. Ruins and rubbles all of them as far as I could see. A cold hand pressed against my chest then, grasping my heart in an icy grip. My thoughts were a whirlwind even as I tried to grasp the ever elusive memories of my…other self.

My other memories were vague and foggy. I remembered R'lyeh, an ancient city on an island rising out of the ocean. I remembered that it was also a ruined city of sorts, but I can't remember anything else beyond some vague outlines and shapes that barely resembled the city around—

"Maachi?"

I turned and found Yui looking at me, eyes filled with concern.

"Is something wrong? You've been spacing out for a while…"

I waved a hand at Yui.

"It's nothing, Yui." I said, trying to keep the tremor from my voice. "I was just…thinking about something."

She didn't seem convinced, but at the same time she was unwilling to press it. That was fine. Let her be silent. That should give me some room to think more.

If this city really was an Ultra Ancient Civilization ruin, then —

Suddenly three figures darted out from the empty street in front of us.

The teachers stopped abruptly, causing us and the rest of the crowd to stop as well.

"Orimura-sensei. Port-sensei. Aizawa-sensei." Hiratsuka-sensei called. "How is it? Did you manage to find anything?"

Orimura-sensei nodded. "There's a large plaza nearby that could accommodate all the students while we wait for rescue to arrive."

"That sounds good, where is it?"

"It's there, over that hill," Port-sensei pointed to the front where the buildings and ruins rose to cover a hill. At the very center of the hill was what seemed to be the remnant of a tower, somewhat thick and lumpy. The strangest thing about it was its color, whilst the buildings around it were hues of crimson and red, the tower was a dark, duty gray.

"The place seems good." Aizawa-sensei said. "There are not that many buildings that surround it and most of them were pretty much heaps of rubbles no taller than a person. In the event of an earthquake, it's the safest choice we could find right now."

Hiratsuka-sensei nodded. "Well if that's the case then we should head there right now."

"But," Orimura-sensei continued. "Hiratsuka-sensei, you should know first that there's…something on that hill."

Hiratsuka-sensei blinked. "What is it?"

Orimura-sensei bit her lips.

Suddenly, Aizawa-sensei chimed in. "It might be best for you to see for yourself."

Port-sensei cleared his throat. "W-well, it would certainly be of interest to my esteemed colleague, Doctor Oobleck."

Doctor Oobleck frowned.

I looked at the others from the Service Club. What could that be?

Hiratsuka-sensei pursed her lips. "Well, we just have to be careful then if that's the case."

"It doesn't pose any real danger." Port-sensei said. "It's just…a bit overwhelming."

The ascent to the top of the hill proved more treacherous than it appears. The pale marble street seemed smooth at first glance which belies its more slippery nature. Water from half-melting ice and snow flowed down freely across the slope, creating a slick surface. Patches of snow and sheets of ice also darted about the street, blanketing chunks of jagged rocks that caused people to stumble about or covering holes and pits that broke the moment someone stepped on it, causing their foot to fall in.

Owing to the fact that we were a crowd moving up the ascent, if someone were to fall or slip, it could lead to a chaotic ripple effect to the people down the line. As a result, we had to move slowly and carefully, almost to a crawl. Thankfully, save for one or two such incidents, we managed to make do without much trouble. Hiratsuka-sensei and the other teachers had everyone walk steadily and spread apart and were also quick to notice when someone was about to fall or slip.

As we climbed up, the conditions of the buildings around us gradually worsened. Here, near the summit of the hill, the buildings were all rubbles and ruins. Great chunks of the walls here were torn open or seemingly blasted apart so that we could peer inside of them. Many were just stacks of stones tracing the outlines where buildings used to stand. Others had their roofs caved in — most simply have no roofs at all, snow freely covering the inside floor of the buildings.

As we inched closer and closer to the top of the hill, the dark gray tower loomed. The weak afternoon sun cast the tower's long frail shadow down the slope. The first thing we saw was its top. An oval diamond outline thrusting to the sky. It was uneven but in an unnatural sort of way with lines so smooth and curvature so precise they had to be man made—

"Masaki."

The voice came like thunder from a cloudless sky.

Immediately, I froze and looked up.

"Maachi?" Yui walked beside. "What is it?"

I ignored her. Her words might as well be passing winds to me. Instead, I turned my gaze upward towards the hill.

There was something strange about that tower…

"Maachi-bro?" Tobe asked. Nearby some of the others from Hayama's clique and the Service were looking at us.

I turned to Yui.

"I…I think I'm going to go ahead first." I said, trying to smile. "Don't worry. I..I'm just going to take a look."

"O-okay…?"

I nodded at the rest of them and then quickly, but carefully moved on ahead.

The ascent up the hill was thankfully not that steep. Outside for the occasional sheets of ice, piles of snow, or slippery rocks I didn't have much to worry about. For some reason though, my steps felt somewhat lighter and quick. Before I knew it I was already in the front of the crowd where the teachers were leading the way ahead.

"Masaki?" Hiratsuka-sensei frowned when she found me walking beside her. "What are you doing here? Get back in line."

"I'm just going to take a look, sensei."

Above, the top tower glimmered. It had to be the reflected light of the weak afternoon sun, but somehow it seemed brighter than that, like a star in the far off horizon.

"Just…a look,"

"Wait, Masak—"

I didn't bother hearing what she had to say or, more accurately, I couldn't. A strange pulse invaded my ear, a rhythmic beating, louder than a drum, closer than the sound of my own heart. Each pulse sent a shiver down my spine. Each echo pounded into my being. I felt energized as if I could run ten miles and then some.

I continued upward. The tower grew and grew. Now it seemed to slump somehow, yet it never lost its precise and man-made — perhaps even machine-made curvature about it. The top of the tower is shining now, a radiance like the morning star, clear as crystal, purer than fire, burning against the rolling storm clouds above.

Then I reached the very top of the hill and I realized that it was no tower at all.

It was a statue.

Dark gray it was, as if made from the rocks of the mountain itself. Its surface was strangely smooth, as if everything was carved from a single titanic stone. The figure was that of a giant humanoid, kneeling on one leg with both arms spread apart to its side, hands and palms open. The entire figure was simply massive, easily half a hundred meters tall if it were to stand up. It appeared human at first glance, yet when I looked upon its face…

There was no mistaking it.

An Ultraman.

A Giant of Light.

I looked further up—

And almost instantly I wanted to cower away.

A crystal was set on its forehead, blazing with light. It flared like a summer sun, scorching my eyes, burning at my irises, yet for some reasons, I couldn't look away from it. Instead, it entranced me where I stood, holding me in place. A white-hot star surrounded by the full color spectrum. The light was not static, but ever moving; dazzling, dancing in swirls and waves and a hundred other patterns, shifting its outline into this color and that.

The pulse returned, stronger than ever. Where before it was a drum, now it was thunder, booming with every beat, shaking the earth with every echo. There was a certain rhythm to it. A melody, deep and slow…and sad. It sang with the dazzling light, moving and changing its beat with every swirl and wave of the light. Sometimes loudly and quickly like heartbeat, other times rumbling like a storm and—

"Masaki!" Hiratsuka-sensei's cry broke my reverie.

I turned to find her ascending to the top of the hill, walking right up to me.

"What's gotten…into….you…" Suddenly she stopped and stared. Her mouth hung open, gaping in bewilderment. "What…"

Behind her the crowd was not that far away. Some stared and pointed as they ascended. Others took out their phones, cameras at the ready. When they reached the top of the hill, they broke into a murmur.

"Is that…?"

"No way…"

"It.. it doesn't look like a tower."

"That's not a tower!"

"A…statue?"

Students began to gather at the top of the hill, flocking around the statue. All of them staring awestruck at it, pointing fingers and flashing camera light.

"Maachi! Are you…woah." Tobe stopped and stared when his eyes fell on the statue. Behind him, the rest of my friends followed quickly.

"What is this…?" Hachiman asked.

"A… Titan?" Hina's voice sounded shaken.

Titan. The word immediately had an effect on the crowd.

"Look there! The face—"

"That's a Titan right?"

"N-no way!"

"Wait hold on, what the—"

"What is a Titan statue doing here?!"

"Eee! I don't want to look."

The crowd broke into a loud cacophony as people moved about and talked with and over one another. People scrambled, chattered, and cried. Some even screamed as they pointed at the statue. The camera lights came flashing like lightning, one after another. Excitement turned into a haze bordering on hysteria.

"This… this incredible." Doctor Oobleck said, finally reaching the top of the tower, "A— a carving — a statue of a Titan? Not only that, it seemed to be life-sized too. My goodness! What kind of site are we seeing here? Who are the people that lived here? No, better question yet, they've met the Titans before? How? And why are they erecting this statue? This goes beyond just simple reverence this is—"

"Maachi? What is it?" Yui's voice washed and rolled over me.

I didn't answer her, instead I returned my gaze back to the statue. The crystal on his forehead was shining brighter than ever, swallowing the other colors around it. White and brilliant and pure it shone now. A nova waiting to explode. Yet for some reason, no one could see it at all. No one except me.

"Masaki." The voice came from nowhere and everywhere. "Masaki." It rumbled deep beneath the earth. It rang with the thunder from the storm. "Masaki." It echoed in the empty street. It reverberated through the desolate ruins. "Masaki." It was gentle, but powerful. Dignified, but poignant. There was a force to it, but also a sorrow, deep and ancient. "Masaki." I looked around and the crowd was still chattering and mumbling about, deft to the voice.

"Masaki."

Above. I realized. The voice came from above.

I looked up and the Ultraman's stony gaze was on me, as if it was staring deep into my soul. Into my very being.

How long? How long has he waited?

The crystal blazed above his head.

"Finally…" The voice was both a whisper and a clap of thunder. It blew like the softest of breezes, it tolled like the greatest of church bells.

"You are here…"

Like a storm, the words rushed at my thoughts, sending them into disarray. Emotion washed over me, filling my every being. The light exploded into a supernova and—

…

…

…

—The pain— suddenly. Searing. Like fire, scorching through my veins—

…

…

..

…it was…no….

…

…

—Cold. So cold. An icy storm. A blizzard. Bursting through me, at me and—

…

…

…but…!

…

—The earth rent asunder beneath me. The skies torn apart above me. Around me was fire and blood and dust and—

…

…can't….

…

…

—Crashing sounds, cascading like thunder, one after another—

…

…should…must….

…

…

—Cries. Screams. Fear. Panic. Anger. Wrath.

…

…

…

—Shadows leapt like—

…

…what…?

…

…

…

—Darkness. Overwhelming. Absolute.—

…

…

…No….!

…

…

…

…

—Light. So weak. So frail. So—

…

…

…

A single tear fell on my cheek.

…

…

…

"...Make it stop." I whispered. The pain was unbearable. "Make it—"

…

…

"Keigo-san?"

The voice was close, but it felt so far. So, so, very far. Yukinoshita, I realized, looking at me with concern.

…

…

"Masaki?"

Another voice, a figure slowly approached me. Hachiman, walking right beside me. Yet he might as well stand a continent away from me.

…

…

"Maachi?"

Yui placed a hand on my shoulder.

…

…

"Masaki…"

Hiratsuka—

I couldn't take it any more.

I screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—"

—The pain blazed through me. It burned me. It froze me. It—

"Masaki!"

"Maachi!"

"Keigo-san!

"What the—"

Voices swept over but it might as well be water sliding over rocks.

"Aaaaaaaaaa…………!"

And then I ran.

Away from the crowd.

Away from the statue.

Away from the Ultraman's gaze.

Away from the pain.

Away from—

—​

I screamed as I ran through the street. Screamed even as my throat felt as parched as desert sand. Screamed even as my mouth ran dry and my lips cracked and bled. Screamed until my voice turned hoarse and I began to choke and gasp.

Around me was hell on earth,

The buildings were awash in flames that rose and fell like waves in the oceans, stirred by the hot winds. The flame snaked through the tall buildings and the towers. It leapt from house to house. It devoured the palaces and the manors and the mansions. It left charred remains and red-blood ruins in its wake, yet still it hungers for more.

Above, the smoke rose to form dark clouds like that of a storm. The sky was black with smoke. The sun too seemed as if it had been set ablaze in fires red and black. Innumerable flecks of ember and cinders and ashes traveled upward through the breezes and the winds, sparking red and orange in the black smoke clouds.

And on the street—

People ran amok across the street. Panic-stricken they tried to flee the flame that now surrounded them. Their faces slick with sweat. Their eyes wide in terror. Their clothes singed black or torn or bloodied or even all three. They ran. North and south and least and west. They didn't care for any direction. The only thing they cared about was escaping the inferno.

Corpses were strewn about haphazardly. Men and women and children, old and young. Broken or torn or burnt or all three. Unattended and uncared for. They lie across the street, trampled by the panicking crowd or avoided altogether. They reached out with cold hands and feet and faces from piles of ruins and debris. They stood frozen inside burning buildings, black with smoke that carried the stench of overcooked meat.

I closed my eyes. Yet even so their screams followed me.

"Help me!"

"Someone help!"

"My son— please he's inside he—"

"Papaaa….!!!"

"Make it stop!"

"Where are you—?!"

People shrieked as the fires grew hotter and hotter. They cried as the tall buildings around them collapsed on their heads. They choked at the smoke-jammed air. They lie on the street, moaning and groaning at their open wounds, calling for help that never came. They begged and prayed and screamed and wept .

It was all futile. Somehow, I knew. They would die. They would all die. Trapped here, inside this burning city. Lost. Forgotten. Forsaken.

"I'm sorry." I breathed. "I'm so sorry."

I didn't know who the words were for, only that I felt the need to say them.

I opened my eyes slightly. From the periphery of my vision, I managed to catch a glimpse of a building. A ruin, but empty and untouched by the flames.

Instantly, instinctively, I went inside, fleeing from the images — the memories — and horror occurring in the broad open streets. Even if the buildings were to catch on fire. Even if I die by the fire or the smoke, at the very least I would escape the horrors around me.

The inside of the buildings was as I found it. An empty ruin, desolate and dusty. The walls were dull scarlet in color and riddled with holes. I didn't care. I ducked into the corner and tucked myself there. At least I was away from the corpses, from the stampeding crowd, from the smoke and the fire.

Yet even so, I could still hear them. The voices. The screams. I tried to plug my ears with both my hands, but somehow, they managed to pierce through.

"AAAAhhhh!"

"No! someone, please—"

"Mamaaaa! Papaaa! Wake up….!"

"Heeeelp….!"

"Water, water, over here—"

"Run!"

"Someone, help!"

"I'm sorry." I whispered. Tears spilled into my cheeks. I realized I was crying. "I'm sorry. Please….forgive me…"

My hands moved about. I wanted to tear my ears away. Just to escape from the screams. The memories of—

Warmth enveloped me then.

Long strands of black hair veiled my vision.

A figure knelt beside me, holding me closely in its embrace.

"It's alright, Masaki. It's alright…"

A hand placed itself comfortingly on the back of my head and began stroking it gently.

"It's alright now…calm down…it's alright…"

I opened my eyes.

Hiratsuka-sensei was there, hands clasped about me, hugging me as tightly as she could even as she stroked my hair.

My breath hitched. Tears spilled out even more from my eyes. "S—sensei—"

"I'm here, Masaki." She whispered softly. "Don't worry I'm not going anywhere."

"I—"

The screams came again then. Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands of them.

"The fire! We need to put out—"

"No!"

"Run, boy! We can't—"

"Let me go! I can't leave her there I can't—"

"Someone…anyone.,,,p-please… help…"

Outside, I could see the fire raging on. People running about in a blind panic, terror seizing them.

I closed my eyes and hugged her back as tightly as I could, pushing my head against her shoulders even as more and more tears flowed out from me.

"I….I'm sorry," I whispered. To the screams. To Hiratsuka. To all of them. "I….I…..I…."

I coughed as I choked on a lump in my throat.

"I— I—"

"Breathe, Masaki," Hiratsuka-sensei said. "It's okay. Take a deep breath and just…breathe. In and out now. Just like that…in and out. Just focus on your breathing."

I did as she asked. I took a long, lungful of air and exhaled, slowly. Inhale… exhale… inhale… exhale… in and out…. in and out…

In and out.

The scream washed over me, nearly drowning out the sound of my own breathing. Outside people were dying, people did die. I ignored them as hard as I could, instead trying to focus on my breathing.

In and out.

Even as I closed my eyes, the fire darted about in my mind, jumping from building to building, swallowing person after person. People screamed as the fire found them. They cried as the fire snatched their loved ones. They gasped as the smoke choked their breaths. I tried to hold back the tears, but—

"Let it all out, Masaki… let it all out." Hiratsuka-sensei whispered.

In and out.

I cried into Hiratsuka-sensei's shoulders, my tears ran on and on, hot and salty to the taste. I cried until my tears ran dry and my throat turn hoarse and parched and I coughed in fits. Hiratsuka-sensei didn't seem to care though, still clinging to me as tightly as she could as if I would die if she ever let go. The screams continued on and figures continued to dart inside my mind.

In and out….

Hiratsuka-sensei was still stroking my head. She had taken off her gloves at some point, because I could feel her warm hands over my hair.I tried to focus on Hiratsuka-sensei instead. On how gently she brushed my hair. On how warm she was.

In… and out…

Hiratsuka-sensei's body was warm. Like a bonfire in the middle of a cold night, cloaking me in its warmth. The screams were still there, the images still played in my mind but they were…lesser somehow. As if from far away. Fading as Hiratsuka-sensei continued to hold me close.

In… and… out…

The screams died out…until they were no more than whispers….even that too became passing wind and then…

…silence….

In… and… out…

The images faded…their details grew hazy…obscure….the fires disappeared….the people were gone…the burning buildings and broken streets….they disappeared slowly into black oblivion.

In… and… out…

In the darkness, I could hear Hiratsuka-sensei breathing softly as she hugged me. Rhythmic. Calm. Composed. I could feel her heart beating inside her chest. Slow. Steady. Both of them were soothing, somehow, and before I knew it my own breathing was following their rhythms.

In……and……out……

In…

….and…

Out….

I opened my eyes.

We sat, hugging one another inside the desolate ruin. Only the both of us. Alone. Quiet. The sound of our breathing filled the otherwise silent room. No screams of panic. No cries of pain. The world outside too was silent as well. The buildings were half-rubbles, the streets empty. No figures running across them trying to flee a fire or lying dead on the ground. Barren. Deserted. As it has been for millions of years.

"Have you calmed down yet?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked. "Or do you need more time?"

I blushed. Red spread over my cheeks. "Y-you can let go now."

I told her as much, but even as Hiratsuka-sensei began to let go, I couldn't help but feel somewhat reluctant.

Hiratsuka-sensei looked at me, smiling comfortingly.

"Sensei, about that statue…" I trailed off, uncertain. What should I say? How much should I tell her? Where do I even begin? The visions? The memories? The Giants of Light? The Giants of Darkness? Yuzare? The Ancient Civilization?

"You see when I saw that statue…I…that is to say back there…"

I never thought I'd encounter them so soon. Not here. Not now. I thought I had time. Time to prepare. To research and delve a bit. Time to plan and to go over my plans. Time to enjoy my youth.

But if that back there really was a Giant of Light, then…

"...I…I had a bad feeling, when I saw that statue," I said. "And I think….I think…"

We're in danger. I was about to say.

Then I caught something moving in the corner of my vision.

I turned and froze.

"You guys….what are you doing here?"

There, standing at the edge of the ruined door of the building were Hachiman, Yui, and Yukinoshita. Their faces were slightly flushed and sweaty as if they'd done some heavy exercise.

They seemed taken aback when I called out to them and it took them a while to get their bearings.

"W-we followed you here," Yukinoshita said, an uncharacteristic stammer entering her voice. "After you ran away. You were screaming and crying and…"

"Maachi…are you alright?" Yui asked.

She took a hesitant step towards me. Yukinoshita and Hachiman still stood at the precipice of the door, the latter carrying Hiratsuka-sensei's bag over his shoulder.

"Ah me?" I quickly dusted myself up and tried to stand. "I— I'm fine really. It's nothing. Sorry for being weird like that. It's just, haha, that Titan statue is really scary, huh…"

I stopped at the flat look Yui gave me. Yukinoshita was unimpressed. Even Hachiman cringed when my words came out.

"Masaki…." Hiratsuka-sensei shook her head.

I sighed and turned back to them. "How much did you guys see?"

"Uhmm…" Yui mumbled. "Etto…not that much?"

"Only some of it," Yukinoshita said. "Hiratsuka-sensei was the first to chase after you and we simply followed her afterwards."

"Kind of? We only see the end of it really." Hachiman said.

"I see…" I rubbed the back of my head, embarrassment creeping up to me. "I'm sorry you guys have to see that—"

"No, no, no. It's fine," Yui said. She rubbed the back of her head, stammering and stuttering but continuing. "I…I don't know why you ran away like that. A—and I don't know why you were crying or screaming or any of that stuff that happened. But…but I don't think it's something you need to be sorry about…"

"Yui…" I looked at her and sighed. "Thanks…"

Yui nodded.

Behind her, Hachiman and Yukinoshita stood staring at us, an unreadable expression on their faces.

"Come on," Hiratsuka-sensei said after a while, standing up and dusting herself off. "Let's go back to the others."

She walked over to Hachiman who handed her her bag. "Thanks for carrying this for me, Hikigaya."

"N-no problem, sensei." Hachiman said, blinking and somewhat…dazed? As if he'd only seen Hiratsuka-sensei then and there.

Hiratsuka-sensei proceeded to exit the room while we silently followed after her.

The street was eerily quiet when we stepped on the outside. Snows crunched and melted beneath our shoes as we walked on the way back. The scarlet buildings and ruins were empty and silent as we passed them by. Above the storm clouds gathered and rumbled, masses of dark gray and black occasionally broken by lightning.

"Looks like it's going to rain." Hachiman said, observing the clouds.

"Or snow." Yukinoshita added. "I wouldn't put it past it. The weather has been all kinds of strange lately."

"I really hope not." Yui said. "It's going to be really cold out here."

It seemed that everyone was trying quite hard to return back to the previous atmosphere.

I supposed I should oblige them somewhat.

"Who knows?" I said, shrugging. "Maybe it won't rain. Or snow. Maybe the clouds are just passing by and we'll see some sunlight, instead."

"That's very optimistic, moreso that it comes from you." Yukinoshita said. "Honestly though, I expected Yuigahama to say something like that."

"Mou, Yukinon, you say that like it's a bad thing." Yui pouted.

A shadow of a smile passed quickly over Yukinoshita's face. Even Hachiman snorted.

"Well in any case, we should return as quickly as we can," Hiratsuka-sensei nodded, though she was also smiling.

We reached an intersection surrounded by some ruins and centered around a fountain topped by a single large obelisk. The hill with the statue of the Giant of Light was not that far off now.

Suddenly—

I caught the ruins around me shaking before I felt it on my foot.

"EARTHQUAKE!"

Immediately, everyone threw themselves on the ground.

The earth heaved beneath us, jolting us thru and fro. If we'd been standing, it would have thrown us around. Rocks and stones and small rubles around us quivered and then were tossed about. Debris and snow from nearby ruins spilled onto the street, but luckily we weren't that close to any particular buildings so we avoided them for the most part.

Hachiman and Yui were on the ground side by side, while Yukinoshita was beside me. All of us were covering our heads with our hands, shaking with every quaking of the earth. Hiratsuka-sensei was some steps away from us, at the very front. Like the rest of us, she had dropped herself on the ground and covered her head.

Suddenly, a shadow fell onto her. Growing darker and darker.

"Hiratsuka-sensei!"

I half stood up and rushed at her. Pure instinct driving me forward.

Before I realized what was happening, I hauled Hiratsuka-sensei by the shoulders and pushed both of us forward.

Something crashed behind us. I looked back to find the obelisk from before now lying on the ground, right where Hiratsuka-sensei was.

"Masaki, get down!"

Hiratsuka-sensei grabbed me by the hand and forced to drop beside her.

The earthquake grew harder and harder, shaking much more violently than before, swelling in intensity. It was to the point that we had to force ourselves just to continue lying on the ground.

The ruins shook until it seemed like they were waves on the sea, rising and falling with the earthquake. The air itself seemed to vibrate, reaching a crescendo until—

BOOM!

The exploding sound blasted into our eardrums. Some of the buildings nearby collapsed, their roofs and walls caving in, unable to endure much longer. Bricks fell into the streets, left and right, behind and infront of us. Pieces of rubles and ruins, torn aside by the earthquake.

And then just as abruptly as it came, the earthquake died.

We waited. A second. Two seconds. Three.

Slowly we stood up from where we were. Behind me Hachiman, Yui, and Yukinoshita wobbled slightly as they did. Even Hiratsuka-sensei seemed slightly shaken. I myself was not in a much better state.

"That…that was…" I heaved a lungful of air and shivered. I couldn't believe that that had just happened.

"We need to get back to the others." Hiratsuka-sensei said. "Quickly, before—"

"Sensei, look!"

Yui pointed to something in the distance.

We turned.

Off to our side, slightly far away from where the hill was, a large cloud of dust filled the air. The dust cloud loomed, large and still. It was tall. Taller than any of the towers around the city, easily dwarfing them in size. A dark gray mass as if the storm cloud above had come down to the earth.

"Was that…an explosion?" Hachiman asked.

Boom.

Behind us, a large cloud of dust filled the air, boiling, foaming like the edges of an angry sea. It loomed there, taller than any of the towers around it, easily dwarfing them in size. A dark gray mass as if the storm cloud above had come down to the earth.

Suddenly the dust clouds darkened. Masses of gray turned black. Solidifying into a figure carved from Stygian stone and titanic in proportion. As if announcing our doom, above us the storm flashed with lightning. Thunder clashed in cascades. The wind whipped. The cloud of dust parted.

And then a figure from my nightmares, visions, and half-dazed memories stepped forward.

My blood froze in my veins. I couldn't move.

It was tall. This far away, it seemed as tall as the mountains around us. With skin as in contours of dark gray and abyssal blue. Its head was shaped and looked as if it was crowned by a pharaoh's Nemes. It roared—

Spoiler: The Kaiju's Roar

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T41eSttCTQ

Spoiler: The Kaiju

"EEEEREEEEEEEEEEE……………!"

There was no mistaking it

"I— is that…?" Yui's hands fell to the side.

"No way…" Hachiman whispered.

"A kaiju…" Yukinoshita said.

"Not just any kaiju." Hiratsuka-sensei said. "That is—"

"Golza." I finished.

It is here.

I am too late.

—​

Author's Note: I AM ALIVE HAHA!

I'm not dead and neither is this story. Sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter, but here we are the penultimate chapter of Episode 1 and the first arc of this story. Not gonna lie, writing this chapter was a lot of pain mixed in with bursts of joy and inspiration. Work has been disturbed particularly because of my own Thesis research. But, finally, i managed to scrape in some time to finish this chapter.

Thank you all for reading. As always, like and comment if you wanna support this story and I'll see you next time.

 

[clonezero]

Hopefully this means the Ultraman part of the story will be mote prominent moving forward.

 

[k4rn0]

Hopefully this means the Ultraman part of the story will be mote prominent moving forward.

Click to shrink...

Indeed. As I have said in another site where this story is posted, up to this point in the story, Masaki and his friends have been living in something of a bubble. A bubble of a peaceful, idyllic, high school life. That bubble is about to burst.

 

[k4rn0]

Episode 1 Part 6:...Keigo Masaki Inherits the Light.

The Year of Darkness

A roughly one-year long period (23rd of January 2027 — 17th of February 2028) in which the kaijus known as the Titans (Tiga, Camearra, Darramb, Hudra) were active. During this period they proceeded to attack various economic, political, and cultural centers across Earth and Mars. Casualties of these attacks are estimated to be about 250 Million to 1 Billion, dead, wounded, missing, and/or displaced (See Casulaties during the Year of Darkness). It also caused severe social, political, cultural, and economic devastation resulting from property damage, breakdown of international relation and trade, loss of cultural heritage sites and the likes (See Material and Immaterial Losses during the Year of Darkness).

— Encyclopedia Britannica (17th Edition)

—​

"Hello. Captain Iruma speaking."

…

"What? Where?"

…

"Sobu High students, you say?"

…

"...I understand. Very well. Thank you for the information. I will head out shortly."

…

"Munakata."

"Yes Captain?"

"We have a situation on our hands. A high school tour group got lost in the mountains around the Akasaka cave site after a severe earthquake and tunnel collapse. A team will be sent over there."

"In this weather?"

"Our jets can handle it after the modifications made three months ago."

"Very well. Daigo and Rena already took EX-J Alpha and EX-J Beta with them to Tokyo, but we still have our older GUTS Wings 1 and 2. I'll set out with Shinjoh and Horii."

"I think, for this case, I'm going to head over there, personally."

"Are you sure?"

"Yumiko is among them."

"...I see. Alright. I'll contact Shinjoh and Horii in a second."

—​

Boom. Golza's footsteps echoed through the ruined city. Boom…Boom…Boom…

A dark figure as if clad by abyssal stones for skin. Taller than most of the towers around the city. Larger than even the palaces around us. A shadow out of a nightmare, looming on the horizon, yet slowly solidifying as he approached. A walking mountain that caused the earth beneath us to quiver at his every step.

"Th—that's Golza?!" Yui shrieked.

"Y-you can't mean—" Hachiman gulped. "—T-the kaiju who attacked Chiba all those years ago?"

"Golza." Yukinoshita whispered, voice shaken. "The same one who ravaged East and Central Asia—?"

"—And is the single deadliest kaiju until the rise of Titans. Yes. That's him alright." Hiratsuka-sensei finished.

"W— what's it doing here?!" Yui asked.

I know why. My thoughts flew to the statue atop the hill. The blazing light above its head…the slow rhythmic hymns…the voice.

The Giant of Light Statue. It was after the Giant of Light Statue.

"It doesn't matter." Hiratsuka-sensei said. "What matters now is that we need to hurry back. Now!"

Yes. The statue. We need to get back to the statue. It's our only hope.

"Come on, move! Go!" Hiratsuka-sensei roared.

We ran.

We ran northward, heading towards the hill as fast we could. We ran past cyclopean ruins and hollow rubbles. We ran, twisting and turning this way and that. We ran through wide-empty streets and choked alleyways between derelict, half-crushed walls. Our footsteps echoed amidst the otherwise ruins, occasionally broken by the sound of giant footsteps echoing behind us. Boom…boom…boom….

My breath grew laborious. My throat ached. My heart beat across my chest like a drum. Sweat glistened on my forehead. The others weren't that much different, all breath ragged and sweaty-faced as they ran beside me.

Buildings and towers around us reverberated slightly with each footsteps taken by the kaiju. Boom…boom…boom. Blood-red walls shook. Decaying murals fractured. Windows and doors stirred. Boom…boom…boom. I chanced a glance behind. Golza lumbered on, snow and dust lifting into the air with its passing, buildings and towers toppling with his every step. Boom…boom…boom…the sound of its footsteps went. Slow, but inevitable like a drum of doom.

"There!" Hiratsuka-sensei cried.

The hill was ahead. The very top of it was a plateau that was the site of a wide open plaza and at its very center was the statue. Golza was behind us, but blessedly he still seemed quite far away, a looming figure on the horizon. Yet even from that far distance his roar shook the earth we stood on.

"ZHOREEEEEEEEEEE…….!!!!"

"We're close now, come on!"

We pushed on, Hiratsuka-sensei at the very forefront of us.

Storm clouds rumbled overhead, in shades of hard granite rock and blemished iron. The world darkened with the oncoming storm, shadow mingling, elongating, spreading across the land, cast by the tall buildings and towers around us.

We seemed to be in an elite district of sorts. Here the buildings stood tall, four or five stories or even more. Darted around us were cyclopean palaces topped by giant domes and towers that did not so much scrape the sky as pierce it, defying the rolling storm above.

We ran underneath the shadows of the buildings, the palaces, the galleries, and towers when—

Light. A flash of white.

I cried out and stopped as I placed my hands over my eyes. The light seared me and blind me for a moment and then—

CRACK!

Thunder screeched at my eardrums. The pain, quick and biting and immediate. My hands were over my ears in an instant.

I could see the others — frozen where they stood just like me, hands covering their ears or their eyes or both.

"Look out!"

Hiratsuka-sensei pointed upward.

Nearby was a thick broken tower that ended abruptly in a jagged stump. The side of the tower was scorched scarlet like fresh forged metal where the lightning had struck it.

Suddenly, I heard a low, crumbling sound. Stone grinding against stone, the tower groaning under its own weight. A wild wind suddenly blew then and the tower began to sway—

"RUN!"

Hiratsuka-sensei's warning came only a moment right before the tower toppled towards our direction.

We scrambled back forward as fast as we could. Behind us, the tower crashed into the nearby buildings that then too smashed into the buildings around it. Like dominoes toppling over one another. Blood-red walls millions of years old began to fall all around us.

When we stopped and turned, we found the road behind us completely blocked by fallen ruins and debris.

"That was a close one." Hiratsuka-sensei said. Beyond those ruins, Golza roared. A distant figure still, but growing closer and bigger with each passing moment. "Hurry!"

We continued to run.

We passed by an area where the earthquake had been harsh; the walls were crumbling and breaking apart. All the roofs had caved in in one manner or another. Fragments of walls and roofs scattered haphazardly across the streets. Red stone and bricks lying about like blood on the snow.

Lightning flashed over our heads. Stark white over granite gray.

Thunder crashed all around us.

A soil-like smell like the beginning of a rain was in the air.

A cold wind blew, a chill that bites to my very bones. I was sweating bullets and felt them turned to ice across my face. I drew in a freezing breath. Despite that, my lungs felt as if they were burning. Each inhalation sent searing flames through my throat and nostrils. Yet still I shivered nonetheless.

I tried to focus on running. My legs were sore. My feet ached. Adrenaline dulled the pain somewhat but did not erase it completely. I pushed on.

We were now getting close to the hill. I could see the very top of the statue from where I am. Our only hope against Golza. A few hundred meters away—

"WAIT!"

Suddenly we stopped.

In front of us, the earth was split open into a deep gulf. A crack on the ground, most likely caused by the previous earthquake. We couldn't see the bottom of it; just a rift leading down to a black abyss. Around the cracks, the buildings were all ruptured as if pulled apart by giant hands.

Just beyond the gulf was the hill and the statue, just out of reach as if taunting me.

Yui looked on with horror. "Wh-what do we do, sensei?"

Hiratsuka-sensei did not bite her lips or drum her fingers. Instead, she stared, face set in stone, looking round; at the rift, at the buildings.

Then Sensei turned to us. "We need to jump."

"Eh-?"

"Huh?"

"W-what?"

"There's no time." Hiratsuka-sensei said. "We need to get across quickly. Thankfully it's not as wide as it could have been."

Hiratsuka-sensei was right; a jump, not even a long one, and we could probably make it safely across.

Even so—

"B—but…" Yui glanced at the gulf. Yukinoshita and Hachiman too stared at it, gulping.

"We can't waste time going back and forth and trying to find a way around." Hiratsuka-sensei said firmly.

Boom…Boom…Boom…

As if to emphasize Sensei's words, Golza's footsteps echoed in the air. We didn't dare turn around, but we knew Golza was right behind us, getting closer with each passing second.

Hiratsuka-sensei turned to me. "Masaki."

"Y-yes?"

"You go on first."

I swallowed at that, but I nodded at her nonetheless.

I jumped across the gulf without much trouble, reaching the other side and landing on my own two feet.

I turned back to the others.

Except for Hiratsuka-sensei, they all still looked on with pale-faces and stony expressions. Not that I could blame them.

"Hikigaya, you're next." Hiratsuka-sensei called. "Masaki, be prepared to catch him should anything happen."

Hachiman hesitated for a moment, looking around nervously, then—

"ZHOAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEE…….!!!!"

As if whipped up by Golza's roar, Hachiman raced across and jumped.

Like me, he landed foot first firmly on my side, his legs shaking even after he did.

Yui was up next. She seemed the most clearly afraid out of all of us, her face stricken with terror and her feet shaking as she stood at the precipice.

"Hi—Hikki c-catch me if I fall okay?"

Hachiman nodded wordlessly after a moment, right before Yui herself made her jump.

She landed on the ground, but kept skiddling onward, almost running past us, before Hachiman and I caught her by the arms. She sighed in relief when we did.

"Th—thanks, Hikki, Maachi."

The next one was Yukinoshita.

Except for Hiratsuka-sensei, she was probably the most composed of us all. Her fair face and icy expression was the picture of rigid coolness. Only the stiffness of her jaw and the small biting of her lips betrayed the nervousness she must've felt.

Even so, She jumped across, landing near the edge, but still firmly on the other side.

Hiratsuka-sensei was last.

She took off her large backpack first and tossed it over to the other side. "Masaki. Here."

I managed to catch it and proceeded to slung it across my own back.

Then Hiratsuka-sensei made ready to jump.

If she felt any hint of fear or doubt or nervousness, she didn't show it. Her face was a picture of serene calmness and there was a power in her gait and a confidence in her gaze.

She was about to jump when—

The crumbling noise was the only warning I got.

"Sensei, watch out!"

Hiratsuka-sensei jumped back almost at the same time that my warning came. Right before the ground beneath her gave way. Large swathes of the crack on her side crumbled and fell into the rift. Down the seemingly bottomless abyss.

"Sensei!"

"Hiratsuka-sensei!"

"I'm alright,"

Hiratsuka-sensei took a shaky breath as she rose, her coat and shirts covered in dust, but outside of that she looked no worse for wear.

Slowly, she rose, observing the gulf that lay between us. The gap had widened greatly now, large swathes of the ground on Hiratsuka-sensei's side had fallen down the wayside. Even parts of the buildings around us came tumbling down.

Then, after a few moments of silent observation, Hiratsuka-sensei took a deep breath and said. "You kids go on ahead."

I froze dead where I stood.

"What?"

The word left my mouth before I could stop it.

"I don't think I can make it with a gap this big." Hiratsuka-sensei said. "I'll have to find another way around to get to the other side."

"No." I whispered. Then I shouted. "N— no way! We can't just leave you here!"

"I'll be fine. You kids worry about yourself first. Golza is—"

"There has to be some way near here." I looked at the buildings. Could she climb up one of them and jump? No. Too big and dangerous. Make a bridge perhaps? No. Too time consuming. There has to be something. Anything. "We'll wait for you and—"

"THERE ISN'T TIME!"

Her words rang in my head.

I stared at her, mouth open about to protest, but the glare she gave me held me back.

"There isn't time. Masaki." Hiratsuka-sensei said plainly.

Boom… Golza's footsteps. Closer. More powerful. The buildings around us shook with it. Boom... Boom... Boom… I could see Golza. A figure looming far behind Hiratsuka-sensei, but growing bigger with each passing moment.

I swallowed. I knew she was right. But still—!

"You need to get back up there before Golza arrives."

"S— sensei."

"Go."

"I—"

"JUST GO ALREADY!"

Silence.

The wind beat around us as we stared at one another, a literal line dividing us.

"Just go……" Hiratsuka-sensei said, more softly.

A hand placed itself on my shoulder. "Maachi…"

Yui stared at me, a pleading look in her eyes. Hachiman and Yukinoshita too were staring at me.

I gulped.

I looked back at Hiratsuka-sensei. She nodded.

"I—" I bit my lips. "I'll definitely come back for you, sensei!"

Then, together with the others, we begin to run.

My vision turned blurry. Tears stung at my eyes, spilling into my cheeks.

I was sobbing, I realized.

As we ran, the thoughts came unbidden to me—

If I hadn't run away at the sight of the statue…

If I didn't have a panic attack before…

If I was just a bit stronger, a bit smarter, a bit faster…

If, if, if, if, if, if—

So many ifs. So many things I did wrong. So many things I could have done right but didn't.

I knew, in that moment, that the image of Hiratsuka-sensei standing alone across the gulf while Golza closed in behind her would be forever seared into my mind.

—​

The top of the hill was a buzzing beehive about to burst.

The place was a plaza set upon a man-made plateau with wide streets leading north, south, west, and east intersecting at the very center of it. Low rubbles surrounded the premise, more piles of stones than a ruin.

Students crowded the plaza to the brim, standing about anxiously, ready to bolt and run at the slightest provocation. Some sat down on the ground, not because of any laxity, but because they simply couldn't stand — those who were wounded or who had injured their leg previously. They sat there, surrounded by some of their friends or a teacher who was busy tending to their wounds.

Many of the students huddled in small groups, talking in hushed tones and fearful whispers. Others threw nervous glances to the south, some even had their phones or cameras on and up, light blinking white and red. South of here, Golza loomed, a dark figure on the horizon that slowly became bigger as he approached, his footsteps reverberating across the air as he lumbered on. Boom…Boom…Boom…

"ZHOAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEE…….!!!!"

Everyone flinched at Golza's roar. Silence fell across the crowd, conversations died, faces grew pale, heads turned to the where Golza was, more than a few swallowed nervously. For a single moment, I thought they would run in a blind panic.

The moment passed and then the crowd slowly returned back to what they were doing. Almost returning to the way they were before. Almost. A slightly more anxious tone in their conversations, the slightly more tense way everyone holds themselves, and slightly more numbers of heads staring southward told me all I needed to know.

At the center of this tumultuous crowd standing calmly like the eye of the storm, was Qrow Branwen. His face was set in stone. His pink-red eyes stared at Golza. Watching, observing, like a crow would observe an oncoming danger.

When we walked up to him, his gaze turned to us. Surprise coloured his face. Then he strode up to us.

"You damn troublesome kids… Where have you been?!"

We stopped dead in our tracks at that.

Heads turned our way. Curious glances were thrown at us.

Qrow-sensei shook his head. "No. Doesn't matter. Where's Hiratsuka?"

"W—we got separated." I said.

"Ugh, dammit." He threw up his hand. "You kids should've just stayed back instead of trying to get here."

Yukinoshita blinked. "Why?"

"Look." Qrow pointed. A dark crack ran around the western side of the hill, looping south the way we came, cutting off. The east and north of us were not much better off. Tumbling ruins, toppled towers, and fallen buildings littered the streets and roads, making many of them damn near inaccessible. "Each one of the main routes we could use to move the crowd down the hill are either cut off by the chasm or blocked by ruins."

"ZHOOOOOREEEEEEEEEEE………!"

We turned our heads southward to see Golza walking along the main road. A toppled tower and some ruined buildings — the same one we barely avoided — stood in his way. Those would have been impossible for us to walk through, but Golza smashed through them as if they were nothing, barely breaking his stride.

"We're practically sitting ducks here." Qrow finished, his gaze swooping to the crowds. The ones amongst us who can still stand and run and climb might get through the ruins or the chasm, but for the wounded? Those could barely stand up? Who needed medical attention and can't strain themselves too much? We couldn't possibly abandon them.

There are only a few streets wide enough to accommodate the crowd and most of them are blocked by ruins. Even then they were not so wide as to let some two hundred odd students walk abreast. Sme people would be left behind eventually. We'd be strung up and stretched thin. A vulnerable prey.

Golza could move through the ruins and chasms. We could not. Not with our numbers. Not with the wounded and injured amongst us.

Yui's eyes widened. "S— so what are we going to do?"

"The other teachers are looking for a way down." He said quickly. "With any luck they'll find a safe route the crowd could go through or around." He glanced at me. "That's Hiratsuka's bag?"

"Y-yeah it is." I said. Hiratsuka-sensei had given it to me right before—

Qrow sighed. He unrolled his sleeve. A deep gash ran across his arm, half-dried blood dripping down from it.

Yui gasped. My eyes widened.

"Mind getting some of the medical supplies out?" He asked nonchalantly.

"S-sure." I said. More relieved than anything to unslung it from my back. Moving around with it felt cumbersome and awkward.

I opened the bag. It was filled with numerous survival items; half-opened and resealed MREs, instant ramens, cooking utensils, a megaphone she previously used, even a flare gun with a couple of rounds of ammo. Hiratsuka-sensei certainly took nothing for granted. It took me a while to notice the first aid box she'd taken out before.

The inside of the box was a mess with items tumbling about here and there, most likely it had been ransacked during the cave in.

Qrow didn't wait for me to pick an item, instead he found what he was looking for in a matter of seconds. A small bottle Hachiman had previously used to clean his wounds. Qrow poured out its content and rubbed it across his wound, wincing slightly.

Qrow looked over the bottle curiously. "Strong stuff. Alcohol?"

"Y-yes." I answered.

Hachiman frowned. "You're not going to drink that, are you?"

"Not this, but I'm honestly itching for a flask right now." At our incredulous gazes, he sighed. "Don't worry I can't drink on the job. Especially not when a kaiju is on the horizon."

"ZHOAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEE…….!!!!"

All of us flinched at that. The students around us shuffled nervously.

Golza was close. A moving mass of bedrock black and abyssal blue. He lumbered on. Ponderous and unyielding. Slowly, but surely.

"Dammit," Qrow cursed. "Where the hell is—"

"Branwen-sensei!"

A trio of figures ran up towards us, or rather towards Qrow.

"Orimura, Bart, Peter." Qrow sighed. "Tell me there's good news."

Orimura-sensei spoke first. "The crack ran around the west and southern portions of the hill. They're completely impassable for a crowd this large."

"The road east is practically awash with ruins," Port-sensei said. "Some of them even completely blocked the road. Unless we took a detour through narrower streets to its side..."

"The north seemed to be the most promising," Doctor Oobleck noted. "It isn't blocked by that many ruins, but the path down is steep and slippery and we also have the wounded and the injured to consider."

Lightning flashed over Golza's figure, litting it up in stark gray for a single instant.

There's no time. I realized.

My gaze turned to the statue at the center of the plaza.

I placed Hiratsuka-sensei's bag on the ground and walked to the statue.

No light blazed at the top of the statue's head. No music was heard. No voices called out from it to greet me as I approached it, step by step. The statue knelt there, still as the stone from which it was seemingly made, wrapped in the shadow of the darkening storm clouds above. Motionless. Dead. It seemed like any other statue.

But I knew better. I had to.

It was real. The light. The music. The voice. The memories. I knew they were real. They had to be.

I stood only a meter away from the foot of the statue and looked up.

Lightning flashed over the statue. For a single dazzling moment, it lit up in bright white. Only for a single moment and then shadow fell over it again.

I looked back. The teachers were still talking amongst themselves as the Service Club and the other students watched on with nervous gazes. The crowd was practically restless, feets moving about, ready to run at a moment's notice.

Should I do this here? In the middle of the plaza? In front of everyone? Most of them had their eyes on Golza or the teachers, but if they saw me merging with the statue…if they saw me turn into an Ultraman…my life as I knew it would be over.

Boom…Boom…Boom…

Golza's footsteps echoed through the air, as clear as the thunder that whipped against the cloud above.

I grimaced.

There's no time. Golza will arrive here before we can get everyone out. I knew that, somehow. And even if we did, if Golza reached the statue and destroyed it…

It was now or never.

I placed a hand at the foot of the statue and waited.

A second passed. Then two…then three…

Seconds became minutes and even the minutes seemed to stretch on slowly, eternally…

…But…

Nothing.

No light. No sound. No voices. No memories. Nothing.

I frowned.

I ran my hand over the foot of the statue again and again and again. The surface of the statue remained as before; stone, rough and coarse by age. I tried to feel something. Anything. A resonance. A flash of memories. A little glimmer of light. Anything. Yet no matter how much I tried, I felt no change within the statue or within myself.

My heart sank. A pit grew in my stomach.

Desperately I placed both hands over the statue. But the stone was as still as ever. Cold and unmoving. My breath grew fast and quick. The pit inside my stomach grew and grew. I began to sweat profusely despite the cold weather. Why won't it do something? Golza is getting closer now, every footsteps quaking the ground, its echoes heard across the city.

Come on. Come on. Come on. Do something. Anything!

I— it has to do something. It must do something.

I looked up.

The statue's eyes looked down at me. Its still gaze seemed pitiless. I suddenly felt like a gnat, small and insignificant.

It— it couldn't be just another statue, could it? What about the light? The voices? I couldn't possibly have imagined it? O— or perhaps maybe I did? But no, impossible I—

"Hey."

"WHAT?!"

I was surprised by the volume of my voice and if I did, it was doubly so for Hachiman.

He stared at me, frozen like a deer caught in a headlight, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, hand outstretched.

My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. I cleared my throat. "W— what?"

Hachiman shuffled nervously. "Erm, you… you look tense…"

I looked down. My hands were shaking. Violently. I balled them into fists. "I guess I am."

"L—look," Hachiman said. "Hi—Hiratsuka-sensei will be fine. She's a strong woman. I'm sure she'll be fine."

Hiratsuka-sensei…a sudden bout of guilt flooded me.

"Hey…urm…are you…" Hachiman was still there, still standing near me. I waved a hand.

"I'm fine. It's just…can you just…give me some time?"

"Oh, erm… okay." Hachiman said, I thought he would slink back to join Yui or Yukinoshita or by himself, but surprisingly he stood there.

I turned my gaze away from Hachiman and towards the statue. Eyes as still and as cold as ever.

All the mistakes I've made came back to me in an instant. The cave in…Yukinoshita falling ill…Hiratsuka-sensei…Today was jost a long string of mistakes and failures…

If only I hadn't run off during the cave-in, trying to follow my hallucinations…

If only I had noticed Yukinoshita's fatigue earlier…

If only I hadn't run again when the memories rushed at me…

If, if, if. So many ifs. In the end they all amounted to nothing. The bitter pang of regret stung deep.

Is that why the statue won't respond? Because it sees me as unworthy?

A face came to mind then; brown hair and brown eyes wide with terror.

…Koharu.

Nearby the teachers were debating furiously as ever.

"We can make a turn towards some of the smaller streets and roads."

"We can't move a group this large down them, there aren't enough space—"

"Should we split up then, divide between two or three groups and meet up somewhere else?"

"I don't like the sound of that. We'll be cut off from each other if anything happens."

"...The northern road is our best bet." Qrow finally said. "It should be wide enough to accommodate the group."

Orimura-sensei frowned. "We'd have to move slowly though with how slippery the hill is."

Suddenly a sound like that of a large explosion shook the earth around us. The crowd and myself turned to see Golza, parts of his legs sinking into the southern chasm across that part of the hill. For a moment, I thought that would be enough to stop him, but a few a second later, Golza clambered over it in a matter of seconds.

"ZHOREEEEEE…….!!!!!!"

Hiratsuka-sensei…I hope she's alright…

"There's no time to waste." Qrow took hold of his megaphone. It blared to life, screeching slightly at first, but that got everyone's attention. "Alright people, we're moving out right now! Slowly and carefully. Look after any of your friends who are wounded or injured. Your teachers will lead the way. Listen to everything they say and—"

Hachiman looked at me as Qrow's instructions rolled over us.

I glanced back at the statue. Waiting for something. Anything.

The statue was as silent and as dead as ever.

…Maybe it really was just a statue after all.

"—Move. Now!" Qrow ordered.

Almost instantly the crowd moved to obey. People walked and half-ran, following the directions given to them. Those who were wounded, who had been lying or sitting on the ground because of their injuries were immediately picked up by their peers or by a nearby teacher.

The climb down the hill was as treacherous as the climb up, perhaps even moreso. The earthquakes had torn up some of the ruins and cracks appeared in some parts of the street. Yet, almost eagerly, people began their descent down. Eagerly, but not quickly. People had to move carefully, maneuvering between the ruins and cracks and slippery sheets of ice and snow all the while balancing themselves on the almost steep angle of the hill.

Minutes passed that seemed to stretch on for hours and despite that I, Hachiman, Yui, Yukinoshita, Hayama's group and a hundred other students were still waiting at the very top of the hill.

Yumiko bit her lips. "Come on. Can't this crowd move any faster?!"

Yui put a hand on her shoulder. "Yumiko-chan…"

It was a slow process. The street was wide, yes, but it couldn't exactly hold two hundred something students jamming through it all at the same time even without the ruins blocking parts of it. Two hundred something students that were eager to move as quickly as they could down the slope of the hill that they started to dangerously bunch up together.

"Come on, come on we need to be quick!"

"Hey! Stop pushing me!"

"Stop fighting! I'm trying to get down!"

"Wo— woah! Watch out!"

"You kids! Stop it!"

Scattered scenes of chaos broke out amidst parts of the crowd traveling down the hill, people shoving and pulling at one another followed by the teachers trying to sort things up. Even those who had reached the bottom of the hill now had to jump or be helped through the wide gulf.

"ZHOOOOREEEEEEEE…….!!!!!!"

I turned to look behind, Golza walked, a mountain marching slowly at us. Its roar tore through the air and its footsteps shook the ground beneath us. At the rate he's going he'll be here just shortly. And worst, many of us were still stuck at the top of the hill. Waiting our turns.

We're not going to make it. I realized.

At the rate Golza is going and with this many people trying to climb down the hill and with the ruins around the streets creating bottlenecks and chaos…we're not going to make it before Golza gets here. He'll overrun us. He's literally barrelling towards us. At this rate it'll arrive before even a quarter of the people here manage to get to a safe distance.

And even if it was only aiming for the statue… if it decided to turn on us next…

The realization came suddenly and without warning. Like a splash of ice cold water. It made me want to shiver.

We're already dead.

We were dead the moment we found ourselves trapped atop the hill with no help and no escape, hemmed in like sheeps in the slaughterhouse. We were dead the moment Golza entered the field, our butcher, his figure looming large and dark like a bestial caricature of the angel of death.

We were already dead and the rest is just a matter of detail.

It seemed that others too came to the same realization as I did. Panic engulfed the crowd as they tried to make their way down, heedless of the slippery slope or the people around them. Terror-ridden, people seemed ready to run this way and that, to break away from the crowd and make their own escape. Only their natural tendency to stick to the group in times of dangers and the teachers' leadership held them back.

…It was just like that day.

—people surged upon the street like a river after a broken dam; a swirling, rushing mass of bodies pushing and pulling and pressing against one another in a blind panic like a herd of sheep before a pack of wolves. Shrieks and cries and the sound of feet stampeding across the road rose into the air like a terrible, clamouring orchestra.

—Any semblance of order was dead. Left and right and back, people ran, shouting and screaming, shoving and falling over one another in a blind panic to get away from the explosions. Away from the flame. And away from the source of that terrible shriek that heralded it all.

—A shadow. That was the best way I could put it. It was as if I was staring into a chasm leading to a deep, dark abyss. The giant's body looked like it was formed from the bedrock of that chasm - archaic stones deep, deep below the earth that had never seen a trace of sunlight and seemed alive with writhing shadows.

—That was when I heard it; the same rumbling in the air as if before a storm. A faint smell of iron—

The panicking crowd. The hill. The monster looming in the distance…

The events of that day are happening all over again…

And just like last time…

There is nothing I could do…

Unless—

I looked back at the statue. It stood still and motionless. I looked at it again, harder, trying to glimpse even the slightest bit of change, scrutinizing every detail about it. Up from the crystal on its head to its foot…

Underneath, near the statue's foot was Hiratsuka sensei's bag. I had forgotten about it in the chaos, but now it lay there, spilling its contents over the ground…

An idea suddenly took hold in my mind. A mad, suicidal, stupid idea.

Yet even so—

"ZHOREEEEEE…….!!!!!!"

What other choice did I have?

Slowly, carefully, I slinked back from my own group, moving towards the foot of the statue where Hiratsuka-sensei's bag was lying unattended. I rummaged through its contents until I found the items I was looking for.

I looked around. Most of the crowd were focused on climbing down the hill or transfixed in terror by Golza's mere appearance. With their attention away, it was easy enough for me to sneak past. Not north where the crowd was heading, but a little to the east and then south.

Towards Golza.

Unless I do something, everything would happen just like it did that day.

I cannot let it happen.

I must not let it happen.

Not again. Never again.

—​

My path led me down from the hill through winding streets and alleyways, with ruined buildings and toppled towers rising around me the lower I get.

The earthquake and Golza's coming had struck these areas far harder than other parts of the city. More than once, I had to take a detour when the way was suddenly blocked by ruins or the grounds rent asunder and opened into a chasm.

I gripped tightly the megaphone and the flare gun in my hands. Some half-dozen ammunition of the latter felt heavy inside my coat pocket.

What the heck am I doing? I questioned myself as I ran, the wind blowing wildly across myself, howling with the promises of thunder and rain. This is crazy. This is stupid. This will never work.

The thoughts scathed at me, but still I pressed on.

Boom!

My blood ran cold. It was as if ice was flowing through my veins. I wanted to stop and cower, but I ran anyway.

Somewhere to my right in front of me, southwest to where I was, a thundering crash was heard and a small dust cloud rose around the nearby buildings.

Boom!

Golza's footsteps were already terrifying when heard from far away, but they sounded even more terrible up close. Like the clapping of thunder that reverberated through the air and could be felt through their sheer shockwaves.

BOOM!

The earth shook with every step. The ruins stirred, pieces of debris falling off, a couple of them finding their marks on me.

BOOM!

Sweat glistened across my forehead, damping my hair. Yet I barely noticed it. My heart beat as if it would burst out of my chest, thumping loud and clear, ringing in my ears like a bell. I barely heard it. My breath ran ragged. My lungs felt as if they were burning. I almost did not feel them. Terror and adrenaline and madness had overtaken my senses.

The hair across my skin rose. My blood did not flow with ice, they had frozen over a dozen times. My hands twitched. I was a quivering mess of tangled nerves, stricken by the sheer terror of what I'm facing…and of what I'm about to do.

BOOM!

There.

Golza's form stood perfectly to my right. Like a mountain wrought from black volcanic rocks broken occasionally by red magma veins slowly lumbering towards the hill I'd left.

BOOM!

Another step and Golza passed me by, back turned towards me. It doesn't seem like he even noticed me at all.

Now is the time.

My hands shook as I raised the flare gun towards Golza's exposed back.

Doubt started to gnat at me. Would the flare gun even find its mark? Would Golza even notice me at all? My finger was on the trigger, poised to shoot yet frozen in terror. A single twitch. A single movement and then… and then what? Golza chased after me? Ignored me? What then?

This is madness. I thought. I should just run. Take my chances and flee. There was no way this was going to work.

Then my gaze fell on the hill Golza was heading towards.

Yui was still there. Hachiman and Yukinoshita. Hayama, Tobe, Yumiko, Hina, and many others. They'd stick together, even if more by necessity and terror than anything else. The teachers were still there too I'd wager. Qrow Branwen wasn't the kind of person to simply leave people behind. Neither is Baker-sensei or Orimura-sensei or Doctor Oobleck. Good teachers. Good people. And Hiratsuka-sensei too if she hadn't hadn't…

Golza was less than a hundred meters away from the hill. He's close. Very close. Only a few more minutes and he would reach the hill and wreak havoc with his giant claws and foot or even blast it apart with his infernal fire.

There was no time.

I aimed the flare gun somewhere at Golza's head. And fired.

The flare traveled up; a small bright red dot borne by the wind. Like a dying star or a falling comet, leaving trails of bleeding smoke behind it.

It pierced through the air, cut through the darkness, before finally it reached its mark.

BANG!

The flare exploded in a shower of red spark near Golza's head.

Golza, who was in the middle of taking another step, paused.

It was an opening. And I took it.

I raised the megaphone to my mouth.

"OVER HERE!" I shouted with all my might. The megaphone amplified my voice a hundredfold and the winds blew behind me, bearing my voices across the hill and beyond. "OVER HERE YOU OVERGROWN UNDERGROUND GORILLA! WHY DON'T YOU PICK SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE?!"

Golza seemed to pause. A dark volcanic mountain whose roots were entrenched deep beneath the earth and whose head was in the clouds

Then ever so slowly, it turned its entire body around.

Its head was shaped as if it was crowned by a nemes in mockery of an ancient pharaoh. Its white eyes bore on me. Like sparks flying through from a pool of magma, gleaming like a blade in the dark.

Good. It worked. I managed to get its attention.

"ZHOAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…….!!!!!!"

Shit. It worked. I managed to get its attention.

I fumbled as I reloaded and fired another flare.

BANG!

It exploded near Golza's head and he roared. A roar which echoed through the broken streets and abandoned buildings, shaking everything to their core.

"OVER HERE THEN!" I shouted through the megaphone. "COME AND GET ME IF YOU CAN!"

And with that, I turned around and ran as if all the forces of hell were on me.

—​

A hush fell on the top of the hill as the flare died, the wind carrying the echo of the shout so that it could be heard by all.

The quiet was broken by a soft whisper.

"Maachi?"

—​

"COME ON! IS THAT THE BEST YOU'VE GOT?!" I shouted as I fired another round of flare before running away again.

The winds whipped and rushed at me, cold and biting, sizzling with a hint of electricity, screeching with the oncoming storm, causing me to shiver and bite my lips.

However hard it blew through, the wind could not have hoped to drown out the roar behind me.

"ZHOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE………!!!!!!"

The earth quivered with Golza's roar and shook with his footsteps. The path was already treacherous, blocked by ruins and debris, laden with half-melting ice and snow or riddled by hidden pits or tears on the ground.

Even so, I ran as fast as I could. My life depended on it.

BOOM!

I stumbled as I ran, almost falling before barely managing to catch myself.

I looked behind me.

Golza was still following me. A silhouette darker than the storm clouds above. Eyes flashing like lightning amidst a storm.

My gaze met his…and I shivered.

There was a hatred inside that gaze. A cold enmity smoldering just beneath the surface. An ancient resentment laden by the passing of time but was not made any lesser for it.

BOOM!

Golza's footstep brought me back to reality.

I stole a glance back at the hill. How much time have I bought? How many people have managed to get across? Beneath the flashes of lightnings, I could see figures darting about the hill. Shadows. Too many of them. The students were still there and the teachers too.

Not yet then. I have to keep going.

I reloaded and aimed the flare gun again

"OVER HERE!"

Bang!

—​

Icy cold eyes glared at me and I shivered.

"And you are?"

I smiled shakily.

"Masaki. Keigo Masaki." I bowed my head. "A pleasure to meet you, Yukinoshita-san."

—​

Golza seemed to have a very keen sense of sight and hearing. Because for all the darkness brought about by the rushing storm clouds; for all the dark red ruins rising and falling around me; he still managed to keep track of me after all this time.

On one hand, the time he spent chasing after me meant more time for those on the hill to evacuate. On the other hand…

"ZHOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE………!!!!!!"

He was, quite literally, chasing after me.

Crrrrr—-

I was so focused on the kaiju behind me that I neglected the ruins around me. Derelict buildings and empty towers rose on either side of the street. Their colors had long shifted from blood-red to almost ink-black because of the storm. These were ancient buildings. Thousands of years old. Perhaps millions if my guess about the Ultra Ancient Civilization was correct. Tall and proud they once were, and they still do in death.

Even so, age had withered them and they were far more fragile than they appeared to be.

—aaaack!

I looked to my side. A tall, square building topped by a dome,began to sway and then fell.

Immediately I darted forward as fast as I could. The building crashed behind me, sending fragments of debris and dust all over the place.

I looked behind and—

"ZHOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE………!!!!!!"

As expected, Golza was still charging forward at me.

I wondered if I should marvel at his tenacity…or simply terrified.

In either case, I raised the flare gun again and shot.

Bang!

—​

"...Right. Come with me."

Without warning, I took Yuigahama by the hand and began to drag her around.

"Eh? K-keigo-san? What are you doing?"

"We're going to buy MaxCoffee and some sweets… and then you're going to tell Hikigaya about the car crash."

"W-what?! Wait! I'm not ready yet! I haven't prepared anything!"

"Too bad. You had a year to prepare."

—​

I stopped dead in my tracks.

There, in front of me was a chasm. A gaping maw in the middle of the city leading to a deep dark abyss. The streets and buildings simply…stopped, entire blocks, no, sections of the city torn asunder. This…this is where Hiratsuka-sensei and I are separated.

Had the chase really gone on for that long?

My legs were shaking. My bones felt like twigs about to break, my muscles sore and acidic. My heart pounded until it almost burst. My lungs were burning as if I'd been inhaling smoke and hot air for hours. I breathed in heaves and gasps, yet no matter how much air I sucked in, it didn't feel enough—

"ZHOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE………!!!!!!"

—And still Golza was coming at me, moving across the rubbles and ruins he'd crossed before. A trail of destruction was left in his wake. His silhouette blocked the hill behind him, not even allowing me a glimpse.

Was he really that angry just because of a couple of flares and mean words?

I would have laughed if I could, but even breathing felt painful.

This should be enough time, right? I should have bought enough time for the rest to evacuate, right?

I don't know. For all I know, they could have been holed up even now.

Piter-patter.

I looked up.

Beads of rain began to fall onto the earth, only small little droplets, now, but soon they would probably grow into a storm. A deluge. There would probably be a flood.

…I hoped the others were alright, but there's no way to tell.

"ZHOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE………!!!!!!"

…I need to run. Golza was getting close. Too close for comfort.

I began moving away, running around the rim of the chasm, along its side.

I was tired.

I was just…

…so…

…tired…

Yet, even so I raised a single, shaky aim at Golza, a titan walking beneath the shadow of the storm, and fired another shot.

Bang!

—​

"Mhmm….tell me Hikigaya, do you know a person named Orimoto Kaori?"

—​

It was a piece of debris that finally got to me.

I tried to run as hard as I could, but for some reason my body felt sluggish… reluctant. The best I managed was a jog, not even half the speed I ran with previously. My muscles tensed and protested against any movement I made. My breath was coming in heavy and difficult, each puff of air a struggle and a labor.

Lightning flashed. The world turned stark white.

I was blinded almost immediately. I barely had time to register the thunder bellowing afterwards…and the soft groaning of stone that followed until it was too late.

Pain blazed across my head in a single torturous instant. The strike knocked me unaware, causing me to slip, topple and fall. The ground was hard and cold and wet with rain.

When I open my eyes, my vision dances in whirlwinds and stars, shapes and objects melding together in a tapestry of color. The ruins seemed like misshapen shapes ink-black and blood-red, melting and whirling with the dark storm clouds above. Forks and strokes of lightning came, twisted and bent into swirls.

Something wet and warm flowed on the side of my head. I rubbed it with my hand and looked. Beneath the flash of lightning, I could see the blood, red and dark and thick, smelling with a hint of iron.

BOOM!

The sound Golza's footsteps bellowing from behind brought me back to my senses.

I need to move…

I made to stand, but my legs seared with pain the moment I tried. I screamed. My bones creaked. and I fell down back on the earth in an undignified heap.

Move…I need to move…

Try as I might, my body simply refused to obey, either because of fatigue or pain or terror or all three. My muscles were all frozen jellies and frayed nerves.

…So cold…

The ground beneath me felt as if it was ice. Rain washed over me. Every breath of wind brought a wintry chill that freezes me to my very bones. My teeth chattered like mad. My hands shook uncontrollably and I was trembling and shivering at the slightest movement in the air.

…So cold…So…painful…

I bit my lips. Something hot traveled across my cheek. It tasted salty to my tongue. Not blood. Tears. I was crying, I realized. Crying at the pain and the cold and the darkness.

Need to get away...need to…

Slowly, excruciatingly slow, I began to crawl away, my body scraping against the stone, and sloshing through puddles of rainwater and melted ice. I shivered and sobbed every time I pulled myself. But I was moving at least. I was getting away.

I might just—

"ZHOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE………!!!!!!"

I looked up. In the rain and darkness, Golza stood tall and dark and terrible and grim. A figure that seemed to be carved wholly by shadows. Except for his eyes, blazing with a white fire that caused me to shiver when I looked at him.

This is where I die.

The realization came as suddenly as Golza's bellowing footsteps.

This is where I die. With broken legs, a wound on my head, and Golza behind me. There was no way I could survive.

BOOM!

This is where I die. beneath a hail of rain, amidst the freezing winds, surrounded by empty ruins. Cold. Alone.

BOOM!

I don't want to die.

I tried to crawl away, yet no matter how hard I pulled myself, I couldn't outrun the footsteps of the kaiju on my back.

BOOM!

I turned to look behind me.

Golza was there, silent and still. For a single moment, I dared to hope that he wouldn't be able to see me. Someone fifty times smaller than he was, amidst the toppled ruins and the darkness of the storm. Surely he must have missed me, right?

That hope died when I looked at him dead in the eyes. And I knew, at that moment, that he saw me. Those eyes bore into me, like a pair of dying white stars, burning as hot as any furnace and as cold as any winter gust. A hatred seethed beneath the gaze they gave me. A terrible loathing that seemed more primeval and inherent than learned.

"Just like this, huh…" I whispered. My throat ached when I uttered those words. "What a shame… if only I had more time…"

I don't want to die. I want to live.

It was impossible, I know, but more than anything I want to live. I don't want to die here in this cold and miserable place, underneath a storm, accompanied only by empty ruins. There were so many things I wanted to do. So many things I wanted to see and hear and taste and feel and experience.

"But…"

I glanced about and my gaze landed on the hill behind Golza that stood on the remote horizon. So far. So distant. Had I really ran all the way from back there to here? No wonder my legs collapsed.

…They should all be fine by now, right?

…Even if Golza returned, they should all have enough time to evacuate everyone, right?

I squinted my eyes and looked at the hill again, trying to pierce through the darkness. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see anything beyond a vague outline of jutting hill. If there were still people there, I couldn't see them. I could, however, see the shape of the statue at the top of the hill. A lonely figure amidst these ruins. Just like I was.

At a glance, at least it seemed that everyone had left.

They should be safe now. Yui, Hachiman, Yukinoshita, Hiratsuka-sensei and others. They should be on their way back into the cave by now or hiding beneath some of the ruins, away from Golza's warpath until help can come.

What happened that day won't happen again.

"For once… I managed to do one thing right."

"ZHOOOOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE………!!!!!!"

At that exact moment, violet streaks of light began to run across Golza's nemes, sparks of bright purple flew about his head.

…So this is the end, then.

"Koharu…"

An image floated across my mind. A girl twelve or eleven years old with brown hair and brown eyes.

"As—"

Then the Light overtook me.

—​

The Slave of the Abyss stared at the destruction it had wrought — the fires that raged amidst the ruins, the toppled towers and buildings, the upturned streets and roads — and he smiled.

His original directive was to destroy an Enemy. One dormant in stone just like he had been until some times ago. He had followed the routes and directions handed out to him by the Command until he reached the city hidden among the mountain peaks where he saw the Enemy glimmering in the distance.

There were vermin inside the city when he came upon it. A small handful of them crowding about near the Enemy. When he came along though, they started fleeing away from him as vermin are wont to do. He let them be for the moment. There would time enough to chase after them.

Then an Enemy arose amongst the vermin. When a small spray of light sparked behind him, he turned to find the Vermin-Enemy standing there. A small candle to the star that was the Dormant-Enemy, but an Enemy all the same.

He was at a conundrum. His directive was to destroy the Dormant-Enemy, the one frozen in stone. But now another has emerged. An Enemy amongst the Vermins. Which should he prioritize?

He decided to chase after the Vermin-Enemy first. It could move, flee away and fight another day, becoming a threat at a later date. The Dormant-Enemy could not.

Truth be told he could have ended it right then and there. A single blast and the Vermin-Enemy would be wiped from existence, but he wanted to savor it. Let the Vermin-Enemy think it has a chance. Let it hope and dream for a some time, thinking it might escape.

So he let the chase go on for a little while longer. He saw how the Vermin-Enemy ran about in a panic, darting from rubble to rubble. Saw it fired one shot after another. Saw it tried to take refuge and hid itself by weaving amidst the ruins, as if those could hide it from the Slave's kin gaze.

The fun eventually ended, when the Vermin-Enemy stumbled and fell, likely breaking its little legs in the process. The Slave of the Abyss was slightly annoyed that the fun had ended so soon after he had begun. He saw the Vermin-Enemy try to crawl, watching it pull itself together before finally giving up when it saw him. It was not as fun as before, so the Slave of the Abyss decided to end it then and there.

He turned around, coming back to his original task.

All Enemies must be eliminated. Yes. But that doesn't mean he couldn't take pleasure from the task.

—​

I was floating on…nothing.

No ground. No wind. No air. No gravity. A complete stasis. A limbo.

Nothing pulled me up nor pushed me down. In fact there was neither up nor down, nor left nor right. There was no south or north or west or east. There was no direction. How could there be?

It was a space that boundlessly stretched on yet unfathomably compact. A single point of infinite nothingness.

There was no light. Nor dark through which it can travel. Colors did not exist here. Sound did not exist. Chaos, movement, dynamics. Those are mere fantasies within this vast halls of absolute non-existence and paradox.

It was strangely…peaceful.

And in that impossible place, I tried to open my eyes.

—​

Hachiman stared, horrified, at the fire raging about the chasm in the distance.

That was… that was Masaki, but he was— just a few minutes ago he was—

Just like that.

Was it painful? Was it quick? Did he even have time to think, to process what would—

"Alright. We need to get away, right now." Branwen-sensei's words shook him out of those morbid thoughts.

Beside him, Yuigahama stirred. She had not moved when the explosion occurred, too shocked or stunned, but now she rounded up at Branwen-sensei. "B— but what about Maachi? W— we can't just—"

"Right now, we need to worry about ourselves!" Branwen-sensei snapped. "There'll be time for that later, but for now we need to get away."

Yuigahama shivered at that.

Suddenly, Yukinoshita placed a hand over Yuigahama's shoulder. "Yuigahama-san. Please. Branwen-sensei is right. We can't stay here."

Yuigahama dully nodded. Perhaps it was shock. Perhaps it was adrenaline. But whatever the case, she complied when Yukinoshita led her away.

"Come on, you kids, Golza's on the move again. Hurry!"

—​

I have no eyes. I have no ears.

I could see nothing. I could hear nothing. I could smell nothing. My senses simply… did not exist.

I could not breathe. I did not need to breathe. I could not speak. Words are useless here.

I was shapeless. Formless. Without bones or organs or blood. Without body or cell or mass. In that singular moment that seemed to stretch on for all eternity.

I almost did not exist.

Almost.

For all that I am not, I am not nothing.

I could think, though my thoughts were vague dreams, jumbled visions and elusive memories, scattered about like broken leaves scattered on the wind, I could think.

And more importantly, I could feel.

And I felt, at that moment, beyond a shadow of a doubt, piercing through the Nothingness like a sudden dawn—

—​

She did not think of escape or hiding as she darted about the ruin. The moment Golza turned around, she bolted towards the chasm.

Across from her side entire blocks of the city lay in smoldering ruins. Fire rose high, snaking through the crumbling towers and buildings.

"Dammit…" Shizuka cursed. There has to be a way to get across. She would need to move around, take a longer route.

"Please be safe, Masaki."

—​

For a singular, blessed moment that stretched on for eternity there was the Light.

Searing. Dazzling. Blinding. Astonishing. All-encompassing. All-engulfing. All-embracing.

Not a static whiteness, nor a mere flash of brightness, but Light, ever-changing, ever-shifting. The Light was a dying star, then a new galaxy, and then a bleeding supernova, a lambent moon, an aurora borealis, and now a raging sun. On and on it went, shining with a full spectrum of color and beyond. Light in all its shapes, shades, gradients, and glory.

Light and yet not just light, not just a splash of brightness and colors. I could hear…sounds. Flutes, drums, violins, harps, trumpets and myriad other instruments that I couldn't name played to a swathe of orchestra that clashed and mingled with one another. From dazzling bravura that made me want to dance to haunting melodies that would have made me weep.

A swathe of scent wafted and flowed through me; the gentle rain with a hint of earth; lightning sizzling with electricity; fragrant roses and lilies, chrysanthemum and wisteria, peach blossoms and apples; spices from burning cinnamon to warm gingers; and more. Winter winds bite me, cold and bone-chilling. Warm spring breezes and wind soothed me. I could feel the summer sun, scorching just above, only for a cool autumn blast to wash the heat away.

Emotions overtook me one after another. Joy and grief. Love and hate. Happiness and sadness. I want to laugh as hard as I can one moment and weep my eyes dry in the next. I want to shout and scream in anger and then in delight. I want to jump and run in excitement. I want to sit in tranquility and peace.

The Light was not just a light. It was life itself. It was existence itself.

And then—

—​

I was standing atop a hill and the city sprawled beneath me.

A web of streets radiated outward from the hill I stood on, the spaces in between filled with buildings of various shapes, sizes, and ruined state. Towers and spires spiraled upward into the dark, stormy sky as if inviting the lightning to roll over them.

My surroundings were almost all barren; the buildings laid low or just mere stony outcrops jutting out from the crowd.

The hill, I realized. The hill with the Ultraman statue on it and down below…was the city.

I tried to raise my head or turn around, but the movement was slow. My muscles felt like rusty wires, taut and stiff as if I hadn't moved them in days… even weeks. It felt like hours before I could tilt my head. Left then right, down and above.

It was the city, I'm sure, and yet it was strange. It seemed somehow…smaller. Shrunken. Like looking down on a miniature city or a model set. Or as if I was standing on top of one of those tall towers, spreading my glances from high above the heavens. A heaven dark with storm clouds except for the sudden stark white when the lightning occasionally flashed about it. Rain rolled over me, but it was strange. Like walking through mists, the water drops were so miniscule, they felt like vapors.

"ZHOREEEEEEEE………..!!!"

The roar was loud and clear, unperturbed by the thunder rumbling above.

I turned my head around, the motion excruciatingly slow.

A shadow rose up in front of me, growing larger and more soliduntil it stood almost a step away from me. A dark figure that seemed vaguely humanoid at first glance, and monstrous at the second. Lightning tore through the darkness, illuminating the figure in stark white. My blood ran cold. Dark gray skin of ancient mountain tops, a monstrous head hooded by red-rimmed nemes. Golza.

The Kaiju stood there, all its features just like I remembered, yet he was…smaller. Almost like he was more around my size, but that's crazy.

His eyes gleamed white cold like ice. There was the hatred from before, but there was also something else… joy? Pleasure? His lips quirked upward as if in a mock-smile, revealing a pair of fangs that glimmered in the dark.

I didn't have much time to dwell on it before Golza roared again

"ZHOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA………..!!!!!"

Move. I need to move.

Golza raised a hand, claws gleaming in the dark, ready to strike like an executioner's blade.

Move!

And suddenly, I moved.

The motion was almost instantaneous, like the crack of a whip. My muscles creaked and screeched with the sound of stone grinding against stone at the abruptness of it all.

In a single instant, I sprung up, and grabbed the kaiju's hand with my own, stopping it dead in its tracks.

Golza blinked. If he was surprised, I was shocked.

We stood there, staring at one another. Golza looked down at me and myself already half-standing at him.

It lasted all for a single moment. Golza roared again and raised his other hand. I caught it just as it came crashing down at me. His new momentary surprise was an opportunity I did not miss.

I leapt upward, crashing my knee into Golza's unprotected stomach as I did and then pushing him forward with all my might. His foot and tail scraped against the uneven top of the hill before finally he slipped.

Golza roared as he fell and tumbled down the hill, smashing through the already destroyed ruins underneath as he did. The sound of it was like a mountain rent asunder or an entire cliff side falling down a precipitous height.

What? What just happened?

I stared at my own hands…except they were not my hands. Not hands of flesh and blood, but of stone. I stared at them, shocked. Not just my hand. My body. My legs. Polished granite covered me head to toe where muscles and skin should have been. I opened my mouth, but the only sound that came out of it were rough grunts and heavy breaths.

The statue. I realized.

Did I do it, did I—

Suddenly, something glimmered beneath me. I looked down. Right there, in the middle of my chest, set inside a teardrop-shaped frame was a small blue orb glowing in the dark. The area around the orb felt…warm. Gently so. A tinge of summer light traveling through a forest leaf.

The orb pulsed, and the warmth grew—

And then, light exploded.

—​

The crowd came to a halt at a sudden crushing sound behind them.

"Uncle Qrow, Look!"

Qrow Branwen followed the direction his niece Ruby was pointing at and his eyes widened. Golza was tumbling down the eastern side of the hill.

"What the heck—"

"The statue!" Someone shouted. Fingers were pointed towards the top they hill. Some even had their phones out, camlights gleaming in the dark.

Qrow squinted his eyes. At the top of the hill was… a man? No. A giant, suddenly rising to full height. His body is made of stone and rock.

"D— did the statue just move?"

And then Light erupted from the statue.

—​

My body was glowing. Light enveloped my form in a soft white gleam that thrummed with power. Storm raged above me, the pitter patter of the rain continued, but I felt warm, like wearing a blanket over my whole body whilst standing in front of a gentle fireplace.

And then, it receded. The light dimming and in the next moment, winking out of existence.

Above me, the storm clouds parted. The sun reached out from a single pillar of light, cleaving through the dark clouds like a golden sword, allowing me a glimpse of my own body,

Silver skin reflected the golden high noon sun flaring in the sky. Black markings and patterns ran along the side of my body down my legs. Around my wrists and ankles there were 'cuffs' of red and black. At my chest, bordered by black was a vest of sort bright red rimmed by burnished gold. At the center of the vest framed by silver, was an azure crystal shaped almost like a tear-drop.

Spoiler: The Ultraman

This… this was my body. The realization flashed at me like a bolt of lightning.

And there, sprawling beneath me… was the city. It's not that it has shrunken, it's that I've grown.

The Ultra statue.

I've merged with it.

"Hah…" My voice came from my throat. "Haha..haha…" I tried to hold myself. If I had lips I would have probably broken into a smile. "Hahaha…haha…"

I couldn't contain myself any longer. I laughed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA……!"

The laughter came, deep and bellowing. Sweet, it sounded to my ear, but it did not contain one tenth of the joy, the euphoria, the exhilaration that engulfed me in that moment. I felt amazing. Like I could run a marathon and dance a waltz at the end of it.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA……!"

After all that I've gone through… after the earthquake and the cave in… after exploring the city and finding the statue… after Golza came and chased me down…

Suddenly it was all washed away, beneath a tide of mounting jubilation.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA……!"

It worked. It really worked.

I'm alive. I—

"ZHOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAA………..!!!!!"

I looked down at the base of the hill.

Golza stood there, beneath the shadow of the storm. Thunder bellowed along with his roar as if to announce his challenge. Blinding flashes of lightning struck…but not so blinding that I couldn't see the spark of purple glowing around Golza's head.

I barely had time to dodge, a pillar of violet light erupted from Golza's forehead, almost hitting me by a hair's breadth. So close to my face the beam of light, I could feel it almost scorching my now metallic face.

A Golza's Ultrasonic Ray is Death Incarnate. But it has two weaknesses; it is weak at longer range and it needs to be charged to make it stronger. The longer the range and the more powerful the beam—

The longer time he takes to recharge.

A window of opportunity.

Before I realized what I was doing, I was already barrelling down the hill at full speed. Sunlight dimmed above me as the storm rolled on. The earth quaked as I stepped into the storm darkened land, straight towards Golza.

"ZHOREEEEEEEEE….!"

The kaiju roared and charged forward, toppling buildings and upturning streets in his wake.

We met at the base of the hill. Kaiju and Ultra… and our clash was the shaking of the earth and thunder in the storm.

I rushed towards Golza furiously. Pushing, shoving, kicking, punching. I did not so much as fight as I flailed and threw myself at him. A wild hand chop at Golza's head was followed by an uncoordinated strike on his knee that failed to knock him down. An elbow strike to his stomach was followed by an erratic kick that barely budged him. I had never fought before and I dabbled little in martial arts. I thought I had time.

Despite my inexperience, my sheer momentum as I charged down the hill managed to push Golza back. Moreover, he did not expect an attack. Not so quickly and not so furiously. The ferocity of my first strikes took him aback, and I jumped at the opportunity, trying to bring him down to his knees with all my might.

Once or twice, Golza seemed close to losing his balance, teetering at the edge, yet stubbornly he refused to fall. Momentum and surprise might have been on my side; but Golza's sheer weight kept his foot firmly on the ground.

My momentum began to burn away. The rushing tide of energy I felt during the headlong charge gradually died down. Then, Golza took the upper hand.

The kaiju raised a single clawed hand and swung. The attack came so suddenly that I couldn't react until it was too late. Pain exploded across my chest. It was like being hit by a baseball bat made of hard stone and concrete layered with barbed wires. The impact sent me staggering back.

Golza raised another clawed hand and I had to jump away to avoid it. I thought fleetingly of creating some distance, to give myself a moment of reprieve, but Golza refused to give it to me. The kaiju bulled forward, seventy thousand tons of ancient flesh and bone surging forth like a rushing mountain, uprooting roads and buildings in his wake and I could not possibly stand against him.

It was my turn now to be pushed back and unlike me, Golza's attacks were far more coordinated and experienced, if primal and wild at first glance.

Clawed hands swung at me, one after another, a barrage of blows that seemed endless, always keeping me occupied, always keeping on the backfoot. When I thought I 'd managed to get the hang of it, Golza rushed forward, his sheer mass tanking every attack I sent his way, forcing me back, slowly but surely. It was wild and unpredictable, but there was savage cunning to it.

I was fighting a losing battle. Defend. Avoid. Retreat. That was all I could do to stave off the storm, driven back as I was, until I reached the base of the hill, the first place where we clashed.

Golza turned around suddenly. Not retreating. His massive tail also turned just as he did, smashing right into me. I lost my balance and fell onto the streets, grasping at ruined buildings that toppled and crashed against the ground. The pavement beneath me cracked as my body landed and the earth shook as my head hit it with a thundering force.

It was in that instant that I noticed them.

Three tiny figures far in the distance, running along the street to my left. They were so…small. Only about the size of my fingers. There they were, running on the street, away from me. So small. I should not have been able to see them, not with how small they were, not with how dark it was; under the cloud and the rain and the storm. And yet see them I did, my eyes piercing through the gloom right at them.

Three figures. A boy and two girls. Hairs in orange and black. Clothes wet and tattered.

Yui…Hachiman…Yukinoshita….

They were not alone. Others were with them. Dozens. Hundreds. Students and teachers. The field trip crowd from before fled as fast as they could across the rain-ladened street, following its trail northwards. Some were running up ahead, others had to be carried or supported by others. All of them were running away, away from me, away from Golza, and away from our battle.

In that instant, my memory came flooding in. The field trip. The earthquake. The city.

Of course. How could I forgot—

I didn't have time to finish my thoughts.

"ZHOREEEEEEEEE….!"

Golza was above me. He raised a single foot and stomped down.

I barely managed to catch it with both my hands, straining my muscles taut against Golza's weight pressing down at me. My arms creaked, my elbows buckled, my muscles screamed against the onslaught, my bones straining almost to the point of breaking.

I can't let him get near. From the periphery of my vision, the crowd was still running away, slightly more quickly than before. I can't let Golza get near. Not before they got away. I couldn't see Yui, or Yukinoshita, or Hachiman. They were drowned out by the crowd, but they were there, I knew. I need to hold him back, just for a little more time. Have…to…hold…Golza…Back!

Power surged through me like lightning. Strength flowed into my arms and hands. The warm breath of spring, The cool gale of autumn. Golza's leg suddenly felt not so heavy anymore.

"HAAAAAAH……!"

I pushed forward with all my might and Golza's leg gave way. I continued on, pushing him to the side away from where the crowd was.

Immediately I stood up, my head facing Golza with my back towards the crowd. I had to hold him back. For their sake.

It was easier said than done. Golza had gotten back up almost as soon as I did, not allowing me the opportunity to attack him while he was down, and immediately he went back on the attack, charging towards me. It was like fighting a bull or a gorilla. A rushing tide of ancient flesh and primal fury.

Before long he had me on the back foot once more. Claws and hands and feet and even tail battered at me again and again. I tried to hold back as best I could, evading his oncoming blows, striking with kicks and punches in the rare moments when an opening arrived. I even managed to tank one or two of Golza's blows. I tried not to retreat. I can't retreat. Not with the crowd behind me.

And yet that was exactly what Golza forced me to do. He bulled over and over again with reckless abandon. Slowly,but surely, he smashed through my defense one after another, driving me back one step at a time. His roar echoed with the sound of thunder. His white eyes blazed in the storm, more terrible than the flashing of lightning around us. The hate I saw from before was no longer smoldering beneath the surface, it had practically exploded.

"ZHOREEEEEEEEE….!"

Golza swung his tail and I had to jump back.

I thought for sure he would charge like he almost always did, but instead he simply tilted his head. Purple veins glowed around his nemes, energy streaming in from his head and upper body to the center of his forehead.

If Golza, fired his ray here at this time then—

Behind me the crowd teetered on. At this distance—

—The hill exploded with light. The land burned. The people screamed.

—I MUSTN'T LET THAT HAPPEN!

I couldn't avoid the ray without it hitting the crowd and I couldn't simply tank it . So I did the only thing I could think of.

I lunged towards Golza, hands outstretched.

It was something I'd dredged up from my foggy memory. Something the originalTiga had done to stop Golza from firing his ray.

Please work Please work. Please work!

I grabbed hold of Golza's head, one hand on his snout, the other on the upper tip of his nemes, and then I pulled him around.

Whatever it was the kaiju had expected,it was certainly not that. The veins of energy he'd accumulated died out. Perhaps I'd disturbed whatever organ he used to collect energy. Perhaps he simply wasn't suicidal enough to blast me from where he would be caught in the crossfire.

He roared furiously, Clawed hands scratched against me, but I had his head in a deathly grip and the attacks became clumsy and confused. He tried to wring his head from me. He pushed forward and I pushed back just as hard, he pulled out and I pulled in just as tenaciously, I didn't dare let him go.

At the same time though, I could not force him back. Golza was too heavy, too strong for me to simply shoved him aside like I did before. We were locked in a stalemate, but it wouldn't last. Sooner or later, either of us had to give way and Golza's greater mass held me at a disadvantage. I need to do something quickly, but what?

"ZHOREEEEEEEEE….!" Golza's eyes were wide, his hatred plain as a burning bonfire.

…His hatred.

The way he fought until now… the way he charged forward without any care… the way he seemed to take pleasure as he stood over me while I was a statue….

A thought came to me then. Until now, I had only tried to hold Golza back, but what if I tried to lure him away?

I swung to my left, still holding Golza's head, the kaiju was forced to turn as I turned. He bulled forward, pushing me back and I gave way, drawing him and myself back… and away from where the crowd was. It was a hard struggle, like holding a bull by the horns on his head.

Eventually Golza managed to break free of my grip, but by then, we had already moved far enough from the crowd. I turned again to the left as Golza recovered from our earlier struggle, my back now facing south, the opposite way to where the crowd was going. Though we had moved far enough from them, it couldn't hurt to be too careful.

As I thought, Golza immediately turned towards me and charged again. I was prepared for him. His clawed hands rose and fell, I dodged them by a hair in one breath and landed a kick in another. Golza roared furiously, but I'd already retreated when he attacked again, drawing him further and further away from the crowd.

'Yes. That's it. Follow my lead, you damn underground gorilla'

We moved about the city as we fought. Ruined buildings around us were toppled as we crashed into them, more often by accident than deliberate. Red-blood walls millions of years old spilled into the paved streets cracked by our footsteps. Ancient towers that had stood for aeons shook and keeled over, no longer will they watch over the city in silent vigil and turbulent storm.

Golza charged and I retreated; jumping back or side stepping him this way and that, letting him strike empty air or to crash into a building right behind where I was moments before. That was how our battle went for the most part; charge and retreat.

This time though, I didn't have to worry about a crowd on my back; fighting, standing firm, and then slowly giving way as I needed. Golza charged, attacking as he did before, muscle hands, feet and tail swung in the air. Quick feets and quick wrists allowed me to dodge Golza's blows whilst landing some of my own. I was the nimbler fighter between us. Golza might have been stronger, but it meant nothing if he couldn't hit me.

As we fought again, though, I began to notice something.

Golza seemed…slower. No. More predictable. The way he moved, the way pulled and stretched his muscles before an attack, the way he dug his heels before swinging his tail. The patterns became more pronounced as the fight dragged on. It's not that Golza started moving like that, but rather…I started noticing them more.

It was not just that though.

I felt… a change. A change in the way I moved and in the way I held myself. Before I was flailing and floundering around, but now… an instinct guided me forward.

Without thinking about it, I shifted my footwork and lowered my posture oh-so-slightly, allowing me to quickly dodge an incoming blow from Golza. When I retaliated with a kick, my body moved subconsciously, altering my trajectory by a narrow margin, but one that scored me a direct hit against the kaiju's head.

My body moved fluidly between attacking and defending, between one stance and another. Now evading and weaving between Golza's clawed hands. Now kicking the kaijus exposed flank. Now retreating for two steps. Like a dance whose exact movement I did not know but which had been ingrained inside my body on an instinctual level.

Not just movement. I also felt an increase in strength and speed. My blows felt more powerful. When I landed a punch or a kick there was an energy to it that was absent previously. When I evaded and retreated, it was no longer by a hair's breadth, but a step or even two ahead of Golza.

The Ultraman… I wondered. Could it be—

"ZHOREEEEEEEEEEEEE….!"

Golza's scream was one of pure anger and frustration and he charged forward. The action was as clear as day and I jumped back before he barrelled over me.

By now, we had reached what seemed to be a very luxurious part of the city. The buildings here were bigger and much better preserved, the towers taller and properly topped instead of just ending in jagged abruptness. Cyclopean structures riddled this district; whether they were palaces, city halls, hospitals, temples, or universities of sorts.

One of these giant structures lay just behind me. A domed building more almost as tall as Golza and I was and with width just longer than that. It was too wide for me to simply jump back across it, so the moment Golza charged at me again, I jumped to the side.

The kaiju's momentum was against him. By the time he noticed something, he was already charging at full speed ahead and it was impossible for him to stop or turn. He crashed into the building. The antediluvian walls gave way and Golza slipped and tumbled forward head first as it did. In a matter of seconds, he was down on the ground, half his body inside the building. Above him the archaic roofs and domes shook and then fell down, smashing into the kaiju and scattering millions of tiny pieces.

It was an opportunity if I ever saw one.

Before, I had mostly defended and retreated. Now, I attack.

Golza had barely managed to raise himself up before I came up on him. My feet sallied through the air, smashing the kaiju's exposed head. He stumbled back, staggering as he did, crashing again to some other ruins behind him. I advanced. The initiative was on me now and I had to make sure that he did not recover.

Punches and kicks and hand chops flew into the air, more than half of them, finding their mark against Golza's half-stony hide. The kaiju retreated before my sudden assault, the motion made slightly awkward by his sheer size and by the cyclopean buildings around us. More than once, he smashed into a building behind him as he retreated or into other ruins to his side when he tried to evade which only slowed him further.

A bit of myself died at each building that was destroyed by our battle. Those were ancient ruins, millions of years old. Practically priceless in terms of historical and archeological significance, but still I pressed my offensive.

Focus. I need to focus.

Golza swung a hand, claws gleaming, stone-like muscles sallying through the air like a giant bat carved from the mountain itself. Yet he had overextended. I duck beneath his oncoming strike and kneed him in the stomach. Golza keeled over, still standing, but now hunched as he grabbed his stomach in pain, allowing me to deck his face upward, sending him stumbling into the back.

It was not the first nor the last time he tried to break my offense and it was not that Golza did not try to regain the initiative. If anything, he was as fierce in defense as he was in offense.

Clawed hands came down again and again, but I avoided most of them, being somewhat smaller and nimbler, other times I even managed to deflect them. Golza tried to kick me for half-a-dozen times, but with his foot as large as it is, the movement was slow and clumsy and I easily evaded them. Golza tried to swing his tail one time, but I took cover behind a nearby building and let the kaiju stumbled over the ruins. After each failed attempt I resumed my offensive.

With every step, I landed a blow. With every blow I advanced a step. With each successful attack, Golza grew angrier, more reckless, more clumsy. His strikes became more of a tantrum. Uncoordinated. Easily turned aside or avoided altogether, leaving him open to my counterattack. With each of the kaiju's failed assaults, my own doubled in intensity.

For the first time since the battle began, I was holding my own in the fight. I could win. I am winning this.

Golza swung both his hands simultaneously, trying to catch me in a crushing embrace. I caught both his hands with my own and twisted. The kaiju screeched in pain. His body was wide open, and I was about to deliver another kick to his stomach—

Suddenly, Golza's nemes sparked with purple lightning and I jumped back—

VRHOOOOOM!

—right before his Ultrasonic ray blasted me to smithereens, barely avoiding it by a hair's breadth.

Golza did not charge in. Instead he tilted his head. More and more purple energy gathered around his nemes and I had to jump back to avoid his second blast. And then his third. And then his fourth.

Even when I had already drawn back, Golza continued to deliver blasts of Ultrasonic Ray from out his forehead. These were small, quick blasts of energy, not the focused or slowly charged blasts from before. Not as powerful in longer ranges, but painful and dangerous in shorter ranges. Their continuous barrages kept me out of melee, preventing me from closing in, forcing me to keep a safe distance.

I tried to move to the side, hoping to flank Golza, but he shot another blast and I had to roll behind a nearby building to avoid it.

I need to do something. I thought to myself. How long has it been since we started fighting? It felt like hours.

VRHOOOOOM!

I dodged another blast of energy. The ray flew past me, hitting the building behind me, and then disintegrating it in a shower of sparks and debris. I tried to get close, but three successive blasts forced me to jump back or roll behind other buildings to take cover.

I can't go on like this forever. I had stayed most certainly for far longer than just the standard three minutes of an Ultraman, but sooner or later I had to reach a limit somewhere and if I can't figure out a way to beat Golza before that then—

That was when I felt it. A warmth emanating from inside me.

I looked down. Energy pulsed on the jewel at the center of my chest, my Colour Timer. I felt power swelling inside it — like the spring sun, like the autumn breeze — before spreading quickly through my shoulder, into my arms and hands.

Suddenly I knew what I needed to do.

I duck as Golza shot a blast and just as he was preparing for the next one, I shot out my arm, hand balled into a fist, as if trying to punch Golza from afar.

A short streak of light, violet with a white-hot core, blazed out from my fist. It flew through the air in the blink of an eye and erupted in a shower of sparks as it hit Golza right in the chest.

"ZHREEEEEEEEEEE……….!"

The kaiju roared in pain. Then he tilted his head and retaliated with another ray of his. I duck, rolled, and shot out my hand, light flared out from it again. This time Golza managed to avoid it by a hair's breadth, before launching his ray yet again.

It was now a ranged battle between both of us. Black-violet beams pierced through the city while orbs of white answered in reply. Buildings exploded, blood-red debris fanned down across cracked pavement and streets. Half-destroyed towers blazed and fell. Trails of smoke and tall wisps vapors rose into the air where blasts of light landed on buildings, towers, or streets.

I didn't stay in one spot, constantly on the move. Avoiding, advancing, retreating under the hail of fire cand counter-fire. Golza's beam cut through many of the ruins near me, while my own attacks shattered the ones around him.

Many of our attacks missed, but some found their marks. I counted a half-a-dozen shots I managed to land on Golza, at least when I bothered to keep notice. Despite that, Golza managed to tank all of them, taking them in stride and then retaliating. For his part, Golza's beam managed to hit me almost as much. Not direct hits, but grazing shots that chaffed or scraped against my silver skin. It was enough to make me realize that getting hit by them won't be pleasant.

I jumped to the side a moment away before Golza fired off another blast.

And that was when I saw her. A woman lying on the ground near where I once stood a heartbeat ago. Her clothes were wet and bedraggled, her long black hair slightly messed up and shaggy framed a face too pale from what I know. She was small and miniscule, but I could see her clearly as she lay there motionless… in the trajectory line where Golza's beam would hit.

Hiratsuka-sensei.

My heart sank.

VRHOO—

From the periphery of my vision, I saw Golza's forehead erupting in a blaze.

No.

A black-and-violet beam sallied through the air. In an instant litting up the ravaged ruins, toppled towers, and broken streets in its wake.

No.

I saw Hiratsuka-sensei, her face lit up by an amethyst glow, yet still her eyes were closed.

NO!

Then in an instant, I moved. One moment I was staring helplessly as the beam raced through the city and in the next, I was on my knees, overlooking Hiratsuka-sensei, facing her while my back was—

—OOOM!

Pain exploded across my back. Fire seared across my spine and ribs as if someone had detonated a bomb right behind me.

"AAAAAAAAGGGGHHH….!"

My scream tore through the air. The beam pierced into my back like a white-hot bore being drilled into me. A lance of fire stabbing deeper and deeper, scorching through blood-veins and nervous systems. It was so painful I thought my chest would explode.

Yet through the pain, through the darkness of the storm, and the backlight of violet sparks and fireworks behind me, I kept my gaze on Hiratsuka-sensei.

Don't you dare let up. I thought to myself. Not her. Not her of all people. Don't you dare let up.

Then, in an instant the blast was gone. The beam of light died out, though the pain remained. Like suddenly being impaled with a freshly forged spear only to have it be just as suddenly wrenched out of you.

I looked down at sensei. She looked…worse than when I last saw her. Her hair was messy, tangled at places. Her clothing was crumpled, disheveled, and damp with rainwater. Her face was pale. Worryingly so. For a single, I wondered if she had died already.

Then I saw her chest, rising and falling. The motion was slow and miniscule. But she was breathing. She was alive. I would have sighed in relief at that moment if I could. Hiratsuka-sensei was alive. I didn't fail again. She was alive and in that single moment that was all that matters.

"ZHOREEEEEEEEEEEEE….!"

I turned as I stood up. Ready to meet Golza head-to-head. Whatever I do, I must not let him get to her.

But Golza had not moved a step from where he was before. He stood there, eyeing me warily. Muscle tense, close to snapping at the lightest touch. A mountain ready to collapse in on me when the moment comes. When my gaze met his, Golza tilted his head upward.

That was when I felt it. A tingling in my skin. A wave of power ran through the air around me. It was weak at first, a gentle ripple in the pond, yet steadily it grew until it became an unstoppable tide continuously rising in sheer force. Growing stronger and faster with each passing moment.

Winds bellowed across the city and I involuntarily shivered in the cold. Thunder cracked. Lightning flashed. The very air itself sizzled with electricity. A storm of power and energy was raging and at the center of it was Golza. The kaiju roared and I couldn't tell if it was in pain, rage, or simple ecstasy at the power flowing into him.

"ZHOREEEEEEEEEEEEE….!"

Then Golza's body erupted. Veins of purple lightning broke through his hide and moved to surge across his form. His eyes darkened, the white sclera turning amethyst. From his arms and legs and chest, glowing black-violet strands flowed upwards, into his shoulder, and then his neck, and then his forehead. It seemed as if a jewel had been set on Golza's forehead in mockery of a star. A star that did not glow its light but seemed to suck in light around it.

This…

I didn't remember any of this. I wracked my brain but I couldn't remember anything from ____'s memory about Golza having anything like this or anything even similar to it.

How could I hope to stand against this?

The answer came with a thrum of energy on my chest. Power surged through me in a flash, filling every crevice of my being, every atom of my existence, suffusing them with life itself. It raged and roared. Like the searing scorch of the sun. Like the biting chill of winter. Power to fight. Power to destroy.

Then, without any conscious input, my body began to move, taking on a stance; both hands closed to a fist held on either side of my waist. Light seeped out from my color timer. I could feel it beating like a heart. Every pulse sent a new wave of flames and ice through my blood veins. I felt energized. Renewed. Lighter. Powerful. Stronger.

I shot up both arms to the side of me, standing as if I'd been impaled on a cross. Threads of light began to wove around my arms. Fire and ice liquefied flowed through my veins. So hot it should've burnt me to ash. So cold it should've frozen me to death. But, instead the power felt only warm and cool. Like walking down the meadow under the morning sun as a breeze swept over me.

Vaguely, I noticed Golza, some distance away in front of me. His body seemed to crackle with electricity, hides and skins breaking apart at the seams as he gathered more and more energy unto himself. How is he still standing?

I brought my arms together in front of me until my wrists touched one another. The power swelled inside me. So strong my body should've been bathed in light. So tangible, I could almost touch it. Music rang in my ear, moving in tandem with the light coiled around my arms, white like the core of the sun flaring high at noon across a cloudless sky.

Suddenly, Golza brought his head downward.

A pillar of pure darkness erupted from Golza's forehead. Darker than the shadow-strewn ruins and streets of the city. Darker than the storm clouds above. Darker than depths of the abyss from which Golza came. The blast rent asunder buildings and pavement even if it did not touch them, sending debris flying into the air in its wake. It tore through the air with a screech, swallowing the glow of lightnings around it.

Then just before it reached the halfway point between me and Golza, I moved my arms; the right held upright while the left touched it on the elbow, forming into an L.

And then there was Light.

A vertical ray of the purest light flared out from my arm. So bright. So brilliant. It should have scorched my eyes with just a glance. It should have burnt me to ash where I stood. It should have killed me. The light raced across the air, piercing through rain, splitting ruins and debris in its wake before finally meeting the darkness head on.

Light and darkness clashed and their battle was the sundering of the earth and the rending of the air. Where they met, a nova burst forth, red and bloody like the final thrashing of dying star, setting alight the nearby buildings around them and sending red-hot sparks flying into the city below.

At first it was a stalemate; light and dark meeting at the center between where Golza and I stood. Neither could overtake the other in the first few seconds of their clash.

Then, slowly, the light gave way.

The retreat of the light was deceptively gradual and sinisterly subtle. Almost unnoticeable at first. The dark chipped away at the edge of the light, overtaking small portions of it, bit by bit. Like a serpent patiently swallowing its prey. By the time I realized what had happened, one-third of the light had been lost, devoured by the dark pillar that emanated from Golza, closing in on me with each passing second.

Immediately, instinctively, I poured more energy into the light. I don't know how, but I did. Freezing ice and sizzling fire surged through my veins, flowing into the very marrows of my bones. The glow in my arms grew brighter and the ray of light blazed more intensely now.

It was not enough. The darkness continued on, devouring the light, steadily gaining more and more momentum, growing in mass and size while the light dimmed and dimmed. Again I poured more energy into it, to stave off the shadow, to fight off the darkness. The light grew brighter once again, but the dark simply rose in equal measure and more, engulfing the latter in its embrace before choking it to death.

In a matter of seconds, two-third of my light was swallowed up and it seemed like it would take less than that for the rest of it to give way.

For a single heartbeat, I thought of retreating or stepping aside; let the pillar of darkness hit some other target behind me while I made a mad dash for Golza right when he's at his most vulnerable.

But…if I did that…Hiratsuka-sensei…

She was still there, behind me. I couldn't see her, but I knew she was there, still alive, barely alive, still lying on the ground where I'd found her… and if the darkness blasted through, she would die. If I sidestep or retreat, she would be caught in the ensuing blast of energy and she would die. If I do anything except hold my ground, she would die.

Even if you do hold your ground, she would die. The darkness continued to grow, drinking off the light, absorbing it into its growing mass. Whatever you do she will die. But at least, if you sidestep the blast and rushed at Golza quickly enough, you might have a chance in defeating—

No!

I rejected the thought utterly. I couldn't do that. I will not do that. I'd rather die before I let that happen! Not again. Not now, when I have the power to make a difference.

What difference could you make? The dark inched towards me, getting closer and closer, one step at a time. Only a moment's difference. Only a little time. She's dead anyway. Why not let her die for a good cause instead of a vain one?

Perhaps she might have a chance. Or perhaps it was just a foolish errand, but…

Even if it's only for a second…

Even if it's only for a moment…

If it is within my power to buy just a little more time…

Then—

The dark was upon me. A gaping maw. A tear in reality. A glimpse into utter oblivion.

I poured more energy into my beam. Not to destroy the dark or to fight it off, but to protect Hiratsuka-sensei. To give her time. To give her a chance. A slim hope. A fool's hope.

…I see. So that is your resolve. Very well.

I felt a change.

The dark raged. A shadow deeper than the darkest night, an ink-black pillar writhing with violet fires at its edges, almost a mere moment away from smothering the light.

Yet, the light held on.

Weak and feeble it seemed in the face of the dark. A single candle surrounded by shadows. A lonely star shining in an otherwise pitch-black night. Barely hanging on by a thread. Less than a thread. So fragile it should've been impossible for it to not be snuffed out then and there.

Yet, the light held on, burning away despite the shadows, shining through the night, as if in defiance of that impossibility. A single spot of brightness holding the dark at bay. There it stood. Alone, yet holding on all the same.

No. Not alone. Never alone.

And then the light exploded.

It was like a supernova. A sudden explosion of light radiated out from my arms. The beam of light gleamed like a blade, shining brighter than ever. My chest thrummed, the color timer glowed and I felt as if a star had been lit inside it. A star as hot as the sun and as cold as the depths of winter. The ray of light I shot up glimmered, no longer just holding on, but fighting back.

Power soared inside me. The sudden outpour of energy almost caught me by surprise. It came from the depths of my being, surging across my body in an instant like a tsunami of energy. Waves of light wove themselves around my arms, churning with power. Wind lashed and roared about me, blowing wildly across the sky, sparks of light and power flying through them. I felt embers of fire and flecks of ice flew into my face as the beam of light shot out against the darkness.

The light did not drive the darkness back, it cleaved through it. More sudden than lightning. More terrible than the dawn. Brighter than the sun at high noon. In a matter of seconds, it cut through the darkness, gaining back the grounds it lost previously. The inky blackness of oblivion that had stared me right in the face only seconds before now fled before the onset of the light. The shadows had been so all-encompassing before, now shrivel and die.

Golza cried,but his roar was drowned out by the whiplash of winds that followed the sudden surge of power. Above me, the storm began to break apart, rays of sunlight piercing through the gaps in the clouds. The light charged on, cutting through the darkness in mere moments, reaching the halfway point between me and Golza where light and dark first clashed.

Again, Golza roared, his forehead gleaming with amethyst flame, shadows gathered about his form like a cloak of ink-black smoke, the darkness grew, but in the blink of an eye, the light burned it all — the dawn sun chasing away the night, growing brighter and brighter, swallowing the shadows and smoke, blazing through the darkness until at last it hit Golza dead where he stood.

Golza staggered back as the light smashed into him, the sound of it was like a mountain being rent asunder by a storm of lightning. The light screeched as it found its mark, still growing in intensity, growing brighter and brighter still. Golza gave another cry that pierced through the air. But this was not a roar of glee or rage or defiance.

This was a shriek of pain.

"ZHOAAAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEEE—"

Then, abruptly, Golza's roar was cut off.

The kaiju's cry echoed in the wind in one moment and in the next it was gone.

The only sound that remained was the screeching of the light as I poured more and more energy into the beam. Eventually, even that started to grow faint.

The outpour of power I felt before began to dwindle. The ocean reduced to a river, the river to a mere trickle until at last it ran dry. The winds that had lashed about so wildly before began to soften. The beam of light grew dimmer and dimmer until it was cut off when I let go of my arms, letting them fall to the side.

Did I do it?

It was hard to tell. I could still see Golza, some fair distance away from me. He was still there, standing as still as a mountain, not moving a single muscle, not even twitching. Was he even breathing? Smoke and vapors trailed around his figure. There was black gaping wound at the center of his body. Yet despite all of that, he was still standing. His white eyes shone, staring at me. For a single moment, I wondered if he had truly managed to survive even that.

Suddenly, Golza's legs gave way, toppling into the ground on their knees. His body followed suit, but right before it could hit the earth—

BOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion caused a small mushroom cloud to form. Vapors and chunks of debris rising into the air, pushing the clouds aside. Sunlight peeked out from the gaps in the heaven, illuminating the final resting place of Golza.

Where Golza once stood, there was now simply an empty crater. A hole in the ground that blasted through the nearby ruins.

Above me the storm had almost completely broken apart. The rain had stopped. The dark gray clouds that had hung in the sky so oppressively before were torn at their seams, cut up by the sunlight that slashed into them like blades of golden light. A wind began to blow. Not the dead-cold wind of a winter that had overstayed its welcome, but spring. True spring that carried with it the smell of soil and a hint of flower.

I stared at the scene in front of me — the crater across the city, the storm clouds bursting asunder, the high noon sun that I'd not seen in days. Then, I remembered that there was something I needed to check.

I turned around and looked down…

Hiratsuka-sensei was there, still on the spot where I'd found her but she was not lying down. Instead, she was standing now, staring up at me. Her clothes were bedraggled, her legs slightly limped by the way she held herself, but she's alive. She's alright.

I didn't fail.

She stared at me. Frozen like a statue. Eyes and mouth wide and open. What was she feeling? Surprise? Disbelief? Was she relieved by her survival or terrified by the spectacle in front of her.

Hiratsuka-sensei.

I tried to call out to her, but my voice came out in intangible grunts instead.

"Haaaaa…"

It was as if a spell had been broken and Hiratsuka-sensei took an involuntary step back. And then a second. Then a third. Then—

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

A scream was torn out from her mouth before she placed a hand over it. Before I could understand what was going on or what she was about to do, she turned her back and bolted straight out of the scene. Away from where I was. I would have been confused if I had not seen the sheer terror on her face just a moment before she started running.

Ah, I almost forgot…

Of course. Ultras… have a dark reputation here. How many people died during the Year of Darkness? How many people lost their loved ones? Their homes? Their livelihoods? I may not be Tiga or Darramb or Camearra or Hudra, but the distinction mattered little. An Ultra is a Titan and a Titan is just another. No. Worse than a kaiju.

If I am to be an Ultraman, I have to find a way to deal with this, but for now I have other things to worry about.

I could see Hiratsuka-sensei's small figure, darting about in the street, through buildings and ruins. She would be fine by her lonesome, but what about the others?

I looked at the spot where I last saw them. Somewhere north of the hill, running in the direction of the mountain. It would take some time for me to walk there and I didn't know if I have enough energy to—

Suddenly a sudden warmth filled my chest. One that I was familiar with, but where before the power flowed into my arms, now it flowed into my legs. I braced myself suddenly, a motion that was more instinct than calculated.

And then, in the blink of an eye, I flew away.

—​

Author's Note: Haha. It's been a long time. Sorry for the wait you guys. I have not given up on the story. A lot has been going on IRL, but I managed to scrounge up enough time and motivation to start writing again.

The next chapters will probably be flashback interludes or the likes primarily from the perspective of the Service Club trio and after that another part with which we would conclude this episode and, coincidentally, the Prologue Arc.

Like, comment, and stay tuned for more.