The moment I regained my consciousness, two known figures greeted me with their warm smile.
One man stood still with one hand in his pocket, known as Ren Kazuma. The other one, a girl sitting next to me known as Hikaru.
"You alright, Suzuka?" Hikaru asked while helping me sit on the ground.
I'm alright, was the answer I wanted to give before she smiled again as she added, "Looks like you're good, alright."
I hadn't given my answer yet. With a sigh, I turned my gaze away from them.
It was then something unexpected took my attention.
Some black smoke came from the tall building, with what appeared to be the remains of something burning inside.
The shopping mall had been burned out along with everything inside.
It took a few moments for me before I remember what was I doing before I lost my consciousness.
I was fighting some monsters inside the mall while helping the citizens to get out from there, then...
When I was about to fight another wave of monsters, an explosion threw me off the building.
That's it.
'I think?'
My memory was kind of hazy that I couldn't clearly remember what really happened.
Although, judging from where I was on, I really did fall from the building.
Then if so, I would have felt the pain of crashing my body to the ground.
I didn't feel any of it.
'Did someone catch me? Who? Ren and Hikaru? Then what about the monsters? I didn't see them around. Did they take them all down or was the explosion did it?'
More and more I became confused at myself.
Knowing it wouldn't get me anywhere, I decided to ask them.
Nonchalantly.
"What happened, actually?"
They looked at me immediately.
"How much did you remember before we'll tell you?" Ren asked with his usual look.
With an embarrassed look I answered nervously.
"I fell, I think?"
Both of them sighed.
Deep down I could tell from their face it would be a long, unbelievable yet bothersome story to tell.
It wasn't rare to hear such story these days, so I was ready to accept what he would say.
"Well..."
Hikaru began to spoke. She seemed irritated to a certain someone that people would recognize it just from looking at her face.
Somehow I knew to whom the irritation was directed.
"Ren, if you please," she followed with a glare to the man she called.
I was spot on.
"You don't have to look at me like that, you know..."
I didn't know what was going on between those two, so I decided to leave it to their own business.
With a sigh he began to tell me.
"When you fell, someone caught you then took you here to safety."
'Someone?'
I cut off to ask what he meant by someone.
"Who is this someone?"
Both of them looked at each other, followed by a silence.
The only thing we could hear were people talking and the sound of sirens.
It became really awkward.
Until Hikaru broke the silence.
"I don't know who that was, but seems like Ren knows."
"Huh?"
I turned my gaze to him the moment she told me that.
When my gaze met his, he closed his eyes then exhaled his breath.
"Umm...Ren?"
Before anymore words could leave our mouths, Hikaru added, "That person also took down all the monsters alone if you want to know about that too," with cold tone. "I wanted to help him but Ren held me back just to watch him fought the monsters alone.
"Wait, what?"
I couldn't believe what I just heard. That moment I was confused at why he did that.
"Why didn't you help that person, Ren?" with a glare I asked.
He opened his eyes and gave me smile.
"He looked strong enough to do it by himself," he answered casually. "Not to mention when Razor appeared, he took it down by breaking its shield using his bare hands and kicked it to its own weapon."
I was at loss of words. I knew I said I was ready to accept the story, but it was...seriously unbelievable.
Then it hit me.
No one would be able to take those monsters down, especially doing it alone.
Except...
'If that person is a Special Human, that would make sense...'
Although there was a flaw in my own theory.
It would need at least a weapon to defeat a Razor, even so it wouldn't guarantee to break its strong shield. Every one of us knew that too well.
But to break it using bare hands? That is something.
No one would be able to do that, at least no one I knew.
Maybe...
Suddenly I realized something.
'They said "he"...And Hikaru said he knows that person. Well, seems like he knows..."
All in all, I wouldn't know unless I dig it out from him.
"Do you really know this person, Ren?"
Just from his expression I knew he was kind of hesitated to tell.
To tell the truth, it seemed.
His only answer was, "I can only tell he's not a Guilder. That's all."
"...That's it?"
"Yeah."
Even Hikaru was disappointed with his answer.
"I can't believe it," she followed with a sigh. "I thought you really knew, but...oh well..."
I felt he was hiding something, but decided to keep it for himself.
Both of them went silent, until she spoke out her mind.
"If he's not a Guilder, then..."
As her gaze met his, she received a nod to finish her sentence.
I knew what they meant.
Wanderer.
For those who had special powers but not in any guilds, they were called Wanderers. As the opposite of Guilders, they were basically special humans who were roaming around the streets like normal humans did and behave like them, hiding their capabilities from the world.
It was simple. The reason they were called Wanderers was they didn't want to involve themselves to the conflict we were in, just living an ordinary life like how normal people did.
The decision to be a Wanderer or Guilder was actually depending on the person's will, a right we earned for having this "special power". For example, if I chose not to join any guild, I would be a Wanderer.
Also, the strength he had based on their story was kind of unusual, too. I never met anyone who would able to destroy a Razor's shield with bare hands only.
'Perhaps...'
I had a feeling, yet I couldn't tell if it's true. It was too strange to be called coincidence, but...
'Maybe it's him...? The same person I met when I was a kid?'
"To think a Wanderer put himself in line to defeat those monsters..."
The words left Hikaru's mouth was actually made sense. Then again, it wasn't normal for a Wanderer to put himself into this mess, knowing they wanted to live without trouble.
'Then why?' I asked myself.
"Anyway."
Once again Ren spoke, gaining our attention.
"I wonder what she will do when she hears this..."
With a smile he turned his gaze to me.
"Especially when she knows that you're the one who burned down the whole building," he added with cheerful tone.
That moment I knew he was serious.
"Right..."
I was the cause for burning the building in the first place, so I need to take responsibility for doing it.
By telling her first.
Our guild master.
I couldn't hide it. Doing so would make her angry while lowering our guild reputation.
"Ren, come on," Hikaru commented. "At least the mission is clear."
"You still have to report it," he commented back.
He was right. No matter what, I still need to report it to our guild master for the details. It wasn't just for the reputation, but to be honest, if I didn't report it, the mission would be considered as failure or abandoned.
When that happened, I wouldn't get any payment. Not saying I wasn't doing it for free, but in this line of life, it was considered as our right for doing our responsibilities.
"Alright," I said while standing up and sighing deeply. "I'll report all this tomorrow."
"Not now?"
"I think she's taken a rest, so I'll just going to do it tomorrow."
"Ah you're right. It's this late already."
My true reason was, I just need to rest. I was tired enough that all I wanted to do was to sleep.
"I wonder if we'll be able to meet him..." I murmured.
"Why?"
They looked at me in confusion.
"Well..."
I was fidgeting, yes, but all I wanted to say was...
"I just want to say thank you for saving me, that's all..."
Hiding the fact that I wanted to know who the person was, was a thing I wouldn't say.
Then it happened again.
Ren closed his eyes and smiled.
"Don't worry, you will."
His words were full of confidence. I didn't know if he was joking around or not, but if it would really happen, I could meet him.
Just as I was about to take my leave, Hikaru reminded me.
"Oh right, don't forget we have to go to the academy Ayumi signed us up tomorrow, okay?"
With a nod I replied, "Yeah, let's meet up there by the morning. Night, you two."
Waving my hand to them, I began my steps to my where I wanted to be.
My apartment.
It wasn't that far, and while on my way back there was only ordinary things going around.
Didn't take long before I arrived at my apartment.
Entering my apartment, I began to get changed before washing my face.
As the water droplets fell to my hands, I saw myself looked really tired and confused.
Confused at the things that had happened in just a night.
Seconds had passed, I wiped my face with the water then using a towel to clean my face.
All I needed was to get some rest for the next day.
Lying my back on my bed, I tried to close my eyes to get some sleep.
But couldn't.
My head was filled with things that I wouldn't want to think that night.
The academy, known as Seven Stars Academy.
An academy filled with special humans, mostly Guilders.
While me, Ren and Hikaru were in the same class, my other guild mates weren't.
At least that's what I heard from Ayumi.
She was also a year ahead from us, with other guild mates.
That night I was wondering...
What would await me in that academy?
Well, the things I should do the moment the next day began...
To report the mission to Ayumi, then find the person who saved me.
"Well, I need to rest for tomorrow."