Hajime's POV:
I got back to the dormitory. There weren't any water in the library, but good thing a fountain was nearby. Thanks to that, I was able to get back quickly.
Her last question was so random, though. So random it made me want to tease her.
"Did you fall in love with me or something?"
"Just answer it, already!" She demanded.
"No, I don't have a love interest at this particular time."
"I see. Okay."
"That's all?"
She nodded.
I left after that.
Now here I am, walking in the hallway to the cafeteria. Many people passed by me, but, as always, I couldn't differentiate anyone of them. We're all just minding our own business with the people we know.
Rye and Mea weren't the only ones who thought up of distinguishing themselves. Many people I see also have some form of decoration to differentiate themselves with others. The most popular type of accessory being earrings.
I went up to the scanner to check in. By check in, I mean pretend to record my returning back to my room. I already did everything I wanted here in the dormitory. There's no point in me staying here overnight since I won't be sleeping anyways.
The dorm provides a system for the residents. If you are leaving the building, you check out. If you are returning back to your room to rest, you check in. It's not necessary to check in if you plan to leave again for a short duration.
If you check in twice, the most recent one will overwrite the last one. All the records here are then sent to the administration office for easy monitoring.
Before returning here, I dropped a visit in the administration office and requested for permission to leave the dormitory overnight.
"We can't do that," was Kenji's response. He had demanded that everyone return and check in before 6:00PM when it's completely dark. That way, they can prepare a rescue team for anyone out there stuck in the darkness.
Of course, the rescue team risk getting themselves lost, too. So they only deploy them when a group of people or someone important goes missing.
There has not been a case of monster report as of this time. But Kenji is taking precautions for any possible cases of emergencies. We can't die, but that doesn't mean we don't feel pain.
Hm? Why are people crowding around the area? I walked closer to get a better look.
"Huh? You still think you're better?" That always irritated voice could only be Kasai.
Another person knelt there, his back stepped on by Kasai and his right arm behind his spine. Kasai stood there, threatening to break his arm as he waited for his answer.
"Stop it! I get it! It's my bad, alright? I apologize!" The man cried in desperation.
"You think apologizing means you can get with anything?! What happened to your spirit from earlier? Aren't you going to beat me senseless? Huh? Answer me, you clown!"
"Please! I'm sorry! Stop! It hurts! IT HURTS!" He cried in agony.
His shoulder was dislocated in an instant. The man fainted from the pain. Kasai kicked him aside and glared at one of the bystanders.
"What are you looking at, huh?! You want to go, too?" He reminds me of a punk.
The guy backed away from him and left the crowd in a panic.
"Tch. Deadass." The crowd moved away to form a path for him as he left the scene.
The direction he's heading happens to be right where I'm standing. Now, I'm not the person to just bend to someone because they're in a bad mood.
"Move, deadass."
Come to think of it, I never fought with Kasai before, have I? He used make fun of me in the earlier stages but we hadn't really seen each other in the later stages.
"Can't you hear me? I said move, deadass!"
No, deadass is not an insult.
"I said."
"Move."
A fist flung towards me in my line of sight.
It was fast, but I narrowly dodged it by moving my head to the side. I maintained eye contact.
His momentum didn't stop at the punch, he was coming at me expecting me to dodge his first attack. He was now close enough to perform a knee strike on my abdomen. The distance made it impossible to dodge.
The force sent me flying back, normally this would not be the case if not for this lightweight body. In the short moment that I was in the air, he took advantage of my lack of mobility and aimed for my face, his fist now carrying much more momentum than his first attack.
I blocked it with my arms. The force pushed me farther than it did earlier. There was a dent on my arm around the area his fist landed. He didn't follow up with another attack, since he lost all his momentum on that last attack.
As expected from the prodigy of the Phoenix Squad. He easily create openings for himself and finishes his opponent swiftly. This fighting style is what made him stand second place in terms of monster kills, next to only Haruto.
Unlike Haruto who coordinates well with his teammates and provides all forms of utility to everyone, Kasai is the type to be at his fullest potential when solo. Even Haruto will have a hard time dealing with Kasai in a duel.
Since I'm against a first-class damage-dealer for the first time ever...
It's about time I get serious.
~~
Kasai's POV:
This guy is getting on my nerves. He's just standing there. It's obvious he's waiting for me to take the first move. I'm not letting your arm regenerate!
"Are you scared?! Why don't you come at me?! You should've just fucked off if you had no balls! You're gonna fucking regret this."
He's at a disadvantage, he's trying to buy as much time as he can to heal his arm. If that's the case... I dashed towards him with max speed.
I'll just take this chance to inflict even more damage while you defend with one hand!
"Why are you only dodging?! Why don't you throw a punch?! What happened to your confidence from earlier, huh?!"
I performed a barrage of attacks which he reacted by moving his body swiftly to dodge them all.
He jumped back to create some distance between us but I'm not letting him do that. I pressed on with my attacks, not giving him any time to rest.
Because of our last clash, he's now less cautious of my feints and more engrossed in finding my real attack. He knows how badly it'll become for him if I corner him into a situation where he had to block my stronger attacks with his remaining arm.
"Come on! Why are you only defending?! That punch must have really messed up your arm, huh?!"
Good, focus on defending. That's exactly how I wanted you to act! By the time you realize it, it'll be too late!
His arm is regenerating. Just his stance alone tells me he's about to retaliate and we'll finally start exchanging blows. How predictable.
"Why don't you start-"
As expected, he finally threw his first punch at me. I parried it off and executed a straight punch to his abdomen. He couldn't dodge this so he had to block with his arms. I followed up with more punches, forcing him to take the same defensive stance as I beat him over and over.
I raised my right fist up high. That's right, this is the punch you've been waiting for. He noticed it and is completely prepared for it. Of course he is, it's the only attack that could greatly affect you with that body.
Naturally, he dodged it. Is what he would've done if my fingers weren't completely dug into his right arm.
You were to focused on my attacks to even realize I was aiming for your right arm from the beginning, weren't you? Having both arms made you feel on equal footing with me didn't it? Aren't you a little too confident to be blocking my attacks? That's what will lead to you losing here!
He kicked my right rib.
"That hurts, you bastard. Too bad it didn't went as you expected. Hahaha!"
That kick just now would easily have created the distance you need between us. If my finger wasn't dug so deeply into your right arm, that is!
You're cornered now. You can't dodge this. A single arm isn't going to block a straight punch. Try it! I'll just crush your arm along with your face! It's over.
He arched his back.
"THAT'S NOT GOING TO SAVE YOU!"
The fist that carried all the weight and momentum I had made a clean hit on his face. This much force should have broken his nose if he had one.
I felt a sudden sharp pain on my chin and before I knew it, my head jerked up. Huh? The ceiling is getting bigger. I don't feel the ground.
Did he just...?! He used my own punch's momentum on his upper body to execute this powerful front kick?
This is bad. The force pushed us both away from each other but that's completely stopped if the direction is towards the floor!
He's probably already regained his ground by now while I'm still in the air. Fuck.
FUCK.
"COME AT ME, DEADASS!"
I have to defend myself. If I can't control my direction, I can at least rotate my body to face him.
I'll take you on! Even in the air! I'll fucking win.
"I SAID COME AT—"
It was then, a deafening thunder echoed throughout the hallway, blowing my eardrums. I don't know if I even have eardrums with this body, but I can only hear ringing in my ears.
How?! How is he suddenly in front of me?!
His right hand, that's not a fist. It's completely straight, all fingers are tightly compact together. He's staring at my neck with bloodlust.
I can't block it in time-
...
"Oh, honey! He looks just like you!"
"What are you talking about? Look at his cute face, it's definitely from your side!"
They chuckled.
"Have you thought up of a name for him, yet?"
"How about Carlos? He'll be the sweetest guy you could meet, he learns from his mistakes and if he knows he hurt you he'll realize it and want to fix it. And the best part is, Carlos is also a ladies men."
"Did you read that as well from the internet?" She laughed.
"I thought really hard on it. I want my son to be just a likable man as I am, if not, more!"
"He's already more likable than you, though."
"As expected of my son! Wait, are you implying I'm not a likable person?!"
"Have you thought of a Japanese name?"
"You want a Japanese name, too?"
"Yes, I want to let my parents meet him as soon as I can!"
"Hmm..." my father appears to be thinking hard on it.
"If you hadn't thought about it, then how about Kasai?" Her fingers were touching and her eyes shined with anticipation.
"Kasai?"
"Yes, it's a beautiful word for fire. I want him to burn more passionately than anyone else. I want him to shine the brightest. He might end up being the excessively loud type. But if that's his way of encouraging himself to never give up, I want to support him and watch him grow to be a fine man."
"That's a really cool name befitting of our son!"
"Right?"
Their voices are growing distant.
"But won't being loud make him less likable by people?"
"Why not both! He can both be loud and liked!"
"That's not a..."
...
The ceiling. The hallway's empty.
I lost, huh?
There I am laying on the floor, still thinking back to what I just witnessed inside my head.
"A beautiful word for fire..." I subconsciously said the words out.
Little did you know, Mother.
Kasai also mean conflagration, an extensive fire that destroys a great deal of land and property.
~~
Hajime's POV:
It felt weird. Having my hand inside someone's head at that moment. It was completely hollow inside. If so, how did he pass out? It's no use thinking of questions that won't be answered.
It's almost completely dark. I have to reach my destination before I get trapped somewhere without a light source.
I thought about staying in the library close to the dorm but there are still a decent amount of people. There are streetlights, too, which means accessible places at night. My only option is the spawn point.
If I run, I can definitely reach there before it get completely dark. No one can recognize me, anyways. Even if they do catch me, what's possibly the worst outcome?
They don't have enough personnel to monitor my every movement. They could lock me up, but I already have a plan for escaping that, too. No matter how I think of it, this decision is way better than boring myself to death.
I wonder if she's still there.
Only a few minutes was required to reach the spawnpoint's library thanks to my water running method. I thought about going somewhere else to explore but the risk of finding nothing and ending up trapping myself is not worth it.
I opened the library door and walked in. She's not here. Not that it really mattered. I'm used to going a long time without company.
I spent the entire night there, and the next, and the proceeding ones, reading books. I never got caught.
During the morning I would see flat chest and strike a few conversations. The give and take became our routine. But most of our time there was spent on reading. I, reading the pile of books that piqued my interest and her, spending all day holed up in the archives.
By 5:30PM, I would head back to the dorm to check in and sneak out. If you consider walking out casually to be sneaking, of course. At night, it's quieter without flat chest around and I was able to read more books.
Strangely enough, I never have the urge to rest. Despite sitting down and only reading books day and night, I never feel my sanity go down. I repeated this same procedure everyday. Until 6 days have passed.
And today's when training starts.
I stacked the last two books on top of other stacked books. It's now a complete pyramid. Just like how people stack cards and cardboard cups, I did the same with books. Of course, it wasn't easy. I had to repeat this four times because it kept collapsing.
I had finished all the books I picked out, totaling a number of 437. I found 52 more books that interest me so I guess I'll be reading those, too.
I had the spare time so I decided to make a pyramid out of the books I read. I could just read more books to remain productive, but it'll just bore the living soul out of me.
I already minimized my time to the shortest amount possible by spending not more than 15 minutes on each book. If I'm impatient enough to shorten it to just 15 minutes for a single book, I can't imagine completely finishing an entire one.
Sure, reading books thoroughly would provide me with way more information and reduce my chances of skipping important information, but I'm just not cut out for that. My intention was to have a general idea, anyway. I see no reason to memorize everything.
With my time here spent with flat chest, I was able to learn quite a bit about her as she did with me. She's a monster at reading, just like Haruto. No, maybe even faster than Haruto.
She died three months ago on stage 5. She was betrayed by a party she had helped during her adventure. They were in a tight spot, and she offered to help. But they instead stole her treasured items, then left her to die in a snake pit.
After she entered the lobby, the first thing she sought out was the library. She spent the first month of it reading books before she discovered the archives. Apparently it consists of puzzle solving, deciphering codes, and looking for clues like patterns or hidden messages. All that ultimately led to her discovery of the archives.
She had been reading there ever since and would occasionally come out to rest a bit. She's also gotten quite comfortable with me during these few days. No, too comfortable, rather.
It started with her always sitting on a different table that I'm not sitting on, then it became the farthest seat in the table. Every time she comes back, she'll be an extra seat closer to me. And now she would grab the chair next to me, place it closer to my chair, then sit beside me.
I don't really mind. No, it's precisely because I don't mind that's making her do whatever she wants. I would strike a normal conversation and she would follow the flow and go along with it. Never really pointing out her progression.
The animate shelf slid open and there she walked out.
Ever since discovering I've been sleeping in the library two days ago, she decided to do the same. She said she actually haven't thought of that. That makes us partners in crime, doesn't it?
"What were you doing with the books?" She pointed at my masterpiece.
"I call it the Dorito Beehive."
"Must be great to be you."
I feel like she's making fun of me. She might've gotten comfortable with the distance around us, her speech didn't really change.
I stood up, preparing to grab some fresh air. I usually head back to the dorm at around 5AM. It's still 3:55AM, but there's enough light for me to navigate around.
"Are you heading back?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"I'll come with you." She quickly grabbed a book and caught up to me.
"So you have training later, right? Everyone in your clan has to participate. I heard it's like military training."
"Yeah. We also had those back in Worlds. I'm thinking of quitting the clan."
"Why?" She walked in-front of me and had her head peaking from the corner of my eye.
"Kenji announced it'll be a daily thing. I prefer to spend my time gathering as much information as I can. Besides, I still have to check out the archives."
"So you're finally planning to check out the archives after a whole week?" She sounds defeated.
She's been bugging me to get inside the archives with her ever since the second day.
"Yeah, since you've practically been begging me these past few days, saying you're lonely. So I thought I'll keep you company."
"Stop teasing me!" I could imagine her pout for some reason.
We finally reached the gate outside our dorm. It took longer this time since I didn't run. It's still 4:25AM. There's always someone in the administration office no matter the time. Would they get suspicious if we head in now?
"Someone walked out." She whispered.
That's Kenji. This is bad, he's heading our direction.
"What do we do?"
"Hide in a bush."
"But it's dirty! And the leaves..."
Kenji was getting close to the gate so I had to push her in and dive after her. This made the bush rustle. Surely Kenji noticed it.
Kenji walked out of the gate and started doing exercises. One push up, two push ups, three... and then sit ups. One sit up, two...
Is he practicing for the training? No, the training is focused on technique and strategy and doesn't include body strengthening since we don't own the body. It's very likely that out body will be swapped out during the launch of Worlds.
The only explanation I could think of is Kenji being Kenji. He's not known as the muscle-head in our clan for nothing.
"Phew. I really can't start a day without doing these. Man... it's such a waste." He walked back in without noticing us.
"Hgnn..." A weird noise came her.
The type of noise I felt like I've heard, before. To be exact, it's something I've frequently heard at least once reading the novels from the library.
I draw my attention from the gate towards her. My hand now conveniently placed on her right rib, where her flat you know what is located.
"How long are you going to stay like that?" She looked away, her face blushing.
"I thought you'd be used to it by now."
"What do you mean by that?! Don't make it sound like we do it all the time!" Seeing her like this is a nice change of pace.
The wind blew, causing the leaves to rustle.
"Hnnn... get off already..." Her voice is low and fragile. Why is that? I already removed my hand from her chest.
It was then I noticed her squirming her legs, her hips were restless for some reason. I then saw something that isn't a shade of white between her legs. A leaf.
Oh. She still feels what she feels, after all.
This will be fun.
~~
Hajime's POV:
We've gotten out of the bush now.
She's been puffing since earlier, her face red. I guess what happened is still greatly affecting her.
She glared at me with resentment but couldn't really do anything. After all, I didn't do anything.
She knew I intentionally stayed motionless way longer than I should have. But there's no way she'll say a leaf has been secretly tickling her down there out loud, would she?
"Come on, let's head in." I nonchalantly ambled in.
She followed after me. I can tell she's still mad. She doesn't stay angry for long, I know that.
Walking to the cafeteria wasn't difficult. No one was around.
We were able to take the elevator back to our respective rooms. Because of the lack of people during this hour, we got back quickly without traffic.
"See you." She gently waved me goodbye as the elevator closes in.
She's in the 74th floor and I'm in the 95th. The way up only took half a minute.
I stepped out of the elevator and pulled out my profile to unlocked my door.
"Hajime!" An excited call rang in my ears.
There sat Rye with his blue ribbon. Inside room 5544. My room.
"How'd you get in?" The door automatically closed behind me.
"Through the balcony. Your windows were unlocked." He said it in a way as if it's the most normal thing ever.
"So you could do that." I let the fact sink in.
"Enough of that! Where were you?! I haven't seen you in years, man!" He exaggerated.
"How often were you coming into my room..."
"Everyday!" He exclaimed.
He's serious. I know he's serious.
"Everyone's room is basically the same."
"My room isn't the only one you invaded?"
"Nope, I went over to Mea and Sara's room, too."
"I don't think that was a good idea."
"It wasn't! Sara just gave me a good scolding but Mea threw me off the balcony without remorse!"
I can see that happening.
"Room 5542 was messy and 5543 was oddly empty."
"Well, Kasai lives in 5542. As for 5543... what do you mean by oddly empty?"
"It's like no one lives there, dude. Everything's like neatly arranged. It's exactly how it looked like when I first walked into my room."
"Maybe he's just a tidy person."
"Maybe. More importantly! Where were you?"
I didn't want to tell him since he'll actually follow me. He's a good person for the most part, but he'll be a distraction in the library.
"That's a secret. How far have you two gone?" I switched the topic.
"Oh, um..." he let out a nervous laugh and scratched his cheeks.
"Anyways, let's go check out our neighbor's room."
"You mean Sara's?"
"No, the mysterious room 5543."
"The window's locked, by the way. The room hasn't change much in the three times I've went there."
I got out to the balcony and distant myself from the edge, readying to make a jump for it.
"Have you tried breaking the window?" I asked him.
His voice filled with excitement.
"I haven't!"
He hadn't thought about that. And that's precisely why he's so enthusiastic with my idea
I sprinted across the balcony and made a leap for it, neatly landing on the other side.
!!
"Rye! Don't come here!" I yelled out with a dreadful voice.
Beyond the window lay a corpse.
Blood. Red blood. Something I have not seen since coming here.
That wasn't all there is. Next to the corpse stood a tall figure. His robes old and torn. A dark fog surrounds him, making his body almost invisible.
Slowly, the monstrosity turned it's head towards me. That jaw hanging from his mouth, those red eyes. The maggots. That stitched up skull.
Slowly, his head still turning towards me.
It's as if I interrupted the delighted meal time of death itself. My legs were shaking.
It made a sudden turn of completely 180 degrees accompanied by a loud crack.
It's the skeleton.