A little back in time.
Hairihi Royal Palace, in a room given to the heroes, Yaegashi Shizuku was staring at her best friend sleep in the dark.
5 days have passed since they had a taste of battle and loss in the labyrinth. When they exited the labyrinth, they stayed overnight at Horald. The party came back to the capital on a high-speed carriage early in the morning. There was no one in the mood to continue the combat exercises in the labyrinth. Incompetence was the cause of death for a brave man. Both the king and church would need to hear the report. They were not allowed to break in this place. Before something worse happened, they needed to care for the party of heroes.
Shizuku remembered when they returned to the kingdom. She wanted to wake Kaori up in the morning, so she went to sleep early. When they returned the news of Hajime and Kenshiro's death was reported.
Everyone was astonished, but they breathed a sigh of relief when it was the "useless" heroes that passed. Even the king and Ishtar was the same. There wasn't any of the strong heroes to die in the labyrinth. If they could not return alive from just exploring the labyrinth, how would they fight the Devils? The chosen heroes of God must be unrivaled.
The king and Ishtar had discretion. There had been among them that had slandered and abused Hajime. It was not spoken to the public, but it was a talked about in secret in the noble society.
They thought it was good that the incompetent ones died. An apostle of God that was useless; naturally they would die. Now they were speaking ill as one pleased. Shizuku really wanted to go berserk and kill those people many times but stops as she doesn't know her exact feeling towards Kiyama's death yet.
Kouki and his strong sense of justice did not stand up against such mistreatment; she thought something was weird. Did he think that if he protested against the king and church, it would leave a bad impression.
People who cursed Hajime and Kiyama seemed to be penalized…rumors were spread that Kouki was an anxious brave hero who pondered his incompetence. Hajime's reputation was not going to change just because a few people said so.
At that time, it was undeniable who saved them and who attempted to save him. Hajime was the one that kept the Behemoth in check to allow them to escape. To think that he died because of a stray shot from a classmate…though that is what he said.
To escape reality, she wondered what Hajime did to cause such a thing. Dead man tell no tales. Rather than look for the culprit recklessly, if she left it alone than it would be done. The classmates opinion was in harmony and they did not communicate it.
To clarify the details at the time, Meld thought it was necessary to interview the students. Just like the students he choose to escape from reality, even if it was hard to regard as a mistake. Even if it was negligence he carried it out for the benefit of the students. To leave such a thing unsettled would only bring trouble later on.
Meld action did not come true. Ishtar had banned any scrutiny of the students. Meld clung to it, but even the king forbid it.
"If you knew, you will get angry." they said making a fair argument.
Kaori had not woken up since that day. There was no abnormalities discovered by the doctor's diagnosis. The body, probably because of mental shock, went into a deep sleep as a defense mechanism. Time will pass normally if they sobered up.
Shizuku held Kaori's hands. She prayed to not let her best friend hurt anymore.
Kaori's hand twitched at that.
"Kaori! Can you hear me!? Kaori!"
Shizuku looked at her and waited until Kaori gathered herself more before calling her.Shizuku forced a smile and tried to assist Kaori in standing up, who was trying to ask Shizuku how much she slept and she answered.
They stay in whole day as Shizuku forces Kaori into her embrace and tells her the truth of what happened. Shizuku did not want to sugar coat it, it would only be a temporary comfort. The lie could come back and hurt more than it was softened. She did not want to see her friend in pain.
They talked alot until Kaori with a new found determination in her eyes wants to get stronger and save Nagumo or at least see his body, she asks for Shizuku's support and latter who found her answer in her friends eyes said.
"Of course, I'll agree. Until you are satisfied I'll tag along."
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