It was my first time sleeping in a comfortable bed, with no monsters or harsh environment to deal with. But when I opened my eyes, the sky shown in the window was still dark. And when I looked at the clock, it was just five o’clock in the morning.
“The sun hasn’t come out. Better make some breakfast for Himari, I guess.”
That was the best decision I ever made after waking up from my bed. Hina used a chair and slept beside her parent’s hands. I told her she would be the one sleeping on the make-shift mattress. It was more comfortable that way. However, Hina won the argument. As I tried laying out my reason, in the end, Hina fell asleep on the hospital bed where her parents were confined.
I got out of the futon and went straight to the side to make our first meal. The hospital room had li
Hina’s Perspective …………………… After teasing me, I kicked my brother out of the hospital room and slammed the door shut in front of him. But now that I thought about it, what I did was wrong and out of bounds. Sweat dripped in every part of my body as I reflected on what I had done moments ago. “My brother’s asking for it, right, Hina? Come on. You got mad because of his stupidity. And you’re a girl. So you have the right to be mad at him.” I talked with myself and coped with whatever ran through my mind. Knowing Aoi, he wouldn’t consider this incident a big deal to me… But what if he did? What if Aoi wouldn’t come back and abandon me? What if he got so pissed off he tried leaving my parents and me inside this hospital without paying for my-."
Hina kicked me out of the hospital, which was unheard of. But she had her reasons, especially after teasing her about spilling the conversation she had with Oculus. I received my punishment and walked outside of the hospital with the cup of ramen in my hand. When I finished my meal, I hurriedly opened an application inside my phone where I could exchange the items I received from the portal for money. I needed cash before paying the hospital bills for Hina’s parents.“How does this thing work?” I asked myself, as I fiddled with my phone.As it had turned out, the one behind the application was also an adventurer who could manipulate another space as a form of inventory. That person was just like me. According to the information from the online market, all I had to do was to input the items I had, and an appraiser checker would review the quali
“We are bringing the hottest news about portals, adventurers, and the events happening in Japan. Another report of a portal being defeated by an unknown individual flashed on the screen. The portal that appeared from Shibuya, Japan, was recently found conquered by a mysterious man wielding a gun in his hand. Although this image provided by the internet may be fake, the Crimson Guild believes that there is some truth in it. Furthermore, the Crimson Guild’s leader, Sato Akai, will be the one to deliver the news to us right now. He is our special guest for today who will disclose whatever information the Crimson Guild has collected. Please be reminded that Akai will use a voice modifier and a black screen to conceal his identity from the public. His voice will be clear for everyone to hear, so don’t worry about a single thing! The news station welcomes you, Sato Akai, the founder, director, and the leader of the Crimson Guild!”
“Mister Nakamura! Over here!” the doctor called out for my name.I, who didn’t want to disrespect such a noble man, came to him and gave the physician a nod.“Hello, doctor! It’s nice to see you here! I’ve already paid in advance for the hospital bills. If there’s still anything that I need to pay for or do, please inform me. I’ll do whatever I can.”The doctor did what he could to shove the one who paid for reservations for our room at the last minute. I owed him a lot for it. If it weren’t for him pulling the strings, maybe Hina’s parents would be lying on the streets until now.“Don’t mention it, Nakamura. It’s my job. And you can call me Maruki. I am Doctor Takeshi Maruki. But you can
The mask concealed my face. It even hid my emotions and the tears that flowed from my eyes. If I pulled this trigger, Doctor Maruki would die with my own hands. And I would have claimed the life of a person, which I refused to do.I vowed to protect Hina at all costs, even if it meant killing someone. But how could I do it? This person in front of me also had a life of his own. He had already saved millions of people. People will point their fingers at me and call me a murderer if I kill him now. And they will never be wrong about it. Compared to a professional doctor working inside the hospital, nobody would trust a stranger.In spite of everything, Doctor Maruki never lost his smile. This time around, it was a genuine beam, as if he cared about me and my well-being. Even though Doctor Maruki had a gun pointed at him, he never panicked or fought back. He knew
The place didn’t change. A garden filled with spider lilies, roses, sunflowers, and the regular grass filled the lawn. Thankfully, the portals didn’t reach Sara Tanaka’s and Midori’s house. There were still people roaming around the streets, wearing their corporate attire and carrying their suitcases in their hands. However, something was different. Usually, Midori’s mother was always outside, watering the plants and catering to their needs. But Miss Tanaka wasn’t there in her usual spot. I tried gazing at the house’s interior through the window, but the glass-covered itself with stains as if someone had never cleaned it. The light was also turned off when it should’ve been on. When my feet touched the rag, the carpet looked like it wasn’t washed for days. And the roof that covered the house had spider webs all over the place and a bird’s nest that had been swatted yet. Nevertheless, I walked forward
“I was in the middle of my job when someone called me out. My coworker told me that the school was calling for me. And then people gathered inside the office - in front of the TV. The news said that a portal appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t know what it was and wanted to mind my own business. But when I heard about Midori’s school, I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. They told me that my son had died from the portal. I was in denial. I refused to believe it. Of course. How could I, right? Midori’s my son. And I wouldn’t let anything happen to him. But when I went to the school, I saw his corpse. I almost couldn’t recognise my son. I asked a lot of people in the place about what happened, but they told me the same thing. ‘The portal did this to the students,’ they said. Until then, I couldn’t get over the death of my son. Even now,” Mrs. Tanaka muttered, and flashed me a faint smile. “I thought that taking my life would end my suffering. It will, but
“Everything written in this journal may have included research from the internet. But mostly… it came from me.”{Portals appeared long ago. The scientist didn’t specifically mark the time. But from what I have discovered, Egyptians were the first ones to tell that tale. It’s always them.}{Portals act like pocket dimensions, dungeons, prisons, an infinite space isolated from our own timeline and reality, and a place where matter could exist and be created. The government might say that portals are mysterious places formed from another universe or galaxy. But I believe that there is someone who could conjure them. Isn’t it cool if my guesses are correct? But, at the same time, it’s terrifying if I put it that way.}I flipped to the next page to read the texts. Midori had a lot of time writing this information for me. As it had turned out, these details about portals made it clearer for me to understand.{P
Aoi Two’s Perspective (not the original Aoi, but the other one who lived in a different yet similar life.) __________________________________ I forgot the last time I tasted good food. How many days had it been since the time I had been luring and fighting these beasts? Two months? No. Two months were short in my calendar. If I had to guess it right, I was up here for eight months fighting and evading these monsters. I fed myself with arcane from my surroundings and made it my nutrition. Although magic particles were different from real nourishments, it was enough to keep me functional. And my body was still in top shape. I also forced myself to sleep only for an hour and wake up dodging those projectiles for the umpteenth time. There was nothing inside my mind but evading these ambushes, hoping I could, at least, strike back with my rifle. But the time never arrived. The lizards weren’t the only creatures present in my vicinity. There were more of them. If I had to name a few, t
Aoi Two’s Perspective (not the original Aoi, but the other one who lived in a different yet similar life.)__________________________________I temporarily lent my power to the Crimson Guild in exchange for my monthly salary enough to pay for the hospital fees and our daily living. There was nothing wrong about it. So I told Hina about our current situation and encouraged her to attend the school we were once going to. But I refused the scholarship and dropped out of university. College life should be something that everyone desires to have, especially us students. But for me, I wanted to see Hina’s parents live for another day. Hence, the approval of being an adventurer in a guild.But I didn’t apply for being a regular adventurer. Regular adventurers were tasked to defeat a certain number of portals in return they will be given cheques and salaries from it. The more portals defeated, the larger amount of cash will be rewarded. As long as the adventurer was talented enough to survive
Volume 3 - Epilogue Aoi Two’s Perspective (not the original Aoi, but the other one who lived in a different yet similar life.) __________________________________ As far as I remembered, my parents died when I was little. When I was six years old. I didn’t need money, a lavish life, or things that I could call mine. There was only one thing I wanted, and that was my parents. I wanted them to live. But with one sudden moment, my wish turned around and burned me alive. My parents were killed by monsters, not humans. The fiend was around a hundred feet tall, and the village we were living in took the invasion. They were reptiles. These monsters had the shape of a dragon, which was technically a lizard with wings. According to the internet, unidentified beasts kept appearing from nowhere, and there were others who fought against them. Those individuals were not the police officers. I believed they were called guilds. And as I glanced around me, the news and other people claimed that t
Aoi’s PerspectiveAoi one or the ORIGINAL MAIN CHARACTER OF THE STORY (not the different one)Author’s note: This Aoi is also calling himself as Aoi one, and the other Aoi will be Aoi two (It is to avoid confusion. Thank you.)_____________________“That’s why I need to become stronger. And you’re not strong enough! Even though we’re the only ones who have this system, you didn’t try to break your own wall and learn more about it! There could’ve been portals that you could eliminate to gain more levels, and yet you chose to idle around and did nothing about it!” What did he mean when this motherfucker told me I wasn’t strong enough?! I trained with Vulcan, which Akai killed. Did he not think of that?!”“Your face is telling me that you met with Vulcan… That you trained with him. But did you learn anything from those sessions besides aiming your gun properly? Because it’s the only thing you have if you plan on comparing yourself to me!” Aoi two, or should I say, this doppelganger adde
Hina’s Perspective_____________________“It’s okay… Don’t cry. There, there…. It’s going to be okay… It’s going to be alright….”And then, I said the words. “I forgive you… I forgive you, Aoi… You don’t have to cry anymore… It’s going to be okay…”I said the words Aoi wanted to hear. Even though he was Obsidian, the face of my brother carved itself on the man beside me. It was as if Aoi two was a dog barking and biting people left and right only to realise he needed someone’s help… He needed my help. And now he had faced his fear and listened to the words Aoi two wanted to hear, his ears calmed down. His ears discerned what was important.‘But what now? What are we going to do now?’ I thought, and looked at the downcasted face of Aoi two. As if knowing the question inside my head, Aoi two returned my gaze and uttered, “I know… you are confused. But we don’t have much time now. As soon as I fought Aoi in this world, the entities behind these portals were already high on alert. And I
Hina’s Perspective _____________________ “Come with me.” With one phrase, the masked man offered his hand to me. He used his other hand to lift Aoi’s body and cast a spell that changed our surroundings. “I’ll show you something.” Obsidian showed no signs of hostility. And the voice behind the masked man soothed my ears as if it was some sort of music with perfect beat and lyrics. I gazed at the man’s hand, wondering if I should take it. I had seen something like this before. But something was off. And at the same time, there was a peculiar feeling of calm and genuineness. He almost reminded me of my brother. In spite of these feelings twirling inside my mind, I shook my head and answered, “I don’t… want to... I won’t leave…. My brother! You… Want… to kill him… I’ll…. Stay by…. His side…. Until you… can kill me…” There was a chance that the masked man wanted to pull me apart from Aoi. And I never wanted that to happen. The moment the masked man heard my words for the umpteenth ti
Hina’s Perspective_____________________All my life, Aoi did nothing but help me with my problems, regardless if it involved him or me. As long as he noticed, which he always did, my brother would rush towards me and help. Aoi really forced himself so hard until he could see me smile. And even though I pushed him countless times, he continued crawling his way back in my arms. I could still remember those days when we were together, especially when these portals hadn’t shown up. Life was simple back then. If only Aoi’s parents didn’t die, maybe he could’ve lived the life he deserved. But his life was taken away by a murderer and the portal. And now, we were given the chance to confront the man who stole his life away. But even so, we couldn’t defeat him. I… couldn’t do a thing. Aoi did everything he could to stop the madman from hurting everyone, despite knowing none of the strangers, but he failed. And the only thing I could do was to watch him suffer.Maybe if I trained hard enoug
As I glanced on my side, Hina still wanted to fight. She stood up and used the rock beside him, but her legs kept shaking as if an earthquake struck us. But the ground remained still. There was no earthquake. And when I appraised her status, my system described her with a fatigue ailment in addition to her drained mana right beside his health bar.[Iron Maiden has been deactivated. Obsidian is too powerful to be compressed!]Those were the words that marked our doom. The moment Obsidian broke free from the [Iron Maiden] all hope was lost. I had no idea how to win now, especially when my sister was on the ground. She couldn’t me right now. But Hina had already assisted me until her body fell on the ground. Although she desperately forced herself to move and stand with the help of a rock, Hina couldn’t cast any more magic and would remain sluggish until she could recover her mana. Obsidian stood on the other side of the map, unscathed and unbothered from the spell. The [Iron Maiden] wa
Time wasn’t on our side. Obsidian tried hitting us with his sniper, but Hina continued lifting me up and creating walls in front of me. It was as if she was reading my movements. When the masked man pulled the trigger and launched a set of bullets in my direction, I went to the side despite having no platform for me to step on. But I trusted my sister. By the time I jumped above ground, I trusted my instincts and rolled on the side. Like I had said, there was no ground to catch me when I fell. But as soon as I gyrated my body, a floor made of soil immediately materialised and cushioned my feet. The next thing I knew, I tumbled to the side and evaded almost every bullet coming in my way. The shells that I couldn’t dodge still didn’t hit me. The moment those leads from the masked man could take me out, Hina summoned a wall in front of me and protected my face.I didn’t have the time to thank my sister and carried onwards with the fight. Time was also our enemy. So when I found an open