The morning sun rose from the horizon. Through the window glass that filtered the beaming sunlight, the light itself fell onto the eyes of the tanned girl with silver hair that was practically eating at her face.
Her eyes fluttered before opening, an annoyed expression marring her face.
Saka muttered in her sleep before she turned the covers over her face and groaned.
Unfortunately for her, Saka came to the living room where everyone was already prepped up and ready. The living room was the same as usual—the giant television that can be mistaken as a movie screen from the theatre. Several furnitures lined up around it, with every party member sitting on it who waited for their comrade to arrive. Kudo and company looked at their new arrival with a surprised face after noticing something new about her appearance.
Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were practically dragging to try to stay awake. Her back was hunched as if her body was ready to fall over and go back to sleep at any time.
“Did you had a good sleep?” Kudo asked, bringing a beaming smile to her face.
“Ghh… more time…” Saka pleaded.
Tsuchi said as the party agreed since they all slept over in the mansion instead of their usual inns. For Kudo and Hinota, it was the same usual routine, but they also agreed on the comfortable beds being a blessing.
The party quickly turned their attention to her as Hikari moved over to where the furniture was and sat down at her big luxurious chair reserved for her.
Hikari said, getting everyone to pop their eyes open and gasped.
“B-But I thought dungeons are usually there for hundreds of years, ever since the gods first put them there as a challenge…” Hinota said, remembering what she learned from in Peranim.
Kudo and Hinota both nodded their heads in agreement.
Hikari snapped her fingers, and instantly Shokan grabbed a rolled-up map from her inventory screen and handed it to her. Hikari then rolled open the map and turned it over, showing the location to the party.
“Whoa, you two went to a dungeon before?” Kuki asked.
Kudo made a fist as he punched the sky. Hinota agreed and shouted too, but the other party members weren’t exactly so keen.
“B-But I heard a dungeon is really difficult… I heard there’s always a powerful boss after every floor!” Raika said.
“It’s actually every 10 floors,” Kudo corrected.
“Oh come on, Rai! It’ll be great!” Mizuri shouted.
“Hey, if everyone’s going for it, I am too!” Tsuchi said.
“But, uhh… do we go, like, right now?” Kuki asked.
Kudo replied, getting Kuki and Raika’s spirit to lower as they slumped back onto their seats’ cushion and sighed.
As the party talked about what to do, Saka walked forward, pulling the sleeve on Kudo’s shirt. Kudo turned around, noticing Saka’s deep stare.
Kudo laid a hand on Saka’s shoulder, admitting her to the party. Saka lowered her head, hiding her light blush on her cheeks from the person in front of her.
“G-Good…” Saka muttered to herself.
The party then headed over to the guild. After a few moments spent, Kudo admitted Saka into the E-Plus without a hassle. As the rustle and tussle of the adventurers continued in the guild lobby, Hinota moved towards Saka and asked.
Hinota pointed at the scythe currently strapped behind Saka. Saka turned around and looked at the scythe before turning back to Hinota.
Saka unstrapped her scythe and held it tight, as if Hinota was ready to nab it and take it for herself.
Both the girls turned over to Kudo who moved over to their side as he happened to listen in on their conversation.
Kudo said in a sincere tone, putting out his hand for Saka to give her weapon to. Saka looked at the hand for a moment, pursed her lips, and let out a big puff of air through her nose.
Saka said as Kudo replied in a heartbeat. Saka handed over the scythe to Kudo, which he took a moment to stare at in his hands and marveled at the sight.
Kudo said as he waved at Saka before heading to the Crafting Garage to clean up the scythe. Saka waved back for just a moment before crossing her arms over her chest as if already missing the scythe with a sigh.
Hinota lowered her brows in suspicion as she herself crossed her arms. But without her noticing, someone else crept up behind her and chuckled.
“She’s gonna take him away if you don’t hurry, Hino~” Mizuri whispered, causing Hinota to flinch and turned around.
Since Kudo was away at the moment, Saka sat on the chair that she used to sit on before by herself as usual. She stared at the deep abyss known as the Alpha Heart, looking at all the adventurers who were constantly throwing themselves into their fun antics.
Meanwhile, the other party members watched her side with a gaze filled with concern and worry, knowing that she was the sort of girl who will never initiate the first conversation.
Mizuri’s venomous words hit Kuki deep as she told everyone to follow her lead to talk to her. Being the first, Mizuri stepped in to talk to her.
However, Saka did not even reply.
Going with the list, Tsuchi went on next.
Then, it was the fearful Raika.
Again, no word at all.
He was shot down before he even had a chance from the way she turned her head to the side.
Kuki walked back in shame, his feet dragging to the party members with his head craned down in defeat.
Raika flipped her hair as she admitted Kuki’s faults, getting Kuki to scream back with a throbbing vein on his forehead. Mizuri and Tsuchi then turned to the only one with an answer on how to ask her.
“Huh?” Mizuri tilted her head.
“I see…” Mizuri understood a little, looking back at Saka sitting on her chair.
Now that Mizuri noticed, Saka was actually darting her head around multiple times, as if being watchful of any other person going to talk to her. Her legs fidgeted and her arms squirmed slightly. Mizuri was only able to notice this after carefully analyzing her from the distance.
“So there was no point in me getting shot down?!” Kuki shouted, receiving a karate chop from Hinota.
“What if she ignores you too?” Raika asked.
Hinota spoke with a courageous tone as she moved forward, getting the party to look back in awe at their co-leader.
“Our spirit is with you, Hinota-chii~!” Tsuchi waved at his hero with a welling tear in his eye.
Hinota kept moving forward until she met up with Saka, who looked back at her with a fright and immediately hunched her back.
Saka said to scare her off, but Hinota remained firm and dragged a chair from another table and moved it beside her. She sat down on it, turning her attention to Saka fully which only caused her to groan.
Hearing that, Saka turned her head without another word, a slight ‘hmph’ sound escaped from her lips as if she was done with her already.
A moment passed as Hinota and Saka remained seated together in silence. Saka kept looking down at the ground, fiddling with her thumbs to pass her nerves as Hinota figured that it was just about time.
Saka didn’t answer. Rather, from the way Hinota studied her expression, it was as if she couldn’t answer.
“…Do you have any family members?” Hinota asked again.
Saka did not answer as well. Hinota lowered her gaze as she couldn’t find an answer from that expression she wore—a sullen and empty expression that was hard to describe.
After another moment of deep thought, which for Hinota’s highly advanced mind, it was mere nanoseconds, she thought of an idea that could do the trick.
Saka’s head rose. Her ears perked as she turned her head towards Hinota’s direction, her curious eyes telling all that Hinota wanted to hear.
Saka tried hard to hide her blush, but Hinota smiled knowing that she got her right where she wanted her. Though something aggravated slightly deep inside of her, Hinota continued.
“I see…” Saka nodded, continuing to listen in on the discussion.
Hinota continued speaking more on how she knew Kudo from his stories, getting Saka to listen in on every one with an attentive expression.
An hour passed, and before long, the girls were laughing together, their voices becoming higher as if they were long-time friends catching up with one another.
The party members continued to gaze in awe at Hinota who also continued to talk about Kudo to Saka. Saka finished her laughter and then asked another question.
When Saka asked, knowing the circumstances of Kudo’s birth from the earlier stories, something stung in Hinota’s heart. Her usual beaming smile and laughter ceased, replacing it with a sullen expression in an instant. Saka knew immediately that what she asked caused such a change.
Hinota still had a hard time to explain about his parents, getting Saka to listen intently.
Saka’s shoulders shuddered. Her hands grasped onto each other’s tightly as her lips pursed.
Hinota and Saka both looked forward, viewing the adventurers who were having fun within the jolly atmosphere outside of the deep atmosphere they were having. Saka kept grasping at her arm, her bandaged arm as she asked another question.
Hinota had no clue on how to answer that. It was clear as day, though—he had extreme hate for the Dark Players. The time when he faced against Sherald was the one thing she could never forget, even if she wanted to. Even the time when he faced the slime Dark Player just a few days ago as well.
Saka kept looking down at her lap, looking at her bandaged arm. Her arm continued to burn, even now, fiercer than ever. She grasped at her bandaged arm, hoping to relieve it at least just a little bit.
Kudo shouted, getting the attention of the girls. He had the Nightingale scythe in hand, the blade more polished and sheen thanks to his careful care. Saka lifted herself up from her chair and grabbed the scythe from Kudo’s hands.
Saka cooed, moving the scythe towards her face as she nuzzled it with great love and care. However, this brought the others to look at her in an endearing way, getting her to quickly let go of the scythe and strapped it back to her backside.
The two leaders started their conversation, leaving Saka to herself as she held onto her bandaged arm even tighter, grasping it with her hand.
Kudo said to his party members who were standing in front of him at their table.
“We got everything we needed, right, Saka?” Hinota asked.
Kudo smiled warmly at the two who were talking to each other with excited expressions. He then pulled something out of his Magic Bag inventory and grabbed some chainmail out of it.
“Oh… I thank you,” Saka said, grabbing the chainmail with a surprised look.
“Man, I can’t wait!” Tsuchi said in excitement, rubbing his hands together.
“I wonder what a dungeon is gonna be… I can’t even imagine it,” Kuki said, his lips rising upwards.
Kudo raised his fist into the air, getting everyone along to do the same.