Chapter 228 One’s Decision

Hitori opened his closet and took out a roll of paper. He held it in between his teeth as he lit the tip with his finger. He grabbed the cigarette in two fingers, blew the fire, and pushed it back into his mouth.

He banged the closet door and rushed to the bed. He sat on the corner, inhaled, and exhaled the smoke while taking out the cigarette at the same time. He did that smoke thin again and this time, let out a satisfying exhale.

He brought the cigarette down, gave the tip a tap, and ashes fell to the floor. He dropped his head, still sitting, and closed his eyes. As soon as he closed his eyes, he saw Kamiya's figure in front of him.

'So what? Will you sit and wait for the word about Reon's death from Onogi? Is that what you want to do? Sit and wait for her to die.'

Get away, Hitori said, seriously, get away from me. Get out of my head– you always come and mess with it. Just leave.

He brought the cigarette to his mouth, he crushed the butt on his lips as he took a smoke and let the smoke out. But that did not help, the voice continued:

'Get out of the bed. Crush that cigarette, grab the wand I gave you, and rush to that bastard's house.'

How? Hitori asked. How the heck am I supposed to cross the forest—

Then appeared Kiku and interrupted him, 'Who says you have to cross the forest again? Remember why you joined the academy, young master, and remember that you have already been to that house.'

House? It is a fort! A hell of a fort. Hitori rose from his bed and pulled his wand from his table's drawer. He dug it into the side and walked out of the room.

He took smoke as he walked into the kitchen. He took two mana-boosting potions from the lower compartment. Then he opened the compartment under the stove and put two healing potions into his system.

Hitori sucked in a long one, then blew the smoke from his mouth and nose– without coughing. He crushed the cigarette in the workplace and threw it out of the kitchen window before closing it.

"Save me," he said to himself, "I am only doing this because you made me do it," he said it rather than make himself believe he was not doing it for Reon– he did not want to accept his care for her.

Hitori locked the door from outside and then went to the house's backside. He expected to meet no one in the woods since his house was never attacked before and he had never heard strange sounds at night.

But when he was one minute into the forest, he sensed someone looking at him. Hitori raised his eyes and drew his wand, he saw no one but a branch going back.

He sighed. It might be the Guardian thing Kogara and Kamiya used to tell me about, he thought and continued. He felt the stare to the border, which took him around twenty to thrift minutes since he could not use teleportation– he had never visited the backside before.

He did a good job of ignoring the feeling of someone tailing him and keeping a keen eye on him, and finally reached the tall wall that stood in front of him. Beyond that wall was the Forest, that too, the worst part of the forest. But that bothered him just a little.

He was more worried about the timing, he was late, or maybe he has spent too much time navigating to the border; than the monsters on the other side.

Now that he had reached the border, he put a hand on the wall and sprinted towards the center of the prefecture, the part where the City Hospital stood and acted as the city border. He had to reach that wall.

Hitori used that wall as a guide and followed it down to the hospital. After another fifteen minutes of running, he was not only exhausted but worried about Reon's situation, too.

'If you were going to get so worried sick about her, then you should have gone with her,' said Kamiya's voice. 'Why didn't you go with her? That would have simplified things. You always accused her of hiding things and hence leading to greater trouble, but what about you?'

oh, shut up! Hitori shouted inside his mind. Just calm down. I am doing it, alright, and I promise you: nothing will happen to her.

The wall was clear in his sight. He stopped when he saw wizards on the tower. He took cover behind a tree and sat down. He took a mana booster and a stamina potion, he was already carrying it with him.

He gulped them both in a go and rose from the ground. He was feeling stronger than before, he stretched his arms and pushed his chest forward. Perhaps it was the dopamine hit, but he felt like he could devastate the city borders in a minute– alone.

But he did not. His goal was to teleport to the other side and as close to Onogi's house as possible.

Hitori closed his eyes and imagined Onogi's house, the front of his house, the guards, the rocks on the side, and the tall wall that stands behind him. He felt his body flying, he felt his feet leaving the ground, and he felt his arms floating around.

Then with a sudden pull, Hitori was thrown in front of Onogi's place. He rolled to the ground and opened his eyes at the same time. In his heart was a clutching pain– perhaps due to mana's overuse.

His eyes fell on the two guards who were surprised and scared at the same time when he landed out of nowhere. Hitori, instead of rising, dug his hands into the ground.

One guard raised his gun while the other raised his Bluetooth device. A wall of earth rose from the ground, then covered them into a box.

The firing muffled inside the box of earth along with the other guard's shout. Hitori hoped the signal did not reach Onogi and he had not heard him.

After he put them into the ground and crushed their bodies, he rose and searched for a safe spot. He knew he could teleport, but the pain in his chest warned him.

I need to calm down, he said to himself and it was true. He was exhausted from the one hour of running and using long-distance teleportation. Hitori glanced around, the guards were casually walking up and down the corridor, he took that chance to slip to the house's backside.

Hitori took out a mana booster and the last stamina booster potions and looked at them. I should charge myself before charging in, he thought as he gulped down the liquid.