chapter1 · 009-ep9

Episode 9: I Think There Was an Anti-Awakener Achievement

Thursday morning.

The moment homeroom began, the teacher stood at the lectern and opened the attendance book.

Compared to the days before, his color was a tiny bit better.

Better — not good, mind you.

The world's been bugging out since Saturday; no wonder the man's face can't hold a steady color.

"...First, some news."

At that one line, the classroom's air tightened a little.

Again?

I wasn't the only one thinking it, probably.

The teacher paused, choosing his words.

"Makino Sōsuke of Class 1 was taken to the hospital yesterday."

For an instant, the classroom murmured.

I looked up too.

Sōsuke?

What happened after we split up yesterday flickered through my head.

The teacher kept going.

"He was found with extensive bruising and contusions. At this point, it's highly likely he was assaulted by someone."

The murmuring grew louder than before.

"And the circumstances are nearly identical to the third-years the day before yesterday."

By the time I'd heard that far, my back had gone strangely cold.

The same condition as the third-years the day before.

Which means.

...Did Sōsuke get caught by the Awakener hunting too?

But why Sōsuke?

Random?

Or—

It happened right as I was scanning the classroom, half-consciously.

Sakagami, at the edge of my vision, seemed to smile a little. Again.

...What is that guy's deal?

He's been grinning weirdly since yesterday.

I'd like to write it off as my imagination, but when it keeps happening this many times, no.

I genuinely want to know.

Actually — it genuinely pisses me off.

Before the class's murmur could swell further, the teacher put a bit of steel in his voice.

"Quiet."

It didn't stop them cold, but the noise settled a little.

"At present, the school is working with the police to verify things. Students — do not go acting on your own. As I said yesterday, leave school in groups wherever possible. If anything seems off, contact the school immediately."

In other words, even the school thinks this is genuinely dangerous.

And it was Sōsuke who got hit.

Sōsuke.

That guy is, by any reading, not the type to pick fights.

Not the type to accept them, either.

Somebody like that getting beaten into a hospital stay — whoever's doing this is seriously bad news.

Homeroom ended.

But of course, the classroom's air didn't bounce back right away.

"Class 1? Like, that Makino?"

"Isn't this seriously bad?"

"Same as the third-years yesterday..."

Whispers flew back and forth.

Tuning them out, I brushed my fingers over the phone in my pocket.

Should I message him?

But firing one off the second homeroom ends feels like overreacting, somehow.

No — of course you'd overreact.

The guy's in the hospital.

In the end, I sent just a short message before first period.

────

『You okay?』

────

Even I'm surprised at how short that is.

But it's not a long-text situation, and for now, this'll do.

Sent, and phone face-down.

Class started.

Started, but there was no way any of it was getting in.

Sōsuke got attacked.

Same as the third-years, on top of that.

And Sakagami seemed to be smiling weirdly again.

This was officially out of "all just my imagination" territory.

Notebook open, thinking in a daze.

What's the reason Sōsuke would be targeted?

The third-years yesterday were Awakeners.

So Sōsuke too — because he's an Awakener?

But Sōsuke's not strong-looking, and he's not the conspicuous type.

If anything, he leans weak-looking.

It's possible that's exactly what made him easy to pick.

No, but.

Yesterday, at lunch, what Sōsuke said.

The reason the sheets were stolen.

The maybe-they're-narrowing-down-the-Awakeners theory.

He'd been thinking that far ahead, even then.

...No way.

No, but—

I'd barely gotten that far when my phone gave a small buzz.

My eyes dropped on reflex.

Sōsuke.

I opened the screen right away.

────

Sorry for the late reply.

I kinda got jumped yesterday, and I'm in the hospital now.

But I'm okay.

Maybe it's because I became an Awakener?

My wounds seem to be healing crazy fast (lol)

Oh, right — among the guys who jumped me,

I'm pretty sure Sakagami-kun from Class 3 was there.

They were saying something about XP, I think.

You be careful too, Ren-kun.

────

For a few seconds, my thoughts stopped.

"...What?"

XP.

Before I could even get to "there, of all things," that word snagged first.

Sakagami was there.

He's the one who did this to Sōsuke.

That alone would be bad enough — but XP? What do you mean, XP?

If it's XP, that means Level grinding, doesn't it?

They beat Sōsuke to check whether it pays out?

If so, the story around the third-years changes a lot too.

That might not have been plain violence — it might have been Level grinding.

Ugh. God.

This is so vile.

Beating people up for XP.

Even game villains put a little more effort into hiding it.

But those guys would do it. Sakagami, specifically.

He already had that "I'm special" face on yesterday.

He treats having Awakened like proof he's been promoted to something.

And Sōsuke got hit because of it.

I stared at the screen, frozen.

The pit of my stomach went slowly hot.

Ah.

So this is anger.

Probably.

Not the pretty kind, either — none of that "my righteous soul is aflame" stuff.

But a friend of mine got beaten, I've got a pretty good idea who did it, and I'm not heartless enough to feel nothing about that.

Sōsuke is a real friend to me.

He can be loud with way too much information sometimes.

He can be a hassle when he's scared of everything, too.

But hearing that a guy like that got jumped — it makes me mad, plain and simple.

And besides.

I can tell my instincts are resisting this, a little.

Sakagami's got numbers, and they're Awakeners too.

It's genuinely a hassle, and getting hurt genuinely sucks.

I don't want to.

But think about it — less scary than Greyfish, no?

That thing came at me fully intending to kill, it had a knife, and its face was a lost cause from the start.

I, after all, am the man who shared half a day with that very Greyfish.

However much Sakagami barks, it shouldn't faze me.

I'm not sure it's a sensible yardstick, but at least in my head, that's become the baseline.

Once I got that far, something else entirely started drifting through my mind.

...Come to think of it.

I think there was an anti-Awakener achievement.

"Well, talk about perfect timing."

A smirk crept up inside my head before I could stop it.

My friend got beaten and I'm furious, and yet an achievement butts in like a bonus offer — even I think that's questionable.

But what surfaces, surfaces.

That's just who I am.

Phone face-down, eyes back to my notes.

Back to my notes, anyway — my head was nowhere near back.

Class, obviously, wasn't getting in.

The teacher was saying something.

Writing on the board, even.

But the inside of my head was mostly filled with Sakagami, Sōsuke, and XP.

Lunch and afternoon classes went by in pretty much that fashion.

I thought about it the whole time.

Call out to him.

Don't call out to him.

And the answer came during a class past noon.

Of course it was yes.

I'd call out to Sakagami and get myself summoned somewhere like the roof.

Then, with the Awakener hunting as my shield, I'd use Sakagami — fair and square — to claim an achievement.

【B: Defeat an Awakener whose Level is higher than yours in a single hit】

Sakagami said Level 8, if I remember right.

So the condition's no problem.

It's just — I don't know exactly what "in a single hit" means here.

I'm obviously not killing the guy.

But unconscious? That much, I think 【Off-Hand Strike】 can manage.

Time flew, and finally after school arrived.

Closing homeroom ended, and the scrape of chairs spread through the classroom.

Everyone started getting ready to leave.

The crowd around Sakagami was as loud as ever.

Same as always, he was laughing in that huge voice.

I put a hand on my bag and let out a single breath.

...Alright.

Time to call him over.

The instant I stood up with that decided—

"Himura. Got a minute?"

Sakagami was the one who called out first.

And he's grinning like crazy.

...Why me!?