The Late Night Ride

Serena had arrived late, running over just as the military police were taking statements from Lena, Kana, Yuna, and Maxim about the battle. Having missed the big confrontation, she was a bit bummed about not seeing any action. “I didn’t get anything when I walked around looking for the Beast of Wanta,” she remarked to Kana. “Well, except for one creepy guy who looked at me really funny when I took a wrong turn.”

“You’re not the first girl to deal with that around here,” Kana replied.

“I’m well-aware as a lifelong resident. Trust me.”

“Me too. This area was my home until I went to Rimnan.” She then turned to Lena and said to her with a hint of contempt in her voice, “I’ll be heading back to Rimnan now. It’s getting late.”

“I agree,” Lena replied, also speaking with a hint of contempt in her voice. “Hopefully, we won’t run into each other like this again.” She then turned to Maxim and told him, “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

As Lena and Maxim walked away together, the latter turned around and looked back at Yuna and Kana. Yuna had a look of worry on her face, still uneasy from the conflict between Kana and Lena. She asked Kana, “Is… Is she really dangerous for me?”

Kana sighed, explaining to her, “Look, Yuna, if you want to be friends with her, that’s fine. I won’t stop you from that. However, I don’t want you to be pressured into becoming a monster hunter like us. You cannot, under any circumstances, become one.”

Feeling frustrated, Yuna finally blew up at her and demanded, “Tell me why! Kana, tell me why you don’t want me to become one specifically!”

“Did you not see that man who got torn in half right in front of us?! That can happen to any of us any time we fight a monster! Hell, I’ve seen it happen here! These streets are rough, Yuna, and I saw shit that I was too young to see! I don’t want you going through it!”

“But why me?! Why am I so special?! I don’t see you doing this to Sarah! Why are you obsessed with me, Kana?!”

Serena, seeing the fight, walked over to them and said in an attempt to stop the conflict, “Hey, hey, guys, calm down. You shouldn’t argue over this in front of the crime scene.”

Both of the girls stopped, realizing how inappropriate their argument was in front of where a man had just died. Kana sighed and told Yuna, “We’ll talk on the train. I’ll tell you what’s going on there.”

…

Lena and Maxim boarded a train back to Rimnan at Chanan Central. By the time they would arrive back at the school, it would be a little over ten-thirty at night. As they sat down next to each other, Lena said to Maxim, “Thanks for coming with me. I don’t like to work alone, but Victoria wasn’t available.”

“No problem,” Maxim replied. “Even with how it ended, it was fun. Going into the city’s always a good time.”

“Agreed. By the way, we should probably talk about your… Well, your powers.”

“I figured we’d have to address it at some point,” Maxim nodded. “Like I’ve said before, this is all new to me. I never knew I had these powers until I began going to Rimnan Castle School. When did you find out you had powers?”

“I was eight when they began to manifest,” Lena replied. “I was a bit of an early bloomer in that regard. I also was an early bloomer in… Other things, too.”

Maxim was flabbergasted that Lena was being so honest with him about rather personal things given they had only known each other for a short time. “Uh… You’re just… Telling me this?”

“Well,” Lena pointed out. “We did get acquainted with each other pretty well on this little trip to the city. Also, um… I’m sorry I fell on you.”

“No, no, no, it’s me. I’m sorry I touched your… Uh… Boobs…”

“It was an accident, remember? I know you weren’t trying to touch me.” She then looked out the window as the train passed by numerous city buildings on its way out of Chanan, remarking, “I gotta go back into the city this weekend to meet with my uncle again.”

“How’s that gonna go?”

“I hope it goes better than last time. We didn’t meet each other under the best of circumstances that time, and I’m hoping we can just do some family bonding time without politics getting in the way.”

Those words immediately chilled Maxim to the bone. If the trip Lena was talking about was the trip he was thinking about, it would be the trip that would end in her death. In his mind, he began playing back Lena’s rather infamous death scene in his head over and over again, looking at her sitting next to him as he did and wondering if he would be able to stop it like he had with Paulo’s death. He remained silent for a while, pondering what to do and disturbed by the images in his head.

This confused Lena, who asked him, “Uh, Maxim, what’s wrong?”

Snapping out of his thoughts, he apologized, replying, “I’m sorry. I just zoned out for a bit. I’m tired.”

“It’s okay. I’m tired, too.” She then yawned and remarked, “I’m gonna be even more tired in the morning, but whatever. I’m glad I went out today.”

“Me too.” Maxim, not wanting the conversation to die out so early in the train trip back home, asked Lena, “So, um… Uh… Why did you become a monster hunter anyway, Lena?”

“I figured this question would come up sooner or later.” Lena took a deep breath and began to explain how and why she began doing what she did. “I didn’t exactly become one by choice. I became one because it was either that or die, and I’d prefer to stay among the living if I can. When I was ten, my parents were taken away from me by a monster attack. I barely survived it myself. Just before I was about to be killed, I used an energy blast for the first time.” She then held up her right arm and hand to show Maxim. “It hurt like Hell the first time. The doctors said I broke it when I did it, and it took two whole months to heal.”

“I see… So, how did Victoria factor into all of this?”

“Victoria Kristen was raised to be our family’s maid,” Lena explained. “The Vale family would adopt poor children and train them to be maids and servants. Victoria was among them, and she was assigned to me personally. Instead of being merely a maid, however, she became my best friend. As I was healing from my injuries and dealing with the grief of losing my parents, she stayed by my side, and she even learned she could use magic, too. After that, we began to battle monsters together. I had decided from that point on that I didn’t want anyone else to suffer what I had suffered, and I would help them in any way I could. Victoria has fought alongside me from the very beginning, and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.”

Maxim smiled, remarking to Lena, “It sounds like she’s very important to you, huh?” In his mind, his own feelings about Lena and Victoria as a couple were very present, and he could hear himself internally jump for joy at hearing Lena describe Victoria in such endearing terms.

“She means the world to me. I don’t know what I would do if something ever happened to her, but I know she can hold up well on her own, so I don’t dwell on it.” The two then were interrupted as the train came to a stop at another station, a much smaller one than Chanan Central. They watched as a man entered their car and then walked past them, sitting a few rows before them in the mostly-empty car. “Looks like we’re gaining a few passengers. You’d think we’d only be losing them since we’re going away from the city.”

“I guess not. Anyway, I was thinking… Do you want to keep hanging out like this, Lena?” While he sounded confident on the outside, he was panicking on the inside, fearing that Lena was going to turn him down. He also feared that getting close to her might get in the way of his own shipping of her and Victoria together.

“I had fun, so why not? Maybe you could come along for some hunts. I know Yuna and Sarah back at school want to come along and observe, so one more person wouldn’t be bad. Besides, I can tell you need some work in your magic skills, and since you’re not enrolled in any magic classes at school, I can help you.”

“Oh, uh, sure… Yeah…” This entire situation felt awkward to Maxim. First of all, having dealt with a recent breakup in his own world, potentially navigating the world of dating was something he was not particularly fond of at the moment. Second, as mentioned earlier, he had his own ideas on who Lena should be with. Third, he had effectively de-aged when he woke up in the world of Rimnan Castle School. He had been a sophomore college student when he fell asleep, and had woken up as a second-year high schooler, or a junior in high school by American standards. Even though nobody in this world knew anything about how old he had once been, he still felt a reluctance to do anything with Lena, or really any of the girls in the school, due to this discrepancy. He prayed internally that Lena would not develop any romantic feelings for him, or really any of the girls at the school.

In his old world, these girls had all been fictional characters, so it did not matter at all. Now, they were, for all intents and purposes, real people he interacted with every day. On the one hand, he could avoid some mistakes he had made in his original high school years since now he was armed with more knowledge and hindsight. On the other hand, mentally, he felt conflicted between being sixteen years old and being twenty years old, the memories and experiences of his own past life struggling to merge with the original memories and experiences of Maxim Ranka. As he dwelled on this matter further, he continued to remain silent, worrying that one day, all of these issues would come crashing down on hi-

“Hey, Maxim, are you alright?”

“Huh?”

Lena, curious and concerned as to why Maxim had suddenly spaced out for a rather long period of time, asked him again, “I said, are you alright? You just went silent for a whole minute, just staring out the window. Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” he insisted, lying to her. “Really, I am. I’m just tired. I’m gonna feel fucking dead when I wake up tomorrow for classes.”

“You and I both. Anyway, when me and Victoria go out on a hunt next, I’ll be sure to invite you along. Maybe we can even get Yuna and Sarah to come along, too.”

“All five of us could have a good time hunting monsters.”

“Monster hunting isn’t meant to be fun,” Lena pointed out. “It’s a service, and a rather dangerous one at that. I’ll concede that to Miss Demas. That said, though…” She then sighed and admitted, “It can be very fun, actually. I have to admit that I get a rush whenever I go out and hunt down a monster. I feel somewhat guilty for it, but I can’t help it. Miss Demas would be a liar if she said she didn’t feel the same.”

“Agreed.”

Lena then pulled out a small datebook she carried in her bag and looked at her schedule for the rest of the week. As she did, she noticed today’s date and remarked, “You know, it’s been exactly six years since the Incident at Reilly. I’m sure you’ve heard of it, right?”

Maxim knew all about the Incident at Reilly, a rather dark moment in the story regarding a disaster that happened in the past that would have severe ramifications in the present. Playing dumb, however, he instead replied, “I know a little bit of it, but not much.”

“A monster attacked a fair in the town on that day,” Lena explained. “It tore through several rides and even a circus tent before military police and monster hunters stopped it. Seventy-seven people lost their lives that day. I can’t believe it’s been six years already. I still remember it like it was yesterday.”

“Were you there?”

“I got there late,” Lena explained. “Right as they killed the monster. Even so, I helped with the aftermath. I had only been a monster hunter for a month. The others were shocked that a girl as young as me was actively hunting monsters. Later that night, I killed a smaller monster that tried to enter the ruined fairgrounds to rummage for food. There are some things you never forget as a monster hunter, and seeing the aftermath of that attack is one of them for me.”

Maxim wanted to know more, but also wanted to move on from the subject because he could tell it was bothering Lena. To do so, he noticed that the date 12 Mensis Aprilis had been circled. “Did you meet with your uncle on the Twelfth of Mensis Aprilis, too?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I met with Prince Gannon Ren that day. His older brother is marrying my cousin, who graduated from Rimnan in Year 702. As the actual title holder of my family’s noble title, I had to meet with the Ren family even though my Uncle Michael runs things for now. This marriage is a big deal, since the Ren family is a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, and a very prestigious one at that.”

Maxim knew that Michael wanted Lena to marry Gannon, and decided to bring up the matter in a way that made it seem like he was just curious. “So… Does your uncle want you to marry someone important, too?”

This was a bit of a sore spot for Lena, and she replied, “He does. He wants me to marry Gannon, but… I’d rather not. If I did, the title of Duchess of Vale will either fall to the wayside or I’ll be pressured into giving it to my uncle to make him or maybe one of his children the Duke or Duchess of Vale.” She then took a deep breath and told Maxim, “I’d rather not dwell on it too much, Maxim. My apologies.”

“I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s not you. It’s me. I know people who aren’t nobility or royalty think nothing ever goes wrong for us or that we never have problems, but… At the end of the day, we’re all human, and all blood runs red. Every family has issues, whether they’re dirt poor in Wanta or the most powerful families in the Empire.”

…

In a different train that had left about fifteen minutes after Lena’s and Maxim’s, Kana and Yuna were trying to talk about what had happened and why Kana was so insistent on Yuna not becoming a monster hunter. “So, um,” Yuna said as she tried to find the words to start such a conversation, the two having been silent for a few minutes. “About what I said earlier… We can talk about it now, right?”

“I suppose we should,” Kana nodded. “I did promise you that.”

“Why do you care so much about whether I become a monster hunter or not, Kana? Like I said, I don’t see you having this same concern for Sarah at all, despite the fact she’s my best friend. Hell, I don’t see you share this concern about my brother Werner, either.”

“Werner doesn’t have the capability to become one,” Kana explained. “I can sense the magic potential in people, and he has very little. It’s nowhere near enough to hunt monsters effectively. Maxim Ranka, though… He could become a monster hunter if he put his mind to it.”

“Maxim? You’re telling me he could be a monster hunter? Are you going to try to stop him, too?”

“I wouldn’t recommend he do it, but he’s not my priority.”

Yuna, feeling frustrated, asked Kana again, “And why is that? Why am I your priority?”

Kana grew uneasy, but knew she had to tell her something, even if it may not be the complete truth. “Do you… Do you remember the Incident at Reilly?”

Yuna immediately got uncomfortable when Kana mentioned the Incident at Reilly, the same event Lena and Maxim had talked about. The event clearly was a sore spot for Yuna, who asked Kana, “I don’t really want to, but… Yes, I do.”

“I was there,” Kana explained. “And I met you there a long time ago.”

Yuna began to recall the events of that day in her head, and as she did, she grew increasingly distressed by the second. “I don’t… I don’t really like to think about that day, Kana, but… I did meet a girl my age there before… Before…”

“Before everything happened,” Kana finished her sentence with. “You saved my life, Yuna. You may have suppressed the memory of it due to how traumatic it was, but I can’t bring myself to even try that. I was inspired by your courage to become a monster hunter, even if I was unable to find you again until we went to Rimnan together. That said, however…” Kana then leaned in closer to Yuna, a sense of pleading in her eyes as she practically begged her, “Please, don’t throw your life away. You mean a lot to many people, including me. You don’t have to follow me into this dangerous profession.”

Yuna looked at Kana as she began to recall meeting her back then, a wave of emotion hitting her. “I… I get it now… Kana, how could I have forgotten…?”

“It’s not your fault. What happened that day was a tragedy, and I don’t blame you for trying to bury the past and forget it.” Kana then looked out the window as they passed by another train that was heading into the city. “Yuna, I know I’ve acted so weird ever since we met in the school again, but there were certain things preventing me from telling you what you needed to know. Hell, there are still things I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I understand, Kana… That said…” Yuna then stood up and affirmed to her, “I’m still my own person. I know you don’t want me to become a monster hunter, but if something happens that forces me to choose between that or losing someone I care about, I think you know what choice I’ll make.”

Kana sighed, knowing that she could not completely stop Yuna. “I know. I’ll advise you against it the whole way, but it is still your choice.”

“And you better tell me the full truth one day,” Yuna insisted as she took Kana by the hand, causing the latter to blush. “It doesn’t have to be now, but I want to know at some point.”

“I… I promise you I will, Yuna.”

…

Back in Chanan, Serena was smoking a cigarette in a back alley outside of a bar. Although Kana and Lena had split the reward money of five thousand pounds, Lena gave her half to Serena despite the latter’s insistence she did not deserve it. As she took the cigarette out of her mouth and puffed out smoke, she said to herself, “She didn’t have to give me that money… I didn’t even fight the fucker. Kana and her did all the real work. I just ran around the neighborhood looking like an idiot.”

Then, a man began to walk up to her. Dressed in a rather fancy suit, he asked Serena, “Are you free?”

Assuming the man had assumed she was a prostitute, she told him, “If you’re looking for sex, I’m not your girl. I don’t sell my body like that. If you want someone beaten up or a monster killed, I’m the kind of person who can take care of that. If you want to fuck a girl senseless, I’m not gonna be of much help.”

“I’m not here for that,” the man replied as he then produced a small wooden staff. “I’m here for something else, Serena Tull. I heard you like to hang out here after a monster hunt.” As he finished talking, the staff began to glow a bright green, indicating he was using magic.

Serena’s eyes widened as she quickly formed a small fireball in her left hand. “Oh no, you don’t!” She then threw it at the man, who used the staff to deflect it onto the ground and destroy it. Serena replied by throwing two more at the man, one of which grazed him and left a burn mark on his black suit.

The man replied by aiming his staff at Serena right before she could throw more fireballs, which caused a green light to surround her arms and legs before pulling them in and restraining her, causing her to fall to the ground. “There we go! Now you can’t move!”

“What the fuck?! Let me go, asshole!” Serena tried to wiggle her way out of her magical restraints, but she was unable to as two hooded men emerged from behind the man in the suit. “Come on! Don’t do this to me! Let me go!”

“Take her away,” the man in the suit told the two hooded men. “I’ll shut her up so she won’t make any more noise on the way back to our meeting spot.” He then kicked her in the head, knocking her out cold right as she was about to spit on him while also breaking her nose. Blood poured from the injury as she was then picked up by the two men and carried to a waiting motor car out on the street, callously shoved into the backseat before the three men all got in. One of the hooded men stayed with her in the back while the man in the suit drove and the other hooded man sat next to him. “The boys will be happy we got our hand on Serena Tull when we drag her in.”