The Pain of Loss - Part 1

After witnessing how the Beast King pierced Mrs. Takahashi’s chest, my mind went completely blank. I didn’t know what to think; I didn’t know how to react; the only thing I felt was helplessness for not having been able to protect her.

Time seemed to pass unbelievably slowly. I could see how, little by little, the life vanished from Mrs. Takahashi’s eyes, and how the blood dripped down to the floor, forming an increasingly large crimson pool.

She moved. It was only for a few moments after the attack—surely while she processed what had just happened. But as expected, her body collapsed, still held in the Beast King’s grip. She was already dead.

The Beast King didn’t say a word. He simply pulled his arm out of the corpse and tossed her to the floor. She fell in such a position that it looked as if she were staring at me, with the same expression of horror and surprise; I felt as though she judged me with those lifeless eyes, that she cursed me for not having protected her.

I felt that… all of this was my fault.

“Now then, what I came here for,” said the Beast King.

He walked over to the capsule where Yu was trapped, still asleep and unaware of anything that was happening. He readied a strike and shattered the glass with a single blow.

The very same glass that my bullets hadn’t even scratched now lay destroyed after one hit. The blue substance in which Yu had been submerged began spilling across the floor. It was incredibly cold.

However, the Beast King didn’t stop there. He continued destroying the capsule—anything that stood in the way of reaching his objective—and even the shackles, which had seemed so thick and sturdy, were nothing to someone like him.

Despite all the noise, Yu remained asleep, but that didn’t seem to matter to the Beast King, who only looked at him with a smile.

“At last, we meet.”

He was going to take him with him. He drew dangerously close to Yu, but I wasn’t going to allow it.

I wasn’t going to let anyone else die!

I quickly grabbed my submachine guns and fired. As expected, not a single bullet hit him, but it was enough to make him leap back, and I took the chance to stand in front of the capsule, placing myself between him and Yu, aiming again.

“Oh, come on! You know very well that’s not going to— Gah!”

The Beast King was suddenly sent flying into one of the walls mid-speech. It was an almost invisible attack, but that was precisely why it was easy to determine what kind of technique it was: elemental wind magic.

Mr. Kuroki had arrived—and he wasn’t alone. Behind him stood a large number of hunters and Bunker agents. Some looked exhausted and injured; they had probably been rescued from the magical beasts attacking outside.

The Beast King stood up, and although he didn’t seem particularly injured, he was visibly irritated.

“What a nuisance. I can’t summon my beasts here, and dealing with all of you would be irritating. Let’s leave it at that for now,” he said before destroying one of the walls.

The hole he made led to one of the exterior walls, just above the sea, from which an enormous creature emerged. It must have been the one ramming the facility.

The Beast King climbed onto it, waved farewell with one hand, and departed—who knows where. It was likely that Mr. Kuroki let him escape because, even though they had superior numbers, there was no guarantee they could actually do anything to him.

Once the Beast King left, everyone exhaled in exhaustion, and their eyes immediately turned to Mrs. Takahashi’s lifeless body. Even Mr. Kuroki said nothing; he only observed the scene with sorrow in his gaze.

“Mrs… Takahashi…” I murmured as I approached her.

Her skin had already begun to pale, and her temperature was dropping rapidly. The hole in her chest still oozed blood—blood that stained me as I knelt beside her.

“Ugh…”

That was when another voice broke the silence—one I thought I would be happy to hear, but that in this moment only added another weight to my heart.

“Where… am I? Touka?”

It was Yu. He had finally awakened. He looked at me in confusion, as well as at the rest of the hunters in the room. But when he lowered his gaze, his face emptied of emotion. He rushed to where I was and held the body of the woman he considered a mother despite the circumstances.

“Mom! No…! It can’t be…” he screamed as he embraced her body.

No one moved. Not even the Bunker agents dared to interfere. The only thing we could do was wait for him to calm down—no matter how long it took.

Seeing Yu in such a state was painful. The tutor who had always been cheerful, positive, and kind had shattered completely. All because I didn’t trust him when I should have.

Each scream… each tear of his was another weight my soul would have to carry from this moment on.

Several hours passed before Yu finally calmed down, but even so, he was never going to be the same again.

***

A few hours later, everyone got to work.

Hunters from all guilds across the country and government agents arrived to investigate what had happened, searching for any clue or anything that could be useful against the Beast King.

And now that it had been proven that Yu wasn’t the Beast King, they decided to release him for the time being while they handled more urgent matters. I tried to talk to him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was afraid of what he might say to me.

Instead, I stayed with Mr. Kuroki and told him everything that Mrs. Takahashi had revealed to me—from the Magical Corpse project to the fact that Yu was a clone. I didn’t hold anything back.

“Damn…” he whispered.

He was equally shocked and angry. It showed especially when he looked at the Bunker agents walking nearby, whom he practically glared holes through. Not to mention that he was also deeply distressed by Mrs. Takahashi’s death—the mother of the man who had been his mentor.

“This is a lot to process right now… For the moment, I need to meet with the agents from my guild to decide what we’ll do about all of this. Get some rest. You must be exhausted.”

“Yes…” I replied without much enthusiasm.

Once he left, I found myself completely alone.

Despite the large number of people going back and forth, trying to get everything under control, I felt alone.

It was almost the same feeling I had when I lost my sister. As if my whole world had collapsed. I didn’t know what to do.

Before, I had found strength in the idea of becoming a hunter like her, but now I realized I hadn’t changed at all. I was still the same girl I had been back then.

Lost in my thoughts, I ignored everyone wandering around the facility. But then something caught my attention in the distance—a worn-out blue coat that I recognized immediately.

It looked like Yu had retrieved his belongings and, making sure no one saw him, slipped away into the hallways of the facility.

Something was wrong. I felt something was about to happen, so I ran after him.

“Yu!” I called out.

Upon hearing my voice, Yu stopped, but he didn’t turn to look at me, nor did he say anything. The silence, combined with the solitude of the dark hallway—where only the two of us stood—created a terrifying atmosphere. I was scared, but I kept going.

“Where are you going?”

“…You already know, don’t you?” he replied in a monotone voice. “I have to settle the score with that bastard.”

It was what I feared. He wanted to escape to seek revenge against the Beast King… But that was madness!

“No… No, it’s too dangerous! That guy is incredibly strong and—!”

But he ignored me. No matter how much I tried to explain that it was a terrible idea to go after him alone, he stayed silent and kept walking, moving farther away and disappearing into the darkness.

Watching him leave like that weighed heavily on me. I didn’t want things to end this way, so I ran after him and grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Please, don’t go!” I said, on the verge of tears.

He finally turned to look at me, but when I met his eyes, a violent chill ran down my spine. His gaze looked dead; every trace of light had vanished, and in its place, I felt only hatred and resentment.

I tried to hold onto his arm despite the fear, but what he said next shattered me completely.

“It was your fault she was here in the first place. Do you want to keep ruining my life?”

“It was your fault she was here…”

That phrase repeated in my mind over and over as the little strength I had left drained from my body, giving him the chance to pull away and continue down the dark hallway.

I knew it was my fault… I had known from the beginning. But hearing it directly from him was a fatal blow to my spirit. I couldn’t do anything anymore.

“You’ll die…” I whispered.

“I don’t care. At least I’ll make sure to take him down with me.”

And with that last declaration, he finally left, leaving me alone.

Hidden from everyone’s sight, I finally broke down and fell to my knees, crying harder than I had in years.

I’m sorry, Yu. I’m sorry for everything.