The blood on the wall continued into the service corridor.
Yūta moved first.
Hina walked beside him.
Not ahead.
Not behind.
Beside him.
The corridor was narrower than the one they had left behind and even more poorly lit. The door that should have remained closed was still open several meters ahead, slightly twisted on one of its supports. Every time the emergency light flickered, the space beyond it appeared and disappeared.
Yūta could still feel the two presences.
Weak.
Separated.
One seemed to be standing still.
The other was moving slowly.
"They're still there," he murmured.
Hina adjusted her grip on the axe.
"Both?"
"Yeah."
"Far?"
Yūta tried to estimate.
It was not easy.
Sensing mana did not mean knowing exactly where everything was. Much less inside a building full of lingering traces.
"Not too far."
Hina nodded.
She did not ask anything else.
They continued.
The blood on the wall ended beside the open door.
There was more on the floor.
Not a pool.
Drops.
An uneven trail.
As if someone had passed through while leaning against the wall.
Yūta looked at the door.
Hina did too.
"Do we go in?"
Yūta shook his head.
"I look first."
He approached slowly.
He did not feel anything immediately behind it.
He leaned his head just far enough around the frame.
A short corridor.
Two doors.
A light fixture fallen from the ceiling.
A stretcher pushed against the wall.
And something on the floor.
Yūta stopped moving.
Hina noticed.
"What?"
He did not answer right away.
He went in.
The first figure was beside the stretcher.
A hunter.
Lying on his back.
Motionless.
There was a deep wound in his chest.
He was not breathing.
Yūta knew him.
Not from a mission.
Not from a class.
He did not even know his name.
He knew him from seeing him.
Almost every morning he had been near the entrance to the training area.
He was the man who made sure no one left practice weapons lying around after using them.
Once, he had argued with Kenta for ten minutes because Kenta insisted a practice spear "had already been broken before."
The hunter had replied that he had been hearing that line for fifteen years.
Yūta remembered walking past them laughing.
Now he was dead.
Hina entered behind him.
She recognized him too.
Yūta knew from the way her breathing stopped for a second.
"He…"
"Yeah."
Hina looked around.
There was another person behind the stretcher.
A woman.
Also a hunter.
Sitting against the wall.
Her head tilted down.
One arm over her abdomen.
Hina approached.
Yūta did not have to ask.
She recognized her.
"She lent me tape once," Hina said.
Her voice came out low.
Yūta looked at her.
"What?"
"For the axe handle."
Hina did not look away from the body.
"Before my first mission. It was coming loose and I didn't have any."
Silence returned.
Until then, the dead inside headquarters had been numbers.
Four bodies.
A lost post.
A route with no response.
Dead hunters.
People they knew existed.
But not people they had seen eating breakfast.
Walking through the halls.
Complaining about students.
Lending tape.
Yūta felt something heavy settle in his stomach.
Hina tightened her grip on the axe.
"We have to keep going."
Yūta looked at her.
She did not sound cold.
She sounded like someone who understood that standing there staring would not change anything.
"Yeah."
Yūta took one step.
Then he saw the first hunter's hand.
It was closed around something.
He crouched down.
A communicator.
The screen was broken.
Yūta carefully pulled it free.
It did not work.
"Nothing."
Hina looked toward the door at the end.
"The presences?"
Yūta focused again.
One.
Two.
The second was closer now.
"It moved."
Hina raised the axe.
They left the two bodies behind.
Yūta did not look back a second time.
They found the first remnant before reaching the next intersection.
It came out through a side door.
It did not rush them immediately.
First its head appeared.
Then one shoulder.
Then the rest of its body.
It was small compared to others Yūta had seen.
Thin.
Its back twisted.
Its arms too long.
It had no clear face.
Only a dark surface where its eyes, nose, and mouth should have been.
It stopped when it saw them.
Yūta stopped too.
For one second, neither moved.
Hina stepped beside him.
The remnant reacted.
It ran.
Yūta had already started moving his mana.
He did not need to think too hard.
He concentrated it around his hands and legs.
Invisible.
No glow.
No obvious signal the enemy could read.
The remnant attacked first.
One arm stretched toward him.
Yūta moved aside.
The strike passed centimeters from his face and hit the wall.
Hina advanced.
The axe expanded as she turned.
The blade struck the remnant's arm.
Cut it off.
The creature stepped back.
It did not scream.
It only moved faster.
Yūta came in from the side.
A strike to the torso.
Mana concentrated behind it.
The remnant folded.
Hina raised the axe.
"Yūta!"
He was already moving out of the way.
The blow came down.
The floor shook.
Not much.
Hina had held back.
Even so, the remnant was thrown into the wall.
Yūta felt the second presence move.
"Another one's coming."
Hina raised her weapon.
"From where?"
"Behind us."
They barely had time to turn.
The second creature appeared from the intersection.
Bigger.
Faster.
Yūta raised his arms.
The impact shoved him several meters.
His back hit a door.
The air left his lungs.
Hina stepped between them.
The remnant attacked.
She blocked with the handle.
The hit made her slide backward.
"Heavy," she muttered.
Yūta recovered his breath.
"I'm fine."
"I didn't ask."
The remnant charged again.
Hina dodged.
Its arm punched through part of the metal door.
For an instant, it got stuck.
Hina took advantage.
She turned her body.
Axe.
Side.
The blade went in.
But not enough.
The creature ripped its arm free and swung backward.
Hina managed to raise the handle.
Even then, the impact sent her into the wall.
Yūta moved forward.
There was no time for anything complicated.
Just mana.
One strike.
Then another.
The first landed in the chest.
The second was blocked.
The remnant countered.
Yūta saw the hand coming.
Too late.
Something happened.
He did not know what.
He felt a strange pressure behind his eyes.
Then, for a fraction of a second, his own mana stopped feeling the way it should.
It expanded.
Not toward any specific place.
Not like a technique.
It simply…
spilled out.
The remnant stopped.
Not completely.
Just for an instant.
As though something in front of it had changed unexpectedly.
Yūta used the opening without understanding it.
He ducked.
The strike passed over his head.
Hina came back in from the side.
The axe struck the creature's back.
This time the cut went deep.
The remnant fell to its knees.
Yūta stood.
Focused mana into his fist.
Struck.
The creature broke apart.
Silence.
Yūta stared at the empty space.
Hina was breathing hard.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
"That hit sent you pretty far."
"The door got it worse."
Hina looked behind him.
The metal was dented.
"Maybe."
Yūta rolled one shoulder.
It hurt.
But it worked.
Hina reduced the axe slightly.
"What about the other one?"
Yūta looked toward the smaller remnant.
Still alive.
It had used the fight to move away.
Now it stood at the far end of the corridor.
Watching them.
"Still there."
Hina raised the weapon again.
"Then—"
The creature ran.
Not toward them.
The opposite direction.
Yūta took one step.
Then remembered.
Don't look for a fight.
Don't try to hold because you think someone needs you to.
"No."
Hina stopped.
"We don't follow?"
"No."
Yūta looked down the corridor.
"It's moving away."
Hina let out a breath.
"Fine."
She did not argue.
That was new too.
Yūta checked the communicator.
Nothing.
"Ishida?"
Static.
He waited.
"Mei?"
Nothing.
Hina was watching him.
"The local frequency?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe they're already too far away."
"Could be."
Yūta put it away.
He did not like it.
But it did not necessarily mean something had happened.
He repeated that to himself.
It means nothing.
Could be distance.
Walls.
Interference.
Damage to headquarters.
There was no reason to assume the worst.
They continued.
The corridor opened into a small service area.
Three doors.
One marked maintenance.
Another internal access.
The third was open.
Yūta approached.
Before looking inside, he felt mana.
Human.
Very weak.
He raised a hand.
Hina stopped.
"What?"
"Someone."
"A remnant?"
Yūta shook his head.
"I don't think so."
They entered.
A small break room.
Two tables.
Vending machines.
A tiny kitchen.
Three bodies.
One of them was breathing.
Yūta reached him first.
"Hey."
The hunter was lying on his side.
Maybe around thirty.
Uniform torn.
One leg covered in blood.
He opened his eyes when he heard the voice.
Tried to raise one hand.
"No…"
"We're hunters," Hina said quickly. "Tokyo students."
The man looked at her.
Then at Yūta.
It took him a second to understand.
"Students…"
"Can you talk?" Yūta asked.
"Yeah."
Barely a voice.
Yūta looked at the other two bodies.
They were not breathing.
Hina knelt beside the wounded man.
"What happened?"
The man closed his eyes for a moment.
"They moved us."
Yūta frowned.
"Who?"
"The remnants."
He breathed.
"They didn't attack… not always."
Hina and Yūta looked at each other.
Again.
The same thing they had already heard.
The remnants were not simply trying to kill every hunter they found.
"How many?" Hina asked.
"Four… maybe five."
"Strong?"
The man slowly shook his head.
"No."
That was worse in a different way.
"They pushed us back. Closed one route. Left another open."
Yūta crouched lower.
"Toward where?"
"Central sector."
The hunter struggled to breathe.
"We thought they were running."
"But they weren't," Yūta said.
The man opened his eyes.
"No."
Silence.
Hina checked the wound.
"We need to move him."
Yūta looked at the leg.
"Can he walk?"
"No."
The hunter gave a small laugh.
"I wouldn't recommend trying."
Hina looked around the room.
"First-aid kit?"
The man indicated with his head.
A cabinet.
Yūta went over.
Gauze.
Bandages.
A small medical sealant.
Not much.
Hina started working.
Yūta stayed near the door.
He was not especially good at first aid.
Sota would have known more.
The thought came automatically.
Sota.
Ishida.
Mei.
B-2.
Yūta pulled out the communicator again.
"Ishida."
Nothing.
"If you can hear me, we found a wounded hunter in the service area near central access."
Static.
"He can't walk."
He waited.
Nothing.
He put the device away.
Hina did not look up.
"They'll be fine."
Yūta looked at her.
"I didn't say anything."
"You didn't need to."
He leaned against the wall.
"I just hate not knowing."
"So does everyone."
The wounded hunter opened one eye.
"Get used to it."
Hina looked at him.
The man breathed.
"Half the job is not knowing anything."
"Great profession," Hina said.
"Yeah."
This time he smiled a little.
They could not leave him there.
They could not carry him easily either.
Yūta looked at one of the tables.
Then at the legs.
"We can make something."
Hina understood.
Together they moved a low table.
Cleared it.
Used a blanket from the small couch.
It was not a stretcher.
But they could drag him without making him put weight on the leg.
"This is going to hurt," Hina said.
"Everything already hurts."
"Perfect."
Yūta crouched.
"On three."
The hunter nodded.
"One."
Hina took his torso.
"Two."
Yūta supported his legs.
"Three."
They moved him.
The man exhaled through clenched teeth.
Yūta ended up with blood on one hand.
He looked at it.
For an instant, that pressure returned.
Not a memory.
Something else.
As though his mana had reacted before he did.
A small pulse ran through his arm.
The blood on his hand trembled slightly.
No.
Not the blood.
The air around it.
Yūta blinked.
It was gone.
Hina was still adjusting the wounded man.
She had not seen anything.
Yūta opened and closed his hand.
Normal.
"What is it?" Hina asked.
"Nothing."
"You sure?"
Yūta looked at his fingers.
"Yeah."
Not exactly a lie.
He did not know what had happened.
So there was nothing he could explain.
They found an alternate route toward a small medical station.
The hunter knew it.
"Two corridors," he said. "Then left."
"People there?" Yūta asked.
"There were."
That answer again.
Yūta was starting to hate it.
They carefully dragged the makeshift stretcher.
Hina went first.
Yūta behind, pulling.
His arms hurt from the weight.
Not only from that.
The tournament.
The fights.
The battle a few minutes ago.
The hit against the door.
It was all starting to pile together.
Hina was not doing much better.
Every so often she changed the axe from one hand to the other.
She did not say anything.
Yūta noticed anyway.
They reached the first corridor.
Empty.
The second had blood.
More.
Too much.
Yūta stopped.
Hina did too.
There were two bodies beside a wall.
One wore a jacket Yūta recognized.
"No…"
Hina turned.
Yūta approached.
The dead man's face was visible.
He knew him.
Again, not by name.
He was one of the hunters who was often in the cafeteria during the night shifts.
Not because it was his job.
He just ate late.
Once he had told Yūta to stop buying vending-machine coffee because "you're seventeen and already look like a divorced office worker."
Yūta had thought it was a ridiculous thing to say.
Now he remembered it word for word.
Hina walked closer.
"You knew him?"
"No."
The answer came too fast.
Yūta corrected himself.
"I don't know his name."
That was different.
Hina understood.
The second body was a woman.
Yūta did not recognize her.
Hina did.
"She worked reception sometimes."
Yūta closed his eyes for a moment.
There was nothing they could do.
Again.
Nothing.
The wounded hunter on the makeshift stretcher spoke.
"Don't stay."
Yūta opened his eyes.
The man was looking at the bodies too.
"Later."
Hina tightened her grip.
"Yeah."
They continued.
The medical station was closed.
Not barricaded.
Just closed.
Yūta knocked twice.
"Hello?"
Nothing.
Hina tried the panel.
No response.
"Great."
Yūta looked around.
"We can open it."
"How?"
Yūta pointed at the lock.
Hina raised the axe.
"You sure?"
The wounded hunter spoke from below.
"No."
They both looked at him.
"No what?"
"Don't break open a medical door without knowing what's behind it."
Hina lowered the weapon.
"Good point."
Yūta placed a hand against the door.
Searched for mana.
Nothing alive nearby.
But that did not guarantee the room was empty.
"I don't feel anything."
"That doesn't mean it's empty either," the hunter said.
Yūta looked at him.
"Is everyone today going to remind me of the limitations of what I can do?"
"If we survive, yes."
Yūta sighed.
There was a small frosted window.
Hina tried to look through.
"I can't see anything."
A noise came from the corridor.
Yūta turned.
Mana.
One presence.
Then another.
Another.
Three.
"We've got company."
Hina expanded the axe.
The wounded hunter closed his eyes.
"Leave me."
Yūta looked at him.
"No."
"You can't fight while dragging me."
"Then we don't fight here."
Hina pointed toward a side door.
"There."
A small storage room.
Yūta opened it.
Empty.
Together they dragged the hunter inside.
"Stay back."
The man almost laughed.
"That was the plan."
Hina partially closed the door.
Yūta and Hina remained in the corridor.
Three presences.
Coming closer.
No adult.
No one to tell them what formation to use.
No one to take the front.
No one to correct a mistake.
Yūta looked at Hina.
She looked back.
"Three," he said.
"Strong?"
"I don't think so."
"I love 'I don't think so.'"
Yūta breathed in.
"We can fall back."
Hina looked at the storage-room door.
"Not with him."
True.
The first silhouette appeared at the far end.
Then another.
The third moved close to the wall.
Minor remnants.
None seemed special.
Still, there were three.
And they were tired.
Yūta flexed his fingers.
"We don't need to kill them quickly."
Hina understood.
"Just keep them from getting through."
"Yeah."
The first one charged.
Hina met the first attack with the axe handle.
She did not try to cut.
She redirected.
The creature passed by.
Yūta moved in.
Strike to the side.
Back out.
The second attacked.
Hina blocked.
The third tried to circle them.
Yūta moved toward it.
Invisible mana into his legs.
He accelerated.
Not too much.
Just enough.
Struck.
The creature stepped back.
Did not fall.
Yūta felt the fatigue immediately.
He was not fresh.
He could not fight as though he were.
The first came back.
Hina turned.
The axe expanded in the middle of the movement.
Slash.
Part of the remnant's torso vanished.
The creature kept moving.
Hina's eyes widened.
"Seriously?"
Yūta struck from behind.
Finished breaking it apart.
Two left.
The second took advantage.
It hit Hina in the shoulder.
She lost her balance.
The axe struck the floor.
"Hina!"
"I'm fine."
The third moved toward the storage-room door.
Yūta saw it.
Ran.
Too far.
He would not make it.
He knew it.
His body knew it too.
And then it happened again.
That sensation.
Pressure.
Mana.
Something inside him moved without permission.
Yūta felt part of his reserve tear free all at once.
Not like when he released it deliberately.
He could not track it.
Could not see it.
Not even him.
The remnant stopped.
Only for half a second.
Its body tilted as if it had collided with something it had not expected.
Yūta closed the distance.
Fist.
The creature slammed into the wall.
Hina looked up.
"What did you do?"
Yūta did not answer.
Because he did not know.
The second remnant went for Hina again.
She swung the axe upward.
The strike lifted the creature off the ground.
Yūta ran toward it.
Mana into his arm.
Strike.
The remnant broke apart.
One left.
The one that had tried to reach the storage room.
It got back up.
Yūta positioned himself in front of the door.
Hina came to his side.
Again.
Not ahead.
Beside him.
The creature attacked.
Yūta dodged left.
Hina right.
The remnant passed between them.
Both turned.
Yūta struck the back.
Hina cut one leg.
The creature fell.
Yūta raised his fist.
Hina brought down the axe.
The two attacks landed almost together.
The creature disappeared.
Silence.
Only breathing.
Yūta rested his hands on his knees.
Hina let the axe touch the floor.
"Three."
Yūta breathed.
"Yeah."
"Us."
"Yeah."
Hina looked at him.
"Without anyone else."
Yūta raised his head.
She did not look proud.
Not exactly.
She looked like she had realized something.
Until that day, there had always been an adult nearby.
Kato.
Yuna.
Kana.
Some veteran hunter.
Even when they did something dangerous, someone knew more than they did.
Now there was no one.
They had made decisions.
Protected a wounded hunter.
Fought.
And if something had gone wrong, no one was guaranteed to appear and fix it.
Yūta looked at his hands again.
"You asked what I did before."
"Yeah."
"I don't know."
Hina frowned.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"The remnant stopped."
"Yeah."
"I didn't do that."
Hina stared at him.
Yūta tried to remember.
Pressure.
Mana.
Movement.
Nothing more.
"I felt something weird."
"Your ability?"
"No."
The answer came too quickly.
Yūta breathed.
"I don't think so."
Hina looked at the place where the creature had hit the wall.
No strange marks.
Nothing to explain it.
"Can you do it again?"
Yūta extended one hand.
Tried.
Mana.
Moved it.
Normal.
Invisible.
Same as always.
Nothing happened.
Again.
Nothing.
Yūta lowered his hand.
"No."
Hina watched him for a few seconds.
Then pointed at the storage room.
"Then we think about it later."
Yūta nodded.
That was easy to accept.
There were too many things to do now.
The wounded hunter was still conscious.
When they opened the door, he looked at both of them.
Then at the corridor.
"Three?"
Hina nodded.
"Three."
"You two?"
"Us."
The man looked at them for another second.
"Good."
Yūta waited for more.
Nothing came.
Just that.
Good.
It was enough.
The three of them checked another entrance to the medical station.
They found an auxiliary door.
Manually locked.
This time the hunter confirmed they could open it.
No one was inside.
But there were stretchers.
Medical supplies.
Water.
A fixed communicator.
Yūta went straight to it.
Powered it on.
Static.
Changed channels.
"Auxiliary medical station to command."
Nothing.
Another.
"Any team, respond."
A voice.
Very faint.
"...receiv..."
Yūta leaned closer.
"Repeat. We're students with one wounded hunter."
Noise.
Then:
"...location..."
Yūta looked at the sign on the wall.
Gave the sector.
Waited.
"...hold..."
The signal died.
"Hold what?" Hina asked.
Yūta pressed the button.
"Repeat."
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Yūta released the communicator.
The wounded hunter was already on a real stretcher.
Hina checked the supplies.
"At least we can leave him better here."
"Don't leave me alone too long," he said.
Hina looked at him.
"Demanding, aren't you?"
"I'm wounded."
"Excuses."
The man smiled weakly.
Yūta looked at the wall map.
From there, they could continue farther into the internal sectors.
There was also a route north.
The word they had heard before returned.
North.
Wounded.
It could mean something.
Or nothing.
Yūta looked at the portable communicator.
Still no answer from Ishida.
"We need to find people."
Hina stepped closer.
"Yeah."
The wounded hunter looked at them.
"You don't need to rush out."
Yūta turned.
"We won't."
The man raised an eyebrow.
Yūta understood.
"Really."
Hina pointed at the map.
"We check the routes first."
The hunter closed his eyes.
"That sounds better."
Yūta studied the routes.
There were not many.
Two were marked inaccessible.
One led toward the central sector.
Another north.
Hina stood beside him.
Again.
Yūta looked at his hands one last time.
He tried to feel that thing.
Nothing.
Only his mana.
Tired.
Invisible.
Familiar.
Exactly the same as always.
Or so it seemed.
He did not think about it any further.
Not yet.
Outside were dead hunters.
Others were wounded.
Ishida, Mei, and Sota were somewhere without communication.
And headquarters continued losing ground while they tried to figure out what to do with the little information they had.
Yūta pointed toward the northern route.
"First, there."
Hina nodded.
"First, there."
Behind them were three empty stretchers.
One living hunter.
Two exhausted students.
And in the corridors they had crossed to get there, several people who would never stand again.
Those left behind.