Chapter 14: The Worst Day

Two months had passed since she had met that man, but she hadn't tried to contact him.

Not only did she lack the means to do so, but even if she had, she wouldn't have. They weren't close enough to send a thank-you message, and in the first place, it was better for both of them to sever ties here.

A resident of Trinity and a student of Arius. If they were to get involved, the result would only end in the worst possible way.

'But it's true that he helped us.'

The food and emergency medicine he had given them had been a great help to the squad. The gruel they had eaten as soon as they returned had no particular taste, but the sensation of putting something in their mouths after a long time felt quite good. The porridge, though cold, was delicious.

And that food called chicken and that food called pizza, they truly had a heavenly taste. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was the best food she had ever eaten in her life. The drink called coke was also a favorite among the entire squad.

But they didn't devour all the food on the spot. No matter how delicious it was, they had to eat it sparingly. If they didn't, they would surely have to be rummaging through trash cans again within a few days.

Therefore, from the moment they opened the packaging, the squad only ate one piece of chicken a day. The same went for the pizza. They decided to open the pizza packaging again after they had finished all the chicken.

Both foods were high in calories, so there were no problems in completing their training. They were hungry, but that was a constant state, so they didn't mind. The amount of water they had received was substantial, so they could get by by filling their stomachs with water.

When they had drunk about half of the fresh water, they refilled the other half with stagnant water. Food was important, but water was more so, so they used the water sufficiently while also conserving it. They made sure to have the lowest quality water available for purposes other than drinking.

The emergency medicine was a great help in their training. They couldn't walk around with bandages on, so they couldn't do anything about the abrasions, but they could solve stomachaches and headaches with medicine. Thanks to that, their condition improved and they achieved good results in their training.

Today was one of those days.

-Scratch!

The dagger Saori swung scraped against the side of an Arius student. She was wearing thick armor, so there was no visible wound, but the impact was transmitted to the inside. The Arius student's body staggered from the pain.

An opportunity.

Saori didn't miss the opening. She kicked the staggering girl's body and mounted her.

And then, she started slashing. The blade, falling vertically, hammered against the Arius student's body. It was a training dagger with a blunted edge, but it was enough to cripple a person. Of course, she would have to inflict dozens, even hundreds, of significant blows, but it wasn't impossible for Saori.

"S-stop...!"

"..."

Saori stopped her attack upon seeing the Arius student's contorted face. The outcome of the match was already clear. It wouldn't have been strange if the instructor had ordered them to stop, but she remained silent. Instead, she stared at Saori, who had stopped her attack, and scolded her.

"Jomae Saori. When did I tell you to stop the spar? Are you showing mercy?"

"...No, ma'am. I apologize."

"If you know you're sorry, then continue the spar. My patience has its limits."

Saori grit her teeth at the instructor's words. Her lower face was covered by a mask, so it wasn't noticed. But her defiant gaze was exposed directly to the instructor's eyes. The instructor clicked her tongue and stood up from her seat.

"Enough. The spar is over. Jomae Saori. Come before me."

Saori immediately sheathed her dagger and walked in front of the instructor.

-Crunch.

The instructor stomped hard on Saori's foot. Saori's face contorted in pain from the sharp agony. But she didn't let out a groan. She bit her molars so hard she thought they would break and held back her voice.

"Jomae Saori."

"...Yes."

"Have you become arrogant because your recent training results have been good? Or have you developed some belated rebellious spirit? How dare you show such a reaction to your instructor's words?"

"...I apologize. I will make sure it doesn't happen again."

"That's a given. There's no need to even say that."

The instructor traced her finger around Saori's eyes and continued.

"I will report this incident to 'Madame'. Jomae Saori, that you disobeyed and talked back to your instructor during training."

"..."

"If Madame entrusts your punishment to me, I will crush that insolent eye of yours. Losing one of your eyes won't prevent us from achieving our great cause, after all."

"..."

"If you understand, then get lost. I'll see you at training tomorrow."

"...Thank you."

Saori bowed to the instructor, who was returning to the Arius Branch School. Around the time she disappeared from sight, Saori straightened her bent back and took off her mask.

She wiped the blood flowing from her torn lip and spat out the blood from biting her tongue onto the ground. A red stain appeared on the dirty ground. Saori roughly rubbed the stain with her foot to erase it, then started walking towards the base where the squad was staying.

'It's broken.'

The pain that shot up from the top of her foot with every step made her head throb. It was an excruciatingly immense pain, but Saori didn't show it. It wasn't the first time she had broken a bone. She could endure this much pain. If it got too hard, she could just take a painkiller, so it wasn't a problem.

"...I'll be receiving your help again today. Thank you."

Saori let out a small smile and offered her thanks to the man whose name she didn't even know. It was a minimum of courtesy towards him, and at the same time, a desperate struggle not to lose her humanity.

-Trudge, trudge.

As she walked, enduring the pain, she soon arrived at their base. Saori wiped all expression from her face and entered the abandoned house they were using as a base. It wasn't a building with holes in the walls or a weak floor, so it wasn't uncomfortable to live in.

The door of the abandoned house opened with a creaking sound.

Saori scanned the figures sitting in the living room with indifferent eyes.

Misaki and Hiyori were out for training, so they weren't there, but Azusa and Atsuko remained in the abandoned house.

Atsuko was still a first-year, so she didn't have difficult training and had finished early, and Azusa received direct instruction from Saori, so she had no reason to be called by the Arius instructors. Thanks to that, they spent more time in the abandoned house than moving outside.

It was a relief, if anything. Thanks to the low-intensity training, Atsuko rarely got injured, and she could control Azusa's training herself, so she could prevent her from getting hurt. The other two were unfortunate, but she couldn't do anything about that.

"Princess. Did anything happen?"

Saori asked Atsuko. Atsuko wrote letters on the floor to convey her meaning.

Contrary to Saori's wishes.

[We've been discovered.]

It was not a good sign.

"Jomae Saori."

A voice came from the room connected to the living room. Saori reflexively turned her head. One of the high-ranking Arius instructors was standing there with a murderous expression.

"...Instructor."

"I'll dispense with the pleasantries."

She threw the three envelopes she was holding in front of Saori. The food they had been eating sparingly scattered from the opened packaging. Azusa narrowed her eyes and grabbed her gun, and Atsuko blocked her and shook her head. It was a sign not to interfere.

But the instructor didn't even glance at them. She only stared at Saori and tilted her head as if demanding an explanation.

"Explain what this is."

"...Food."

"Are you trying to be funny with me? I'm asking you to explain where you got this food."

The instructor glared at Saori murderously. At her murderous gaze, Saori, who had kept her mouth tightly shut, opened it.

"...I looted a shop in the Trinity autonomous district."

"Ha! Jomae Saori. Have you finally gone mad? Not only did you go out to the Trinity autonomous district when the time wasn't right, but you also committed looting?"

"I had no choice in order to survive."

"Does that mean you don't care if others die for your own life? Weren't you educated on how those crazy bitches from Trinity persecuted and destroyed us? Are you aware that our autonomous district could be destroyed because of your selfish survival instinct!"

"...That won't happen. I handled it as stealthily as possible, and the witnesses—"

-Bang!

Saori's words were cut off and scattered. A bullet fired by the instructor had hit her in the solar plexus. A shotgun, already dangerous at close range, had been fired from the hands of a high-ranking instructor who was considered one of the strongest in Arius. Even for Saori, it was impossible to withstand.

"Keok!"

Saori's upper body bent downwards. The instructor, regardless, fired a volley of bullets at her and screamed.

"Shut up! I don't want to hear any of your damn excuses! And forget the explanation! It's not like your crime will disappear just because of that!"

"...Keuk... guh..."

"Damn selfish bitch. You crawled into the Trinity autonomous district and even committed looting just to save your own skin? What if you were caught? What would you have done if your identities, the location of our Arius Branch School, were discovered! Have you forgotten that Madame said we don't have enough time to achieve our great cause yet?!"

"Heuh... keuk..."

"Jomae Saori. Madame's trust in you is wasted. I'm afraid that trust is worth less than the dirty water in the sewer."

The instructor lowered her gun. Then she lifted the bags containing the food and emergency medicine and said.

"I will confiscate this. As a minimum of mercy, I won't report it to Madame, but make sure this never happens again."

"..."

"And I will suspend supplies to your squad for one month. Since you've eaten well, you can survive on your own for a month. If you can't... then it means you were just that weak."

"..."

"Answer me. The leader of the Arius Squad, Jomae Saori."

"...I... understand."

"Tsk."

The instructor kicked the writhing Saori on the floor and left the abandoned house. A deathly silence flowed through the abandoned house she had left. Azusa blamed herself for not doing anything while Saori was being beaten, and Atsuko supported Saori and checked her injuries.

There wasn't a single spot on her body that was unscathed. Her entire body was covered in red bruises, and in severe places, the flesh was torn and even bleeding. Her arm and leg bones were broken, and they trembled like a leaf in the wind.

[Are you okay?]

Atsuko asked. Saori glanced at her, then looked down at the floor and nodded.

"Yeah."

[I'll bring the bandages and medicine. I've set some aside before the instructor came.]

"There won't be much, so use it on someone else. Hiyori and Misaki might come back injured."

[No.]

Atsuko was firm. She immediately went up to the second floor of the abandoned house and brought out the medicine she had set aside. The amount was so small that it would all be used up on Saori, but there was no choice for now. If she wasn't treated, Saori would be in danger.

[Stay still.]

"...Ugh."

Saori let out a suppressed groan at the touch that explored her wounds. Atsuko ignored it and applied disinfectant and regenerative medicine to her wounds. Then she wrapped them tightly with bandages. The color was similar to the bandages from the supply drop, so it was unlikely that the other instructors would find out.

...Did Atsuko disguise this too? Saori stared at the bandage wrapped around her side and opened her mouth.

"Thank you for not stepping in. If you had, the situation would have only become more complicated."

[Yeah. I know. But let's make sure this never happens again. I don't like seeing you get hurt, Saori.]

"...Yeah. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have accepted his kindness."

[No. I meant let's hide it more thoroughly next time.]

"Ah. Is that what you meant."

Saori let out a bitter smile. Atsuko's face was hidden by her mask.

[It's done.]

"Thank you... ugh."

[Be careful.]

Saori stood up with Atsuko's support. Then she looked at Azusa and said.

"Take a rest from training today, Azusa. Think of it as a holiday."

"...Saori."

"I'm fine. This is nothing. So don't worry about me, and get plenty of rest for tomorrow's training. This is an order."

"..."

"Answer me."

"...I understand. I'll rest. But Saori. Remember this. Even if everything is vain and empty, you must never stop struggling. We can definitely be happy."

...Was Azusa always this talkative? I thought she was keeping a distance from us.

Saori thought to herself and nodded.

She went into the room with the futon and closed the door. Since she had sent Atsuko, who had supported her, back to Azusa, there was no one by her side. In the deathly silence, only then did Saori, at the pain that she felt throughout her body, cry silently.

"...Sob... sob..."

It hurts. It hurts so much. My mind hurts as much as my body.

Why, why can't we have even a moment of happiness? Can't we just eat delicious food and be happy every day, at least until the food runs out? Does God think that even two months of happiness is too much?

Then what will happen to us? We're abandoning the present for the sake of future happiness, but is God not even allowing that? Then... then what am I supposed to do...

The wind blows through the cracked window.

It's snowing. White snow sticks to the window, and through the cracks, it enters the room. But the snowflakes that struggled to get in melted and disappeared the moment they touched the floor. The snowflakes that had gotten in through luck or by struggling all met the same end.

Saori stared blankly at the scene.

Like those snowflakes, will we too disappear from the world someday? Even if we achieve our great cause, isn't the end that awaits us the destruction of everyone?

'...Azusa.'

Can we, as you said, really be happy? In the end, isn't everything vain, and again, vain?

Saori closed her eyes with such thoughts.

Today was the worst day.

As it always was.