They weren't wrong.
Yami Tsukishiro had already decided he'd look for them tomorrow.
Sure, Chisato and the others were running shifts, covering each other. Meanwhile, he was completely on his own. But it didn't bother him. He wasn't about to waste the night here.
After all, the Multiverse Dungeons still worked fine from this place.
So why not spend the night in the comfort of the Dead Bone Castle instead?
He was just about to vanish into the shadows when voices caught his ear.
"Damn it! We finally find a supply point, and it's already taken!"
"Aki, what do we do? Should we try asking whoever's inside to let us use it?"
"Ask? Why? Anyone can use a supply point. If they can take it, so can we."
"Wait...Aki, why are you pulling out a gun? Hey, listen to me!"
Yami's lips curved into a faint smile. Interesting.
From the sound of it, the girl was calling the guy with glasses by his first name, but there was no warmth there.
The boy in question looked… pitiful. His clothes were in tatters, his face was swollen from a fresh beating, and the cracked lens of his glasses barely clung to the frame.
And now, gun in hand, he stormed toward the occupied building, ignoring the frantic calls from the blonde ponytailed girl behind him.
Judging by the look in his eyes, the day had already broken him.
Reuniting with his childhood friend Eriri Spencer Sawamura hadn't gone the way he'd imagined, she'd seen him beaten, humiliated, mocked.
Hunger, thirst, pain, and frustration had all piled on top of each other until there was nothing left but anger.
And now, that anger had boiled over into one simple goal: take this supply point for himself, no matter who was inside.
Bang!
The door slammed open with reckless force.
But before he could even look for his imagined enemies, Yami Tsukishiro was already standing there, blocking his path.
Tomoya Aki didn't blurt out his intentions right away.
Instead, he darted quick glances at Yami Tsukishiro, scanning him from head to toe.
No sword.
No gun.
No weapon at all.
The realization made his eyes light up with excitement.
In the corner of his vision, Eriri Spencer Sawamura was sprinting toward them, panic written all over her face.
Before she could reach him, Tomoya raised his pistol and aimed it squarely at Yami.
"Leave the supply point. This is ours now!"
"…And what if I don't?"
Yami didn't even look fazed. He tore a bite from a loaf of bread, chewed lazily, then washed it down with a slow, deliberate sip of water.
"Gudu…"
Tomoya's parched throat worked on instinct, saliva flooding his mouth at the sight. The jealousy in his eyes was unmistakable.
He wanted that water.
He wanted that bread.
He wanted the feeling of being full more than anything right now.
"If you don't leave, I'll shoot! I'll count down… Ten! Nine…"
He barked the numbers like threats, hoping to scare Yami into bolting.
If Yami ran, the food would be his.
"Tomoya! Are you crazy? Put the gun down! Didn't you see his school uniform? He's from our school!"
Eriri's voice cracked with anger and desperation.
She was hungry and thirsty too, but killing someone had never crossed her mind.
If they were classmates, they could talk. Surely.
She stepped forward to grab his gun only for Tomoya to shove her hard to the floor.
"Eriri, I'm doing this for you! You're thirsty and starving too, right? I just need to get rid of him!"
"Pfft… You say it's for her, but you just want it for yourself, don't you?"
Yami smirked, amused, like he was watching premium front-row drama with popcorn in hand.
The only difference was that the gun was pointed at him.
Tomoya's face twisted. "Don't talk nonsense! This is for Eriri!"
"Oh? Eriri… you mean this lovely, beautiful girl?"
Before either of them could react, Yami's shadow surged forward, wrapping around Eriri and pulling her into the shadow space. A heartbeat later, she emerged safely beside him.
Neither of them even registered what had happened.
"Since you care about her so much…" Yami said, his tone dripping with irony, "…didn't you notice you hurt her when you shoved her?"
He gently lifted Eriri's arm, rolling up her sleeve to reveal a bright, fresh scrape still bleeding.
"Ah…!"
A tiny cry of pain escaped her lips before she could swallow it.
Tomoya Aki felt something inside him snap.
Even though his relationship with Eriri had been on the rocks for a long time, the sight of another guy touching her sent his mind spiraling.
"Let go of Eriri, you bastard! How dare you hurt her!"
His roar echoed through the room.
"???"
Yami Tsukishiro raised an eyebrow.
"Oi, oi… don't try to shift the blame. That scrape on her arm? You're the one who shoved her."
"Impossible! I would never hurt Eriri!" Tomoya barked back, eyes burning with denial.
"…"
Eriri's expression darkened...anger mixing with something that looked a lot like disappointment.
How could someone be this dense? She should have realized long ago that Tomoya wasn't the same.
In the real world, he was just annoying.
Here, in this place, he was… frightening.
"Five seconds! Let her go and leave the supply point!" Tomoya barked.
"Five! Four! Two! Three! One!"
He clearly thought the gun in his hands made him terrifying.
Yami didn't even blink. He folded his arms and watched, unimpressed, like he was grading a performance that was going to fail no matter what.
That condescending look…
It was the last thread holding Tomoya's reason together.
"Go to hell!!!"
Bang!
Tomoya pulled the trigger eyes bloodshot, face twisted with rage.
"Ahhh!!!"
But the first scream came from him.
He'd never fired a gun in his life, and his soft, untrained hands couldn't handle the recoil.
The shock jolted through his arm, making him drop the weapon instantly.
Eriri's eyes went wide in horror.
Because in that split second, the barrel of the gun had been pointed directly at her.
The gunshot was deafening, her heart skipping a beat as images from her life spun through her mind like a film reel.
And there was only one bitter thought left:
I'm sorry, Mom… I think I'm about to die. If I could do it all over again, I'd never… ever… meet this idiot Tomoya Aki.
--------------------------------------
Support me at patreon.com/Arthorain and read upto 50 Advanced Chapters and Exclusive R-18 Content!
--------------------------------------
Update schedule: 7 chapters/week
Every 100 power stones = 1 Extra Chapter
By voting with [power stones], you can easily get double the number of chapters.