As usual, nothing happened for the first fifty or so floors. People did come and went out but for the most part, it was a fast journey. And I really hoped the rest of the journey would have been like this too.

I didn't know what Johnathan was doing, or where he even was but I kind of didn't want to see him again.

​​

Unfortunately, my luck was terrible.

On floor 66, a girl entered the elevator. She had bunny ears and a not-so-flat chest like when we were young. Apparently, she was the person I didn't want meet.

I gritted my teeth and hoped for the best. I was confident she wouldn't use her powers here, but I couldn't be too sure.

She noticed me almost immediately but didn't create a scene and just spoke to the man by the buttons: floor 100.

I let out a breath and just waited. 'This might not be so bad.'

And then floor 69 happened, again.

But instead of the strings snapping, this time just two people entered the elevator. This was worse than the strings snapping.

"Ah, you look just as marvelous as ever. I've run out of your samples. Would you be kind enough to pour some more in me? I'd really love more of your D-N-A!" And the woman's tone was being awfully misleading as ever.

I got a lot of stares from around me and a glare from the bunny girl. I guess they all just assumed I was the bad guy.

"Hopefully, you'll settle for being burnt like last time? Or should I scorch you this time, instead? Because, trust me, I'm definitely in the mood to burn down octopuses!"

"I'm a squid sweetheart." She winked and just went to the other corner, near the bunny girl. Johnathan gave me a wave and I just ignored him.

This whole damn elevator's atmosphere got a whole lotta awkward, way too fast. But I just ignored all the stares. At the end of the day, I probably wouldn't see them again in my life anyway.

As we climbed up higher and higher, more and more people got off. But the three people were always here. I really hoped they'd just leave me alone but I guess they weren't going to get out before me.

By the ninetieth floor, the elevator was almost empty. It was now only Johnathan, his mother, and my crush.

"Why'd you come back?" The bunny girl in the corner was cool and collected. Her eyes were closed and she was ready to come at me any time.

Or was it just my imagination?

"I have business with the smith." But I tried to be honest.

"I see." She didn't even look at me.

"I'm awfully sorry about last time. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. I might have overreacted a little too. You were in Canada too? At Saint Gregory's?" She finally gave me a glance.

"Yeah, I transferred to the UK a while ago, though."

And the conversation died. Just breathing this air was awkward enough.

Meanwhile, the other woman was grinning way too much. I had a bad feeling about this.

But eventually, floor 99 came and my stop came along with it.

I hurriedly got out and ran to the smith's room. The two mother and son followed me out while the bunny girl left for the upper floor.

But now that I thought about it, this whole place was like a maze, and I was way more confused this time around. It took me two whole minutes to find my way.

But as I entered the room, the heat reminded me of that volcano: HOT.

***

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Ever since I entered the room there was nothing but the heat from the furnace and the metallic clangs of a hammer falling down.

It'd already been over half an hour now. And yet there was no sign of stopping.

I was dripping sweats all over. Back at the volcano, I had Merin's stone to keep me cold, but now I didn't have anything. And this place was just as bad as the volcano. "Tell me, is this normal? I mean, he's totally ignoring us." I went closer to Johnathan.

This room was too hot for his mother, so she went out. Johnathan however was ravaging through the old man's sandwiches. And the guy wasn't even sweating all that much. What the hell was wrong with him?

But this place really was hot. Maybe refining that sword took way too high temps?

"Yeah, totally. I heard he's been at it for three days now. He hasn't eaten, hasn't showered or even used the bathroom."

'How the hell does that work?'

And more importantly, how was he still kicking after doing all that in this hellish temperature?

I sighed. In this world of monsters, I guess it shouldn't have been that surprising.

"Suppose I'll head outside for a bit. What's on the top floor?" Staying here any longer would have cooked me alive anyway.

"Oh yeah, the boss is there. Want to meet her? She's really nice."

"Yeah, I'll pass." I just wanted fresh air, not some hotshot boss.

"She's also a bunny girl and looks wondrous if you know what I mean." Johnathan gave me a smug grin.

"Now look here-" Just because my former crush was a bunny girl didn't mean I had a fascination for bunny girls, okay! Okay, maybe that was a lie. I did have a fascination, there was no doubt about it. But I wasn't shameless enough to fall for this guy's tricks either.

"Oh and-" Johnathan came close. "If you act polite enough, she can even give you coupons for the supermart. You can basically buy anything within the city."

My eyes lit up for a second. "Umm… I mean, I don't see a problem why we couldn't meet her." There really wasn't any problem anymore, no sir!

I needed to buy some juice either way.

Johnathan made a smug face again. "Let's go then."

I made a smug face too. "That's right. Let's go."

"Don't be late. She'll be done soon."

I guess the old man was listening to us this whole time.

We left without a word.

***

The lift was on the 43rd floor and it was still going down.

Meaning, stairs it was.

Well, at least it was just a single floor this time. It still took a lot of effort from me though. This one floor was at least three floors higher than this one. And yet it was still titled the hundredth? Then what about the space between? When I asked Johnathan, he just chuckled.

'Can I punch you now?'

But this floor was different. First, the walls were all made of glass. I could see the fresh sky and the buildings outside. The only walls that weren't made from glass were the room we were about to go in and the floor. But everything else, even the ceiling was glass.

And this floor felt a bit bigger than the others too. This really was the top floor.

I was a bit nervous but very excited.

We knocked on the door but there was no answer.

"Maybe she's out?" Johnathan wondered aloud.

"No-" I heard a faint murmur coming out from the other side.

It was the sound of a girl and it sounded like a cry. I sniffed the air and I could smell faint traces of ammonia.

We knocked again but there were no responses. But as time moved forward, we heard more and more cries.

If I didn't know better, bad things were happening on the other side. This faint ammonia smell was the proof of that.

"Tell me, the boss doesn't have any funny fetishes, does she?"

"Not that I know off."

"Alright, I'm breaking down this door." I'd heard and sniffed enough.

"How? This is reinforced titanium man- even you-"

Johnathan's voice trailed off as he saw me touch the door. The door slowly crumbled down from the spot I touched, eventually making a small hole. I slid my hand inside and opened it. I still didn't have enough power to turn the door to dust, but I had enough for me to open it.

"That's soo damn coool!"

And I so damn didn't care.

The moment I went in, I saw horror. There were two bunny girls inside. One was my crush- her clothes were ripped off in places, and the other was presumably the boss, and she was doing the ripping.

Without a word, I turned on my saber. I'd seen enough to conclude this was an abuse of the finest caliber.

And not to mention the girl on the floor was also on the verge of tears.

"Th-this isn't what it looks like!" The boss lady raised her hands in an effort to stop us: Make us understand.

Sorry, but I didn't need your understanding.

With my scythe, I went straight for her and stood between them.

"Wait!" But the girl on the floor stopped me before I could do anything. "Sh-she's my mother. This is just a misunderstanding." It sure didn't look like one. She still had a faint patch below her waist anyway.

There was too much ammonia in the air.

My bad feeling kind of made my whole face twitch. My nose twitched for all sorts of different reasons.

'What kind mother rips off the clothes of their daughters?'