Suzu had been without Haruki for a few days now and the loneliness was quickly getting to be unbearable.

'If Wen wasn't here, I probably would have chased after him by now...'

Suzu was relaxing on Haruki's bed when she heard a door slam and footsteps below.

“Haru...ki?”

Rushing downstairs with an excited smile, she burst into the room with a shout.

“Haruki!”

She spotted her lover, but quickly stopped in her tracks. Her heart grew heavy as she stepped closer to his kneeling form, her breath vanishing as she finally met his eyes. So much pain poured out from them that she nearly burst into tears.

“What happened!?”

“Parents... Dead... Church...” Haruki finally broke down, his whole body shaking as he sobbed in Suzu's arms. The two stayed there until evening, eventually passing out together on the floor from emotional exhaustion.

They both woke up stiff and sore as the sunlight crept in through a window. While they were both still emotionally spent, Haruki's mood had turned slightly less hopeless.

With an exhausted voice, he broke the silence.

“I've graduated already, I'll be heading out soon to join the Adventurer's guild.”

Suzu almost coughed up blood. “When? You didn't tell me?”

“Yesterday, before I came here. I... have nothing left except for you, now. We need to start saving. The coins I have in my ring won't last long.”

“I will join you.”

Haruki shook his head with a pained expression. “Complete your training and graduate. By then I should be ready and you will be too. I'll be doing some jobs around the area while I gather information, so I won't be too far away. I'll sneak back here when I can.”

“No, I'll go.” Suzu pouted, firmly planting her foot down in a huff.

Haruki sighed, his tired expression softening slightly.

“Please. I don't want to drag you into this yet. I'm only going to find information and a place for us to hide, so it won't be too dangerous. For now, you'll be safer here than beside me.” he said, pulling her into a tight hug and whispering softly into her ear.

“We can tear down them down together when I return. I want you to stay alive... Promise me you'll speak to Principal Sumida or Master Cho if you're in any danger.”

Suzu finally nodded, melting into his embrace as her stubbornness wavered.

“Nn...”

They spent a few more minutes talking before Haruki quickly kissed her goodbye. The Church would likely still be looking for him, so he didn't want to put Suzu at any more risk than he already had.

'At least in Touhama, she's somewhat protected...'

Haruki's thoughts were racing 100 miles a minute as he stepped out onto the street. The sheer chaos bouncing around inside his head sent him wandering aimlessly for a few minutes.

'Adventurer's Guild, right.'

With a quick stride, he walked off towards the guild hall.

Haruki shouldered open the heavy iron-bound door, a single memory flooding back to him as he walked inside. He took a moment to look around the packed hall, remembering the first time he'd come here with his father.

With a tear coming to his eye, Haruki let loose a loud bellow as his father had done before him.

“Bwaaaaahahahaha!”

His heart wasn't in it, but he felt a small peace creep into his mind as he laughed.

Ignoring the puzzled stares from the other adventurers, Haruki walked up to the reception desk.

“My name is Shun, can I help you?” A young male Elf stood behind it, his handsome face revealing an intense boredom.

“I'm registering a party.” Haruki grunted back.

“Ok, fill out these forms, please present identification when asked.”

“I only graduated yesterday, so it may not have come through yet.”

“It's fine, I'll check later.” Shun casually waved him off as he turned away, absorbed in drawing strange scribbles on a scrap of paper.

Collecting the paperwork with a brief bow, Haruki sat down at a vacant table to get started.

“Hou, if it isn't little-rhino?” a rough voice from behind caused him look up from his table. A thuggish looking man was standing arrogantly, a grotesque expression on his pockmarked face.

“I heard he got himself toasted by the church, the old fool.” He laughed, obviously trying to provoke a response. Haruki ignored him, remembering back on a story Ketrel had once told him about an ugly man with a grudge against him.

'Wasn't this guy called Deme... something? Whatever...'

“That's perfect, he burned like the trash he is... err, was?”

The entire hall went quiet as Haruki slowly turned around to face the man. An oppressive aura filled the room and then Whap! Those watching blinked in disbelief, unable to see the strike that beheaded the mouthy man. Haruki cleaned his sword with a flick, painting the wall with a mural of gore.

Haruki sheathed his blade as he looked around at the remaining spectators.

“Anyone ELSE want to talk shit about my father? THEN STEP UP NOW!” he waited for a moment, but no-one dared to even breathe as his furious gaze washed over them.

“Didn't think so...”

His mind had unraveled pretty far, so he took a moment to calm his breathing before sitting back down with an exasperated sigh. Ignoring the twitching, headless body beside him, Haruki continued filling out the paperwork in silence.

Stepping over the body without another look, Haruki ambled back over to the reception desk. Shun had turned pale, shaking with each step Haruki took towards him. Even the guild master, who had poked his head out of his office at one point, retreated quickly as his eyes drew in the scene.

“W...What will your party be called, Mr. Abe?!” Shun stammered under the weight of Haruki's fixed stare.

He thought for a moment, then snickered to himself. “How about 'Rising Sun', then?”

Haruki wanted to make sure it wasn't anything too bad, since he'd promised Suzu that he would add her name to the party. She had pouted earlier, refusing to let him leave until he'd agreed to at least that.

Flourishing his hand, Haruki produced two small vials from his ring. One was half filled with blood, which he placed gently on the counter. With his other hand, he drew his dagger.

“That is from the other party member, register her too. Here's mine.”

He quickly slashed the blade across his forearm. A large amount of blood welled up from the wound but Haruki didn't once flinch, filling up the the spare vial in moments.

Holding the vials with a delicate grip, Shun escaped into a back room. After a moment, there was a loud crashing sound, punctuated by vigorous cursing.

The poor Elf was black and blue when he returned. His previously handsome face was quickly swelling and a small head-wound was bleeding gently onto the counter top.

“That'll be... uh... 5 silver... please?”

Haruki sighed, rolling his eyes gently as he handed over the money. In return, he received two silver tokens. 'Rising Sun' was engraved around a small hole in the middle, while on the back, both his name and Suzu's glowed dimly in small white text. Every few seconds, the names would pulse softly, almost like a heart beat.

Loud whispers circulated as Haruki turned to leave.

“Oi oi, that kid's getting silver right off the bat?”

“Don't you know who he killed? That was the gold ranked Demetrius! He didn't even get to fart before he died!”

“I heard he made a pass at Rhino's wife once. Like he ever had a chance with that cold-blooded beauty... ”

Ignoring their mutterings, Haruki walked outside still slightly shaking from rage. His scattered mind quickly came back into focus as he thought of Suzu.

'I need to calm my shit before I snap again... If I end up killing a church member in a rage, the guilds probably wouldn't prevent them from attacking us here.'

Taking another few moments to breathe, he remembered back to the promise he'd made as a child.

'We promised we'd be adventurer's together, but here I am leaving, alone... I'm sorry, Suzu. I'll make it up to you, I promise.'

After a short run home, Haruki breathlessly slid the party token under Suzu's door, along with a brief note.

“Please be safe.

Hope you like the party name, when I get

back, I promise we'll go to Yanshou together.

I love you.

- Haruki”

A bitter sense of loneliness rose in his throat as he turned away from her house.

'I'll kill them quick, then we'll get on with our lives. I swear it!'

A sinister smile spread across his face as Haruki sprinted off towards his next destination.