The first week was a gloomy one. Yuzu had been crying non-stop, Ume barely ate her food, none of us went to school. The house was practically a dumpster. Laundry and trash piled up, dust and food wrapper scattered everywhere. If this only the first week, I wonder how can I hold on for the next few years.

**

"...That is a different one." I woke up, the familiar weary roof and walls made from wooden, faint smell of grass more close to herbal mixed in with the scent of incense, breezes of wind that came in from the crack on the wall, and the sound that penetrated through the thin wall. "Oi! Wake up!"

I collected some will to live and got up from my bed, I opened the door and saw. Once again the house became a dumpster, though it gave the atmosphere of liveliness unlike the one inside my dream. I cleaned my body and sat in the living room.

"The hell is this?" What welcomed me was two pieces of charcoal with a butter and jam spread on top of it.

"Breakfast..." Said Ume in a low tone, I used my hand and sneakily moved that thing from my sight. On the process, I saw Yuzu put that 'thing' into her mouth, as soon as she bit it, her cheerful expression changed into a murky one. "...Stop, don't say anything." She stood up, took the 'thing' and threw it away. Later, she came back with three plates of bread coated with butter. I wondered what did they eat when I was in the hospital.

****

I passed out for three days, two days after I woke up I got discharged, and the school already opened again. Though, there was something strange going on right now.

"Morn' Kamiya." Who? A man taller than me and a bald head, I greeted him back though.

"Kamiya-kun, morning." ...Once again who? I nodded at her. Actually, this was the 8 students that I never talked with suddenly talked to me.

"Someone sure is famous." A familiar voice, his bold glasses, and messy short black hair.

"Oh, Kyo, did something happen?"

"Well... rumor spread around about how you and Kurogane become C-rank, and how both of me and Serizawa, you know the one who brings chicken, become a trainee, Asato, the boy in silver hair become an F-rank. though there are some bad rumors like we bribe the Agent and..."

"I see... that explain their attitude."

"Anyhow, they suggest us to get to know each other better, and thus we usually eat at the roof, this is only the third day though. Wanna join?"

"Yeah, fine by me"

******

From the left, Kurogane the catgirl ate... breadcrumbs?, At the middle Serizawa the chicken girl ate normal bentou, Asato the silver-haired boy ate a tuna sandwich and after they finished lunch, none of them talked. Kurogane watched the sky, Serizawa seemed flustered without no reason, her face became red and she didn't want to make eye contact with me, Asato played with his phone.

I moved next to Kyo and whispered "Dude, don't tell me for the last three days these are your activity?".

He took a deep breath, exhaled and replied "...Yes"

"Seriously!? at least try talking with them." "I have... *sigh* why don't you try it?"

Even though Kyo said that, I was not much a talker either, but... it was still better rather than this awkward situation, let's talked with Asato first. But before I able to speak, another person opened their mouth.

"....Thanks." A girly voice, short but clear, and it was a little dulcet.

I looked to the origin of the voice, Serizawa sat in front of me, by the time I looked at her, she shook her head, then... only one person left. I continued shifted my gaze to Kurogane, she looked away when our eyes met, and rested her chin with her right hand and continued to see the schoolyard.

"Thanks for what?" Yeah, for what exactly?

Without turning her head she said "....saving my life." Unlike before, maybe because she rested her chin, Kurogane's voice wasn't as girly as before. This time her tone sounded a little cold.

"Oh... that thing huh, I'm not doing anything though, the one that killed the hellhound and healed you was the other Agents."

"..." And she went into silent mode, Anyhow, this was a good momentum.

"By the way, how's your wound? is it healed already?"

She turned to me and slightly nodded "...you?"

"Yup, it wasn't that bad for me either."

"...I see, want to do some Grinding after school?"

"Can I join?" Woah... contrary to what he looked like, Asato's voice had an agreeable trace of huskiness.

"...um....can I come too?" As usual, Serizawa's voice was small. I faintly heard her, speaking. "And....um....Kamiya-san, you forget to close your fly" She looked away and said something, this time I can't hear her at all.

"Sorry, what?"

"She said: your fly is wide open," Said Kyo while he fixed his glass position with his index and middle finger.

"Waaa!!" I turned back and closed it, so that was the reason her face was red the whole time. "Anyhow, it was opened since you came out from the restroom. By the way, I'm joining in" Kyo added his word.

"Why don't you say anything!?" I turned back after I closed it, Serizawa face at least wasn't that red as before, though, she still didn't want to make an eye contact with me... I didn't wear any weird underwear right!?

"Um... I need to Toriko first, so, can we meet at the location?" I... Let's stopped commenting her volume. In the end, we traded contact information, though there was someone that didn't give her contact. "...Is that all? I'll wait at the gate after school over." And Kurogane left just like that.

********

"She's late, too late!!" Kyo tapping his foot on the ground, well... can't blame him, we waited for 30 minutes and there was no sign of Kurogane, and she didn't give us her contact info either. While Kyo tapping his foot on the ground, I lost count of how many times I sighed, while Asato crouching on the ground and played with his phone. "Nashi! Go get her!". "Why me? isn't Asato better? both of them are first grade". "Hello~? [Mini Map]?, It will be faster if you're the one searching for her."

In the end, I was the one needed to look for her, even though he said that, the school was a big place where should I start!? I wandered aimlessly inside the school, from east building to the west, next the second floor, Oh... there was a Golden dot at the woman restroom, was she having diarrhea? I will say this, but... there was another 6 dots, a combination of red and white facing her. "*sigh*, Must be gossiping about some guy" and there was no way in hell I walked into the woman restroom either, patiently I waited near the restroom.

The giggling sound of girls can be heard, soon one by one the other red dots turned into white and golden. HUH!? I rubbed my eyes a coupled of times, not like it will help. A couple of moments after I rubbed my eyes, the surrounding dots walked out. Holy shit, there were 3 guys and 3 girls, one of them was the Fireball kid. Our eyes met, he gave a disgusted face, like he looked at some kind of shit and clicked his tongue,

"The hell you're looking at!?" The fuck!? suddenly yelling like that.

"I'm only wondering why are boys coming out from girl restroom."

"So? This is our hanging spot, have some problem with it!?" His tone changed into an aggressive one, seemed like anything I said will only add fuel to the fire. His friends whispering something at his side and looking at me back and forth. Soon, they left the scene.

I still waited near the restroom though, a couple of minutes later, the Golden dot started to move.

Vaguely I can see Kurogane figure. A blazer laying on the floor, her straight, long, and neat black hair now was in disarray and wet, not only her hair, her shirt, skirt, face, actually her whole body seemed like she was drenched in heavy rain, a droplet of water fell down from her hair, face, and body, our eyes met, I saw her eyes that resembled doll eyes, hollow and glassy. This with her thin figures, she looked like a broken doll. I...I was familiar with her appearance, Ume also had the same face back then. Ah, she walked past me without saying anything, even though our eyes clearly met. This only got worse, call me crazy but was that a burnt wound on her arm? It was small, and only a little circle, but in her white skin, a black circle even as small as that became contrast and hey guess what? her slipper was gone either.

"Oi! Kurogane!" I called to her, a trail of water created behind her path, she stopped for a moment, and turned around, different from her gloomy and silent self at this afternoon, she put a warm smile on her mouth and said "Yes?"

I...I didn't know what I should say while I was trying to remember how I comfort Ume back then, the next thing that came out from my mouth. "I can see your bra"

She covered her chest when I said this, smile weakly and said "Pervert~". Yes, it had a playful tone, but

(Please... don't smile when you are looking like that) Automatically I removed my blazer, walked at her, and put it on a body, It was oversized, right now she looked like a dried gecko and "The color is black, right?"

Though, she removed my blazer "Don't, It will get wet."

*sigh* I can smell a piss faintly from her body, "Nah, it's fine, considering it as a payment for seeing your breast, anyway it's already wet so why not."

Hesitantly, she used it to cover her body "It is big right? anyhow this isn't enough to cover the payment."

"You're joking, right? It is a petite one, and it is only a glimpse, c'mon give me a discount." I walked into the woman restroom and grabbed the blazer that laying on the floor. ...Fuck, the smell of piss was stronger on this one, no wonder she left it behind. You were a strong one Kurogane.

"Hey, do you bring your Adventurers uniform?" She replied with a small bow. "Go get change then, c'mon the others are waiting and you know, Kyo ready to explode anytime soon." She nodded weakly and walked, while she changed, I searched for a plastic bag and gave it to her.

"...Sorry, I'll wash it" Oh, her tone somewhat got back into short, cold and emotionless one. I didn't know why I felt relieved though.

**********

"WHAT THE HELL!? 45 MINUTES!? GIVE ME BACK 45 MINUTES OF MY LIFE!! TRY THINKING ABOUT SERIZAWA TOO!!"

"Dude, cut us some slack, she had diarrhea"

"...I'm not, he's lying"

"Senpai, calm down, calm down, anyway I already contacted Serizawa-san"

************

"Um... the others are on their way, they sure take their time, right Toriko?"

"bwok bwok bwok!!"