The grand mansion that reeked of luxury on the outside but is secretly trashed on the inside, was a lot more vast than Satoya thought. There was this weird basement that led to this massive network, Satoya just considered it as one due to, well, "long hallways" "why the hell are there windows radiating moonlight in the basement?"
But the basement was empty, lacking anything too out of the ordinary, so the whole basement was simply filled with laughter, banter to say the least. Satoya did indeed reunite with an old friend he hadn't met in years.
Satoya and Hayate were cackling, Hayate was slapping his shoulder, his mouth widened in joy, he laughed out, "so Isaac did that the year after I left?! No way! Of course he would do that!"
"And then, then, Isaac flipped off Mrs. Hirose!" Satoya chuckled, holding his chest, slowly breathing through the laughter.
He elbowed, reminiscing about a certain time in the past, "oh yeah, Hayate, remember that one time Isaac got suspended for kicking the kick ball too hard and it ended up hitting the principal's car!?" Hayate guffawed, the basement, or the unknown network of ominous hallways became more lively.
Hayate shook his head, the memory becoming more vivid. "Oh shoot! Yeah! I forgot the principal's name, but he was GENUINELY pissed! I have never seen Isaac look that traumatized getting his name called!"
Satoya noticed something, compared to anyone he's been friends with, including the Satoya gang, he never felt this happy in his life. Yeah you can call him depressing, but, Satoya's whole life was primarily him gazing off into a bottomless pit of nothingness, going with the flow, consistently managing to pass everything with barely any effort. Despite Isaac being friends with him for nearly 12 years, Isaac couldn't really understand this empty shrouded mist willowing Satoya's mind, Isaac does try to understand, but only on the surface level. Hayate however, was one of the most popular students during middle school, but not because he was in a sports team—as he was—but because he equally loved, and was loved by everyone, he is able to see and understand so many aspects of someone's character, Satoya at first knew of Hayate, since he was also an upperclassmen, and viewed him entirely as some generic high school movie protagonist who is literally charismatic and athletic.
Hayate's phone buzzed, taking a moment to calm down, taking out his phone from his pocket. His slated sleeves gleaming from the weird windows that radiate moonlight…
Wait a minute, the more I think of it, why does this setting remind me of some demon castle related Maehwan comic?
But, Hayate yelled out in panic, "Wait! I completely forgot we had to search for the blood vial here!" Satoya's face also panicked, becoming embarrassed. He was unsure how long he was in here, but he remembered the time he left being roughly 1 pm, and when he saw Hayate's phone's time, which was oddly in military time, 13:22, Satoya realized that he might've been caught being missing. But that's when he remembered, his friends probably do not care, maybe like Isaac for wanting to attend the Contract or maybe even Shizune if she found a benefit—Wait no she is likely too lazy.
"Alright, while we search, want my overall thoughts and advice on being a Regulator?" Hayate asked, who began to scan the ground, ceiling, walls for any clue on where a Wrehtched blood vial could be located.
"Thank god, please, I never received advice, even though I met this one S rank dude.." Satoya sighed in relief. Despite Ludwig being the only Regulator of higher ranking—by a large margin, Satoya never received any advice from him, which mostly stemmed from the fact he is waaay too intimidated by his presence.
Satoya began to walk over to a desk that was trashed onto the side, the desk itself was severely dusty, bullets were littered, pieces of paper torn up, Alikur notes that have been rolled up and now burned into charcoal, and could only be deciphered to be Alikur notes due to the infamous spear.
"Alright, so what I recommend is to actually aim for a gun as the first weapon, but you seem to have chosen a katana, very Okamuraese of you, reason why I would've suggested a gun is that, close combat weapons are in all honesty, quite useless when you yourself can't wield it." Hayate advised, crouching over down to the ground, his eyes scouring for any vials, but the spot he was searching was full of dead roaches, spider webs, dust, planks of wood, a small firearm with the muzzle being twisted by superhuman strength.
"Oh.. Yeah, about the katana, I didn't actually choose this myself…." Satoya scratched his head, holding the katana by the sheath, he doesn't have the pants or "equipment" to actually strap the sheath onto his waist or back, so he had to actually hold it by the sheath while avoiding moving too quickly since he is afraid that the katana will slip out. Satoya, in the most casual way he could, explained, "some guy named Ludwig Azu—"
"Ok! That explains it…" Hayate interrupted, as if the second Satoya called Ludwig, he already knew what was happening. "Yeah, that guy, met him, oh boy, he is very capable, he joined the RC 2 months ago, and is already an S rank, and I'm pretty sure he's a couple contracts away from Semi Elite rank.."
"Really? His Verity too, like what is it, starlit gates? Are they named like video games? Since I'm somehow according to Rin, an Elite rank, I lack a Verity.." Satoya said, pointing to himself, his face was of pure confusion, his eyebrow raised. Satoya knew if he lacked a Verity, the VERY thing that makes Truth Seekers not like philosophers of Nebulaia, is the one thing he lacked.
If I was one of those protagonists that doesn't have powers for 30 chapters and then punches a mountain into dust, I wouldn't even have the motivation to get that far.
"Eh, you probably just have a Verity that doesn't grant any powers, but instead entirely revolving around the truth itself, like Requiem rank 8, I forgot her name, but she is a truth seeker, however her Verity is literally the ability to force someone to see their past loved one.." Hayate shrugged, he spoke in a casual demeanor, despite the obvious panic from Satoya. He was rummaging through piles of wood, boxes, even clothes that upon physical contact, erupt in dust.
"Those are still powers…" Satoya sheepishly replied, looking down in disappointment. He doesn't want to go through the stages of denial, however he probably is in the denial stage of it.
Satoya became silent, figuring he should just focus on the contract and leave so he can rethink every decision he made at home instead. Meanwhile Hayate strolled through the hallway, discovering a sheathed dagger that seemed to be in decent condition. He crouched down, grabbing the dagger by the hilt, standing back up into the ray of "moonlight"
He was curious about the sharpness of the blade, so he took off the sheathe, however, when he took off the dagger from the sheath, he felt pain in his palm, quickly dropping the dagger.
On his palm, in the light of the artificial moonlight inside this abandoned corridor of a basement, was a cut. The cut bled a liquid, a liquid too dark, too sanguine to be a human's blood.
"Hey, Satoya."
Satoya stood back up, after rummaging through and being jump scared by a cockroach, he tilted his head to Hayate. Hayate's shoulders were more relaxed than Satoya remembered, a smile, a smile that felt… too relaxed.. There was something bleeding from his hand, too dark crimson, he couldn't tell whether that was from the lighting.. However, while Satoya was processing what was happening, Hayate spoke, in a voice, a voice unburdened by stress, free of anything, simply, a calm request.. But within the light hearted smile, Hayate spoke,
"Run."