Foreword: Hello again! New Year, new chapter! We are picking right back where we left off last time!

Timestamp: 2 years, 4 months after the end of Volume 1.

Chapter 8
Bit by bit, Hikigaya Hachiman and Maris Hackard pick up the pieces.

We buried Schwartz on the 18th Floor.

It wasn't a full funeral or anything, just a burial for the body. There would be a better grave for him back on the surface, where he would get a proper headstone with his name and everything else. For the time being, though, this was all we could do for his actual body.

We'd picked a somewhat scenic hill on a cliff overlooking the lake near Rivira, easy to access from the natural footpaths that criss-crossed the 18th Floor. It wasn't long before we decided on a specific spot and I got to work, digging with a shovel that I had borrowed from Elder. Originally, he had looked like he was going to charge a sum for it, but for some reason the man ended up changing his mind, telling me that as long as it was returned to him afterwards, it'd be free of charge. After everything that had happened, I wasn't going to complain.

Carefully keeping my splinted arm in its makeshift sling, I jammed the shovel into the dirt. Despite only using one hand, the earth parted easily beneath the shovel, and it wasn't long before I was finished, Yelena walking up with Schwartz's body before gently dropping into the pit and laying it flat on the ground. Hackard was there to give the chienthrope a helping hand, hauling her out of the pit before we all stood there, staring at Schwartz's body for the last time.

His expression was still, and I half-expected it to move, to shift, to change. But none of that would happen, not now or ever again. Schwartz was dead, and the only expressions that could change here were our own.

Slowly, haltingly, I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. "…" I closed it and tried again.

It was one of the only times I could remember where I had to force the words out. "… If you two have any last words, say them now."

"Well… it's a good view, and…" Yelena tried to say something, her words consoling, almost as if she was trying to convince herself. "... and… it's a good view…" But it wasn't long before her words failed her as well.

Hackard was silent, tears dripping down her face.

Wordlessly, I plunged the shovel back into the pile of fresh dirt I had dug up before lifting it up and throwing it over Schwartz's body. It was clear that there weren't anything else to say.

As I started to bury Schwartz, I found myself thinking.

Hackard and Yelena's guilt was obvious. It wasn't hard to see where they were coming from. If they hadn't supported Schwartz's decision, then it was likely that we wouldn't be burying his body right now.

But thinking like that was pointless. It wasn't their fault to begin with.

Schwartz had made a choice of his own accord, and it was precisely because of that choice that he died. Trying to assign blame was useless. If we were pointing fingers, then I was just at fault as Hackard and Yelena were for going along with them instead of continuing to refuse.

–But.

There had been one more thing. I hadn't seen it then, but I did now.

Even with the Irregular and the monster party, even at the worst-possible case scenario, the situation hadn't been unrecoverable. There had been one more mistake. One more thing that had pushed us past the point of no return.

Schwartz had assumed that out of everyone in the party, only the two Level 3s could've fought the dragon. That was the reason he had immediately taken the initiative to start stalling the monsters, with Yelena backing him up.

But that hadn't been the right answer.

It had left both sides unbalanced–and with Schwartz's side far weaker than ours, it was a given that he and Yelena would eventually be overwhelmed. An even split of the party would've fared much better in that situation.

It was true that none of us could've fought the Green Dragon in a 1-on-1, but the assumption that two Level 3s were needed that I shared with Schwartz had been wrong. All we would've needed was for someone to cover in-between the spaces where the other would fail, and Schwartz's capabilities as a tank were more than enough for that. If I had swapped with him, then he and Hackard could've stalled the dragon while Yelena and I dealt with the monster party before we regrouped.

The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that that was the right answer. The risks were considerably lower than what we had done in reality. Even with the numbers the monster party had, taking a few wounds was much less problematic to me at Level 3 than it would've been to either Schwartz or Yelena.

But it was too late. Schwartz had made the wrong choice. And in thinking that I could only choose between Schwartz and Yelena or Hackard, I had made the wrong choice, too.

By accepting Schwartz's solution that relied on him and Yelena recklessly stalling 30-something monsters as Hackard and I fought the dragon, I had already accepted the possibility that someone would die if we failed. And in choosing Hackard, in not thinking the situation through and blindly grasping at the first solution that had been offered, I had already readied myself–even unconsciously–for what would happen if Schwartz and Yelena were overwhelmed.

But thinking about what-ifs was useless after the fact. I should've been thinking about them before.

I hadn't done enough to stop Schwartz or the rest of the party from choosing to hunt that Irregular. And even when I had decided to go through with their choice, I hadn't even thought about what we would do in that kind of situation, even though I should've.

I had let myself get pulled along with Schwartz's choices, with the party's choices, and this was the result.

As I finished heaping the last bit of dirt over Schwartz's grave, I set the shovel down before picking up both his shortsword and the remains of his spear. It wasn't a tombstone, but it would have to do. There wasn't anything else.

As I stepped back, staring at the freshly overturned mound of dirt where someone I once knew–who had once trusted me with their life–was now buried, my thoughts fell still.

I desperately wanted to do something. Go back to the Dungeon, take a commission in Rivira, start walking back to the surface. Anything that would stop me from lingering at the cheap mockery of a grave I had made.

But all I could do was stare, unable to tear my eyes away.

"It was fun. I had a good life."

Unbidden, Schwartz's last words came to the front of my mind, and my fists clenched.

I knew that it was meaningless and irrational. Thinking about Schwartz's last words like that wouldn't yield any useful insights or give any answers to the questions I was asking. He had probably said them just as much for his benefit as he had for ours, trying to convince himself that this was good enough because he wasn't going to get anything else.

But despite that, I found myself wondering what Schwartz would say if he saw us now. Would he still say the same thing once he saw what he had left behind?

Eventually, the moment passed. I sucked in a deep breath, forcing my hands to unclench before turning and heading down the hill.

I had a shovel to get back to Elder.

~~This is a Line Break~~

The next few days after we returned were a blur.

I remembered getting to the surface and walking out of the Dungeon. I remembered seeing Hackard and Yelena walk away defeatedly towards her and Schwartz's shared apartment, too tired even for tears. I remembered walking to Tulle and Flott's booths to tell them. I remembered walking to Sobek Familia's home and telling Umbar, who had only nodded sadly. I remembered finally making it back to the Hostess and collapsing in my bed.

I remembered Schwartz's funeral.

Mia had given me the day off. It had been a nice grave, with a proper headstone that had his name, year of birth, and year of death neatly engraved on it. But that was all it had. It was devoid of anything that would've told anyone of the person he once was. All of his triumphs, failures, joys, and sorrows were gone, and there was nothing left but a white slab of stone that marked him as just another one of the faceless masses buried in one of Orario's many graveyards.

Surprisingly, it hadn't been just me, Hackard, Yelena, and Umbar. Tulle and Flott had come as well, bringing flowers that they neatly placed at the foot of the grave. At the very end, Dellingr himself had appeared, laying some flowers as he thanked us for taking care of his child.

Once everyone had paid their respects, Yelena had left before either Hackard or I could stop her. Hackard had reached a hand out after the chienthrope, but in the end, it only hung in the air before falling to her side.

Then, it was only me and Hackard who were still there, standing in front of Schwartz's grave. In the end, I broke the silence. "... Let's go." Hackard nodded, and we began to walk away.

On the way back to the Traveler's Inn, we passed by the Hibachitei, and I watched as Hackard's gaze drew longingly towards the building. It wasn't exactly surprising, but I couldn't help a quiet sigh as I moved to stop her, reaching a hand out to grab her by the shoulder as she took a step in the tavern's direction.

"Not a good idea, Hackard." I had seen her drunk. As she was now, alcohol wasn't going to be a good combination in any way, shape, or form. "Come on. Let's just head back." Wordlessly, I turned to leave, but before I could go, Hackard's hand caught my outstretched arm.

"Hikigaya. Please. Just…" She wasn't looking at me, and in the dim glow shining from the Hibachitei's entrance, I realized that she was trying her best not to cry. "Just… let me have this. Please. I…" Her voice quivered and broke before she finished.

–It was the first time she had ever pleaded with me like that. And faced with everything that had just happened, I couldn't find it in myself to refuse.

But to my surprise, Hackard didn't get drunk. It wasn't like she hadn't tried–as soon as she took a seat at the bar, she had started downing tankards of the Hibachitei's trademark red-wasp liquor one after another, not even stopping to come up for air.

But eventually, I watched as she stopped and just shook her head.

"It just… it's not…" Hackard's voice trembled as she grasped for the words, but to no avail. In the end, she gave a sad little nod. "... You were right, Hikigaya. It… wasn't a good idea." It sounded like an admission of defeat, and as I watched, she placed a stack of coins on the counter before sliding off of her barstool.

"... Let's go back." Watching Hackard walk out of the Hibachitei's doors, not even stumbling or swaying in the least… somehow, that felt a lot sadder than if I had dragged her out of the building in a drunken heap.

~~This is a Line Break~~

Life went on. My days were occupied with research as I prepared for the party's eventual return, strategizing with Flott and Tulle about how to make a 3-man composition work in the Middle and Lower Floors as I gathered resources for the next expedition.

In the meanwhile, I dove into the Dungeon alone. Outside of the party expeditions, I had also made it a point to be able to explore and fight in the Dungeon safely by myself. Quickly enough, I found myself finished with the 21st Floor. And then the 22nd, which was much of the same, and on rare occasions, the 23rd.

When I wasn't in the Dungeon or the Guild, I found myself at Yelena's apartment, helping her to organize Schwartz's belongings alongside Hackard. And when I wasn't there, I was working at the Hostess.

It was a welcome change of pace, after everything that had happened recently. Mia, Anya, Lyon, Flova, and the others didn't ask questions, and so I didn't have to say anything.

Before I knew it, it was Holy Night in Orario once again. But this time, there was no party, only a quiet dinner at Yelena's apartment.

At the end of it, Yelena brought out a box from her bedroom. "Chris… Chris bought some stuff for you guys, kept it in here. It was supposed to be your gifts for Holy Night, but since… well… I'm giving them to you in his place."

Schwartz's gift for me was a thick hardcover with the words "Travels of Mythia" emblazoned on the front in bold letters. For Hackard, there was a set of pencils in varying shades of gray and black, accompanied with a hardcover sketchbook.

"Ha." Hackard laughed wetly, wiping away a few tears from her eyes with her arm. "He always knew. Whatever it was I wanted, he always had his eyes on it. I never figured out how he did it, you know?" She reached into her backpack. "I… I don't have anything good. This is all I've got. It's more for you, really…"

What emerged was a sketch framed in black, covered with glass that glinted in the apartment's light. Schwartz's figure was frozen against an indistinct background that had to be Orario with the Tower of Babel jutting into the distance. Hackard had managed to capture his likeness perfectly as he stared out towards the "camera" with a gentle smile.

I had almost forgotten what he looked like.

"Oh, Maris, that's…" Yelena's hands went to her mouth before she threw her arms around the blue-haired girl, who returned the embrace. "Thank you. Thank you."

"Don't. Please… don't." Hackard's expression wavered. "It… it really wasn't much. I owe it to you that much, at least."

Finally, the two of them separated, and Yelena took a deep breath. "I have something to tell you guys." I closed my eyes. I already knew what she was going to say. "I'm leaving Orario. I… I don't plan on adventuring anymore."

It wasn't that I had prepared for such an outcome. I just couldn't find it in myself to be surprised. From the look on Hackard's face, it was the same for her as well.

As she kept talking, Yelena's words accelerated, almost as if she was trying to fill the growing silence. "I'm going to move back to our hometown. I've made enough money to live there comfortably, and… well, I think Level 3s, even someone as new to it as me, can always find work if I need to make ends meet. But… I can't stay here. Not… not after what happened."

"When are you planning to go?" I asked. It was the only thing I could say at this point.

"I'll be leaving after the new year. Will… will you see me off, then?" I lifted my gaze up to meet hers, and though Yelena's eyes glimmered with unshed tears, her eyes were steady. She had made her choice already. To that, I could only muster a nod, my throat suddenly too full for any more words.

"I–" Hackard was the one surging forward this time, engulfing Yelena in a hug. "I'm gonna miss you." She sniffled as she clung on tightly to Yelena.

"I know. I'm sorry." Yelena closed her eyes as she hugged Hackard back.

"I…" Hackard struggled with herself, her voice muffled as she buried her face in Yelena's shoulder. There was a sniffle. "I promised myself… I said that if you… if you were leaving, I wouldn't…"

"It's okay. It's okay," the chienthrope reassured Hackard. "It'll be okay. I'll always write letters."

"It just… it just won't be the same!"
"I know. I know."

Tears silently flowed down Yelena's face as she pressed her forehead against Hackard's shoulder as the blue-haired girl began to sob. From the side, I could only watch on, holding Schwartz's very last gift in my hands.

~~This is a Line Break~~

Yelena left a week after, riding off into the distance in a wagon with all of her and Schwartz's belongings packed into boxes and loaded in. Hackard and I stayed there, watching the chienthrope gradually disappear into the distance until she faded from sight.

"Hikigaya. I… I think I'm good to start again. Going to the Dungeon." That was Hackard's whisper as her eyes lingered in the distance, in the direction where Yelena had vanished. Her voice was clear and determined. "If you'll still have me."

I nodded. "I was actually going to go down today. If you're fine with that, we can go as soon as you're ready."

"Cool. Cool. Then… I'll go grab my stuff. Babel?" I nodded, and we parted ways for a little while.

~~This is a Line Break~~

It was supposed to be a simple commission from Rivira. It was one that could be done anywhere between the 20th and 24th, safely within mine and Hackard's Floor range.

Fool's Tusk. It was a drop item from Mammoth Fools, which were 1 of the only 2 large-category monsters that roamed the Great Tree Labyrinth. The item itself was often in demand because of its versatility as a crafting material–the ivory from a Fool's Tusk was supposedly of higher quality than any ordinary elephant ivory, which made it highly sought after.

The commission paid well–90,000 Valis for a single tusk, which wasn't a hard ask at Level 3–so I had taken it. But no matter how many monsters I had slaughtered on the 20th, no Mammoth Fools had shown up.

"Hikigaya… isn't this a bit much?" Hackard asked as I flicked my sword downwards, splattering the monster blood that was still on the blade onto the ground before beginning to harvest the Magic Stones.

"Not really." 4 Sword Stags, 5 Bugbears, 3 Lizardmen, 2 Gun Libellulas. That was the group I had just killed. No Mammoth Fools. I collected the Magic Stones, stuffed the sole drop–a Bugbear's claw–into my pack, and moved on.

In front of me, a group of Lizardmen appeared, and I moved to engage. The first monster held up its shield, but my kick plowed through its defenses, sending it flying backwards into its comrades as I parried a second Lizardman's thrust and retaliated with a slash that tore out the throats of two monsters simultaneously. Another Lizardman jumped at me from the right, but all I did was pivot on my right foot and throw a kick with my left, my leg whipping through the air to cave in the monster's side with a hefty CRUNCH.

I sidestepped a slash and stabbed the offending Lizardman through the gut, impaling the monster right up to the sword's hilt before stepping forward and pushing, using my strength to skewer another monster right through the throat even as the first one remained stuck to my sword like some sort of odd kebab. Putting my foot to the monster's body, I shoved both corpses off of my sword before knocking the last Lizardman's slash up and bringing my sword down through its neck.

I knelt down to collect. 6 Lizardmen. No Mammoth Fool. I moved on.

A vouivre burst out from a side path along the tunnel we were in, shrieking furiously as it lunged towards me, claws extended. I intercepted the attack with my sword, turning the monster's claws to the side before retaliating with a slash that sliced through the air as the monster ducked downwards and then slithered backwards, wings beating as it retreated.

But that only left it open to my throwing knives. One embedded itself into the vouivre's shoulder with a thnk before another clipped its right wing, scattering feathers through the air as the monster howled. In response, I lunged, planting my foot on the monster's snakelike tail to pin it down before my sword flashed 1–2–3 times, cutting off its arms before taking off the vouivre's head with the third strike.

The vouivre's headless body slumped to the ground, and I collected its Magic Stone before also pocketing the crimson gemstone that had been left on the ground when the monster's head had turned to ash. 1 Vouivre. No Mammoth Fool.

A group of 8 Mad Beetles showed up, and I killed them all. No Mammoth Fool. A swarm of 15 Deadly Hornets. No Mammoth Fool. 4 Hobgoblins. No Mammoth Fool. 7 Sword Stags. No Mammoth Fool.

It didn't matter what monsters they were. It didn't matter how many of them I killed.

None of them were what I was looking for.

It wasn't even that Mammoth Fools were rare monsters. By all accounts, they should've been relatively easy to find, but I hadn't even found a single one so far.

"Hey… This is more than enough, isn't it…" Hackard's voice echoed out faintly from behind me, but I continued moving. This wasn't that hard. This shouldn't have been that hard. All I needed was to find a Mammoth Fool, kill it, and get the drop. One Fool's Tusk. That was it. That was all I needed.

And if I didn't keep moving, I wouldn't be able to find a Mammoth Fool. I kept moving.

A Mammoth Fool finally appeared after a few more battles. But after I killed it, slicing off its tusks before stabbing through its Magic Stone, all I was left with was a handful of ash. The drop hadn't remained. Not enough magical energy from the Magic Stone had been imbued into the tusks.

I kept moving.

There were more Mammoth Fools now, appearing alongside other monsters Deadly Hornets and Hobgoblins, and I cut them down. But no matter how many of the monsters I killed, there wasn't a Fool's Tusk when I finished and started looking around the bodies. I kept moving.

"... kigaya."

No Fool's Tusk. I kept moving.

"Hikigaya."

I kept moving.

"Hikigaya!"

I–

There was a hand that was grabbing me by the arm, stopping me in my tracks. I turned around.

"That's…" Hackard's voice was quivering as she spoke. "That's enough." She wasn't crying, but her expression looked like it was on the verge of crumbling as she met my eyes and I was forced to look away. "Just stop it already, Hikigaya. That's enough. Let's go back."

"..." I didn't know what to say. It wasn't like Hackard was wrong. At this point, I was pretty much banking on the chance that we'd come across a Mammoth Fool that had a drop, since they were apparently so rare right now. It wasn't exactly like I wanted to keep going, either. Giving up on the commission and returning, at least to Rivira a few Floors up, was probably the safest option.

But I couldn't stop here. If I did, that would've meant that this had all been for nothing. And that… that was something that I couldn't accept.

"Just let me finish this, Hackard." That was the only answer I could give her. "I'll be done soon." All I needed was that Fool's Tusk, anyways. As soon as I had it, I could stop.

"No. I won't let you. Enough is enough, Hikigaya." I opened my mouth to retort, but Hackard flung her hand at our surroundings as she continued. "We're on the 24th goddamn Floor!"

"I know that," I retorted. I wasn't an idiot. Losing track of your surroundings in the Dungeon got you killed. And even if I somehow hadn't been paying attention, I knew how to count the staircases we had been going down. "It's still within our Floor range as Level 3s. It's not like I was planning to go to the 25th, Hackard." There wasn't a response, so I continued. "I just need to finish this. If you want to head back first–"

That wasn't the right thing to say, because Hackard's hands clenched into fists, and she cut me off with a furious swing of the arm. "Look at yourself!" I looked down.

Oh. I was covered in blood. Shallow cuts and gashes criss-crossed my body, some of them scabbed over and others still bleeding. None of them were lethal, or even close to being serious, though–Level 2 monsters couldn't really do that much damage to a Level 3 unless they were overwhelmed. It was mostly superficial, and looked a lot worse than it actually was, so I hadn't really noticed it up to now.

But Hackard had.

"Fighting monsters like that… are you–" Her voice nearly broke, but she managed to force the next words out in a trembling whisper. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"That's…" I knew what my response should've been. What it was. But looking at Hackard's anguished expression, I looked for the right words and came up empty.

Before I could come up with something, and before Hackard could continue, we were interrupted by the sounds of heavy thumps echoing through the room we were currently in. Footsteps. And not from other people.

One Mammoth Fool appeared. Then another, and another, and another, until finally there were well over a dozen of the monsters surrounding us, their tusks gleaming in the Dungeon's light. The Mammoth Fools tussled their heads, opened their mouths to reveal rows of sharp teeth, roared, and charged.

Wordlessly, I flipped my sword up from where it had been pointed towards the ground. If there was any time for me to come across a Fool's Tusk, it was now. Saves me the trouble of looking.

I charged.

~~This is a Line Break~~

In the end, it hadn't been much of a fight. That was just how it was when you were Level 3 in a place rated for Level 2s.

But as I sifted through the corpses, knife out to carve away the Mammoth Fools' Magic Stones, I watched as they crumbled into dust one by one, leaving nothing behind. There had been 16 Mammoth Fools from this encounter. We had probably encountered well over 50 of them just in this one dive alone.

Not a single one of them had dropped a Fools' Tusk. It was absurd enough that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Slowly, I forced myself to my feet, gazing at the piles of monster dust around me that didn't have any value anymore. They were just corpses that didn't have anything else to give.

All of that effort, for nothing.

I sucked in a deep breath, held it for a brief second, and exhaled. It sounded like a sigh. It probably was.

"... Hackard." I never should've taken this request. "... Let's go back." Hackard nodded, turning to leave, and I made to follow her.

But without warning, my knees buckled and collapsed out from underneath me. I blinked to find myself pressed against the ground, the stone cold against my cheek.

… I fell down? The thought came slowly, like I was sifting through a thick jelly.

"Hikigaya?!" I heard Hackard, but it felt like she was far away. "Hikigaya!"

I tried to put my hand to the ground, but found that I couldn't move. That's… not right. No matter how I tried, my body simply didn't respond. My limbs were like leaden weights, uselessly arrayed against the floor.

A paralytic… ? Even my thoughts were slowing down. At some point, I realized that my eyes had closed, and it was with an immense burst of effort that I managed to crack one of them open. Poison? Not that I can recall… from…

Hackard was in front of me now. There was an expression of worry on her face as she said something, but I couldn't understand what she was trying to do or say. I was too tired to tell.

–Ah. That's probably it. I'm tired.

With that thought, I let my eyes fall close.

~~This is a Line Break~~

I woke up to sunlight.

My eyes focused on the crystals high above me, and I corrected myself. No, not sunlight. The false equivalent that was in the Dungeon. This was the 18th Floor. Slowly, I sat up and looked around.

I was in a tent of some kind. Rivira, then–neither Hackard nor I carried something like this while traveling, so it could only be in Rivira.

"Finally awake, are ya?" I turned my gaze over to the voice that had spoken, who had been sitting in a corner, sharpening something on a whetstone. Eyepatch, vest, muscular build.

"Elder." The man in question flinched as I addressed him, and I stared. In response, he shifted defensively.

"Gods above, man. You know how many people call me by my last name?" Elder stood up, walking over to one of the flaps to open it. "Can't say I've known any 'sides you that do, Hikigaya. Hey!" The last sentence was directed outside of the tent. "You can come in now. He's awake."

Elder held the flap a little wider, and I watched as Hackard stepped in. The tension within her seemed to evaporate as she saw me, her expression clearing before she dashed across the room to envelope me in a hug. "Thank goodness. Thank goodness." Her words were a quiet whisper as she clung to me tightly.

"You can thank her for pulling your ass outta the fire. And yours truly for the shelter, not that a penny-pinching bastard like you would." Elder scoffed as he wiped down the shortsword he had been working on, sliding it into its sheath and placing it into a box marked 'For Sale'. "Course, it'll cost the two of you." I wasn't surprised. Nothing in Rivira ever came free. "I want you two in on the next Goliath raid in a week. Take no shares from that, we'll call it even." He stuck out his hands to us, and both Hackard and I shook.

With the promise of payment extracted, Elder took his leave, carrying his wares out of the tent as he left. "Hikigaya…" Hackard turned to me. "How're you feeling?"

"..." I quickly checked my body, but everything seemed alright. "I'm fine. Thanks, Hackard." Hackard's mouth flattened into a thin line, but she didn't say anything. "Forget the commission, though. Let's just… let's head back up." At that, finally, her expression seemed to ease, just a little.

But as I made to step outside of the tent, I found that Hackard hadn't moved. "Hey, Hikigaya." Her hands were at her sides as she looked down. "Please… don't do something like that again."

I thought about the way her expression had trembled. I thought about the words she almost couldn't bring herself to say. I thought about what it must've taken for her to have gotten both of us alive, out of there.

–Take care of them, alright… ?

Schwartz's promise floated through my mind, and I looked down, unable to meet Hackard's eyes.

How was this taking care of them? How was dragging Hackard into my own mess anything but a repudiation of what Schwartz had asked of me on his dying breaths?

It shouldn't have mattered to me. Schwartz was already dead. Even if I broke the promise, he wouldn't be around to see it. But I couldn't. Because even though I knew that, even though back then I had understood that all I was doing was comforting a dying man on his last breaths, I had accepted that promise anyways.

"... I'm sorry. That was my fault." But at my apology, Hackard only startled.

"It's not… that's… it's…" She fumbled for the right words helplessly before eventually falling silent. It was quiet as we left Rivira and began the trip back to the surface. Neither of us had any words left, and so there was only silence as we moved upwards.

Faintly, I wondered if I would ever get used to that feeling. That silence.


Afterword: New Year, new chapter… but a not-so-new beginning.

Every time I wrote 'Holy Night', without paying attention my fingers would stray to writing "Holy Knight"... oops. So if you start seeing Holy Knights appear during Holy Night, don't look at me. It's not my fault, I swear! But do tell me, so I can fix the typos.

Aside from that… I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. I felt like I was jumping around a lot, but I didn't want to inflate the chapter with unnecessary details and fight scenes, only what was necessary. Hikigaya's exposition felt a bit monotonous and robotic while I was writing, but that's on purpose since I wanted to convey how detached he feels from the situation, so I thought it worked.

Also, apologies for the lateness; I wanted to release this chapter during or shortly after the New Year's, but just couldn't finish. As I have found out the hard way, it's kinda hard to write Hikigaya mourning when you're in that goofy, happy mood of "Life is great! The sun is shining, I am having such a great time during winter break!"

Anyways, I'm back to classes now, so the rest of this chapter came pretty easily (XD). Hopefully it was worth the wait! We've only got 1 more chapter, which is an epilogue, and then we'll be onto the next volume!

Let me know what you thought about the chapter! See you soon!

Oreo the Cookie