《After School Adventuring Time》


 Prologue

    Came twelve in the afternoon the school hallway was full, the stillness of the study times replaced with roarsand laughter. After making up his resolve, Narita Haruto, a guy with a braided low ponytail, piercing on his right ear, crescent-shaped scar in the middle of his forehead, and a box of cigarette in his pocket, slid off the table in classroom2-6 and walked to the hallway, adding the new soundof his own footsteps echoing in the hall.


    And on that afternoon,another adventure was waiting for Haruto as per his usual routine.


    In front of classroom 2-5.


    "Oi! Narita Haruto!" Shouted a guy with a face full of bruises.


    "I''ve already beat the crap out of the 81 baddestfirst year in a single month!! Now fight me and I will be taking over this school!!"


    And what arrived at the first year''s face was a kick, hard enough to make Haruto''s shoe soles imprinted in the first year''s face.


    In front of classroom 2-4.


    A group of girls was opening the door at the same time Haruto walking past it.


    "Eeek!! Please don''t kill us!!!" Shouted the girls as they closed the door with their trembling body.


    Judging by the way Haruto glared, it was not hard for people to assume right now he wanted to kill someone.However,Haruto himselfnever aware of his own scary glare.


    In front of classroom 2-3.


    A young teacher wastaking a deep breath and nervously walking toward Haruto like a robot. "Na..narita, you haven''t submitted your homework."


    Noticing the teacher''s call, Haruto immediately raised his right hand with an intimidating glare directed to the teacher.


    As the teacher''s life flashed before his eyes whenHaruto did this. The moment he was born, the moment his mother treated him when he was sick, the moment he got his first kiss, and because of all his happy moment, the teacher immediately snapped back into the reality.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "Please don''t mind me! I''ll do your homework by myself!" The teacher said as he bowed to Haruto.


    Tilting his head, Haruto actually always scratched the back of his head whenever he wanted to apologize though after considering the teacher shouting like that, Haruto could only give the teacher awry smile (According to Haruto.)


    And before Haruto was able to open his mouth, the teacher already dashing away to the teacher''s lounge.


    In front of classroom 2-2.


    Harutonervously opening the door, after all going to the other class was really nerve-wracking and because of his own nervousness, his leg accidentally hitting the door, creating a sound loud enough to attract the attention of the student of class 2-2.


    In which they immediatelydropped their head when they noticed it was Haruto. Except for one person, Hasegawa Hinagiku, agirl with dark red hair that reached her shoulder, white, unblemished skin, and almond-shaped eyes who pretended to fall asleep on the top of her desk.


    "Oi, Hasegawa."


    Noticing the atmosphere, Hinagiku was tryinghard to fake her sleeping, hard enough to make a small unconvincing snoring sound.


    "...I know you''re awake." After all, the girl called Hinagiku was shaking as if a magnitude 10 earthquake was happening under her chair.


    Feeling her attempt was useless, Hinagiku instantly stretching her back and rubbing her eyes, still pretending she was waking up from a deep slumber before she acted to just realize Haruto was calling her.


    And following the others, Hinagiku was dropping her head while constantly thinking why Haruto was approaching her. As the result, erm and um were the only words that came from Hinagiku''s mouth no matter how long Haruto waiting for her.


    After letting out a deep sigh "Rooftop, now." Said Haruto. Though, Hinagiku was ignoring him as she was too busy thinking what Haruto would do to her.


    As Haruto repeated the same words for the fourth time, vein finally throbbed in his forehead and he aggressively pulled Hinagiku''s arm and took her to the rooftop.


    Meanwhile, for the girl that never made any contact with a man, seeing a man pulling her arm and dragging her to the rooftop, Hinagiku could only think Haruto was going to do a confession.


    (Is he going to kill me if I reject him?! Should I run away?! What should I do?! Eeek... teacher... someone... anyone... please help...)


    By the time she snapped back into the reality, she already stood in the middle of the rooftop. And in front of her was a young man, immediately grabbing her shoulder while staring straight into her eyes with a face full of nervousness, determination, seriousness and killing intent (According to her.)


    (Eek!! I must accept!! Yes! Just say yes! C''mon Hinagiku! On* Pi*ce hasn''t finished yet!!)


    "DID YOU TURN INTO A FUCKING BEAR LAST NIGHT?!!!" Shouted Haruto.


    "YESSS!!! PLEASE TAKE CARE OF ME!!!" Shouted Hinagiku with teary eyes.


    "...Eh?" Were the sound they created at the same time. For Haruto, he was surprised to hear Hinagiku didn''t bother to deny his question, even though he already prepared the evidence in his phone. For Hinagiku, she was dumbfounded by the context of Haruto''s question.


    And that was how their adventure started.

 Chapter 1

    "A starry night loomed above, pretty enough to ignite the heart of any man, yet not one of them cast their eyes upward to see it. All they cared about was moving their shoes over the tarmac and no amount of starlight could make them raised their head.


    Except for me, on a whim, I looked to the sky and noticed it must have been a night just like this that Van Gogh got his inspiration. And my inspiration was "I''m going to search for a ghost."


    And that was how I stood in the front of a lone structure, it was left disregarded with no one near it. The walls had weakened, the paint wore off and layers of dust coated over it. The building surely looked aged. It had been abandoned but was taken over by pigeons fluttering in the rooms and nesting by the windows, spiders building webs and bats sheltered here for the night, it wouldn''t surprise him to see a ghost anytime now.


    But the moment I entered the old factory, I didn''t see a ghost or the security guard. Rather, I saw a bear fighting against several small green humanoids.


    And by the time the fight was over, the bear turned into you." Explained Haruto.


    In front of him, Hinagiku was looking to the floor, clenching the corner of her skirt with a pale face. "W..."


    "What? Got a problem?"


    "W...why are you explaining it as if you are a protagonist in a cheap light novel?"


    "THAT''S YOUR PROBLEM?!"


    Haruto grabbed Hinagiku''s shoulders and shaking her body, causing her to cry and scream as if her life was in some kind of a grave danger.


    "Anyway, you better explain what happened last night!" Shouted Haruto.


    "E..explain what?" Said Hinagiku as she rolled her eyes.


    With a straight face, Haruto showed her a video from his phone. A black bear, its teeth were exposed in an angry fashion. They were sharp, white daggers, hanging inside a dark factory, slicing the green creature body until they bled to death. Its paws were rooted to the ground, but the bear furiously clobbering the small green humanoid if they made any sudden movements. And after the corpses piled into a mountain, the bear slowly turned into a girl with a small figure and casually walked away with a smug expression on her face.


    "O...oh... that''s a good CG." Said Hinagiku with a troubled expression.


    After letting out a sigh. "Yep, then you don''t mind if I upload this on the internet, right?"


    "U..urgh...please...don''t... I get it..." Said Hinagiku as her face turned pale.


    ***


    After Hinagiku said that, she left a piece of paper to Haruto and telling him to meet her at the address on that paper after school.


    But...


    (What is the point of this address if we''re walking together?!!!)


    As soon as the school was over, Haruto immediately went to the designated address with Hinagiku, and under normal circumstances, one would have thought that they were a couple but in reality.


    "Poor girl...", "She''ll be fine, right?", "Should we call the police?" Words were slipping from the pedestrian big, lousy mouths as they were whispering like an emergency alarm in the middle of the disaster. Everyone that saw them carried the same expression, worrying about the girl that was walking with dropped shoulder and horrified expression.


    "Oi, Hasegawa."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Y...Yes!!".


    "Maybe.. you should walk a few meters away."


    As soon as Haruto said that, the girl named Hinagiku immediately dashed a few meters away from him, faithfully followed him while occasionally hiding behind the electric pole.


    ***


    The house looked like a cut out from Architecture magazine. Everything was geometric, the roof was flat for a start and the door as wide as it was tall. The windows took up entire walls with only polished steel beams to break them into yet more rectangles. The look would have been entirely metallic like a mini downtown skyscraper had it not been for the cedar beams of the external porch and the matching raised plant beds that contained only white blooms.


    "P..please wait in the living room!!" Said Hinagiku.


    Then she immediately dashed away to the second floor, completely leaving Haruto behind in the entrance.


    "...Which way is the living room."


    He strolled around and assuming the room with the big sectional sofa; obviously made for the style rather than the comfort, the human-sized television, and the home bar filled with a variety of drink was the living room.


    And just as Haruto finally made himself comfortable in the said living room, he heard the sound of something metallic smashed into the floor, and it went on for a couple of seconds. He didn''t think he ever heard that kind of factory level noises inside someone house.


    And a few minutes later, Hinagiku walked out from one of the rooms on the second floor. Her green blazer uniform already changed with a blue coloured tracksuit.


    "E..erm...this way..." Said Hinagiku as she beckoned Haruto to the second floor.


    ***


    "U..um...sorry...my room... is a little messy..., feel... free to sit wherever you like." Said Hinagiku.


    (This isn''t little!!) such a thought crossed Haruto''s mind as soon as he saw Hinagiku''s room.


    It was practically a shipwreck combined with a dumpster, it was full of brown coloured chests, wrapping of snacks, dirty laundry, mangas and video game disks and an out of place old wooden door placed on the wall.


    It was a miracle if Haruto could find an empty place to sit without breaking anything in this room, though there was one thing that had bothered him for a little while. "So...Why are you taking me into your house?"


    "Er...erm...it is closer..." Said Hinagiku. "A..and...feel free to take a weapon from my room."


    While wondering what was closer and what was the meaning of ''take a weapon''. Once again Haruto glanced to the floor and if he focusing on his vision, he could find different variety of weapons such as a sword, short spear, or handaxe hidden and scattered across Hinagiku''s room.


    "...WHY ARE YOU HAVE A FREAKING SWORD IN YOUR ROOM?!!" Or that was what Haruto wanted to shout... if he wasn''t so surprised by how clean Hinagiku''s room was.


    After taking a deep breath and trying to act calm, he started to listen to what Hinagiku said and searched for a weapon; the one he knew how to use. And as he strolled around her room.


    "D..don''t look under my bed!!" Shouted Hinagiku with a red face.


    "A..ah! That area is off limit!" Shouted Hinagiku when Haruto walked toward her drawers.


    "T...there is no weapon in that place!!" Shouted Hinagiku when Haruto tried to search inside of the wooden chest.


    "J...Just take this sword!!" Shouted Hinagiku.


    Ignoring her offer, after spending a few minutes while Hinagiku occasionally blocked his path, at the very least Haruto found out a weapon that he wanted.


    It was a standard wooden recurve bow and lucky for Haruto, the quiver and 20 arrows were neatly stored beside the bow.


    "U..uhm... are you sure you can use that? don''t you want a sword? how about an axe? or a scythe?" Said Hinagiku.


    Haruto stood and took a stance with the bow in his right hand. He then placed the fingers of his left hand on the bowstring as if he was holding an invisible arrow, and slowly drew the string back. "Nay, I''m fine with this."


    "T-then! Narita-kun! What time is it?" Shouted Hinagiku as she walked to the old wooden door, though this was the first time she directly looked to Haruto''s eyes.


    "Time?" Haruto tilted his head with slightly raised eyebrows and took a glance at her clock. "It is 4:38, why?"


    "Er...erm... what time is it?!" Ignoring Haruto''s words, once again Hinagiku asked the same question and again, and again.


    Realizing she wouldn''t let him go or answering any of his questions until he replied to hers, after thinking for a while and letting out a deep sigh.


    "Your snack time?" Said Haruto.


    "Boo! That''s wrong! Here! I''ll give you a clue! It is two words, the first word is an adventure and the last word is time! So what time is it?!"


    "...Adventure time?"


    With trembling body, she gave Haruto a satisfying smile that just seemed so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness and slowly opened the old wooden door.


    What welcomed them was a golden plain spread to the horizon, golden-tawny grass and golden green wheat checker-boarded in a pattern, rustling gently in the breeze, flattened in waves with each gust of wind, only to spring up as fresh as a bunch of flowers.


    "Welcome to Eflaria!" Said Hinagiku.


    Haruto''s mouth hung with lips slightly parted and his eyes were as wide as they could stretch. No matter how much he thought about this, wasn''t the personality of the girl called Hasegawa Hinagiku had changed a little too much!?