Today was just a random, uneventful day. The only really special thing that happened was the two texts I received during the day. One of them was from a close friend asking me to meet her after school in some unused classroom. The other one was from the person that used to be my best friend, until he started hanging out with a different group when we started high school and he became one of the popular people. My other friend and him are still close. It was only me who didn’t become part of their new group. She still hung out with me, but over the two ish years since we started highschool it became less and less. The text he sent me was exactly the same. He had asked me to meet him in the same classroom after school.

 

And when school ends, I go to the classroom like they had asked me.

 

And I find the two of them in the middle of a passionate kiss.

 

While it happens, they don’t notice me for a few seconds. But when they did, my female friend, Mia, blushed and turned away. And my former best friend, Noah, starts talking.

 

“Hey Z. We need to talk” he said to me, using my nickname from when we were still friends.

 

“What's up?” I just ask. Seeing them like that wasn’t completely unexpected. It was a rumor going around our school that the two of them liked each other. And to me, who saw the two of them together for years, I was just waiting for it to happen.

 

“Well, we just wanted to let you know first that we started dating, since we are good friends” he says to me. I notice that Mia looks at him after that comment, probably thinking the same thing as me. Do you really think we are friends? But that's not important.

 

“Cool. Congratulations to you two. I hope your relationship lasts a long time” I tell them, genuinely happy for the two of them. Back when we were younger, a bunch of people made fun of me for having a crush on Mia, but I never felt that way.

 

But after my comment, Noah’s expression gets dark for a second before he asks “Is that all you have to say?”

 

“Is there anything else I would say?”

 

“Nope, just wondering,” He said with a smile. “Thank you for coming, that's all we needed from you” he tells me, basically telling me to leave them alone. That is what our relationship has come to, him needing me for something, then telling me to leave.

 

As I leave the room, I find myself surrounded by the two of their friend groups. It is made up of 3 girls and 3 guys. The head of the group then starts talking to me.

 

“Well, it seems it finally happened, Noah won Mia over you.” She said to me.

 

“Won?” I asked.

 

“Yeah, look at the two of them. But there is a reason I’m talking to you. You should leave Mia alone. You’re not going to be doing her any favors. If she is still hanging around you, I don’t know what is going to happen.” she tells me. This was the unspoken thing from my conversation with Noah.

 

“Alright” I tell the group. I then push my way through them. This group had a tendency to bully me when Mia wasn’t around.

 

With the most pointless thing I had done in a while out of the way, I start heading home. I already know that I am going to have to tell my sister about this later, so not having it last too long is better.

 

I didn’t have anything to do on my way home, so I got there pretty quickly. As I was leaving school, the sun was barely setting, and it wasn’t dark when I got home. The benefit of it being this close to the winter solstice, the days are getting shorter and shorter.

 

When I get home, I find the house empty. My parents are always busy at work and travel a lot. They won’t be home for a while, like a few weeks. Both of my siblings are probably out doing things right now.

 

✾

 

I am Zenith. I am the adopted son of two people who work for the United Stats Hunter Association. They are high ranking employees who took me in shortly after the first outbreak. I don’t remember that much from before it, but as far as anyone could figure out, my parents died during it and I had no other next of kin.

 

Before they took me in, my parents had twin children, about 6 years older than me. The two of them became my best support system during the time immediately after everything. I became heavily dependent on my sister because of this.

 

I was 4 when the first collapse happened. As far as anyone knows, it was the day I turned 4 actually. Soon it's going to be my birthday, but because of it being the anniversary of the first outbreak I don’t really celebrate it that much.

 

But this birthday is going to be special. I am finally turning 16 and will be able to start dungeon diving, after taking a test and getting my license. I already know I am awakened. The status screen can show up as young as newborns and as old as 100, there is no limit to it showing up. I have been training in my free time as well.

 

Both of my siblings are S rank hunters, some of the highest rank in the country and world. They both have amazingly powerful intrinsic skills which allowed them to gain a lot of power in the 6 years they have been active.

 

I still look up to both of them and wish to follow in their footsteps.

 

✾

 

After Zenith left the room, Mia and Noah embraced each other in a hug. Completely unknown to Zenith, the event he had seen earlier was very confusing. Instead of an actual confession that the two of them were dating, what was happening was a game, or more a test.

 

Mia wanted to know how Zenith felt about her, so she had asked Noah to help her. By telling him they were dating, she could figure out if he liked her. Mia started to like Zenith back in middle school because they shared a lot of the same interests. As time went on she tried to act on her crush, but he never seemed to feel the same.

 

After highschool started she kept being friends with him, but she also failed to realize that she was the only one who was. Because she was always with her friends, she thought that those friends were his as well.

 

So she asked Noah, her oldest friend, for help with her plan.

 

They would tell Zenith they had started dating and if he tried to stop them, she would know he at least had some feelings for her. If he didn’t, her crush was fruitless.

 

And he agreed to help her. On one condition. If she was wrong and he didn’t have feelings for her, they would start to date. This surprised Mia. Noah had dated a few people since they started high school, so she didn’t know that he might want to date her.

 

So they enacted their plan. But right before Zenith came into the room she had called him to, Noah kissed her, out of nowhere. And Zenith saw it, insuring that he would believe that they were dating.

 

And from there, the conversation went pretty normally from there. Except everything was supposed to come from Mia. Noah ended up telling him everything. And he accepted it and left without even showing emotion about the situation.

 

“Mia, it's going to be alright” Noah said while holding her. But before she could ask him about why he changed things in their plan. Another group of people came into the classroom.

 

“I told you guys that it would happen” Katie said when she entered the room. She was happy that the two of them had finally gotten together.

 

“Yeah guys, congrats” David said. “Hey Noah, have you talked to her about the other thing yet?”

 

“No, not yet” Noah said. “But now that we are all here, Mia I have something to ask you”

 

Still confused about what was going on and everything that happened with Zenith, she looks over at her now boyfriend. “What's up?”

 

“So we all turned 16 recently, right? I think it would be cool if we became hunters together” He said. “Everyone else is down for it, your going to be our last member”

 

Hesitantly, Mia responds in the positive. From there they all made plans to go take the registration test over the weekend.

 

✾

 

While I was waiting for my siblings to get home, I got a text from my brother telling me he would be going on a date tonight and won’t be home until late. This meant that I had less dinner to make tonight, now that it was just going to be my sister and me.

 

While waiting for it to get late enough to make dinner, I just sit in my room and read some books. I really enjoy the fantasy genre, but thanks to the emergence of magic into the real world, there aren’t that many fantasy writers anymore. Who needs fake magic when real magic exists.

 

Eventually, my sister gets home.

 

“Zenith, are you home?” she yells up to my room. I know she knows I am home already, but it is always nice when she calls up to me.

 

Knowing I am no longer home alone, I head down stairs to be with my sister. It’s still a little early for dinner so I just end up sitting down on our couch with my book.

 

My sister gets kinda annoyed that I didn’t say anything when I got downstairs, and huffed for a second before sitting right next to me. She spent her time while I was reading being really close with me. She did things like pet my head or snuggle with me. She is very affectionate with me everyday. She once told me that she did this to recharge, but I didn’t understand what she meant by that.

 

Whenever she got drunk at home, she would often get even more affectionate. When that happens she often brings up what I was like right after I was adopted. I kind of remember being very attached to her right after I was adopted, but I also remember avoiding her a lot too. My memories from back then are really hard to keep track of in my head, because a lot of them contradict each other. I was either isolating myself or hyper attached to my sister.

 

A little after my sister got home, I noticed it was a good time to make dinner. From there I stand up and head into the kitchen to look through what we have. I don’t feel like doing too much so I just decided to make some spaghetti so I don’t have to do that much work.

 

While I am doing this, my sister just stands there and looks at me while I work.

 

✾

 

Aria Black is my older sister.

 

She is a rank S hunter who holds the unique skill Absolute Darkness. This skill lets her control and create shadows. I have seen her create weapons, armor and even things like animals out of shadows. When she was still practicing a lot, she would often create little dogs or birds that would go around our house. I was only 10 back then, but I remember playing with them a lot. But one day, she stopped doing it for some reason.

 

She and my brother didn’t end up going to college because of their skill at being a hunter. I know that both of them were very smart when they finished highschool, something I can barely follow. I am not the best in school.

 

During the day, she spends her time doing random things, since she doesn't have school to go to. I know she often goes to dungeons sometimes during the day, but she doesn’t really need to dive that much. Thanks to her and my brother, our family doesn’t really struggle for money, even with our parents away.

 

On days when she isn’t doing her work, I don’t know everything she does, but often on days like that, she ends up picking me up from school.

 

✾

 

After I finish up dinner, we set the table and sit down to eat dinner.

 

But while I start to eat, my sister just keeps looking at me. And eventually she speaks up.

 

“So what did Noah and that man stealing whore Mia want from you?” she asked, confirming she already knew about the text.