RedHunter2296

I'm sorry in advance that this chapter is so long but I really want it to be just one chapter, unlike other chapters that I usually cut in two when they are so big. But it is quite important and I don't want to cut off the flow of the whole chain of events that happens here.

Other than that I hope you really enjoy this chapter as it is quite special and important, it has certainly been a long road to get here. Almost 3 years now just to get to this point in my novel, I can't believe I made it this far.

Rivalry

The day for the Izumi family started quite early today, it was a new day, a new opportunity. The sisters got up to get ready to go out, when they went downstairs they met their mother, she was talking on the phone with someone else while she was preparing breakfast. After serving the meal she left the house, she had to get to her new job early. The sisters finished getting ready, then left the house and took the subway to their destination. They were almost arriving when they saw the outline of school, and the younger sister's curiosity was not to be restrained.

"I can't believe this is true"
"We really got a scholarship to attend one of the best schools in Tokyo"
"Mom gets a job as a nurse at the same school with a good salary"
"Isn't it all too convenient?"

"I told you I would solve everything"
"See, you should trust your big sister more"

"...."
"It was those mysterious friends of yours, wasn't it?"
"This whole thing is way too expensive, are they really doing this for free?"
"You're not in the middle of something weird are you?"
"This is all very suspicious."

"No, of course not"
"They are helping me because I saved them from several things that happened before"
"Don't worry, there's nothing strange, I promise"
"You just enjoy this new opportunity of making friends and fitting in"
"We have to do it for mom"

Both sisters were arriving at the school gate. Both sisters caught the attention of all the other students, everyone was living their days with tranquility until the beauty of the girls stopped them. Both had their uniforms impeccable, their hair was done to perfection, but what was most striking was the color of it, both the older sister and the little sister had hair as golden as the sun's rays, accompanied by beautiful blue eyes like jewels. There was no way to hide that they were foreigners from Europe. The younger sister felt quite uncomfortable with all the stares, while Sakura seemed to enjoy it. But as luck would have it, a new event happened that changed the focus of their attention. A car appeared in front of the school entrance, a police patrol car, and a man got out to open the back door for the lady he was carrying. It was not an unusual scene for the students at the school, it was something they saw every day, what they did not see every day was to see Japan's new hero personally opening the car door for his granddaughter. All were watching the scene paying enough attention. The small Mitsuki did not understand well the context that was happening, for what Sakura explained to her what they were watching.

"That's Inspector Yamamoto over there, the same one from the news"
"His granddaughter comes to this very school to take classes with the others"
"...."
"These are the kind of important people who come here, remember that"
"If you can make enough friends here you can have the connections to have a good and important life in the future"
"It is important that you make important friends like her, because in the future you will have to lead the people"
"It is the destiny of people with power to respond responsibly to their given gifts and make a better future for all"

"...."
"...."
"You are talking like that again"

"Like that what?"
"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, like a knight? sounding like you are giving a speech"
"As if you were the protagonist of a medieval anime?"

"You're imagining things, I was just giving you some advice"
"Let's move on"

The sisters arrived at the teacher's room to introduce themselves before the class with their caregivers. Mitsuki had no problem finding her teacher, however, Sakura's luck was a little different, her teacher had not arrived yet, and it seems that she was a little late, the girl considered it as a lack of consideration towards her, but the classes had not started yet so, in reality, it was not a miss yet. While she was thinking this the door opened, a woman came in, she was quite young and beautiful, she ran to the desk and started to put away some things quickly, she took a couple of books and put something in marker and took the phone to make a quick call. One of the other teachers indicated to Sakura that this was her new teacher, so the girl approached her to speak.

"Excuse me?"

"!!!!"
"Huh, yes?"
"....."
"!!!!"
"So, you must be Sakura, The daughter of the new school nurse, right?"
"Sorry for the delay, I have been very busy with a couple of personal matters and a lot of paperwork"
"Don't worry, I have almost everything ready"
"...."
"It's natural? wow I didn't think you were a foreigner, actually, I was only told that your name was Sakura Izumi, so I assumed you were Japanese"

"Yes, it happens quite often"
"I am from Sweden but my mother is Japanese"
"For personal reasons, we have come to live here"
"...."
"Although it's a bit strange, I feel that this should be my homeland"
"But at the same time, everyone here always treats me like I'm just a tourist"

"Oh, so that's what happens"
"Well, everyone has problems when they travel to a new place"
"But you don't have to worry, in time you'll fit right in"
"...."
"You know, I'm a foreigner too"
"My name is Xi'an, I am originally from China"
"It may not seem like it to westerners but my accent is noticeable to people here"
"However look, everything has been fine!"

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes, of course, don't worry."
"Besides, you're not the first outsider to join this class, we've already had several newcomers so you won't stand out as much"
"Oh at least you won't be the victim of bullying, someone already took that position"
"But don't worry, she's pretty strong and knows how to defend herself if she wants to"
"And besides I know her well so I don't think anything will happen"

"There is a case of bullying in your class and you do nothing about it?"

"...."
"Well, normally I would do something, but I think you should see who it is first"
"Plus it's someone who could stop it at any time, she just doesn't want even more attention"
"!!!!"
"Look at the time, the bell is about to ring"
"Come with me, I'll lead you to the classroom."

The two walked a short distance until they reached the second floor and the correct classroom. Professor Xi'an entered first to calm the class and introduce them to their new classmate. Questions about "again", "again another foreigner" and "it's almost summer vacation, it's a strange time to transfer" were heard on the other side of the door, a certain Josuje was the one who was silenced the most by the teacher. Sakura waited patiently for her turn to introduce herself, she quickly fixed her hair to make sure it was perfect and to leave an important first impression that she would leave in the mind of all her classmates, assuring her important position from the beginning.

Sakura listened to the teacher's signal and entered the classroom, she said her name, her nationality, and the fact that her mother was Japanese, she also said that she wanted to get along with everyone and made a bow sign to the others. When she raised her head she took a quick glance around the room to see her classmates. There were a couple of faces she knew, they were important people: Kusumoto Josuke, the one who had been scolded several times was the son of a famous businessman, Yukiko Aragaki daughter of the president of the Aragaki group, it was the same as seeing royalty, there was another girl that Sakura remembered having seen before, she was a new Idol with a promising career, all of them seemed a good group to start making friends. But none of them compared to Haru Yamamoto, the granddaughter of the police inspector everyone was talking about these days. How lucky she was to have the chance to be her friend. But there was something strange, Haru was not paying attention to her, the new classmate, the beautiful foreigner that everyone wanted to talk to. Instead, Haru was looking to her side trying to talk to another classmate, who was covering her face with a book, how disrespectful. That girl was also quite strange, her skin and hair were completely white, besides she was quite small, perhaps an illness? thought Sakura. Unfortunately, she could not continue looking more because the teacher spoke again.

"Well, let's start the lesson"
"Why don't you sit in the back chair by the window?"
"That one is empty"

"Teacher, wouldn't it be better to bring another desk"
"That was Utagawa's seat" said one of the students, a boy.

Sakura felt confused by the declaration of one of her classmates because she was not aware of who the original place belonged. The Utagawa girl, who had lost her life at the beginning of the year when there was an attack on a dam. The event had made national news and was a great loss to the school. But time never stopped moving, and the others had to move on, some faster than others. But there was also the boy who spoke, Tetsuo Keisuke, her classmate, and her boyfriend when it all happened. And who wanted to protect her memory even though she was no longer there . The teacher knew what was happening, she was also hurt, and she was also responsible for what happened, but she could not comply with her request, so even though she did not like it she denied the request and insisted to Sakura take the seat.

The class started soon after and Sakura paid as much attention as possible, after all, she started at a disadvantage and had to recover. Even so her curiosity about Haru did not disappear, she wanted to approach and talk to her to be friends as soon as possible. So time came and went, soon it was finally time for the first recess. When the bell rang and everyone came up to her to talk, she didn't bother, after all, it was natural for them to be curious. Yet she still managed to watch as Haru paid no attention to her. Instead, the inspector's granddaughter did not stop showing curiosity for the other two classmates. Sakura could not see them very well due to the great number of questions that she was receiving, even so she managed to listen a little, "They have to be joking, this is stupid" is what she managed to hear from the mysterious girl, before this same one got up and left the room, to the bathroom possibly, to which Haru and another girl followed her.

Her cell phone suddenly started ringing, it was a very important call, so she left everyone else's side and went to the hallway to answer it more calmly.

"Well? How do you like your new school?"
"It's just what you wanted, isn't it?" said a man on the other end of the line.

"Yes, it's a good place, I have nothing to complain about."
"But you still haven't told me what I have to do"
"Can you tell me once and for all so I can pay you back for the favor at once?"

"Oh my, you're excited to get to work for once?"
"Don't worry, unfortunately, it's quite mundane really"
"Among your colleagues, there is a rather peculiar girl, well two actually"
"You'll understand when you see them"
"LISTEN CAREFULLY TO WHAT I'M ABOUT TO TELL YOU"
"Just WATCH the girls with ears, NOTHING ELSE, don't draw attention to yourself"
"Just tell us what you see and with that, you'll pay us the favor"
"Don't let them know you're watching them and everything will be fine"
"After all, it's not illegal to say what you see about your classmates, is it?"

"May I know why the Catholic Church is after two particular girls in Japan?"
"Isn't this a big expense for nothing?"

"I just told you!"
"Don't ever mention us again"
"If those girls listen to you it could be the end of you!"
"Your chance to study at a good school is thrown away just because you talked a little too much!"
"That wouldn't be a terrible end for the great Samurai warrior, would it?"

"But why so much secrecy?"
"What are you hiding from me?"
"I will not work blind"

"Ok, but I won't go into details"
"Recently a certain group of hunters discovered something and decided to take action"
"Things did not go well and 30 hunters died"
"To make matters worse, Divine Providence sent us a message as positive"
"We only got the report after things had already happened"
"Even so, there is an old magician, Xian Fang, who has doubts about what happened"
"We don't have anything more than those two, but if true this is too important to pass up"
"...."
"The point is that we don't want to rush into what happened to that other group of hunters, so we won't do anything for now"
"Your part is just to say what they are doing, that's all"
"Pretty easy really, a good deal, it almost seems like you're scamming us"

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think they are as amazing as everyone wants to make them out to be"
"They are not that big of a deal"

"You just do what you're asked to do and you'll be able to graduate without any problems"
"You, your little sister, and that good job your mother got."
"Everybody happy, everybody joyful"
"Don't screw it up" said the man hanging up.

Sakura was quite annoyed by how she was being treated as if she was a simple pawn. Only a couple of months ago she was celebrated in the church when she returned from her old age to another world, she was a hero, she was the best warrior that humanity had, her statistics were the strongest ever measured. And ever since she called for help they treated her as if they didn't trust what she was capable of. As if she was someone weak who needed to be cared for. She wanted to complain to these people, but she couldn't do it, she needed this opportunity they were giving her, even though she didn't like to admit it, she knew the offer she was getting was relatively good, so it was better to take it and move on.

The classes started again, Sakura returned to her seat and spent a good part of the class looking at what everyone was mentioning, now especially out of her own curiosity. She discovered a couple of things quickly that even she was surprised not to have noticed immediately. It was easy to know why they were so peculiar, the girls were dressed up all the time, or so everyone thought. Sakura was breathless when she saw that those two girls were actually Beastmen, Two people from the fox tribe, one of them from the polar areas. She had already encountered them in her life, and when she was sent to save another world, several of these creatures tried to kill her on the battlefield, they were enemies of the humans. Even so, Sakura did not know another thing apart from that they were not human, they want were they? As it is that they arrived on the Earth? Had they escaped from the world of Etria? Why did nobody wonder why they had fox ears or tails?

During the classes, it was these questions that haunted her mind. She couldn't take her eyes off those two girls, it was simply impossible. The one who was called Elise did not seem to take the classes seriously, she was constantly checking her phone or playing with a pencil as if she was a little girl, what a lack of respect not to pay attention to the classes she thought, even though it was the same what Sakura was doing by paying attention to the girl and not the teacher. The other girl, Tamamo, was much better, she paid clear attention to the class, was quite intelligent in her answers, and at the same time somehow managed to find time to play again with the white girl. 

The time continued to advance until noon when the lunch hour arrived. Sakura was dying to talk to the fox girls. What a lack of respect that the two of them had not deigned to greet her new classmate. So she got up immediately to speak in a direct way with them to give them the opportunity to introduce themselves to Sakura, she even felt that she was doing them a favor. She put herself in front of them and spoke.

"Hello."
"My name is Sakura Izumi, as you can see your new classmate."
"Nice to meet you"
"I hope I can get along well with you"

"Oh"
"Hello, nice to meet you"
"My name is Elise, the girl next to me is Tamamo"
"...."
"Tamamo I forgot to bring lunch, do you want to go to the cafeteria to get something to eat?" 

The girl answered tersely before continuing to talk to her friend, not even looking her in the eyes when she spoke to her. Even so, the girls left the class, but the girl annoyed by them quickly cast a stealth spell to try to spy on them, however somehow the magic broke just before hitting its target. The tall girl could almost be seen waving mockingly at Sakura as she disappeared from their sight. Perhaps her eyes had deceived her. She was going to follow them when a new person entered the classroom. She was about to follow them when a new person entered the classroom. It was Mitsuki, her sister, she had come to see how her sister was doing on her first day of classes, and several of the new classmates approached her to greet her. However Sakura did not pay attention to her, instead, she preferred to follow the strange girls, so she also went out of the classroom and spied on them from afar. 

When following them she sees how they don meet a third girl, Sakura believed to hear the name while they greeted each other, it seemed that she was called Asuka. But before continuing conversing they did go to buy something to eat and then they went to the stairs. Sakura followed them quite well without being discovered, but after a turn, the group that she followed disappeared. She was quite confused by what she had just witnessed so she hurried her pace. She met with a door, it was the one that gave to the roof of the building, she turned the lock, however, the door did not open in any form. Sakura annoyed tried again with more force but without causing a commotion.

"The door to the roof is locked"
"In this school access to the roof is forbidden for students" said kindly one of her new classmates who saw her struggling with the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry"
"In my old school we could enter freely"
"...."
"Even though it seems weird to me, I think I just saw three girls go in there with no problem."

"That' s impossible"
"The door is locked all the time"
"Without the key, you can't open it, I don't even know if the teachers can get in there"

Sakura was annoyed by this fact, she had realized that the other girls she was following had access to the roof while she did not. Since she could not follow them she gave up for now of her plan and returned again to her class. When she arrived she found that her sister was the center of attention of the whole class, she had stolen her limelight, and not only that, but she was also standing next to Haru, both talking happily about a recent TV series. She didn't know what they were talking about but she had to talk to Haru, so she got into conversation with them using her sister as support to integrate into the talk, and once she got to know them she tried to monopolize the conversation so that it would go where she wanted, Haru's relationship with her grandfather the inspector, Mitsuki was annoyed that her sister left her aside in spite of her gestures of concern.

The three of them were chatting until the living room door opened again, Elise and Tamamo had just returned. Immediately Haru notices them, says goodbye to the sisters, and retires to speak with them, where Elise shows a gesture of annoyance when Haru approaches her. Sakura could not hide in her face the disgust that she felt, another time that girl being the center of attention, that devils happened in this place she wondered. Her sister Mitsuki looked at the face of her older sister and spoke to her.

"Onee-chan, you can't get mad at people just because they don't listen to you all the time"
"You are not the center of the world"
"Also remember the last time that ......"
"...."

Mitsuki stopped talking altogether for some reason. The pause was so abrupt that even Sakura wondered what happened, so she turned to look at her sister. The small girl also had her gaze fixed on the albino girl, perhaps she would also steal her sister. However, if Sakura had not been so involved in her jealousy maybe she would have noticed that on her sister's face there was no curiosity, but rather a terror as if she had seen a ghost in the middle of the day. And how could she not have, she had met the magical girl who had stopped her the previous Friday at the port when the police showed up and ruined everything. Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would meet her again, let alone that she was her sister's classmate. There was so much she wanted to ask, yet she knew she was in moderation and couldn't do it right now, so instead, she decided to cover up her mistake and hide her concern from her older sister. She talked with her until the bell rang again, starting the afternoon lessons. 

During the afternoon lessons, Sakura's curiosity was simply uncontainable. She wanted to know anything, anything at all. She even used her status analysis ability again to check and see some hidden truth. But a single, terse message came out from checking either of the two.

Sakura could not understand what she was looking at. This had never happened before, even during the fight against the Demon Lord her stats had been revealed without any problem. Upon returning to earth she had used it a couple of times to prove that it worked, so she knew that the problem could not be her in any way. Just what were these creatures? Were they so important? What was their purpose? Why were they here on earth? How would she defeat them? A thousand questions tormented her. Xi'an noticed the distracted Sakura and asked her about the subject that she was explaining to call her attention, the girl could not answer correctly, and the people murmured behind her back, the perfect girl felt bad of her mistake, she got upset enough and blamed Elise of her mistake, if she was not here she would have answered correctly.

At the end of the classes, everyone started to collect their things. Sakura wanted to talk to Haru again to try to formalize the friendship, but instead, she witnessed how she immediately went to talk to Elise. The same girl again, again and again. Did she have something personal against her? Even so, Sakura remained pretending that she was preparing her things to listen to them talk.

"Now are you going to tell me what you and my grandfather were doing on Friday?"
"There is only one possible answer, you went to the port too?"
"Come out and confess once and for all! Why would my grandfather want you in a place like that?"

"Come on, he just invited me to buy me something for the trouble of having you as a friend bothering me day in and day out"
"It's exhausting work, even he admits it."

"I'm not that annoying!"
"Besides, the dates don't coincide."
"That day you were late on your own, I remember it perfectly because I had to help carry Levia's chair from the house"

"Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Isn't there supposed to be a club meeting today?"
"Are you going to be late Madam super responsible president?"

"That doesn't matter, there are only 4 of us to start with"
"You have plenty of time to answer me"

It was all that Sakura reached to hear of their conversation, because they began to walk toward the corridor and she could no longer hear them more, however, a golden opportunity had been presented to her. They had a club, so she only had to join and she would have plenty of opportunities to know more about the mysterious girls. She hurried to grab her things and also went out to secure the club they had. But just as she left she ran into another girl by surprise, she wanted to talk to her even though she didn't know her at all.

"Sakura Izumi?"
Hello how are you, allow me to introduce myself"
"My name is Asuka Tetsuya, I am a hunter of the Urakaze clan"
"May I have a conversation with such an impressive warrior like you?"

"What do you want?"
"If you know my position, then talk fast, I have important things to do"

"It is about that very thing"
"With all due respect, I do not doubt the ability of great human warriors at all"
"Least of all someone like you, Samurai, our great warrior representative of our important legacy"
"But please, I ask for moderation with what you are doing"
"Elise and Tamamo are people far beyond the reach of humans"
"Please heed my warning"
"The best thing to do is to simply stand aside and let everything take its course"

"Far beyond the reach of humans, you say?"
"And what would convert them if that were true, Gods? Nonsense"
"I am not afraid to face something more powerful than myself"
"I've done it before and I'll do it again if I have to"
"You said you belong to the Urazake hunting clan"
"May I know why you're giving me this crap warning?"

"Ma'am, please please consider"
"Not long ago I too acted like you"
"Today my clan is deeply hurt because of our insolecy against them"
"The cruelest part of the matter was to find out how unnecessary it was, for if we had just left them alone nothing would have happened in the first place."

"And you call yourself a monster hunter?"
"God gave you a gift and you selfishly choose to keep it"
"It is your duty as a person of power to do something with it and do something for those who can't do it"
"Your duty as a hunter is to fight to protect those who cannot"
"Even if it ends up getting you killed"

"Madam, it is not death that I fear"
"My vow to protect humans has never changed."
"It is by that same vow that I ask you to leave them alone."
"The damage will be greater than simply not bothering them"
"Don't you understand? They already know you are following them!"
"Ever since you showed up they know you work for the church, I told them myself"
"They already know you"

"You have done what?"
"Why?"

"Because it was obvious to everyone"
"My clan was defeated and a couple of days later someone from Europe appeared in exactly the same class"
"But it was them who knew you, it was Elise who asked me about you in the middle of the day"
"I had no choice but to tell her the truth"
"If that's able to stop her fury and save someone then it's a good price"

"Damn you!"
"Why did you do it!"
"You just threw away my family's future!"
"Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you now!"

"Stop!"
"Wait, wait a minute!"
"I'm just trying to save one of the great warriors from making a mistake!"
"Take this!"
"Look for yourself"
"This is a magic magnifying glass, it was a gift from your church to our clan over a thousand years ago"
"Use it and look at its stats"
"It only works on Tamamo, for some reason with Elise it only says Access Denied"
"I don't understand why"

Sakura was furious, but when she heard Asuka mention what she herself had seen, she understood that it was real. She took the magnifying glass and used her power to analyze the object. Really was a magic magnifying glass that showed the properties of whatever was looked through it. She also found that its rarity was legendary, just like the sword she kept as a souvenir of her journey. The girl's curiosity was greater than her anger, so she let it go and took the object to go and check it in herself.

The object actually did what Asuka had informed her, without even borrowing it she left the girl behind and went straight to look for it with the person who wanted to do it the most. She found her in one of the club's lounges. She was playing video games quietly. Sakura took the magnifying glass and looked through it quickly at her target. The magnifying glass took a moment to process the information, a glitch effect showed up before revealing the long-awaited information.

The information only showed a monster.

Sakura could only see for a few seconds, so she checked as fast as she could some of the titles she saw. Third Faction was only given to someone whose strength was recognized and feared by both Angels and Demons, who considered her as her own faction among the eternal war. Unbreakable was exclusively for those who had not fallen under their own power. Seven Nation Army Couldn't Hold Him Back, to be an individual enemy of a coalition of seven different great nations at the same time and win. Fugitive From Death, someone who should have died long ago, death claimed her, and yet she is here. Will of the Fallen, Honor the memory of your comrades lost in battle and fulfill the promise of your ancestors who gave their lives for you. Ultimate Predator, being on top of all existing food chains. Race Exterminator, completely eliminate an entire race alone and without help. The First And Last, be the first and last member of a powerful and long-lasting civilization. But there was one that was impressive in itself: Ubermensch, the real strength is the internal one, overcome your own limits, your fears, be aware of your weaknesses, accept them and fight to overcome them, follow your own morals and turn them into reality with your own hands, however altruistic and at the same time humble, does not consider herself superior to anyone, takes the destiny in her hands and rejects the idea of destiny or gifts with which a person is born, works endlessly for her personal improvement in solitude, she can do anything that she believes she can do.

She also tried to look at the most interesting ones but many of them simply did not show what the title really meant, while others were clear about what they meant, others did not even appear at all, only the field they occupied. Who the hell was this person, why did she have her evaluation this way, why did she look like the most powerful thing ever created and at the same time created by herself? Sakura saw many of the titles and their immediate relevance and greatness. She could not believe that there was someone better than her in all and every possible sense, and this immediately was exactly what disqualifies her from the title that she more wished to have as soon as she saw it, Ubermensch. A feeling came over her, it was not fear as someone normal would have at such a revelation, but envy, because she wanted to be the person who possessed such an incredible evaluation, and her denial to herself, believing that she was unjustly judged and robbed of her true recognition, a person as talented as she was could not be surpassed so easily, the opposite of what Ubermensch really meant.

The overload was such that the magnifying glass broke shortly thereafter. Sakura left there quickly, running away, in such a hurry that she even left her sister behind.