Today was just a random, uful 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 askio meet her after school in some unused . The other one was from the person that used to be my best friend, until he started hanging out with a different group whearted high school and he became one of the popur people. My other friend and him are still close. It was only me who didn’t bee 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 after school.

  And when school ends, I go to the 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 seds. But when they did, my female friend, Mia, blushed and turned away. And my former best friend, Noah, starts talking.

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

  “What's up?” I just ask. Seeing them like that wasn’t pletely ued. It was a rumoing 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 wao 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 ent, probably thinking the same thing as me. Do you really think we are friends? But that's not important.

  “Cool. gratutions to you two. I hope your retionship sts 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 ent, Noah’s expressios dark for a sed before he asks “Is that all you have to say?”

  “Is there anything else I would say?”

  “Nope, just w,” He said with a smile. “Thank you for ing, that's all we needed from you” he tells me, basically tellio leave them alohat is what our retionship has e to, him needing me for something, then tellio 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 versation 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 poihing 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 ter, so not having it st 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 be 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 Uats 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 of kin.

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

  I was 4 when the first colpse 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 aing my lise. I already know I am awakehe status s 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 try 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. pletely unknown to Zenith, the event he had seen earlier was very fusing. Instead of an actual fession that the two of them were dating, what was happening was a game, or more a test.

  Mia wao 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 ba middle school because they shared a lot of the same is. As time went oried to a 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 pn.

  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 dition. 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 sihey started high school, so she didn’t know that he might want to date her.

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

  And from there, the versatio pretty normally from there. Except everything was supposed to e from Mia. Noah ended up telling him everything. And he accepted it a without even showiion about the situation.

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

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

  “Yeah guys, grats” David said. “Hey Noah, have you talked to her about the other thi?”

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

  Still fused 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 retly, right? I think it would be cool if we became huogether” He said. “Everyone else is down for it, yoing to be our st member”

  Hesitantly, Mia responds in the positive. From there they all made pns to go take the registratio 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 te. This meant that I had less dio make tonight, now that it was just going to be my sister and me.

  While waiting for it to get te enough to make dinner, I just sit in my room and read some books. I really enjoy the fantasy genre, but thanks to the emergenagito 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 ahat I didn’t say anything when I got downstairs, and huffed for a sed before sitting right o me. She speime while I was reading being really close with me. She did things like pet my head or snuggle with me. She is very affeate with me everyday. She oold me that she did this to recharge, but I didn’t uand what she meant by that.

  Whenever she got drunk at home, she would ofte even more affeate. When that happens she often brings up what I was like right after I ted. I kind of remember being very attached tht after I ted, 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 tradict each other. I was either isoting 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 kit 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 Bck is my older sister.

  She is a rank S hunter who holds the unique skill Absolute Darkness. This skill lets her trol and create shadows. I have seen her create ons, armor and even things like animals out of shadows. When she was still practig a lot, she would oftee little dogs or birds that would go around our house. I was only 10 back then, but I remember pying 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 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 ofteo dungeons sometimes during the day, but she doesn’t really o 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 pig 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. Aually she speaks up.

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