Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

"That is the third time you’ve checked the same mechanism." A girl’s voice drifted over the wall, calm enough to suggest the argument had been going on for a while. "Has staring at it produced new information?"

"No." The boy answered without sounding the least bit embarrassed. "But touching it without understanding it may produce our deaths."

A second boy leaned over the gate controls.

"So we agree I should touch it." His fingers moved toward one of the metal levers.

"Hiiro." The girl released a slow, tired breath.

"What?" Hiiro asked, freezing with his hand barely an inch from the mechanism.

"Step away from that."

Hiiro leaned closer, squinting at the gears. "I was only looking."

"With your fingers." The first boy caught the back of his academy jacket and pulled him away.

Hiiro stumbled one step before regaining his balance. He looked genuinely offended by their lack of faith in him. "That’s how humans examine things!"

"No." The girl rested one hand against her hip. "That is how you break things."

"I’ve barely broken anything today." Hiiro straightened his jacket with wounded dignity.

Misha emerged from the corner, all three turned toward her. Recognition struck her face almost immediately.

The staff-spear wielder, the gunner girl, and the strange blue-and-white-haired boy wrapped for close combat. They were the same academy students who had caught her attention during the siege of Genesis. They were the three students who had continued fighting while more experienced Rankers fled.

They looked younger without smoke and blood covering them. They were teenagers standing on the battlements of an active quest floor without an instructor, senior Ranker, or apparently even a functional sense of self-preservation.

The blonde haired boy holding the staff-spear studied her first. His gaze moved over her cloak and the daggers on her sides. "Fourth place."

Misha’s brows drew together. "Excuse me?"

"In the contribution ranking." The boy returned his attention to her face. "Misha Apocalypse."

The girl beside him lowered her compact sidearm. Her long red hair had been tied tightly behind her head, leaving her sharp green eyes unobstructed. Ash still marked one side of her dark skin, though her uniform had been cleaned as well as circumstances allowed.

"Oh..." She looked Misha over once more. "So you’re her."

The third student grinned. His academy jacket hung open over dark combat wrappings. "That’s a cool name!" He placed both hands on his hips. "Misha Apocalypse. It sounds like the final boss who joins the party after being defeated!"

Misha stared blankly at him. She had not yet decided whether that was a compliment.

"It is her registered Tower Name," the blond boy said, as he gave Hiiro a brief look. "Not an invitation to invent a backstory."

"You don’t know that." Hiiro pointed at Misha with sudden enthusiasm. "She might have an excellent backstory. Betrayed by an ancient order, or maybe sealed for a thousand years forced to–"

"I’m standing right here." Misha slowly lowered her hand from her dagger as she looked between them.

Hiiro’s finger dropped, his smile widened. "Then you can confirm which part is correct!"

"None of it." Misha watched his face fall with surprising sincerity.

"You answered too quickly!" He narrowed his eyes. "It’s very suspicious..."

The blond boy stepped forward before Hiiro could interrogate her further.

"My name is Caius Solmere." He offered his hand, a small, easy smile softening the seriousness of his face.

Solmere. It was a familiar name, one of the Four Families. After Tobias’ warning, the family settled differently with her.

Misha looked at his offered hand, then at his face.

Wonderful...

She had barely resumed climbing, and the Tower had already placed a member of one of the Four Families directly in front of her.

He noticed the hesitation. Something sharpened briefly in his eyes, but he neither withdrew his hand nor pushed it closer.

"Misha." She finally accepted his hand. "Apparently, you already knew that."

"Confirmation is better than assumption." Caius released her hand before she needed to pull away.

"That would sound more convincing if you hadn’t introduced me by my ranking." She wiped her palm against her cloak.

A trace of amusement entered his eyes when he caught that.

"My name is Astrid Hale." The red-haired girl inserted. "I apologize for both of them in advance."

"I have done nothing requiring an apology." Caius said as he adjusted his grip on the staff-spear.

Astrid looked toward the gate controls. He followed her gaze to where Hiiro had once again drifted toward the lever.

"Hiiro." His voice remained gentle.

The other boy immediately stepped away from the mechanism.

Misha noticed that. Caius had not raised his voice. He had barely changed his tone, still, Hiiro obeyed with the speed of someone who had already learned what happened when he did not.

Hiiro stepped forward before anyone could stop him. He placed one hand dramatically over his chest and swept the other behind his back. "Shimura Hiiro. Transcendent martial artist, future legend, beloved prodigy, and–"

"Academy student," Astrid interrupted as she checked the ammunition chamber of her sidearm.

Hiiro’s hand dropped. "That too." He glanced at Misha. "But that’s temporary."

"Beloved by whom?" Caius asked as he inspected the field beyond the wall.

Hiiro looked personally wounded. "By many people of course!"

Astrid slid the chamber back into place. "How about you name three?"

Hiiro opened his mouth and nothing came out. His eyes shifted toward Caius.

"No." He did not look at him.

Then the boy turned toward Astrid and she simply raised one brow.

"You both lack loyalty." Hiiro folded his arms and looked away with a pout.

Misha studied the three of them. She had known them for less than two minutes and already understood which one would become exhausting.

King appeared beside her in his smaller form, invisible to everyone else. He floated near Hiiro’s head with his tails swaying behind him.

[The loud mongrel appears defective nya,] he said while studying Hiiro.

Misha kept her expression carefully still.

That assessment was a little harsh. Probably accurate, but harsh.

A System timer pulsed above the battlements.

「 〔SYSTEM NOTICE〕

Preparation Phase.

Time Remaining: 00:03:52

The first wave will begin when the preparation period ends. 」

Misha glanced toward the open field beyond the wall, then back toward the three students who should not have been there. Her suspicion deepened.

"Why are you on this floor?"

For a moment, none of them answered.

Hiiro raised one hand. "Well, in my defense–" He drew himself up as though preparing to address a courtroom

"You touched the portal." Astrid stood beside him, her voice almost painfully calm.

Hiiro lowered his hand halfway. "I was going to say that."

"You were going to lie." She slid her sidearm back into its holster.

"I was going to improve the story." He placed a hand against his chest. "There is a difference!"

Astrid looked at Misha. "He sneaked into the church and touched the portal."

Hiiro recoiled. "Astrid, you make it sound as if I licked it."

"You asked whether it would taste like lightning."

"That was just curiosity!" He spread both hands. "Curiosity is the foundation of human progress."

"It is also the leading cause of your injuries."

Misha stared at them. The boy smiled at her as though this conversation had gone exceptionally well. He was far too cheerful for someone who was surrounded by danger. Perhaps that was simply how he dealt with fear, or perhaps he had been dropped too often as a child.

Astrid appeared to be his complete opposite. A narrow blade rested against one hip, on the other sat a compact mana sidearm. She had the composed expression of someone who had already regretted every decision that placed her beside Hiiro and had decided to manage the consequences anyway.

Cauis stepped forward before the argument could continue. "We had no choice but to follow him."

"You could have found an adult first." Misha looked between them.

"Hiiro was already gone," Astrid replied. "Leaving him unsupervised on an unknown floor seemed irresponsible."

"I am perfectly capable of surviving alone!" Hiiro planted his fists against his hips.

[Perhaps he is not defective.] The black cat narrowed his golden eyes thoughtfully. [Perhaps he is merely stupid nya.]

Misha scratched lightly at the side of her cheek to hide the smile threatening to appear.

Caius glanced at her hand. "Are you all right?"

"I’m fine." She quickly lowered it. "Just tired."

His eyes stayed on her for a second before he nodded even though he did not look convinced.

"How long have the three of you been together?" She couldn’t help but ask.

"Five days, seven hours and twenty-three minutes," Astrid replied without hesitation.

Misha blinked several times, then she tilted her head. Five days?

Hiiro leaned closer and lowered his voice as though sharing something deeply personal. "They have been the greatest five days, seven hours, and twenty-three minutes of our lives."

"They have not," Astrid retorted.

Cauis ignored both of them. "We met during the siege."

That stopped Misha. They had fought like people who had known one another much longer.

Or perhaps she was judging too quickly. She had only watched them from a distance, and battle had a way of creating false familiarity between strangers.

Still, Caius had already positioned himself slightly ahead of the other two. Not obviously, it was just enough that if something came through the field, it would reach him first. Astrid stood a little behind his left side, close enough to cover the gaps in his defense, and Hiiro had drifted toward the front again but Caius kept one hand near the back of his jacket.

Five days... Some parties climbed together for years without developing that kind of instinct.

"These previous floors weren’t difficult for you?" Misha studied the stains in their uniforms.

Hiiro laughed and planted one foot on the lower edge of the wall. "Difficult? We were amazing!"

Caius released a quiet sigh. "The floors were manageable."

"We were fortunate that our abilities worked well together," Astrid said as her gaze moved toward her.

"Hiiro also attracts enemies." Caius added the information with a small smile. "It saves us the trouble of searching."

Hiiro’s face brightened. "See? I’m useful after all."

"That was not entirely praise." Astrid checked the timer.

Misha looked at them again. Teenagers. All three were clearly teenagers, yet none of them resembled students waiting for instructions. They had survived the siege, crossed six floors, and reached an active defense quest without a proper party.

Extraordinary did not feel like a strong enough word. Reckless came close.

She folded her arms. "So you entered a portal without a complete party, crossed several floors without supervision, and never thought to wait for an adult?"