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Hatsuko's POV

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After we got our new ID cards, we decided on going to my rented room. Even though it was midday, people were rushing without a break. Did something happen here? I wanted to ask someone what was happening, but none of them was coming near our group.

[ Hey, where are we going? ] ( Chloe )

She asked me as everyone was calmly following me.

[ Before I left this city, I had one room rented and Hina should probably have the keys to that room. ] ( Hatsuko )

I explained to her.

[ Hina? That sounds like a girl’s name... ] ( Chloe )

She suspiciously looked at me as she said that.

[ She is a girl though.

Due to some problems, she begged me to stay on my house in exchange doing housework for me. ] ( Hatsuko )

I haven't seen them for quite some time, I’m wondering how they are doing right now.

[ S-so for how long have you been living together? ] ( Chloe )

She worriedly asked me as she grabbed my jacked with her fingers.

[ For some weeks, I think. ] ( Hatsuko )

[ So she’s been with you longer than me... ] ( Chloe )

She said something under her breath after hearing my answer.

[ But I won't lose! ] ( Chloe )

She declared to me after making up her mind. Is she thinking of challenging Hina into a battle? That might be interesting to see how the fight between Hina and Chloe might end up.

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When we arrived at my rented apartment, I checked if anyone was there, but unfortunately none of the girls were inside. That means that I won't have any other choice but to break in. I don't think this will be considered a crime since I rented this apartment for some months. Anyway, I created a replica of the key and opened the door. Shiro immediately started jumping around just like she did when she was in her cat form the moment she got inside.

[ So this is your house? It's quite the mess here.

Seems like that girl “Hina” didn't do her job correctly. ] ( Chloe )

She smirked as she said that to me.

But that's unusual, Hina wouldn't leave this place like this? Did something happen here? But with this, I can confirm that the girls managed to come back here since they are the only ones who have a key to this house.

But where are they? Are they doing a quest right now? I can't seem to feel their presence at all within my reach. Even Akemi, who is supposed to be a dragon, can barely feel her presence. What happened to her?

[ I'm going out for a bit, meanwhile you can relax in here until i come back. ] ( Hatsuko )

[ Okay. ] ( Chloe )

After getting out of the room, I started looking around the city from the above. But I still couldn't detect where Akemi was right now.

Maybe I should look from above the ground. I thought as I went outside the gate as fast as I could, then through the tunnel which led above the ground.

While I was passing through, I noticed some soldiers preparing guns and supplies but I tried ignoring them since that wasn't my goal right now.

But still what could have happened to a dragon in her human form? Her presence is much weaker than before.

I started looking around in order to find the exact location of Akemi and the other girls. But unfortunately, locating Akemi was much harder than I had thought. Not only because her presence was much weaker than usual, but because there were thousands of people distracting me with their presence.

I continued looking around for some minutes until I decided to head back underground. Maybe I should ask Kenji if has seen them. If his daughter went missing, then I'm sure he would set up a whole squad in order to search for her. And I'm sure that Ichika would be with Akemi and Hina as well.

When I was walking back to the gate, I didn't see any of the guards or the soldiers that were preparing their weapons.

What is happening? I'm sure that they wouldn't leave the gate of the city open like this. Something is definitely happening in this city and I'm going to find out.

As I was on my way back to the underground, I started sensing a lot of people gathering around in one place. Seriously, are they doing some kind of event? Even the main gate of the city was unguarded as well.

I started walking towards the place where thousands of people had gathered around. As I was getting closer I could hear all of their voices from here. And when I finally arrived at the place, I could see more than one hundred thousand people together in a wide field. They were all armed to the bone and in front of it was Kenji who seemed to be giving some kind of speech.

[ EVERYONE! THE EVIL HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!! BUT DO NOT FEAR, IF WE FIGHT TOGETHER. WE CAN TAKE DOWN THE MONSTER THAT HAS BEEN KILLING OUR PEOPLE! ] ( Kenji )

His voice echoed through the entire mob that were ready for a fight. But what are they fighting for? I checked the entire city and I couldn't find any dangerous monsters. But as I was thinking about the situation here, Kenji turned around and looked at me with anger.

[ Huh? ] ( Hatsuko )

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