Emerald watched silently as Omariro examined Itsuki, who had long hair, which was half black and half white, with glowing purple highlights.
"Long time no see, Master," Itsuki remarked. "You've gotten much younger in your old age, no?"
"Boy has come to wrong place," Omariro warned. "Will be banished once more."
Itsuki held up a hand. "No, no, don't fret. I can't manifest this form for long. I just came to talk for a bit. Then, I'll return to the Abyss Dungeon."
He briefly appeared behind Omariro's his helmet back on, and his voice distorted. "The place you banished me."
Itsuki removed his helmet once more, looking around the house. "Ah. Lovely. I haven't seen this mansion in use since I first met you. What's the occasion?"
Omariro used his walker to get inside his home. "Boy is not welcome. No longer student."
Itsuki turned toward Omariro. "I, Itsuki Zenin, your first and most loyal student, cannot get the privilege of being recognized even for a casual chat?"
His voice became twisted. "Or is Lord Tsuihō-Ō all you recognize?"
Itsuki laughed. "Oh, that's right! I've got someone else who wants to meet you!"
"Hmm."
"Say hello to Lady Tsuihō Joō, my second in command, and lovely wife, of course."
A lady wearing black armor with light-blue highlights walked into the house, a hand on her hip. Omariro immediately turned around as she caught sight of him.
"Oh?" she noticed. "Master. A pleasure. You look amazing."
The lady took off her mask, revealing a woman with long white hair and sharp light blue eyes.
"Ichika..." Omariro realized. "Girl has married boy."
Ichika flicked her hair out of her face. "It wasn't my first choice, you know. But alas, one cannot complain when banished by the one person they trust more than anything."
She put a hand on his shoulder. "Am I right, Master?"
She walked over to Itsuki, who held her in his arms as he sized up Omariro. "It's hard having a wife whose obsessed with another man more than her own husband, you know. You've been blessed with everything, Master. Power, fortune, fame. Yet you never break or falter. Why is that?"
"Children are too naive to understand," Omariro replied. "Children are corrupt beyond measure."
"Aww, that stings," Ichika mocked. "If I didn't love you so much, I'd rip out your guts and use them to decorate my wall."
She gave a flirty pat to Omariro's shoulder. "So lucky I can't drag you back to the Abyss right now, otherwise so help me you'll never leave my sight—-!"
Itsuki nudged her. "Now, now, dear. We agreed to keep things calm. We will have Master back soon, no matter the cost."
Both of their forms began to flicker.
"It would seem our time is up," Ichika commented.
"Yes, it would appear so," Itsuki agreed. "Good seeing you, Master. Next time we meet, our words won't be doing the talking. Don't die, Master. Don't you dare think of it."
Ichika blew him a kiss. "See you soon."
The two figures vanished, leaving Omariro alone.
"So, who were they?" Emerald asked. "Some crazy ex-lovers, or something?"
"Speak nothing of this," Omariro ordered.
"Eh, I didn't care anyway."
The kids entered the house as Omariro's eyes lingered on the open door once more. Zaria closed it. "Sir, did someone come in?"
"No."
She walked over to him. "Okay. Well, now that everything's settled, you know..."
Zaria picked up one of Omariro's dreads. "I meant to ask you—-I mean, I was supposed to tell you, something...yeah..."
Her face began to blush. "Sorry, sir! I'm not used to seeing you like this!"
"Girl speak clear."
"Never mind. Just, could you explain a bit more about like, you? All this beast and god stuff has kinda wracked my brain."
Omariro began to cough. "From a distant land. Old. Very old. Land no more. Here now. The end."
"That's very vague, sir."
"Girl has received answer."
Omariro used his walker to get himself to the stairs and head up toward his room. Emerald began to laugh as Zaria whirled around to face him. "Excuse you? What's so funny?"
"Nothing, nothing," Emerald said. "It's just funny to see the Destroyer we feared so much now reduced to a helpless teacher."
"He is not helpless! And explain more about this Destroyer stuff."
"Pff, if only you were alive. We came in, wrecked his home and his people, and now he's sitting here all distant and untouchable. Even though he's always been like that, it's just funny to see now that he's human."
"So he IS a god!"
"Oh, if only you knew..."
Emerald gestured to the meat on the counter. "Since you're here, make yourself useful and hand me that."
"Excuse you, you can piss off, thanks."
Rika entered the living room, placing Emeru next to her brother. "Hey, Zaria. Have you seen Master?"
"He just left. Kinda in a hurry, too."
"Doesn't he always do that?"
"Yeah, point taken."
Both of them sat on the couch, looking at each other. Rika hugged Zaria, and Zaria stared at her, confused. "Erm. What was that for?"
"Just because you're my bestie, and we've been through so much together. I'm just glad we're both alive, you know?"
"Oh, well, same for you too."
Zaria looked at her hands. "Have you been improving at all? I really wanna get stronger. Like, Kaidanchō level."
Rika twirled her hair. "We've gotten better. We helped stop Kohaku, remember! And we captured this slimeball here!"
She pointed to Emerald, who gave her an annoyed look. "You only did that because my sister got in the way."
"Hey!" Emeru hissed. "Be nice!"
"NO."
Rika rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I think we've come a long way from our initial days with you, me, and..."
Her voice trailed off.
"You can say it," Zaria sighed. "Han."
They both shared an uncomfortable look.
"I know, I know," Rika admitted. "It's like, I don't know! He shot himself, he's always wearing this guilty look, but when you try to sympathize with him, he pulls more stupid crap!"
"At least he didn't kiss you," Zaria grunted. "He's so lucky that he covered for us back in that sea dungeon."
"But seriously, what should we do? Obviously, Master wants him to stay, and he has his uses, but can he really be our brother again?"
"I don't know," Zaria said. "I really don't."
Han walked down the stairs as the two girls watched him. He poured a cup of coffee and grabbed a protein bar off the shelf before walking back upstairs without a word.
"You look at him," Zaria muttered. "And then you realize as much as he can help you, he's just as liable to hurt you if he convinces himself it's for the greater good."
"Master still has faith in him though," Rika pointed out. "It must be for a reason, right?"
After a period of awkward silence, a knock could be heard at the door, and when Zaria opened it, she saw Kōichi standing there, tossing her a large envelope."
"Here, little shit."
"Whoa, I don't care if you're a Kaidanchō, who the hell are you talking to, pipsqueak?"
"Take the damn mail."
Rika picked it up. "What is it?"
Gakuto walked up, giving Kōichi a hard pat on the back. "It's your wages for this period! It's been about six months since you first joined a division, so it's bout time you got paid!"
Rika's eyes immediately lit up. "Really? How much? Are we millionaires?"
"Rika," Zaria groaned. "Act like you've been here before."
"Guess ya gotta see," Gakuto smirked. "You've been in Kagoshima, Chiyoda, Okinawa, and the Sea and Sky Dungeons, so that's some legit pay grade work!"
"Can we go now?" Kōichi interrupted.
"Yeah, sure, kid. Gotta finish updating the Director on the beast situation anyway."
"Nyugawa's cool, I gotta admit. Having three Kaiju he can summon at any time must be a real honor, huh?"
"Maybe one day, you'll get to that level."
"You can't level that high," Kōichi informed him. "Not unless you go to one place."
"Ha, as if!"
The two Kaidanchō left, leaving the girls alone. Rika tore open the mail immediately, while Zaria watched them leave.
"One place?" she thought. "Like where?"
Rika pulled out a sigil.
"Hmm? What's this?"
As soon as she touched it, a UI appeared.
〈*Rika Amakawa.* ¥: ¥3,925,000.〉
Rika covered her mouth. "Oh. My. Goodness! I'm rich, bestie! I'm rich!"
"Girl, we live in a MANSION! Let me see this!"
She pulled another sigil out of the letter, touching it.
〈*Zaria Takeno.* ¥: ¥4,867,000〉
"Oh," Zaria paused. "Okay, I can work with that."
"How do you have more than me? We've been on the same number of missions!"
"Maybe because I'm just better."
"Bullshit."
Zaria emptied the rest of the sigils. "There's enough in here for everyone. Let's pass 'em out."
A few minutes later, Omariro and the rest of the group were in the living room as Zaria emptied the sigils. Each of them picked up one, with Han picking his last. Zaria handed the final one to Omariro.
"Pay date has come," Omariro noted. "Kids must spend money wise."
Nonoka checked hers.
〈*Nonoka Sunahara.* ¥: ¥12,089,000.〉
"Easy work," she bragged. "Still the best student in the class."
"You've just been inside the division longer!" Rika shouted. "That's not fair!"
"Cry about it, sister."
Rei examined hers.
〈*Rei Hayama.* ¥: ¥4,702,150.〉
"Ooh, is that a lot?"
"How does she have more than me?" Rika questioned. "That Okinawa stuff shouldn't even count! She was trapped!"
Rei gave her an innocent shrug.
Sōshin eagerly touched his.
〈*Sōshin Shikōki.* ¥: ¥4,082,000.〉
"Yay!" Sōshin cheered.
Rika slapped her forehead. "Am I really that useless?"
Zaria put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, bestie. Everyone's just better than you."
Rika elbowed her.
All eyes turned to Han, who slowly picked up his sigil. The sigil began to shake in his hand, before the UI displayed.
〈*Han Jisoo.* ¥: ¥282,600,000.〉
All the kids gasped. Even Omariro lifted an eyebrow. Han stared at them, confused, before noticing his amount. "Wait. That's not right. I haven't even done that much. Huh? Is this a mistake?"
He shook it, but the same amount came up.
Rika folded her arms. "Great. Now he's cheating the system too!"
"What? No I'm not! I don't understand how this happened!"
Sōshin clapped. "Nice, Friend Han! You've made tons!"
"That much would take a significant amount of mission progress," Nonoka noted. "Unless he's been adventuring in dungeons long before us."
The group's eyes all turned toward him.
"Wait," Zaria wondered. "That true?"
"No! No! No!"
"Boy tells truth," Omariro interjected. "Boy has not done deception."
"But if that's true, then how could he make so much?" Rika inquired.
Han formed his cube.
"Wait," Han thought. "Could Kiyoshi have been...no. He didn't explore that many dungeons. To make this much, he'd have to be in a Division for years. And he wasn't in one, especially so young, so...no, wait, could he have been?"
Sōshin shook Han. "Friend Han?"
"What? Oh. Sorry. I guess I've got some wealth to my name, haha?"
The girls all folded their arms and glared at him.
"...Sorry."
Omariro examined his sigil.
〈*Omariro Nyugawa.* ¥: ¥23,550,000,000.〉
The kids all jumped back.
"Whoa!" Nonoka exclaimed. "Sir, you're loaded! You've got more than all of us combined!"
"That's a lot, right?" Rei asked.
"More than a lot!" Zaria confirmed. "Wow, sir, I guess taking down Kohaku, Atsushi, and Raizen really boosts your prestige!"
Rika began to lean over Omariro's shoulder. "Can I get some, sir? Pretty please?"
Omariro grabbed her ear. "Okay, okay! Sorry!"
"That's to be expected," Han noted. "Sir is a very capable individual."
Omariro pocketed his sigil. "Use wisely."
"How do these things work?" Zaria asked. "Do you just swipe at an ATM or scanner and go?"
Omariro nodded.
"Day is for rest," Omariro told them. "Tomorrow is training."
As he left, Zaria cleared her throat. "Quick question, sir. If we wanted to get super strong super fast, what would be the place to do it? Since you know, we've already been to Shikōki Island."
Omariro paused. Even Han stopped in his tracks.
"Girl must stay within limits," he warned. "Push body too far, mind and soul break."
"I know, I know, but we really wanna get to the next level! You know, kicking Mujinsha's ass no effort level!"
Omariro glanced at her before turning back to the stairs. "Will train tomorrow. Results will affect if girl is ready for next step."
He left, leaving the kids alone.
"Next level..." Han thought. "Could she mean Kitakyushu? But if even the Kaidanchō struggle there, what hope does she have?"
Zaria stood up, pumping a fist in the air. "Don't worry, everyone! No matter what threat comes our way, we'll be ready!"
"Yeah!" the kids agreed.
Han examined his cube.
"What would you do, Kiyoshi? What would you do? And who were you, really?"
——