N. E. N. [ H U N T E R X H U N T E R ]

Chapter 13 - ハンター 試験 | パート10

Last time...

My voice wasn't loud enough, and I couldn't do it any louder. I had to do something! If I didn't, I would pass the rest of my life reading that book, not able to do anything else!

Now...

Kotono POV

I closed my eyes, paralyzed by unknown forces. A pressure of three elephants was keeping me from moving, from lifting my arm to throw the book, from opening my mouth. Tears got into the corner of my eyes; it was painful, very painful. Nevertheless, I found, somewhere deep in myself, the force to kick the bookshelf.

As my foot silently hit the piece of furniture, I though it was over. They couldn't hear me, and I wouldn't be able to hear them once I would be controlled by the power.

So this is how I would end.

My eyes glanced at Hiroe, peacefully sleeping. This was probably the last time I'd see her. My eyelids slowly fell, making the place darker and darker...

Something suddenly made everyone in the room jump, well of course except for me. They jolted awake, looking around, searching for the source of whatever woke them. Their eyes finally made their way to me, seemingly in pain with a book in my arms. Beside me was a fallen bookshelf, with its books scattered around it.

My kick was apparently enough to make the bookshelf fall after all, and the sound seemed to be loud enough to wake them. Though I didn't hear it at all, all of my senses except for sight being dulled.

Hiroe rushed towards me, scared. She took the book out of my arms in a swift moment, and I could only gasp for air.

I felt pins and needles in my body as I regained my senses. My ears buzzed like a thousands bees were around me, my mouth was as dry as if I had just ran a marathon, and I was covered in a cold sweat. But at that moment, none of that mattered. Hiroe had saved me. My future wasn't reduced to misery anymore.

I covered my sister in a big hug, holding her while there was no tomorrow – which had almost been the case for me. Once I finally let her go, both her and Hanzo were looking at me questionably.

"Water," I managed to say, still having a dry throat.

Hanzo swiftly headed towards the table, where I had left glasses and water. No one talked as he filled up the glass and handed it to me. The only sounds we heard were the water in the cup and his footsteps.

The first gulp I took hurt, but it got better and better as I swallowed more water.

"Thanks," I said with a sigh as I placed down the glass beside me.

My head tiredly went backward, taking support on the wall I was leaning against.

"That book," I pointed towards the book about gods, "don't go near it. It was weird; I was interesting but all of the sudden, I felt obsessed with it. I felt like I needed to know more, like my life depended on it. When I tried to look at the time to see when I'd have to wake you up, it went out of control and I started having an attack of some sort. I'm impressed I was able to make the bookshelf fall."

I was looking at the ceiling absentmindedly as I explained what had happened.

"It's not exactly your turn to stay up... sorry about that, you could've had thirty more minutes of sleep..." I said guiltily as my eyes moved towards Hanzo.

"No worries, I feel awake enough. Anyway, we probably wouldn't do as well with one less partner on that phase, right?" Baldy comforted me with a goofy smile.

I smiled back at him, and quickly fell into a deep, deep slumber...

N. E. N. POV

The tension in the room slowly died down after the event. Hiroe and Hanzo were now silently chatting together, still digesting through what had happened.