"What's the point of these cold introductions?! He already knows our names! Let me just do this instead of everyone else!" Sirius said, a bit annoyed by the short introductions made by his companions.
Neriah and Enel felt anxious, as if they were expecting the foolish action Sirius would do, and they braced themselves for the shock.
"Neriah Grey is a first-year student like us. When he was young, he and his family were involved in an accident in which his parents died. But Neriah and his younger sister miraculously survived when they were saved by a man wearing a plague mask. However, this shock caused his sister to fall into a severe state of shock, which led to her being hospitalized, and she is currently unable to walk or even speak. Neriah wants to become a professional hunter as quickly as possible to pay for his sister's medical expenses!" Sirius said, which left Noah slightly shocked by Sirius' bluntness and courage in revealing such private information. He was even more surprised by Neriah's background.
Noah looked at Neriah, who was now looking down, his fist tightening on his knees. Numerous images from the past flooded Neriah's mind.
He was in the car with his family, his parents' faces covered in a white mist, but his sister's face shone like the sun. She had long golden blonde hair and a wide, bright smile that lit up Neriah's world.
Suddenly, Neriah found that the car had crashed into a gas truck, and the car was burning. The front of the car was crushed, pinning his parents' legs, making it impossible for them to move.
He turned to his sister, his head bleeding, and she had lost consciousness. At that moment, a man wearing a black crow mask, a mask once used for protection against plagues, broke open the door and pulled Niryah and his sister out. Niryah was on the verge of losing consciousness. He looked at the hell as he was pulled farther away from the car and his trapped parents. Then, the truck exploded with a loud bang, burning the car and Niryah's parents, reducing them to ash. Black smoke rose into the sky like a cloud of death.
"Is it really acceptable for him to say such things in front of Neriah, who is sitting right next to him?" Noah thought to himself, worried, as he watched Neriah's expression twist from sorrow to loneliness to regret to determination. Neriah placed his hand over his heart, pulling out a necklace he was wearing, gripping it tightly as if whispering a prayer or incantation to calm himself. Soon, he returned to his normal state.
"Enel Hall is also a first-year student and highly specialized in chemistry. You might notice his shyness, but don't mind it. He is part of the Hall family, known for their expertise in mold, plague, and epidemics. In a family like that, he was the only one who had the ability to turn plague from a disease into medicine, which angered the elders of the Hall family. They didn't like it at all, so they confined Enel every time they saw him use his ability, and sometimes he was punished severely. He also wasn't spared from being compared to other talented members of his family, constantly being compared to his older brother, which caused him to have a complex. So, it's best not to talk about his brother in front of him," Sirius said, which only shocked Noah more. Sirius' straightforwardness and enthusiasm seemed excessive, as he talked about such personal matters concerning his friends sitting nearby.
Noah glimpsed Enel out of the corner of his eye, and he had his hands over his ears as if he were listening to annoying voices in his head, whispering to him that he was worthless and a scum. Enel started scratching his neck from the tension. Noah understood Enel's feelings, as he had gone through the same experience for many years, but he had mostly gotten over it. However, every time he tried to forget the past, he would hear someone cursing at him while crying, and the voice felt more real than an illusion.
Noah looked at Sirius, whose face was now filled with eager expressions. He couldn't understand what was going on inside this person's mind, nor what he expected from him.
"Tell me more about yourself, Noey-kun. We can get to know each other better, and we can become friends," Sirius said enthusiastically, his eyes sparkling like stars on a dark night. Noah was slightly bothered. Sirius had only talked about his friends and not about himself, yet he called it getting to know each other. But it seemed Noah had no choice but to talk.
"Oh, yes, you're right. I didn't talk about myself," Sirius said, realizing his mistake for not talking about himself the same way he talked about Enel and Neriah. He had completely forgotten about that.
"Huh?!" Noah was surprised by what Sirius said. It happened again, as if he had read what Noah was thinking and interacted with him. Noah had considered it a coincidence the first time when Sirius guessed Noah's fear of being rejected because of his differences. But this time, it seemed more obvious. Coincidences don't happen twice.
"Actually, Noey-kun, I used to live with my father alone in the western part of the empire, in poor neighborhoods on the borders with neighboring countries. I came from a place called 'The Roof of the World,' Tibet. My father and I would move from one neighborhood to another. Life was miserable. There were homeless children everywhere, and neglectful parents sold their children for a little money. Sometimes you'd find corpses thrown in the streets because no one had the money to bury them decently. We'd usually throw the bodies into the lake or dig a hole and bury them there. But I was happy because my father was always with me, never leaving me alone. My mother had disappeared three years ago under mysterious circumstances, so I was grateful that my father could fill her place in my life. But all of that fell apart when my ability awakened, and then I could see. My father was a professional killer who had killed more than 37 people. He was also the one who killed my mother. So, I ran away at night when he was asleep and had to cross rivers full of corpses to get here."
Sirius said, and for the first time, the enthusiastic and foolish expressions on his face disappeared, replaced by a serious one.
Noah was stunned when he heard Sirius' story. It seemed like everyone had gone through a childhood that wasn't kind or even remotely normal. Well, that was expected—it's the path of the hunter. But there was something that caught Noah's attention more than anything else.
"What do you mean when you said 'then I could see'?... Sirius, what is the nature of your ability?" Noah asked. It was clear this wasn't a question to ask someone who had just shared such a sad childhood, but Noah felt unusually cold today, so he asked without thinking.
Sirius fell silent for a moment before his wide smile and eager, foolish expression returned.
"That's good, Noey-kun... But what do you think about everyone talking about their abilities so we can become closer and feel more comfortable with each other?" Sirius asked, smiling enthusiastically with excitement.
"Yeah, sure," Noah said, smiling as well. He felt a little excited himself.
"I'll go first then!... Ahem, ahem, my ability isn't combat-oriented, but it's ranked A... It's called 'Open Book,' and it lets me see people's information just by looking at them. This information appears as floating text above their heads, but it's not absolute truth—it's what the person wants to reveal, either consciously or unconsciously. All I need is one look, and I can 'bookmark' it in a mental book I call 'The White Lie,' where it stores that person's current information. But... the information they don't want to show doesn't appear. And when something interesting happens, it may disappear from the text after a moment, depending on the target's decision," Sirius explained his ability. Noah was slightly shocked and felt anxious. This explained why Sirius reacted directly to his thoughts—he could simply read them like an open book. But Noah was worried that Sirius might have read something about him that could put him in danger, like information about the system.
"Look at this, some information has changed~. Father's name changed... Oh, so this person is Noah's current father," Sirius thought to himself, smiling excitedly as the text above Noah changed. But that didn't matter. Sirius had already "bookmarked" it and could read that information again through "The White Lie" whenever he wanted.
"So, who's next~?" Sirius asked, a bit curious about who would go next. He squatted down and started swaying from side to side.
"I'll go," Neriah said calmly, drawing everyone's attention. Noah was the only one who didn't know about Neriah's ability, so he was the most focused on.
"My ability is called 'R.P.S. GAMBIT.' It's simple. My ability allows me to get boosts and extra advantages if I win a 'Rock-Paper-Scissors' match against an opponent. The match can happen in an instant, and I don't need the opponent's consent to start the match or tell them the rules, which gives me an advantage. For example, if the opponent throws a punch at me and I use my ability and block their punch with an open hand, or hich is considered a paper, I win. But if this happens, the surprise advantage is lost, and the opponent can activate the match whenever they want too. If I'm careless and attack and they perform a counterattack during the match, I lose. And if I win a round, I get a temporary advantage depending on the situation. For example, winning with paper steals half of the opponent's mana or completely steals their ability completely for 30 seconds. The theft is random but usually leans toward stealing half their mana. Also, if I win with 'rock,' I gain a temporary power boost of around 50%. As for winning with 'scissors,' it simply cuts the enemy directly—even intangible things like mana itself—but winning with scissors has the lowest probability, less than 10%.
All of this comes with another side effect: if I win three matches in a row, my luck triples and the effects get stronger. The best part is that this effect also works in daily life. I call it 'The Gambler's Euphoria.' Of course, if I lose, the enemy receives one of these boosts depending on the situation. If it's a tie, then nothing happens. There's also a condition to activate it: eye contact or physical contact must be made for one second."
Neriah explained his ability, which left Noah in a brief state of shock before he recovered as soon as he finished. This ability was clearly complex and full of risks—but perfect for a gambler. It's said that abilities are drawn to the user based on their nature, so Noah guessed that Neriah was a gambling addict.
"I-I guess it's my turn now..." said Enel, interrupting Noah's thoughts awkwardly, then added, "M-My skill is called "Rotchemy," and it allows me to control chemical decomposition on a microscopic level—transforming plague, rot, and decay into powerful healing compounds. I can extract bacterial toxins, break them down, and reshape them into effective medicine. The more rotten or decayed the material is, the stronger the effect becomes.
I've divided it into three effects for easier use. The first is "Purified Plague," where I target an enemy or a decaying material and extract the rot. It also causes physical damage in the form of harmful toxins. The effect is different on organic rot like corpses and diseases. In those cases, "Purified Plague" turns the rot into a healing mist that lasts five seconds within a certain range.
The second effect is "Toxic Conversion." It works like a passive skill: whenever I get poisoned or afflicted by a negative effect, there's a 40% chance it transforms into a temporary positive one—like resistance to curses or diseases, or even a boost of energy. But since it's always active, I really can't enjoy alcohol or wine or other stuff like that.
Lastly, the third effect is "Synergy." It's a chemical trait where the effectiveness of my 'Rotchemy' depends on my knowledge of compounds and chemical composition. The more I know, the better I can optimize healing and damage."
Enel seemed really excited and didn't stutter while talking, showing his real passion for chemistry. Noah was impressed by Enel's ability. Since Noah used to study a lot in high school to forget the bullying he suffered, he understood more than just the surface explanation—and he was surprised by what he realized.
"So you're essentially employing detoxification pathways to convert decomposition into bioactive compounds. You're reversing entropy within a closed system. This isn't just manipulating rot... it's a kind of synthetic chemistry," said Noah, teasing Enel a bit.
Enel was stunned by Noah's comment, while Sirius and Neriah had dumbfounded expressions, unable to understand a single word.
"...Wow, you really do get it! Exactly! I trigger the reaction through chelation and esterification processes, using a specially designed internal catalyst—Rx-腐化-ΔC13. This mechanism breaks down endotoxins and reconstructs them into high-efficiency therapeutic compounds. I call this system the Pathochemical Reversal Protocol. It's basically... turning gangrene into medicine,' said Enel excitedly. His shyness vanished, his eyes sparkled, and he switched into full science explanation mode.
"So you're not curing corruption... you're recycling it. From a biological perspective, you're making medicine from molecular wreckage. That puts your skill in what could be called "Dynamic Regeneration." Unconventional… but it makes perfect sense," said Noah, feeling a deep connection and mutual understanding with Enel. It was truly a geeky conversation in every sense of the word.
"That... that's exactly what I wanted to say! Finally, someone who understands me without needing me to dumb it down—", Enel said with sparkling eyes and a wide smile. He was relieved to find someone who could understand him without needing things simplified.
But then a sarcastic voice came from the back.
"Okay, can someone translate all that chemistry talk into human language?", Sirius said, frowning and holding his head.
"...You ruined the moment, Sirius", Enel muttered under his breath.
"If that moment included words like chelation, entropy, and esterification, then I'm proud to have ruined it", Sirius replied sarcastically.
The room went quiet for a second, then everyone burst into laughter—genuine, heartfelt laughter from deep inside.
"Honestly, even I had to mentally review some of the terms", Noah said while laughing and scratching his head. But he was happy. He felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Sirius, Neriah, and Enel were truly kind and sincere people.
"Damn... maybe I went a bit overboard with the explanation", Enel said, trying to hold back his laughter, though a muffled chuckle escaped his mouth.
Their laughter continued, filling the room with a warm, familiar feeling—as if the outside world no longer mattered. In that moment, they felt like family, like true friends. The walls between them faded.