The Moon at Its Zenith
The moon hung high in the sky. The world hidden behind the breakwater shone brightly, as if mourning the buildings submerged beneath the sea. From the city’s highest rooftops to the very edge of the shoreline. And everywhere the streetlights could reach.
The dried blood caught between the rays of light and my fingers only made the sweltering tropical night feel even more disgusting. I, Kang Sian, regretted every single thing I had done up to this point.
“Goddamn it. I was just trying to go to the movies. How the hell did it turn into this?”
I’d stepped up to handle a single Dungeon Gate, and this was the result. But if someone asked whether I’d had any choice but to refuse, the only answer I could give was no. Considering my duty and professional ethics, it had been the obvious thing to do.
In the end, the words I’d spat out earlier were nothing more than the pathetic groans of a student being dragged around by his superiors.
While walking endlessly down the road, I kept scratching at the scabbed-over wound on my face. Something felt off, like there was a foreign object stuck there. The unpleasant sensation grew stronger, as if a splinter of wood had lodged itself in my skin. Just as the indescribable discomfort made me keep digging at it—
“Sian, hold still for a second.”
Pointed ears, platinum-blonde hair, crimson eyes, and sharp features. The woman walking beside me spoke up, then casually plucked the foreign matter from my face as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It was a chunk of monster flesh. Green, yet dripping with red blood.
The funny part was that she wasn’t exactly in any position to be cleaning me up. While I only had a bit on me, she was practically drenched in the stuff from head to toe.
Even after shaking herself off again and again, there seemed to be no end to it. In the end, she let out a long sigh.
“It’s seriously impressive that this kind of bullshit happens in the middle of summer break. Do they think cadets are just errand boys or something?”
“Ugh, tell me about it. How the hell do they just leave a gate sitting there until we show up?”
“And those hunter bastards who are supposed to be guarding it? I have no idea what they even exist for. They just act like they’ve been bribed every single time.”
The woman kept venting her complaints. Yet she didn’t sound particularly furious. On the contrary, her expression remained bright and cheerful, as if everything had been refreshingly resolved and the sharp edges of her emotions had softened.
It was beautiful. And also incredibly long-winded.
I summarized the endless stream of words pouring out from beside me.
“Looks like that damned World Tree must’ve sprinkled some elixir bribes around.”
“Right? You think so too, don’t you?”
Her arm draped over my shoulder. It was incredibly casual, the kind of gesture that would make anyone question our relationship. If there was one thing certain amid all the ambiguity, it was that the two of us were anything but casual.
Friends. Long-time friends. The kind people commonly called childhood friends.
Though honestly, I didn’t really want to admit it.
“By the way, what movie did you book tickets for?”
“A wholesome family classic. Not that it matters anymore.”
“……What classic was it?”
“The Human Centipede remake. Pretty good, right?”
I couldn’t even find the words to respond. I just thought that going into the Dungeon Gate would’ve been better than listening to this idiot spout nonsense again. But the moment I imagined what kind of nightmare we might have ended up watching under the guise of a “family film,” I reached out and pinched her cheek.
“Hngh, hnghzmrrgh—”
“From now on, I’m the one booking the tickets.”
A pained groan escaped as I tugged. When I finally let go, she let out a sharp “Ow!”
“No, it really is a good movie. Sian, don’t you trust me?”
“Nope.”
A single, decisive word. Even though we’d known each other for well over ten years, my trust in her was still rock bottom. A random passerby on the street would probably be more reliable.
“After how much I trust you, isn’t that a bit too harsh?”
“How much do you even trust me to say something like that?”
“Huh? I’m saying! I might not do it for other people, but for you, I’d at least be willing to vouch—”
She wrapped her arm around my neck again and started chattering excitedly once more. There was nothing funnier than a person with nothing but martial prowess and zero chivalry trying to lecture others about righteousness.
I stared at her with open disdain.
“Ugh.”
Still, that didn’t mean I pushed her away or rejected her. Just like always, I simply stayed by her side and kept walking with her.
On the coastal road swallowed by darkness, the two of us strolled through a peaceful place.
It was a day that brought back memories of the distant past.