Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Hitori finished telling her about the battle in detail. She was left speechless for a long moment, and he never bothered to snap her out of it. They were staring at each other, but only Hitori was looking at her, her mind was somewhere else.

It took him twenty minutes to complete the story and additional ten minutes for Akemi to accept the fact and stop asking him questions like: 'Is that the truth? Did that really happen? Show me your finger!'

"That happened," Hitori said, "and I did let Tengoku get away." He stopped staring at her and pulled his gaze away.

"Do not blame yourself, Hitori," she said with a sign, "I am surprised how you are alive after that."

He took a moment's pause. Eya, Reon, Kakashi, Akira, and Kyo flashed in front of his eyes– he had a reply ready for her statement. "Because I was not alone. Solo does not help much when shit gets real."

She scoffed. "Of course…" and muttered.

"I am serious. If I was alone—"

"You would be dead, I know. But you are not alone so you can get others killed. That is how it works. Not everyone will get out alive. If you are attacked, you will die. But if you are with someone, then that someone else is bound to die."

Hitori opened his mouth to argue. What she was saying was boiling his blood, he was not going to let (Reon) anybody die.

"Do not say anything. I have been through it. I was alone and became a target for that monster. But when I was with him… he became the target of that monster, but I am still alive. Sometimes I think my death would have—"

"—would have made Kamiya's life living hell," he said. "We kids, Akemi-san, but now I have adults with me. Kyo is almost fifty."

Akemi was about to say something even more hurtful, but she closed her mouth and gave him a smile. "Do you know why death is so fucking fair, Hitori?"

"Is it? I doubt it." He rose from the chair. He did not want to wait and have this gloomy conversation right now. He has things to take care of, he can not let her words or the old pain mess up his mind and disturb him from the goal.

"It is fair because the one the most in pain is taken away and the other one still remains to mourn for him. It can be unfair when it takes a happy, smiling human."

"I do not know what you mean. I will see you later," he said as he walked to the door.

"Alright," she said, trying not to sound bitter at all. "Just come back and update me."

Hitori raised his hand to grab the door when it slid open on its own. He stopped at the door and turned to Akemi. "If I am alive, sure I will come back."

He walked out, leaving the door open. She closed it later, though. He was thinking about what to do next, but Eya's words came back to him. He started planning his attack strategy:

'Maybe we will (give up and run) attack the castle again. But if he (attacks us?) has runs away? Then protection. I will need to tell them that (someone dies when I am not alone) we need to use some investigative Onogi.

'I do not need to think about Kamiya (death is fair), at last, I could not tell Akemi about Reon… (unfair if it takes a happy one) is happy.'

Hitori raised his head to look at the turn ahead. He took a left turn and walked on the stone-paved ground with wooden walls surrounding it. That smell of wood in summer in a silent corridor was a rich smell that made the smeller feel rich.

Then he thought: 'When (if) I come back (I am alive), I will tell her about Reon's feelings.' (Death is FAIR.)

What other options did he have? Seven in total. He had taken a walk to the courtyard, met Mono for a second, then came back to Atama's office. He had thought about seven options while he was on his long walk.

Atama was the only one sitting in the office, behind his table. He lifted his eyes, his half-rimmed glasses slid over his nose as he looked at Hitori. Although it was a normal glance, it felt like a glare because of his glasses.

"I have opened the guest rooms. We have only three of them, so you will have to share."

"I do not mind unless I have to share my room with Kyo-san or Kakashi," Hitori said as he walked across the office. "Where are the rooms actually?"

Atama turned and pointed at the right-end corner of his office. Although nothing but white walls were visible, Hitori walked to the end of the office.

He heard a flick of the finger, supposedly Atama, and the corner started moving. Hitori watched with no surprise as he wanted the door to open enough so he could slip in.

Even the rooms were white, which did not surprise him much. He looked around the room to spot anyone he could, but in front of him stood two beds, a table, and a washroom.

No chairs. No chairs? Hitori guessed the warlocks just flick their finger and summon chairs as needed, no need for extra effort or money. His guess was true since the chair did not require high-level magic to be summoned– just the average warlock-level, or high wizard-level skills.

But he saw another door in front of him, that door was probably there for leaving the room to… to where? Or to what?

He walked to the door and grabbed the handle. He considered leaving the door, for a moment, then pulled it open.

The scene was finally changed. Instead of white walls, he now saw cream colored walls surrounding a hall. In the middle of the den-like hall, were chairs, a table, and everyone else.

They looked at Hitori, but no one cared to share a smile– even Eya did not. Reon looked like she was out of the world and Kakashi did not even bother to acknowledge Hitori's presence.

Hitori was determined to share his plan. They needed to take action and it was supposed to be today. "I have to talk about something."

"Yeah, son, we all do," Kyo said, tapping the table with his middle finger, trying to create a rhythm.

"I have figured out a plan," Hitori said as he walked across the hall, to the table. "I think we should act tonight."

When the word 'tonight' came out of his mouth, everyone looked at him with disbelief in their eyes– even Eya did.