Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Once he dosed off, he did not wake up till it was dinner time. Hitori came out of the room and found everyone waiting for him. It was quarter past seven, soon to be eight o'clock, and they were headed to the cafeteria.

No one could possibly bring trouble or danger to them except them, so walking at night and going to the cafeteria were okay.

"Where is Atama-sensei?"

"Gone somewhere. Maybe he went to investigate Tamashi… or confront him."

Hitori frowned. "Confront him? Alone?"

"He alone is enough for Tamashi even at his peak. Atama-sensei has aged and all, but his magic is still just as strong as it was in his prime time. Magic did not exist in his prime time though."

Hitori kept quiet till he reached the cafeteria. The crowd was lesser than it would be during lunchtime. Hitori took a place by the end of the right side row.

They joined him one by one, bringing meat and noodles and milk and other side dishes available at that time.

"Have you thought about anything?" Hitori asked.

"We are not having that conversation during dinner. Business is for later to be dealt with. So focus on eating." Kyo slurped his noodles.

Hitori wanted to have that conversation at the dining table. He wanted to know what they had decided. Although he felt like his idea was going to be rejected, he wanted to know what made them reject the idea. And what are their ideas?

After they finished dinner, they decided to head back to the office before having any conversation. So Hitori had to wait damn long to finally know what the conclusion was.

The door of the office was open and the guards around it were missing. Fear struck Hitori like an arrow. His eyes fell on Kakashi's hand as he moved it to the door.

Hitori jumped forward, grabbed Kakashi's hand, and pulled it away. "No. Something is wrong," he said, staring at Kakashi.

"What are you doing, boy? Leave my—"

"The door is open and the guards are missing, do you not think it is strange?"

"What are you saying, someone, took sensei away? This is the minister's office, shit can not happen just like that."

"He is right, son. There would be alarms and panic around. No one is powerful enough to just kidnap Atama-sensei." Kyo was not worried, so Hitori thought of moving aside. He stepped back but kept his wand ready.

Kakashi opened the door and went inside, nothing happened to him. Eya and Reon followed him, then did Kyoryu. But Hitori stood back.

Akira patted Hitori's shoulder and muttered, "Everything is alright. Come on." Then walked past Hitori.

He stood at the door for a moment, then went inside. He rubbed his forehead and pushed his hair back as he went to the corner at the end of the office.

Again, the office was empty and Atama was gone somewhere. Hitori could not put on a relieved expression, and he could not relax either. He thought his caring was useless, but he still could not help it.

Everyone gathered in the hall to hear the final decision. Hitori was the last one to come. As soon as he came into the hall, he went to the table and took a seat.

They looked at him, waiting for him to say something, but it was Hitori's chance to stay silent and hear what they have to say. Atama broke the silence at last.

"We thought about it, and I think it will be better to do not to execute this plan."

Hitori inhaled as he leaned back against the chair. "And what does that mean?"

"It means that we are not storming the fort."

Hitori raised his eyes, stared at Kyoryu for a moment like a kid angry at his father for not getting him that red balloon, then nodded.

Kyoryu waited again, giving a look that spoke: 'Just hum and a nod? What is wrong with you, Hitori?'

Hitori stared at the table with his finger on it, then he started moving his finger in a tiny circle. 'So this is what you want, oh, I knew it,' he thought.

Kyo inhaled some air, then let it out. "We do not know where Tengoku lives," he said. "Since we do not know when Tengoku will attack, we would not wait for him to attack. So we started talking about attacking Onogi…"

Hitori raised his eyes. They had another conversation without him. That did not bother him anymore, or so he told himself.

"But no… after all the thinking, storming his fort still seems like a—"

"—stupid idea, I know," Hitori said, looking back at his finger.

"Hitori?" Reon said, "We will find another way."

Oh yeah? He thought. Sure, we will find another way. Of course, just keep thinking of another way.

'It has been a long time since I followed one of your plans,' she had said, but what happened of it now?

"That is, kid," Kyo said, getting off the chair. "We will—"

"That is not it, Kyo-san, so take a seat." Hitori still held his head low

Kyo glared at him. But when Hitori repeated himself, he had to take a seat.

"I said, take a freaking seat. We are not done!" Hitori raised his full of rage eyes and banged his hand on the table.

"You do not need to shout…" he said in a low, unenthusiastic voice.

"I know." Hitori took heavy breaths. "But I want you to know this: We will storm his fort. I do not know what or how, but we will. This shit requires no plan– no freaking plan. We just go like savages and take what is ours."

No one said anything, they were just tired of arguing. Kakashi just groaned behind him and turned around.

"We WILL storm his fort, and that is final. The hell with it." Hitori pushed himself off the chair, turned, and walked to his room.

Kakashi came to the table. "Changed, huh? Sure."

Kyo sighed and turned to them. "What are we doing about that?"

"What other choice do we have?" Eya said.

"I am just so fucking tired of his stubbornness. I can not take it anymore," Kakashi said. "Let us just give him hell."

Kyo nodded. "Although he says no plan, we need a plan. If Onogi has something planned, we should be able to get away from it."

"But not today. Maybe tomorrow… at night."

"We are wanted on that side, you know that, right?" Reon said.

Everyone looked at her as if they did not know– and they really did NOT know.