Chapter Five (Part 3): Please, Don't Make Such a Sad Face.

After Nagisa and I had stopped our walk in front of another wooden door that looked so off compared to the whole HQ, and she told me that we had already arrived at the arsenal, I remembered that I just had to turn back to her and said 'Excuse me?' since I was so sure that there's no way an entire freaking ARSENAL's going to have a wooden door as its entrance.

"You can go ahead, Mr. Ozwald."

"What? O-OK..."

Although when the law enforcer showed me the way using her hand, I just nodded at her and went ahead into that door anyway, with a bit of reluctance, of course.

When I finally got inside the arsenal, the first thing I could notice was this wooden floor that creaked a bit when I had set foot on it, next were those brown walls that seemed to be made of wood also, and then in the air, there was this... woody scent? It was a scent that seemed to come off of those bookshelves which looked so ancient as if they came straight out of some libraries in those old-school 2010 movies.

The whole place made me feel like I just got sent back in time entering this room, to the days when our aunts and uncles were still in their 20s I guessed?

And I must be honest, from the very first glance, there was nothing about this 'arsenal' that could justify why it should be called an arsenal. Also, seeing this much usage of wood, it had me question the whole organization in my mind if this is even illegal or not. A room that was built entirely of wood in this era? Even a 5-year-old would laugh at my face for suggesting that such a thing could exist. These Hunters really be defying any laws man had ever made...

"Don't you seem surprised, Mr. Ozwald?"

"A-- Well... I guess I do. This whole... arsenal thing is surprising, indeed." I was scratching my chin as I said those words. And I had to admit... I was still in total disbelief about this whole place being used to store weapons since there was absolutely no reason for these many bookshelves to be in the arsenal unless the Hunters took the quote "Knowledge is power." literally.

"Well then. No need to get nervous. All the other newcomers once had the same reaction as you. Here is the actual arsenal, as we don't store weapons for later distribution, unlike the military; rather we simply keep them here in the safest space possible and let them await for their rightful owners to come and summon them." O-Oh...

I see...

'Safest space possible'? Did that mean...?

As I repeated the words, my eyes immediately flickered to the books on the shelves, then I squinted a bit, it felt like my subconscious was trying to tell me something...

"Don't tell me... you keep them in these BOOKS?" At the moment of realization, I gasped even before Nagisa got to open her mouth and confirm my assumption.

"You've got good imagination, it seems. But that's not the case. These books act like keys to the vaults that are used to summon the divine weapons." Uh--

"Oh... OK..."

"Even though we have the powers of gods and angels in our hands, we still can't do magic tricks, Mr. Ozwald."

"Um... I just thought that maybe some Hunters with the powers of deities of Literature could do the job, I don't know..."

"That's very unlikely even by our standards. Aren't you being a bit childish having such a thought?" A--

"W-What did you just--?" I swore I could see Nagisa smiling as she asked me that question, but only so so briefly, my eyes almost missed the scene.

"Oh, my apologies. Sometimes I can get carried away, just like Leo."

While we were walking past all these bookshelves, instead of trying to observe the whole place that gives off such a magical atmosphere, I found myself staring blankly at this cold lady's face which suddenly didn't seem cold any longer. I wasn't sure if I look into it a bit too much or not but I think... I could sense that there was a smug smile lying beneath her icy façade.

So... unlike what I had speculated, she was ACTUALLY somewhat of another version of Leo.

Ah. Talking about the two of them being 'twins'... To be frank, having been looking at her face for longer than an hour in accumulated time, I began to have this itchy feeling that keeps telling me 'Nagisa looked strangely younger than Leo'. It was like... the two of them are not actually the same age.

So my curiosity kept whispering into my ears, tempting me to ask her that simple question 'How old are you?' - but given that, no longer than 24 hours ago we were complete strangers, I didn't think it was a good idea to ask her such a personal question so soon... or she might think I was trying to pull the 'I am an adult. You are just a kid.' card at her to make her stop making fun of me after this.

And I always tended to overthink stuff also...

"Mr. Ozwald, may I ask you some questions? The questions are necessary for helping you find your weapon or you'd have to try touching all the weapons in here one by one, which might take you too long if you want to go home before it gets dark." A--

"Y-Yes?" However, because of the chance I didn't take, I immediately got myself questioned by Nagisa instead?

Ugh... Never mind! Let's just do this!

"Sorry, I mean-- Yes, please, feel free to ask anything..."

"Thank you. Then... First question, do you remember the voice you've heard in the very first moment you were chosen by the divine?" Huh?

"Voice?"

Still, this stupid me got dumb struck at the very first question he'd got. My head tilted a bit out of confusion, and I couldn't even try to follow what she said.

"What voice?"

"The voice of the divine?" As Nagisa asked me back, her eyes clearly showed signs of bewilderment, even though it was super small like, eyes widening for 1 millimeter larger and such.

"Oh, I see... Voice... of the divine..."

"You didn't hear it?"

"Uh... I'm sorry. I just don't follow... What could it possibly be?"

"..."

Then her face got all stiff, listening to my another stupid question.

"We Hunters, the Avatars who wield the powers of divine, all heard the voices of our respective deities after we had been chosen by them. Then we started taking on journeys to find our weapons that were sent from Heaven to a specific location in our region according to their guidance, that was how the first of Hunters had met up for the first time and such a meeting was immensely crucial to the foundation of the Order itself."

"You didn't hear such a voice? The voice that tried to lead you somewhere far far away?"

"..."

Oh my God... Judging from her voice that suddenly began to have crumbs of emotions mixed in it, if I stayed truthful and responded with a 'No', would I be screwed?

"No. I'm sorry..."

Having asked that, I stayed truthful anyway, as I could sense that this whole topic is super important. And of course, the right answer might help affirm my status as this powerless non-Hunter who somehow got dragged into all of this weird sh*t because of some weirdo kitty and not someone who could fight off demons on a daily basis like these mad lads. She said "All Hunters heard the 'voices'" right? If I didn't, then I wouldn't possibly be a Hunter, or one of the Avatars who was chosen by the divine or whatever, therefore I could just f*ck all of this and go home.

"Interesting... So you didn't hear the voice."

"Yes, totally."

"Thank you for the information. Then we might have to try other quick methods. I'll have Mr. Orobas come here to meet us, he'll be very much of help."

"..."

Ah...

Sh*t. This lady didn't falter.

"Before he arrives, is there anything you might want to know about the process of becoming a Hunter beforehand?"

Umm... What I wanted to know...?

'Can I not become a Hunter?'

'How the frick did my weak ass get chosen to be this Avatar blah blah blah?'

"Well, there is... I just wonder how the deities choose their Avatars, like... is there any criteria for it or...?"

"The criteria? You're hopeless."

"..."

Excuse me?

"Only the hopeless, the ones with no purpose in life, and the ones in extreme pain. People like that are desperate and would be willing to do anything to escape their 'previous' lives, hence they would be more acceptant of this deadly duty and be willing to risk their own lives for both Humanity and Heaven."

"Before we became Hunters, we had no other purpose in life. As for me, Leo, and many other children, if we hadn't become Hunters, we would have spent all our teen years struggling on the streets, trying to find food that is not too spoiled to eat."

"Aren't you like that, Mr. Ozwald?"

While Nagisa was answering me, uttering all of that depressing stuff, her expression didn't change one bit.

But on the other hand, I found myself frozen like a statue, having received such information.

"I-I'm--?" I didn't really know what to say.

"If you are not, then it's okay too. Some of us were in better conditions than the others... So please, don't make such a sad face. It's natural. This world, our lives, nothing has ever been fair."

Then my hands started to tremble so bad, I could feel my eyes begin to tremble too.

How come a teen like you said things like that?

How come someone not even older than 20 had thought of the phrase 'Nothing in our world and our lives is fair?'

This kind of world, so cruel and wicked. Was it really the same world that I had always been living in?

"I-I'm so sorry to hear that, Nagisa...!"

"Don't be. Being sorry can't change anything. You're an adult, aren't you? And you're about to become a Hunter."

"A Hunter is no guardian, no warrior, we don't need to worry about being honorable enough. But. One thing a Hunter should worry about is wasting our time."

"Don't waste your time being sorry. Just do something."

While I was facing the wooden floor, trying to hold my first drops of tears back, I could feel Nagisa's hand patting on my shoulder as if she was trying to say "There, there."

Oh God...

Surely this lady didn't take only the role of a law enforcer, she freaking KNEW how to recruit people!

"Yes, Nagisa, I will... I will do something!"

"Good. But that something shouldn't be 'Going home to pamper my little brother and sleep soundly on my bouncy bed', should it?"

And goodness gracious! Please allow me to take my words about her and Leo back in that instance! This lady was clearly the moon to his Sun?!