My Sniper System

[Four adventurers have entered the class A portal.]

[Quest: Defeat every single monster residing in this place within an hour.]

[Reward: Katana (Mythical)]

A panel appeared before the party of adventurers who had entered the portal. These were the instructions to conquer the portal and obtain the treasure that lived inside of it.

“Get out of the way!” an adventurer shouted, as he slammed his axe against a monster.

Another guy with a shield bashed the beast and yelled in return. “We’re already clear! This portal is nothing compared to the ones we had conquered last week!”

A woman, who wore a white hat, waved her staff and cast a spell at her teammates. As soon as the woman let out those words, magic circles surrounded her comrades and rejuvenated the lost strength they had. Within seconds, her friends were ready to fight once more.

That group had one last party member. He was a tank that absorbed damage whenever the beast planned on attacking his group. Everyone did their best, evident from sweat filling their napes, to defeat this boss.

Those people were up against a spider, standing twenty feet tall. It was the last creature standing before them. An obstacle that the party had to face. That group had different talented individuals and formed a party to vanquish these portals. As they coordinated their attacks, the spider slowly lost its limb and will to fight until the bitter end. Eventually, those four people won the dreadful battle.

It was a group of adventurers cleaning the portal for any monsters lurking inside. It was their job. As they had defeated the portal, a treasure was rewarded for their braveries. It was a key that the group didn’t know. And it was their job.

This group of adventurers was also known as the Crimson. Crimson Guild. They were the best. Those people were the ones who had effortlessly swept through the portals and defeated monsters beyond one’s imagination and even made a name for themselves. Rumours had it that these individuals were the ones who had received the first gift to fight these monsters. Every member of their guild was on par with a class C portal. And when they fought as a group, they could roughly take down a class A portal or even slightly higher than that if their ace showed up.

This was our daily life here in Tokyo. Everyone who had a gift fought against those pesky bastards, while others who didn’t receive one continued working like nothing ever happened. These portals and the monsters already claimed thousands of lives inside, but the government refused to disclose it to the media. It was… absurd. And unreasonable.

It was the year 2024 when it all started and changed our lives. Actually, it was even earlier than that, but the people never paid any attention to it. Most of them claimed those creatures were photoshopped or something, especially the portals. Computers and editors could easily make those gates turn into reality, but I beg to differ. Those were real. But the government did everything they could do to divert the issue instead of tackling what was important for the civilians. Within a few months, everyone had forgotten about it. All of them but me.

Little did everyone know that monsters - the ones seen in fantasy, literature, and whatnot came into life for the second time. And powers existed, which came to bite back our tails…

……

“This is just in. Another report of a portal and a monster attack sighting emerged in Tokyo, Japan. A student at a university claimed that the portal was somewhere underground. But the government believed they falsified the reports, and there wasn’t anything to worry about. They also mentioned that the government had already hired a few groups of A class adventurers towards the site, in case of a portal appearance. We will give you the latest news soon once we…”

A zipping sound came afterward from the television. My step-mom didn’t want to hear anything about the news and immediately closed it using the remote. I was indirectly related to it. And I couldn’t blame her. She told Hina and me we were already late for school and didn’t have time to listen to the morning news of monsters and portals ravaging Earth. Our grades were more important.

“Aoi, are you ready for school? Did you really bring everything you need?” my step-mom, Mrs. Himari, asked me. “How about you, Hina? Did you bring everything too? I hope you did.”

“Yes, mom! I already did!” Hina, who was just preparing her things, replied from her room.

“I also have mine too, Mrs. Himari,” I answered.

I waited outside our studio house. I already had my hair groomed, my phone was inside my pocket, and I wore my uniform for our school, with my bag clipped in my hands. It took out more space than expected, so I stayed outside my house. I didn’t want to add more space inside our tiny abode.

There were only four rooms: the kitchen, my step-parent’s room, Hina’s room, and my uncleaned room. Although the apartment had four separate rooms, it didn’t have much space. Our heads were like chickens, bumping with each other. If I stretched my arms, maybe I could reach the other room.

My eyes glided to the side and noticed a desk with a picture frame resting above it. It was a photograph of Hina’s family, and I was also a part of it. At least, that’s what the image told me. But I was just in the rear. I told my step-mom to exclude me from the picture. However, Mrs. Himari persisted and forced me to participate in the photoshoot.

A smile appeared on my face as I recalled those memories. After my parents died, this family was all I had. These people were a family to me. They treated me like their own child. But I couldn’t repay their kindness by existing and forcing myself to live with them. Even though Hina and I rarely talked, I still had her back. It was the only way that I could think of to repay such a loving family.

I had already eaten my breakfast and woke before the sun could rise, so I had a head start compared to Hina. She was always like this. Hina would wake up an hour before school started when we were still eight years old. Mrs. Himari - Hina’s mom, and my step-mom would usually scold her and make me an example. Since then, Hina had never talked about anything. Afterward, Hina never called me her brother.

It had been ten years since then. I was around six years old when my parents died. And that was also the time when Hina’s parents adopted me as their own. Luckily, my parents and Hina’s parents were close childhood friends. So after the incident, Mrs. Himari and Mr. Akira couldn’t leave me behind.

After a few minutes, Hina finally emerged from her room. She had her twin-tail flowing on the side, with make-up covering her face. Hina looked fantastic. Despite being late, she cared about her appearance and wanted to make an impression on our third academic year in high school. We were graduating students, after all. But when she met my gaze, Hina averted her eyes and dashed straight to the road. It was as if I wasn’t there with her. I was used to it.

“I’m leaving, mom! Don’t worry! I have everything perfectly under control!” she exclaimed, and almost slipped into a puddle nearby. A curse escaped her mouth, but Hina hurriedly covered it with her hand. Fortunately, the word never reached Mrs. Himari’s ears.

“Watch where you’re going!” my step-mom shouted, and shook her head. “Why do I have to deal with her this early in the morning? Aoi, please take care of her as always. I don’t want to see her injured or something. Hina could be really clumsy, you know? And go home before six. Akira will join us for dinner.”

Akira was my step-dad and Hina’s father. He worked at a company far from this house and had to sleep over in their building. I rarely saw him inside this house. But when I did, Mr. Akira would treat us to an extravagant meal or a trip to the park.

“Sure thing, Mrs. Himari. I will.”

“Call me Himari, dear. Please.”

“I can’t… I’m sorry. See you later, Mrs. Himari.”

As soon as we exchanged goodbyes, I ran off and chased after Hina. Hina and I needed to travel by train before reaching our school. I travelled a few roads and ran as fast as my legs could. An ocean of sweat had drenched my face and even left marks on my clothing. But I didn’t care, since I needed to babysit Hina.

I finally arrived at the station within a few seconds and caught up with my step-sister. Fortunately, the train hadn’t arrived just yet. And there were a few passengers with us, and most of them were students. All of them were also late for school, just like us. I didn’t recognise any of them.

When I stood beside her, I caught my breath and rested my hands on my knees. Panting sounds resounded the area. And everyone who had heard it turned their eyes towards me. But, as always, I cared little about it. As long as I was beside Hina, everything will be okay.

“Please don’t run off like that, so I can catch up to you,” I said, while still gasping for breath.

“You don’t have to, Aoi. I can go to school on my own. We’re both eighteen, by the way,” Hina croaked.

She subsequently threw a card in front of me. It was the card needed to enter the train, which I left and forgot inside the house. Luckily, Hina brought it and gave it to me. The piece of paper gingerly flew like a leaf until it could even reach the cold ground. But before it could even touch it, I reached out my hand and caught it on my palm. But when I raised my head, Hina had already disappeared.

A deafening sound of a machine reverberated throughout the station. But I never noticed it, not until now. When I finally realised my situation, Hina sat on the train. She watched me from the mirror, with her arms and legs crossed. That girl showed her tongue and made a funny face, telling me I was a loser. I, who had experienced this a thousand times, let it slide as always.

……

I arrived at my school after a while. It was the same as every other academy, but had several students enrolled. It wasn’t popular, but it had a name for itself. After finishing high school, we would apply to this university as college students. By then, Hina and I had to decide what course we wanted to take.

But we would cross that bridge once we got there. For the time being, attending our class was our priority.

Hina studied in a different section, while I was in the last one. After Hina’s parents compared my grades to her, I lowered my score and tried to make as little effort as possible. After hearing all of those comparisons thrown at her, I knew that took a lot of toll on Hina. I also offered my knowledge and tried tutoring her but Hina bluntly refused.

Suddenly, my phone rang and vibrated inside my pocket. I picked it up and opened my gadget, only to see Hina’s message on the screen. Hina told me she was already inside her room and made it before her teacher called her late.

“Good for you. I don’t know, but I think I’m late, lol.” I texted those words and replied to Hina’s message.

The hallways inside the building were like a labyrinth. There were plenty of rooms on each side, but no students loitered around. All the students were already inside their classrooms. I was the only one left behind. Just as I was about to check my new room, my phone rang for the second time. And when I checked it, it was my Midori, my classmate.

“Hey, bro! The teacher’s already here. And he’s looking for you! You better get your ass inside this class, or else I will grab it for you! They don’t call me the fastest runner in this school for nothing, you know!”

And Midori was what he had claimed himself to be. He wanted to become an athlete. It was his dream. Every day, he would dash straight to school without even riding the train or any vehicle. Midori refused to. He would only use a bicycle if Midori really needed to, especially if he was late for school. 

After hearing that, I didn’t have a choice and raced towards the hallway. However, as soon as I trundled towards the empty place, a rumbling sound echoed throughout the corridors. It was as if they were following me or below me. But when I checked my surroundings, nothing was there….