Carmine’s bath was too cold. It always was. She didn’t know how much more of the lukewarm water she could handle. What she wanted was heat, damn it. Something hot, something that made her feel all warm inside. And this just wasn’t it.

  Carmine rose from the bath, her wet hair covering her face. She glumly walked to the mirror and after drying herself with a towel, plugged her hairdryer in. The hairdryer dutifully dried her hair.

  ‘How empty. These eyes are always so empty.’

  Carmine stared back at herself in the mirror. The normally fierce girl looked almost serene in that mirror.

  “Hah… How stupid.”

  Carmine finished up her cleaning and walked out of her bathroom, only wearing a towel. She snatched her favourite bottle of tomato juice from the fridge and chugged it, not stopping until it was finished.

  ‘Tomorrow’s the big day.’

  It was. Her first mission as a ‘full’ squad. Though, without her dumbass of a captain of course. Which was its own issue, but that was just how things were.

  “He’d better get a 3rd squad member in that vacation, or I’m gonna leave this place,” Carmine muttered.

  ‘But to where?’

  Nowhere, that’s what. She didn’t have anywhere else to go. It was by pure chance she found a place here, under Galas, and if it wasn’t for that, she’d still be out on the streets. Sleeping under bridges, showering only in the rain. Scrounging for food.

  Carmine felt a tingle run up her spine. She wanted to forget all about those days, the lowest days of her life. She felt worse than a dog, a pathetic being who could only struggle to survive. That was who she once was. And now… was she any different?

  ‘Surely.’

  Surely? How would she know? If suddenly, she lost everything, would she have returned to scrounging around for food, constantly on the run?

  “Whatever…” Carmine muttered, as she went up to her closet.

  “I’ll go grab some grub then exercise. If I get lucky, I might get a sparring partner.”

  At that moment, her phone rang. She walked over to it slowly and checked who it was.

  “That guy… Ha, fine.”

  Carmine picked up the phone and answered the call. Galas’ energetic voice rung through instantly.

  “Hello! How’s my little Carmine doing?”

  The jovial tone annoyed her instantly. “Shut up. You’re loud.”

  “Aww, is Carmi all fussy? What happened?”

  “Don’t patronise me. Say what you came to say then fuck off.”

  Galas made a weird noise, then responded, “Geez, in a bad mood much? Thought I raised you better than this. I am paying for your apartment after all.”

  Carmine didn’t answer back. She slowly moved her finger to hang up. “…”

  “Okay! Okay! As you might have expected, I’m calling about tomorrow.”

  Carmine sighed. Finally, this was getting somewhere. For how strong he was, he was awfully chatty. If only he could shut his mouth, then maybe he could get a date. Not that she knew anyone would even want to try. In fact, it would be best if he stayed single forever. He deserved it.

  “I know. Don’t get too aggressive on the newbies, just like with Rasa.”

  “Nah, it ain’t about that. I know you’ll be fine. Machu can manage you well enough, I think.”

  Carmine almost laughed. “Hah. And how is a newbie with no experience supposed to manage me? I don’t have to listen to her.”

  “But you will. After all, you don’t want to push everyone away. You just want to-“

  Carmine cut him off. “I really will hang up if you don’t get to the point.”

  “…I’ve noticed your interest in Machia.”

  Carmine scoffed. “Yeah? Everyone is. Be weird not to be. Even Rasa is.”

  Carmine could just hear Galas tapping his forehead with his finger, acting like a know-it-all. “Your interest extends a bit more than just wanting to fight him though, doesn’t it?”

  “… What the hell do you mean?”

  “Eh… Nothing much. I think I’ll let you figure that out yourself. Wouldn’t help you much if I just told you.”

  “If you’re not gonna say anything then don’t bring it up,” Carmine said in an annoyed tone.

  “Alright, alright! I’ll say a little more. Less of a warning, more of advice. Don’t try to pry too much into his business. He’ll totally rock your shit if you try.”

  Carmine finally grinned for the first time today. “Is that a challenge?”

  “Nah. I just want you to remember these words once he kicks your shit in the first time. After that, what you do is up to you.”

  “I’ll beat his ass and send you a pic. I’ll show you,” Carmine said, filled with confidence.

  “You do that, Carmi. Have fun with him.”

  “Oh, I will.”

  After a short silence, Galas spoke again. “There are more ways to have fun with people than plain old fighting them, you know? Might as well try them out.”

  “Like what?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, watch a movie together?”

  ‘… Is he asking what I think he is?’

  “… With Machia? The two of us? A movie?” Carmine repeated.

  “Yeah, why not?”

  “Why… I’m hanging up.”

  Carmine set the phone back down and continued to put on her clothes. As she did so though, her thoughts wandered back to what her captain said. Watching a movie with someone instead of fighting them? How… annoying.

  Carmine’s phone rang again. This time, instead of a call, Galas had texted her. He had sent her recommendations of a few movies, separating them by genre. His top choice was ‘Fist of the Dragon Bride,’ an old martial arts romcom action movie.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Blehhh. Way to be old.”

  Carmine did not give his recommendations another thought. They were stupid, idiotic and a whole bunch of other synonyms she couldn’t bother to think of. The only movies that were maybe, just maybe worth watching would be horror. But that didn’t matter right now, she was gonna go to the gym and work all this energy off.

  ‘Blood-Red Night seemed interesting though…’

  ———————————————————————

  Rasa’s fingers deftly pressed on his violin’s strings, each stroke of the bow producing a melodious sound. His body was focused entirely on playing this song, completely ignoring everything else. His face stayed emotionless, in a state of total concentration.

  *Bang!*

  “Oops!”

  “Ahhh! You ruined Rasa’s music box!!!”

  “Shush! I’m gonna try to fix it! Distract him for a bit!”

  “Okay!”

  “…Hah,” Rasa sighed.

  Rasa’s lone audience, the oldest of his little siblings, rose from her seat. Her name was Ayla and unlike Rasa, she was a pure human. Despite that, she was very clearly his little sibling, sharing his chocolate brown hair and eyes. She was a precocious girl, currently attending middle school, and the burden of being the eldest sister always pushed her to be more responsible.

  “Ugh, they’re always so noisy! I’ll tell them off. You can keep playing, Ras.”

  “No, it’s fine. I haven’t packed anyway.”

  Rasa slowly placed his violin and bow back into its case. Following Ayla, they left the music room of the house, and spotted the smallest one of their siblings walking down the stairs.

  “Enka! We heard you, you know.”

  “… No you didn’t,” Enka lied, not fooling anyone at all.

  Enka’s pouty face, struggling not to give anything away made Ayla pause in her tracks. As a 6 year old, he was the youngest of the Kairys household, and was easily the cutest member. He was a mixed elf-beastkin, lacking the dog ears Rasa had, but keeping the same tail. He had pointed ears as well.

  “Oh, just go help mom with lunch,” Ayla encouragingly pushed Enka towards the kitchen.

  “But-but, Rasa’s,” he muttered out.

  “I’ll deal with it, okay?” Ayla said with a smile.

  “Okay.”

  Enka ran to the kitchen, his footsteps reminding Rasa of his youth. When he was his age, the household was… far lonelier. He had been a single child for more than a decade, and he cherished the times when his mother was home and he could help her cook. It still stunned him that he now had 5 siblings of which the eldest was barely half his own age.

  “You stay here, Ras, I’ll-“ Ayla began.

  “No. If I leave you all alone, my room will turn into a mess.”

  “That’s-a good point.”

  Ayla leapt up the stairs, while Rasa took his time walking up. As he neared his room, all sorts of sounds emanated from it. Ayla’s scolding, who had entered the room before him. His other siblings, all who attempted to excuse themselves but backed down due to Ayla’s glaring. The breaking of even more things. And the hurried cleaning of the room.

  Rasa slowly opened his room to find that Ayla had organised their other 3 siblings to cleaning it up and packing his clothes. Specifically, he saw that one of his favourite music boxes was scattered all over the floor, utterly broken.

  ‘Ode to Time. A classic written during the Mana Emergence. Its songwriter was personally saved by Shial Park and dedicated the rest of his life to singing his glory.’

  “Ah, Rasa!” The 3rd sibling, Krish, pointed out he was there.

  “I-it’s not my fault. It’s hers!” The 5th sibling, Diya pointed to the last remaining sibling.

  “No, it isn’t! You were the one playing with the music box!” Mila, the 4th sibling shouted back.

  Each of these siblings was a slightly different race from the next. Krish had horns alongside longer ears, a mixed fiend-elf. Mila was a mixed elf-human, only having slightly longer ears. And Diya was a mixed fiend-dogkin, having horns and a dog’s tail. It was certainly a very colourful family.

  “It doesn’t matter. I have the melody memorised and I can purchase another one during my trip. Let’s forget about it and move on,” Rasa stated.

  His little siblings all nodded along and got to work, cleaning up the room and packing his clothes. Rasa’s valuables and his weaponry were all stored in his dimensional storage bracelet, but he still liked to pack his clothes in a suitcase, even if he was just going to store that into the bracelet as well. It was a habit from when he was younger and he did not have the storage bracelet yet.

  His violin and bow though were special. They were enchanted by his mentor, and as such could not be placed into a dimension. They would remain at his side physically in their refined and elegant violin case.

  Once the children were finished and Rasa checked the suitcase to make sure it was packed well, he stored his suitcase into his storage bracelet. Upon hearing their mother’s call, Ayla ushered them all downstairs, where a warm lunch awaited them.

  Rasa’s father and mother were mixed races as well. His father was a mixed fiend-dogkin, same as Diya, while his mother was a mixed elf-human, same as Mila.

  The people of this world were nominally all still ‘human,’ having evolved from the same base homo sapiens species. Races did not have longer lifespans than others, for they were all ‘human.’ As such, the additional features afforded to each person based on their race was purely that, an addition. All these different mixtures could exist within the same household because at their core they were all still ‘human.’

  People were only ever a pure race or a mixed race composed of 2 halves. A person possessing features that belonged to 3 races or more did not exist. Despite Rasa and his siblings being different races from each other, they all inherited the same genes from their parents, sharing their brown hair, skin colour and numerous other features.

  Due to this, there were 4 total races in the gene pool Rasa and his siblings came from. Human, elf, dogkin, and fiend. Usually, children were born mixing a race from their father’s side and another from their mother’s side, as was the case with Krish and Enka. Sometimes, children took only after one parent, like Diya and Mila. And very rarely, were children born as a pure race, following only one race out of their parents, such was the case with Rasa and Ayla.

  The features a person has simply mix and match depending on the races involved and are almost treated like they are modular. If the races overlap, then the lesser feature of one of the races is reduced or removed. As an example, beastkin often have additional animal ears, while elves have longer human ears. As the defining feature of an elf is their longer human ears, the child of the two will not inherit the beastkin’s animal ears, but only their tail or another feature. Uniquely, while beastkin are the majority race of the world, there are no mixed beastkin of 2 different animal types unless the animals are already compatible, the child will only take after one of them. Each one could be considered their own race, but the existence of this incompatibility between each other is what labels them all to be collectively known as beastkin.

  “Rasa, how long will you be gone?” Enka asked.

  “It’s a month!”

  “No, it’s just a week.”

  “Isn’t he going for a year?”

  “Noooo, he definitely said just a month.”

  “You’re lying, you’re lying to me and everyone here.”

  Rasa’s siblings talked over each other, raising the noise level to its usual amount. Rasa and his parents shared a smile, though Ayla, who wasn’t part of the chattering, wasn’t so happy about it.

  “Make sure to eat your curry, kids,” their father, Gaurav, reminded. “Your mom worked hard to make it.”

  A sonorous “Okayyyy” resonated around the table, followed by the click-clacking of tableware.

  One of Rasa’s ears raised a bit and the first notes of a melody began playing in his head. Light, airy, it brought forth feelings of nostalgia. It was a familiar melody, and one of his favourites.

  ‘Dozen Year Wait. My music teacher composed this while we were waiting in the hospital room for my mother to give birth to Ayla.”

  Rasa’s tail slowly swished back and forth, following the rhythm. Just like always, it wagged according to the symphony playing in his head. Despite the chaotic household, the melody of the song was crystal clear to him, as if it was embedded into his very soul. Yes, nothing could disrupt this melody.

  “…” Ayla picked at her food, nervously stealing glances at her big brother from time to time.

  “What’s wrong, sweetie?” Their mother, Siti, asked.

  “…Do you really have to go?” Ayla pouted as she asked.

  “Of course he has to. Your big brother Rasa’s going to become a stellar Hunter, isn’t that right?” Gaurav enthusiastically answered for him.

  “That is one thing I’d like to do,” Rasa stated. “But to answer your question, yes. I have to go. Both to improve myself and also so I can find my long lost music teacher.”

  “Be sure to give our thanks to Ilaria when you find her again, Rasa. She did us such a favour for babysitting and tutoring you,” Siti said as she poured curry into Rasa’s plate. He was a fast eater, but whenever it would seem like he would be done, she kept giving him more.

  “That’s right! I remember how you were the worst of your class but after only a month with her, your grades skyrocketed. She’s a miracle worker, that one. Make sure she knows she’s welcome anytime,” Gaurav’s loud and boisterous voice resounded throughout the room. It was no wonder how his children became so noisy.

  “Though, tell her it may be a bit noisier this time,” Siti smiled, knowing it was more than just a bit.

  Enka raised his hand. “Rasa, can we meet her too?”

  “Of course. But you might have to wait a little while before you can meet her. She’s a very secretive woman.”

  “What does secre-see-“

  “Secretive,” Ayla corrected. “It means you like to hide things.“

  “She is one mysterious lady, isn’t she? Shows up to our door one day then offers to give Ras music lessons while we were out. Man, if she was a kidnapper, Ras would be long gone.” Gaurav scratched his head, almost laughing at his luck.

  His wife wasn’t as happy as him though. “I still cannot believe you left him alone with her that day.”

  “She gave me a demonstration! And Ras seemed to like her a lot, so I thought it was probably fine.”

  “Probably isn’t good enough, dear. You should have stayed with them the entire day.”

  Gaurav lamented, “But, honey, if I did, we wouldn’t have been able to pay rent…”

  It was at this point, Siti snapped. “Rent doesn’t matter when it comes to Rasa! Apologise to him again!”

  Gaurav slammed his head onto the table, quickly assuming the position. “I’m sorry, Rasa, for neglecting you.”

  “… I appreciate the apology and I accept it.”

  Rasa gave his mother a look that told her to please forgive his poor father. She harrumphed, telling him that he was forgiven for now.

  A small silence ensued before one of the other kids piped up.

  “I thought we owned the house?” Krish asked.

  Siti immediately began explaining, as if her outrage had never happened in the first place. “Before all of you were born, the 3 of us lived in a small apartment. That was before mommy and daddy got rich and bought this house.”

  “”Ahhhhh”” was the collective response.

  The family collectively went back to eating their curry, having random bits of conversation in between bites.

  Ayla realised something and suddenly stopped eating. “Wait, we got rich and then you decided to start pumping out babies?”

  “Mmhm,” Siti nodded. “I think 6 is good enough for us, isn’t that right, Gau?”

  “Y-yes! The perfect number.”

  “…Wow, that’s a lot.”

  “Uh, Ras?”

  Rasa turned to his brother. “Yes, Krish?”

  “Do you think I can be a strong Hunter like you? I already have an Aspect!”

  Krish’s eyes were practically sparkling, though not in the way a Star Aspect would. Not many others could tell, but Rasa could hear the sound of his Aspect loud and clear. Krish’s heart was perpetually beating louder than everyone else’s. It reminded him of the beating of drums.

  Rasa placed a hand on his brother’s head. “Absolutely. You’re my brother, after all.”

  Rasa smiled as best as he could, and as gentle as he could, trying to mimic the ‘normal’ smile his mother gave them all earlier. He wasn’t great at facial expressions, but his brother seemed happy enough with it.

  ‘A strong Hunter. Is that what I am?’ Rasa asked himself.

  Certainly, he felt like he had made great progress since he began his service. Even if he hadn’t gone on an actual mission, due to lacking a squad member, the private lessons from Galas were helpful. Be that as it may though, him and Galas were incompatible. Galas could show him the motions and how to perform spells, but to him, it was almost the same as a crude drawing. He could barely tell what it was and the strokes that formed it. The only person he felt he could truly resonate with was Ilaria, his music teacher from way back when. Alas, she practically dropped off the grid after Ayla was born.

  Still, this was an opportunity for further growth. Finally being able to do active combat missions would go a long way to improving himself.

  Rasa’s ears slowly tuned out the background noise of his home, as they so often did. He wondered just what kind of melodies he would hear in his work. What kind of music would he encounter? The sound of a heartbeat. The gentle breathing of a person. The raging fervour of battle. All things he had encountered before, but never in an active combat situation. What would it feel like to stare someone down, as they attempted to kill you?

  ‘It must feel exhilarating. Or perhaps, I wouldn’t feel anything.’

  Music. Symphonies. Melodies. All things that encompassed his very life since he was born. He had been listening to the music of his parents ever since he was in the womb. The daily toiling of his mother and father as they worked to provide a space where he could grow up in. The sounds of panicked movement as the first-time parents acted. Every second he had spent alive was spent bathed in the world’s symphony.

  ‘What will be the symphony that will result from this endeavour? Will I give up on Hunting? Will I continue onward, resolute to find my teacher? Or will it be something else?’

  Ilaria, the person who taught him how to breathe. The person who taught him magic and how to listen. How to properly form words, notes, and songs. She was the same as him, someone who could only understand the world in those terms, and so she was the only person who could truly understand him.

  Before he knew it, Rasa had carried his violin to the dining room, and he was playing. His parents and his 5 younger siblings all smiled happily at him, enjoying themselves. This was the perfect audience. Still, while they were perfect, his playing was not. Something was missing, as there always was. He played it perfectly, but the issue was with himself as a person. How could he complete himself? Perhaps this was why he set out to become a Hunter. Perhaps this was why he wanted to find his teacher. Nevertheless, only time could tell, and Rasa for one, had all the patience in the world. After all, his captain was Galas.