Night in the dining hall. Finn had called a special gathering; every member of the Familia had shown up.
"Since everyone's here, let's begin."
As host and inviter, Finn stood at the front of the room. All eyes fixed on him, curiosity simmering about the meeting's purpose.
"The point tonight is a single question," he said. "Not for the high-level adventurers—but for those of you still circling the bottom rung."
"Do you still want to move forward?"
The question made most of the room frown. Why ask that? It pressed right on a bruise; several faces dimmed.
"I'm not mocking you," Finn added. "I want your answer. What you lack isn't talent or potential. What you need is pressure—enough to force your parameters to grow."
"I want to know whether you still have the will to advance. Whether you still carry that old longing for the higher ranks—and the grit to pursue it."
They could hear something tucked between his words. It didn't sound like a rebuke but a confirmation—was there still a spark to push on?
Even if there was… so what? They had tried. Reality had been cruel. They'd trained themselves sore, and still their stats barely budged. Some had even earned the feat for Lv.2, yet couldn't promote because the numbers wouldn't meet the line.
What they'd gotten for their dreams and their work was a bleak, colorless kind of hope.
Even if they wanted to climb—how—
Wait.
All at once, a thought flashed through their minds.
The wall they couldn't cross… hadn't a certain "outlier" appeared? Hadn't that outlier done a string of impossible things lately?
Layer Finn's question on top of that, and understanding struck like lightning.
Several people shot to their feet. Heat returned to their faces; voices found hope and fire again.
"Captain, of course we do!"
"It's just—our talent's limited. No matter how hard we try, the parameters don't rise like we expect. Some of us even have the feat already, but without the stats—no level up."
"But we never gave up on effort."
They never had. In the Loki Familia—an expeditionary Familia—opportunities to earn the feat for Lv.2 came easier than most. The real choke point was parameters.
They trained whenever they weren't on expedition, chasing the baseline numbers. But fate had felt like a bad joke. After the first surge, gains came in drips and single digits. Eventually they hit values that just… wouldn't move, no matter what they did.
That was how hope thinned. Not because they didn't want it—but because they simply couldn't reach it. There's a special kind of pain when effort has no result. The Falna helps, yes—but even a blessing doesn't lift your ceiling.
So aside from daily training (and whispering to miracles), they had numbed the dull ache with drink.
But now… that lost chance felt close again. With a path in sight, who could stay dull and resigned? To sit would be to betray their younger selves.
At Loki's side, Tsuna heard her stifle a laugh. She leaned in to whisper:
"These guys are shamelessly practical. A minute ago Finn brings it up and every face sours. Now they're about to swear fealty."
"But hey, at least they react faster than that blockhead Raul."
Tsuna, despite the teasing tone, heard the relief under it.
"They've always worked," he murmured back. "It just never paid off. The fact they caught the hint in Finn's words this quickly… they're sensitive. You don't jump that fast unless you're thinking about it every day."
"And I'd bet Bete's constant 'small fry, small fry' routine kept a fire under them," Tsuna added. "People hate him for it, don't they?"
"At first," Loki sighed. "When he joined, his mouth was poison—every word a needle."
"But after a few expeditions, everyone learned what that wolf's foul mouth really meant."
Loki rubbed her temple, remembering the chaos Bete caused when he first arrived—poison-wolf then; tsundere-wolf now.
"Half the reason they never fully let go these past years is Bete's prodding. They all want the day they can glare back and—"
She lifted her chin and squinted, imitating him:
"'Hey! I can do it too!'"
Tsuna blinked. That was… quite a revelation.
(End of Chapter)
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