Leo couldn't stop smiling.
He sat at the briefing table, drumming his fingers against the surface while electricity sparked between them, little arcs jumping knuckle to knuckle. The conference room was all business, white walls covered in dungeon maps and monster anatomies, but he felt like he could float right out of his chair.
"Okay, what's with you?" Nelia crossed her arms, silver hair falling over one eye. "You're acting weird. Weirder than usual."
"Nothing."
"Bullshit." Kelvin, all two hundred pounds of enhanced muscle, leaned back in his chair. "You've been grinning like an idiot for the last ten minutes. You get laid or something?"
"Better."
"Better than getting laid?" Yuki raised an eyebrow. "Did you finally hit A-rank?"
"No, not that either." Leo's grin got wider. "My best friend woke up."
The room went quiet. They all knew about the friend in the coma, Leo had mentioned it enough times over the past two years, usually after raids when the adrenaline wore off and left him thinking about people who weren't there.
"The one from the fracture event?" Nelia asked, her voice softer now.
"Yeah. Two years in a coma and he just... woke up yesterday. Like nothing happened." Leo laughed, running a hand through his hair. "First thing he did was roast me about my Hunter name."
"Lightning Sovereign is a perfectly respectable title," Jin said as she entered the room. The S-rank's presence immediately commanded attention, space itself seeming to bend slightly around her. "Though I suppose civilians wouldn't understand the significance."
"He said it sounded like something a fourteen-year-old would pick for their Xbox gamertag."
Kelvin snorted. "I mean..."
"Not you too."
"I'm just saying, it's a little dramatic." Yuki smirked. "Could be worse though. Remember that guy who tried to go by Death Daddy?"
"Please don't remind me." Jin sat at the head of the table, her expression shifting to business mode. "But congratulations, Leo. I'm glad your friend recovered. Will he be tested for awakening?"
"Maybe? I don't know. He's still pretty weak from the coma." Leo pulled up his phone, showing them a picture from yesterday. Rin looked thin but alive, giving the camera a middle finger while sitting in the hospital cafeteria. "But he's coming to watch the raid today."
"You invited a civilian to an A-rank observation?" Nelia frowned. "That's..."
"Allowed, technically," Jin said. "The safe zones are rated for S-rank containment. As long as he stays behind the barriers, there's no risk."
"Still though." Kelvin cracked his knuckles. "A-rank dungeons aren't exactly spectator sports. Last one had those things with the teeth. So many teeth."
"Manticore variants," Jin corrected. "And yes, they were unpleasant. But today's dungeon is showing as standard configuration. Orc fortress, approximately three hundred hostiles, one chieftain boss."
She waved her hand and a holographic map appeared above the table. The dungeon layout spread out in blue light, showing corridors and chambers mapped by scout drones.
"Entry team will be myself, Leo, and Kelvin. Nelia and Yuki, you're on suppression duty for the main hall here." She pointed to a large central chamber. "Once we clear the outer defenses, we converge on the throne room."
"What about the civilians watching?" Leo asked. "Where's the observation point?"
"Platform seven, overlooking the entry portal. They'll have full visibility of the initial breach but they'll be three hundred meters back behind S-class barrier shields." Jin's eyes flickered with something Leo couldn't read. "Your friend will be safe."
"Good."
"Though I am curious," Jin continued. "Two years of coma, directly exposed to fracture energy during the initial event. There've been cases of delayed awakening from similar circumstances."
"I mentioned it to him. He said he doesn't feel different."
'Yet,' Leo thought but didn't say. Something about Rin had seemed off yesterday. Leo had the ability to sense mana at his level and although he can not tell if someone is awakened, seeing mana was norm for him.
Everyone was exposed to the fracture energy, hence, everyone had mana inside them, even if just a tiny bit... but Rin had nothing, Leo could not sense anything from him.
"Either way," Nelia said, stretching. "It'll be nice to meet the guy you never shut up about."
"I don't talk about him that much."
Everyone stared at him.
"Okay, maybe a little."
"Last week you spent twenty minutes explaining his theory about how dungeon monsters from isekai anime might be pokemon from an alternate dimension," Yuki said flatly.
"It was a good theory!"
"It was not."
Jin cleared her throat. "Focus, people. We breach in two hours. Kelvin , did you get your armor repaired from last time?"
"Yeah, cost me thirty grand though. Apparently 'acid damage' isn't covered under warranty."
"Nothing ever is," Nelia muttered.
Leo's phone buzzed. Text from Rin.
Rin: at the building. where tf do I go? this place is huge
Leo: main lobby, ask for platform seven access. tell them you're my guest
Rin: they're looking at me like I'm homeless
Leo: you probably look homeless
Rin: wow, rude bro.
"He's here," Leo announced, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.
"Go," Jin said. "We've got forty minutes before final prep anyway. Bring him up, let him see the staging area."
Leo was out of his chair before she finished talking, electricity trailing behind him as he speed-walked to the elevator. Two years of wondering if Rin would ever wake up, two years of one-sided conversations in that hospital room, and now his best friend was here.
About to watch him fight actual monsters.
'Please don't let anything go wrong,' he thought as the elevator descended. 'Just one normal raid. No surprises, nothing that would put civilians at risk.'
The elevator dinged. Lobby floor.
He saw Rin immediately, standing near the reception desk in clothes that were obviously expensive but wearing them like he'd grabbed them off someone else's floor. Several security guards were eyeing him suspiciously.
"Yo!" Leo called out.
Rin turned and his face broke into that familiar smirk. "Bro, your workplace is extra. There's a fountain in here. Who needs a fountain indoors?"
"Rich people, apparently." Leo pulled him into a quick hug. "Come on, I'll show you around before the raid."
They walked toward the elevator and Rin's head swiveled around, taking in the massive lobby with its Hunter portraits and monster displays.
"Is that a real monster?" Rin pointed at a preserved orc head mounted on the wall.
"Yeah, from one of the first dungeon clears. They used to keep trophies before realizing it was weird."
"It's definitely weird. Thing's ugly as hell too."
"Wait till you see them alive."
The elevator doors closed and Leo hit the button for floor thirty.