Chapter 262: Happy Birthday

Hide’s step hitched for a fraction of a second. The subtle hesitation was gone instantly, but Kiko noticed. She immediately shrank back, raising both hands in panic.

“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have asked—”

“It’s fine,” Hide cut her off, his voice remarkably devoid of anger. He exhaled slowly, watching his breath mist in the freezing air. “We grew up in the same block in Area 17. She was calm. Always worried about things that didn’t matter. You know, her family threw her away because she didn’t awaken, and when she did the family was not there. Haha.”

“Then, on the day I awakened, we were in an accident and she got mana poisoning. I tried my best for months to cure her, and actually did.”

A cold shadow passed across his eyes. But Kiko had stopped in her tracks. “You… you cured mana poisoning?”

“Yes I did and she woke up. And then I let Walter kill her.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Hide,” Kiko said after a pause, her voice unexpectedly fierce. “Walter is a monster. Even his talent is not known by anyone because everyone who knew is dead. No one could have stopped what he did.”

“Doesn’t change what happened,” Hide murmured.

Around midday, they reached a derelict highway transit depot situated near an overgrown cloverleaf interchange. The glass storefront had been blown out, but an auxiliary generator in the basement was still humming faintly.

Hide led the way inside, his boots crunching over shattered glass.

BZZZZT.

A cracked, flickering holographic news monitor mounted above the collapsed ticket counter suddenly flared to life. The golden crest of the International Exterminator Corporation took over the screen.

“Priority bulletin from the Central Command Authority,” a news anchor announced, her voice grave and rehearsed. “The high-priority fugitive, Hide Volter, has breached containment of the Central Continent and is officially on the run.”

A massive, high-definition image of Hide’s unmasked face filled the projection—silver hair, ocean-blue eyes, and cold, calculating features.

[WANTED TERRORIST — HIDE VOLTER]

[STATUS: ESCAPED FROM DETENTION / EXTREMELY HOSTILE]

[BOUNTY REVISED: 5,000,000,000 CREDITS (DEAD OR ALIVE)]

“Following his violent escape, the Central Council has officially doubled the bounty on Operator Volter to five billion credits,” the broadcast continued. “Telemetry logs confirm Volter murdered the whole group of fighters in the building and assassinated Sir Arius, the third Peerless Knights. This follows his earlier massacre in the 4-Star Dead Zone, where he murdered his own recruits in a fit of, which is said to be a corruption by a strong Calamity lord. Citizens all around the world are ordered to report any sightings immediately.”

The screen shifted to fabricated security stills—Hide’s scaled claws stained with blood, the shattered blast doors, and Arius’s corpse lying in the dirt, all carefully edited to erase the laboratory.

Kiko stared at the glowing red numbers on the monitor, her hands flying to her mouth in utter disbelief.

“Five billion…?” she breathed, her voice trembling violently. “They doubled it… just like that?”

She turned slowly toward Hide, her eyes wide with overwhelming confusion and heartbreak.

“What… what did you ever do wrong to deserve this?” Kiko asked, her voice cracking as unshed tears welled in her eyes. “They were the one who attacked you, right? I know that Walter hid the truth of the dungeon break being 4 – star, and sent a groups of assassin to finish you. Why don’t you just go and tell that to everyone, it would be easy that way.” She confessed, filled with guilt.

Hide stood beneath the flickering light of the wanted poster. His disguised face didn’t flinch, but a cold, bitter sneer touched his lips.

“I can’t, because Walter holds the microphone,” He said quietly. “To the world, truth is whatever the man with the most power says it is.”

He turned away from the screen without another glance, walking deeper into the building toward a row of partitioned roadside booths. “Come on. We rest here until nightfall.”

By evening, darkness swallowed the surrounding highway.

Hide sat in a corner booth near the rear, leaning his head back against the faded vinyl. On the wall beside him, a small digital dispatch terminal hooked to an auxiliary battery was frozen on a standby loop.

A faint green readout glowed in the corner:

[DATE: 21 AUGUST, 2582]

Hide stared at the glowing numbers.

August 21.

A heavy, disorienting hollow opened in his chest.

His birthday was August 12.

Nine days ago. He had turned nineteen while not knowing anything. He didn’t even had memories of what they might have done to him, he just knew that he was paralyzed and choking on his own blood.

Also that meant… it had officially been one year.

Just over twelve months since that August afternoon when he was an ordinary, unawakened high school kid sitting in class, staring out the window while Fuu threw insults across the room. He remembered Risa jogging up to him after school, telling him not to sleep in class. He remembered Kai walking beside them with his easy grin.

Just one year.

In three hundred and sixty-five days, he had awakened a unique class, got dark liege’s talents, butchered Calamity Lords, cured Risa only to watch her die, and learned his entire existence was a project for higher gods.

That ordinary boy who used to eat cookies on the sidewalk felt like a ghost who had died a century ago.

“Hide?”

A soft voice broke through his thoughts.

Hide pulled his gaze away from the calendar. Kiko was standing beside the booth, holding her hands behind her back, shifting uncomfortably on her feet.

“Why are you staring at the date,” she asked gently.

“Just realized what day it was.”

Kiko took a hesitant step closer. “Julian had files on everyone from the tournament. I know your bithday was on 12th.”

Slowly, she brought her hands forward.

In her palms sat a small, sealed plastic container she had scavenged from an unbroken emergency crate in the kitchen pantry. Inside was a single, slightly squished pre-packaged vanilla snack cake with a faded ring of white icing.

She set it down carefully on the table in front of him.

“I know it’s nine days late,” she murmured, scratching the back of her neck as her cheeks flushed faintly. “And it’s definitely not bakery quality. But… nobody should have to spend their nineteenth birthday in a cage. I tried to save you back then, but it didn’t go as planned. Anyways, happy belated birthday, Hide.”

Hide stared down at the pastry.

The room was silent save for the wind rattling the metal storm shutters.

Slowly, Hide reached out and peeled the plastic wrapper open. He broke off a small corner of the dry cake and placed it in his mouth. It was stale, overly sugary, and completely ordinary.

Hide looked up at the grey-haired girl standing nervously before him.

“Thanks,” Hide said softly. “Sit down. Let’s eat.”

Kiko’s face lit up with a quiet, relieved smile, and she slid into the booth across from him.

For the first time since the war started, the suffocating isolation in Hide’s chest felt just a little lighter.