Vol 2 Chapter 5 – Banished a Second Time — And Betrayed【Vol 2 – Banished and Betrayed — Even in the Real World 】

Our clan, Eclipse, was a small operation built mostly around classmates — but we worked together, hitting low-difficulty Dungeons after school and on weekends. It was a hobby, nothing more. Nobody was gunning for the top. But there was a real sense of camaraderie, at least.

As for me — school during the day, part-time work at night, and nothing left over. I didn’t have the bandwidth, actually, to set foot in a Dungeon. But I knew the game inside and out, so I pulled my weight by breaking down monster weaknesses and theorizing drop conditions for the others.

Then, one day, everything shifted.

In the second semester of junior year, a transfer student showed up at our school — Mikage Tsukasa, the son of the president of Shin’en Group, one of the major conglomerates.

He became the talk of the school overnight. Word of his wealth spread fast. And then he came to us — asking to join Eclipse.

We were caught off guard at first, but he said he wanted to learn the ropes firsthand to get stronger, and he said it without a shred of arrogance. He was polite, kept his head down, and the others warmed up to him quickly.

But that was where the quiet rot began.

Bit by bit, the air around me started to change.

“Ren doesn’t actually fight, though…”

“Should we really have someone leading us who can’t even make it out because of work?”

“Mikage-kun might be more reliable.”

“When we go with Mikage-kun, his people come along and help us level up. It’s reassuring. Compare that to our leader…”

Those kinds of comments started drifting back to me.

Apparently, the others were talking behind my back. At first, I didn’t want to believe it. But reality doesn’t care what you want to believe.

Mikage had been working on them quietly — making the case for “meritocracy.” Polished and courteous to everyone’s face, while underneath, he was making sure they all understood I was dead weight.

Then one afternoon after school, the verdict came.

“Yuuki Ren — it’s been decided that you’ll be removed from this clan. We appreciated your knowledge, but having someone who doesn’t participate in actual combat as our leader was judged to be an obstacle to the clan’s future growth.”

The others were all there. Not one of them said a word in my defense.

And among them — Satsuki.

My childhood friend. My girlfriend. A girl who carried something in her that reminded me of Luna from back in those game days.

“I’m sorry, Ren… I think Mikage-kun is the right fit for the leader, too. I can see a future with him at the helm.”

Her voice was gentle. Like a lover letting someone down easy.

…Again.

The past came rushing back. Last time too, someone with money and power walked in and took everything — my teammates, everything I’d built, everything I’d felt.

But this time, I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t even that sad.

Truthfully, I hadn’t poured that much of myself into this clan. The founding, the management — most of that had been carried by the other members. I was there in name.

The only thing that actually pressed down on my chest was Satsuki’s choice.

Even so, I smiled.

“Alright. I won’t say anything else. Take care of yourselves, everyone. Get strong. Make sure you come back alive.”

And I walked out of the clan.

There was nothing I could accomplish by making a scene on my own.

After that, Mikage called me out a second time.

Just the two of them — Mikage, and Satsuki.

He looked me in the eye and said it plainly.

“Satsuki and I are together now. I’m asking you to stay away from her going forward.”

I turned to her. “Is that what you want, Satsuki?”

“…Ren. I’m sorry.”

Mikage had his arm around her. She didn’t seem to mind.

So it had already gone that far. That explained why she’d gone along with stripping me of the leadership without a fight.

Strangely, I felt — clean. Clear-headed, almost. I’d been too buried in work to give Satsuki the attention she deserved. Part of me had always felt guilty about that. Maybe finding out she’d gone behind my back made it feel even, somehow.

Luna back then. Satsuki now.

My life kept turning the same page, over and over — betrayed, discarded, left behind. Maybe money really is all there is, in the end.

And this — this was what NTR actually felt like. Not just the team. Satsuki, too, pulled away by a rich guy with more to offer.

“Take care of yourself, Satsuki. Be happy.”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I turned and walked away.

I got home. Found myself alone.

I felt clean, I’d told myself. Clear-headed.

But the moment I was by myself, for some reason, I couldn’t stop crying.

Maybe my heart had been running on empty longer than I realized.

We’d kissed. We’d talked about the future — even marriage, once or twice. All of it, gone.

So money really is everything. Nothing changes — not in games, not in real life.

I wasn’t as strong as I thought. And I wasn’t as dried up inside as I thought, either.

I cried until morning came.

Vol 2 Chapter 6 – “My Other Childhood Friend, and My Decision”【Vol 2 – Banished and Betrayed — Even in the Real World 】

Life didn’t change much after I left the clan.

School. Work. Come home, do chores, study just enough to get by.

And above all else — my younger brother and sister were in elementary school, which meant I couldn’t quit my part-time job even if I wanted to. Taking care of those two was its own job. Every day was spoken for. There wasn’t space to think about much else.

…Well. One thing had changed—one big thing.

My other childhood friend — Amakawa Hiyori — had started coming around more often.

“Hey, can I come over and make dinner again tonight? I peeked in your fridge. There’s literally nothing in there.”

She’d kept her distance ever since Satsuki and me started going out. Looking back, I think she was just being considerate — giving us our space.

But after I got kicked out of the clan and Satsuki and I fell apart, she drifted back into my orbit like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Honestly? I was grateful.

She’d cook dinner sometimes. Help my brother and sister with their homework. Fold the laundry. I felt bad letting her do all that, but time and again her being there pulled me through something I couldn’t name.

When I told her I was sorry for the trouble, she waved it off. “We’re childhood friends. This is nothing. It’s what I’m here for!”

Satsuki had never really engaged with my siblings. Compared to that, Hiyori felt like something out of a dream.

And I still hadn’t given her anything back.

Did she have feelings for me? Or was she genuinely just being the childhood friend she said she was?

I knew I should figure that out sooner rather than later.

But I didn’t have the room for it right now. Getting through each day was already everything I had. All I could do was let her warmth carry me, and feel guilty for it.

Mikage’s name kept floating through school.

Word was he was heading into Dungeons alongside his family’s corporate combat unit, grinding levels with the kind of backup money could buy.

“Mikage-san leveled up again!”

“He’s starting to push into the middle floors, apparently.”

“Rich people are something else. The scale of it is just insane.”

Whenever I caught pieces of those conversations, I thought — this is exactly how it went in the game. Money gets you the equipment. Money gets you the people. The strong get stronger, and everyone else just stares up at them from a different world entirely.

But it had nothing to do with me. Not anymore.

School, work, my brother, my sister — that was my whole life. I didn’t have the time or the energy to think about Dungeons or Hunters.

Still — as graduation crept closer, people around me started finding their paths. And I couldn’t keep pretending I didn’t need to find mine.

Some were going to college. Some had job offers lined up. Some had set their sights on making it as Hunters.

A Hunter — someone who fights in a world that used to only exist in games.

It wasn’t a stable life. Especially early on, it barely paid. The outcome was at the mercy of luck, and the risk of getting killed was real. And you’d spend your whole career measured against rankings and equipment you couldn’t afford.

Even so — I made a decision.

On graduation day.

I didn’t cross paths with Satsuki even once, though we’d been together until around the start of junior year. Maybe she was being considerate. Or maybe we’d just become people from completely different worlds. I didn’t know her plans. It wouldn’t have surprised me if she were heading into the Dungeons alongside Mikage.

Hiyori had chosen to get a job. Practical, steady. I thought it suited her.

When she asked me, “What are you going to do, Ren?” I answered her straight.

“…I’m going to be a Hunter on the side of my part-time work. Just one year — I’ve already decided that. If I’m not at a level where I can support myself after twelve months, I’ll quit and find something else.”

My homeroom teacher had pushed me toward college. Tight as things were, I’d probably qualify for scholarships, he’d said.

But college felt like more of the same. Just an extension of high school, without anything actually changing.

And I had something the others didn’t.

Knowledge from those game days — including things most people never figured out. Tricks. Blind spots in the system that nobody else had found.

Whether any of it would translate to the real world — I couldn’t know. The odds were probably against it.

But it was still worth testing.

This was my own fight to pick.