Late afternoon approached, and Dennis, Daisy, Gary, and Olivia sat in the courthouse hallway, waiting for Jason and Kimberly, who were inside the courtroom for the small claims hearing. While they waited, a man wearing a suit—who looked like a lawyer—was seen walking inside.
"Hmm? Why is that guy going in there?" Olivia asked, confused.
"No idea... but why is it taking so long? We’ve been here for almost two hours," Gary answered while checking his watch.
"Yeah, it usually doesn’t take this long," Olivia replied.
"I don’t think we’ve seen that Sean guy at all," Daisy muttered, glancing down the hallway.
"You’re right, he hasn’t shown up yet," Dennis muttered, also glancing down the hallway.
Suddenly, the door opened and the judge’s voice could be heard inside ntioning Sean’s na. When the door was closed, the man who had entered earlier walked out along with Olivia’s father—a middle-aged man around fifty years old with white hair and a face that looked firm, without any room for drama or nonsense.
"Alright, Mr. Maxwell, I’ll take my leave," the man said.
"Fine, thank you," Maxwell replied.
After the man left, Maxwell turned to look at Olivia, then sat down next to her; naturally, Olivia shifted over to give him a seat.
"Dad, who was that?" Olivia asked.
"He’s a paralegal from the law firm Sean hired. He asked for the hearing to be postponed because Sean is currently hospitalized; his ribs are broken and his spine is crushed, so he won’t be able to move for quite a long ti," Maxwell answered.
Imdiately, Gary, Olivia, and even Daisy turned to look at Dennis, who looked nervous and rubbed the back of his head with a pale face. Then Maxwell turned toward Dennis with a smile.
"Are you Dennis? Don’t worry, Jason already explained to the judge why Sean isn’t here. He told the story of what happened this morning when Sean attacked you guys and provided the video. The judge actually recomnded filing a police report and suing him because he clearly attempted to silence the plaintiff, assault and violated the restraining order by entering a restricted area—your school—following the incident where he trashed Jason’s bike," Maxwell said.
"Oh, I see. Thank God for that," Dennis muttered, feeling a bit relieved.
"So, is the hearing going to be postponed, Dad?" Gary asked curiously.
"No, actually it’s moving quite fast and a default judgnt is being made without him. It should be over any minute now," Maxwell answered casually.
It turned out Maxwell was right; not long after, Jason and Kimberly walked out. The hearing was over and the judgnt had been handed down imdiately: the court ordered Sean to pay Jason a sum of money for his bike repairs as well as his legal fees.
"Is it all wrapped up, Jason?" Maxwell asked, turning to see Jason and Kimberly still standing by the door.
"It is, but the wait was forever. Good thing we were last on the docket; otherwise, we would’ve been stuck inside watching everyone else’s hearings first," Jason said.
"Thank you so much for your help, sir," Kimberly added.
"You’re very welco, I was happy to help. Alright, I need to get back to the office. Co on, Olivia, Gary—I’m heading out now. You guys should co over to the house soti for a al together," Maxwell said as he stood up.
"Sure thing, Dad, we’ll stop by on Sunday," Gary replied, standing up.
"Drive safe, Dad," Olivia added, standing as well.
"Yeah, I know. I’ll be waiting for you guys on Sunday (turning to look at the others) alright Dennis, Daisy, Jason, Kimberly, I’m heading out," Maxwell said, looking over at Dennis, Daisy, Jason, and Kimberly.
"Sure thing, sir, thanks again," Jason said.
"You’re welco," Maxwell replied.
Then Maxwell walked away, heading back to his office since his work there was finished. Afterward, the six of them sat back down. Jason and Kimberly explained how the whole process went and ntioned they intended to head to the police station to report what happened this morning.
"So, you’re coming with after this, dude," Jason said to Dennis.
"It turns out our school actually reported him and has a restraining order against Sean so he can’t co back... I just found that out inside," Kimberly said.
"Alright then, let’s get moving now, otherwise it’ll be late afternoon before we know it," Dennis replied.
"Yup, let’s get going," Daisy added.
"Hey, just take my car, I’ll drive you guys," Gary said.
"Honestly, if I had been there this morning, I definitely would’ve done the sa thing Dennis did," Olivia remarked.
"I was about to move myself... but my husband was just faster," Daisy added with a smile, looking a little proud.
"Let’s go, let’s head out," Gary urged.
They stood up and imdiately walked down the hallway to exit the courthouse. Gary’s car was already waiting out front; the driver promptly opened the rear doors, and they all piled inside. Before long, the car had already pulled away from the courthouse grounds.
They arrived at the police station and filed a report about Sean showing up that morning, handing over the footage to a detective who t with them. Naturally, the detective questioned Dennis, as he had apparently also received a report from Sean’s side claiming he was attacked and was now lying incapacitated in the hospital.
Dennis recounted the sequence of events step-by-step and in great detail. Then Dennis, Daisy, Jason, and Kimberly showed the video. Dennis also explained that he did what he did that morning because he is a hunter and everything was a reflex triggered by being attacked, just as the video showed. The detective nodded along to Dennis’s explanation, though his face looked weary.
But he understood that the six people in front of him were students from a military school and he even took a mont to salute them, so Dennis’s reasoning was acceptable to him. In fact, he was grateful that soone was finally able to teach Sean a lesson and pay him back for his actions, considering he was also a hunter. When Jason and Kimberly added the details about the court case that had just concluded in their favor, the detective beca even more convinced.
The detective, nad Mike Garcia, also ntioned that there had been many reports of assault pointing toward Sean and his gang, but they had been ignored and never followed up on. With the video and Dennis’s statent—plus the fact that Sean violated the school’s restraining order—Mike could reopen the cases, and he imdiately began drafting the report.
After finishing up at the police station, they walked together toward Gary’s car in the parking lot. Jason, who seed lost in thought, turned to look at his wife, Kimberly, walking beside him.
"Hmm... babe, what if we sell our bike and buy a new one?" Jason asked.
"Huh... sell it and buy a new one? Where would the money co from? Wouldn’t the repairs from yesterday be a waste then? Wouldn’t it be better to just save the money?" Kimberly replied, firing off several questions instead.
"Hmm... I think we should talk about this properly once we’re ho. I’m just thinking—even though our bike has been serviced, it was still trashed. It just doesn’t feel right anymore," Jason said.
"I get it... alright, let’s talk about it later at ho," Kimberly answered.
"By the way, have you guys heard the news?" Olivia asked, glancing back at Jason and Kimberly before turning to look at Dennis and Daisy.
"About BW Construction?" Dennis asked.
"No, about the frequency of dinsional rifts opening up everywhere. The news isn’t just about that company lately," Olivia answered.
"Oh, you’re right, but isn’t it because we’re getting closer to the heart of the darkness where Onyx City is located? That’s what the governnt says, anyway," Daisy replied, lost in thought.
"Yeah, we move toward the center of the darkness and Onyx City at the front lines once a year, but usually, the frequency of dinsional rifts opening isn’t this high, right? Now, in the eastern district of this city—where they’re usually rare—danger signals are being sent out quite often to summon hunters," Gary said.
"That’s true, my mom actually called last night and said the east is getting a bit dangerous now, though my family hasn’t been affected since they live far from where the dinsional rifts usually open," Kimberly replied.
"Yep, exactly. Last year wasn’t like this... is sothing happening in the world without our knowledge?" Jason asked.
"Who knows... maybe," Gary replied.
"Co to think of it, that’s true. Just this morning, a dinsional rift opened in the park near our school, and Daisy and I cleared it out quickly," Dennis muttered, accidentally speaking his thoughts out loud.
Everyone imdiately turned to look at Dennis. He flinched in surprise at the serious stares from his friends, except for Daisy, who just shook her head.
"What is it?" Dennis asked, looking at his friends.
"Did you just say a dinsional rift opened in the park near our school and the two of you cleared it out yourselves?" Gary asked.
"Um... sothing like that, hahaha," Dennis said, rubbing the back of his head. "More accurately, my wife cleared the whole thing and I just leveled up," Dennis muttered to himself.
Imdiately, Dennis was interrogated by Gary, Olivia, Jason, and Kimberly; they demanded the story in more detail. Dennis glanced at Daisy, whose expression seed to say, "Your own fault, nobody told you to talk." But they all realized the truth: Erald City was starting to approach the heart of the darkness—the source of the gloom shrouding the entire world—and was nearing Onyx City, the stationary hunter city on the front lines.
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