The sound of the doorbell chimes through my house.

“Oh, dinner’s here,” Kris says, and heads to the door. After a few minutes he comes back into the living room carrying 2 bulky plastic bags. The words China Express are printed on them in curly red letters. 

“I just ordered a bunch of stuff for dinner, so you can get whatever you want.” Kris sets down the bags on the dinner table. “Come on, let’s eat.”

“I’m not hungry,” I mumble, lying back down on the couch. “You can eat.”

“You need your energy back,” he says. “Eat.”

“Seriously, I don’t want fo- ahh!” Kris pulls me up by my wrists and drags me to the table. He plops me down in a chair, ignoring the resentful look I throw him.

“If you don’t eat, I will force-feed this food to you,” he informs me sternly. “Why are you so down, anyway? We beat the Kado monster today!”

“You beat the monster. I didn’t do anything but obstruct your way,” I reply miserably.

Kris studies me for a little bit, and- to my surprise- breaks out in laughter.

I look up at him. “What’s so funny?” I ask indignantly.

“Are you seriously beating up yourself over this?” he chuckles. “First of all, you saved my on the first day of school, remember? Second of all, you can’t expect yourself to be perfect. Everyone messes up at one point or another. You just need to get better and move on.”

I ponder his words. Kris is right, I guess. I still feel a little crappy, but- I will admit- he made the biting guilt in my chest disappear. 

"Thanks," I exhale, cracking a small smile. "That's nice." 

“It’s kinda strange, though,” Kris adds, taking a bite out of his chicken in black bean sauce. “There haven’t been this many monsters in Spring Valley… ever. I don’t know why they’re all coming all of a sudden.”

“Really?” I frown. “Hm. Weird.”

“If this continues, I’m going to go talk to HQ about it. I don’t know what’s going on.”

 And sure enough, we get yet another alert 3 days later, right as the final bell rings at the end of the school day.

Meet me in the parking lot. It’ll be faster driving to the monster, Kris texts me. I swing my bag on my shoulder and sprint out the door, ignoring Emily’s “bye Hana!”

Sorry Emily.

I spot Kris’ tousled blonde hair as soon as I reach the parking lot. To my annoyance, he's surrounded by his usual gang of attractive girls. and run over as fast as I can. Unlike previous days, however, he’s attempting to shoo them off.

“My grandma just died,” he informs them agitatedly. “I have to go ASAP.” He spots me shoving through the girls. “Oh, here’s Hana! I have to take her to the funeral too! Get in,” he hisses out of the corner of his mouth. I barrel to the passenger seat and slam the door shut.

"Why does she get to go?” Jessica moans. “You didn’t even know her until now! Plus, no offense, but Kris, why would you want to go with her-”

“Um, I’ll explain later.” Kris leaps towards the driver’s seat and gets in. “Bye, ladies! See you tomorrow!”

“Buy some insect repellant. It’ll keep the fangirls away.” I snap irritatedly once we start driving away.

Kris shoots me a look. “Whatever. Anyway, where do you think the chi signal is coming from?”

I close my eyes and concentrate, tensing slightly.

“It’s north… northeast.”

“Let’s go.”

As we're driving, I express the worry that's been on my mind for days. “Kris, this is ridiculous. Are we seriously going to be running out of school every day to fight monsters and risk our lives? I have homework.”

“It’s not my fault.” He grumbles. “But yes, we will report this to HQ. They might take measures to decrease the number of monsters from the Kado coming here." 

Might take measures. Keyword: might.

They'd better.

"Hey. I think we’re at the monster’s location." Kris inhales sharply. "Get ready.”

We step out of the car and stand back to back, just like we practiced in training. Kris unsheathes his sword and firmly holds it in front of him. Slowly, we walk forward (technically, Kris is walking backwards), on the lookout for any large beasts or unusual circumstances.

The only noise in the air is the sound of wind rustling on the empty grass, bringing a chilly breeze with it.

My stomach churns in anticipation.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”

Kris and I whirl around and get our weapons at the ready.

“Who are you?” I hiss.