Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

"Are you out of your mind, boy? After what just happened, you want to do it again?" Kakashi rose from the chair and turned to Hitori.

Others were not saying it, but Hitori could see the same feeling as Kakashi in their eyes and on their faces. He had to reconsider, but he that, he had to tell them. "We have seven options."

"And you have only two choices– stay quiet and get some rest, or let us bind you and force you to get some rest."

Hitori was trying to look away from Kakashi, but he could not anymore. "You are not the only one tired here, Kakashi," he said, "even I am tired. But I am more scared than I am tired."

Kakashi stopped halfway to Hitori. God knows what hit him, he just stopped there, as if he just fell into deep thought.

Hitori turned to others who at least had the mentality to listen. "Seven plans, seven strategies."

No one said anything for a minute, then Akira broke the silence. "Finally," he pushed himself off the chair, "you are back to planning."

Reon chuckled. "It has been a long time since I followed one of your plans, Hitori." She got off the chair and pulled down her shirt– yes, she had changed her T-shirt into a shirt, and a dark skirt below.

"Let us hear you out," Kyo declared, "if your seven ideas are… reckless, we would not act unless we have to."

Reckless. Yes. His teenage ideas might sound reckless to a man who has lived half of his life. He would know what is reckless and what is not. But caring about recklessness was not Hitori\'s job, his job was to spill his plans.

Eya was the last one to get off the chair, she was bitter, but in favor. Hitori did not bother to wait for Kakashi and started telling them his plans:

"The first one is what I had supposed earlier, but I think it would be impossible now. We fortify the house. Use every spell and every weapon we can get our hands on and stand our ground in the defensive state."

"No defense," Kyo said, "we have had enough of defense." He folded his hands under his chest.

"Right. That rejects the first plan. We\'ll move to the next one." Hitori had rejected the first one himself, but only half of it. So no hard feelings. "I had this planned in advance if things do not work out, which they did not. We talk to the Haunter behind the house."

Kakashi snapped from his deep thinking and leaned forward. "No. We do not do that. I-I reject that idea. We do not know what that Haunter really is—"

"Chill," Akira said, but his voice was hidden under Kakashi\'s rapid shouting.

"Hey—" Hitori said. "W-We can not so stop. Just stop!" he shouted and Kakashi stopped, then stepped back. "It is gone. We can not talk to it even if we want to."

"What is wrong, Himbo?" Eya said, mockingly. "You always were low on patience. Just calm down, now."

Hitori glanced at him, then continued, "The third plan… is that we talk to Onogi\'s father."

Kyoryu lifted his eyes, and Hitori looked back at him.

"You said that his father let you go, right? I mean, he helped you, then helped us? Then why can not we just take his help? I know the risks involved—"

"Exactly, Because of the risks involved, we can not and will not go to that man. If he can betray and give up his own son, then what are we? He will do the same to us."

"Besides," Akira said, "it was all just a plan for us to believe in him, then ask for help the next time, and see everyone die."

Hitori thought it was a pretty good idea if you remove the betrayal part. But anyways, he went to the next point, "Okay, from here, I have tried to build a chronological story. This is how the parts will work: Onogi\'s options, Tengokiu\'s attack, and help."

"Alright explain everything one by one," they demanded.

"Sure. First, what are Onogi\'s options? He will attack us."

"He might set a trap for us, Reon said."Or he can just kill one more—"

"Shh, Reon," Hitori could not let her dwell on that topic anymore. "That would not happen again."

Her eyes reflected she was not convinced, but she spread a smile and nodded. Hitori thought it was best to avoid that topic.

"Here is what I think," he said, "Onogi will go into hiding. He has no one to do his job for him, so he will hide for as long as it takes, then surprises attack us if we are still alive."

"Still alive?"

"Yeah. If we survive Tengoku\'s attack."

"He\'ll attack?"

"Of course, he is not going to hide like a chicken. He will come alone if he has to, but he will come. But this time… I just want us to be the attackers."

Again, no one said anything. They were not waiting for Hitori to continue either, everyone was just in their thoughts.

"We have two last options with us. I believe we have to decide now what happens next after hearing them. We storm Onogi\'s fort."

"No, " Kakashi snapped as he lifted his head.

Eya was shaking her head in the background with Akira hesitating to tell Hitori to not to do so. Reon was the only one who had no problem with this.

"No. we storm the fort before he goes into hiding. That is not it. We will ask Atama-sensei for backup. Maybe he will come or he will send men to back us—"

"That is just not happening, son," Kyo said as he leaned off the wall and unfolded his hands. "We are not going back there, at least not right now."

At least not right now. A ray of hope. Hitori nodded. "Tomorrow then? Maybe tomorrow night? This is the best plan, Kyo-san."

Kyo considered it but remained considering. "You go now. Take some rest while we figure out how to act upon this. Just go."

"But—"

"I will let you know, so just go and sleep! If you are going to storm his fort again, you need to be at your peak. We all do. So go on, now."

Hitori left through the door he came from.

Kakashi sighed as he pushed back his hair. "Even that did not change him… why is he so idiotic? He needs to learn something from the last battle."

"That is not true," Eya said but could find words to back her statement.

"Yes, it is not true." But Kyo helped her. "He asked for our help, instead of storming the fort alone. He has changed."