Ah. I guess this is it for me.

Shun thought to herself. The jaws of death are coming to take her life. Time seemed to slow for her as the beast charged right at her. Her vain attempts to blind it were rendered moot, and the beast was faster than any living organism she'd ever witnessed in her life. So, this was what a monster from a portal was like. A beast that couldn't be described in any human values. Faster, stronger, and most likely more intelligent. The strength in her hand had never felt so weak before. There wasn't a way to avoid this. It would end with her in that beast's stomach.

Thoughts of her family flowed through her head. They always warned her about getting herself into a dangerous situation. Things like, "You have to be more careful, Shun," and, "We're just worried, Shun. Can you please stop what you're doing?" In all fairness, their words had merit. They were doing their jobs as parents, loving and caring for their children. Shun never listened to them, but she did love them as well. It was a shame that she couldn't talk to them one last time.

Satoshi-Chan as well. Her moped that she's had for a couple of months. It would have been nice driving her child around the town one last time. The breeze flowed through her hair as she left a trail of dust behind. Perhaps she would have let one of her classmates, Higasa maybe, experience that wild feeling that made her heartbeat. Too bad that Satoshi-chan would probably be left to rust now that her mother was dead.

Right, her classmates. Hopefully, they would be able to get out of this alive. While she didn't pay much attention to them, they were people she had known for almost a year. When she died, Shun hoped that they'd be able to get over her death quickly. Being the reason for people lagging behind was depressing. It'd be nice if Higasa wrote a poem about her death. Shun was curious about what he could muster.

Well, goodbye, guys.

Shun's eyes closed as she braced for impact. However, it did not come from the two-hundred-pound beast from her front. It came from her side. "Ah!" Shun screamed aloud. Her body tumbled onto the grass along with her fragile branch. Shun's barely had enough time to open her eyes to see Higasa fly inside along with the wolf bear inside of the smoking bus.

For the first time, she froze. "H-H-Higasa?" Shun's voice spoke. It was the first time her voice came at a lower pitch and the first time she stuttered. Higasa had pushed out of the way and took the wolf bear in her stead. In the corner of her eyes, she saw multiple students darting off in different directions of the forest. Some were even vainly trying to subdue one of the bears, piling on top of the bear to wrestle it onto the ground.

Why didn't he run? This would have been the perfect time for Higasa to run away along with everyone else. Why did he have to save her? She didn't ask to be saved, but neither did she want to die. Shun's briefly thought about the time on that rainy night. It was so dark outside that she accidentally crashed into a railing when her bike hit a big rock along the road. Her arms and legs were scraped, and she felt like she had somehow twisted her ankle. Then Higasa came. He helped her up and offered her shelter on his family's farm. While it was quite stinky, Shun had always felt touched by that act of kindness.

Despite her previous pessimism about their chances of death being extraordinarily high, Shun refused to believe that Higasa was dead. Her heart burned with unknown heat. Something had turned on the ignition in her body. Was it rage? Was it anguish? Either way, that goddamn six-eyed bear was going to pay for it. "Higasa!" Shun screamed aloud. Immediately getting back on her feet, she immediately rushed to enter from the back of the bus herself. Her body felt nimble, her muscles felt like they were bursting with strength, and her senses felt like they were taking in things that were unknown to her.

She felt like she could take on the world.

But most of all.

Shun felt like she could mutilate that goddamn bear.

Climbing up to the door, Shun spotted the bear straight ahead of her. "HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Without any thought, her body flew straight at the bear. Shun had no weapon in her hands, nor did she have a plan to take down the bear. Well, if her plan involved one action, then. "HAAAAAAAAA!" In one movement, she stomped right in front of the bear, and her body turned. With all of her momentum, she threw a punch at the bear.

______________________________________________________________________


“Bleh!!!!!” Before she could react, Ayana had taken yet another blow to her head. Reaching up to it to try to rub it tenderly “Hey, we are on the same side Tsubaki!, these things on my head may look like ears to you, but I’m definitely not a WolfBearSpider!...yyyyeeeeeeepppp!!!!!!” Being interrupted by the sudden tug of her wrist as Tsubaki pulled her along. Nearly being pulled right off of her feet as she hadn't anticipated to be dragged along.

“If you ask me, your scarier than that WolfBearSpider! You even hit my head harder then that thing threw the shoe back at me!” crying out to Tsubaki was she followed her lead, not having much choice in the matter. Not wanting to take another one of her Tsubaki smacks if she didn’t have to.

“As for what I was doing…well, I was trying to take care of that beast before it started to attack anyone, but I underestimated its abilities and it caught me off guard….we can run, but what good is running if they just go around hurting or killing everyone else, we need to find some way to help” Ayana turned her blue gaze towards Tsubaki. Being serious in tone and approach, even if she was still under the false assumption that the Wolfbear had thrown her own shoe back at her.

She didn’t want to just run away; sure, she didn’t want to get mauled by one of those things. But there had to be something else they could do to help. Her gaze finding her stepsister who was with a group of other girls attempting to run. As well as Ayano trying to drag along her boy friend while Kogen’s loud voice could be heard even over all the other commotion. As that brought some momentarily relief to her concern and worry.

But more importantly, spotting Shun who seemed to be trying to defend herself with a branch that didn’t seem all that impressive in size, or weight. As the Wolfbear made a bee line straight for her, as Ayana wished she could have tried to warn her about throwing things at the Wolfbear. Though not for the reason that Shun’s own efforts failed.

Before she knew it, Yuudai had come flying in from the side knocking Shun out of the way in the process and taking the brunt of the Wolfbears attack himself as they smashed through the burning window of the bus. Ayana’s sapphire eyes widening in both surprise and shock at his selfless actions as she tried to get Tsubaki to stop as she saw Shun quickly go after them into the inferno of the bus. “Wait! We have to try to help them somehow; didn’t you see what happened? We can’t just leave them behind when they are in danger and fighting for their lives!” trying to tug her wrist free from Tsubaki’s grip wanting to try to go back to help out Yuudai and Shun if it wasn’t too late already. Putting what strength she had into digging her heels into the ground as she stiffened up her legs and tensed up her muscles in an attempt to pull her wrist free.

Her mind racing as the thoughts of what could happen to her fellow classmates flowed through her mind. Her heart racing as the adrenaline and the fear for their safety took hold of her as didn’t want to just leave them. She just had to help them, even if it meant fighting a Wolfbear she had no hope of ever overpowering or beating in a fair fight without a weapon. Seeing Yuudai’s own selfless actions to try to save Shun. She couldn’t just ignore that and run away to save herself, she couldn’t live with herself for being that selfish. "Come on Tsubaki!"

---

Soaring through the air, Rin was reminded of something. She always wanted to make that glider. She wanted to fly in the sky. What was the reason again? She wanted to survey the land. Right, that was it. Surveying the land. Not looking through a screen at satellite images. Not walking around and measuring with sticks. Looking down at it with her own eyes.

Twelve meters wasn't very high up, but Rin could make a conclusion. Flight kind of sucked. Losing her tools kind of sucked. Everything kind of sucked.

Her thoughts shut down as she smashed against the trunk of the tree and was caught by its branches. It hurt. Actually, did it hurt? It wasn't like any pain she normally had. It felt like her blood was welling and pooling. Gathering. Her back, her arms, her legs, her head. They all held. The buzzing kept her conscious. Or was the collision not enough to rob her of her consciousness in the first place?

She took breaths looking down at the wolf. She couldn't just jump down, could she? Not while Maki was riding the beast. It wasn't like she had anything left to throw besides her own body, either. Rin just needed to bide her time. Be ready to strike.

---

'Why am I doing this to myself?!' Asahi irritatingly thought to himself as he swung his burning branch at the wolfbear, hoping it was enough to deter the nightmarish creature, but of course it didn't work because why should it. Its three pairs of soulless eyes followed the swinging stick for a while as it had seemed to be distracted by whatever Asahi was doing.

As for the pink-haired boy himself, he was regretting this decision in his life. He should've snuck off and run as far as he could the first chance he got but alas, he had to be a 'hero' and help his classmates. As much as he wanted to leave them and escape for safety, Asahi quickly realized that he won't be able to step another foot further in this place all by himself. He needed to stay with his classmates if he wanted to have the slightest chance of surviving in this god-forsaken otherworld. Besides, he thought that if he survived, he'd be seen as a hero and an inspiration by his peers. It also seemed that no one was doing anything at first so he had to try and do something, anything.

A figure rushed past Asahi so fast he barely had time to react to it. His eyes widened in amazement when he realized it was Sasuke, bravely rushing into the thick of danger like a true hero. "No...!" Asahi said in alarm and worry as the wolfbear lunged at him. He took a step forward to try and help Sasuke any way he could but it seemed that there was no need for Asahi's help as it got flipped and slammed on its back. Kunio, Yuki, and the rest of the boys all dove onto the beast. It made this weird, scary noise like a demonic dog as thrashed around, trying to escape while the boys all put their entire weights on it to keep it pinned down.

"Duncan!" Asahi screamed, eyes wide open in horror as he saw the wolfbear clawing at him. It ripped his shirt to pieces, showing huge clawmarks across his torso. Asahi couldn't even imagine the pain Duncan was under yet he was still on top of the animal, keeping his down against its neck.

Growling, Asahi rushed towards the group, tightening his grip on his lit branch as he hit the wolfbear's head, over and over and over and over. "Fucking! Bitch! Die! Die! Die!" He screamed in anger everytime his branch made contact with the beast's head. It didn't matter to him that the monster's skull might be harder than he thought. He kept hitting it until the branch started to break and the wolfbear's blood splattered on Asahi, and he kept on hitting it with whatever's left of the branch in his hands anyways.

______________________________________________________________________

It happened so fast. Inaba was ripped right from his grasp, and then suddenly she was thrown against a tree and her body was hanging limply in the branches above. It hadn't even been two hours and another person was dead. Why the hell was this happening? Wasn't time supposed to slow down or something in crisis? The situation was rapidly getting worse, and Masato felt that he couldn't keep up. He cracked the stick in his hand across the wolfbear's face, which did nothing but break his improvised weapon as expected.

He could hardly feel anything but his own blood thrumming under his skin. Could hardly hear the panic and cries of his classmates as they tried to handle the other two monsters. The shout of a girl as she threw herself onto the wolfbear and instructed him to run.

"Suzuki!" Masato's voice was distressed. Now would be a great time to escape, but it would mean watching another girl die. Could he ever face himself or anyone else again if he did that? As the beast thrashed in Suzuki's hold, looking between her and and Inaba's corpse, Masato considered following her advice. He took a step away, then another.

"Just - hold on, okay!"

He chanced a glance in the direction of Kogen to see that while the boy was unharmed, he also wasn't running away. Why? Why the fuck did he have to be so stubborn about stuff like this. Masato turned back to the scene in front of him, pulse pounding. He bit his lip, and he did run, only around the beast to where Inaba's tools had fallen after the bag was ripped apart. In any other situation he would probably feel bad about going through a dead girl's things. The items were strewn around the ground, and Masato's eyes frantically searched the grass until he found what he was looking for. A hammer would be much more useful than a branch so long as he could get a clean strike in. With the monster thrashing around as it was, would he be able to? Could he afford to wait for it to tire, betting it would happen before it was able to buck Suzuki off? There must be a way to stop it moving around so much. An extra pair of hands to help would be nice. There happened to be one nearby, but... ugh, there really was no time to waffle about if Masato really wanted to try and stop this monster from shredding Suzuki apart.

"Ko-kun, here!" Masato summoned the chuunibyou over and tossed his chosen weapon to him before throwing caution to the wind and jumping in to help Suzuki. Unlike her, Masato was no martial artist. His fighting experience was limited to brawling with his brother or other kids in the past. He had no idea how to hold a beast down, so he executed the plan he'd come up with only seconds before based on what he did know - if you went for a person's legs they'd fall over.

"Hold on Suzuki," he said again, diving towards the creature's legs. If she could hold its neck then he could avoid its jaws, and then he'd just have to avoid its claws. If he could trip it up, get it to stop flailing for a moment, then they could access its stomach or its throat or some soft fleshy part of it that the hooked end of a hammer could sink into.

Between seeing one of his classmates fly to their death and another who's also already dead in this situation sacrificing their life so that he could run, Kogen could not help but freeze up at what was going on. After all, he hadn't seen people die in real life before. It was just so unbelievable, seeing the classmates he knew not too long ago fade away as if they were nothing.

Was this really it, then? Were they all going to die out here, hunted by these bearwolves and whatever other monstrosities laid out there? Kogen's legs shook at the thought, before he took a big gulp as his resolve began to harden. If he was going to die, he'd be dying on his own terms.

If I ran headfirst into that bearwolf and gave it a good tackle, maybe karate girl'll fall off it. Ma-kun might have enough time to pull her away, carry her off...

Poised to speedrun his death so that at least some of his peers could survive, Kogen would turn to Masato. However, before he could spring off to commit to his plan, Masato had called out to Kogen first as he turned his head towards him.

"Wha- MA-KUN, WHAT THE FUCK?!" Kogen exclaimed, as the hammer flew right for him.

Thankfully, that season he had spent as a catcher paid off, as Kogen found himself armed with what was once Inaba's hammer. As he turned once more to question just what Masato's plan was, he saw that his childhood friend dove straight for the bearwolf! God damn it, was he stealing one of his ideas again?! It only took a split second for Kogen to realize what Masato had actually intended to do, and the opening it would create.

Withour a second thought, Kogen rushed forward as well, hammer clenched tightly in both hands. For some reason, he couldn't help but feel... slower than Masato. Was it the adrenaline, maybe all that hot air in his head pushing him forward? Nevertheless, Kogen primed the hammer back, his instincts as a batter flaring in his arms as he prepared to wallop the bearwolf right in the jaw!

Sadly, Masato did not account for the fact that Kogen was an idiot.

---

//Day 0 | Location: Nameless Forest - Clearing

“Shit!”

Not expecting Ayana to be so stubbornly suicidal, Tsubaki could only watch as the willful girl broke out of her grasp and immediately ran towards the burning bus. For a moment she chewed the inside of her mouth, gauging the chances of catching her before it was too late, but…Damnit, if she was going to risk it, then it was on her to do so! The short-haired girl took another glance towards Ayana before turning away and running for the others.

Ayana now, was definitely alone.

Gasoline fumes struck her head-on as she approached the bus, the oily stench mixed with that of roasting meat and boiling blood. Already, she could feel her face drying up before the blaze. It wasn’t an inferno, but that didn’t make it any less daunting for her to dive into, if Ayana had any sense of self-preservation to begin with. She did not. Whether fearless or foolish, whether courageous or outrageous, she braced herself for the heat as best as she could and jumped right in.

The foam of the seats had become fuel for the fire, and the shattered windows became vents that funneled more oxygen in. She could scarcely breathe, could scarcely see! Through teary eyes, she stumbled about, barely making out the silhouette of Yuudai, splayed upon the ground. Dead? Unconscious? She couldn’t tell, but there were crazier things that drew what sparse attention she had to spare.

There was Shun, that motorheaded nerd who always skipped swimming classes during PE, swinging with a punch that should have done nothing, and yet!

The flames themselves rippled at the impact of the strike, Shun’s fist rising skywards as it collided with the wolfbear’s jaw and sent it flying. The mountain of muscle slammed against the ceiling of the bus, leaving an indent of its own form in the smoke-stained surface, shards of teeth shattering from the impact. But it wasn’t enough yet, and as it landed, it charged for Shun, both of its frontal limbs slamming against her own arms. Whatever had happened to her, she had grown stronger as a result, but that was only enough to give her a chance at fighting back.

And so, in the inferno the beast and the bike-nerd struggled, fur singing and skin blistering, each of them trying to gouge out the others’ flesh. With a damaged jaw, the wolfbear could no longer bite, but that didn’t stop it from slamming its forehead against Shun’s own, forcing her back with its superior mass and reach.

Something else needed to happen in order to change the tides. Something that only Ayana could do.

Would she save Yuudai and get him out? Or would she help Shun, and push the beast back?

Above them, the ceiling creaked. It would collapse soon.

---

“What?!” Maki’s cry sounded even as Masato ran for the scattered tools. “Idiot, just r-”

For all the experience that they all had, after all, it was unlikely that as Japanese middle schoolers, they would have really watched any clips of bull riding on Youtube. If they had, perhaps Masato would have known: when it came to riding on animals that really, really, really wanted you to fly off, records were measured in seconds. Measured in seconds, for fully grown adults who had professional experience and a proper sadly.

All the student council president heard, as he hurled a hammer towards Kogen, was a short cry, followed by a heavy thump some distance away.

And then it was just him and the beast, and he had committed too much to run away now.

“Dumbass. You’ve long gone over the edge. Stop pretending like you can climb back out.”

A flicker of a memory, and then he was charging, every heart beat thunderous, every movement slowed to a crawl. It was familiar. It was the cusp of an unforgettable moment. Like when he threw a fist for the first time, watched someone’s flesh contort beneath his knuckles. Like when he threw a ball for the first time, watched it spin and then sink beneath the wooden bat. Claws, rippling through the air. His body, tearing at itself to drop even a millisecond faster.

And then he hit the dirt. Scrambled in the grass. Grasped hind legs of the wolfbear with such force he almost felt as if he was grasping its very bones. And in return, he could feel the dull scraping of its hooked claws against his back, could feel cloth shredding alongside flesh and skin. Could only dully register that it didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would have.

And he could only hope that Kogen didn’t run away.

Kogen didn’t.

What choice did the One-Eyed Demon have, after all?

Two girls were basically dead, and his friend was sacrificing his very body to hold down the monster before him. What choice did he have, except to perform? Two hands on the handle, cocked back like he was going to strike a homerun! And with all the might in his body, Kogen swung!

Hammer struck jaw, and it was the jaw that won.

The laws of motion played out after, the shock of his own strike hitting his hands with such force that it shot up all the way into his skull. Kogen couldn’t even feel his hands now, fingers spasming, forearms trembling. What the hell was this? Why didn’t that work?!

Time continued on, irrespective of his scrambled thoughts.

He was in close combat, after all. And though Masato did his best to prevent the wolfbear from moving, it didn’t need to move if a softer snack was so willing to rush up to it. Hooked claws wrapped around the delusional boy, slamming him down into the ground and upon his own friend, before the wolfbear’s jaws opened up, saliva spilling out as its two-pronged tongue flicked over its serrated teeth.

Only now, staring into the maw of death, lungs squeezed of air, the futility of his delusions opening up to swallow him whole, did Kogen understand.

It was as anime had always taught him.

Only heroes could destroy monsters. Mobs only existed to fulfill a statistical tragedy.

---

It fell apart so quickly, the moment mortality was realized.

Daisuke had seen his mother disembowel fish before, slicing open their belly to scrape out their organs. It had been so clean back then and she had done it so quick, the water running all the while to wash away the scraps.

This…this wasn’t that.

Duncan’s intestines were hanging out of his chest, ropes that stank of blood and bile. Hiroshi’s trivia flickered through the captain’s mind, about how a human’s intestines could stretch the length of a bus, but it was the memory of his mother that forced his next hand. After disembowelment came the beheading.

“AGH!”

Springing off from his own position, the golden-haired youth shoulder-slammed Duncan just as those hooked claws whistled inches away from his neck. The two of them tumbled together some distance away, but with the disappearance of the biggest boys around, the tables had turned. Kunio sensed the danger immediately, kicking his twin brother away as the wolfbear kicked out. Sasuke rolled away aw the beast’s weight shifted, realizing that it was impossible to take on a beast so thickly muscled in a contest of attrition and strength. Yuki, one step too late, could only afford a short scream before the monster’s jaws clamped over his right shoulder and flung him away. He skipped off the grassy field thrice before landing in a heap.

And like that, there was nothing holding the wolfbear back now. Splinters from the burning branch fell off its head, Asahi’s rage entirely impotent. But despite that impotence, it still drew the monster’s attention.

He had been the first to start waving that branch.

He was now the last who was still standing, his branch now the length of his fist.

And thus, surrounded by classmates injured and dying, classmates in no shape now to even entertain the idea of trying to take on this beast again, this beast that proved impervious to all their efforts once more, the decision presented itself once more.

Would he run, or would he fight?

Blood dripped down his hands, drop by drop. Hotter than his heart, hotter than his head.

That blood was his own.

That blood was fuel.

---

Her body was battered and bruised. Her mind was dulled by the rising heat. The continuing warmth. The drumming beat of her heart. Her solution to the situation was uncharacteristically straightforward. No gadgets or gimmicks. She didn't have her tools with her to make anything.

No, her plan was simple. It was a practical proof of Newton's theories. With Maki being flung off--a proof that students made sub-par bull-riders--everything was in place. Her body rolled off the branches that held her.

Like a needle, her body oriented itself in the air. She was feet first and aimed directly at the bearwolf restrained by man and morsel. A well timed blow. That was all she needed. It was David vs Goliath. Though, there were a little too many Davids per Goliath to make that comparison.

"Rin bomb." She muttered to herself. The energy to yell it escaped her, somehow.

______________________________________________________________________


Her wrist finally slipping free from the grip of Tsubaki. It was like she had been shot out of a canon as she rushed head long into danger. Yet at that moment, she strangely didn’t feel any fear, not an ounce of hesitation. Her mind was clear and focused on only one thing. To get inside of the bus, to face the Wolfbear, to help her fellow classmates.

Even the heat of the fire didn’t daze her. Its burning warmth against her skin and her face as it sucked away the moisture. She jumped right in without even a second of thought. The smell of the fire having a bitter chemical smell as the seats made of foam had become fuel for the growing flames. The smell of gasoline and burning flesh mixing with this to create a foul concoction. It felt like the inside of her lungs were on fire, that her chest was ablaze as her nostrils stung from each attempt to bring air into her body.

She had to put all these discomforts into the back of her mind. She had no time for these concerns, she had a mission at hand. Her sapphire gaze quickly scanning the situation as she had to make a decision on the spot. Knowing the longer she took, the more dangerous the situation might become. Neither Shun or Yuudai had that sort of time, as the Wolfbear was relentless in its attack.

Spotting the motionless Yuudai splayed upon the ground, the blaze and the discomfort of the smoke burning both of her eyes and her throat. Making it hard to see through the chaos his full condition. But for the moment he seemed to be the safest as the Wolfbear had focused on Shun. Making her decision quickly, she knew that Shun was in the most immediate danger. The beast continuing to come at her, even with Shun trying to fight it off with everything she had. “Hold on a little while longer, I’m coming to help!” alerting Shun to her arrival if she hadn’t yet noticed her.

Ayana moved swiftly, wanting to break up the stalemate between the two as the Wolfbear had started to force Shun back. Ayana sprinted at full speed in the short distance she had between herself and Shun, sliding down as she lowered her body to the floor. Sliding between both Shun’s and the Wolfbears legs. The hot metal floor of the bus singeing her skin and her clothing, but now that she was behind the Wolfbear she could make her move.

It was then she felt something swelling up inside of her, this time the burning sensation she felt within her was not from the fire or the burns she had received. This sensation felt like it was going to make her chest burst as she felt a burst of energy and strength that she didn’t know she had. Planting her feet on the floor of the bus as she gritted her teeth. Her eyes narrowed and focused on the back of the Wolfbear, she lunged forward. Her arms wrapping around the waist of the Wolfbear as she clinched her grip around it as tightly as she could. Her legs tensing up as she established a stable base “I’ve had enough of your creepy spider eyes, how about a taste of your own medicine!” Shouting out as loudly as her smoke-filled lungs could bare.

She opened her mouth and chomped down onto the Wolfbears back. Sinking her teeth into its furry hide with every bit of intensity and strength her jaws could muster. The bitter and foul taste of its fur filling her mouth as she was determined to not let go. As she begun to shift her weight, arching her back as she begun to lift the Wolfbear off of the ground with all the strength she could feel building up inside of her. Every muscle in her body working together, her mind consumed with only the thought of stopping it from harming anyone else. Not even having a moment to consider the absurdity of what she was about to do.

Once she had it lifted off the ground, Shun’s efforts to push it back assisting her in shifting the wolfbears balance as she bridged her body. Bringing the wolfbear up and over her head as she drove its head into the floor of the bus with as much power as she could. Suplexing it with every bit of determination that she had built up. Her mouth still full of its furry back as she tried to shout out something muffled “Tok Dat Yo Furred Bowl! Git Yoodoo Shoon!” Insulting the Wolfbear while trying to tell Shun to go grab Yuudai if she could. Hoping that she would be able to get him out of danger and out of the bus. It didn’t seem like the bus would hold up too much longer at this point as Ayana knew they only had a limited amount of time to act.

There was a momentary lapse of surprise when her punch sent the wolfbear skyrocketing up into the ceiling of the bus. It created a dent in the shape of its form as gravity took the creature back down. The surprise soon turned into courage as she realized somehow that she had a chance to beat the creature. Confident shouldn't be confused with foolishness. "Ah!" Before she had a chance to react, the wolfbear went back to retaliate. Its claws nicked her face when she barely managed to avoid it but failed to avoid the headbutt.

"You think that's going to scare me!" She cried back. This was for Higasa. She went back in. Doing her best to bob and weave from the bear's massive claws, Shun managed to land a few punches. They weren't strong like the first, but they were doing enough to have an impact on the creature. Though, it always ended the same. Again, Shun was repelled by another of the bear's attacks. She slid back and gritted her teeth.

In the corner of her eye, she spotted Higasa. She couldn't tell if he was breathing or not, but there was still a chance that he was still alive. If she managed to survive a headbutt from this abnormal beast, then maybe there was a chance that he could have survived as well. While it was a stretch, foolish optimism was all Shun had going for at the moment. At the very least, she'll get Higasa out of this boss alive.

Though when Shun was about to go in for round three, she heard a familiar voice from behind her. A figure came in fast, sliding beneath both Shun and the wolfbear. "Todokawa!?" That mysterious figure was, in fact, Ayana, and she wasn't playing around. Immediately as she managed to get behind the wolfbear, she jumped onto its back. It reminded Shun of a spider that had managed to find its way onto an unsuspecting person's back. Except Ayana was far deadlier than any spider out there. She immediately bit down on the fur of the wolfbear.

Shun knew that she needed to help Ayana. Even with her strength, Shun was too inexperienced to properly utilize her newfound strength against her opponent. The same must have applied to Ayana as well. But as she went to help gang up on the bear, she heard Ayana's muffled voice. "You can't beat that thing by yourself, Todokawa!" Shun shouted back, though she looked down at where Yuudai lay right beside her. Another crisis went down in Shun's head.

Help Ayana, or Help Yuudai.

The motorcyclist gritted her teeth and pulled Yuudai up with ease. "Get out fast! The bus is gonna blow?" The trickle of gasoline finally made itself noticeable to Shun's nose. Running to the back entrance of the bus, she stopped for a moment. "I'm sorry for this, Yuudai!" 'Gently' as possible, Shun tossed Yuudai outside of the bus and turned back around. Hopefully, she didn't cause any more external injuries. Looking back at Ayana and the wolfbear, she made a quick decision. Shun grabbed the nearest object and pulled it out. It was some sort of pipe, but that was more than enough for this situation. "Todokawa! Heads up!" Stomping her foot down, she raised her arm.

Then release. The sharp iron pipe soared through the air. It aimed straight at the bear's head.

This was it, huh?

Dying beside your peers, against beasts beyond your comprehension.

Life was pretty unfair, wasn't it? Being born in a backwater town where your only talent wouldn't get the recognition it deserved, covered in obscurity by a few jealous seniors.

You couldn't make your mark in the world, and now this is where life has lead you.

Dying in an unknown world, one where only a few will remember you...

Kogen's eyes fluttered as he slowly succumbed to his fate, the pain that radiated through his body becoming more unbearable as the bearwolf crushed him. Despite this, he still had some willingness to fight in him, the barest remnants of his instincts flaring from within.

Kogen launched an arm up, grasping hard on the bearwolf's arm. Maybe if he allowed himself to get torn up by this beast, if he squirmed just enough, Masato could crawl out from underneath him. It's the least he could do, after all.

He was too out of breath to really do anything else.

As he squirmed, Kogen noticed a glint in the sky. Was this a... hallucination? Were his delusions becoming real in his death throes? No, it couldn't be... is that Inaba, falling from the sky? Did a branch break, or... no. Her movements, stiff as they may be, seemed deliberate.

... Are you just going to sit and watch, or are you also going to fight?

The boy's body moved swifty, though he wasn't sure if it was entirely of his own volition. It's almost as if seeing his classmate's will to fight despite being totally dead filled Kogen with a deep-seated sense of resolve. He continued to grasp on the bearwolf's arm, digging his nails into its flesh as the pain that surged through his body began to disappear. His other hand clutched the hammer tightly, waiting for just the right opportunity to act. Fo fight.

The air that escaped his lungs was instead replaced with fire.

As soon as Inaba made impact, Kogen swung his hammer into the one of the bearwolf's elbows, throwing all his might into the blow. From its weakened grasp, Kogen used the counteracting momentum of his swing and the bearwolf's movment to throw his own body to the side while still clinging to the monster's arm.

Nothing else matters anymore. The only thing you need to do is kill it.

And so, Kogen would do so, raising the hooked side of the hammer and jamming it into the bearwolf's neck, before ripping downward.

---

As if it wasn't obvious enough, Asahi really started to hate this place.

All that dogpiling of the toughest guys in the class and all that beating he did on the wolfbear's head, and the freaking monster looked like it wasn't even hurt. To add insult to injury, it seemed that the class was doing more damage to themselves than to these freaks of nature. Duncan's intestines were flopping out of his slashed belly and poor Yuki was out there somewhere, his right shoulder probably broken beyond repair as he was thrown like a ragdoll somewhere.

Asahi was now face-to-face with the wolfbear, all its eyes focused on the pink-haired lad. Blood matted on the fur on its head, or was it Asahi's? He wasn't sure anymore but he did believe one thing was a hundred percent certain: he was going to die right then and there.

"C'mon, asshole!" Asahi shouted once again, his rage more imminent now than before. Despite the hopelessness of his situation, he was still angry about the animal, about their situation, practically about everything. He gripped what remained of his branch and raised it at eye level so the wolfbear could see it.

"I'm not afraid of a disgusting beast like you. You're going to die here and now." He said to the beast, maintaining eye contact with it as he spoke with stone cold conviction. Asahi wasn't sure how he could speak so calmly like that but he had to do anything to keep the wolfbear's attention at him and give the others a chance to escape.

He made a quick rundown of his options. While he and Sasuke attended martial arts classes together, Sasuke was the far superior fighter out of the two of them. With his lack of sheer strength, Asahi made up for it with his reflexes and agility. He reckoned if he could, and that's a big 'if', try and outrun the wolfbear, make it so Asahi could have a way to direct it towards the blazing fire from the bus wreckage. It was barely a plan but he was desperate for anything at this point.

Just then, he was surprised when Duncan made a beeline straight for the beast. Asahi had no idea where he got the strength to do such a thing as Duncan was now shouting at Asahi to run away just as he struck at the wolfbear, aiming at his neck.

"Tch. Stop trying to be a hero, dumbass!" Asahi yelled back. What will running away do for them anyway? Even if he could manage to get away, Asahi wasn't totally sure if the others were still alive or even barely at one piece. The beasts could still chase after them, never stopping until all of them were dead.

Asahi ran fast towards the wolfbear, taking the chance that it would be somewhat incapacitated from Duncan's attack. "Why don't you just... He leaned down to quickly pick up a large stone then jammed what's left of the stick at the animal's eye before slamming the stone at it like hammering a nail. "...Die!"

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It was a really weird feeling, almost like an out of body experience. Not that Masato had ever had one of those, but he imagined it might be sort of similar to what was going on. Pain laced up and down his back where the wolfbear was tearing open his skin. Masato could definitely feel the claws sink in and the warmth of his blood well up and out of his body, but as far as fatal injuries went it didn't seem that bad. Was his brain lessening the pain to make the transition to oblivion a little more palatable? Or maybe it was possible that this wasn't a fatal wound. That its claws couldn't get through the back of his rib cage into his more important parts, and that the blood flow wasn't enough to bleed out.

Masato chose to hang onto the second option. Fuck you, I can do this, he told the phantom in his memory. He grit his teeth and endured the rake of the monster's claws, keeping a hold of its legs to keep it in place. Just kill it. His thoughts were loud, as if trying to project them to Kogen. Just kill it so this can be over. It was hard to think past the immediate situation, so what had become of the other students and what to do after dealing with this wolfbear were thoughts that didn't even filter into Masato's head anymore.

Unfortunately the OHKO he'd been hoping for did not come. A monster's skull was apparently much tougher than a dog's or a human's. From his awkward position it was hard for Masato to see what was going on until Kogen was slammed down on top of him.

"Ghk-!" The added pressure on his ripped up back really made it hurt now. He'd finally released his death grip on the monster's back legs in order to try and push himself up or otherwise escape the pin, but it didn't look likely unless the beast ripped the boy on top of him apart first. And was he really going to let that happen? Could he do anything to prevent it?

Things would have been looking a lot more grim than they already were if not for Inaba. How she'd managed to survive Masato didn't know, but if Inaba was alive then Suzuki was alive. They could all get out of this with their lives intact. The kids all seemed to move at once, with Kogen putting his plan into action once Inaba made contact, and Masato scrambling out from the pin as soon as Kogen shifted and gave him enough room to escape. He managed to get his feet underneath him and stand up, and though he was breathing heavily he wasn't sapped of his strength just yet. Now freed, he could go check on Suzuki, or he could make a proper escape. But he really wanted to see this thing dealt with now that he'd had a taste of defiance against the death the monsters represented. Kogen had a hold on one of its front legs, so Masato rushed forward to seize the other before its claws could come down and stop what would hopefully be a death blow this time.

---

//Day 0 | Location: Nameless Forest - Clearing

Rin was a gawky girl. Scrawny, even. Flat too. Short.

Her mass offered nothing for gravity to work with, and the impact she made had no physical effect. Her feet struck the back of the wolfbear’s neck and she stood there awkwardly, before successive movements from the beast threw her off.

Emotionally however?

It was enough to get the job done.

The hammer impacted the beast’s elbow with force enough that the flesh itself rippled. Twisting to the other side, Kogen finally broke free, sliding off and away from the beast’s pin. Its jaws opened still, biting down, but he craned his neck to the side, catching it with his shoulder. Left shoulder, unarmed shoulder. Pinpricks of pain squeezed down, his bloody running hot. It didn’t stop him, though, from driving the claw of the hammer into the monster’s neck.

He saw it, then.

It was impossible to make out before, but in such desperate times, in such dire straits, with all his might leveraged, Kogen could see it. See the monster’s body stiffen upon contact with the claw. See space itself distort, as if rejecting the interaction of such materials. There was some interference here. Something that stalled him.

Claws reached out, swiping towards him.

And Masato was there to catch it, exposing his bloodied back towards Kogen as he wrestled with the limb, pinned it against his armpit and his chest. Buying time, more than enough time now for the eyepatch-wearing idiot to force through this resistance. The claw bent beneath the pressure. The handle warped from his grip. He struggled as best as he could, before finally finding the purchase he needed. Through fur, through skin, through fat, stainless steel pierced the veins and then ripped downwards, tearing open the monster’s throat.

It struggled still, baptizing the two boys in steaming blood, acrid blood, black blood. They held on tight, joined soon by Rin herself, holding the monster as it raged in its death throes.

Until it stopped.

Until it was over.

The three of them laid atop the beast they had slain. Rin, still dazed from her experience with flight. Kogen, sporting an ugly bruise and a set of fang marks on his shoulder. Masato, his pants and shirt ruined and his body like a scratching post.

It had to be over.

But it wasn’t yet over.

…

He could feel his guts press up against his shirt. Could feel the stiff fur of the wolfbear poke into those tender, fleshy ropes. Blood ran thick in his mouth, the iron stench coating his world. But Duncan had its back and he clung on nonetheless. An elbow drop that sent the beast into the ground, then long arms wrapping around, trying desperately to squeeze the life out of the monster.

And would you look at that? He was stronger than he thought. Stronger than he felt.

His thoughts were scattering, the red of his vision turning white. Lightheadedness, like that time against that powerhouse school from Saitama, the one where he spent the entire match trying to break free from his mark. His mind was slipping, but his body held on, even as hooked claws dug into his arms.

Even as the wolfbear, possessing superior mass, rolled over, and Duncan felt that oppressive pain crush every part of his body. He too was suffocating. Strong enough to strangle, not strong enough to snap.

And then, he felt an impact.

Felt Asahi’s impact.

The pink-haired youth, so talkative, so charming, had no more words now. The charred stick snapped against the force of the stone, caught between a rock and a hard place. Even now, the monster struggled; it was nigh impossible to aim for an eye when emotions ran so hot. But he still had the stone. The second impact sounded, fractures forming over his weapon’s surface.

More. More. More. Brutal and unforgiving, Asahi raged against everything that he had experienced, everything that was still left to be experienced. Stone turned to dust in his hand, and his hand became a fist that pounded the monster’s skull.

Blood mixed with dust. Sweat with saliva. How long was twenty seconds under a pin? How long was twenty seconds in an exchange?
Finally, Duncan could feel the body above him grow limp.

Finally, Asahi could see the body beneath him grow limp.

Finally, they could rest.

…

By all accounts, it shouldn’t have worked.

But if there could be one miracle, there could be another, and Ayana was really feeling it this time!

A rancid taste filled her tongue, like biting into an unwashed towel, but she had committed to her move and by God she was going to see it through. Her back arched, her spine protested, her lungs could hardly get any air at all! But a wolfbear’s body wasn’t designed with limbs that could easily reach behind its back either, and with only a yelp of surprise, its head smashed into the floor, through the floor, and then…through the bus itself.

The bus had always been an old thing after all. It should have been decommissioned and replaced a decade ago, in truth. And now, weakened by the blaze, damaged by the impacts of wolfbear and Shun? It didn’t stand a chance and broke in half, Ayana and the wolfbear tumbling through sooty pipes and gears, warped steel and foam.

It was a good thing then, that Shun prioritized getting Yuudai out first. It was impossible to tell at a glance whether or not he was alive, but if nothing else, it looked like his head was still in place and his heart hadn’t been punctured. Humans could die so easily though. They could die just from a bad fall.

Shun threw him anyways and he hit the grassy field, rolling twice before coming face-flat to a stop.

And by the time she turned once more, hurling an iron pipe through the air, the situation was already too chaotic to score a hit. The pipe embedded itself into a pile of burning scrap, inches away from Ayana’s own face, while the wolfbear scrambled up, breaking out and away from the bus. Its eyes, watering from the smoke, swiveled about in six separate directions to ascertain the situation at a glance, before it growled and sprinted away.

Trying to escape.

But would they let this end, just like that?

Shun stumbled out of the bus as it slowly started to break apart. Her butt fell onto the hard dirt ground. Unfortunately, it didn't go down in a blaze of glory, but thinking about dramatic exits would be the last of her worries. "Ayana! Get the bastard and get out!" Shun yelled at the top of her lungs. If she provided any more help, Shun was sure she could only hinder Ayana more than help. Her little pipe-throw attack nearly skewered her classmate's head.

Ayana could handle herself. If she was crazy to bite a monster from another world, then she was crazy enough to kill it with sheer willpower. Right now, someone else needed her urgent attention. Yuudai. Shun immediately got up and ran over to the unconscious young man. Kneeling down to the young man, Shun began to check on the upcoming poet.

"Yuudai! Yuudai! Wake up! Can you hear me!" Shun yelled at the unconscious man. Turning him over, she winced as she realized how much of a poor choice it was to throw the heavily injured student out of the bus to help Ayana. Shun had to pray that she didn't cause any more damage than earlier. Upon checking, there were a variety of injuries and blood from Yuudai's battered body. A wave of relief washed over her as she felt something.

"He still has a pulse!" Relief washed over Shun as she felt for it. It was faint, but that meant that Yuudai was still alive. All she had to do was perform first aid. However, there was a problem with this. The first was that Shun wasn't sure how to perform first aid. The school taught her the bare basic, but she wasn't entirely familiar with the procedures. After all, what were the chances of applying first aid in a real-life situation?

The second problem. First aid implied that the patient, Yuudai, would get immediate medical attention and be rushed to a hospital. Hospitals didn't exist in a portal, and even if there were, Shun didn't have the reception to call them. Masato might know what to do, but judging by the screamings in some distance away from the bus, he seemed preoccupied with the wolfbear.

"I should get you away from the bus at least..." Shun muttered to herself. While fearful of causing more damage by moving around, she didn't have much of a choice with an aflame bus right next to them. That didn't include the other potential monsters around.

She picked up Yuudai and moved him further away from the fighting. Somewhere out of the way of the fighting and hiding Yuudai's body. From there, she tried the best she could to tend to his wounds. There were burn marks and other injuries that she didn't know how to tend, but there were some wounds that she was able to treat. Ripping up her sleeves, she bandaged Yuudai as best as she could. Hopefully, they weren't infected. Shun had to pray that things couldn't get any worse for her classmates and herself.

"Ugh..."

The sound of Yuudai stirring startled Shun. Immediately, she stopped working on bandaging and leaned over. "Higasa! Are you alright?" Her shouting probably didn't help as Yuudai immediately winced at coming to a loud sound immediately after awakening. Though his eyes focused on her.

"Shun? You're okay? That's a relief." A rough cough erupted from Yuudai, which Shun immediately reacted too.

"Yes, I'm okay, don't talk anymore!" With that her brain focused on taking care of her injured classmate." Where does it hurt?"

"Everywhere." His eye lit up but before he could recite a poem, Shun covered his mouth with her palm. The last thing she needed to hear for her psyche was the raspy, coughing voice of Higasa trying to make a poem on the spot.

______________________________________________________________________

The taste of the wolfbears rancid fur filled her mouth as she tried to hold in her disgust.The taste far worse then any medicine or vegetable she had ever been forced to take or eat. Her efforts squishing up her face as she felt the impact of her move on the wolfbear. The sound of twisting and bending metal filling her ears as the wolfbear and herself went tumbling through the bottom of the bus. The impact sending a jolt through her body as it felt like her lungs were about to burst and her back felt like it had been nearly broken in half. The taste of the wolfbear, the smoke of the fire and burning debris not doing much help to her already struggling lungs.

Ayana tried to get back up to her feet quickly, only to be caught by surprise when a pipe went whistling right by her face and embedded itself like a javelin into the side of the bus. “Woah! Hold on now! who said anything about these beasts using magic to hurl stuff!” Both the wolfbear and Ayana scrambling in the debris as the wolfbear tried to make its escape once it had burst free from the bus. Ayana willing her legs and body to jump out right after it as she skidded across the ground on her heels. Her eyes and head shifting side to side as she tried to track down where the wolfbear had scampered off.

“Hey get back here you coward! You taste horrible! I’ll never be able to get this taste out of my mouth!” Ayana complained as she tried to spit the remaining fur out. Bringing up both of her hands to her tongue as she stuck it completely out, trying to use her hands to scrub it clean as best she could. Wanting to get the taste out of her mouth as much as she could as she watched the Wolfbear scamper off. “You bweeter nut com bwack, newxt tiwme iz rouwd twoooo!” Trying to trash talk even while cleansing her tongue.

Deciding not to pursue it, after all it had only been thanks to Shun that she had been able to get the jump on the wolfbear. Without Shun around to distract it, Ayana wasn’t sure if she would be able to handle it all on her own. The fact that she was also unfamiliar with the surrounding area also seemed like it would be more trouble than it was worth. Not wanting to get lost in a forest likely teeming with more danger.

Taking a moment to try to recompose herself and gather her strength back, the effort of slamming the wolfbear had taken quite a bit of her energy. Leaving herself covered in soot and other various bits and pieces of debris, little cuts, burns and bruises covering her arms, legs and her clothing. Wrestling a wolfbear in a burning bus was definitely not the most logical thing to do, but Ayana felt like she had no other choice. Finally catching her breath as she turned her attention to Shun and Yuudai.

Seeing that Yuudai seemed to still be alive and conscious as that was a bit of a relief after all that had happened. Letting out a sigh as she wiped sweat from her brow from the heat of the fire as approached the two. “Those things are pretty clever and tough, they have some kind of magic power, first they threw my shoe back at me, then that one hurled a pipe at my head, luckily it missed….” Ayana remarked as she crouched down by the two looking over Yuudai. Completely unaware that Shun had been the one that had actually thrown the pipe. Having a mistaken belief that the wolfbear had some kind of mystical power after the earlier two incidents.

“So how are you two doing? Hopefully neither of you two got hurt too badly….” Concern filling her voice as Yuudai looked a bit worse for wear. As her focused had turned towards the well being of her classmates now that the adrenaline had worn off and the coast seemed to be clear for the time being. However, going unnoticed by Ayana, one of her twin tails had caught fire when she had burst out of the bus in pursuit of the wolfbear. Her attention so focused on the wolfbear, then the well being of her classmates that she hadn’t even noticed.

______________________________________________________________________

Masato sucked in a deep breath, breathing heavily and purposefully once the monster was dead. It was definitely dead; it wasn't moving, its throat was torn open, and it had bled enough to drench three middle schoolers. We fucking did it, he thought to himself, still somewhat in disbelief. He didn't feel like saying anything out loud in case it jinxed them and brought something even more terrible down upon the class. He glanced at Inaba on his left, Kogen on his right. Masato lifted a hand as through he were going to pat the other boy on the shoulder...

...but then he finally heaved, crawling away from both students to empty the contents of his stomach. It had been bothering him since the bus crash, and the monster's blood absolutely stunk. Once through purging Masato stood up slowly, wiping his mouth. He was tired, sore, and in pain - but he knew he looked much worse than he felt. His appearance was ghastly, soaked in red and black with torn clothes and a haunted look in his eye.

Still, he was alive. And now that things were a little less dire, he was kind of pissed off. Why did this have to happen to them? Sucked into a Portal, put through a bus crash, and then attacked by monsters. They'd all almost lost a lot more than phones and school notes. Their lives had been in jeopardy - they still were, for as long as they were still in the Otherside. Across the field, Masato could see that the other kids were no longer under attack, but some were laid out on the ground with voices of concern speaking over them. A lot of them had almost died.

Masato sucked in another breath, then drove his foot into the wolfbear's corpse. It was his third year at Kuroshio Junior High and he was so close to keeping his head down and getting one of those scholarships out of that shitty little town. Why the hell did this have to happen? He kicked the beast again, again, once more until the last of his energy started to trickle out of his body. Actually, it felt more like it was evaporating - leaving his limbs cold and his core dense and hot.

"Fuck," he sighed to himself. Alright, it was out of his system now. Time to get things back on track.

He turned away from Inaba and Kogen and approached the girl on the ground nearby. "Suzuki?" he asked, relieved when the girl lifted a hand to give the student council president a thumbs up. She was banged up but otherwise okay. It would be a real pain to carry her with his back like this, so someone else would have to help. They, the entire class of Kuroshio students, had to regroup and figure out what the hell to do from here.