---

"Because I need to check flexural strength under short bursts of stress. If they easily break, then I might as well give up on the whole spear thing. Maybe go for pitfalls instead. Rin replied. The pitfall bit was innocuous yet malicious. Something told Sohei that she wasn't going to be doing most of the work in digging holes. "If you know of a good approximation of a wolf-bear-thing to stab, feel free to try it on that. I just don't feel like getting splinters in what we have to eat--yet."

She paused to ponder on the mechanics of testing a spear without a decent place to stab.

"Or I suppose trying to pole vault with them works too. Just try not to land on the stick, if it breaks."

______________________________________________________________________

Really, Kondo? Even now? Masato did nothing but give her an impatient stare.

And when the group moved on he nodded in response to Ryuugasaki's words. That was indeed the kind of information he was hoping to get from her, anything that would give them as much of an advantage as they could get, no matter how small. Though, he supposed, this was technically canceling out a disadvantage instead. They'd brushed right by Maeda's comment about watch shifts, and Masato didn't argue the point. Maybe he'd get someone like Hoshino or even Kogen to take the shift after him and conveniently forget to wake them up.

The discussion about what to do going forward was also what Masato had wanted to hear. Unfortunately it looked like the group would have to move after all. Between Ryuugasaki's wisdom that more bear-wolves would show up to investigate eventually and Maeda's story about another Portal incident - one with more people than they had, competent adults, and a death toll - that much was clear to him. Masato's mouth was pressed into a thin line, his brows knitted together.

"...then we'll move," he decided. "We can follow the stream we found and see if it'll lead us to a lake or something."

So the first order of business in the morning, besides refueling themselves and making sure the injured were still alright, would be to make stretchers to move them. That shouldn't be too difficult. With the giant Stewart recovering they wouldn't have to worry about carrying him. Suzuki might be alright enough to be carried on someone's back. Best to split into teams again too. And though the bus was ruined, maybe they could use some parts of it? The strong pieces that survived the fire.

Oh, fuck, the driver. Was there anything left of his corpse? Should they bury it? Was it enough to have Takehara recite some sutra? Masato's eyes began to drift toward the bus but then snapped to Ichibangase, almost surprised to hear his voice. Right, medicine. But how could they go about getting that? Maybe some of the students were carrying aspirin with them, but besides that?

When Maeda leaned in, Masato scoffed at him. "I have no idea. Not everyone is a walking encyclopedia," he reminded the boy. Masato leaned away, glancing at the forest in the direction they'd set out in for water earlier. "But if someone describes them to me, I can tell you if we saw any. And I can go back and grab them tomorrow."

Size, color, number of leaves, the shape of them, whether they grew on the ground or reached up the trunks of trees... The student council president was fairly confident he'd be able to remember if they'd spotted them. Even if there weren't any kind of familiar herbs in the area, just having a basic plan for the next day made Masato feel better.

"Thank you, Kumi-San," Shun cheered. It seemed that her intruding presence, as usual, didn't seem too welcomed. Not that it surprised her all too much. Most of the time she was known as the 'crazy motor girl,' so people often tend to be swayed away from her. She wasn't too bother by it though. In life, many people will be introduced and many people will leave. That was that philosophy that she carried in her carefree life. Though that philiosphy didn't seem too applicable now.

Shun took a drink out of her soup and let it rustled down into her stomache. Her head still felt like it was being smashed against a brick wall, but she was sure that it'd recover. Somehow, or so she heard, Duncan was out and about. From having his intenstines out to having them in was a miracle in itself. If only her head injury went out and in, but perhaps that was wishful thinking.

Once Shun received the food from Kumi, she bowed, ate it, and then left to see Yuudai and Tsubaki. Shun wasn't going to sleep any time soon, no thanks to the headache, so she might as well have checked on Yuudai's condition. It didn't seem to be going too well when she last saw him and a glance from Tsubaki only confirmed her suspicions. Though, Shun knew that he'd be able to recover. If he was able to bravely face danger, then he can preserve against injury. He had too.

______________________________________________________________________


Blinking her big blue eyes as she flinched ever so slightly from the flick “That is true….though I’ve not heard anyone mention that we share the same family name, but then again I’ve not ever really talked to anyone about it, so maybe they know but don’t feel like saying anything or don’t have a reason too, I guess its not that important in the end huh?” Reaching her hand up to her forehead to give it a gentle rub as she moved her hand to the back of her head following the rub.

Thinking for a moment as she considered all that had happened. It was as if something had ensured her safety. That something kept her from getting ripped to pieces. With what injuries she did receive, being gone just like they had never happened. It was an unexplainable and unexpected outcome, as she had fully expected to come out of the situation a lot worse for wear. But here she was, chatting away with her sister, feeling better than ever.

Her eyes focusing as she snapped out of her thought upon hearing her sister’s voice. “I see…that is good to hear,I bet he will be up and dunking again in no time, but even still, I wonder just how or why it has happened, I mean I don’t believe anyone of us are any different then anyone else, but whatever the reason, it seems we have gotten lucky, I fear without the luck we may not be sitting here right now” being pleased to hear that she wasn’t the only one experiencing this strange phenomenon. Whatever was causing it, at least it was beneficial or else they surely would have suffered far greater losses and injuries.

Glancing down at her clothing as her sister pointed it out. She let out a laugh while rubbing the back of her head as she got a stupid smile on her face. “It doesn’t look like they got blessed with the power to magically repair themselves like the rest of me, well besides the hair of course” Poking her finger through a few of the tears. “As for extra clothing, well you see I didn’t take my stuff off the bus and I didn’t really think to grab it when I was wrestling with that telepathic monster, so I don’t have any other clothing” Sheepishly looking over at Ayane as she responded as her belongings had been the last thing she had on her mind during the chaos.

---

'Okay great.' Asahi said in his head. 'Hopefully that would be enough of that and I could spend the rest of the night with Sas-'

His eyebrows raised in surprise when Shun decided to jump into the conversation. Words weren't enough to describe what Asahi was feeling that night. He even didn't know what to feel about the situation too, so he just looked and smiled at them. If looks could kill, the two girls would already be dead-meat.

"Oh wow! Really? That sounds amazing!" Asahi said in an excited voice and a bright smile, but it all seemed like it came from a murderous demon intent on ending the lives of the two women in front of him. "Believe me, I would want to see it but we already had a very long day and I rather stay put and relax. You go do your thing now~" He said warmly, in a way that their a charming smiling neighbor would say while holding a bloody knife behind their back.

'May the gods bless their hearts and show mercy to them, because I won't.' He thought to himself again, finishing the last of his riceball just as Sasuke continued to talk. He would have seen the look of utter surprise on Asahi's face when he did. Normally, their conversations wouldn't even last a minute at school.

"Oh..." Asahi felt his face warm up when Sasuke thanked him. Asahi felt he was blushing too. "Nah, it's like the least I can do at that time. I mean, what you did earlier with that wolf, bear, dear, demon thingy? That was all sorts of epic! You were so epic!" Asahi said in amazement before looking at the fire.

"That was... I... I was t-terrified for you, back there..." He said in a calmer, almost quieter voice. He couldn't make himself look at Sasuke this time, he didn't want to look so vulnerable and pathetic to the man he admired. "You were fighting that beast almost alone for a long time and I... I thought I-we were gonna lose you..."

---

//Night 0 | Location: Nameless Forest - Clearing

_@OwO

To Sohei’s credit, he spent enough time studying and participating in Rin’s bullshit that he basically knew what she was talking about. It would be bad if a spear broke when it shouldn’t have, after all. Pitfalls seemed like a bit more of a questionable thing to him, but this time, this time for sure, he wasn’t going to be the one providing the muscle here. After all, Duncan was there! That guy had practically wrestled one of the bears all by himself!

“Well, they only butchered one of the wolf-bears,” Sohei pointed out, pointing with the wooden stick. “So that’s a pretty good approximation, isn’t it?”

Whether or not Hana would agree with such a thing though…well, they were all busy, and it wasn’t as if this was high-quality AAA wagyu that he was sticking a stick into. Motioning to Rin, he led her towards the strung-up wolfbear, tightened his grip on the wooden spear, and gave it a good stab.

It pierced fur and flesh. Not easily, judging by how shallow it sank into it, but the spear itself didn’t snap. Of course, part of it was because the stick that its point tapered out from was fairly thick to begin with: too thin and the spear would have no integrity to speak of. For extra measure, Sohei swung it around a few times against the corpse of the wolf-bear as well, to a similarly mundane result.

“Really, it sorta just feels like hitting a rack of beef.” A Kuroshio Boxing Club tradition.

And it was strange indeed, that a monster capable of snapping a burning bus in half, capable of shrugging off hammer blows from wrenches, was now fragile enough that a sharpened piece of wood could pierce it.

What had changed?

_@Yankee

"No point," Hana interjected, before Hiroshi could start up a whole lecture on all of Earth's medicinal plantlife. "If you didn't recognize any, descriptions won't help."

Mayumi picked up that thread as well, casting a sympathetic glance towards Juro. "Just pick herbs on the way to the stream. If these are even plants we can recognize. Otherside and all."

And if there were none they could recognize, how long would it take for them to experiment before discovering a plant with medicinal properties? What would they do if they couldn't find any? What could they use as a salve for burns, as disinfectants for bites? What could they say to the others if the best choice was the worst choice? A weight silence fell upon them as they each gathered their thoughts on the subject matter. Hana, inscrutable, her eyes lightless despite the moon, the stars, and the fire. Juro, contemplating, his knee bumping up and down in the rhythm of his thoughts. Mayumi, expressive as always, her brow furrowed into a knot as she either dug down or out in her mind. Hiroshi, shark-teeth flashing as he chewed at his thumb, chewing over this particularly grisly bit of food for thought.

He spat it out soon enough though.

"Well, no need to worry about that too much. Too dark to do it immediately, so Prez, just break the news about the night watch to the rest, aight? Be counting on you~"

_@Nakushita

“Well I meannnnn,” Ayano drawled, motioning towards one of the lean-to shelters, “He’s sorta already up and all.”

And indeed Duncan was. Sitting up, of course, but feeling good enough to eat and smoke and talk with his friends. Losing his guts didn’t seem to put enough of a damper on his spirits to make him stay down.

“If you brought extra clothing,” Ayane said, “Then go check out the buncha bags over there. Some of the boys went in and pulled out a buncha them while we were all leaving the bus to begin with. Maybe one of them's yours?”

“If not, you can always have mine~” Ayano flashed a v-sign.

“And what would you wear afterwards?”

“My boyfriend’s clothes, duh!”

“Poor guy.”

“But really,” the strawberry-blonde girl said, her v-sign now opening and closing like a pair of scissors, “how you feeling about a haircut, Ayana? Your twintails are pretty dead, but I’m sure we could make a cute little sidetail out of it instead!”

_@baraquiel

To that, there was nothing that Sasuke could say in response.

If not then, when? He would not use the teachings of his greatgrandfather, his grandfather, his father for personal gain, for personal glory, but it was entirely just to put himself on the line for others. He had done it before. Kuroshio a small town, but it was not without its delinquents and criminals, without those who would wrongly utilize the bodies they were given by their parents. The only thing that changed was that the margin of error had grown more narrow.

And still. There was something he could say after all.

"At that time, what you've done was more."

---

Night fell, properly.

Gradually, people shuffled off to sleep as best they could. Though they hadn't accomplished as much as they wished to, the students of Kuroshio Ogata had managed to keep themselves fed. The injured remained in the makeshift shelters, Tsubaki sitting cross-legged beside the two greviously-injured boys after forcing Yukiko to go join the others in sleeping. Kumi and Masami stayed up the latest, the duo finishing up the task of cooking up the wolf-bear meat and filling empty bentos with them. It wouldn't make for an appetizing breakfast, and it would certainly be a dry, chewy affair owing to the near-empty water canteens that most of the students had at this point, but it was still food. Better to cook it now than let it rot later.

Flames became subdued, embers glowing but not burning. Exhaustion took hold soon enough, lulling the students into deep yet fitful sleep as they laid among the charred remains of the bus, the soot and ash thwarted off only by leafed branches snapped off from nearby trees. No one brought it up, the presence of the charred bus driver at the end of their shelter. No one brought it up, the smell and stain of blood that clung to torn clothes. No one brought it up, the chill that passed through the night as fathomless, alien space consumed the heat radiating from the earth. No one brought it up, the chill that passed through their flesh as nocturnal beasts roused and stalked, their cries sounding far too close. No one brought it up. Everyone closed their eyes, willed themselves, and allowed fatigue to overwhelm them before their emotions could.

Masato had taken the first watch, as he promised he would.

Rin had taken the second watch, sharpening her spears to whittle away the time.

Shun was the third watch, staring out at the nameless stars, the half-moon's form blanketed by wispy clouds. The digital clock on her smartphone, having somehow survived all the abuse she had put herself through, showed 3AM. They had agreed upon one and a half hour shifts, between the six of them who had been possessed by that strange energy that made them stronger than they could have ever imagined. Duncan was excluded; regardless of whether or not his stomach was back in place, he had still been the most grievously injured of them all, and his bite-sized girlfriend looked ready to choke him out if he refused to sleep for a full eight hours that night.

Time passed slowly though, with her thoughts as her only companion. Unlike Rin, Shun hadn't brought her tools. Unlike Duncan, Shun didn't have any real friends. Unlike Masato, Shun didn't feel the urge to take on any responsibility. All she had was a reminder of her mistake, and the inability to fix that mistake. And despite the cold dread that it brought her, knowing just how infinitely far they were away from any help, the core within her body was still warm.

Embers, exuding radiant heat. Fuel, to be stoked to inferno with a single breath.

Strange, how quiet her surroundings became. The forest hushed, except for the uncaring wind, whispering through the branches. The cries of critters now sounding only distantly, intermingling with the crackling of ashen firewood. And in the distance, on the opposite end of the clearing, there were...two lights. Pinpricks, of a light green hue. They pulsated slowly, each pulse increasing the intensity of the light, and with each pulse, Shun herself could feel time slow. Could feel the warmth within her core spread.

Before her mind could catch up with the realization, her body was already in motion.

She dropped to her side, right as beams of energy lanced overhead, piercing into the bus behind her. She couldn't register the consequence of that, not when the flash of that beam gave her a glimpse of the monstrosities in the shadow. They had let one of the wolf-bears leave, and if those wolf-bears were more wolf than bear, then a group of three alone would not constitute a pack.

Sickly abnormalities lurked within the moonshadow, ten eyes conjoined into a compound that swirled around a too-wide head. The one-eyed beasts, almost starved compared to the girthier forms of their fallen kin, let out a cackling bark as they remained where they were, pinpricks of light gathering once more. Another salvo was coming. And in the illumination now, Shun could make out a third beast behind them, a wolf-bear possessed with the slender finesse of a snake. Its silver pelt glistened and its tail, easily five meters in length, rippled like a ribbon around its charge.

The first attack had been scouts then. Had just been sheer brutality, and had been matched with brutality in kind.

Now, however?

The monsters possessed something that none of the students, not even ones given bodies that burned with unnatural strength, had.

Magic.

The hunt had never ended. It had only extended.

It was quiet. She was only awake in the loneliness of the night. After taking over Rin's shift, Shun tended the fire to keep herself warm. Stoking the flames with a stick, it flickered in the darkness. The only thing reminding her that she wasn't alone was the snores of her classmates. Tossing in another stick, she stared up at the foreign sky. She would often go stargazing as she made a stop with Satoshi-Chan. However, even the sky felt like a stranger to her. The stars weren't aligned, and if she looked close enough, she noticed subtle differences in the moons.

"When will we get home?" Shun murmured to herself. Now that she was technically alone, she allowed her act to drop. Half of her wondered why she kept it up. After Yuudai got injured because of her, Shun felt the necessary need to try to act and feel positive. If she didn't act eccentrically as usual, wouldn't it disturb everyone else? The other half knew that she was still in denial. Everything had happened so fast and spiraled out of control. It was one thing to be reckless, but to lose control was the worst.

Shun thought about memories of home. The school was often uneventful. Go in and go out. Studied the material half-heartedly and occasionally chatted with her classmates. Out of everyone, sans Akihito, Shun was the outsider of the group. Doing things on her own and driving on her moped without care. The few people that she could remember taking seriously were Yuudai and Endo. Yuudai was the only classmate that she talked to on a regular basis; Endo, on the other hand...

She didn't understand Endo.

He would often shoot her strange looks and step back from her whenever she neared him. Shun couldn't find a reason for his behavior. He didn't seem to act differently with girls, so why her? Though Shun wouldn't be able to get an answer out of him even if she did. Along with Yuudai, Endo was the other injured party.

Masato and Asashi-

Something glowed in the dark. "Ah!" Before she had a chance to process, her instincts kicked in. Her body rolled away from the laser as it barely grazed her hair. She didn't need to look behind to analyze what had happened to her if she didn't react in time. The sound of a laser melting through metal like butter was enough for her to tell. What she was identifying were the assailants of the dark. From the brief luminescence, it was the wolfbear. Well, Wolfbears.

What was that attack?

A laser beam that could pierce through metal. Not even that, but the origin came from that strange wolfbear. She had often heard the phrase that advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, but no.

This was real magic.

"Everybody get up! They're back! With some laser bullshit as well!" Shun roared at the top of her lungs. She wasn't going to let anyone get hurt. If the fire was still burning brightly, she might've considered grabbing a stick and charging straight at them with it. Though, there was one small advantage that this world lacked.

A phone.

Bringing out her phone, she turned the flashlight mode on. Light banished the darkness to allow her to see in the dark. Immediately, she ran to separate from the group. With whatever weird laser beam shit was going on with one of the wolves, it would be best to make sure they don't all get hit by hit. That and she needed to buy them time to wake up. Grabbing a nearby rock, she chucked it at the wolves, hoping to grab at least one of their attention.

---

Though a curious thought went through Rin's mind when she saw the spear poke into the carcass with ease: what if the monsters were strong only when they were alive? The spears would be useless if that were the case. The alternate hypothesis was that things in a dungeon had an affinity for affecting each other. Rin had no evidence for something like that, though. In either case, some level of testing was complete and Rin was off for some rest. She needed it.

Rin never really dreamed of much. It was always some mundane thing for her. Building in a weightless world, looking for something that didn't exist, something like that. More often than not, her dreams reflected her current state. Judging by her current dream, having her bag torn open and her things flying away affected her pretty deeply. She collected enough that she could push it down from the forefront of her mind while she was awake. Work on whittling away spears or telling people how to tie knots. However, when she was asleep? There was no way for her mind to hide how she lost some of her tools.

Her turn on the watch gave her a brief moment of respite from her stressful dreams. Sharpening a stick was simple, but it required some level of focus. Not enough to ignore the watch, but enough to not think about things. If only man didn't need to sleep. She whittled her time away before Shun had taken over the watch.

And she went back to her dreams. Back to the mundane dreams that would wake her feeling nothing but stress. This time, however, she did not awaken to cold sweats and stress. No, it was Shun yelling. It appeared that the students were never safe.

Perhaps a pitfall would have been a good idea after all. An ambush in the night was brutal. She stumbled up with spear clutched in hand. The others had been littered nearby for other students. After all, Rin only had two hands. It was better to keep them spread out where they were needed. Surely a weapon, even one as simple as a sharpened stick, would be better than students beating the life out of the wolfbears with their fists.

...

At least, it would be better if they weren't named Duncan.

If only Rin had some magnesium. Or phosphorus. Really, anything. Shun running off with a flashlight to act as bait was foolhardy. If it was night and the wolfbears had good night vision, it would be nice to try to abuse that instead. Though, Shun would need to run towards them rather than away for that to happen.

Well, if Shun would try to be a distraction, Rin would move to help her. She moved near her ready to stop any pounce with her spear. Though, not close enough that the two would have been clipped by the same beam.

______________________________________________________________________

Turning her head and attention away from her Ayane towards were Ayano motioned, spotting Duncan who was already up, talking and eating with a group of his friends. “Well, it’s a good thing he is so durable, I don’t know if I’d be able to do the same thing in such a short time, but with all the crazy stuff going on around ever since we got here, who knows what would happen….” As she was glad that Duncan seemed to be doing just fine despite the ordeal he had endured. However, it happened, or why it had happened mattered very little in the end, after all he was alive, and Ayana thought that was surely the most important part of it.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to go look and see if my stuff survived, I wouldn’t want to put any burden on either of you if I don’t have to…I mean what will he wear if you are wearing his clothes as well? It wouldn’t feel right if he ends up having to run around half naked out in the middle of nowhere.” Ayana added, grateful for the offer. But she didn’t want to cause too much unnecessary problems if she didn’t have too. Praying that her bag was one of the ones that had been saved during the initial emptying of the bus.

Reaching a hand up to the crisped end of what was once one of her two tails she let out a laugh and gave a nod of her head. “Oh, that doesn’t seem like too bad of an idea, so if you want to give it a go, its not like you can mess it up anymore then I already did, so work your magic, then I’ll run over and see if my stuff is around” Smiling at the strawberry-blonde in return for her kind offer. She had not interacted much with Ayano before in the past, but she seemed nice enough so far. Usually, others would keep their distance in concern of just what chaos they would get dragged into. But now that everything had gone awry, Ayana was finally getting to meet and know more of her classmates.

=======================================================
Her hair somewhat taken care of with the help of Ayano and Ayane, she had also been lucky enough to find her bag. Having changed into a new uniform she had spent the remainder of the night chatting and hanging out with the trio. Before they decided to get some sleep while a night watch cycle was put into place by the others. She had taken her bag and tightly packed up everything inside to make a nice pillow out of it. Sure, she didn’t have any blanket or anything, but hey at least a makeshift pillow made it a little more tolerable to sleep. Having drifted off at long last feeling happy about the kindness bestowed upon her thus far.

This peaceful sleep ended abruptly with the sound of shouting voices and what sounded like wolf bears as Ayana shot up, awake almost immediately. When she did so she smacked her head into the tree she had set up her sleeping quarters at. Which sent her stumbling and tripping back until she tripped over a rock and landed on her bum. Shun’s warning having cleared the sleep from her mind and body, and the clumsy aftermath making sure that she was completely alert. Rubbing her head and her rear, her sapphire eyes quickly searching the darkness to locate the source of all the commotion. Her eyes catching an unusual green hue in the darkness when the wolf bears had begun to fire off beams of energy.

“What do you mean they shoot death lasers now! first they are telepathic, now they shoot lasers? What’s next? They will figure out how to fly or something?!?!?!” shouting in pure exasperation upon realizing their new capabilities as she jumped to her feet in shock and horror. How much worse could it get, surely this was the last surprise that they had for them. Ayana didn’t know how many more surprises she could handle at this rate; it had taken everything she had earlier just to face off against the one wolf bear in the bus. That time she at least had Shun’s help.

“Fujito, Ayano, Ayane, stay close to me, we need to link up with more of our classmates and I’ll do my best to try to protect you three. After all I’m the only one right now that we know can take a hit without dying. The moment we panic and split up, those things are smart they will pick us off….”turning to the other three that where with her. Resisting the urge to charge right in to help Shun in her current predicament, not wanting to leave the three behind and open to danger. Taking great responsibility with the knowledge that she had abilities that none of the three had, so they had to rely on her.

---

//Night 0 | Location: Nameless Forest - Clearing

_{@OwO@AThousandCurses}
The rock flew far, further than what Shun would’ve thought, but the irregular shape made it near-impossible to aim with properly. It struck the ground, lost in the darkness, while her own phone’s light was only enough to cut a swathe of illumination five meters ahead of her.

Her eyes alone could see much further than that.

Rin joined her, spear in hand as the two dashed off, trying to bait any sort of pursuit or response. Playing distraction was a reasonable idea indeed. Predators went after those separate from the herd. It was a rationale that hunters of all sorts utilized in order to safely get a kill before the herd itself amassed and crushed them with numbers alone. But this group had already revealed itself to not be a herd of schoolchildren. There were those who were capable, and there were those who were not. There were those who were a threat, and those who were not.

And those who were had willingly ran away from their flock.

Rin could feel it, needling her mind as the monsters remained where they were. These were far more intelligent, far more malicious that the mere beasts that had attacked them during the day.

Light gathered upon compound eyes once more, another set of beams slicing through the night.

But for what?

_{@baraquiel@Yankee@Vertigo@Cu Chulainn@Nakushita}
If Shun's voice had not roused them, the pained shout of another would. Voice made indecipherable through agony, they let out a howl of raw pain, no adrenaline to dampen sensations, and immediately, the other students stumbled away, trying to figure out what happened.

What happened was made clear when another two bolts of light pierced through the charred exterior of the bus, one slamming into Ayana's side as she tried to reach for her newfound friends. It felt like being struck by a baseball bat, a dull throb that launched her against the opposing window frame, her breath driven out of her lungs.

Duncan's voice sounded through the crisis. "Out of the bus! We can get cover beneath the ditch!"

It was enough to mobilize them. They had only evacuated once before this, but that one time had given them enough experience, and they all filed out once more, corralled away by the bombardment of those distant monsters. And yet, in the chaos, one student strayed from the others, heading for the shelters outside where the two most grievously injured students laid. Yukiko, heading closer to danger rather than further away from it.

No.

No matter where they went, they were heading to danger.

As the first of the students dropped down from the bus, heading towards the treeline once more, three hulking forms burst out, six-eyed monsters that were no longer comparable to mere wolves, mere bears, mere deer. They were massive, built the size of Asian elephants but possessed with the sleek musculature of a tiger or lion. With one swipe, Sasuke was sent flying, his form crumpling against the weakened frame of the bus. Another of the hulk-phants lunged for Mayumi and Masami, intent on crushing them flat before the paralysis of surprise wore off, while the final one stayed back, slinking in a way that prevented the prey from escaping by simply sacrificing some of their own.

The monsters could smell it after all.

The flesh and blood of their packmates, clinging upon the skin of these frail little apes.

---

Asahi tried to sleep, but his conversation with Sasuke kept replaying in his mind, the warmth and sturdiness of his voice, the way he was like an anchor that kept Asahi close to the earth and gave him a sense of comfort and security in this cruel, foreign world. He touched the shoulder that rubbed against Sasuke, and remembered the last few words he said before they all went to rest.

The pink-haired lad bit his bottom lip and pressed his face on a bag to stifle his small squeals of excitement. It all seemed so pathetic that the first time he got close to Sasuke was when everything went wrong, making that conversation the only thing that made it all right. He thought of imaginary scenarios in his head.

Asahi would finally overcome his nervousness and be more proactive in befriending Sasuke. When all this was over, Asahi will step down from being the secretary of the student council and dedicate his free time rejoining martial arts classes with Sasuke again. He won't care if Sasuke didn't reciprocate his feelings, he just wanted to be a part of his life from now on.

He realized two things that night: life was very painfully short, and first crushes were a powerful thing. Asahi slept with a small smile on his lips while happily thinking about 'I would' scenarios.

Like the rest, Asahi's peaceful slumber didn't last that long. He woke up to the sounds of Shun screaming at the top of her lungs and numerous somethings lumbering in the darkness of the forest. Everything devolved into chaos so quickly when the wolfbears seemingly returned with more allies and even more dangerous abilities. Beams of pure energy pierced through the darkness of the night, even striking Ayana and pushing her back against something with so much force.

"Sasuke!" Asahi screamed in terror as one of those freaks of nature struck at Sasuke and sent him crashing against the bus. Asahi ran towards him, tears streaming down his face as he cupped his cheek. Blood dripped down Sasuke's lips and it even looked like he broke a few bones. "Stay with me! Stay with me!" Asahi tearfully said and looked back fearfully at the three monsters now going over to them, intent on killing every single one of him and his classmates.

"Shit! Fuck, shit!" Looking around desperately to find something to use against them, Asahi picked up a random phone with some battery left and played music at the loudest volume. He tossed the phones at the monsters and did the same thing repeatedly, hoping all the loud random music would distract the beasts and give his classmates time to retreat.

"Ah!" Shun was trying her best. Dirt and grass brushed against her face as she once more rolled onto the ground. A bright light whizzed right where she was standing. Rolling on the ground, Shun didn't have time before rolling against and avoiding another laser that darted straight at her. At the very least, she was getting their attention. Though what good was it if dodging was all she could do? She wanted to finish the fight as soon as possible, but that seemed impossible.

Screams echoed from her peripheral, but Shun couldn't afford to be distracted, or else she'd be skewered by a beam of light. The only people that were here with her was Rin. While she didn't know Rin beyond her mechanical genius, it didn't give her much faith in what she could do in a brawl. At least she had a spear(?), but Shun didn't know whether that be good enough to pierce the beast's thick hide. To say things weren't looking good for them was an understatement.

Shun had to do something. It took herself and Ayana to take down one of the monsters, and even then, it managed to get away. Would Rin and herself be able to take on three of them? Unlikely, but they had to try. Gritting her teeth, Shun decided it was time to go in. Rin was smart; maybe she could find a good way to shove that spear somewhere that the beasts didn't like.

Dodging the next set of lasers, Shun decided to run forward. It felt like one of those bullet hell games that she often came across when she parked at a nearby arcade. A bullet hell, was it? Either way, she wasn't going to aim for the laser wolves. Shun started sprinting straight ahead at the long tail beast. There was no way in hell that thing was going to let them pass and attack the laser wolves. It didn't pounce but decided to stay to protect them.

"It's all you, Inaba!" Shun shouted as she dodged another set of lasers. Whatever Shun meant by that was left for Rin to interpret. Coming straight at the long-tail beast, she decided to play it safe. Bait out the tail and pull an Ayana and jump on its back and proceed to wrestle it. This would allow Inaba a variety of options. Either to test her luck against the two laser wolves or help her take care of the wolf.

The light from the laser wolves at least allowed her to see the sillouhette of the beasts. With that she, Shun decided to take an educated guess where the long-tail wolf was. Sprinting right up, she tried to do a fient by throwing her phone at where she presumed the wolf was while running from another side to misdirect the beast. Her sailing phone shined light as it sailed through the air.

---

Rin could sense it. The monsters didn't give chase. Even if her vision in the night was hazy, she could tell that they didn't follow. Perhaps it was for the better. Perhaps it was the worse.

If her vision was better, she could have used her spear as a javelin. Even if the hide was tough, the eyes were almost always a weak spot. The thought did cross her mind that if she struck one of the laser wolves in the eye while it was charging its blast, its head would just explode. There was no evidence for this to happen unless one took cartoon as fact.

With Shun on laser duty, Rin had to do something. In a creeping dash, she skulked towards one of the laser-wolves. Quiet and fast. She'd pierce one of the laser beast with Shun acting as her cover.

______________________________________________________________________

Masato woke up.

He didn't remember falling asleep. Hadn't planned on it either, but the day's events must have tired him out more than he'd thought. When his eyes opened late into the night he felt rather disoriented. That was Kanamori yelling, wasn't it? Laser bullshit? What...?

He sat up quickly, because even if he didn't know what she was talking about if she was shouting at all it had to mean there was trouble. He soon learned that "laser bullshit" had been literal. The blast of light sliced through the bus frame that Masato had been seated outside of, scattering the students inside. Someone cried out in pain, which kicked Masato in gear. He scrambled up and around to where everyone was gathering outside.

The story Maeda told earlier buzzed around his head. 338 causalities. They couldn't even go one night without fending off more monsters. He could see them, eyes adjusting easily to the dark of the Otherside. He could also see Inaba running off again, this time with Kanamori at her side. "...!" Don't he started to shout, only to bite the word off before it left his throat. Don't, it's dangerous, don't, you're splitting the group. But Inaba and Kanamori were both "changed." He'd seen Inaba recover from what would have been a fatal impact hours ago. If those fucking laser wolves were content to stay away and snipe them, someone should go put a stop to it.

Which left five of the changed students, including himself, to deal with the other problem.

Three more monsters emerged from the forest on the other side of the bus, cutting off their escape route. They were huge, way too huge to be able to sneak up on them as easily as they had. Yet here they were, and already on the attack. Masato was too late to do anything about Bansen getting struck, didn't even notice Ohta separating from the group as he made his own dive forward. He collided with the two girls the monster had been aiming for, all three of them tumbling out of the beast's path.

After recovering he wanted to tell Kondo and Takehara to run, but where the fuck would they even go? Realistically, escape wasn't an option. Even if was, it meant leaving their injured peers for dead. They had to kill these monsters, or else show them that the prey there were after was too much trouble than it was worth.

"Get the rest of those spears Inaba was making and stick together with everyone," he instructed the girls, his voice harsh. He didn't check to see if they followed his order, just turned back to the hulking monsters threatening them. He felt the furnace in his chest heating up, coals stoked by yet more danger having found them.

Could he do the same thing he'd done against the earlier wolf-bears? Catch its limbs, force it still enough for everyone to pierce its body and skewer it? Masato knew something had happened inside of him and he was stronger now than he was before, but was he strong enough to contend with monsters like this? They were at least twice as big as the wolf-bears from before. But what else could he do but try? There were two monsters up close, and of the students able to contend with them... He wasn't sure if Stewart was well enough yet, he didn't know where Kogen had ended up, Todokawa had taken a wound, and Hoshino...

"Hoshino!" Masato barked. He didn't know what his fellow councilman was planning with the phones, but it seemed like the other boy was panicking. "Focus! Keep these things away from the others."

And when the nearest elephant-wolf brought its massive paw down again in order to crush Masato this time, he caught it in both of his hands.

"Damn monsters," he growled. He tested his strength against the beast, intending to snap the bones in its foot. Seconds passed, he struggled, and his eyes widened as the realization that his half-baked plan was in danger of falling through. In the test of strength, he was losing.

______________________________________________________________________


Before Ayana could react, she felt herself being thrown violently into the window frame of the bus. Unable to brace herself as she never even saw it coming in the dark. Letting out a sudden cry as she felt the impact. Having the air pushed out of her lungs as she lost her breath. Whatever hit her, had hit her hard, it felt like someone had ran up to her and swung away with a baseball bat. The window frame of the bus not giving her much cushion or comfort as she slammed into it.

Finding herself rebounding from the impact as she fell to the ground on her knees hunched over and slumped to the side propping herself up against the side. Her arms wrapped around her torso as she gasped for air trying to suck it back into her lungs. Having trouble catching her breath as she tried to get back to her feet. A grimace on her face as she finally got enough oxygen to get moving just a little.

“Alright……that……was….a….cheap….shot….if you…..wanted….round…..two…then…...you could have just....asked....” Gasping in-between each of her words as wincing as she tried to balance herself back onto her feet. Her one open eye searching the darkness for her assailant “The rest of you….try to get with the others, I’ll….hold this one off…for now….” Ayana turned to the others with her not wanting to get them dragged into this.

If this beast wanted a fight, she was going to give it as much fight as she could muster. It was clear that this one was stronger than the previous one. She didn’t think she had a chance to beat it all by herself. After all it had only been with Shun’s help that she had been able to drive off the first one. She had no choice in the matter this time around, it was just her and the beast.

She felt like she had a score to settle, a bit of retribution to exact. Sure, this beast would likely rip her limb from limb. But she was going to make sure it also paid dearly for it and wouldn’t escape this battle unscathed. Reaching her hands up as she slapped them into either side of her face to clear her mind and focus.

She turned to face her attacker gritting her teeth as she started to pound on her chest like a gorilla. She didn’t know why she decided to do it, but it felt good to get it out. “Let’s go then you coward, I know you’re here now, so let’s do this! Or are you a chihuahua!” Ayana shouted as she charged the beast grabbing a piece of the metal frame that had broken loose during the accident and the fire. Wielding it in her hands like a makeshift sword, its jagged end being the only thing she could find in the moment. Leading with the point first as she aimed for the meatiest part of the beast she could see before her.

---

//Night 0 | Location: Nameless Forest - Clearing

_{@OwO@AThousandCurses}
At times, they dodged by a hair’s breath. At times, they struck the dirt then kept going.

And through it all, they both noticed.

These beams, despite being so bright, despite being of energy, had no heat.

But whether they would make anything of it was unknown, not as the distance closed and they put their plan into action. Shun once again as the distraction now, presenting the greatest target possible. Rin slipping into the shadow, her grip tight upon her spear.

The phone sailed through the air, rotating.

Time slowed, senses sharpening to a razor point.

And then, the light cut out.

A blur within the night, and Shun’s phone split in half. A moment later, she could feel that same premonition, her body bisected. Instinct drove her arms upwards, before a sharp impact rocked them. She was sent rolling into the grass, hot pain lancing up her forearms. They had been cut by something, blood oozing out from the clean slice through her flesh. Her unnatural hardiness had prevented her from losing her arms, but that didn’t change what was presented before her.

To call it a tail wasn’t appropriate. Its true nature was that of a five meter long blade, capable of cleanly cutting through metal.

The Long-Tailed remained where it was though, sinuous form content on guarding its packmates.

One was enough, for the other now…

Rin did not possess the physical speed that Shun had, but her mind was sharpened in its stead, time flowing at a slower pace. She could see through the dark, could see the forms of the monsters before her. Could see the light gather upon compound eyes, ten whole eyes clustered together in the grotesque manner that only nightmares could grow.

Distantly, she recognized that Shun’s advance had been thwarted, saw the trajectory of that blade-tail slice through the wind itself.

But what she saw more clearly was the flexing of muscles, the bundling of tendons. Two eyes, affixing upon her, recognizing her attempt at a flank.

She lunged with her spear, and yet the point struck air, her target leaping back and directing the ball of light towards her now. She had gotten her attention, and up close, she could see how it bubbled, volatile, then split, bursting like fireworks. Two dozen smaller beams, saturating the area she was in.

Like the flicker jabs of a professional boxer.

_{@baraquiel@Yankee@Vertigo@Cu Chulainn@Nakushita}
It bubbled out between clenched teeth.

A thick rust, coating his mouth.

And yet, it felt so distant too.

…

Sasuke recognized, perhaps, that he had never broken a bone until now.

Asahi was beside him, hurling phones into the dark, a cacophony of different genres competing with the panicked cries of his classmates. Some of them were trying to rally together, Masami and Mayumi scrambling to get weapons into the hands of those fit enough to do something. Others were crying out in the dark, trying to locate and confirm the state of friends, family. He could hear Ayane shout something incoherent.

Could see the beast, the hulk-phant, treading upon blaring phones as sprinted towards him. Crushing memories underfoot, silencing songs at an afterthought.

“Go.”

His fist struck Asahi’s back. A paltry gesture, but meaningful nonetheless. He was strong, back home. Now, Asahi was strong, no matter what his friend felt.

“I’m with you.”

And Ayana too, was with them.

She was a disaster, really. She was actively shouting at the hulk-phant that she could hardly see but could definitely feel charging in her direction. She was practically provoking it, and wasn’t even doing so in a way that drew it away from Sasuke and Asahi. No, Ayana, with a fresh (but sorta messy haircut) and a set of clothes that didn’t smell like smoke, had charged forth with nothing but a jagged piece of metal that she wrenched from the frame of the bus and had then practically flung herself at the monster, thrusting forth.

Only she could see, this close, what had happened to her weapon.

It had crumpled against the skin of the monster, too fragile, too malleable, to withstand the duress upon both ends. And that just left Ayana hugging the front limb of a hulk-phant, her feet scrambling against the dirt but only able to slow its charge.
Slow its charge, and be blind to its head craning down, its jaw opening up.

About to tear her head off with a bite.

That was what Asahi could see, as the furnace within his body grew colder and colder, embers blown to black by the creeping fear. He was strong. He had to be strong. But these monsters…weren’t they all stronger?

They were.

Masato could feel it, the sheer animal strength of the monster before him. It was like being trapped in an arm-wrestling match, slowing feeling the burn in his muscles, slowly giving way to this creature that just had enough of a physical advantage to make him feel like he could overcome it if he had the right positioning.

But he was set. Both hands grasping upon the digits of the hulk-phant’s singular foot. He was stuck in the dirt, stuck in the grave he had dug for himself, stuck with great responsibility of a power that wasn’t great enough.

He was set.

And then, he wasn’t.

Of course.

His limbs had the strength to contest, but he was still just a Japanese middle schooler. He was shorter than his male peers. It was never a contest when it came to mass. And just as how Masato could grip the monster’s paw, the monster’s paw could grip him too. Digits squeezing against his arms, the frontal limb lifting him up.

His legs kicked against nothing.

And then, like that, Masato was slammed back into the earth, the air driven out of his body, his back thrust into the grave. Without his legs beneath him, without an upright posture, there was no way for him to resist it now, not with his arms alone.

No matter how much he burned, with anger, with indignation, it was not enough.

The weight of the hulk-phant’s foot was the weight of a world that would deny him his freedom for three more years, no matter what he did.

...

"Why me?"

Moonlight caught the sharpened tooth.

"Because you're like me."

Shun blinked, and then suddenly, pain scorched through her arm. Like a searing flame, it sliced through her skin and sent her sliding back. In the midst, the light of the phone suddenly ceased. Though she was able to determine that her opponent wasn't long-tailed, the beast was long-bladed. "Damn..." Shun cursed as she clutched her arms. It was bleeding profusely, but whatever blessed her superhuman endurance allowed her to bear with it.

In the corner of her eye, she noticed that Inaba seemed to be having difficulties on her own, but Shun couldn't take her eyes off of her target.

The beast had longer reach than her with its bladed tail, and if she wasn't careful, she'd be left off with injuries worse than the cut on her arms. No matter how she looked at it, she was going to lose. She had to think of something. From behind her, she could hear the commotion of her classmates as they faced off against it.

What should she do? What should she do? A million thoughts ran through her head until...

"Oh, fuck it. LET'S GO!" With a battle cry, Shun ran at the long-tailed beast. Putting all her strength into her legs, she kicked off the dirt and lowered her stance. There was no strategy, nor was there any rational thought behind this foolish move. If this bastard was going to bring a blade in a fistfight, then she'd become the truck that ran over the competition. As she got in range, she lowered herself to slide under the beast and threw out a heavy punch.

---

It missed. Thankfully, Rin hadn't exactly been punished for her failure in that instant. No, the beast had merely dodged and sent a megaflare her way. She was doing better than her partner in crime who had narrowly avoided being called Sh and Un.

How unfair it was. Sure, Rin had an inkling that something in her changed. Just as she felt a wellspring inside her after being flung into a tree, the beast had its own well floating towards her. Only her well was inside and doing nothing. The beasts well had been firing blasts at her. She could do little but move to dodge them. Her speed was lacking. Most of the dodge turned into scraping blows. She grit her teeth. Not the worse mishap she's ever been in. Pain was just a sensory illusion, that's what she'd convince herself to think.

She who dares, right?

Further in she went against the eyeballer and its orb. She'd certainly give it something to ponder. That something was a spear.

She'd draw from her own well. Everything she could. Every drop. Would it work? Who knew. Someone had to do something. Just as the Wright brothers believed they could fly. Just as Cugnot believed in self-propulsion. Just as Hormell Foods believed they could can ham. All she could do was believe that this was her correct choice.

She directed what she could towards her spear and thrust it towards the orb.

______________________________________________________________________

The metal bending and crumbling away in her hands as if it had been a piece of aluminum foil. The surprise not having a chance to settle in before her face impacted into the leg of the hulk-phant as the metal gave way with little to no resistance. Letting out a brief groan as she got her wits about her in short order. Shaking off the momentary pain and surprise. “Well…that could have gone better…I guess I’ll just have to do this the old fashion way….” as she resorted to wrapping her arms around the limb as tightly as she could. Her muscles tensing as a great deal of stress and tension was put on them as she tried to dig her heels into the ground.

Straining her entire body as the pressure she felt trying to hold it back was like nothing she had ever experienced before. It was as if her back would fold in half at any minute, her eyes felt like they wanted to burst from her sockets. Mustering up every bit of strength she could as her muscles were put to the ultimate test, and she was losing.

Her feet couldn’t find stable ground, and even if they did. She doubted she would be able to hold the creature back. It was far stronger than the earlier beast she had tangled it without a doubt. She knew she couldn’t tackle this one the same way as the previous one, but she didn’t know what she could do in the moment. In the dark all she could see in her immediate eyesight was the leg she was clinging too. Looking like an infant trying to hold back a tree trunk. “This isn’t going to work….I’d die from exhaustion before this thing even breaks a sweat….” Her voice strained as she muttered to herself.

The imminent threat of the beast’s jaw lowering towards her single tailed head happening completely unknown to her. As its jaw closed in about to remove her cute little head from body. Her left foot broke loose in dirt as she slid down the creature’s limb face first and onto the ground with a crash. Having lost her footing in her typical clumsy nature, not knowing that for once being so clumsy had likely saved her life. “that one hurt….that things legs are made out of steel…” complaining from her prone position. Quickly trying to roll herself out of the way to avoid getting stomped on.

The fact that she had been moments from death, completely and totally unknown to the klutz. Finally getting back to her feet after rolling a short distance away. The dark making it difficult to completely decipher what she was looking at. Gritting her teeth as she reached up rubbing her face gingerly having smashed it multiple times already without accomplishing much beyond slowing the hulk-phant. Her new set of clothing already dirty and her new hairdo already becoming a mess in short order.

“I’m going to need help this time around…there is no way I can beat this thing on my own….” Taking a quick look around her immediate area. A idea suddenly popping into her head out of the blue. One she knew was absolutely stupid, but it was better then standing around. “What if I run at it this time and do one of those fancy moves I’ve seen before on T.V…..it beats doing nothing….I just have to slow it down until the others can help…” Mustering up her energy as she planted her feet. Pushing off as fast she could as she charged at the hulk-phant a second time. Before she reached the beast, she crouched down at the last second. Launching herself forward with every bit of speed and strength she had like a spring towards what she believed was the chest of the beast. “They also told me I was hardheaded, so lets see if you like this! AYANA HEADBUTT ATTACK!” she cried out hurtling towards it head first. Attempting to give it the most powerful headbutt she could muster.

______________________________________________________________________

The moment that Masato realized he wasn't going to best this monster with his new found strength, he felt the flame in his chest flicker. A flash of doubt in the most frustrating way; he could almost do it, close but not close enough. When the fact set in it was too late to bail and try another strategy. He was lifted up, his stomach flipped, and then he was smashed into the ground once more.

He let out a strangled shout as he felt his breath leaving his lungs. The lacerations on his back had already healed, a small blessing that he didn't feel any more pain besides the weight of the beast pressing down on him, but what did it matter if he was going to die anyway? He might have preferred that it hurt more as proof of his struggling - it was about all he could do at the moment after all. Both of his hands were still wrapped around the hulking creature's paw though he couldn't dislodge it. He strained against its press, trying to get his legs underneath him again. He was pretty effectively pinned, and hadn't regained breath enough to call out for help.

Looking up at his captor, Masato could swear that the beast was grinning back down at him. A chill spread through his body along with an inkling that these things were not just alien animals, not really. Even with the ability to shoot magic lasers, he'd expected that they'd be dangerous but simple, predictable... but the fact that they'd split up, that there was a trio firing on them to support their larger pack mates, that there was a creature waiting in the wings, that this one hadn't yet killed Masato despite rendering him almost completely vulnerable... it all suggested a capacity for thought. For violence beyond just survival.

It flexed its shoulder and pushed down harder, the look in its eye bringing him to another time his back had been pressed into the dirt, an overwhelming presence above him keeping him there.

"You've been acting really entitled lately," that presence growled. "Now you won't even greet your family properly?"

Right, that was how it started this time. It was already well into the evening by the time Masato had gotten home from cram school, he'd had a headache and brushed by Akito and his parents on the way to the small kitchen. A snide comment followed him there, though he couldn't recall what it was. He could tell his brother was in a bad mood, but still ignored whatever it was Akito was saying while he pulled leftovers from the fridge. The flick of a lighter reached his ears and annoyed him. The smell of smoke that followed incensed him. He remembered rounding on Akito when he heard their mother coughing from the other room. Remembered telling Akito to put the cigarette out and the bark of laughter he'd gotten in response, and how he'd snatched the thing and snapped that he didn't feel like dealing with Akito's shit that night. He definitely remembered thinking that was the wrong thing to say, but not how they'd ended up outside afterward.

He hadn't realized he was still holding the cigarette until Akito ripped it from his hand while pressing a knee into his chest. When his brother spoke again it was after a long drag and smoke billowed from his mouth around the words.

"Why don't you give oniisan an apology, then we'll be done with this." For today went unsaid.

"Akito—"

"O-nii-san."

"—get off me!" Masato snarled. He grabbed a fistful of his brother's shirt and dragged him in closer. The angle was bad for a punch but he went for it anyway, barely cuffing Akito's chin before the older of the two retaliated. He took hold of Masato's collar and raised the boy up to slam him back into the ground.

"So fucking annoying, always thinking you're better than me," Akito hissed, his patience run out already. "Spoiler alert Masato, you're just the same!"

It hadn't been much of a tussle that time. Some days Masato liked to think he could give as good as he got, but it wasn't one of those days. It ended with a small, circular burn on his skin. He felt those ashes, that heat now under the monster's foot. The memory helped burn away some of the chill of dread he'd been feeling - right now he was still alive and he needed to do whatever he could to stay that way. He had to make it back home and tell off his asshole brother one more time, see the look on his face when he got on that plane.

He gathered air into his lungs again, but didn't cry out for anyone to come to his rescue. He'd gotten himself into this predicament by overestimating his strength, and he'd get himself out somehow. Masato curled, wrapping his legs around the monster's limb to use as leverage. His plan was much the same as it had been before: snap this thing's bones. He shifted his grip so that he could twist, hoping to force its foot to twist with him in an unnatural, painful way. Even if he couldn't break its digits, if he could get it to let go in order to escape its pin that would be good enough. He could figure something out from there.