Victory flooded Shun's senses. Two enemies, the ones the main perpetrators of Yuudai's death, were down for the count. The wind whirled around her as she entered a freefall back to the ground. There were two left; she could do this. All she needed to do was feast on the corpse and prepare herself once more. Yes, it was just that simple-

In an instant, a blur. If Shun hadn't been so used to moving at lightspeed, she might have missed it and instinctively threw her arms up in a guard. A nostalgic feeling rose as she saw a familiar bladed tail descend onto her arms. She had remembered this kind of scenario before; her arms survived a blow like this. It wasn't-

Pain

Shun's body landed on top of the hulkaphant's decapitated head. Oddly enough, she felt no pain as she struggled to get up. Her vision started to blur, and her senses started to feel faint. Red colored her once peach skin and fertilized the grass below her. So, she was dying. A calm, cold fact that registered deep into Shun's psyche.

A small smile grew on her face as she lay in front of the decapitated head.

A decapitated head

Laid straight in front of me

Mirrors my future and those around me

What wonderful haiku. Even if it didn't fit the rules, Shun could call it whatever she wanted. Yuudai's dead, nobody would care, and she was the clown of her world.

And she was going to make her last performance a banger.

Her arms impaled through the sockets of the hulkaphant. Consuming them as fast as she retrieved them, her body flew right up. "HEADS UP!" Throwing the decapitated head at the longtail, Shun got right back up. Her legs burned, and her arms were numb, but the car wouldn't stop until it crashed and burned.

The same scenario would play out: the longtail would just slash through the head, but she wasn't going to go after him. In her peripheral, the wolf bear was coming in fast. If it was a race, she couldn't be beat. Running straight at the wolf bear, she rolled under its swipe and was in position.

Curled in a ball, legs tucked in, arms folded, Shun activated Overdrive. It was a brief moment, but she learned how her speed worked. As she was propelled forward, an opposing force was also against her. Shun's arms were sacrificed last time, but she wouldn't use them.

Her back was going to be one to suffer the consequences.

At the angle below the beast, Shun was in the position to not only hit the wolf bear but also the short tail. This was her last Overdrive, her last move, her final breath.

A shun-sized cannonball raced straight toward the wolf-bear. All remaining energy was burned into this exact moment. It was an action that didn't consider the past or future but the present in front of her. A present where she would laugh amongst the corpses of those who didn't understand what a haiku was.

@AThousandCurses@Erode

Taking a moment to get her bearings back, she took a quick hard look around her surrounding area. Her stomach growled as she felt an intense hunger in the pit of her stomach. It had been quite a while since she had gotten the chance to eat anything. What food she had in the morning, having only held her over for the short time she hadn’t had to exert all of her energy. It was clear that she would need to find food, and find food soon if she was going to be able to make her way back to camp in a reasonable amount of time.

She found herself alone, without a single soul in sight. Wherever Masato ended up, it clearly wasn’t here. Doubting that he would even bother to try to search for her at this point. It would make for a convenient excuse for ditching her in the middle of nowhere. She knew that for most of those remaining in camp, if Ayana didn’t return, they wouldn’t see that as such a bad thing. But, even so, she would return, her mission was not complete, no one had truly opened their hearts and minds to the truth of which she held.

Though she at least had the benefit of the wasps having given up their chase and allowing her time to recoup before deciding on her next move. She wasn’t the most equipped to be a survivalist, despite living out in the middle of nowhere. In fact she only had gotten by before in the past by sheer luck and clumsiness. Even so, she had watched enough shows and had heard enough words of wisdom during her lifetime to know some basic things.

Water was the most important thing if she was going to make it back, followed secondly by food. You could go a lot longer without food then you could water. Even Ayana knew that much, but how to find water and locate it was an entirely different challenge. The moist soul did give her some bit of an idea at the very least. There had to be water present, even if it was beneath the soil.

Taking a moment she got on her knees digging both hands into the moist soil as she began to scoop big clumps of dirt with her hands. Taking advantage of the moistness of the soil to bury her hands as deep as she could get them. She knew eventually if she dug deep enough, water would start to form in the hole she had dug, even if it was dirty, it was still better than nothing.

Once she had a deep enough hole, and the first little bit of water began to pool itself, she planted her hands on either side of the hole. Leaning forward and burying her face down low to sip away at what water she could muster from her self made pit. Taking occasional breaks to further deepen her hole to try to get a bit more water from it until she felt satisfied for the time being.

Her cheeks and mouth were dirty from the muddy earth as she tried to wipe it away. Only for a new but now familiar scent to drift in and hit her nostrils. Slowly turning her head to the side as her sapphire eyes stared off into the distant greenery of the forest. Blood, and fresh at that. It could only be a few possibilities, she doubted it had anything to do with Masato. Crossing off that quickly from her mind, plus she knew everyone else had stayed back at camp. Meaning that the most likely explanation for it was Shun had to be nearby.

Whether she was the source of the blood herself, or it came from the monsters themselves. Ayana wouldn’t be sure until she laid her own eyes on the source. Her eyes brightened, her focus and mind quickly honing in on what needed to be done. Getting back up to her feet as she placed her hands on her hips as a smile spread across her dirty face. “It seems I’ve been blessed once again…if it is Shun nearby, then that means…it is also near…my Endless Eclipse….”

With that she bounded off in the direction of the scent of fresh blood. No hesitation, or fear within her clumsy body about what she might find or stumble upon. She began her journey to the source of the fresh blood, hoping to discover the cause. “It’s time for what is rightfully mine to return to me….Pack-A-Punch Shun….I’m on my way….” her laughter now filled the empty air of the forest around her as she made her way through it.

After some time, she burst forth into the den and quickly found herself stepping into a pool of blood, beasts flesh and bodies nearby torn to shreds from the carnage of battle. Ayana could only smile, feeling thrilled and overjoyed by her arrival at such a grisly scene. Her gaze shifting towards the chaos, as the adrenaline was kicking in. She had arrived at the source of the blood, at the source of what she desired. "My, My....what a mess....what a mess...it seems I have a little bit of clean up to perform...." A little laugh escaping from her lips. The end of what looked like a titanic battle, its results still undecided, the fates still undetermined. Though Oros knew, she knew deep down how all of this would end, even without Endless Eclipse. The one truth of Oros still persisted, it still held true in the eyes of Oros The Clumsy.

---

"Ugh, these kids I swear..." Asahi mumbled to himself as he watched more and more of his classmates climb up the tower and dive down to the lake. They could've just found something more worthwhile to do like go look for food or make traps in case those nightmarish beasts attack their camp. With each loud holler and massive splash they make, they're certainly just attracting more and more attention to their current safe haven.

It's only a matter a time before they attracted the wrong kind of attention.

So Asahi kept himself busy, piercing any fishes he could find while rolling his eyes whenever he saw one of his classmates get submerged into the water from tower-jumping. They'd often wave enthusiastically at him while they're swimming under the waters and he would give back a sarcastic smile and wave of his own.

At least from what Asahi had seen under the lake, it did seem just like any ordinary body of fresh water with just normal fishes swimming about. No water monsters or anything of the sort. He could kinda see the bottom too but he hasn't gone to the center of the lake yet, just a few feet away from the shore and far enough to get some fishes.

He emerged to take a breather just in time to see Sasuke joining in on the tower-diving fiasco, and that was the moment Asahi was reminded he had great taste in men. Part of him didn't want the attention Sasuke was suddenly getting as Asahi wanted it all to himself, but another part of him was liking it, like a lot.

Asahi did see that look Sasuke shared with Tsubasa before he dove down like an angel descending from the sky. Suddenly, the pink-haired lad's mouth soured, like a lot.

Looking as irritated as he had ever been, he swam towards the shore, doing a full semi-circle to get as far away from his boisterous classmates and Sasuke as possible. He and Tsubaka could drown in that yucky nature's toilet for all he cared. Asahi then brought the fishes he kept pierced with his pink strings to Mayumi.

"It's all I got. I'm exhausted from swimming almost all day." He said as he sat by the fire.

---

//Day 2 | Location: Nameless Forest - Lakeside
_{@Vertigo@baraquiel}
“Ah, th…”

She trailed off when she noticed the expression on Asahi’s face. For all the charisma the pink-haired student council member exuded, they had all gone to the same schools and been to the same classes since childhood. It was a stretch to call them childhood friends, but Mayumi wasn’t blind. Taking the fish from Asahi, the treasurer set the catch down on the rocks, before promptly shuffling it over to Kunio, who was busy chewing away at his own bundle of fish.

“What?” The wild-haired youth stated, rather than asked.

“Cook ‘em up,” was Mayumi’s response.

“Can’t do it yourself?”

“You did it before. If you’re not gonna do it again, then teach me.”

Kunio clicked his tongue. There was a reason why he was the badminton club’s ace, not their captain. He had no interest at all in that sorta stuff, and while he didn’t want to do either cooking or teaching, he knew that Mayumi was the biggest pain-in-the-ass amongst the student council when it came to nagging. Without another word, he staked his unfinished meal to the side and got to work descaling.
With that settled, Mayumi turned her attention back to Asahi, patting a portion of the log that had been used as a seat beside her.

“Warm yourself up then,” she said. “And whatever you’re thinking right now about Sasuke, Asahi, you’re overthinking.”

No matter how great the summer vacation vibes seemed to be, they were still on the Otherside, a place filled with danger. There was no fucking way she was going to let teenage romance drama be added onto the stack of dangers that already threatened to fall over them.

...

“That’s…huh.”

“What?”

“Just a lot more than I expected.”

“Tch. Listen, this changes nothing, yeah?”

“I’ll respect your confidentiality. But Akito, I mean, it’s just such a sad thing, isn’t it?”

“It’s my thing.”

“But I mean, Father’s a cop, and I’m sure the others would support you with this, s-”

“Your dad’s a cop. That’s why I told you.” A breath. “But that’s it. If I had it my way, I want it to hurt as much as possible.”

---

//Day 2 | Location: Nameless Forest - The Den
_{@AThousandCurses@Nakushita}
Consumption wasn’t the same as digestion.

The energy that may have been promised from devouring the most tender flesh upon the hulk-phant’s face simply couldn’t reach her body in time to fuel that last Overdrive. So, where did it come from?

Regeneration. Durability. Strength. Perception.

Every aspect that Shun possessed as an Awakened was peeled away in that instant, a ball of pure energy coursing through her back muscles. Regardless of her own interpretations of it, her Overclock was still simply a form of physical boost, just one that took the increase to the maximal limit within a short burst. Shun could still do it, of course. She could still force it.

Perhaps, she even understood the consequences of it. Or perhaps, she was simply long past caring about such things.

Regardless, her senses were no longer sharp enough, her perception no longer dilated enough, that she could comprehend what had happened. There was only the sensation of her back muscles rupturing, the bone-fracturing pain of impact twice-over, and then the stomach-churning vertigo of her as she fell. Branches cracked beneath her, scoring her skin but slowing her descent. She crumbled there, nothing but a broken bag of pain, kept alive only by the vestigial remnants of flesh slowly being digested in her stomach. She bled out nonetheless. Her wounds were not healing, not fast enough by any measure. She needed to eat more, but she couldn’t even crawl, not with brutalized arms, a ruptured back, and broken legs.

Crimson giblets poured from the skies, the last of the monsters slain; the grotesque rain did not fall upon Shun.

It fell upon Oros.

Was this a promise of salvation?

Or simply the last stages before the finale?

@AThousandCurses@Erode

Looking into the sky as unnatural rain poured down upon her, Oros spread her arms out to either side, leaning her head back as she laughed. “Oh, what a mess, what a mess, Pack-A-Punch Shun really went overboard this time….oh my, oh my….who will ever clean this up….” Oro’s soaked it all in. Letting the downpour finish before shifting her gaze towards where Shun had fallen. Staring with great intrigue in her sapphire gaze, a smile plastered across her face.

Slowly and with great purpose, Oros began to make her way through the carnage around her towards the bottom of the tree that Shun resided. Stepping over chunks of flesh and the remains of the great beasts that Shun had torn to shreds. Oros was quite impressed with all that Shun had done all by her lonesome. Grabbing a few chunks of meat from the remains of one of the beasts as she took a hearty bite from it to fill her own belly. Feasting on this free meal as she tried to sate her hunger.

Coming to a stop a short distance away as she began to clear a few broken branches out of the way, standing over the prone and injured Shun. Oros smiled down at her pathetic form. She crouched down, her inverted face inches from Shun’s own as she reached a hand out to caress her cheek. Wiping away some of the blood from her face, whether it was from the beast or Shuns own at this point would be impossible to determine. “Look at you, what a fine job you have done, but what a terrible mess you have created, both around you and with what you have done to yourself…..was it worth it?” Oros remarked after getting her first full view of Shun. Her devastated body and severe injuries quite obvious to even someone with no medical background like Ayana.

“It was destiny that we have crossed paths once more, wouldn’t you say? After all you have something that belongs to me…it is a shame that you didn’t make use of it, but….” Pausing briefly as she took a look around them before her gaze slowly drifted back to Shun. “Perhaps you aren’t an honored one….one meant to accept and see the truth…though fate is a fickle thing…wouldn’t you say…” Her voice lowered to a quiet murmur. Her eyes shifted away from Shuns face and towards her broken body.

Her hand on Shuns cheek slowly began to trail down towards her neck coming to a rest against her throat. “It is time for me to do what must be done…and to obtain what is rightfully mine….but first we have to take care of you….” A wide beaming grin across her face as she laughed. It had become clear to Ayana, no to Oros, that Shun was in no shape to fight or resist.

Taking a hand full of meat that she had picked up while approaching Shun, she lowered it towards Shun’s mouth. “Oh, you thought I meant something else didn’t you?, even if you took something valuable from me, I have no intentions of killing you…now eat up Shun, your destiny isn’t to end here….no you still have a role to play…” Laughing as she moved her right hand away from Shun’s throat.

Leaning her forehead into Shuns “after all, even if you aren’t honored, you still have seen a bit of the truth…I can see it in your eyes…and there is no way I would let one of my very first friends die if I have a choice…I need you nice and healed, there should be enough meat here for the both of us for as long as we need it…” Closing her eyes as she remained where she was at. Keeping a steady supply of meat nearby, knowing that Shun would need a lot of it to recover from the kinds of injuries she had suffered. At least long enough until she was able to make it back to Duncan and Asahi.

Oros felt relief to be reunited with Shun, even under these circumstances. Shun had treated her with respect and kindness, things that Ayana valued dearly. Even holding on to Endless Eclipse while Ayana was out of commission and not just tossing it away gave Ayana a reason to respect her. After all, since she had remembered her true identity, the others had all mostly seen her as insane. Looking at her with eyes of concern, contempt, and distrust, even as Oros had tried to make them understand. To make them see the truth that was right in front of them.

Much work still had to be done before her mission was accomplished. A mission that Shun still had a part to play in, as far as Oros was concerned. Fate and destiny brought them together for a reason, the future always shifting. Oros and her Endless Eclipse would be ready to tackle this challenge, until her classmates finally opened their eyes.

Blood, pain, and all things related filled Shun's mind. Her body felt as if it was breaking apart when she barreled through the two monsters as if she was shot from a higher power rifle. Two birds with one stone was a fitting expression for this situation. Her mind finally snapped back as her wreck car of a body came tumbling down to the ground.

Then silence.

Shun thought she would have felt something by now, but her body felt so numb. Her fascimile was pushed her to the limit and now she was paying the price. A deep breath left the student's mouth as her eyes lingered up in the the deep, blue sky. A wave of uncertainty washed over the young girl as she contemplated over her life.

Did I live how I wanted?

For all her bluster and rage like a wave, those feelings were washed away. As if floating on the ocean's surface, Shun's breath became softer as the cold slowly started to settle in. Shun did not feel any regret for her actions. No, she felt grativated for avenging Yuudai's death. A small part of her even rejoiced the fact that she proved everyone wrong. Even if it would come at the cost of her life, Shun didn't mind at all.

Freedom was always followed by consequence. If her life left like the breeze, then so be it.

Shun's eyes closed and took her last breath. Only to have something forced down her throat. She gagged as color returned back into world. The once blue sky was murky with the blood that was clinging onto Shun's face. Shun, having been broken out of her dreamlike state, immediately noticed Ayana, or Oros, was the perpetrator to the force feeding.

"Uuururgh." Was all Shun could say as she tried to speak through the giant morsel going down her throat. Ayana rambled on, but Shun was undergoing through another battle of healing and food. Finally, Shun managed to swallow the meat and took deep breaths. Her body felt much more alive, but still badly damaged.

"...Sure, cough." Ah, her throat was messed up her. But, those words were enough to affirm her standing. At that moment, Shun didn't really care what happened anymore. Ayana? Oros? It mattered very little to her now. Since Ayana/Oros saved her, Shun might as well follow her around. For now Shun would have to wait and recover. After every thrill, a good rest was needed to sink in it.

The air smelled sweet.

---

"Oh get off my fat ass, Mayumi." Asahi said with an irritated tone. "Every passing minute we spend in this god-forsaken place is one step closer to death's door, so let me a bitch however I want." He added, putting his foot on the space on the log besides her while feeling the warmth emanating from the bonfire.

Their classmates' cheers and loud splashes filled the air. Not all of them were at the lake, as Asahi just noticed. They seemed to be off doing their own thing. Even Duncan left too. Asahi could hear his heart somewhere nearby beating irregulary, but that must be someone else's.

"It only seemed like yesterday we were scared out of our wits when we first got here, and now..." A couple of his classmates cheered when a few made a huge splash on jumping on the lake from the tower.

"We just lost two of our classmates too, or was it three? Ugh, everything happened so fucking fast, it's hard to keep track of what's what. And we got these too." Asahi showed his pink threads to Mayumi, swaying them around before willing them back.

He stretched his arms up to the sky before crossing them in front of his chest. "I don't want to get ahold of ourselves but these camp seemed to be safe for us for now. As long as y'all don't do anything stupid to attract the wrong attention, that is." He irritatingly said, this time making sure Sasuke could feel Asahi's laser eyes boring into the back of his neck whenever he's not looking.

"Ugh, I can't wait to get out of this hellhole." He added as his eyes naturally glossed over the mountain looming a tthe horizon, a look of worrying flashing in his eyes.

---

//Day 2 | Location: Nameless Forest - Lakeside
_{@Vertigo@baraquiel}

“They can’t stay scared all the time,” Mayumi replied, leaning back on the log and planting her hands upon the grass. “Can’t stay sad that long either.”

It wasn’t something that could be sustained. Not if you wanted to keep going. Perhaps it was heartless, to move on so quickly after Yuudai and Yuki passed, but if Duncan and Daisuke had been willing to do it, everyone else had simply followed through.
She squinted through the smoke, into the distance, at where Tsubaki and Yukiko were. There was still a space for those who couldn’t follow through. Even with only one hand, even with her own bundle of troubles, the dark-skinned girl still managed to make herself into a sanctuary for others, huh?

“Being safe for a couple days doesn’t mean too much, but yeah, let the idiots be idiots while they can.” Uncharacteristically, she slapped Asahi on the shoulder. It was weak slap, as expected of an indoorsy type like her. Hardly inspiring. But she made an effort to flash her teeth. “You should try it out too. Least ‘til you get back to being your usual cutesy self, Asahi.”

Perhaps she caught the worry in his eyes, perhaps she didn’t.

“I’m sure Sasuke only jumped in to join you.”

That was more of a lie, but the lopsided quirking of her lips made it a joke.

...

The forest was noisy as hell once you really stopped to listen, but humans were noisy as hell even when you didn’t stop to listen.
Duncan was a strong, after all. Superhumanly strong, even. If he put his mind to it, he could topple a tree by kicking it. He could jump insane distances too. Could probably survive a bullet to the face at this point. He was akin to a superhero, a demigod in the Otherside, spilling golden blood that was so potent that it was anathema to mere mortals.

All this did not translate to stealth. Not at all.

He was peculiarly big, after all, and heavy too. He couldn’t move on all fours and slink about like a true beast, and there were just so many things on the ground! Twigs could snap beneath his weight, or his hips could graze the brush. Even the gentle crinkling of fallen leaves beneath him felt too loud, and Duncan took so much effort in slowing down and approaching visual range that he…failed to read the situation.

Haruko and Akito were alone, as alone as they could be. It was by choice, of course, for a conversation that demanded privacy. But it meant too, that vigilance was necessary too. This was a world of monsters, and they stepped into the wilderness. The unnatural shuddering of vegetation, the sensation of something massive approaching them with a predator’s gait. They were not insensitive to it, and while Akito still played at a lone wolf, Haruko was different.

She, after all, had a super strong boyfriend. Perhaps, if rumors were to be believed, currently the world's strongest boyfriend.

And thus, her response to lurking danger?

“DUNCAN! HELP!”

It was simple irony, of course, that the presence the two sensed was Duncan.

---

//Day 2 | Location: Nameless Forest - The Den
_{@AThousandCurses@Nakushita}

It was sunset in her eyes, and the only blue came from her classmate.

The monsters were dead. Shun had given her body for it, and even as she forced more food into her mouth, even as Oros came to feed her, her ruptured organs refused to hold it down for long. The air, once sweet with victory and sated thrill, was soon stained with the sour of vomit and the rust of blood instead, the crippled girl forced to roll over and hurl out the contents of her stomach. The forge inside the pit of her stomach was broken, whatever fuel placed inside, whatever fire fanned by the bellows, spilling out instead of staying in.

The cold settled in. The cost had been paid, but the debts had not. And her body was still not fixing itself fast enough. She needed to recover. Recover so she could eat. But she couldn’t recover without energy. And energy could only be gotten from eating. Eating which she couldn’t do. She had to recover still.

It was a small thought. A flicker of a thought.

But that golden blood may have been most appropriate for a moment like this. An elixir to be taken when all else had been emptied. The drop of fuel to restart the engine.

Oros watched as Shun weakened in the daylight.

It was up in the air, truly. She could run back. Believe in fate and search for a helping hand, but did her one friend have that long to live? Was there even anything she could truly do to help, when her own Facsimile was unformed, when all those mountains of meat couldn’t even be chewed by Shun, couldn’t be kept down even if they were chewed?

There was sunset in Shun’s eyes. The dying of the light.

Without the boons of being an Awakened, it was only through human tenacity that Shun could cling on. And yet…

She had avenged Yuudai. Had enjoyed that splash of freedom. Had accepted the consequence of fighting where she ought to have run.

What reason remained for her to continue living?

______________________________________________________________________

It the midst of playful hollering, splashes of water, and private conversations, the shape emerging from the wood went nearly unnoticed until it was practically in the class' camp. It was a large, hunched silhouette in chalk white. Its footsteps were heavy with what it carried, and a musty, earthen smell preceded it as it walked. It was Masato, and he had returned alone.

He didn't call out to let the others know he was back. Sticking mostly to the area's edge, he made is way over to the fire. He could smell fish cooking and his empty stomach drew him towards it.

He plodded to the small group gathered around the cooking section of camp. Though it might not have been obvious what he was carrying at first, it became apparent the closer he got. It was an animal, more specifically a monster - six limbed and scaled. He hefted the tortoise off of his shoulders, setting it down in a clear area with a heavy thud. The corpse was easily the size of a couple students put together, and though most of was intact there were signs of some sort of struggle on both the turtle and the student council president. Of course, the outcome of that struggle was plain to see. Masato sported a few nasty look welts courtesy of hooked stingers, and was splattered with little bits of blood and bug guts. Meanwhile the turtle's head was bloody and all but mutilated - carved apart with the broken off spearhead. Now, that claw was back to being an awkward knife. The creature's shell, almost like one big blocky termite mound pocked by holes, was partly caved in. It seemed as though a massive press had collapsed a section of the shell and its rear left leg, exposing the inside as being filled with hex shaped hollows. Gooey larvae filled some of the cells, others had been yanked out for a quick meal.

After Todokawa had run (and to be honest, he couldn't blame her), Masato was left to deal with both the chalk turtle and the dragon wasps. It had either been that or flee himself, and he hadn't wanted to return empty handed. It wasn't a miracle that he'd made it out of the swarm - it was the Otherside's magic. And after finally wielding it himself, he was left insatiably hungry. The larvae had sated him enough to trek back to camp with his prize.

Ah, Todokawa. When Masato had taken care of everything and gotten his energy back, at least a little, he'd poked his head over the top of the ravine that she'd jumped into. In her panic she must have kept on running, since he hadn't seen any sign of her.

He really didn't want to jump right into explaining her absence. The scent of the fish wouldn't have let him him try anyway - it had such a vice grip on his stomach that as soon as Masato had dropped the turtle carcass, he went right for the food that had already been cooked.

If allowed, he'd eat through all of Hoshino's hard work; although the group would be hard pressed to stop him, given his newfound strength and the ravenous look on his face. What he'd brought back should make up for it though, he figured. At some point he thought he'd heard Norifuku calling out for Stewart, but he dismissed it as anything important.

Eventually the sustenance helped his brain catch back up to his body. He blinked at the diving tower as his eating slowed down. Looks fun, he thought offhandedly. He probably wouldn't indulge. It did remind him he'd need to clean off again though. With many kids in the lake it was hard to get an accurate headcount, so instead Masato swallowed what was in his mouth and turned to his fellow student council members.

"Everything good?" he asked Kondo and Hoshino, breaking the silence he'd maintained since he'd been separated from Todokawa.

Then he pulled out the claw-knife, setting it on the nearest makeshift surface they had. He didn't even know where to start breaking down a turtle, besides ripping it from its shell. If he and a few of the Awakened teamed up they should be able to do it, and they wouldn't need the knife for that.

"If this thing isn't safe to eat I'm gonna be pissed," he said next, mostly to himself. He'd have to find Ryuugasaki or something else that might know where to start with it. All things considered though, it wouldn't be an entire waste of the day... thanks to this turtle and its murderous hive he'd unlocked a power like all the other Awakened, if nothing else. But he would very much prefer it if he also had food to show for it.

Shun blinked. She was still alive. The meat that Ayana had fed her was enough to rejuvenate her body. Though as Shun tried to move body but it almost seemed unresponsive. She felt as if she was trapped under a frozen lake, unable to move but see behind the natural window.

How anti-climatic. She had many questiosn for Ayana, but none would be answered as barely a word could escape her mouth. She could only mumble out a few words at a time but her words came out as such.

What now?

Return back to camp? Shun didn't know where the camp was after traveling god's knows how far. Shun wasn't an hiker to know the layabout and even if she was, there was no trail back to the camp. Not that she even wanted to return. Shun could already tell how everything would unfold the moment she stepped foot back into the camp.

More arguments, more pettiness, more drama. If Shun could, she would have sighed without the accompaning pain. Perhaps she was whining, but her honest thoughts were that everybody at that camp was stupid. It would've been better just laying around half-dead on the dirt than sitting around and listening to yappering.

A wave of exhaustion slowly washed over her and her eyelids felt heavier. Her eyes closed as she went back into an uncomfortable rest. There wasn't anything else she could do until then.

@AThousandCurses@Erode@Yankee

Ayana left Shun’s side for a moment as she began to gather as much of the beast's flesh that she could get her hands on. Planning on bringing as much as she could carry with her as fuel for her journey back to camp. She knew that in Shun’s condition there was no way that she was going to be able to make it back unless Ayana carried her. But thanks to Shun having ripped apart so many of the beasts, it gave her more than enough food to last her long enough to find camp.

In some ways Oros was appreciative of Shun having gone on such a rampage. Of Shun having taken Endless Eclipse along with her. Being reunited with the only classmate that she could even remotely call a friend after her revelation of her true forgotten self. She knew even after Shun had drop kicked her, that she was trustworthy. Her not tossing Endless Eclipse away only further confirmed this fact.

Having gathered as much food as she could, Oros made sure to stuff her face with as much of the extra she could find. Wanting her stomach full of fuel as she made it back to Shun’s side. Crouching down she grabbed a hold of Shun and gently tugged her across her shoulders in a fireman's carry. Bracing her legs as she took on Shun’s added weight, she slowly but surely stood up straight. Making sure to go slow and deliberate for Shun’s sake.

Oros paused with Shun across her shoulders, taking a look around her surroundings. Wanting to get a bearing on her position as she, a glimmer of excitement flashed into her sapphire eyes. “Don’t you worry Shun, we will return back to camp soon enough, even if they aren’t happy to see us, we still have each other, at least until the others begin to open their eyes to the truth….however unwilling they are, we will just have to make them, whether they like it or not….” Brimming from ear to ear as she turned to make her way back through the thick forestry from where she had originally come from.

Tracing her path back to the ravine she had taken a tumble down, she started to scale it. With Shun on her shoulders it made it far harder than it would have been normally. But with her energy replenished it wasn’t as horrible as she had thought it would be.Digging deep within herself to keep pushing, to keep her legs moving even if it was taxing. Her determination and desire to return to camp, to bring Shun to safety drove her onward. Reaching the top of the ravine, Oros kept a cautious and wary look out for the hook-stinger wasps that had chased her to the ravine in the first place.

“Wooooo, that was one hell of a hike, but don’t you worry Shun Shun, it's only a matter of time before we reach a safe place for you to rest and recover, we just need some of Duncan's blood and for Asahi to be a good little healer and you’ll be back punching and kicking like crazy…and if they don’t want to cooperate, I’ll make them….” Oros chuckled as she followed the path of her own clumsy escape.

Broken branches, trampled shrubbery, it all led her back to where she had encountered the chalk turtle with Masato. Seeing neither the turtle nor Masato anywhere in sight complicated things slightly. However her sapphire eyes caught a glimpse of blood, quickly moving over to it. She crouched down near it and took a finger to touch it and bring it up to her nose to smell. Its stench clearly not of human origin, its wetness giving her some idea of how long it had been there.

“Sooooooo Ma-Sa-To is still alive, what a joyous thing, he still has a role to play after all, if only he would open his eyes….but thanks to him we have a way back to camp…” Her laugh echoing in the emptiness of the woods as she stood back up taking a hand and pointing down the path the blood trail led. Oros had her path back, now it was time to get serious. She had been patient, but that approach didn’t seem to be working. It was time to try something else, Oros would make them open their eyes. But first she had to ensure Shun was properly treated. Oros, with Shun on her shoulders begun the final trek back to camp.

---

//Night 2 | Location: Nameless Forest - Lakeside
_{@Vertigo@baraquiel@AThousandCurses@Nakushita@Yankee}

There had been much hubbub when Masato had returned, hauling a monster the size of a truck with him, its blood leaving a dark trail in his wake. Others saw meat, of course, but it was Kumi who practically leapt out of the waters with an uncharacteristically deep howl. For what was a shell, except for a wok? She had formed too many calluses managing using small metal bento boxes to boil water with, after all. Now that they had a whole giant shell to work with though?

The project commenced with immediacy, Hana instructing with the butchering while Haruko, perhaps only to pull Duncan away from that particularly awkward situation that brewed with Akito, went with her boyfriend to help out in clearing out the guts. It was bloody, messy work, the kind of work that required plenty of water, so everyone vacated the lake immediately and their summer vacation ended…but now, they had something else to look forward to: a summertime hotpot!

Hiroshi, showing some rare sociability, brought Daisuke and a few of the girls around the perimeter of the lakeside camp. Though it was something that they all learned during the wilderness camping trip they had three years ago, only the knowledge-hungering pervert that was Hiroshi recalled the methodology for checking for which plants were safe to eat: physical contact, tongue touch, mouth hold, then swallow and wait for any side effects. With large groups, it was easier to check multiple plants at once, and while the consequence of that was Ayane ending up with some ridiculously puffed-up lips, she took it into stride.

Perhaps it just didn’t seem like a big deal, compared to the disappearance of her step-sister, both physically and mentally.

The physical disappearance, however, resolved itself soon enough, with Ayana’s return, Shun and a mound of meat in tow. There was the promise of even more meat left behind, and at that point? The entire class was mobilized to get all the food prepared. While Masato relaxed and recovered beside a Shun that was gradually recovering her bodily functions, there was almost a frenetic sense of chaos around the two. Ayana was commandeered to bring Daisuke, Duncan, and Hana over to the den of monsters in order to haul over the remaining edible portions of the meat, while Rin and Asahi worked under Kumi’s watch in order to carve up the chalk-turtle’s massive shell into something that better resembled a pot. Others focused on washing or heating up rocks, and still more were on the endless mission of processing as much wood as possible for using as firewood afterwards. It was a flurry of activity made even more chaotic once the meat-hauling team actually returned with, predictably, even MORE meat.

Kumi, looking up from her work, was driven to near-despair by the amount they had to preserve through cooking alone.

Some others, looking at the grotesque mountain of flesh, prayed for the day where they had balanced meals with rice and vegetables and miso soup.

But it was work. Work that kept hands busy, that kept mouths shut. The water-boiling test with their turtle shell pot seemed to have worked out well enough. Those tasked with plucking out edible plants returned with a decent bounty. Rocks were heated up and then gently tossed into the pot to accelerate the boiling of the water. Monstrous bones were cracked open and boiled in order to extract a broth, while meat was carved into thinner bits. Tools were being made as well now, fangs and claws and stingers and femurs being extracted from gradually-deflating corpses.

Tsubaki, her singular hand making her more fit for surveillance than crafting, watched over their surroundings atop the tower built that morning, as the sun gradually sank, the skies gaining the umbral glow of twilight.

And when the call came out for dinner, she climbed down to join the rest of them, in a circle around a bonfire. Finally, it was looking like they would all have a real meal.

---

Asahi muttered out an unimpressed grunt after what Mayumi said about Sasuke probably wanting to join in on the fun with him. Honestly, he won't admit it out loud but she was right. This was all just a silly, little childhood crush or some shit that the pink haired lad had to get over. Besides, this wasn't the proper place for that kind of drama anyway.

A couple moments after that, Asahi could hear it before he could see it."Hm. Well, waddya know..." Masato hauling in a huge beast on his own wasn't the craziest thing he saw at the moment, but it was kind of impressive to say the least. More and more of their classmates returned from their hunt and foraging and Asahi felt so relieved they had a considerable amount of food right now.

He didn't approach his Awakened classmates since they were stronger than the ordinary human and they could handle themselves well, so he got close to Hiroshi's group. He stood by while they tried out every plant, fruit, or whatever they found to see if they were safe to eat or not. Aside from the mild stomachache and Ayane looking like an influencer, everything went smoothly as he healed them.

Asahi then slowly tried to back away into the huts to avoid doing manual labor but Kumi managed to catch his ratty ass and instructed him to carve the turtle-monster's shell with rin. "Ugh, and I thought fish insides smell disgusting enough..." Asahi complained as he naturally did while doing his chore.

The sun gradually lowered onto the horizon and soon enough, the group was surviving on their second night in this god-forsaken place. Asahi dried up since swimming from the lake moments ago and was now eating with the rest of his class. Never in a million years would Asahi think he was going to eat turtle but here he was, eating turtle and liking it too.

After finishing chewing a handful of the tender meat, Asahi stood up and cleared his throat. "I got something to say. He said before pointing a finger where the mountain was. The light from the millions of stars in the sky made out its silhouette, making it look more ominous in Asahi's eyes. "I could feel... something coming from that mountain. I dunno if it's just because of the height from the tower from when a gorilla thought it was a good idea to throw me into the lake or maybe some lunatic's craziness was rubbing off of me." He raised an eyebrow at Oros before continuing. "But I'm certain there's something there, calling out to me and..."

He tried to think more about it before groaning in annoyance. "Look, I don't know how to explain it either okay? I just know that I have to go there and see it for myself. And also, it's not a very welcoming presence either. I could feel that whatever's out there, it's far deadlier than whatever we faced so far. So I propose that I go with this alone. I'm Awakened, I can protect myself. Duncan's here to heal you with his gold blood. I don't think I want to bring an Unawakened with me because again, I'm not sure what we'll see when we get there and you might be a liability to me. I don't wanna bring another Awakened either because y'all need strength in numbers to protect the camp. I'll leave first thing in the morning, see what I could see, and come back here immediately as soon as I can. So... Does anyone want souvenirs?"

Shun laid quietly on the 'mat' that hardly gave her any comfort. Her body was still recovering from the fight against the beast squad, but she was healthy enough to move around. It was still a novelty as she remembered the memories of broken bones only to wake up to be relatively okay. Though as much as she would have liked to test the limits of her recovered body, she couldn't.

Masato was in the room with her.

She had made awkward contact with him when she barely opened her eyes and quickly shut them. The last thing she wanted was to talk to someone from camp, espescially if that person was Masato. Shun could already imagine all the things he would say and she wasn't going to have any of it. Thankfully, Masato was the type to read the room. She was certain that he'd stay quiet and leave her alone as she pretended to sleep.

That left her with time to think on what happens next.

After avenging Yuudai, Shun didn't particularly mind dying in this world. Despite her near death experience, Shun was far from fearful. If anything, she wouldn't have mind dying as long as it contained a trace of fun. But now that her main reason for staying alive was gone, Shun felt a little empty inside. What was going to happen next now that she had killed the monsters?

The only left thing to do was follow Ayana. That was the only thing Shun had left now that her main drive was gone. She was her only friend and the one that did come to retrieve her battered body. Shun had enough conscience to be grateful for that. But how was Ayana going to do it? How was she going to bring them home with some strange stone?

______________________________________________________________________

Masato's stomach was growling something fierce during the prep and cooking phases of the evening. There was going to be a ton of food, but between everyone including the gluttonous Awakened? They could probably eat through most of it. Masato himself felt like he could take out a good chunk of the stock alone.

He sat with his knees drawn up close to his chest to futilely muffle the sounds of his stomach. Many a time he'd reached out to lend a helping hand to the dissection, only to be all but pushed back to "rest" beside Kanamori. It felt good that he'd actually been helpful, there was no arguing about decisions or the like this time, but he hardly felt he deserved to kick back while everyone else was working. At the very least they still came to him when they needed a steady hand. He still had his dexterity, despite everything.

He'd noticed a while ago that Kanamori was feigning sleep. She probably still blamed him, in part, for Higasa's death. Maybe she expected a lecture. But he wasn't going to take responsibility for that, so he let her pretend to be unconscious. When Todokawa had unexpectedly showed up with her, it had fucked with Masato's emotions. Firstly he was shocked to see the both of them, and glad they were still alive of course - even Oros, though she may have thought otherwise. Kanamori had been in a bad state and might have died if Todokawa hadn't found her. Maybe it was the same for Kogen, and they were too late now? Or maybe his armor was doing a much better job of protecting him and he was doing fine on his own.

Between then and the dinner bell he'd had time to tangle with those thoughts and ultimately let them sink down into the depths of his brain where they hopefully wouldn't disturb him. He couldn't keep worrying about the other boy when there was the entire rest of the class to look after. Speaking of, at some point he'd gotten up to disturb the blood and scent trails that he and Todokawa had dragged in. The less chances of leading something to camp, the better. After dinner, he resolved to have a chat with her.

When it was time to eat he ended up close to where he started, next to Kanamori and Kondo. He was ravenous at that point, with no qualms about eating more than his share. They had a mountain of meat still to go through anyway. It was kind of a miracle to be eating hotpot in a place like this, and the taste compared to the stuff they'd been eating the last two days? Sublime.

"S'good," he said, and though he was much too busy eating to put his hands together he did managed a quick "thanks for the meal." As far as their time in the Otherside so far, things were going good at the moment. Until, "I got something to say."

Masato glanced up at Asahi. A speech? That was unusual for him. Or was it? After connecting via the pink haired boy's threads, Masato knew that much of Asahi's personality was actually just a persona he put on. He listened curiously to what his fellow councilman had to say, but by the end of it he hadn't liked what he heard. A familiar frown and crinkle in his brow appeared on Masato's face.

"Asahi..."

Once again he found himself of the same mind as Stewart, but unlike him Masato did at least swallow his food before speaking. He nodded his head at Stewart's words and then chimed in himself.

"You already saw what can happen if one of us Awakened goes off alone," he said, a bit coldly, indicating Kanamori beside him. He knew she was awake, if she had a problem with his using her as an example of a bad idea then she could sit up and say something about it. Masato looked up at the mountain Asahi pointed to. "If you're seriously worried, then you're taking someone else with you when you go to check it out."

@AThousandCurses@Erode@Yankee@baraquiel@Vertigo


Since her return, Ayana kept mostly to herself, skirting the outskirts of camp after they had brought back as much of the resources they could muster from Shun’s efforts. Watching and listening to everything, biding her time for the right moment. It had been quite some time since the majority of the group found itself in the same spot at the same time. Staying just far enough from the bonfire to slink in to grab a bite to eat from time to time before returning to the fringes of the circle.

Oro’s eyes darted towards Asahi as he broke the general murmur of the gathering. She didn’t respond or react to his mention of her in his speech. Oros listened quietly, without a word, without reaction. Her face had an empty expression, as her eyes shifted towards Duncan when he responded back. Oro’s kept silent as she let the conversation drift on until Masato had his say after Duncan had. She had heard this kind of talk before, the disagreements, the desire of one amongst them to venture out solo. It all felt like an endless cycle and it seemed to only cause more trouble amongst every time this cycle came to fruition. She had just dragged Shun back to camp, barely clinging to life after she had done something similar.

Oro’s could sit here and let them argue, go back and forth. But she had had enough of waiting patiently, of letting things unfold as they have. She knew that it would only lead to more deaths, more injuries and more infighting. Oros had grown tired of this cycle, tired of these pointless arguments and disagreements. It made little to no sense for Asahi to venture off alone, or even with a second person. If anyone was going to venture off, it should be as a group effort.

In Oro’s eyes it was as if they had all forgotten the true goal of making it out of this place alive. If only they would open their eyes to the truth she had to share, to embrace it as she had done so. Things could be so much different. She knew the feeling that Asahi felt from the mountains, but she knew that venture needed a group effort. For what resided within those mountains was not something to be so carelessly trifled with.

As soon as Masato had finished, Oros pushed forward into the center of the circle around the bonfire as she was nearly at the point of standing within the blaze itself. The heat radiating against her skin and clothes as she turned her back to it as it outlined her figure. Her wild and messy white hair, her intense blue eyes gazing at each of her classmates. As if she was looking straight into their very souls. She brought out the rock that she had stored within the waistband of her skirt. Having taken back possession of it from Shun while she had been incapacitated.

“Enough!!!! No one is leaving this camp alone, or even as a group of two, just listen to yourselves, you may think of me as the lunatic, but we must not keep repeating the same mistakes over and over, just look at what has happened to Shun, you all need to open your eyes to the truth if you ever wish to see home again, if you stay on this path, it only holds death for many of you….I have seen it all with my Endless Eclipse…if we are to venture to that mountain, we must do so as a group…” Oro’s voice boomed out louder than Ayana had ever mustered up before. Now was the time for her to make her move, to set things down the path that Oros desired.

Her blue gaze falling upon Masato “As for Ma-Sa-To, you may be a great class president, but you are too indecisive, too quiet to be a leader when things do not line up with thought out plans, when they challenge any concept of what we had from our own world, for that reason, I believe I should be the leader of the group, to lead the way into the future, to show that I’m deadly serious, if any of you have any doubts about my leadership, if what I have said is proven false and I lead you down the wrong path and that I’m totally wrong about my claims, you may kill me on the spot without question…now do you want to keep going in circles until we are all eventually dead, or do you want to see the future, the choice is yours, but I can not wait any longer…we can not sit here at this camp however nice and tranquil it may be right now forever....it is time to decide...join me....or kill me and accept your fates” Oro’s vision scanned the group, a fiery intensity behind her gaze. Meaning every word she said, speaking it from her soul. She wasn't sure how they would react, knowing that many of them already saw her as a lunatic, as someone not to be trusted, as a liability. Even so, she knew she had to at least attempt it.

Oros knew this was going to be a challenge, but she also knew that she had no other choice. It was time to break this cycle, it was time to do something different. For them to accept the truth that Oros The Clumsy had been destined to spread. Otherwise they would be doomed, destined to die horrible deaths, one by one as everything fell apart. It was up to her classmates to decide, her gambit was on the table. Her hand outstretched in a gesture of good faith, waiting for any who would take it if they so dared.

---

//Night 2 | Location: Nameless Forest - Lakeside
_{@Vertigo@baraquiel@AThousandCurses@Nakushita@Yankee}

If Asahi’s declaration had caused conversation, Oros’s declaration was one that sparked silence.

There had been some hope, perhaps, that she had regained some of her normalcy, but it was clear now that she was the same as she had been yesterday, a lunatic unhinged and unfettered by past failures. The only difference from today and yesterday was that she had done what no one else had.

She had brought Shun back from the brink of death, and in doing so, had lead them all to a veritable mountain of food. Masato may have thought that the amount of food they had would only last a while, but the two hulk-phants were massive creatures, their combined biomass dwarfing the chalk-turtle that he himself had brought in. If it was just a matter of staying in place and waiting for rescuers, what Oros and Shun had done was allow their classmates to focus exclusively on building up their camp and their shelter for at least another two or so weeks. Balanced nutrition was a long term problem, but the more time they had, the more they could learn about the world and the more they could arm themselves.

Yes, the difference now was that Oros had built some good will.

The first to speak up was Tsubasa, the portly schoolgirl casting a critical eye towards Oros. “There’s nothing wrong with just staying in place and waiting for rescue though. I know no one’s thought too much about it yet, but by this point, the school and our parents have definitely filed reports, right? And with the bus itself gone without a trace…”

“Optimistically,” Hiroshi said, “we’d only have to survive two weeks of this. Presuming that they recognize this as a case involving the Otherside.” Kuroshio was in the boonies, after all. It was hard to judge just how much of a priority this case of disappearances would be.

Tsubasa nodded, grateful for the information. It was optimistic, but if they all worked together, they could certainly survive, right?

“Thought we discussed last night,” Daisuke said, setting down his bowl of broth, “that we’d try to scout out this place properly? This could work as a base camp, but I mean, what if we could just come across another portal? If we could just all walk out and get home, that has to be better.”

“Are you stupid?” Ayano snapped. “This place basically has everything! Do we even know if there’s anywhere else that doesn’t have monsters everywhere? Just look at Shun, she didn’t last a day out in the forest!”

And the night that they spent in the forest, not knowing whether or not they’d be ambushed by those unnatural monstrosities, had been awful, sleepless. Fujita squeezed her hand, and Ayano took in a breath to calm herself. “And, like, how’re we going to carry everything we have? I don’t th-”

“I can build a new tower.” Rin interrupted her, her face completely neutral throughout all the discussion. “Building a new shelter wouldn’t be hard too.” She clenched her fist, spirals of razor-sharp energy emerging around her forearm. “I’ll be fully recharged tomorrow, and I know how to do it better too.”

Sasuke looked thoughtful (though he always did). “We could split into two different groups. One who stays here, and another that goes with Ayana and Asahi out to explore.”

“I’ll help with exploration,” Hana said. Juro nodded with her.

“But that’s exactly what Ayana told us not to do,” Ayane replied, trying to pull things back. “Maybe she’s a bit loopy, but who was the one that rescued Shun, when no one else had any clue where they went? If we’re going to do something, we should do it together.”

Akito grunted, rubbing his throat. He remembered what happened as a direct result of the last time they just left half the Awakened alone to their own devices.

“We don’t need to decide immediately anyways.” Mayumi said. She narrowed her eyes at Ayana. “Even if some of us are really trying to push us to it.”

“Kumi.” Sohei turned towards their head chef, who was busy trying to block out all this serious talk. She started at his voice, then turned around as he asked, “How long would it take to preserve all this meat anyways?”

“Uh…maybe two or three days? If I was just cooking it normally.”

“Then we can just figure that out until then.” The older of the Ito twins nodded at that. The younger of the Ito twins picked his nose and flicked a booger into the flames.

“Like, whether Masato or Ayana’s gonna be the boss?” Maki said.

“I, huh.” Sohei thought about it for a moment. “Guess this’ll be like some sorta election then.”

Mayumi sighed. “God that sounds stupid.” But she didn't veto it. A sense of normalcy was a good thing, after all.

Masami stood up then, swivelling so everyone can see her flabbergasted expression. “Meanwhile, what, we just ignore the whole thing about Asahi wanting to go by himself right now, immediately, to that mountain who-knows-how far away?” She raised a brow. They were missing the core issue here, and in that moment, the entire group fell into silence.

Oh…