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"Huf... Huff..." Sotoki continued to run. He occasionally looked behind him, but he could see that they were not being followed. Though, to be sure, he kept running to go as far as he can before trying to rest. If possible, it would be nice to reach the shrine. Just then, he felt rustling on his back "You awake?" he asked in huffs. Airi opened her eyes, and was surprised to see that she was being carried, princess-style too "Fujisaki-kun... Ah...! I-I'm fine..." it seems she was embarrassed to be carried that way. "If you're worried about why you're in that state, you fainted earlier and you don't seem like you could walk right now. So, just stay there for a while." Airi only managed to nod before she looked behind Sotoki.
One. Two. Three.
She saw three faint, red lights, but disappeared soon after 'Was that my imagination...?' taking it as a hallucination, she rested on his arms. Sotoki looked at her and wondered why she was able to summon such a shield. Then he saw the staff that Airi was hugging 'Is it because of this?' he thought as he remembered his own artifacts. Was the enhancement of his senses caused by the daggers as well? If so, then him and her getting their shrine's artifacts were definitely just some coincidence.
Then they stopped "Let's rest here for now..." said Sotoki as he laid Airi on a wall. Afterwards, he sat on the ground while keeping his guard up. Anything could happen. Common sense seems like nothing before the monsters too. "Hey. About what you saw earlier." Airi knew what he was talking about right away, the red and blue lights. "Do you still see them? If so, what do you see when you look at me?" Looking at him, she saw a blue light, but it was flickering for a bit "Yes... Blue as before.. But this time, it is flickering..." Sotoki went deep into thought. Blue, Sotoki. Red, the monsters. Flickering, perhaps...? "I think I know what you are seeing." then he looked straight into her eyes "Life." then a confused look appeared on Airi's face. "I feel pretty tired right now. I should have collapsed right now, but I haven't for some reason. The flickering, I think it was doing that because of my condition." then he stood up and held his breath.
Airi saw a change in the light, it had blinked faster than earlier. Then faster, then faster. Now as fast as a heartbeat. It went pale as it flickered rapidly. "Hoah...!!!" Sotoki gasped for breath and fell to the ground for he felt very dizzy. "A-Are you alright?! The light started flickering rapidly and it went pale! I don't know why... but it felt wrong... Very wrong!" Airi tried to stand up, but she was too tired to do so. "... Hah... I... Ha... I knew it... Hah. Hah..." he breathed quickly "You do... see the... life.. Haaahh..." then he inhaled longer, and exhaled. "Now... If what you said about what you saw right now... then you see blue in me because I am alive." he stretched his hand to the right, the direction where they came from to escape from the spirits "Then red because they are... lifeless. Maybe, like those zombies we see in movies, they linger around even if they are dead." but he wasn't too sure about that yet, it was still a hunch.
"... Now then." it seems he had recovered "We should probably get going." they had stayed long enough. Sotoki walked towards Airi then held his hand out "Let's go." he carried her on his back then continued to run. Airi noticed that there were very small blue lights. If Sotoki was correct about his hunch, then those lights should be people. However, it was pretty small, so those 'people' are pretty far.
Just when they were escaping, the beast charged at Hideki and Yuriko. Luckily, Yoshimi managed to block the dog's attack and pushed it back "Let's go!" he told everyone and he waited for them to move, but Yoshimi did not move as she wanted to hold the monster while the others made their escape. Hideki objected first and drew out his blades which made a spark. Giving his sister to Harashi, he told them to run "No... We're not doing that!" Nikko can't just leave his friends behind. Harashi told them that he would help the two, but was just given a punch and fell unconscious right away.
"Hey, Nikko, Yuriko. Is it okay if you two carry Harashi outside?" Nikko wanted to disagree with him, but he had no choice. He just couldn't keep a girl like Yuriko in the face of danger. The beast charged once more and managed to inflict a wound on Hideki. Nikko fought the urge to head into battle with them. He knew he couldn't make Yuriko run on her own too as she needs protection. "What are you two waiting for? Get Harashi out of here!" that brought him to make his resolve. Yuriko was already ready to bring Harashi outside.
Nikko went to grab the unconscious boy and carried him behind "Support the leg..!" even though he was really tall and all, he never really had anything to do which made him pretty weak. 'I should have kept my self in shape...' but there was no time to think about that. The two walked towards the basement, but he looked behind him first "You two better follow us!" he called to them before heading downstairs.
Soon they were outside. Clashes of the battle inside was still audible from their position "I hope they survive..." His goal now is to get away as far as possible from the shrine. However, he needed to make sure that the two that was left behind could follow them "Yuriko, watch out for the wraiths okay? The monsters from earlier." he didn't want to remind her, but there was no other choice. Though, even if Yuriko didn't look out for them, he could still sense the surrounding as they seem to be in a forest. As they walked, Nikko made sure to snap branches to make a trail for Yoshimi and Hideki.
They had been pretty far and he told Yuriko to stop. Deciding to rest for a while, Nikko sat down after laying Harashi on the grass "Hah... Yuriko do not go anywhere alright?" he warned her, but Nikko wouldn't leave her behind anyway. Just when they thought they were finally free, what he didn't want to sense came to his range anyway. Clattering teeth was heard behind him "Haah!" he sweeped his naginata to the side 'I just saw Yoshimi do something like this earlier.' they both had a type of spear, so he thought mimicking her might do a trick. "Stay behind me!" he said to Yuriko. Nikko did as he did earlier to make the ents. Slamming the tip of the naginata on the ground, he animated three trees. The ents circled around Yuriki and Nikko "Don't be scared of them."