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[indent][indent][indent]Much like how Hiroko found an odd sense to use the small shortbow, the branch in Honami's hands felt natural, oddly so. The piece of timber didn’t feel like a crude stick ready to snap at the first sign of pressure, almost like it fit naturally within the girl’s hands.

The purple-haired girl had noticeably taken cover, pressing her back against a tree parallel to Hiroko’s, her wide pink irises looking into the forest. The sun above the four of them had been partly clouded and the amount of thick overgrowth made it hard to make out much in this part of the forest. As Hiroko suggested defending themselves a sense of dread covered the girl’s face, though she understood it well enough. That much could be told as she tried to calm herself while she waited for the enemy to strike.

Fortunately, Hiroko could, if she focused, hear the pitter-patter of each footstep as they hit the thick brush and dirt of the forest floor. 

Which, in this case, was exactly what the group needed to keep a sense of their enemies. They were fast but not as quiet as they might have thought they were. By their movements she could tell there were three of them, all approaching from different parts of the deeper woods. One to her left, one straight ahead, and one trying to move around toward Honami on the far right. That meant two were coming in toward her direction and the last to flank Honami, or at least attempt to. When she was finished collecting this information she heard another battle-cry. As three small creatures with olive skin and shark teeth emerged from the forest with blinding speed.

As Hiroko lined up two shots on instinct, nailing the two creatures near her in the head with pin-point accuracy a loud ‘CRUNCH` echoed as Honami knocked the one attacking her down in one blow. A short silence followed. The creatures were all defeated in one motion? 

Wait. [b]Creatures?[/b]

It was a curious thing, now that the imminent danger was over. But as Hiroko and Honami could see plainly outside of the heat of the moment, it had not been as they initially thought. Had they filled themselves with doubt, they might’ve believed it to be a kappa, an impish like creature that was commonly told of in Japanese folklore. But, these creatures did not have the back of a turtle and maw of a bird. The creatures as they appeared looked closer to goblins from a bog-standard fantasy anime or video game. But as far as the three of them knew that was impossible. Goblin's were creatures of fiction; but yet, here they were as their corpses remained on the forest floor.

Before Hiroko and Honami could make a statement of disbelief the purple-haired girl decided to do so first.

[color=A887B2]“Oh wow. Thank the heaven and the sky. You two are pretty strong!”[/color]

It was a statement that was true in many ways that the two were yet to realize.











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