[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/h5xf31C.png[/img][/center][hr][i][b]//Night 0 | Location:[/b] Nameless Forest - Clearing[/i]

[sub][@OwO][/sub]

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!

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

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.

[b]“Really, it sorta just feels like hitting a rack of beef.”[/b] 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?

[sub][@Yankee][/sub]

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

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

And if there were none they could recognize, how long would it take for them to experiment before [i]discovering[/i] 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.

[b]"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~"[/b]

[sub][@Nakushita][/sub]

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

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.

[b]“If you brought extra clothing,”[/b] Ayane said, [b]“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?”[/b]

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

[b]“And what would [i]you[/i] wear afterwards?”

“My boyfriend’s clothes, duh!”

“Poor guy.”[/b]

[b]“But really,”[/b] the strawberry-blonde girl said, her v-sign now opening and closing like a pair of scissors, [b]“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!”[/b]

[sub][@baraquiel][/sub]

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.

[b]"At that time, what you've done was more."[/b]

[hr]
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 [i]third[/i] 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.

[i]Magic[/i].

The hunt had never ended. It had only extended.