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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? [i]Laser bullshit? What...?[/i]

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. [color=B1E4FC]"...!"[/color] [i]Don't[/i] he started to shout, only to bite the word off before it left his throat. [i]Don't, it's dangerous[/i], [i]don't, you're splitting the group.[/i] 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 [i]should[/i] 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. 

[color=B1E4FC]"Get the rest of those spears Inaba was making and stick together with everyone,"[/color] 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 [i]this?[/i] 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...

[color=B1E4FC][i]"Hoshino!"[/i][/color] Masato barked. He didn't know what his fellow councilman was planning with the phones, but it seemed like the other boy was panicking. [color=B1E4FC]"Focus! Keep these things away from the others."[/color] 

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. 

[color=B1E4FC]"Damn monsters,"[/color] 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.