[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/h5xf31C.png[/img][/center][hr][i][b]//Night 1 | Location:[/b] Nameless Forest - Lakeside[/i]
[sub][@Vertigo][/sub]
It wasn't as if the walls were that thick. They had done what they could, substituting plaster with mud, but that didn't do much to block out the noise. And anyways, Duncan's senses were sharpened to a point beyond even his best basketball games. He could hear them all outside still.

He could hear the faint beat of Yuki's own heart still, the shallow breathing. When they had [i]healed[/i] him, Yuki's complexion had gotten better, but that had been all. Something was lost. Perhaps Asahi simply couldn't fix certain wounds. Perhaps if he tried, it wouldn't be Yuki anymore.

Duncan sat there. He could hear the fighting now, the threats. Asahi's declarations, the psychic threads that he commanded. Masato, shouting, a desperation that only increased. Ayana, having lost all sense of self to whatever possessed her. And the other, normal students, struck by a dawning realization that the power that had saved them on that first day would be a catalyst that ripped them apart as well.

Footsteps at the entrance.

Yukiko.

Gray eyes blinked, adjusting to the darkness. A petite form, backlit by firelight. She looked weary, more shrunken than she usually did, as she sat down beside the unresponsive youth, hugging her knees to her chest. She had been the one who had thought to pull Yuki to the others during the nighttime ambush. If she hadn't, perhaps he'd have turned out the same as Yuudai. Had exhausted herself, carrying him along when the group all decided to run away, leaving their Awakened friends to handle those hulking monstrosities.

And now, perhaps all that effort was worthless too.

Strange, that an oppressive silence could settle, even when it was so loud outside.

It was the thing that Yuki was always good at breaking.
[hr]
[sub][@AThousandCurses][/sub]
She ran.

Of course she ran.

Her whole power set, the extra ability that she had unlocked, only had to do with running faster. So fast that her scooter was pointless. So fast that she left the others behind within a minute. It had taken so little time to reach the opposite end of the lake. It would take even less time to get back, if she really needed to.

But would she? Why should she?

Yuudai was dead. Yuki was near-death. Ayana was off her rocker, and could've died. It would be better to run, to keep running, to leave it all behind. That's what freedom was. That's what she always desired, wasn't it? People didn't interest her. She could talk with them, could laugh with them, but conversations died around her, and she would turn back to her own interest once more. That had suited her fine for all her life. Why would it change? Moonlight reflected off the lake, human drama doing little to diminish natural splendor. No one came after her. No one was fast enough to follow her. Back on Earth, there were hardly any who could keep up with her boundless energy. Here on the Otherside, there were even less, yet she found herself chained to them.

Did she have to be?

What, really, made her stay with her classmates, when she could take care of herself so much better alone?
[hr]
[sub][@Yankee][@Cu Chulainn][[@baraquiel][@Nakushita][/sub]
Asahi tried to play it cool, but it was hard for anyone who remained to really settle down. His claims were wild, their implications leaning more towards villainy than anything else. Ayane turned, peering into her step-sister's eyes. She didn't want to trust Asahi, not when the pink-haired youth had displayed such disinterest in taking anyone seriously while he spewed out some deeply unserious stuff too, but the question had to be posed still. [b]"Ayana, are you still in there?"[/b]

Did the answer truly matter? It wouldn't solve the divide anyways. Sasuke's gaze settled upon Asahi. They had known each other since they were children, and even though his expression didn't change, Asahi could understand that look regardless. Softness must subdue hardness. Tranquility must overcome ferocity. Otherwise, one risked losing all control. Where, in all this, had they lost that control?

Masato's hand wrapped around Kogen's wrist, and yet that glowing armor was cold to the touch and it did not give. The student council president knew though. Knew that any of them, any of the Awakened, possessed strength enough that if they put their mind to it, it wouldn't be strangulation. It would be a decapitation with the blunt force generated by one's grip strength.

Kogen had not lost control. He was perfectly rational, holding back still the superhuman power that he had. Holding it back because he didn't intend on killing someone though? Or holding back because he wanted to prolong it. To drag it out. To watch Akito's struggling weaken over successive seconds, watch his face turn red, then purple, sweat and tears and snot expelled from the vice-like grip that held and held and held.

Hiroshi remained an observer, that amoral curiosity driving him to watch all this with wide eyes and the shadow of a smile.

And Juro found Hana, the two of them sharing quiet words.