[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/h5xf31C.png[/img][/center][hr][i][b]//Day 3 | Location:[/b] Nameless Forest - Lakeside[/i]
[sub][@Vertigo][@baraquiel][@AThousandCurses][@Nakushita][@Yankee][/sub]
In the end, nothing came out of that night’s discussions. That was the thing with stubborn self-belief, after all, the thing that came when head-strong individuals who were literally superhuman butted heads. No one was going to physically restrain Asahi, and no one could stop Duncan from coming with the pink-haired youth either. Masato remained quiet and unbending, his countenance clouded as the madwoman, Ayana, once again challenged his leadership. Shun, finding no true solace, followed in Rin’s example, and disappeared once more.

Closer by this time, due to the life-debt she owed Oros, but still positioning herself as an outsider to this strange community instead.

Nothing was resolved, only some things were decided. There would be work in the morning still, things to make. People ate, night watches were decided by lot, and gradually, the exhausted students made their way into a shelter that was looking just a bit more comfy than it was the night before. Upon springy boughs they slept, cuddled up or splayed, their snores sounding loudly in the silence of the forest around them.

Perhaps Shun’s violence had granted them this moment of peace.

Perhaps tomorrow, they would be faced with greater tribulations still.
[hr]
Some did not sleep.

Kumi had stayed up the entire night, processing all the meat by herself. She was just boiling it, of course, but cooked meat lasted longer than raw meat, and the broth only became more flavorful the more time she spent on it. It was a labour of love for the daughter of a ramen shop owner, and there was no escaping her when she saw Asahi and Duncan crawl out of wherever they thought to sleep.

[b]“Here,”[/b] she said, brusquely, wiping at the soot that clung to her nose. [b]“Don’t think its enough, but its better than nothing. And go drink up a couple bowls of these too. Who knows if there's a river out there?”[/b] She handed over three bento boxes full of just boiled meat and fish, then ladled another two boxes worth of soup for the two soon-to-be explorers to drink. There was a sense that she didn’t approve of  what either of them were doing, but she wasn’t going to sabotage their best chances of returning either.

Others woke up early by nature.

Against the morning mist, Sasuke was up once more. Only injury could keep him from performing his morning exercises, after all, as his limbs flexed and bent, seeming to manipulate the very fog that swirled around him. The Bansen school of aikido focused on the sensing of energy, in both humans and in nature, and for an instant, Asahi felt as if he were transported back to reality, back to Kuroshio, watching the serene martial artist go through his routine as always.

But that routine stopped, and Sasuke turned to face him. Sometimes, one was simply called to act, no matter what the thoughts of others surrounding them were. He recognized that resolve, that inevitability in Asahi then and there, knew that there were no words to be exchanged. Instead, there was only the smallest nod, a silent message. Sasuke was confident that the two would return.

Then there were those who woke up out of necessity.

As Duncan tried to figure out how he’d store Kumi’s bounty without a backpack, Haruko crawled out from the shelter as well, bleary-eyed and bedheaded. Through the haze of half-sleep, she looked up at her boyfriend.

She was neither generally apathetic like Kumi, nor was she resigned to faith like Sasuke.

So, of course, Haruko had to ask, her words muffled as she bumped her head against Duncan’s chest.

[b]“Do you have to go?”[/b]