Kibishi's POV

  Meeting Area

  We were all in the meeting room a few minutes earlier than we had originally pnned.

  Mato had come to get us instead of waiting.

  That had to mean that this meeting was far more important than the rest before.

  The thing was, I didn't know how important it was. But putting that aside, I could see even more people than ever before. I couldn't really think about how many adults there were in the area, but I knew they were from many departments.

  I also saw Emily with her blond hair out in her soldier uniform.

  And of course, since she was here, that also meant that David and Riley were there as well. Along with the other soldiers, of course.

  Not to mention, I realized that The Founder was wearing a full bck suit. He almost looked like a spy or something which was cool to think about.

  Oh.

  That made me remember that we were also in our Super Codes that had the dark theme as well. Well, we also had some red spread across the clothing, but I thought the point was still there. I thought.

  At any rate,

  It seemed like it was about to begin.

  "Good evening, everyone. And welcome to this special meeting. I am Mato, as most of you might know. And tonight, I have some news to share!" Mato swiped the air and a projection appeared in light blue and in static.

  It was a pretty cool thing to see if I was being honest.

  "So the first yer has three parts of it. The lower, the middle, and the upper. We know now that the lower yer has a chance of the monster appearing. But it seems like it's in a pattern based on the data we have so far." Mato expined.

  "What data?" Tao asked with her right hand raised.

  "The ones you Supernaturals reported. That and Yosei took a look when you guys were on your daily." Mato scratched the back of his neck.

  "Isn't that dangerous?!" I stood up at that statement.

  "I mean, it wasn't that bad. The day time was okay. We only do it at night due to it being a bit "safer" since the air around the yers gets hot. And that could potentially kill any of us if we're not properly trained." Yosei spoke up with a small smile.

  "Then why do we do it during the day with the right equipment?" Tao raised her brows.

  "That's not a good idea. We tried that in the past and most of the people that explored the first yer during the day has died due to the heat. We are underground, after all." Emily added with her hands behind her back.

  "Huh. But what's stopping the heat from doing the same at night?" I pced my hand under my chin.

  "Simple. The night time is where the creatures are the strongest. I don't think the yers needed to heat up the pce to keep the humans in check." Kuma commented as she pced her hands together on the table.

  "I don't really understand this..." Tao scratched her head in confusion.

  "It's best not to think too much about it. This world was made to make the humans feel weak, so it won't be a surprise that it was a defense mechanism to kill the rebellious humans who tried to escape the yers." Kujira flicked her green hair behind her ears.

  "Hmm... I see..." I nodded.

  Yeah, it was still confusing as to why the yers were doing that, but for now, it was best that I didn't think about it so much.

  "I think I can help you understand it a bit better." Mato closed the projection and raised his index finger. "Think of it as your immune system. If you eat anything bad, your body will send antibodies as a defense mechanism to counter it."

  "You see how you'll get sick and need to rest until your body handles the rest to get rid of the bad stuff. Think of it in that light."

  Like antibodies, huh.

  ... Even still, I didn't a hundred percent understand. But I did have the main idea.

  Also, the world itself was strange, so there was that. But even still—

  "Having one person explore without a group is still pretty dangerous." I scratched the side of my face.

  "Agreed. Having someone by themselves isn't a good thing." Tao's eyes showed confliction with a hint of anger.

  Yup.

  I agreed with Tao there. It seemed very strange to have one person explore alone.

  But despite that, everyone else seemed unfazed by it. Well, everyone except David and Riley.

  The only reason why they weren't talking was because they were holding themselves back.

  And oh boy, weren't they holding back.

  That aside, though, I wondered why no one was saying something.

  "Um, how should I say this..." Kuma scratched the side of her face nervously.

  "What?" I raised my brows.

  "Well, you see, it was mostly Kuma's idea in the first pce. She was the one who was out there first. And sted longer, too." Yosei closed her eyes then ughed nervously.

  "What?!" I had to sit down to take in the information.

  Kuma?! Why would she do that?!

  "Wait wait wait. I'm not following here. You JUST mentioned that Yosei found information for you Mato." Tao held her head.

  "That, she did. But Yosei was mostly finishing Kuma's side quest that she pced for herself during the day." Mato pced his hand behind his back.

  "I granted permission for them to do so as well," The Founder added like it was the most normal thing ever. Which it was not...

  "Wha-?! That's INSANE?!" I formed both of my fists.

  "C-calm down, Kibi. I'm used to this type of stuff." Kuma raised both of her hands to show that she was okay with this whole situation. Well, just because she was, didn't mean I was!

  "That's insane! What is wrong with you people?! Letting a young adult defend herself?! Are you sick in the head?!" I shouted in frustration.

  "Kibishi." I heard Yosei call out to me. That made me turn my head towards her.

  "And Yosei! What's your deal?! Why the hell did you let Kuma do that AND explore by yourselves?! Has being a leader finally gotten to you?!" I pointed at Yosei. She showed a hint of shock and a bit of hurt from my words. And for some reason, it felt like my words hurt deeper than they should have.

  "Cool it! You have NO right to speak that way, mister risky!" Kujira jabbed at me.

  "N-ngh!" I narrowed my eyes when she said that. What Kujira said was right. I could be risky if I saw my friends in danger. But it was WAY different! At least, that was what I thought, damn it!

  "Well, it still doesn't change the fact that they put themselves in danger!" I shouted at Kujira.

  "Oh? But the time when you did it back at the prison, wasn't it?" Kujira coldly countered my argument.

  "U-urgh..." I looked downwards.

  Yeah, that one stung my very core.

  I couldn't really argue with that, but...

  It just didn't sit right with me. My actions were beyond my control. I couldn't help myself. But Kuma and Yosei weren't like me. They were doing this despite knowing the danger. But with me, I didn't know if I would live or die for the most part.

  I wanted to open my mouth, but nothing was coming out.

  I was just sitting there, being mum.

  I looked and saw Tao wasn't saying anything. It seemed like she was mad at Kujira for speaking to me that way. Wait. Was she standing up?!

  "That's quite enough! I won't sit here and let you mock Kishi, Kujira!" Tao shouted.

  "I'm not mocking him. I'm simply speaking the truth." Kujira answered with her arms folded.

  "What?!" Tao gritted her teeth.

  "Alright, cool it!" Yosei stood up with anger in her eyes. "I won't let our team be torn apart for such stupidness! BREAK IT UP NOW!"

  Yosei's voice echoed through the room.

  Tao and Kujira looked at the table and became silent. Yosei slowly sat back down and folded her arms with her eyes closed. "Urgh. I hate being that way. It makes me feel like a grumble old woman in her 70s, damn it..."

  By the looks of things, you would think the adults would have done something about it. And to be frank, The Founder SUCKED at his job. Just look at him. Sitting there like a friggin' statue. If Yosei hadn't said anything then a big fight would have started.

  Not that I was any better though...

  Yosei looked at me. I saw her looking away in shame. Almost as if a parent knew that she was wrong, but wouldn't back down for nothing. And, like I thought, Yosei turned serious after inhaling softly and letting out a breath with her eyes closed. With her eyes shining with determination after opening them, Yosei gripped the table. Bracing for what she would say next.

  "Kibishi. I appreciate you being worried about our well-being. In fact, I find that welcoming." Yosei narrowed her eyes at me in dissatisfaction. "But I'm a young adult who's older than any other Supernaturals here. Nineteen years old, to be exact. I don't need a seventeen-year-old who doesn't have enough life experience to tell me what and what NOT to do. You're not my father, and you're certainly not my brother! Stop trying to butt in like you're my family or something! We're not reted at ALL!"

  Yosei firmly said to me.

  And to be honest, that was the coldest thing she had ever said so far.

  And what she said was all true. We weren't even that close as family to even worry about her so much.

  Yeah.

  What Yosei said was truthful. I couldn't deny the fact that we were strangers who happened to live together. But still, something about what Yosei had just said really hurt me even more than Kujira's statement from before.

  If I had to guess... I was full of myself and tried to control the girls like they weren't as strong or even stronger than I could ever imagine. After all, they are super powerful.

  So what gave me the right to say all of that?

  "Right... we're not family at all. We only just met each other. I'm sorry, Yosei. I was way out of line just now..." I looked at the table.

  My heart was still sinking from Yosei's words. I didn't understand it myself.

  If anything, I genuinely believed that viewing Kuma and Yosei as someone precious instead of someone strong and powerful made me freak out too much. So realizing that I was weaker than them must have made Yosei's words hurt...

  Yeah... yeah, that must be the reason my heart ached.

  I looked up and saw Yosei look away in sadness.

  Funny.

  If I didn't know better, I would think that Yosei's words hurt her more than they hurt me. Maybe it was because she was the leader and saying that to someone younger than her made her feel awful. Like taking candy from a baby and letting it cry in a way.

  So maybe Yosei viewed me as a baby, and she took the candy since it was the responsible thing to do.

  "G-good. As long as you understand..." Yosei spoke, but her voice sounded a bit weaker. I could hear the hurt in her voice.

  "Yosei?" Kuma called out to Yosei.

  "Nothing! I'm just feeling like crap for hurting my kohai! But sometimes, you've got to put your foot down!" Yosei closed her eyes with her arms folded.

  Yosei then opened her eyes.

  "At any rate, it's mostly due to how strong Kuma's will power is. You can be the most powerful being in the universe, but you'll still have a type of weakness. But, that doesn't mean you can't temporarily go against it. Kuma has what it takes to go against the harsh environments of this world. In fact, you can say that this world is her home advantage due to what type of supernatural she is."

  "Which is?" I raised my brows.

  "Mm... do we have time to expin it?" Kuma rested her head on the table on top of her arms.

  "Hmm... might as well we do that. But does The Founder find it okay?" Mato looked at The Founder who had been quiet the whole time.

  "I shall allow it." The Founder responded.

  You would allow it?

  It was funny coming from someone who wasn't doing his job right tonight.

  "Okay, since we have more people in here, we might as well start from what type of supernatural you guys are, Kibishi. Actually, it does fall in line with one of my news so I'm gd that you asked that." Mato smiled at me.

  "Wait, it does? Do you mean that you figured out what type of supernaturals Kishi and I are already?" Tao sat up straight. She was looking a bit calmer now than before which was great.

  "Yup! It was a few days ago that I found out, but I wanted to double check my work." Mato admitted then scratched the back of his neck.

  "Huh, I see." Kujira blinked.

  "Well, I am curious about it so I suppose starting with me will help out the conversation!" Kuma giggled.

  Heh.

  At least things were calming down now. I wasn't going to lie to myself and think that I didn't want to know the lingering feeling I was getting for Yosei, but I could tell that she wanted me to drop it.

  After all, whatever I was feeling was probably nothing.

  I also had heard that weird deep voice from before, so it might be my imagination for all I knew.

  If there was a chance, I MIGHT get back to it, but the way I saw it, I believed this might be the end of that feeling.

  But more importantly, it seemed like the truth about what type of supernaturals Tao and I represented would be revealed.

  I wondered what type of supernatural I was?