Kibishi's POV

  And so, we were in the middle of… well, nowhere.

  I mean, if this was supposed to be an inspiring location for an upcoming light novel, then this pce was as dry as the hottest desert known to man.

  …. No, that was a bit of a stretch since it was more dry in terms of emptiness instead of how hot the temperature was.

  Like a dead zone, perhaps?

  I guessed the best way to describe the location was a desert that was in the night. Otherwise, you could call it a beach with only sand and no water for miles.

  We had walked past a couple of broken houses, trees, and some other third thing that I couldn't really remember at the moment. A cement wall? A building? A car? The objects inside here could sometimes be unrecognizable to my naked eye.

  Worst of all, I could barely see anything right now. It was so dark out here.

  "How can anyone see in here?" I narrowed my eyes, trying to adjust my eyesight to the darkness.

  "Your eyes haven't awakened yet," Yosei stated as she walked ahead with her hands behind her back.

  "Care to expin what you mean?" Tao tilted her head in confusion. Ah, and she was holding my hand so that she wouldn't get lost. Not that I minded, of course.

  "It's the basic of the basics. It's what you'll learn once you unlock your supernatural abilities," Kujira added in a "It's very easy and obvious" kind of tone.

  "Did you forget that Tao and I spent most of our lives inside of a cell full of dread and despair that could spread like a deadly virus…?" I said in the most dead-like tone you would ever hear. I was also staring at her with very narrow eyes.

  "Ah!" Kujira made a sound as her eyes widened in shock. Kujira blushed and folded her arms. "S-sorry... I didn't mean to make it seem like—...I'm sorry."

  "O-oh." I flinched at that reaction.

  Shoot, now I felt bad. I scratched my face and hung my head.

  Geez, if Kujira kept acting like this instead of the coldness she gave me the first time around, then I might have a soft spot for her. That went for anyone who was trying to be better.

  "I-it's fine. Nothing to be sorry about," I muttered and then looked ahead. "So, you're saying that our eyesight will improve during these missions?"

  "Depending on the location we're in. We can also use fshlights and other things to light up the room, but to increase our safety, we usually try our best not to light up the pce in case any creatures might try to get the jump on us," Yosei expined.

  "Um.... r-right!" I nodded with a warm smile.

  "You had no idea what Yosei meant, do you?" Kujira said without looking at me and pcing her right hand on her surprisingly curved hips.

  "Not a clue," I shook my head and admitted defeat.

  "Figures..." Kujira sighed deeply.

  Ouch.

  Well, at least she was feeling a little better after reacting that way from before. Not that I had a problem with Kujira being sad or anything.

  "It's a magical thing. The core of every Curse, yet not everyone can use them." Yosei pced one index finger under her chin. "Though, I guess saying the word 'yet' would be misleading…"

  Kuma stopped in front of us and bent down on one knee.

  "Hmm..." Kuma dug in the dirt and grabbed a handful of it.

  "Yeah, I guessed it's really the individual..." Yosei muttered, which drew my attention back to her.

  "So it's more like a chance to unlock that ability?" Tao asked while Kujira joined Kuma.

  But wait. Before Yosei got the chance to answer Tao's question, I had one of my own.

  "Wait, Mato mentioned Curses before. Is it the origin of the supernatural powers?" I asked with curiosity.

  "Two questions, huh. Mm... okay. I'll kill two birds with one stone." Yosei tapped her chin and then looked at the sky.

  "To answer both questions, it depends on where it's from. Meaning that the true origin is the very core of how your abilities are born. And to gain those types of abilities, it really has to be based on how the person is."

  "How the person is?" Tao tilted her head at Yosei.

  "Yup! It's kinda hard to expin without going into details..." Yosei whispered while scratching her long, yellow hair.

  Beep! Beep!

  Tao and I looked in the direction of the noise. It turned out that it was Kuma with a device that was shaped like a small box or something. No, maybe like those cssic TV remotes back in the day.

  Or, maybe a phone with a keyboard on it?

  Yeah, that st one seemed about right.

  So, the inspiration device that was modeled after cssic cell phones was beeping in Kuma's palms. Kuma lifted up her hands to look at the ground and then gave the device to Kujira.

  "Hmm... okay. Seems like this section may have a secret tunnel somewhere." Kuma folded her arms as she turned serious suddenly.

  "You think we missed it while we were exploring the other day?" Kujira asked while making the device disappear into thin air like magic. I wouldn't be surprised if it were magic.

  Kuma turned away from Kujira and went to her knees. Kuma then patted the ground and slid her fingertips across it. Kuma gripped and gathered some more dirt.

  "I was wondering from before, but now I can confirm. This pile of dirt is fresh. Something dug under itself as it traveled underground." Kuma patted the ground one st time and then closed her eyes with her arms folded once more. "Creatures are too wild to know how to do this. It must have been an intelligent life form."

  "An intelligent life form? A human?" I asked with my eyes raised.

  "No. It can't be that. It's not well pnted and nearly identical to what you'd see if you're pnting a flower." Kuma expined. There was no pyfulness in her voice.

  "I'm not sure I'm following..." Tao scratched her head.

  "There have been a few times that we've run into this type of problem. We all just assumed that it was the Forbidden, but now I'm starting to have second thoughts..." Kujira pced her index finger at the side of her cheek. She was thinking away, seeming so puzzled yet curious. Curious yet frightened.

  "Maybe it wasn't a good idea to bring these guys out here. Let's regroup and try to upgrade our super codes." Yosei suggested seriously. Yosei turned around, and then Kujira and Kuma started to follow her.

  "Wait, that's it? We're not going to investigate it?" I asked with my right hand lifted.

  "That's a HORRIBLE idea," Kujira said to me coldly.

  "W-what?" I flinched at Kujira's statement.

  "We can't just go all in without being able to be prepared for the worst. Worst case scenario, we all have a few wounds and maybe a few bones broken." Yosei bluntly stated as she continued to walk away.

  "A few what?!" I widened my eyes at that statement that Yosei made.

  "Kibi. Tao. Don't linger. The being that created that tunnel isn't something we should mess with—huh?"

  Kuma froze in pce.

  Huh? I wondered what was up.

  "Huh?" I suddenly felt the air turning cold. Almost as if autumn had turned into winter. I could be almost certain that I could see my breath due to the temperature dropping. The air around us was now visible.

  No, it was more like clouds forming around us. Maybe like a fog would fit that perfectly.

  Yes.

  This pce now had this fog that seemed unsettling. Almost as if it was trying to suck all the oxygen from our lungs.

  The dread of this cold was very unnatural. It was... very unnatural.

  You could also describe it as a fridge that had the temperature dropped to zero.

  No. If it were that cold, then my body would be numb, and I would be unable to function properly. But either way, this chill that went down my spine wasn't going away. I turned around to ask something when I got grabbed around the waist by Kuma and was thrown on top of her body.

  We both got behind a nearby boulder that was as tall as a building. It was like a mini mountain.

  My mind couldn't process what was happening.

  Before I could say anything, Kuma gently y me down and started to head near the edge of the boulder, trying to see what was going on.

  I could see Tao lying down as well. She was right next to me. Kujira and Yosei were right behind her, almost as if they were bodyguards.

  It seemed like Kujira had done the same to Tao as Kuma had done to me. What was going on here—?

  "Kibi. Tao. Both of you. Don't you dare move a muscle." I heard Kuma's voice. It wasn't the same voice when she was joking around. It wasn't the same voice where you could hear the pyfulness whenever we were together, having fun.

  This voice was telling me that Kuma was serious. She wasn't pying around. Kuma had her sight on something. Something that was bothering her. Something that drew out this new Kuma I had never seen before.

  Something... that was driving her mind mad.

  Now, that st part was just an assumption, but that was how I felt based on what Kuma's face was expressing.

  Kuma's brows were lowered. Her teeth were gritted. Her position was firm and ready for battle. Everything about Kuma spelled "A huntress."

  Almost as if she were hunting prey.

  Or.... maybe she was trying not to be the meal for the prey that was beyond the boulder.

  Either way, this could not be good...