Kibishi's POV

  .........................

  ..... When was the st time I had slept like that?

  As I gazed around, I could see nothing but pitch-bckness. Everything about it felt like how it was ten years ago...

  If I could recall, it had been freezing so much that my fingertips turned red. I hadn't been able to move properly either.

  Everything about the coldness made me shiver even to that point.

  Yet...

  Right now, I don't feel that way. In fact, I felt so warm.

  I wondered why.

  "Mm..." I instinctively groaned as my mind put a brief shock in my brain. That made me jolt and slowly open my eyes, like windows for my brain to see.

  A hint of light appeared in my vision. It was tracing off the darkness I had been witnessing moments before.

  Soon, my vision became a bit blurry.

  It was hard to tell where I was. But I did know that I was inside a pce somewhere. I let my eyes adjust to the darkness of this room. When they were adjusted enough, the blurriness faded.

  When I was comfortable enough, I tried to move my body.

  Unfortunately, I was shivering with every movement, so I halted. And this was how I felt while being covered by the same bnket from before.

  I decided to use my eyes to get the bigger picture.

  And from the looks of things, we were back in the same room as before. Not only that, I could see Tao sleeping right next to me. From the looks of things, she seemed alright.

  Thank goodness. At least she was safe.

  Now that I knew for sure that she was safe, I wondered where the other girls were.

  But it didn't take me long before I could see them sitting in a circle. They seemed to be pnning as well.

  At least, from where I was sitting.

  "What was that beast?" Kujira held her head as she was holding the strange device from before. The same one that Kuma used to detect something underground and in the tunnels, if I could recall.

  "Based on the attacks it gave us, it was most likely some instinctual being. Not to mention intelligent. Not AS intelligent as human beings, but maybe like an animal type of intelligence." Yosei was holding something that looked like a tablet and a digital pen, scribbling something down.

  "It was tougher than the forbiddens as well. But it cked the instinctive awareness of its surroundings. It didn't seem to be afraid of being wounded either." Kuma commented as she kept tapping a tablet. It seemed to me that she was scrolling down something, but I wasn't a hundred percent certain.

  At that point, it was all assumptions, but their actions said otherwise.

  It seemed to me that they were all taking notes on what was happening thus far.

  Which... made me curious if I was being honest with myself.

  Oh?

  Huh. My body was still stiff, and I could still feel the coldness from that being, but at least I could move a little bit. I just didn't know how much I could do before feeling the numbness.

  No... I thought I would be fine. The coldness was the real problem, but I would manage.

  "G-grr..." I groaned in pain.

  I started with my left arm. I slowly tried to move it. It had a sharp pain during the process, but I was sure it was just due to me sleeping on it.

  I opened and closed my hand a few times.

  Funnily enough, it started to feel better once I got accustomed to the movement.

  "Good," I nodded.

  I was about to do the other side when I noticed a shadow over me. I looked up and saw Yosei with a bright smile.

  "Ah, you're awake!"

  "Waahhh!!" I jolted back against the wall.

  Thump!

  I hurt my back from my reaction to Yosei's surprise smile.

  "Ow..." I whimpered.

  I had known someone was hovering over me to see if I was awake, but I hadn't expected a warm smile from Yosei herself.

  "Are you okay?" I heard Kuma's voice heading my way. I then saw Kuma and Kujira bend their knees right next to Yosei, who had apparently done that first.

  I honestly didn't know, but it seemed logical enough.

  "Yosei, why did you suddenly disappear on us while we were doing our records? You know how important they are for the future." Kujira said, narrowing her eyes at Yosei in disappointment.

  "I wanted to give him and Tao this." Yosei took out a small mint and handed it to me.

  "Hmm?" I bnkly stared at the mint.

  "Don't move too much. You'll make people worry about you like that, you know."

  "Huh? What do you mean, Yosei? You meant Tao?" I tilted my head.

  "..." Yosei stared bnkly at me.

  I could see her being conflicted about something. Yosei seemed to be spacing out while staring into my eyes.

  "Um... Yosei?" Kuma waved her hand in front of Yosei.

  "..." Yosei slowly tilted her head at me. "Uh... who else was I talking about, Kibishi?"

  "H-huh?" I widened my eyes.

  "Why did you take so long to answer?" Kujira raised her left brow.

  Yosei simply chuckled and closed her eyes. "Kibishi's question just threw me off, is all. It was so confusing that I was a bit conflicted on how to respond to that."

  Yosei slowly stood up and walked towards Tao after saying her piece.

  "Ahh! That makes sense." Kuma nodded.

  "You think so? It was kinda strange to me." Kujira scratched her head.

  I saw Yosei bend her knees and put the mint in Tao's mouth in the background.

  "Did you forget, Jir? Yosei sometimes spaces out whenever she's lost in her thoughts. And sometimes, she answers questions te." Kuma expined.

  "... Oh yeah." Kujira pced her hand under her chin. "But didn't you think it was a bit stranger than before?" Kujira looked at Kuma and brought up one of her green strands of hair behind her ear.

  "Hmm..." Kuma looked at me. She pced her hand under her chin and then closed her eyes. It took a few moments, but Kuma then opened her eyes.

  "... You know, I think it's something to do with Kibi and his way of thinking as well. You know, since he does space out sometimes, too."

  I did?

  "Huh. Yeah, you're right. Kibishi does space out, doesn't he?" Kujira then smiled at me.

  Wow.

  I never thought that Kujira would warm up to me one day. She had never smiled this much before.

  "Hehe! Warming up to Kibi, hmm?" Kuma leaned in and wrapped her arms around Kujira's neck.

  "H-huh?!" Kujira suddenly blushed madly. She then closed her eyes and folded her arms. While that was happening, I could see Tao sitting up as Yosei chatted with her about something.

  "What do you mean?!" I heard Kujira's view, which made me pay attention back to her and Kuma.

  I then saw Kuma chuckle with a cheeky grin.

  "Hey, hey! Why don't you two call each other's nicknames?" Kuma blushed in excitement.

  "W-what?!" Kujira jolted at Kuma's question.

  Kujira looked away.

  It seemed like she was trying to avoid eye contact. Kuma kept grinning as she pyfully hit Kujira's stomach.

  "Come on, come on!~ It'll be fun to call each other with a nickname!~ It'll show how far we've become, Jir!~"

  "That's not happening!" Kujira shouted in Kuma's ears.

  "Ow..." Kuma held both her ears.

  "...Hmph!" Kujira closed her eyes while pouting. Her cheeks were like a chipmunk's. It almost felt like an anime trope.

  "..." Kujira then looked at me.

  She pondered for a moment. Kujira let out a deep sigh and then shook her head.

  "...Maybe...ter..." Kujira said in a whisper.

  "What was that?" Kuma zoomed closer as she hugged Kujira. This made Kujira's face turn red. "Argh, for goodness' sake! I said 'I'll think about it'!"

  "Nah-uh! You said 'Maybe ter'!~" Kuma embraced Kujira and rubbed her face against Kujira's.

  "Y-you're delusional, Kuma!"

  "Am I now?~"

  "Argghh!"

  Kuma and Kujira seemed really close. As I thought, they were really good friends.

  No.

  They were best friends.

  There was no way someone who acted like those two were just good friends. I continued to see Kujira and Kuma banter and chuckle away. Seeing this made my heart warm.

  I had almost forgotten that we were inside a dangerous pce.

  I turned towards Tao and Yosei once more. They were still chatting about something.

  Curiosity was killing me.

  But to be honest, I doubted that I would ask about it anytime soon.

  It seemed kinda personal, and I would rather not make either of them uncomfortable.

  In the meantime—

  "Come on!~ Admit it!~ You like Kibi!~"

  "Back off, Kuma! You're wrinkling my Super Code here!"

  .....Ah, yes.

  This would be my entertainment until those two were tired out.

  It was nice to have friends who were different from mine, David's, and Riley's. But boy, seeing best friends together and close like family made me smile brightly.

  I would have sipped some tea and said "Interesting" if I had had any, but as, I would have had my fill of this incredible sight I was viewing.