Kibishi's POV

  Walk after walk after walk after walk.

  I didn't know how long those walks were because the roads looked the same.

  Well, I should say tunnels.

  It was like this. To make it brief, we started to walk out of the prison alongside a few soldiers, whom a girl named Akuma had brought to rescue us. After forming into a group line, we all began to follow Akuma's lead, which took us to the entrance of the tunnel.

  Before that, though, I saw a few things outside of the prison walls. For one, there were a few dead bodies that must have been either unfortunate humans or even those Forbiddens Akuma had mentioned. Not only that, it was a wastend—more than just dried nd.

  Nothing looked bright or lively.

  Just pure emptiness and foulness. Besides that, though, there were no trees, flowers, or even any broken-down houses. That was to be expected, but still. I had hoped to see something to help figure out how deep we were underground.

  Was this all there was? Would we ever find something out of the ordinary to help us understand what was going on in this underground world? Or would it show up when we least expected it?

  Well, I could always ask Akuma whenever we were in a safe pce.

  At any rate, once we made it near the entrance of the tunnel, Akuma mentioned something as some soldiers moved into formations. One line to the left went ahead downward into the tunnel, and another to the right filled the gap left by the missing troops who had gone ahead. Finally, the remainder fell in behind us.

  I also remembered what Akuma said to all of us.

  "Okay everyone! We're going to guide you through the tunnels! Please hold on to one another and PLEASE don't fight to get in first. We're all trying to survive out there, so don't be left behind and get eaten by the Forbiddens! This is your first and final warning!" Akuma took charge with a serious expression while pcing her hands on her curved hips. "Hey, you! No shoving! We're all going to the same pce—! Oi! Where are those hands going, mister! H-hey! Don't encourage him, miss! Do that on your own time, sheesh!"

  Akuma hadn't accounted for some of these prisoners being a bit risky whenever they were feeling the "mood."

  And so, with Akuma barking more orders—alongside her blushing madly as if she had never seen two people from different genders acting a bit 'difficult' in their own suspendous way (all of us were guilty of those dirty thoughts—myself included)—she finally managed to guide us into the tunnels. And I wasn't gonna lie—this made her "threats" from earlier seem like an afterthought. In fact, I thought this made her story about saying it just to see our reactions seem somewhat true. Huh. Not to mention, it showed her cute side.

  Anyway, after that, the first group of soldiers that had gone ahead took the lead and started to move along with our group.

  Which brought us to the present moment.

  Looking at the background, I could see the tunnel had nothing but dirt everywhere. From the walls to the floor, all you saw was dirt and maybe a couple of rocks and cement. But to be honest, I preferred this to facing those monsters anytime soon. I wasn't sure how long it had taken for us to walk from the prison to our destination, but it seemed like we were getting somewhere. Minute by minute, we kept going through certain pathways. Sometimes we went to the left and then to the right. They must have been used to this kind of thing since they knew these tunnels like the backs of their hands. Otherwise, I doubted they could direct us with such confidence without checking each path, which might have taken a little too long in my opinion.

  At any rate,

  I was kinda gd that Tao, David, and Riley were right next to each other. We all chatted about nothing important. David asked if any of us had pns once we made it to the city. Riley said that she might explore the city and see what it was like compared to the ones on the surface. And to be honest, that didn't sound like a bad idea. Tao and I giggled and wondered what it would be like to be in a city after all these years of imprisonment. Would it be a small city or a big one?

  A Few Hours Later

  I heard some of the group wonder if it would have a shop or even somepce to eat like a restaurant. To be honest, though, I kinda doubted it. With society being crumbled and all the technology being limited underground—or not having it at all—I doubted we could have those things like on the surface. But anything was better than prison life.

  As long as we had a comfy bed and a roof over our heads, then that was fine. Although, as we continued to follow the group of people who had saved us, they said that each of us would be assigned to a pce to stay after having a group meal and something to drink. After that, they said that we had to get checked up and patched up. The rest would be expined once we were all comfortable.

  "Hey! Look, guys!" Riley pointed at something after calling to us. What was this thing Riley was pointing at? Well, from where I was walking, it seemed to be a bright light. Wait... a bright light!

  "A light at the end of the tunnel!" Riley said excitedly as she jumped for joy. This made one of the soldiers calm her down before she apologized to the female soldier and then got back in line. Well, at the very least, these people were kind and not very strict as long as you followed their instructions.

  "Okay, everyone! We're near the end of the tunnels! Please stay in line and don't touch anywhere that's NOT your body part! No. Even if it IS your own body, do NOT do anything weird, got it?!" Akuma announced to all of us. And to be honest, I agreed with her since it wasn't only the adults and the seniors here.

  No. Even then, they shouldn't do that.

  "Anyway, at least this long walking journey is nearly over! I can't wait to lie down on something that's not made out of wood or cement." David stretched and then pced his palm on Riley's hair, which made her blush. "Sadly, I thought any of us could live together like in prison. I think I'll miss that part of our imprisonment."

  "We can always visit each other, though, so there's no need to worry about that." Riley took the hand that was on her head and then held it with her own. "Besides, I'm sure there's SOME kind of way to make it possible. I'm sure of it!"

  "Psh! Like that'll happen!" David joked and then got a heavy blow from Riley's elbow after letting go of his hand and making a puffy face.

  I looked at Tao as she was looking ahead of us with a small smile.

  Now that I thought about it, David was right. We might not be able to live together again since wherever we were headed, there were bound to be rules and regutions that would prevent it unless it was absolutely necessary. Thinking about that made me sad. As I felt myself making two fists at the possible harsh reality, I grew nervous about heading to our destination. I secretly wanted to go back to our old ways instead of society's standards. But I knew that was selfish and maybe unfair to those who were thinking the same thing. If I got to have it, then the others should as well.

  So after debating about it for a couple of moments, I snapped out of my own head and looked ahead to the future at hand. Whatever it took, I would make sure to stay as close to Tao as possible. Maybe there were pces with two bedrooms or something. With those thoughts filling my head, the light grew brighter. The whole tunnel started to fill with pure light. It was so bright that it was almost blinding...

  I wondered what was beyond the bright light?