Kibishi's POV

  And so, we finished our light snack before we started our conversation.

  I honestly had not wanted to eat since I had wanted to focus all my energy on the exploration, but Yosei had insisted that we should have something in our stomachs. It was kind of hard to argue with someone who was older than you.

  And I was sure she wouldn't say or do anything that could put us in danger.

  At any rate, Kujira threw away the st piece of snack and then made it disappear inside a cube-like object. And then made that cube disappear as well.

  "Alright then, let's get started. This bounded field I created is stable, but we can't linger too much in one setting."

  "Kujira's right. We'll need to keep this brief if possible. Kujira's bounded field is strong, but we can't take it for granted." Yosei pced a cube in front of us.

  Wong!

  With a humming sound alongside a wong-like sound effect, a projection was made. This seemed to be the map of this "First Layer," I assumed.

  "Okay, so we're in an area that we have checked already. There's nothing much out there except for broken trees, houses, etc, etc. This section of the yer seems to be stable enough to bring a few soldiers to clean out after we thoroughly make sure there's no real danger."

  Yosei made the map of the yer have a line in the center. Then, she colored the left side blue and the right side red.

  Then, Yosei continued expining.

  "The red mark indicates that the area is very dangerous and hasn't been explored yet. Many lives were lost whenever we sent someone down there to investigate." Yosei stated while her voice softened at the end.

  "Regur soldiers, I assume?" I asked curiously.

  "If we did that, then we would be the most nonsensical people on this pnet," Kuma commented while looking a bit serious yet calm.

  "It was the supernatural of Bigfoot. A person with the ability of the legend of Bigfoot. He shouldn't have been seen by any creature. But then he got caught by a mysterious, monstrous being that killed him without a second thought. We have never seen him since." Kujira expined, then closed her eyes. I could see her holding back her cry. I was assuming it was sorrow from losing a companion and perhaps a friend.

  This was too clear based on how her body was moving. Hesitant... yet strong. Racking... yet unbreakable.

  This summed up Kujira perfectly. She was "cold" hearted, but it was a front so that no one could see her cry.

  That in itself made me respect Kujira more as a person. Better than how I had first viewed her when we met.

  "Anyway, we—no. The organization miscalcuted. The others were against it, but The Founder had the st say...." Kujira whispered softly and held her scarf around her neck.

  A small whimper and "It didn't seem real..." came out of her mouth. It made my heart sink in despair, thinking about the gore they might've had to see or even hear.

  After all, going into a new pce meant having to observe it.

  "That in mind, though, we were at fault for not trying hard enough. We overestimated our abilities and thought that it would help us and make us invincible." Kuma added.

  I could see Kuma biting her lips as a sign of regret and frustration.

  "Nothing can be done now. I'm not saying that to be mean, too. Come on, let's keep going with the expnation..." Yosei softly zoomed in on the blue area of the map with her eyes showing emotion, but tightening them to show determination.

  "The area here is almost confirmed to be a 'safe' zone for the soldiers to clean up and block the area so that no new creatures can go in or out while they investigate some more. Our job is to make sure no one dies during their investigation."

  "What do you mean?" Tao asked Yosei.

  "I mean that whenever we confirm that this section of the yer is "safe" enough for soldiers to come in and check the rest out, we can test easily since there's no real danger."

  "Wouldn't they still be in danger even if we consider this pce safe?" Tao questioned Yosei once more.

  "I mean, yeah. No pce in this hellhole will be truly safe. But we will increase their chances of survival by a whole lot." Yosei scratched her long ,yellow hair.

  "Besides, I'm pnning on tackling the search with the soldiers as well. Maybe." Yosei looked at the floor. She seemed conflicted by her statement just now.

  "You seem a bit conflicted, Yosei. Is everything alright?" I pced my hands on each of my knees since I was sitting down with my legs crossed.

  "No, it's nothing..." Yosei pced her right hand under her chin. She seemed to have this intense look as well. And based on her brows being so furrowed, something must have been bothering her.

  "Oh well, it is what it is, I guessed..." Yosei muttered to herself.

  Suddenly, my eyes started to heat up out of nowhere.

  "It might cause some problems though..."

  I heard a familiar voice inside my head.

  Wait.

  Wait, no, is that...?

  "Mind reading again?" I whispered softly.

  "What's up, Kibi?" Kuma asked me with curiosity.

  "A-ah! It's nothing!" I panicked and raised both of my hands while answering my blue-haired friend.

  I said that, but it happened once more.

  I REALLY needed to figure out a way to control my powers. And in order to do that, I had to know what my supernatural powers were.

  "Back to the topic at hand. I know I'm repeating myself, but we're here mostly to patrol the area. And while we're doing that, we're giving you and Tao a small tour of how we do things, Kibishi."

  Yosei touched the red area now that she had expined the blue.

  "There are a couple of pces that we haven't checked as of yet. A theme that you may be curious about. It's an Angel theme."

  "Angel... theme..." Tao whispered.

  I saw Tao pce her hand under her chin.

  "Is something wrong, Tao?" I held my orange-haired friend's shoulder.

  "It's nothing... I think." Tao answered, sounding unsure.

  "This may help us confirm what type of supernaturals you two are!" Yosei answered confidently.

  "How can you be so sure?" I raised my brows.

  "There are many ways to confirm your supernatural abilities. Some are the habits you do and some are vague connections to certain things." Yosei stated while folding her arms. "And I have a pretty good idea which supernatural you two represent based on this conversation alone."

  "Huh. That sounds... pretty interesting." I smiled at Yosei.

  But yeah... Angel theme, huh. Strangely enough, that sounded so close to home for some reason. Why did that feel... familiar?

  Could I be an Angel supernatural?

  Maybe I was the one who was the supernatural of the angel. Yeah... that would make sense.

  Then again, if so, wouldn't my power be a bit more... angelic?

  Maybe it wasn't accurate, perhaps?

  So it was either that or Tao was the angel supernatural. But to be frank, nothing about her screamed that, though.

  Hmm...

  "So many questions, huh," I mumbled.

  Yeah, I might be the angel supernatural. Maybe.

  But then, what was Tao's?

  "That aside, we have a bit more time to explore, and it seems safe enough to explore with you guys," Kujira added.

  "But we still have two more sections to look at, so we can bring the conversation to my lovely bag right here!" Kuma brought the heavy bag from the back of her body and, with a heavy THUD!, made the room shake a bit.

  I really hoped the floor wouldn't break.

  "Careful! You're lucky the force field increases the strength of the house structure as well!" Kujira compined with her brows lowering.

  "Sorry, Jir!" Kuma grinned at her best friend and then started to unzip the pouch of the bag.

  "So anyway, I was talking with Mato the other day about what to give you and Tao, Kibi. By that, I mean something to protect yourselves!"

  "Like, a weapon?" I tilted my head.

  "Yup," Kuma nodded as she kept digging in the pouch.

  "Then why didn't you give it to us before we left?" Tao asked Kuma.

  "Because you're not supposed to be armed with any weapons until you're ready to fight with us. That's the rules The Founder made." Kujira closed her eyes and sighed.

  "I won't tell if you don't, Jir!" Kuma teased Jir, then ughed afterwards.

  "How would that work?! I'd be in trouble as well if I told The Founder!" Kujira shouted with a hint of blush spreading across her cheeks. They were showing a pinkish color as well.

  Cute, I thought.

  Yosei, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the view of the two best friends bantering.

  Kuma then took out two cubes with two symbols.

  Conflicted—not to mention a bit concerned—I gave Kuma a weird look.

  What was she up to now?