Taoreta's POV

  Trip!

  Catch!

  "Ah!"

  My vision slowly returned to me. But that wasn't the only thing that returned. The coldness of the area pressed on my skin. Almost as if it was warning me not to stay here any longer, or else I would be frozen to death.

  I saw the pce I was in and remembered that I was inside the igloo.

  And from my point of view, right then, I was looking at the snowy ground with one boot on it. The other one was up in the air, trying to bance the weight of my body.

  Lastly, I realized that someone had caught me before I could fall ft on my face for not watching where I was going. I slowly looked behind me and saw Kishi, who was holding me from behind.

  Having that thought all at once, my cheeks started to burn up.

  "K-K-Kishi...?" I whispered his name in a soft voice.

  Kishi slowly put me back on my feet, and I banced myself after wobbling a couple of times.

  I dusted myself off and fixed my hair as if I were shooting a movie.

  Gah! Taoreta, you idiot! No time for that!

  I shook my head and looked at Kishi.

  "Kishi! Are you okay?!" I looked around his body to check if he had gotten any injuries. "Are you hurt anywhere?! Want me to check on any wounds you may have?"

  "No injuries here."

  "I see..." I deeply sighed in relief. But then I saw Kishi turn around and continue to walk forward.

  "Ah! Kishi!" I reached out my hand and held on to his own. The warmth of it surprised me since inside this pce was colder than the outside. While I wanted to admire this warmth some more, with cheeks burning, I looked at Kishi into his Sunstone colored eyes. His beautiful eyes stared right back at me.

  So pretty..., I thought to myself.

  But noticing that, I shook my head and pulled Kishi closer. Now his face was close to mine. To be honest, being close to him like that made my whole body warm up a whole lot. And I could tell it was the same for him as well. But I couldn't back out now. I might as well go all in.

  "W-we should wait for Jir! We both ran out like a bunch of idiots!" I shouted, but Kishi went a bit closer and "shushed!" me with his index finger on his lips.

  "Be quieter, Tao!" Kishi whispered to me.

  "S-sorry! But we should really go back and find Jir!" I whispered back with my cheeks seeming to be turning red since they were burning as if I was inside of a va pit.

  "Listen, I know I'm an idiot! I just can't help it, okay!" Kishi then started to move a bit with me. He seemed to be moving to a nearby snow-like "border" that shielded you from upcoming attacks. It was like a shield for you whenever you were having a snowball fight with someone. That was how I saw it anyway.

  "Kishi!" I whispered to my best friend once more.

  "I'm sorry, Tao. But I have to do this!" Kishi whispered back at me with his brows lowering.

  This made me lower my brows as well. Kishi could be stubborn sometimes. I should have expected this the moment he mentioned that he would come running into this yer if any of us were in danger. I knew this was who he was. This was one of many parts of him that I admired. But it was also one of many parts I feared as well. The main reason for that was that in many ways, I was like that, too.

  Having someone just like you was a bit scary.

  But at the same time, it was mainly due to him possibly dying in the end from his actions. That was the scary part, in my opinion.

  Which was why I wanted to protect him even more.

  Crash! Csh!

  Huh? I heard a few sounds that snapped me out of my thought process.

  "Look there, Tao!" Kishi pointed at something. I looked in the direction that he was pointing to, and I saw someone sliding across this snowy field.

  The wind from the snow was strong, so it was hard to recognize the person right away. But I could be certain that they were carrying a weapon of some kind. By the way they were holding it, it seemed to be a long sword.

  I tried my best to focus on that figure within the coldness of the wind. It didn't take long to realize who the person with the sword in their hand was. It turned out to be Kuma who seemed to be out of breath. I could see the sides of her stomach from her now torn jacket. Not to mention her blue hair was messy, too.

  How long did she fight for?

  I pondered it for a moment, but then I looked at Kishi, who seemed to be trying his best to remain calm. And to be honest, I could understand where he was coming from. From his perspective, a friend in need was fighting for you despite how much damage they received. It didn't matter if it was a few hours or a few minutes; Kishi didn't like someone fighting his battles for him. And he knew as well as I did that it wasn't really his own.

  Some people might view him as selfish for viewing things that way. Some might say he was dumb since he was denying help from those who were helping him.

  But those were the people who didn't know him on a deeper level. And that was *if* they cared enough to know him in that way.

  And to be honest, those people could suck on their own toes for thinking that way about Kishi. If it were them or my friends, then the choice would be obvious. I would choose my friends over strangers and their opinions about us. And that wasn't hateful thinking, I would say that to their face.

  But that aside, I knew him well enough to understand his ways and knowledge.

  Logic might be fwed to that, but logic be damned.

  I rested my hand on his shoulder, and he jolted. That made me want to take it away to give him space, but I changed my mind. I had to comfort him anyway I could.

  "Don't worry. When Jir gets here, then we all can do our part..." I whispered to Kishi.

  I tried to ease his pain, but Kishi continued to stare at Kuma with an intense look in his eyes. I deeply sighed and looked at Kuma as well. I didn't bme Kishi, personally. That was just the way he was after all. He wasn't ignoring. No, far from it. He was just so focused on figuring out a way to help Kuma in any way he could.

  Yup.

  That was Kishi for you.

  Leap!

  I saw Kuma leaping forward into the whiteness of this world. It was almost as if she had disappeared like magic. I couldn't even figure out where she had gone due to how hard it was to see in the snow.

  Boom! Crash!

  I saw something crashing into the wall. The area where Kuma was before disappearing. A cloud of smoke appeared from beyond the carved wall that was made by whatever caused it. It didn't take long before the smoke started to clear out. It revealed David, buried deep inside the wall.

  "Kuma...! David...!" Kishi gritted his teeth.

  He was annoyed. He was angry. Kishi hated sitting back and letting things like this happen to someone. Not when a whole pce full of people had died, and we were the only ones that survived.

  I got it. I understood it, Kishi. But please... please calm down.

  I saw Kishi slowly digging inside his pocket. This made me halt his action by grabbing the hand that was reaching for his weapon. That weapon was his knife.

  "Don't do it!" I whispered.

  "Tao! Let go!" Kishi narrowed his eyes at me.

  Those eyes. They were showing anger and impatience. And frankly, it was melting my resolve to be a strong person. I knew it wasn't directed towards me, but it seemed like Kishi was starting to hate me...

  No! Stop that, Taoreta! What is wrong with you?! Focus, damn it!

  I scolded myself in my own thoughts and then strengthened my resolve once more. I narrowed my eyes all serious-like and tightened my grip.

  "If you want to grab your weapons, then fine. But... you'll have to tear my hand clean off me in order to do that, Kishi."

  I lifted his hand that was holding the knife and showed it to him.

  "If you can do that, then I won't stop you from saving Kuma and David your way," I said firmly.

  I'll be honest, I doubted that Kishi would do anything to me. I knew him longer than anyone out there. But he could be surprising if he needed to be. And honestly, if he wanted to cut my hand clean off then I would honestly let him. I didn't have it in my heart to stop him anyway. This was a bluff after all.

  Kishi stared at me. His expression changed from what it was before. His expression, which showed his brows at their lowest, lifted up slowly as his lips curved upside down. Giving me a warm smile as his eyes showed fear and sadness. Kishi exhaled and then took my hand off his.

  "You can be mean sometimes, Tao..."

  "I didn't mean to. I simply trust you and your decisions-"

  Crash!

  That noise sounded REALLY close. We both looked back and saw a giant crater in front of us. Smoke was coming from it, as well as the wind blowing even harder than ever before. Despite it being barely visible to our naked eyes.

  Kishi and I decided to come out of our hiding spot and head towards the crater.

  We should be following Jir's pn, but...

  ...Yeah, there was no way Kishi and I were meant to follow the rules if it meant leaving things to py out that involved the people that we cared about. I looked and saw David still in the wall caved in. I wanted to run to him as well, but we couldn't be separated right now. It might seem mean, but we weren't that far away. We could always help out if things got rough.

  Although this excuse wasn't enough to even fool me.

  As I thought. Kishi and I are horrible when it comes to following the rules that involve our friends in danger!

  Right.

  My urge to protect David was firing like a firearm in a war zone. I wanted to save David. I wanted to make sure and see if he was alright. But if we headed to him now, another person might be in danger.

  Besides, he was out of the field right now. The most logical sense was to go to something that was on the battlefield. But again, this was making my heart ache badly. David was practically family to me at this point. I gnced forward, and I could tell, despite Kishi's face facing forward, that he knew this too, but was deciding to help out someone closer.

  It seemed like my thought process killed some time due to how close we were right now.

  The smoke finally cleared, and it revealed Kuma, who was slowly getting up and wobbling a bit to regain her bance once more. With our vision cleared, I could see Kishi speeding up and heading towards Kuma's side.

  "Kuma-!"

  Shine!

  Kuma blocked us from getting even closer.

  This made Kishi and I halt in our tracks and let the wind blow our hair. Kishi narrowed his eyes and stepped forward a bit.

  "What's the deal, Kuma! We're here to help!" Kishi shouted at Kuma, who seemed focused on the whiteness in the distance. Kuma turned her head with narrow eyes.

  "Good grief, aren't you two trouble makers? What, didn't you follow Jir's pn like you SUPPOSED to?" Kuma said in a cold manner.

  It sounded like the Kuma that we first met a week ago. Her voice was a bit deep, and her tone sounded more... serious. The pyful Kuma who joked about our bodies or even talked like a caring mother was now gone and repced by a soldier who knew what she was supposed to do.

  Her eyes were just like this pce as well. Empty and hollow.

  She smoothly closed her eyes and deeply sighed at us.

  "Honestly, Tao, Kibi. You just don't follow the rules!"

  Ssh!

  Kuma sshed horizontally and caused an energy wave to head towards the whiteness of the igloo straight ahead. It didn't take long before it hit its target.

  Boom!

  With a huge explosion, I could hear the energy beam hit its target. I saw Kishi tensing up and gulping from the sight. The distance wasn't too far away, but it was still pretty far. This igloo was big after all. It was like a regur house with four bedrooms if I had to guess. Then again, it depended on the house itself. Let's say it was a house that held a big family.

  And thinking of it like that, the distance couldn't be that long after all.

  If that was the case, then...

  "Stay behind us..." I heard a voice from behind.

  I looked back and saw an injured David who slowly walked past us with a serious expression and a stone sword. It seemed like his shirt was fully gon,e now showing his six-pack and his V-line.

  It seemed like his soldier pants were the only thing that was left after that attack back there.

  David's bck hair got blown as he stood in front of Kishi and I. He pced his giant stone sword on his right shoulder and scratched his head with his free hand. "Damn it all! I wanted to reveal this after this mission, too. Oh well, my friends are far more important than that right now."

  "David! Are you okay?!" Kishi shouted in a panic.

  "I'm good, bro! Now that you're here, my strength just regenerated!" David joked.

  "Are you sure?" I asked in a worried voice.

  "Don't worry, you two. David over here proved that he has what it takes. Still... I was shocked when I heard what he truly is..." Kuma said in her usual pyful voice.

  Kuma slid her foot and readied her weapon.

  "But that can wait...." Kuma went back to the cold voice.

  I was wondering why, but then the answer was obvious when I saw what they were looking at. It seemed like a pair of eyes was glowing yellow at us. It seemed like that was the monster that caused this drop in temperature.

  I summoned my weapon and got ready to defend myself.

  Kishi was about to do the same, but I halted him. I turned and smiled at him. "Save it for ter, Kishi..."

  "But...!" Kishi frowned at me.

  That sight hurt me. But I had to be strong and ignore his cry. Just this once. I knew that I would regret it, though. I turned around and looked at the glowing eyes once more.

  Rumble...

  The ground was rumbling. I could also hear a growl of some kind. If I had to take a wild guess, these were coming from the monster itself.

  Stomp!

  One foot.

  Stomp!

  And then another.

  I could only see the rotten flesh of the monster. The rest was covered by the cloud of smoke that was created from Kuma's attack. I gripped my weapon and slid my foot slightly.

  I could tell from here on out, it was all or nothing...