The sun rose. Symbolising a new day begining in the monster plane.
The monster's corpses were moved away after determining which was poisonous and which wasn't.
Everyone had the same sleeping buddy, except Kinsei would stay in the same tent as Otta when Sezia was having her night watch.
In the early morning, the students were running behind Frad who was leading them on their now routined morning run.
"Isn't it hot running in that?!" River asked while panting, looking at Otta who was wearing a long sleeve shirt underneath of their pe shirt, with a scarf still wrapped around her head, "And are you alive?" He looked at Kinsei who looked like he was going to collapse any moment.
Everyone was in their physical education uniform like in school.
Otta didn't reply but her face was visibly red, she looked in front and saw Frad in the distance, with Diana and Reginald close behind him, River slowing down to ensure no one gets lost, well mostly only to make sure those two don't get left behind.
"Let's just…walk back…" Kinsei spoke with all his effort, looking up at River.
"Not like both of you can run anymore." River didn't hesitate and agreed, "Let's go."
The three of them slowly head back where they were running from, as the first ray of light shone in between the tree leaves.
River looked at Otta and asked, "Otta, what's up with you?"
Otta glanced at him for a moment, before looking back in front, "Nothing."
"Then why are you still wearing your scarf?" River stopped walking, "If I pull it down, what would happen?"
The two stopped walking too, and Kinsei turned around looking at River, "Sometimes being ignorant is bliss."
"So you know too?" River crossed his arms, "Why do you know but I can't?"
"Like I said," Kinsei repeated, "Ignorance is bliss."
"Is it something life threatening?" River ignored, and tried probing.
Kinsei turned around, and said, "You can think of it that way."
River gritted his teeth, and dashed forward, reaching out for Otta's scarf as Otta quickly tried dodging by moving to the side.
Kinsei caught his hand before he could even touch Otta's scarf, "Please," Kinsei glared at River, "Show some respect."
River glanced away, and retracted his hand, "I'm always here if you guys need me." He said as he took the lead, walking back.
Kinsei shook his wrist, 'He's so strong." He glanced at Otta, "You okay?"
Otta lifted her feet and walked forward, "Everyone is eventually going to find out, what's the point of keeping this hidden?"
He followed behind her and replied, "You should start keeping a diary, maybe it will help you from losing yourself."
Her scarf fell down for a moment, but she didn't pull it back up. She sighed, "I hate this place."
Strange purple lines covered bits of her cheeks from her neck, as she looked up at the sky.
"Maybe you will like it one day." Kinsei shrugged, "Hey, can we create a code word so I know you are still.. well you?" He glanced and looked up at Otta, before his gaze went to the clouds.
Otta chuckled a little, "That sounds quite childish."
"Self destruct, that shall be the code word." He said while taking out the bomb Otta gave him, he threw it up and caught it, "Childish? So what?"
"Sure." Otta smiled, "Being childish sounds good to me." She pulled up her scarf again, and they slowly returned back to camp.
When they reached camp, they saw Sezia looking up at the sky, lost in the clouds too.
She then turned her head towards the three for a moment, before standing up and walking into the tent that Beatrix is resting in.
"So.. what do we do now?" River asked, looking at the two who shrugged in response, "Great.."
Soon, they heard running from a distance. They turned and saw the rest was back.
Ford wiped off his sweat, and asked, "Who said you guys are allowed to walk back?" He crossed his arms, "Two powerless and one powered walking through an unknown location. What the hell were you guys thinking?"
"I'm not powerless!" Kinsei took out something from his pocket, "I can make some explosion!"
Ford's eyes narrowed, "How sure are you that physical attacks work on these creatures? And on the demons too?"
"I can at least make a distraction." Kinsei didn't back down, "I'm not powerless."
River placed a hand on Kinsei's shoulder, "Stop it dude."
Kinsei ignored and continued, "You don't have to worry about us, we can at least survive. Who knows, maybe we can also awaken when faced with a life or death situation."
"If that was the case, humans won't lose in the war." Frad's voice became flat, "Don't think this is a novel where plot armour exists. This is reality, where you can't skip to the chapter you enjoy."
Kinsei kept the bomb, and walked back into his tent without saying anything more.
Frad took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and looked at it, "Rest up, we will be proceeding with the next exercise soon."
River and Reginald turned to look at the tent Kinsei went in, and glanced at each other.
"After morning exercise, we will train your power. While Otta and Kinsei will train to use weapons." Ford folded the paper again, "Then lunch. After that I will inform all of you of the schedule again."
In the tent Beatrix is in, Dav and Kate were sitting beside her bed along with various machine keeping her alive.
Sezai entered the tent and asked, "Is her condition getting better?"
Kate glanced at Beatrix before turning to Sezia, "I can only heal external wounds at the moment. I'm not sure how long she will take to wake up since she has lost too much blood. Is a miracle she's still alive.." Kate's eyes narrowed, "No, it isn't a miracle. Many awakened ones become stronger physically too… but the fact she is now almost the same as a normal human is concerning.."
Sezia listened and thought for a moment, before replying, "Maybe we should assume she isn't human."
The tent fell silent, with only the sound of beeping going on in the background.
"How much can we know?" Dav broke the silence, "Or how much are we allowed to know?"
Sezia glanced up at him for a moment, before looking back at Beatrix, "Even I don't know much." She sighed, "I know someone that might know, but I'm not sure how to find her."
Kate slowly stood up from her chair, "The world is bigger than we know, way too big." She slowly spoke while walking out of the tent.
Walking out, she saw the students doing pushups. She recalled back what Sezia said to that mysterious stranger, 'Hel? The founder of Duerrin is Zero? But wasn't there a rumour about how she's ruthless in whatever she does?' She looked up at the leaves of the trees, 'Maybe that's why Duerrin's history had been kept so secure. Not like I even try to pry any information..'
She heaved a sigh, "Why is the world so complicated?.."