Tears fall onto the ground, Yuuma sobbed... But then, he grinned. Eyes still teary, but the grin had now become a laugh. "Hahahaha Helix!!! HELIX!!!! I'LL DESTROY EACH ONE OF YOU.... AT ANY COST..."
Tears stream down to his face, when a snake slithers from behind and bites Yuuma... He doesn't react; he stops crying... He looks at the snake coldly, as if he's trying to scare it... He grabbed it and tore it apart
Yuuma looked at the bracelet again, silently, as if assuring it something without words... He then wore the bracelet and got up... "I must find a group, or I'll die alone in this fucking forest..." he speaks to himself...
Yuuma started exploring the forest, but the more he explored, the deeper he went in, "ARGH WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!" screamed Yuuma. After some time, he stumbled upon a cluster of corpses, their mouths stained with dark, congealed blood. In some hands, half-eaten fruits lay forgotten, their sweetness drowned in death.
"They probably ate that poisonous fruit..." thought Yuuma... He crouched among the corpses, pressing their accusing glassy eyes shut with trembling hands fueled not by fear, but by a quiet, crushing fury.
"SPLASHHH!!!!"... A sound of someone falling in a water body came from somewhere. Yuuma, already alerted, follows the sound, a sharp branch of a tree in hand... As he approached the lake, he finds fresh drops of blood on dry leaves fell from the trees. Although scared, he approaches the sound... Gathering up the courage he ran and jumped straight ahead of the sound and took his stance, roaring...
"ARGHAHAHAA I'M NOT AN ANIMAL!!!! WHO ARE YOU!?" screamed a boy, washing his wound with water... Yuuma stared blankly and sighed. Yuuma said "Sorry about that, I thought there's a wil-"
"Wild animal right!?!? THIS GIRL NAMED SUZUME SLEEPING UNDER THE TREE THOUGHT THE SAME AND PIERCED MY LEG WITH A SHARP STONE OWWW!!!!"
Yuuma looked at the wound and said "That's... a deep one... By the way, I'm Yuuma. Your name?" The boy looked at him and said, "My name's Napoleon Bonaparte!!"
Yuuma squinted his eyes, "What the-?! That's.... definitely not your name!!"
The boy burst out laughing, "Hehehehe I'm Shikito..."
"Do you remember how you ended up here, Shikito?" asked Yuuma. "Nope" claimed Shikito..
"He's in forest, trapped, death is expected any moment from anywhere, and this Shikito named guy is seeming so relaxed, damn..." thought Yuuma
"Well.... Your left hand seems to be, fractured?" asked Shikito.. "Uhh yes... It was an accident, nothing else... nothing else.." answered Yuuma.
Suddenly, Yuuma felt a force from his stomach and he vomited in the pond... "HEY!! YOU ALRIGHT BUDDY?!" asked Shikito, worrying. "I...I-I don't f-feel good.." Yuuma stammered, before collapsing to ground...
Shikito stood up, picked him up and kept it under the tree. "Must be tired..."
Then, he noticed a snakebite on Yuuma's right hand. "WHAT THE HELLLLLLLL?!?!? ARGHAHAAHAH NOOOO IT'S A FREAKING SNAKE BITE!! WHAT DO I DO?! WHAT DO I DO!? AYO SUZUMEE!!! HELPPP!!"
Suzume wakes up annoyed, "What happened?! I am already sore due to that fucking stick-beating session!!! Let me SLEEP to recover!! AND YOU SLEEP TOO!!!! You were beaten too!!"
Shikito, jumping in panic, screams, "THIS BOY NAMED YUUMA MET ME AND COLLAPSED I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING HE ALREADY HAD A SNAKE BITE IN HIS RIGHT HAND HE PUKED AND COLLAPSED WHAT DO I DOOO!?!!?? ARGHHHHHAHAHHAHHHHH HELPPPP"
Suzume screamed, "CALM DOWN!!!! I've read about a lot of snakes... I think I can cure him...."
Shikito, still screaming, "FASTTTTT FASTTTTTTT!!!! DON'T KILL HIM!!!!!!"
Suzume screamed back, "SHUT UP!!! I'm trying to figure out the species of snake based on the bite mark..... Let me examine... Hmm"
Suzume said, "It's just a mild- venomous snakebite!! The snake couldn't bite for long so not much of the venom is injected, it isn't fatal for him, he'll wake up in an hour or two!!"
Shikito said, "Phewwwwwwww..... I thought he's gonna die and we are gonna be the culprits because he dies in front of us!!"
Suzume stared at Shikito, rolled her eyes and got back to sleep... Yuuma too, lied under the tree..."
Shikito said, "I don't feel sleepy!!!! I'm gonna go and find food.." and went to the pond to catch some fishes.
25 minutes later
Half-asleep on the riverbank, Shikito suddenly felt ripples disturb the pond's surface. His eyes snapped open and he leapt up in excitement. "YAYYYYY!!! FINALLYYYY!!! YOOHOOOO!"
The joy lasted barely a heartbeat. The ripples didn't fade. They grew stronger.
The ground beneath him trembled. Slow, rhythmic, deliberate.
Footsteps.
Many of them.
Shikito froze.
From deep within the forest came faint chants, low and unified, spoken in a language he had never heard, nor understood. The sound crawled along his spine, ancient and wrong.
Midnight fog clung thick to the trees, but even through the haze, the silhouettes were unmistakable.
Around twenty adults emerged from the darkness, advancing steadily—bonfires blazing in their hands, weapons glinting with firelight.
They were marching. And they were heading straight toward them.
Illuminati training centre, Trainers' cabin, 3:32 A.M
Taishiro, sitting quietly on his desk, scrambling a Rubik's cube, murmurs to himself, "Shikito.... Please, don't die....."