Survival? Definitely Not A Test

Chapter VII

"Survival?"

"Yeah, survive to keep living" Takemichi looked at Chifuyu who was asking. His tone changed into a little warm. All of them preferred these warm vibes instead of the cold vibe they got earlier.

"Because from what I've heard from one of you," Takemichi pointed to Baji who was on his left side with his thumb while Baji anxiously scratched his head "that early today was the first time you were out to get food"

"In a month"

They couldn't help but glance at each other, avoiding Takemichi's eyes. They couldn't understand what was wrong with their situation before but they survived right?

"Yeah, you survived," Flinching, they looked at Takemichi wide-eyed when he spoke, as if he read their mind. "But, that means you know nothing about survival except staying in a green area"

"But it was safe" Hakkai muttered softly beside Mitsuya.

"Was, that is the keyword" Smiling softly, Takemichi looked at Hakkai in the eyes. Hakkai felt like drowning in those beautiful ocean blue eyes. "In that month, you got lucky to survive but in that month too, your luck to survive slowly ran out. For example, the situation from before"

Stiffened from the mention, some of them pursed their lips, remembering those who were gone. They sure had lucked out that time.

"And I'm guessing that a lot of you are dead already" someone choked on air when Takemichi was talking about death as if it was an everyday thing. Wasn't he supposed to be younger than them? But how did he know that many of them were already dead? They could be only surviving with just them. So how did he know?

"It's not hard to guess but let's talk about it when we enter the topic. We have a lot of things to talk about"

"Are you saying you know what this is all about? the thing outside?" Takemichi looked at the trembling figure of Hakkai, his grip tightened. 

"..." 

When Takemichi didn't give any response, Hakkai let out a shaky breath, chuckling weakly. "The humanity...

has finally come to an end, right?" 

There was an uncomfortable silence around the room when Hakkai said it. The temperature seemed to fall drastically, rubbing them the wrong way. The tension in their bodies increased tenfold.

After the silence grew longer, Takemichi let out a soft sigh.

"That's why I said survival. There must be some kind of solution" 

"Can't we just stay here? It's safe" One of the girls, Emma asked, fidgetting with her fingers. She sat beside Hinata who was sitting on Takemichi's right side.

Takemichi smiled softly, patting Emma's and Hinata's heads gently.  "For now, there is no safe place in this so-called apocalypse. Sooner or later we need to move away"

Baji who was sitting beside Takemichi suddenly stood up, facing Takemichi with a frown on his face. "Are you crazy? How do you think we can move freely in this situation?! Do you think this is some kind of test?!"

Takemichi looked at Baji blankly before also standing up. He flicked Baji on the forehead hard, causing a red spot to appear on his forehead. Baji groaned while rubbing his forehead, trying to ease the pain. Not going to lie, it was hurt.

"I never said this was a test. Because when it comes to survival, it is never a test" The silence once again enveloped the room as Takemichi rubbed the spot he flicked on Baji gently, smiling "I appreciate it if you lower your voice, the kids are sleeping"