Supernatural Beings: Strive Survivors Vol. 2

Strive 80: To The Meeting: The Third!

Kibishi's POV

Night time...

Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

"*Sighs*" I exhale while closing my eyes. I'm near the doorway of my room. I can't help but feel nervous. This is the second layer we're talking about. Of course, I'll be a bit scared. But- there's no time for that. I have to stay strong. I have to remember that I can't be overprotective regarding Tao. I have to be mature and think things through. 

Yes.

This is the way to think. I can't let anything distract me from the-

Knock! Knock!

"Kishi? Are you there?" A familiar voice calls my name.

"Oh! Tao! *Smiles* She came!" I say while a smile crawls on my face. "I better hurry and open the door for her! Hehe!" I laugh.

Cree...

I open the door and say Tao with her arms behind her back. She was smiling brightly with an adorable blush, too. Huh. I wonder why I'm so happy to see Tao. I mean, I do want to see her when I can, but still, I'm a bit too optimistic, I think...

Ah well! I'm not going to worry about it!

"Good evening, Kishi. Care to keep me company while walking towards the meeting?" Tao asks me.

"Why, of course!" I reply to her kindly. Hehe, Tao is here to walk with me! Wait, why am I feeling a bit hot suddenly?

"Kishi? Are you okay? You're not sick, are you?" Tao asks in a worrisome way. She leaned closer and rested her head on my chest. "W-wha?!" I panic while blushing red. "Mm...nothing seems wrong with your heart, so..."

"I-I'm fine, Tao, thanks!" I say while backing up a bit, then scratch the back of my neck.

"O-oh, okay then." Tao says with a slight frown, "I didn't do anything uncomfortable just now, did I? You seem to be sweating a lot...". "N-no! I wouldn't be uncomfortable when it comes to you! U-uh...*blush* how about we walk towards the meeting now?" I suggest.

"Sure..." Tao nods while having a curious look. 

"Want to uh..." I offer my left hand, but I redraw and look at the corner of my eye. "Um..." 

"Want me to hold your hand, Kishi? Here..." Tao slowly grabs my left hand and smiles at me cutely. "I wanted to hold your hand as well! Now, we can go to the meeting together!". "I see. Then," I tighten my grip and smile nervously. "Thank you for being so w-warm, Tao..."

"Hmm? Come again?" Tao tilts her head at me.

"N-nothing! I'm sorry for sounding creepy!" I apologize.

"Kishi..." Tao frowns. "Are you okay?" she asks.

 "I'm okay. I'm just a little nervous, haha." I say. I walk ahead while pulling Tao alongside me. "Come on, let's go!" I say with joy. Tao nods her head to me and smiles. 

The Operation Room...

We both made it towards the meeting area and took our seats. Jir frowns at us. "There you guys are! You're a bit late, don't you think?" 

"Huh? But I thought that we were right on time?" Tao says while raising her brows.

"Didn't you get the memo? We're starting the meeting 5 minutes earlier due to The Founder discovering something." Kuma says while taking out her photo. She turns it on and shows us the message, "Look! We even made a thing called a 'group chat.' It's one of those things people used long ago up on the surface!  It's pretty neat that we manage to create something called "the internet." However, it's only for storing old videos and messaging each other. At least the games on each phone work!" 

"Technology rocks! We can do more than call each other! This is the life!" Jir says while pulling out her phone and revealing a photo of her and Kuma with animal ears. I think it's an animal name a 'cat'.

"Guys, limit your downtime on your phone, please. Due to us using limited data from the past, your phones will die much faster than intended. And you'll interfere with the research if you turn on your wifi without using "anti-jam" mode." Mato says while frowning.

"Right. But there's no time for that. We must officially open the mission. The future of humanity is within our hands." The Found explains in a calm yet serious tone.

"Ah, right. I almost forgot." Mato widens his eyes in surprise. He then turns serious. "Alright, everyone, here's the mission. We will let the supernaturals explore the upper tunnel and give some results. If things get sticky, don't forget to set the spawn point and head back."

"Spawn point?" I tilt my head.

"He meant the teleporter. I think that's what he's calling it." Kuma explains to me.

"Aahh." I smile.

"Anyway, the second layer has some intense atmosphere, which will be a bit hard to handle on your own. So, we decided to upgrade your gear. Course, this mission will only be exploring. If you find the first monster, please don't engage and run away. Once you get some information about it, then we can upgrade your stuff, and you can proceed without any problems." Kibun says while rubbing the back of his neck with a severe expression.

"So that means we should be careful and not draw unwanted attention, right?" Jir asks.

"Correct. So, with that being said, the only thing that's been upgraded is the weapon and the supercodes. You can withstand even more attacks without getting ripped off of your body. I can't say that a monster up there won't tear your clothes apart. But at the very least, you can be certain that no regular creature can harm you!" Mark says while grinding away with his hands in his junksuit.

"So, in the meantime, we advise you to leave your phone in anti-wifi mode and make it so that the sound wave doesn't detect the monster. If you leave it on, then it will find you and kill you all. Am I clear?" Mato asks.

"Right!" Tao, Kuma, Jir, and I responded with a light nod.

"Good! The meeting is over!" The Founder says with his brows lowering seriously.

To Be Continued...

Break Next Week...

Maybe....

I may upload a chapter next week....