NekoMentals!

Chapter Twenty-Three

"We're not leaving without you, Yurika," Damion's voice cracked. "It's either all of us or none of us. We're not leaving you here-"

He was cut off by the slashing of a katana, the monster's own blood now mixing with Hisa's, which was still on the ground. The slasher landed on his feet after jumping from a high place, presumably from where the monster had jumped from. The elderly creature in front of them clutched its arm where it got cut, and ran away, revealing the person who did it.

It was an older boy, who looked around seventeen. He had short, black, curtain hair with a part down the middle, the sun shining on the ends of it. The boy was wearing an all-black outfit, with a tank top and pants, combat boots, and fingerless gloves, despite the mid-summer heat. A sword rested at his hip, almost as dark as his eyes, which were glaring at the teens standing in shock from the monster that had left.

"Hi?" Sachiko was the first one to speak, and she was a bit skeptical. "Thanks for saving us, but who are you?"

No response from the mysterious boy dressed in black, only more daggers shooting from his eyes. After taking a look at all five of them, he ran off into the shallow tree line adjacent to the now-crumbled Toyohashi City Public Hall. After just a second, the boy was nowhere to be found; the trees didn't offer much coverage. It was almost like he disappeared out of thin air.

"Well, that was absurd," Yurika interrupted the silence between the five of them.

Damion nodded. "Yeah. What was that guy's problem anyway?"

Yurika shrugged her shoulders in response and assessed the damage that was done to Hisa's arm. She reached into the group's pack and fished out the first aid kit. Rubbing alcohol and bandages were soon applied to Hisa's arm, and the group carried on, away from the destruction of the building.

The five of them, including the pets, headed towards the woods that seemed to be their new home, and they all decided to set up camp in the same, general area.

When they were halfway there, Sachiko heard a crunch that came from behind her; she was in the back of the group. She looked for a sign of an animal, or worse, Lady Tama. However, no one was there.

Aito gathered sticks for the fire for a late lunch, and Sachiko went with him, just in case she heard the weird crunch again. Everyone else stayed behind and waited for the siblings to come back. No one set up the sleeping bags or the tent; they didn't know if they were staying for the night or not.

"What's for dinner?" an unknown voice echoed throughout the trees. The boy that saved them from the giant, purple monster strode over and plopped down near the pot that they used for cooking soup.

Damion squinted his eyes, Hisa stayed silent and looked at the ground, and Yurika felt her face go hot.

"Um. Soup?" she gestured to the pot that was tipped over on the grass and looked around for Sachiko and her brother. They should be back by now. It doesn't take that long to find some sticks, Yurika thought.

Sure enough, the sibling duo were practically pulling each other's hair out over the sticks in their hands; Aito insisted that he should have more sticks because he's bigger and older, but Sachiko told him that that's not how it works.

As Sachiko ran ahead of Aito to get to the camp faster, she squinted to make sure she was seeing correctly. Why would he be here? He ran off and didn't say a word last time we saw him, which was around four hours ago. Wait. Did he follow us? The sticks were still in Sachiko's arms, even as she was attempting to create a timeline in her head. Yurika had to pry them out.

Aito trotted to catch up to his sister, and made it just in time for the mysterious boy to start talking.

"I'm sorry for being impolite earlier; I had some more important matters to attend to. Anyways, hello."