“No, no, no, no, no, please don’t die, please don’t die. You have to live.”

On the same path on which this man walked endlessly, he finally found signs of life. Or rather, he found a body that resembled that of a human’s. He recognized this man, he was a person whom this man was acquainted with for a very short time, but for whatever reason, his existence seemed like an oasis for this man who was lost in a desert. He cried in a hoarse voice, his hands shaking the half-dead man’s shoulders with unrestrained strength.

Akio and Orihime got to their feet after sensing the extreme seriousness in Chisa’s voice. Following their example, Vinayak, even though he hadn’t calmed down yet and was trembling all over, got up and proceeded to offer a hand to Aki. Aki grabbed his hand with feelings of gratitude and stood up, he then proceeded to observe the expressions of the other students.

Behind Aki and Vinayak, who was standing close with their elbows touching, the Akio group seemed to be somewhat relieved as the situation hadn’t turned out for the worst, which would have resulted in two casualties. A little further away from this group of six, Masahiko, Orihime, and their respective groups were collectively looking at Chisa with a serious expression. The three stooges were amid the scattered furniture of the class, sitting on three of the few intact chairs and were discussing something among themselves while keeping an ear out for Chisa’s next words. And finally, the group which seemed to be an outcast in this particular situation hadn’t calmed down yet and was snuggling to the wall nearest to the apparent position of the class and the members were forcing themselves to calm down.

“The situation is something like this: We don’t have any idea where we are. I checked and it seems that we were not kidnapped and thrown here, in the middle of a cave.”

Chisa then proceeded to repeat all the things that Aki had told her concerning the fact they hadn’t been kidnapped.

“We have oxygen, and the air is flowing, so there must be an exit or a hole or gate of some sort which connects this cave to the source of the flowing air. Our priority is to find a way to get out.”

Chisa then proceeded to explain to them the absurdity of the consistent and never-paling dampness of the ground and the unexplainable glowing of the walls. Some people argued that it could be radium, only to be shut down by Misaki who mentioned that there was no visible light source ever since they woke up.

The date had changed on all their cell phones and watches. September 25, 12:25, the students were finally united under Chisa’s banner and were discussing the allocation of rations and the direction to proceed in. Aki didn’t join the discussion, he just sat in a corner with Vinayak by his side and tried his best to conserve his energy because he knew that the food rations wouldn’t be sufficient to even fill all twenty-six of their bellies to their one-tenth capacity.

Unexpectedly, the rich kids had more food in their bags than books, and as such, the gathering team managed to secure enough food to at least touch the bellies of all people present. The problem was water. There were only about five bottles of water. Five liters of water could quench the immediate necessity of the students, but it was insufficient for the long run. Humans can survive without food, however, water was necessary for survival. The only solution that the group could come with was to get out of this particular area as soon as possible and find a location within the cave or outside where water was present.

At about 2:00, the chairs and tables were broken with their legs being turned into makeshift weapons. The useless things in the bags were discarded, decreasing their weight. Everybody had their portion of food and water in their hands. The people responsible for food distribution were the Masahiko group, and one could the hierarchy within the class just from the amount of food and water a student received.

He can have mine.

Three women simultaneously thought as they looked at Aki who was calmly holding two biscuits and a bottle-cap filled with water. The aspect which pained their hearts the most was that Aki wasn’t even fazed with the clear disparity between him and the rest of the class. Even Vinayak had received an equal amount of rations thanks to the intervention of a certain princess.

Aki was just calmly munching on his share of the food, but his mind was in turmoil. He was considering various theories and plans for survival. Among all the preying wolves who were concerned about their survival, maybe Aki was the only one who was thinking about the class as a whole even after being shown his position within the class.

Something is wrong here. I feel ill at ease. I hope that it is just a feeling and nothing else.

“Here, have this.”

Vinayak, from Aki’s side, interrupted his thought process and handed him his share of water after drinking half of it. Vinayak had already given two of his biscuits to Aki, which brought the total to four. Observing this selfless action of Vinayak, not just Aki, but the three women who were unable to do anything because of their circumstances expressed their gratitude towards Vinayak in their hearts. As for Vinayak, his thoughts were running on a completely different track than the rest of the class.

3:00 rolled around, this was a time where most of the people would be asleep, but no one in this group even blinked their eyes. Their bellies were empty and their throats were dry, but they had a firm determination to get out of this predicament. One must know that most of these people were children of prestigious and rich families, and some hadn’t even carried a box in their lives. However, they realized that the situation was extremely grim, and as such, even after crying and cursing their fate for the last several hours, they had obediently arranged themselves and were ready to head out.

The moral pillar, Chisa. The brain, Misaki. The hope, Asahi. Each person in the class was looking up to these three people and had a firm belief in their heart that they could get through this if they just follow these people. Of course, there were exceptions, Chisa and Misaki for example. After every decision they made, they looked over at Aki with the corner of their eyes and waited for his approval. There were times when he shook his head sideways, making these two alter their plans, this proved that they were not what they seemed on the surface.

Walking towards one of the two directions that Asahi chose after flipping a coin, even after a few hours, they didn’t discover anything. There were still walls covering both their flanks with the endless and damp paths at their twelve and six. Chisa turned her head and looked at Aki who was pulling up the rear of the group. Aki nodded, telling her to continue as they had no other choice.

The watch on Aki’s hand displayed 6:00, and now, he was sure that his theory was correct. The thing he had been wondering about for the longest time and had his mind in chaos, but now, he was about forty-percent sure that this hypothesis was true. If it was true, then… Aki’s expression turned grim, his eyes were anxious and desperate, much more than they had ever been.

At about 7:00, the front of the group suddenly raised restless cheers. Vinayak and Aki who were at the back couldn’t see what was going on, but they waited patiently to receive the information.

“The narrow path has ended! There's a wide space in front!”

Aki felt like a boulder had been lifted off his chest, but when he moved in front of the group to observe the situation, it seemed like the boulder which had disappeared returned with the added weight of a few tonnes. Until now, the walls on their flanks were glowing with an absurd light, and as such, they had the visibility to move forward. However, Aki couldn’t see the ends of this darkness. It was like moving from a narrow path to a huge arena, but the thing was, this was an incomprehensibly large arena without even a speck of light illuminating the path.

The students were startled, instead of hastily entering the darkness, they parted and joined their respective groups to discuss the situation. Aki and Vinayak sat down a little further away from the other students, none of the two spoke up, both of their minds were occupied with tangential thoughts that could very well destroy the present calmness and balance of the class in one fell swoop.

Footsteps resounded as a silhouette walked over to the two, Chisa stood in front of Aki, and while ignoring Vinayak’s existence, asked in an anxious voice.

“What do we do? The only way I can see is to move forward with the flashlights on our phones. Going back doesn’t seem to be a viable option, we wouldn’t be able to hold on if we returned the way we came.”

Aki forcibly halted his thought process and began considering the options which the class currently had.

“I think it is our only option, Shishidou-sensei. Four flashlights at a time should do, we should preserve the batteries of our phones. Students here are rich and they should have pretty decent phones. Make them lower the battery usage as much as they can, nothing except the offline functions work, so disabling everything except the most basic functions should do the trick.”

“Mm, understood. We’ll resume in about fifteen minutes.”

Fifteen minutes, huh.

The time was nearing 8:00 on everyone’s clocks. Students created a formation with four columns and six rows, leaving Chisa and Asahi to lead the group with a battery-powered flashlight.

The students subconsciously stuck closer to each other. Filth, disgust, hatred, resentment, etc, they weren’t a factor anymore in the face of fear. Except for Chisa and Asahi, the rest of the students were walking while forming a close-packed circular formation with the important people in the middle and the disposable ones on the outskirts of the formation.

Asahi glanced back at the formation and turned his head forward again after sneering complacently. His eyes filled with pity, even his two best friends and many beautiful girls couldn’t rouse his interest like this life-threatening situation could.

This is fun.

On the surface, Asahi seemed calm and composed. He was the only one in the class who didn’t panic after discovering the severity of the situation. He was calm from the get-go, but this was only a charade, his real self was twisted. So twisted that his feelings of exhilaration and pleasure knew no bounds. With the strongest flashlight in one hand and the other fiddling with a coin, he couldn’t help but subconsciously reveal an exceedingly charming smile.

The group moved forward, their speed was slow, but they persisted nevertheless. The biggest problem was urination, the students hadn’t eaten anything so excretion wasn’t an urgent need, urination, however, was a problem for both genders. First of all, they were all sons and daughters of wealthy families. Secondly, they were all scared out of their wits. And finally, they were in a place where except for their movements, there was nary a sound, so one could imagine what would happen if someone were to urinate, the sound would reverberate loudly in the silent atmosphere. Even if it wasn’t a big problem for guys, it was a definite no-no for the ladies.

Aki had always been a prey, ever since he was in third grade, he has been dominated by the strong. They say that the predator is superior, but there is one thing that the predator lacks but the prey has it in his blood. Survival instinct. A prey knows when a predator has its eye on him, the predator may be faster, stronger, and merciless, but the first one to react and run is the prey.

At about 9:00, while Aki was silently walking forward, his instincts screamed at him. All the hair on his body stood up and an inexplicable chill ran down his spine. He was confused, there was no way there could be danger lurking in this silence. Every little move made an audible noise, so something coming for them should’ve revealed his location long ago, however, Aki had faith in his abilities, even if no one in the world believed in him, he was never dejected, instead, he chose to believe in himself.

One of the four mobile flashlights illuminating their path was his since nobody cared if his phone died. He flicked his hand in every direction to figure out the reason why he had cold sweat running down his forehead and back.

“Hey, useless prick, can’t you even hold a phone properly, huh!?”

“Light the path dammit!”

And many other curses came flying at Aki’s way like they had been for the previous twelve hours. Their reaction was understandable since everybody was agitated and frightened, they needed someone to vent off their feelings on to, and Aki became that person. However, Aki couldn’t even register their curses because he was scared. More scared than he had been in his whole life. Aki stood there, trembling and shivering. His teeth clattered and cold sweat drenched his whole body.

The students looking at him with contempt froze after witnessing his state, following Aki’s line of sight, amid all the darkness, there was a figure illuminated by Aki’s flashlight. Without anyone sensing its presence, this unfamiliar figure had made it into the midst of the already scared students. It wasn’t a prank, it wasn’t a person wearing a costume, there was a figure about three meters in height, looking down on all the students while scratching its chin with its claw.

After witnessing something like this, it was predictable what would happen.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaa~!”

After screaming, instead of running away, the girls lost their strength and limply fell on the ground. The boys didn’t run away either, some held their heads, the braver ones shrieked and continued to look at the figure, and the bravest ones just kept standing in a daze.

Aki was still standing there, his body was like a thirty-year-old scooter, he just kept shaking and couldn’t start. At the end of his phone’s flashlight stood a creature covered in black fur. The creature’s claws seemed metallic as they were lustrous and glowing under the light of Aki’s flashlight. Its face was covered in black fur as well, except for the middle, where the eyes, nose, mouth, and cheeks, which looked like those of gorillas, emphasized their presence.

Everyone wanted to run, but they decided otherwise because they knew that running would be more dangerous in this situation. Seemingly out of nowhere, the figure swayed and held a bone-like object over its right shoulder, the bone’s length was more than two-meters, more than the height of the tallest student in the class. Without any apparent disruptions, it raised his hand and pulled back its arm. This savage action of his made several girls in the middle of the group faint.

Fuck.

Aki’s instincts screamed at him to run. All the hair on his body stood up, beads of cold sweat could be seen rolling down his neck and forehead. Even in such a grave situation, Aki’s mental state calmed down. Or rather, it was calmer than it had been when they were peacefully walking. Aki’s calmness was directly proportional to the amount of danger he was in.

I don’t know its strength nor do I know its speed, all I have is the position in which he is holding his ‘weapon’. The angle at which it should come down on us should be…

Aki followed the path approximate path which the figure’s weapon would take, and as soon as he discovered the identities of the people in its line of fire, his body moved reflexively as he stored his phone in his shirt’s pocket and grabbed the chair leg held closely by a nearby student.

The figure was about five meters away from Aki, it was standing at the outskirts of the female group who had fallen to the ground and were crying and bawling. Aki rushed forward, his height was about half of the figure’s, and his head only reaches up to its abdomen, but he continuously stabbed his weapon on the lower side of the creature’s arm. Aki had only one goal in mind- to divert the trajectory of its attack. Aki knew that he was just a child going against an expert, but even so, he couldn’t give up, because if he did, he would lose way too much.

It seemed like this mysterious creature was toying with Aki as it just held its hand in the air and let Aki hit it with the rod. Aki wasn’t a weak individual, he had an average strength and an above-average endurance because of all the bullying. Even so, no matter how hard he hit, there wasn’t even a scratch that could be seen on the creature's furry arm.

After about two minutes of constant hitting, Aki’s hand was hurting, his breathing was rough, all in all, he had lost all hope. However, at that moment, a figure appeared beside him and a huge sound reverberated in the cave.

“Wham!”

Something had hit the location where Aki was hitting with a force which was several times greater than his own. The force was so great that it made even the creature groan in displeasure.

“Mashima-kun!?”

Aki was surprised, not only by his strength but by his presence.

“Shut up, weakling. You want to change it’s trajectory so that it doesn’t hit those girls, right?”

Aki gulped down nervously and nodded his head. In response to which, Yoshida just laughed complacently, and with an entranced look in his eyes, began attacking the creature’s arm. The creature acknowledged Yoshida’s threat as it finally brought down the arm hovering in the air to call upon a massacre. However, all it managed to do was gouge a hole in the ground and stir up an abundant amount of dust.

At that moment, two more figures passed Aki and stood beside Yoshida to face the creature threatening the class’s survival. Three students stood side by side, their backs illuminated by the lights of the mobile phones. The middle one just placed one of his hands in his pocket, and with the other hand raised, he pointed towards the creature.

“Go. Take the left and right.”

As if following the command of the student in the middle, the two students rush towards the monster with their respective weapons in their hands. They both take the left and right abdomen of the creature. Looking at small and considerably fast figures approaching, the creature swings his bone-shaped weapon wildly yet strategically, attempting to hit the two students. However, the students just dodge the merciless strikes of the creature and stab at his abdomen.

The middle one, who was about seven meters away from the creature, smiles and takes a light step before slamming his right foot on the ground, which thrusts him towards the creature at high speeds. Just before reaching the creature, he slammed his foot into the ground again, using it as a platform to jump high in the air. He jumps one-and-a-half meters in the air, his eyes looking down on the creature’s ugly face with cold eyes, devoid of any emotion. And with a kick with immense amounts of power behind it, he hits the creature square in the neck.

The three students retreat as they watch the creature falling over while groaning. The creature’s claws scratch its neck excessively as if trying to save its life, which is slowly fading away. The creature wails and screeches, its voice fills up the cave. And finally, it stops its movements as it enters an endless slumber.

“You’re a monster, Uenohabaru.”

“You’re quite the work of art yourself, Hayashida.”

“Yes, yes, both of you are friggidy freaking awesome, okay? I just wanna know what that shit is? That a new animal or something?”

“If that’s true, then we can get a lot of money for discovering it.”

“Uenohabaru, aren’t you the assistant CEO of your mother’s company? I heard you also have a high position in your father’s company. Why do you need money?”

“Shut up, you three. Let me take a look at it.”

“Oh? The brain is here, huh? Arashiro, your legs are still trembling. Here, have a handkerchief, you should wipe those tears off your face.”

“Hayashida-kun, take a step closer, and I swear I’ll kill you.”

“Okay, okay, sorry.”

During all this chaos, Aki just returned to his original position as the disposable tools while being satisfied with the fact that the students were safe and the creature was dead.

“Its blood is… what is this? Is it blue or green? I can’t make it out, bring me a light… Eh? Its blood looks like guava milkshake. The smell is horrible though…”

It was clear that Misaki hadn’t recovered, however, she was doing her best to appear calm on the surface and analyze the situation with composure. After that, she analyzed for a little more time. It took the class an hour to regain their courage and composure to move forward. As for the Asahi, Masahiko, and Yoshida, they were shrouded in praises and reverence. Their authority among their classmates had substantially increased. After they started moving, when Aki was walking alone, a sweet voice penetrated Aki’s ears.

“Thank you. You protected us.”

Looking up. Aki discovered that it was Akio who had squeezed through the circular formation and had made her way over to him to express her gratitude to him under everyone’s noses. Aki immediately understood what the idol of the entire school was implying. He didn’t act modest and accepted her gratitude with a smile.

“You’re welcome. You should return to the middle.”

Akio had a reluctant expression on her face, but she obediently returned, the only thing she never wanted to do was to become an inconvenience to Aki. The students were more vigilant this time around, they didn’t wish to experience something so frightening ever again.

The students cautiously moved forward without deviating from the path, there was one more of the ‘monsters’ as Misaki defined them, but this time, due to the experience obtained from killing its kin, this creature was easily dealt with the combined attack of five boys. Asahi as their leader, were in perfect coordination as they killed the monster.

The dark path gradually narrowed, though the students were unaware of it. However, they felt that some sort of gate was nearby as airflow here was ample and the air quality seemed better and much more suitable. The students were impatient and restless, especially the ladies as their bodies were covered in filth.

At about 15:20 on September 25, they finally saw what seemed to be like an exit. It was an arch-shaped gate with a height of about two meters and a length of four meters. It was quite the huge gate, the students excited. Aki was cautious, he had a feeling that the situation on the other side of the gate would be peculiar. He didn’t voice out his thoughts however since it could earn him quite the enmity.

After pumping themselves up for the natural light emitted by the sun, the students passed through the gate, and in about thirty seconds, all of them were outside. Aki was blinking his eyes continuously, trying to get used to the light. However, when he gazed at the scenery that welcomed him after regaining his vision, he wished he hadn’t.

“They are finally out!!! Archers and Snipers at the ready!!! If they make even the slightest malicious movement, kill them!!”

“Yes, Sir!”