After the witch vanished and the bell fell silent, the groups moved again to meet in front of Bunker No. 441.
Sophie: "Hmm… so it happened to you, too."
Kenn: "I'm telling you, this is just confusing."
The Gift: "As if it wasn't confusing enough already…"
Liza: "Abyss…"
Jill: "First the Crimsons… and now the undead… what is this Abyss…"
The Gift: "Hmm."
Jill: "Hahh… wait—guys, we don't have time. We need to get out of here quickly or that witch will come back…"
Sophie: "Which witch?"
Dante: "The witch we met up top… apparently she led the attack."
Sophie: "Wait… a witch… great…"
Kenn: "What the heck is happening now."
Zoe: "Hmm."
Jill: "We'll worry about it later."
They hurried through the place, grabbed the essentials, and rushed back.
Jill: "Five minutes left… we should hurry."
The Gift: "We have to take this way the unknown path."
Jill: "Mhm."
Dante: "Damn it!"
They looked ahead.
Kenn: "It'll… probably be fine."
Sophie: "Mhm…"
Zoe: "Hahh…"
Hansel: "Alright then… let's go…"
They moved on.
Dante: "Hahh…"
Jill: "Hmm?"
Dante (whispering behind Sophie): "Hey… Sophie… can we talk?"
Sophie: "Is something wrong?"
Dante: "…I… just wanted to apologize…"
Sophie: "Huh?…"
Dante: "For… my behavior."
Sophie: "You being angry is understandable… It was my, Kenn's, and Zoe's job to protect the others. You were laid up hurt… I get that…"
Dante: "So… you're not angry."
Sophie: "No… I'm not."
Dante: "…and your wound?"
Sophie: "Still hurts a bit…"
Dante: "Hmm…"
They went on and found a place where they might rest.
Jill: "Oh…"
Dante: "…A… camp? Here?"
Jill: "Hmm… no… looks like people used it to draw water… look, there's a well."
Kenn: "Right."
Zoe: "Right… mhm."
Sophie: "Hmm."
Sophie looked around.
Sophie: "…hahh… look, we can make a fire here…"
Kenn: "And sleep?"
Sophie: "On the ground…"
Kenn: "It's cold…"
Sophie: "You don't need to worry—you can hug yourself, we're together now… ugh…"
(Silence)
Dante: "Huh!"
Zoe: "What…"
Jill: "…ugh… what… how… when?"
Liza: "Ugh…"
Sophie: "Uh… uh…"
Kenn: "(Sweating)… so much for 'don't tell anyone.'"
Sophie: "…hmmm… erase that from your memory!"
Dante: "Can't."
Jill: "Can't…"
Sophie: "Hahh… yes… we're together…"
Kenn: "…and just for the record, it happened recently… we haven't done anything… yet…"
Sophie: "(Sweating)… and of course you had to say that…"
She sighed.
Sophie: "Yet…"
Kenn: "Oops…"
Jill: "You two fit."
Sophie: "Ugh."
Dante: "Yeah… you're both funny… brave… and kind…"
Zoe: "Mhm."
Hansel: "Ugh… uh… yeah…"
The Gift: "Mhm…"
Liza: "I'm happy for you."
Sophie: "Hehe…"
Kenn: "Hehe… thanks…"
Dante: "Hmph…"
They sat down and lit a fire; there was some wood nearby.
Dante: "Hmm… I'm really surprised, Kenn."
Kenn: "Mhm?"
Dante: "You fell in love with Sophie… I think that's the right choice."
Kenn: "Thought you'd be against it."
Dante: "…Sophie loves you… a lot… I noticed long ago—how she looked at you and talked to you…"
Kenn: "Oh…"
Dante (voice of a dead man): "…Hmm."
Kenn: "I thought you hated her."
He stared into the flames.
Kenn: "At first… I wasn't sure… but… without Sophie, people like Liza ,and you wouldn't be here… so…"
Kenn looked at Sophie, who was preparing food with Zoe.
Sophie: "Hmm…"
Zoe: "Ghhh… without salt it tastes… please…"
Sophie: "Hehe… unfortunately we don't have salt here…"
Jill: "No need—we can use stones."
Sophie: "Stones?"
Zoe: "You want us to have no teeth at this young age?"
Jill: "Oh, just listen."
She took a stone, cracked it, and boiled water.
Jill: "Stone contains a bit of salt… if we crush several, we can get some… It takes time, though…"
Sophie: "Oh…"
Zoe: "Oh…"
Sophie: "Hmm."
She looked at Kenn and smiled.
Sophie: "Hehe."
Kenn: "Ugh…"
He blushed.
Sophie: "(Blushes too)"
Zoe: "…oh my… please use protection."
Sophie: "Huh?… what!… Zoe… (pouts cutely)!"
Zoe: "Noooh… you're adorable…"
Sophie: "I'll wipe that grin off…"
Zoe: "Oh dear… guess I poked a wasp's nest…"
Jill: "Hmm."
Zoe: "Still—show us your wedding fire."
Sophie: "…ghh?… uh…"
Zoe: "You're not planning it?"
Sophie: "Marriage… well… I… I'd like to… but… what about Kenn…"
Kenn: "I say yes!"
He shouted.
Sophie: "Quiet over there—this is a conversation between three girls!"
Kenn: "Sorry."
Sophie: "Oh… dummy…"
Jill: "Hmm… look—Sophie, Zoe, try it. Careful, it's hot—use the spoon."
Zoe tried first.
Zoe: "Oh yeah… that's… salt…"
Sophie took the spoon.
Sophie: "Oh… true… amazing… you're really cool, Jill."
Jill: "Hehe… thanks…"
Sophie: "Hey Liza, want to try too…"
Liza: "Hmm."
Zoe: "What are you doing?"
Sophie: "Are you okay…"
Jill: "Yeah, everything alright?"
Liza: "Oh… yes… I just hurt my arm…"
Sophie: "Oh…"
Jill: "Oh dear…"
Zoe: "Hey… Dante… got something for that?"
Dante: "Hmm?… Why?"
Zoe: "Liza's injured."
Dante: "…how bad is it?"
He stood.
Dante: "Hmm?"
Liza: "Not too bad…"
Dante: "Let me see…"
Liza: "Hmm."
She showed her shoulder—pretty deep wound.
Dante: "…oh… it's not life-threatening… but nasty. Don't you feel pain?"
Liza: "My Human Sirus… it… regenerates it…"
Sophie: "Hmm?… not that fast."
Liza: "When I got hurt, it was worse,my arm…"
Suddenly, several roots appeared and replaced Liza's veins.
Sophie: "Oh… I see… you're also a Human Sirus, after all."
Zoe: "Just… different… the technique, right?"
Sophie: "Well… if I'm not mistaken it takes me about three hours to heal a wound a bit… but her… within five minutes… that's… strong."
Zoe: "Hmm."
The Gift returned with Hansel.
The Gift: "Ahh… this is all we found."
He tossed it on the ground… a small bird.
Sophie: "…hmm."
Zoe: "Just that…"
Jill: "That… isn't enough… for eight…"
The Gift: "Hahh… what about the soup?"
Sophie: "Well… it'll do… but… it doesn't taste great."
The Gift: "As long as it's edible…"
Liza: "Hmm…"
Sophie: "But what did you see on the way… you didn't find anything besides the bird? The forest isn't far."
The Gift: "True, the forest isn't far… but…"
Sophie: "Hmm?"
The Gift: "How do I put this… something's off…"
Sophie: "Hmm?"
The Gift: "The forest… the animals…"
Hansel: "Well… they were… dead… most of them."
Zoe: "Huh?"
Sophie: "Dead?"
Jill: "Ugh…"
The Gift: "That's not the weird part… the animals' wounds are. I don't think it was a Crimson…"
Hansel: "Nor the undead."
Zoe: "Then what?"
Sophie: "Oh dear…"
The Gift: "Humans…"
Sophie: "Huh?"
Zoe: "Humans… here?"
Jill: "Humans?… that better be a joke…"
Hansel: "Not just that… the animals were shot by machine guns…"
Sophie: "Guns…"
The Gift: "It gets worse… here—this is what we found."
He threw a cap on the ground. Liza and Sophie were shocked.
Liza: "Hahh…"
Sophie: "…Black Eyes…"
The Gift: "Exactly. And it gets worse… not every animal died by machine gun…"
Hansel: "Some died by… something else… maybe a Crimson, but… well…"
The Gift: "Long story short: the Black Eyes were here… got hungry and hunted animals… but they woke a monster—one that attacked both the animals and the humans."
Sophie: "Ugh…"
The Gift: "The tracks… were… four-legged…"
Jill: "Four-legged."
Sophie: "Which means…"
Zoe: "…it wasn't a Crimson… or an… undead…"
The Gift: "But something else—and I have a guess."
Sophie: "Hmm?"
The Gift: "Ghoul!"
Sophie: "Ghoul?… you mean those creatures from legends…"
The Gift: "Exactly. According to Black Eye reports, they once found, near the sewers of the Levro Empire, a corpse they couldn't identify… they said it might be a ghoul."
Sophie: "And why so sure? We don't even know what it looks like."
The Gift: "True…"
Hansel: "But the smell."
The Gift: "It stank horribly… like corpses bound together… and ghouls are said to be omnivores… which would make sense."
Sophie: "Hmmm…"
Jill: "Ghouls… hmm…"
Jill took out one of her books: Legends of Madam Celin, a well-known adventurer and explorer.
Sophie: "According to this book… she wrote that ghouls first appeared in the year 1450, when the body of a woman was found… her abdomen was open… but only one organ was missing… the intestines…"
Sophie: "Hmm."
Jill: "What do you think?"
Hansel: "Intestines?"
The Gift: "Well… the intestines were badly damaged…"
Jill: "Even so, I don't really know."
The Gift: "We're not sure either—it's just a guess… since ghouls are similar to the undead…"
Sophie: "Hmmm…"
Jill: "For now, I think we shouldn't go into that forest…"
Sophie: "Mhm."
Zoe: "Agreed."
(later that same night)
(ghrrrrr)…
(Splach!)
Black Eye soldier: "Shit… shit… fire—fire!"
Black Eye soldier (female): "Fire!"
(Splach!)
Black Eye soldier: "Urk!"
Black Eye soldier (female): "Aaaaaaaaargh!"
(Splach!)… (Splach!)
Glowing eyes and huge teeth…
(hrrrrr)
(Meanwhile)
Sophie: "Hmmm."
Kenn: "What is it… can't sleep?"
Sophie: "Hmmm… just thinking… about… the people we lost… Natalia… Steven… and, of course, Marlon…"
Kenn: "Hmm… before you joined our group, besides Henry and Marlon—who are gone now—there were also Hannah, Natasha, and of course my sister Mia…"
Sophie: "Hmmm…"
Kenn: "Are there people, besides your parents, that you've lost?"
Sophie: "Hmmm… besides my parents… ah… well… not really. Now our friends in the group and my parents… those were painful…"
Kenn: "Hmmm."
Sophie clung to Kenn.
Sophie: "Hmmm…"
Kenn: "You're not alone anymore…"
Sophie: "Mhm…"
Kenn: "Hmm…"
He stroked her back.
Sophie: "(Falls asleep.)"
Kenn: "Hahh."
He held her head and kissed her Big eyes.
(a few minutes later)
Jill: "Hhmm?"
(Patch… Patch)
Jill: "…What is it… what do you want…"
Suddenly a dark figure appeared behind her.
Jill: "What if someone sees you, you idiot… go back now, Santa Klaus…"
Santa Klaus: "…hhhhrrrr…"
Jill: "Did you miss me?"
He stood behind her.
Jill: "Keep your hands off my friends… got it."
Santa Klaus: "Friends?…"
Jill: "Yes… they're my friends…"
Santa Klaus: "But you haven't told them about your powers, have you…"
Jill: "Of course not…"
Santa Klaus: "Good… they think you're Little Red Riding Hood, but the truth is you're Beauty and I'm the Beast."
Jill: "Little Red because of my outfit… that's why."
Santa Klaus: "Be that as it may… I'll take my leave…"
He vanished.
Jill: "Hahh…"
(next morning)
The Gift: "So… it's time."
Zoe: "Hmm."
Sophie: "Mhm."
Jill: "We have to leave this place, use that route…"
Dante: "We have to go through… the forest…"
Liza: "Mhm…"