“It appears their pretty good at hiding,” Takei says. “Maybe they’ll be hiding behind one of those larger boulders?”

“Yeah, that ain’t a bad idea, Takei. Let me go check.” Okazaki scans the area, but nothing at all.

“This is ridiculous. Let me just sniff them out. A minute has passed, anyway.” She takes in the scent of the air. “W-what the hell?”

“What’s your nose picking up?” Shoji asks.

“I smell multiple signs of life beside us. That doesn’t make any sense, I’m only taking in the immediate area, and there should only be two human scents. I can sense twenty-six.”

“Twenty-six?” Ishimoto wanders. “From what I can conclude, there are no animals in this area besides birds and insects, and even so, I don’t believe any would be able to mask as human. Surely, they must be pulling a trick on us.”

“A trick? Like a rabbit in a hat?” Keiko ask.

“Precisely. The only thing is, that’s not an easy illusion to pull off, and I can’t figure out how they would. I say the only option we have right now is a process of elimination. We’ll follow the nearest scent Usagi was able to pick up on.”

“Yeah, I’m agreeing on that, egghead. Where’s the first place to go?” Okazaki clamors back.

“Right… 1,340 feet, the target is stationary.”

“Woah, you’re able to tell that just my the smell of them? Talk about major BO,” Shoji says.

“Yeah, leave the clowning to me, Shoji,” Keiko says, unfazed by his joke.

“So mean.”

Usagi leads the charge, followed by Okazaki by her side, and the others keep up from behind with slight jogs.

“She’s so fast now! Like, I get she used to be a track star in middle school, but this is just ridiculous. I’m going to completely run out of energy and fall asleep mid-run!”

“H-how d-d-do you… think how I feel!?” Ishimoto says his body struggling to keep up.

“You boys are so silly sometimes, I swear.” Keiko chuckles, her run going easy.

Despite the difficulties, they all make it to the first target. There seems to be nothing, scattered leaves, mud, or a scent of mushrooms rising in the air; nobody. Usagi investigates, wondering if her senses lead them astray. “No, this doesn’t make any sense. There should be someone here. There can’t just be a human scent wi—”

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She spots it. A duffle bag. Closer inspection reveals it’s covered with a cascade of perfume, also surrounding the ground around it, giving a strong human scent.

“They tricked us. Even the size of the sprayed area is enough to throw me off. It’s roughly the size of a person, or Angel.” She gritted her teeth.

“Yes, I see. Angel has always been a clever one. It seems as if she’s gotten older, and she has excelled at it. This won’t be an easy task.” Ishimoto, taking in the duffle bag, notices. “However, there is a small flaw, Okazaki come here.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Mind making a small incision here? I’m sure this being part of our training, they intended for us to succeed by any means, so tearing it will be fine.”

“If you say so, but if she gets mad at me, I’m blaming all it on you.”

The conjured dagger cuts through, the fiber ripping into the wind.

“Take in the scent of the bag, Usagi.”

“Don’t word it so weird.”

“I- you know what I mean…” He blushes a bit.

“Take in those fibers, Usagi!” Keiko shouts.

“Well, yes, she’s right, actually. You definitely have your moments, Keiko.”

“I do!” She smiles dumbly. At times, Keiko is a genius. At other times, she is Keiko.

“It’ll have a limited effect surely; it’s banking on the idea that there are more duffle bags, but it’s better than running aimlessly around. He didn’t give us a time limit, but if it keeps getting darker, our chances of failure increase, and it’s best we don’t take this lightly after what happened to you two last night.”

They all agree. Giving this their all is for the best. The fibers remain, and Usagi takes in the scent, which makes her pick up on others.

“The difference is that I can pick it up now. I smell similar objects, eight of them. They all have the same perfume on them, but I can pickup the fake targets now.” She leads the way, and all follow behind. More effort is given by the ones lagging behind. They pass the first five, and a pungent arid aroma rises. “There are eight more fake targets on the right.”

“Woah! Were you able to pick that up? That duffle bag really enhanced your sense of smell, huh!?” Keiko jumps ahead of everyone, skips for a second, and sprints fully. “I’m going faster then Usagi though when s—” She leaps ahead, passing with ease.

“H-hey! That’s not fair at all!” she complains. “Have to learn to do both if I’m going to save the world, don’t I?” She smirks and marks her next target as fake, narrowing it down to five left.

“T-this… is misery incarnate...” Ishimoto musters out.

One of the last targets is different from the rest. Usagi can’t pinpoint what makes it different, but she heads in that direction, and within a moment's notice, a blade comes swinging at her. She dodges, hitting the ground and rolling to see who the attacker is.

“Kubo! What the hell!?”

“Relax.” He reveals the blade, wobbling it, showing weak and non-harmful material. “This blade may as well be a toy. It won’t do any damage, especially to a Remnant like you. Good dodge, though. I expect it to catch you off guard.” He sheathes it. “Only one problem.” He points behind. Angel stands with a dagger of the same material. She is holding it upright in a position that poses no threat. “I was here for two seconds. You weren’t fast enough, but I have faith.” She smiles.