Night inevitably arrived, and a white moon hung charmingly above their camp. Shadows consumed the depths of the forest, leaving no way of knowing what lurked beyond the clearing, dimly lit by the small campfire. However, Sen had to remind himself that someone like Hyo wouldn’t have the same issues as he did because of his Sense. He had read in books that Sight had many utilities—seeing in the dark, seeing a hundred times farther than others, and even, in rare cases, seeing into the future. He assumed that was an exaggeration, but it was still impressive.

Sen had trouble sleeping in his sleeping bag, constantly twisting and turning with restlessness, so he decided to get some fresh air. When he did, he noticed Baru sitting cross-legged beside the fire, his arms leaning behind him. Staring at the starry sky, Baru had a somewhat melancholic expression—neither sad nor happy. Sen had seen this side of him before, and it, quite frankly, didn’t suit his usual comedic attitude at all.

But that’s what made Baru so fascinating. The contrast in his behavior didn’t seem as if he was trying to fake it and fool those around him—something Hono often did—but rather, it seemed almost like an effort to fool himself. Not to mention the mystery of his strength, which didn’t seem feasible for someone his age.

“Thank you for being on watch,” Sen said, approaching the fire, which slightly startled Baru.

“Sure, no prob. Hyo is sure taking his sweet time getting up. It was his shift like ten minutes ago,” Baru yawned, giving in to a slight stretch before laying down flat on the earthy floor.

“I could keep watch if you’d like,” Sen offered.

He shook his head. “Nah, we already agreed on who’s keeping watch. Me, Hyo, and Hana will switch off every couple of hours. Don’t take offense, but I don’t think it’s exactly safe for you, ya know.”

“Fair,” Sen couldn’t argue against that. He was self-aware enough to know he was weak.

“The same goes for Kaiyo and Hono. Although they can use the Sense Swords and all that, they just don’t have the combat abilities we do. So it doesn’t have anything to do with you being Senseless, to be honest.”

Sen had some combat abilities, and if he had any Sense, he was confident he’d be quite skilled, but he didn’t want to seem egotistical, so he held his tongue.

“Hey, I mean, that’s why you were selected to be the team's new leader.”

Baru didn’t seem comfortable with the praise. “It’s just a name, really. You’re still the one with the brains. I’m just good at fighting stuff. I’m just surprised that it worked, honestly.”

Sen nodded in agreement. A few hours ago, they asked the techno watch whether it was possible to change their team name, and despite his doubts, it was. The new name would be registered automatically and updated in AOK’s system, while everything else would remain the same. It helped them tremendously to hide that Sen was part of their team. However, only if the person behind the rumor didn’t begin spreading information about the other teammates. If they did, they would need to face whatever happened.

That’s why we need to keep an eye on Hono, just in case she’s the one. If it’s Ayame, then we’re screwed either way. I don’t understand why she hasn’t revealed who the other teammates are yet. I feel like that’s as important as my identity. Same with Hono. If she’s the one, then why hasn’t she done that? Maybe I misread Nova’s words, but I’m certain that’s not the case. Everything simply didn’t add up. There was something fishy about the origin of the rumor. Unless… There was a stray thought. What if Asashi is the one behind this? No, it can’t be. He would understand that it also puts his daughter at risk if the motive for spreading such a rumor is what I think it is…

“Staring at the stars is kinda relaxing, ya know,” Baru said, snapping Sen out of his thoughts. “I think it will help alleviate the stress.”

Sen stared at him. “How can you tell that I’m stressed out?”

Baru almost laughed. “What do you mean? It’s pretty evident. I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s just your expression. Your eyebrows are all tense and shit.”

“I never noticed.” He usually kept a very blunt expression. In fact, that was one of the many reasons why people bullied him in school.

“That’s why I’m telling you to lay down and just look at the stars,” Baru urged. Sen forced a sigh. He didn’t quite get how looking at stars could alleviate someone’s stress levels. Doing as Baru suggested, Sen laid down next to him, eyeing the dark expanse above. After moments of patiently waiting, Sen felt no difference.

“It’s not working.”

“Well, are you constantly thinking about how it will remove your stress?” Baru asked, and then Sen slowly nodded. “You’re doing it wrong then. If you constantly think about what’s bothering you or how to fix it, it’s never gonna disappear. Just… I don’t know, look at the damn stars and see what you can connect, and don’t think about anything.”

“Connect?”

“Like connecting the stars together to make a thing.” Baru pointed somewhere in the sky. “See, like that one looks like a tiger.”

“I don’t see it. Where?”

Baru snorted. “You really don’t see it? It’s like the most obvious thing.”

Sen squinted, trying to make out something that resembled a tiger. “Is it the body or face?”

“It’s the face of a tiger. C’mon man, you gotta be kidding me.”

He gawked at the stars again, scanning for anything that connected, but he inevitably failed. “I just don’t see it.”

Baru rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Alright, what about that rabbit? Right around there.” Baru moved a little too close to Sen and pointed his finger in Sen’s field of vision. “It’s literally right there.”

“For the last time, I don’t see it.” Sen was getting a bit annoyed now. After Baru saw his irritated face, he let out a hysterical laugh. Sen blinked at the red-haired boy in confusion, not understanding the humor. “I don’t see what’s funny here.”

Baru slapped his hand on the ground in laughter, almost tearing up. “See, it worked.”

Sen blinked. “What worked?”

“You stopped being stressed out ’cause you were too busy trying to connect the stars. I was just speaking out of my ass. I didn’t see anything!”

Sen paused, almost wondering how he was so easily fooled. But now that Baru mentioned it, Sen realized it was true. His stress had stopped briefly because he was using all his effort to find a shape that didn’t even exist. “That was a smart way to make your point,” Sen noted with a small chuckle. “You know, you’re much smarter than you let on.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Baru snorted. “I’m not smart by any means.”

“Well, I never said you were. You're just more than you show.”

Baru gawked. “Wow… that’s fucked up.”

Sen dismissed his worries. “That was a joke.” Well… maybe it was. Sen wasn’t too sure if he was lying or not. “Say, why do you always act like a fool in front of everyone?”

Baru didn’t respond for a few moments—instead, he looked at the stars with a lost smile. But eventually, he answered. For the first time, he felt comfortable sharing his true thoughts with someone, even though they had just met a few days ago. “When you try to go to sleep, what do you do?”

Sen was confused. “What do you mean? I don’t know, I guess go to bed and turn off the lights?”

“Yeah…” Baru nodded, drifting off. “You first pretend to sleep, and eventually, it becomes true.”

“But people need sleep one way or another, so eventually you are going—”

“Listen to my damn point!” Baru snapped. “I’m trying to say that if you try your best to make light of things, it becomes a reality.”

Sen mused over his words. “That’s quite the quote.” Yet, the statement struck Sen as almost sad. This wasn’t something that was discovered after maturing—this was a product of past experiences. The wish of fooling yourself into making light of everything could only be created if you once only saw darkness. The intent of wanting to escape that hopeless point in his life is what inevitably caused him to have such an outlook. It was a hopeful way of looking at things… yet, at the same time, sad. Perhaps that expression he saw before greeting Baru described his state better than he first thought.

“You mentioned that you lived outside the city, right?” Sen asked, rather out of the blue. Baru reluctantly nodded, slightly apprehensive. “You said there were rarely any monster attacks. Why is that?”

…

“I’ll be honest with you,” Baru’s tone changed—it was filled with bitterness, yet barely felt steady. “It’s a tough subject. I’d rather not talk about it.”

“I see…” Sen noted. He guessed that already. But he was asking for a much larger reason. Something that he knew Baru had some information on. “In that case, what do you think about this challenge? Doesn’t it feel a bit strange?”

“That’s a bit random. In what way?”

“I’m not too sure… I guess it feels controlled and isolated, if that makes sense. It’s ironic since I just saw three dead bodies recently, but something is missing. Something the AOK is not telling us.”

There was another tense minute of silence.

“I didn’t expect someone to figure it out other than me.” Baru finally admitted. “But let me ask you this: How did you manage to correlate that with my past?”

Sen answered truthfully. “It was a guess. You once said that there weren’t many attacks in your village, which is very abnormal, leading me to believe it was due to something. Second, you said very confidently that this challenge wasn’t going to be dangerous. Because those two instances shared a similar theme, I believe they were somehow connected, although I’m not sure how. But the implications are clear.”

…

“For fuck’s sake, man,” Baru groaned, ruffling his hair in frustration. “You’re ridiculous.”

Sen raised his brow. “I presume I got it right then?”

With a sigh, Baru jerked his head forward from the ground and sat there, watching the fire crackle as he tossed in a stick that was near him. “Even if I denied it, you’re smart enough to see through it. I’m not good at analyzing words like you do. In fact, I’m quite ignorant at times. That’s how you were able to read me like a book, I suppose,” Baru sighed dramatically.

“I don’t know about that,” Sen shook his head. “Actually, out of many people, I had trouble understanding you the most. You’re very… different, I suppose.”

“Well, my mom did say I was a special boy,” Baru chuckled. “Maybe it’s because I act a little retarded.”

“Hmm… I—” Sen was about to answer that, but Baru stopped him.

“Yeah, you don’t have to reply to that. I know.” He put out his hand. “Listen, I don’t like talking about my past, but I’ll give you a rough answer to your question.” Baru caved in. Sen perked his ears.

“My village was a quaint and peaceful one. Each house had a lot of land, and barely any monsters stepped foot there. Some of the farmers could even afford robots to help out with the labor. But it wasn’t always like that…”

Why did that... sound familiar?

Sen tried his best to concentrate on what Baru was saying, but for some reason, he couldn’t. An image was materializing in his mind, and it just wouldn’t leave. It was like an unreachable memory, yet he could vaguely remember it. A lush green farmland, so peaceful and serene it couldn’t even begin to compare to the city—farmers raising their stray hats with pleased expressions as he belted by inside a car. What is this?

This wasn’t his imagination…

Abruptly, the world blearily swiveled and twisted into a different setting.

Sen was standing by a front door entryway leading into a rather comfy, wooden, cabin-like house. A staircase led up to the second floor parallel to the front door, and to the left was a small kitchen and living room. By the dining table, two young kids—a boy with red hair and a girl with blonde hair—hid behind two parents who seemed apprehensive. A large, stocky black man in a black trench coat interrogated them, a wide smirk on his face as he talked. The words… they were muffled. And the faces… they were fuzzy. The more Sen looked around him, the more everything blurred and began twisting. The world was bending out of existence…

This was something he wasn’t supposed to see.

The memory felt vile and disgusting, as if he were committing the worst imaginable sin.

…

Sen convulsed back to reality. The familiar forest ground and the warm firelight were clear again. To his relief, nothing felt blurred or distorted. His heart thrashed in his chest, and he struggled to catch his breath. Every single hair on his body seemed to stand on end from uneasiness. His body felt hot… way too hot to be normal in this weather.

“Sen?” Baru noticed his audible gasp for air. “You okay, bro?”

Sen coughed, taking a minute before responding. “Yeah… I-I’m fine…” His heart managed to stabilize after calming down. Baru looked at him, unsure if he was telling the truth.

“You sure? That seemed like a mini panic attack.”

“No, no, I coughed because a fly just flew into my throat, that’s all,” Sen assured him.

What was that? he thought, shuddering. That couldn’t be just my imagination. I actually heard voices, although they were muffled. It was like I was really there. Like I… I was there.

“The flies are a pain in the ass,” Baru agreed. “Anyway… as I was saying. My father made a pendant from the claw of a monster.” Sen was thrown back into the conversation but slowly nodded like he had been listening the whole time. “I didn’t believe it at the time, but that claw prevented monsters from coming to my village. They were scared. It was the claw of the White Tiger Monster…"

A shiver ran down his spine the moment Baru uttered those words. He had heard that name before, yet no matter how much studying he conducted–the monster was still shrouded in mystery. Out of all of them, the White Tiger was the only monster whom he had no information, aside from rumors that it welded the power of all Sense's.

"I haven't heard that name in a while. But are you sure that's the case? I just don't see how a simple claw would stop monsters from attacking your village."

Baru grew silent, and when Sen looked at his face– it was covered with pure horrific dread.

"...I know it works..." he murmured to Sen, "because when I took it, a monster killed my whole family."

Sen froze, unsure of what to say. But now, he finally understood why Baru didn't want to share anything about his past. He couldn't help but feel guilt gnawing at him for trying to push the subject. It was an annoying feeling.

"...I'm sorry. I didnt mean to–"

"It's okay," Baru cut him off before he had a chance to explain. "You don't have to apologize. I can't blame you for not knowing."

"No," Sen shook his head. "I let my curiosity get the best of me. I'm sorry." Sen meant it. He really did.

A lost smile formed on Baru's face, listening to his words. "That's thoughtful of you. Thanks."

They sat beside the fire for a while longer, allowing the comforting silence to continue, listening to the croaks of the frogs and the beautiful melody of crickets. It was....calm, and Sen enjoyed that. They didn't need to share any more words to understand what the other thought–they just knew.

"There were government officials..." Baru blurted out softly.

"Pardon?" Sen didn't understand.

"The Aok were already searching for my father's technology," Baru went on. "And after my mistake... they..." His tone collapsed, choking on his own words. If he uttered anymore, he was going to cry... and he didn't want to cry in front of Sen. With an arm to hide his eyes, he pointed his finger to the sky.

That's all Sen needed to understand.

"I see. You don't have to tell me anymore." Sen stood up with a sigh, patting Baru on the back.

The Aok stole your father's invention... and is using it in this challenge as we speak...