Baru’s way of thinking hadn’t come out of nowhere. In fact, for as long as he could remember clearly, he had always felt this way. No matter the situation, fighting his way out had always been the answer. When cornered by thugs. When a gang found out he had hurt one of their members. When city monsters attacked him. Or… even when his family had been massacred. Now that Baru thought about it, that was when he adopted that mindset. When his sister groaned her last words to him. Fight...

Although he hadn’t forgotten that day for a second, it was easy to overlook when exactly his mindset had begun, especially after having it ingrained into his brain for most of his life. Due to his fixation, the years of his life before the death of his family had become distorted—replaced by the mentality he had now.

After holding a certain mindset for so long, the human brain almost fools the person into thinking they’d always thought that way, making the origin of those feelings slowly become muddled and uncertain. However, it didn’t matter when or how it started—all that mattered was that he kept his promise—a promise not only to his family but to himself.

Preoccupied with his own thoughts, Baru suddenly realized his team was slowing to a complete halt. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but the answer lay right in front of him. Standing between them and the trail, four contestants blocked their path. They were the ones Kaiyo had mentioned being northeast. All of them had their white tracksuit hoodies down except for one—a handsome, defined-jawed man with short brown hair. If Baru had to guess, the man looked around twenty-five, and judging by the firm, confident air about him, he was likely their team leader. He could roughly see the other three who were shrouded within their hoodies—two females and another male, stocky and tall.

“Oh,” the leader turned left to meet Baru’s eyes. They looked as if they were simply passing through, unaware another team was nearby. “Hello there. It’s been quite a while since we saw other contestants, hasn’t it?” the leader crooked his head toward his team. One of the girls in the group nodded. “Yeah, it has.”

Maybe I was too paranoid. They seem like normal contestants to me, Baru realized. Maybe all that talk about Sen’s rumor got me riled up for nothing.

“Ahoy there, how’s it going, big man?” Baru said, smiling. He had no reason to respond with apprehension. In fact, that would only make the situation worse. Being friendly was always the smartest mov—

“I'M NOT BIG! I'M... I'M JUST... I'M NORMAL, OKAY!” the stocky man in the group grunted with a hoarse voice.

...

Baru’s jaw hung slightly in confusion.

“Now, Grun, he was talking to me, not you.” The leader reassured the big contestant.

“You... you think so, Reen?” the stocky fellow croaked shyly. The leader—Reen, as Baru heard—turned back with an apologetic smile.

“Sorry, he’s a bit self-conscious about his size. But don’t worry, he doesn’t bite,” Reen joked.

Baru wasn’t so sure about that, but the big man seemed oddly shy and vulnerable—quite the opposite of what one would think, judging from his muscular stature.

“Um... yeah, no, it’s alright,” Baru dismissed his worries.

“Let’s introduce ourselves properly then,” Reen suggested with a smile. “I’m Reen, the leader of the team, and the big fellow here—”

“I'M NOT BIG!”

“I mean, the very fit fellow to my right is Grun, and these two young ladies are Jennette and Haruno.”

“Pleasure,” the two young women said in unison. Both had long blonde hair, so Baru assumed they were sisters. Baru’s team introduced themselves, giving a quick bow, though still slightly apprehensive, likely for the same reasons he was. But the brief interaction soothed Baru’s worries. They seemed rather normal... well, perhaps that wasn’t the correct word. Baru glanced at Grun. Unthreatening was a better interpretation.

“How has the challenge been treating you? You all seem rather... roughed up,” Reen observed, looking at their dirty clothing. Then, after seeing Baru, he added, “Most of you, I should say.”

Baru stood out from the rest because of his spotless clothing. However, that could lead people to believe he wasn’t doing any work, which might damage his pride a bit. But he’ll recover.

“I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but I expected worse,” Hyo replied, chiming in with an outgoing tone. It seemed he was following Baru’s lead in trying to make their team seem less threatening.

“I mean... now that you mention it, it does seem kinda strange,” Reen frowned, looking up thoughtfully.

Baru raised a brow. “What does?”

The leader shook his head. “Nothing important. It’s just, I’ve expected the danger zone to be more...” He trailed off.

“Dangerous?” Hyo guessed.

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“Well, I guess that would be a fitting word for it.”

Baru had the answer to that, but he bit his tongue. When Baru first entered the danger zone, he felt something familiar, like he’d been here before. That was obviously impossible since he had never once stepped foot near Mount Fuji, but the eerie feeling still lingered. On top of that, he noticed an odd sparkle glimmering in the sky as he sat on the train at the beginning of the challenge—one he had seen before. The directions all pointed to one conclusion, but he refused to believe it, not because it was too outlandish or absurd to be true, but because he knew it would make him angry.

Very angry.

For his own mental state, he tried to ignore the blatant signs and fool himself into not caring, but last night, it all came out. When Sen had asked him, it felt like the last thread that held him up had been snipped by invisible scissors. He was forced to face reality—

The government had stolen his father’s idea and replicated it. That was what they had wanted from the beginning. They knew his father had been hiding something, and after Baru caused his family’s death, it was only a matter of time before the government discovered the basement and all of his father’s research. His whole life, Baru had always worried they’d find out, and in truth, it was foolish to think otherwise. However, he always sought to push that thought out of his mind, regarding it as something needless to ponder. Today, Baru was forced to face that reality... regardless of how he felt.

This time was different, though. He had someone with whom to share his thoughts—someone who’d listen without judgment. Perhaps that’s why he was able to wake up and continue the challenge relatively unbothered today. Sharing his thoughts had slowly lifted a deep weight off his shoulders. He never knew talking to someone could achieve that. After all, he normally suffered alone. Quietly and unnoticed.

...

“Well, in any case, we have a lot of slaying to do yet, so stay safe out there, alright?” Baru made a small farewell gesture with his two fingers. “Even if it’s easier than expected, you never want to underestimate monsters. That’ll end up ugly.” With those words of advice, Baru’s team attempted to leave, but Reen had something more to say.

“Wait!” Reen called. “Um... I know we’re technically rivals in this challenge and all, but do you guys mind sharing something?”

Baru narrowed his brow skeptically, unsure if he liked the sound of that request. “What do you have in mind?”

“Only if you guys want to, of course. I know it’s quite foolish to even ask. But it shouldn’t change anything drastically if you do. I just wanted a bit of intel to gauge how my team is doing. In fact, I think it will benefit your team as well,” the handsome leader smiled. Baru had a feeling where this conversation was going.

“You want to know how many points we have, I assume?” Hyo questioned before Baru could speak. Reen nodded eagerly.

“Naturally, we’ll do the same. I’m only asking because, by the looks of it, you guys don’t seem as hostile as others we’ve encountered, so I thought this was a good opportunity to gather some information. Sorry if this feels sudden.”

Baru glanced back at his team, gauging their expressions. They were blatantly hesitant, and Baru couldn’t blame them. However, this was an opportunity for them as well. Who knew when they would find a friendly team willing to share their points? This was valuable information, even for someone as simple as himself.

“How would we know if the other side isn’t lying?” Baru wondered aloud.

“Simple,” Reen said confidently. “We ask our techno watches. They can’t lie, can they?”

Baru looked back at his team again, focusing on Hyo, who almost felt like the second leader of the team, aside from Sen. Hyo shifted his glasses with a sigh and shrugged slightly, hinting that Baru could make the final decision. After mulling over the options for a few moments, Baru decided. “Sure... let’s do it.”

Reen smiled delightedly, and his team shared his enthusiasm. “Thank you. Since I suggested the idea, it’s only fair that I share our points first. Is that alright?”

Baru nodded. He had wondered how many points the other teams had for a while now, and as Reen asked his techno watch for the information, Baru couldn’t help but expect a large number that greatly surpassed theirs.

...

“Team Reen—two hundred eleven points.”

Baru was shocked, but not for the reason he had expected. Their points are... that low? The two hundred points were just from surviving the challenges. The other eleven must have been from monsters, which couldn’t be more than two. That means we’re doing pretty well, Baru thought. But he had to remind himself not to get overconfident. After all, this was just one team. Perhaps other contestants had more.

“So... would you mind sharing yours?” Reen urged slightly.

“Oh, yeah. Of course,” Baru said, pulling up his watch to ask it. “Techno Watch. How many points does my team have?” A faint hologram popped out of the watch’s screen, showing a gear circling as it processed.

“Team Baru—three hundred two points.”

The bright smile on Reen’s face slowly disappeared, replaced with a slight frown of disappointment. However, that expression was only momentary.

“...Three hundred two points?” Reen breathed, shock evident on his face.

“That can’t be right,” Jennette blurted out. Haruno—her twin—nodded, sharing her skepticism.

“That’s... a big number,” Grun said in his low, croaky tone.

“And here I thought we were doing well with just slaying two monsters,” Reen shook his head in defeat.

They looked... pretty demotivated. But then again, it wasn’t his fault. They were the ones who had asked in the first place. Baru shrugged. With the other team’s points revealed, he was even more certain that these people posed no threat to them.

Not only was Reen’s team stunned at the number, but Baru’s team was as well. They were holding back their surprise. They probably hadn’t seen their team’s points since they last took down a monster, which was likely quite a while ago. In the meantime, Baru had been putting in some work.

The air grew awkward quickly as Reen’s team fell silent, at a loss for words.

“Well, uh...” Baru scratched his head. “It was nice meeting you guys. Stay safe out there, alright?”

It was an abrupt end to their meeting, but Baru didn’t see any need to continue talking. The awkward silence was too much to salvage. Baru signaled his team to follow him as they slowly walked toward the contestants to return to their camp. Noticing their movement, Reen and his team withdrew, making way, even though there was plenty of space to pass by. They were intimidated by his team.

“Yeah... likewise,” Reen responded slowly. Their eyes locked for a few moments until Baru passed them.

However, Reen’s voice called out from behind as his team traveled down the path with a few strides.

“Hey... before you go, I have one last question!”

Stopping, Baru turned his head to meet the leader once again. He was surprised because, by the looks of it, Reen had been too intimidated to offer any other words– but oddly enough, not now.

“Have you guys heard?” Reen began. “About the rumor?”