"Ughhh," Yang groaned. "Why did it have to break my leg?"

While Loran and the others were off exploring the woods and searching for the Iron Ant nest, Yang found herself lying in the grass beside her shelter bored out of her mind. After returning from the hunt with a broken leg, Soze had managed to set the bone and make her a functional splint. Unfortunately, with her leg in its current condition walking around the camp wasn't an option. She had been given a large branch to use as a walking stick, but it was just too cumbersome and Yang only used it when she was desperate.

"Couldn't that stupid ant break my arm? Or a rib? Why did it have to be my leg?"

Yang had initially swallowed her frustrations, but now it had been over a week of just sitting around her and Yin's shelter and her patience was at its limits. If it weren't for the fact that their shelter was relatively far from where players tended to gather someone would've started yelling at her to shut up by now.

'Hell, if someone was nearby I could at least distract myself with their complaining. Or just a conversation or anything.' Yang ran her fingers through her hair. 'And I still have to deal with this for another two weeks?!'

"Ughhh, just kill me already," Yang said, draping her arm across her face.

"Considering where we are, I'd be more careful about tempting fate like that Yang," Yin said walking up to her sister.

"Did you bring food?"

"I was thinking we could go get lunch together."

Yang moved her arm to stare at her sister. "And how do you suppose I-" She stopped as she saw her sister standing over her with a pair of wooden crutches.

"Shall we?"

"Did yo- did you make those?" Yang asked, wincing as she accidentally sat up too quickly.

"No, it's from the Workshop."

"What the hell," a scowl began to spread across her face. "When I asked them all I got was this fucking branch."

"Calm down," Yin said as she helped her sister to her feet. "I asked them about it the morning after we got back. As it stands they've been somewhat preoccupied with their efforts to process the Iron Ant carapace and preparing for Loran's expedition. Now that the exploration team has left and the supply of carapace has run dry they've begun handling normal requests again."

"Alright, that makes sense," she said as she took the crutches. They were very well made and reminded Yang of those she had seen in hospitals aside from the fact that these were made from wood and leather instead of metal and plastic. They felt a little too short to Yang, but after taking some practice steps she decided it wasn't worth worrying about.

'I guess asking for adjustable ones like we had in reality is too much.'

"I don't know," Yin said, reading Yang's expression, "seeing the current state of the crafting team makes me believe they would interpret it as a challenge."

"Yeah, probably," Yang chuckled. "Enough about them, I'm hungry."

~~~~~

After grabbing some food, Yin and Yang began making their way towards The Pit in relative silence, simply taking in the atmosphere of the village. With it being almost noon the majority of players were either out hunting and gathering or working in Demeter's field, leaving the village itself somewhat empty.

The Pit, being the most popular communal area, still had a few people gathered by the time Yin and Yang arrived, eating and laughing in their small groups.

Yang was mildly surprised and concerned to see that most of these players were bearing some kind of injury.

'It's been a while since I've seen so many injured people,' she thought. "Did something happen?"

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"Hm? Why would you think that?"

"I was just thinking that- wait, did you not read my mind just now?"

Yin looked at her sister incredulously. "Yang, you were looking the other way. No matter how many times you say otherwise I can't actually hear your thoughts."

"I- you- you do it so much I forgot, alright!" Yang said, blushing furiously.

"Well, do try to remember that I don't possess some kind of superpower," Yin chuckled. "I'm just reading your expression and body language."

"Don't downplay it, Sis, it's not like normal people can have a conversation without speaking. Powers or not, you're like a protagonist from some anime."

"Perhaps," Yin sighed, her shoulders drooping slightly, "but enough of that, what rumination of yours have I missed out on?"

Finding a nice patch of open grass, Yang flopped to the ground while protecting her leg before Yin handed her some food.

"I was just wondering why it seems like there are more injured people around than usual. Did something go wrong out in the woods?"

"No it's nothing like that," Yin said, sitting down slowly. "More parties have been transitioning to the higher-level hunting grounds recently. No one seems to be seriously injured but it's not wise to go out while already hurt."

"Okay, but then why haven't I noticed this before now?"

Yin stared at Yang judgingly.

"What, is this the part where you go on about how observant I am?"

Yin was taken aback. "What? No, I was alluding to your hunting schedule. Just when was the last time you took a day off from hunting?"

While Loran, Alexx, and Soze would take days off to recover from their injuries and Yin did so to relax around the village, Yang had been spending every day hunting for over three weeks in the hopes of catching up to everyone's levels. Yang was used to seeing all of the still healthy hunters while she was in the village; this was the first time in a while that she had been stuck while everyone else was out in the woods.

"That's... okay, I see your point," Yang admitted, "but it's not like I have much of a reason to take breaks. Even without my armor, my HP is high enough to handle multiple fights before even going down to 50%."

"Perhaps, but don't you think you're trying a bit too hard? The last thing you need is to start miscalculating due to mental fatigue."

"But I've barely caught up! This damn game only gives out EXP for total damage dealt."

Gaining EXP had been difficult for Yang at first because her damage output was so much lower compared to the others. By the time she defeated one Moss Wolf, the others would have killed two or three. It was only through her solo hunt that Loran supervised that she had managed to make any decent progress.

"Now that I'm stuck here for another two weeks I'll be so far behind!"

"So what? You said that you intended to be a Tank, and are you not the best Tank in the village?"

"Best Tank that still got her leg broken by an ant," Yang mumbled.

"An ant of unusual size, remember?" Yin sighed, looking at Yang with a knowing smile. "I'm not telling you to stop, I'm just asking for you to slow down. Didn't you profit quite a bit from your last endeavor?"

"Yeah, I'm level 16 now." Yang grinned, "I've almost reached a thousand HP too."

"You see, those ants won't be a problem once you've recovered."

Yang sighed. "I don't know about that, but I get it. I try to take it easier."

It wasn't long before the two finished what was left of their meals. With the food gone, Yang lay back in the grass, soaking up the midday sun.

'Honestly, what I wouldn't give for a soda right now.'

Yin hummed in agreement. "This prison would indeed be much more bearable if it had a few modern amenities."

Yin's mention of their current imprisonment put a cold weight in her chest, erasing the pleasant warmth of the sun and her full stomach. Then, she remembered the conversation she had with Loran a week ago.

'Yeah, I- I should probably tell her about that.'

"Tell me what?" Yin asked. Even if Yang couldn't read minds, concern, and worry were written all over her face.

"I don't think we should-" she suddenly stopped. 'Actually,' Yang thought while locking eyes with her sister, 'I guess we can do this here, I'll just think this all at you, okay.'

"Interesting, I suppose this can work. Although, I can't help but wonder why you would want to bring that up."

'It's not to try apologizing again if that's what you're worried about.'

Yin's shoulders relaxed. "So? What is it?"

'I- I told Loran about the accident, and a lot of other stuff too.'

"I see. I assume this was when you were trapped out there with him?"

'Yeah. It was late, we were tired, and he pestered me into telling him why I'm so protective of you.' Yang sighed. 'You're always telling me to let it go, so I figured getting off my chest might help.'

"Did it?"

'...A little? I don't know.'

"Give it time," Yin brushed aside some hair from Yang's face. "Trauma doesn't disappear overnight."

'Shouldn't you be the traumatized one here? I'm certainly not the one who got hit by a truck.'

"I'm not about to debate you on who's more traumatized right now."

Yang chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't feel like going back to our shelter, so what do you want to do?"

"Hm, have you tried that game they set up over in the Training Field?"

"That one with the sandbags right? Corkboard or whatever?"

"Cornhole."

"Right, that. Anyway no, I haven't."

"It's quite fun," Yin stood up. She turned to Yang with an outstretched hand. "Shall we?"

Yang shrugged and took Yin's hand. "Sure, why not." Steadying herself with her crutches, the two left The Pit. "Also, why the hell is it called Cornhole?"