They followed the broken path into the densely packed forest, the path was small and narrow although this did not appear to be the way the path was designed but more because nature had claimed over it in the years past.

Upon entering the forest, everyone was filled with the same feeling— the feeling of entering into a new world.

The trees were primordial and large in scale. It was clear from one look that they had been around for a very long time. The forest was humid, thick with the scent of the many different types of greenery within.

While it was much darker in the forest than at the altar— due to the large branches and trees— they could still see fairly well as the sun was not completely blocked by the treetops and every so often, they would see rays of light that had broken through the layer of leaves above.

The sight within the forest was breath-taking and beautiful. There was a big contrast between being at the altar and in the forest.

For starters, the forest was noisy with the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects and yet the altar had been abnormally quiet as though, cut off from the rest of the world.

They had just entered the forest and had not been walking for long, but some could not help but let out sighs in amazement of what they saw.

The grass, the trees, leaves, plants, flowers and bushes everything here was too large in scale of what they felt they were used to. It was the first time, they had ever seen anything like it.

“Wow, even the mushrooms are huge. W-what the hell is this?”

Ren pointed at a red mushroom with a stick he had picked off the forest floor. The mushroom was equal to him in height with blue and yellow dots all over.

“Y-you think it’s e-edible?”

“Of course not you idiot, it looks like you’d die from touching it”

Hide responded almost immediately and was quick to rebuke Ren, from Hide’s point of view it was clearly obvious the mushroom was dangerous, and Ren was just asking stupid questions.

Ren and Hide were close to the front of the group just behind Akihiro and Arche who were closely following behind Kenji. Kenji had been leading the group and paid no mind to Ren’s questions instead, continuing to press on.

Arche and Akihiro would occasionally look back at Ren and Hide arguing but none seemed wanting to step in and instead ignored them and continued moving.

The girls who were behind Ren and Hide walked slowly causing a small gap to form in the line, this did not seem to be because the girls were slow walkers but done intentionally.

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The girls were whispering to each other carefully so as to not be heard and seemed to already be getting along very well. King along with Neko walked at the back of the group behind the girls and could not see past them and so instead closely followed behind them.

Unfortunately Neko —who had been quietly enjoying the scenery— was steadily becoming more and more irritated by the whispering of the girls in front of him.

This was because Neko could clearly hear their whisperings as well as Ren’s idiotic questions. He did not know why he was able to hear them with such clarity, but it was becoming a problem.

It’s that idiot again.

No one cares about the damn mushroom. It clearly looks poisonous you idiot. There’s no way you don’t know that. Just how stupid are you?

Neko grumbled internally, his situations and circumstances was not good and to top it off everyone now believed he was mute. His mood becoming sourer with each passing moment.

And finally the girls. You annoying pieces of shits, just how slow do you have to walk we’re falling behind. Whispering… Laughing… I’m glad to know you’re having such a merry time but WHY ARE YOU WHISPERING AND TRYING TO HIDE IT WHEN ITS CLEAR YOUR TALKING ABOUT HIM?!

I CAN HEAR YOU! I CAN FUCKING HEAR YOU! I DON’T CARE ABOUT HOW MUCH OF AN IDIOT REN IS! FUCK HIM!

Neko screamed internally, on the outside he was still the calm and expressionless Neko that had given his silent introduction. However, on the inside he was a furnace, spewing curses at every little thing that irritated him.

“You can’t tell that just by looking at it! Who’s the idiot now?! Idiot!”

“AHH, FINE THEN GO EAT IT AND FIND OUT DUMBASS!”

“Ah, I’m not that hungry”

Hide had finally lost his cool and was hoping for Ren to go eat the mushroom and die but Ren had given up the mushroom topic immediately after being told to “go eat it and find out”.

Neko had conflicted feelings about what he could hear. On the one hand he could not help but strongly feel sorry for Hide who had to put up with Ren, but on the other hand he was simply glad it wasn’t him. The mere thought of such a thing was enough to make him want to cry.

Why was Ren such an idiot Hide wondered, if you’re going to give up that easily then why bother in the first place?!

Neko who had been unwillingly listening to Hide and Ren from the beginning had finally reached his limit and was now looking for a good tree to smack his head into.

It was then when he noticed, King had been silent for a while now.

Surely, this had to be bothering him to some extent, right? Or could it be that King can’t hear them? He looks really out of it…

Taking care so as to not be heard or get caught, Neko decided to talk to King.

“K-King”

“…”

“King?”

“..hmm”

“K-king?”

“…hmm”

Hmm? Did he perhaps not hear me? I thought I was speaking fairly clearly for our distance. It would be too risky to try speaking again under these circumstances… since I might get caught.

That would be awkward. Try talking myself out of that one. Hahahaha.

While Neko had been curious about Kings odd behaviour, he was not willing to risk exposing himself, and so he instead decided to give up and settle with his light humour.

Neko observed King as they walked through the forest. King for reason unknown, did not reply to Neko with words but with hums, he seemed to be in autopilot and had a distant look in his eyes.

I wonder what he’s thinking about… he didn’t seem like the thinking type earlier… Nor does he seem that smart… Meh, it’s probably nothing.

Neko had no idea what was going through King’s head, but it didn’t peak his curiosity so quite frankly he didn’t care. He simply allowed King to continue his thoughts, while he tried to get back to admiring the scenery once more.