Chương 45: CH_2.14 (045):

The forest in Training Ground No. 42 was unlike any forest Takuma had trekked in. The trees were giants compared to anything he had seen, with canopies so thick that they only let soft glimmering rays of light through the gaps. Every tree trunk was colonized by a shroud of parasitic vines that covered the base of the dark brown trunks in green, making everything above look burnt— though he could sense a bottomless vitality residing in them— he was going to die first before these trees perished.

The ground was bizarrely uneven, with grass and moss covering it, making it look flat even though it was not. He saw finger-sized worms burrowing into the ground and bugs that would bloody his entire palm if he squashed them. He had yet to encounter animals other than the occasional chirping of birds, which he couldn't identify, for he had yet to study bird calls. Takuma looked up at the trickling light piercing through the canopy and re-affirmed his direction.

For once, he considered himself lucky as he had entered the forest from the southeast direction. According to the map, he had two river streams closest to him— one that flowed to the south and one that was more in the general east direction. He didn't know exactly at what point the shinobi had dropped him off, so he couldn't identify which river stream was closer to him. Takuma flipped a coin and decided to head northwest towards the stream that flowed south.

Not only did it flow close to the central tower, but it was also a straight path to the meeting point. He wondered where his teammates had entered the forest and hoped that none of them got a northeastern entry, as that was the most challenging region. The nearest river stream was only accessible through a deep trek through the forest, which wasn't ideal— the longer you stayed in the woods, the higher the chance of encountering potential dangers.

He himself had been trekking a couple of hours and felt that it was only time before he encountered something problematic. Though he kept his fingers crossed and wished for another bout of luck to reach the river without any hiccups along the way. Crunch Takuma immediately turned towards the sound. Was it a wild animal? He preferred not to encounter any predators, for he had yet to fight one and had no idea if he could win— or win without injuring himself to a point he couldn't continue.

Cursing himself for jinxing a perfectly good situation, Takuma tried to pinpoint the source of the sound. He heard it again and, this time closer, turned himself back to find that the source wasn't an animal but a groupmate of his.

"Kaede..." Takuma glanced at her hands, which held a gleaming kunai in each hand. She peered at him cautiously while darting her gaze at the surroundings.

"It's Umeda for you," said the tall girl with long limbs that granted an advantage in close combat. Something Takuma was envious of. He had long legs, but his wingspan was only slightly above average, making his reach sometimes somewhat lacking.

"Umeda, it is... then...." Takuma trailed off when he noticed that Kaede didn't have her backpack on her. He knew she had it on before; he remembered seeing her carry one. She didn't look scruffed up or injured in some manner, which probably meant she hadn't lost it— The realization struck him suddenly. He could be wrong, but Takuma said it anyways.

"I don't want to fight you." Kaede's eyes sharpened as she and Takuma moved around in a circle. Observing each other"And yet you take out your kunai," she said. Takuma gripped the kunai he had just taken out.

"You can't blame me for protecting myself," he said as he threw his backpack behind him on the ground.

"Let's just part ways peacefully. There's no need for us to fight. There's no shortage of those tokens. Every team has the right combination to get into the tower. You don't want mine. I'm assuming that's what you want," he finished.

"Not really," Kaede said, smirking.

"I don't need your token. I just need to separate it away from you. As you said, all teams have the tokens to make it into the tower without fighting the other teams. But only two teams can win. That's tough odds. However, if I'm to get rid of even a single token from another team, an entire team is suddenly out of contention. The odds have suddenly improved. There's now a fifty percent chance of us winning. The returns are too great for the little effort needed." Takuma gripped his kunai harder.

He hadn't thought about that. In his goal to reach the water as quickly as possible to secure a safer situation, he had ignored the fact that, unlike his usual outings, he wasn't operating in a vacuum. This time, he had other people in the forest alongside him— who were competing for a prize and had the motivation to obstruct him.

"... I will leave you here," Takuma said.

"What?" Kaede sounded confused.

"If we fight and I win—""You think you'll win?" she scoffed.

"Our sparring record is split evenly," Takuma said, he kept his tone and expression flat and calm, "so yes, I do think I can win here. And if I win and you get injured enough to not continue, I'll find your emergency flare and take it away, making sure you can't call for help." Kaede froze and stopped in her tracks. Takuma knew he had hit something. He stopped and continued.

"I'll leave you here all alone in this dark and dangerous forest with no way to contact outside. You will definitely be bleeding, attracting the animals in the woods to you. You see where I'm going with this?"

"... You wouldn't," Kaede said, disbelief in her voice. Takuma couldn't see the horror in her eyes, so he continued.

"I don't like to fight, really. I'm not good at it, so I derive no pleasure from it. Especially not in here, the woods. So, if you force me to fight and I win— and if I know myself well, which I do— I'll take revenge because you forced me to fight and put my life in danger here in the forest. I wouldn't care if you were my groupmate who suffered daily beatings together... I will leave you alone here." Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Now Takuma could see it. There was the realization in Kaede's eyes that he wanted to see. He really didn't want to fight, and if it took horrifying the girl with lies about what limits he was willing to go, he was ready to do it. He wasn't going to leave her alone without help if they did fight, of course not— but fear was an effective motivator, he knew that firsthand.

"What's your decision? Do you want to risk it just because Yoshio said that only the first two teams will win? Do you like Yoshio so much? Are you so desperate to not shovel shit that you're willing to risk your life? If you do go ahead, I will accompany you." Takuma assumed a combat stance with his kunai pointed forward. Looking ready to fight Kaede. Kaede stared at Takuma in a moment of long stretched silence before she started to step back until she disappeared between the trees.

"We can always travel together, you know!" Takuma tried to call out to her— but got silence in return. He sighed. That was close. He almost got into a fight after only a couple hours.

"I'm going to use this every single time." He was relieved that the wild encounter with Kaede went well, but it did give way to a worry. Kaede's approach of stealing a single token to eliminate an entire team was valid. If one person had thought of it, others would think of it as well. Which meant that there was a chance his teammates might get targeted as well.' Please let them reach the meeting point in place,' he thought.

For now, all he could do was move onwards and reach the meeting point, hoping that others would as well. ———.

"Should I be worried about something?" Taro looked at the sword-wielding girl staring at him, which looked more like a glare, but he was sure it was just her natural expression, so he didn't judge her. Kameko stared at Taro with her hand on her sword hilt for a long moment before she turned her back to him and started walking ahead. Taro followed after her. When she turned back to him to glare at him, Taro just raised his hand and shrugged.

"We're going the same way, don't worry, I'm not going to disturb you. And we both know what's going to happen if I attack you," he said. Kameko scoffed with her chin raised before turning away to start walking again. Taro had no opposition to her behavior. As long as he could pass the annoyingly tiring walking through the forest with ease and uneventfully, he was fine tagging along some prideful display from the princess.

There was a shuffle in the bushes, and Kameko's hand was again on her hilt as she held the scabbard. Taro also pulled out his kunai as he placed himself a little bit behind Kameko. A person appeared from within the bushes, and his eyes widened when he noticed them.

"Geh, Kameko!" he croaked before pushing back into the bushes and running away. Kameko clicked her tongue before she started walking again. Behind her, a smirk appeared on Taro's face. He couldn't have found a better bug repellant than the girl in front of him. As long as he kept following her, getting to Takuma's meeting point was going to be as easy as taking a walk. Life was good. ———.

Masaaki ducked underneath the huge claw strike and drove his large knuckle duster into the large inky jaguar's gut, sending the lithe big cat's body into the tree trunk behind her.

"Is that all you got, big kitty," Masaaki laughed as he slapped his thigh.

"Come on, let's play some more." The jaguar, however, didn't seem to want to play and skipped away into the woods with her tail between her legs. Masaaki pouted as he deposited his knuckle duster into the packs.

"Now... where am I?" Masaaki looked around the dark forest and groaned as he had no idea where he was. He looked around until his eyes fell in the direction the jaguar had run in. He decided that it was the direction to go in. And he did it while humming a song to pass the time. ———. Nenro looked down at the ground while perched up on a thick branch of a tree. He watched as a guy walked out of the bushes while looking around as if trying to look for something. He had spotted that he had a tail half an hour ago.

He tried to lose the tail, but whoever it was, kept glued to him, no matter how much he tried. Seeing that he couldn't lose the tail, he decided to 'lose the tail.' Nenro waited until the guy was directly below him until he jumped down. Nenro had already landed on the ground, crouching, when the guy noticed him— but it was already too late by then. Nenro shot forward, wrapped his arm around his groupmate's neck, and started choking him out.

"It's nothing personal," he grunted as he kept the struggling guy in control.

"And while I don't mind you tailing me, I would prefer it if you didn't." The guy flapped his legs and arms, trying to claw at Nenro's arms, trying to hit him from the back and everything to escape until he couldn't do it any longer and just dropped unconscious. Nenro dropped the guy to the ground and then knelt beside him to find the token, which he pocketed. He then took out the emergency flare from the guy's backpack and aimed it at the sky.

"Sorry about this," he muttered before pulling the tab. The flare tore through the canopy and rose to the sky before bursting up in a bright red light. And after making sure the guy was safe until he was found, Nenro left, continuing on with his journey to Takuma's meeting point. ———. Ai looked up at the bright red flare lighting up in the distant sky.

'Already?' she thought, surprised at how quickly the first flare had been fired. Ai wondered who it was for a moment before continuing onwards. Ai's time in the forest had been an uneventful one. She had seen a couple baby foxes along the way, but she avoided them in fear of facing the ire of their parents, who she was sure were nearby. Other than that, her journey had been smooth sailing.

"Oh?" Ai heard a trickling sound. She started running forward, and with each step, the sound grew louder until she was standing on a gravel rock facing a wide and deep river with clear water flowing under bright sunlight. She squinted her eyes; it had been a couple hours since she had seen so much sunlight.

"Well, that was easy," she said. Looking at the sun, she affirmed the direction before heading towards it, knowing that as long as she followed the water, she would reach Takuma's meeting point. Forest treks were easy.