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Yohan sighs, if this is going to be a daily occurence from now on, how the hell was he suppose to survive this? If his body didn't go six feet under, it might as well be his sanity.

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You're lying. I know it. Which means your constellation is my business. Which means I'll guess it in three, and the first two don't count.

It was what she wanted to say. It was what she wanted to shout from the heavens and confront him with. It was irrefutable and would provoke... something.

But part of having the responsibility of charisma and understanding of people was knowing how to not overplay one's hand. She'd already been on the receiving end of Twilight once.

"Fine. Keep your secrets~" She said instead.

---

[Constellation [Tea is at Noon] smiles, motioning towards Twilight to sit.]
[Constellation [Thousand-Lives Warrior] hisses quietly.]
[Constellation [Thousand-Lives Warrior] says to get away from [Tea is at Noon].]
[Twilight laughed.]

Elias walked along, fiddling with his pen.

They were just at the entrance of a tunnel, leading into the underground subways.

---

At the entrance of the tunnel leading into the underground subway station that Yohan has traversed before, was dark. Neverending. But the darkness didn't feel nice, but it didn't look bad either. It was calmly beckoning them, the survivors to come in. To officially jump down the rabbit hole they never wanted to enter in the first place.

Rather, it felt dangerous, yet exciting. But also fearful, knowing that what they have experienced so far, wouldn't be the end.

---

"Come along, four-stars. I'm sure you'd be useful somewhere."

Perceval walked into the tunnel, and Elias followed after him, stumbling slightly.

A message board appeared in front of the rag-tag group.

[Congratulations on completing the First Scenario! We will now be moving onto the Second Scenario!]

[Mission Details]
[Ruined City]
[Difficulty -> B-]
[Time Limit -> 7 Days]
[Requirements ->]
[1. Survive for 7 Days]
[2. (Additional) Kill 10 1(one)-Star enemies, the [Mole Men].]
[3. (additional) ???]
[Upon Main Clear: 1 [Trait Evolution] Shard, 700 Coins, 1 [Skill](Random, E- to F+ Grade].]
[Upon Additional Mission(2) Clear: 2 [Trait Evolution] Shard, 100 Coins, 1 [Skill](Random, E+ to D- Grade.)]
[Upon Additional Mission(2) Clear: Determined upon contribution.]
[Penalty -> Death]

---

This scenario seemed more survival based than time-centric. And the mole men.... they sounded like some underground race straight out of Wildwood. Alaire followed the party into the dark tunnel, thoughts still clouded by pain and speculation. They were returning to the city she had just left. She wasn't sure to make of it.

---

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Chizu Hiroto

---

She'd never known that death could be so lonely.

Chizu brought her scarf up around her nose and breathed into it, hoping to warm the fabric, and therefore her frozen face. Each step was an effort, one her companion didn't even seem to make.

Before any of it... she might've even been excited for everything to happen as it'd happened. She'd watched movies about the end of the world and longed for the relationships she'd seen on that screen. It was something beautiful, something she craved. A family of her own, a struggle, something to fight through and for, to scrape a life out of.

"A break? C-Could we take a break?" Her voice was cracked in her throat in a horrible, ugly way she hated. One time, she'd been in choir. Eighth Grade, maybe. Now her voice was dead. Nothing of what or who she'd been.

That was one of the later changes. The mental stuff hit first. The fear, the constant jumpiness, it snuck into you. Only when you heard your voice and stared at your hollow face in a broken ford mirror did you realise just who you'd become.

She wasn't sure who she'd been before, but it certainly wasn't the hollow, conniving creature she'd become.

"Breaks are for sad and dead people," Toshiko chirped, nothing of her dark words making their way into her cheery tone. "Are you dead?" She stopped and swung on her heel, and thrust her hand towards Chizu to wave in front of her face.

Once, Chizu would've flinched.

"I'll accept sad," she sighed. "Please, it's been hours. I need to warm my hands." She tugged her scarf closer to her face.

Toshiko giggled. "What a heartwarming request-"

"-That you're going to deny," Chizu interrupted.

"..."

Chizu smirked at her.

"How do I keep my aura of mystique if you keep anticipating my thoughts? My dear Chizu, you may be boring and suck a lot, but I could never disappoint you. Betraying expectations it is!"

Toshiko smiled at her. There was something in that expression that told Chizu her manipulation hadn't gone unnoticed. Her punishment would come soon, and knowing Toshiko, when Chizu least expected it.

"There's a convenience store up ahead. We can stop there if you'd like," Chizu mentioned softly. "You could pick up some matches."

"Well, I haven't been charged with repeated counts of pyromania for nothing!" Toshiko clapped her hands together, leaning in, her black eyes glittering, not unlike that of the crows she commanded. "Lead the way."

Chizu stayed silent, only tucking a strand of hair behind her ears as she headed down through the alleyway. With each step, the ice creaked beneath her feet. Every noise made her jump, made her shiver in a way she'd never experienced before all this happened.

Eventually, fear permeated into your body. And when it did, then it had to find a new way to send your senses into overdrive.

Toshiko's hand clasped hers.

Chizu inhaled sharply and glanced back at her.

The girl wasn't even looking at her. She was staring at the convenience store ahead, an unreadable expression on her face. Emotions seemed to be fighting in her eyes- was it pain she felt? Anger? Terror?

For a second, she considered reaching out and clasping her face. Bringing the girl into her arms, telling her it was okay-

Then Toshiko broke into a wider grin. "A 7-11! It's been ages since I saw one of those? Think the slurpee machine still works?" She winked.

Chizu let her hand fall and Toshiko squeezed the other one she held in her grasp.

"Only you would think of slurpees in this frozen hellscape," she murmured.

"And you love me for it!" Toshiko chirped.

Yeah... I guess I do.

She followed Toshiko.

When you'd lost everything, you had only your memories to cling to. The memories of a girl who'd wanted this. And so you would try and bring her back, by taking and taking everything she wanted.

Until there was nothing left to take but Toshiko's cold smile and the knife she kept hidden in her shoe.

Soon she would die. In a sense, she was already dead.

But if that's what was left to her, she refused to let go of anything she had, no matter how foolish or selfish the wish might be.

---

A man stood in the convenience store, his long, silver hair tied into a neat ponytail. He perused the goods, not perturbed at all by the fact that an apocalypse was going on. The man hummed quietly. His eyes were a bright shade of red, his mouth curved into a thin smile.

A sword hung at his side. He wore nothing but a simple black t-shirt, and denim jeans. A scar ran over the edge of his mouth.

He turned slightly, looking at the two who walked in.

He acknowledged their presence, then went back to stealing rice balls.

What was he doing there? Who knows?

---

---

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Toshiko Aden

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Oh? She felt her lips curve into a smile. Someone else was here. A new plaything, perhaps?

"Hello~" she singsonged. "Are you here to rob this place? What a coincidence! So are we!" She giggled girlishly, batting her eyelashes at him.

Beside her, she heard Chizu audibly gag. She winked at the girl who was looking like she might be violently ill by the minute. "Toshiko!" she hissed. "Stop it! This guy could be seriously dangerous! Plus, he's old!"

"Hey, are you seriously dangerous?" Toshiko asked him. "Craving blood? Our organs? The ability to emulate my amazingness?"

Chizu made some sort of low groaning noise that sounded like it belonged to a dying antelope.

---

"Old? Excuse you, little miss. I'm only 26. Fxck, that hurts."

The man laughed quietly.

"I never thought I'd hear someone call me old... is it because of my hair?"

The man sighed quietly.

"Am I dangerous? Is there anyone that isn't, in this world? And no, I don't crave blood."

The man laughed.

"I'm Aleksandr. Who might you two be?"

---

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Chizu Hiroto

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Chizu felt herself blush and prayed that her scarf managed to hide it. Judging by the smug look on Toshiko's face beside her, she would guess not. "W-Well- it's nice to meet you, Aleksandr. I'm..." she bit her lip.

"How cute that you want to know our names, particularly after your incredibly effective attempt at flustering me and my companion," Toshiko said cheerfully.

Her eyes widened. That was true. "I'm Hana," she lied quickly.

"I'm Toshiko and this is Chizu," Toshiko beamed at him.

Chizu felt the intense and familiar urge to murder Toshiko.

"All alone in the city too!' Toshiko patted Chizu on the shoulder. "What a weirdo! I like you!"

"What my companion means, is that... most people we've met were travelling in groups. Bandits or otherwise." As Toshiko's gaze trailed to her, she gritted her teeth and stood taller. "In the search of those new settlements in the country. It's somewhat odd, to find someone in a convenience store, looking for rice balls.

Though," she added hastily. "Not a bad thing! Hence the 'I like you!'"

Chizu got the sense Toshiko was laughing at her and shot her a glare. Toshiko smiled innocently back.

---

"All alone? No, I wouldn't say that. You know, you're lucky you met me instead of my teammate. He's kind of..."

Aleksandr thought about it for a moment.

"What is the word? Insane?"

Aleksandr laughed.

"Clearly, you two don't know about the settlements of the subway."

---

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Toshiko Aden

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"Ooo! A teammate?"

And subway settlements???? Underground in close quarters? The perfect place for an ambush. Clearly he wanted to lure them into an enclosed space and murder them. What a cool guy! She liked him more by the minute.

"Wanna take us to the subways?" She chirped.

Chizu elbowed her.

"Ow!" Toshiko complained. "Stop it Chizu!"

"Do we really want to trust this guy?" Chizu hissed. "He hasn't told us anything! Plus I'm pretty sure he wants one of us dead."

"Eh? Which one?"

"You, dumbass."

"Ridiculous," Toshiko sniffed. "Why would he want me dead?"

"Tell me the truth. Has there ever been any point in your life where nobody wanted to kill you?"

Toshiko thought for a minute. "There was a nice rat in the dumpster that Emilia dumped me in-"

"A nice one?"

"He only ate my shoe."

Chizu sighed, massaging her temples. "Look, um- Alex. We appreciate your offer, but we're not looking for a settlement. We're looking for people. Specific people."

---

Aleks was laughing quietly, at their banter.

he nodded, hearing Chizu.

"...Really? Well, okay, then."

Aleksandr shrugged.

"I can't force you to do anything, after all."

Aleks picked up his bag of goodies and food.

"I'll see you around, children."

---

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Chizu Hiroto

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"Chiizuuuu!" Toshiko wailed. "I wanna go with the shady subway guy!" She promptly leapt at him and snatched up his bag of goodies, shaking it. "How can you keep me from my shady subway dreams? This is Toshi abuse!"

"Toshiko, don't get so close!" Chizu said sharply.

---

"Excuse me, young miss. May I... have that bag back? My partner will get quite mad at me, if I don't take that back. We have to feed about 20 people, see?"

Aleksandr reached out for the bag, taking it back.

---

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Toshiko Aden

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"No." She stuck her tongue out. "Mine. Fight me."

She dragged the bag back to her chest.

Chizu was sobbing behind her. "Toshiko!" She begged. "Please. We don't need to fight this nice man. We can just take some things and go...

"Nice, huh?" She giggled. "Well, if you think so, Chizu, you must really want to go!" She released the bag suddenly and stepped in front of the man. "Hey, take us to those twenty people! I wanna meet them."

She clasped her hands beneath her chin and gave her best puppy-abandoned-in-a-cardboard-box impression. "Pleaase? You wouldn't let two adorable children starve to death, would you? Of course not! You're too nice for that."

Toshiko smiled. "Right?"

---

Aleksandr stared at them for a moment, before breaking out into laughter.

"Oh, I like this kid!"

Aleksandr stopped laughing after a minute.

"Yeah, sure, kid. Come on, follow me."

Aleksandr exited the convenience store, holding the door open for the two of them.

"Gotta warn you though, some of the people down there aren't particularly nice."

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Chizu Hiroto

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Flattery. Such a liar. No doubt even Toshiko would feel unnerved at that. Despite how uncaring she acted, there had to be some deep-seeded survival instinct in there, something that had kept her alive this long.

"Yay! Someone likes me for once!" Toshiko hurrahed, pumping her fist in the air.

...nevermind. Honestly, what did Chizu expect at this point.

"And what a miracle that is," Chizu grumbled, kicking at a stray can on the floor. It rolled down the aisle withba god awful rattling noise and she took in a shaky breath as she fought to withstrain her temper. Finally, she met his eyes. "Alright, Aleksandr. Take us where you want to go."

---

Aleksandr let them follow him. They walked down the steps of a nearby subway station's entrance, going deeper underground, until they arrived at the actual platform. Around 15 people were there, all on makeshift beds, supplies stacked up against the wall.

A girl ith shimmering white hair noticed them first.

"Ah-! Aleks! Do you have the supplies?"

Aleksandr laughed.

"Yeah. Of course."

He pulled a roll of bandages out of his bag, handing it to her. The girl rushed away, tending to various people.

Aleksandr looked back at Toshi and Chizu.

"That's Siobahn. You shouldn't piss her off."

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