I don’t know if it was desperation or relief that soone had co to save her, but she lunged at and wrapped her arms around , burying her face in my chest. She didn’t seem to mind the blood caked onto my suit.
I awkwardly stood there with my hands by my side as she cried. Consoling soone in distress wasn’t my forte.
What would Alliah do?
She had told she had been in these types of situations before, where she had to comfort people who lost their families or were traumatized. She said that in those situations, the best thing to do was assure them that they were safe.
You sohow had to make them feel secure when they were around you; that no matter what, you’d make sure they were safe. That was how you beca their hero.
It was a ridiculous notion, but worth a try.
I stroked the back of her head, running my fingers through her hair.
"You’re safe now. I’ll protect you."
As I said that, I could feel her entire body relax against . It was a strange sensation, having soone put their life in your hands.
"Thank you," I heard her faintly mutter as she continued to sob.
When she finally cald down a bit, I questioned her. It turned out she had experienced the sa thing I had. She had climbed the stairs, and when she ca through, she found herself in this cave.
I figured that must have been the sa thing that happened to our other classmates. She was still leaning against , her eyes darting around the cave. She kept one hand on my wrist and didn’t wander too far.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
Her voice was shaky as she answered.
"Y-yeah... I’m fine now, thanks to yo—"
Before she finished her sentence, she began to collapse. I instinctively grabbed her by the waist to keep her upright. She had lost too much blood. I noticed the slow beating pulse on her neck and thought it was only a matter of ti.
She moaned and stirred before finally opening her eyes. A red blush crept onto her cheeks as she weakly uttered an apology and created a little distance between us.
"Thank you for your help," she repeated once again. "Have you managed to figure out a way out of this place?"
She was acting much shyer than she normally did in class. She always ca across as a little smug or arrogant. Even though she separated herself from us, many of the girls in our class still looked to her for approval.
As to why, I didn’t know; the social hierarchy differed among the girls.
"No, I haven’t been able to figure out how to get out of this place," I answered. "I was following the sound of running water when I ca across you."
"I heard it too," she replied in a soft voice.
I could tell that she was still shaken up by what had happened, but what was bothering her right now were the bugs that were pesteringly flying around .
"D-do those things belong to you?"
Even she realized how unnatural these bugs were.
"No, they don’t," I answered simply.
The bugs and the bodies of the dead moths surrounding us were causing a nervous reaction from her, so we decided to head toward the sound of the stream in hopes that we might find a way out.
It was strange; the closer we seed to get to the running water, the more Blood Moths we encountered. I wasn’t one for coincidences, so my senses were heightened just from that realization alone.
There was also sothing else I noticed that put on edge—we were being followed. It started a while back, not long after I found Natasha.
I knew better than to chase after an unseen enemy in a cave I hardly knew, so I bided my ti and waited for the perfect mont. We eventually ca upon a section of the cave where the path was narrow, and quick movents were all but impossible.
I disappeared in an instant; not even Natasha, who was standing right beside , noticed.
This cave was like a maze, but we had been circling around this sa spot for a while now. Natasha didn’t notice since she was still in a state of shock from what had happened, and the person following us might have brushed it off as us being lost.
I morized everything; I knew just what route to take to catch them off guard. When I got in close, they finally realized what had happened. There were two of them.
In a state of panic, one of them threw a rock at , which bounced off my mask, while the other tripped and fell before they could make their escape.
These two are hopeless.
It was Luna and Kiki. Luna was on the ground, rubbing her bumped knee, while tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. Kiki was glaring at , sohow implying that I had done sothing wrong.
Of course it was them—one on the verge of crying from a scraped knee and the other one glaring at as if I had ruined her day just by breathing.
"What are the two of you doing here?" I asked.
"Seriously, after sneaking up on two girls like so kind of pervert, that’s what you’re going to ask?" Kiki said in a tone ant to belittle my intelligence. "Why else would we be here? We were transferred here just like you after climbing the stairs. The real question is, why were you spying on us?"
Typical; she’s always so shaless, even though she’s a leech.
"Fine, since it’s just a coincidence, I’ll leave you girls alone," I said, turning my back to leave.
"Wait!" both of them shouted in unison.
It was as expected from both of them. Luna belonged to , so she couldn’t wander too far away, and Kiki was a shaless leech who wanted to cling to so that I could protect her.
Luna quickly brushed herself off and hopped to her feet.
"We were looking for you," she said. "I used one of my curses that was adept at tracking scent to keep track of you before we left the first floor."
Her curses?... The bugs! They belonged to her.
"Why didn’t you make your presence known sooner?" I asked.
If they intended to find , why would they be following from so far away?
Luna fiddled with her thumbs awkwardly before answering.
"We saw that you were busy..."
Busy?
She trailed off, unable to say what she wanted, to which Kiki quickly jumped in to answer for her.
"You were with that girl—Natasha. We were afraid we might’ve stumbled onto sothing we weren’t ant to see, and knowing how you are, there’s no telling how you would react." She folded her arms and puffed out her chest. "Who is she to you anyway—not that I care; it’s for Luna’s sake."
"Uh, no! Kiki—"
"I hardly know her," I cut Luna off before they could start their bantering. "I found her while I was trying to figure a way out of here."
She raised an eyebrow at my answer but then gave a defeated sigh before asking,
"So, where are we going?"
Shaless as always.
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