Thinking about this sickening matter and the fact that the 1-star Meta-Beasts—at least in the Earth Hippo’s case—were already capable of basically causing high-level natural disasters that could or should be capable of enveloping the Mori International Academy campus wasn’t news Natasha was willing to come to terms with.

  She even felt that, while it was crucial information—something that she would usually love, and welcome as it was instrumental to their collective survival—from a logical, rational standpoint… Something she wasn’t adverse to...

  From a human, emotional, and psychological standpoint—her health, in concern to the latter of which has been steadily deteriorating with each passing moment, not that she was overly bothered—she didn’t particularly resonate with this type of mind-shattering revelation.

  Even the mere thought of it was paralyzing, and she didn’t move for a while.

  While the campus wasn’t comparable to those super large, small-to-large city campuses or even those extra prestigious island campuses for those super rich kids, it was still one of the largest schools in Japan. She didn’t know how many square kilometers it covered, but she knew that comparing it to any small or mid-sized town on the map, you could see that they were basically of similar size.

  Basically, the place was huge as hell.

  ‘The fact that they could possibly achieve awakenings isn’t going to be helpful at all…’ This type of matter: she wished she wasn’t so embroiled in her thoughts to the point of analyzing it when it crossed her mind.

  “Ahhh… I need to hear Leon’s voice,” Natasha suddenly said, a hint of madness in her eyes as well as some pleasure—she had near completely given in to delirium and while furiously peddling once again, she wrestled with the idea of calling Leon to hear his calm voice to sooth her overwhelmed mind and heart.

  She looked at the sight of the collapsing buildings with extreme caution and wariness, hoping that the rocks wouldn’t just get a mind of their own and start levitating or something. Thinking of this, Natasha couldn’t help but move her bike closer toward the abundant amount of trees on the red brick path of the school grounds.

  ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with whatever this so-called Earth Hippo wants to do with with school right now.’

  She whistled as she saw even more tremor rock through the area and through her body, which had much more resilience than the buildings, as she did not falter as much as they did when encountering the Earth Hippo’s ability to shift the earth.

  ‘I don’t know if I’d rather the Earth Hippo as an opponent of the Flame Monkey—’ Natasha paused, a slight chill rocking her spine, and a sudden fear gripped her heart as she hurriedly looked around in slight fear, thinking her abnormal instinct had taken over.

  Instead of running or evacuating the area, the girl slightly hunched, her eyes wanting to open, but judging by how her eyebrows rose but her eyelids barely budged—the attempt was largely unsuccessful. She visibly shivered...

  She stayed in this quall-like state for more than a few moments, and nearly several minutes, in bated breath and trepidation—waiting for something to happen, anything. The wind blew over some Sakura petals, and Natasha suddenly felt herself choking; realizing this, she snapped back to reality, one not clouded by fear, and discovered the reason for her sudden bout of breathlessness—she wasn’t breathing.

  After this realization, she began to take deep, intentional breaths through her mouth before she had a thought and then began to breathe in through her nose instead. The thought wasn’t complex; she had just remembered a YouTube Short that said that mouth breathing was less recommended in comparison to nose breathing, so she switched in a near-subconscious manner.

  “Ugh…” She coughed, and swallowed more than a bit of saliva and spat out much more as her chest heaved up and down.

  ‘That was… unpleasant to say the least…’ Natasha wiped her mouth and felt the top of her forehead; in that little amount of time, a tumultuous amount of sweat had accumulated on the now cold surface…

  A cold sweat in the midst of October…

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  ‘If I were still in Russia, it would have probably frozen my forehead like a popsicle right now. Speaking of, I wonder how the people are doing over there.’ Natasha breathed out and decisively cut off her interest about the outside world.

  ‘Not the time… What was that?!’

  She thought with intensity and slight uncertainty, but Natasha was neither of those things in this moment—for she already knew the answer to her question.

  —Fear.

  “An incredible fear, the fear of that beast… It isn’t even close to me and I doubt it would get close either for some time, but now after that incident…” Natasha frowned as she looked at her pale hands that still gripped the handlebar tightly. “Even thinking about it’s name brought about such a reaction. I hope this isn’t a constant…”

  Natasha rubbed her hands and blew into them, her body suddenly feeling tingly—a mix between the cold air, its reaction with the liquid sweat on her body, and the now faint but present phantom pains that were scarred across her body.

  ‘This thing again, but it’s faded by a lot. What’s left is probably due to my mind stubbornly holding on it…’ Natasha frowned, let go of what she was thinking and looked forward.

  She was as ready and as well-rested as she could be for a short break such as this.

  ‘I wonder if Leon and the others made it to the auditorium yet? I should probably send a message in a while, but for now…’ Natasha’s eyes narrowed at the unclear sky, but the star-shaped scar remained a constant.

  She could swear it was changing how many points it had though, but the memory of such couldn’t be held for long, and before long she looked down again. She shook her head and began to pedal again in the general direction of the auditorium.

  ‘I should have probably showed them how I’d get there on the map too…’ With thoughts like this, the girl began her steady—or as steady as she could make it without falling off due to the constant major and minor tremors—ride toward the auditorium.

  Mori International Academy was large, being mentioned by Natasha as such several times because she felt like she really couldn’t say it enough! As such, it had several needs that needed to be met, not needs of people or anything major, mind you.

  It was more need to “keep appearances” than anything else. The tall school buildings and special “zones” or building complexes for different major electives like literature, science, etc., were all “big bucks” operations that told of the wealth of the school, if anything else.

  As a school in Minato Ward—jokingly called the “wealth” of Tokyo’s 23 wards by some and one of the most central wards—everyone that attended here thought that the board was trying to uphold an image of luxury, strictness, and tidiness that matched the surrounding area.

  And Natasha could somewhat understand—at a certain point when one accumulated enough wealth, they began to branch out their concerns to internal and external appearance. For people, the latter was always the easiest and most taken path. The same could be said for most establishments, but few took both the former and latter into consideration.

  ‘They must really feel pressure; as a school with a long history, it must be hard to be in the same area as Tokyo Tower, Roppongi Hills and the still-in-construction but highly anticipated Azabudai Hills complex…’ Natasha thought idly as she peddled.

  Why, exactly, was she mentioning this?

  Well, it was the sight she had in front of her that caused her to be so: a picture of perfect dignity and tidiness.

  A brilliantly constructed path made of red bricks appeared in front of her, a special type of road that didn’t appear too dazzling with the long trail of Sakura trees on each side but didn’t lose out either. The pink of the Sakura trees seems to pop with the imagery commanded by the red path, but neither was lost to the other nor did they overwhelm one another.

  A picture-perfect scene, clearly well thought out by designers and architects, as well as those skilled in color theory. As even as she approached the path, with the shade receding or even momentarily returning, the charm of the area still held a breathtaking amount of majesty, silent majesty.

  The red path that split right in the middle of the organized and beautiful pink path forged by an assortment of Sakura trees began to lose this contrast gradually. As the pink receded, the darkness brought about by the shadows of the trees was no more; a more clear path began to show itself, and signs of a more modern civilization began to show.

  When she saw the makings of a parking lot and some other essentials like another restroom, Natasha perked up for a moment.

  ‘I’m getting close to the auditorium…’ Natasha realized.

  Torn between both joy and trepidation, her speed began to slow. And her instinctive reaction made her pedal faster, and then she slowed down again—like so, her speed became an inconsistent variable—and her hesitation to proceed was obvious.

  After all, what if there was a meta-beast here?

  Despite her hesitation Natasha gradually approached cautiously, she observed the outside… just to see something she didn’t quite find unexpected, but surprised her nonetheless.

  —Fellow Students…