Kibishi's POV

  We were all inside our own teleporters, just like Mato had mentioned before.

  When we returned, Mato gave us a brief run-down on the reason why we had gone in separate teleporters in the first pce.

  It was in case we all needed to carry a group part to find the missing members of the organization.

  The soldiers would use the big teleporter while the supernaturals used the smaller ones.

  It was like a test run, so to speak.

  To be honest, though, it had been a bit nerve-racking. But in the end, it was meant to test our resolve to help save the human race. I, for one, was not sure if I had what it took to be on the front line for mankind itself.

  But I did want to be on the front line to learn what had happened that caused all of this.

  And in order to gain answers, we had to trust in this group, this organization, for now. Would they be trustworthy after this test? Probably.

  But I did know that there were good people in the organization, so there was that.

  I took a step forward and pressed my hand on top of the gss that was supposed to be protecting everyone else outside of the teleporter.

  Basically, it wouldn't extract extra energy and cause some unfortunate effects during the process of teleportation.

  A couple of scientists were writing down some notes as Mato stepped forward with his tablet and a pen for it, I thought.

  "Remember. For tonight, you all are just giving a feel for how it's like to do exploration to the newcomers. Do NOT engage even if you find the beast that roams the first yer, got it? Stay as close to the teleporter as possible. Just give them a small tour and maybe some combat training and knowledge."

  Mato swiped the air and opened a projection. He summoned all of the supernaturals' pictures and opened a map of some kind. Mato broke the digital map into tiny ones and sent it to each of our pictures.

  "I'm sending you all a map so that you won't get lost. I pray that your journey will be a safe one."

  Mato took a step back and smiled brightly at us.

  I nodded.

  I pressed my hand deeper on the gss. The feeling I was getting was a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and even curiosity.

  Humm...

  A humming sound was heard from inside the pod-like thing I was in. In all honesty, it was unsettling. Soon, a tiny group of energy was gathering around my body.

  Were those atoms? What materials would help with the breakdown process? So many questions...

  Before I could react to that properly, I could sense my consciousness fading a little. From bck to white, my vision was becoming blurry. Almost as if I was in a trance.

  Was this a side effect of the teleporter?

  Soon, I felt as if my body was being lifted.

  Wong!

  A hint of light appeared in my vision. It was nothing but pure white. My whole body felt like it was melting. It was as if I was on cloud nine. I couldn't even feel my own feet anymore. Same with my arms or even my own head.

  Everything felt lighter.

  Also, as if I didn't have a body anymore...

  It wasn't frightening to me at all. After all, what's frightening to a being that can't even feel their own heart in their body anymore?

  It reminded me of entering a limbo, like falling into an eternal sleep.

  Almost as if... it was death itself.

  ...................

  A few minutes ter

  Tap. Tap. Tap.

  I heard some noises in the darkness.

  Tap. Tap. Tap.

  Almost as if they were clicking towards me.

  Tap. Tap. Tap.

  The noise was getting closer. I wondered what that could be?

  Tap. Tap. Tap.

  It made a few more footsteps before stopping in front of me.

  Shing!

  As if the sun had suddenly appeared in the sky, a bright shining light appeared in front of me. Almost as if it was taunting me. Making me want to follow it. Was this what you called the light that shows heaven? Or was I being delusional?

  One way or another, the light's heat felt nice and warm on my bare skin....

  A figure slowly reached out to me. Looking feminine as well. It looked very familiar. I wondered who this reminded me of.

  Ah.

  Now I remembered. As I recognized the face of this figure, it revealed its face to me. The person I saw... was Tao herself...

  The whole area... started to shine brightly. Filling it with pure white...

  .

  ..

  ....

  .........

  ................

  ............................

  "..."

  I slowly opened my eyes. My vision was all blurry.

  At the very least, though, I could recognize that it was a person's face. More and more, my vision started to enhance some more. Making it clearer to see who it was.

  That face revealed itself to be Tao, with tears in her eyes.

  I saw her widen her eyes in shock, but then it was repced with relief and happiness. "Kishi!" Tao shouted with joy. Her cheeks were burning red as the tears wouldn't stop falling. Some hit my face, but I didn't mind too much.

  "Huh?...Tao?" I whispered.

  I slowly held my head.

  What the heck had happened? Had we teleported to the location? I looked to the side and saw some rubble of rocks, houses, and even some dead trees.

  I was sure that wasn't the full extension of the pce and just the things I could only see right now.

  I then realized that I was lying on something soft and warm.

  "Huh? What's this feeling?" I wondered.

  "Ah, that's my thigh you're feeling. You were unconscious, so I pced you there to keep an eye on you." Tao said casually with a warm smile.

  "Ah, I see. Well, thank you for—Huh?!"

  I lifted my head in a panic. I could feel my cheeks burning hot. If I could see myself in a mirror, I was sure I was beaming like a tomato right now.

  I saw my orange-haired friend tilting her head in confusion. She was sitting on the floor with her knees bent. Almost in the traditional Japanese way, when you sit on your legs, you're showing a sign of respect.

  No shocker there since we were Japanese.

  Or, at least, I thought so.

  With her hands on her p, Tao frowned at me. She might have been feeling sorry for causing me to panic.

  "I'm sorry for surprising you like that. It's just that the others wanted to make sure the pce was secure for us to rest for a brief moment." Tao apologized to me in a shy way.

  "N-no, it's no worries." I scratched the side of my face.

  Now that I could have my thoughts together, I decided to take a look around. You know, so that I could get the feel of our current situation.

  And to my surprise, the area we were in wasn't THAT bad.

  Firstly, the part where I could see the trees, houses, and even rocks. Or shall I call them boulders since they were bigger than your typical rocks you see every day?

  Either way, it seemed that the stuff I had been watching was from a window.

  Right now, we are inside a house of some kind. It looked rundown as well since there was a lot of mess lying around.

  Broken chairs, a small TV, some tables that had been shattered into pieces, and even some pieces of mattresses were being spread out. It seemed like we were in a bedroom of some kind, on the second floor at that. Still, a single window was kinda strange in my opinion.

  Then again, the person who used to own this pce might have had a different taste, so I shouldn't judge it too much.

  Anyways, putting that aside....

  "Hey, Tao. Where are the others right now?" I asked my friend.

  And as if on cue—

  Sm!

  I heard the door sm open.

  "We're back!" I heard Kuma shout with some stuff on her back.

  That was.... that was a huge bag she had on her back!

  "Eh?" I was dumbfounded at the sight of Kuma.

  She was wearing her mission uniform. A bck hooded jacket that seemed to have a skirt attached to it at the end. No... more like a jacket that had a built-in skirt to make it more.... girly?

  I wasn't sure of the function of the design of the clothing, but I was sure it was just to make Kuma more feminine.

  Not only that, but she also seemed to have some red high thigh stockings above knee length. Finally, some bck boots to top it all off.

  Wow.

  I couldn't believe that Kuma looked so cute with that, and the earrings really made her outfit pop.

  But the big bag kinda ruined the cute charm she was giving out, offering some tomboy vibes instead. Which I didn't personally mind.

  Anyways, as Kuma walked in, Kujira and Yosei walked in as well.

  Kujira deeply sighed and shook her head while Yosei waved her hand at us with a bright smile.

  Kujira had a scarf of some kind. A red one at that. She was also wearing a long bck robe that covered some casual clothes, I thought. With the same color theme, which was bck and red. The skirt was bck and the shirt was red. Finally, her boots were white.

  Finally, Yosei was wearing a simple bck sleeveless dress that had a turtleneck. She also had a neckce and a belt that was colored white. The boots reminded me of that one story with a fairy, I think. Overall, she fit the older sister type in my opinion.

  And I knew that I shouldn't say this out loud, but the clothing really showed their body types.

  ...And it REALLY showed Yosei's.

  Not wanting to seem like a pervert, I shook that thought and gnced at Kuma since I was interested in that bag of hers.

  "Say, Kuma? What's with that bag of yours?" I pointed at the bag on Kuma's back.

  "Oh? Ah, Kibi! I'm gd that you're awake!" Kuma said brightly to me.

  "Yes, indeed. Good morning, Kuma. I enjoyed my sleep." I joked around with my eyes closed.

  I opened my eyes and saw everyone's reaction. At first, they were surprised, but then they all smiled at me.

  "Well now! Look at you, mister sleeper! Joking around at a time like this!" Yosei teased me with a bright grin.

  "Of course. We may not have known each other for very long, but I was at ease knowing that there were people who could understand, even if it was on the surface level." I reassured Yosei while my eyes closed once more.

  To be frank, Yosei's clothes choice had made me hesitate a bit, but now I was somewhat at ease.

  Though I didn't think I could get used to her as of right now.

  But that being said, being around her and the others made me think that this journey to free humanity wouldn't be so bad. I would just need to keep a collected head.

  I couldn't promise myself that I would have that if Tao was in trouble, but hey, baby steps.

  I opened my eyes so that I could get back on track.

  "Now then, with that out of the way, what's with the bag, Kuma?" I pointed once more.

  "It's a long story, but I'll try to keep it short." Kuma scratched the side of her face with a hint of red revealing itself on her cheeks.

  "How about we do that while expining the mission? We can also give our report as well." Kujira suggested to us.

  Huh.

  Once again, Kujira was acting more friendly these days. I couldn't say I disliked it, though. I rather liked that side of her anyway.

  "Good idea. It'll bring everyone up to speed at one time!" Yosei added.

  Tao nodded, and so did I.

  I had some questions about me being knocked out like that, but I could add them in when the conversation was open enough to insert them.

  And so, we all gathered in the center of the room. We decided to take a short 5-minute break before getting into the "juicy" stuff, as Kuma had ramed it.