𝞖𝙞𝙨 𝙐𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙩//𝙆𝙣𝙮//𝙁𝙁//𝞐𝙐

S e v e n

Yasu's POV

It's been a week since I've agreed to go to the final selection. When I agreed, I wasn't nervous. Instead, I was kind of excited. 

But now as I'm walking to the place where it's being held at, there's nothing but nervousness. You could literally die there.  

Tomioka-san kept me hostage before heading out, telling me over and over that I'll do okay. He made me promise I'll come back alive. That dude sure is weird sometimes. 

The mountain comes into view, and all I can hear is my own heartbeat beating faster and faster. I clench onto my chest and tell it to calm down. It doesn't listen.

When I'm closer, I'm nearly fainting. There are so many stairs. Perhaps a kind gesture from whoever made them, telling us to turn back because there are too many! 

These stupid thoughts aren't going to help me.

I climb the stairs one by one, my legs trembling in fear. But when I reach the top, I remember my aunt. I should do this for her sake.

I glance around and see that many people are here. I walk among the crowds, stopping in the middle. 

Breathe in, breathe out. This is going to be okay. Just don't die. Easy!..

---

These cute but creepy twins told us to survive for 7 days. 7 days!

The forest is covered by wisteria trees which are poisonous to demons. That's how they keep them hostage in the mountains. 

When I enter, I'm welcomed by so many wisteria trees. But ahead I can see the ending. 

If you think about it, the girls just told us to survive. Maybe if I can make it to the other side before the Sun sets...

But if we need to survive for 7 days, it might be quite a run there. But what other choice do I have? I didn't master a breathing style, so I won't be able to kill the demons. 

I run as fast as I can, controlling my breathing so I wouldn't run out of my stamina fast. 

Just run. Run run run-

Wait.

I glance back and eye one of the wisteria trees. I run back and snap one of the branches off. Easy.

I start running towards the end, feeling safer because of the branch I'm holding. I don't encounter any demons until I see a faint vibrant of purple up ahead. 

I made it.

I take a seat under one of the trees, huffing. I take out my food that'll last me the remaining 7 days. It's just simple Onigiri, but it'll do. 

I chew on the food, glancing up into the trees. One part of my brain tells me this is cheating. I gulp down the guilt and tell myself that they never told us we can't do this. I'm just using my brain.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Let's just take a nap.

-------------------

It has been 7 days. I walk out of the surrounding of the wisteria trees and into the open. I'm surprised that no one is there.

When I see the twins staring into me, I feel guilty again. I feel like they're seeing right trough me.

"Congratulations. You survived the final selection." They say in chorus, making me jump a little. Were they this creepy?

They told me to choose a rock, and layed about a dozen of them out. I picked a rock that had my hair and eye color.