apathetic [wec]

[11 - let's gather 'round the campfire and sing our campfire song]

By the time it was sunset, everyone met up at the same area in the plaza they agreed to. The orange filter from the sky cast a shadow over the group's faces, emphasizing how tired they all felt. Mowchan and Pochi brought the rest of the group up to speed on what had happened, while Reycho and [Name] hung back in silence.

"Just what is going on?!"

"That monster plant and that creepy dog..."

"Everyone else saw them too?" Pochi's eyes widened once the other groups that separated nodded.

"Maybe they got sprinkled with harmful chemicals and mutated..."

Pai tilted her head at Nyoro's theory. "While we were sleeping?"

"Is it possible for mutations to happen in such a short period of time?" Tattsun wondered.

"We don't exactly know how much time passed..." [Name] muttered, getting Reycho's attention from beside them.

"Ah, he heard me."

He gestured for them to continue, and after glancing between the group (they were still talking amongst themselves, not noticing their conversation), they sighed quietly to him. "...I mean, look at the plants around. Normally you see this kind of stuff in movies, after years have passed and there's a bunch of overgrown vegetation."

They took out the newspaper they had in their pockets, showing him the headline. "See, here it says it's 1995. But we don't know how old this newspaper is, so..."

Reycho nodded at their explanation, taking in their words with a thoughtful expression. Surprised to see that he listened, they put their newspaper away and tuned back into the rest of the group with a satisfied hum.

"Here, [Name]." Pochi handed them a peach from Mowchan's haul earlier. "He was passing them out to all of us, but I wanted to wait until you were done talking with Reycho."

"Oh..." [Name] blinked, taking the fruit from his hand. "...Thanks."

"So, what're we supposed to do now?" Pai asked.

"I just wanna go home..." Chuko replied sadly.

Aniki let out an empty laugh. "I hope there's a home we can go home to."

"....."

Everyone turned to look at the boy with worried or panicked expressions, making him raise an eyebrow. "What makes you think Tokyo will be fine? It may be the same as here, not a person in sight."

"No way..."

"We may be the only ones left...everybody else might be..."

Aniki shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Who knows, but...I wouldn't be shocked if it were true. There's that whole meteor thing too..."

"Struck by the meteor...?" [Name] thought to themselves. "I guess, from where we were, the explosion would have to be super huge in Tokyo...but then how would we not be dead by now? There's no way we would come out unscathed after being unconscious, and the possibility that we got blown back from the explosion 1,200 kilometers away seems like a stretch. Were we brought here?"

They snapped out of their thoughts once Pochi spoke up. "What's it like in Tokyo, huh? I seriously wonder..."

Reycho moved next to them, eyes suddenly shining with determination. He pointed in a direction as the rest of the group observed his expression with realization.

"...Only one way to find out." [Name] sighed, crossing their arms.

"Oh, come on. That's impossible." Mowchan gaped. "From here to Tokyo is 1,200 kilometers, right?!"