After Six and Mono got dressed in the clean clothes provided for them, they decided to lay low and continue their resting period for a while longer, or at least until their coats were dry.
They sat in the room where several bunk beds were, but didn't try to get any sleep yet. Instead, Six sat in front of Mono and allowed him to not only comb her hair out, but also trim her bangs just a bit so she could see better. She wouldn't let him cut them a normal length, but he understood without having to ask why. It was probably the same reason she didn't want him touching her face earlier. Maybe she was insecure, or maybe she just didn't want to look weak in front of him.
When he was done, she dusted herself off and got up from the floor, running over to the dresser and jumping onto it so she could look out of the window. She stared in awe at the city buildings across the way, even glancing down to the playground at the front of the school. "Mono, do you think things will get better? Do you think the viewers will be okay? You haven't said much about it." She asked quietly, turning around and dangling her legs off of the dresser comfortably.
Mono walked over to Six and reached his hands out to her, helping her back down onto the floor. "I'm not sure... I really do hope for the best, but those people will always be missing important parts of who they are." He frowned, wiping a tuft of hair from her shoulder from where he had trimmed. "When you got taken by the thin man, I saw your glitched shadow. It was leading me to the tower. I found a lot of other glitched children during our time together...what if they got taken, too, but didn't escape? What if that's why you're getting so hungry?" He was panicking; if what the viewers desired was anything like what happened to Six, then she could really be in trouble...and it was all his fault.
Six didn't know how to reassure Mono with words, so she rubbed her thumbs over his knuckles gently, keeping eye context with him. "When I got out of the TV, I felt different...like I wasn't all me. Like I was missing something. But it's okay. Even if the thin man did take something from my body, I have you, so I'll be fine." She furrowed her brows as she spoke, seeming both determined and yet unsure at the same time. She could tell Mono deeply appreciated her trying to cheer him up.
"I'll make it up to you, I promise." He was on the verge of pulling Six into a hug, but before he could, he was petrified as the same shadow figure appeared behind the girl. He pulled Six close and glared at the glitched version as it sat down and curled up into a ball. Not long after they witnessed this, it completely vanished into thin air.
Although he was confused and wanted answers, he took one look at Six beside him and his mind flashed with realization. "Your soul..." He blurted out, piecing things together in his head. He was hoping the girl could indulge him, but instead, she walked over to a flyer on the ground and picked it up, her face frozen in thought; she looked mesmerized. "Hey, Six?" He tried to get her attention, and thankfully she snapped out of whatever trance she was in.
"This place." She began, showing the flyer to Mono, who examined it closely upon first encounter with the image. "The Maw...has lots of food. What if other kids are hiding there? We should go." She suggested thoughtfully. Mono approached her slowly and took the flyer from her, an unimpressed glint in his eyes.
"It might not be safe for kids... It's a giant submarine." He replied with apprehension lacing his voice. Six's disappointment in him was painfully obvious, so he sighed and smiled guiltily. They wouldn't get anywhere if he refused her, so he was just thinking ahead. "Okay, so we go...but then what? Have you even thought about it?"
Six dropped her head in shame, sitting on the floor and assuming the same position her glitched version had a moment ago. "I know you're just trying to keep me safe, but I'm not some weak little girl." She closed her eyes, trying to calm down after getting worked up from her anger.
Mono didn't think he was being harsh with his protection, especially since Six had gotten into plenty of trouble during their time together. Regardless, he still felt bad, which is why he sat next to her on the floor, putting the flyer down nearby. "I don't want to lose you." He tried to break the tension by speaking his heart; Six looked at him with wide eyes and flushed cheeks when she heard this simple yet emotional sentence. Even Mono was shy, but only because of her reaction.
"Why do you say those embarrassing things? It makes my chest feel weird..." She replied meekly, putting a hand over her heart and averting her gaze from the boy.
"Because I mean it, Six. I want us to be together forever." Although he meant it in a platonic sense, he wouldn't deny that there was something more he felt. It was times like these when they just had the silence to speak volumes for them...his chest felt weird, too.
He put his hand on Six's back, but he flinched away a bit when she turned her head back around, making their faces merely inches apart. It was stressful to even look at Six from a distance because of how scary she was, so being this close to her with such a warm feeling made him sweat. He couldn't express how thankful he was when she eventually rested her head beneath his chin, getting rid of the nerve-racking atmosphere. "You understand, then?" He spoke up again, wanting to make sure they were on the same page about the precautions they needed to take.
Six wrapped her arms around Mono's neck and barely lifted her head, making slight eye contact with him and then leaning up towards his face. After a second of hesitation, she placed a chaste, sweet kiss on his cheek. It was a small peck, but it was enough to pump Mono up for days, maybe even weeks. "I'm not going anywhere." She mumbled as she laid her head against his chest, her eyes on the verge of spilling more tears.
Mono held the girl quietly for a couple of minutes until he calmed down from his shock. He eventually pulled Six with him as he stood up, walking to one of the beds that the other kids had used. He helped her onto it first and then joined her in laying down, his head spinning because of his overcrowding thoughts about her. "We should try to sleep. We don't know when we'll get to next." He suggested in a near-whisper, turning onto his other side so he could face the door and protect her if need be.
Behind him, she clung to him by wrapping an arm around his chest. She rested the palm of her hand over his heart and leaned her head against Mono's back, dozing off in no time at all. Being so lulled by her closeness, Mono interlocked his fingers over Six's hand and tried to fall asleep. It took a bit longer for him, but he managed.
A few hours later, Mono woke up because he felt Six move away from him. She faced the other way, holding her stomach and groaning just like the other times when her hunger hit. He put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it to comfort her. "You okay? Do you want to eat?" He knew the answers already, but he just wanted to hear them for himself, to make sure Six felt well enough to move around.
The girl turned over and faced Mono after a few seconds, showing him her hand, which was dripping blood from her fingertips. It appeared she had tried to take her mind off of her hunger by biting the skin off her fingers. He had done this sort of thing before, but never so extreme that it would draw blood. "Six? It's okay... Talk to me." He did something stupid and reached his hand out to cup the girl's cheek, completely disregarding how she had reached earlier when he barely touched her forehead.
He was trying to comfort her, but before he knew it, Six was drooling and violently attacking him, her teeth digging into his arm. For some reason, he couldn't scream; he was so choked up in fear that he couldn't move at all. And then, all of a sudden, he woke up, jolting his body forwards because of the shock. He was sweating, and he realized Six wasn't beside him anymore. How long had they been sleeping? And where had she gone?
Struggling to catch his breath, Mono slipped off of the bed and made his way to the door in jagged steps. He peeked his head into the hallway and made sure it was safe before leaving the room. He could immediately hear the clanking footsteps of the teacher's heels from the floor below him. He wondered if Six was there, too.
He made his way through the halls until he reached the elevator, going down to the fourth floor once he was inside. Upon exiting, he looked around for the teacher, which was easy since she was so tall and overwhelming. He found her carrying a trash bag; for the sake of his last bit of innocence, he didn't want to know what was inside. "Ms. Anne, have you seen Six? Th-The girl I was with." He corrected himself quickly, feeling weird discussing the girl to someone who hadn't really spoken to her.
The woman turned around to face him and put the bag down carefully, folding her arms across her chest in thought. "She came to me a short while ago and I fed her again. She said that she tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't move. And she also said that she didn't want you looking for her..." The teacher responded hesitantly, that last bit of information causing Mono's heart to skip a beat. He couldn't comprehend what he was hearing. Was she getting herself into trouble?
"Thank you, ma'am." He quickly expressed his gratitude for the information and then let her be, jogging back to the elevator with concern covering his face. He didn't know where she could be... He tried to think about her personality, how she had a tendency to get distracted wherever they went together. Maybe she had gone to the playground outside? It's the only thing he could imagine.
With his idea set in his mind, Mono rode the elevator all the way to the first floor. He walked to the front door and noticed that it was open, so he protruded the outside world once again. After heading down the steps, he caught sight of a small figure on one of the swings. It was Six. She had had head drooped and her hands loosely gripping the rope on either side. Her legs dangled and swung effortlessly. He decided to approach her after silently observing for a minute.
The closer he got to her, the more clear her humming became. He was reluctant to disturb her peace, but what if she needed him and he wasn't here? "Um..." He mumbled, hearing her voice stop abruptly. When she looked up at him, she twitched uncomfortably and her face flushed pink. Maybe she was avoiding him because she was embarrassed? That did seem like a Six thing to do. "Are you feeling okay? I heard you got hungry again." He tried to make conversation, but she just looked back down at the ground with that blank expression of hers.
"I'm fine. Are you okay?" She replied sarcastically, to which Mono frowned in response. He closed more space between them and found that he was blushing too. He didn't know why, but all of a sudden his heart was racing. He grabbed onto the rope on one side of Six and slid his hand down slowly, nudging her hand playfully.
"I'm okay now that I have you with me. I was worried when I woke up and didn't see you anywhere." He changed the subject, not wanting to focus on himself since the girl looked so upset. Why did she never want to talk about her feelings? Did she have something to hide, or did she just not trust him? "I had a nightmare...that's probably why you couldn't wake me up." He admitted this shamefully and moved behind Six, pulling the ropes back and letting go to give the swing some momentum.
Six glanced over her shoulder at Mono, kicking her legs in synchronization, back and forth, back and forth. "What was it about?" After questioning him, she turned her head back around and patiently stared at her lap.
Mono bit the inside of his cheeks, stressing about what her reaction might be to his dream. If he told her, she would probably think he was afraid of her turning on him, which he wasn't... His mind was just twisted; it turned all of his memories into bad things. "It wasn't really anything too scary... I have nightmares a lot; that's partly why I haven't slept well in a long time." He was hoping his answer was enough to satisfy Six—from the looks of things, she wasn't upset or unfulfilled. Then again, she was probably distracted; she had a lot on her mind too, it seemed. "Did you sleep well?"
"Stop it..." The girl suddenly interrupted his spiel, whimpering silently and slipping off of the swing seat. "I was worried about you... Why did you do that to me? I thought you were never waking up." Her words came out distressed and angry, but just the fact that she was saying these things made Mono understand her a little more. She was shaking, and her fists were balled up at her sides as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "You're acting like nothing's wrong... I hate it. I get wanting to be optimistic, but you're just in denial. You're driving me crazy..."
The boy stood in silence as he listened to her complaints, having no reaction because of how surprised he was that she was speaking her mind so freely. Had she felt this way the whole time they'd been together?
Mono walked over to Six slowly, trying to comfort her by putting his hand on her lower back. "I didn't mean to scare you. I'm not invincible to my fears, you know. Just because I don't express it...doesn't mean I'm not afraid. I'm trying to be brave for you, for both of us. I can't bear putting you through anymore pain." It wasn't an apology by all means, but it was an explanation. They were two different people, with two different methods of coping. Maybe hearing this would be reassuring to Six rather than withering; her faith in him was already so distorted by her beliefs, and he wanted to change that desperately.
Six turned to face him after his speech, though she was definitely not mentally well. She was still trembling. "Next time...you better tell me when you're scared. Put your own needs first from now on, or else I'm gonna get seriously...pissed." She punched his chest in frustration and then held onto his shoulders, leaning against him as he wrapped his arms around her.
"You said a bad word..." He commented on her tantrum in an attempt to lighten the mood, but she lifted her head and glared at him in response. Feeling the pressure of her demands, he smiled nervously and embraced her once again, holding the back of her head and lovingly massaging it to relax her. "Okay, I get it. No more hiding from my problems...or hiding them from you." He agreed to her terms despite his conscience being anything but clear. At this point, he really thought he would do anything to make her happy; if that meant making himself happy first, he might struggle, but he'd try nonetheless.