It's cold.
Almost, your eyelids hesitated to flutter open. However, when you turned to your side, your cheek was pressed against a metallic surface.
Your eyes snapped opened.
You sat up. Your leg pulled over the other, before they rested against the metal bench edge. Your eyes landed on the bars that sealed up the small window on the brick wall. Opposite of a window was a metal door.
You stood up and walked over to the door.
The door was cold, too. You pressed your hands against it and tried to push. It did not budge. As you frown, you checked your fingers. They still had the [s/c] foundation applied. You hoped it was the same for your face.
You pressed your head against the door. Your eyes shut tight as you try to recall what happened before your current predicament.
You were with Sangoku and everyone else. Tenma had just arrived. The chairman and his assistant stood before the group.
Something about an apology to you. A small break for a vacation for the team, they said.
Then, you were led inside the bus. You gazed outside the bus. Kurama, Hayami, Hamano looked at the bus with concern as they waved at you goodbye.
A smell. An odd smell. It entered your nose. It made your crystal pulse oddly. Your brain cells moved and forced your veins to sleep.
You snapped your eyes opened. The chairman lied. You growled.
You turned to the barred window behind you. You walked up to it. Standing on your toes, you gazed out. Barely, you saw a ruined tower.
This was no vacation like the chairman told you. This was no form of apology to you from Fifth Sector about the Waterworld incident.
This, instead, was a trap for you and your friends.
Your fingers glossed across the brick wall. The moss fell when you rubbed them away from your skin. You stomped on the moss, and dragged them away across the floor with your sole.
You bend your other leg; the knee; forward. Your arm reached back. Your fingers curled into a fist and you lurched forth.
The wall cracked.
Another punch. Then another. And another. Then a roundhouse kick. Two more punches. The wall cracked, cracked, and cracked. The metal bars on the window creaked and bend.
Then, the wall crumbled.
You stepped back as it did. You waved your hands around to let the dirt fell. You frowned a little at your smudged makeup on your knuckles.
You couldn't mind on it for long, however. You had go get out this cell. You peered out from the exit you made.
It was a long drop below. Well, it didn't matter. You wouldn't feel the pain anyway.
And so, you jumped forth into the night.
♡ --- ♡ --- ♡
Sangoku looked up at the stars. He sighed against his knees.
"Is everything alright there, Sangoku?"
Sangoku turned to see Endou. He called out his name upon the appearance. Endou gave him a sympathetic smile, sitting beside Sangoku on the cave's ground.
"Are you worried?"
"I am," Sangoku sighed. "I'm worried about Coach Kidou, Haruna-san, and the girls. Especially [Nickname]. That Kibayama person didn't even tell us where [Nickname] is. Is she with the girls? Had they put her somewhere else? Is she okay?" He sighed again. "I hope she is."
"Well, I'm sure she is." Endou pat Sangoku's back reassuringly. "It'll be alright. We'll find a way to get them back."
Sangoku believed Endou. The two of them looked up to the stars together.
♡ --- ♡ --- ♡
The stars seemed to laugh down at you.
You huffed to yourself. You were, for sure, been running around in circles. You hadn't even managed to find the ruined tower.
You looked up to the moon. Your zombie side strengthened under this time. Your stomach grumbled. You frowned, and wrapped an arm around your torso.
You had no snacks with you. And you hadn't seen a wild animal so far in this lone island. Your best choice was to seek a river and hunt for fish.
Unfortunately, even with your smell, you were no canine. Especially not a werewolf. There was no blood nearby.
(You didn't desire for the energy. It wouldn't do you good to suck up a human's qi if it ever comes to it.)
Nonetheless, you continued your walk through the woods. Your vision was as good as it is in the day in the night. Better now that the moon rose in full.
The leaves rustled.
You stopped. You turned to the bushes on your right.
A pair of blank, black eyes peered at you through the leaves.
You raised your fists.
The eyes disappeared. A head with a green water lily appeared.
Question marks floated around your head. Slowly, you lowered your fists.
A kappa – well, you figured he's a kappa from his facial features. Other than that, he wore a blue shirt and was fairly human – emerged. His beady black eyes blinked at you.
You blinked back.
The kappa looked away. His blue hair rustled like the leaves on it. You noticed that there was no water in place of the middle of the leaves. The kappa fiddled with his fingers.
"You're ... not human?" You jumped when he spoke.
He looked back up again, awaiting your answer. You straightened your body when you saw he meant no harm. So, you nodded to his question.
His eyes widened. "Name. What's your name?" he asked.
You sort through your pockets. No notes, no phone, and no markers. You turned to the ground and wrote down your name on it with your finger. You stepped back, so the kappa could read your name.
He gasped. He pointed to you, then pointed to some direction down the forest. "Heard name!" he said. "One human said your name!"
Your eyes widened. Could he refer to your friends? Before you could write down your question, your stomach grumbled.
You and the kappa stared at each other.
"Hungry...?"
You nodded, embarrassed.
He disappeared. You stood up in shock. You wondered whether he was scared if you'd eat him. You wouldn't, of course. Well, if you could tell him that if he ever came back.
But it turned out you didn't need to. He returned to where you were, and said, "Follow me. Please."
You looked at him with caution.
"I won't harm. So would Kokappa. Kokappa is little brother. I'm Kamezaki Kappa."
You sweatdropped at the fact the kappa was literally named Kappa, but you won't judge. Instead, you focused on the fact he told you his name. He must have trusted you enough to tell you his, so you agreed to follow him.
He led you through the forest. You were able to follow him in the dark, thanks to your zombie vision.
You pushed the tree branches away from your face. Kappa made way for you by folding away the bushes. Your eyes landed on a river stream.
Near the river stream was another kappa like Kappa, but with green hair. You figured this was his little brother, Kokappa.
Kokappa noticed your arrival and Kappa's. He greeted the both of you with a smile, before holding up a leaf basket. You peered inside to see fish. And cucumbers. Lots of cucumbers.
You're just glad that they don't mind sharing with you.
♡ --- ♡ --- ♡
When the next day arrived, the team had set out to explore the forest.
In their exploration, they hoped maybe a miracle will happen and they'd find you out in the forest, just lost. Not stuck or imprisoned like Kidou, Haruna, and the managers.
If only they found a river stream and followed it.
Kappa and Kokappa looked over you who still remained fast asleep underneath the leaves covers. The sun had rose further up, shining bright in the blue sky.
Kokappa suggested he'll go on a lookout for the boy with the black hair with beads. Kappa agreed as he'll helped you find your way to your teammates.
So, Kokappa headed out. Kappa went over to you and shook you awake. Your eyes opened. You rubbed your eyes, before shielding it when the sunlight glared down at you. You looked over to Kappa then.
He waved at you as his good morning. "Time to go," he said. "Find your friends."
You stood up.
Kappa gave you some time to prepare as he waited. You looked over the river. Vaguely, you could see that your makeup was quite faded. You frowned. Your bag was lost or probably confiscated, and that had all your makeup essentials and books.
(You're sure that, right now, you're being flooded by messages from your Faraway friends.)
Kappa made a curious squeak when you squished cheeks. You smiled at him, as if to say, you were fine. You ended up just patting your face and eyes with a small amount of water.
Later, you moved out with Kappa as your lead.
You moved through the forest. You pushed branches, picked apart some bushes, minded the vines, took a short stop for rest, continued on, took another stop when your skirt got stuck in a bush, then continued on again.
The two of you stopped when you heard the shift of dust, foot stomps, kicks, and something akin to a person being slammed by something. You and Kappa poked your heads through the bushes.
Both of your eyes widened. Raimon was playing against an unknown team. Their uniform was black and grey in colour. And this team was playing around with Raimon like a predator would to its prey.
You growled, scaring Kappa.
Your growl turned to a gasp when the unknown team showcased their speed. They made strong pass that, literally, blew away your teammates.
The superpowered shoot zoomed to the goal's direction. Sangoku gritted his teeth as he braced himself.
Tenma, in that moment, ran to try and help halt the shoot. But his eyes landed on a goat about to pass through.
You darted out of the bushes.
Once the ball flew past Tenma who saved the goat, you directed your body to the goalpost. Arms outstretched forward, you had to deflect the ball upwards instead.
This led to the ball to pummel into your face. Your head fell off from your neck while the ball bounce up and bounced away when it hit the goalpost upper wooden bar.
Sangoku paled at your headless body before him. His arms caught your body lest it hit the ground.
When the dust cleared, Sangoku looked around. He saw no signs of your head. Quickly, he pushed your body to lay against and hide behind his back. He called out to Tenma, "Matsukaze! Is that little one okay?" so everyone's diverted away from him.
Sangoku got to searching your head once their focus was on the goat. However, he didn't account for the affect that your head had flew up the sky when the ball pummelled it above.
That was why Sangoku paled again when your head fell, from the sky, in the middle of the Raimon group that surrounded the goat.
The wind whistled.
Shuu and his teammate beside him froze. As for your teammates, slowly, they moved their eyes away from the goat to your head. Your head that stared up at them with blank [e/c] eyes, your makeup smudged to reveal bits of your discoloured patches, and your agape mouth.
Hikaru fainted.
The goat bleated; running away from there.
Kariya shrieked; kicking your head away to the sides.
Your body sensed your head had returned. It moved away from Sangoku. Your legs ran to where your head landed. Your arms scooped your head up and twisted it back into position on your neck.
Once you checked your head was in place, you turned around. Both teams stared at you with wide eyes. You gave them a peace sign, grinning.
Then, all of Raimon, except the fainted Hikaru, the shaken Sangoku, the flabbergasted Nishiki, the sighing Tsurugi, and the petrified Kariya, shouted out:
"DAMN THAT HISSATSU!"