"Nice to meet you, Jack.”

Hannah’s voice was soft, but possessed a certain edge to it if one listened closer. Her sharp black eyes seemed to scan me from head to toe repeatedly before locking on to my eyes.

It seemed that she was analyzing me just as I was her.

One might think she was concealing her intentions like this, but it seemed more like she wanted me to be aware of it.

Though that probably should’ve made me more on edge, the fact that she was up-front with her actions actually made me calmer. Personally, I thought that those like Derek, who acted kind despite having mysterious motives, were far more dangerous.

My mind quickly adjusted to the situation. In fact, my calmness in the midst of all this chaos continued to surprise me.

”What’s with the looks? Don’t tell me you like fat guys?” I grinned slightly as I spoke, letting her know that I’d caught on.

”Hmm... Maybe~”

She laughed lightly as she release my hand before sticking out her tongue at me. It was a pleasant and melodic laugh, something that made me realize how warm her hand had been.

What the hell are you thinking about at a time like this, idiot?

Internally thrashing myself to focus, I moved to follow her as she walked towards a clear spot beside some particularly large gems. She sat down lightly before patting the ground next to her.

However, whether it was because of her beauty, the pleasant scent that emanated from her, or my suspicious nature, I hesitated.

”Sit down, Slayer, I don’t bite.” Though she said it with a smile, a tingle ran down my spine as a sense of deja vu overcame me.

”Slayer?” I furrowed my brows slightly as I tried to recall where I might’ve heard that before, but no matter how hard I focused it felt like it was on the tip of my tongue. Did it mean something?

”Sorry, do you dislike being called that?” Despite inspecting her face for any signs of insincerity, it seemed like she was honestly confused as to why I reacted like this.

”Just wondering when we became close enough to use pet names.” I looked at her sharply as I spoke, but she simply laughed it off.

”Maybe it’s because I want to get closer to you?” Hannah leaned in closer to me with upturned eyes, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously.

Though a lesser man would’ve likely fallen in that moment (for example, me before the crash), I lightly grabbed her shoulder and pushed her upright.

”Why ‘Slayer,’ anyway? Isn’t that kind of weird? Don’t tell me your mom called you that or something...” Though the flow of the conversation ended up in a weird direction, it felt like I could at least use this to find out more about the past.

After all, it seemed like she wanted to get along with me. If she really wanted to get closer to me, the first step would be building trust. Though, I had to wonder what merit there was in befriending someone like me.

However, her response surprised me.

”Maybe~”

It wasn’t her lack of cooperation that caught me the most off guard, though it was certainly unexpected. Rather, it was the sadness in her eyes. There was an undeniably sincere pain there, an honest duality or loss and yearning that couldn’t be faked, even in Hollywood.

However, even her sad smile now exhibited such beauty that it drew me in. Before I realized it, I was staring at her in silence.

"..."

Slowly, her eyes drifted up towards me. as her eyes met mine, their cloudy sorrow disappeared as if I'd imagined them.

"What's with the looks? Don't tell me you like me?" Hannah poked me as she spoke, returning my line to me.

"As if..."

Though I rolled my eyes, it was certainly true that her beauty had caught me off-guard. Not only that, she seemed quite different from just about everybody I'd met in my life.

She wasn't overly kind like Eliot had pretended to be to fool me, or feigning love for me like Cassidy.

She wasn't even innocent and true like Alice.

Though she was a stranger to me in all effect, something about her simply struck me as completely and unavoidably genuine.

"Huh? Am I ugly?"

"Pft-"

I couldn't help but laugh as Hannah asked me earnestly while tugging on my sleeve.

"You've gotta be kidding, right?"

"..."

Her eyes narrowed at me as she released my sleeve and turned away.

"Oh c'mon, you don't need me to gratify you, right? I mean, you had to have had just about every guy you've ever met tell you." I rolled my eyes.

"..."

There was no response from Hannah as she simply stood. It was as if the warm atmosphere that had surrounded us had disappeared in an instant in favor of something cold and awkward.

Not sure of what to do, I remained silent as Hannah took a step away from me.

"I called you here since I figured we could get along. Other than Derek, nobody else here seems particularly well-off in terms of mental health, so I thought that if Derek brought you back, then..."

She trailed off.

"Anyways, that was my only intention. You seem to be pretty sane, so I'll give you some advice. Try to stay off James' bad side."

Hannah then brushed past one of the hung-up blankets and out of my sight, leaving me to wonder what exactly I'd done. 

I sighed.

"Why do I feel like I'm understanding less instead of more? In any case, I'm pretty sure James hated me from the moment he saw me, anyways."

---

After sitting alone for a few minutes, William and Samantha returned.

William's face was scrunched up and angry while one of Samantha's wrists was red from being grabbed.

I see what she meant by mental health issues...

It seemed like virtually everyone here was human trash. In any case, I had to wonder why Hannah hadn't excluded Samantha from that assessment. Rather, to me, she seemed really pitiful.

I truly wanted to help her, but I knew that until I knew more it would likely be suicide by lumberjack.

Shortly after William and Samantha, James and Derek returned as well.

James' eyes skated around the area before landing on me.

"Hey, Fatso. Where's the girl? We're about to talk about something important."

I shrugged in response, trying to abide by Hannah's recommendation.

"She left after we talked for a bit."

"Since you're the fucknuts who let her leave, you get to tell her after this then."

I wanted to ask him why he didn't just go find her, but I figured it was pointless and would only be counterproductive.

"...Fine. What's the important thing?"

I held back from rolling me eyes and adjusted my position on the ground.

However, rather than James responding to me, it was Derek.

With a serious look on his face, he smiled tensely.

"Everybody should be turning in early tonight. Tomorrow, we're hunting in the forest..."

Hold on, hold on... the forest filled with monsters?

As if reading my mind, Derek turned to me and spoke clearly.

"We'll be hunting the monsters, so I'd like everybody to be well rested, focused, and careful tomorrow. As the one who scouted the forest, I think we might just be able to get through tomorrow without losing anyone if everybody stays vigilant."

Well that doesn't seem optimistic...

In all honesty, a part of me wanted to return to the forest and see those monsters again. However, judging from my near-death last time, I had no clue how exactly we planned on killing them.

At a time like this, I wished that I knew how exactly to use whatever ability the faceless figure had given me.

However, there was no time to lament now, not while the future was so uncertain.

Instead, I could only continue working towards my survival.