It has been 10 minutes since the last recording and half of our wonderful cast are currently on the ground.

Wheezing to their heart’s content, wiping away the tears from her eyes with a napkin we could only see part of a symbol unlike any other we’ve seen so far.

It was in the shape of a golden tree...

Uh, meanwhile, Kohaku is gasping for air. Only making Hotaru laugh more.

Oh?

And back on the ground, she goes.

Makoto however, managed to regain their composure after 5 under the dead gaze of their partner in crime of the strange parenting duo.

“I think you’re safe to keep going if you…ahem, bubble, ahem.” Makoto lets out a small cough into their hand as they spoke.

*Sigh* “ Let’s just give it a little more. I mean, we only have so long until we all go on that trip.” (Hibiki)

“Huh?! I thought only Hotaru was going?” The laughter died down further to the single source when Kohaku got up as if it was all an act.

“Yeah, for the first bit. But once we establish a line, we’re good to go and travel there together.” (Hibiki)

“So, we could take a break?” In a single motion, Hotaru hopped back to her feet fully energized with a look of pure joy

Kohaku sat back in his seat, before looking perplexed at the table.

“We just started and-” Makoto’s words came to a pause once Hibiki raised a hand.

“Yeah, we’ll be able to go but again, we need to get this done first. Any more questions?” (Hibiki)

“ Why did the orb get all shwoom on us earlier?” (Kohaku)

‘Shwoom…’ (Makoto + Hibiki+ Hotaru)

Recognizing that everyone’s attention was on him, Hibiki scratched the back of his head before informing his friends.

“... Right, still forget that you’re not used to this. Our miseru, or the orb projects everything that happened so we’re able to show and tell what’s going on. If you remember, we did see a lot of dumbed-down versions of this.

The more we go on, the more it grows, so soon it’ll be able to match the ones up above and around us. Plus, you could go on longer with someone else's perspective. There likely isn’t going to be a repeat of it stopping in the middle again unless we try looking for the others with no clue.”

“You couldn’t come up with a better name?” Kohaku sat up, still huffing.

“I wasn’t the one who named it and I, unfortunately, can’t change it. I’ve already pleaded.” (Hibiki)

“AH! Who cares?! Keep going! I need that trip!” (Hotaru)

*Click*

-Hibiki’s POV-

“…” I was desperately trying to resist the urge to scream my head off. I couldn’t for the life of me comprehend how he shrugged it off.

“Yeah, it was a good one. Your head might be able to bend metal.” (Hibiki)

We shared a small laugh before it drifted away from us like a bottle in the waves. Leaving us with silence.

It was my first time doing this here since the prerequisite was up in the air, it was just… something I didn’t want to place my bets on.

Back on earth, after a couple of waves of the transformation, which we called The Grand Warp, a good part of the continents was shifted back together to make room for the new inhabitants of the world, who’ve fallen through a crack in their home and ended up in ours.

Unfortunately to most, there weren't any obvious signs at first but over the world, cryptics got more sightings of strange things. Healthy grass growing in the desert or a mutation in an animal that changed the texture of its fur.

As for how everything interacts with this world, it is still something undetermined. Something I don’t really have the means to test myself…

I honestly lost more from my interaction in the woods and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

I wasn’t fully aware of what was going on when I felt my head being pulled forward onto his shoulder and the embrace I was wrapped into, I froze.

Right then, my mind was running like a bullet train.

‘Is he okay? Did I get it wrong? Did I make him sick? Was it a side effect?’

I felt like my heart was bashing against my chest.

*BA-BUMP, BA-BUMP*

I took a breath to no avail, the weight I was wearing was going to pull me under if I couldn’t keep it together.

‘I can’t be doing this; I shouldn’t be doing this. This isn’t my place.

Stay away, stop this! Just scream at me if you need to. You don’t deserve this.’

(And you do?) (Jules)

(... I-) (Hibiki)

(Just stop. It happened and it sucks. Now what? We can’t change what happened and you can’t keep doing this. Look for yourself!)

I could feel Riku’s arms trembling, he kept me in his grasp as if I was the one thing keeping him afloat. He leaned his head into mine while caressing the back of my head, I could hear the strain in his voice.

“I-... got you. I got you. We’re going to be alright…”

‘We’re going to be alright.’

It sounded more like he was trying his best to reassure himself; I couldn’t help but be a little relieved.

‘We…’

Deep within my psyche, the small lockbox I buried away under the stress and guilt I was trying to keep in was being brought forward.

The emotions I was trying so deeply buried within my heart were pleading to be released as I remembered then that those very same words came from someone who towered over my small stature trying to make himself look so small.

The sky was painted gray while his arms were bulkier than Riku’s around me. Looking back, I didn’t change much from that same little boy who thought the world revolved around one thing.

Just the two of us, even without recognizing it at first, my role was still the same.

I couldn’t help but correspond. It was like I was holding that very same kid, his cold exterior wasn’t something I blamed him for.

How could I?

Whenever I watched him take samples from Petri dishes, whenever he spent more time lying in bed, only to get up, take a look at me and get back to work.

It was hard to even feel anything. He wanted an escape, just like I did…

And then, he did.

Something about that made me feel warm inside. Albeit, he’s placing his bets with Orochimaru. That was him. He made the choice that he thought was best for… us. So, I told myself that I needed to pull my weight in the one way I could.

Make use of the resources I had to the best of my ability. Luckily, I did [Record] the very series I was bothered about the most.

(I swear the number of references he made was enough to make me pull out my hair if I didn’t get them.) (Hibiki)

(Pfft! You know you just didn’t like Ruzo looking sad afterward.) (Jules)

(Whatever you say.) (Hibiki)

(Oh, c’mon! You have to give me that one.) (Jules)

(... Maybe a little…) (Hibiki)

If he wasn’t going to let this get him down, I had to be there. Taking a second to get the lump out of my throat, I could only utter it.

“…Sorry…”

“W-we’re alright.” (Riku)

Thinking back, Riku hadn’t left my side for a minute since those events. I couldn’t even imagine what was on his mind. What he saw…

‘Just how long was I out?’

“I got you now.” (Riku)

“I should’ve told you sooner.” (Hibiki)

The last factor to make up our survival.

***

-FLASHBACK-

[May 18th, 1987, After Kaguya was sealed (AKS)]

At 3 am, In a cave quite different in size to where I was… now? Then?

… different from Orochimaru’s lair…

You get it.

I calligraphed with a brush across four long sheets. After putting my replication to practice, I finally managed to span it across three chakra points safely.

My ink spilled on the first set but that wasn’t my concern. In my moment of inspiration, I tunneled on each and every stroke, with Jules helping me through the use of some [Qi], we were able to make sure each character was working in collaboration with the next. I had to pause to wipe the sweat off my face.

After the first 45 minutes, I couldn’t take a chance working alone. My hand was cramping so I pleaded with Jules for this favor.

And with another hour and a half, I made the last stroke on the page. Slowly separated my brush and placed it in the last of the ink.

(It’s… done!) (Hibiki)

(Seriously?!) (Jules)

(What? You were here with me.) (Hibiki)

(... What’s the plan now?) (Jules)

I honestly couldn’t blame her for being suspicious. Let’s just say that Jules has been through a lot at this point. But this was one of those projects I’ve been working on for a while so most of the chakra was influenced into the ink thanks to my resource.

(W-what do you mean?) (Hibiki)

I was well aware she knew that though, so I addressed the only concern I could think of in the body of a 6-year-old.

(Hibiki!) (Jules)

Her motherly tone was back again so she meant business.

(Okay, okay. There’s one last step, after this I’ll get some sleep. I promise!) (Hibiki)

The nights of taking a kunai to my arm had finally paid off.

I slowly stood up to feel the blood rush back into my legs and woke Riku up from his rest. The bags were dark, and his eyes were red from a lack of sleep.

“…What are you doing?” Ignoring the monotone was something I just had to do to squeeze a little interaction out of him.

“Shh! Come on, come on!” (Hibiki)

“Mn, It’s too early….” Riku was rubbing his eyes, making me feel a little guilty but it was a little sacrifice that needed to be done now! I checked my watch to make sure everything was on schedule.

“I know, but I need your help. Pretty please?!” I had to bring out the double whammies, clasping my hands together, and the puppy dog eyes!

“... What is it?” Within expectation! He cracked!

He got out of bed and followed me into the central room we were making our living quarters

“Great! Now, sit down right there!” (Hibiki)

“Paper?” I guess Riku was finally waking up a little, so I was gonna cut him some slack.

“Hey, hey! C’mon, take my hand and put the other one on it! Then, close your eyes!” But I was way too excited for my own good.

“Mm…” Riku rubbed his eyes before placing his hand in mine

“I get it, you're sleepy~! It’ll be quick!” (Hibiki)

It took a bit of time, but I managed to transfer my chakra through him and he reciprocated.

I opened my eyes to see the chakra glow into the kanji and watched the glow slowly die down before my eyes.

Once the light faded. I kept my hand in his while I folded the strips. They looked like children's books without a cover, but I tried to ignore that. I looked back up to Riku staring, it made me jump a little.

“Are we done now?” Riku’s exhausted face was weighing on my conscience a little more, but everything was about to pay off when I looked to see that it was 4: 40.

“Yeah! It’s all done!” (Hibiki)

“Alright.” Riku got up and was about to walk back into Orochimaru’s lab.

“Hey!” (Hibiki)

“What-” I held one of the folded formulas in front of him and when he grabbed it, I put my other hand on top of his. It looked like it woke him up a little and he just stared at me wide-eyed.

“4:41! Happy Birthday, Riku!” (Hibiki)

“... I-..., What is this?” (Riku)

“It’s a secret, okay? Now, go back to sleep! We can’t have a tired birthday boy.” (Hibiki)

“I gotta work.” (Riku)

“I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours. Get a good sleep!” (Hibiki)

“Alright, alright…” (Riku)

I fucking lied. That kid needed sleep more than I did. We slept till the afternoon.

-END OF FLASHBACK-

***

“Hibiki.” He mumbled under his breath and released my grasp and wrapped my arms around my body.

“I know, I sho-” (Hibiki)

“Hibiki.”

Riku pulled me back to get a look at him. His stare into my eyes was suffocating but I couldn’t run, I just sat there and tried to bury those emotions again. I had to be there. There’s no him and me, it’s him and Hibiki…

“Yeah?”

I flinched when he kissed my forehead and pulled away. To my shock, a light breeze came through and I got a good look at the soft smile on his face.

“Thank you.” (Riku)

“Riku-” (Hibiki)

“Hibiki…” He cupped his right hand against my cheek before I felt a sharp pain of my cheek being pinched between his thumb and index finger.

“Ow!” (Riku)

“See, you’re here. I’m here. That was more than I could ever ask for. We’re here now, aren’t we?” He let go and placed his hand on the mattress

“...The headbutt wasn’t enough…?” I rubbed my cheek.

“Hehe, nope!” (Riku)

As much as I must’ve stressed him out, I wasn’t going to let that slide and got back into his arms. Unfortunately for him, he was on cloud nine at the wrong time.

Not noticing the rustling of my ice pack over his laughter, I saw Kabuto was looking over. He put a finger to his lips and in one swift motion made his way across his side of the room.

‘Oh, he’s in for it now.’

(Jules, no... If you’re going to criticize me then you better start pulling your weight too. What do you want?) (Hibiki)

(HA! Are you kidding? We’re doing this first!) I could’ve imagined the stupid grin on their face going ear to ear.

As Kohaku said, [Qi] on the other hand didn’t have a place in the psyche, that was physical. “Comparable to stamina.” That does use stamina, it’s the energy that allows us to go beyond the capabilities of a normal person. You can’t exert yourself if you’re out of it. The way I was using it was the least expensive.

Whether it’s in speed, strength, or durability, it made us superhuman. It also helped with regular illnesses which is why they were the most sought after even if that choice wasn't up to us.

***

But you can’t choose when or how you got them?” (Makoto)

“Nope, they were the ones to choose us. They could come and go as they please, to the fury of some people. The way I saw it was like watching a live stream, you could be interested and establish a bond to stick around, or you were just curious and left for another.”

“I see… So, which one of you established a relationship first?” (Makoto)

“...” Hibiki turned his head to get a good look at the people on his right.

“Huh?” Hotaru meanwhile was snacking on potato chips.

“I think that was me? I have been with Hisashi since the 4th wave.” (Kohaku)

“See, now you got me interested.” (Hibiki)

“Please don’t get off track, it was a giant pain in the ass. We get it.” (Makoto)

“I don’t see how it was that bad.” (Hotaru)

“Imagine needing a buzz saw just to get a blood sample out of a person and that had to be enchanted. The number of knives chefs had to go through when wildlife got affected. Now that was funny. A lot of restaurants had to close when it could go on for 2-3 days or even weeks.

It’s as if Rock Lee could always have just a tiny smidge of his gates open. It’s what allowed us to be superhuman.

Even if a practitioner just formed a bond with a specter, it was enough to block bullets and improve our body’s ability to act…

Not everyone was fucking monster like Kohaku when it came to that. Especially not immediately, but I’ll leave it at that.” (Hibiki)

***

I looked at Kabuto, mouthing our count off.

‘3… 2… 1!’

In sync, he dropped the contents of the bag into his shirt while I took my clump and dropped it into his pants.

The squeal to high heaven was my alert, I threw my hand up for five strings to make their connection. Riku flung his arms, jumping out of his bed while I reeled myself to the ceiling, making use of the tree exercise I was practicing before I was rudely interrupted to keep myself steady.

“AHH! Shoot! COLD!!!” (Riku)

Kabuto started making his escape while Riku was still distracted, and I wanted to laugh so hard but I wasn’t going to stick around for much longer. With a throw of my other arm, I stuck my chakra strings to the entrance.

Swinging over I could see that Riku was shaking out his legs with a furrowed brow and I decided to tuck and roll once I got part way through, and in quick succession, I knew I made the right move.

*Thud, thud, thud. *

Into the wall over me, three kunai were embedded vertically. The boy was out for my string.

Seeing that, I had to take the chance and not look back.

I made a mad dash after Kabuto.

“HIBIKI!” (Riku)

“This way!” Kabuto made his way around to the second hallway, with no sign of Riku behind us, probably getting the ice off, I followed.

“Go, go, go!” I was so ecstatic and although, I couldn’t get the Cursed Mandala down yet. There were some useful tricks I learned while trying.

Chakra flowed through my fingertips as my grin grew.

‘Just a little bit, just a little…’ I could see the small pricks of blue thread on my fingers changing in color getting paler and paler.

Once I saw white, I threw my crossed arms but kept my palms facing forward and watched as the magic happened.

*Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick*

‘Got it!’

The strings vanished just as Riku made his appearance, barreling down the hall with two kunai in his hand.

By the time I looked back, Kabuto made it out of the corridor, and I didn’t want to stick around when I saw chakra being coated around the two. I hastily threw my hand back and let the strings fly, feeling the connection to the ground and Riku released the kunai from his grasp.

‘It was all or nothing now.’

Dragging my body along as I dragged myself further down, wasn’t the most pleasant feeling as the multitude of pebbles and dirt were kicked up by my wake. I moved my hand to make up the sign for the Hiden technique after making the distance, the strings lit up making an X across the hall.

The cheeky grin on Riku’s face dropped and he slowed down, probably as hesitant as I was to see the results.

One of the kunai struck the glowing strings, failing to make it any further while the other sailed through, landing right in front of where I was. But that was all he needed.

Without waiting to see his expression. I ran as fast as I could in the hopes that he’d be too stunned by my awesomeness to do anything else.

Exasperated, I made it down the corridor. Gasping for air as I took in the view.

‘Wooden flooring, hallway, shelves, containers, Orochimaru….O- Orochimaru?’

I knew it couldn’t keep it up for much longer. With a small pain in my chest and rapid footsteps approaching, I ducked and rolled to the right before throwing my arm out once more.

*Tick, tick, tick*

The footsteps came to a halt, according to plan.

Instantaneously, I heard the strings snap and just laid against the wall. I thought I was going to be out of it again. Sweat on my skin, and my pants were a little brown from all the dirt and scrapped.

For the most part, I was fine.

“...Y- you’re fast. For someone who got ice up their-ACK!” Riku smacked my head before I could finish the sentence.

“That-” (Riku)

“That- was too much. I need a nap.” (Hibiki)

When a wonderful smell started to waft through, I looked back over to the sight of Orochimaru in an apron cooking over a stove with his hair tied up in a ponytail.

Don’t even ask me how that worked here. Jules was already on the job; we were going to make an album straight of him at that point.

Although a majority of the place was still stone and rubble, this area was much more like a home.

“What we both need is a bath. C’mon, let’s go.” Riku crouched down in front of me, and I climbed onto his back.

His little struggle to get back up got me to giggle.

Slightly hunched over, Riku made his way to the other hall, revealing yet another passageway shorter than everything else I saw. Just two rooms, one on the left and one on the right.

Riku took a pause as he faced the right door before raising his clenched fist and as gently as he could.

*Knock, knock*

“We’re coming in, Kabuto.” (Riku)

“Go ahead.” (Kabuto)

I didn’t know how close they were, but I had all the time in the world to find out.

What I laid my eyes upon was a room that was reminiscent to me. That’s why it pissed me off the most.

(Hey, Jules?) (Hibiki)

(I’m pretty sure we’re both thinking the same thing.) (Jules)

Lining the walls were red clay tiles that were separated by a large plank of granite. The floor was lined with brown tiles but what really hit the mark was the long-framed painting of a mountain against the wall and faucets lining the wall along with empty wooden buckets beneath them.

At the end of the room was a rectangular bath…

The very same bathhouse from Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie was right before my eyes.

‘Oh, brother…’

*Click*