“So, what do you find funny?” Willy asked.

 

    I stared at him with an apprehensive expression. I struggled to talk to him casually after he nearly gave me a heart attack. I could still feel my chest recuperating. “Nothing… Please stop asking.”

 

    “Everyone laughs at something! Maybe…” He dragged his last word while he contemplated. “Are you into dark humor? Maybe the gun thing was too far. Would you find that funny if I did it to someone else or do you think it’s a bad bit in general?”

 

    The way he was looking at me gave the impression that he was genuinely asking, but it was still creepy. Something about him wasn’t like Garald at all.

 

    “No, it’s not funny in any way. Everyone in this thing knows they can die at any moment. It’s messed up to prey on that.” I decided to reply to him seriously, since he was showing me hospitality by letting me come into their tent and snack on some kind of cooked meat.

 

    “I see… I should have been more considerate. I forget that people are still afraid of death.” He giggled.

 

    “I think most people are.” I replied nonchalantly.

 

    “Yes, yes, it is sad.”

 

    It seemed that no matter the tone, his smile wouldn’t vanish. What a weirdo.

 

    “I’m going to start with you, kid! I’m gonna brighten your whole life up. I’ll find what makes you happy if it’s the last thing I do.”

 

    “What makes me happy..?” I thought that answering that might be a bad idea if my plan is to keep my cover as an abandoned traveler. Besides, I shouldn’t tell him things he doesn’t need to know, even if it seems harmless. “I wish you would stop, but I know what you captains are like.”

 

    “Hoho! If you know it’s worthless to make me stop, then you’ll be saving me some time by dropping the resistance!”

 

    “That doesn’t mean I’m going to go along with it!” I noticed myself raising my voice and quickly returned to my prior relaxed position, coughing into my balled fist. “Th… Thanks for the food.”

 

    Willy smiled and stepped outside. “I hope you’ll get to meet Sonya soon. She will be so happy to have picked up another stray cat.”

 

    “Another…” Oh, I guess he means Michael.

 

    Michael… That guy. He’s still outside. What the hell is a captain doing here by himself? Did he have the same idea as me? No, it’s too bold to send your captain when there’s a great chance that someone saw you at the start. Did his whole team really…?

 

    I tilted my head to see outside of the opening in the tent. I didn’t want to put myself in front of them more than necessary. I’d rather keep away from them until they trust me. Although, if I don’t hang out with them, won’t it be harder to get their trust… Well, Willy sure seems to trust me, despite how I talk to him.

 

    “Hey.” I froze. I heard his voice before I heard his footsteps. Michael lowered his head into the tent and entered, sitting beside me. I tried not to make it obvious that I was afraid of him.

 

    Afraid? Was that the right word? I wasn’t sure if I was scared by him. In a way, I was, but I wasn’t physically intimidated by him. He didn’t look much stronger than me.

 

    “Hi. Michael, right?”

 

    “Yes. You are Yu.”

 

    “I am…” Should I have used a fake name instead?

 

    “Interesting. I’m very happy I got to meet you so early. This can’t be considered anything more than a twist of fate.” 

 

    I turned to look at him when he said that. His eyes were looking straight at me and yet not, as if they saw something on the back of my head. His smile wasn’t as large and obnoxious as Willy’s, but it was definitely less genuine.

 

    “What are you talking about? Do you know me?” I tried to sound normal.

 

    “Not exactly… I saw you. When we were on the ship.”

 

    “Oh, yeah? Funny…”

 

    “You saw me too, right?”

 

    Gulp… “Yeah. Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.”

 

    “No worries. I didn’t see you staring.” He said. “I could tell from your reaction that you knew me from somewhere.”

 

    Once again, I tried my best to keep up the pleasant tone despite him saying such a thing. “And you’re sure I didn’t know you from before this game started?”

 

    “Quite unlikely.”

 

    Neither of us spoke for a bit. He didn’t stop looking at me.

 

    He broke the silence. “I like you, Yu.”

 

    My composure was shattered as my head quickly turned to him. “W-What?”

 

    “You remind me of…” He paused. “...what my child would be like if I had one.”

 

    I was completely dumbfounded by that. I scoured my brain for possible replies. “Thanks…?”

 

    “Was that weird? My apologies. I was simply eager to meet you. I thought I would have to travel a lot further than I did.”

 

    “You wanted to see me that badly..? Did you abandon your team for that?” I inquired.

 

    “Oh, no. Not at all. They all died, just a few days ago.”

 

    “Oh.” This guy really seemed like he had no feelings. Three people that he personally chose are dead and he’s chatting about it like this? That comment about his child was seemingly contradictory, though. Not to mention how interested he seemed in meeting me, more than even his dead allies. Maybe he does care about things, but his sense of what to care for and what not to care for are backwards… I decided to scan him for answers. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

 

    “Don’t be. I didn’t know them or care for them at all.”

 

    So blunt, too. It was odd. His face betrayed a total lack of emotion that would be associated with lying, but the way they came out made me unable to doubt him. Why would anyone lie about such a thing?

 

    “Aren’t you a little too open with someone you just met..?” Both he and Willy were getting me to open up more with their bizarre but straightforward personalities. Maybe that’s part of their trick…

 

    “Oh, I guess we did only just meet.” Did he seriously forget?! “I feel like I can trust you, though. I can’t say what it is, but I get a certain feeling from you. From the first time I saw you, you stood out among the crowd because of how much you didn’t stand out.”

 

    I gulped. We both got a feeling from each other… I wondered how much of his comment about “fate” earlier was a joke.

 

    “In a good way..?”

 

    “I don’t know. I want to find out.”

 

    Right… “Well, keep me updated.” I laughed stiffly.

 

    “If you’ll let me.” With that, he left the tent. I wanted to ask him how much of that he told the others, but I couldn’t think of a way to say it without being suspicious. Those other two… Damian and Maya, I think. They seem to have their heads screwed on tighter than their captain, but they listened to him without question. Wonder if that’s a trend… Doesn’t matter. Damian and Maya won’t let me get away with whatever I want. They must be keeping their eyes on me and Michael.

 

    

 

    

   I remained in the tent, not touching their blanket or anything, just in case it gave off the wrong idea. I had decided not to step out unless I was called, and they didn’t call on me for a long while. I was almost getting worried. Were they deciding on what to do with me? Maybe the two sensible ones were trying to convince the captain to get rid of me. I heard a third one returning from scouting alone, presumably the girl that Willy had mentioned earlier. I didn’t want to risk seeming suspicious to get a look at her, though. If I stayed here then I’d learn about her eventually.

 

    “Oh, Yu! Yoo-hoo!” I winced at the sound of Willy’s annoying voice piercing my eardrums. I waited until he continued with his intentions. “Come meet Miss Sonya!” Taken aback by this, I decided to appear from the tent. I saw a new face, a tall woman with big, puffy, bright blue and pink hair. What’s with this team and having weird hair?

 

    Her eyes lit up when she saw me. Before I knew it, I was flung off the ground, but instead of flying and landing on my head, she was holding me tight with her arms wrapped around my abdomen. She stared up at me with giant, gleaming eyes. That was all I saw because I actively ignored the sizable cushioning pressed into my stomach.  “You’re just as cute as I was told!”

    “Ah, hey- What the..!” My arms were extended out, frozen as I tried to fathom what was happening. Oh, I thought, so she’s like that tool.

    “Sorry, Willy told me you were an introvert, but I couldn’t help myself!” She dropped me suddenly onto my feet, which rattled me a bit. “I’m Sonya…”

 

    “I heard.” I cut her off without thinking while I gathered myself once more.

 

    “Heehee! Jeez, Willy, you really know my type, huh? Are you picking them up on purpose for me?”

 

    “Of course not! Mere coincidence.”

 

    My face got a little red. “Type?” Am I the same type as Michael to her?

 

    Sonya firmly placed both of her hands down on my shoulders. “Oh, not like that! You’re far too young for me.”

 

    Willy interrupted my scattered thoughts, “She likes playing mother, dear Yu, so don’t be mean.” He laughed.

 

    “That’s not it either!” She growled at Willy, although I could tell she was being playful. Her eyes shot over at me to check how I reacted to their interaction. My reaction was none at all. Despite the fact that she was partially putting on a show, she felt authentic in her feelings. I wasn’t sure exactly how to compare her to Willy. Was I just biased because she said she liked me? No, I’m not that simple. I still couldn’t explain it, though.

 

    “Well, at least Yu is easy to tease. Mikey is rude and not in the fun way…” Sonya pouted. Upon being reminded of him, I scanned the area for a moment until I saw Michael staring at me. I shivered. What a creepy guy.

 

    “I am not rude.” Michael lifted his hand up, palm flat and tilted his wrist back in a surprisingly charming pose. “I’m fully capable of being kind to people when I see fit.”

 

    See fit? I almost laughed at the lack of self-awareness in that comment.

 

    “If it’s not fit now, I don’t see when it ever will be.” Willy shrugged.

 

    “You’d be shocked.” Michael grinned and walked away. I couldn’t tell if the cold feeling I got from his expression was really there or just my imagination. Thinking about it, he told me that I was special and that was why he was talking so openly with me. I wondered if he felt the same about these two and that was why he had teamed up with them. Well, I wouldn’t feel very special if there were this many other special people…

 

     “Hey, Willy, are the other two warming up to our guests?” Sonya asked.

 

    “Afraid not. They’re treating Yu about the same as Mikey.”

 

    I scoffed. A part of me really didn’t want to push it and try to make friends with those two, but I knew that if they remained mistrustful of me that my job would be a lot harder.

 

    “Damian especially isn’t liking it. You know how he is.” Sonya sighed.

 

    I made a mental note to be more wary of him. I didn’t want to leave now, since they had called me here and I didn’t want to seem too eager to get back to something. Willy suddenly approached me with a few long steps.

 

    “Yu! Forgive us if Maya and Damian are rude to you. They’re just worried about me. I wish they would believe in me more, but know that they are not unnecessarily judgmental people like you may think.”

 

    I responded awkwardly. “Oh, no, I understand. They sound nice if they’re worried about their captain.”

 

    “I prefer to think of myself as their friend, but I think the thought of me as their captain is putting too much weight on them. I wish they’d take my advice more seriously…”

 

    He almost looked sad. I still struggled to tell what kind of emotions I was supposed to be getting from him. “Well, let me know if you want me to do anything.” I added. “You can keep spies on me, or whatever you need to do.”

 

    “Oh, no need. I trust you. Do whatever you want. I would like it if you could help us out, though.”

 

    What is with people handing out their trust to me so easily today..? “That right? Haha… Well, I’ll see if I can do some chores for you.”

 

    Still, I didn’t want to do anything that the other two might find suspicious.

 

    As I left Willy’s line of sight, I walked to the edge of the camp and scanned the forest surrounding it. I was curious if any of the berries or herbs that Rubi showed me would be around here for me to collect as a sign of good will. A hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back, causing me to let out an embarrassing yell as I turned around, eyes wide. It was Maya.

 

    “What are you so jumpy for? You weren’t trying to hide anything, were you?”

 

    “N-No, I’m just… sensitive about my back…” I shuddered. For a moment, it felt like the old wound I got from the ninja guy was burning again. She didn’t seem to think I was lying.

 

    “Sorry about that. You know, when Michael got here, we made him do some sparring with us. It’s only natural that we get to know how you fight, if you want to freeload off of us.” She gestured behind her with a thumb. I saw Damian leaning over the river to drink some water with his cupped hands.

 

    “Sure, I don’t mind.” I followed her hesitantly. Damian wiped his lips and glared at me. Michael was already sitting a distance away from us, watching with his head in his hands.

 

    “Michael is a pitiful fighter, but at least he’s a good doctor. Are you going to provide us anything in exchange for our hospitality?” The man asked me. I gulped.

 

    “I’ve been training a lot, lately. I had a really good teacher.”

 

    Damian raised an eyebrow at me as he started stretching his arms. “Is that so?”

 

    “Yes. I could also maybe show you how to carve a cup out of a tree for drinking water…”

 

    Everybody looked at me in surprise for a second.

 

    “From a tree..?” Maya broke the silence. “That sounds… gross.”

 

    “...Okay. Sorry.”

 

    Damian gently hit his balled fist against my chest before backing up to create distance between us. “That can come later. Come on, show me what you got.”

 

    I nodded my head and took up my newly trained Muay Thai stance. I was without the trusted knife, so I held my hands at a distance apart in front of my head and one leg raised slightly. Damian seemed surprised to see this.

 

    “You’re rather short and skinny for that, huh?”

 

    “Heh. Want to find out?” Since he was being a little playful, I responded in my own somewhat stilted way, still unsure if I should be talking to him like that.

 

    Damian hunched his back forward and held his hands open in front of his chest, aimed at me. His form looked a little more trained than mine. It made me feel that he wasn’t hiding anything, which made me feel better about revealing my style so early. Part of me wondered if I should hide my style until the time we fought seriously, but I’m too inexperienced. They’d notice for sure that I was holding back and would probably reach a conclusion about my loyalty.

 

    He didn’t wait for a bell. He lunged toward me, causing me to take a couple of steps back. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and used the newly lightened leg to thrust a kick toward him. He moved to the side slightly and let my leg graze his ribs so that he could wrap his arms around it and twist, causing me to lose balance and immediately hit my ass on the ground. To my surprise, he didn’t stop there. He wrapped his arms around mine and put it behind my back while his legs locked around my hips, crushing me into a pretzel.

 

    “Ow! I give!” I yelped as I tapped his side repeatedly with my other arm, crushed under my weight but just barely able to move my wrist. He sighed and released me. We both stood up.

 

    “You didn’t stop me from grabbing you and you didn’t do anything when I did.”

 

    “I know…” I rubbed my hips. I hoped they weren’t bruised.

 

    “I’ll never trust you if you aren’t going to take this seriously.”

 

    Was he testing me? Maybe he wanted to make me slip up and reveal my plan? I glimpsed over at Michael to try and gather from his expression if they had given him this treatment too, but from the calm smile on his face I could immediately tell that trying to make him crack on anything would be pointless.

 

    “I am taking this seriously. I’ve been serious since we got here.”

 

    I wasn’t about to try entering the zone I was in the other day, but I would give it all I reasonably could. It’s not like this is life or death, but they need to know, or at least think, that I’m serious. I brought myself back into the memories of calmly analyzing my opponent. I watched Damian lower himself into a stance again. My body lowered too. I didn’t copy his stance, though. There was still room for my leg to shoot up if necessary.

 

     I wasn’t as comfortable using my leg as I was using my knife. I decided to think of this as a continuation of my training. Besides, it’ll be a good shock when they get to see me fight with a weapon for the first time in our real fight.

 

    He thrust himself towards me again, arms circling me from each side in an attempt to trap me. Before those arms could get too close, I took one step back with my planted leg and swung my loose leg up with a slight curve, aiming for the side of his head with the small space between his arms. It was a very tight turn, given that if I touched his arm he would probably grab my leg and flip me over. I grit my teeth and tightened my leg muscles to keep it in the trajectory I imagined, but my arc was a bit too wide, allowing Damian to bring his nearest arm to wrap underneath my leg, then grabbing it with the other arm and ripping me off of my foot in much the same way he had in our first exchange. This time, he didn’t follow up with a grapple. He just watched me stand up.

 

    “Ugh! Damn…” I coughed. “You know I wasn’t coming at you the same-”

 

    “Yeah, yeah, I could tell. Your instincts are pretty good to aim for such an opening, but your body can’t keep up with them.”

 

    I wanted to tell him it wasn’t instincts, that I was trying to process all of that information in my head as fast as possible, but I didn’t feel like arguing about it. Especially when I just failed. Instincts might play a part in it, but before this whole thing I’d only ever been in one or two fights in my life, none of which being recent, so why would I have any sort of instinct for this stuff?

 

    “You’re being pretty nice to me, considering how suspicious I am.” I didn’t feel the need to mince my words. His mistrust for me was already so high.

 

    “Fists don’t lie like people do.” Damian stared down at me coldly. Michael chuckled after hearing this, loud enough for me to hear.

 

    “So, you’re distrustful of everyone? Makes me feel better. I thought I did something to upset you.”

 

    “Not everyone.” He lowered his arms, releasing tension. “Is that really the best you can do? You’re not good at that style, you know.”

 

    “I know, I know. It’s just something I picked up recently so I wanted to try it. In theory, it should be the best I can do, but I’m too new at it.”

 

    “You said that as if you had a method of fighting before this.”

 

    “Well, I learned how to use a knife but our knife was taken when my teammates were taken by surprise.” I lied brazenly.

 

    “Sorry to hear that.”

 

    “I learned some unarmed techniques, though. Pretty sure it was called Kali. I started learning Muay Thai but I should’ve known I wasn’t good enough to learn two at once. I only just started learning the other one!” I complained in a lighthearted way. I hoped to make the mood a bit better.

 

    “Figure it out. If you’re gonna fight with us you better not die in our first mission.”

 

    I gulped. I guess they would want me to join them on expositions. Even if I’m potentially hostile, they couldn’t turn down the extra hands. With Michael and I here, this team was relatively huge.

 

    “We’ll need all the help we can get, what with me being the only combatant and all.”

 

    …Huh?!

 

    “What’s with that look? Are you saying your whole team was full of fighters?” He frowned.

 

    “Uh… Kinda, yeah. I guess I just assumed…”

 

    “Seriously?” He wore a shocked face. “No wonder somebody who looks like you was able to learn so much in such a short time.”

 

    “Hey, no need for jabs…” I huffed. “But seriously, Sonya was so strong, shouldn’t she…”

 

    “Why should she have to fight?!” He barked at me. “Can you tell me she’s got the heart for it? Even after just one meeting, you should have known.”

 

    I paused. “I guess you’re right…” Once again, my own team got in the way of my perception of these people. Were my friends really that odd?

 

    That seemed to have gotten Damian in a foul mood again, as he took on his fighting stance and glared at me. I raised my fists in front of me in a more familiar but less impressive stance like what I used when I first started training.

 

    Damian continued, “The only reason I’m allowing myself to begin to almost trust you is because we won’t sustain ourselves the way it is now. Maya is trying her best despite not having an inclination for it.”

 

    “I’d be interested in how she and I compare.” I remarked.

 

    “She’s probably got you beat.”

 

    I couldn’t tell if that was an observation or an insult. He ran in suddenly, low like before. Low stances weren’t something I had trained to take down with this style before. In my surprise, I lowered my hips so that my arms could reach him without having to adjust my attacks, but I quickly realized this was a mistake as he shifted even lower to pull my left leg and drop me on my butt once more.

 

    “That was the easiest one. What kind of awful balance was that?”

    “You didn’t say go!”

 

    “Worthless excuses.”

 

    This asshole… 

 

    Damian continued to speak. “Whoever taught you must have thought you were never going to get put on the floor. Did you learn even a little bit of grappling?”

 

    I shrugged. “I’m not a grappler though…”

 

    “Too simple! The real world is more complex.” He didn’t let me finish before butting in. “Like what happened just now, you’re going to get taken down even if you don’t train for it. For you to beat me, you have to do your optimal move on me several times. For me to beat you, I only have to do mine once.”

 

    “Don’t rub it in…”

 

    “Not what I was doing, you dumbass! Your moronic teacher didn’t even…”

 

    Gritting my teeth in annoyance at his attitude, I stood up and grabbed the scruff of his shirt roughly. “Watch your-” He grabbed the outside of my arm before I could realize how aggressive I had become and forced it off. Moving my arm in the direction of his free hand, he grabbed the inside of it so that both of his hands were holding my right arm in place. Because my upper body had been twisted by this, I couldn’t hit him with my left fast enough. I noticed that this position was primed for the knees I had been training lately, so my left leg that was newly turned towards him shot up and hit my knee right into his ribs. I noticed that he had tensed up right before I landed it, but he didn’t notice fast enough to stop it. He let go of my arm with one hand, but the other was still gripping me tight.

 

    “Hey, are you two still training or what?!” Maya got up from her seat and yelled at us as she approached. She grabbed both of our arms and glared at us. We scowled a moment longer before we let each other go.

 

    The tense air was cut by Damian’s next words. “You’re really cocky for a stray. You know we don’t have to keep you here, right?”

 

    “If that’s how you want to talk about my friends then I’d rather fend for myself.” Our fight suddenly being separated left my heart beating with a sense that I needed to complete it, but now I knew that it would be childish.

 

    His angered face lightened up, only a little bit. “Even if you’re an arrogant kid, it makes me feel like I can trust you more knowing that you won’t hide your feelings just to get on our good side.”

 

    I didn’t feel very happy to learn that at the moment, even if it was bringing me closer to my goal. “Who’s the arrogant one? You think you’re better than my teacher?”

 

    “If your teacher isn’t trash, then you must be the one wasting all of their teachings! If you can knock me down then I’ll say you two aren’t bad.” He took his fighting stance again, not saying another word. I understood the weight of the situation even without him saying it. 

 

    Thinking about it, Rubi probably hasn’t considered the situation of being on the ground like that since she’s so small and fast. That may have blinded her from realizing that she should teach me about it, or maybe she wouldn’t be able to teach me even if she thought to. Even if she’s very straightforward in her view of the world, I wouldn’t let some guy like this talk shit about her. I can criticize her because she’s my friend. He doesn’t even know her. He can’t do that. I’ll make sure he can’t.

 

    He was waiting patiently for me to approach him. He must know as well as I do that kicking him as a first move would be difficult if he’s watching me this intently. I stepped in with my right foot, trying to tempt him into lashing out at it. I reeled back my fist to swing at the side of his head just to make sure he didn’t find my bait too obvious. He watched my fist intently until the moment it struck forward, which he dodged effortlessly by dropping low. In the same movement, he would lunge at the leg I had extended. I knew it, he wouldn’t expect me to be able to make a decision in such a short moment. I shifted my right leg back and planted my left leg forward, switching their positions as well as my stance. I used the momentum of my upper body rotating to punch down at his head. However, he launched himself towards my chest faster than my fist could reach him and trapped the moving arm with his own. He slipped behind me and brought my arm with him, pinning it behind my back. He then kicked the back of my knee so that I would fall onto it.

 

    He was panting loudly. “Not bad. You already showed me earlier that you’re willing and able to make sudden, sharp movements like that when you tried to kick me earlier. I was expecting you had a plan. You’re the kind of person whose brain kicks into high gear when you’re under pressure, am I right?”

 

    I was frustrated that the best move I could think of didn’t work. Without any knowledge of the matchup, that was the best I could do to beat a grappler like him. It was totally different than training with Garald. Garald relied on his instincts and his size, but this guy wasn’t even that much bigger than me. He had way more muscle, but I got the feeling he could do this even to someone as big as him or bigger. “How’d you know?” I replied.

 

    “It was confirmed just now, but I was curious. So that kick before wasn’t instinct after all, you were watching me like an animal on the hunt. Maybe you could call it instinct, then. Manual instinct?”

 

    “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you’re making it sound way cooler than it is.” I sighed.

 

    “Yeah, true.” He chuckled. “It’s something you should try to hone if you want a chance at beating me.”

 

    “I don’t want tips from my enemy right now. It doesn’t mean anything unless I beat you with Rubi’s teachings.”

 

    “Enemy is a bit harsh, don’t you think?”

 

    I realized that I said more than I should have. He seemed like he was gauging my reaction but he wasn’t as distrustful as he was at the start. “You’re my enemy until I make you admit my teacher is great.”

 

    “I’ll accept that, then. No more tips from me.”

 

    Maya sighed extra loud just so we could hear her. “Are you drama queens done? Michael was way easier.”

 

    Damian clicked his lip, annoyed. “Michael was easier because he didn’t give us anything to work with! I don’t know a thing about him, nor do I trust him.”

 

    He didn’t say it, but his words betrayed that he trusted me at least a little bit now. 

 

    Betrayal… I didn’t like the feeling. I pushed it out of my head while I was talking to him and now it was coming back to me along with a sense that I was doing something malicious. I didn’t want to forget that I was doing it while I was talking to them, or else I would feel evil when it returned, but if I was constantly thinking about it then I would be too awkward. I need to be genuine with them. Keeping them at an arm’s length for my own feelings won’t get the job done. I know that this is an acceptable thing to do. My friends and I are in a life or death situation and any advantage we can get is worth it. If I stop myself from doing the right thing just because I feel bad, then I may as well not even be on their team. I need to do the hard things that Rubi can’t.

 

    

 

    

    After that, I sparred with Maya some. I beat her at first, but then she beat me twice in a row. We stopped after that. Michael didn’t join at all. Damian and Maya spoke amongst themselves about their misgivings, mostly regarding Michael’s apparent lack of effort.

 

    “So, do you trust them?” Michael’s voice suddenly appeared right in my ear. I shivered and jumped back, only to see him smiling. “Sorry, sorry, I thought you could hear me approaching.”

 

    “Do I trust them? Well, it’s not really my place to trust them, is it? We’re the outsiders here.”

 

    “I see, I see. I think you should have some more agency than that, Yu. Are you just here to be of use to them or would you like them to be of some use to you as well?”

 

    I didn’t answer for a bit. “Well, they’re feeding me so I guess I do trust them. It’s not really about that, though. I don’t trust their captain, or I should say I don’t trust his decision making skills. I’m betting on his incomprehensible personality continuing to be beneficial to us.”

 

    Michael smiled again. Like before, his eyes didn’t show as much emotion as his mouth. “Well said, Yu.”

 

    “What do you mean by that? Don’t smile like that if you’re going to talk in such a monotone voice.”

 

    “Oh. Sorry…” His smile dropped to a neutral expression very quickly. “I can’t emote very well.”

 

    I flinched. “Urgh! N-No, I’m sorry. I’m way too judgmental.”

 

    He smiled, but smaller this time. More casual. His eyes were still mostly blank, though. “It’s alright, Yu. I get that a lot.”

 

    Damn… Back at school, I’d be the one getting talked to like how I’m talking to him now. I’m the last person who should be getting onto people for not showing emotions properly. The nasty feeling I got from him back on the ship was mostly gone now, too. I was beginning to feel bad for how quickly I judged him.

 

    Willy was carrying a few dead rabbits in each of his clenched fists, adding them to the pile of food that Sonya was cooking. “Ah, welcome back! You four were out there for a while. Was it fruitful?”

 

    Damian sat down around the campfire with a grumpy look. “It was something, I guess.”

 

    Maya chimed in, “Yu is better at fighting than Michael but worse than me.”

 

    “Hey, we don’t have a big enough sample size!” I yelled from further away.

 

    Willy gave a haughty laugh. “Splendid! Regardless of fighting ability, I’m glad you’re getting along!”

 

    Damian and I were silent. We refused to look at each other. Is this what he considered “getting along?” I thought about what Damian said during training. About how he gained trust for me when I stood up to him. That wasn’t my intent. It wasn’t a play to gain his trust. Just like with Willy in the tent this morning, I found myself falling into their routine, bouncing off of Damian like he was my rival or something. Damn, that felt bad. Maybe it was a calculated move. Maybe I’m more manipulative than I thought. I mean, for this to be my first thought instead of just striking up a conversation with them, I must be a natural liar.

 

    “Cheer up, you two.” Sonya shoved some cooked meat into both of our mouths. Damian’s eyes widened and he spat it out into his hands, blowing his tongue. Mine wasn’t that hot, so I calmly ate it. Willy giggled whimsically. This Willy guy… He seemed like he would be very cooperative if I had come to him with an alliance from the start.

 

    No… Way too risky. Am I really in a position to lay everything bare to a potential enemy? Even if they might not be an enemy to begin with. I get the feeling that Damian and Maya would do the same thing to my team, even if their captain wouldn’t want to. We’re all just doing our job… No reason to get down about it. If I reveal that I’m a spy now, they’ll kill me before I can even say a word about working together. I had a better chance of doing that before I committed to this bit.

 

    “So, why do you pronounce your name that way, Mikey?” Willy broke my daydreaming with his tactless question. I looked up to see that Damian and Maya were already off to bed. The sky was orange but it was still early to sleep. They take their duty seriously, I guessed.

 

    Michael replied, “It’s a Hebrew name, so I pronounce it correctly. From my perspective, everyone else is wrong.”

 

    “Oho! Classy!” Willy laughed and flipped over the roasting rabbits with a long stick. Both sides were brown now, so he stood up and dropped to a squat with his long, spider-like legs to blow out the fire.

 

    I was hesitant to, but I started a conversation anyway. “Hey, Will, do they always go to sleep early?”

 

    “Oh, well, they have since they were brought to this ship. When they aren’t training or fighting other teams, they’re resting. That’s one of the things they won’t listen to me about.”

 

    “I see.” I bit into my fleshy meal again. “I’ve never seen any animals but fish around here.”

 

    “Really? These fluffy guys can’t stay away from me! I hope we can find a vegetarian alternative some time soon. I wonder if setting up a farm is possible here. That crafty alien, I wish I had asked it more questions. I didn’t expect our battlefield to be anything like this.”

 

    I nodded along while eating. I doubted that these rabbits were very much “alive,” if they were created the same way the rest of this so-called nature was. Michael took very small bites, I noticed.

 

    “You and the other two make a funny team.” Willy said. “Try not to go at each other's throats seriously. They’ve been on edge ever since Yuto…”

 

    “Who’s that?” I was suddenly intrigued.

 

    “Oh, he arrived with Michael. He was a well-built Japanese man. Clearly a bodybuilder.”

 

    My eyes perked up. “Did he have a gray T-shirt and dyed hair?”

 

    “Yes, did you know him?”

 

    “No, but we encountered someone fitting that description. Right when the alien announced to us to begin, he burst into our camp. We subdued him and told him to leave. He stuck out to us for being so scared despite how big he was. I figured it was natural to be scared in a situation like this but he must have been terrified to flee from his team immediately.”

 

    Willy hummed quietly until I finished. “Yes, yes, that must be him. Michael and Yuto both lost their entire teams and teamed up until they met us and asked for refuge.”

 

    “Really?!” I gulped. Was everybody coming up with the “lost their team” lie or were people really dropping like flies this early?

 

    “Oh, yes. It isn’t just you. Michael said that Yuto wouldn’t explain his whole situation to him but when he arrived at our camp and had some food and drink, he spoke. His captain was a man named Kenzo. Even bigger than him. Apparently Yuto recognized him as a regular at his gym but they weren’t friends. He wasn’t sure why he was chosen to be on that team as basically a stranger. The other two men were also bodybuilders. A cold yet smart plan for victory, to simply bring the strongest people you know. He didn’t want to recall what happened after that, or maybe he couldn’t, but we gathered that his other two teammates were killed and an attempt was made on his life as well. We’re pretty sure that Kenzo was their assailant.”

 

    “On his own team?!” I gasped.

 

    “We’re unsure why. Maya and Damian were distrustful of him at first, but they felt bad after seeing how he had been traumatized. They opened up to him ever so slightly. We agreed to protect him from this beast of a man. We took turns defending him so there was never a time where one of us wasn’t watching him. There was always a witness and yet, two nights later when Damian was guarding him, Yuto was shot in the head. We think he was, anyway. There was no noise of a gun nor any remains of a bullet, and although we wasted no time in searching the area, there was nobody. One minute Yuto was fine and the next his head was open. I can’t imagine what poor Damian must have felt at that moment…”

 

    I gulped loudly. I was starting to understand what Willy meant when he said that those two were different since then. My eyes slowly turned to Michael to gauge his reaction. As always, unreadable. Surely they considered that Michael was a suspicious person, right? They wouldn’t leave him unattended when they suspect a crazed killer is after them. Not to mention, they showed up together. Although, they definitely would have noticed if Michael had made any suspicious movements given how cautious Damian and Maya are. It didn’t seem like Kenzo needed any help carrying it out anyway.

 

    “I suspect that this Kenzo person wanted to scare us.” Michael said with the usual unfeeling voice. “If he could kill two bodybuilders then are we to assume it was a miracle that Yuto escaped? It could be, but Willy, did you see Kenzo while we were in the alien’s room?”

 

    “Oh, I fear not. I was in the back of the room. There were too many captains to narrow it down to one. You mean you saw Kenzo’s face?”

 

    “Yes. I witnessed him attacking the alien.”

 

    Rubi told us about that, I thought to myself.

 

    Michael continued, “He was clearly a person obsessed with fighting, or maybe killing. He wanted to beat the alien with his bare hands. I thought he may have been angry at the alien for doing this, which is natural, but he took it out on his teammates.They were all strangers and very strong. Why did he pick such strong men if he wanted to kill them as soon as able? Maybe his victims being powerful is part of the thrill to him. That alien would be the strongest being in the known universe, so the logic is consistent with what I saw.”

 

    “My captain told me about him too.” I added. I wanted to see if he would continue to be consistent with what I knew, just in case he was creating a favorable narrative, but it lined up. “She saw the attack on the alien.”

 

    Michael smiled at me, a small one as if he had taken my comment about his grins into account.

 

    “My, that does make sense!” Willy exclaimed. “You chose a good moment to break your silence, Mikey.”

 

    “I’m quiet because I’m constantly analyzing the situation. You should be more appreciative.”

 

    “Scary stuff.” I added. “What’s your conclusion, though? Did you tell us this for a reason?”

 

    “Ah, right. I think he allowed Yuto to escape so that he could warn others of his existence. If everybody knows about him, then strong people may come for him. At least, I assume that is his goal. He proved that Yuto wasn’t lying by killing him once the message was relayed. He wants us to spread the fear on to other teams. Whether we do that or not is up to our captain.”

 

    Willy hummed again as he thought about what to say. “Well, that boy Kenzo has gotten us in a pickle. If we warn others then that will be exactly what he wants, but if we don’t then he may find that we’ve outlived our usefulness…”

 

    I thought to myself, if Kenzo was capable of killing Yuto without any detection then is he watching us now? Listening to us? If he is, then now that we’ve said his plan out loud, he must be ready for our decision. I wondered if we had played ignorant a little longer, would that have bought us more time?

 

    I shook my head to keep the paranoia away. “According to my captain, the big guy’s arm turned gray when he attacked. We assumed that he could turn his body into steel.” I said.

 

    Willy tilted his head comedically. “Steel? That’s a rather inhuman power.”

 

    I wasn’t sure how to reply to that. I guess it’s true, then. None of these guys have powers. Barb being able to create electricity changed what I thought was possible. I tried to remember what Rubi told us on the first day. She said she saw the captains using their powers, but she didn’t say that she got any information from the alien.

 

    “I wish I got to see these abilities up close, but that alien told me that I would start to awaken to some ability very soon. My only standard for an ability is Mikey’s.” Willy said.

 

    My gaze shot to Michael. “You have a power?! Only you?”

 

    “Oh, yes.” He looked down at his hands. “It’s not a very impressive one. I can make my fingernails slightly longer and use them to perform first aid. I used to be a doctor, though not for very long.”

 

    “Interesting…” Was he not going to tell me that? I guess there hasn’t been a reason to yet. He must be wary of me. I guess I was wary of him too, thinking he was a suspect earlier. I don’t know why I assumed he was in the same boat as me. He and I are from different teams, even if his is gone. If he’s a captain, he’s going to want to win over even Willy and I… I say that, but those two haven’t shown me nearly as much drive to win as Rubi. I was beginning to wonder if my expectations for other captains were set too high.

 

    “Are you thinking my power is not suitable for a captain?”

 

   “Huh?!” My face lit up so transparently. “Oh, well, yes… No offense. It’s a wonderful ability, being able to heal people.”

 

    “Thank you. I understand why you would think that. I’ve been a rather lousy captain, letting my teammates die before they even awakened to their abilities. I was the first one and yet it was of no help to them. Their wounds were far too deep. That day, I did not mourn the passing of strangers, but I did mourn my lack of passion.”

 

    “Wow…” Something told me I wasn’t going to get to hear him open up like that again any time soon.

 

    “All I can do is treat peoples’ outward injuries, haha! Understanding their mind is something beyond my ability.” Michael’s smile towards me was wide, much like when we first spoke.  Those hollow eyes of his were starting to give me a new meaning than they used to. They weren’t scary to me at that moment.

 

    “Michael, my boy,” Willy started, “I wish I had understood you sooner. That desire is exactly what makes you a man’s man. Whether you have succeeded or failed so far matters not compared to the passion you’ve just shown us!” He punched Michael’s shoulder with joyous glee beaming from his face. Michael winced, as Willy was much larger than him, but he smiled as well. “Thank you.”

 

    We ended up talking for so long that the sun was nearly out of sight. Willy spoke very little about himself but he was very happy to listen and talk about us.