Rubi’s consciousness slowly returned to her. As the blurriness of her surroundings faded, she saw that she was in front of a crowd of people she had never seen before. The room was dark, nearly robotic but not like anything she was familiar with, and the floor was cold to the touch. It was nowhere close to the carnival she was just at. Yu was nowhere to be seen. They were being so straightforward with their feelings for once and now it’s been interrupted. She was hoping to get back to them as soon as possible to clear that up. Looking around her for a bit, she realized that everyone was standing straight in rows with an empty path down the middle of them. Empty except for somebody’s leg sticking out.

    She stepped off of the glass platform she woke up on and took the closest empty spot she could see, which was beside an unremarkable older man with dark hair and darker eyes. “Why are we standing like this?” Rubi asked the crowd. The man whose leg she noticed earlier spoke, prompting her to look down and see him in the same row as her. He was sitting on the floor and smoking something, with the short boy standing next to him looking annoyed by it. His voice was far more relaxed than she imagined somebody could be in a scenario like this. “A voice told us to make room in the middle. That guy over there insisted we line up like this.”

 

    She looked toward where he had gestured and saw a skinny guy who looked around the same age as her frowning at him. “I don’t like being included among the peons but if we have to stand here, we can at least look somewhat dignified. Damn it, I’ll have a word with whoever orchestrated this once they show themselves.” She almost didn’t hear what he said since she was so busy staring at the crown resting on his head. What an impressively egocentric guy, she thought.

 

    Seeing that there were children younger than her among the crowd made her worried. What exactly were they called here for, she wondered. She decided that her questions would be answered in time and she stood patiently for roughly half an hour. More and more people appeared until the crowd was far bigger than when she had arrived. Her eyes wandered, noticing that the short boy from before was rubbing his eyes and blinking quickly as if to get something out of them.

 

    “Hey, you shouldn’t smoke in here. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here and there might not be good ventilation.” The others in the room were slightly surprised to see Rubi speak up. 

 

    The man gave her a wide-eyed look, like he was impressed with her. “Heh! Sure, kid. If it’s bothering you.”

 

    She smiled and nodded. He puffed into it once and put it out so that he could neatly store it in a small bag he had strapped to his leg.

 

    “Welcome, you special folks!” A voice rang through Rubi’s head. She reacted with shock, as did most of the others. The wall at the far end of the room opened up like a pair of sliding doors and revealed a giant, white figure. 

 

    Several people spoke up at once, including Rubi, but all of them had their mouths covered by long, blindingly fast limbs that sprouted from the creature. 

 

     “Hey, hey, let me talk, alright?” It spoke very casually. Its limbs retracted and nobody said a word.

 

    “Better! Okay so, nice to meet you. I’m an alien and you chosen people are responsible for saving your planet.”

 

    There was silence. Everyone in the room became tense. They stared at the thing in front of them with widening eyes, as though they were children finally being given their most wanted toy but unsure if they were allowed to take it yet.

 

    “That’s good,” it chuckled, “that’s the response I wanted from you all. Or should I say, if any of you had freaked out just now, I would have sent you home.”

 

    Rubi wanted to know more, but her voice was caught in her throat. She said nothing. Nobody did.

 

    “You guys are just as awesome as I hoped you’d be! Alright, let me actually explain. That was an intentionally provocative way to say it but it wasn’t wrong. I had to make sure none of you were gonna give me a boring reply. Now, you exceptional few, I’ll start from the top…”

 

    

 

    

    I wasn’t given much time to wake up before I was dragged by Damian into another training session. He made me train more often than Rubi had, but I didn’t feel like I was learning as much. Maybe that’s just me being lazy and trying to find a reason why I shouldn’t have to work as hard. Who can say? I thought that training alongside people with powers would make non-powered people easier to beat, but in hindsight that was dumb. The way these guys fought was hardly much different from how Rubi and Barb did, differences in fighting style aside. Those two could only really bring out their powers as preemptive strikes or last resorts and neither of those came up in casual spars.

 

    Oh yeah, powers… I forgot to ask them about that last night. Willy said something about how Michael’s power was the standard in his mind. It could be that he overrated Michael’s ability or that he really hadn’t seen any powers as flashy as fire or electricity. Did nobody in their team have powers? Were Damian and Maya hiding their powers from me during training? They were the ones who told me not to hold back, so it would be annoying if I learned they were doing that the whole time.

 

    Willy, though… That makes two team captains I’m associated with that I don’t know the powers of. Some captains awakened their powers as soon as they arrived on the ship, according to Rubi. The lady made sure not to tell us about her team’s powers but Willy doesn’t seem like he’s trying to keep me at arm’s length. I bet he would tell me if I asked him, but there’s no way the other two would let me be so suspicious. I’ll have to gain their trust more. I need to learn if they have any secret weapons like that or else I could get Rubi, Garald and Barb killed when the time comes.

 

     I took a breather from training for a bit, leaving the two to spar with each other. I stared at the trees behind them with a blank look on my face. Having been here for longer than a day, I had time to think about my decision to come here. I knew my decision to come here wasn’t for some self-sacrificial plan. I told Rubi I wasn’t going to do that. That said, I felt a little embarrassed at how stupid my reason was for coming up with this. If I needed to do something this elaborate to prove my worth then what’s the point? Wouldn’t my worth have shown itself already if I had any?

 

    “Hey! Quit spacing out.” I snapped back into reality and saw Maya standing in front of me, glaring down with her arms crossed. Was she trying to be scary or did that just happen by accident? Her and Damian have a lot in common. “Someone needs to go on a patrol, so…”

 

    Damian interrupted from behind. “I thought we were going? Why would we let this one out of the camp?”

 

    “Don’t be like that.” She replied. “It’s the same logic as when we sparred yesterday. Let’s see how they act in a practical scenario. If they really are a rat, then we should find out as soon as possible so we can take action, so let’s get this out of the way now.”

 

    I wondered what exactly “take action” meant in this scenario… As long as I keep it up, I won’t have to find out, I hope.

 

    Damian growled and rolled his eyes. “Fair enough…”

 

    “You can go with them if you’re worried.”

 

    “I’m not worried! You can do it. Have fun.” He didn’t even finish his sentence before he turned his back to us and walked off to camp.

 

    “Hmph.” She looked at me next as she spoke. “Our team usually does patrols as a duo, but since we’ve got 6 people now, I was going to suggest that he come with us. I guess he should stick here and watch Michael anyway. I doubt Willy and Sonya will keep as close an eye on him as they need to.”

 

    So these two are on guard duty, huh? “I don’t mind it. I’ll go.”

 

    “You weren’t allowed to say no to begin with.” She stated bluntly, without much malice, but it still made me flinch. She then followed Damian to camp, and I followed her.

 

    Those two… I felt bad for them. They hadn’t had a very good time this past week. Haven’t we all, though? Not an excuse to be so rude.

 

    Still, their trust issues are something I need to keep in mind. Not out of pity or anything, it’s just to make the mission easier. If I accidentally hit a sore spot with them, it could all go up in smoke. I reminded myself repeatedly that the choice was between these strangers’ happiness and my friends’ happiness. This sour feeling I’d been getting was going to go away eventually once I had adjusted to the reality of the situation.

 

    “I’ll go!” Sonya chirped from afar, but I could hear her as if she were yelling right into my ear. At least I won’t have to worry about her finding me out… 

 

    The two led me out of the camp, Maya sticking back to keep an eye on me. I walked stiffly, not pleased by the way I was being observed. I wondered if it was because I knew I was guilty or if I would’ve been like this anyway.

 

    I felt less desire to put my all into this compared to when I was doing it with my friends, but I looked around nonetheless, checking for the reactions of the other two and mimicking them to the best of my ability. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it would be so easy to sneak out and check on the others, just to let them know that I’m doing fine, but Maya would never let me do something like that so soon. It hasn’t been that long so the others are definitely fine.

 

    Nothing abnormal came up. Nobody spoke, either. I was starting to hope that somebody would say something just to cut the tension. I couldn’t see Sonya’s face but I assumed she wasn’t very worried. Why couldn’t she be this quiet at the camp instead?

 

    “Let us know if you’re feeling claustrophobic.” Maya said. I wondered if I was making it so obvious that I was uncomfortable.

 

    I glanced back at her for a moment, then turned back to focus on the path ahead of us. “You care?”

 

    “I’m not heartless. I’m keeping you at a reasonable distance, if you ask me.”

 

    “That’s true, I guess.” Doesn’t feel great, though. “Thank you.”

 

    We walked until Sonya pointed at the ground ahead of us to the left. I didn’t see anything until she kneeled in front of some flowers and started plucking them. “Mikey showed me this! He said they make great medicine.”

 

    So other groups have people who know about that stuff… Makes sense. “Oh, can you guys show me plants I should be on the lookout for?” I asked.

 

    “Sure.” Maya replied. “Michael said he was going to, but I guess he got distracted.”

 

    “I would appreciate it.” I tried to remember what Rubi had taught me about plants to look out for, but I was drawing a blank. Maybe I would notice them if I saw them. We kept walking and I kept my eyes peeled for medicinal supplies. After some time, I signaled them to something hanging from a tree branch. Some red berries.

 

    Maya picked them and handed them to Sonya, who compiled them with what she had picked. “We’ll show this to Michael and have him confirm.”

 

    “You guys sure trust him more than me.” I commented while continuing to walk.

 

    “He provides us with something useful. None of us are familiar with medicine, so we decided it was worth the risk.”

 

    “Hmph.” I decided to end the conversation there. 

 

    I wondered how much longer we would be walking. The patrols I went on before didn’t last this long. Were we not being thorough enough back then? I couldn’t tell.

 

    Something drew my attention to my left side and I saw two figures walking at a similar pace to us. My eyes widened as they turned to us, returning to me a similar expression. I recognized them. It was the ninja guy and his captain, the girl with the mean face that Rubi struck a deal with the other day. Tyler and Kassy, I think. Their expressions started to change in a way that I might gather from this distance to mean that they were starting to recognize who I was. I pulled on Sonya’s right arm and spun around, not giving them any more time to look at me. I didn’t know exactly how it would happen, but I knew that a close encounter with those guys would totally blow my cover.

 

    Maya seemed to recognize what was happening and followed my example, now leading us back to camp at a faster pace than before. When my thoughts started returning, I realized how bad it may have been to have them see me moving in this direction. What if they followed us and asked why I was with these people? I technically had an alliance with them, but would they uphold it if I was with another team? Trying to hurt me might risk splitting off the alliance when Rubi found out. However, if they confronted me I would be forced to continue the story that I was no longer with that team, and thus they wouldn’t be in the wrong for whatever they decided to do to me. Furthermore, what if they didn’t believe me? They just saw Rubi some days ago, so I would find it fishy if I were them.

 

    All I could do was hope that those two weren’t feeling inquisitive and went back home. Even if they weren’t scared of me in particular, three enemies is daunting by itself. 

 

    By the time we were closer to camp, our pace slowed to normal. Nobody seemed afraid of being jumped with so little distance left. Still, I was startled by it more than they were. I had more to be worried about.

 

    

 

    

    Willy nodded his head as he heard us out. “Oh, my. I’m glad Yu has such a good sense for danger!”

 

    Why do I feel like that’s a roundabout way of calling me a coward?

 

    “Agreed.” Maya replied.

 

    No, please don’t agree.

 

    Willy continued, “Deliver what you found to Mikey, then. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the help.”

 

    I was still wondering how they could be so trusting of him and not me, but then again who would trust someone as weak-looking as me? I don’t have any skills, either.

 

    I watched Sonya take the pile of plants to the tent, where Michael was sorting them in a similar fashion to how Rubi would.

 

    “So, how far along is your map?” I asked to the open camp for whoever may decide to answer.

 

    “Uh, we don’t have one.” Maya said.

 

    “Oh. Really?”

 

    “I have the area memorized.”

 

    Willy thrust himself into the conversation, “Good idea, though! Once we’ve expanded our reach beyond what we can remember alone, I think we should keep some sort of map.”

 

    Maya’s expression didn’t change, but she nodded. “You’re right.”

 

    I almost wanted to feel proud, but I took the idea from my friends.

 

    Maya continued. “We didn’t see any good food, though. Maybe we hunted all the rabbits away?”

 

    “I hope not,” Willy said, “but if they did flee, we can at least be happy that they realized it’s dangerous to stick around.”

 

    “Heh, I guess.” Maya had a little smile on her face when she walked away from us. I moved to the campfire in the center and sat with my legs crossed, realizing that my stomach was empty. Luckily there was still some meat from before, but I was thinking about how I need to be on the lookout for things to eat on my next trip. 

 

    Next… That one was too stressful. Should I even go on another one? I doubt they’d let me be that uncaring. It would be too obvious. That made me wonder if Michael had or ever was going to go on these scouts. He would have a better eye for picking medicine than the people he merely told about it.

 

    “Hey, Will. Does Michael go on scouts too?” I asked while gazing into space absentmindedly.

 

    “Oh, he did once, but he was terribly tired when he came back. We want to limit the amount of time he’s gone so that he can work on his little potions.”

 

    Oh, right. He has a job. “Makes sense.” The rabbit meat still tasted weird to me. At least fish was something I used to eat on Earth, but this was just strange. Also, rabbits are cute and fish aren’t.

 

    My question from earlier weighed on my mind. It was just Willy and I here. I doubted he would get suspicious, but still, what if he told the others that I asked?

 

    “Are you interested in something, Yu?” He asked.

 

    Shit, I was staring again. “Ah, um. I was just thinking about asking you something.” And now I’m making it look even worse than if I had asked straight up…

 

    “Ask away!” He replied with glee.

 

    As if that mattered with him… “I was curious about, uh… You know, your powers. ‘Your’ as in your team’s.”

 

     His expression became a bit less cheerful. I was scared of what he might say until it came out. “You don’t have to be so distant with us. This is your team too, Yu!”

 

     “Ah… Haha… I guess so. Sorry.” I could feel my whole body lighten up with that huge release of tension.

 

     “To answer your question, Damian and Maya don’t have any abilities…” He was interrupted when Damian came charging in from behind him. I could immediately tell he was mad.

 

    “I take my eyes off you for a second and you’re already trying to pry for intel?!” His momentum didn’t stop, even as he got close to me. I stood up in preparation to defend myself. Damian thrust his hand up at my neck and I reflexively moved back and went to punch him in the face. However, my fist didn’t connect with him, or with anything.

 

    At least, I thought, until my eyes adjusted and I saw that Willy was standing with his back to me and arms outstretched. My fist was right on his back. I could feel his back on my fist. That might sound like an obvious observation, but it was something that boggled my mind for a second. At the moment of impact, I felt nothing. I wasn’t even sure that there WAS a moment of impact. I may as well have punched solid air, but right now I was touching him just fine.

 

    “Damian! They were only asking a question!” I couldn’t tell what kind of face Willy was making from where I was standing, but he sounded mad. “How do you expect them to cooperate with us if we hide such basic information from them?”

 

     “It’s critical information that any other team would love to have on us! If they’re a spy, then they can plan against us!”

 

    “A spy? You’re being far too cautious.” Willy lowered his arms and let his hands rest on Damian’s shoulders. “How can I get you to trust my judgment, Damian?”

 

    He didn’t reply to that for a moment. I could barely see Damian’s face past Willy’s tall body. “I’ll trust it when it stops getting us into this stupid, stressful bullshit.” He huffed and stormed off in the opposite direction. I felt like I saw something that I wasn’t supposed to see. I thought for a moment about the possibility that my betrayal might shatter the last bits of trust between those two…

 

     “I’m sorry for asking.” I said.

 

     “No need to be.” Willy replied in a quieter tone than usual. “I’m not aware of any abilities I may have, but I hear that captains awaken to their abilities faster than most, so I’ll let you know when it happens.”

 

     I gulped. I wondered if he was unaware of the way he blocked my fist. Did that not feel any different from a normal hit to him? I decided that I shouldn’t comment on it. If I know more about his power than he does, even by a little bit, then that’s the best case scenario.

 

    “So, your team called them powers? That does sound pretty cool.” I could tell he was trying to lighten the mood. 

 

    I nodded silently. 

 

    “Interesting.” He replied. “We haven’t gotten into many fights yet, but the few we did were all against those without any powers. When you told me about the man of steel, it seemed like such a power wouldn’t be too shocking for you. Are you familiar with such powers? Or do you have an overactive imagination? Do you read a lot of comics?”

 

    “Shut up.” I quickly responded, flustered. “Well, if I do, that’s not relevant.”

 

    “You seem like you read manga.”

 

    “Shut up!” My voice rose even higher. I even thought that my scarf fell down far enough to reveal my mouth, so I adjusted it.

 

    “I’m partial to Osamu Tezuka’s works. Black Jack is my favorite.”

 

    “I’m not talking about that right now. I haven’t even read any of those.”

 

    “Not those? So I was right that you read some others. Although, maybe I was wrong… Could somebody be a manga fan if they are unfamiliar with Tezuka?”

 

    “Have you even read anything that came out in the last 30 years?!” Air blew out of my nose. Beyond that, I was surprised he had even read a manga before. “Wait, why am I arguing this? Ugh!” I hated that I was so easy to clock as a nerd. I also didn’t want to admit that the oldest manga I’d ever read was from 1999… How uncultured would he think I was?

 

    “Hahaha! You’re a natural straight man, Yu!” Willy clapped his hands together in delight. “You don’t even have to try, do you? If we were on Earth, I would try to recruit you!”

 

    “Tch… Recruit, huh? What did you guys do?” I found the question flowing out before I could consider its strategic benefit.

 

    “We were traveling entertainers. I guess kids like you would visualize it better if I said we were clowns.” He sat on the dirt as if he were about to tell me a long story. It wasn’t exactly what I had come here for, so I interjected. “Ah, I doubt I would go along with something like that.”

 

    He continued as though he had no idea I was trying to change the topic. “No point in mulling over it now, but I like to think you would have at least considered it. Maya and Damian were less prickly back then… What about you? What did you do before you got here?”

 

    I guess I’m having this conversation now. “Nothing. I went to school and then went home.”

 

    “Hm. Maybe I should have guessed that.”

 

    “Can you stop psychoanalyzing me for a second? You’ll always be wrong.” I said casually. “Anyway, that’s about it. My teammates were friends from school.”

 

    “Intriguing…” He closed his eyes as if he were contemplating something. Then, he looked at me as if something he had been suspicious of was confirmed. I felt myself tense up. He continued, “Your captain must have been unpopular.”

 

    I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to be relieved or annoyed that this was the conclusion he reached. “N-Not at all. She had a lot of friends. Are you implying that she would be strange for picking me over anyone else? You’re not wrong, but harsh.”

 

    “I’m only trying to grasp the big picture. If I can understand you better, I’ll be able to help you.” He said such a lame line as if it were the most natural thing.

 

    “You’ve been talking about helping me ever since I got here. Do you even know what my issue is, or if I have one?”

 

    “You were such a downer when I first met you.” Maybe that’s because you made me think I was about to get shot?! I wanted to interject, but I let him keep talking. “Everyone has issues, and you just clued me in on yours. There are a multitude of reasons that someone may act the way you do. Can I guess you don’t value yourself highly? This is a common result of abandonment. Have you been that way ever since your teammates left you?”

 

    I couldn’t believe how tactlessly he was prying into me. “No, I was like that before.” I was annoyed at his assumption that I was like this because of some single traumatic event. How simple did he think people were? Is he even a person?

 

    “I see… Well, it’s not like I’d get a bullseye in such a short time. I’ll try to make you feel comfortable enough to open up to me more.”

 

    Unlikely, I thought. “Is that why you picked up Michael and the others? To help them? Is it part of your clown code or something?”

 

    He guffawed at that one. “Clown code? I might steal that line! That’s wonderful. But no, I was already friends with those two. They worked with me, like I said.”

 

    I probably should have assumed that when he said “we” it included them, but I struggled to imagine it. The mental image of Damian trying and failing to balance on a ball made me blow some air out of my nose. The thought crossed my mind, then, did Willy assume that some sudden event in this game caused me to become like this because that’s what happened to Damian? I didn’t care enough to ask, though. I was still annoyed at him. I only had to ask for things that would bring us closer to victory.

 

    “Why are you here, Will? As a captain, I mean.”

 

    He seemed surprised by how serious my tone had gotten. I didn’t notice it until just then, either. I also hadn’t noticed that I totally shifted topics. Regardless, he answered me. “Good question. I suppose you wouldn’t be able to respect me without knowing that. Of course, I was chosen against my will, but if what that alien said is true, then I was chosen because of my desire to change the world.”

 

    My eyes widened at that statement. Did such an ambition really fit his character? He saw that I had nothing to say to that and kept talking. “As someone who traveled abroad to perform for strangers, I’ve seen the difference I can make. Turning peoples’ frowns upside down over the course of a couple hours. It makes me so sad when I see people who think they’re too mature for it, or say they don’t need it. They take life so seriously that they think silly things are worth dying and killing for… I was motivated to become the most recognizable person in my craft, but now I feel like making everyone relax and smile is much closer to reality!”

 

    “I see.” I wondered if knowing that would help me understand exactly what that power he used earlier was. I couldn’t see any direct connection between them yet.

 

    “Sorry, was that boring? You won’t have to hear me just talk about it for long. I don’t expect you to believe me for now, but you’ll see me do it.”

 

    His confidence was staggering. Maybe he is fit to be a captain, after all. I was realizing that being worthy of the status of captain was not necessarily a good thing. My mind drifted to that muscled maniac from the ship. How was he a captain, exactly? The alien must have intentionally picked weirdos for this little ant farm experiment… How frustrating that I had no choice but to participate.

 

    “That’s the idea, anyway.” He said. “I hate the method of forcing us to do battle, but I can relate to the alien’s desire for a world without conflict. For that purpose, I’ll try my hardest. If I won then everybody on the planet would be looking at me. In that moment, I would make them all smile.”

 

    So, he would only use the wish to make them look at him? He thinks he could do the rest alone? What a crazy guy. “I was wondering that. Are you, like, a pacifist?”

 

    “Something like that, yes. Sonya and I are against the idea of hurting people. If you don’t want to partake in Maya and Damian’s training, I understand. In fact, I would prefer if you all stopped, but I can’t convince them.”

 

    This would be a lot easier if he could convince them, I thought to myself. “Is it your plan to make everyone your ally like you did to me and Michael?”

 

    “If possible, yes.”

 

    He’s nuts. I couldn’t say much, though. I was putting up with Rubi. At least she’s not this bad, but it’s picking straws at that point. Despite my efforts to not get involved in this team’s personal conflicts as long as I could avoid it, I found myself frustrated at his worldview. He was like a giant toddler. If world peace was something he could attain in a moment, why hasn’t anyone else done it? I learned from Rubi not to project my worthlessness onto people, but this guy was so clearly blowing hot air. I’m not someone who could figure out what’s wrong with the world, but I doubt it’s people taking things too seriously. This battle is incredibly serious and he should treat it as such. Only somebody who thinks they can get by in life without caring would think themselves able to fix people like he aims to. He was the kind of person who would definitely get corrupted by a place like this, if he weren’t already. I’d be doing him a favor by sending him and his team home. If anybody could create a miracle to save the world, it would be Rubi, a special one. Not this freak.

 

    Willy stood up. The sun was starting to set, but it was still plenty bright. “Thanks for listening, Yu. Sometimes it helps to have someone listen. You don’t have to answer. Anyway, do you want to see how we hunt? I’ll teach you how to catch rabbits.”

 

    Why don’t you eat plants if you hate violence so much, dumbass?