Yarai stepped closer, his eyes scanning Akira once from head to toe.
“…Can you move?” Yarai asked.
Akira nodded with some effort.
“…Yeah. I’m fine.”
Even so, his legs still felt unsteady.
He looked back down the slope instinctively, where darkness swallowed everything below, leaving only the vast jungle stretching into the distance and the outline of a large mountain rising far beyond it.
“…How big is this place…” Akira muttered.
Yarai glanced toward the mountain for a brief moment before looking away again.
“Forget that for now.”
Akira nodded.
“Who was that?” Yarai asked.
Akira expression turned bitter.
“I don’t know. But he was someone from our school”
Yarai shifted his gaze at the birds scattering above the canopy in large numbers.
“If you don’t know who he is, forget it. We have more important things to worry about.”
Akira expression changed as he tried to recall the conversation clearly.
“…Wait. That guy, Hades… He said something before you showed up. He said it would come again. That thing is going back to the plane.”
Yarai’s expression hardened.
“…We need to move now.”
Without another word, he started running, with Akira following right behind him.
They forced their way through the dense vegetation at full speed.
As they got closer, a heavy impact echoed through the jungle.
Akira’s breathing became rough again, but he ignored it and kept running.
The sounds grew clearer as they advanced.
When the plane finally came into view, both of them almost stopped at the same time.
The plane was surrounded by a group of Megatherium americanum, their enormous bodies pressed against the fuselage from multiple sides.
Some clawed at weak points near the rear section while others struck the plane, shaking the entire structure with their weight.
One massive claw scraped across the metal with a sharp screech, leaving long dents behind, while another struck the lower section of the fuselage, causing the plane to tilt violently.
“…They’re trying to break in,” Akira gasped.
Yarai’s eyes moved across the scene, counting the animals and watching their movements.
They kept attacking the same sections of the plane, focusing their strength on the points where the structure was weakest.
This time, they weren’t testing the structure.
They were trying to pry it open.
Inside the plane, another violent impact shook the cabin.
Rion grabbed the seat in front of her before losing her balance completely.
“…What’s happening?”
Kanako lost her balance when the plane lurched again and fell hard against the floor.
“Kanako-chan!”
Towa rushed over and dropped to her knees beside her.
“Kanako-chan, wake up!”
She shook her shoulder, but Kanako remained limp.
Another impact struck the fuselage.
Towa quickly pulled her into her arms, trying to keep her from being thrown around again.
The cabin shook violently, throwing everyone off balance.
Mariya was thrown against the side of a seat, but Kurusu quickly grabbed her before he could collapse onto the floor.
“Careful,” she said while supporting him.
“I’m fine” Mariya groaned.
Suddenly Rion froze as she looked outside the window.
A massive eye slowly filled the glass, the creature’s breath fogged part of the window as its eye shifted slightly, following movement inside the plane.
Rion’s body stiffened and stumbled back.
As she did a long tongue suddenly lashed toward a gap near the damaged frame, it snapped shut only inches away from her.
“Stay down!” Towa shouted immediately.
“Towa-san…”
“I’m here,” Towa replied while holding onto Kanako.
“Do not move.”
The plane tilted slightly further under the repeated attacks.
“This is bad,” Itou shouted while gripping the overhead seat handle tightly.
“They’re going to flip the whole plane at this rate,” Ono said.
Mikoshiba held onto the side of a seat while trying to steady himself.
“We can’t stay here much longer.”
The entire fuselage groaned against the uneven terrain as it slid slightly along the slope.
With every impact, the plane continued to slide until the wing dug into the ground with a loud crack.
The sudden stop threw everyone around inside.
“…That didn’t sound good,” Mikoshiba winced in pain .
“It stopped,” Ono said quickly.
Mariya shook her head while Kurusu gripped the seat tightly.
“No. We stopped because the wing jammed into the slope.”
Outside, Akira clenched his fists tightly.
“…We need to drive them away.”
Yarai kept his eyes on the Megatheriums.
“I have a plan”
Akira looked at him.
“Tell me.”
“I’ll get inside the plane. You’ll try to draw their attention.”
Akira understood immediately.
He thought for a moment before tearing a strip from his damaged shirt.
He wrapped it tightly around a broken branch, then pulled out his lighter.
After a few attempts, the cloth caught fire, and the flames spread across the fabric.
Akira gripped the burning stick and ran forward.
One of the Megatherium immediately reacted and swung a massive claw toward him.
Akira barely avoided it and stumbled sideways before regaining balance.
Another one came toward him from the side, forcing him to keep moving and stay away from the wing.
At the same time, Yarai moved toward the plane, using Akira’s movement as cover.
He quickly closed the distance to the plane.
One of the Megatherium briefly turned toward him, but Akira immediately ran across its field of view, pulling its attention back.
“They’re not reacting!” Akira shouted.
Yarai’s eyes shifted toward the damaged wing, where a thin stream of fuel was leaking from the structure and spreading slowly across the metal surface.
He quickly realized they could use it to drive the creatures away.
“Throw it at the fuel,” Yarai replied.
Akira narrowed his eyes, and threw burning stick into the leaking wing.
As soon it struck the fuel trail, the fire spread instantly across the wing and surged along the leaking fuel faster than either of them expected.
The Megatherium backed away as the heat exploded outward.
Their attacks stopped as the growing fire forced them away from the plane.
Inside the plane, Rion slowly looked up.
“…It stopped.”
“They’re backing away,” Mikoshiba said as he looked outside.
Ono pointed toward the wing.
“…Wait there’s a fire outside…”
“It’s going to reach the inside,” Itou said, watching as the flames rapidly spread across the structure.
Akira and Yarai climbed inside the plane.
“You’re okay? Where did you go?” Rion asked, noticing the bruises and dirt covering Akira.
“I’m fine. We can talk about that later,” Akira replied, breathing heavily.
“The fire’s spreading faster than expected, so hurry.”
“Grab whatever supplies you can carry and move.”
Towa quickly grabbed a blanket, poured water over it, and handed it toward the others.
“Cover yourselves with this while moving through the heat.”
The tilted floor made every step unstable, and several of them struggled to keep their balance while carrying the supplies.
Akira positioned himself outside near the exit while Yarai carefully lowered Kanako down first.
Akira caught her and helped pull her away from the plane.
The heat intensified rapidly as the flames spread further along the wing, forcing Yarai to jump down immediately after them.
“Move,” he said firmly.
Kurusu climbed down next while helping Towa maintain her balance, followed by Rion, Mariya, Itou, Ono, and Mikoshiba, who carried the remaining bags and supplies.
Everyone moved away from the plane as quickly as possible while the flames continued spreading across the fuselage behind them.
Eventually, the group stopped some distance away and watched the plane burn.
Akira clenched his fists, unable to take his eyes away from the flames.
Yarai said nothing, his gaze fixed on the burning wreckage.
A laugh echoed through the jungle.
Rion flinched and looked toward the forest.
“Who is that?”
Akira’s expression tightened instantly.
“Hades.”
A figure stepped out from between the trees and stopped near the edge of the clearing, with the darkness still concealing most of his body.
Hades looked past them toward the burning plane.
“You made a mistake.”
“That plane was a symbol of protection and hope for returning home, a shelter that gave people the illusion that things were still under control.”
He stopped briefly before looking toward them.
“Now they have none of that.”
“We didn’t have a choice.” Akira shouted
Hades tilted his head slightly.
“Wrong,” he replied.
“He made the decision, and you made it happen.”
His gaze slowly shifted toward Yarai.
“And when people realize that, who do you think they’ll blame first?”
Akira clenched his fists tightly.
“We saved ourselves.”
Hades let out a quiet laugh.
“No. You sacrificed their sense of safety to survive.”
He looked toward Yarai once more.
“And eventually, you’ll understand what happens when people lose everything because of a single decision.”
“The fire is large enough that everyone nearby will see it, and when they come here, they’ll understand exactly what you destroyed.”
Yarai finally spoke.
“Cut the bullshit.”
His voice was flat and completely unaffected.
“You really think I care what other people think about me?”
Hades remained silent.
“If they want someone to blame, then let them blame me.”
Yarai’s eyes narrowed slightly as he continued.
“If you’re going to keep talking, stop hiding behind that mask and say it to my face.”
“Why would I do something that stupid?” Hades laughed.
“But time will tell. You still don’t understand what desperate people are capable of”
His laughter echoed faintly through the trees as he slowly stepped backward into the darkness.
Akira instinctively moved forward.
“Wait.”
But Hades had already disappeared into the jungle, leaving only the sound of the burning plane behind.