By the time we're out of the tunnel and up the mountain a bit, Trucy has calmed down. She's not smiling by any means, but I at least don't thinks she's going to run back for anything if I let her go. Of course, there's no reason to go back anymore.

We finally stop to rest, so I let her arms off my shoulder. She shakily climbs over to a bush and leans against it sideways.

"Are you hurt?" I look over her shins, but none of the scratches seem very deep.

She pauses before starting to roll up a pants leg. "I don't think so..."

Further investigation doesn't bring up anything worrysome—certainly nothing as bad as the gash on Klavier's calf. Her right ankle is in pain, but it's not broken or sprained or anything.

"Good. Athena?" I check over my shoulder, and the 3 shakes her head.

"I'm a little sore from all of the pulling, but I never slipped enough to hurt myself."

All right. So, everyone's doing okay physically. Everyone that's left...

I force myself to take a deep breath, but I can't keep it up when I'm this winded.

Jinxie is gone, then. And from the time it took for the cannon to fire, it couldn't have been the fall that killed her. G-geez... I barely got to know her, with all of the terrified shock she's been in, but... She was so well-meaning; she tried to help us out in the only way she thought she could. Those slips of paper aren't going to ward off any Careers, but what else could you expect from such a small-built tribute? It's a wonder she was even able to carry Ema as far as she did.

An image of them disappearing around the mountainside before the Career battle flashes in the back of my mind, and I swallow. Both of them are dead now. And there was nothing I could do for either of them...

Trucy's still looking down, but she's not crying. This has to be harder for her than for me. It seemed like she was a lot better friends with Jinxie.

Careful to avoid her burn, I sit down next to her and put an arm over her shoulders. She reaches back to put a hand on my wrist but doesn't look up.

"We can stay here for a while, right?" I turn to the others. Athena and Klavier are sitting on opposite sides of the same rock. "We left a few supplies behind, but they'll still be by the entrance if we wait."

"Sounds good." Athena's voice is shaky as she idly twirls the tip of her ponytail in her fingers.

Klavier just nods, a hand pressed over his temple.

"Simon?" I turn toward the standing figure, who seems to be busy assuring himself that Taka didn't take any damage.

"Hmph." He glances at me. "I hardly need to listen to your jabbering to be prudent."

I guess it's kind of obvious, but... We're all shaken up. We could overlook it if we're not careful.

With a sigh, I turn back to Trucy. She's at least gazing ahead now, but her expression hasn't changed. I wouldn't expect it to. It's a little unnerving to see such a cheerful person acting like this, but I can't expect her to recover quickly. I haven't even recovered from... any of it, honestly. Not completely.

The mountain is quiet. Some leaves rustle in the breeze, and some birds are cawing in the distance. We've stopped panting by now, so it's really pretty calm, as far as noise goes.

I still see Athena leap to her feet before I hear the soft footfalls.

"Simon! One of them—!"

She can't finish before the monster appears, bounding for him. It's a slim feline, not too big to be natural—but that maw could bite off a head.

Those teeth—that's definitely what was chasing us! Are there more coming?!

My hand flies to my sword as Simon calmly but swiftly draws his own and forces the blade across the back of the mutt's open mouth. Blood pours from the gashes from mouth to jaw, and the cat recoils. Simon redirects his katana's momentum and beheads the mutt before it can make another move.

The thing collapses in a mound of dark far, the head rolling until it bumps up against the rest of the mutt. Simon's eyes sweep the area before he relaxes his stance and flicks the blood off his sword.

Meanwhile, I've managed to draw my blade halfway.

Did I actually fight this guy? H-how am I alive?

Athena lets out a sigh of relief and sits back down. "I guess that one managed to get past the pitfall." She grips her elbows. "Hopefully the others can't. I... don't hear them, at least."

"Yeah." Swallowing, I look down at the rocks. "Supposing we don't go back to the tunnel just yet."

"Sounds like a winning plan." Klavier snaps a few times before suddenly halting and turning around to throw up.

Athena jumps—she's a few feet away from him but still the closest. "K-Klavier! Are you all right?"

Hunched over, he clears his throat a few times and takes a long draft of water. Coughing, he manages a weak "ja."

"What...?" I start, recovering. "What is it? We didn't eat anything bad, did we?" Everything's been donated except for the mutt meat and some carefully-tested blackberries, but it's been days since we had those.

Athena rests her hands on her hips, frowning. "Not unless we got poisoned food sent from our mentors. Even then, the rest of us would feel at least a little sick—we split everything up pretty evenly."

"Perhaps our renowned minstrel merely hasn't taken well to the severed head before us."

Well... The mutt head was cut off pretty cleanly, but that's still more blood and internal structure than I really needed to see.

"Nein, I wasn't even nauseous." Klavier frowns but takes another drink of water and shakes his head. "Anyway, I feel fine now." But I catch his fingers brushing against his temple as he stands. Without another word, he steps past Athena and seats himself on a fresh spot.

So his head still hurts. That's no surprise. He's been taking those pills at maximum dosage since he got them.

...Could the pain be bad enough to make him throw up? Is that something that could happen? Or... maybe he just has a concussion. It wouldn't be a shock, after a big guy like Marlon ramming his head into something hard. That's enough to kill some people.

The silence is thick for a half hour or so before Trucy gets to her feet, displacing my arm.

"Are we ready to run back in and get our supplies?" She straightens out her jacket. "I think it should be safe enough now. We might want Simon staying in front, though." She tips her hat a bit in his direction.

He nods, casting a look down toward the entrance before stepping that way.

Athena helps Klavier up as I get to my feet and keep up with Trucy. I keep myself from asking if she's doing okay. How would she answer that? Truth or lie, it would be hard on her.

She glances at me sideways, and I'm sure she knows exactly what I'm thinking. She cracks a smile. "I'm all right. Jinxie... didn't want any of us to be hurt, physically or otherwise. She wouldn't have taken off the sling otherwise."

Simon lets out a breath without looking back. "Brave little scamp."

This brings Trucy up short for a moment, but she nods, eyes shut, and hurries after him.

Yawning, I wriggle out of the sleeping bag enough to reach the zipper. It's a good thing it's so insulated, since I won't be getting my jacket back. I hope it doesn't get much colder out here...

Trucy was given the last watch, so she's still sitting at the edge of the little copse, her hat silhouetted by the sunrise. Her shoulders are shaking a little, I think. It's still pretty chilly.

Pushing the sleeping bag away, I sit up and shuffle over towards her. "Good morning."

She freezes and takes a second to rub her face before turning around. "Morning, Polly!"

It takes my eyes a minute to make out her face with the light behind her. She's smiling as much as her voice suggests.

I smile back and take a seat next to her. "Doing all right this morning?"

"Yup." Sitting on the ledge, she swings her feet. "You?"

"Pretty good. I slept a little better last night, at least."

"Good." She looks ahead at the rough ground by the side of the mountain. "Where are we headed today?"

Exhaling, I look out over the rocks. There are several trees on this level, so you'd think there might be some water just under us. I don't know how well rooting around the rocks would go... What we need is a sheltered area with water.

"I guess we'll keep going around, or up. I wonder how far the others have climbed." I survey the mountain above us, to my right, but no one is visible. I wouldn't expect otherwise.

I turn back to Trucy and pause. After a glance to make sure no one else is awake—where did Simon run off to?—I ask, "Have you been crying?"

She blinks her red-rimmed eyes at me. "No."

My bracelet says otherwise.

"Hey, you don't have to lie to me." I smile. "Believe me, I—of all people—have no reason to look down on you for something like that. You don't have to tell me every little thing, but... you know. Always tell me if I can do anything to help. And that means to tell me if you do need help in the first place."

"Right... But I don't need to cry in front of anybody." She grins. "That's not my job. I make people happy, and crying isn't going to do that. So don't worry too much, okay? I don't want you to."

I fold my arms. "You say that, but you were crying."

"Well, nothing interesting is happening around here. I'm sure no one was watching. And there's nothing wrong with performing without an audience, but it's kind of silly." She taps her lower lip a few times. "Unless it's for practice. Everyone needs practice."

So, you're... acting, because I'm here to see it...?

My mouth hangs open for a minute before I can piece together something to say.

"...Take your jacket off for a minute."

"Huh?" She turns her body a little more to face me. "Okay."

I'm not sure if this is going to work, but it's worth a shot.

I take the coat from her and slip her hat off while I'm at it.

"Hey! That's—mrph!" She leans back a bit when I throw the jacket over her head. "What are you doing?" Her voice is muffled as she starts grabbing at the fabric.

"No, don't move it." I hold a hand out before realizing she can't see the gesture.

She settles down before exclaiming, "Oh! Are you going to make me disappear?"

"Well... More or less." I cross my arms. "We're still not doing anything exciting enough for the cameras to be on us, don't you think?"

"Hmm... Probably not."

"And now I can't even see you."

The jacket hangs a bit differently as she tilts her head to the side. "Um, okay?"

"So... your audience has vanished. Ta-da."

"Oh..." She falls silent for a minute before gripping the bottom edge of the jacket. A few more moments pass before I can hear her sniffling.

I pull her into a one-armed hug. "It's okay. No one's watching you."

At least she's letting out a little more now, but... It's not enough to shake the horrified feeling off my chest.

How much are you hiding from us, Trucy?