The cold forest wind rustled through the trees, carrying with it the scent of moss and wet leaves. He adjusted the weight of his school bag, eyes narrowing at the path ahead—a narrow, root-choked trail winding between ancient stones and crooked pines.
Beside him walked the deer-girl, her antlers catching glints of the sunlight flowing through the trees, between the branches. Her steps were silent, delicate, but there was something wild in the tension of her shoulders—something feral that hadn't fully settled even now.
She kept glancing at him from the corner of her eye. Not fear. Not exactly. Caution, maybe. Curiosity.
She didn't speak. Neither did he, as he stuck almost all of his talismans on the side of his blade and whelded them into its frame, only leaving three teleportison talisman on him just incase.
The forest murmured around them, as he finished his work.
A few minutes passed before she tilted her head toward him, "You smell like stone and smoke," she said at last, voice quiet, rough from disuse. "Like the inside of a mountain."
"what's that supposed to mean?"
"You smell like smoke and the inside of a mountain," she repeated, slowing down and sniffing him, "and me of course,"
Oliver looked at her thinking about something, "wait does the smoke smell like this? " he asked opening up his bag, and taking out his pack of weed, "I did smoke to joint yesterday night,"
Luna leaned forward, sniffing the half-filled bag. "Yeah, you smell like this stuff," she said joyfully, as if she had uncovered a major secret all by herself. Is this food? Does it taste good?"
Oliver let out a low chuckle."No, it's not food," he said, holding the bag just out of her reach as she leaned forward again. "And definitely not for eating."
She blinked, puzzled. "Then what's it for?"
He hesitated. Offering a wild forest creature a taste of human vices felt borderline absurd, but something about her tilted head and narrowed eyes reminded him of a curious cat sniffing a candle flame. Dangerous—but drawn in anyway.
"It's something humans use to relax," he said finally. "Makes you feel light, like you're floating."
Luna's ears twitched. "Like swimming in a pond?"
He nodded. "Sort of. But it does other things too—it can calm you down, help you think better. Makes colors brighter and clearer."
"This sounds like the plants and berries I've eaten to get this strong," she said. "Are you sure I can't eat it?"
Oliver chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Do you want some~?"
Luna nodded without hesitation. "I want some," she replied, opening her mouth, expecting him to feed it to her.
"I told you, you can't eat this like normal," he said, zipping the bag shut and sliding it back into his pack. "We have to smoke it." He grinned—well, having her try some wouldn't hurt.
His hands rummaged through his school things until he found his notebook.
"I'll let you try a joint. But you'll have to show me those plants and berries next."
—
The forest didn't rest.
No sooner had the lion's body cooled than the birds returned, circling high overhead like black omens. The trees beyond the clearing rustled—not from wind, but from movement.
Takara ripped a strip of her ruined sleeve and bound her shoulder, blood seeping through the makeshift bandage. Her eyes never left the tree line.
Kaede knelt beside the beast, tugging the iron bar free from its side. "Meat for days," she muttered, half in awe, half in hunger. "We'll need fire. Smoke will draw attention, but starving's worse."
Sana was already working. She dragged the lion's body toward a flat rock in the center of the clearing, her silence unbroken, her focus absolute. That was her way—she didn't talk much, didn't need to. The others followed her rhythm when things got serious.
"Strip it," Takara said, fixing her blond hair after handing her the jagged bar. "Hide, claws, teeth. All useful."
Kaede nodded, sawing with the piece of scrap, the sounds of iron against bone echoing in the still air. The blood made her hands slippery. But she didn't stop.
Sana crouched by the edge of the clearing, fingers pressed to the dirt. Her brows furrowed.
"What is it?" Takara asked.
Sana lifted her hand. A smear of mud glistened beneath her nails, too dark to be just soil.
"Tracks," she said, her voice low and rare. "Something else came this way. Big."
"Bigger than that?" Kaede asked, jerking her head toward the carcass.
Sana didn't answer. She didn't have to.
Takara stood, stretching her stiff shoulders. "Then we work fast."
Already, the air felt heavier—charged, like the forest itself was watching. The sun dipped lower, red light filtering through the canopy like blood through gauze.
As the first sparks of fire snapped from the dry grass and the scent of roasting meat began to drift, Takara's gaze shifted north, toward the deeper wild.
The prison walls were far behind them now.
But out here… the real sentence had only just begun.