Book 6} Chapter 50
Friends
友人

A couple days passed and we had made it.
"We made it!!" the kids cheered.

"If you go up to the surface here, you'll be right at the edge of the forest," Sonju told me. I nodded with a smile.
"Let's rest tonight and go above tomorrow morning," Mujika smiled.

"We'll prepare the food!"
"And we'll crush the herbs!" The kids volunteered.

~*
-·=»‡«=·- Time Skip -·=»‡«=·-

The kids all helped set up food.
"You're all such fast learners," Sonju praised.
"Not as fast as Ray and Emma."
"And Norman was fast too! He caught on real fast!" I deadpanned.

~*~*
-·=»‡«=·- Time Skip -·=»‡«=·-
~*~*

"Thanks for the meal," I muttered as I finished.
"All right! If everything goes well we'll be at B06-32 by tomorrow!!" Don cheered.

I sighed, my shoulders slumping slightly.
"If we work hard," Nat added.
"Then we will!"

I looked over to Mujika who was talking to a couple of the kids.
I then turned away to look at Ray and Emma.

"Gilda, what's wrong?" Ray asked.
"Oh, well, I was thinking about how we're straying from the plan," she responded.

"Straying?" Lanny asked.

"I was thinking about the old tale Sonju told us. It's good that there's a human world separate from here. But to not have a human society in the demon world is a disadvantage to our plan," Gilda continued.

{ "We need to go see Mr. Minerva as soon as possible"
"You need to mix in with the humans outside" }

"So the community of humans we were hoping for isn't out there. We can't blend in with them. And we need manpower to come back to get Phil and the others. So we need to think about what we're going to do," Gilda told us.

"Absolutely," Ray agreed.

I haven't had much interactions with my siblings.
The last I could remember was with Ray a few days ago.

↤↤↤↤↤ FLASHBACK ↦↦↦↦↦

Ray sat beside me as I got everything ready to sleep.
"Hm?" I asked, getting my sleeping bag out.

"You haven't talked to me in a while. What's wrong with you?" he asked, shaking me.
I deadpanned, "I wouldn't say I haven't been talking to you. You haven't been talking to me," I said.

He looked surprised for a second.
I nodded, "I've given you chances," I said, looking away from him dramatically.

His eyes widened slightly, "I'm sorry!" he apologized.
I chuckled, "It's fine," I muttered.

"Are you sure?" he asked with a sad expression.
"Of course," I forced a smile.

He smiled back and hugged me.
(Just more Ray content cuz it's been angsty lately)

I didn't hug him back, given I couldn't really hug him back in the position I was.
"What?" I asked with a slight chuckle when he patted my head.

"We can sleep like this tonight," he said with a smile. Well, I would guess he was smiling.

"Fine," I huffed, making him chuckle.

I huddled closer to him and soon drifted to sleep quickly.

↤↤↤↤↤ FLASHBACK
END ↦↦↦↦↦

But after that, nothing much had happened between me and everyone.

"Hey, Sonju!" Emma called, taking me from my thoughts.

"Aren't there more kids like us? Other escapees? Haven't you heard anything? Even a rumor while you were traveling?" she asked him.

"There are many farms. So there might be other farms that Minerva is reaching out to," Ray added.
"Oh! I get it. Then maybe there are others who escaped like us!" Lanny said.

"I haven't heard of any. Even if there were such kids, there'd only be one or two. Very few of them," Sonju answered.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked with a frown.
"To begin with, there are different types of farms out there. And there are only a few Top-Class-Farms like Grace Field. Most are Mass Production Farms," Sonju added.

"Mass Production?"
Thoma asked.

"Farms for Cheap Mass Production. They breed humans in horrible environments to just fatten up and ship out," my eyes widened slightly.

"Humans born there don't understand words. They have no names. They don't have free will. They would never even think of escaping. Of course, even if they could think of it, they wouldn't be able to," Sonju continued.

I frowned, and Mujika comforted me as she always did.
I gave her a smile, and she smiled back.

"By the way, there are several hundred Mass Production Farms... and there are only four-top-class farms," Sonju continued to explain.

"Four?!"
"That's it?!"

"So if this Minerva guy is reaching out to other farms, it'd be those four. Three farms, not including Grace Field. I've heard about how you learned the truth and escaped. But it wouldn't be that easy for the other farm children to do the same. And even if they did escape, could they survive? You've already experienced how dangerous it is out here. You can't rely on other escapees. But..." Sonju trailed off.

"I do on rare occasions hear about theft. There are demons who steal from farms because they want to eat humans. But those are rare cases. So that might be something you can use to your advantage. Although... it depends how you utilize it," Sonju continued.

"There are no humans outside the farms that are highly intelligent like you kids. That's the reality. As far as I know that is." he finished.

➶➶➶➶➶ Time Skip ➷➷➷➷➷

I leaned against the wall, thinking.
Mujika giggled when she saw me.

"You're thinking again," she commented, sitting next to me.
"How do you know that?" I asked, looking over to her.

"You come here when you need peace and quiet to think, or well, anywhere you can lean on" she told me.
"Ah... true," I chuckled

"Are you okay? You know, about what you heard?"
"Yeah, completely fine. Knowing Emma, she'll just try to help them and I'll be following that," I told her.

She looked at me quizzically, "And you're okay with that?"
I looked at her, stunned, "Yeah. I've always followed what her and Ray do... and Norman," I said.

"Norman?" she asked.
My face brightened, "I haven't told you about him! I'll tell you about the rest of my family too," I said.

A bright look crossed her face and she nodded.
I took out the pictures Ray had taken from the Grace Field.

And I showed them to her.

"This is Phil. My favorite, but don't tell anyone," I told her with a smile, pointing to Phil in the picture.
"And Sherry, she's fashionable and precocious."

"Who is this?" Mujika asked, pointing to Carol.
"Carol! She's only one, and she makes these really grumpy funny faces," I said making her laugh.

~-·=»‡«=·-

"And them?"
"Nalia and Damdin. Behind them are Eugene and..." I continued talking.

~

"Oh, Anna's hair is long!" Mujika pointed out.
"Oh yeah! That's because she cut her braids off to help us..." I continued.

I continued to tell her about everyone in the photos and what was happening during them.
Her response was either a laugh or a smile. That made me happy.

I got to the last photo and my smile softened.
"This is Norman... I promised him that I wouldn't give up... even if I did at times. And that I wouldn't let anyone die, and escape with everyone. He was nice, and my best friend," I told her.
I shook myself from my thoughts.
( The Ray stans are quaking )

"I'm going to live with my family, so I have to overcome everything..." I stated.

"You like Norman?" she then asked, making me stare at her with wide eyes and a red face.

"Whaaaat? Never!" I exclaimed.
She burst into giggles, "You do!"

"Well... I guess... did. He..." I trailed off and she nodded.
"Sorry," she said.
I smiled, "It's fine."

'~'

And then, I started to tell her about my personal past.

"Well... when I was a baby, Mom said I was weak," I started.
"Which was true. Then... and now."

We were silent for a while, but it was a comfortable silence.
It was always comfortable with Mujika.

"Before meeting you, I'd never talked to humans or even seen humans before. You're not enemies or food. You're different from any other living thing. I'm glad I met you and all and had a chance to talk. I'm glad we became friends," she told me.

I smiled brightly, "Me too! I'm glad we met, and talked, and became friends,"
I told her.

She smiled and hugged me.
I hugged back and frowned, "I don't want to leave you," I murmured.

3/27/2020
Word Count: 1391