Blam!

The Maple district is rather odd. There are very few inhabitants left, the buildings are mostly abandoned and the ones that aren’t are very run down. It is surrounded by a thick forest of maple trees where the inhabitants are meant to be farming maple sap. However, there are no farmers left.

In haste, Manya, Kenzo, Bogdan and Lando with the mysterious girl on his back jog towards the maple district. Upon arrival, they step into the thick, dark forest of maple trees.

Immediately upon entering the forest, Manya darts ahead to explore.

“Jeez it’s like he doesn’t fear anything. This place is creeping me out…” Lando quivers.

“How odd…” Bogdan says.

He continues, “The forest is empty. Where are all of the farmers..?”

“Well it’s freezing so that could be part of it.” Kenzo replies.

“Maybe…” Bogdan agrees, choosing to look past it.

“WELL IF IT’S SO COLD WHY ARE YOU STILL SHIRTLESS!? IT DOESN’T MAKE YOU LOOK COOL YOU KNOW!” Lando bickers.

“Tsk…Like I would care about something so trivial.”

“Plus, it is pretty badass.” Kenzo ponders.

“HOLY SHIT!!” Manya screams from afar..

“Manya, are you okay!?” Kenzo shouts, sprinting towards his voice.

Bogdan and Lando follow along, lagging behind..

“Manya, why did yo-... Woah.” Kenzo says, awestruck.

Bogdan and Lando catch up as well, and they see it too. A huge, dilapidated farmhouse lying just on the edge of the maple forest and outer city.

“Well let’s not waste time then. Lando, find her a bed!” Bogdan orders.

Lando runs inside the farmhouse to do exactly that.

“I’ll see what I can find…” Kenzo sighs, as he enters the farmhouse shortly after.

Hurriedly, Lando examines each room he passes by, trying to find a suitable place for the injured girl. Eventually, he finds an empty room with a bed covered in dusty sheets, dust particles float in the dim light filtering through the cracked windows as dusk begins consuming the daylight sky. Gently, he places the girl on the bed and covers her in a worn blanket.

Moments later, Kenzo burst into the room with a large wooden crate full of an assortment of seemingly random items. A bucket of maple sap, an empty flower pot and roll of duct tape. Kenzo sets these items down and tears off two strips of old curtain from the window.

“Go fill that flower pot with water.” He orders.

Lando hastily grabs the pot and runs out to fill it. He comes back extremely quickly spilling bits of water as he rushes back into the room.

“Good, set it down and stay out of the way.” Kenzo orders again.

Lando worriedly stands in the corner and observes Kenzo as he begins working. Kenzo dips one of the pieces of fabric in the water and wrings it out. He then dabs it on the girl's forehead, and wipes away the dry blood. After cleaning the area, he smears it with maple sap in an attempt to create an antibacterial layer before placing the other piece of fabric over it and taping it down firmly.

***
Outside the farmhouse…

“Yawn! I’m tired of waiting, I'm going exploring.” Manya says restlessly.

“Well, I suppose it’s better than just waiting around. I’ll come too.” Bogdan replies.

Manya and Bogdan begin walking from the edge of the maple forest into the outer city. The frozen forest begins to transition into concrete as they step further into the outer city. The desolate landscape is blackened by the night sky.

“This is lame…There’s no one even here.” Manya sighs.

CLICK….CLICK….CLACK

“What was that noise?” Manya says as he thoughtlessly wanders further into the outer city.

“Kid slow down! Something’s off!!” Bogdan warns.

Suddenly, it became all too clear what the noise was.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Hundreds of azure bullets bombard them from every angle.



***
Meanwhile, back at the farmhouse…

The mysterious girl gently awakens from sleep, bewildered by her environment. She examines the room in confusion and soon notices Lando sitting in the corner, fast asleep. Still in pain, she stumbles out of the cozy bedding, unleashing herself to the cold air. She tiptoes past Lando and leaves the room. After searching around for a bit, she finds a sitting room. It’s too dark to make out anything except for the windowed door at the end of the room, displaying the dark snowy landscape outside. Sneakily, she runs across to the door in an attempt to leave.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Kenzo’s voice comes from the shadows.

“EEEK!” she screams, tripping to the floor.

Kenzo lights a lantern, illuminating the pitch black room. He is sitting on the floor with both of his eyes closed like he was just meditating.

“I'm in the middle of nowhere ‘cause of you. So you better not leave without returning the favour somehow.” Kenzo says, opening one eye.

Panicked, she scuffles back to her feet and darts to the door. Kenzo slowly gets back onto his feet. He bites his tongue leaving a nasty cut in his mouth.

“Sigh…『 Blood Is The Sweat Of Heroes 』.”


The blood dances and weaves from his mouth to his arm and forms a blade. As she finally approaches the door, he’s already in front of her, resting his blood-sword on his shoulder.

“I’m really not in the mood, so go back inside.” He orders.

Her legs shake. Her breathing increases. She is frozen in fear. As the terror overcomes her, she can only do one thing… Cry.


“WAAAAAAAAAAAAH! PLEASE DON’T HURT ME I'M SORRY!! I WAS JUST SCARED!!”




Lando, fast asleep on the floor upstairs, is awoken from her screams.


“The screams of a maiden in distress..!” He ponders.

He jumps and checks the bed for the girl.

“She’s gone..!” He thinks.


Without wasting any time, he bolts downstairs towards the noise. As he arrives at the sitting room, he sees Kenzo towering above her, with his sword pointed at her face.


“Stop crying! It’s annoying!” Kenzo says.

“DAMMIT KENZO YOU BULLY!!” Lando shouts.

“Oh Kenzo you’re up. Keep your girl in line, she doesn't have any manners.” He orders, as the blood-sword liquifies.

Kenzo walks away as she continues crying.


“I’m so sorry about him, but please lie down, you aren’t fully healed.” Lando says, reaching his hand out to her.

She wipes her tears and gets up on her own, ignoring his hand.

“Gross. Don’t touch me. Simp.” She says as she walks away.

Lando stands there, frozen like a popsicle. His heart, or what is left of it, sinks to new depths as he contemplates his life up until now. What went wrong? It is a moment of unparalleled existential crisis.

“Ah. I see. So that's how it is… Hold on… now that i think about it, Love rejected me too. That’s two heartbreaks in a row. Did I fall off?” Lando ponders, striking a dramatic pose in self pity.