Wh... what...
How could this be...
Wh... what happened...
Chiba's chest slammed heavily into a thick branch. His face, pressed against the branch and slightly squashed, was filled with shock, disbelief, and terror. Blended with his distorted features, they formed an expression Chiba had never worn before.
It was as if what had happened before his eyes was some terrible nightmare! He opened his mouth to cry out, but though his mouth opened, not even half a word came out. Instead, a spray of blood burst forth!
In his heart, however, it was as if the sudden upheaval had shattered everything to pieces. Pain churned up monstrous waves in the lake of his heart, which had only just calmed—or rather, been forced into calm. All the unease, terror, despair... and other negative emotions he had barely suppressed deep inside were stirred up. Catching him completely off guard, they smashed through the final wall of defense in his heart, built from reason, and swept destructively into every one of his thoughts.
Crack!
At that moment, a fissure slowly split open where his chest met the branch.
Crack! Crack, crack, crack, crack!
Then two, three, four... countless cracks spread out like a spiderweb. In an instant, centered on him, the fractures crawled across the place where the branch joined the trunk.
Whoosh!
Then, amid the soft rustle of cloth, the force of the impact rebounded. Chiba, nearly plastered against the branch, suddenly arched backward and fell directly from the three-meter-high trunk in that backward-leaning posture! No! This...
This made no sense!
Why... why was this happening!
It shouldn't be possible! According to my deductions, something like this could never have happened! And...
And how could she possibly be here?
That enemy, that enemy should have been on Iwa's side. If he