Eunice paused briefly, then quickly ran deeper into the mountains without the slightest intention of waiting for anyone.
Victoria wiped the sweat from her forehead and turned to Hesta. "...What do we do now?"
"Let's just keep going up for now," Hesta said, leaning against a rock with a flashlight in one hand while constantly shaking out her collar with the other. "We'll stop when we reach a fork. She should come back for us."
Victoria turned to Vilsin on the other side. "Why did you have to provoke her for no reason?"
"Why did you have to expose me for no reason?"
"If you hadn't been so blatant about memorizing the route, how could I have exposed you?"
"What does it have to do with you if I blatantly memorize the route?" Vilsin laughed. "You came in out of nowhere to stir things up, and now you want to blame me?"
"Stop." Hesta stepped between them. "Let's go."
The mountain path was rugged, and Eunice's pace had alternated between fast and slow while she led them earlier, leaving all four of them somewhat out of breath. After resting in place for several minutes, they set off again. At several forks, they identified Eunice's footprints and continued forward without stopping.
At another fork, Vilsin and Zoe each took one path to look for traces Eunice had left behind, while Hesta and Victoria waited where they were. Victoria sat down and said softly, "I always thought the difference between them and us was simply that they don't have Constraint Time. But now it seems that having no Constraint Time also means having no Bullet Time... That's far too convenient."
Hesta said nothing. She had been thinking about the same question. Eunice's speed had not suddenly increased; the entire process, from her