Seizing his chance, Big Bear lunged forward, activating his invisibility as he reached out with both paws and securely caught the falling Nai Hyuga.
"Oof!" Big Bear staggered, almost losing his footing. Fortunately, he pulled through without incident, slipping into the safety of invisibility before the Red Ants reached him.
He lowered Nai Hyuga onto the sand, then immediately covered her mouth with a paw and held his own breath.
At the same time, wave after wave of rustling descended upon them. The Red Ants swarmed forward, instantly surrounding the area for dozens of meters around Big Bear.
The sky went dark in an instant, and the buzzing of the Red Ants' wings thundered in their ears.
Nai Hyuga lay on the ground as sorrow welled up in her heart. Neither the searing pain in her shoulder nor the swollen ache in her lower abdomen could drown out that feeling.
Was Yui really dead? she murmured inwardly, yet she refused to believe it.
Yui could not possibly leave her so easily...
Deep down, Nai Hyuga had a strange intuition that Yui was definitely not dead. Perhaps something had trapped her, just as Big Bear had suggested.
She held firmly to that belief, convinced that Yui was still alive. Until she saw her for herself, she would never believe that Yui had left her.
All she had to do now was wait. Once the Red Ants left, she could go look for her.
As her thoughts gradually settled, she found herself considering the strange things about Kazama Ya.
Remembering how Kazama Ya had appeared with an entirely new face and then claimed to have killed Yui, Nai Hyuga felt that something was off.
And why did Kazama Ya look so much like Yui?
And those Byakugan eyes...
Nai Hyuga was certain