The Villain Of Arise

xxxv: the light in the darkness

Jaehyung sped up to the light shining, leaving a confused Melinda in the process. He stopped, staring at Jeongsuk, who immediately withdrew his light and began to sprint back.

"You-" in no time, Jaehyung ran after him and grabbed his shoulders, imprisoning Jeongsuk in the process. Jeongsuk could do nothing but squirm as he did his best to get out of his hold. "Why are you here? Aren't you the leader?"

Jeongsuk shook his head, sighing. There was a defeated look on his face, like he was ready to give up. "No," he said shortly. "Nobody wanted me to be the leader. I'm now the medic of all things."

"How disappointing," Jaehyung said. "And what are you doing on this territory?"

Jeongsuk shuffled his feet, his body now slumped. "Well, I suppose I wanted to prove that I was useful."

"In this weather?" Jaehyung asked, shaking his head. He stepped back, releasing Jeongsuk from his tight grip. The protagonist turned around, looking at him, perplexed. "Go on, run off."

Jeongsuk stumbled, still confused. He began to back away slowly. "Huh? Why are you helping me?"

Jaehyung shrugged, "Perhaps I pity you or that I'm nicer than I appear. Now I suggest that you hurry off before you get caught."

Jeongsuk blinked, then sprinted back into the dense bush of the rainforest, disappearing like he was never there. Footsteps squeaked on the wet ground and Melinda entered in Jaehyung's view as he turned around.

"Jaehyung, what the hell?" Melinda asked him. She was still shivering, her eyes squinting at him through the dense rain. "What happened just then? Why did you run off so suddenly?"

"I thought I saw Jeongsuk," Jaehyung murmured, staring out at the distance. "It seems it was purely my imagination."

The noise of a twig snapped and Melinda jumped in surprise. Toshiro smiled at them as he swept aside a tree branch. "Good day," he said cheerfully. "Don't mind me. I was simply foraging for supplies."

Jaehyung suddenly felt uneasy. Did Toshiro see him and Jeongsuk? He hadn't even notice him until Toshiro himself stepped on a twig. As if Toshiro knew what he thinking, he sighed, taking out large leaves and handing them to both him and Melinda.

"I saw you and Melinda just then and wanted to see what it was all about. Since you both seemed to be scouting, I wanted to give these neat leaf umbrellas to you both."

"Thank you!" Melinda expressed excitedly. "Even though I'm already soaked, at least it'll be some more shelter."

Toshiro smiled bashfully, looking slightly embarrassed but pleased. "No problem."

Jaehyung gave him a curt nod, saying his own thanks.

As they walked back to where the flag was left on the hill, the rain stopped and soon after the clouds cleared, letting the sun shine through on the forest. It was ironic really and they all placed the leaf umbrellas on the ground.

There was a chilling breeze in the air and chills crept down Jaehyung's back.

For what, he didn't know.

—

Once the sun began to set, casting a warm glow over the camp, Team Day was making plans. They had situated their camp near the place where the flag had been. Much to their pleasure, the good news was that they now owned the school territory. The bad news was that one of the scouts of the team -  Ryoma - had been captured. However, he also managed to move the flag before he were caught and now the exact position of Team Night's flag was clear.