Hikaru pulled back from pointing and laughing, his face full of confusion. Bewildered. How did this guy not know what continents were? Were there actually people named after continents out there?

And then he was laughing harder, hard enough that there were tears in his eyes.

" i'm going to be completely honest with you -- i have absolutely no idea what you're saying right now . no ?? at least , i don't think so ?? "

geography . it . . . didn't sound all that familiar to takumi . then again , he so often slept through class , who knew if he missed that lesson . the guy might as well be speaking in algebraic expressions because nothing was adding up .

         𝐈𝐓  𝐖𝐀𝐒  𝐍𝐎𝐓  𝐀  𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄  idea  .  not  a  bad  idea  at  all  .  rand  considered  one  of  the  doorways  they  passed  .  a  quick  pat  -  down  of  his  coat  and  pockets  procured  their  humble  party  with  a  pen  .  one  of  the  ones  he  needn't  dip  into  an  inkwell  in  order  to  write  with  .  after  one  doorway  pull  ,  and  the  sight  of  another  corridor  later  ,  rand  stooped  to  mark  the  wall  next  to  the  sign  .

         ❝   yes  .  we'll  mark  with  an  ‘X’  any  we've  been  through  before  ,  then  ,   ❞  he  said  .  ❝   and  .  .  .  and  we  shall  keep  moving  ,  following  one  color  .  if  that  one  leads  us  nowhere  ,  then  we  move  onto  the  next  ,  and  the  next  after  that  .   ❞  he  nodded  to  himself  ,  trying  to  push  as  much  confidence  as  he  could  muster  into  his  voice  — never  -  mind  that  it  would  all  continue  to  take  take  twice  as  long  without  a  map  .  there  is  no  use  bemoaning  it  .  make  do  .  you  have  to  .  rand  tried  not  to  grind  his  teeth  together  .  ❝   there  are  only  so  many  to  choose  from  .  hopefully  ,  it  will  not  take  very  long  at  all  .   ❞

XXXXXXX

           this  is  taking  too  long  ,  rand  thought  ,  raking  his  hand  through  his  hair  as  the  pair  carved  another  X  on  the  wall  .  this  room  led  into  some  sort  of  an  office  ,  or  perhaps  a  meeting  hall  .  either  way  ,  it  had  many  small  tables  and  chairs  around  it  ,  and  one  wall  adorned  with  MOUNTED  MIRRORS  .  or  what  rand  presumed  were  meant  to  be  some  kind  of  mirror  ,  anyways  .  they  were  FLAT  ,  BLACK  ,  and  RECTANGULAR  in  shape  .  truly  ,  rand  hadn't  the  faintest  idea  what  else  they  could  be  ,  although  if  they  were  mirrors  of  a  fashion  ,  rand  noted  that  they  were  not  very  well  made  .  at  least  ,  not  by  what  he  could  see  from  the  doorway  .              rand  looked  down  the  corridor  they  were  following  .  just  considering  going  onward  made  rand  BONE  -  WEARY  .  they  were  well  and  truly  lost  .  and  i  am  the  bloody  idiot  who's  only  gotten  us  deeper  and  deeper  into  this  mess  .  rand  stifled  the  long  sigh  that  bubbled  within  him  ,  and  tried  harder  not  to  look  at  takumi  .  not  yet  .  rand  had  no  idea  what  he  might  see  scrawled  upon  the  man's  face  .  Light  ,  he  must  believe  me  a  goose  -  brained  fool  .  BURN  ME  ,  but  he'd  be  right  to  think  so  .  he  is  right  .  a  fool  was  the  LEAST  of  what  rand  was  .          ❝  why  don't  we  take  a  moment  to  sit  and  rest  ?  we've  been  walking  for  a  while  and  it  might  be  good  to—  ❞  the  ground  shook  beneath  their  feet  .  it  was  only  a  short  tremor  ,  but  enough  to  catch  rand  off  -  guard  ,  and  followed  by  another  ,  THEN  ANOTHER  .  ❝  —  bloody  ashes  !  ❞  A  DRAWN  ,  GRAVELING  GROAN  ECHOED  FROM  DOWN  THE  FAR  HALL  ,  past  a  bend  they  hadn't  explored  yet  .  rand  grappled  for  balance  along  the  door  -  frame  .  another  tremor  .  why  did  he  hear  STONES  SCRAPING  ?  another  tremor  .  almost  like  —  like  footsteps  !  bloody  giant  footsteps  .  and  they  were  coming  closer  .

               ❝  takumi  ,  get  into  that  room  ,  ❞  rand  barked  ,  ❝  quickly!  ❞

meanwhile , takumi had been functioning under the assumption that things were going relatively well . for however monotonous the plan had been . . . at the very least , it seemed to be working . to his knowledge , they hadn't been erroneously entering the same set of rooms over and over . . . this place just had a large basement . a very large one .

so , it was no surprise that takumi immediately plopped down into a squat at the mere mention of a rest . hand pressed to the beaten in smoothness of the heavily trafficked floor .

that is , until the ground shook . he could feel the rumbles first rattle his elbow , then jostle his shoulders . he was back up in an instant .

there was singular , crucial difference between choosing to face danger at the academy and right here , right now . namely : there wasn't a reset button . no revive-o-matic working on overtime to keep him alive if he made a mistake . not to takumi's knowledge , anyways . so whatever it was that shook the ground beneath their feet . . . was not to be carelessly trifled with . sticks and stones do actually hurt .

pivoted partway between the room and the hall ,

up in an instant , takumi steadied himself against the door frame . and compliantly stepped a foot into the darkened room before it dawned on him : for as comfortable as it felt to follow under someone else's command , it . . . felt odd to flee . not without making sure that his team was following on his heels .

" come on . you too . "