(Alone in the classroom again?) Sufian thought to himself as he looked around.

  Ah, whoops. I guess he’s not alone… Sufian noticed the Gnath still sitting in the corner.

  Matt, muttering to himself, said, "Man, everyone here’s out of their freaking minds… that includes you, you Kiwi."

  Kiwi remained silent.

  "Shit… say something already, why don’t ya!" Matt barked, frustrated.

  (Guess he gave him a name, he’s getting there…) Sufian observed, watching the tension rise.

  "Um…" Sufian began, trying to break the silence.

  "YOW!!! The heck… S-since when you been spying on me, Sufian?!" Matt jumped back, startled.

  "Who was spying?!" Sufian said, holding his hands up defensively.

  "Kiwi don’t do words! Just chirp-chirp and blink-blink!" Snagglix added, bouncing around with a grin.

  Matt blushed heavily, muttering, "… The heck?! Man, this freaking place… I keep getting stuck with the short end of the stick…"

  "Hey! Kiwi not the short-stick, no-NO!!" Snagglix shouted, jumping up to defend Kiwi.

  Matt let out an exasperated sigh. "… You’ve got a mouth on you, Sufian too, mini Hulk breath."

  "I didn’t mean…" Sufian began to explain.

  "Not a mini huck—Boblin’s LOUDBOOTS!!" Snagglix yelled, puffing up proudly.

  Matt gave up and stared down at the floor. "Shut up, already… I don’t know what the heck anyone’s saying anymore… all of you are freaking nuts…"

  "Um…" Sufian said, unsure how to handle the situation.

  Matt crossed his arms in frustration and shot Sufian a glare. "That includes you! Are you messed in the head like Ali? Or an escapist like Malak?"

  "Well I… have to agree that Ali’s got a screw or two loose," Sufian replied, a bit nervously.

  Matt lowered his arms, preparing to let loose. "Right?! Something’s not right with that kid!" he smirked, his eyes glinting.

  Sufian chuckled. "As for Malak… she still seems to think someone’s gonna come and rescue us… I can’t say I share her optimism."

  "Wait, seriously?" Matt raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised. "It’s almost like you’re picking up what I’m putting down…"

  (Matt’s a realist. That must make everything we’ve seen that much harder to swallow… Can’t say I like the guy, but he makes some decent points.)

  Matt smirked again, his tone softer now. "… The heck’s gonna happen to us?"

  He looked genuinely concerned for the first time.

  "This might not be much of an answer, but… I guess we’ll see," Sufian said with a shrug. "Whatever will be, will be, as they say… first off, we don’t even know what’s going on right in front of us."

  "You're right, that ain’t much by way of an answer!" Matt said, sighing. "Still, you’ve got a point…"

  Matt looked discouraged, his shoulders slumping. "Guess I’m the idiot for asking in the first place… Eesh… sigh… I wish this bug thing could at least say something."

  Kiwi remained silent.

  "Hey-HEY! Kiwi not bug-thing, no-NO!!" Snagglix protested, trying to defend Kiwi.

  Matt raised a fist. "Shut your freaking trap, imp face!"

  "MY FACE NOT IMP!!!" Snagglix yelled, stomping his feet.

  "Come on, leave him alone, Boots." Sufian stepped between them. "Well, uh… later." He quickly pushed Snagglix out of the room, preventing the argument from escalating.

  Sufian dragged Snagglix through the corridor, quickly heading toward the music room. He paused at the door and looked around.

  (The grand piano is covered in dust.) Sufian thought, walking closer.

  He pressed one of the keys. (Looks like an antique to me, but the sound is clear and crisp.)

  Sufian’s gaze drifted to the drums in the corner.

  (The drums have been placed haphazardly. All of the drumheads are discolored. I’m guessing they haven’t been used for quite a while.)

  His eyes shifted again to the green board at the back of the room.

  (An accordion’s been thrown on top of the desk. Parts of the bellows are torn. How long ago was it left here? I couldn’t guess if I tried. Let’s just go somewhere else.)

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  Sufian nodded to Snagglix and they both went downstairs.

  (Oh, it’s Malak. Should I say something to her?)

  "Oh, Sufian?" Malak called, looking up.

  "How goes it, Malak? Find anything edible?" Sufian asked, tilting his head.

  "Not a thing," Malak said with a frown, looking down at her hands. "Useless."

  "If Malak couldn’t find anything, then there’s nothing to be found!" Pimi said, crossing her arms smugly.

  "That’s a funny logic, but okay…" Sufian said, raising an eyebrow.

  "No stop-stop! Still peekin’—we find it soon!" Snagglix said, bouncing around excitedly.

  "You're right," Malak said, glancing around. "Let’s look elsewhere. Let us know if you find something, Sufian."

  (If we find food…)

  "Sure, you got it. If I told Ali first he’d just eat it all up," Sufian joked.

  "I don’t believe Ali would stoop so low… probably not," Malak said, smiling lightly.

  "Oh, I bet he would! That’s the kind of boy he is!" Pimi piped up with a laugh.

  "After we find some food, we’ll leave the cooking to you," Sufian said.

  "Right. I’ll try not to let you down. Hey, the kitchen! That should be the first place we check!" Malak said, her eyes brightening. "I’ll go then, Sufian. Let’s go, Pimi."

  "Okay!" Pimi replied eagerly, nodding.

  Sufian looked at Snagglix. "I really don’t think we’re going to find any food here."

  "What ‘bout this-this?" Snagglix asked, pointing at something in the corner.

  "Boots, that’s just a dead leaf. We can’t eat that. It’s garbage," Sufian said, shaking his head.

  "Really-really? Hmm… this one’s tough…" Snagglix said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

  "I’m pretty sure this place doesn’t have any food," Sufian sighed.

  Malak then walked away, with everyone following her toward the cafeteria.

  "Hmm… I thought we could find something in the cafeteria, but that was wishful thinking," Malak said, looking disappointed.

  "No food then?" Pimi asked, sounding worried.

  "It looks like there’s nothing here," Malak said with a sigh. "Yes… I guess if push comes to shove, we’ll have to take our search outdoors."

  "Don’t worry, Malak!" Pimi said confidently. "When the time comes, I’ll be sure to protect you!"

  "Thank you, Pimi…" Malak said with a soft smile.

  "I’ll look out for you too, Malak," Sufian added, his voice sincere.

  "…Thanks, Sufian," Malak said, her expression softening.

  "Then we’ll see who protects her better, won’t we?!" Pimi said, giggling.

  (Of course, you would, with your Zan and Dia…) Sufian thought, shaking his head.

  "Me too!" Snagglix chimed in, puffing out his chest.

  "Well... let’s hope there’s nothing to protect me from in the first place, okay?" Malak said, giving them a nervous smile.

  Bleep!

  "Malak, what? A message?" Sufian asked, surprised. "That doesn’t… I thought we didn’t have a signal."

  "Is it a bunch of garbled text? I got the same kind of message," Sufian said, looking over her shoulder.

  "Huh… yeah, it is. Doesn’t look like I can send a message from my side, either," Malak said, her brow furrowed. "What is this? It’s kinda spooky…"

  "We can’t worry about that now. The search for supplies comes first," Sufian said, putting the message aside. "I’ll go check the front yard."

  As soon as Sufian and Snagglix walked out of the school, toward the front yard…

  "Oh hey, there’s Ali," Sufian thought.

  "Oh… it’s you, Ali. Didn’t you go off on your own somewhere?"

  "I can’t just run off without making the necessary preparations, now can I?" Ali said, raising an eyebrow.

  "And I cannot let him go off on his own," Thoren added, stepping into view.

  "That’s true. Good thing Thoren’s with you," Sufian said, nodding.

  "Hey Sufian, do you know if this is edible?" Ali asked, holding out a plant.

  "Uh… isn’t that just some weed?" Sufian asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Can we munch-munch it?!" Snagglix asked eagerly.

  "Mm… definitely. We can eat that," Ali said confidently.

  (Ali seems pretty sure…)

  "Yeah, I guess you know this stuff," Sufian said, crossing his arms.

  "This is pretty well-known. Isn’t it cudweed?" Ali asked, grinning.

  "It just looks like a plain old weed to me," Sufian replied.

  "Chew chew..."

  "Uwaaah! Hey, spit that out right now!" Sufian said, his eyes wide with alarm.

  "Given the unseasonal red spider lilies, I thought this might be some cudweed… and I was right!" Ali said with a grin. "You can eat it. They used to substitute it for mugwort in old recipes."

  "I know you know lots of weird facts, but there are better ways to check..." Sufian said, shaking his head.

  "It’s one of the seven famous spring flowers," Ali said with a shrug. "Man! Who says I can’t eat it?! We found some other plants and fruits that look edible. We should keep looking! Listen, I know I froze up with everything going on, but I’m a survivalist at heart!"

  "I wouldn’t go that far…" Sufian said with a smile. "Hey Thoren, this guy leaps before he looks. So watch after him, okay?"

  "Leave it to me!" Thoren said with a smile.

  "Come on. Guys, I’m RIGHT here!" Ali grumbled, rolling his eyes.

  Ali walked away from Sufian, Thoren following behind him.

  "Look-look, Sufian! This plant’s a munchy-munch one, yeah?!" Snagglix asked, pointing at another plant.

  "Uh, are you sure?" Sufian asked, eyeing it warily.

  Chew chew

  "Hey! Don’t just start eating it! We don’t even know if it’s safe!" Sufian said, startled.

  "Ack! Tongue regret! Boblin need water—NOW!!" Snagglix shouted, his face turning red.

  "Are you okay? I can’t believe you just did that!" Sufian said, rushing to his side.

  "WEIRD... Boblin did what Ali did! Why no work for me?!" Snagglix said, looking confused.

  "Look, you can’t go around shoving things in your mouth when you don’t know what they are," Sufian said, shaking his head.

  "Right! Now I know," Snagglix said, nodding sagely.

  "I don’t think we’ll find anything here. Let’s check the gym," Sufian suggested.

  He walked in and looked around.

  (Look who it is, I wonder if he found anything?)

  "Hey, Ali, what’re you doing?" Sufian asked as he saw Ali sorting through some plants.

  "We found more! There’s a lot growing here!" Ali said with a grin.

  "Hey, Sufian! Check out these mushrooms!" Ali called excitedly.

  "Wow! So many!" Snagglix said, bouncing up and down.

  "Can we eat them?" Ali asked, holding one up.

  (I wonder… they look sort of questionable.)

  "I’m pretty sure these are not edible. Are they poisonous?" Sufian asked, narrowing his eyes.

  "Probably. Thanks for the heads up. I’m too hungry to think. If I’d eaten those mushrooms…" Ali said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  "Hmm!" Thoren said, stepping forward.

  "Is something wrong, Thoren?" Ali asked, glancing at him.

  "We dwarfs love those mushrooms, but I heard they are poisonous to the Hyurs…" Thoren said, his voice grave.

  "What? Poisonous to Hyurs? That’s us! I can’t eat it, so it’s all yours, Thoren!" Ali said, stepping back.

  "Thank you…" Thoren said, nodding with gratitude.

  "Well, uh… later!" Ali said, walking away.

  Sufian led the way back to the corridor.

  "We’ve looked everywhere we can," Sufian said, a little discouraged.

  "Was there food?" Ali asked as he caught up with them.

  "Yes. Ali found some for us, but to be honest, we’ll need more. Where else can we look?" Ali asked, looking around.

  "Guys! Over here! In the gym!" Malak called out suddenly.

  "Yikes! What was that? Malak?" Sufian said, eyes wide.

  Snagglix pointed at the gym’s gate that everyone just left. "It came from INSIDE!"

  "Maybe she found something!" Sufian said, running toward the gym.

  "Let’s go!" Snagglix yelled excitedly.

  "No, wait! Not everyone might have heard that. Let’s go tell the others first," Sufian said, holding up a hand.

  "Okay!" Snagglix said, ready to go.

  ?????