"Wakey wakey…" Alina mumbled, bags under her eyes as she lay spread eagle on the bed. She couldn't think straight anymore. Linda groaned from the other bed.
"Why did we think it was a good idea to stay up all night to talk about the past?" Linda whispered, muffled by the pillow as she lay face down.
"Hey, at least we're best buds now." Alina answered, dragging herself up from the bed to take a cold shower. She looked back at Linda, her expression impish. "Hey, babe, wanna join me in the shower?"
Linda threw a pillow at her, laughing, "I'm not cheating on John."
"Hey," Hikari called from outside. "Are y'all up? We're gonna grab some weapons and stuff and leave in about an hour and a half."
"Yeah, we're alive." Linda told Hikari, before she added, mumbling, "But just barely."
Hikari heard the last part and cracked the door open, peeking in through the gap, "Oh, you do look like shit. What did you guys even do last night?"
"Heart to heart!" Alina piped up from inside the bathroom. "Should we invite you next time?"
Hikari chuckled, "How long did you even talk?"
"A few hours," Linda confessed, shrugging. "Too short." Alina added.
"About what, may I ask?" Hikari was amused as she watched Linda run a comb through her pixie cut. If it was any longer, it would have become a sea of knots from the quick pillow fight that may or may not have happened last night. No one could see as Alina hid in the shower, she too, chuckling as she gave her own hair a quick wash.
From outside the other room, Korū was yelling at the guys to "wake the fuck up". A huge contrast to the approach that Hikari had taken to wake the two girls up, but tailored to the needs of the three future Alphas, who seemed to sleep like the dead.
This time round, the other guys managed to drag themselves out off their beds in a considerably short time, and they were all gathered outside their room within the next thirty minutes.
"Congratulations, you managed to wake up," Korū said dryly. "C'mon, this way." He led the way to a heavily guarded room, which they were granted access to surprisingly quickly. Korū pushed open a set of heavy metal doors, revealing a pretty well-stocked armory.
"Oh, fun." Liam said, as all of them assessed this room.
"Three weapons each, max." He proceeded to pick up a rifle from one corner of the room. "Don't worry about the dragons feeling threatened, just take what you like."
Hikari was gathering ammo for her pistol and another rifle.
Kumori was apparently ready to go, so she was just waiting in her room for now, enjoying the feeling of doing nothing.
Alina whistled. "I still prefer Bloodlust's collection, but I'll say, this isn't too bad." She grabbed a handgun and an assault rifle, Linda doing the same.
"Can someone tell me why we need to be armed, though?" Cole asked.
"It's gonna take a while to get there. Plus the other packs in Japan may launch an ambush. Not to mention how the griffins may strike again." He hefted the gun over his shoulder, leaning down to pick up his travel pack. "If you want to leave here unarmed, go right ahead. It won't be my problem if you die."
The three guys cleared their throats awkwardly. "We um… don't usually use weapons…" Liam confessed.
"Not surprising," both Linda and Alina muttered, exchanging looks. Most wolves focused on fighting in their fur form.
"Well," Alina mused, "As long as you guys don't get poisoned or something, I think we'll be okay for now."
Korū and Hikari both gave them matching what the fuck looks. "Then why the hell did you even try fighting us back at school?"
Liam snorted loudly and everyone watched as a blush creeped up Cole's neck. "Yes, Cole, why did we think it was such a good idea?" Liam smirked.
Cole threw his hands up in surrender. "I judged you guys by your looks, okay? Two skinny Asians and a tiny girl… And we were all having a bad day." he gulped as he received multiple glares.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry, don't kill me…" he shielded his face with his forearms, backing away.
"Damn, I didn't know you were racist, Cole. Disappointed." Cayne said, raising his eyebrows.
"Oi, it's not that. They aren't particularly buff, so I just assumed. The main point isn't their skin colour." Cole said indignantly. "You already rubbed in the fact that we lost so badly right after, and it's not like you protested."
Cayne's eyelid twitched, as if Cole had struck a chord, "You know very well what happened that day. It's not a valid reason, but it's still a reason. Not like any of you were helping."
"I'm not showing any solidarity next time." Liam announced, before muttering the last part almost inaudibly, "But I think we were all more than a little cocky that day."
There was a pause before Korū rolled his eyes. "Just... Bring a couple knives or something. You can't exactly shift right in the middle of Kanazawa."
"Um… okay…" Liam said reluctantly.
Alina snickered. "You don't know anything about weapons, do you?"
She got head shakes as a response. Sighing, she grabbed three combat knives and three batons and passed one to each of them.
"Just try not to kill yourself. Batons are pretty non lethal, usually self-defence, but at least that means you can't stab yourself."
"Are you done?" Hikari asked. "Korū and I are gonna grab some food before we go."
"Sure." As they went, Alina gave the guys a run-down of how to use the weapons, while trying to get them to master how to expand the batons.
The twins returned about fifteen minutes later with a bag of onigiri and ohagi because they're nice to eat.
"Are we going?" Linda asked as they chomped down the food.
"Yeah, hold on, my uncle's getting the car," Hikari responded.
"Going back the way we came?" Liam asked.
"Yeah."
"Race you?" Alina asked, a little hopefully. She missed a little mindless thrill.
"No." Korū began walking. "I'm fucking tired, and these actually hurt." He gestured towards his wounds.
"Oh, right," Hikari added, "There's alcohol there, so if you wanna drink, be prepared for some strong stuff."
"I have Milo." Alina said. She paused for a moment, a little delirious from the lack of sleep, "Have you ever wondered what Milo and vodka would taste like…?"
"Ew. Where the hell did you get that idea?" Hikari scrunched you her nose.
"I don't know." She thought about it for a moment, then gagged. "Okay, never mind. But, simply just… alcoholic Milo?"
"Don't know. Never really drink that. I prefer coffee." They found Kumori, who just so happened to hold out a cup of coffee to Korū.
"Wanna talk about what we are going to say to the dragons and how?��� Cole asked.
Alina shrugged and rummaged through her backpack for Milo powder, scooping some into her mouth, careful not to touch the spoon.
Korū was staring at Alina like she was out of her mind, while Hikari responded with a "no" to Cole's question.
Cole shrugged and turned to Alina. "Can I have some?"
"Open up." She mindlinked, her mouth still full of the chocolate-tasting powder, and poured some into his mouth.
Linda looked surprised, and a little amused. "How do you not inhale any?"
Alina winked. "Practice." She mindlinked again, enjoying the sweet taste.
Korū was questioning his choice of friends, but it was too late to start regretting anything. He would never admit it, but they were tolerable… sometimes.
"You want some?" Alina asked him.
"No," Korū growled. They left the tunnels and Korū took off, leaving his companions behind.
"Why does he keep ditching us?" Liam asked, and they all took off after him. Linda shrugged at him as they went.