Chapter 9 - Power

Both of Angga's eyes now looked at Eiji quite sharply, he took a breath and said to remember what the high school boy had just said into his memory. Seeing that Angga looked very tense with what Eiji said, the high school boy smiled afterward and then added, "That's what they told me, and I guess you're remembering it too right? it was the same as me when I entered this labyrinth for the first time."

Hearing Eiji's words, made Angga's forehead frown spontaneously after hearing a word that he thought was odd, "They said?" Angga asked Eiji who is now back walking ahead of Angga towards the front, he did it again to find a safe place because the two of them had not found the place, of course made Angga spontaneously follow the steps of the child.

"Can you tell me that clearly?? regarding…strength and weapons what did you just say? Because I can't understand it clearly yet." asked Angga to Eiji who looked busy looking to the right and left.

Hearing Angga's request, made Eiji nod his head happily, "I'll tell you about it, but after we find a safe place… cause I feel that we should immediately hide and rest." That's what Eiji said, finally making Angga nod his head and keep following in the footsteps of Eiji who is still walking through the labyrinth.

Angga is grateful and he admits it, after he saw and followed Eiji's footsteps, he felt calmer than before. Although, Angga himself does not know anything about why he can feel that calm together with a high school boy who is currently walking right in front of him. Either because Angga really needs a friend to walk with him at this time, or because the calm attitude shown by Eiji at this time is what finally makes him feel calm too.

However, it was the second thought that Angga immediately avoided, because he felt that Eiji was not calm, it could be seen clearly from him who seemed to be trying to be relaxed at this time. Yes, Angga saw it. Seeing Eiji who breathed quite loudly several times, and Angga always did the same thing when he was feeling panicked and trying to calm himself a long time ago.

Realizing this, makes Angga feel that this is bad for Eiji. He is still young, but he has to deal with things that can damage his psyche, he is controlling his fears, and that makes Angga believe in him. Even not only Eiji, but Angga also feel worried about his mental condition later, both of them are really being tested mentally in this labyrinth.

BROK!!

"Ouch!!"

"Oh, sorry!"

Angga apologized as soon as possible after he accidentally bumped into Eiji so he grimaced softly and rubbed his shoulder in front of Angga. Both of Angga's eyes turned to the front, where the road they were currently facing was a dead end, making Angga feel that they had turned the wrong corner.

"Hah… looks like we went the wrong way, let's go back!" said Angga as he invited Eiji to return to the previous path.

However, Angga's thoughts have nothing in common with Eiji's thoughts, Eiji just shook his head as he said, "This is a good hiding!"

Angga tilted his head to the left after hearing Eiji's words at that time, Angga looked confusedly at himself who was now busy rubbing his hands together, seeing him doing that made Angga now raises his hand to the level of his shoulder and then said, "Hey kid! It's a stalemate, … and if those thugs find us here, then we're finished!" explained Angga to Eiji who quickly shook his head to refute Angga's words.

Eiji who was still busy rubbing his hands then walked past and stood right behind Angga, making Angga turn around to find the boy now stretching his arms higher than his shoulders and then Eiji swinging his hands to get closer and finally intertwined with each other. Along with the swing of those two hands, the bushes that felt on the right and left side also walked and covered the road they had walked through, and ended up with them in a labyrinth that formed a square that had no way of going anywhere or say only that they were hiding in a maze of bushes on a fairly large scale.

"Well, we're safe now!" said Eiji while turning his body to face Angga who at that time looked quite surprised after witnessing what a high school boy named Eiji had just done that day.

"Y… You… -

Angga's words even stuttered because of that, which made Eiji laugh after hearing that and then nod his head while saying, "Yes! The bushes are my strength here, they are also the ones who brought me here."

Hearing that, made Angga pensive because of it, 'the bush brought him … ' that was what Angga thought before he finally turned to look at Eiji who was now walking to one of the walls of the bush and then sat back tiredly. Seeing this made Angga's curiosity, even more, he was curious about everything that had happened here and also about the words that Eiji said some time ago. Feeling that there is one question that has not been answered by the child, Angga decides to approach him and sit right in front of Eiji who is leaning against one of the walls of the labyrinth.

"Eum… Arata, can you explain what just happened? Because I think I'm getting really confused right now." It was the words that Angga said to Eiji at that time that finally made Eiji immediately turn his head as he spoke.

"Eiji!" said the boy to Angga who was now frowning, not understanding why the boy called his own name, seeing that Angga didn't understand it, made Eiji say again, "Call me by the name Eiji ... because Eiji is my name, while Arata is my surname," said Eiji to Angga who then immediately realized it and re-corrected the question that was posed by him to Eiji.

"Ah, oh… yes, I mean Eiji! Can you explain it?" asked Angga back to Eiji who was now nodding his head.

"Okay… you must be feeling really confused because this is new to you… so, what do you want to know about this dimension, Angga??" Eiji asked Angga.

Hearing this question, made Angga think again and finally asked one thing that had always been in Angga's mind, even when the first time he was brought here by the wind, and that question could not be answered by Angga himself, "Earlier you said that this is the dimension isn't it?? what dimension is this??? why no sun and no moon why are they all here are crazy people and psychopaths?? um… of course not all of them, because you're not like them…" said Angga giving a thousand questions to Eiji, and Eiji felt that the question was the one that bothered Angga just as much as the first time Eiji came to this dimension.

"I don't know for sure about this dimension either, but… those I've met and talked to say that this dimension is another dimension, we're not in the world, and we also can't live our normal lives here, as you said. , where there is no sunlight, no clouds, no moon, stars, and even rain. There's nothing but oxygen and these tall bushes, nothing here but the things we carry and the weapons we have to defend against." Eiji's explanation still confuses Angga, he is now thinking again to understand the meaning of Eiji's explanation, while Eiji is busy staring at the bushes which then move by themselves.

The bush moves on its own which then produces some beautiful flowers and quickly turns into delicious red and purple berries. The fertilization process happened very quickly, and even Angga was surprised by it.

The process of fruit growth that Angga had just seen at that time, looks like the growth process carried out using a video or image capture technique known as time-lapse. Because clearly, Angga could see the white flower buds, which then bloomed beautifully, then the petals of each beautiful flower fell one by one which finally left only the protective leaves, stamens, and ovules. Angga can also clearly see the ovary, which was originally small, green in color, is slowly getting bigger and bigger. The future fruit then turns into a berry that Angga knows as a blackberry bud, which is now green and then quickly changes to yellow, orange, red, and then perfect purple.

After the berries in front of them looked ripe, Eiji picked them up and gave half of them to Angga, "Eat, this is all we can eat here." said Eiji to Angga, before finally, Eiji devoured the berry, seeing how delicious Eiji devoured the berries was what ultimately made Angga eat the berry bud that he was currently holding.

"Ah, and for those crazy people you met before, they became like that because they were struggling to stay alive… maybe they went crazy like that because of the lack of food, … or maybe they went crazy like that because they wanted to immediately return to a world that makes them feel comfortable, compared to this annoying dimension!" continued Eiji to Angga, which made Angga sighed and turned to look at the berry he was holding.

"For sure… you also don't know what caused them to go crazy like that, do you?" Angga's words at that time were finally given a nod of an agreement by Eiji who was now smiling at him as he devoured the berries again.

Angga shook his head after seeing this, but Angga again pondered in his mind, 'If Eiji says that the bush is his strength because they also brought him, it also means that if the wind brought me here, then the wind is my weapon? Is it really like that?' that's the thought that appeared in Angga's mind at this time, he even looked around there, looked to the right and left of the labyrinth, to check whether there was wind around there that was blowing at this time or not? However, after he felt that there was no gust of wind around there, in the end, made Angga felt that the wind was not his strength. Angga also had doubts about it.

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