I limp over to where she is to check on her. She's in terrible condition. Most of her wounds are superficial, but this event only serves to traumatize her further. In this moment, I decide that I need to start sleeping in the forest as well.
Shinobu is tucked into the fetal position with her hands over her ears and her eyes shut tight.
"Idon'twannadieidontwannadieidon'twannadie."
She's muttering, completely unaware of what's going on right now.
[If this gets much worse, she'll go mad.]
I bend over and gently stroke her head. I once heard that people tend to run their hands through their hair when stressed as a subconscious way of trying to calm themselves down. She flinches at first but relaxes after a few moments. She opens her eyes, and I put on the kindest smile I can muster. I hear her sharply suck in the air and search my face.
"Everything is going to be okay. You're safe now."
The surprised expression on her face crumbles into an ugly cry. She shoots up and grabs me as hard as she can.
'Waaaaanhaahaaaaa!'
"I thought you were gonna die, and then I thought it was gonna come after me next! I was so scared! I didn't know what to do, and I broke all of your stuff! I'm so useless, and I just get in the way! I'm so sorry! I can't do anything right! I thought I was about to die, and then you came down to save me and almost died!"
I have my arms spread to the side, not knowing what to do. I never really understood how to deal with kids. On top of that, they're unpredictable, which makes me uncomfortable. I prefer to deal with people at a safe distance while respecting their boundaries, but kids don't do any of that. I put aside my misgivings and wrap my arms around the scared little girl.
"Shhh, shhh, shhh. You didn't do anything wrong. Everything is okay. We're all safe, and that's what's most important. We can always make more equipment."
I can feel her relax slightly as she buries her face into my chest. She cries loudly, and I can feel my shirt moisten slightly. I rest my chin on her head and start running my hands through her hair again.
"It's okay. Let it all out. Everything is okay."
'ARRHOOOOOO!'
The Metapardus lets out one last howl before collapsing to the ground.
"Hey! Don't kill it yet," I shout at the kids to hold their attacks.
"Okay."
[I might be able to use this to help her recover a bit.]
"Shinobu, can you hear me?"
"Sniff, yeah." She interrupts her wailing to answer me. Her whole body is shaking in my arms.
"You're going to kill that monster."
"What?" She raises her head and looks at me with tears running down her face.
"Josh and Sakura have it half-dead on the other side of the room. You're going to go over there and finish it off."
"Nonononono, I can't." She looks down and shakes her head vigorously.
"Shinobu, look at me." She raises her head, and I stare directly at her while sporting a calm, gentle smile. "You can do this."
She gulps down the nervous saliva pooling in her mouth. I can see the thoughts running through her mind as she stares at me. I hold her gaze and wait for her to speak.
"If you say so." She lowers her head as she responds. I can tell by her tone that she feels completely defeated. I stand up and extend my arm in her direction. Shinobu fiddles with her clothes for a second before grabbing my hand. "Are you sure about this?"
"Absolutely. You need to do this if you're going to conquer your fear of these things. We're adventurers. There will be many more near-death experiences in the future, so you need to understand that you can overcome them. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger."
My little speech seems to have done the trick, as I can see a little life return to her eyes.
"Okay, I'll do it." We walk over to the Metapardus lying motionless on the ground. If not for the shallow motion of its chest, I would think it were dead. By this time, the ghost walk potion has faded, and the kids melt back into view.
"Hit it with everything you've got," I encourage her one last time. She takes a deep breath. All the fear that riddled her face earlier has been replaced with cool determination. She slowly walks up to the fallen beast and places one hand on its chest.
[She's strong.]
"Potential Burst!" A yellow magic circle forms around her wrist, and the whole room fills with a blinding light.
[Is this what it looked like when she attacked me?]
The light fades quickly, revealing the charred corpse of the Metapardus. Shinobu is still kneeling on the ground, panting with one hand on the creature.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
"Yeah… I'm fine." She stands up and ambles back over to her bedding. I face the kids and review our situation.
"Good job today, everyone. Nobody died, and that's the most important thing. I'll be spending the night with Shinobu from now on, so something like this doesn't happen again."
"What?!" Shinobu shouts from the other side of the cave.
"We weren't prepared enough for this scenario, so we need to make adjustments so this doesn't happen again."
"But, your family…."
"They'll understand. And if they don't, I'll just do it anyway. My first priority is the well-being of my friends."
"Friends?"
"Yeah, I can't survive in this world alone. I need other people around me to make up for my weaknesses. I know I'm not perfect; the best thing I can do is try to plan for the worst."
I make another lame speech to try and shift the room's already depleted mood a bit.
"And you can't even do that very well," Sakura makes a well-timed jab at me.
"Exactly. That's why we need to stick together. I'd undoubtedly be dead if it weren't for you two." Josh nods his head with a serious expression on his face.
"Okay, we get it. You're an idiot." Sakura jabs. We all laugh a bit at that. I'm a little concerned about the growing resentment Sakura seems to have for me, but I'm just glad we're all okay now.
"Why don't you two take that Metapardus to the guild, and we'll call it a day. I'll bring some wood to the basement so we can fix the equipment later."
"You mean Josh can fix it later."
[This is a pain.]
"Look, if you have a problem with me, just say it."
"I don't." Sakura crosses her arms and looks to the side.
"I'm really trying over here. Could you at least cut me some slack?" Sakura ignores me and keeps staring at the wall. I just wait for her to respond, mostly because I don't know what else to say.
"Sakura." Josh nudges her with his elbow.
"Tch… Fine."
"Thank you. Now, does that plan sound good? Would you prefer to do something else?"
"It's fine. But they're going to ask where you are."
"Good point. It would be best for me to go, but I don't want to leave Shinobu here by herself."
"I'll stay here for a bit."
"AHH!" I shout. Inari pops out from behind me to offer her time. I try to collect myself a bit before continuing. "Please don't do that. We almost died earlier, and I'm still on edge."
"I can see that. You really struggled against that monster, didn't you?"
"How long have you been here? Did you just watch us fight that thing? I mean, I appreciate your confidence in our ability, but a little help would have been nice."
"I just got here. Even I'm not that heartless."
"Oh, so what do you call those anyway." I see an opportunity to tease Inari, and I jump on it. There's not much I can do to try and hide my smirk.
"Do you want me to help you or not?"
"No, no. We'll take the help. We call them Metapardus, by the way."
"Metapardus, huh? What the hell does that mean?"
"Honestly, I have no idea." Inari shakes her head at my response. I can feel her preparing a lecture about how much better fairies are than humans, so I cut her off. "Yeah, yeah. Fairies are better than us; our naming system is dumb. Can we save this for later? We need to go to town real quick."
"Fufufu, hurry back. I don't have all day."
"Great, let's go." We throw what's left of the Metapardus into the magic bag, and I strap it to my back. "Oof."
A sharp pain shoots up my right leg as soon as I put the added weight on it.
"My leg is hurt. Someone else is going to have to carry it."
"I'll do it." Josh straps the bag to his back while I massage my injured leg.
"We'll be right back." I wave to Shinobu, who has wrapped herself up in several blankets.
"Okay, be careful."
[I'll need to get her some new clothes.]
We start walking through the forest to get back to town. Along the way, Josh explains what he'll need to fix all the equipment. As we're talking, the strengthening potion wears off, and the kids become very lethargic. With the added weight from the magic bag, our progress slows to a crawl. Josh and Sakura pass the container back and forth every couple of minutes. After what feels like hours, we finally arrive at the tree line.