[the battle shortly over, the monster slain, the scourges mostly dead. not-so-silent aftermath, the crew a wounded dog hidden to lick its wounds and count its dead. when the text arrives, his first thought: how.]
[the second thought:]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org Don't joke like that Kino
[(she never joked.)]
[he's fast. he moves without believing his own disbelief, though as he draws nearer, he runs faster. the sight that greets Kino's solitary misery is a wide-eyed, shell-shocked looking teenaged boy, whole body (bruised but clean, exhausted but aware) pulling to an abrupt halt the moment he clears the underbrush enough to see.]
[it takes a while. he doesn't send any more texts before arriving.]
no subject
[the second thought:]
FROM: hinata.shouyou@cdc.org
Don't joke like that Kino
[(she never joked.)]
[he's fast. he moves without believing his own disbelief, though as he draws nearer, he runs faster. the sight that greets Kino's solitary misery is a wide-eyed, shell-shocked looking teenaged boy, whole body (bruised but clean, exhausted but aware) pulling to an abrupt halt the moment he clears the underbrush enough to see.]
[it takes a while. he doesn't send any more texts before arriving.]