***

Things had calmed down after the talk Emma, Alex, and Ray had with the others. The atmosphere had lightened up a lot and everyone finally had a chance to finally relax. Ray was the one who made food this time. Everyone was a bit anxious to see how it would turn out. He did have Mujika instructing him, but they were still wondering how it would taste. Alex didn't really think much about it though. Ray was always good at anything he tried so she didn't doubt that it would turn out okay.

It only took about 30 minutes for the food to get done. The food was distributed to the whole group. Everyone hesitantly dug in just to be hit with an amazing taste. Alex's eyes widened as she ate the food. She knew it would be good... She wasn't exacting it to be this good though! The whole group seemed to be surprised by how good the food turned out to be. Some started stuffing their faces after taking one bite.

"So good..." Gilda trailed off. She took another bite after she said this. She was obviously enjoying the food like everyone else was.

Don had a surprised expression on his face, "How did you make this?"

"It's called cooking." Ray had a completely straight face. Alex shot him a look. They knew it was cooking, but how did he make it taste so good? It was shocking! At the house, they never really helped out with the main part of cooking. The most that they did was helping to cut some of the vegetables. For that reason, almost all of them were worried. Seems like they had nothing to worry about.

"But... How?!" Emma looked at Ray with a shocked look. "How could you possibly make it be so delicious?!"

"You didn't have any spices though, right?! So how?!" Alex added.

The dark-haired boy still acted nonchalant about the whole thing. It was like he didn't even realize how good it was, "Eh, I just did it like Mujika taught, step by step." He turned his attention back to the rest of the stew that was still cooking.

The people around him were still looking at him with amazement. This was something that they obviously weren't going to let go of anytime soon. Don, on the other hand, was not only amazed, but also jealous as well, "Shut up!!" Alex jumped in surprise at the volume of his voice. "This is so unfair, anything you try you're the best at..."

"That would be because he's a genius." Mark cut in.

"Damn you!!" Don cursed.

Well, Mark was right. Ray has always been one of the smartest kids in the house. Alex spoke up, "Ray's always going to be good at everything tries," The redhead looked to Don, placing a hand on his shoulder.  "You just have to deal with it. Besides, you have things that you're good at too." It was true. Don was one of the ones who were almost always able to stay positive in dark situations. That was something they would always need.

Don smiled at the girl, "Thank you."

"You two also did a great job with the fire!" Mujika looked to Mark and Rossi. Mark let out a small and breathy laugh, rubbing the back of his head. Rossi stood by his side with a sheepish grin on his face.

"What's the problem?" Alex heard Ray asked. She turned her head to see Emma was staring down at her stew with a thoughtful expression. For a moment, it was hard to tell whether or not she was actually sad or not.

The question had caught Emma's attention. Emma looked over Ray. She hummed in question before finally saying, "No, just thinking... Sharing a good meal like this really makes me happy." Emma grinned.

"I know what you mean," Alex shared a smile with her, "It's been a while since we have been able to relax with a nice meal, hasn't it?" Before they had been found, they had just been wandering through the woods. It was cold to the point where they could even feel it through their winter clothes. They couldn't make a fire since it would only result in them possibly getting found by the people from the farm.

Sometime after everyone had gotten done eating, they were all right back to making their way through the tunnels. They had taken a break so they wouldn't be really exhausted. That's a bad way to travel. Sonju was sitting on the ground with the other children sitting in a circle. He had a map in front of him that he was showing them, "I see," The kids all watched with interest. Sonju pointed to a place on the map with a stick, "You want to eat southeast towards this area. Then you should leave the forest from the northern side, and walk around it."

"From the north?" Emma inquired.

"If we went straight southeast, we'd have to pass through 'wild demon' territory," Mujika stated.

A shiver ran down Alex's spine at the mention of wild demons. She cast a glance at the others around her. Don was looking as worried as she was. Alex knew that they had to be a bad thing, "Yeah, we'd rather not deal with them."

"Take the long way, and you'll meet nothing but wilderness," Sonju told them. "No 'demon' settlements around there, either. We should be done with this forest within five days. After that, it'll take a single day more for you to reach your goal. In the meanwhile, you should learn something useful. Mujika and I shall be your tutors. We'll teach what you need to survive... The essential knowledge, and... Skills."

It made sense. They couldn't keep relying on them forever so they had to learn some survival skills. They just couldn't have the two of them holding their hands the whole way through. This was when the training had started. They were taught how to make medicine, how to cook, and some other skills. One of them being how to use a bow and arrow. Emma was a natural at it. Almost every time she took her shot, she landed a bullseye.

Speaking of that, the orange-haired girl had just got another one. Alicia and Dominic, who were watching from the side, lit up from happiness, "Awesome, Emma!"

Don watched with wide eyes, "She's something else, alright..."

It would suck to be on the receiving end of the arrow that was being shot by Emma. Seeing Emma trying so hard made Alex want to try her best too. Alex had been trying for a while to get close to a bullseye. After a bit of trying, Alex had finally been able to get a bullseye. She let out a sigh of relief with a small grin. She could hear the others congratulating her. This was the fifth time she tried so she was happy to finally get somewhere with this.

"I didn't think I'd get it this time either so I'm surprised to see I did," Alex commented.

***

It was later on that day when Emma had come back to the tunnels with Sonju. She had gone out earlier with the demon since she wanted to help with hunting. Alex knew that Emma was a bit upset she couldn't do more and that was the reason why she went out with Sonju. It made her feel like she wasn't just sitting around, not doing anything. Emma walked toward the group and was met with Ray staring her down.

He walked over to the girl and aggressively messed with her hair, "Trying to do it all alone again?!" Ray suddenly stopped, just resting his hand on her head.

"Remember what Gilda said," Alex started. She walked over to join them. She smiled brightly at her two friends before turning her attention to Emma, "We can rely on each other. You don't have to do everything by yourself."

"Everyone," Ray looked back at the others, "Let's make a nice, good dinner! Tomorrow we're crossing the river." None of them could wait for that moment. They were getting closer and closer to arriving at B06-32. Alex just hoped that they were actually going to get somewhere with whatever was waiting for them.