“Y-yeah, I think so…” Allen stuttered, remembering the competition he failed to join even though he got the mushroom. How he found and got the mushrooms, he did not remember it well. “But please, Kris. Just this time. I promise I’ll stay on the path and listen to whatever you say.” Allen tried to convince Kris but Kris still thinks it was not a good idea. “You can consider this as a test to see if I am fit to be a volunteer or not. I will try my best to help you or other people in any way. Even if I couldn’t find any answer I’m looking for. I promise! I promise! Please, Kris.”
Kris swung his body to the right and left slowly. He hesitated. He looked at Dom like he was giving him a message – ‘What should I do?’. Dom stared back but more into empty space before truly looking at Kris and nodded. “O-ok,” Kris finally answered.
“Yey!” Allen shouted with excitement. He nearly ran into the forest on his own if Kris did not grab him on the bag fast.
“I only agree because Dom agrees to go with us this time,” said Kris. “And Dom, since this is your first time, I have a few questions to ask.”

“Fuck off, Kris!” Dom yelled as Kris took out his notebook from his pocket. He knew what Kris was going to ask since he was there when Kris asked those questions to Allen before. He put on his backpack and said, “You know the answers. Don’t waste your time.”
Kris sighed and put back his book into his pocket. These two older people were harder to handle than he thought. “I just wanted to make sure,” remarked Kris. Allen watched him with amusement as Kris was repeating the same thing he said on the first day they were here and Dom answered all the questions with an annoyed face. “We should get going. We have a long way to go.”
“Finally!” Dom said it out loud. He still had his worried-face like before too even though this time he had decided to join them. Allen was wondering if Dom was worried about him or something else. But he was wondering more if everything went exactly like his first time here, would he be able to get all the answers to his question? The idea of everything would be like the first time he was here terrified him too in some other way because he did not wish to get lost and experience the same pain again.
He shook his head, trying to shake away all the negative thoughts. He noticed that Kris had already marched into the forest’s entrance. He and Dom looked at each other. “You first,” said Dom. “I don’t want you wandering off on your own behind our back.”
Allen mouth ‘fine’ and quickly kept his pace with Kris while Dom was following closely behind him. “Stay close to me,” Kris warned as he looked at the two behind him. “If you want to stop, let me know. Don’t go anywhere. Stay on track. Walk beside me.”
“Yes!” Dom and Allen responded in unison before laughing at Kris. Kris shook his head and began fastening his pace. The walk was awkwardly silent again. ‘Strange,’ thought Allen. Even talkative Dom stayed quiet since they started their walk. He was wondering what’s on Dom’s mind. Could he be enjoying the view?
Allen looked around him. The leaves, the trees, the soils, nothing changed like they were not alive at all. He remembered all the dead bodies he found in the forest. How could there be so many deaths in the forest, yet, the forest looked like nothing happened at all. Did the forest get-used-to-it? How cruel is it to get-used-to-death? Allen could not help but wonder.
His thought was interrupted as he bumped into Dom. His mind must have wandered off too far that he did not noticed Dom had stopped walking. He was ready to get a scold from Dom but Dom just turned to look at him with a serious-pale face before turned back to Kris.
“Can we take a break?” asked Dom.
‘That was unexpected,’ thought Allen. Dom was a bit tougher than him and was active with sport. He should have high stamina and not get tired already. ‘Did we already walk too far?’
“My head kinda hurt,” Dom groaned. His hand was rubbing his head. He was sweating a lot and looked pale a bit. He did not know why, but his head was like being pierced by a needle. Every step he took, it felt like a needle had been added to his brain. It got more and more as they walked deeper into the forest. He felt cold too. Was it just about afternoon time? How could it get cold instead of getting hotter?