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I stuffed another jar into the tree nook, meeting our set quota of two a week. We stored items related to food, here – non perishables or foods that came close, plus jars for water. I started to climb back down the tree, when my foot slipped across the bark; still slick from yesterday's rain. I let out a small yelp of surprise as I crashed (very gracefully) to the ground.

"Ow, fuck," I seethed, rising to my feet. You can imagine I was very pleasantly surprised to see the blood trailing down my leg from my badly scrapped knee. I groaned aloud, knowing that I now had to explain how I fell out of a tree to Yukko when she found out.

"Oh, Y/N," I mocked, "You know you're not supposed to do strenuous activities like that... So how about we stick you in the infirmary for another three weeks because honestly, if I don't ship you out in perfect condition I'm going to lose my job and die!"

Not that she'd actually say that, but... Just reading the subtext.

I muttered to myself all the way to the house, keeping a wary eye out for Yukko. "Dumb, dumb, dumb, idiot. What's the point of having a Grace Field Grade brain if you have the elegance of a troll in high-heels?"

"Y/N, what's a troll?" one of the kids I hadn't noticed asked. They watched me with a curious little tilt of their head, blue ball in hand.

I looked their way for a moment before trudging toward the house. "Poppy."

"Oh!" the kid was pleased with the answer. "Hey Poppy, guess what!"

I'd probably get put in a headlock or two for that later, but I was a little too preoccupied to care.

I crept through the halls until I made it to the infirmary. What I'd do when I got there, however, I had no idea. My knowledge in medical expertise was severely limited in comparison to the extensive knowledge on every other subject known to man I apparently had stored in my mind. Hah, who needs to know first aid when you can use all of the trig functions without a calculator?

Eh, I'll stick a bandaid on it. I'll be fine.

I poked my head in the infirmary door, and found someone already inside.

"Y/N?" Sifting through the medicine stock was a kid a year younger than me. They were incredibly petite – the only kid older than eight who was shorter than myself – with short, dusty brown hair. Their eyes were like cinnamon, a sort of reddish-brown colour, and their round cheeks were dotted with a few faint freckles. "Did you hurt yourself again?"

"Oh..." I chuckled sheepishly, pulling the door open. "Just a bit."

"Your bleeding!" they exclaimed at the sight of my knee. "Come inside!"

I was ushered to take a seat on one of the beds, and Niko disinfected and plastered my knee quickly and without a single flaw. They were completely focused as they completed the task, a certain sparkle in their eyes that led me to believe this was their passion.

"You're good at that," I hummed.

Niko tossed the garbage away, a quiet sort of smile on their face. "Well, I've had a lot of practice, thanks to you." They chuckled in a shy, airy sort of way. "How'd you get hurt this time?"

"Ah... I was distracted and fell out of a tree."

The quiet kid hummed out another shy laugh. "You can be a bit of a space-head when you're thinking."

I folded my arms over my chest. "Gee, thanks," I grumbled, but being around Niko was like stepping into an aura of warm fuzzies, and it was hard to pull a grumpy expression for very long. "I'm going to go back to playing outside, then."

"Okay!" said Niko, but they stepped forward before I could leave. "Right! Do you know about any other recent injuries? I was taking stock of the medicinal supples and noticed we were a few short.."

I tapped my chin with an uncertain hum, my hand resting on the door handle. "Not that I know of."

Niko glanced back toward the medicinal cupboard, lips pursed in a pout. "Okay. Maybe it was a mistake in my counting... Oh, well. Have fun outside! Don't get hurt again."

"I'll do my best." As I left the house, I hoped they wouldn't go through the work of counting again, when the results would likely remain the same.

It was toward the end of free time when I met with the others. "It's Niko's job to oversee the medicinal supplies, instead of other chores, right?"

"Yep!" Poppy agreed. "Niko volunteered for the job because they love medicine. Yukko trusts them, too, because they're such a good kid." She spoke proudly of her sibling, though rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish chuckle. "I don't think I'd be allowed to do the same."

"What do you guys think of them?"

Reina knew immediately where I was heading with the question. "Niko's a good choice," she evaluated quickly. "They've obviously got excellent first aid scores, and though their test scores are poor, it's not for a lack of intelligence. Just test anxiety. Plus, Niko's more than thoughtful enough to make up for it. 

"The only issue is how loyal they are to Mom. If we don't manage to convince them on the first try, they'll spill about us to Yukko, thinking we're playing some sort of mean joke."

I nodded along with her evaluation, a hum playing my lips. "I've got an idea in regards to that." We were now a week into October, which meant it was almost time.

"I..." Poppy's voice was hesitant, her expression contorted in discomfort. "I don't know how to feel about evaluating our siblings this way. Shouldn't..." She hesitated to continue, as if she feared the response she knew her question would bring. "Shouldn't we be escaping with all of them, anyway?"

I'd been dreading this moment for a month now. But before I could counter, Hayato stole the reins away from me.

"I don't think it's possible," he said. Though he got straight to the point, his voice was not unkind. "Not if you look at it objectively."

"But they're our family!" Poppy argued. "We can't just leave them to die!" Her attention flicked between Reina and I, a pleading expression in her eyes. "Right?"

Reina looked guiltily to the ground. "I don't like it, either."

"Then...!"

"But I don't think we can safely escape with all of them," the eldest girl finished. "It's already autumn. It may very well be winter by the time we choose to escape. In that sort of weather... We have kids who can barely walk. It could mean causing them an early death."

Poppy still clung desperately to her hope. "But they'll die anyway if we leave them! At least they'll have a chance..."

"Listen," I cut in, causing the siblings to fall silent. "I've been looking into it. The kids under eight have good scores for their age."

Poppy nodded ever so slightly. "Yeah," she murmured, "'Cause you were tutoring the youngest for a while..."

Thank god for that past self I didn't remember. It did, however, explain my findings. The kids at this plant were distributed oddly, with only two kids between eight and nine, and no seven-year-olds to speak of. It was because those a few years younger, all six and under, had been scoring better than them for the most part. Well, it had all been working in my favour.

"If we escape, it will take time to replenish the merchandise," I said. "That is, us. Meaning they'll be reluctant to ship kids out. That's why, if we can get out of here, and return within two years, give or take, we can save most of them - if not, all. At least that way, they can live comfortably and happily here. They won't have to worry about dying or surviving."

Poppy's face was still scrunched in a stubborn desperation. "But that comfort is a lie!"

"Clearly, you haven't thought enough about it," Reina sighed. "Poppy, this place is a farm. There's somewhere we're being sold, and it's been happening since at least 2015. That proves there's a demand - which means that at best case, the outside world is a demons society. Worst case, there will be no humans outside of farms at all. We should limit those escaping to everyone over eight. That's the best way to give as many people as possible a fighting chance."

Poppy stared at the ground, considering her words at length. "You're certain it's the best way?" she said, her tone rather meek.

"I'm sure."

She took her seat back to the ground, pressing out an "Okay" through her lips. As she settled, Hayato looked my way. 

"Y/N, you're planning an inspection soon?" he asked.

"Yeah. The thirteenth. I'll go out right after the tests, and set up a game of hide-and-seek. If Poppy can come to the wall with me, I'll be counting on you two to keep Yukko off her pocket watch."

"Okay."

"One last thing," Reina said, "I have an idea about the tracking devices' location... You mentioned that they'd be in a place easily removable, because demons wouldn't want to eat them. I thought there was a chance that it could be in the ear. It checks off that box - it's easier to remove than other parts, and it's mostly made of tough cartilage. Eating one would be unpleasant on it's own."

There it was: Reina's intelligence; her ability to scrutinize every detail and angle until she came up with the correct answer.

"Wait, I remember something!" Poppy said. "There were little bumps on the back of our left ears when we were little. Yukko told me they were from blood tests, or something..." Poppy's curiosity was apparently insatiable, even as a child. That also wasn't a surprise.

As everyone raised their hands to their ear, I joined in, if only a second late. I recalled what had caught Emma and Norman in their lie when speaking to Krone, and certainly didn't want the group to find out I was withholding information from them.

"It feels like the bumps are gone now..." Poppy murmured.

Hayato made a disappointed noise. "I've read plenty about this sort of radio wave technology – the sort tracking devices would use. If I'm being honest, for the device to be this small, it would have to be wildly evolved compared to the tech we have at the house."

"Well, it's 2045," I said. "All the tech here is from 2015, at the latest. Worst comes to worst, we can have Niko remove them with a scalpel. But that's a problem we can solve at a later date. For now, the more pressing matter is the inspection. Let's focus on that."

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