HA3 5.2 – El Hola
From the base of Uruba Hill, Hide took Aizawa to scale up the hillside and he deliberately chose off-trail path. It meant the two would hike without the illumination from post lamp along the hiking trail. In short, they had to navigate their way under the pitch black woods.
At first, Aizawa calmly walked while holding Hide’s hand. However, once she couldn’t see the post lamp in the hill base anymore, she instantly became nervous. She was also starting losing her focus and her feet got a few slipped because she didn’t pay enough attention to her foothold. If Hide didn’t hold her, she would fall on her knees 5-6 times already.
In the end, Aizawa couldn’t hold it anymore. After looking at the pitch black darkness around her for a moment, she turned her gaze to Hide.
“Big Bro,” Aizawa said in a slightly trembling voice. “Why don’t we use the hiking trail, or the stone path to old shrine in the hill peak?”
“We can’t use those routes. We have to reach the camping spot without anyone sees us,” Hide casually said.
“Why do we can’t be seen by anyone?” Aizawa curiously asked.
“Well, basically, we can’t have a camping in Uruba Hill.”
“Huh? We can’t camp here?” Aizawa asked as shock filled her face to the brim.
“Yeah, in the base of Uruba Hill, there is lots of warning signboard that forbid people from having a camping here. We will get into a huge trouble if someone caught us having a camping here.”
“Will police officer arrests us if someone reports us?”
“Sort of.”
“…”
Aizawa instantly became very tense, and she couldn’t help it. In Nikko, obeying public order was strictly being taught since young age. It was not an exaggeration to say lot of kids in Nikko believed that if they couldn’t obey public order unconditionally, they wouldn’t be able to enter society properly and it could lead into bleak future.
Aizawa was not exception for this environment, but now she had broken a public order without even realizing it. Her shock was definitely not light. However, Hide took it casually.
“Hey, don’t worry. We will be fine as long as we don’t make ruckus. Starting from here, it’s also okay to use our flashlight,” Hide calmly said. “So, use your flashlight to illuminate the trail.”
“Big Bro, is it really okay to use our flashlight? Don’t people will spot it from far away and who know if someone will report it to patrolling police officer?”
“There is such a possibility, especially if we use the flash light for long duration,” Hide calmly replied. “But in this area, we have lot of option we can use to play hide and seek. If police officers come for us, Big Bro will teach you how to evade them. I guarantee it will be fun.”
“Okay…..” Aizawa replied in low voice.
It was easy to tell that Aizawa was not so excited with the idea of playing hide and seek against police officer. Anxiousness was clearly visible in her eyes as she reached out for flashlight in her waist. However, Hide was serious with his words.
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If police officers really came for them, he would teach Aizawa how to evade them. Maybe this skill would be useful for her in the future, or at least it would give her a real experience on how to properly face a sudden unwanted spoiler.
But if no one came to disturb their camping, it was also fine. Hide would ensure Aizawa had a good night camping and maybe she would also manage to overcome her fear of night rainstorm. Then, the two continued the hike. Now, it became easier as the flashlight enabled them to see the trail clearly. With steady step, the two walked their way through the pitch dark woods.
---
On the southeast face of Uruba Hill, just before the hill peak, there was an area where the trees density was higher than other area. In this particular area, lied a man-made L-shaped hole. It was 1.6 meter deep, 1.6 meter wide, and 6 meter long in total. The shape was also very neat.
Hide knew the existence of this hole from Nao and Miku, and now he used it as a camping spot. It was a very ideal camping spot after all. The short section was flat while the long section went downward to the lower ground.
Therefore, when it was raining water would flow down, exiting the hole and went straight to lower ground, and the hole wouldn’t become a giant bathtub. Most of all, when you sat in the short section facing the long section you would have clear night view of downtown Nichiko.
“This is our camping spot. Let’s called it El Hola.”
“Mhm,” Aizawa replied before wiping the sweats in her forehead.
Hide already did his best to find the easiest trail, but it would still take a lot of effort for a 6-year-old kid to hike it. Not to mention, she had not eaten dinner yet.
After looking at Aizawa for a moment Hide said, “Let’s have a short rest before we set up the campsite.”
“Mhm.”
Wasting no time, Hide put down his rucksack on the ground and sat before it, and Aizawa followed him. Then, he opened a can of cracker and shared it with Aizawa. It was pretty much ordinary canned crackers, as big as canned soft drink, and you could buy it from vending machine.
However, this was the first time Aizawa enjoyed it. So, she gave it a curious look for a moment before taking a bite, and before long she already finished more than half of the crackers in the can.
As he gave Aizawa a gentle look Hide asked, “Is the cracker good?”
“Mhm, it is tasty and Aizawa very hungry right now.”
After a small smile Hide said, “After we set up the campsite, collecting firewood, and fetching water from nearby spring, we will enjoy the BBQ.”
Aizawa firmly nodded. “Mhm.”
“As for now, help Big Bro guard the rucksack while Big Bro clean El Hola and make sure it’s safe.”
“Mhm.”
Wasting no time, Hide came down to El Hola and used his flashlight to scan every nook and cranny he could find. Once he was sure everything was safe, he immediately cleaned the dead leaves, used several stones to form 23x23 cm fire pit in a corner, and prepared two big stones with flat surface to be used for him and Aizawa to sit.
It took about 25 minutes for Hide to set up the camp site. Then, after giving El Hola a final check he turned his gaze to Aizawa.
“It’s safe and ready to be used.”
Aizawa nodded and replied, “Mhm.”
“Now, we can leave our rucksack here and go collecting firewood and fetching water.”
“Can we really leave our bag here? What if raccoon steal it?” Aizawa worriedly asked.
After a smile Hide replied, “If raccoon steal our ruck, then we will track it and take back our ruck?”
Aizawa lightly nodded and said, “Okay.”
---
El Hola was surrounded by countless oak and maple trees, and no one had ever collected the falling twigs and branches in this area, so nice and dried fire woods were available in abundant amount. With ease, Hide and Aizawa gathered two big bundles of fire woods. By using a short machete, Hide also harvested a few pieces of 2 cm thick fresh branches.
After that, Hide took Aizawa to nearby spring. It’s about 30 meters to the left of El Hola and on the slightly lower ground. It was small spring that formed a small pond, but the water was very clear and refreshing.
“Before fetching fresh water directly from the ground, you have to ensure the water is safe,” Hide explained as he kneeled on the small pond’s edge. “It has to be colorless and odorless.”
“Mhm,” Aizawa replied before kneeling next to Hide.
Hide then showed the water he scoop using his palm to Aizawa. “This is very good fresh water, but we can’t directly drink it unless it’s emergency. We have to boil first.”
“Why do we have to boil it first?” Aizawa curiously asked. “Don’t mountain people in northern and southern islands drink water directly from the spring?”
“We can’t do that,” Hide gently said. “We are city kids who live in modern and highly hygiene urban environment. We don’t develop superhuman antibody like mountain people who since their birth lives their live almost as one with nature.
If we drink spring water without boiling it first, we will get stomach ache, fever, or it will even send us to hospital.”
Aizawa nodded and said, “Okay.”
Hide then took out three set of 10 liters water bags. It was the commercial version of water bags commonly used by long-range walk-loving recce unit. It was sturdy, but very light and didn’t take lot of space when you didn’t use it.
The only difference was that the commercial version had higher quality than the mil-grade version. At least, the plastic cap wouldn’t melt and deformed when you brought it into long-duration recce in desert environment, and so Hide didn’t need to replace the cap with cap from regular water canteen.
“Help Big Bro hold the water bags,” Hide said as he uncapped one of the water bags.
And Aizawa firmly replied, “Mhm.”
Wasting no time, Aizawa hold the water bags and made sure its hole facing upward steadily. Then, by using an aluminum cup Hide gently scooped the water from the pond and poured it into water bags. A few minutes later, the two were already on their way back to El Hola. Hide carried two fully loaded water bags, while Aizawa carried one bag filled with 2 liter of water.
Each water bag had sturdy ring on its edge, so Hide could use a sling to put together two bags into one and carried them on his back like a backpack. This feature was really important for recce personnel. Their OP and the closest water source were usually a few kilometers apart. It would be nice if they could return to their OP while carrying their rifle in their hands.
As for the current situation, it would enable Hide to hold Aizawa’s hand with one hand, while his other hand held the flashlight and illuminated the trail.
*****