HA3 5.6 – Nice Breakfast & Fresh Morning Air
When she opened her eyes, Aizawa found the sky was already bright and bird’s chirps filled the air to the brim. Not far from her, Hide sat in front of dying fire pit, calmly sipping piping warm drink from his cup. After checking her surrounding, Aizawa also found Hide already removed the raincoat that cover the hanger and cleared up the broken branches that entered El Hola.
Then, as she exited the sleeping bag Hide turned his gaze to her. After a smile he said, “Good morning.”
“Mhm,” Aizawa happily nodded, and then she shivered as soon as cold morning air hit her.
Wasting no time, Hide took Aizawa’s jacket, gloves, and sneakers from the hanger and helped her to put it on. Then, while he helped Aizawa tied her sneaker, Hide heard a small rumble from her stomach.
He immediately turned his gaze to Aizawa. “You must be very hungry right now.”
“Mhm,” Aizawa firmly nodded. “But Aizawa also want to pee.”
Hide nodded and gently said, “In that case, after you are done taking pee, let’s make a delicious breakfast.”
“Okay,” Aizawa happily replied and then asked, “Will Aizawa taking pee behind a bush like in the movie?”
As he lifted Aizawa out of El Hola Hide replied, “When we are out in the wild, that’s how we do our business. We find a bush or put a screen around us, and then dig a hole, drop our load be it solid or liquid, cover it with dried leaves, clean up properly, and finally cover the hole.”
“So, we can’t do it in open.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why?” Aizawa curiously asked.
“Well, even if we are far from human civilization, we should always maintain our decency and dignity as human being.”
“Okay,” Aizawa said while looking around at the surrounding area. “But we don’t have bush here. Will Aizawa use a screen?”
“Nope,” Hide cheerfully replied. “We will go to the shrine in hill peak. It has public toilet and it’s very clean. We will arrive there in no time if we take a shortcut.”
“Don’t when we are in a camping we can’t use public toilet?” Aizawa asked as she curiously looked at Hide.
“Who did tell you that?”
“A kid in Aizawa’s old class. He said it’s a cheating to use public toilet when we have a camping.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Hide firmly said. “He is a goof kid.”
“But he heard it from his Big Sis, and she is an outdoor expert and a rock climbing champion.”
“In that case, her Big Sis is a goof too.”
“Really?”
“Aizawa, just remember this,” Hide gently said. “When we do a camping we must become responsible outdoor folk, but it doesn’t mean we should make things hard for ourselves by avoiding the use of public facility available in the area.”
“Okay,” Aizawa obediently replied.
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In casual manner, Hide and Aizawa then continued their walk. After making a small flank to the hill side, they arrived before a series of steep step. It’s wide enough for two people to crawl it up side by side with sure footing, but the space between each step was bigger than normal step. The angle from the first step to the final step was also almost vertical.
It would be too hard for a six-year-old kid to scale up the steps. However, with Hide’s attentive help Aizawa managed to scale it up relatively easy, and the two arrived in the shrine’s backyard in no time.
---
Once they were back in El Hola, Hide and Aizawa immediately sat before the fire pit. Hide gave Aizawa a cup of lemon tea he made earlier, along with the leftover crackers from last night. It was only ordinary warm lemon tea and canned crackers, but Aizawa enjoyed them as if they were the most delicious snack in the world.
‘It seems the walk to hill peak and the cold morning air has amplified her hunger,’ Hide muttered before saying, “Aizawa, wait for a moment. Big Bro will make delicious breakfast for us.”
“Mhm,” Aizawa firmly replied before putting a piece of cracker on her mouth.
Wasting no time, Hide restarted the fire. With ease he got the flame back, and then he put the grill mesh on it, along with two nesting pan. He filled the first nesting pan with water up to two-third, and use the second one to warm up two small cans of sardine and tomato.
After that, he took some warm water from the first nesting pan and mixed it with a can of powdered egg. Once the sardine reached full boiling point, he poured the eggs mixture on it, covered the nesting pan with the lid, and took it from fire. This way, the heat remains would cook the egg mixture into soft boiled egg.
As for the remaining water in the first nesting pan, Hide used it to cook a bag of seafood-flavored instant ramen. Then, he split the ramen, the sardine, and soft boiled egg into two cups and breakfast began shortly after.
While having a faint smile in his lips, Hide looked at Aizawa as she used a spoon fork to take a mouthful noodles from her cup. Then, she gently blew it a few times before slurping and gulping it down heartily.
“How is it?”
“It’s super delicious,” Aizawa happily replied. “Eating hot ramen under morning air is very nice.”
“I see. Glad you like it.”
Wasting no time, Hide then also ate his ramen. It was as Aizawa said. Enjoying hot ramen under fresh morning air was very nice. The noodle, the soup, and the toppings tasted several times more delicious. Hide and Aizawa then finished the ramen in no time. They even gulped down the ramen soup to the last drop.
Then, they enjoyed fruit juice, one box each. Aizawa had orange juice while Hide had apple juice. It was the similar brand with the juice they bought for their father, a 100% pure fruit juice. The juice tasted very refreshing after being chilled by cold night air.
After taking a few gulps of her juice, Aizawa gave the picture of fresh orange sliced in half on the juice box a curious gaze. “Big Bro, is this juice really a 100% orange juice?”
“Yeah, in our country, there is strict regulation about it. Only fruit juices that are 100% pure can have realistic picture of fresh fruit sliced in half on its package,” Hide casually explained. “Is the juice good?”
“It is,” Aizawa replied before taking another gulp of her juice.
Then, Hide gently asked, “Do you still have some room for dessert?”
“Mhm,” Aizawa replied in reflex. “Girls always have second stomach for dessert. Kaede Sensei says it a lot and Aizawa believes it.”
After giving Aizawa a smile Hide replied, “Big Bro also believes it.”
Without delay, Hide got up to his feet and took a piece of canned strawberry shortcake from the food bag in the hanger. It was ordinary canned strawberry shortcake you could buy in vending machine and Hide never tried it before, but he heard from Shizuka that it was pretty good.
By using small knife he concealed in his lower back, Hide cut the canned shortcake right in the middle, turning it into two small cups. Aizawa then asked him if they could have selfie while holding the shortcake and without second thought he agreed.
After that, the two enjoyed the strawberry shortcake. It was indeed delicious. The strawberry was fresh and very sweet. The cake was soft while the cream was fluffy and not overly sweet. In short, the two finished the shortcake while having big smile in their face.
---
After the two did the dish and brushed their teeth, Hide immediately taught Aizawa how to properly pack up and clean up their camp site.
“Aizawa, listen to Big Bro carefully.”
“Mhm,” Aizawa eagerly nodded.
“This place is a neighborhood that becomes home for huge community. It has birds, raccoon, fox, squirrel, and some others animal,” Hide casually explained. “As a tourist, we have to make sure we leave this place without leaving inconveniences for the dweller in this neighborhood, like leaving trashes or campfire that we don’t extinguish properly.”
“Mhm,” Aizawa gave Hide another nod, and then she curiously scanned the treetops in the area. “Big Bro, is this place really have squirrel?”
“It is.” After a moment of silence Hide casually added, “I suppose this place also have some snakes.”
“Snakes?” Aizawa blurted out as her face suddenly became very tense.
“Yeah, and some other dangerous animal like poisonous lizard, poisonous frog, tarantula, or scorpion.”
“Big Bro,” Aizawa said as she warily scanned the ground around her. “Does this place really have snakes and other poisonous animal?”
Hide casually nodded. “And that’s why, last night, before we use El Hola, Big Bro had to properly check it first. Big Bro also constantly check our rucksack because small poisonous animal may sneak in to it.
But, overall this place is pretty safe as long as we know how to handle it and don’t do stupid things like start big and uncontrolled fire, or wander around aimlessly.”
“Can we just go home right away without cleaning El Hola?” Aizawa asked while giving Hide an expectant gaze.
“Aizawa,” Hide gently said. “Big Bro know right now you must really want to leave this place as soon as possible, but sometimes, we will face a moment when we have to do the right thing under uncomfortable circumstance.”
“Big Bro, this is not only an uncomfortable circumstance but a dangerous one,” Aizawa complained before pressing her lips together.
“Yeah, if we don’t be careful, we will be in a dangerous situation, but we still need to clean El Hola properly.”
“…”
After seeing Aizawa stayed silence for a while Hide asked her, “Or, Big Bro can take you to the shrine in hill peak, and then you wait there while Big Bro cleaning El Hola.”
“No.” After pressing her lips one more time Aizawa said, “Aizawa will help Big Bro.”
After a smile Hide said, “In that case, let’s get it done as fast as we can.”
Wasting no time, Hide and Aizawa started the cleaning. It was easy to see that Aizawa was very jumpy. It seemed the realization that the area had snake and other poisonous animal truly spook her, but Hide said nothing. He just calmly showed Aizawa how to pack up and clean up the campsite.
After that, the two scaled down Uruba Hill using the closest hiking trail, and Aizawa’s complexion returned normal only after the two arrived in the hill foot. After putting the trash from their camping to nearby trash can, they then went straight home.
*****