"Waaah...."

"I know.... it's my fault, Hikaru...."

"Th, that was...."

The class was walking along a cobbled path leading up Mount Takatsuma, Aya having fallen behind with Hikaru as the students trudged ahead with dark faces.

"What the heck is this, Abe-sensei?! I thought we were going to be relaxing at a 5-star hotel with a foot massage and a hot spa as a treat for the weekends!!" One female student exploded.

"After all our efforts studying for the exam and this is how we're rewarded..." A sullen voice joined the air of discontent.

"You kids....! It's because you've all come from wealthy families that you don't know how to appreciate the simpler things in life...! Can't you see how amazing the sights around us are?"

"Sensei, I can easily just fly my private jet over here if we just wanted to see the sights..."

"That's not the point...!!"

The bickering went on, but Abe-sensei did a good job at quelling any further complaints with the threat of having the whole class camp out in the wilderness instead of going back to the inn.

"Guu...."

Hikaru was still sobbing besides Aya, whilst Aya did her best to cheer her up.

"I gave Saki an earful last night and this morning, Hikaru... L, listen, tonight, you won't have to swap beds with me, or ever again in fact, I will stay awake the entire night tonight, Hikaru..." Aya was saying.

"It's not that..." Hikaru sniffed, then glanced up at Aya besides her, her voice lowering. "That was my first kiss.... with anyone else besides you, Aya..."

"Hikaru..."

"What if you hate me...." Hikaru wiped at her eyes with her knuckles. "B, because of.... that...."

"What?! I would never hate you because of that, Hikaru...."

"It's not cheating, right....?"

"N, no way.... Besides, the whole thing was my fault anyways, Saki wouldn't have mistaken you for me if I didn't make you switch beds with me...."

Hikaru sniffled. "I still feel bad about it though...."

"P, please, don't worry, Hikaru! Listen, I'll deal with Saki, okay?"

"Okay...."

Walking besides the mountain scenery with Hikaru by her side, Aya felt blissful as though it was a date, besides the fact that the rest of the class was trudging ahead of them. Still, Aya had to focus for a moment. She had to put her head together to think of a way to deal with Saki.

'Ugh.... I can't believe Saki actually went ahead and snuck into my bed last night.... I didn't think she would go that far....' Aya was thinking. 'I need to find a way to end her obsession without ruining my image at school, otherwise, Hikaru will....'

"You guys are falling behind!"

Fumiko was standing at the corner of the cliff ahead, watching Aya and Hikaru with her arms at her hips.

"S, sorry, Fumiko...." Hikaru wiped at her eyes, before hurrying to catch up to Fumiko whilst Aya followed behind.

"Huh? Is something wrong with your eyes?" Fumiko asked Hikaru.

"Ah, uhm, something went in my eye, it's nothing really....!" Hikaru replied.

Staring at Fumiko for a second, an idea popped into Aya's head.

"Fumiko," Aya said, and Fumiko turned to Aya, "I have a favour to ask of you...."

"Wha, a favour...? What is it, Aya? Sure, no problem!" Fumiko responded.

"Wait, you haven't even heard what I'm going to ask yet...." 

"If it's for you, Aya, I will do anything you ask," Fumiko laughed sheepishly. "Anyways, what is it, Aya?"

"Um..." Aya glanced at Hikaru, seeing Hikaru staring between the two of them confusedly. "I will tell you about it later, okay?"

"Sure..." Hikaru replied.

Aya turned back to Fumiko. "It's something that should be kept quiet... so let's talk after this hike."

"O-kay~!" Fumiko said, excited at the prospect of doing a favour for Aya. "Anyways, we should catch up with the rest of the...."

The trio turned to where the class was moments ago and saw nothing but the mountain scenery.

"....um, where did the class go...?" Hikaru asked.

"Sh, shit! Did we lose everyone?!?!" Fumiko ran forward, peering in the distance to find the class.

"I'm sure they can't be that far ahead," Aya said, walking to join Fumiko. "We were only talking for a minute..."

"I don't see them...." Fumiko said unsurely.

Hikaru paced behind Aya, reaching where Fumiko was standing, and sure enough, there was nothing in sight except for the quiet wilderness of Mount Takamatsu, birds chirping in the background and the sound of wind swaying.

"Well, let's--" Aya was about to say, but Fumiko suddenly screamed next to her, causing Aya to cover her ears.

"Can anyone hear usss??!!!" Fumiko's scream echoed into the mountains for a few seconds, before disappearing.

"Y, you could had warned me beforehand...." Aya said, uncovering her ears.

"S, sorry, Aya...." Fumiko replied. "I thought...."

"Here, let me try giving Sana a call..." Hikaru suggested timidly, as she pulled her phone out. She glanced at the screen for a second. "No connection.... I will try anyways...."

Dialing Sana's number, Hikaru placed the phone to her ear, waiting for a response.

Aya was thinking to herself about the next move, already knowing that Hikaru's call wouldn't go through.

'Surely the class would had realised we're missing by now and came back to look for us?' Aya thought to herself. 'The best option here would be to stay put in the same spot and wait for them to come back, but what if they don't realise we're missing....? No way, the chances of that are very unlikely given that it's me and Fumiko that are missing. But what if--'

"Waaaah, Aya!!" Fumiko grabbed onto Aya, hugging her tightly. "What if no one finds us?! I'm scared!! I've never been lost in the wilderness before!!"

"R, relax, Fumiko... you need to conserve your energy in case we need it for..."

"Waaaaaaaaaah!!" Fumiko cried, interrupting Aya, causing her to regret her choice of words. "Are you saying we're going to be stuck here for a while?!?"

"T, the phone's not going through...." Hikaru said, putting the phone down and glancing at what was going on between Aya and Fumiko.

"This is the worssssst!" Fumiko cried, sobbing onto Aya's shoulder.

"Listen, let's be logical here...." Aya said, trying to assert confidence, considering the group she was lost with. "There's no use stressing about things that we can't control or that's in the past. Let's just think about our next step from hereon out..."

Sniffing, Fumiko slowly pulled herself off Aya, her eyes wet.

'I haven't even had enough time for the stress to sink in yet and Fumiko's already crying....' Hikaru was thinking to herself, glancing awkwardly at Fumiko. 'I would had thought I would be the one to break down first....'

Aya already knew Fumiko had a panicky inside nature despite her tough outside appearance from their long friendship together so Aya wasn't surprised to see Fumiko cry before Hikaru. 

 "First, let's plan our next step of action..." Aya said, but then trailed off, realising she knew as much about surviving in the wilderness as she knew about riding a unicycle -- that is, nothing at all. 

For someone that was raised as the sole heiress of a large banking empire, the closest experience she had with the wilderness was Japanese flower arrangement or Ikebana. She was pretty sure that knowing whether a certain flower symbolised heaven or earth wasn't going to be useful in her current predicament.

"Yes...?" Fumiko said, upon hearing nothing else from Aya. "What's the next step of action??"

"Um, ahem...." Aya coughed, feeling embarrassed at her lack of knowledge in this area. "Well... we should stay put for now first, I'm sure the class will come back to look for us soon..."

 "Wh, what if they don't come back for us...?" Fumiko asked. "How long should we wait for....?"

"Let's just give it an hour at least..." Aya replied, then glanced over at the setting sun across the horizon of the mountain landscape. "I think the sun will still be up until then..."

~x~

"Aya, I'm hungry...."

Fumiko's stomach growled, the trio sitting by a nearby tree, looking depleted and defeated.

"I'm sure someone will come back for us...." Aya replied, but the confidence in her voice was waning after spending all her energy trying to keep both Fumiko and Hikaru calm. "Surely they would realise we are missing by now...."

"How long have we been waiting for....?" Hikaru said weakly, taking a look at her phone that was flashing with a low battery sign. "It's been an hour and a half, Aya...."

"B, but if we leave, they won't know where to find us..." Aya responded. 

"Should we split up then...?" Hikaru asked, "That way, one of us can wait here, while--"

"No, Hikaru!" Fumiko interjected with a shocked face. "That's how they always end up dying in horror movies! As soon as the group starts to split..."

"This isn't a horror movie, Fumiko..." Aya said, then pulled herself up from the ground. "Anyways, Hikaru's right I think... we've waited long enough."

"Let's try going back the way we came from," Hikaru suggested, glancing at the path behind them. "That way we will descend the mountains back to the inn..."

"But we had to walk two hours with the class just to get up to this point," Fumiko said, "Are you sure we can follow the exact same path back to the inn for two hours...? This isn't really a popular hiking route either... so there's not even any signs to guide us..."

"We have to try," Aya said. "Unless you want to sit here and--"

"No!! I'm going wherever you're going, Aya!!!"

Walking down the path that they had came from with the class, Aya led the way, trying to recall the direction from her memory.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It was true that Aya had a memory that was almost photographic as a gifted student... but that was only when she made an effort to remember things. Back when they were walking with the class, Aya was busy talking to Hikaru the entire time and simply following the lead of the class.

"Damn that, Abe-sensei...." Aya cursed under her breath as she ducked past a low-hanging branch that she briefly remembered passing. "Ruining me and Hikaru's first hiking trip together...."

"Hey... did anyone hear that noise...?" Fumiko asked from behind.

"Ah, that was just me, my bad..." Aya laughed in response.

"No, not that, there was something else from over there, it sounded like a...." Fumiko stopped speaking and the trio stopped dead in their paths.

Where Fumiko was referring to, there was a rustling from the bush and out from below came a small brown cub.

"Is that....." Fumiko trailed off.

"Ohhh, it's so cute!" Hikaru gasped, excitement taking over her face.

"...." 

Aya was staring at the cub silently, her brain ransacking hidden storage of useless information she stored somewhere in her subconscious.

"It's coming over to us!" Hikaru said excitedly, watching the cub. "I've never seen a bear in the wilds before!"

"It does look a bit cute...." Fumiko admitted, her precaution fading.

The cub walked towards Hikaru before tripping on an exposed root, falling down into the ground.

"Ah, he fell over..." Fumiko commented.

"Oh noo," Hikaru rushed over to help the cub, checking to make sure that it wasn't injured. "Are you okay?" Hikaru asked the cub as though it could reply back.

Fumiko started walking over as well, curious, and that was when Aya found what she was looking for in the back of her mind.

"G, guys, get back....!" Aya said, "We need to get out of here...!"

"Huh?"

Fumiko and Hikaru turned back to look at Aya, confused.

"Why? The cub is so cute, Aya! Come, pat its head!" Hikaru said in joy.

"If there is a cub here, that means....."

Aya stopped, staring at something behind Fumiko and Hikaru, causing the two of them to blink in puzzlement before turning to look at what Aya was looking at.

In the bushes where the cub had came from was now standing a giant brown bear about the size of a mini-truck -- if the mini-truck could stand on two feet.

"C, crap--" Aya started, then Fumiko and Hikaru both screamed.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

The trio turned tail and started sprinting for their lives, never turning back to even look for one second as they ran continously for over twenty minutes.

When they finally stopped after hearing nothing chasing them from behind, they rested, leaning on nearby trees to catch their breathes.

"Hah hah..... that.... that was...." Fumiko panted.

"I, it's okay.... the bear didn't chase after us...." Aya said, having not lost her breath as much as the other two since she was the most athletic in the group.

"Guu...." Hikaru sunk to her knees, exhausted and breathless. That was the most running she had ever done in her entire life.

"Waaah, I just want to go home, Aya!!" Fumiko cried, jumping to Aya and hugging her.

"Right, I understand...." Aya replied, trying to soothe her friend. 

"I, I need to use the bathroom..." Fumiko told Aya, blushing, as she glanced around at the deserted forest of the mountain.

"You can't hold it in...?" Aya asked.

Fumiko shook her head, embarrassed. "T, that bear almost made me lose my bladder... I thought we were going to die...."

"Okay, okay..." Aya said quickly, not wanting to hear the details. "I guess you just have to do it somewhere around here then...."

"Ugh...." Fumiko glanced around again but knew there was no other choice. "I will be right back very quickly okay... Stay here and don't leave....!!"

"We will wait here for you," Aya nodded. "Make sure you don't walk off too far, okay?"

"Yes...." Fumiko replied, before stepping from Aya, looking around. She decided on one direction, then headed off in a hurry.

"And don't forget your way back!" Aya called off after Fumiko as she disappeared.

Aya sighed to herself, unable to believe all that she had to deal with in just one day. She glanced over at Hikaru, seeing that she was still kneeling on the ground, trying to catch her breath, and walked over quietly to her.

"Are you okay, Hikaru...?" Aya asked, bending down so that they were at the same level.

"I, I was so scared....." Hikaru sobbed quietly to herself, rocking back and forth slightly. "That was so scary, Aya...."

"It's okay now, Hikaru...." Aya said, moving closer over to Hikaru. "The bear didn't chase after us, there's nothing to worry about anymore...."

"Gu...." Hikaru glanced up at Aya, her violet eyes wet with tears (AN: Hikaru's eye color was changed to violet to match the fiction picture). 

Aya's heart skipped a beat, seeing the teary eyed Hikaru staring up at her, and Aya placed an arm over Hikaru's shoulders, comforting her. 

"Were you scared too, Aya...?" Hikaru asked quietly, placing her head down onto Aya's shoulder.

"Uhm...." Aya was having trouble thinking with Hikaru's head so close to her. "N, no way..." Aya laughed, "Who else will protect you if I'm scared...?"

"K, kya..." Hikaru blushed, hearing Aya's words. 

Then, the two's eyes caught onto one another, silence falling between them. Slowly, Hikaru leaned her face closer to Aya, pursing her lips forward. Feeling the warmness of Hikaru's skin getting near, that was still slightly wet with tears, Aya leaned slowly forward too, then--

"Hey, guys!! You won't believe it!! I found the inn while I was looking for--"

Fumiko's voice stopped, and Aya and Hikaru jumped, standing up quickly to look at Fumiko with blushed faces. 

"Y, you found the inn...?! Oh, that is great, Fumiko!!" Aya's words came out in a rush, her heart still beating quickly in her chest. "Isn't that great, Hikaru? Let's go back!!"

"Y, yes....." Hikaru nodded, staring at the ground, trying to hide the blush on her face.

Just as Aya and Hikaru walked past Fumiko to go in the direction of where she had found the inn, Fumiko asked, "What were you two doing....?"

"Huh....?" Aya replied, she was quickly composing herself now, having enough time to recover from Fumiko's surprise entrance. "What do you mean, Fumiko?"

"Just then.... it looked like you two were about to...." 

"No way...." Aya laughed, "What are you saying, Fumiko....? I was just trying to cheer up Hikaru...."

"...."

"Come on, I think being lost for so long has gotten to you," Aya said to Fumiko, as she walked off with a quiet Hikaru, "Let's quickly go back to the inn now with everyone else. I'm sure they're all worried about us."

"...."

Fumiko was still staring at the ground where Aya and Hikaru were sitting earlier, thinking silently to herself.

"Were they going to.... kiss....?" Fumiko muttered to herself. "...But that can't be right... Aya's a girl... and Hikaru's also a girl.... they can't be...."

Fumiko shook her head, before following after Aya and Hikaru back to the inn, unable to let go of her thoughts.

~x~

"Wuuuu, I was so worried about you.....!!"

Saki was clinging onto Aya like a koala and a branch, while Aya looked as though she was about to kill herself.

"It's alright, Saki.... I'm fine.... We're all fine.... Please stop holding onto me...." Aya said, but she might as well be speaking to a real koala.

"We went back and looked for you for ages, but we couldn't find you guys at all!" Sana was saying from the side.

They were in the dining room of the inn, which was surprisingly big enough to fit the whole class who were in tables spreaded out across the room, chatting amongst themselves, as they ate dinner.

The whole class had already cried about losing Aya, spending hours fighting over one another to talk to Aya.

Aya felt like she was about to collapse into the tomato soup laid out in front of her, having hardly any time to rest after the ordeal.

"It was all thanks to Aya that we found our way back!" Fumiko announced proudly and loud enough so that people in the table several rows across the room could hear. "You guys should had seen how brave Aya was! We were confronted by a bear that was as big as an apartment building! And then she led us all the way through the forest, and even dropped her own phone to distract the bear!!"

"Haha...." Aya laughed, wishing Fumiko wouldn't keep reminding her about the bear attack, "In truth, you shouldn't run when confronted with a bear.... but since you and Hikaru already started running, I had to run too...."

"Of course! Aya is an expert on everything!" Saki chimed in, "She could probably live a year out in the wilds with nothing at all and still survive!"

"Please.... sit back at your seat...." Aya said to Saki, grabbing her arms and trying to remove her off from clinging onto her.

Hikaru watched Aya and Saki from the side, feeling a pit of something uncomfortable rolling in her stomach.

"Are you okay, Hikaru?" Itsuo was sitting next to Hikaru, watching her. "You're not eating...."

"Ah! I'm fine....!" Hikaru replied quickly, not wanting people to see that she was staring at Aya. That incident with Fumiko had already been close enough. 

"Hmm...." Itsuo mused, then continued eating his food silently.

'Damn, I thought I would get a chance to be closer to Hikaru during this school trip, but the inn is separated by genders so I haven't really had a chance to talk to her..." Itsuo thought. 'And then she ended up getting lost on the hike this morning...'

Itsuo sighed to himself, before shaking his head, and turning to Hikaru with a smile.

"You know, um, I heard there's going to be some festival at the Nozawaonsen village tomorrow," Itsuo said, "Apparently, Abe-sensei is giving us free-time tomorrow, and a lot of the class is planning to go to the festival so I was thinking..."

"Itsuo," Hikaru said, picking up some rice with her chopsticks with a absent-minded look on her face, "do you think Aya and Saki look like a good couple...?"

"Aya and, huh, what?" Itsuo was lost, "'Do they look like a good couple'...? Well, they're both girls, right, Hikaru? Besides, it's kind of one-sided, isn't it. Aya looks like she wants to strangle Saki to be honest, if you ask me anyways...."

"Really?" Hikaru glanced up at Itsuo, breaking out of her thoughts and lookng hopeful. "You think that?"

"Well.... I might just have a bad impression of Aya since no one seems to think the same of her as I do..." Itsuo said, glancing to his side awkwardly before back at Hikaru, "But, yeah, that's what I'm seeing..."

Hikaru's face brightened up, hearing Itsuo's words. "Thanks, Itsuo."

Itsuo was confused as to what he actually did, but he smiled warmly at her, seeing Hikaru seeming to brighten up. "No worries..."

~x~

"Listen, Saki, this is where I'm sleeping, and if you go near my bed in the middle of the night, I promise, I will never speak to you again!"

"B, b, but...."

"I'm serious about this, Saki. Please tell me you understand what I'm saying."

"....."

Saki stood in front of Aya, shifting uncomfortably on her feet, as she reluctantly nodded her head.

Aya's serious face relaxed into a smile, then she turned around to Hikaru.

"See? She won't come near again, Hikaru," Aya said.

"Right...." Hikaru replied, looking unsure.

Mika was sitting at her designated bed, watching the commotion between watching the television at the same time. 

"Saki, I'm telling you too, if you do anything to make Aya upset, I'm going to really make the rest of your trip hell," Mika added, but Saki only glanced back at her with an unmoved expression. 

"Like I'm scared of you, Mika..." Saki puffed. 

"W, what--? You little...."

"Anyways, how about we play a game tonight?" Saki interrupted Mika, turning to Aya with a big smile. "Since we went to bed early yesterday?"

"I don't know, Mika, I'm pretty tired...." Aya sighed, thinking about the events of the day.

They had all already showered, and were dressed in their sleeping clothes. Aya was ready to just hit the bed and fall asleep instantly. 

"Ooh, I want to play a game!" Mika said from her bed excitedly.

"What kind of game is it?" Hikaru asked curiously as she sat down on her own bed.

"This is one of the only school trips we ever get! We can't waste it by sleeping early every day!" Saki said, then turned to Hikaru. "It's a fun and simple game -- truth or dare, but with a twist!"

"Sounds like you thought about this already...." Aya said suspiciously. 

"Nooo, there's no way to rig the game," Saki said, walking over to her bag, "It's done with cards and I just bought the packet a few days ago, it's still unopened."

"Hm..." Aya walked over to her own bed to also sit down, but she was honestly just too tired to remain standing. "What's the twist then?"

"Well, there's two joker cards in the deck that we're supposed to remove," Saki said, pulling the game from her bag, then glancing up at the ceiling as though she was thinking. "Hmm, how about instead of removing them, let's make it do something fun!"

"Oh, oh, oh, I like that idea!" Mika said, facing away from the television to face the group. "How about having to put a shoe on their own head and taking a selfie?"

"Um, no..." Saki glanced at Mika, baffled by her suggestion. She turned back to Aya. "Let's say whoever draws the joker card has to confess to their crush!"

"What....?!" Hikaru mouthed, surprised.

"That idea is even better!" Mika clapped her hands at Saki's suggestion. The possibility of herself being the one to draw the joker didn't even occur as a thought to Mika's head. "Let's do that!! I want to see who Aya likes!!"

"What do you say, Aya?" Saki smiled at Aya, raising the deck in her small delicate hand. "If someone draws the joker card, they will have to confess to their crush, and just to make sure it actually happened, we all have to see it!"

"That's...." Aya wanted to say dumb, but she needed a better excuse to get out of Saki's twist.

'Hehe....' Saki was thinking to herself as she stared at Aya, smiling slyly and waiting for a response. 'I want to know who it is that Aya actually likes. Once I know the person that Aya likes, I can take them out of the picture and I will also have a better idea of what Aya finds attractive in a romantic partner... then I can learn those qualities myself and make Aya fall in love with me...! It's a perfect plan!'

"Do we really have to confess to the crush in front of everyone....?" Aya asked, "It would be a bit embarrassing, right...? Can't we just say who it is that the crush is instead?"

"No way," Saki puffed, "The person can just lie and say a random person. If everyone here gets to see it actually happen, then it will make sure that it's a real crush! Besides, it will help the person out too! If they get to confess to their crush."

"Unless you don't want to.... because you are already dating someone!" Saki continued, staring at Aya, watching her reaction. "Could it be...."

"What?! No way...! Aya, you're already in a relationship....?" Mika gasped, glancing at Aya.

'D, damn, Saki.... you really know how to put someone on the spot, huh....' Aya thought to herself. 'Fine then... let's just play your silly game...'

"Okay, let's do it," Aya sighed.

'All I have to do is make sure me or Hikaru doesn't draw the joker...' Aya thought. 'That should be simple enough...'

"Great!" Saki exclaimed, enthusiasm taking over. She jumped on Aya's bed, opening the deck of cards she was holding.

"H, hey....!"

"What...?" Saki pouted, looking up at Aya, "We need a place to play the game..."

"...."

'Kuku....' Saki thought to herself as she opened the deck of cards from its original packaging, humming. 'This is your mistake, Aya Kuramoto. You've let your defences sink too low. I have a plan that is guaranteed to make sure you draw the joker...!'