“I don’t think the bus driver is coming back before sunset” Ayumi mentioned, looking at the further reddening sky.
“Yeah…” Kobayashi agreed, as Junta entered the bus. “Junta, you are back. Did you see anything of use?”
“Yeah, there is a stream that we can use for fresh water and bathing, however only one section of it is really ideal to use. The rest of it is in the open, but there are two cliffs which makes a minor waterfall, and inbetween them is an area that is blocked off by a lot of stone. Its not perfect, I think we could still get ambushed there, but its decent. Given the size of the goblins that came after us, we should probably stay together, but…”
Junta looked over at the girls.
“Ah yeah, I doubt the girls would be open to…”
“No, I don’t mind bathing with the boys”.
“Me neither. I bathe with Koba-chan, Ri-chan, and Mi-chan all the time”.
“You should already know my opinion. I don’t mind being naked with boys either”.
Ayumi, Yuika, and Tamayo all gave immediate answers. They then turned to Reika, who nodded slightly.
“See, us girls are fine”.
“Even Reika?”
Reika opened her mouth, her quiet voice finally coming out.
“I know it’s a big trope in manga and anime and whatnot, but this is a serious situation where we may struggle even to survive. We don’t have the leeway to divide each other…and I don’t think any of the boys here are perverts either”.
Her quite words spoke logical and true, and shattered just about every typical stereotype that might have emerged in this situation.
“Don’t worry, I can take care of these three. This oneechan will handle the shota trio”.
Well, almost all of them.
“Stop using that weird nickname! It was embarrassing six years ago and its embarrassing now! And inaccurate!”
“But a big survival tip is to act calm and how one normally does to help keep morale up, right?”
“Not like this! Stop messing around!”
The two siblings bickered, while Riku and Koba wanted to avoid being dragged in at all. In truth though, aftter everything that happened, they had all sweat a lot, they had all gone through so much, that they were willing to risk being a bit embarassed in order to get clean, and perhaps even have some fun. Everyone was stressed, and Kobayashi had been running around trying to help everyone all day and keep things balanced. He needed a bath the most, especially given the...previous incident.
“In that case, tomorrow we should go. We need to…to clean some blood off some of the clothes anyways”.
At mentioning that, everyone had a bit of a stiff expression.
“That was…a really intense feeling. Killing something. It was a humanoid too, but…it wasn’t human. Still…”
“Shiki, you okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks for asking, Tama”.
“Maybe its just our training, but I think me and Ayumi are better off. If necessary, you can just leave night watch to us”.
“No, we should preserve our energy, stay in the bus where its safe. Never open the door”.
Emiyo was still hit pretty hard. Riku sat next to him.
“Koba, I don’t think he is going to last unless we snap him out of this. Whenever he isn’t in a fugue state, he tries to act like a leader. Since he is the prez and all, some still kinda listen to him on reflex, but most people aren’t really unified under anyone. You seem to have the most authority right now, so I think you need to be the one to talk him out of it”.
“Yeah, I tried before, but then he started complaining, saying he was the oldest and all that, and to listen to him…but yeah, I will keep trying”.
Kobayashi then stood up, and looked over at the bus. In total, there were seven seats. Six rows, and then a backseat. Of course, there was the bus driver chair, but Kobayashi wasn’t counting that one.
Alright. In that case…
“Guys, we need to decide on how to sleep now”.
“Sleep?”
“Right now, there are eleven of us, and only seven seats. The floor is still kind of cold, and one person threw up on it and some…other things. Well, to put it simply, we only have six places to sleep”.
“Six?”
Kobayashi felt unsure of how to answer the question, but Tamayo did for him.
“No one will be able to sleep properly on the one that smells like piss”.
Tamayo admitted her own actions, making it clear to everyone.
“Ah…”
“Yeah. If we sleep while sitting up, we might get stiff or something and it wont be as good, so we cant do that”.
“Me and Shiki will pair up. We are both small enough to lay down on one together, although just in case we should place some blankets or our clothes on the ground to soften any accidental fall”.
“The back seat is wide. Me and Ayu will be able to sleep there no issues”.
“Emiyo is the biggest one here, so he gets a seat all to himself”.
Riku meanwhile got something out from the luggage compartment, revealing a sleeping bag.
“With this, we can have one person sleep on the floor right?”
“More then one. Me, Riku, and Mitsu will squeeze into that together. We should be small enough for us to fit…but, Riku, why did you bring an adult sized sleepingbag?”
“In case it was cold, so that way we could all use it”.
“Well, no wonder its big enough for all three of us then. There should be enough clean floorspace for a single one, and since its made for it, it should be fine for rest then”.
That was eight people dealt with, leaving three left and only three seats left available. Which resolved the sleeping space issue.
“Alright, so tonight we sleep, and tomorrow we bathe and gather fresh water and wash our clothes. Although, I don’t think any of us has soap, so we will have to…”
“I have both soap and shampoo” Yuika mentioned.
“Seriously?!”
“Its important to always be prepared” she noted. “But if we consider all eleven of us, I don’t have that much, so we will need to use both sparingly. Most baths will just have to be water based. I only brought an amount that would be good for me, Koba-chan, Ri-chan, and Mi-chan after all”.
“As expected of the ultimate big sister”.
“Please don’t encourage her. She is annoying enough”.
“Alright, it looks like everything is set then. I just hope the bus is enough to keep ourselves safe”.
“Hold it, isn’t it my job to decide when we end things?”
“Prez, you kind of…have not been all here. Also everyone is tired, so I don’t think you would reach anyone right now”.
“Hmmf…fine”.
Yeah no, I have no idea whats going on in his head…I doubt he does either. But we cant just dismiss him. Still, today has been a bit too tiring…iv reached my limits.
----------------------------------------
The next day, early in the morning, the group had safely gotten through the night. Shiki was sitting on the roof, playing around with his camera and taking photos, when Kobayashi came out.
It was nice and early, and the birds were chirping happily.
So long as the birds are chirping, we know Goblins are not near. Its something to keep in mind for sure.
As Kobayashi thought that, he looked over at Shiki.
“See anything good up there?”
“I have been testing out my camera” Shiki replied, holding up the large camera. Most people used their phone as a camera, but Shiki had a proper and true camera. It was made using the latest of technology, and it was fully dedicated to taking pictures, so it was superior to a phone in every possible way.
“Oh yeah, didn’t you use it to do magic yesterday?”
“Honestly, that was an accident…and I think it’s the camera itself that became some sort of magic item. All of the features have been enhanced, and its gott some…unusual…properties now”.
“Unusual how?”
“It has some ability to take pictures around obstacles and even through walls. Its hard to do in the forest, because each tree counts as a different obstacle, but this puts common sense out on a ledge for sure. That, plus its combat abilities…oh, I can also record video at long range, so this will be insanely useful for spying and reconisance. However…its hard for me to dedicate it to a singular target unless I know where to look or exactly what I am looking for, so I haven’t found the bus driver yet”.
“It might be better if you didn’t” Mitsuki mentioned, as he came out as well. “I finally got a look at the bus systems, and we have a serious issue. The route he took wasn’t heading to the summer camp at all, in fact it looks like he was heading towards an isolated area with nothing in it”.
Shiki jumped down, and looked Mitsuki in the eyes.
“Are you saying that the bus driver might have been part of a plot to kidnap us? And then we got sent to another world? How unlucky are we for both those things to happen to us?”
“That’s only if the two things were unrelated. At first, we thought he was like Prez, panicking normally, but he bolted out of here the moment we landed. I have to wonder…perhaps his plan was to kidnap us”.
“And then ditch us in the middle of the woods?”
“Maybe the portal didn’t go where it was supposed to, and he got worried because of that? In which case, he is probably heading towards whoever hired him…or he might be coming back to claim us for whoever told him to bring us to this world”.
“You sure they are connected?”
Kobayashi nodded.
“Its too weird otherwise, I don’t see how it can’t be. Busses have a lot of safety features, and what? Did he really not step on the breaks in time? Does anyone even remember him hitting the breaks at all?”
Shiki and Mitsuki shook their heads. They never once felt the slamming of breaks.
“…so, the bus driver is our enemy too. That’s…honestly terrible”.
As the three of them talked, suddenly a fourth member emerged from the bus. They all looked at her shocked however, because of the way she came out. Tamayo had come out completely naked, and walked up to Shiki.
"Tamayo?"
"Sorry about pushing you out in front of everyone naked! I still think it was the right decision, and we should really all adjust and get used to each other anyways, but doing it in that moment, without asking you, may have been the wrong decision. So I figured I should apologize like this for that moment, any for any moment in the future I might still act like that".
Tamayo sounded a bit nervous, but also very sincere. Once she said what she needed however, she started to head towards the woods, not back to the bus.
"Tama?! Why are you?!"
"...I need to use the toilet desparately".
"R-right..."
She disappeared behind some trees as she said that.
"...she seemed actually embarassed that time. Maybe being nak..."
"Thats not it" Shiki mentioned with a deadpan voice. "She hates apologizing. She did it to try and make me feel better, but also to set a standard for the others in our group that its okay. She...she has absolutely no sense of feminity at all, unless it suits her needs or desires".
Certainly, none of the girls in their group really had overwhelming feminity. However, Mitsuki just shrugged and sighed.
"Well, I suppose those types probably wouldn't go to a school sponsored summer camp as much".
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Kobayashi and Shiki nodded, as Riku came out next with a soccerball.
"Yo everyone. Whatcha all up to?"
"Shiki was testing his camera and telling us about Tamayo's strangeness".
"You mean like the time she peeked on all the boys during last years summer camp? I was amazed she was allowed to come on the trip after that".
As they were talking, Tamayo walked back with a rather pleased and satisfied expression. She then handed Shiki some leaves.
"What are these for?"
"There are some trees that are short, but have thick trunks and many branches, and most importantly, those very sturdy leaves. We should collect them, because they make for fantastic toilet paper. Thought I would bring some back so everyone knew what to use, I tried a few different leaves but these worked the best".
Tamayo then walked back into the bus like nothing was wrong.
"She really has no shame does she?"
"It depends. Stuff like clotthes and nudity, and stuff like that, no not at all. She could easily walk into a boy's bath no matter how they felt. But she would never expose someone's emotional scars, never post gossip that might seriously harm someone emotionally. At least, not unless she felt it was necessary".
"But she apologized to you just now..."
"I guess its cause we are childhood friends, but she is like that with me sometimes. That said, this is like, the one hundredth time she has done this to me, so as embarassing as it is in the moment, I am used to being dragged along by her whims. Of course, I do have to keep scolding the boys and girls that stare too much at her..."
"Eh?"
"As part of being childhood friends to Tama, naturally is making sure stupid boys dont take advantage or such. Well, she could probably deal with them if they tried anything forceful, but I see no reason to give them the advantage. Dont worry though, I know you guys are not like that. I can tell the difference between when people are shocked at her...Tamayoness, and when they might have darker intentions".
"Thats...very dark. Just for the record, how do you..."
"Tamayo is not the only good investigator of the Newspaper club".
Riku tugged on Kobayashi's sleeve.
"To think the rumors were only off on who the Blackmail King was in our school".
Saino Academy was admittedly named with a fairly obvious element in mind. It did span across multiple education levels, which was why elementary school and middle school students had a joint trip together. However, Saino Academy's speciality was that it featured programs and classes to help find the individual talents of each student, and give them places to foster them.
For Shiki, despite normally being a nervous boy who got startled easily, he had a fantastic talent for gathering information and utilizing it. For Tamayo, it was roughly the same, altthough perhaps she was better at gathering it, while Shiki was better at using it.
The Joint Summer Camp was a part of that. Of course, it wasn't like the school was filled with eccentrics or weirdos, it was a very normal school. It just means that the students could refine their talents more easily then at other schools. None of them had cheat like abilities or skills, they couldn't go creating combat robots, there was no stereotypical superhumans, and they didn't pump out huge amounts of celebrities.
Anime and manga love to emphasize that stuff, but in reality, it was still very much a normal school that just did better then most at making their students shine.
Shiki however, did notice something a bit interesting.
"Are none of you going to stretch?"
"Eh, what do you mean?"
"I mean, sure the tracksuis given by the school are kind of comfy, but it still must have been kind of uncomfortable to have to sleep in the same thing you were wearing the whole time".
"Ah..."
"Oh right..."
Both Kobayashi and Mitsuki had meek reactions. But then Riku opened his mouth.
"Nah, we all slept in the nude cause we were in the sleeping bag!"
"Eh?"
"Riku, you dont just go blurting that stuff out....but yeah, as he said, we took advantage of being in the closed off sleeping bag. It was still quite warm, and it would be weird if it was justt Kobayashi".
"I told you guys, I have been feeling better..."
"Yeah, but untill we know how much and how your medical issue could still effect you, better to be careful. And you need to get the best sleep possible".
"Maybe everyone should sleep in the nude" Tamayo said as she came back out, dressed in the usual tracksuit attire now. "We already will have to bathe together after all".
"Normally I would be fine with that for those three, however me and Ayumi are the strongest combat potential of the group, so we need to be ready to fight should monsters attack us. Considering we can also all use magic, that makes us all have some level of combat potential, so I would like for us to remain on guard and be ready as much as possible".
"Eh? But gettting a good rest is also important..."
"Let it go Tama" Shiki pointed out as he pinched her cheek.
"Awight awight im sowwy!!"
As that comedic display happened, Riku started to kick a soccer ball. Although officially it was called Football in Japan, most people tended to use the shorter name, Soccer. At least that the kids heard.
Incidenttally, they all tried various attributes, and discovered who could do what, at least instinctively.
Kobayashi has Storm, Spacial, and Shadow.
Ayumi has Earth, although she was better at channeling magical power into herself to further reinforce her physical abilities.
Mitsuki has Storm, Water, and Light.
Yuika has Storm and Spacial.
Riku has flame.
Takuma Emiyo has shadow and earth, as well as this weird third one that seemed different but they dont know whatt it does yet aside from making plants decay.
Junta Kondo has storm and life.
Reika has water and shadow.
Tamayo has light and shadow.
Shiki has light, shadow, and flame.
Endo has life and water.
Incidentally, at first they listed storm as two separate attributes, wind and lightning, but they combined it into storm after realizing everyone who could do wind or lightning could do the other, so they figured it had to be a single attribute.
That or its one major coincidence, but Mitsuki said the odds were pretty clear that they were likely connected. They decided to call it Storm for now, since that was the only thing they could think of that linked the two and sounded like it would fit.
They also learned water and ice are connected as well, and Earth didn't just include rock and dirt, but also plants as well.
Mitsuki though, had a theory there might be more to it then they understood, and that the magic they knew was just scratching the surface of it.
Either way, the next person who came out was Junta, who already had the bow and arrows he brought with him.
"Junta? Doing some practice?"
"No, getting us some food. We only have the emergency food from the emergency kit in the bus, and the supplies and snacks we were bringing with us. At this rate, we will starve. And...I dont think any of us want to try and eat Goblin meat".
Even if they weren't human, they were still humanoid. So there was some obvious negative feelings towards trying to eat Goblin meat.
"Try to stick to animals you recognize from Earth. I dont want to risk something not being meant for humans to eat getting mixed in by accident".
"Yeah. I will see what is the hardest thing to hunt that I can get, and snag some of those".
"The hardest?"
"The harder to get, the tastier its likely to be, since otherwise everything would hunt it to extinction".
"Ah. Thats a good call, but do be careful about size and appearance as well".
"Yeah, I will try to focus on birds. Could you make some preparations to cook it by the time I get back? Get someone with Earth Magic to make a pit, and then get some branches and build a roasting...whatever the thing is called".
"Right, got it. One pit, one roasting stick".
Junta then headed out, going to hunt.
He seems rather calm, all things considered. I wonder if he has hunted before?
"What is it...where are we...how will I handle this..."
Emiyo came out next, followed soon after by the others. Emiyo was looking better, but not that much better.
"Where did Junta go?" Endo asked.
"Hunting for food. I reckon he will be back any moment now..."
As if on cue, Junta returned with three large birds with him, each with a single arrow in them.
"Well, I expected you to be back soon, but not with prey".
"Eh?"
"Didn't you realize that going out to hunt alone, with Goblins still in the woods, would be dangerous?"
"Well yeah, but I planned to not go that far. I made sure to stay within visual range of the bus".
"...and you hunted three birds in that short amount of time".
"I manipulated the arrow with wind, although the last one actually took two shots. It avoided my first arrow, but I got it on the second".
"...just to be clear, our school...didn't we lost the last archery competition?"
"Yeah, although id like to point out they did cheat a whole bunch, at least technically, to mess with all the boys in the club".
"The boys?"
"It was An All Girls School, and I think they carried a grudge against boys for something. Some of it was...quite humiliating. In any case, they were also insanely skilled, so I am not even sure why they bothered. But we lost to the team that got first place in the nationals, so if we hadn'tt faced off them, who knows what would have happened. We could have probably made it tthere and gotten second place at least".
"I see...well, thats good to know".
"Our baseball club however, that needs an influx of talent. We had way too many sempai graduate last year, so its very strained right now".
It seemed the best baseball talent in the school had all collected in a single year at some point, so that made graduation tougher on them.
"Well, if we are all here, we might as well get this over with..." Endo grumbled.
----------------------------------------
The forest enclave was indeed a well isolated and protected location. It was surrounded by rocks and cliffs on all sides, with the water coming down from above via a waterfall, and it left through some underground drain into another waterfall. However, there were several rocks that created a natural filter, so even if any of them were to fall, they wouldn't accidentally get washed down tthe second waterfall, making it completely safe.
As such, tthey were all able to safely take off their clothes, fill up cantines and water containers, take a bath, and do laundry all in one. And they were roasting some birds for an after-bath snack, also known as lunch.
None of them had swimsuits, as any swimsuits would have been the school issued ones waiting att the summer camp with a variety of other things. This was done so that the students didn't have to pack such heavy bags, decreasing any workload, but it was obviously not designed for a bus suddenly being teleported into an altternate world.
So for safety and circumstance, they had to deal with it. That said, the one who insisted they att least change clothes in different places wasn't one of the girls, but Emiyo, who said at the very least they could do that much and then avert their eyes until tthey got in the water. He had originally suggested they could still wear their underwear, but the girls adamently refused as that would just add to the laundry, and you cant wear dirty clothes. Plus, not everyone had spare underwear, and they really didn't want to wear the dirty ones any longer and be uncomfortable. And then the reasons got added on more, although most came from Tamayo.
And speaking of which...
"You boys are too slow!" Tamayo said, embarrassing all the boys as she went around the rocks they had just finished changing behind. "And to think media usually says girls are the slow ones, just goes to show how old and gender biased that is".
"Tama!" Shiki whined, as the boys had instinctively covered themselves. Shiki was in front, but Tamayo just moved him out of the way.
"...I see you were right Yuika, Shota Trio is not a bad nickname for them. Add Shiki, and its a Quatro. From what I just saw, Emiyo is certainly worthy of the girls admiration. Not only what he covered is very good from what iv observed, but he has quite a few muscles now that we got his clothes off. Perfect physical specimen, ten out of ten. Junta is lean, but that looks good on him. Honestly, the slim and petit look has been way more in lately, and he has one of those. Very well defined, and hands look reliable. Good down there, so eight out of ten".
"Now now, dont going making them competitive with each other" Yuika pointed out.
"Aww, fine I will do it quick. Endo is a 6.5 out of 10, Riku is a 9 out of 10, and Mitsuki is an 8.5 out of 10. Kobayashi has this perfect form tthat can be both boy and girl, perfect cuteness ratio, and the shortness helps, so thats a 10 out of 10".
"Eh, no ranking for Shiki?"
Tamayo looked over at Shiki, and then grabbed one of his hands away with her own and started to take him towards the river.
"Shiki is just Shiki".
She said such a thing, as the two entered the river.
Having already been morttified, the rest of the boys joined, while the girls looked unphased.
"Seriously, what is this situation. It feels like its straight out of a comedy anime" Riku pointed out. He was the only boy who wasn't as embarassed and seemed far more fine, second being Shiki, then Endo, then Juntta, then Mitsuki, and then Emiyo. Kobayashi seemed a bit more fine before, until Tamayo made those comments about him.
"Its because girls are actually better at handling stress and emotions then boys".
"Oi! Thats rude! We can handle it just as good as ya!"
"Nah Riku, thatts actually a fact. Its a biological thing, probably an evolution long ago since women need to be able to deal with childbirth and such when we get older".
Yuika ended up countering Riku's statement, which resulted in Riku getting revenge by splashing Yuika with water.
"Now now, lets get that shampoo in, and then you all can play all you want" Yuika said, using her big sister tone. It was different from before, when she was just teasing them. It had more authority in it.
"I dont really need it!" Riku announced, but Yuika grabbed his wrist, twisted his arm behind his back, and caused him to wince. She proceeded to sit down on a rock in the water, and after dunking Riku's head in to soak his hair, she made him sit on her lap as she shampooed it and used soap on his body. It was a bit rough, but that was in part because Riku was so spirited. Still, after that she captured her brother next and did the same, without any reserve.
"I can do the rest myself!"
"Nonsense, I am your big sis!" she said, back tot her teasing voice.
"Uhg, your just doing this to tease me!"
"No way! I am justt your loving big sister!"
"A big sister who has had three boyfriends dump her!"
The moment Mitsuki said tthat, the soap really went to places he wanted to wash himself, but it seems he hit a poor spot for Yuika.
"...what is that about?"
"Ah, well you see, the boyfriends she once had, and that she had mainly asked out, kind of rejected her after being intimidated, realizing she was stronger then her. Honestly, id argue she is better off, since clearly they wouldn't match, but its a very sore spot for Yuika. Plus, even though Yuika's chest has grown out in middle school a bit, those three apparently ended up dating those with even bigger ones afterwards, so that made it worse".
"Koba-chan!~ Clearly you must be next, if you have so much time to gossip like that!" Yuika said, using more force then necessary and went all out on Kobayashi, embarassing him as well.
Incidentally, she also did Shiki as well right after, engraving into his heart this was not a subject that should ever appear in a newspaper or story, and to be a good boy.
In any case, what originally became a bath ended up causing them to relax enough to be a lot of playing in the river. Even those who were embarassed massively at first ended up having some fun, altthough the four youngest boys had to recover a bit from Yuika's rampage.
In the end, perhaps everyone was just a bit more comfortable with everyone. Even Emiyo had started to engage properly, and that was helping everyone for sure.
After they were done bathing and playing in the water, tthey had started cooking the meat while they lay on blankets in the middle of the sun. They didn'tt have any towels, and putting on clothes while wet and damp was uncomfortable, so this was their only way to dry off, sun and air dry. That said, it was quite theraputic and relaxing, so overall it was helpful for their mindsets. Even if their mental strengths were bolstered, it wasn't like nothing bothered them. Emiyo was clear evidence of that, stress and tension, this whole situation, still weighed upon them. Most of them had been off their game since the battle, but something like this seemed to help get their minds off of it and heal it.
Kobayashi glanced towards Tamayo and Shiki, who were laying together while holding hands. Between that and their reactions, he had roughly figured it out.
Those two...I dont think they planned everything, Shiki's reactions were definently genuine. But...at the very least, they both helped orchistrate this with the goal in mind. Depending on how much they planned, could it be...was Tamayo's apology a part of that? No, that was different. That was just her being her. She does things on impulse, but then makes good use of them. Thats what Shiki was getting at when he mentioned Tamayo was never femine unless it suited her. If she just acted a little different, I suspect we would have naturally been able to all bathe together without embarassment, at least as much.
In other words, Tamayo was troublesome, but useful.
----------------------------------------
Once they had eaten, dried their clothes, and got dressed again, it was already mid afternoon. Kobayashi was currently being given a piggyback ride by Riku.
"...I can walk fine on my own".
"Ya played a lot, an then ya ended up even climbing that rock wall. Ya were way more active thanks to ya physical improvementts that we all got, but ya were clearly wobbling at the end there. None of us are super. Just because ya are stronger and faster, does not mean ya health is all better!"
"...if you remembered that much, why didn't you stop me sooner? This is kind of embarassing".
"Cause, ya had never been able to be this active and play so much right? At least its been a long time for ya. I figured ya deserved a day like that".
"I see...well, thanks then. Today was fun".
They might be struggling for food, dealing with a new situation, and having to abandon the norms they were used to, even if it was embarassing. However, Riku, Tamayo, and Shiki had made one thing clear to Kobayashi.
Just because they were going to struggle a lot, just because they were going to have to make a lot of adjustments, didn't mean that they couldn't have fun sometimes. Riku then passed Kobayashi a picture.
"Shiki was able to print a few copies from that magic camera".
The picture was all of them, lined up at the river. Limbs strategically blocked the critical areas, although it was still clear from all the exposed hips they were all naked. That said, everyone managed to smile in the end.
"Riku, I think I get it now. As bad as this situation is, we cant despair. We can deal with hardships and still have fun".
"Glad ya finally figured it out and got ya head out of the clouds. Ya kept worrying about everyone else, I was worried on if we would reach ya with this".
Wait...so was all this...was it because I was so focused on everyone else's issues? Had I really looked that gloomy?
Kobayashi hugged Riku from behind.
"Thanks Riku. I will be counting on you, on all of you, in the future".
"Ya! Make sure ya tell us everything properly, dont brood about it to yaself!"
Kobayashi nodded with a smile.
"Okay!"
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile, having been watching them for awhile as he sat on top of a rock, a boy gazed at them. He wore black sweatpants and a black shortsleeve sweatshirt. He appeared to be only ten years old, but had beautiful golden blonde hair, and golden eyes that could pierce through the shadows themselves.
"Well now, this is interesting indeed".