It was a lot quicker than Sereyin had expected. Maybe it was because of the association she had with simply going anywhere away from her town, or maybe it was the fact she associated these kinds of trips with short-lived crushes and unwanted drama. Well, she was the one who caused a lot of drama, to be fair. Although she wasn't actually "mean," she was just "relaying messages" to other people, or beating people up who were the mean ones like a true vigilante, and of course, she would get blamed.
She cringed at the thought of her old self during those school trips she'd take as a kid It wasn't that the trips themselves were bad, it was more like she took part in making them bad. And yet it was somehow nostalgic.
She exhaled as she threw the last of the toiletries into her large backpack (a tribute from Reika once she'd heard about this trip) and said "Okay, this time. THIS TIME, just be as invisible as possible. You're an adult. Just be there for the education. No one's going for the funsies, they don't care about drama anyway. Got it?"
It had been a long time since her last school trip - the one in which she picked a fight with the most popular boy in school because he had slapped a girl's ass and yet everyone turned on Sereyin because that girl said she had "actually wanted it" despite how upset she'd looked when it happened. Sereyin knew she was forced to say that.
"Tsk." Sereyin gritted her teeth and shook off the memory. "It's fine. Everything's fine. Helping people is a nuisance anyway."
As soon as she looked at the time on her phone, she lept and yelled out in her original language, Elanish, "Oh shit, I need to GO. The buses don't wait."
She ran to the campus, taking about 5 minutes, unlike the usual 10-minute walk. The buses were waiting there, and most of the students had already boarded. It looked like Mira had waited at the back of the line for her; Mira was always early to anything, including her classes, and she said it was a habit she developed from when she was a musician.
Before Sereyin even stopped running, she called out, "MIRA, Mira. I'm so sorry for making you wait."
"Sereyin! You came. I was worried maybe you'd changed your mind."
Sereyin came to a screeching halt, almost tripping over her own feet. "Oh gosh, geez. Yeah." She took a few heavy breaths. "Yeah, um, but I'm glad I wasn't too late. Had a bit of trouble remembering what to pack for semi-camping trips."
"What's in the other bag? Is that a sleeping bag? You know that you don't need that for - "
"I know, but it's just a big coat. It can even fold out into a blanket. Crazy, right? I heard it can get pretty cold up in the mountains at night this time of year, and also I get cold pretty easily, so..."
"Oh, that makes sense! Hopefully, we won't be outside during the night. Probably the only time will be if we bathe in the hot springs outside."
"Right, right."
The two of them boarded the last bus together. A teacher was there to check off their names.
They sat at the front. The teacher made a few announcements as soon as everybody was seated. Before the bus could even start moving, Sereyin had fallen asleep. Mira looked over at her about to speak, but instead, she smiled. "Must have been playing games all night again, huh?"
The trip took a few hours, but even within just 30 minutes, the scenery looked a whole lot more natural. The sky was clear with the exception of a few cloud wisps. The sun kept the inside of the bus warm. Many of the other students seemed to be lulled to sleep by the lazy swaying of the bus.
Sereyin looked comfortable. In fact, a little too comfortable. As soon as the hours passed and the bus hit some uneven ground, she was jolted awake by the shaking. Mira quickly grabbed her shoulder so she wouldn't fall forward.
"Seri, we're here. You should wake up."
"Oh... yeah?" Sereyin rubbed her eyes and yawned.
The bus stopped in a large parking lot made up of nothing but dirt, rocks, and potholes. The students immediately stood up and the noise level increased drastically, but with a sense of relief. Everyone grabbed their small backpacks or luggage, then drowsily filed off the bus.
As soon as they had hopped off the bus and into the cool, crisp air of the mountains, Sereyin said to Mira "Gosh, sorry I just fell asleep on you. Hope you weren't bored." She winked and stuck out her tongue playfully.
"Hey, you may be my most rambunctious friend, but I can have some rambunctious thoughts to keep me entertained!" Mira protested.
Sereyin gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth. Then began to smile mischievously. "Ooh...? 'Rambunctious' thoughts, you say? Heheheh."
Mira lightly pushed her by the shoulder. "Tsk. Seri!" She glanced around. "Whatever you're thinking about, get it out of your head right now!"
Sereyin couldn't help but burst into laughter. Mira continued to push her and complain.
After a little while, they made their way to the main meeting place. It was in front of the large inn which rested at the foot of the mountain where they would be hiking. There were about 40 students standing in consolidation while the headteacher/club advisor stood in front, facing everyone while holding a wooden box with a hand-sized hole at the top.
Sereyin and Mira stood at the back-right side of the crowd, tip-toeing to see what was going on in front.
The teacher's voice was just barely loud enough for the whole group to hear when he spoke. "Hello, students of Environmental Science club and the welcome guests who are considering this club! I am so glad to see many people who want to be out in nature during this time. I hope you all had a good trip. Anyways, I'll get straight to the point; if you came to this trip expecting it to be only fun and games, then please feel free to step out and go back to campus on the bus. This is mostly an educational trip for people interested in learning about the ecosystem of this important mountain."
He paused for a few seconds and students looked around while murmuring.
The teacher looked around as well. "No one wishes to step out? Okay, you don't have to at this time, of course. Then I'll get started with some ground rules - "
The teacher continued to speak, listing out various rules that had been common during Sereyin's camping trips, with the exception of a little more note-taking.
"- and lastly, please stick by you're partners when I assign them to you. It's imperative that we don't get lost in the mountains, seeing as we have a large group. If you have trouble, please speak with the president or vice president of the Environmental Science Club," the teacher finished. He nodded to the student standing off to the side. The student nodded in return, then walked to where the teacher was standing.
She said, "Hello, I'm Seiron Keirio the president of the Environmental Science Club, I'll be calling out the names of you and your partner during this trip. You will be with this partner for the duration of this trip, so please let me know if you would like to switch before this meeting is over." She then gestured towards the box that the teacher was holding. "Now, I'll pull out two random name tags from the box. Please come to the front and grab your name tag, then go over there with your partner once finished." She pointed behind her.
Mira looked ecstatic. "Ooh, I really hope I'm partnered with you." She grabbed Sereyin's arm.
"Man, I wish. The chance of that is small," Sereyin said disheartened.
Unfortunately, her chance of being partnered with someone else wasn't quite small enough...
After about 5 pairs of students were called, Sereyin's name was called. She froze, then glanced at Mira with wide eyes as the student president shuffled her hand through the wooden box for another name. Mira bit her lip.
The president said, "Okay, so Ruyn Sereyin and..." She clumsily lost a name tag in the box and then shuffled for another one. "Right, sorry. So it's Ruyn and Senri. Senri Rikyu. Please come up here and collect your name tags, both of you."
Senri... Rikyu.
It sounded like a friendly enough name. The one Rikyu she'd met when she'd first moved to Handen was one of the kindest people she'd met. Sereyin looked at Mira as if begging forgiveness, but Mira waved it off and chuckled, knowing that this was pretty much inevitable.
Sereyin sighed, then weaved around the other students and made her way to the front of the group. Already standing by the teacher and the student president was someone strangely familiar.
It was Glasses.
It wasn't just any Glasses. It was THE Glasses from the ramen restaurant. It was the Glasses who had humiliated her. Maybe it was even Glasses from somewhere else, but Sereyin couldn't quite pinpoint it.
She froze. Her mouth gaped open. When Glasses turned to look at her, he froze as well.
This was going to be an awfully long three-day trip.