"Hey Leo?" Kazu spoke.
"Hm?"
"What's that?" He asked while pointing at the club-looking tree.
"A tree?"
"Well, no, I see that... But why's it shaped like a club?"
"Nature?"
"..."
"..."
"I see... Did you and Rio drag it here?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"It looked cool."
"You know... You're very strange Leo."
Well to be honest, I just brought it just because I could. Maybe I'd remember something about the mission or maybe I was being paranoid.
…
A few dozen minutes later the explore team came back, everyone was sitting around the campfire and the food team had caught us some food that Rose was butchering.
"Welcome back! You guys find anything?" Kazu greeted them and we all waved at them.
"It was weird..." Oscar responded
"What was weird?"
"There were a lot of animal bones everywhere but that was it."
"Animal bones?"
"Yeah, scattered around everywhere were multiple different types of bones, I assume they've been there for some time because they were all clean. Maggots must have gotten to them or something."
"Hm, weird. Maybe it was another classes mission to survive here as well, and they used that cave."
Animal bones?
"You didn't see anything else weird?"
"Other than that... No, I don't think so. But I did feel a strange chill when I was leaving the cave."
"Hmm, alright! Thank you all for exploring! Then with that, let's eat!"
Rose had finished butchering the animals and the food was now being cooked.
"You know what that means... Right, Leo?"
"Haah, sure."
"Woo!"
"Music time!"
"Haha!"
…
A few dozen minutes later after I had finished singing and we all ate it was still light out.
We were all having a pretty good time and it looked like this mission was going to be a breeze.
I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Hm?"
It was Rio,
"Um... Can you keep watch...?"
"Sure."
We walked a little bit into the forest, and I stood far enough away.
I decided to check my stats,
Leo Vondheart – 18
Skills – Peace of Mind, Status, My Heart to You, Crowd-Pleaser
Talents – Music
Stats: D+
Strength: D-
Agility: D+
Dexterity: D+
Stamina: C-
Mana: F-
'Crowd-Pleaser'? That was new, when did I get that?
Crowd Pleaser (B Grade)
Their eyes can't seem to get off you.
Back to the basic definition? But 'Their eyes can't seem to get off you' is it telling me that I attract attention or something?
I guess I have been the center of attention during the campfire sessions, and even before that. I wonder what dictates when I get a skill...
A few dozen seconds later I felt a tap on my shoulder, and we started to head back to the camp.
…
After we got back to the camp, it was starting to get dark.
I sat beside the campfire and felt another tap on my shoulder, looking behind me it was Taku.
"Hm?"
"Can you come with me?"
"Sure."
He took me a little away from everyone to where it was just the 2 of us. It seemed like he wanted to say something to me privately.
"I've felt some strange gazes since the explore team came back..."
"It's bringing a chill to my spine..."
"Strange gazes?"
"Yes... Like someone's watching us..."
Could it be Mr. Mispholfo? No... Probably not, he said he only started to feel strange gazes after the explore team came back.
"Do you think we should be worried?"
"I don't know... I just wanted to tell you because you seem to always be calm... I didn't want to tell the others because I think they'd panic."
"Hm... Thank you for telling me, and to be honest, I felt a chill too. When I first found the cave, it felt a little strange."
"You felt it too? Maybe something is watching us..."
"I think we should at least tell Kazu though, he's been leading the camp after all."
"Yeah, I think so too... I just wanted to tell you first though because I knew you wouldn't panic."
We pulled Kazu to the side and told him as well.
"Strange gazes? Maybe it's a bear? But thank you for telling me."
"Mhm."
We all headed back around the campfire; we didn't tell anyone else in fear of them suddenly panicking.
We decided to keep the same night watch schedule as the previous night and headed to sleep.
…
Nothing special happened that night.
The next morning after everyone was awake, we all went and did our roles. Rio and I went to gather some more wood.
After we went back to camp, it seemed like Rio noticed something was wrong.
"Are you okay, Leo?"
"Hm?"
"You're looking around way more than usual."
Was it obvious? I don't think so...
"Yeah, everything's fine, just making sure we aren't mauled by a bear or something."
"Eh?"
"I'm kidding."
"You don't sound like you're kidding, haha!"
I shrugged my shoulders.
…
I yawned, I think I was pretty adjusted to living in the forest for now, at least way more adjusted than the others.
The reason I say that is because of the current conversation,
"We need to wash ourselves!"
"I feel so dirty!"
"It's just a week, we can go without showering!"
"No way! Disgusting!"
The class seemed to be split again. The only water we had found was a small river that we used for drinking after we boiled the water. There wasn't a big enough source of water to bathe or shower.
To be honest, I was on the side of washing ourselves, but we couldn't do anything until the explore team found a lake or something.
"It's just a week!"
"Ew! Disgusting!"
Taku, Rio and I stood out of the conversation as usual.
A few hours later, it was nighttime again. They had agreed to put more people on the explore team to find a bigger body of water.
…
It was me and Rio's time for night watch again, we sat around the campfire and talked.
…
I heard the sound of a stick breaking from behind me, I quickly turned around and looked in the direction.