I yawned, my eyelids becoming heavy all suddenly.
No, not only my eyelids.
My whole body seemed to be weighting a ton.
Backing up against the tree behind me, I slumped to the ground, falling asleep.
***
Tsunan took a glance at the red-haired girl behind him when he saw, from the corner of the eye, that she wasn't following anymore.
He watched the girl as she backed up into a tree and slumped to the forest floor, her eyes closing to sleep.
Moving up to her, he sat down beside her against the tree to wait for her to wake up.
A few seconds later, she would have slumped on her side on the ground in her sleep, had she not found a support against his shoulder.
Still caught in dreamland, she lifted her hand- the one that was closest to him- to grab a handful of his shirt, resting her head further onto his shoulder; her expression unworried, appeased.
***
I rubbed my eyes when I awakened and blushed as I realized that Tsunan was sitting besides me.
'I'm sorry,' I apologized in a murmur. 'I'm slowing you down.'
'Don't worry about that,' he said, and I realized something else at that precise moment.
I had taken some liberties with him in my sleep.
I was gripping at his shirt!
Instantly, I let go of the fabric, blushing again.
Standing up, he helped me to my feet when, in all of a sudden, there was a crash of thunder above head, that made me jump.
It started to rain very heavily in the minute.
'Let's take shelter over there!' exclaimed Tsunan, as he pointed towards a small cave several feet away.
We hurried up to it to hide ourselves there.
The cave measured a few meters long, having a low top-inner surface.
We had to crouch down to reach the end of the cave where we sat down with our knees brought up to our chests.
Since I was soaking and was clothed only in a pair of mini-shorts and a short-sleeved T-shirt, I began to feel cold very quickly.
I found myself shivering, my teeth clattering.
'Are you alright?' Tsunan asked me, and I gibbered, 'I- I'm cold!'
'Come here!' he told me, as he sent his arm around my shoulders, cuddling me to bring me warmth.
Staring at him in the eyes, my cheeks burned.
His eyes widened a fraction when he took hold of my hands.
'Your hands are freezing!' he told me and I blushed madly as he brought my hands over his mouth and blew hot air onto them.
***
Agasa Tsudzuri looked up at the dark gray sky when she felt droplets of water begin to fall onto her head.
Cho and Yanagi had been teasing her about carrying her weapon everywhere with her on the trip.
But finally, she did well to take it along.
She found it pretty convenient that her weapon was an umbrella that could shield her from the rain.
Opening it, she took a glance at Shuda Nakagiri who was getting drenched.
Edging up to him, she covered him with her umbrella.
He looked at her in surprise.
'The cold can trigger an asthma attack, right?'
'Thanks,' he said, pleased by her consideration.
Seeing that she was talking to him again, he decided to ask her, 'Agasa, did I do or say something that offended you? I have the impression that you've been avoiding since a few days.'
They had seen each other very often after the incident with her brother. But the girl's behavior towards him had changed lately. Whenever he tried to make conversation with her, she would cut him off. She would disappear to the other end of the room whenever he tried to approach her.
It was especially during this trip- while sharing close proximity with her- that he realized that something was indeed terribly wrong.
She didn't speak to him even once during the whole voyage by bus and the only time they talked to each other, it was during that first night at the hotel, about the final volume of a manga he had brought for her.
'I'm sorry,' she apologized, sincerely. 'It wasn't nice of me to ignore you like I did. I promise you that it's over now and that it will never happen again.'
The truth was that, if their growing closeness disturbed her so much, it was because she was scared. Scared of what? She didn't know. But having been able to admit to herself that she was scared, had helped her overlook the said-feeling.
'Okay,' he nodded, his tone filled with emotions.
'Shuda, I also wanted to tell you; I've been talking about my brother with you all the time, so if you want to talk about Yasu or anything else, I'm here to listen to you too! Feel free to talk to me!'
He gave her a small smile, appreciating the offer. 'Alright, thanks.'
Standing there in the forest, sheltered under her red umbrella in the sheeting rain, the two waited for the downpour to cease.
***
'We should probably stop to shelter ourselves from the rain for a moment!' Tsurayuki Senryū called after Yanagi Hakushū.
'You may stop if you want. I'm continuing!' she called back at him over her shoulder, continuing to advance despite the bad weather.
Yanagi was still very pissed over the fact that Cho had found a picture of Shun Shutsuki and Tsunan together in the doctor's wallet.
What had pissed her off even further was that Cho and Agasa had refused to join hands with her to humiliate the red-haired girl in front of Tsunan after that.
And not to forget the results of the lucky draw for the attribution of rooms which had pissed her off like hell. She wished that it had been anyone else other than that she-devil of Shun Shutsuki!
As if, the fact that Tsunan and she lived under the same roof in their daily life wasn't enough!
The Gothic-Lolita exhaled sharply.
Tsurayuki paused down, staring after the girl who was getting drenched; lost in his own thoughts.
Yanagi and he had joined the organization at a few weeks of interval from each other. They had both studied at Toda High School. Since he was a year older than her, he had been her senpai.
He would come across of her very often in the school corridors and they would talk.
Yanagi had two very distinct personalities.
With the members of the organization, she gave loose to her feelings and she didn't hold back her words or actions. With others, she was more passive, composed, even reserved.
This girl fascinated him.
He loved her in secret.
Will he ever find the courage to confess his love to her one day?
Even if the organization had accepted him, he had always felt a certain fright towards its members; he was scared that misfortune might befall them because of him. And so, having a fiancée was totally unthinkable!
But today, it was different.
He looked down at the animated prayer beads that he now wore around his neck.
Grabbing his jacket, he ran up to the girl and placed it above her head to shield her from the rain.
The Gothic-Lolita jerked to a stop, all the anger that he could read on her face before, dissipating, only to be replaced by surprise.
He turned his face away, to hide the flush of color adoring his cheeks.
***
In the end, it was Tsurayuki and Yanagi who found the treasure.
In the middle of the island, stood a long-abandoned two-storied house that had for reputation of being haunted. The treasure was found in the cave of the said-propriety.
Tsurayuki and Yanagi had been the only duo which had carried on with the treasure hunt despite the rain, while all the other participants, including Tsunan and me, had stopped to shelter ourselves.
Master Kagami was a bit disappointed that only a single team arrived at the house. With Burabura, Yama-san and Gakkuri, the master had made so many preparations to scare every one of us who would enter the propriety, but finally, only two members showed up.
The chest contained two vouchers for a dinner in one of Toda's most sophisticated restaurants.
At our return to Hanaori Beach, the sky had cleared up and the sun was shining again.
'Oi, Shun Shutsuki!' called Katsuya as he moved up to me, where I was sitting on the beach.
Everyone was there, enjoying the return of the good weather.
'Will you come take a stroll with me?'
"Allow me to give you a piece of advice. It's very difficult to differentiate between someone who is kind and someone who is calculative. Better play it smart!"
The words of that young stranger had disturbed me a lot after our encounter at the supermarket. But then, I couldn't help but feel guilty for doubting Katsuya as I remembered the number of times he had come to my rescue when I had just joined the organization.
No one at the organization had ever told me anything alarming about him or warned me to watch out for him. Ayame looked up to him as an older brother and above all, Katsuya was a member of the organization.
So, I decided to give him the benefice of the doubt.
Giving him a smile, I nodded.
We walked up to where the shore became rocky, to explore the tidal pools.
'Look! It's a starfish!' said Katsuya, as he pointed at the motionless sea creature glued on a rock in the shallow pool on which edge we were perched.
'Sugoi!' I exclaimed, gazing at the reddish marine creature.
'Let's go on the cliff! I'm sure that the view must be impressive up there!' he declared, then, and I tagged along, wounding our way up further on the rocky shore that got higher and higher.
And indeed, the view on the cliff was truly impressive!
'My! The ocean seems so far below!' I exclaimed, as I approached the edge carefully, to have a look at the waves crashing against the face of the cliff below.
***
Katsuya Hattori stared at the red-haired girl from behind, thrilled with excitement.
He was sure that if he could see his face in a mirror right now, the reflection that the object would send back to him would be that of a fiendish expression.
Ever since Shun Shutsuki had joined the organization, he had been waiting for this one moment where he'd get the chance to kill the red-haired girl and make it pass for an accident.
It was the goal of this small hike.
Today is going to be your last day in this world, Shun Shutsuki, for you're going to have an unfortunate accident; you're going to fall off a cliff and die!
A shrill coursed through his body as he quietly approached himself up to the red-haired girl, who had her back turned onto him, absorbed by the view.
Slowly, he lifted his hands, preparing to push the ignorant girl off the edge.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Senpai - Senior