Chapter 41
Orienteering Exercise
The afternoon air was biting, chilling his lungs as their group trekked uphill, but Kazuki barely noticed. There was not a minute when his thoughts didn’t circle back to the temple. He knew he shouldn’t have; his rational mind regretted the gesture, but his heart denied him the right to.
If it was all he was allowed to have, then Kazuki was glad he’d stolen at least that much. One simple touch, a chaste hand-holding moment to file away like a little treasure.
At the front, Shintarō was leading the group with a lightness belied by his bulky frame. The PE teacher brought up the rear in case he lost some of their students to his freight train pace.
The orientation course would last for three hours from the starting point. Gravel crunched underneath his track shoes as they covered the distance from the parking lot. And those traitorous eyes kept straying to her; her presence tugged harder than the landscape ever could.
Elyna moved at her own rhythm, cheeks warm and pace unhurried. Yet, she didn’t fall behind; perhaps because of those long legs that she usually kept hidden underneath a skirt. Encased in a soft pair of pants, they looked interminable.
Eyes up!
Kazuki made another head count of his students, some of them hunched into scarves. But Elyna looked almost exhilarated in her light Norwegian coat. The more winter descended, the more her Viking side showed.
He’d promised himself he would stay away, but there he was again, hurrying to match her pace. You’re weak, Kazu. Shut up, brain!
Her braid had slipped loose, revealing wayward strands that caught the sunlight. “No scarf?” he asked.
“Oh, no, it’s not cold enough,” she shrugged, hopping around rocks as she basked in the winter sun. Not cold enough. Meh.
His gaze fell on the flimsy cloth that covered her fingers like a second skin, the kind of layer people wore underneath ski gear. He frowned. “Are you sure those thin gloves will be enough?”
Elyna laughed this time. “Heavy artillery is reserved for when it drops below minus ten, Sano-sensei.”
He didn’t even try to disguise his huff; she gave him a smile so genuine, so sunny that he nearly tripped in a pile of fallen leaves. Kazuki started a new headcount, making sure the few stragglers were still following behind.
“This air reminds me of the mountains behind Trondheim,” Elyna mused, her voice so low that he wondered if she wasn’t speaking to herself.
“Do you miss Norway?”
Elyna shrugged. “It’s just a flight away from England. And I know it’s there, waiting for me.”
The next question slipped free before he could stop himself, but it wasn’t what he really wanted to ask. “Is that where you’d like to work?”
Are you leaving, Elyna? Will you take my heart with you? Forget me while I cherish the memory of you?
Elyna’s eyes turned cloudy. “In the future?” Her shoulders slouched in defeat.
“I try to live in the present, like you taught me,” she eventually revealed, causing him to preen internally. Until the next words wrecked him. “I’m just a pawn being jostled around on my mother’s whims. She’s a wildcard, she could decide to pack tomorrow and…”
Her voice caught; he nodded ruefully. Fear bloomed in his chest; the second semester was ending, and soon… Would she move to the other side of the world? Was there any hope at all? For a moment, they walked in gloomy silence, watching their steps at a bend in the road.
“How about you, Sano-sensei? Where do you want to be, ten years from now?”
Sometimes, he loathed the formality that weighed so heavily on his shoulders; he longed to shred all those layers of conventions.
But her question got his gears running; ever since he had become a teacher, no one had asked him how he envisioned the future. What was there else to do than grow in experience, or take more responsibilities as he aged? He was a teacher, settled for life until his hair turned grey.
What do I want to do? Where do I want to live? Is that even a choice?
As usual, Elyna had thrown a rock in the pond, and left before the ripples could reach the shore.
Elyna was going nuts. Whatever had happened between Shūji and Haruki was serious, and she was sick to death of the suffocating tension. To think she’d been so excited to get to experience a place where rivers were laced with natural hot springs!
When Sano had entrusted her with the troublemaker, Elyna had been confident she would prevail. After months of dealing with Shūji, she knew how to coax him out of his armour of aggression.
But stoic, reasonable Haruki had gone despondent. Confrontational, even. To have the class representative as an opponent? THAT wasn’t part of the plan.
Whatever strife had bloomed between them was serious. Last week, Katayū had gone feral after finding them duelling with bokken in the dōjō—even though Sōhma-san had hummed under her breath, reminding him of their own younger days. And, apparently, a broken fibula.
But now wasn’t the time to reminisce on the Vice Principal’s wilder streaks. Elyna walked through the forest, taking in the eerie scenery in the quiet embrace of late autumn. It should have been an enjoyable moment, if not for the boy’s murderous waves.
They still weren’t speaking to each other, using every avoidance strategy in the book. Elyna was tired of being their human buffer. Enough is enough. Time for some tough love.
“That’s it, I’m done! ”, she exclaimed. “Now I’m taking the map, and I’m going to stroll along for a while. Join me once you’ve talked to each other as human beings. No fists, no branches, and no hitting. TALK.IT.OUT!”
Two pairs of startled eyes snapped to hers. Haruki’s face betrayed no emotion except that stubborn lock of his jaw. “Elyna…”, Shūji whined.
“Don’t Elyna me! I’m pissed, Katayū-sensei is fed up, and I bet Satsuki-chan is worried to death!”
As for Sano… she couldn’t think about him right now.
The two students tensed; she filed away the information for later. Was the fight related to Satsuki, somehow? She was berating herself for being so caught in her own little world that she had failed at spotting the change of dynamics.
Well, no use crying over spilt milk.
“Talking is useless,” Haruki consented to spit with unusual venom. “This baka doesn’t want to hear.”
“You…”, Shūji started before Elyna bellowed at full volume. “WHATEVER!”
Her outburst startled them both into silence; she huffed “Just sort it out before we all go nuts! Either you speak with me both, or you resolve it between yourselves like adults.” She snatched the map from Shūji’s loose grip, relishing the way his jaw gaped.
“I refuse to sit on this fucking time bomb! So what will it be?”
They both looked at her, then at each other.
Alright, so not talking to me.
Elyna stomped away like a bull about to raid a China shop. If she stayed on the path, they would find her easily. And since the map was hers, now, they had no choice but to follow. “Don’t even dare coming back before you’ve settled this like normal people!” she yelled, ducking under a branch.
Limbs fuelled by her ire, Elyna powered ahead until she found a sturdy pine tree with a trunk wide enough to lean against. As she settled in to wait, she pulled her jacket tighter; without the blessing of direct sunrays, the air felt much colder.
The young woman exhaled slowly, mind running over the past month.
The Satsuki-Haruki-Shūji dynamics seemed to have shifted, but it was difficult to say with Haruki being so shy.
She was about to lean back upon the trunk of her backrest when her hand caught something that made her skin crawl. Something sticky.
Oh my God!
Her heart leapt in her chest when she realised it was a giant, humongous spider web. It draped over the pine tree like a sheet, and somewhere in its centre…
Oh my God, ohmygod, OH BLOODY HELL!
Too terrified to scream, Elyna fled. Heedless of where her steps took her, she ran like a mad woman.
More spider webs hung from the high branches, sinister wisps that begged for her to tumble head first into their embrace.
Terror landed in her stomach, squeezing her guts with the need to escape this nightmare.
Damn it! They’re everywhere!
There was no logic to her flight. All that remained was pure fear as she dived deeper into the forest, trying to outrun this eight-legged nightmare. Branches whipped at her face and leaves scattered underneath her hiking shoes.
But still, she ran, her heart hammering so hard she could feel it in her throat. She sprinted until her lungs burnt, powered up by sheer terror. Elyna eventually burst through a line of trees, stumbling into a clearing. Her legs gave out and she fell to her knees, heart threatening to spill over.
As she panted, winter sunrays greeted her face like a caress. Lungs on fire, Elyna lifted her head to assess her surroundings. What she found stunned her silly.
Down the gentle slope led to crystalline waters, steam rising in lazy volutes that caught the light. The rocks along the shoreline looked smooth and inviting, creating natural steps that plunged into the stream.
Panting, Elyna checked for spider webs. Clear, her mind supplied. Perhaps they did not like the lingering humidity? Was this a river mingled with hot spring water?
Her heart raced for a long while, hammering painfully until it finally settled. When Elyna’s limbs regained enough strength to stand, she stumbled down the slope.
Enthralled by the clearing’s beauty, she progressed slowly, eyes darting everywhere.
Pine needles crushed underfoot until soft moss greeted the soles of her shoes.
Sunlight danced through the branches of bare trees like a greeting.
Elyna plopped on the ground near the river bank, and extended a hand to touch the water; warm—but not uncomfortably hot.
This is magical.
For a moment, she simply sat there, drinking in the scenery. The sound of bubbling water relaxed her; steam volutes danced in the light like ghostly veils. Then she remembered her initial purpose: to watch over Shūji and Haruki. And if possible, get them to talk.
Ah, shit. Where am I?
She smoothed out the crumpled map on her knees and tried to match the landscape to the topographical marks. A hopeless endeavour; Haruki had the compass, and the streams forked everywhere. On her map, paths crisscrossed all over the place. Nothing looked familiar.
Hands shaking, Elyna emptied the content of her backpack.
Foil blanket, lighter, first-aid kit and all sorts of knick-knacks emerged from its depth until she finally found her phone.
Hopefully, the GPS would lead her back to the meeting point.
Or at worst, she would call Sano and whine about her own stupidity.
Elyna lit up the screen.
No service.
That sucked, big time. She’d heard the kids comparing providers and non-existent service; she never imagined it would have such impact on her day… night? Elyna tilted her head back, assessing the light. Nightfall would come in an hour or so, and she was utterly and totally lost.
In a forest with giant spiders.
Wonderful.