"You can't be serious," a voice echoed out of the night.
Whenever anyone gets tired, it's safe to assume that they're in the mood to skip small formalities since they can't be bothered. In Raku's case, having being devoid of sleep due to being slotted uncomfortably between the embrace of an overly attached maiden and the bosom of his supposed girlfriend made him more than a bit drowsy. So as everyone else was approaching a peaceful slumber to the sound of a dim engine running, Raku was instead kept awake due to the excess heat shared from the proximity of the surrounding maidens, and overall trying to count sheep as a desperate attempt to fall into unconsciousness. The fact that such a trivial thing didn't work only led to more frustration.
So when the driver of the bus took a brief halt on the side of the road in order to catch a smoke, the now annoyed adolescent decided to also take a step out in order to cool off to the cool autumn evening. While a reasonable enough reason to head outside, the aforementioned formality that Raku should have taken into consideration would have made things a lot easier. Namely, to make the driver aware that a student was leaving the bus, especially considering it was night time.
And it was so that Raku Ichigou, while taking a series of long breaths while leaning his back on the side of the bus, was left suddenly shoved to the ground as the familiar roaring of an engine came back on. Now, in circumstances like these, one would think he would simply be able to just yell for the driver to stop. However, as Raku got lost in the comfort of not being stuffed under a bunch of (admittedly nice smelling) girls, he was more or less, confused as he found himself fallen face-first, into the pavement. No sound was made, except for the far too silent muffled groans of pain of the youth as his voice is dulled by the asphalt currently blocking his mouth. As such, no notification was made to the driver, so it didn't immediately come to mind to him that there was now a notable vacancy left in the back seat, where there used to be a sentient pillar keeping a party of schoolgirls up straight.
Let alone realise that, just one seat in front of the back, there was also an empty space left by a certain loud individual.
"Welll, look on the bright side, Raku!" replied a cheery voice behind him. "He left me behind too, so at least the both of us can figure something out."
Also unable to sleep, simply due to the sheer amount of passionate energy, one Shuu Maiko was also left forgotten with his partner. Originally, his intentions were simply to just go outside with his friend in order to strike up a small conversation with him. Granted, he could have been able to call for the driver to stop the bus, but the sight of Raku falling to the ground distracted the blond with both an amusing display and his own chuckles quietened by his hand.
Truth be told, in spite of Shuu not being able to save the predicament in favour of laughing at him, it was at least relieving to Raku that at the very least, his best friend was with him together in abandonment. That being said, Shuu was typically the type of person who gets himself into trouble rather than fixing any problems within their party of friends. Although he was glad regardless to have some company in his current dilemma, deep down, he secretly wished that he had the utility of a certain blue haired assassin. Or at the very least, someone with a charged, working phone.
"Well, can't be helped!" he resumed in a singing tone. "No point waiting out in the cold. Hopefully civilisation isn't too far off down the road!"
"You know, considering the circumstances, I have no idea how you're so positive right now," Raku grunted. "Well, I guess we better get going then."
So began the trek of the two best friends down a dusty road, where any small talk initiated by the spectacled high schooler was met with no reply, as the blue haired companion was far too exhausted to hold any form of conversation.
'How on earth does he manage to maintain such energy at a time like this', Raku thought, as he pondered over the blonde's apparent lack of fatigue. Truth be told, it was always like this. As Raku's train of thought wondered, he recalled memories of their youth, where during sleepovers, his best friend managed to converse throughout the night with no noticeable deterioration in his stamina. It was always Raku who fell asleep first, though not without some trouble as the constant chatter from Shuu's mouth could only be halted by a stern (albeit light-hearted) glare from his friend's father to finally silence the evening. 'I guess some things never change,' the exhausted teen thought, a small smile forming on his face.
Looking up at the sky, Raku gradually started to feel his friend's optimism rubbing off on him. At the very least, the moon was gleaming brightly this night, lighting the road that otherwise would have been an arduous obstacle to traverse through. As the duo slowly made some distance, the sound of cicadas could be heard on the sides of the pavement. Looking to his right once the sound became more noticeable, he noticed that they were walking next to a river, illuminated by the moonlight to become a radiating mirror.
'Well, if there's one thing to take from all this, at least the sight seeing's not half bad', Raku mused.
Realising he was losing pace behind Shuu, who was practically prancing around as if it were just a walk through the daisies, Raku sped up, forcing any reserve of energy he had left just to make some progress towards any form of civilisation. After a period of silence (save for the sounds of cicadas echoing through the night), Shuu eventually stopped dead in his tracks, to the small surprise of Raku.
"Something wrong, man?" Raku yawned. Maybe all the gruelling walking was finally getting to him.
"Check it out, Raku!" Shuu exclaimed with all his usual vigour. "Looks like we might have a place to rest for tonight!"
Immediately brought to attention by the thought of any kind of accommodation, Raku immediately went up to Shuu to see where he was looking at. Sure enough, the two had managed to stumble across a small shed, sitting at the side of the road. Not willing to miss out the opportunity of rest, Raku scrambled towards the door, with Shuu following with a chuckle at his partner's sudden burst of energy. To his surprise and delight, the door managed to open, revealing nothing inside, except for patches of hay and some gardening tools.
"Guess we must have gotten a stroke of luck and managed to stumble across a farmer's shed", Shuu deduced. "Not too surprising since I remember looking at some rice fields on the way to the trip. Maybe we should head further and find some people to-"
But Shuu's suggestion fell upon deaf ears, as Raku already went about to make himself comfortable on a makeshift bed of hay. Realising that his friend was far from able to move any longer, Shuu let out a small puff as he helped Raku move some of the tools around.
"Man, it's pretty good that you managed to spot this shack, otherwise I would've probably missed it." Raku sighed in relief as he lay on the ground in content.
"Well, considering you've known me for a long time by now, you would know that I do my best to help around!" Shuu declared with a hint of pride.
"Heh, that's when you're not harassing the girls at every ample opportunity."
"I'd like to prefer the term 'converse'," Shuu laughed. "Besides, with so many pretty gals hanging around you, how could I not try my luck with any of them?"
Taking his best friend's words into consideration, Raku thought about Shuu's interactions with the entourage of females in daily life. When it comes down to it, Shuu's a genuinely good guy. The girls must have realised that as well, otherwise any of them would have put a restraining order on the conniving youth a long time ago. That being said, his usual antics didn't really help with his relationships with them. Sure, he's fairly popular with other students in the school, but within their circle of friends, it was hard for Raku to see any semblance of a chance among the many beauties they hang out with.
"Well, maybe if you toned back a little on your usual shtick, maybe they might actually be willing to hold a conversation with you that doesn't involve insulting your character," Raku replied.
"Hey, what do you mean?" Shuu said with a mock gasp. "I'll have you know that I'm on very decent terms with all of them! I'm good friends with Kirisaki-chan and Onodera-chan and Tsugumi-chan and Tachi-"
"Is that right? I don't ever recall seeing you strike up a friendly chatter with any of the girls," interjected Raku, and just as Shuu was about to reply…
"That didn't involve either Tsugumi or Ruri going ballistic on you" he added, which made the blonde pause for a second.
Unable to make any quip against Raku's statement, he sighed with a smile and just lied down a short distance away from Raku.
"Well, in all seriousness, though, I really am good friends with all of them." he finally responded gently.
"Well, if you're still harping on about that even now, then I guess you're saying the truth." Raku relented. "But exactly how did you get on good terms with them? Especially Tsugumi?!"
"Well, if you reaaalllly want to hear the many misadventures I've had with the girls, then I suppose it would be rude of me to not tell you of them," Shuu answered. "Although maybe tomorrow, perhaps? You look waayyy too tired for any story time right now."
Agreeing with a yawn, Raku began to close his eyes, and quickly drifted off to sleep. On the other hand, Shuu decided to take some time think over about the prior conversation they just had before, as like Raku stated, he really did have an abnormal amount of energy. Recalling past scenarios in his head with a smile, he closed his eyes, starting to finally feel the exhaustion his companion had.
"Wonder which one I'll talk about first. Well, if I had to choose an order, I guess I'll start with…"
The next day, the entire class was awakened from the bus, rejuvenated from the activities prior. As the names were called out and students began walking out of the bus, a cluster comprised of certain particular individuals began conversing to each other.
"Man, the bus arrived just as we were waking up. Pretty good timing, wouldn't you girls agree?" the blonde girl asked to her friends.
"Indeed, ojou-sama, although I still don't understand why our trip was centred so far away," replied her blue haired bodyguard. "I wonder how come we didn't just take a plane there."
"W-well, I suppose it's just to save money." The group's shrinking violet replied. "Honestly, this isn't the first time I've seen the school go for something like this."
"Indeed. When it was just Kirisaki, me and Raku, the bus stopped halfway and we had to run the remainder of the journey by foot." sighed a ponytailed girl wearing glasses. "In spite of that, it probably would have been more tolerable had it not been for the eccentric dialogue of a certain idiot."
"Hey, at least that beats a bunch of hours counting sheep and cows!" chirped in an eccentric, orange haired mistress. "Besides, with that much running, I can imagine Raku-sama developing some nice muscle where it counts, hehe!
"Speaking of which, where is Beanspr- darling anyways?" Chitoge quickly corrected. I didn't see him at all while we left the bus."
"That's odd. I was hugging him the whole time last night, so I know for a fact he sat right next to us. Maybe he switched seats?"
"Come to think of it, I don't see Maiko anywhere either. Although, considering how obnoxiously loud he normally is, it's honestly an improvement over having to waste my breath on shooting at him."
"I-I still don't know how you managed to use those without being caught. A-and M-maiko-kun is still alive after all this".
"Erhm, excuse me ladies, but have any of you seen Raku-chan and Shu-chan?" a familiar teacher interrupted. "I can't seem to find them at all."
With a sharp sense of worry suddenly going up everyone's back, the girls immediately started searching everywhere for the blue haired boy who happened to be the target of their affections. And, although they wouldn't care to admit it out loud, they also searched just as hard for any signs of their other bespectacled companion.
After all, even though it wasn't known to the other, each and every one of the girls had at some point, established a genuine bond with the prankster, not that they would care to admit it.
Drained after a tedious amount of running around and backtracking, all girls gathered back, choosing to rest underneath a tree close to the bus which brought them here. Where could those two have possibly gone to, they all thought. As they were about to resume the search, they overheard a conversation between two individuals.
"Have you seen either of these two boys? They're my students and I'm having trouble finding where they are."
"Sorry, m'aam, but if you couldn't see them as they left the bus, chances are, you must've left them all the way back at the camp."
"But that's impossible! I took both their attendance as they entered the bus. Unless there was some kind of stop I wasn't unaware of, there should be no other possible reasons!"
"….well, there was one, I guess I do recall in the middle of night going out for a smoke. Come to think of it, I do remember one or two boys who were still awake after everyone else dozed off when I checked the mirrors."
"What!? Well, where did you stop?"
"I can't really give you a specific answer, buuuttttt….", the driver then went back inside the bus, only to emerge seconds later with a map in hand. "I've been through these roads multiple times before, so I can have some idea of which landscapes appear on the map. Soooo, if I'm gonna take a guess where I might have stopped…"
As he pointed towards a certain location on the map, Yui's face whitened in legitimate fright. Sharing her shock was five pairs of eyes eavesdropping on the revelation, each having a different reaction. To say that the fainting of one Kosaki Onodera was the least extreme reaction pretty much describes the aftermath of the discovery.