On a Night Just Like Tonight
"Miki, put down the stopwatch." Juri Arisugawa said to Miki Kaoru as they sat together next to the open fire.
"But Miss Juri, if I don't time the roasting properly, I could ruin my marshmallow." Miki kept a tight grip on his stop watch, a focused eye on each millisecond ticking by.
"Miki," Shiori Takatsuki said with a resigned note of irritation, "we came here to relax and you fussing over all the particulars hasn't helped us to do that at all."
"But Miss Shiori," Miki turned his head a little to the left, as she was sitting on the other side of Juri, "I did so much studying to prepare for today..."
"And we do appreciate the spirit Miki." Juri put one hand over Miki's and the other over Shiori's, "but we're out in the wilderness," or at least a specifically partitioned off section that was near enough to civilization that if anything did happen they would be in no real danger, "so why don't you try to draw on your animal instincts, hmm?"
Miki gulped. "If, if you really think so Miss Juri, Miss Shiori." Miki put down the stopwatch and focused all his attention on the marshmallow on the end of his stick; he listened to the cracks of the fire splitting the logs that they'd gathered, tried to gauge by eyesight alone when the marshmallow would achieve right degree of brown in order to make the...
"Ah, here we go!" Shiori declared as she removed her marshmallow from the fire, a little crinkled and crispy looking. "Just like when we were kids, right Juri?" Juri nodded as she withdrew her marshmallow, a perfect golden brown. Miki waited as long as he could before taking his out, and saw that his was warmed but hardly toasted. "Uh uh uh!" Shiori leaned over and shook her finger in his face. "No putting it back in the fire, campfire rules; got to take your smore as is and hope you do better next time."
"R-right." Fortunately, sandwiching the marshmallow between the chocolate and crackers was an immensely simpler, if not messier task. His tongue, refined as it was, certainly found no cause to complain about the product of his hard work. "Thank you Miss Juri, Miss Shiori, for inviting me here with you."
"It's our pleasure Miki." Juri smiled at him in that way that made his spine tingle. "You know we're not quite complete without all three of us together."
Shiori had a smile on her face as well. "And camping trips aren't ever complete without spooky stories told over the fire."
Miki chuckled. "It sounds like you have a story in mind Miss Shiori; you may certainly share it with us, but I should warn you that I do not scare easy, and surely you must know that there is no longer anything in this world that can frighten Miss Juri." After all, Juri was now fully open with her feelings towards Shiori and Miki.
Shiori chuckled as she moved to the otherside of the fire, face obscurred by the flames. "On a night like this one, in these very woods, a young couple was lost and alone." Shiori timed her speech between the cracks of the fire, Miki and Juri could see the gleam of her eyes through the flames. "They knew they had to reach shelter soon, for they'd heard something; they didn't know what it was, but the cracks," a log split in the fire, "were loud and clear in the woods, and that wasn't all; they heard breathing, heavy and labored, hungry." Miki felt tension in his skin. "The boy sprained his ankle and realized that if whatever it was was truly determined, he could not possibly get away from it. He told the girl to leave him behind, but she was adamant; she'd protected him countless times in the past, she would not abandon him now." Juri felt her throat go dry. "The girl carried the boy on her back, she saw the light of the ranger's cabin in the distance, she knew that she could do it, she knew that she could make it and then they would be safe. The boy trusted the girl, vowed to himself that if she did save them both that he would ask her the question he'd been meaning to ask for the longest, longest time."
"She fell!" Shiori said. "The girl fell, she was exhausted, and before she could rise back up, she saw the eyes of the beast that had been pursuing them, and then it was on them!" A nearby branch snapped, Juri and Miki turned around, they saw a pair of glowing lights.
They screamed and grabbed tight of one another, both so terrified that they did not have presence of mind to be embarrassed about their close and intense contact with one another. Then they heard a high and irritating laugh, and that embarrassment came to the forefront, though neither one released the other. "Thank you for inviting me out here Shiori." Nanami said, holding a pair of flashlights now turned off.
"Anytime Nanami." Shiori said before tackling Juri and Miki in her arms.
"Well, better get back to Tsuwabuki before he starts fussing up a storm." And so Nanami returned to the adjacent campsite to deal with her own situation, leaving the threesome to deal with their own entanglements.