In this chapter: The boys kill time by going through a corn maze, get cornered in a haunted Doctor's office, & roast marshmallows around a bonfire while they wait for their tour group to be called.

Chapter 4: From Corn Maze to Bonfire

As he was running past his Captain caught him by the back of his coat causing the younger boy to jerk backward almost knocking them both to the ground.

Rin couldn't stop laughing as he caught up to the others.

"Not so fast there. No leaving the group behind now," Mikoshiba instructed his kouhai.
"Now that we made it out alive let's check out the non-zombie related maze. Rin get ahold of yourself it wasn't that funny."

"Yes it was," Rin contradicted his Captain.
He only stopped laughing when he heard Seijuuro talking to Makoto.

"You OK over there Tachibana. You don't look so good."

"I'm fine don't worry about me."

Rin looked at Makoto with guilt.
"I forgot. You don't like all this haunted and ghost stuff. It scares you doesn't it?"

"Maybe a little ….." Makoto nearly whispered, fidgeting slightly.

"Oh man, why didn't you say something earlier Tachibana? I wouldn't have made you come with us if I'd known," Mikoshiba apologized.

"No it's OK. I should have asked what you were doing before agreeing to come along. I'll manage somehow really, I will."

"If you say so, but I still feel a little bad about all this."

Rin interrupted his Captain before this could become an endless back and forth of apologies.
"Let's just forget and go in the corn maze already. There's no monsters or anything in there so those two should be fine."

"We'll go in first and you two follow, but don't try to scare us OK?" Ai said, pulling Makoto to the entrance.

The other two agreed and hung back. Once inside the maze Ai told Makoto how they should hide in the maze and try to scare Rin and Seijuuro as payback for scaring them in the Pirate area. Makoto didn't think this would work but agreed for Nitori's sake. He was acting so much like his own younger brother Makoto couldn't help but give in.
As expected the plan failed miserably. There wasn't enough corn making up the walls so there were big gaps in between some of the stalks. Ai was wearing lighter colors that reflected all available light streaming into the corn maze and Makoto was too tall to crouch down far enough to get into the shadows.

Seijuuro loudly announced he saw them and guessed what they were planning. Makoto gave up and followed Rin out of the maze. Ai was determined to try again only to be scared by his Captain instead. The younger boy was so mad his plan failed that he picked up a fallen corn stalk and started swinging it around wildly like a sword. He managed to hit everyone (including himself accidently) but his Captain.
The Samezuka Captain wrestled the corn stalk away from the boy and threw it into the maze narrowly missing another person who was still walking through the maze. To avoid getting in a confrontation with the person the boys ran in the direction of the town buildings to blend in with the crowd.

They stopped in front of a small building with the sign 'Doctor's Office'. Colored lights and strobe lighting effects emanated from the windows. Wondering what was going on inside the group strolled up to the entrance.

"Step right up. The Doctor is in and ready to see his next victims, I mean patients. You four boys look like you could use a check-up."

"No thank you!" Ai said to the worker.

"Stop being chicken and get in there!" Rin demanded as pushed Ai through the entrance.

"What about you two? Don't be shy, come on in. Time to see the Doctor."

"Sorry we'll pass," Seijuuro spoke up seeing Makoto had no intention of being inside the cramped horror house.

The man started to taunt the boys and try to force them inside. Mikoshiba knew he had to think up a good excuse fast to get the man off their backs.

"If you're looking for a law suit then by all means shove us inside. This guy can't handle strobe lights so unless you want to be the reason he has a seizure and dies in there and leave us alone."

The worker quickly apologized and let them stand off to the side of the building. He then ushered in other guests and locked them inside.

"Thanks for that Mikoshiba-san."

"No problem. I felt bad enough bringing you here I don't want to freak you out more than necessary. Rin would kill me."

Before Makoto could say anymore whatever was going on in the house had started. From outside they couldn't hear clearly what was going on. Some girl was screaming her head off rivaled only by Ai. Suddenly something neither Makoto nor Seijuuro happened. They heard Rin scream. It was only a brief burst of sound but it was a scream nonetheless.

"Was that Rin?!" both boys chorused.

Right after that the doors opened and the people inside came out some practically falling out. Makoto asked what happened inside. Ai was too busy keeping his eyes closed and screaming to have seen or heard anything. Rin made up some excuse about being shoved into a sharp edged prop as to why he screamed rather than outright denying he had screamed at all. After Ai calmed down Rin asked where the entrance to the tour was so they could stay close by because it was nearing their timeslot.

"Continue down this road. Make a left after the Freak Show. It's right past the bon fire at the end of the Bar room building."

"Thanks."

Makoto stared at Rin, "Did he say Freak Show?"

"Yeah that was one of the other attractions listed on the flyer. Guys on stilts, contortionists, some guy covered in piercings, and a fire breather. Not any of the real crazy stuff."

"You heard the lady," Seijuuro interjected, "past the freaks and on to the bonfire. Maybe you cider will be over there near the bar room Nitori."

"Cider! Cider!" Ai chanted happily, any trace of his earlier fright gone from his face.

As his Captain predicted the cider was over at the Bar room. There was also root beer, seltzer, coffee and hot chocolate to drink. For snacks there was crackers, pretzels, cookies, and packages with the ingredients for s'mores. Ai ordered hot cider, Rin and Seijuuro both picked coffee, and Makoto opted for hot chocolate. All the boys chose s'mores and were told the sticks to the roast the marshmallows were on a table back behind the bonfire. Each boy selected a stick from the table that was as long as they could find. They didn't want to have to get close enough that the smoke could sting their eyes when the wind blew.

"There's old marshmallow stuck to the end of all of these sticks," Rin complained.

"That's not a problem Rin-chan. Before you put your marshmallow on, put the end of the stick into the fire and burn it off. It's OK if you burn a little bit off the end of the stick, it won't catch fire right away. And it's easier to get the marshmallow on once it's warm," Makoto explained.

Rin still grumbled a bit but did as Makoto said. Many people were gathered around the bonfire since it was the warmest spot on the property and it was becoming quite cold outside. Other people were roasting their own marshmallows while others listened to an older woman dressed in an 1800's outfit telling ghost stories. By the time the group finished their s'mores a man with a lantern walked past announcing the next tour was ready to depart.

"That's us guys," Seijuuro called.