We arrived at a place where there was a little clearing. Right now the sun is directly above us. Here in the clearing we set up the tents Otonashi have brought on his wagon.

"Okay Sanako what should we do first, now that we are here," asked Otonashi as he turned to face her.

"ZZZ"

"Wha- When did she fall a sleep?"

"Few minutes ago while we were setting up the tents. She told me that she wanted to take a break and then she eventually went to sleep," said Akiyoshi.

"And she is the main reason why we are here," said Saneatsu.

"Should we wake her up?" I asked.

"I think we should let her be," said Otonashi and everyone agreed. Otonashi and Atsuki went to prepare for dinner since they are the only ones that could cook. The rest of us just explored a little since it was the first time everyone, except Otonashi, have come in to the forest. By the time she woke up it was already sun down and we were almost ready to eat dinner.

"Hey, you finally woke up," Jun said to Sanako

"Huh? When did I fall asleep."

"While you were taking a break."

"Ah, sorry, I have very weak stamina. Walking on this rough terrain for couple of hours wore me out."

"But we took breaks very frequently."

"Living in the city made me get too used to having trains or cars to go places instead of walking."

"Well it's already sun down. I guess we have to push back the schedule a little and do some activities tomorrow."

"I'm sorry about this and it was me who have asked for this too."

"Don't worry about it its not like you can do anything about it. Anyway Otonashi and Atsuko have finished making dinner let's go and eat."

At dinner there were various dishes that Otonashi and Atsuko had made on a big table that could easily fit us all in. I didn't even know what most of the food here were called let alone what they were made of.

"How did you get these ingredients? I thought that the school cafeteria was the only one who had the ingredient to cook. Also these food tastes much better than the ones from the cafeteria," said Miya

"You stole these from the gardening club didn't you," said Tachibana with angry expression.

"We-well there wasn't any other way to get ingredients for the trip. Besides, last time Kanade didn't mind using the vegetables from the gardening club when we caught the master of the river and we lacked the ingredients."

"She gave in because it was you people seemed to be troubled. But unlike her I won't stand for it. Couldn't you have foraged for food today?"

"There are not much to eat out here. Besides the vegetables are supposed to be eaten!"

"If there aren't much to eat out here, how did you get meat?"

"I just hunted down a boar that happened to pass by!"

"See, there are things to eat out here!"

"I said there is a little, not none!

Otonashi and Tachibana kept arguing until Sananko joined in and said "I'm sorry this is my fault for wanting to come here."

"That's right it is your fault!" said Tachibana.

"Hey, that's going a bit too far don't you think?" rest of us cried out.

"It's you people who are in the wrong for stealing from the gardening club!" Then she walked off with her dinner.

"What's her problem. I visited the gardening club before and there was a huge amount of vegetable growing there. There may be enough to even feed the whole school. Otonashi also give that club a good amount of funding despite there is no members in that club," said Akiyoshi.

"Maybe it is special to her somehow," Sanako commented.

"That may be the case, hey Otonashi you know her well right. Do you know why Tachibana was so angry?" I asked.

"No, sadly I only knew her for very short time, so there are lots of things that I don't know about her. I guess I should apologize to her and try to find out about it," said Otonashi as he started to cook something.

"What are you cooking? I thought that you were going to apologize to Tachibana?" I asked.

"I'm going to, but first I'm going to cook her favorite food to relieve the tension. This is the first time I saw her angry, so I'm going to have to get prepared as much as I can before I meet her."

"What is her favorite food?"

"It's Mapo Tofu."

"What?" everyone cried out except for me, Sanako, and Otonashi.

"What's wrong?" Sanako and I asked.

"Don't you know that no one eat that thing, not even the NPCs. That food is one of the menu in the cafeteria and I have tried it. It was so ridiculously hot that I actually fainted from eating just one bite. I'm sure that I was close to walking across the line of life and death when I had fainted. The only person I have seen eating that fireball from hell is Otonashi and even he eats it with a lot of water," said Jun

"What Jun said is true. We all have tried it when Otonashi recommended it to us. From the first bite I felt my tongue dying from dehydration. The after taste is the only thing that makes that thing worth eating, that is if you are still conscious," said Shoichi.

"Well it is true that it is unbelievably hot, but once you get a bit used to it, it is probably the best food you would have eaten in you're whole life," said Otonashi and he quickly went to making Mapo Tofu. During when he was cooking I saw the sauce and smelled it. The instant my nose took in the smell it went numb from the pain, and I quickly covered my nose to protect it before it could take permanent damage.

'Ughhhh, If just smelling it is this painful, I can't even begin to comprehend how painful it would be to eat it!' I though as Otonashi put the final touch to the Mapo Tofu.

"There it's done. Hey Ichiro, Sanako, would you like to try a little?" offered Otonashi.

"Do-Don't you eat that with rice to reduce the hotness?" asked Sanako.

"Tachibana likes it without rice, so would you guys want to try it?"

"I-I'll pass," I said as I denied the offer and Sanako did the same.

"Well then, I'll be going to apologize," said Otonashi and he left.

"Let me come with you," said Sanako. "It is partially my fault for asking you guys to come here for me."

"Don't worry about it. It isn't your fault at all."

"But I would still like to apologize."

"Well if you want to so badly then come with me," said Otonashi and Sanako nodded and followed him to Tachibana. I became curious to see how it would turn out. So I went with them and spied on them from a reasonable distance. Tachibana was sitting on a gigantic tree stump.

"What do you want, pervert," said Tachibana in a calm voice.

"Would you stop calling me that, so far have I done anything to you since we met, to be labeled as one?" replied Otonashi.

"You may have not done anything right now, but I'm sure it is only a matter of time before you pull something."

"Then couldn't you stop calling me that until that event happens?"

"No, this is the only way for me to fight back against you since you sealed away my powers."

"Hahhh, I guess I can't stop you from calling you that. Anyway we came here with some Mafo Tofu as an apology."

"So you are bribing me with food to apologize."

"Would you stop trying to read too much into it. I just cooked it to relieve the tension between us."

"It's the same thing isn't it?"

"Ugh, fine, then I will eat it," said Otonashi. Then instantly the bowl disappeared from his hands and it was lying directly in front of Tachibana.

"I though you didn't want it?" said Otonashi as he smirked.

"I-I just decided to take the bribe and accept your apology. That is all. If you don't have anymore business with me then leave me to eat in peace."

Surprisingly she was eating it with happy expression and didn't seem to be in any kind of pain at all.

"I do have few questions."

"You probably want to know why I was so angry," said Tachibana as she ate the Mafo Tofu. "It isn't that complicated. It is the same reason that you didn't clean out the principal's office."

At this comment Otonashi flinched. Tachibana noticed but still continued.

"The gardening club is a remembrance of my first friends that I had made, when I came in to this world. Just like the principal's office is to you with the members of the SSS."

"I see, that explains a lot. Sorry again for taking the food in the gardening club, without your permission." said Otonashi.

"Yes, me too," said Sanako.

"If you understand then don't do it again."

"I do have one more question that I have been wondering about for couple of days. You seems to be able to recall events that should have happened while you were trapped. Such as you knowing that everyone have moved on. How is that possible?"

"Shouldn't you know how, since you have all the powers that I have."

"No, I can't figure it out."

"It's simple me, other clones, and the original have a mental connection. How do you think we knew where you guys were and the way around the guild when you guys tried to retrieve the original. Thanks to the mental connection we were able to map the guild tunnels very quickly and find you guys. The main purpose of the mental connection is to improve coordination. Since you didn't know that I guess you never applied Harmonics Version One."

"So you can share your thoughts with Harmonics Version One," said Otonashi in realization.

"Yes, I had experienced everything the original did before she made me and after she made me, and right now I somewhat still have a connection with the original."

Then Otonashi froze.

"Wh-What did you say."

"I said that I still have the connection with the original."

"Ho-How? She disappeared from this world, it is impossible for you to have any kind of connection!"

"I don't know either but it seems that we are somehow still connected mentally, but we are not always connected. Also the connection is always very weak when it is connected."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's like being inside of a tunnel and trying to make a call. When you try to make a call inside of a tunnel you can occasionally get a signal and even if it is connected it would be very weak. Right now if the connection is connected, the connect would be so weak that we can barely share the senses we experience. To describe it, it would be like a very foggy dream that you barely remember. Most of the time we just see glimpse of things that each of us see."

"Can you tell me if Kanade is doing well or not," said Otonashi excitedly.

"Yes, I can, but what would I get in return."

"Hmm, how about I modify the bracelet so that you can use the power for 1 hour per day."

"That seems like a good deal. Do that and then I will tell you."

"I don't have any equipment to do that, but can't you wait until the trip is over? I promise you that I will do it."

"Hmm, you do have good record of keeping your promises but you owe me one for this also."

"Fine, then will you tell me now?"

"Don't rush me. Right now you should relax, the original is doing very well. She is happily living on earth with your friend from the SSS at her school, miraculously. Not surprisingly she is the student council president again. Lastly, it seems that there are many male students who have affections for her."

"Wh-What?"

"You heard me. She is quite popular with the students in the school. Especially the male students. They even have some sort of fan club for it."

"H-Hey does she, you know..."

"I will not tell you whether or not she have a boyfriend or not. I purposely told you only this far to irritate you."

"Come on just tell me."

"No, I love the expression of suffering on your face," said Tachibana with a happy expression.

"You're a sadist."

'"You should have expected it since you know how I was programmed when I was created. Also you hould be greatful that I decided to tell you this much."

"I guess, haa, I wish that I could do something about that personallity of yours," said Otonashi and he left the area, followed by Sanako.