[This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.]
He still doesn't move and our lips are still attached. I feel bad right now realizing I am currently in a very awkward position. I push him away and scream due to an extremely disgusting thing.
"Sarada?! Hey, wake up," I suddenly open my eyes and immediately get up from leaning against my seat. I see Chocho look so worried about me.
"Are you okay? I think you had a bad dream," she says while wrinkling her forehead. What? It was a dream?! Oh my...
I look around and I notice that everyone looks at me. They are all here not just me and the jerk and we have not arrived yet. So, I was just dreaming. My body heats up and I can say that my face turns red with embarrassment.
"What's wrong, Sarada?" our adviser asks she looks worried too.
"H-Huh?" I fluster. I don't have the energy to respond to her properly. My knees quiver and I tumble back on my seat.
"Your face is red," Chocho remarks and I cup my face. I can't believe I had a terrible dream.
"The worst nightmare I had..." I mutter and Chocho pats my back.
"Whatever it was, you're fine now," she comforts me, I still have my hands cup my face.
Why the hell did such a dream appear? I question myself yet I don't have an answer for it. It's so weird I thought it was real but it also feels strange. I feel strange inside my heart. I clench my chest because it beats wildly inside for no reason. Mixed emotions I guess.
"Here, drink this..." she offers me bottled water. I thank her after I receive it. I remove the cap and let the freshwater flow down to calm my heart. Thank goodness Chocho did not interrogate me about my dream or else it's embarrassing to tell her about it.
That dream still lingers inside my head as we are taking the road to the site. It's almost lunchtime and we are about to arrive at the place.
I sigh from time to time and I think Chocho notices it but never says a word to me. The bus suddenly stops and our adviser stands up from her seat. She faces us and says, "Welcome to the Saiko Wildbird Forest Park," my classmates rejoice and Chocho claps her hands together. She is happy to know we have arrived.
"Sarada, we are here!" she utters joyously. I smile at her and look outside the window then signage appears in front of my eyes. Exactly as what I saw in my dream. A slight sign of panic came to my mind that my nightmare will come true. I shake my head and try to forget about it.
"Alright, prepare your things. I will give you a signal if you can get down the bus. Wait for me to come back," she instructs and we all agreed. She steps down the bus and goes to talk with her co-advisers.
As we wait for her signal, we prepare our things and everyone can't help themselves to get excited.
She signals outside and the bus unloads passengers one by one. When all of us are finally outside, we can't stop ourselves from looking for the famous Mount Fuji. Our eyes wander around and we are all stunned at the beauty when we have found the mountain.
"Oh my... Mount Fuji is fantastic!" Tsubaki is amazed like everyone else. Some take photos of it and take self-shots and group photos. I take my phone out too to take a shot of the most beautiful scenery in front of me. I will send it to mom. Chocho makes a self-shot with the mountain as her background. I am not fond of making self-shots and posting them on the platform like the others.
"It's cold in here. Let's get inside the hotel," our adviser tells us and we follow her.
"Are we going to make a bonfire later?" Dae asks and our adviser chuckles.
"Yes. You are all going to enjoy this camp. We have prepared a lot of activities for you all," she looks excited about them.
"I can't wait to discover new things here," Denki adds as he walks to the inn.
Finally, I can feel warm. There is a chimney with a fire burning in it. It warms the place and our bodies.
"Group yourselves. Girls for girls and boys for boys. Four persons per room," our adviser says. Chocho and I are already in a group we need two more.
"Sarada, Chocho, take us in your group," Namida and Wasabi approach us and we happily welcome them into our group. We are complete now and ready to see what our room looks like.
"One representative from each group must get their keys from me and please assemble hereafter so we can have lunch before we start the orientation," she adds and we all nod in agreement. Wasabi takes our key and we proceed to Room 7. We have double-deck beds I notice when we get inside our room. A comfy bed and thick blankets.
Chocho decided to take the lower bed and I am on the upper bed. After we settle our things, we get downstairs as told to us earlier.
"This hotel is huge. It can accommodate a hundred pax," Iwabe comments and Denki looks at him to give us trivia or knowledge we do not know. We are in the dining area waiting for the food to be served.
"Based on my intel, this hotel was constructed to give shelter to those who were stranded due to storms or snowstorms especially those who were visiting the place for Mount Fuji," he starts.
"It was said that the owner of this hotel was just a normal civilian who used to live here. One day, an old man knocked at his door to seek help. The old man and his family had a camp a few meters away from his house. There was a snowstorm that night and their tents were blown away. They had no shelter to save them from freezing," he continues and we pay attention to his story.
"Then what happened?" Lee asks and he gestures to him to keep quiet.
"So, the owner of this hotel let them rest for the night. Then the old man suggested that he must build a hotel or an inn near his house. It's a good sort of business, especially the place is visited by people on any season as a tourist spot," he clears his throat before he proceeds.
"Without the owner's knowledge, the old man is a rich businessman and offers to make a partnership with him, and then this hotel was built. Later on, the owner gains sole ownership of this hotel as stated in the agreement with the old businessman before he died," the rich old man was kind-hearted. He must be very happy in heaven knowing that this business prospered.
"That was one hell of information, Denki," Inojin comments and everyone agrees. A few seconds later, the food is ready to serve. Plenty of delicious foods are served in front of us. I almost drool at the sukiyaki, tempura, sushi, and many more.
When I am about to drool at the food served, Chocho already picks tempura and puts it in her mouth. She giggles at how delicious it is.
"Chocho's appetite is incredible," Shikadai chuckles and the rest of the class laughs at her. She pouts and narrows her eyes at the black-haired idle guy.
"Seems like everyone is hungry, you can all eat now," our adviser says and before we dig in, we thank the food served in front of us.
"I'm so full!" Chocho belches as proof of her statement.
"Yeah, you look like it, " I agree while chuckling.
"Hey, don't you think Boruto and Sumire are going to be okay after this camp?" she asks out of nowhere. When we realize that two are avoiding each other.
"Huh?" I mutter in shock. And she narrows her eyes on me.
"Come on, I know you know about this already," yeah kind of but...
"I didn't know it's going to be big deal to everyone," I unconsciously utter.
"Whatever led to their break up, they must have closure before the camp ends. The purpose of this activity is to let go of the past. Forgive, forget and move on. No hard feelings before the graduation. We might not see each other again after our graduation so it's better to settle things before it's too late for us all," she says. She sounds like she had settled her feelings with Mitsuki already.
Yes, she admires him as much as I admire Boruto. He is someone Chocho strives to get. But due to some circumstances, she can't have him the way she wanted to just like me too. Best friend goals, right?
This person she admires look like prioritizing career over infatuation. Well, as she said, that is part of growth. You can't leave high school without crushing on a classmate or schoolmate.
"You sound like you have settled your feelings with him," I tease her and she chuckles.
"A long time ago? And we're fine being just friends now," she smiles at me.
"Really... I am jealous of you," I murmur and she nudges me on my side.
"You have to settle your feelings with Boruto too. Whether he will reject you or not, at least you will have no regrets in the end," she advises me.
"But, I don't think I will be able to do that. I can just forget about it and move on, right?" I tell her.
"Is it enough?" she asks and I wrinkle my forehead.
"What do you mean?" I am puzzled as to what she is trying to say.
"I am meaning to say if that will make you satisfied," she continues and I look down not so sure about it.
"I think so..." well, I have no choice.
"And you should reconcile with Kawaki too," she adds and my ears are tingling upon hearing his name.
"I think that's not going to happen," I freak out.
"And why not?" she looks suspiciously at me.
"If you want us to reconcile then he must apologize to me first for everything he had done to me," I rage. She shrugs and sighs.
"You are being aggressive again," she waves in the air. I pout and cross my arms.
"Everyone, please assemble here," our adviser calls out to us in front of the big Budhha statue.
She will make an announcement or we will have an orientation for sure.
"Tonight, we will be doing a bonfire challenge. Which you have to group yourselves into five members. You can choose your teammates after this orientation," she explains.
"And for tomorrow's activity, we will have an essay-making activity which will be led by Mitsuki. It's about your dream in the future. What you will become after your graduation and you will present it in the afternoon," she continues and we just keep listening to her.
"Making essays is a drag," Shikadai complains and we laugh at him.
"Everything is a drag for you, Shikadai. You must change that attitude of yours you're going to university the next school year," our adviser reminds him and he rubs the back of his head.
"On the day after tomorrow, you are going to make a letter for the people you care about. It may be a thank you letter, you want to apologize or you want to confess something or a letter for yourself. You can make as many as you want," a letter, huh? I think I need to write Boruto a new letter or maybe not? I don't know what to do.
"On the 30th, we will have a New Year Decoration Activity. You must prepare your creativity skills," she laughs and feels so excited about it.
"On the 31st, we prepared a surprise activity for you all and we will announce the details on the said day. Are you curious about it?" she teases us and we are like, "come on!"
"But today, we will let you rest or you can go outside and have fun just don't go far or near the forest or you may get lost," she reminds us and we nod.
"Wear your complete winter clothes. It's cold outside," she reminds us.
You know what? They look like birds that have been freed from the cages. Some run and shout like kids. It is nice seeing ice formed in different shapes. I can see how Yodo poses while Tsubaki takes shots of her.
"Look at that, Sarada! It looks like an elephant," Chocho remarks when the ice formed like an elephant.
"Yeah, let's take a photo together," I tell her, and we both pose making the elephant-shaped figure as our background. I send our photo to mom. I know she is at work at this hour so she won't get back to me as soon as possible.
We enjoy the view and when I turn to look at my back, I notice that the jerk sits on the bench all alone not socializing with others as usual.
I look away and my stupid dream crosses my mind again. Damn it! I mutter in my head. I cup my face and slap both my cheeks in a frail manner.
"Hey, listen to me. Kawaki is looking at you," she presses me on my side as if she is teasing me or something.
"Shut up! He is not!" I scold her trying to ignore what she has said.
"Maybe he is thinking how to be friends with you this time," she keeps poking me on my side and it tickles me so I can't help but laugh awkwardly at her.
"Stop it, Chocho," I beg her then we see Sumire walking in our direction. Chocho stops poking me and stands firm.
"Sumire, do you want to join our group for the bonfire activity tonight?" Chocho invites her but she did not respond and walked past us.
"What's wrong with her?" Chocho asks furrowing her brows.
"I don't know," I shrug. It makes me wonder why she acted that way toward us too. We look cluelessly at each other.
Does she have a problem with me or Chocho? Sumire sure is strange. But if it's about me or Chocho, what did we do wrong?
To be continued...