Here's the seventeeth chapter. Last time, the gang went on a calm canoe right...psh! They were all over the place! Some were even sent flying at the end. Now we'll see what other activity they'll do this time around. Enjoy. ^-^


Chapter 17

"Wakey, wakey!"

I groaned as I pushed away an annoying disturbance from my face. What a bother.

"Come on, Len. Get up, bro. We don't want to keep the ladies waiting."

I opened my eyes half way as I saw Kaito's back facing towards me as he began to grab his belongings and placed them inside a large backpack. I groaned once more as I rubbed my eyes.

"They can wait as long as they can," I mumbled.

Kaito chuckled. "I don't think so. They've wanted this trip for the longest."

I slowly sat up in my sleeping bag and gave Kaito an unamused face. "The hiking trip has to be today?"

Kaito turned to me and nodded.

I sighed and decided to get up. I felt so drowsy. Today wasn't the day to wake up early for a hiking trip. Especially not after what happened last night...


"Gakupo, what were you thinking about bring alcoholic drinks here?" I said as Gakupo pulled out a large bottle of Vodka.

"Today just hasn't been a day for me. I almost died," Gakupo said.

Kaito sighed. "Same here. I literally died two times today."

I face palmed. "You guys are still under aged."

Kaito laughed. "Don't try to be the angel in this group. We all know all the things you've done."

I sighed.

Gakupo handed each of us a small glass and poured us right to the top.

"I'm not sure about this," I said.

Kaito drunk down his shot and asked for more. Gakupo served him as well as he drank his.

~10 minutes later~

"Len, I always thought you were cute," Kaito said as he snuggled against me.

I chuckled and wrapped my arms around him. "Dude, you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk. What chu talking about?"

"Both of you are drunk," Gakupo hiccupped.

"Let's...let's have a...uh...threesome," Kaito said.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Whee!"


I shook my head. "We really shouldn't have drunk at all last night."

Kaito shrugged. "We all needed that getaway."

"We...didn't-"

"No, bro. That'd be too gross."

I shivered and decided to just start the day off to forget the wild night. "Fine. Let's get this hike over with."


We've walked for at least thirty minutes. Heavy bags on each, weighing us down. Well, at least the guys. Luka and Miku had their own bags get carried by Gakupo and Kaito. Rin had her own small backpack, a smart idea to do. I don't know why people had to bring so much stuff along for a walk.

"These woods are so peaceful," Miku said as she looked around with her binoculars.

"Find anything interesting, Miku?" Kaito said.

"Just trees and birds and bugs and such. Still no sight of aliens anywhere."

"I doubt you'll find any."

"They exist, Kaito. Just you wait."

"If not aliens, I'm sure there are some supernatural stuff here like ghosts," Luka said.

"There better not be any," Gakupo said.

"Are you afraid of ghosts, darling?"

"Terrified."

Luka laughed as she patted Gakupo hard on the back. "You'll be fine, scary cat."

Gakupo pouted.

I rolled my eyes and set my focus to the soil filled path before us. Someone needed to know where we were going and how we were going to get back. I wouldn't want to get lost in a place I've never been before.

"Hey, I wanna see you...don't you wanna see me anymore?"

I jerked my head towards Rin who began singing softly a familiar song. She had her face directed up to the sky and a smile was formed gently across her lips.

"I've been waiting for your call," she sang.

I hesitated. That's when I realized she was singing the song we wrote together. How could I forgotten that?

Rin caught me looking at her and blinked. "Len?"

I blinked back and shook my head. "Sorry."

"Did you hear me sing?"

"Uh...yeah."

Rin giggled. "I've been practicing. In my free time, you know, when we're not doing any activities. But it just slipped out my mouth."

"I'll be honest with you. I forgot we even had that song."

"Len, how could you?"

"Uh...my bad?"

Rin smiled and turned her focus back to the tall trees. "That's fine. I guess that song really isn't much to you since it is for a project. Maybe other songs that don't relate to school capture you. I mean...I like our song."

I looked at her. "It's not that it's for school. I just don't know why I forgot about it. I...I like the song too."

Rin turned back to me. "You do?"

I rubbed the back of my head from embarrassment. "Well...yeah...it's a nice song...I think."

Rin smiled. "I think it's a nice song too."

I smiled back. "We haven't thought of a name for it yet."

Rin blinked. "But I thought you didn't want to discuss about that while on our break?"

"We're not really doing much than walk around. We can just suggest some names and later figure out which one fits best."

"What have you done to the Len I know?"

I chuckled. "Is it really surprising that I want to work on our project?"

"It's just shocking. You being the player and delinquent of the school, I wouldn't expect you to work."

"I'm full of surprises."

Rin giggled. "Apparently, you are."

"Look!"

Just then, Miku shouted out, causing for both Rin and I to turn to her as we saw her pointing to a tree branch that held a bird's nest.

"I wanna see that close up," she said, turning towards Kaito.

Kaito sweat dropped and placed down the backpacks. "I'll help you out."

Kaito bent down a bit for Miku to get on and get a piggy back ride. Miku giggled as Kaito walked over towards the nest for Miku to examine it.

"Look, Luka, there are eggs in this nest," Miku said.

"I want to see." Luka turned to Gakupo who was already ready to carry her.

"I knew you were going to ask," he said and carried Luka on his back.

Miku took a picture of the nest with her camera before backing away for Luka to see.

"How beautiful. I've always wanted to see a nest up close," Luka said.

"We'll have to be quick or the owners are going to appear and we'll get attacked. Birds are evil," Gakupo said.

I place down my bag and popped my back. I noticed Rin on her tippy toes, trying to see the nest but she was so short, the shortest out all of us. She'll never be able to see.

"You want to see the nest too, don't you?" I said as I walked over to her.

Rin turned to me and gave me puppy eyes. "Yes."

I chuckled and bent down. "Get on."

Rin blinked. "W-what?"

"I'll carry you."

"But...you?"

"I'll try not to drop you."

"Not very assuring of you."

"Just get on."

Without anything else said, Rin walked over to me and slowly got on me. I stood up and wrapped my arms around her legs for her not to fall and walked towards the nest as Luka and Gakupo moved out of the way.

"Can you see it?" I asked.

"Yes. It's pretty," Rin said.

Even though I couldn't see her face, I'm sure she was smiling which made me smile. Until I realized what I was doing, I nearly let go of her. I hesitated. Just why was I doing this? Why was I carrying her? Why did I feel happy? Rin was supposedly my arch-enemy. Why was I helping her?

"That's enough. Thank you, Len," Rin said.

I shook my head out from my thoughts and backed away. I gently placed Rin back down to earth.

"Ow!" she shrieked.

Alarmed, I quickly turned to her. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

Rin looked down to her left arm which had a medium-sized cut and a small stream of blood ran down.

"Rin, you got cut!" Miku said as she walked over to her.

"I got first aid. Don't worry," Luka said as she began searching through her bag.

I bit my lip from anxiety. "Rin, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

Rin smiled to me. "It's fine. It was my fault either way. I moved my arm without looking over to a branch that caught me."

Luka walked over to Rin and began cleansing her wound. She then placed a bandage over it and everything was fine.

"There you go," she said. "It wasn't much of a deal."

"Thank you, Luka," Rin said.

"Now that that's taken care of, let's continue our hike," Miku said.

Everyone began getting their stuff. I looked at Rin who seemed like nothing happened to her. I know it was a small cut but still. I couldn't help but feel guilty and hurt as if I received the cut myself.

And so, we began to walk once more. I continued to keep track of where we were going as the others enjoyed the scenery passing them by. Everything seemed to be going fine until twenty or so minutes passed by...

I noticed Rin was feeling exhausted. She was beginning to walk slower and slower. Her face was red and sweaty. She drank her two water bottles all at once and I knew she was still thirsty. She must not be feeling okay.

"Rin, do you want to rest?" I asked as I gave her a concerned look.

Rin turned to me and smiled weakly. "I'm fine."

"Your face is red and sweaty." I took out a napkin from my pocket and wiped the sweat off her face. As I did so, I felt her face was hot. "And you seem to have a fever. Are you sure you want to continue? I can tell the others to stop."

"I'm fine, Len. Don't worry about me," she said. She was lying. I saw her eyes drift off for a while from exhaustion.

"No. We're going to stop for now and take you back to camp." I stopped walking and grabbed Rin's arm to stop her from walking anymore. "Guys, let's stop."

The others turned towards us.

"Is something wrong?" Luka asked.

"Rin's not feeling good," I said. "We need to-"

Rin pushed me away and glared at me. "I told you I'm fine! Don't babysit me like I'm some child!"

I was taken back by Rin's sudden reaction. But what caught my attention more was the fact that Rin was beginning to shake terribly and couldn't sustain herself well.

"Rin, you're feeling tired? We can go-" Kaito began to say but was cut off by Rin.

"I said I was fine! How many times do I have to repeat myself?" she said.

"Rin, stop saying you're fine. You're not," I said as I walked over to her and grabbed her arm.

"Don't touch me!" Rin shouted as she pushed me but I managed to hold onto her. She struggled for a while before she suddenly fainted. I was glad I was holding her and caught her just in time.

"Rin!" I hastily said.

"Oh my!" Miku exclaimed. "We need to take her back to camp! She looks extremely sick."

I nodded and carried Rin. As I looked down on her, I noticed some pain in her face expression. Then flashbacks appeared in my mind. The first time I saw Rin faint, the time I carried her to her house, the worried faces of her parents, the days Rin's missed classes, and Rin's weak smile. Was this her sickness acting up again?

Without a word, I quickly made my way back to camp, not really caring if the others were right at my heels. I need to take care of her. I couldn't let her get sick on me again. The thing is, what type of sickness did she have? This could not be the common cold.

I shook my head from those negative thoughts. I need to be positive. Rin will be okay. This was only a passing sickness. She would be fine. She has to be...

"How about...Why Don't You Call Me Yet...?"

I looked down as Rin whispered a phrase to me without opening her eyes.

"Rin?" I whispered back, afraid I might hurt her hearing.

"That sounds...nice..."


RIN! NO! NOT YOU AGAIN! DON'T GET SICK AGAIN! LEN, SAVE HER! AAHHHHH!

Man, everything was going just fine. The gang went on a hike, looked at a nest, and then Rin gets sick again. Darn it. And she was able to come up with a name for the song...oh Rin...why must it be you?

Most of you must be ready to shoot me down. "You're the one writing this! If Rin dies because of you, you die!" I'm like "O.o"

Anyway, tune in for more and please review. Thank you. ^-^