It took longer than I expected with uploading. I'm almost finished with chapter five - I just forgot to upload it.

Thank you for your kind reviews! This chapter is also a lot of rewriting the manga/anime but I added some new things too.
Chapter four will be up when I finally finish chapter five, but I'm really busy so that might take a while again.

Enjoy!

"Hello, Futaba-chan? Where are you?"

Murao looks through the window of the bus, outside Makita is on the phone with Yoshioka. It's been merely two days since they were picked as class- and event representatives and Mabuchi and Yoshioka are already showing off the bad example, they're too late. Today they are going on camp with all the class- and event representatives. Her eye falls on Tanaka-sensei who is apologising to one of the other teachers who will also attend the trip with his students. As supervisor of the whole camp and Mabuchi's older brother Tanaka-sensei must feel super responsible for their behaviour.

"Tanaka-sensei, I know it's useless to say it to you, but they've got to shape up!" Even though the teachers and Makita-san are outside all the students can hear them in the bus. To put Tanaka-sensei into this position as his little brother, he's so irresponsible. "We can't wait any longer! Have them look at the map and find the site themselves!" The angry teacher enters the bus and after him follow Tanaka-sensei and Makita too. As soon as the bus starts to ride she puts her earplugs in and leans her head against the window, just in time because Kominato, who is sitting in front of her, already turned on his seat. "I can't believe we're going on a trip together Murao! Let's have loooooots of fun together! I was so excited last night that I barely slept! But I can't believe Mabuchi and Yoshioka missed the bus! It is suuuuper irresponsible of them, especially since they are the class representatives! Now we all look bad!" Murao sighs loudly and apparently that was a sign for Makita to pick up the conversation for her. "Un, but we can make up for it, ne?"

Murao suppresses a smile, that's a nice thing of Makita-san to do. Now that Kominato's focus isn't on her anymore Murao's eyes slide over the passengers until she sees Tanaka-sensei. He sits huddled in his chair, he's worried about his students. Murao wishes that she could get up and sit next to him to comfort him, wrap an arm around him and tell him it'll be alright; just like how he would do when she is upset. Unintentionally she clenches her fists, she won't forgive Mabuchi for causing this much trouble for his older brother.

All the students are gathered in a huge hall, all wearing tracksuits in colours that are representing their year. The third years have green ones, the first years are wearing a red suit and theirs is blue. It looks awful but at least it's more comfortable to wear than a skirt for the events. After the teachers gave an introduction speech they were allowed to start with their meals. The noises of the students interacting soon fills the room, but their table is rather silent. "Hey, there they are!" Murao and Makita look up after Kominato's comment, Mabuchi and Futaba are heading into their direction with their plates. They arrived at last.

"We are really ashamed, both class representatives were late! Do you know how embarrassing it was for us?" Kominato complains after the two late comers took their places on the table. "We're really sorry." Yoshioka apologises, but Mabuchi keeps his focus on his food.

"Kou!" Murao immediately looks down with a faint blush on her cheeks. Tanaka-sensei is approaching their table. "Given the circumstances, you have to compose an apology letter for being late. You have until the extension to bring it to me, got it? You too Yoshioka." Murao looks over her shoulder. Tanaka-sensei is wearing a pink polo shirt with long sleeves and two purple stripes around the height of his chest, he looks really cute like that. "Geez, apology for what?"

"Mabuchi-kun, when you cause trouble, it makes trouble for Tanaka-sensei too. I think you should be more careful. Since you have difficulties waking up, Tanaka-sensei already thought it would be a problem, but you should at least pay more attention to him." Everyone stares at Murao, they never heard her speak this much before. Kominato might even be a little jealous that Murao's first time speaking this much was to Mabuchi.

"I don't care about him and you shouldn't worry about it. I am who I am, It doesn't have anything to do with my brother. It doesn't matter what he thinks about it." Mabuchi says nonchalantly. She abruptly puts her bowl with rice down. "So because it's none of his business he doesn't deserve your gratitude? You made someone totally unrelated to the incident apologise for you? What a kid. ...Or rather, a little rotten brat."

"M-Murao-san!" Yoshioka's voice sounds shocked but in an attempt to save herself she tries to start a conversation with her. "That reminds me! I was so surprised that you decided to participate in the event! Do you like this kind of thing?"

"Not really."

Mabuchi snickers. "It sure is rich to see someone so uncooperative lecturing others. Someone with no confidence like you wants to make a speech to other people?"

"Hey!" Kominato raises his voice. "We don't talk like that to women!"

"And with 'women' you obviously only mean Murao." Mabuchi mumbles and gets up from his chair. "I'm done."

"Me too." Murao takes her plate and leaves the table, that's enough interaction with that spoiled brat for today. They are all completely different individuals with different personalities, they don't connect in any way, there is no way they can ever pull this together. At least with participating she was able to show Tanaka-sensei that she tried. She smiles when she thinks back of Tanaka-sensei's joyful smile when she told him about her decision to become the event representative for her class, it still gives her butterflies in her stomach when she remembers his reaction.

"So, does anyone have any opinions?" Against all of their wills; after the lunch all of the class and event representatives had to gather outside for a group discussion about what this event means for them. "Murao-san?"

"No, nothing." She says without looking up from her book. She wasn't paying attention to Yoshioka's explanation, and she kind of missed the instruction from the teachers because her focus might have been on Tanaka-sensei; she didn't hear a word of what he said.

"We have to do this! We might get picked to read ours aloud!"

If they continue like this it will become a big mess but why should Murao put effort into this if they aren't doing so either? Being here is only a waste of their time, Tanaka-sensei already said that they don't have to take this seriously. Plus, what is the chance that their class gets chosen to read their answer?

"We organized this event for all grades but we need leaders from each classes to create ambiance. That's why they are so important. So about the handout we gave to you earlier you have to think about what this school event means to you. Let's start with class 3-1, read what you wrote."

One of the students in the green tracksuits gets up. "We participated in this excursion because we thought it would be a great experience for company's life, plus we will get to discover and display our own abilities individually in the non-academic aspect."

They made a good answer, especially compared to what Yoshioka wrote down in the end. Yoshioka turned the page upside down so they can't read it but Murao got a quick glance. 'Happy memories'. It's cute and a nice thought, but if they'll be picked it will never be sufficient.

"All right, thank you class 3-1. The next group is class 2-2!"

Crap. All five of them freeze on their seats. Mabuchi takes the paper from Yoshioka. "You wrote something earlier right? It should be enough." He says, but he immediately regrets his decision when he sees what Yoshioka wrote down.

"What's wrong? Get on with the reading." The teacher is obviously still annoyed because Mabuchi and Yoshioka were late this morning, spoken about being a professional.

"The goal is not to be in a group but to integrate it, team spirit is stronger in cases like this. Plus, being on the same wavelength allows us to show more unity. By setting targets and goals that can only be achieved by a group you foster a feeling of belonging to that group. By doing this you get everyone to share a sense of commonality and in that way, bring them together. That's all."

Murao is a little impressed, he can recite things he doesn't even believe in so smoothly off the top of his head. "Oh, that's good. So next group..."

"Hold on a minute." Tanaka-sensei raises his hand. "I don't think I understood everything. Why do you think being united is so important?" Murao can understand that he wants to trigger his brother but if Mabuchi screws this up now they will all look stupid. He saved them once, there is no way that he can pull this off again,

"Well, it's because there are things you can only achieve together. So that someday, when you look back, the people you experienced it with will see it as a 'happy memory' and think of it with the same warmth that you do."

"That's good enough." Tanaka-sensei smiles and Mabuchi is allowed to take his seat again. It seems Murao was too judgemental, he might not be such a bad person after all.

Later that night Murao is on her own wandering through the building. Yoshioka asked her to keep her company while waiting for Mabuchi to arrive, they still had to write that apology letter. As soon as he joined them Murao got up and left the table, she doesn't want to sit between those two; all they do is fight about the smallest things.

"What are you doing here this late? You should be in your room young lady." Murao's sure that her heart skipped a beat right now. "S-sensei!" his voice sounded so slow that she almost didn't recognise him. "Sorry, did I startle you? Ahh, I didn't mean to!" That's the old Tanaka-sensei again.

"It's fine Sensei," she smiles faintly. "I forgive you."

He laughs and looks around. "Is Murao here alone?"

"Un, ... Yoshioka-san and Mabuchi-kun had to write their apology letter so I left, it's something they have to do on their own after all."

"Ah, I see." He smiles. "I am happy to hear that they are working on it, and it seems that you are getting along with them?" His smile is different now, more teasingly, and he is leaning in closer to her. "I-I am trying." Again, her face feels like she is having a high fever. It's so unfair what he's doing to her, and at this point she isn't even sure if it's unintentional or not anymore.

"Keep up the good work, Murao." She can feel his hand on her head and he ruffles through it briefly. "Oyasumi."

"G-Good night to you too!" She mumbles, but by the time she finally managed to get these words over her lips he's already gone. Murao puts her hand on her chest, she can feel her fast heartbeat through her pyjamas. What is that man doing to her? One thing is certain: she can't say that she's not enjoying the little moments of special attention he gives to her. But at the same time it makes her wonder, does he do this to all the female students?

Their first task of the day is cleaning together, Murao wanted to help them, really, but the atmosphere between Mabuchi and Yoshioka was so heavy that she left her group. Whatever happened between those two last night when they were supposed to write their apology letter, she certainly doesn't want to get involved with it. When she saw Tanaka-sensei disappear behind the building with a bucket of water she saw her chance to help him. It's not like they would miss her anyway.

She quietly joins her teacher who is cleaning the windows of the old building, he doesn't object but the awkward atmosphere between them isn't any better. He is not too pleased with her company either. Usually she enjoys the moments of silence between the two of them but she isn't feeling comfortable at all. She's trying to find words- something to speak of, anything, but nothing comes to her mind. So they are standing there, silently cleaning together.

"I'm fine here," his voice finally breaks through the silence. Murao gets the feeling that he has been struggling with his words too. "this place is taken care of. Murao you should clean with the others." It's not a suggestion, she knows what Tanaka-sensei is trying to say. From his reflection in the window she can tell that he's looking at her, and she doesn't like the way he does it. His eyes beneath the cloth that's wrapped around his head show no emotion, she has never seen him this serious before. "There are plenty of people there, I will help you out here."

'Murao," he stops and turns his body into her direction this time to have a proper look at her, but she is not looking up. She's too scared to see his expression. "you have to join the others." Murao wishes that he wouldn't have said anything, they were fine before. At least, that's what she is telling herself, but deep inside her heart she knows that's not true. He wanted to say this from the beginning, he was just thinking about a way to phrase it. She wonders how many different scenarios went through his head before he finally said something. "If you want to say you're fine by yourself, at least do it after you've put in effort to make a place where you belong."

"I am making that effort." Murao holds her teacher's sleeve before he can say anything. "I am not letting go."

"Murao," his voice is softer now, but his expression is unreadable. "I'm a teacher. As long as you're a student, I'll never be that far away." Murao looks at her feet, she is begging him not to finish that sentence inside, but she remains silent. There is nothing she can do to make this heavy feeling in her stomach stop. "But we can't get any closer than this either. That's what I've always said, remember?" She clenches the fabric tighter in her hand, like she could ever forget that. It feels like her heart is shattered, again.

"Murao!" she freezes, he has never heard him raise his voice before and crap, she hates how sexy it makes him sound. With doing this he only made Murao fall deeper in love with him. "Go and join the others." Murao lets go and quickly rushes away from him with tears burning behind her eyes. Why can't he understand how much she loves him?

She sees something move from the corner of her eye. It's Makita-san. Murao freezes on the spot. What is she doing here- was she spying on them? What did she see, how much does she know? A strong feeling of fear is taking over Murao's body. "Um..." She doesn't want to hear it, before Makita can say anything Murao starts walking again. She has to get out of here. This is way too embarrassing...

Behind the building Tanaka-sensei is still cleaning the same window. As soon as Murao left he let out a relieved sigh. What he did was right, he tries to convince himself, he definitely made the right choice.

"Orienteering! They told those of us from class 2-2 to get started!" Yoshioka yells. After they were done cleaning they had another communal lunch and a moment of rest. After what happened between her and Tanaka-sensei she had quietly joined their group again and hadn't said a word since. Makita-san joined not much later and to Murao's relief she didn't say anything either. The only ones excited for this event are Yoshioka and Kominato, who is even singing a song about it. Murao just hopes that during the activity she can distract herself enough to stop thinking about that rather embarrassing moment. While she is here maybe she can work a little on getting to know these people around her, she'll be spending more time with them every day after all. Maybe one day she will become the person Tanaka-sensei is hoping for her to be.

"Ha! Reached the first check point!"

"We're doing a mixed juice guessing game." That voice, the last person she wanted to see right now. She tried so hard not to think about him and yet, there he is again. "There are ten ingredients in all. For each one you identify you get one point!" He smiles at her but she quickly averts her gaze and tires to hide between the rest of the group. How can he smile so casually after what happened between the two of them merely two hours ago? The group is busy discussing the ingredients and Murao just watches them, she doesn't really have to participate in this activity. Suddenly Yoshioka turns around. "Murao-san, that's not fair! Figure it out with us!" She offers her a glass. Murao looks at the green substance inside of it, it doesn't really look appetising.

"Of course, it's only full of things that are safe to drink, right?" Yoshioka asks to which Tanaka-sensei heartily laughs. "Of course, I made it myself!" Murao's eyes widen, he made this himself? She can't help but feel curious now- maybe she should try to participate, it's a group activity after all. And if Sensei made it..., it tastes awful. She can taste the apple, bananas, and celery, the ingredients that her classmates mentioned earlier, but she can also taste something else. It's a specific taste and it feels familiar on her tongue— "Thyme." She says.

"What? You want a time-out?"

"No," Murao closes her eyes- she is trying her best to not fall out to Yoshioka. Not in front of him. "there's thyme in it. It's a herb."

"Amazing! You're the first team that's guessed celery and thyme!" The teacher next to Tanaka-sensei excitingly claps her hands together.

"You have the highest score yet!" Tanaka-sensei smiles and Murao feels like that if her teacher would be able to wink he would at her now. Murao quickly puts her glass back on the plate when she feels Yoshioka's hand on her shoulder. "Great job, Murao-san!"

Murao says nothing but she can't suppress a little smile. She won't tell them she guessed this because Tanaka-sensei once told her that he likes to add thyme when he's cooking. He made something for her once and that's how she recognised the taste. But somehow she feels happy, she was able to help out her team somehow and now they have the highest score. Maybe this day isn't that bad.

Murao regrets thinking that around the end of the day. They have been following Kominato's directions all afternoon while Futaba ran after them, insisting they should take a look at the map. They collected all the keywords they needed to complete the activity and all they had to do was find the biggest lake in the area. They had all their points, and they timing was really great, they had a serious chance of winning and secretly; even Murao was feeling excited about it. She was having so much fun with them. But after a while they lost track of their location and they were randomly walking around. They left their smart phones with the teachers so they can't use their GPS systems either. Kominato wasn't too worried though, he said that in a terrain like this they just had to look at the shape of the mountains, the location of the sun and it would work out from there. They were impressed, Kominato sounded so certain and full of himself that they blindly followed him, again. But knowing him, they should have known better. Now, the sun is setting and they are exhausted and absolutely, hopelessly, lost.

"What, are you saying that this is my fault?" Kominato looks at Mabuchi who is sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree. They boys are arguing and Murao just shuts herself from the conversation, if they start fighting now they'll never make it back to the building. She looks at Makita-san and the girl smiles at her. During their endless walk to nowhere Murao got the opportunity to speak with her alone. Makita-san had seen almost everything but fortunately for her she hadn't told Yoshioka yet and she wouldn't without Murao's permission. She did mention that Futaba is a good person and it probably wouldn't matter much if she'd know, but Murao rather wants to keep it a secret. Even though Yoshioka seems like someone others would trust; Murao doesn't. Murao likes Yoshioka and she is convinced that she's not a bad person, but the less people who know the better. Besides, Yoshioka is close with Tanaka-sensei's brother; if he finds out she might as well just quit high school already, and she won't give up on that, not after how hard she worked for it to build up what she has now.

Kominato calmed down and the five of them are bending over the map, they will have to come with a plan eventually. They are discussing whether they should stay where they are or continue walking when Yoshioka mentions that she can hear water streaming. Mabuchi holds the map. "If the finish line is on the other side of the river the way out should be in that direction too. Let's just get as far as we can while the sun's out. When it gets totally dark we'll do what Makita suggested and stay wherever we are. How does that sound?"

They continue to walk and it's getting darker and darker around them. It didn't take that long to reach the river but the river itself was quite an obstacle. Makita didn't dare to cross it and got stuck on one of the rocks they used to cross the river with. Eventually after a heroic save from Mabuchi, Makita too could continue. Unfortunately after crossing that same river Yoshioka hurt her foot and they had to slow down the pace, but Mabuchi made her hop on his back and they could continue their journey. Slowly but surely, they would get there, the only problem is that it's almost too dark to see where they are going.

"I see light!" Kominato suddenly yells. Yes, it's true, there between the bushes they can see a faint light appear. They start to walk faster and the light is getting closer and closer. "Thank god!" Makita sighs out of relief when they learn that the light comes from a light pole and they reached the main road. "Now we only have to follow the road and we're good to go!" Kominato cheers.

"But which direction should we take?"

Everyone is a little down after Murao's remark, but they realise she's right. They have no idea where they are now and in which direction the camp is. "I knew it was too good to be true." Yoshioka sighs.

"Kouuu!"

They look up, could it be? Yes, they can clearly see it now. Three flashlights appear from the other side of the road. "It's Tanaka-sensei and the other teachers!" Yoshioka screeches. "They came looking for us!" Tanaka-sensei waves at them with a broad smile on his face, he is probably happy that he found his brother and the rest of the students, the other two teachers look less pleased with them.

They've been walking for a while when suddenly Tanaka-sensei appears next to her. "We were really worried, I'm so relieved that we found you." Although she's happy that Tanaka-sensei is walking next to her and talking to her, she wonders why he is telling her this. Is he trying to break the ice or is there a message behind it, was he actually worried about her? She can't help but test his intentions. "You must be happy that you found your brother, I know you care a lot about him."

"Hmhm," he laughs softly. "if 'my brother' is a metaphor for that I was worried about Murao, then yes, I am glad that I found my little brother."

"I see." Murao blushes and keeps her eyes on the road. It seems that sensei has forgiven her for her behaviour earlier today, but she still feels guilty. It might be super painful to face, but she has to apologise. "Sensei I—"

"No, I am sorry." He looks down at her with a little smile. What, sensei is apologising to her, again? It doesn't make sense to her, but she must admit that she feels a little better. "I shouldn't have raised my voice at Murao like that. Can you forgive me?"

Murao nods quietly, too shy to even look up at her teacher. They are walking side by side, both silent but it feels like one of their usual silences again, silences she enjoys the most. Suddenly, she feels something brushing over her hand— Tanaka-sensei's hand. It was just a short moment but she's sure that she felt it, that tingling sensation is currently spreading through her whole body. She looks up in surprise and sees that Tanaka-sensei looked away from her. It could be the lack of light, it could be her mind messing with her because that strange feeling still didn't fade, or it could be she's just exhausted but she could swear that she saw a faint blush on Tanaka-sensei's cheeks. Just like the blush he had on the day of the closing ceremony. Whatever it was- it makes Murao happier than she ever felt before.

They stop in front of the entrance of the building. "Murao-san, are you coming?" Yoshioka asks her. Makita joins them and pulls her friend on her arm. "Let's go inside Futaba-chan, Murao-san will follow us later!" She smiles at Murao and drags the confused Yoshioka inside.

"Sensei? Uh... thank you. For finding us and ...everything."

"It's nothing, Murao." Murao can see from the way he smiles that he understood what she actually meant, it makes her fill with a silly feeling of glee. He understands her without her having to explain herself. The moment after feels a little like an awkward date- not like Murao ever experienced one of those before, but she saw it in one of those romantic comedies she secretly loves to watch. The point where the boy brings home the girl after spending the evening together and they aren't sure whether they should kiss or not. Somehow, Murao has this feeling right now. She looks up at her teacher, who is awkwardly rubbing over his arm. "So...uhm, good night Murao. Make sure to rest well, we're leaving early in the morning." She giggles, sensei is always so worried about her. She doesn't know what exactly gives her the courage but she tiptoes to quickly kiss her teacher on the cheek. "Good night, Tanaka-sensei." She whispers softly and hurries inside. No, today wasn't a bad day at all.

Outside, Youichi is still standing frozen on the same spot even though Murao already left. He puts his hand on his cheek, the spot where she kissed him feels hot beneath his fingers. Her lips felt so warm and soft against his cold skin, and it was just for a moment, but the thought of how it would feel to have those soft lips touch his cross his mind and gives him a mixed feeling of guilt with pleasure.

"Tanaka-sensei, we're turning off the lights, get inside!"

"I'm coming!" He replies and inhales the cold air to clear his mind. "Seriously, that girl could get me in big trouble some day." But he's smiling. Tanaka Youichi is smiling, because even though she could get him in trouble, he is not sure if he'd really mind.

When Murao wakes up the first thing she sees is Yoshioka bending over her and Makita, she's wearing Mabuchi's sweater over her pyjamas and even though it's still dark outside she looks quite awake. "Yuuri, Murao-san, wake up!" She whispers.

Shortly after they're all outside. Murao has never seen this many stars before, it's a beautiful sight. She shoves her hands deep in the pockets of her jacket, it's cold outside. "Ehh, Murao, are you cold? Come here, I'll warm you up!" Kominato grins. Instead of snarling at him Murao shakes her head with a smile. "No, I'm fine." Murao ignores the surprised expressions her classmates are giving her and gazes up at the sky again. Today is a start again, a start of something new. She realises that being an event representative isn't enough to make the change, she has to do it.

"Ah, it's coming! It's coming!" Kominato leans over the balustrade. She sun is slowly rising and gives a nice, warm feeling on their faces. "It's here!"

"The night has ended." Murao says softly. "Today begins now." Her new life is starting, again, still with these same people. People she might dare to refer to as friends, sooner or later. They all take a deep breath; the smell of the wet earth and dewy grass fills their noses, the scent of a morning in May. She'll never forget watching the sunrise with everyone like this.

"So that someday, when you look back, the people you experienced it with will see it as a 'happy memory' with the same warmth that you do." Kominato smiles and looks over his shoulder at Mabuchi and Yoshioka. "I liked that thing you said. Feels like 'being young'."

"Embarrassing fellow..." Mabuchi mumbles.

"You shy about that kind of thing?" Kominato asks mockingly. "People should save the stoic act for when they get all old!" He yells to the sky.

"I don't think you'll ever change, even when you do grow old."

Murao can hear the people around her laugh and she can't help but smile after hearing Mabuchi's words. Even Kominato knows there's truth in that. And while the sun continues to rise, their feeling of friendship grows stronger and stronger.