CHAPTER 41

          How did I get here again?

          "Hey, can you give me a hand?"

         I rose my gaze to focus it on Hiro beckoning me to take some things off his hands. My eyes travelled between the many bags he had knocked over his shoulders and underneath his armpits then down towards the child who was tugging at my pants on this forest trail.

Behind him were several other toddlers, their third-grade teacher and other adults trailing shortly after. All of them carried their own separate haul of sleeping bags and tents in tow.

If you hadn't guessed it by now, I was going camping. Again.

As to why, now that was quite the funny story I should definitely enlighten you on. But if you could spare me the slightest moment...

Returning my blank stare towards him, I held up my hands. "Little kids, you heard Hiro. He wants us to give him a hand."

I clapped at once, in a slow meaningless movement. Accordingly, the adorable six-year-olds glanced at my action and soon chimed in, some even whistling and whooping for him to give it his best shot. Hiro who didn't have a baseball cap on to shield his face exposed a glare menacing enough to give the children the heebie-jeebies.

"Miyu-chan!" they screamed, all racing to hide behind me. "That guy is scaring us!"

I gave the nearest kid clinging to me the most a proper hug, my focus on Hiro in a deadpanned manner. "Ah, let's run away before he eats us."

Hiro wasn't taking my tease to be pleasurable at all. As if a switch had been flipped, he barked with even more hostility, "Hoshino!"

The kids screamed once again, cowering behind me further. This time I returned a frown.

"Hiro, stop scaring the children."

Hiro hissed like a snake about to devour its prey. "You're the one making it more complicated than it needs to be! I only asked you for help!"

          "You asked for a hand," I corrected. "Thus, I gave you one."

          "I swear with you it's always the littlest technicalities—"

          "Wah!" the child in my arms bawled, tiny hand curled around the fabric of my shirt. "I don't want to be eaten by that boy!"

          "Miyu-chan, save us!"

          "He's going to swallow us whole!"

          As more children began to whimper, Hiro had erupted like a volcano.

          "You brats! Be quiet! I'm not eating anybody!" I awkwardly veered my gaze, pushing out my lips but Hiro had already extended a finger towards me. "Hoshino, see what you put into their heads— Hey! Don't whistle and pretend you're innocent! You started this—"

          "You guys are definitely energetic," chuckled Megumi-san, their teacher, when she arrived.

          I nudged aside the kid in my grasps, whispering to settle them all down before Hiro actually went to eat us. After they sniffled and promised they'd be strong, I jogged over to her.

          "Need any help carrying those bags?"

          She gladly flashed me a weary smile and handed me a bundle of sleeping bags. "Thank you, dear."

          "Don't mention it." I smiled but when I turned around and saw Hiro glaring blatant daggers into me, I could only send him a shrug. He did realize that he agreed to this entire trip, right?

          Which brought me back to explaining the situation. It was pretty straightforward, actually. As soon as Wannabe started attending school again on Wednesday, the first thing he did was smother us into a group hug...

  "I MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH!"

          "Kazu, you're being too suffocating," Yuji gasped.

          "Air," I sputtered, clawing for freedom with the constricting hold. "I need—"

          Puzzled, Wannabe unhanded is all. Hiro and a nearly passed out Kouichi collapsed to the ground as Yuji and I heaved heavy breaths. He produced a boisterous laugh as he set the souvenirs off to the table beside us. "How's my Humanity Club been?"

          "Yours?" Hiro demanded. "Do you know how much trouble we've gotten into—"

          "More importantly, Kazu!" Yuji gasped as he reached for his shoulders. "Those sweets! You didn't tell me they came from your dad!"

          Wannabe's mouth parted, flabbergasted. He quickly went into a defensive stance. "Wh-who told you that?"

  As Kouichi hoisted himself back to his feet, he adjusted his glasses upon his nose. "Really, it was quite the surprise when Hoshino-san told us the truth. Who knew your dad had such a sweet tooth."

Wannabe's periwinkle eyes shifted to me, rather scrutinized. I held up a hand.

          "Don't get the wrong idea, he's the one who called me out to talk."

          Wannabe made a face and slouched over. "So you guys know about my father? I really wanted to keep him away from you too..."

          "Why? He's not even a bad dude!" I said.

          Yuji bobbed his head. "He's supplied us with gracious sweets for three whole months and you just tossed them aside!"

          "It hurt us," I agreed with a vigorous nod the same time Yuji did.

          "I already told you two you're focusing on the wrong picture," Hiro sighed.

          "He also holds high regards towards anime," I reasoned. "Plus he's met and is involved in extremely awesome industries! He's an amazing old man!"

          As Kouichi stepped in to halt the trifle bantering, Wannabe was off awkwardly averting his gaze. A little suspiciously, as if there was more than just that. Though expecting him to at least refute to our statements, he surprised me by standing his ground anyway. "More importantly, everyone," he spoke, obtaining our attention at once. "I know it may seem odd considering I just returned from my trip, but I have a request to ask."

"Request?" Yuji echoed, cocking a brow.

"From Kazuya-san?" Kouichi asked.

"I want you guys to hold down the club for a while longer."

Wannabe's words struck surprise in all of us. He reached into his backpack, rummaging through a pocket until he could surface a piece of paper.

          "You want us to go camping?" Hiro asked after scanning the sheet.

          "The third-grade trip is short on volunteers," he replied. "I promised one of my classmates I would help out if I had the opportunity, but it doesn't seem like it's possible for me at the moment."

          Displeasure soaked into my features as the paper travelled between both Yuji and Kouichi then me.

          "And why exactly is this impossible for you?" I asked.

          Though acting so tough moments prior, this time my words stabbed him. He hunched over, a look of defeat consuming his features.

          "See, it really hit me over my trip that I'm in my third year..." he drawled, now listless. "Meaning every last second of my time is important. I got too involved in my procrastination that I'm now so behind in all my classes. And considering I have major assessments coming up, as well as college applications and exams to prepare myself for... As you can imagine I'm internally dying from stress and don't have the opportunity to spend the upcoming weekend, or even show up at this club everyday, having fun..."

          He shook his head and offered us a clenched fist, a serious glint in his eyes.

          "That's why you all have to enjoy yourselves without me, alright? It's a promise!"

          ...It kind of unfolded like that. Granted, Yuji and Kouichi ended up bailing on Hiro and I at the last minute but at least the both of us ended up coming through in the end. If I'd been forced to come to this kind of thing alone...

We'd arrived at the camping site before long. Adhering to Megumi-san's instructions, alongside other parents who had tagged along, Hiro and I set up camp with the help of the kids who all were giddy and fascinated about this whole camping trip. Before long, even the children who were so terrified of Hiro ended up softening up after realizing he wasn't really a cannibal.

          The schedule was a pretty simple one. After setting up camp we went to perform some activities. A couple tour guides running the thing suited us all in life jackets and taught us the proper way to paddle. We tried out simple routines at first before resorting to canoeing or kayaking. Hiro and I took turns going out with kids and when everyone was cleaning up received the opportunity to race, just us. We splashed each other needlessly as we sped around the route back to the shore, which ended in a draw, but it was plenty fun.

          They also had an outdoor rock climbing wall where we stopped by next. I refrained from going on that, but Hiro, as well as the other volunteers, took their turns helping the kids who wanted to try it out. The other ones were with me doing some arts and crafts in the main lodge. After eating lunch and doing a couple more activities, it had become sundown before long. Considering the time of year, the temperature had dropped quite a bit leaving us to bundle up before returning to the main site to sit around a campfire.

          The one hosting this event had the kids sing along to songs that involved silly actions, leaving for a bunch of laughter when they called up an awkward Hiro to lead the next song. Be it roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores, and even to finish it off with a not-so-creepy ghost story at the end, the kids were eventually ushered to bed in their tents.

          The remaining adults stayed out a bit longer to upkeep cheerful banter as well as tell a more refined ghost story. Hiro had gotten so entranced by the tale that when I purposefully nudged his arm, he produced quite a girlish scream and jumped quite a good distance. Needless to say, I was rolling around on the grass in immense laughter. At least, up until I felt a bug crawling its way up my arm. I ran towards Hiro at once to get it off but the guy only dashed around in fear for himself. He was just as terrified of bugs as me.

          By the time midnight rolled around, the adults finally called it a day and scampered off towards their own tents. With the promise to tend to the campfire a while longer before heading to bed also, Hiro and I remained in our seats, roasting a couple more marshmallows as we did.

         "Okay," I said, stifling a grin as I did. "I got one."

          Propped against the log beside me, Hiro stuck a marshmallow onto his stick, beckoning me on.

          "I've been bitten by a turtle before. I've travelled outside of Japan. My real hair colour is brown."

          "I know your hair's brown so that's not the lie," Hiro said. I innocently rose my shoulders, not giving him a means of response. He cocked a brow, continuing on with our game of two truths and a lie. "I would say it's the turtle, but knowing you I'm highly certain it's possible."

I snorted, dropping my stick to properly stare at him. "What's your final answer, Sherlock?"

          "That you've travelled outside of Japan," Hiro responded.

This time I couldn't stop myself from laughing. "Nope, it's the turtle."

Hiro knocked his head to the side with a groan. "Seriously?"

"I've been to America," I said, fiddling with my stick. "Granted, I don't really remember it since my parents took me there when I was really little. But wow, that's really rude of you. What about my personality makes you think I'm likely to be bitten by a turtle?"

Illuminated by the flecks of the fire, I caught a glimpse of a ghost smile on Hiro's lips. I ended up mirroring his expression, turning my attention up at the pretty night stars, clear of any clouds. The pause on Hiro's end wasn't too long.

"I said it was possible. Since you're always so spontaneous, you can't blame me for thinking so." His fingers tapped against his stick. "Anyway, my turn, right?"

          "Hit me with your best shot."

          "I've made back-to-back championships in baseball all three years of middle school. I used to play pitcher." His eyes never left me, softening as the third one came to him. "I have a crush on an amazing girl."

          I made a face. "What the... Those are all so hard! You can't do that to me."

          He simply shrugged.

          My features scrunched up even further. Was that his idea of payback? Sighing, I considered his words. "Well, that crush business is definitely out of the way. I know you have a black soulless heart like I do. As for the other two..."

          I stopped to rake him over, narrowing my eyes with a finger at my chin.

          "Indeed. I can definitely see a Mihashi Ren pitching style in you. You're a righty, aren't you? Very flexible wrists as well..." Though Hiro seemed highly amused as I studied him, he didn't retreat as I eyed him further. "As for back-to-back championships? That seems a little far-fetched... but with that first one out of way by default there's no way it can be false."

          "You reach an answer yet?" Hiro mused, mouth turned up high.

          I inched away and held up a finger. "The crush is the lie. The others are the truth."

          Albeit having the utmost confidence in my Herlock Sholmes (Code: Realize) abilities, Hiro shot me down in a heartbeat.

          "The championships is a lie." Nudging aside the bag of marshmallows, he propped his elbows onto the lumber. He gazed into the fire, wistfulness breaching his countenance. "I never once made it close to championships with my middle school team."

          My jaw had plummeted in disbelief. "No way! I doubt you were that bad of a pitcher. You couldn't live up to the ace expectations could you?"

          Hiro sent me a bitter look. "How do you always reach those kinds of conclusions?"

          "So that's not why you quit playing?"

          He rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure I told you I wanted to help Kazuya with the Humanity Club instead. Needed a change of scenery when I came to high school."

          "Ah, I see," I said. "And you're telling me you have absolutely no regrets since then?"

          "Of course I have regrets," he replied. "I've always wanted to be a good enough player to make the championship stage. So I practiced like hell since I was little. Joined little leagues and school teams with that goal in mind. But when middle school rolled around I finally realized how terrible I was. And by my third year, all I wanted was to never have another haunting loss reminding me how untalented I was to the sport I had so much passion for."

          "Wow, that would make a pretty mad plot in an anime." I pretended to move my hand across an invisible trailer screen, changing the pitch of my voice as I did. "He always wanted to be a star player acknowledged by his peers on his school's baseball team only to be met with an empty dream full of failures. Will high school baseball be able to restore the passion he believed to be lost forever? Hiro's Big Windup—rip-off anime, coming soon—"

          He bumped my shoulder with his, erupting into an unwarranted chuckle. "I didn't ask you to turn my life into an anime parody."

          We both shared a warm laugh. At least, until something in my head finally clicked to make my heart leap to my throat. I bolted up straighter, swivelling around so fast to face him.

          "Hold on, that one is true then?"

          Hiro's frowned, creating a wrinkle between his brows. I seized him by the collar of his shirt.

          "You having a crush!" I clarified. "There's no way that's true!"

          Hiro's eyes had shrunk back in evident surprise. A warm blush enveloped his cheeks but it seemed by sheer will alone he held my gaze. "It is."

          It was as if I was socked in the gut. I uncurled my fingers around his shirt. Hiro readjusted the collar but I wasn't done.

          "No way..." I gasped when the idea suddenly struck me. "Hold on, is it Yuji?"

          Hiro choked on seemingly air, coughing hysterically. Disgust coated every region of his face. "Wh-what?" he snapped, exasperation consuming his features. "Are you— I said I have a crush on an amazing girl."

          I rapidly blinked, putting a finger to my chin. "Oh, yeah... You're right. I guess Yuji would be more like the seme in this case, and you'd be the uke—"

          "I don't even want to know what those terms mean, but no." I rose my head to find Hiro scowling at me, hard. "No," he reiterated, covering his face into his palm. "No, no, no."

          Bafflement surged through me the more times he asserted the word. "So you're basically telling me this isn't taking a really awesome boys love plot twist—"

          "Shush."

          I obeyed.

          But only for a moment, of course.

          "Yuro?" I suggested.

          "Hoshino."

          "Oh, I know! Hiji—"

          "Ho-shi-no."

          I shielded my mouth with both hands, nodding in submission. I guess I did take it too far; his reaction wasn't exactly priceless. In fact, Hiro's anger-metre had already left the station.

          "You still don't get it?" he demanded.

          His words nestled further confusion inside of me. "Get what?"

          Hiro ruffled his air, exhaling a strangled breath. "You won't get it unless I tell you will you?"

          "Tell me what?" I asked, growing more paranoid at each pointed issue. I rotated the stick even faster than before.

          Hiro slipped his palm from his face to stare at me. A mixture of many different emotions surfaced, but the one I could tell the most was conviction. Facing me appropriately, he regained a flicker of confidence.

          "Hoshino, I like you," he said.

          I nearly dropped the stick I was roasting marshmallows with. I jerked my head in his direction, eyebrows furrowed. "Huh?"

          Hiro only returned a sour look, flickers from the fire shedding light to his frown. "What do you mean 'huh?' I'm confessing to you."

          Hearing for a second time for sure made my heart stop, but only for a moment. I suddenly couldn't get the words out.

          "That's... really random," I finally sputtered.

          Hiro turned back to his marshmallow, rotating it carefully. "You think? I thought it was pretty obvious."

          "Well, yeah," I said.

          He paused, a painstakingly cautious one. "So?"

          "I like you too, obviously," I responded, removing the stick from the heat and retreating it into a graham cracker. "Why are you suddenly getting so sentimental on me?"

          Hiro didn't respond at first, and I turned to see he was gaping at me in disbelief. I stiffened.

          "What?"

          "Are you an idiot?"

          I returned a glare of my own. "You're the one who made me say that! I realize it's embarrassing too!"

          Hiro face-palmed. "I didn't mean as a..." He stopped and slapped his cheeks to recover his composure. "I love you," he clarified.

          I couldn't exactly tell if the heat spreading across my cheeks was my imagination, or the warmth from the fire. "I already said I love you too didn't I?"

          Hiro glowered at me, hard. He swivelled in my direction and ignoring the sleeping children snoring metres away, he approached my vicinity.

          "Excuse me."

          My eyebrows elevated in confusion. At least, until Hiro leaned even closer so that his face was inches from mine. I blanked, momentarily scouring every contour of his face and his bright blue irises. But before I could dare gather the courage to ask what he was doing, his lips were on mine. My eyes shrunk back and my heartbeat fell still. More so, when he cupped my cheek and began to guide his mouth against mine. Raising my jittery hands to his chest, I shoved him back at once. Heat soaked my face at once and I crawled backwards as far as I could, jaw falling to the ground. I clasped my hand over my gaping mouth.

          "Wh-what the hell, man!" I croaked, well-aware I was blushing like a tomato. "I may be new to this whole friendship business but I know very well friends don't go kissing around their friends—"

          My voice lodged itself in my throat and Hiro bobbed his head when he realized I got it.

          "Unless..." I gulped. "You love me the way Usui loves Misaki..."

          Hiro bobbed his head again. My breathing hitched, my heartbeat intensifying in irregular palpitations. My mind swirled like a tornado. Hold on... that girl Hiro said he had a crush on...

          "Y-you... What! What?" I was grappling for the right words. "But I'm a human being!"

          "What is that supposed to mean?"

          "I'm just an unappealing lump of flesh! You can have Nami or Robin, or Rem from Re:Zero! You can even love a catgirl if you wanted to! Why resort to reality?"

Hiro glanced away, an equal amount of colour consuming his own cheeks. "You can't help what you can't help, right? Besides, it's not like you aren't appealing, because you really are."

          "A human being... Hiro..." I was on the verge of hyperventilating as I rocked back and forth. My head whipped upwards and disregarding dirtying my clothes, I scrambled back towards him and demanded, "Did you hit your head somewhere? Did that creepy alien in that story we read at the campfire really come and eat your brain—"

          "Keep your voice down!" Hiro hissed. I automatically threw my hands over my lips. Nonetheless, the redness of his face only seemed to expand to his ears. "I like you alright? I have feelings for you!"

          "Tell your hormones to calm the heck down then!"

          "If it was that easy do you think I would be telling you this now?"

          His harsh whisper had only managed to incline both of our embarrassment. And our close proximity wasn't helping. Settling back against the log of wood I was previously resting on, I trained my gaze onto the fire ahead. My heart hammered as incessantly as before. I understood very well Hiro from beside me (who had now buried his tomato face into his hands) wasn't feeling too comfortable about this right now either.

          I brought my knees to chest, the fetal position. And only recalling the fact that my first kiss was lost—right now to him—caused me to bury my scorching face into my knee-caps.

           "So it's not friend-like love?" I asked one last time for reassurance.

          He shook his head. "Lover-like love," he corrected.

          "C-cool," I said, swallowing hard. "Cool."

          Hiro knocked his neck back and heaved a loud breath. "Consider it alright?"

          "C-cool," I said, nodding. "Cool."

          Hiro didn't stick around any longer. He excused himself at that, and went childishly toddling back toward his tent. I really didn't want to go join him, but I knew I had no choice but to. I bit on my lower lip, hard enough to almost draw blood.

           What in the name of all things good and fictional just happened to me?

___________________________________

Are you guys liking this whole daily update thing? I can't believe I've lasted this long, even though it technically hasn't been a full week yet. But after being so sporadic for years in terms of updates this is sorta nice. Hopefully, I can keep it up until the end of the book.

But more importantly, that confession though. I wanted to ask since I don't think I ever have but do you guys even ship anyone in this book? Or have a favourite character? I'd like to know haha.

As always, thanks for reading! <3

—Misty