For teenagers and children, time is a burden. When given a long amount of time, it can be slow and ultimately boring. But when given a short amount of time, it never seems enough, and therefore one feels as if they have wasted those precious minutes in their lives. If they are having fun however, no matter what amount of time they are given, it seems to fly by without a second thought. The same situation was happening to the familiar group of five. It had seemed like they had only just started to explore, before the time had gone from nine o'clock, to twelve! Hours had past and they hadn't realised it, so distracted that when looking at the time, all they could do was turn to each other with a confused expression.
"Can we please have lunch now? We've been walking for hours!" Yuki complained, sitting on a large uplifted root from a tree. Sayako looked around and sighed, reluctant to stop now when she felt so close to a breakthrough.
"Fine, we can have lunch now." She mumbled, sitting on the ground in a huff. Seto only rolled his eyes at the immature gesture, sitting next to Yuki with a satisfied smile to finally being off his feet.
"Don't look so glum Sayako, we need a break every now and then..." Nowaki ran a hand through his hair with a tired glance at the brunette girl, leaning against the trunk of the tree. Kumiko said nothing and simply sat down against the trunk of the tree, hitching her knees to her chest. She seemed completely unaffected by their long walk, as if they hadn't walked at all.
"I just feel like we're so close..." Sayako whined, looking around where she was sitting before giving a big dramatic huff of annoyance.
"Stop being so impatient. We've still got all say." Seto said sternly, before half of a sandwich was stuffed in his mouth, making him gasp a little. Yuki giggled at him before continuing to eat the other half. After a glare from the brunette girl, the group proceeded to eat quietly, enjoying the low sounds of birds and other animals. They had found quite the place to sit, since the branches created the perfect canopy from the sun, yet let in just enough breeze to keep them happy.
"Do you really think we're going to find it?" Yuki asked out of the blue, causing half of the group to jump with surprise.
"Of course we are going to find it! We just need to try harder!" Sayako grinned up at her friend, who replied with a small smile, but it was uncertain.
"It's just... It sounded so cool and all but... Seto's right, it really is impossible."
"See?" Seto glared at Sayako, who glared right back with just as much power.
"You can't seriously be saying this now,Yuki..." Nowaki groaned in annoyance, pushing himself off the tree and standing closer to the others.
"N-No!" She stuttered nervously, her eyes diverting from one friend to another, "I just don't want Sayako to be disappointed if we don't find it...!"
"Which we won't, because it is physically impossible." Seto added.
"Oh shut up, Seto!" Sayako growled, standing up with fists clenched, "Fine! If you two don't want to be a part of this, then go home! Anyone else want to drop out?!" She turned to Nowaki and Kumiko, who shook their heads quickly, looking rather scared of Sayako's angry moment, "Good! Then let's go!"
She lifted up her bag and pulled it onto her shoulders, and began to walk away. Kumiko quickly got up and ran after her, followed by Nowaki, who looked back at the couple before shrugging and turning back to the two best friends. Yuki frowned deeply, not intending to offend Sayako so much.
"Sayako wait...!" She made a move to get up, but was stopped by her boyfriend.
"Don't bother, Yuki. They are just being immature." He gazed at her, face emotionless. The mousy-brown haired girl only blinked at him before growling and yanking her arm away, standing up.
"Either you come with me, or I'm going on my own." She grabbed her bag and ran to catch up with her friends. Seto could only blink in surprise before sighing in frustration, getting up and walking after her. He couldn't stand the fact that his friends were chasing something so feeble, not to mention impossible.
When Yuki had caught up to Sayako, she apologised and held her friend, who immediately lost all anger and smiled, hugging her in return. Seto joined them soon after and only remained quiet, not bothering to apologise for something so ridiculous. Sayako didn't seem to care for his presence and began to set off again, the rest of the group following quietly.
After that, things began to go downhill. The day got much hotter, and therefore more breaks were needed. Because of the heat, the group began to get impatient. How can something that sounded so simple turn out so hard? It wasn't like they had planned at all.
"Oh... This is stupid... Can we please go home?" Yuki pleaded, panting softly from the large amount of walking they were doing.
"We can stay for another hour, and then we will go home!" Sayako yelled, remaining in high spirits, although her determination was starting to slip.
Kumiko was starting to feel the pressure now, breathing quietly but heavily, deciding not to complain when it could risk Sayako having another episode. Eventually the brunette let out a cry of defeat, causing the rest of the group to gasp and cover their ears.
"I give up! This was all a stupid idea!" Sayako yelled, her hands covering her eyes as she let a small sniffle escape her.
Kumiko frowned and walked over to Sayako, hugging her closely.
"Oh Sayako..." Nowaki sighed and placed a hand on the girls shoulder, biting his lip. He didn't know what else to say since he couldn't handle situations like this very well...
Yuki joined Sayako, followed by Seto, who both frowned and tried their hardest to cheer her up. The brunette wasn't having any of it, in fact it was as if they didn't exist to her. She thought that she wouldn't get so disappointed, but she was wrong...
"Come on... Let's all go back to my house and we'll order in some food, maybe watch some movies." Yuki suggested, tugging on Sayako's arm. The girl only turned and began to walk with her in silence. The rest of the group exchanged glances before sighing and walking after them.
After half an hour of walking towards the boarder of the forest, the silence still remained thick and heavy. None of them knew what to say, and thought it inappropriate to say something within such a moment. It was like a tender line of string, that could break with even the slightest amount of pressure on it.
Kumiko frowned deeply. She was no good with this sort of thing, and just remained distant from it. Instead she gazed around the forest, still quite happy to have been here regardless. She enjoyed the forest, it was extremely pretty. But as they walked, Kumiko had begun to hear a strange noise. It didn't sound like any animal she had ever heard.
"...?" She halted and turned, looking around curiously. What was that sound? Her grey eyes scanned the area, looking at the trees, the bushes, everywhere. But found nothing...
"Kumiko?" Seto looked either side of him before turning around and seeing that the girl was just standing there with the oddest look on her face. Nowaki stopped and turned around, still walking for a moment before he stopped and blinked.
"What the hell is she doing...?" Nowaki asked quietly, earning a shrug from Seto.
Kumiko stared before her eyes caught something, and she instantly sprinted after it.
"K-Kumiko!!" Nowaki gasped, running after her. Seto groaned and alerted the two girls before running after the boy. Sayako and Yuki glanced at each other before running after them at top speed.
Kumiko ran after the creature, not quite seeing what it was. It could be anything, even just a small rabbit, but the raven-haired girl would not take any chances. She just kept following it, running between trees, jumping over low bushes.
"Kumiko! Wait!" Nowaki called, running at top speed. It was difficult though, since Kumiko ran so fast that he couldn't possibly keep up. The girl didn't listen anyway, and instead she kept on running.
Running towards a group of trees, she saw the little creature run through them, and followed with determination. It wasn't until then that she stopped dead in her tracks, panting softly, her eyes wide. Firstly, the little creature looked incredibly strange. It was the size of an average wild rabbit, but it had a long, sleek tail, with spikes trailing up its back. It was also a bright red.
"Kumiko-Woah!" Nowaki stopped just in time to not run straight into the small girl, blinking a few times before noticing the creature and blinking, "What the hell is that...?"
The little animal's nose twitched, staring at them before turning and scurrying off into a cave. The cave looked much like a small grass hill, with vines over the entrance, which would have caused many to ignore its existence. Kumiko's eyes narrowed and she tilted her head, walking close to it.
"...WE FOUND IT!" Sayako suddenly yelled as she dragged Yuki and Seto closer. It did seen like they had actually found it, and it was a thrilling feeling, although they were not sure if the cave had any significance to their search...
But all they could do was hope...