Stars that guides your way

Part 1

Astronomy gets less credit in the public than I would like to admit. Sure, now people might associate it with horoscopes today where white girls would flock over to it, and also several telescopes have been launched, yet I feel like it’s been going over people’s heads.

The ancient Austronesians used the stars to guide their way in the giant pacific ocean. All the way from Easter Island near modern day Chile, to Madagascar, on the East coast of Africa. Discovering all sorts of islands along the way.

Yet they completely missed Australia.

“...Maybe they did discover Australia… but they only landed on the northern coast which was basically impossible to dock and settle…”

Holmes gave her suggestion on my assumption.

“True, but with how big Australia is, it’s almost comical how the world’s best ancient sailors missed it completely.”

“...Ah…! Do you think they maybe saw Australian wildlife and decided it wasn’t worth it after all…?”

“Yeah! Yeah! That’s it!”

If you look at a map of what the Austronesians discovered, you’ll find that one of their paths lies on Madagascar, Indonesia, and New Zealand. And in the middle of all of those is the continent of Australia, yet they never visited it.

Thus, the only real reason is because the spiders were too big for them to handle. With which I don’t blame them, I would turn tails and run away too.

“Hey, you two! Enough slacking around! You’re gonna be left behind.”

As we were both conversing on the matters of how in hell did they miss Australia, reality woke us back up.

It was break time on our patrol when Holmes and I decided to fix our gaze at the night sky above. Seeing the stars remind us how people back in the day used to interpret them. And that somehow led to the conversation of Australia.

“Alright, time to keep moving.”

“...Watson… Carry me…”

“I know, I know.”

It was day 4 of our nightly patrol.

On Wednesday, when it all began, Asahi suggested that we should check out some back alleys because a couple of footprints piqued her interest. We were all dragged into going on these missions, all 4 of us, including the underclassmen Arisu.

After day 1, she was persistent on letting this case go even though we didn’t find anything and nothing particular happened. Day 2 was the same, and so was day 3. And here we are on day 4, Saturday.

Truthfully, Holmes invited me to watch a show at Arisu's theater today but the schedule doesn't fit with Asahi’s club activities so we had to cancel it. That was the first time a girl had invited me out to someplace as well.

Now that I think about it, wasn’t it basically a date? But I’m pretty sure she only invited me because she needed to have someone to accompany her, but oh well.

Now, instead of going on that date, I’m here with Holmes on my back walking through a narrow alleyway in the dark with Arisu in front of me and Asahi leading the way. She wasn’t kidding when she said this place was narrow. Even bringing a wheelchair here is a pain, why would anyone use this passageway regularly?

And unfortunately, this alleyway is huge. It’s been public knowledge of how large this area is that people started calling it The Maze. It’s not uncommon to hear stories of children getting lost in it, but they always find their way out by themselves somehow.

“Hey, Asahi. Where are we going next?”

“Just turn this corner and the path should diverge to the east and west.”

From behind, we couldn’t see anything with 2 people in front of us. I’m the tallest in the group, but my eye level could only see Arisu’s head, nothing beyond.

“Okay, from here we turn left.”

For the record, we didn’t bring a map. No one had a map of this place to begin with, so we were all keeping track of where we were going in our heads. We’ve done this for the last 3 days so we thought it was fine.

“Okay, we made it to the next point of interest. Just like usual we wait here for 45 minutes until something happens.”

Asahi ordered us to sit and wait, basically. The spot she made us wait at is fairly larger than the tight corridors we were walking past. So it was a nice spot to take a breather.

That also means we get to see the stars more visibly.

“Whoa… There’s so many stars in the sky.”

“...It certainly is beautiful…”

There is also one more thing I’ve discovered living in the mountains. Away from the light-polluting city of Tokyo, you can see the natural beauty of the night sky more visibly. Although we didn’t get to go on that theater date, Holmes and I were casually stargazing in the alleyway.

“...I think I can see a part of Ursa Major from here…”

“Oh, really? Where?”

“...You see… There’s Alkaid, Alcor, Alioth… And then we can’t see more…”

“You say that but… It just looks like a bunch of dots in the sky to me.”

“... It does, doesn’t it...”

However, despite me not following where she was pointing, I’m still fascinated That Holmes knew all of this stuff.

She first mentioned it to me when we were on our first day of patrol when we both got bored and decided to look up. And from there she started telling me all of this, and I listened patiently.

“So what made you study Astronomy?”

“...I don’t actively study it… I only came across it from the books I read…”

“I see…”

Overhearing our entire conversation from start to finish was Arisu, who had been listening intently.

“This is quite marvelous indeed! Who would've thought that being born from one such imagination of a Greek astronomer thousands of years ago would result in modern people still discussing it! Isn’t that right, Senpai?”

“Oh, um yeah… I guess.”

For the rest of the patrol he had been mostly quiet, until now he hasn’t spoken up to us about much of anything. But now he decided it was the perfect time to add his own comment.

Despite not really interacting with anyone, he never seemed bored and kept a smile on his face at all times. During my observation of his facial features, I tried various methods trying to keep his dumb smile away for just a second. Yet they were all futile.

Now, why was I observing his facial features? Don’t ask silly questions. Anyone would’ve done the same if you have to see that face every day.

Yet he isn’t a bad kid either. Keeping him company can have its own benefits sometimes.

“Hey, you guys! If you keep getting yourself distracted, then you’ll miss it!”

And now here comes someone who is genuinely hard to deal with.

“Akagi-senpai, ‘tis alley is quite dark is it not? You cannot see more than 5 feet in front of you, can you not? Yet why does one still wear sunglasses in such a condition?”

“For protection, of course.”

Asahi flashed her signature thumbs up and a smile of confidence toward the confused Arisu

The hell kind of protection you get from that. Does she have a secret phobia against flashlights?

“Anyway, Sora-chan, you still can’t pick up any clues in this scene?”

“...Yes… For the past 4 days, nothing here has changed… No one has knocked over that bottle over there…”

She proclaimed as she pointed towards a dumpster bin with a bottle on the edge of the corner. If anyone were to touch it even slightly, it no doubt would’ve fallen.

“...That’s not all…”

She continued pointing towards several other seemingly normal items scattered about. They, just like the bottle, were supposed to be sensors for when anything comes close or touches it would surely fall over or break apart and she would notice. Yet they haven’t moved an inch.

“... So far, only Akagi-san is the one that has set off my traps…”

“Is that why I kept breaking everything I walk into?”

Asahi muttered something to herself before she continued.

“What if a mouse or some other animal came through and broke your stuff?”

“... If a mouse were to trip over that glass for example… Then they would most likely be scared of the noise before running off somewhere…And don’t underestimate my design… Those boxes and bottles weren’t placed randomly…”

“Hmm…”

Asahi wasn’t entirely convinced by Holmes, yet she trusted her words regardless.

“Well if you say so… Do you guys hear that?”

We all looked at Asahi in unison. Our curiosities were piqued from this boring and mindless walk in some dark alley. Clearly, she was the only one who heard the noise.

“Sounds like footsteps.”

“From where, behind us? In front of us?”

“Above us.”

“”“Huh?”””

All 3 of us reacted at the exact same time to her answer. If someone was behind or in front of us then there’s definitely someone else coming in this alley, and if the sounds came from the walls then it would be someone inside that very own building.

But above? Why would anyone be on the roof?

“Are you sure you heard something? Because I don’t.”

“Shhh, Clean your ears Izumi. Also, pipe it down would ya?”

Her next words suggested that we should talk in a quieter voice to not attract the attention of whatever was above.

“You sure it’s not a cat?”

“A cat ain’t that heavy to be making those sounds.”

I still couldn’t make out what to do in this kind of situation. I looked over my shoulder to see Holmes pondering to herself, her eyes deep in focus. While Arisu is doing about the same as well. Those two seemed to be taking this seriously so I might as well for their sake.

“It’s moving. Let’s follow it quietly.”

Asahi suggested we move out of that place and follow her through the not-so-empty alleyway now. We went to the direction opposite of where we came from and slowly but surely the alleyway became narrow again for only 1 person to be leading and the others would follow the lead from behind.

We walked steadily and quietly into the night, I tried my best to squeeze myself in between the walls so as to not squish me and Holmes all together.

Our pace gradually became slower and slower as Asahi slowed down, perhaps because the noises she was hearing became louder as the distance closed in. And I could start hearing what she was hearing before.

“It sounds like…There are multiple footsteps.”

I muttered to myself the thought I had just come up with. True to her words no cat would be heavy enough to make those noises, leaving the possibilities of only a certain few things.

“Hohoo! How exciting, something’s finally gonna happen. Arisu, get your camera ready.”

“Right away.”

Asahi couldn’t contain her enthusiasm for much longer and made sure Arisu,---the person whose abilities she was evaluating— took the one-in-a-million chance photo.

And unlike Asahi, he had a proper digital camera that was easy to carry and could produce good quality images. I knew this because when I took an image of her from a mile away I could still recognize her punchable face.

As we kept silently heading towards the noises, the distance was closing in, and the footsteps became gradually louder to the point where they sounded almost audible enough to sound like it’s next to us.

“Alright, just turn this corner here, and…”

Asahi was the first to go.

And then Arisu.

And then me and Holmes.

“Ow! Hey, why’d you stop?”

I bumped into the back of Arisu and nearly fell. I managed to stabilize because Holmes was holding both sides of the wall like a wheel on breaks.

“Look…”

As I got myself back up again, I could clearly see what was in front of me now.

What we thought was the direction where the noise was going, turned out to be no direction at all.

In front of us was a wall.

With the only flashlight in hand, Asahi pointed it towards all over the wall that blocked us. The mighty wall was towering high just like the others that make up this maze.

“A dead end?”

Asahi went over to touch the wall itself to prove it was indeed a wall.

Her pointer finger made contact with the wall.

“This wall feels like a wall.”

She then rubs her entire palm onto the wall to confirm that it is indeed a wall. And to further remove any kind of suspicion she knocks on the wall.

“This wall sounds like a wall.”

And lastly, she brought her entire head closer to the wall to…

“This wall tastes like a wall.”

“Stop licking the wall.”

Putting her questionable actions aside, it was confirmed that yes, indeed. It was truly, most certainly, positively, no doubt about it, 100%, a wall.

“Alright then, let’s find another way across—”

“Wait a moment.”

My suggestion was turned down immediately with Asahi still standing next to the wall.

“I didn’t notice it before but it sounds way more hollow than any wall I’ve seen.”

“Indeed, I hadn’t noticed it earlier either. It truly is a bizarre wall.”

“...Watson, can you get me closer to the wall please…? I want to inspect this wall…”

All 3 of them became curious about the wall wall wall wall wall wall wall—

“Ok, but can all of you stop saying wall please, I'm losing my mind.”

Hearing the same words over and over again was never pleasant for me to listen to and it became much clearer in the situation we’re in now.

“Please I beg all of you to broaden your vocabulary and choose another word.”

The room became silent one moment before all 3 of them collectively said:

“...Sure…”

They all didn’t know how to react to the mental breakdown I’m having, so they just slightly backed off from me.

“Anyway, you guys hear this odd behavior too right?”

Asahi then knocks on the wal– concrete structure to indicate something was definitely amiss with the wa– wind protector.

“...You’re right… It sounds rather empty and thin…”

“I feel like I can ram into it and break this thing down.”

She made another weird suggestion after Holmes gave her thoughts.

“If you do that I’ll leave your unconscious body here.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, still underestimating me huh, Izumi? I’ve been training to sleepwalk y’know? So I don’t need your help, I can walk to the hospital while being unconscious myself!”

…

…..

…….What?

If it were to be anyone else in the world that throwaway comment would’ve gone through my left ear and out on my right. But this is Asahi. If it’s her that says it, a part of me believes it might be true.

“Alright, here I go!”

“She’s actually doing it.”

We silently didn’t move an inch and simply watched the comedy skit unfold itself. The quiet room became quiet no more when her running start squeaked as loudly as it could against the stone surface below, reverberating against the whole room.

“---Oof…!”

She made contact with it.

“Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow”

She had turned her back on the surface so that her shoulder wasn’t the only one getting hit on impact, and also gave it more surface area.

“Wait a minute…”

Perhaps our eyes were playing tricks on us, or perhaps we were all really sleepy, but I could’ve sworn I saw the giant concrete mass wavering like a banner on a windy day.

I didn’t need to wait long to confirm my superstition.

Not long afterward the part that Asahi had rammed into also wavered, but more so in a stiffer movement. This wavering was more like something being rocked back and forth on unstable ground, and it could fall in either direction at any moment. The chances were 50/50, but of course, it fell in the worst direction it could be in.

“Senpai! Get back!”

Arisu was the first to notice as he immediately began dragging her weak body back to where we were. And not long after, the small piece of what she rammed into fell towards us.

With it, bringing down the banner-like material that was covering the passageway. Turns out it was a fake after all.

What she rammed into was a thin layer of bricks behind a massive banner.

“By my beard! This is one impressive paint job. It looks very realistic and way too convincing. I must know who was the one behind this right away!.”

While Arisu was praising the work of someone else, I, on the other hand, cannot comprehend what had just happened. And it appears that Holmes was frozen solid too.

“Ow ow ow—! Heh… On second thought, that wall tastes different than normal walls…”

Was that really enough to convince you to start running into it?

“We’ve been —ow— through this passageway —ow— before on the previous patrol days —ow—. Do you guys not remember that there was supposed to be a passageway here?”

This maze was way too big, way too dark, and everything looked so similar that I didn’t realize it. Only someone like Asahi who’s actually taking this seriously would’ve remembered such details.

“Well anyway, let’s keep moving.”

Oh right, I’ve completely forgotten that we were supposed to be chasing some noise.

I shook my head left and right to snap back to reality and continue moving forward. Arisu supported the limp Asahi as she tried to get back on her feet, which she eventually did.

We quietly continued our march, stepping over the fallen wall banner and turning several corners, before our ears were met with the voices of 2 people talking over on the next corner.

We took our steps much more carefully now.

Contrasting the dark corridors we’ve been walking in for the past few hours, the area beyond the corner was lit up pretty well, and we could see our surroundings more clearly.

It felt like any kind of disturbance could lead to an unpleasant ending. No one knew what was behind that corner, but everyone had a silent agreement that we shouldn't let that person on the other side of the corner know that we were here.

Asahi was the one in front, and she was the only one able to see on the other side of the corner. When she slowly but surely peeked she bottled as if an insect crawled on her back, and immediately retracted back.

We couldn’t even let out a simple “What is it?” in fear of being found out by whoever was there.

Instead, she gestured to Arisu at the camera.

“Give me that.”

Through her quiet command, he handed over his camera to her without question.

Now, here’s a question for ya. What do you think someone who has never held a digital camera would do? She’s been carrying that polaroid for a long time and something brand new as a digital camera would be like some weird alien concept to her.

Not only does she have to deal with new buttons, but there was also an entire monitor screen to boot. But it wasn’t as if she was completely unaware, she has done her research by stealing other people’s phone cameras. Which was how she knew the existence of the recording feature.

But a phone is a phone, and a camera is a camera. Both of them work in completely different manners.

All the way from the back, I could see Asahi fiddling with the device. Her expression says it all, I could easily read through her thought process.

“Damn, why does this thing have to be so complicated!”

“Uwaa, what did I do what did I press?!?!”

“This should be it… That wasn’t it!”

It should be something along those lines.

In the next moment, while I was having fun reading her mind, she pressed something and a loud mechanical *click* echoed through the tight corridor.

“Ah”

“””Ah”””

She accidentally took a picture.

“What was that?!”

A deep male voice roared on the other side of the corner. No kind of verbal communication was needed to indicate to everyone that danger was ahead, only the tone of that anger was enough.

Oh dear.

Part 2

In the next instant, Asahi tried pushing Arisu and subsequently me away furthest from where she was. But soon she didn’t need to do that as we started running away ourselves.

“...Akagi-san… Give me the flashlight…”

Holmes was helping me see the way with the only flashlight available. She didn’t bring her phone with her as she thought having her phone in the same vicinity as Asahi would mean danger, so she left it somewhere back in the club room.

I was at the front, which means I have to be the one deciding which path to take in the multiple corners this maze has, and frankly, I wasn’t paying much attention.

Running through a very narrow corridor while carrying someone on my back was taking its toll on me as I stumbled and constantly hit every wall and minor things thrown at me.

“...Ow…!”

“Sorry!”

And eventually, I had to make my first decision. There was a fork in the road and I couldn’t remember where we came from.

“Go right, Izumi!”

Luckily, there was someone who actually paid attention to the paths we took and knew exactly which one we had to take.

“Alright… Whoa, what?! Dead end?”

She said this way was where we came from, but a giant wall was blocking our way just like before.

Just like before…

“It’s a fake just run through it!”

No other choice than to follow her words. Nowhere to go but up I suppose.

I braced myself for impact in case what was in front of me was made out of concrete after all. However, just like Asahi said, it was a fake and I managed to get through the cloth-like material it was made from.

Taking a gamble is scary!

There was no time to reflect on what happened and calm myself down.

“Come back here!!”

The mysterious man was still chasing us. Whatever it was hidden behind that corner was something we definitely shouldn’t see. How defensive could he get? What did Asahi see?

Whatever it was, it’s gone now. That’s one more failure in Asahi’s stories for her newspaper.

Nevertheless, we still ran as fast as we could and tried navigating through the dark hallways. Occasionally, there would be a fork in the road and Asahi would tell us exactly where to go. And occasionally, there were things stopping us from advancing like those fake walls, but Asahi would always point to the ones that were fake.

“Wait wait, not that wall! That one's real!”

“Oh dear Christ that was close.”

After many challenges and a lot of sweat, we made it to the halfway point. We were at one of the many spots of interest where it was wide enough for 2 people to stand side by side and we could finally let Asahi be the one at the front again.

These spots of interest are also where Holmes sets her traps.

And a glass breaking could be heard.

“Hya—! Oh my god, I can’t believe that actually scared me.”

“No time to be scared Izumi, get a move on!”

“Hang on a minute.”

As we were trying to get out of this place as quickly as possible, Arisu stopped us to announce something.

“We could use the tight space to our advantage and trap him. Isn’t it exciting? It’s not nice to leave here empty-handed no?”

“Ho…? I like where this is going.”

Of course, only Asahi was interested in his proposal. Me and Holmes just wanted to get out of this place as quickly as possible.

“...Whatever you’re thinking of… Hurry on with it…”

“No need to panic, Kiyama-senpai. The Director can surely do it within seconds.”

If he calls Asahi the Director then he must’ve had high expectations for her huh?

“Anyway, I want you all to listen very carefully.”

He then went on to explain what he had on his mind. Arisu is a very artistic person. As an artist, he takes his work very seriously and dedicates a lot of time and effort to it. More than we would know.

Everyone in school seems to have a bad image of Asahi except for Arisu. I don’t know what or how that happened but we could really use someone like that in this situation right now.

Footsteps from the mysterious man that has been chasing us through the maze were getting louder and louder with each explanation. And as soon as he was done explaining, we began to execute the plan.

“It’s you isn’t it, Asahi-chan!?!?”

Well that guy is certainly on the right track.

Part 3

Heavy breathing could be heard in the deep darkness of the maze accompanied by heavy and quick footsteps.

He who has nearly been exposed was now chasing the one who is behind it all, Asahi Akagi.

The loud mechanical *click* says it all. No one ever would go to a place like this at this time of day, and even if someone did then he had made sure to bring in some protection.

He knew the existence of the Maze Masters, the ones who had been through this maze several times to remember what it looked like. They needn’t any map, they needn’t any guidance of any light. They could close their eyes and navigate through the entire maze swiftly.

By acquiring their help, he could fool wandering visitors out of the maze and lead them astray somewhere. They had the ability to create fake walls and passageways to confuse anyone who is not familiar with the layout.

And he thought he could get away with his secret.

Asahi saw what she didn’t expect to see. She probably already knew who the guy was based on his voice, but never thought of the possibility someone like him would ever do something like that.

But because she knew, she brought all of us in danger, and we all had to pay the same price to get the hell out of this situation.

However, luckily for us, we brought in a special someone perfect for this operation.

“Asahi-chan! you come back here!!!”

His name was Arisu Nagasawa, and he was an artist.

“Ready when you are.”

All artists have one thing in common, they strive for perfection.

“Will this really work?”

So let’s see just how flawless Arisu’s plan was…

“There is no doubt this will work, Satori-senpai.”

~~To be continued 15th August ch7, Nowhere to go but up~~