Camping Trip (Part 1)

A new day.
As the boy's eyes forced themselves to open, trying to fight his sleepiness, what awaited him was the same old room he had grown used to seeing nearly every day for the past 10 years or so.

His study desk, as messy as usual.
His rack was meant to keep books, but held more toys.
A small gaming console, which looked like it was actually cared for.

The windows in his room were curtained, not allowing much sunlight to enter, and so, the room was dim.
He sat on his bed, slouching, rubbing his eyes, and yawning obnoxiously.

A struggle many people deal with in their everyday life.
The struggle against the desire to say "Just 5 more minutes!" and crawl back into bed.

However, today's struggle didn't last as long as the other days.
For, today was a day he had been looking forward to for quite a while.

September 26th, 20XX.
Today was the day his class would be taken on a camping trip arranged by the school.
He removed the curtains, allowing his room to be overflowed with the light from the beautiful sunrise.
It tickled his eyes, and they instinctively closed, but when they adjusted themselves, he was more awake than ever, ready to start his day.

His footsteps were cheerful, as he went downstairs.
"Ah, Yoshi. Good morning."
Halfway down the stairs, he was greeted by a gentle voice. It was his mother.

"Mornin'."

"Is Risa still asleep?"
"Dunno. Isn't she downstairs?"
"She's not down here. Go check up on her."
"Roger. "

Even though she would be up and running by 7 am sharp in the morning on holidays, it was just like his sister to oversleep almost every day it was school.

He was definitely not amused by this attitude of hers.
Today was a special day.

He went back upstairs, with her room as his destination.
Knocking twice as per etiquette, he barged in with a loud bang after he got no response.

"Wake up, you lazybones!"
"Just 5 more minutes!"
"Not today."

He removed the curtains, and seized the bedsheet from her forcefully.

"What are you doing, you moron?!"
"I should be asking you the same!"

She wasn't all too happy about having her precious sleep time disrupted, and now she had been forced awake. She tried to cling to the bedsheets, keeping her eyes shut, but he started to pull her off the bed quite forcefully.
Unable to resist, she got off voluntarily and put him in a headlock.

"Will you stop that!"

After a solid minute of tussling, he eventually broke free.

"Look at the time, will you? You'll be late for school!"
"What do you mean, "I'll be late to school"? There's still 10 minutes before I usually wake up."

She wasn't lying.
To reach school on time without rushing, she could wake up 10 minutes from now, and be completely safe.

It was he who had gotten up earlier than usual.

"Anyways, mom is calling for you. Come downstairs, and make it quick."
"I'm coming, so shut up."

All sleepiness he had was washed away by that little scuffle, and he rushed back downstairs.

"Was she awake?"
"Nope. I shook her till she woke up."
"I'm surprised you were the one to wake up earlier than usual..."
"Is that so? Then I guess I deserve a compliment, don't I?"

He burst into a cheeky smile.
It was indeed admirable that he was finally starting to not rely on his parents for everything after spending 17 long years of his life doing so.

But asking for praise in that way eliminated all need for admiration.
Besides, it was questionable that he would continue to not rely on his parents for everything the next day, or the day after that.

"Completely ignored, huh..."

His mother, knowing him very well, spoke no more and silently continued with her day.
Because talking with him when he was in a playful mood would only serve to invite a long and pointless argument.

In the bathroom, he picked up his toothbrush, applied the toothpaste on it, and started brushing his teeth.
When he was done, he- Yoshiharu Takamori looked into the mirror, seeing his image reflected in it.

He was around 173 cm (5'8") tall with the average physique you would expect from a third-year senior in high school.
His brown hair was always properly trimmed, and only a few tufts of hair would droop down to his small forehead.

He had eyes as black as the night sky.
They were neither sharp nor gentle, but rather somewhere in the middle.
He had spent quite a bit of time trying to learn to curve his eyes both ways, which gave him the best of both worlds.
He could easily scare people if he straightened them, but he could also curve his eyes to make them appear gentler.
However, after he had mastered that ability, he did not have many opportunities to use it.

So, nearly every day, he would pointlessly practice in front of the mirror.
His parents would see him make faces in the mirror and then leave the bathroom looking all smug, and ended up developing a misunderstanding that their son might have grown up to be a narcissist.
Which was inevitable because he would often make sarcastic remarks praising himself.
However, Yoshi was not a narcissist.
And if his parents ever told him about this misunderstanding, he would deny it instantly.

Yoshi left the bathroom, quickly readied up, and went to eat breakfast.

"Good morning, Yoshi."
"Morning, Dad."

His father was quietly reading the newspaper on the sofa in the living room.
Yoshi sat down and his mother served him breakfast.
He ate with a certain impatience in his rhythm, enjoying it to the fullest regardless.

"You have your camping trip today, right?"
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."
His father smirked.
"Don't take your console there. It'll be a hindrance."

Gulp.

"I-I won't do that!"
He almost choked on his food.
"No I won't! .....Only if it gets too boring."

"That's the thing. If you take your console there, you'll miss out on many things, I'm sure."
Yoshi nodded quietly, although he had no intention of actually obeying his father.

After finishing up, he left for his school with a skip and a hop.

"Good morning, Yoshi..."

That was the last voice he heard before he suddenly experienced a sharp impact on his back.

All 33 of his backbones broke.
It felt like a truck hit him at full speed.
He fell on his face and his soul left his body to depart for the heavens.

Behind him, a person started panicking.
He grabbed the flying soul, which had a dead smile on its face, and shoved it back into Yoshi's body. A second later, he started breathing again, alive and well.
The pain in his back was still sharp, but it was much more bearable now.

He got up weakly and turned around.
Behind him, the person who had practically resurrected him from the dead, was standing with a small smile with his hand rubbing the back of his head, as a sign of guilt.

"Ummm... Good morning...?"
"That hurt, you know..."

Yoshi muttered, rubbing his back, with slight traces of anger in his voice.
This person- Misoku Miyashita was also the cause of Yoshi's state.

Misoku was Yoshi's best friend who studied in the same class as him.
He was about 6 cm (2") taller than him, slightly taller than average.
He was stronger than Yoshi, even though his build was a little skinnier.
His grey hair resembled Yoshi's hairstyle quite closely, with the exception that it was never seen drooping over his forehead.

He had gentle azure eyes as clear as the blue sky, which combined with his hairstyle, gave off a really refined aura.
However, contrasting his appearance, Misoku was quite a reclusive person.
He was a headstrong person, who always knew exactly what he was supposed to do.

His only known weakness was Yoshi.
He would go out of his way to keep him out of danger, much like an overprotective mother.
Some classmates would jokingly call Misoku Yoshi's bodyguard because of this.
But he never seemed to mind it.
Rather, he seemed to take pride in it.

Seeing Yoshi's soul go out of his body because of a mere backslap nearly threw Misoku into a shock. However, seeing him alive and well, he was relieved.

"Sorry, Yoshi. I guess I put too much into that backslap."
"You're too excited! Also, I thought I told you not to call me Yoshi!"
"Sorry, It just naturally came out of my mouth-"

The next moment, he started apologizing, bowing repeatedly, until Yoshi asked him to stop.

"Well, overlooking the fact that you back-slapped me pretty damn hard and called me that-"

When Yoshi said that, Misoku felt a chill run down his spine.
The voice carried a dangerous passive-aggressive tone that could scare even gods.

"-I am fine now, and I can't say I don't share your excitement, so I'll have to forgive and forget here."

His voice loosened up and returned to its original tone, which was a relief for Misoku.
For a moment, he thought that this was going to be his last day on this planet.

"Then, let's go!"

With that declaration, the two frolicked their way to school.

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Because of the forest camp, the same excitement was shared by nearly the entire class.
Most of them were practically slacking off and chatting amongst themselves in the classes, waiting eagerly for the bell to ring.
They weren't particularly scared of the teachers shouting at them.

Some of the students were worried that the trip would get canceled, but they had a naïve way of thinking. After spending tons of money on buying fishing rods, firewood, and other essentials, there was no way the school could afford to cancel the trip.
And, of course, most of the students who were making noise had this simple fact figured out.

Right on the mark, the bell rang and everyone was called to gather on the school grounds.
Everyone here meant all the third-year classes.

Before the students were allowed to board the buses, all the important instructions regarding safety were given out.

Normally, Yoshi was not the kind of person to listen to them seriously.
But today, he felt like acting more mature, by listening to all the instructions.
However, he just looked like an eager child with how his eyes were sparkling, how he was bending forwards, and how his hands were folded throughout the speech.

After the safety and general instructions were given out, the students were divided into groups. The students in a group had the responsibility of helping each other out and working together. Yoshi's group consisted of him, Misoku, Nakajima, and Teruki, supervised by a teacher named Mr. Ichiro.

Nakajima was a classmate of Yoshi and Misoku.
He was of average build, but a little shorter than Yoshi, making him around 170 cm (5'7").
With hair that had been dyed a deep blue with brown eyes, he easily contrasted the usual first impression anyone would get from him.

For all he thought of, was how to get popular with girls, which he spectacularly failed at even after his valiant efforts at chivalry.
In short, he played around too much, although in vain.
Forgetful and easily excited by anything even remotely associated with the concept of the opposite sex, Yoshi had no idea how he had managed to dig his way into his friend circle.
However, he made for interesting company, and that was an undeniable truth.

Teruki was also a fellow classmate of Yoshi and Misoku.
He was pretty buff, and was just as tall as Misoku, making him 178 cm (5'10").
He had blonde hair which well complimented his amber eyes.

He loved to crack jokes, and he loved to have a good laugh at them.
All in all, he was a really chill guy to hang around with.
Reliable and compassionate, it was hard to find any flaws in him, save only for his trusting nature, and his average intelligence.

However, he made up for it with his hard work.
He was truly a model student, someone to look up to.
Being so down to earth, he was not someone whose level of perfection could be reached so easily by anybody.

At least, that was Yoshi's impression of him.

For the record, Misoku was originally instructed to be in another group.
His request to be in Yoshi's group was a spectacle to watch.

His voice which carried all the collective sorrow in the world, contrasted with his serious expression, was a sight to behold.
It would have been impossible to imagine that he was the top student in the class.
However, no one was too surprised by it though.

They had already gotten used to such occurrences in the past 3 years they had spent together.
It was more like they were expecting something like this.

Yoshi had to experience much second-hand embarrassment due to this happening on multiple occasions. After causing much ruckus, they finally boarded the bus, which took off for the city border, from where the forest camp was not too far away.

"Miso, can you knock it off already? That was extremely embarrassing, you know..."
Yoshi couldn't help but lash at Misoku the moment they got seated.
"What happened?"
Misoku tilted his head, looking confused.

-He really forgets anything that's inconvenient for him, huh...
Thinking that, Yoshi let out a heavy sigh.

"Teruki, help me out here!"
"You should probably give up."
"What? I hate this..."

Teruki was not going to be any help.
Well, it was more like, even if he agreed to help, the situation wouldn't change that much.
Misoku was not going to be hinged by anything.

"Ah, how I wish this year would end! I'll run away to college!"
"Which one?"
"Any of them will do."
"By the way, which ones do you prefer?"
"If I had to say, I would say East Side, Rev- wait..."

Yoshi looked to his back, seeing Teruki trying to hold back his laughter.
He turned to face Misoku, growing more frightened by the second.
"Please continue."
"For god's sake!"
What he saw was Misoku, his hands full with a pen and a notepad.

The moment their eyes met, Teruki couldn't hold it in him any longer and burst out laughing.
"Seriously..."
"I told you you should probably give up... He'll follow you to the ends of the earth."
"It's scary how accurately I can picture that in my head."
Yoshi sighed again.

"You wouldn't do that, right? You have your dreams to fulfill, don't you?"
Yoshi asked meekly.
Misoku had insisted on studying law, and had even argued with his parents over it.
That was the level of determination he had possessed, and Yoshi could attest to it.

- He wouldn't throw away his dream for me, would he?

"I was joking. Of course, I have places I want to go."
Yoshi breathed heavily, relieved.
"But, I would like it if we stay in contact even after parting ways."
"Yeah, that would be an agreeable compromise."

Yoshi had no specialty, nor any particular interest in an occupation, so when he was asked to decide on a future goal, he would reply with, "I'm fine with whatever..." with a shrug.
On the other hand, Misoku already had a planned path in life.
Apparently, he was even working part-time to earn money, so as to reduce the monetary burden on his parents.

Sometimes, Yoshi would wonder if Misoku was omnipresent and omnipotent.

He looked up to him, even though Misoku was the same age as him.
On the other hand, he had absolutely nothing.
Not he could call himself good at, and nothing he could call himself bad at either.

He could pick up anything with relative ease, be it any useful talent, or some useless party trick.
Everyone who knew about this ability would call it amazing.
However, his ability had one fatal flaw, which only his parents and Misoku knew about.

He could never surpass that one wall.
The wall separated the average and the skilled.
Without being able to surpass that wall, his talent was useless.
He was destined to be a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

Realizing that pretty early on, he had lost interest in pursuing anything seriously, and along with that went his self-confidence.

His sarcastic attitude about praising himself unconditionally was subconsciously born from his inferiority complex, as a defense mechanism to protect him from straying further into the darkness known as self-doubt.

He started spending his time learning anything that would catch his interest, all of which ended up being a bunch of useless abilities.

Thinking about that, he boarded his train of thoughts heading towards the negativity station.
By the time he realized that his thoughts were going nowhere, they had already reached their destination.

Yoshi slapped his cheeks lightly to snap out of it.
"Hey, are you ok?"
Which, naturally, brought him the concern of Misoku.

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The sweet scent of the forest tickled Yoshi's nostrils, blowing away all of his worries, and replacing them with a sense of excitement.
In front of him, it was a combination of dark green and brown all over the place, stretching infinitely to as far as he could see.

It was just as he had pictured it in his head- no, even better than that. He wanted to shout loud into the forest for no apparent reason.
And that, he did.
People giving him weird stares wasn't really a problem. Or rather, had stopped being a problem long ago.
For, the most important part about having fun, according to him, was to never hold back.

The trees were really tall and had lots of branches near the top.
The sheer amount of leaves blocked all sunlight from breaking through the canopy they formed, like an impenetrable barrier.

Yoshi found it beautiful; however, Misoku was of a different opinion.
"Hmmm... The trees have accumulated quite a bit. I hope they cut a few of them down."
Yoshi did not like the idea of his best friend supporting the idea of deforestation, even though that was not what he was suggesting.

"Miso, isn't that deforestation? You should know better than anyone that it is bad for the environment."
"When did I suggest deforestation? I said that only the extra trees should be cut down."

-Yoshi took mental damage from that.

"And how is it going to be of any use?"
Trying to hide his embarrassment, Yoshi tried to change the topic by retorting to a different part of Misoku's claim, not realizing just how foolish his question was.
"Simple. If you don't cut down the excess trees, they will block the sunlight and stop the growth of new trees, which is a bad sign for the future of the forest."

-Yoshi took mental damage from that.

"Ah, I t-totally knew about that, haha..."
He tried to cover it up with a forced smile, accompanied by a shaking voice.
"You didn't."
"He didn't."
Nakajima and Teruki, who were enjoying Yoshi's struggle silently, spoke up together.

-Yoshi took mental damage from that.

"Ah, screw it! I didn't know that. There! Are you happy now?"
Not being able to keep it inside him anymore, Yoshi self-destructed.
"You would know that if you actually paid attention in class."
Misoku calmly replied, but his eyes spoke otherwise as they glared at Yoshi.

Yoshi gulped, realizing that if he didn't choose his next words carefully, he wouldn't be getting out of this pinch any time soon.
So, he decided to shut down the conversation altogether.

"Sorry, I'll pay more attention in the next class."
Everyone present there knew that that was a lie because Yoshi had uttered the same promise countless times in these 3 years, not being able to fulfill it even once.
He just couldn't focus in class for more than 15 minutes, even when he tried his best.

"If you actually did that, I guarantee that you would have gotten into the top 5 in our class. Heck, if you even got serious today, you can get into the top 10. It's abnormal that you can score above 60, considering how much you pay attention in class...", Nakajima commented.
If Yoshi tried seriously, he could easily achieve such goals.

"Let's not go there..."
But he just didn't want to.
"If I were you, I'd give up. I've known him since middle school, and I've given up trying to convince him."
Misoku said to Nakajima.

Trying to distract himself, Yoshi started to look around, hoping to sneak a glance at some wild animals.

-I mean, we have come to a forest. Watching out for wild animals is a must...

He did not know what kind of animals lived near the edge of the forest since this was his first time here, so he had no idea what to expect.

He caught sight of a bird with pale green wings, a grey-colored head that had a patch of bright red on its back, and a signature pointy beak, which left no room for doubt.
It was a woodpecker, flying deeper into the forest.
Yoshi could not see it, but it had a worm in its mouth, probably as lunch for its young ones.

He was also able to spot some frogs easily since the forest was damp from the rain.
They ended up being a source of disgust for him, though, since he was not too fond of slimy creatures.

As he was busy trying to forget the sight of the frogs, Nakajima spoke up.
"Man, I am seriously disappointed... Why did we have to be divided into groups? What's so great about it?"
He suddenly started grumbling, surprising the group.

"Hm? What are you talking about... I couldn't quite hear you."
Yoshi tilted his head, which flipped a switch inside Nakajima.
"You don't get it, do you, Yoshi? I want to talk to some girls! Isn't this the perfect atmosphere for romantic situations? If I was lucky, I could get myself a girlfriend! Of course, if not for these stupid groups!"

Ignoring the fact he was shouting some really outrageous stuff, he did not seem to be enthusiastic about how the groups were formed. Or perhaps he hated the idea of having groups in the first place, even if for questionable reasons.
"Now that you say it, it does make sense...!"
"Ahhhhhh....."
"Don't just agree to it."
Yoshi and Teruki seemed to agree with Nakajima, while Misoku sighed weakly.

"Ah, right. I remember you were talking about confessing to Michiru. I haven't heard the news from you yet."
Yoshi's eyes almost twitched visibly at the mention of that name.
"But, you don't seem like you are dating... Did you get rejected? Or did you chicken out?"

Yoshi had declared that he would confess to a girl named Michiru in his class.
"Ah... about that... I got somewhat rejected."
Yoshi said bluntly, drooping his shoulders in a dramatic and overexaggerated manner.
Nakajima's face twisted into a smug smile as he made sounds like "Ehhh~" and "Hmmm~".

"It's not like that, ok! She didn't reject me completely! There were circumstances! If not for them, I'm sure I had a chance!"
"Is that so~? What happened~?"
Nakajima was almost enjoying himself now.

He had to vent out his frustration in some way, after all. And unfortunately, Yoshi ended up as his target of choice.
"I hate that you show no signs of believing me... But well, the story went somewhat like this..."
And so, Yoshi pulled everyone present into his flashback...

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Let's start from the beginning.
There was this girl Yoshi had a crush on.

Her name was Michiru. A beautiful name.
She was in the same class as Yoshi. Convenient.

Comparing her to Yoshi, she'd be 8 cm (3") shorter, making her near about 165 cm (5'5") in height. Just around average.

She had a slender and delicate figure, with skin that had a peach-ish tint to it.
She had straight, waist-length black hair tied loosely with a band, with bangs barely above her fine eyebrows and strands of her hair beside those bangs which reached slightly past her chest, and wore square frame pink glasses over her blue eyes. Pretty cute.

As for personality, she was a rather... aloof and spacey person.
She wasn't too rude to others, and it wasn't like she was emotionless.
She could even keep up a proper conversation with others.

But, initiating conversation did not seem to be her strong suit.
Without initiation, she would make absolutely no effort to be involved with others.
She would wear headphones nearly all the time, even during classes sometimes. It did get her into trouble sometimes, but every time it was just that she forgot to remove them before the class started.

However, to Yoshi, even with her quirks, she was cute and her behavior was sort of... cool.
Out of all the girls in his class, she would definitely be his top pick.

With the end of his school life approaching rapidly, he decided to finally gather his courage and ask her out.
He used the most cliché method for a confession. A love letter.
Not forgetting to write his name, of course.

At evening, she arrived at the rooftop of the school, a prime location for a confession, under the protection of the rays of the orange sunset.

Her gaze seemed to indicate that she wanted to say something, but the words just wouldn't come out.
Every second of silence was like torture, like his heart was going to explode.

Even though there was no one else present, it still took a lot of courage to say the three words.

-I like you.

All words he had prepared beforehand had failed him, and he uttered those words out, stuttering slightly. And even that left him breathless.

There was a shimmer in her eyes. He couldn't face her troubled look, which was too adorable for this world, and looked away, scratching his head.

In that moment of awkwardness, both were blushing to the tips of their ears, fidgeting with their fingers awkwardly, no more words coming out of their mouths.

Then...

Suddenly, a chill went through Michiru's spine and she went into vibration mode, as she had felt some sort of murderous intent.

Absolutely terrified, she said, "Ummm... I think I'll pass on your offer."

Shock ran through him.

Had he really done something that would make her hate him?
Even though he admitted to being a total slacker on the inside, he still tried to conduct himself appropriately around other people.
Then, did she have personal issues that would lead her to refuse?

He asked, "Why?", with a hint of desperation.

To which she replied:
"Because from behind you, someone is looking at me with murderous eyes, which clearly say 'If you say yes here, your plane of existence will be erased.' "

-That's a very specific look! That aside, how can you tell with such precision?!

He wanted to retort, but held it inside. Apparently, there was someone behind him.

-Eavesdropping? Probably out of curiosity. Sure is a weird time to be at school...

He looked behind him with disappointment and a bit of saltiness at having his moment ruined.
And, there he saw Misoku staring at them with cat-like eyes.

"What even is that?!"
"That's the unluckiest thing I've heard of!"

Yoshi's story was cut-short, as Nakajima and Teruki both burst into seemingly obnoxious laughter. He couldn't blame them, though. The situation was just that bizarre.
That, however, did not make him feel better in the slightest.

"Seriously! If this goes on, I'll probably be single my entire life!"
"That might be a stretch, but I won't deny the possibility."
"Live strong, bro."

Nakajima tried to console Yoshi as he patted his shoulder.

"Can you stop? You're making me depressed."

"Ah... speaking of depression, Misoku?"
Nakajima called out to Misoku, who was- as you expected, walking without a care in the world as if their conversation right now never happened.

-Wait, how is depression related to him in any way? That is not the face of someone even remotely related to depression. He is the embodiment of carefreeness...

Misoku turned around, replying with a casual, but emotionless "What is it?".
"Do you have a person you like?"

-Once again... How is depression related to any of what you said?!

"A person I like... Isn't it obvious that it's Yoshi?"

Misoku replied innocently, not realizing that they were talking about girls here.
However, the impact of that statement was immense.

Teruki's face warped in disbelief as he said "I didn't know you swung that way..."
Nakajima burst out into laughter, this time tears forming in his eyes, screaming "I can't! I can't! It hurts!".
Yoshi's face went beet red as he instantly looked away.

"That's not what we meant! We were asking whether there is a girl you like..."

Yoshi tried to clear up Misoku's confusion about their respective reactions.
Although he was fairly sure that this was not a good idea either.

"Girls, huh... There is none that I have taken a liking to, though. As long as Yoshi is here, I don't really need them..."

Another casual statement pushed their reactions to the 2nd level.
Teruki's expression changed into one of disgust as he screamed "So you really do swing that way!".
Nakajima fell to the ground, laughing so hard his face would fall off if he stopped.
And Yoshi's face went scarlet red as he couldn't take the embarrassment.

"I know you guys are young and all, but can you keep it down? What'll you do if someone ends up hearing you?"

Mr. Ichiro cut in, seemingly fed up with them rambling to no end about pointless things.

"You say that sir, but inside, aren't you also frustrated? About not being able to see Ms. Akatsuki, that is."
"W-W-W-W-W-What are you talking about?! That's definitely not the case!"
"Sir, you are hopelessly easy to read, as always."

Misoku said, shaking his head. Nakajima's comment had hit the bullseye.

-Mr. Ichiro took mental damage from that.

Yoshi felt a little bad about Mr. Ichiro, who was always getting teased like that.

As the group continued teasing Mr. Ichiro, he spotted a bunch of spiders, who were crawling into their holes, as if disturbed by the unexpected company.
It was actually quite understandable behavior for Yoshi, even though he couldn't help but be a teeny bit disappointed.

If he saw a group of unknown creatures roaming in his area, he'd hole up in his house too, and wait for them to leave.

Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind.

"Hey Naka, look what I found!"
Yoshi called out to Nakajima, faking an excited voice and holding back a grin.
"Huh? Let see, let me see..."

Nakajima stopped with his aggressive teasing and turned to look, completely unsuspecting.
The moment he saw the spiders, a scream echoed throughout the forest, and the teasing was completely forgotten.

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Author's Corner:

Alrighty, that's the first chapter!
This is just to give an introduction to the characters and set things up for the next chapter.

Also, this is "Part 1" of the initial "Chapter 1" I wrote in my rough draft, and there are three parts of this chapter in total.
The next one is the longest part, and I absolutely do not look forward to starting on it.

Here's a secret:
Michiru's glasses are fake. They are just blue light glasses.
No idea why she wears them to school.