Camping Trip (Part 3)

When he woke up, he saw his hands and legs all spread out wide outside the blanket.
He had properly crawled into the bed, or so he remembered, so the only logical explanation would be that he was twisting and turning around like crazy.

He felt a little cold.
However, it was nothing too significant.

It was quite dark in the tent, so while he could see the boundaries of the tent, he couldn't see anything else.

He looked at the time on his phone.
1:34 AM.

-Not the best time to wake up. Gotta go back to sleep...

Despite what he thought, he went out to stretch.
He knew that it could be dangerous.
But it was ok as long as he didn't go beyond the fence.

As he looked up, he saw several broken rays of beautiful white with a slight tinge of blue.
They didn't illuminate the place too much, since they were few in number.
However, that didn't diminish its beauty.

It was the moonlight, being blocked by the canopy of the trees.
If he remembered correctly, today was supposed to be a full moon.

After a good long stretch, he felt alive.
The air was especially sweet at night, for some unknown reason.

The pleasant atmosphere was extremely bewitching, trying to tempt him into abandoning his thoughts of returning to the tent.

Fortunately, Yoshi had enough self-restraint to not let those temptations get to his head in the face of night, and headed back to the tent.

His eyes had adjusted to the darkness in this short period of time, so he was able to decipher the contents of the tent better than he could have a few minutes ago.

Nakajima was in quite a similar state to Yoshi when he woke up, with his hands and legs spread out wide, sleeping soundly with light snoring.
He could catch a cold if he wasn't in his blanket in a proper way... Thinking that, Yoshi fixed up his sleeping position, with certain consideration to not wake him up.

Teruki slept in a perfectly still position, with not a sound coming from him.
Sleeping with him would probably be one of the easiest things to do.

However, seeing him so still was a cause of concern.
He looked like he was sleeping like a corpse, not a log.

Mr. Ichiro was sleeping in a similar manner to Teruki, except for random sleep talking.

And, Misoku was... Huh?

Where was Misoku?

Yoshi looked around, with no one else to be found in the tent other than the aforementioned people sleeping peacefully.

That left one simple possibility. Misoku wasn't inside the tent.
That fact embedded a sense of foreboding into Yoshi, and his sleepiness was washed away instantly.

The Misoku inside of Yoshi was not a reckless person.
He wouldn't go out in a forest alone in the middle of the night.
Everything he knew about Misoku pointed to this conclusion.

However, his eyes denied it.
He left the tent with a look of endless worry on his face, his eyes all scrunched up.

-What if he got lost?

He thought of the worst, but something in his mind brushed it away.
That something was the image... no, the trust that Misoku was a rational person.

No matter how... eccentric he could be, he was not irrational, and very well knew the dangers of loitering in a forest, especially when he had been instructed by an adult.

Whatever his reason may be, his first priority was to search for him.
How to begin the search?
He thought of going to the other camps for a start, but another location caught his attention.

-The stargazing patch!

Of all the places, this was the one place that had interested him the most.
There was a good chance he could be there.

And if he wasn't, you could bet Yoshi wouldn't let the entire class sleep that night.
He only vaguely remembered the way there, but he forced the directions out of his brain and started running in an unsteady manner.

For right now, he could only think of finding his best friend.

Now that he was more conscious, the patch seemed like it was half the distance away from the tent than what he felt like when he went there for the first time.
When he reached the patch, he saw Misoku's figure clearly reflected in the moonlight that broke through the free space not covered by the treetops.

"Miso... ku...?"

Yoshi spoke in a quiet voice, as he approached the boy in front of him, who had clearly ignored the instructions of elders and wandered into the forest late at night, and had made Yoshi worry needlessly. However, his voice had slowly trailed off, as if he were asking a question.

Misoku looked like he was getting up from a sleeping position.
The shock in his eyes was very apparent, a rare emotion he hadn't shown in a long time.

He immediately stood up and ran in the opposite direction.

"No! Don't come here! Stay away!"

"... Huh?"

The clearly terrified voice pierced Yoshi's ears relentlessly. It planted a seed of anguish in Yoshi's heart as he tried to comprehend the meaning behind those words.

Why was Misoku trying to run away?
Did he do something wrong?

In the meanwhile, Misoku suddenly jumped to his right, and picked up the pace.
Seeing that, Yoshi realized that this wasn't the time to indulge in idle thoughts, and gave chase.
And deeper into the forest they ran, for reasons beyond Yoshi's understanding.

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Misoku was a really fast runner.
Not only was he physically fitter than Yoshi, but he also had slightly longer legs, which gave him the advantage of being able to take longer steps.

Yoshi had never once in his life beaten Misoku in a foot race.

And that was made even more clear as Misoku kept on gaining distance while Yoshi fell behind, even though he was running at full throttle.

But, Yoshi was managing to continue running by his willpower alone.

His breaths were starting to get ragged.
His thighs began to start hurting.

He had reached his top speed, and was spending nearly all of his energy maintaining that speed.

The flow of wind, combined with his speed made it really hard for him to take in much oxygen.
The lack of oxygen resulted in the inability to produce sufficient amounts of energy in the body, most of which got utilized in keeping his legs going.

Almost no oxygen was spared for the brain, which resulted in him getting sluggish, all of his senses diminishing by the second.

His eyes dried up, only for him to close them, open them all wet, and then them getting all dried up again.

He could occasionally hear loud voices, but he put them all aside.
It didn't matter.

He got scratches all over his body from stray branches. It didn't matter.
But there was no pain.
It was all written over by the adrenaline.

His brain was heavy, draining him of the capability of rational thought.
His heart was beating so fast, it wouldn't be weird for it to explode any minute.
It didn't matter.

He was nearing the boundaries of unconsciousness, the one thought of catching up to Misoku keeping him going, and one other thought.

Why?

Why was he running from Yoshi?
Why was running deep into the forest?
What could possibly be his reasoning behind this?

Even though he had no time to spend on such thoughts, he pondered.
But no matter what, he could not understand.
Or rather, he had too little energy to spend on thinking.
It didn't matter.

Misoku was still running up ahead.

All the twists and turns Misoku took made Yoshi's head spin.

The fact that he had not lost sight of him, even though the clear difference in their speed, was unbelievable.

He would really collapse if he was made to run any longer.
Although, to say he would collapse if he stopped right then and there would not be incorrect either.

But even so, he kept on running.
Suddenly, Misoku came to an abrupt halt.

Yoshi slowed down as well, and all the fatigue started catching up to him.
His body threatened to give up there, but he focused on having a proper word with Misoku.

Only then would he allow himself to collapse.

It was then, that he was able to take a proper breath.
He couldn't taste the air, but it was delicious nevertheless, and he craved for it more and more as his breaths got deeper.

Slowly, the world cleared up, as his brain got lighter.
The weight wasn't lifted completely, but it was a comparably more manageable level than before.

He looked at Misoku, who bore an even more shocked look on his face.
He still couldn't understand why Misoku ran all that way, or why he stopped suddenly, even when he clearly had enough strength in him to run more.

Not even after the gears in his head had started to turn.

He tried to initiate conversation, but his throat was so dry, that no voice came out.
He looked into Misoku's eyes as blue as truth itself, which had shrunk more than what you would think was humanly possible, and saw... not himself, but something else reflected in them.

He turned his own eyes towards where he thought lay Misoku's attention.
And, everything fell into place instantly.

The sight was horrifying.

He was unable to accept that what he was looking at right now could exist in this world.
Not that he could see clearly in that darkness.

And from there, a surreal amount of bloodlust overflowed.
Yoshi wasn't used to sensing bloodlust in others, but being exposed to this much of it, it would be absurd to not be able to feel it.

His danger alarms were running off as he fell into a panic.
It was only a moment before he instinctively turned his eyes away.

His subconscious rejected the sight.
Even if he tried, he couldn't look at them.

Yes, them.

Because there was not one, not two, but dozens of them right there.

Yoshi hadn't been able to notice them during the chase due to his tunneled and blurry vision.
Even if he had seen them, he would have ignored them due to not being able to understand what they were, or what threat they posed.

At that moment, when he finally grasped the gravity of the situation, it clicked.

Misoku was simply trying to protect Yoshi and the others.
He was distracting those... it would be best to refer to them as 「things」.
So, Misoku was distracting those 「things」 to protect those in the camps from harm.

The method, on the other hand, was unacceptable.
Yoshi couldn't approve of self-sacrifice in the situation.

It made him sad.
It made his heart hurt.

Especially considering the person in front of him.
Even though it was very characteristic of Misoku to think of something like this.

Although, one thing remained a mystery.

Why had Misoku stopped there, then?

Why?
Why was this happening?

He didn't understand. He really didn't.
What he didn't understand was not just the reason why this was happening, but also the reason why this was happening right in front of his eyes.

Couldn't this happen somewhere else?

Wouldn't it be better if he hadn't followed him all the way here?

He couldn't bear to watch. But, he couldn't turn his eyes away.
He felt that if he didn't see, he couldn't forgive himself.

He couldn't do anything in that situation.
Was it really going to end like that?

All of it, in one moment, just like that? Was he going to let it end like that?

He couldn't stand it. He wanted to reach out.
He wanted to reach his hand out and grab Misoku and if he could, he would drag him home.

Then, he would scold him for running off like that.
But then, they would make up, and laugh it off, returning to their normal lives afterward.

But he couldn't do any of that.

They were just fleeting wishes.

His feet... they were trembling.
They refused to move, as if he was not the one controlling them.

His hands... they were sweating too.
No matter how hard he tried, they did nothing but vibrate helplessly.

Or so they felt like, but he knew.
Deep down, he didn't want them to move.
If they moved, he'd embrace the same fate as what he was witnessing.
If he dared to move them... he would die.

Right now, staying still was the best option, according to his instincts, which were running wild.

He felt pathetic.
Seeing even a sight like that wasn't enough for him to get moving.

But, he couldn't help it.
For, right now, he was scared more for his own life than for Misoku's.

He didn't know what death brought. And, that terrified him.

Not just him, most humans who walk the planet share this fear.
But, he still had compassion for others.
He tried to swallow up his fear to make his body move, but it wouldn't listen to him.

His heart... hurt.
Well, it was obvious that it would.

The illusion that he could give up his life if he could save others, the illusion that he loved his friends more than his life was broken right in front of him.

It was simple.
Yoshi was unable to give up his life even if it increased Misoku's chances of living.
And that made him want to throw up.

His head... was empty.
Not as in unable to think anything. Not at all.
It was full of conflicting thoughts. It was full of mixed emotions.

His head was empty in the sense that it was unable to think of anything that could change this situation.

As the stalemate continued, there was an unexpected occurrence.
Misoku suddenly fell and... disappeared?

-Where did he go?

Yoshi couldn't imagine Misoku being so superhuman that he would be able to slip out of this situation, even though Yoshi's eyes were glued onto him.

Neither did the motion represent the action of running away.
It was then that Yoshi realized why Misoku had decided to stop at that location.

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There was a cliff behind Misoku.

He had been forced into a dead end.
And, he fell off.

Carelessness?

Yoshi didn't think of that being the cause.

He... didn't think of... anything.
Or, more accurately, he couldn't think of anything.
His mind had gone blank from the shock.

Did Misoku say anything when he fell?

He couldn't hear. He didn't want to hear.

For a moment that seemed to last forever, he felt nothing.
That feeling of nothingness, it forced itself into his brain as if to deny what happened.
That in itself was strange, considering how important Misoku was for him.
They were practically inseparable.

And that remained true... to the very end.

Although, what good was it, if it had to end this way?

Slowly, the nothingness got painted over by an intense feeling of loss.
It was when he finally regained control of his body, when his emotions got the better of his overwhelming fear.

He stretched out his hand as he ran to the cliff.

It was a suicidal act.
But, so was being here in the first place.

The least he could ask for was to die with as few regrets as possible.

He looked down and saw Misoku's body really far down, still alive and kicking.
But, there was blood trickling out from every part of his body imaginable.

Could he survive?

Yoshi concluded that there was a chance, but he had to be given medical attention as soon as possible.

It was not too fatal, but it would be if he was left alone.
There was still a glimmer of hope left.

Yoshi then turned around.
He saw those 「things」 waiting for him.

Intense anger scorched his insides as his eyes fell on them.
He still couldn't keep them open for more than a second after looking at them.

Those 「things」 looked at him with crimson, bloodshot eyes.
Those eyes, whether on a human, animal, or any other being, were a definite sign of madness.

Madness, which made it feel like they were not being themselves.

Yoshi wondered, did he have those same eyes, the ones he saw on the 「things」 he despised the most right now. But, even so, he was slightly thankful for those sadistic 「things」 for letting him straighten out his thoughts.

The atmosphere, which reeked of bloodlust made another attempt to freeze his body.

But he would no longer falter.

Because he had a goal.
Because it was a race against time.

At that moment, Yoshi was the most awake he had ever been.

He bit his lip, and blood poured out readily from the cut, filling the insides of his mouth, forcing him to spit it out.
The pain cleared his brain, and he started turning its gears to its utmost limit, trying to calculate the best move here.
He had realized that he couldn't think clearly while running, so all the thinking was to be finished right here and now.

What was the shortest possible route he could take to reach Misoku?
Yoshi cursed himself for thinking of using the Maps app as a joke at such a time.
For now, he decided to run in one direction along the cliff until he came across a descent, after which he would head down to Misoku.

What were the chances he would be followed by those 「things」 if he started running?
Nearly a hundred, he concluded.
They weren't making a move as of now, but the threat they posed even now seemed to harbor doubts in him.
Doubts that they would stay that way no matter what he did.

What could he do about those 「things」 if they tried to interfere?
He had no fighting strength.
He knew bare minimum self-defense, but that wasn't going to work on anything that was not human.
He didn't have a weapon.
Even if he had one of those, he wouldn't know how to use it.
In short, there was nothing he could do.
He would have to avoid them to the best of his ability.

What were these 「things」 anyway?
This was a question he had no answer to, so he had to assume what he thought was plausible.
That they were inhabitants of this forest.
Although, that explanation did not sit well with him, so he rejected it, and moved on.

What would he do, if he hypothetically reached Misoku?
Yes, he had started thinking in hypotheticals now.
He had no idea where the camp was anymore.
His phone would have not had any reception, nor a proper connection to the Internet in such a place. Not that he had brought it here anyway.
He had left it inside the tent when he had gone out for his stretching, and had forgotten to take it on an impulse when he discovered that Misoku was missing.

Would he alone be able to carry Misoku? If yes, for how long could he hold out?
Yoshi was way too far from strong. He barely made the cut for being called average.
One could not expect him to stay standing after that long chase.
What kept him standing was the pure instinct for survival, and his goal of bringing Misoku to a safe place.
But how long could he utilize that strength?
Even those have their limits.
It's not like the human body can continue forever without energy, fueled solely by emotion and instinct.

He had too many questions, too many hurdles, and far too less solutions.
A plan hastily put together, with little to no chances of success.

It was a perfect display of irrationality and insanity.

But Yoshi did not care.

The moment he would make a move, all hell would break loose.

He poured all his remaining strength into his legs, grit his teeth, and braced himself for that 「hell」 that was about to come.

And so, he started running.
The moment he did, he heard loud growling noises, which reverberated throughout the forest.

This was very bad. The worst case scenario had come true.
But, he could longer go back.

Knowing that, even so, he ran.

How long had it been since he had started running?
He didn't know.
The passage of time had become an ambiguous concept to him.

A little while since then, he had found a descent leading downwards, and he had immediately turned that way.
It was a much easier terrain to run on, but more difficult to keep your balance.
One small mistake, and he would be rolling all over the place, which could be fatal to his weakened self.

He had reached his limit.

All the exhaustion was finally catching up to his adrenaline.
His limbs had gone numb.

He felt as if the blood in his body had stopped flowing.
It was a terrible feeling.
He hoped that this was the last time he would have to do such a thing.

Meanwhile, the 「things」 just kept on increasing in number, surrounding him from all sides.
They spread all around the forest, covering all of it in shadows darker than the night.

However, Yoshi paid no heed to their movements as he focused all of his attention towards Misoku.

And then, he saw the figure of Misoku lying on the ground.

Yoshi's feeling of worry returned to him the moment he saw the body unmoving.
He rushed up to him, coming to an abrupt halt as he picked Misoku up with his hands that had gone numb.
Misoku's eyes were wide open, with an expression of unrest and worry spread on his blood-stained face. An expression like that was completely unbefitting him.

The ground near him was drenched in his blood, which had dried and dyed it reddish-black.
It was a sorry sight.

But, there were signs of life.
Misoku's heart was still beating, albeit very slowly.
He was still breathing, although it was uneven and ragged.

There was still a faint light in his eyes, one which was flickering violently between the borders of life and death.
The situation pleaded with Yoshi to give up at this point, as he had been too late.

But instead, it had filled him with inexplicable and overwhelming emotions.

It had turned Yoshi, an idiot who was the best only at giving up, into someone who stubbornly refused to do so.

"Please, don't die..."

He shouted out the same plea Misoku couldn't.

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He had decided that he would definitely get Misoku to the camp, no matter what it took.
The person in question was just on the brink of demise.
But, Yoshi wouldn't throw in the towel there.

He picked up Misoku's body in a rough manner, trying to not hurt him and make any of the wounds reopen.

It was unexpectedly light.
Well, that was pretty obvious.
All that blood loss would make him lighter without a doubt.

Comparing his body to a feather would be too much, but it wouldn't be too far off, either.

Even so, Yoshi felt a sense of heaviness on his back.
He couldn't quite place his finger on why it was so.

He then realized.

Misoku's heart... had stopped.

He could no longer feel his breathing.
The limbs were no longer anything more than lifeless lumps of meat and bones.

There was no doubt.
His best friend, with whom he had spent over 5 years fooling around, had died in his arms.

His plan had failed.

He knew it damn well that it would fail.
However, Yoshi had refused to believe it, and had hoped for the best.

Before he had the leeway to grieve his loss, he experienced a sharp impact on his sides, which had enough force to send him flying.
Yoshi's grip on the body was loose, and in the sudden impact, it went flying even further.

His own body was brought to a screeching halt by the rugged wall of rocks at the bottom of the cliff.
The immediate stop broke quite a few of his ribs, for real this time, along with a few other bones.
Something told him that he wasn't going to get out of this with just a few scars.

While that something was at it, it also told him that he wasn't going to get out of this predicament alive either.

The pointy edges pierced into his back and legs, tearing into his muscles, and blood flooded out incessantly, having found a chance at escape.
His head hit the rock as well, resulting in a concussion and internal bleeding.
One of his eyeballs left its socket, bulging out of his eyelids.

Yoshi was extremely lucky that he had not hit his head on a pointy edge, because that would be unmistakably fatal.

Or would you say he was extremely unlucky that he wouldn't be given an easy chance of escape from that situation?

The pain was unreal.

It felt like his entire body was on fire as a wave of extreme heat flowed throughout his entire body.
It was the very first time he had gotten hurt to this extent.
Of course, you don't just go around and get over 10 of your bones broken on a daily basis.

The pain pierced into his skull and resonated in his brain, which felt like his ears were ringing.
At that moment, he was willing to pay any price, even his own life, just to stop that pain.

He fell face down on the rocky ground, and somehow turned on his back, unable to move anything, except for his right hand, without hurting himself further.
His nose had started bleeding, and he coughed out a significant amount of blood that had accumulated in his mouth, desperately trying not to drown in it.

The only thing keeping him conscious was the excruciating pain that was assaulting his body relentlessly.

He couldn't think about anything anymore.
And even if he could, he would care no more.

He was going to die there.
Just like his best friend.

And there was nothing he could do to prevent that fate.

He closed his still intact eye, resigning to his fate.
And from the bulging eyeball, he saw those 「things」 approaching him.

They were going to be the cause of his death.

He couldn't close his bulging eye, forcing him to stare at those 「things」.
And for the first time, he had a proper look at them.

He still tried to turn his eyes away, but the figure had etched itself into his memory.

Those pointy ears, those bloodshot eyes, those sharp fangs, their muscular build, all of those fear-instilling features wouldn't leave his eyes.

He lifted his right hand to wipe the blood pouring out of his nose and mouth.
It was surprisingly light.

When he looked at his bloodstained hand, he saw something he could not believe.
However, the sensation of his palm on his face forced him to believe it.

Where there was supposed to be flesh and bones, there was none of it.

There was a huge hole in his upper hand, big enough for a tennis ball to fit in it.
The palm, unable to stay upright without the presence of any bones connecting them to the rest of the arm, dangled from the hand and rested on his face, not getting separated due to a few remaining muscles not letting it go.

The hole quickly spat out blood, all of which fell on his face, which made it a nuisance for him to breathe, a nuisance for him to speak, and a nuisance for him to see.
Though he could do without the last part well enough.

The pain he had felt a few moments could not even hold a candle to what he felt right then.

If the pain before felt like his body was burning, this one felt like an inferno.

He coughed, trying to scream, unable to bear it anymore.
But the blood in his mouth prevented him to do so.

And before he knew it, there were seven more holes all throughout his body, bringing the total to an eight, two on each of his biceps, two on each of his upper arms, two on each of his thighs, and two on each on his lower legs.

At the end, his body remained only a torso that held his limbs together through unreliable flaps of muscles.

Was it a cruel death?
Or was it a merciful one?

He couldn't tell.

The fact that his entire body save the torso and the head was full of holes, and half of his body mass had been chewed off did not help.
That state did not last long either.

Just a few moments later, when he was basking in the pain of losing nearly all of his blood, he felt a similar sensation in his stomach.

Did... Did that mean his stomach had suffered the same fate?

He couldn't lift his head to look.
And it was better that way.

It was a miracle that he was still alive, although he was barely holding on to the last strings of his rapidly shrinking life.
The last thing he saw was a giant maw closing in on his head, and the last thing he heard was a crunching sound.

Everything went quiet.

The sound of his heartbeat, the sounds of the crickets, the sound of the roars, the sound of the wind...

All of them went quiet.

Everything went dark.

All memories, all experiences, all feelings, all sensations...

All of them went dark.

Everything was lost.

The pain, the regret, the weakness, the life...

All was lost.

And at that very moment, he breathed his last.

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Author's Corner:

Two chapters today!

By the way, the browser kept reloading this page if I left it idle in the background for a while, and it kept on resetting my progress.
Weird. Guess I need to save more often.