Chapter 13 - A Group of Muddy Hands, Appears!

It was a bright morning with no clouds to obstruct the brilliant rays of light.

We have arrived at whatever mountain.
It took us 90 minutes to get here and my body is tired. The light is not coming from the sky only, it also gets reflected off the nearby river, so it is really dazzling.

– Alright… YOU LOT! We are starting self-cooking right now!

We started activities right after out arrival.
Teacher in charge1 of our cla.s.s, Shiraishi2, made this announcement with her self-amplified loud voice that can tear atmosphere. Still, I don"t understand this person. She is always acting strict, but it seems no one has ever had a heart-to-heart talk with her. It would be interesting to know what kind of impression she could give during an individual interview.

Should I say as expected, a cheerful mood peculiar to school events is all around.

It seems that today, even this female teacher, that would pa.s.s as instructor in US Marine Corps, is not capable of calming down the noise spread among the whole school year. I can hear people talking here and there while she is speaking.
And then when the speech was concluded and groups dispersed, everyone was more or less smiling.

Under the blue sky, breathing clean air, I feel like my soul wants to hop lightly.
"World is in the era of Big Picnic! Gong!!" that sort of feeling.

…Well, um, it was exactly so, but…
No, because of that…probably.

I was poking the cooking stove that was just a.s.sembled from stone blocks with tongs and earnestly setting a fire.

With a blank face, I became free of thoughts.
Silent and solemn, I concentrated on the fire before me.
Taking the opportunity, I escaped the reality.

At times like this, I am really grateful for being a.s.signed a simple work.
If you ask why, that is because for a certain reason I have to maintain my mind in pure blank state. I needed to feign ignorance, as the atmosphere around me was too delicate.

Well, even if I say delicate, it is delicate only for me… Komatsu-kun has been standing behind me with a wry smile for a while now, dodging me. Help me.

– Hee, surprising, huh. Ichijou-kun, you"re good at outdoor stuff like this!

Tachibana Karen-san, immediately started meddling with a bookworm. She"s a little blunt.

While I was regulating the fire, she was bluntly crouching near me.
Today we had to come wearing clothes that can get dirty during the tip, so she is not wearing expensive clothes like she did for the shopping. She is dressed into bright colored frilly clothes. I feel that this one matches her character better than the previous.

Hha. I predicted that you will come to mess with me.
It is a matter of course that we will speak to each other as we are part of the same group, rather, it is the same as usual.
However, exactly on this day, the situation is obviously different.

-…Hmm…

Owner of the deep voice crouching on the other side of the stove is another person from our group.
The one who always hangs out with Tachibana at the cla.s.sroom… Yeah, the girl called Hyoudou Yayoi.

Actually, before the trip I checked the list of names and memorized all of the members of our group. In order to get through today. I am now continuing to live fully reflecting on the case of Okamura.

Hyoudou had good-looking black hair with stylish permed bob haircut, cool and refreshing, characteristic eyes.
But in addition to that, she has an ice-cold gaze that makes you shudder.

– How"s that Yayoi? It seems like we can start using fire in a bit.

– Hmm… It certainly is a bit surprising. Even though this person doesn"t have anything on his face resembling camping.

Contrary to the way she speaks, the way she looks is very scary, so I am absolutely not looking in front of me.

Exactly. Today, Tachibana has the specs of muddy hands3, so to speak.
As long as I am sitting in silence, she continues to call her friends like this:

『Gyaru A   calls for   backup!』
『Gyaru B   appears!』

Ah, by the way, loners have only one skill "Check the Situation", so I have no way to deal with them right now. Seriously, what should I do?
Right, what about this…

『Loner A   calls for   backup!』
『Things like that   do not   exist!』

That"s a bug, I say, a bug! Turns out, A from Loner A stands for A from Alone, so annoying.
I have even started to have a one-man comedy act inside my head, my mind is close to collapse.
And it is only a matter of course that I want to concentrate on the fire in front of me.
But it seems that this difficult to deal with young lady named Hyoudou is h.e.l.l-bent on mercilessly attacking me.

– Hmm…

She said this with ice-cold eyes,

– Ichijou, what do you do on days off? Despite being a bookworm, do you practice mountain seclusion or something?

Eh, what the h.e.l.l is this idle comment?
Sarcasm? Joke? I"m lost here!

I didn"t have any suitable words to reply, so I started panicking and saying nothing comprehensible.

– Eh, Aaa….

As if seeing my state, Tachibana, that was crouching on the side, lightly pushed me with her elbow.
Blonde girl, smiling at me with her face and cutting me with her eyes.
As if saying "Hey, quickly say something to Yayoi, you virgin. If things go like this, it"ll become weird".

Lately, I can understand what Tachibana is meaning to say without words. Oh my G.o.d, what is happening?

– Err, I excessively study in the mountains on days off… or something?

– Hmm, is that what they call bookworm of the wild? Hilarious. Do you come to this mountain too?

Eh, she"s having fun. Still, she isn"t smiling nor is there laugh in her voice.
Pushing me with her elbow again, Tachibana is conveying "See, you can talk". It appears that I barely pa.s.sed just now. What was the evaluation criteria, I wonder?

– Ahaha, so weird! A bookworm like this, on a mountain like this.

– Haha, unreal.

Right after a rough follow-up (?) by Tachibana, Hyoudou made another idle comment.
Somehow, from their exchange I feel that there is a gap between them, but right now I couldn"t care less.

However, aren"t your friends too hard to deal with for a loner?
You"re way of making an opportunity for a conversation is too peculiar…

If it is a.s.sumed that Tachibana is a gyaru who belongs to an "upper" group, then this aloof young lady belongs to a "downer" group. It doesn"t change the fact that it is hard to deal with both, so please, just let me concentrate on fire, thank you.

"You know, after all, I cannot accept it. Even if you will feel annoyed, I"m planning to do something about it. About how you are treated in cla.s.s."

Ugh… It"s none of your business…

That day, would it have been better if I just said so?
I too think that it is bad even though she is worried about me, but having a girl being concerned about me so much is embarra.s.sing. Since I have met with this girl, my male instincts have been often unstable.

And why do you want me to be on good terms with your friends, I see no future in it.

At this time, we were approached by Gyaru C, who was, to my relief, more ordinary compared to B.

– Karen, how is it? We have finished the preparations for cooking, stove is the only thing left.

– Ah, look, Momoko! Fire looks so good!

The one who came tying the string of an ap.r.o.n is Tenjuin Momoko.
She is our cla.s.s representative, and has red eyegla.s.ses that match her long black hair.
She has good grades and is an ace of the archery club. She is the so-called perfect superhuman

From what I have seen today, Tachibana"s best friend is Hyoudou-san from before and number two is this Tenjuin-san.
I feel like there are often situations where this honor student forces herself into the pair"s conversation.

– Ichijou-kun. Can we use the fire yet?

– Ah, yes… In just a bit, I think…

– That"s great

My usual half-hearted reply to a usual comment.

Exactly, let me engage in a conversation with no substance, so that I can get through today.
You are the one conscious among this group of gyarus.
I almost see the image of this fine girl calmly handling the merry pair, for example during lunch break. I now feel sorry for giving her a Gyaru C setting…

– However. It seems like we are considerably fast in setting up a stove.

– Eh?

Looking behind me, I found out that other groups seem to have difficulties.
Like fire going out shortly, unskillful burning of the newspaper with strips flying away. The circ.u.mstances were resembling Pandemonium a bit. Concentrated on fire, I haven"t noticed until now.
Shiraishi-sensei is walking around there, but it seems that helping students is not her objective as a teacher. As if saying "You are a cla.s.s, so do something by cooperating."

– Look, bookworm. Seems like you"re a capable kid when you try!

Tachibansan is frantic about bookworm"s age. So pure.

But seriously, stop it. My face is starting to feel hot.

Well, things like arranging the firewood or rolling up a newspaper. There are many things that you can"t understand unless you do it yourself…
I"m used to it because by chance, every year I do camping forced by my aunt, yet it seems that guys like that are not all around.

Looks like our group will be comfortably having our lunch.

I guess excluding Tachibana"s unacceptable plans, I almost got used to these girls as a loner. Besides, groups are disa.s.sembled for the free time. It appears I will have an unexpectedly safe sail to the end.

At this point, I had a peace of mind.

I forgot.
Still, even I couldn"t imagine that muddy hand can summon an arch-demon.

While I wasn"t paying attention, a voice came from behind.

– Hee… Karen"s group, your fire is very good, huh?

… This super cool voice, I know it.
The one who often hangs out with three girls during lunch break, that something guy from soccer club.

I didn"t want to turn around. I don"t want us to look at each other too.
I was messing the completely set stove with tongs.

– …By the way, after all you made a group with these Jimmies.

Right now, did he mean "You didn"t make a group with me, but energetically made a group with this background small fry."
What kind of trick has Tachibana used? Ordinarily, she should have made a group with him. Did they have a dispute?

– Well, aren"t we all Jimmies here…?

Uh-oh…
While smiling, Tachibana answered that guy as if shooting a thorn.
And for just a moment, there was an indescribable subtle tension flowing in the air.

It is not to the point where Tachibana is openly angry as that time with Okamura, but I was worried for that exact moment, because if people who are usually on good terms, are having their relationship turn sour even a bit due to an outsider like me, I"m seriously sorry, okay?

I didn"t want to bear that responsibility.
I didn"t want Tachibana ruin her mood even more for the sake of someone like me.
Also, I don"t want to walk into the same wall as that time with Okamura.

Ugh, so troublesome. Doing something myself…

And yet, I have to stop complaining.
I abruptly stood up and turned around.
Squeezing tightly my hand covered with work glove, I wrung out the voice from my throat with a strain.

Now that I look back, these few truly trivial words, were the impetus.

– What? Do you think Jimmies are incapable of starting a fire?

This good-looking boy had a face filled with half-surprise and half-guiltiness.
It appears he has thought that I can"t speak even a word.

– O-, Okay… Is that so? It"s my bad, alright…?

– We have already finished… Should I help you after this?

Ah, which reminds me, after that, I naturally took Komatsu-kun along with me.
Leaving him alone with the girls would be too pitiful…