Chapter 3: Wherever you go, There you Remain

The 30th day of the tenth month, the year 3305 of the World Calendar.

“Man, the weather’s great! What a place!” Larry cheered, his eyes on the clear blue sky and his white teeth glinting.

“Yeah. Perfect weather for being out. I can even smell the gra.s.s,” Seron chimed in with a nod, looking at Larry’s smile.

“It is a very lovely place! We will do our best work today! Heave-ho!” Strauski Megmica exclaimed, fists clenched in determination.

They were standing in a sea of green.

A thin woodland sprawled out under the clear autumn sky. The trees and gra.s.s seemed to stretch on forever, with no wind to blow away the comfortable temperature.

A wide plank walkway snaked across the ground, leading from the square and into the woods.

And next to the walkway was a wooden sign.

‘EAST CLARE NATURE PARK. CAMPING, OPEN FIRES, SMOKING, AND FIREARMS ARE PROHIBITED.’

They were not the only ones there.

Gathered in the square were about a hundred boys and girls in identical sweats issued by the 4th Capital Secondary School.

They were accompanied by about 20 faculty members in faculty-exclusive school-issue sweats.

And finally, about a dozen security staff in black uniforms watched over them all.

The gra.s.sy square was about 200 meters wide and long. On one edge was a large log cabin that housed the park staff, and a bathroom also made with logs.

Students sat around, rested on the gra.s.s, warmed up, horsed around, lined up in front of the bathroom, or simply waited.

Next to the square was a large, neatly-paved parking lot that almost touched the trail that led into the woods. Haphazardly parked there were three large buses that had carried the students to the park.

Earlier. The 11th day of the tenth month.

The fall performance had ended five days ago, and the newspaper club’s supervisor issue had been addressed.

The six members of the newspaper club were gathered in the office after school, elegantly partaking in tea.

Because the office was so warm they had taken off their jackets and hung them on the rack at the entrance. A cool autumn rain was drumming against the window.

“By the way, these notices were being handed out at the faculty office today,” Nick said, taking out a piece of paper from his bag and placing it at the center of the coffee table.

Five sets of eyes fell on the notice, but the text was so small all they could read was the t.i.tle.

Natalia leaned slightly forward, breaking her comfortable position against the back of the sofa.

“Let’s see. ‘4th Capital Secondary School Orienteering Day’,” she read out loud. “Man, this font’s too small! What’ve they got against people with bad eyesight? Larry, read it for us.”

“Sure, sure.” Larry gingerly put down his flower-print teacup and picked up the notice.

“‘4th Capital Secondary School Orienteering Day’.”

“I just read that. Or does it say the same thing in Bezelese below?” Natalia joked.

“Then I will read the notice!” Meg volunteered, though it was hard to tell if she was joking or serious. Larry politely turned her down and continued to read.

“‘Orienteering Day will test students’ endurance, knowledge, curiosity, and teamwork. Students must apply in teams alongside members of their own clubs’.”

The school’s very first Annual Orienteering Day would be held on the 30th day of the tenth month, on the first day of the weekend.

The exact location would remain confidential to guarantee fairness, but it would take place at a park about two to three hours by bus from the Capital District. Naturally, the school would rent out the park for the day and security would be present.

Partic.i.p.ants were to gather on campus by 7:30 in the morning. The compet.i.tion would take place from 10AM to 1PM, and they would depart the park at 2PM. The buses would return to the school between 4 and 5 in the afternoon, subject to traffic.

Lunches would be provided, and there was no partic.i.p.ation fee.

The school would set its own custom rules for the compet.i.tion.

Students had to apply in team of three, with no limitations on gender or age. But all three students had to be from the same club.

There would be five possible set courses with different checkpoints, but the courses had some overlap. All five courses were about the same in terms of difficulty.

The checkpoints would all be located along the trails, and teams had to pa.s.s all the checkpoints before heading to the finish line.

At each checkpoint would be a quiz station that would test students’ academic knowledge, and rankings would be based on the time the team took to the finish line and the team’s performance at the quizzes.

The names of the top three teams would be published in posters to be put up around the school, and some prize money would be awarded to their clubs.

The application deadline was the 12th. Interested students were to write down their names, student numbers, and clubs, and hand the forms to the physical education teacher at the faculty office.

There were several warnings as well.

Though the trails would not be difficult to traverse, students would have to be fit enough to walk for an hour or two.

Students were to wear school-issue sweats, with their sweaters if the weather was cold.

Students needed to bring bags—rucksacks preferably, to keep their hands free—to fit the provided lunches.

There were no particular restrictions on items students could or couldn’t bring.

The event would be canceled in case of rain, and a notice would be posted the day before in case of cancelation.

“That’s all,” Larry finished. Natalia ended her series of sagely nodding with a question.

“Question.”

“Yeah?”

“What’s orienteering?”

“Are you serious? …Well, it’s a sport where you walk around in the wilderness with a map, but it’s gonna take a while to explain…”

Seron spoke up to lend a hand.

“Think of it like running errands. You use a map and a compa.s.s to reach your destination. Generally, whoever arrives fastest is the winner.”

It was a simple and clear explanation. Everyone nodded.

“That’s it. Thanks, buddy,” Larry said, putting down the notice.

“I’m no good with maps, though,” Natalia admitted.

“Nor am I,” Meg said.

“Sucks for us, huh,” Natalia sighed. She then gave Meg a deceptively serious look. “Since Sou Be-Il is in the western hemisphere, are north and south by any chance reversed from Roxche?”

“Hm? I wonder…” Meg fell into thought. Larry explained the joke.

“As if, Lia. The cardinal directions don’t change no matter where you are.”

“Tsk, tsk. Can’t let preconceptions color your judgement like that, Larry,” Natalia said, still feigning seriousness, “for all you know, your compa.s.s might start pointing east at some point.”

“Obviously, depending on the place,” Larry replied, to Natalia’s surprise. He brought his teacup to his mouth.

“What?” Natalia raised an eyebrow. “Finally going senile, Larry? Even I know that a compa.s.s always points north. That’s primary school stuff.”

Seron replied in place of Larry, who was still drinking his tea.

“Technically, a compa.s.s doesn’t point to the geographic North Pole. It points at something called a North Magnetic Pole, which is slightly out of line with 90° north. So if you were to pull out a compa.s.s while standing west of the North Magnetic Pole, the compa.s.s would point east.”

“Yeah,” Larry nodded, pulling his teacup away, “but that’s not gonna happen unless you’re exploring the North Sea by ship or sled. The difference is practically negligible from the Capital District.”

“World’s a big place,” Natalia groaned, not having expected a lecture in response to a joke.

Jenny grinned, turning to the silent Nick. “I don’t care about the prize money, but this whole club compet.i.tion angle’s got my attention.”

“I knew you would say that, Jenny,” Nick replied with an elegant smile.

“What do you mean?” Asked Meg.

“Suppose we were to make the top three,” Nick explained, “our names will be known throughout the school, and the newspaper club would gain some much-needed attention as well.”

“I understand!” Meg replied with a clap. Seron watched happily with a blank expression.

“So far, our only issue was the one covering Stella and the gorilla. We could certainly use some more credentials to our name,” Nick suggested. Jenny frowned.

“And who was it that kept ditching club after school last month?”

“Easy there, Jenny,” said Larry, “everyone was busy with rehearsals, and Megmica’s doing double duty with the chorus club. We should be thankful they still managed to drop by once in a while.”

Unable to retort, Jenny held out her empty teacup. Larry picked up the teapot and poured her more tea.

“Hey, I’m doing double duty too,” Natalia complained, but Larry ignored her.

“What do you think, Larry?” Seron asked as Larry poured more tea. The others waited for clarification, but Larry knew what he was talking about.

“It’s not bad at all. It sounds pretty good, actually.”

“Oh?”

“There’s no rule saying we can’t go off the trails. It’s looking pretty good.”

“Great.”

“Hey,” Natalia cut in, “speak in Roxchean so the rest of us can understand.”

“All right,” said Seron, getting everyone’s attention, “the notice says we have to visit the checkpoints that are along the trails.”

“Uh-huh.” Natalia nodded.

“I’ve read that real orienteering compet.i.tions involve wandering forests and plains with nothing but a map and a compa.s.s. It’s an intense activity where every second counts.”

“Exactly,” Larry added, “it was originally developed as a military exercise. And normally, you have to pa.s.s the checkpoints in a certain order.”

Seron continued where Larry left off, “trails and walkways were incorporated into the exercise when it was adapted for the general public. According to those rules, you have to stay on the road.”

“I get it,” Jenny nodded, but Seron continued for the others.

“But the rules on the notice have been adapted for our school specifically. We can go to the checkpoints in any order, and there’s no rule saying we can’t go off the trails. In other words—”

Nick spoke up loudly. “I understand. Larry is accustomed to outdoor activities and could easily find the shortest routes that cut through the woods. It would be no problem for him to navigate the wilderness with a compa.s.s.”

“I see.” “I understand.” Natalia and Meg nodded in unison. Seron also nodded.

“Yeah, but if we end up losing our bearings we’d have been better off sticking to the trails in the first place. So we need an excellent navigator who knows how to use a compa.s.s and read the terrain, unless we want to get lost in the forest.”

“Can you do it, Larry?” Natalia asked, eyes narrowing.

“I can’t guarantee it until I actually look at the map,” Larry said, but determination quickly rose to his face. “But I think I can manage.”

“Oh?” Jenny smiled. “Can you guarantee an overwhelming victory? No one remembers second place, you know. It’s number one or bust.”

All eyes were on Larry. He fell into thought. Then—

“I think so. But no plan is completely foolproof. If another club decides to do the same thing as us, we’ll have to beat them with endurance, knowledge, and luck. Just keep that in mind, yeah?”

“Hm.” Jenny nodded, though she did not seem entirely convinced.

“You’ve gotten so mature, Larry,” Natalia chuckled, “back in primary school you’d have guaranteed victory the second the chief asked. Is Seron rubbing off on you?”

“Maybe. By the way, we have to do this in teams of three.”

“Indeed.” Nick nodded.

“Who wants to team up with me? By the way, I’m calling dibs on Seron.”

“I see.” “Of course.” “Makes sense.” Jenny, Nick, and Natalia nodded.

“Oh my. Why is this so?” Asked Meg. But she quickly realized the answer. “It is because of the quizzes! Now I understand. Then Seron is the perfect mole! I mean, role!”

Larry nodded. Seron, who had flinched at the word ‘mole’, quickly recovered and managed to say, “thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” Meg replied.

Jenny cast a glance at Seron, the happiest student in the room, and asked, “so who’s gonna be member number three?”

“Someone athletic, I suppose?” Nick suggested.

“I’ll pa.s.s. I’m too delicate and frail for this,” Natalia said. No one reacted.

“Hm…” Jenny fell into thought, crossing her arms. “All right. President’s orders: Megmica will join Larry’s team.”

“Yes! I may look like this, but it is my specialty to walk! I understand!” Meg replied with a clumsy salute.

For several minutes Seron sat as still as a statue.

But his heart was already galloping through the woods.

All club activities were suspended for midterm preparation. Then came the midterms themselves. And finally, the 30th day of the tenth month arrived.

“Show ‘em who’s boss,” Natalia said, gla.s.ses glinting.

“We have high hopes for you,” Nick joined in.

“Don’t let your guard down for even a second. I don’t need any second place losers in our club,” Jenny warned.

Seron, Larry, and Meg were sitting on the gra.s.s. Larry grinned.

“Got it! We’re aiming for gold! I’m more worried about you guys than us, actually.”

“We will take our time,” Nick replied, “really, our team is more here for a light stroll.”

“It’s just a bit of walking,” Natalia added, “even I could do that much. You do remember how to walk, Larry? Just stick out your hands and feet one after the other.”

“Do your best, guys. Don’t worry about us,” Jenny finished.

“Worry, huh.” Larry whispered to her, “don’t overdo it, Jenny.”

Meg tilted her head.

The six members of the newspaper club were all in school-issue sweats, but they were equipped differently.

Larry and Seron were wearing small canvas rucksacks of the same design. Meg was carrying nothing.

Larry wore st.u.r.dy military boots with laces, and Seron and Meg ankle-high leather boots.

Larry had advised them earlier, “keeping your feet in good shape is crucial. Buy yourselves some good hiking shoes and thick socks, and break in the shoes before Orienteering Day.”

So they had done as they were told, taking walks in their new shoes to break them in.

Natalia and Nick, meanwhile, were wearing small messenger bags, and Jenny a leather camera bag. The three of them wore plain running shoes.

“Line up!”

When the students gathered, the teachers handed out their lunches.

The lunches came in small cardboard boxes, but they were packed enough to be quite heavy.

Each pack also contained a 700-milliliter bottle of juice with snap-top caps that prevented the contents from spilling. The juice came in orange, grape, and other flavors—students were already exchanging bottles amongst themselves.

Lunch included a cheese-ham-and-lettuce sub sandwich, a piece of fried chicken, a small pack of crackers, a small tube of jam, and a chocolate bar. Tissue was also included.

“That’s all? I need more,” Natalia grumbled when she opened the box. But the others knew that she had gorged on snacks on the bus, had filled her bag with more food, and left an extra bag of snacks on the bus labeled with a note saying, ‘If you touch this bag I will beat you to death with a violin bow’, so they showed no reaction.

The students put their lunches into their own bags. But—

“Seron. Megmica. Take out the juice,” Larry said, and received Seron and Meg’s bottles. Then he took them back to the faculty member handing out the lunches.

“Not gonna get thirsty, Larry?” Asked Natalia. Larry put his and Meg’s lunch in his own rucksack.

“We brought our own water bottles. The bottles they gave us are too heavy.”

“I see. But you don’t think that sub sandwich is too heavy for you, Shortie? I can hold on to it for you.”

“I’ll enjoy it once we cross the finish line first,” Larry replied, putting on his rucksack. In his right hand was a compa.s.s with a strap wrapped around his right wrist.

The compa.s.s was a model used in the military, oiled to perfection so the needle would move smoothly. It had a st.u.r.dy bra.s.s case and lid. There was a groove through the center of the lid with a wire going through it, used to act as a guide. The compa.s.s was also equipped with a miniature magnifying gla.s.s for ease of reading.

“Is that your secret weapon, Larry?” Asked Nick. Larry nodded.

“Yeah. It’s from the Confederation Army. I brought it from home. But it’s super expensive—I’d cry if I lost it.”

“As much as if you had lost the watch you wear?”

Larry smiled. “Nah.”

The Whitfield waterproof military whirred smoothly on Larry’s left wrist.

After the break, the students gathered at the edge of the square, at the entrance to the park.

Students of all ages were in attendance, from first-years to sixth-years. There was a visible height difference between the different ages.

For most people, Orienteering Day was simply an opportunity to enjoy nature with their friends. It was more of a picnic than a compet.i.tion. The physical education teacher yelled into the megaphone, warning students to not shove one another.

They had received most of the instructions about the day’s activities on the bus ride.

Students were permitted to use any tactic that did not involve hindering other teams. Students were free to use compa.s.ses and go off the trails if they were confident in their skills. But if they did so, they had to watch out for ponds and streams.

There were no dangerous animals in the park, and because the property was completely fenced in, there was no danger of straying too far.

Teams had to choose one of five courses and go to the checkpoints designated. Park staff would be at the checkpoints to hand out the quizzes, and students had to write down their answers on their answer sheets at the checkpoints. Once they visited all the checkpoints on their route, they would return to the starting point to finish.

Students who decided to give up could return to the starting point as well, or they could report to one of the checkpoints.

The time limit was three hours. At 1PM all students would be forced back to the entrance.

“We’re handing out the maps. Do not open them until I give the signal,” said the teacher.

Each team received one map. The maps had been rolled up and secured with a string.

The faculty finished handing out the maps and answer sheets. The teacher at the front looked at his watch.

“It is currently 10:30AM! The compet.i.tion begins at 10:40!”

This time, many of the students were wearing watches. Those without wrist.w.a.tches had pocket watches hanging from their necks, as the school-issue sweats had no pockets.

Larry looked at his watch and rotated the bezel, marked off in minutes, so that the triangle indicator was pointed at the 40-minute mark.

Now he simply had to look at the numbers marked on the bezel to check how much time had pa.s.sed. There was no need for calculations and no worry about forgetting their starting time.

“Now, we will do our best for the first place!” Meg chirped, her pigtails swishing. “But I need only to do as we planned. I will follow Larry everywhere!”

Seron nodded blankly.

‘Aw, man. He must have wanted to hear that from her,’ Larry inwardly sighed, but he turned to Meg.

“I’ve got this. We’ll stick to the plan.”

“Thirty seconds!” The teacher began counting down. The students stirred. Some reached for their maps, some began doing warm-ups, and some stood in spirited huddles with their teammates.

“Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Begin!”

Nearly a hundred students set off at the signal. With maps open they headed into the trail.

At first, there was a ma.s.sive bottleneck because everyone was on the same route. The teachers made sure there was no pushing or shoving.

Jenny’s team joined the crowds and set off immediately, as though entering the school gates in the morning.

Larry’s team, meanwhile, did not take a step.

Larry quickly had Seron and Meg hold the map open parallel to the ground. He opened up his compa.s.s and had the others turn to match North on the compa.s.s with the map.

The other teams hurried past as Larry scrutinized the map.

The map was about 40 centimeters in length and width, and was at a 1/10,000 scale. One centimeter on the map was equivalent to 100 meters.

Marked on the map were trails, woods, ponds, marshes, bogs, streams, clearings, rest stops, and bathrooms. There was a legend on the bottom right corner.

Ponds dotted the landscape, and streams connected them. At the center of the park was a particularly large pond and a marsh. Wide contours marked off gentle slopes.

Trails crisscrossed the map like a maze.

The trails began at the bottom right part of the map, where the starting point was.

At the beginning of the trail was a bridge that went over a stream, followed by a winding path that led to a fork. The trail broke into three at that point and branched out—from dozens to hundreds of meters—and wound and swerved in every direction like the alleys of an old city.

The checkpoints were numbered and marked out on the map with cute, stylized animal drawings. A rabbit, a bear, a fox, a deer, and a squirrel. They were all clearly colored differently as well.

“They are very adorable,” Meg remarked.

“Yeah. The game’s been adapted so even kids straight out of primary school can enjoy it,” Seron pointed out.

Larry counted the checkpoints. There were six per course.

It was difficult to tell with just the map how to break through the shortest possible route.

“Hm…” Larry groaned.

“It’s more complicated than I expected,” Seron commented. Larry nodded.

“Yeah. But this might work to our advantage.”

Meg looked up. The other students were already disappearing, those in the lead already crossing the bridge and making a turn. Their school sweats painted a uniform color along the walkways.

Larry had declared earlier that they would confirm their route ahead of time to avoid the chaos at the starting line. And yet Meg still cast him a nervous glance.

With his short blond hair glinting, Larry stared at the map. At times he ran his finger over the routes.

Three minutes pa.s.sed. Only the faculty were left on the gra.s.s. Some gave them worried looks, and others realized what they were doing and waited with antic.i.p.ation.

“All right!”

Finally, Larry reached into Seron’s rucksack and took out a crayon wrapped in cloth to keep it from breaking. It was pink—there was nothing marked in pink on the map.

Larry put his left hand under the map as he drew their route.

He had chosen the ‘rabbit’ course.

The route entailed pa.s.sing through the rabbit checkpoints. Larry’s pink line followed the trail to a certain point, but it cut straight through plains and woods where the trails took the long way around. The lines naturally avoided all ponds and wide streams.

The pink line went through all the checkpoints efficiently, finally returning to the starting line along the trail.

Larry finished mapping their route and checked one more time to see that they had not missed a checkpoint.

“All right! I think this is it!” He looked up, and put away the crayon. “Seron. Megmica.”

Larry looked at his two teammates, who were still holding up the map.

“Will you trust me?”

“Of course.” “Of course.” Seron and Meg replied almost simultaneously.

“Good luck!”

As the teachers waved, Larry’s team headed for the trail.

“We don’t have to run—a fast walking pace is fine. This is closer to a marathon than a sprint,” Larry instructed. Seron and Meg lined up behind him as they briskly covered ground.

Just outside the square was a plain and a stream about two meters wide. They crossed the wooden bridge over the stream and turned right, following it for a time.

The stream was deep for its width, with water so clear the small fish inside were clearly visible.

“These fish remind me of my hometown. When I was young, we lived in a place in Sou Be-Il with many of these rivers! Around us was a large field. It was a place where much wheats could be harvested,” Meg remarked.

“I’d love to hear more about your hometown one day with the rest of the club, Megmica. Right, Seron?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Then I will tell you very much!”

Ahead of them, between the trail and the stream, stood a rod.

The rod was about 10 centimeters in diameter and six meters long, the colors alternating between red and white every 30 centimeters. A small metal ring was attached to the top.

The rod was sticking out of a metal cylinder fixed to the ground. Meg stopped before it.

“What is this stick?” She asked.

“Hm. I’m not sure,” Seron replied, taking a good look.

“I think it’s a marker,” Larry said.

“What does it indicate?” Asked Seron. But Larry did not give him the answer.

“All right. Pop quiz. Look around you.”

Seron and Meg looked around.

The rod was stuck at a point where the trail turned left and diverged from the stream. About 20 meters along the way, the trail disappeared into a deep forest.

“I think I got it,” said Seron.

“It is surrender,” Meg sighed.

“All right, I’ll explain. Think about it from the perspective of someone who’s walking from the forest, towards us. And imagine it’s raining or snowing really hard, hindering visibility. What would happen if the person missed the turn and kept going straight ahead?”

“Ah!” Meg’s eyes widened. “He would sink! The river is very low. In the winter, his life may be in danger!”

“Exactly. The rod is like a sign saying that there’s a stream ahead. The park staff probably hang a flag or a lantern from the rod when the weather calls for it.”

Seron reached out and grabbed the rod.

The rod had not been secured to the cylinder, likely to make it easier to retrieve. Seron pulled out the rod slightly and put it back again.

“I understand. How interesting.”

“Yeah. I don’t think anyone’s gonna need it in today’s weather, though.”

“Of course. But I am certain that with this, I can have very much fun,” Meg chuckled.

Seron and Larry did not understand, but Meg continued.

“Let us go!”

They resumed their walk.

Larry’s team continued down the trail and entered the woods.

Only one turn later, they found themselves deep in the forest with neither the stream nor the square in sight. The chirping of birds punctuated the ambience.

“If now I cover my eyes and spin around and around,” Meg said, “I will probably not know where I have to go to find the square.”

“No worries. That’s what the map and the compa.s.s are for,” Larry said. He was holding the map in his left hand.

The edge closest to Larry had been rolled up, and the opposite edge was hanging from his hand. Larry had been keeping his thumb on their current position since departing the starting line, slowly making progress.

He also made certain to correct his bearings in line with the terrain around them.

Whenever they made a turn, he rotated the map accordingly. He also checked the compa.s.s in his right hand on occasion to check that he was going the right way. Larry paid special attention to places where their route split.

Larry made it all look easy.

“You’re incredible, Larry,” Seron said.

“Thanks, man. I have been doing this for a while, y’know. —We’re gonna go straight down this way for a bit. There won’t be any forks until we see a stream to our right, so I’m gonna put away the map. Gotta take it easy when you can.”

Larry put the compa.s.s in Seron’s rucksack and carefully rolled up the map in his left hand. Then he checked the time.

Instead of wooden planks, the trail here was paved with wood chips. The ground was soft and easy to walk on. Larry, Seron, and Meg walked side-by-side.

Ahead, they spotted other students.

“Where are we?”

“Hm…I remember we made a right turn, and…”

“You sure it wasn’t a left? This is the starting line, so we turned left and ended up here!”

Three junior-cla.s.smen, a trio of girls, were debating their position with the map between them. None of them sounded the least bit anxious.

“This is the way away from the entrance! We’ll know once we get to the checkpoint. C’mon!” One of the girls said just as Larry’s team pa.s.sed by. The girls all rose to their feet and headed in the direction of the entrance.

“…That way seems like the opposite way. Am I remembering wrongly?” Meg asked, glancing back.

“Yeah, but it’s all right. As long as they’re having fun,” Larry said with a chuckle, “it’s just a game. Even getting lost in the woods will be a good memory to them. Not even the school considers this a real compet.i.tion, I bet.”

“Do you really think so?” Meg wondered. Larry was about to respond, but stopped himself and gestured to Seron instead.

“Yeah. I think today’s more of a chance for city kids to get a taste of nature. Most people probably think getting first place here’s just a nice bonus. People aiming for the top like us are probably the exceptions.”

“Right!” Larry nodded.

“I see. I understand.”

“Let’s just hope we’re the only weirdos who think of this as a compet.i.tion,” Seron said with a smile.

“Yeah,” Larry agreed.

Meg also put on a smile in response. “Yes! It certainly is a lovely place. It is the perfect weather for walking!”

“I wish we could do this every month,” Seron whispered to himself.

Seron, Meg, and Larry continued briskly down the the trail, encountering other students on occasion.

They had stopped speaking some time ago, but neither Seron nor Meg tried to break the silence.

So Larry was forced to do it himself.

“By the way, about Jenny.”

“Yeah?” “Yes?” Seron and Meg responded, slightly surprised.

Larry hesitated, but decided to speak. “I guess it couldn’t hurt,” he mumbled. “I think she had another reason for putting you in our team, Megmica. She kind of let it slip during midterm season when we had a chance to talk.”

“Oh?” “What is the reason?”

“She says she wants to dig up Lia and Nick’s secrets.”

“Pardon? Their secrets?”

“What does that mean, Larry?”

“Basically,” Larry said, “she’s never really spent a lot of time alone with those two.”

“Now that you say it, that is true.” “Yeah.” Meg and Seron nodded.

“She says, and I quote: ‘The nose knows! Nat and Nick are hiding some juicy secrets’.”

“Hm…Natalia is very good at playing any instrument. She can play a piano and a flute.”

“Nick is a monster with the staff, though you couldn’t tell from the way he usually acts.”

Meg and Seron each gave suggestions.

“Yeah. Nick really surprised me with how good he was,” Larry said, “I think that’s what got Jenfie started. She’s probably a.s.suming they have more secrets to spill or something,” he sighed, not even trying to hide his disbelief.

“I understand,” said Meg, “so that is why I was placed in here and those three people became the same team.”

Larry nodded. “I would have done the same if I were in Jenny’s shoes. It was either you or Nick on this team. But she probably put you here because she wants to dig up Lia and Nick’s secrets. I bet her team’s not even bothering with the checkpoints. They’re probably sitting around snacking on a bench somewhere, with Jenny grilling the others.”

“I see…” Meg trailed off, but she resumed. “But! But, Natalia is the same inside and outside, and she does not have one thing to hide. She came to visit at my house, and she was the same when we two were alone.”

Larry nodded firmly. “Yeah. Lia’s been that way all her life. She was born with that crazy personality. Which is what I told Jenny, but…”

Seron chimed in. “Nick, too. The only thing you’d call a secret is his skill and experience with the staff—it’s a surprising secret, but not a particularly deep one.”

“Yeah. It was definitely a shock, though,” Larry agreed.

“Yes, it was,” Meg did as well. Seron continued.

“His vocabulary, his feminine looks—that’s just who he is. That’s the impression I got taking cla.s.ses with him, and my impression hasn’t changed since.”

“Yeah,” Larry added, “I think those two know themselves really well, and know what they want. They’re completely sure of themselves.”

“Oh! That is a very cool Roxchean phrase, Larry. You want to say that where a person is now is important, I see,” Meg exclaimed.

“Huh? Oh. Thanks,” Larry said, casting Seron a glance.

“Yeah. That’s about all with Nat and Nick,” Seron said, not a hint of jealousy in sight.

Larry breathed a sigh of relief and continued. “I’m more curious about why Jenny’s so convinced they’re hiding things. She’s probably wasting her breath right about now, trying to get them to spill their nonexistent secrets.”

“I see…in a Roxchean expression, Jenny is barking up the wrong tree,” Meg noted.

“If only that were all…” “Yeah.”

“Hm?” Meg intoned. “What does this mean?”

Seron replied, “it means she might end up a mummified grave robber.”

“A mummified…? Do you mean the mummies? Jenny will become a mummy, you mean? She will dry and die? That is terrible! We must save her quickly!” Meg panicked, but Seron calmed her down.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a figure of speech. There’s an old story about how a grave robber broke into a tomb to find a medicine the mummy was buried with, but he died in the tomb and became a mummy himself. It’s when you try to make someone else do something, only to end up doing it yourself. So…”

Larry picked up where Seron left off. “Jenny’s gonna try to dig up their nonexistent secrets, but they’ll turn it around and—”

“And Jenny will tell her secrets to them without her thinking?”

“More or less,” Larry replied.

“Yeah. It seems to me like Jenny’s the one trying to hide something. That’s generally how it goes. The more secrets you have, the more of an appet.i.te you have for other people’s secrets,” Seron said.

“Oh! That Roxchean expression is very cool too, Seron.”

Seron lost himself in expressionless bliss, and Larry breathed a sigh of relief at the sight.

“Then,” Meg continued, “to example, Jenny can tell the secret of the princess photograph she showed to us during the summer camp?” Her eyes began to twinkle. “Wh-what will happen?”

Meg seemed to feel a mix of pity and excitement, mostly the latter.

“I wonder…” “I wonder…” The boys replied, trying not to let their curiosity show too much.

“Oh? You do not wish to know, Seron and Larry? Jenny’s secret.” Meg asked, as though having read their mind.

“Look, a pond.” “Look, a pond.”

As the students wandered in search of the next checkpoint, three in their midst went against the flow.

“Nice weather. Snacks are great whenever, but today’s perfect for snacking.”

“It certainly is lovely. I do not feel sleepy at all, but today is perfect for a long nap in the sun.”

“Yeah. I’m not much of a nature photographer, but it’s perfect for taking snapshots.”

Natalia, Jenny, and Nick sat on a bench by a marsh not too far from the starting line.

The peaceful water reflected the clear blue sky, with leaves poking out of the surface and delicate ripples left in the wake of pa.s.sing waterfowl.

“I suppose the others must be braving uncharted terrain as we speak,” Nick remarked, looking up at the sky.

“I’mma put Larry on tea duty if he screws up this one,” Natalia snickered, putting a large piece of chocolate in her mouth.

“I believe he is already fulfilling that function,” Nick pointed out, but Natalia pretended to not have known.

“By the way, you two—or, maybe just Nat this time,” Jenny said, turning.

“What’s up? If you wanna know how to get taller, all I can tell you is to not be a picky eater.”

“No, no. I was actually curious about Larry.”

“Oh?” Natalia grinned, pleasantly surprised. “So what kinda dirt you want? I can tell you anything! We’ve got plenty of time.”

“Thanks,” Jenny replied brusquely, then grinned to herself.

Natalia also grinned, but did not let Jenny see.

“All right, so how long’ve you known him?”

“What was it now…I must’ve been five or something, so something like 10 years. My family moved into the empty place next to the Hepburns.”

“I see.”

“My folks sold the house when I was in fourth year at primary school saying we didn’t need such a big house since they were away at concerts all the time. I liked the old place. There was this big gingko tree that turned bright yellow in autumn. It kinda stank this time of year, but I didn’t mind,” Natalia reminisced.

Pleased with the flow of information, Jenny moved on to the next question. “What was he like back then? I get you were childhood friends, but what did you do together? I can’t really picture anything.”

“What did we do? We did kid stuff. Fooling around without caring about being a girl or a boy. I think we were close. Oh, and he used to be a big crybaby.”

“I see, I see. So how’d you make him cry?”

“Was it that obvious? Well, I did a lot of stuff.”

“Like?”

“A lot of stuff. I’m sure you can think of something, right? You must’ve made a lot of boys cry yourself when you were in second year of primary school or so. What were your favorite strategies?” Natalia asked. Nick, meanwhile, was giving a smile and a wave to a pa.s.sing girl.

And even after the girl disappeared, the smile did not fade. Nick listened discreetly, focusing his senses on the conversation to his left.

“Me? I wouldn’t know. I didn’t talk with boys at that age,” Jenny replied.

“Huh? You missed out, chief. Making boys cry is a girl’s privilege in primary school.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh. So did they make you cry instead? That’s surprising,” Natalia raised an eyebrow. Jenny had no choice but to answer.

“No. There just weren’t any boys in my school.”

“Huh? I thought most primary schools were co-ed. Did you go to a religious school, chief?” Natalia gasped, waving her hands dramatically.

“No.”

“Then where’d you go? Or don’t tell me…you couldn’t afford to go, could you! I’m so sorry, chief…your family was broke, wasn’t it? You couldn’t pay the tuition…I’m sorry,” Natalia apologized with a straight face to the heiress to Roxche’s largest car company.

“Obviously, no,” Jenny sighed, “I did go to primary school.”

“Where?”

“Halsey Women’s University Primary School.”

Halsey was the most famous private women’s university in Roxche, also infamous for its difficult admissions requirements.

“Whoa! That’s a real fancy lady school!” Natalia exclaimed, her shock for once genuine. She leaned in close to Jenny as though zooming. “You serious, chief?”

Jenny nodded almost imperceptibly. Nick joined the conversation from her right.

“Then why not continue on to Halsey Women’s University Secondary School? As I recall, Halsey’s affiliated inst.i.tutions range from kindergarten to university.”

Nick had a point. “Yeah, but…” Jenny trailed off.

Natalia and Nick saw a rare shadow of doubt in Jenny’s eyes and decided to refrain from prying for all of zero milliseconds. They leapt like predators locked on to their prey.

“What a waste! You beat the odds and made it into that fancy primary school, and you could have gone all the way to their exclusive secondary school too. Ours isn’t bad, but I’d have stayed if I were you.”

“I must agree,” Nick joined in with support fire, “but I suppose people all have their reasons, as you must have had, Jenny. And thanks to your decision, we met and befriended you, do club activities together, and even share our pasts with one another.”

Specifically, Jenny was the only one sharing her past, but Natalia caught Nick’s pa.s.s and continued their team effort.

“Yeah! You could even call this destiny, chief. We were fated to meet! I bet you must be happy to do club stuff with us and publish newspapers—er, a newspaper with us, eh?”

“Personally, I am overjoyed!” Nick exclaimed, “the best thing about secondary school is that academics are far from all it has to offer, do you not agree?”

“Exactly, Nick. Exactly. Don’t you think so too, chief?”

Natalia and Nick were on a roll. Jenny was being dragged along.

“Er…well…”

“Chief! That’s all the more reason why you should tell us what brought you here! Oh, but I guess it’s not fair if you’re the only one talking. Then we’ll all share. I’ll go first,” Natalia rambled without giving Jenny a chance to speak. She was enjoying herself immensely. “The truth is…I applied to this school because…”

A spark of excitement rose to Jenny’s eye. She prepared for the moment Natalia began to pour out her heart.

“…Because it was closest to my house. Ten minutes on foot.”

“Oh.”

Jenny deflated instantly.

Her explanation finished, Natalia cast a glance over Jenny’s head to her right.

“All right. You, Nick?”

“In my case, I live at about the halfway point between our school and the 3rd Capital Secondary School. In fact, the latter may technically be closer to my residence.”

“So what made you pick our school?”

“I wanted to avoid the 3rd Capital Secondary School, as my sisters had been attending at the time.”

“Interesting…so is there something between you and them that made you avoid their school?” Jenny probed, sensing hints of a secret with Nick’s sisters.

“Not at all. They’re both lovely and admirable. I simply thought it would be more interesting to attend a different school.”

“Oh.”

Again, Jenny deflated.

“You, chief?”

“Huh? No reason.”

“Really?” “Truly?” Natalia and Nick asked at the same time.

“It wasn’t anything big.”

“Oh? Then tell us.”

“I said it’s nothing big.”

“I’d love to know why you went from the best girls’ school in Roxche to a normal secondary school even if there’s no big juicy piece of gossip behind it. C’mon, chief.”

“Well…it was…”

“It was?”

“It was just a change of pace,” Jenny spat.

“I see, I see,” Natalia said, nodding repeatedly. She put her right arm on Jenny’s shoulder. “I think I get the picture.”

“Yeah? Good to hear,” Jenny said, looking slightly relieved under Natalia’s arm. But—

“Yeah. It’s definitely more fun with some boys around. You could even get a boyfriend!”

Angry creases formed on Jenny’s brow. “Hey! Where’d that come from?!”

“Oh? Was I wrong?”

“Yeah!”

“But what else could it be? The only difference between a girls’ school and a co-ed one is the stink of men.”

Nick chuckled bitterly at the comment, but Natalia continued.

“As a fellow girl, I can see how having boys around could make things fun. Mhm.”

“Hmph!” Jenny snorted, shaking Natalia’s arm off her shoulder. “I said that wasn’t the reason! I applied to a co-ed school because there’s boys around, but not because I wanted to get a boyfriend!”

“Then you don’t want one?”

“No! I’m not gonna date anybody!”

“Aww, but you’re wasting away your youth. Are you gonna start dating in university?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“If you want to find a decent man, you gotta start early. Don’t you think?”

“That doesn’t mean I have to get a boyfriend.”

“But—”

The girl talk continued without giving Nick a chance to intervene.

“Fascinating.”

But he did not seem to mind, looking up at the sky with an elegant smile.

Larry was in the woods.

Cedars as thick as a grown man stood in orderly rows, their branches overlapping and obscuring his line of sight.

Larry stood in the woods, the compa.s.s in his right hand open and held at eye-level. Larry peered through the lens in the lid to pinpoint his next heading.

When he found the angle the compa.s.s indicated, he pinpointed a tree that happened to overlap with the wire fitted into the lid.

Larry shut the compa.s.s and began to walk, striding across the gra.s.s. He took one firm step after another, never once breaking into a run.

Seron and Meg followed about 10 meters behind.

“He’s checking our heading by using nearby features as landmarks, since we can’t see too far in here,” Seron explained, “in this case, Larry’s picked that tree as the landmark. He’ll try to keep walking without losing sight of it. Once we get there he’ll check the compa.s.s again and find us the next landmark.”

“If he does do this, we can walk straightly in the forest. I understand. It is very wise,” Meg said with a nod. Then she added, “but it is very bad news if he chooses the wrong direction.”

“Yeah,” Seron replied.

The team had already cleared two checkpoints and left the trail again, taking the fastest route towards the next checkpoint.

This route forced them through the woods all the way to their next destination. There were no hills or streams marked, but the next checkpoint was hundreds of meters away.

If they failed to continue in a straight line, even when they returned to the trail they would not know whether to head left or right. They would be completely lost.

Larry stopped and looked at the compa.s.s again. Seron and Meg stopped as well.

“So he’s using a really clever strategy to make sure we’ll be all right,” Seron whispered, so as to not disturb Larry.

“Oh? What is the strategy?”

Larry began to walk again. Seron and Meg followed.

“Right now, we’re not actually walking straight to the next checkpoint,” Seron explained, “because if we were, and we happened to get lost, we wouldn’t know if we’d strayed too far to the left or the right. Does that make sense so far?”

“Yes, it does.”

“So Larry’s leading us to a point on the trail about 200 meters to the left of the checkpoint. Which means—”

Meg clapped her hands triumphantly, as though she had solved a riddle. “I understand! When we come to the trail, we will not wander. We will turn right! Even if our direction is a little wrong, it will not be severely wrong.”

“Yeah. Exactly,” Seron replied, his gaze locked on Meg’s smile.

“Knowing more and more makes it more and more fun!”

“I’m glad to hear that. I once read a book that said women can’t conceptualize maps very well, but I guess it must have been wrong.”

“The good thing about you, Seron, is that you are smart but you never think your knowledge is always right!”

“Th-thank you.”

“You’re very welcome. Thank you for explaining this to me.”

They stopped, facing one another—

“Huh?! WHOA!” Larry cried.

Seron and Meg also looked ahead.

“Hm?” “Oh my!”

They spotted another group of students.

“Your parents’d be happier if you brought home your future husband sooner than later,” Natalia remarked, crossing her legs.

“Sure, I guess.”

Jenny sat next to her, sitting cross-legged.

Next to the Jenny sat Nick, quietly sipping orange juice without joining the conversation.

“Right? Better grab one early. Gotta find Mr. Right and put your name on him before anyone else does. Or else you’ll end up an old maid before you know it.”

Just as Natalia insinuated, most women in Roxche married in their early twenties. It was the same for the upper cla.s.ses, who went from secondary school to university, and for the working cla.s.ses, who went into the workforce.

Many students would begin dating in secondary school, populated by others of similar backgrounds, and marry while in university or upon graduation. It was not uncommon to marry as soon as one entered university, either.

Because it was very likely that one would go on to marry a boyfriend or girlfriend from secondary school, the school hosted a dance party every year in the fourth month to give students an opportunity to socialize and find their match.

“Your parents would’ve set up someone for you if you’d stayed in the girls’ school. Isn’t that why you came here?” Natalia asked, “that’s all my music-focused brain can come up with.”

“Does it even matter?” Jenny replied, trying to avoid the issue.

“Yeah. You’re the only one who hasn’t talked. C’mon, I keep secrets. Not Larry’s, though. In second year of primary school he tried to show off on the horizontal bars and fell off. His nosebleed was so bad it completely soaked his gym uniform. I’ve got plenty more secrets to share, if you wanna trade for it.”

“Why are you doing this?” Jenny demanded, looking up at Natalia.

“Why else? I wanna get to know you more and be better friends with you,” Natalia replied. Jenny smirked.

“All right. I guess it’s true I wanted a freer life here. Girls’ schools are a lot more restrictive.”

“See? It’s good to be free. So what happened to bring you to a co-ed school? Did something happen to you when you were 12 years old?”

“Yeah, stuff.”

“Like?”

“Just stuff.”

“You gotta tell us what this stuff is, Jenny. I get the feeling it’s something really surprising. C’mon, tell us. I promise I’ll go, ‘oh my goodness!’ every once in a while.”

“Oh my goodness!” Meg exclaimed. She understood what was happening the moment she spotted the other students. “Other people are doing the same thing other than us!”

About 50 meters in the distance were three people in school-issue sweats.

The tallest of the three was a boy with brown hair. He was accompanied by a bespectacled boy with auburn hair, and a girl with black hair a little longer than Jenny’s. From their builds they were likely all senior-cla.s.smen.

The tall boy at the front was holding a compa.s.s much like Larry’s.