Stream of River

"Maybe we can build a house here, too," a tall young man said as he leaned on his hands, seeming to be relaxed even in this situation.

Umeji Tsuneari was an imposing figure with an athletic build that made you wish you were as tall as him.

He was also known for being a member of the basketball club, with the short haircut typical of an athlete, and black earrings, as he still wore in his uniform.

Takeuchi remembers when Umeji and his team won a competition during their second year, the basketball club became a hot topic in the whole school.

And from what Takeuchi heard, there was a rumor that he once hit some gangsters so hard that they ended up in the hospital, but he couldn't confirm its authenticity.

If someone asked Takeuchi if he can beat him up, he wouldn't have the confidence to do it.

"Don't be ridiculous, Umeji," Maekawa said, raising her eyebrows. "Why would you want to build a house here?"

A grinning Umeji replied, "I just thought it would be fun,"

"Alright, let's calm down," Yoshihama said, trying to stay focused on the topic. "Let's take it one step at a time, first let's think about our purpose?"

Everyone thought about it, and after a short moment of silence, Takeuchi looked around.

The sky was dark now, filled with scattered stars, and above it were two moons.

There was no road or path they could take, which somehow made Takeuchi believe that whoever built the discussion room wanted it to be secret.

Then Takeuchi looked toward the distance, and he could see small and vague pairs of birds flying in the sky, but aside from that, all he could see was forest and plain grass in the distance, there wasn't a house in sight, nor a village or a person.

Nothing, it looked like we were in the middle of nowhere... Takeuchi thought, a bit disappointed.

"Sigh. There wasn't a village around." Takeuchi said. "And it was all plain everywhere, if we want to sleep comfortably, I think we should find a way to get back to the discussion room."

"No, I don't want to go back there," Mizutani said, seemingly frightened by the idea.

"Yeah, and besides, we don't even know how to get back there," Miya added while she hugged Mizutani tightly.

"We had no choice but to explore, to find something for our survival," Nagata interrupted, then her shoulder dropped and she said. "But where we should go, seems to be a dead end everywhere,"

We were stuck, if there was a way... Takeuchi thought.

"Let's follow the river," Murakami said suddenly as he looked around.

He pointed to a source sound of a streaming river and said. "If there was a river, then there was a settlement, maybe we can find one nearby if we follow it."

"You're right," Yoshihama said excitedly. "We should follow the river, and once we find a nearby village or some places to rest, we will discuss what to do next."

"But what about weapons?" Kozue interrupted, still worried.

"Let's just pick something up along the way, I'm sure it would be enough," Nakahara said, touching his chin. "Even stone would help us."

"Do you think there was a rabbit here?" asked Umeji, his back straightening.

"Maybe there were fish in the river," Uchimura said with a grin.

"Yes, that would be good," Umeji said, pretending to wipe the saliva from his mouth. "Grilled fish would be good, too."

"Don't make me hungry," Maekawa said, touching her stomach.

"It reminds me that I haven't finished my dinner at the restaurant yet," Uchimura said with a regretful face.

"So you didn't finish your food and drink at the restaurant," Maekawa said giggling.

"It was all so sudden!" Uchimura said, defending himself. Then he stood up, raised his hands, and said. "If I know, I've already finished it!"

"Alright, we won't know until we find out," Yoshihama said, clasping his hands to end the discussion. "Let's go then."

"You want to go now?" Murakami said shocked, but still reluctant to get up from his spot.

"What would you do?" Miya said, already standing up as her brows raised. "The sooner we start, the better."

"Let's go!" Uchimura shouted, raising his hands excitedly. "Wooo!"

Takeuchi sighed as he looked at his classmates, hoping that everything would work out.

It's been two days since Takeuchi and his classmates discussion for their survival and walked along the river.

They take a spot under the clear, unpolluted night sky, making the twinkling stars that decorate the night sky even brighter.

During the day they walked and sometimes filled their time with chatting each other to distract their tiredness.

Since they didn't take a tent, they slept directly on the grass. Despite not having a mattress to sleep on, they felt good and relaxed sleeping directly on the grass.

However, the fear of rain remained in Takeuchi's and everyone mind.

Since they didn't have a roof to stop the rain from dropping toward them, the rain can also make them sick and cold which they can't afford at the moment.

They didn't encounter any animals along the way, and there were no fish in the river.

But they found clean water to drink.

Although they haven't eaten yet, drinking fresh water is the only thing keeping them alive.

Some of them had lunch in their bags and the food was already being eaten the day before, so there were couples here and there complaining about how hungry they were, but they couldn't do anything about it.

They walked along the river as the plain and forest became their scenery.

Takeuchi enjoyed the scenery of the blue sky and distant forests, he think it was the first time he felt relief that he don't live in the modern world.

With the sound of crickets and the streaming of the river being the only one who accompanied them, it feels like they were the only living beings in there, Takeuchi sometime thought that he was still sleeping in his bed and all of this that happened to him was only dreams.

I meant, I can't be sure that it wasn't dream... Takeuchi thought as he look around him and found no one was in sight, he can't even found crickets that making the sound at night.