Earlier before the bell rang, I bumped into Yuki and she said she was able to talk to the camp out organizing group in her class and she confirmed that it is a go this weekend, and that we leave Friday after school.
Looks like a good back-to-back weekend is in the works. I'll still have to get some things at the store, and need to start packing too. I'm not really good at packing things and my tendency is to overpack. I guess I just want to be overprepared always rather than underprepared. I'm actually amazed at how my other friends pack light, specially the girls. But then again, the girls have all the small and cutesy stuff, so that gives them the advantage in lighter packing I guess.
Come lunch time, I brought some extra tempura with me and asked Aoi to join me for lunch up in the campus rooftop. The weather was so nice and sunny, so I figured it would be nice to have lunch up there.
"This is amazing, did you prepare this Zildjian-kun?"
"Yup, I did. Nanako actually helped me with the batter and the shrimp."
Aoi sighed, "I wish it's already the weekend, I can't wait for the camp out!"
"How's your adjustment here in Inaba so far?"
"I think I'm good, even my parents are all settled down and it's like we've been here for so long already."
"That's good to hear. Anyways, I guess we'd better finish up here before class starts back."
"You're right," Aoi said as we both started to pack up our lunch gear, "Oh, and by the way Zildjian-kun, that was a very fun first weekend at Inaba. I had a really great time."
And so did I. I didn't really reply but just smiled at her.
"Oh, and I saw Hikari earlier and she mentioned that after the concert, they got lots of emails on their band's website, most of them commenting on the good performance and asking if they can get a copy or two of the original songs that was played that evening. Isn't that neat?"
"Wow, that is really cool. I bet Hikari is feeling sky-high now. Come to think of it, maybe I'll ask for a copy myself. So that I can criticize and tease her about her singing, he he"
"Ah," Aoi slapped me on the back, "What a meany!"
*******
The port was packed with students and it was kind of nice to see everyone in casual wear rather than in uniforms. It's like when you always see someone wearing a suit or formal attire because of work, then suddenly you see her or him in very casual wear and for a moment there, you want to look again to make sure this is the same person you see in that suit. It's like a totally new person you're looking at.
I arrived a bit early, but as always, everyone else in our group was there. I had to deal with my sister first, since she wanted to go, but mom didn't let her since she had a bunch of assignments, so I just promised her we'll take her on another outing after we're done with the school one. Luckily my sister is quite easy to please.
"Hey Zildjian! Over here!"
Aoi was waving at me through the crowd as I was trying to find where everyone was. The group was complete - Aoi, Hikari, Kanji, Yuki, Minori, Yosuke, and myself.
"Dude, you're late, hehe.." Yosuke was holding a cheese bread on one hand and a bag of chips on the other. Now that's some kind of breakfast.
"Yeah, sorry guys, but hey I'm not that late! The ferry leaves at 9, and I got here at 8:45."
Hikari was all smiles, "But, but, but...you're still the late one in our group. At least you're consistent with that. Here, have a donut!"
She hands me a box of fresh donuts. They maybe grocery donuts, but I swear that they are so good when bought fresh in the morning!
Hikari was all smiles, "Here!!! Have a donut!!"
Another plus is Hikari's infectious happy-everyday look that can surely bring cheer up someone who's in the blues.
I finished two donuts, a chocolate glazed one, and one covered with sprinkles. I've always like that kind with the sprinkles, call it kiddy, but hey I like it!
I remember when our mom would bring a box at home, and I would race with my sister as to who gets the last donut with sprinkles on. Of course I let her have it, though there was one time when I was younger that I got the last one before my sister could grab it. Then she just sat there and was quiet. She didn't cry or anything, just remained quiet and sad almost the whole day. Boy did that make me guilty.
I walked over to Aoi, "You ready for this?"
"I think I have everything I need. And I also got the utensils you guys asked me to bring. I can't wait to cook by the campfire. Did you bring the popcorn?"
"Yup, got a whole bunch here,” I replied, “ And I see that the others have brought the 'team cooler' and looks like it is packed with grilling goodies."
Kanji looked up and saw movement in the crowd, "Guys, let's go, we're boarding the ferry."
We shuffled in line, and I can actually see the anxiety of my friends - not that bad anxious look, more like a giddy-excited look. I shouldn't be surprised though, since everyone is looking forward to this campout. For one thing, it's a break from school (again) and it will surely help relax everyone prior to the coming exam week.
Ah, nice weather. A campfire by the seaside with my friends. This is going to be fun!
*******
The ferry docked on the island 30 minutes earlier. I guess our captain used to be a race speedboat driver and really pushed the ferry to its maximum speed. We deboarded and walked over to the campsite.
The island used to uninhabited, but just recently a few investors came in and decided to make it a local attraction of sorts. The good thing is the island is under some kind of environmental protection law, so they are pretty strict about what you can do around the island. And there is just a specific location for where people can stay, camp, and have activities. Further in the island is a dense forest, lots of wildlife, but no huge predatory wildlife like wildcats, bears, and the like. The biggest wild animal they've ever had reported seeing there are wild boars, and that's it. But wild boars can get territorial and feisty (and huge too), so they're not to be messed around with. As a matter of fact, any wild animal is not to be messed around with, period. There's a reason they're called 'wild animals'.
We got to pick our camp spot, which was perfect. Our location was slightly inclined, so it was like arena or stadium seating, and we have an excellent view of the sea. Plus it helps that it is so open, so I can see if Hikari or Yosuke is about to sneak up on me and play a prank or something. But knowing them, they’ll find a way to do the prank anyways, no matter where we are on the planet!
"Tent setup time!!" Hikari was her bubbly self as usual as the girls started to setup their tent.
Hikari, Aoi, Minori, and Yuki were grouped together...and they had this neon pink tent.
Neon Pink.... The tent screams 'Hikari' all the way. My eyes hurt just looking at it. Their tent is so visible that you'd really have to be blind or just plain oblivious if you don't notice it. I think even the birds got scared when they got the tent up.
In our tent, it was Yosuke, Kanji, myself, and another classmate of Kanji, Toshi, whom we also know as he's part of the Kendo team in school, and we are all members ot that team.
"Man, Hikari sure got a way with colors," Kanji said, while handing me one of the pegs to secure the tent.
"You can say that again," I replied as I hammered the final peg in to complete our tent setup.
Aoi ran over to us with a piece of paper in her hand, "Hey guys, here's the program for the day"
Yosuke looked at the piece of paper, "Eh? A program? Ah, I guess for those group events or contest thingys."
I skimmed through the program, "Yup, this would be it. It looks like we'll have the first event after lunch. It's an obstacle course type event, and…"
I looked at the detail more, "…there's a slight twist to it, like we have to complete a puzzle somewhere in the course?"
"Ah, Yuki will be our girl then, she's the puzzle expert!" beamed Yosuke.
Yuki was reading her book and heard her name called, and she looked our way. She just nodded in agreement, and then went back to reading her book.
Yuki is the 'quiet' one in the group, but also the most high-tech, even more than I am, I dare to say. I mean I do try to keep up with the tech stuff, but Yuki takes it to another level, as she actually understands them and reads the reviews and researches stuff. Don't get me wrong though. She's not a super nerd. I personally think that she's very elegant in the way she acts, and her soft spokenness adds to that I guess.
I mean like in parties or events, you won't see Yuki letting it loose or dancing like a squirrel who had too much coffee (…like Hikari), but she'll be in it, enjoying the event in her own way. At times her quietness it may seem awkward, but for those who get to know her more, they soon find out that it is one of her admirable traits.
"We'd better sign up our team then," Aoi added, "And it's an eight-person team - we got the numbers!"
Kanji replied, "Sounds like a plan! Zildjian, why don't you and Aoi go over to registration and sign up our team?"
"Uh, ah ok…”
Kanji rarely suggests things to me, so I looked over to him and he gives me a thumbs up. I looked at Aoi, and thankfully Aoi was busy looking at the program flyer, so I breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t see Kanji’s thumbs up and grin.
"Let's go Zildj....oh, sorry...you don't mind me calling you Zildj, right?" Aoi had a slight blush after saying that.
I replied with a smile, but in my mind I was saying, Ms. Aoi, you can call me anything you'd like and I wouldn't mind at all. You can even call me Sponge Bob if you wish!
"Hey Aoi, I can see the line forming at the registration booth already." I said as I pointed towards the registration stands.
Aoi then grabs my hand, "Let's go then!!”
I was surprised that Aoi grabbed my hand and started to break off in a run with me. Wow!
Of course when we passed by the girls’ tent, guess who was standing outside and looking at us with all giggles and a wide-eyed expression like a little child who is about to blow the candles
on her birthday cake...
Hikari....cut that out...please?!?
*******
Lunch was good. We didn't have to cook as there was a pre-packed lunch package as part of the event (good thing because we paid for this event). And the food itself was really good. It's not often that you get to have sushi and tempura by the seaside.
As usual, Yosuke had the most to eat, as he finished 'leftovers' from all of us, saying that he'll need it for energy later in the obstacle course. Yeah, right-o...
We walked around the island to familiarize ourselves with the area, as the event planners were setting up the obstacle course. There were other mini-events going on, and not everyone joined, since it's not mandatory. The obstacle course event seems to be the most that got participation. It looked like there were at least a dozen teams.
The obstacle course has an elimination and a final round, and they change the course layout for the final round. Aoi and I wanted to go over and see the actual course layout for the elimination round, but they wouldn't let us get too close though. I guess it is to keep people from strategizing and planning early before the contest starts.
We ended up strategizing anyways, as I brought binoculars and we'd 'peek' from afar and so we at least have an idea of how the course looks like. Hey, it's not cheating - everyone else had binoculars and were looking from afar!
A voice on a loudspeaker came up "Obstacle course teams please report to the staging area now. The elimination round is to start within 20 minutes!"
We headed out to the obstacle course area and we were met by the course designer, and he explained to us how the course goes, and gave a walkthrough of the course. And there was more detail than what we saw from afar!
Looking at how the course was made and laid out, they really spent time, money and effort in the course obstacles and equipment, as they were all good quality and well thought of. It wasn't just your run-of-the-mill fairground obstacle course. This was the real deal!
The eliminations started promptly with at least 12 teams competing, with the first 5 teams to finish gets in the finals. Our team came in with some air of confidence, and we ‘breezed through’ the course and managed to get second place - almost first, but Kanji missed a tire in the tire obstacle course and had to re-do that part. But still, it was a good showing.
After the eliminations, we walked to the finals staging area together with the other remaining teams. Looking at the way the final obstacle course was prepared, this one looked way longer and it actually goes uphill.
"Uh oh..." Yosuke sighed, "An uphill course? Geez, we're really in for a workout."
Minori was finishing her drink and commented, "Yeah, I think they did the elimination round so easy on purpose to get us going and suprise us. And looks like it’s working…"
"Aaaw....my legs are hurting already just looking at it..." Hikari said as she stretched her legs and arms.
I was pondering, and looked at Aoi with a question in mind.
"What do you think Aoi? We need to strategize this one once we hear how we are supposed to go through this course. There are much more obstacles and the uphill part bugs me too. And what's with those makeshift flag poles way up there?"
Aoi looked up at the flagpoles and replied, "Yes, we need to think this one out. We have a five minute break after the event planners explain the course to us. We'll use that time to think things over."
Kanji and the others gave a thumbs up, as we listened to the course designer explain how this course goes.
The course starts off with a couple of hurdles, followed by a net crawl, then by the classic monkey bars (with more bars) and tire obstacles (with more tires).
Now here's the fun part. After a contestant climbs a low wall and swings on a rope ala-Tarzan to get to the other end, the contestant has to dig for a bag of puzzle pieces. Yes, hidden puzzle pieces enclosed in bags, and buried under the sand!
When all the team members have reached the end of the course, there is a table laid out and the team needs to complete the puzzle, provided they dig out all their pieces in time. Much like those mini slider puzzles that you get in vending machines. But this is one big slider puzzle! So there are eight bags of puzzle pieces to dig for. And yeah, have to dig by hand, no shovels here.
And it doesn't stop there. After the puzzle is complete, you pick a final runner who will have to sprint uphill to the makeshift flagpole, then create fire using flint and make the fire go big and high enough to burn through this rope that is holding the flag down. Once the rope burns through, the team's flag is released. It reminds me of that tie-breaker contest they do in the reality show ‘Survivor’ where the first one who burns through the rope does not get eliminated.
We huddled together for our plan of action.
We discussed the order of runners - Yosuke first, then followed by myself, Yuki, Kanji, Minori, Hikari, Toshi, and Aoi.
I also got voted to be the final runner, so that’s added pressure for me to be able to successfully get a fire going from scratch and put our flag up before the other teams do. At least there's flint to help make the fire.
I looked at Yuki, "Hey, what do you think of the lineup?"
Yuki drew a breath, "Looks like it will work - I'm a little anxious about the puzzle. But I'll do my best."
Minori gave Yuki a pat on the shoulders, "Yuki-chan will definitely rock!"
Aoi and Hikari both gave a thumbs up sign to Yuki, and she replied with grin.
"Ok, so we're Team 2, since we came in second," Kanji announced, "Let's show them what we've got!"
We collectively shouted "Fight!", as we walked to the course starting line.
*******
"Teams ready?" We all looked up at the announcer holding the loudspeaker.
"On your mark".
Yosuke readied and gave us the thumbs up. I nodded back to him.
"Get set."
Hikari was fidgeting about like she got ants in her shorts. I waved at her to get her attention and then gave her the 'what-are-you-doing??' look.
She stuck out her tongue and pouted back at me.
"Go!!!"
Yosuke was out of there like a jackrabbit and started the course. He got to the hurdles pretty quick, with the rest of the teams neck and neck and following very closely behind. The net crossing was tricky, but you can cross it however you wish, crawling or standing. He got clear of this part quick. I swear Yosuke has spider blood in him! Then came the wall climb, no issue there too. Yosuke was the first to clear the swinging rope and onto the hidden puzzle section. Yosuke frantically started digging away, and by this time the rest of the teams representatives were digging their way too.
"I got it! Woohoo!", exclaimed Yosuke, who found the puzzle pack on his third dig. He reaches the puzzle solving area and raises his hand to signal for the next player to move.
I didn't want a 'false start' and be penalized so I made sure that Yosuke was raising his hand, and then I took off.
Needless to say again, Yosuke made the course look easy. But with the pressure of the game on, and the noise of the crowd, one can easily get distracted and lose focus on the course. I was doing well until the net crawl, because I managed to get my right leg stuck. Lucky for me I got it out in time to be side by side with Team 4.
I got to the puzzle dig section, and I just sat down and started digging, avoiding the small holes that Yosuke already dug on, but I can't seem to find it. Really, where is it?? Team 5 found their puzzle piece and was running to the puzzle solving section. I was getting clumsy at digging, and got out of focus as I looked at how Team 5's player has reached the puzzle solving section and is signalling for the next player.
Argh! On my 6th try, I finally unearthed the puzzle pack and ran towards Yosuke. Fortunately for us, so far it was only Team 5 who managed to unearth their puzzle pack first. The rest of the teams were still looking or just found theirs by the time I reached Yosuke.
I signalled for Yuki to run.
Yuki was fun to watch in this event. You can see in her eyes how she is being so calculated and meticulous in her actions. At times I just want to shout 'Yuki, just go for it and run, run, run!!' But then again, that 'careful approach' is her style, and that's what she is comfortable with. And as a matter of fact, it works for her (and for us), specially now.
Team 5's player appears to have gotten a little overzealous and slipped a bit on the rope swing and her feet splashed on the small puddle that she needed to swing over.
A player is supposed to swing over that small puddle and not touch the water with any part of the body.
"Fault, do it again!", shouted an event official, and this to the dismay of Team 5.
At that point Yuki was already doing her swing and completed it, with a tuck-and-roll landing. It wasn't really supposed to be that way, but she lost her footing as she landed on the ground. So I guess it's her way of 'making a fall look good' by doing that tuck-and-roll thing. And as if by sheer luck, Yuki gets her puzzle pack on her first dig! Sweet!
Yuki runs to the puzzle solving area with me and Yosuke, and she signals for Kanji.
Kanji, Minori, Hikari, and Toshi's runs were fortunately without incident, and by now we were actually ahead, with Team 3 following close behind. The rest of the teams have fallen a bit, specially getting clobbered in the rope swinging part and the digging of the required puzzle pieces.
It was now Aoi's turn. I see her anxiously waiting Toshi's signal, and once she saw it, she sprinted off like a Gazelle running for it's dear life! It all looked like slow motion to me as she jumped the hurdles and completed the net crawl.
Aoi heads over to the rope swing, grabs hold of the rope and swings out - but she lost her grip midway and fell into the puddle of water!
"Oh my..." Hikari covered her mouth in shock.
“Aoi-chan!”, Minori exclaimed, “Are you alright?!”.
Aoi loses her grip on the rope and falls into the puddle of water!
"Aoi!!" I shouted
Aoi motioned to us that she's ok. Thank goodness.
Team 5's player has already completed her rope swing without any problems and was headed for the puzzle dig.
Aoi shook her head in dismay but stood up quick to do the rope swing again.
I was looking at the Team 5 girl - she was still looking for the final puzzle piece hidden in the ground. The ground has been stirred so much already so it's really hard to tell which part has already been dug up earlier by her other team mates.
Aoi took a big breath and swung hard and this time she completed it. She pumped her fists in the air as she ran towards the puzzle dig. Aoi joined the digging fray, and both competitors were searching as fast as they can.
"Go Aoi, you can do this!" shouted Kanji and Yosuke.
"Senpai! We're rooting for you! Go, go, go!!" Hikari cheered on.
"Aoi!!" I just shouted her name again. Why do I keep doing that?
Aoi stopped midway in her dig and looked at me, and I gave her a smile, and she smiled back her classy smile at me....as she starts pulling up the puzzle piece. She found the final piece!
But Team 5's girl already had her final puzzle piece out too and was running to her team mates at the puzzle solving area.
Aoi looked at the Team 5 girl, and then Aoi looked at me.
She stood up, and as if we were telephatically communicating, and I nodded back at her.
Aoi clutched the puzzle piece bag and threw the puzzle piece bag like an ace baseball pitcher towards me.
It was an ingenious and smart move on Aoi's part. She knew that her throw would be way faster than if she ran and carried the puzzle piece bag to us.
She knew that every second of advantage we had would count very much in the end. Plus, she knew this was a valid move, because she and Yuki read through the rules of the game before it started, and there wasn't any restriction in the rules saying that you cannot throw the puzzle piece that was dug up and that the last person need not be on the puzzle piece section for the team to start solving the puzzle. Smart of those two to have read the rules beforehand.
I didn't disappoint Aoi's throw as I caught the bag with one hand, and told the team, "Puzzle solving time!"
We all got the puzzle pieces out of their bags and handing them over to Yuki, as she positions them on the puzzle board. In the last puzzle piece bag, there was a piece of paper that showed how the puzzle will look like finished. It was a drawing of a Shiba Inu.
Yuki was deep in focus, moving, sliding, shifting the puzzle pieces as we handed it to her. I looked at the other teams and they seemed to be in the same boat as we were - not even close to solving the puzzle.
"Yuki..." Hikari had a concerned look on her face.
"Don't worry Hikari-chan", Minori reassured Hikari, "let's just let Yuki do her thing, and she'll get this."
Part of the rule for the puzzle solving was there would be only one designated puzzle solver and no coaching from the team mates. There were two event officials at each of the teams' puzzle solving section that were looking over and checking to make sure that no one in each team would cheat.
I felt I wanted to find a way to help Yuki too, but I just kept calm and put my faith in Yuki. Of course sometimes, two heads are better than one, and problems can be solved faster. But there is also a saying that "too many chefs spoil the broth" - which means that instead of getting a nice and efficient solution to a problem, if there are too many people trying to do the same thing at once and trying to put their own solution – this will just make things worse and slow down the problem solving process. Works here in this game, and works in real life too.
I got a bit busy in thought about all this "too many chefs..." thingy, and I suddenly hear Hikari, Minori, and Aoi shrieking and cheering all of a sudden.
Yuki was almost done with the puzzle! Such amazing job by our Yuki!
One piece was left to be in place, and as if to make a subtle statement, Yuki holds up the final piece, looks at us, looks to the left at Team 1, and then to the right at Team 3, and she gently and elegantly places the last piece of the puzzle. Puzzle complete.
The team officials watching over us announced, "Team 2 has completed their puzzle, proceed to the final stage!"
Yuki gently and elegantly places the last piece of the puzzle on the board.
All of a sudden all eyes in my team were trained on me. Ah, the pressure. I looked at the other teams and most of them are almost done with their puzzles too.
I was busy smiling back at Aoi and then I heard Hikari's shrill voice...
"Senpai!!! They're all done with their puzzles too!! Run now!! Run fast!!"
Whoa, wake up call! I ran off like a startled Cheetah.
By then all 5 teams had their runners sprinting uphill. It actually felt more inclined than it looked and it's no picnic trying to run on loose ground, as we kept on loosing our footing from time to time. While scanning the terrain, I noticed that the flag pole area was barren, mostly sand, and just the flag pole setup there. No grass or anything. Makes sense too so that one wouldn't accidentally start a bush fire and burn not only the flag pole ropes but probably half of the forest! Plus the sand can be used as a sort of fire extinguisher in case needed.
But I noticed the barren terrain again and I slowed down my running all of a sudden.
Something is not right here.
I heard Yosuke shouting as he probably noticed me slowing down.
"What the? Hey Zildjian! You ok?? Why are you slowing down!!??"
But there is a reason for my slowing down. Once you get up there to the flagpole area, there's no kindling to burn the fire with – no dried leaves, sticks, grass. Sure the flint to start the fire is there, but you need good kindling to start a fire. And you also need tree branches, and twigs....which were all scattered around halfway through the path to the flagpole.
So I stopped and gathered up as much dried twigs and branches as I could carry and pocketed dried grass too.
The rest of the teams were already at their respective flag poles until they noticed what I had already noticed earlier – nothing to burn the fire with at the flagpole areal - just all sand and rocks.
And I could hear their other team mates already shouting "Go back down, like the other guy did and get firewood! There's none up there!!" That made me smile - at least I did something smart today.
I got up to our flagpole and laid down my fire wood and kindling. The other team players were now just going down halfway again to get their fire wood. I should have a decent fire going way before they get back and start theirs. I looked below and saw my friends jumping and cheering. Of course Hikari was the most animated one in the bunch, while Yuki was her calm self and cheering me on in her softspoken way. Aoi’s got the beautiful smile as always, which made me more inspired to make sure I get this fire started right.
I balled up the dried grass I got and put some smaller twigs in it. This would be my tinder, the one that needs to burn first before I put the bigger twigs and branches. I managed to make a very nice amount of tinder, that should start a decent fire quick.
I smiled and looked for my flint.
My flint....where is it?!??
I was starting to panic.
No flint....no fire. Not good!!
The thing about life is I guess, never to be overconfident. Sure, you can be confident at times, that's good for you. It helps build character and personality. But like all other things, overdoing stuff doesn't really make things better. Even be it something you eat, you drink - too much of anything is bad.
And in this case, I got a bit of overconfidence swelling in me for being able to figure out getting the firewood and tinder first before running to the flagpole area. And because of that overconfident feeling, I forgot to check where the flint was placed.
I thought that I must have accidentally kicked the flint somewhere.
But no time for that now as the other teams have already recovered and are racing back up the hill with their fire making materials. Boy, am I in trouble now!
I looked around my area again. No flint. Argh!
I sat down and already started to get two branches in hopes of starting a fire by friction (I remember watching how to make fire with just sticks in ‘Man vs. Wild’), when I noticed something black stuck on the sole of my shoe. I thought it was just a rock, but it wasn't....
It was the flint!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I guess I stepped on it accidentally while placing all my fire starting stuff by the flag pole. I had the flint in my hand and was looking up and thanking God for not letting me lose it.
*******
Meanwhile, at the base of the incline, Hikari saw me doing my 'dance of joy' and asked Aoi, "Is senpai praying or offering some sort of thanks? He's got his arms raised and all like he’s celebrating or something, but there is no fire yet, nor is our team flag up. What's up with that?"
Aoi looked at Hikari with a worried expression, "Maybe effects of dehydration? Poor Zildj!"
Hikari then thought, "Uh, nah... maybe he just got ants in his pants..."
Aoi looked at Hikari with a worried expression, "Maybe effects of dehydration? Poor Zildj!". Hikari then thought, "Uh, nah...maybe he just got ants on his pants...".
*******
Back up the flagpole area, I started making the fire.
I picked up a nice rock on the way up too, which has some sharp edges that I can use to make sparks off the flint. I got a good spark on my third scrape and it got the tinder going. The balled pieces of paper helped a lot and the tinder burned fast so I put on the twigs, starting with smaller ones and gradually putting the bigger ones on, as I did not want to smother the fire with too much heavy branches. I kept on blowing lightly at the fire to make it grow.
I looked around and at least Team 5 has got their fire burning too. I just hoped and prayed I get this fire bigger soon enough. The rope to burn was no flimsy rope either. It's a thick and heavy duty twine kind of rope. I'd say at least an inch in diameter.
I got the fire to a high enough level that it was touching the rope and starting to singe and burn it.
Yes! I kept on maintaining the fire, throwing the remaining thicker branches to the flame. I was also blowing at the rope, in hopes of igniting the embers that were already catching on fire on the rope itself.
As I was doing that, I swear I heard Hikari's voice shouting "C'mon baby light my fire..."
Either that was real or I'm really getting dehydrated up here and hearing voices!
I looked at the fire I've started. Pretty decent and big now. And as I was looking at it, a nice wind blew and fanned my fire more, feeding the fire energy, and catching the flag's rope in flames.
The fire ate through the rope, and with the snap, it gave way, letting our nice flag raise up to the delight of my friends.
Mission accomplished!
*******
Our team officially won the event, earning us a nice trophy and some cool prizes.
As part of the rule, each team had the responsibility to extinguish the fires made and to make sure that it was completely out by covering it with sand and then pouring water over the sand to 'seal' it.
As I made it down Hikari was already bouncing like a sugar-loaded bunny rabbit and gave me a huge hug.
"Senpaiii!!! Good job! We won it! Our team won!"
"It's team work indeed!" I replied and hugged her back.
Minori also gave me big hugs afterwards, “Great job!”, she said and whispered "...what were you doing up there dancing like there were ants in your pants?."
I gave her a quizzical look and we ended up laughing after.
Yuki came over to give me a congratulatory hug, she said, "I'm sorry it took a while to finish the puzzle. The way the Shiba Inu was drawn...there was some sort of optical illusion. That caught me off guard, and for a moment I thought that I wouldn't be able to solve the puzzle in time…"
I looked at Yuki and saw that she seems to have a slightly disappointed look in her eyes.
I put my hand on her shoulders, like a proud father.
"What are you saying? Yuki, you did awesome! You kept your composure and not once did we ever doubt you.” I said with a big smile.
I looked around, “As a matter of fact, everyone did very well! Hey, remember what we talked about before? That even if we didn't win, it's the fun and experience that matters, right? That's what counts. And hey, guess what? I'm going to tell you about that boo-boo I made up there....I almost lost the flint for the fire!"
Yuki looked at me and I saw this small mischievous smile forming in her lips, "Really?? You almost lost it?"
"Yup," I replied, “And I felt that I won’t be able to find it start the fire in time.”
Yuki grinned, “Ah, so that’s why you were doing that funny looking dance up on the hill…”
Yuki chuckled and smiled, the disappointed look in her eyes gone.
Kanji gave me a big pat on the back, and I gave Yosuke and Toshi high-fives.
"Hey Toshi, thanks for joining in our team."
Toshi replied with a 'V' sign, "My pleasure Zildjian, and hey, the events aren't over yet! We'll join some more and maybe win a few more too, what do you think?"
"You bet we will!" Kanji replied with a big smile.
As the guys walked off, Aoi came over and gave me a big hug and a light kiss on the cheeks that caught me a bit off guard.
"Whoa....thanks...what was that...for…eh…."
Aoi looked at me, "It's for giving the final touches to the team's win. You did good out there. Really good."
"Aoi…thanks, I don't know what to say..." I was searching for words to say to her.
"But you know...we all did well. You did a very slick move back there with the last puzzle piece. For a brief second, I never thought that you would throw the thing to us, ha ha ha."
"And you caught it well, to finish off that play.”, Aoi replied.
"Yeah, good thing I caught it..." Come to think of it, if I missed that catch....I can already see Hikari not letting it go and teasing me every second she can get. Sigh…good thing I caught that puzzle piece, whew.
"I'm sorry about that fumble with the swing rope, I..."
"It's ok Aoi. We all had those challenges to face. What matters is that we didn't just sit down and give up, and we all rose to the occasion and got back in the game."
"True.." Aoi said softly, as she clasped her hands.
Then I noticed the cuts and bruises on Aoi's hands, "Oh your hands, are you ok? You must’ve gotten this from the rope swinging. Let's get this cleaned up and…."
I stopped mid sentence as I was delicately holding and feeling Aoi's hands - because you-know-who was making faces and little heart signs with her fingers (and she thinks that I can't see her…).
"Hikari…..we can see you….you know that right?"
Aoi was blushing already. And of course, so was I.
Hikari stopped what she was doing and scratched at her head
"Wa…eh...he he he. Hi Senpai! Shall we go and have dinner over the camp fire now?", Hikari said as she was sporting a cheshire cat-like wide grin and making a peace sign.
Why not? It’s about time for dinner anyways. It can be our “victory dinner”. Plus we can finally try out Minori's famous bar-b-q marinated with her special secret marinade (which I’m certain has some sort of wine on it…).
“Dinner it is!” I exclaimed.
As we walked back to the campgrounds, the temperature has settled a bit and it was a lot cooler now. There was also a nice breeze coming from the sea, which helped drop the temperatures to a much milder level.
I noticed that lots of campfires littered the beach area and there were groups of students for each campfire.
I also noticed that I never let go of Aoi's hand as we were walking.
…and she didn't seem to mind it either.
