My Childhood Friend Seems to be the Main Heroine. - Chapter 22

” ” ” Iiiiyaaaaaaaaa ! ” ” “

” ” ” Kyaaaaahhhhh ! ” ” “

“…she’s dead.”

　The voices are as loud as the rushing torrent.

　It’s like a roller coaster ride, moving so fast and shaking so exhilaratingly that half of them scream in delight and the other half scream in horror.

　And there is one exception. The feeling of floating as the boat dropped from a great height pushed her to the limit of her fear, and she let go of her consciousness.

“Hey, you okay?”

　But Saito, who was sitting behind her, noticed immediately and shook her shoulder to wake her up.

“Is this heaven? “

“Unfortunately, this is the real world. But it could be hell for you. We’re barely halfway through the course so far.”

“…Can I get off the boat?”

“You can’t. Give up and row the oars.”

“…Oh, God. Is there no salvation for me?”

　The girl said with a blank look on her face.

　At first glance, she does not seem to be thinking about such a thing, but her voice changes slightly, revealing the subtleties of her emotions.

　Now, she is definitely in despair.

　She is the type of person he has never seen before.

　He was reminded again that there are all kinds of people in high school.

“Ha-ha-ha, hurry up! It’s fun, right?! Shuri-chan!”

　He looks ahead and sees his childhood friend smiling happily.

　Riri, like Saito, is a fan of roller coasters.

　She likes roller coasters so much that she always goes around the roller coaster three times when they go to an amusement park.

　At the beginning of the session, Saito thought that Riri would like it, and sure enough, she was excitedly and innocently giggling.

“No, no! I can’t do this, Riri-cchi! The shaking is so bad, it’s going to sink soon! “

　In contrast, Shuri, who is sitting next to her, seems to be having a hard time while screaming and is in a panic.

　She is screaming but still moving the oars as instructed by the instructor.

　She seems to be the type of person who can move even in an emergency.

　Seeing this, Saito thought that if Shuri were in a zombie movie, she would probably survive to the end.

“Don’t worry! We’ve picked a safe place to do this, so rest assured. Whoaaーーー! “

“Nooooーーー! I think we’re going to capsizeーーー! ” …

“…ohhーーー!”

　Well, whatever it is, Shuri is still pitiful.

　Saito looks warmly at her childhood friend, who screams with joy, her friend, who screams loudly, and the girl, that loses consciousness again.

“Machigane-san is so cute!”

“Don’t stop paddling while admiring them. We’ll hit a rock if you keep going like this. Paddle those oars, Baldy.”

“Who’s bald? “

“Ugh, my arms hurt. I mean, why are you rowing the oars so quickly when the river is already flowing so fast? “

“My arms are getting heavy, too!”

“Sensei, Akashi-kun is going to throw up.”

“There is no Sensei here.”

Haa?! You’re right.”

“Just hold on till we get off. I’ll try to get there as soon as I can. You guys are going to be flying a lot faster than this!”

“Whoaーー! “

“Geeeeaaaahーー! “

　After that, Saito and his group went down the river with a lot of noise.

* * *

　The second day passed peacefully compared to the first day, with a lot going on.

　After rafting, they enjoyed a barbecue of river fish and skewered meat, and after a study session, they had a campfire at night and went to bed.

“Whose socks are these? “

“I don’t know.”

“They’re not mine either. Maybe the next-door neighbor, Nakayama, took them off when he came to visit and left them here. “

　Now, on the morning of the third day, the students are cleaning the rooms where they used to sleep.

[ A chicken leaves no trace, everyone. ]

(Idiom, A person who leaves should do so in such a way that their departure will not be unsightly / Clean up.)

　After finishing breakfast, the students carefully cleaned up their rooms, making sure not to leave a single speck of dust as instructed by their teacher Chie.

　Even though it has only been two days, the boys’ rooms are messy, and many of the belongings of classmates who came to visit in the middle of the night have been left on the floor.

　Saito’s room was no exception, and it took him a long time to find the owner of every item he found.

“Yes, it’s done.”

“Saito-kun. Only one minute left.”

“Oh, really? Let’s hurry, Akashi. Kamura.”

“Yep.”

“Wait a minute!”

“Please don’t run in the hallway! “

　Saito and his team finished cleaning the room one minute before assembly.

　After receiving a room check and a pass from Chie, Saito and the others grab their luggage and hurry to the meeting place.

“You’re late. It’s a little past the meeting time. Minachi, Akacchi, Kamurachi!”

“Sorry, my bad. People from the other rooms dropped a lot of things .”

“There was a lot of candy and other trash, too.”

“Well, that’s how it’s supposed to be for the boys’ room.”

“No excuses! Now, call the roll and report to the teacher because the three of you made us stand here while everyone else sat down.”

” ” That’s right. ” “

” ” ” Sorry! ” ” “

　Saito apologizes to the three girls, who are in a bad mood because of the attention from the other students, and immediately reports the situation.

　All the students were now assembled.

　Once Saito and his friends were seated, the head teacher explained the schedule for the rest of the day.

“Now, after loading your luggage into the bus, we will gather here with newspaper and work gloves. We will head to the kitchen and cook our last lunch with the rice cooker. That is all. From here on, you are to follow the instructions of your homeroom teachers.”

　As usual, the homeroom teachers of each class started to give instructions to the students, and they told the students to take their belongings to the buses in order from the first group, and Saito and his group started to move accordingly.

　After the first, second and third groups loaded their luggage on the buses, it was the turn of Saito’s group, the fourth group, to leave their bags with gloves and newspapers in the luggage area of the bus and return to the meeting place.

　After the sixth group, the last group had finished putting their bags on the bus and all the class members had assembled, they headed for the rice-cooking area.

　Chie, the homeroom teacher, handed out the ingredients when they arrived at the kitchen.

　There were only three main items: bread, sausage, and cabbage. Ketchup and mustard were given as seasonings.

　The students knew what they would make just by looking at them.

“You are going to make hot dogs now! “

　That’s right.

　Now, Saito’s group are going to make a hot dog that everyone loves.

　They have to leave here at noon today, and the students must have lunch before leaving.

　However, they can’t feed them heavy food since they just had breakfast two hours ago.

　Therefore, a hot dog was proposed.

　The cooking method is very simple, easy, and it’s tasty. It is a perfect dish for this kind of situation.

　For the students who have already built a fire on the first day, heating yesterday’s coals is easy and quick, and hot dogs were thrown on top of the coals.

　After a few minutes, the hot dogs were removed with serving tongs, nicely browned, and ready for the students to slather with mustard and ketchup before biting into them.

“Yum!”

“Delicious!”

　The juices from the sausage and the acidity of the mustard and ketchup were irresistible.

　Saito was so impressed with the taste that he could hear voices from next to him.

　He turned his head to the side and saw his childhood friend Riri.

“Why are you here? “

“Uhm, Nakayama-kun is annoying me, so I ran over here.”

“Oh, Nakayama’s a nice guy. But he’s hopelessly inept at appealing himself to a girl.”

　Saito let out a wry smile as he remembered his friend who he became friends with yesterday.

“Ririchi is welcome~~”

“Akashi-kun, will you step aside? “

“Hiiie! “

　Saito and the others welcomed Riri after hearing what had happened.

　Riri asked Akashi to give up his seat and sat beside Saito.

“How was everyone’s forest school? “

　As it was the end of the last day, Saito asked how the forest school had been.

“It was fun. The study sessions were annoying, though.”

“The food was delicious.”

“Shuri-chan was so cute when she cried during the rafting.”

“Hey! “

“W-well, I had fun too. I’m really grateful to Minazuki-kun for being there when we’re rafting.”

　He heard some good comments from the group members, although some were unique. Saito agrees, saying, [I had a good time, too.]

　He then turned to Riri, who had not answered until the end and asked, [How about you?]

“I had fun too. I had some bad experiences initially, but I made new friends instead. And… “

“And? “

　Saito is curious about what Riri would say and asks her to continue.

“No, forget it. Thanks, Saito.”

　But Riri evaded his question and turned to Saito and thanked him with a big smile on her face.

　He doesn’t know what her intention was in thanking him.

　But he knows what he should say when she says something like this.

“You’re welcome.”