DESTINATION: UNKNOWN

One of the perks of being a baseball club member is that practically nothing can be too early, even when you have to wake up as the train stops at your station at 5:47 am. Isashiki Jun stretches his arms as he walks to the gate nearest to his ex-high school, a bit tired but most of all excited. It's the day he's been looking forward to since the day they planned it, though he probably won't ever say that out loud.

"Jun, you're late."

Why is this the first person he's gotta speak with.

"Tetsu and Masuko ain't here yet," Jun grumbles as he walks toward the pink-haired, always smiling ex-classmate and teammate of his, Kominato Ryousuke.

"Masuko's getting the van and Tetsu's with him. You're the last one to arrive."

"Shut up!! I had to take a long train aight?!" he barks, and Ryousuke only smiles. Jun huffs then turns his head to the rest of the group, all seemingly brightening up at their exchange.

"Good morning, Isashiki-kun," their manager, Fujiwara Takako, greets. She's carrying a small-sized backpack and there's a bigger handbag by her feet, and if she's anything like a year ago, it's probably full of food to share.

"'Morning," Jun greets back with a grin. "Yo Tanba, yo Chris."

Their ace pitcher, Tanba Kouichirou, gives a small smile and a nod of acknowledgement, and their catcher Takigawa Chris Yuu replies with a quiet "good morning" and another smile. They haven't changed that much, Jun notes — Tanba's hair grown a bit and he's not completely bald anymore, Chris somewhat looks younger?, Ryousuke cut his hair shorter, and is it just him or Takako looks a lot more mature now? Maybe college can do that to someone. He can't wait to catch up with everyone, but first—

An approaching van catches his and everyone else's attention, the blue and green lines of Fairy Mart printed on the side of the door. A familiar figure, Masuko Tooru, sits in the driver's seat, and Jun notices that he's probably the one who changed the least this past year.

"Yo, Mr. Manager-in-Training!" Jun grins as he waves, the vehicle stopping just right beside them. Masuko gives a small wave in response and a grumble in his stomach, which somehow everyone can understand as "good morning."

"Oh, Jun," another voice greets, and Jun turns his head to the man going out of the backseat. The captain to his vice captain, Yuuki Tetsuya. Even when he thinks he's frowning, there's a subconscious grin on Jun's face as he smacks Tetsu's arm with the back of his hand.

"Ou, Tetsu, 'morning," he replies as he looks at Tetsu from head to toe, then to head and toe again while his lips actually form a frown now. "...Did you get taller?"

Thankfully for Tetsu, before the under-170cm group (a.k.a the unfortunate Jun and Ryousuke) can glare at him while mouthing curses, a concerned-looking Chris interrupts their exchange.

"Sorry guys," Chris says, looking almost apologetic to cut into their nostalgic banter. "I know we talked about going to the beach or the mountains today, but in the end..." He pauses as the others look at him and blink. "Where are we going?"

"Let's go to the beach," Takako declares into the contemplative silence. "It's such nice weather, and it's not supposed to get too hot. Plus, I bought my swimsuit and other beach stuff and I'd hate for it to be dead weight."

Tetsu frowns. "I didn't bring anything for the beach," he says, looking down at his hiking boots and khakis. Jun echoes this sentiment, but Takako just waves off their concerns.

"I'm sure you guys can buy swim trunks or whatever else you need when we get there," she replies, "Plus, I have extra sunscreen and towels!" She turns her attention back to the others, beaming. "So? Beach?"

There's a bit of muttering and shifting around, but eventually Ryousuke pipes up and says, with a wide grin, "Let's go. I think it'll be fun. I brought my swimsuit, anyways. And so did everyone else."

Jun tactfully does not comment that most things Ryousuke thinks are "fun" are harrowingly dangerous for normal people.

"Thanks for telling us," Jun grumbles, ignoring Masuko's we did but you weren't listening. Still, he follows the rest of the group to Masuko's van.

"Shotgun!" Takako yells, slipping past six highly athletic boys and sprinting toward the front passenger's door. It's so out of the blue and just a little uncharacteristic of her that she startles Tanba as she barrels past.

"What," Chris teases as reaches the van. "You don't want to sit with us?"

Takako, who has already made herself comfortable, winks at the others piling into the back of Masuko's van. "I'll let you boys battle it out back there."

When everyone finally settles, Takako asks, "Anyone want snacks?"

And then, they're off.

Jun squints at the book in his hands. "Who brought a coloring book to a reunion trip? And why is it in my hands?"

From the back, Tanba coughs. "I was babysitting my cousin a few weeks ago and I forgot to take it out of my bag," he admits.

"Ok," Jun says, still scowling, "But why am I holding it?"

"It's a sign from the baseball gods. You should color something," Ryousuke suggests, leaning over Jun's shoulder to take a peek at the pages. "Oh, it's even baseball themed. Cute."

After a bit of rummaging, Tanba comes up with a pack of crayons. Wordlessly, he passes them over to Jun.

"Pass me a page," Tetsu says, craning his neck. "And a crayon."

With a heavy sigh, Jun flips through the book until he comes across an uncolored page. It's a simple outline of a player stepping up to the plate, bat lifted in the ready position. After a moment, Jun carefully rips out the page and hands it to Tetsu. He also gives Tetsu the box of crayons.

When the crayons are passed back to Jun, he sighs again and rifles through the box.

"These color names are wack," he says, squinting. "So... 'curry red' or 'seaglass blue'?"

When Masuko finally turns off the highway and into the city, everyone cheers. Rows and rows of pastel-colored beach houses slowly turn into blocks of beach-side hotels, restaurants, and cheap souvenir stores.

"Let's find a place to park first," Tanba suggests, peering over Ryousuke's shoulder. "Then we can decide what to do."

Masuko grunts in agreement, and after a few more minutes of driving, finds a parking lot. When everyone's gotten out, stretching after the long car ride, Chris eyes the buildings around them. Right across the parking lot is a pathway to the beach, the boardwalk and the beachfront shops lining the edge of the sand.

"Should we check out the boardwalk first or should we hit the beach first?"

"Boardwalk," Tanba suggests. "It'll be easier to buy everything first, and then we can all set up together."

After everyone falls into agreement, they set off on the boardwalk. Takako begins to tell them a story about her roommate involving a basketball, a stray cat, and a liter of mountain dew. By the end of it, she's in stitches, and even Chris is laughing quietly.

Eventually, they pass by a large all-purpose beach store and step inside. Jun and Tetsu immediately head for the swimsuits while Masuko and Takako explore the snack aisles.

Wandering down aisles of miscellaneous souvenirs and beach items, Ryousuke wonders if he should buy something for Haruichi. He pokes at a few red ceramic mugs, browses through a rack of t-shirts, but nothing really stands out. Behind him, Tanba and Chris are talking quietly, commenting on the tackiness of the various trinkets lined out the shelves.

After a bit of unsuccessful searching, Ryousuke sighs and lets his gaze wander. Jun and Tetsu are at the cash register, Takako and Masuko close behind. Suddenly, Ryousuke spots a flash of pink in the corner of his eye. On the very top of one of the shelves shoved in the corner sits a ceramic figure of a little pink and orange fox, curled in sleeping position. Painted along the spine is the name of the beach.

Ryousuke immediately wants it. The only problem is that he can't reach it. For a moment, he considers trying to stand on his tiptoes and stretching as far as he can. But Ryousuke decides that he's not quite in the mood to embarass himself today.

"Tanba," Ryousuke says, sharply, catching the other boy's attention. Then, he points.

With the long-suffering sigh of someone who is accustomed to being used as a grabber of high things, Tanba reaches up and carefully lifts the fox statue off the shelf.

"For Haruichi?" Chris asks, leaning over to take a look.

Ryousuke nods. "Theoretically," he says, admiring the figure. "But if I like it enough I just might keep it for myself."

They pay and exit the store, joining the rest of their group. Masuko shows off his seaweed flavored pudding, ignoring Jun's theatrical gagging. Eventually, the conversation dissolves into a heated argument on the merits of seaweed-flavored things.

Ryousuke is about to pitch in his own scathing opinion when he glances at a nearby storefront, half-heartedly skimming over the writing scrawled on a banner. Then, his brain processes the words and he stops dead in the middle of the boardwalk.

Wow, he thinks, grinning, today is my lucky day.

Jun stares at the sign Ryousuke has stopped in front of. Immediately, his heart drops to his stomach.

Behind them, Jun can hear Chris sigh as Takako giggles. Tanba bends down and whispers to Ryousuke, "Why."

"Super spicy curry challenge," Tetsu reads aloud. "Whoever is able to eat more than fifteen bowls of our special curry wins ten thousand yen and two tickets to a local onsen. Group challengers allowed."

"No," Jun says, swallowing. "No, no, no, no."

Ryousuke turns around, beaming. A face of perfect innocence, except Jun has known Ryousuke long enough for involuntary shivers to travel down his spine.

"You knew this was a thing," Jun accuses, even though he has no concrete proof. It's a gut feeling, ok, and the way Ryousuke tilts his head in faux confusion just solidifies the dread pooling in his gut.

"Maybe so," Ryousuke finally says, "But that's not important. Jun, don't you want ten-thousand yen and a trip to the hot springs?"

"Not at the cost of my entire digestive system," Jun says, but Tetsu is already nodding at Ryousuke.

"We should try it," he says, crossing his arms, "Around two bowls per person doesn't sound too bad."

Tanba is shifting from foot to foot, a look of horror slowing creeping across his face, but he doesn't say anything. Even Masuko, connoisseur of good food, is stepping away.

"Oh come on," Takako says, slapping both boys on the back. "Where's your sense of adventure? Let's do it!"

Standing a ways back, Chris coughs delicately. "I'd rather not die before I can enjoy the beach," he says. "I'll sit this one out."

But Ryousuke is fixing all of them with a terrifying smile. "Free hot springs trip," he says, slowly. "We are a group of broke. College. Students."

Takako reaches back and grabs Chris's arm, pulling him forward. "The beach will be there when we finish," she teases.

Jun swears under his breath, but Ryousuke is already pushing open the door, and they have no choice but to follow him into the store.

By the time the bowls of the fabled super spicy curry are placed in front of them, Jun already feels a little like fainting. The sauce is a deep, deep red, sprinkled with crimson chili peppers. Although the curry and the rice have been neatly portioned into sections, some of it has spread to the rice, staining it pink. Jun can smell the death radiating off this curry.

A quick peek around the table shows that, save for Ryousuke, Tetsu, and Takako, everyone else is feeling the same way.

"Oh," Masuko says, staring down at his bowl. "It actually smells pretty good."

Damn. Another one lost to the dark side.

Ryousuke's smile is a wide as the open sea. "Itadakimasu," he says, and picks up his chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu," Jun echoes, emptily. Next to him, Tetsu is attacking his dish with an intensity normally saved for the baseball diamond. If Jun squints, he can see Tetsu's infamous aura flaring to life. For a moment, Jun sees red, and it sends shivers down Jun's spine.

As if feeling his ire, Ryousuke turns and grins at Jun. He's already halfway through his portion, while Jun has only half-heartedly poked at his rice.

"Scared?" Ryousuke asks, smirking. He swallows another chopstick scoop of curry.

"As if," Jun scoffs, and steels his shaking hand as he takes his first bite of curry. And immediately starts to cry.

"Spicy," he gasps, wheezing . "It's too spicy. I'll die."

Tetsu, still burning with determination, pushes a glass of milk toward Jun's hand in-between bites of his own. Face red and ears burning, Jun snatches it and starts to chug.

"Weak," Ryousuke scoffs as he accepts his second bowl. "You won't survive the winter like this, Jun."

At the end of the table, Chris coughs and politely pushes his bowl away, dabbing his mouth with a red napkin. There's smoke coming out of Masuko's mouth. Tanba cries through his next spoonfuls of curry rice.

Suddenly, there's a clatter of porcelain against the countertop. Wiping away his milk mustache and savoring the precious moments of painlessness the milk brought, Jun turns to see Takako slumped over on the table.

"Holy crap," he says, "Are you ok?"

Takako's only answer is a groan of pain.

Ryousuke continues eating happily as he hums to himself, seemingly oblivious to the chaos settling around him.

"Another bowl, please!"

"Let's go to the beach first," Takako suggests. "We can split into two groups. Tetsu and Jun can go buy whatever they need to buy and the rest of us will find a place to put all our stuff."

There's a murmur of agreement throughout the group, and everyone quickly collects their beach gear.

For some reason, Jun is struck with an overwhelming sense of relief, as if he's just avoided disaster.

After quickly changing in a nearby bathroom, they cut across the boardwalk and walk along the hot sand, savoring the salty sea breeze. The ocean seems to glow teal-blue in the sunlight, sparkling brilliantly. Takako pauses in her stride, considering the picturesque scene in front of her.

Chris comes up behind her and bumps her on the shoulder. "Let's find a place to settle down first," he says, gently. "Then we can take all the pictures we want."

"Good idea," Takako agrees, reshouldering her backpack.

Eventually, they find a relatively empty spot a few minute's walk from the boardwalk entrance. As Takako dumps all her bags to snap photos of the ocean, Tanba pulls out a few beach towels to spread on the sand. Masuko and Chris wander off to rent a beach umbrella. They return with a blue umbrella that matches the color of the ocean.

Chris winks at Takako. "I thought you'd appreciate it," he says.

When Tetsu and Jun return from their impromptu shopping trip, already changed into swim trunks, Tanba is struggling to push the umbrella into the sand. The rest of the group is being obnoxiously unhelpful, with Ryousuke egging him on with bad advice.

"You have to use a crab pincer to ease it in, here, I have one in my bag, I'll give it to you—"

"Welcome back," Takako cheers, greeting them and ignoring Ryousuke's increasingly outrageous suggestions. "Let's go swimming!"

Somehow, Jun finds himself on Tetsu's shoulders, facing off against Ryousuke and Tanba in a ferocious game of chicken.

"I hope you've been keeping up with your workout regimen," Jun scowls at Tetsu, although he's mostly still glaring at Ryousuke. "If you drop me in the water, I'll strangle you."

Tetsu pats Jun's leg. "Worry not," he says, patented Tetsu Aura flaring to life. "I shall lead you to victory."

Jun lightly wacks Tetsu on the head. "Shut up," he says, and points at Ryousuke who is rubbing Tanba's head for good luck. "You're going down!"

Ryousuke only grins, wide and belligerent. "Come on then," he jeers, and they charge toward each other with battle-ready yowls.

From the shore, Takako records Jun and Ryousuke's glorified slap-fight with glee. Meanwhile, Chris and Masuko are squatting in the sand some meters away, mapping out a plan for a sandcastle structure. It's not long before they start building, using plastic shovels and buckets they borrowed from another family to dig out a moat.

Takako turns her camera from the four boys in the ocean to Chris and Masuko, walking over as she asks, "What are you guys doing?"

Masuko flashes her a thumbs up as he pats part of a wall into place. "There's a sand-sculpture contest going on," he explains, waving a flyer at the camera. "Winners get free ice-cream."

On the other side of the castle, Chris nods. "We were planning to make a Masuko into a mermaid, but Ryousuke and Jun wanted to play in the water."

Humming, Takako carefully walks around the half-formed sculpture, taking it all in. While Chris is digging out a moat, Masuko is carefully building an elaborate castle wall, using a small branch to carve designs on edges.

"Well," she says, after she's walked around a few times, admiring the structure and listening to Chris's occasional commentary. "It's looking good so far. Good luck, guys! Win some free ice cream for us!"

Saying so, she turns back to the ocean where Ryousuke and Jun are still yelling at each other, splashing water and generally making a huge racket. There's a small scuffle before Tanba and Tetsu stagger apart again, kicking up white seafoam.

With a yell, Jun leans forward to swipe at Ryousuke, but Tetsu slips on the sand and staggers slightly, throwing Jun off balance.

Immediately, Ryousuke zeros in on Jun's panicked expression. "Bye," he says, smugly, and lightly pushes Jun on the shoulder. All at once, Jun's face goes through the five stages of grief, and Ryousuke starts to laugh so hard that tears form in the corners of his eyes.

The moment Jun's back hits the water with a loud splash, Chris and Masuko are approached by a pair of women holding clipboards and a camera. They circle around the sand castle, which has been decorated by a stash of teal-green seaglass Takako had somehow found while taking a stroll down the beach.

About half an hour later, when everyone is all dried off and lounging around under the umbrella, Chris's phone vibrates. He rolls over, fishing it out of his bag and squinting at the screen. Then, he smiles.

"We won the sand sculpture contest," he said, a small but proud smile on his face, showing the message to Masuko, which is then passed around to everyone. "They're bringing the ice cream over to us now."

At this, cheers erupt. Jun leans out of the chair he's sitting in to slap Chris on the back. "MVP right here," he teases as Takako hugs both of them.

The ice cream arrives packaged neatly in a blue-green cooler, and the event organizer passes out cones, congratulating Chris and Masuko. "There's enough for everyone," she says, "So dig in!"

Reaching out for an ice cream flavor, Jun is about to take the scooper, but Ryousuke somehow ducks under his arm and slips in front of him, elbowing Jun in the stomach.

"Losers gotta back to the end of the line," he teases, and scoops out a spoonful of ice cream for himself.

Jun's yowl of outrage echoes across the beach, but everyone's laughter quickly drowns it out, and Jun finally gets to eat his ice cream in the end.

Unwilling to disappoint Takako, whose adamant insistence that they go hiking is harder to shoot down than the sharpest changeup, the group piles into Masuko's van as Chris pulls out Google Maps to find the nearest trails (with the best reviews, of course). Takako insists they avoid anything overly tourist-y, whatever that means.

"Well, those places are always so crowded," she reasons from the passenger's seat. "My family hikes Mount Fuji every summer, and all the people around kind of take away from the experience."

"To be fair, Mount Fuji isn't really the same as a small town hiking hotspot," Jun argues from behind her while Tanba mouths Every year? incredulously at Chris, who just shrugs.

"Sure, but the really out-there ones are always fun, because you never know what you're going to find!"

Tetsu nods in silent agreement, like he has any idea what she's talking about despite the fact that the only athletic activity he knows anything about is played on flat ground rather than rugged terrain. Jun rolls his eyes, resisting the urge to wack him on the shoulder for taking Takako's side in this otherwise pointless argument. Instead, he turns and throws an arm over the back of his seat, trying to peer past Tanba and Chris in the back row to the trunk. "Yo Ryousuke, you good back there?"

A moment later, Ryousuke's head appears like the sun on the horizon, if the seat cushion can be considered the horizon and Ryousuke's simpering mug can be in any way likened to the sun. He grins, but Jun can't tell if the murderous glint in his eye is a joke or not. "What do you think?" he asks. "There's no room back here. I've half a mind to get rid of all the nonessential weight."

"You're talking about your attitude, I assume?" Jun retorts. Damn that's a good one. He's an adult, now. After spending however many months away from his old team's company, he's grown out of his old angry floundering and into his comebacks.

On the other hand, that time apart also dulled the memory that should've warned him who he was pointing those comebacks at. "Yes, my mood really would improve without your stack of manga digging into my back. I wonder, Jun, do you have a body pillow I could use to get more comfortable?"

His sense of self preservation wars with his desperate need to not just take that sitting down, and eventually he just settles on mumbling something about Ryousuke making shit up to try and save face in front of Takako, who laughs behind her hand in an effort to soften the blow to his ego.

"Stop fighting, you two," Chris sighs tiredly. They're not even fifteen minutes into the drive yet; how does that guy always sound like he's just gotten off a business call at eleven p.m.? "Masuko needs to be able to hear the directions."

Normally, this is the point where Ryousuke would slide in a clever jab about Jun's voice being too loud, but maybe he's matured some too, because he lets the conversation drop and disappears once again behind the back seat, going back to whatever horror story he was reading before. Jun shivers. Reading in the car. Now that's power he doesn't want to mess with.

The drive promises a little over an hour of close-quarters bonding time, not that any of them are really strangers to sharing space. They make good use of it catching up; Tetsu talks about the baseball he plays at university and how he's adjusted to a team that's not Seidou. Chris details the seemingly monotonous studying life of pre-med students, and how he's glad he only has to take enough of the anatomy and physiology classes to satisfy his physical fitness course requirements because "Becoming a doctor sounds like a death wish," from what he's witnessed. Jun shows everyone ultrasound pictures of his sister's new baby and flashes his other sister's Save The Date wedding invite like a VIP badge. (What can he say? He's excited for them. Plus now he gets to call his mom grandma, which is sure to piss her off.) Takako's still not sure whether she wants to go into education or environmental science, though she supposes she could manage to incorporate one into the other. Tanba's pursuing linguistic studies alongside his university baseball, and Ryousuke's having an insulting amount of fun with physics and mathematics, in Jun's personal opinion. Masuko, the humble bastard, intends to take over his family store, and doesn't say much more than that.

"Live fast, die young," Jun jokes, and the others laugh. Even Masuko snorts in good humor.

They make it to their Takako-approved hiking destination after weaving through a mountainous region that makes Tanba nervous. ("I feel like the rocks on the side of this cliff could fall and kill us any second!") They don't die, thankfully, and once they find a safe, flat area to park the van away from the street, they file out of the vehicle and begin to sift through their equipment.

"We don't need anything intense for a green trail like this," Takako chatters, packing her backpack (where did that come from?) chock full of snacks and sandwiches from the cooler Ryousuke had wedged himself beside in the trunk of the car. "Everyone should carry some water though-it's going to get hot later. I'll bring purification tablets just in case, because it's never a bad idea to be prepared!"

"Aren't you a little... over packed, for a hiking trip?" Jun worries.

Takako shuts him down immediately. "Don't worry! This is nothing compared to the week long expedition I took into the alps with some girlfriends last year!" She shoots him a confident grin and a thumbs up, and Jun has to remind himself that she never could've managed the baseball team for three years without this kind of enthusiasm and commitment.

They set out twenty minutes later, after Masuko's sure he can remember where he's parked. There's only one other car nearby, so it's not like they're the only people out here. Someone makes a nihilistic joke about being able to call for help when they inevitably fall off a cliff. Jun thinks it's probably Chris.

They set off with Takako in the lead, Masuko and Chris bringing up the rear. The summer heat simmers over them, thick with humidity that makes Jun wish he'd worn lighter clothes. He misses the air conditioning of the van already.

He comments on the heat fifteen minutes into the hike. Chris hums in solemn agreement behind him. "The website said there's a river on the mountain. We can stick our feet in if we run into it."

Unfortunately, they don't run into anything at all for another hour. Jun's already finished off half of his water bottle, but Takako doesn't appear to have slowed down in the slightest despite the fact that she's barely touched hers. Has it been that long since I was playing baseball in heat like this?

"Oh, look at that," Tetsu comments, pointing ahead of them. "There's a split in the path."

Sure enough, when Jun stands on his toes to see over Tanba's shoulder, he spots the fork Tetsu mentioned, marked by a sign detailing the differences between each path.

"Ooh, choices," Ryousuke lilts, approaching the sign curiously.

"Not really," Tanba points out. "The right path's not marked. We should stick to the marked path so we don't get lost."

Ryousuke considers the sign as the others gather around. As he gets closer, Jun can read the words, Mountain Path and Cove just underneath that. Ryousuke takes a few steps down the unmarked path, observing what he can up the way.

"Look, it says 'Cove'," Chris points out neutrally. "It'd be nice to cool off."

"Plus, we could stop for lunch," Masuko points out sagely.

Takako eyes the right path nervously as Ryousuke disappears around a bend in the bush. "We should really stick to the marked path," she says. "This place is pretty obscure; we don't want to do anything stupid."

"Stupid?" Ryousuke's voice carries back to them from wherever he's gone off to. His footsteps come back their way and his head pokes out of the brush. "Haven't you ever heard the phrase, 'Take the road less traveled by?'" He picks his way back over rocks to get to them. "There's a cave not far up the way," he explains, dropping the teasing note from his tone. "It might be cool to check that out. Plus, it's probably colder inside."

"Caves are cool," Tetsu contributes. Jun glares at him. He doesn't trust Ryousuke's nature as a thrill seeker, nor does he trust Tetsu's judgement when it comes to anything outside of baseball. They need to pick something, though. Jun just wants to get out of this heat.

"See? The captain agrees with me," Ryousuke says smugly.

Jun growls. "Ugh, somebody just pick already! It's a thousand degrees out here!" He props his hands on his hips. "Cave or cove?"

"If you're that hot, the cave is definitely closer," Tetsu reasons, looking concerned at Jun's outburst. He rests a hand on Jun's shoulder. "Do you need more water?"

Jun shrugs him off. "Nah man, I've got enough."

"The cave it is, then!" Ryousuke sings triumphantly. "We'd better hurry before Jun gets heatstroke."

"Come off it," Jun grumbles, but nobody argues. Takako and Tanba look reasonably hesitant, but Tetsu assures them they'll only go far enough to get out of the heat for a while.

The cave is a big, yawning thing that Jun can't imagine hasn't been explored before. He takes that as a comforting sign as he and the others delve gratefully into the shade.

"This is much better," Masuko sighs, sitting down on a flat rock. Jun can't help but agree; it's at least ten degrees cooler under the overhang of the damp cave. He flops down next to Masuko, grunting vaguely in agreement, then lets his eyes follow Ryousuke, who continues deeper into the cave.

"Where're you going?" Jun accuses, beginning to suspect that Ryousuke had an ulterior motive for urging them in the direction of the cave.

"Exploring," Ryousuke replies without looking back. The cave paints his silhouette in purple hues, the shadows growing to lighter violet the further towards the entrance they stretch.

"Ryousuke, you shouldn't go too far into an unmarked cave," Tetsu warns.

"Oh, come on Tetsu," he calls back. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Ryousuke disappears completely around a bend in the tunnel. After a few seconds of silence, Chris sighs and rises to his feet. "I'll make sure he doesn't get lost," he says, resigned. A moment later, Chris too is swallowed by the deep hues of shadow.

Not even a minute later, a shout reverberates down the tunnel and the sound of two sets of running footsteps comes pounding back in the direction of the entrance. In an instant, everyone's on their feet, bristling with alarm. Chris and Ryousuke appear around the bend, nearly slipping on the slick floor of the cavern in their haste.

"What is it?" Takako asks, alarmed.

"Run!" Chris says, and before he can explain further, a bear appears from the darkness behind them, roaring with outrage. Forgetting the bags they've set down around the entrance, they charge out of the cave and back down the trail, not checking to see if the bear is still following them.

"I really think we should stick to the trail," Takako insists.

Ryousuke shrugs. "If you say so," he relents, hopping down from his perch on a rock and rejoining Tanba near the front of the line.

With that unnecessary fiasco over with, Jun's blood pressure settles back down to an advisable level, though the heat continues to beat down on all of them. The sky is clear, prompting Takako to pass back a can of spray-on sunscreen that the boys apply as if in an assembly line. The trail has been a steady uphill battle up to now, when suddenly it drops off, and the only indicator that the trail even continues is a line of trees marked with yellow ribbons and a warning sign advising hikers to watch their footing on the way down.

"Well this doesn't seem very safe," Tanba says.

"I'm sure it's fine!" Takako says confidently. "It's a marked path on public land; if it was that dangerous, it wouldn't be here."

Tanba looks like he's got plenty more arguments in his reservoir, but he opts to keep his mouth shut as Takako surges onward, carefully but quickly descending the hillside in a way that reminds Jun vaguely of a squirrel jumping between branches. When Tanba hesitates, Ryousuke steps around him and follows after her, more slowly and with far less careful agility, but still successfully. Tanba looks over his shoulder to find the rest of their party waiting on him, and, unwilling to be the reason they turn back now, he resigns himself to a slow and cautious descent.

Out of all of them, only Masuko slips when a rock beneath his foot comes loose from between the roots of one of the marked trees, but he thankfully doesn't fall. It takes them twenty minutes to get down the steep hillside, but once they do, they come out into a wide, rocky ravine with fewer trees to choke out the intense sunlight. Blue arrows point the way of the path, painted on tall boulders and cliff walls. Jun wonders who has to come down here and renew them when the rain washes them off.

"I think the cove is just up ahead," Takako calls back a few minutes later.

"I hope so," Jun grumbles. "My feet feel like they're going to fall off."

"You and me both," Chris says behind him. "I knew I should've worn tennis shoes."

"Your water sandals will come in handy once we break for lunch!" Takako reminds him positively. "It's not all that safe to get into a rocky pool barefoot."

This improves Chris' mood a bit. Meanwhile, Masuko seems to be getting pumped at the idea of lunch. Jun can't blame him; he's dying to break out Takako's snack bag and eat some of that good old standard grade convenience store food.

Finally, as they round a large rock formation arching over them and connecting back to the main cliff, the cove comes into view.

They break for lunch, to Jun's great relief. Takako assures him there isn't much hiking left, according to a map she has pulled up on her phone. That's good enough for him; they can handle the rest of the mountain later. Right now, the water is calling his name.

They stay for a good hour. He and Ryousuke construct a wreath out of slimy plants they find growing along the bottom of the pond and loop it around Tanba's head, for no reason other than Ryousuke really thinks it's funny that he kind of resembles a kappa that way. Takako deals out snacks and waters like she's forgotten she's not their manager anymore—which is fine by the rest of them, because Takako was always the best at rationing out the treats she and the other girls made for the team. Masuko sets himself adrift in an inner tube that Jun can't remember anyone bringing along. He looks completely content to sun himself and just leave his butt sticking into the ice cold water. Tetsu and Chris start some kind of photography war, challenging each other to see who can get the most absurd angles with their camera phones while somehow remaining completely straight-faced the entire time. (This feat is made exponentially more impressive when one considers that Tetsu is wearing a pair of swim trunks aggressively decorated with adorable blue whale sharks. Ryousuke makes some comment on them that Tetsu mistakes for a compliment. Jun's trying so hard not to inhale water as he laughs.)

Eventually, everyone sort of drifts back to shore, climbing up onto a flat rock to finish off the food and drip dry. While Masuko deflates his inner tube, Takako looks ahead on her map.

"It looks like there's only a little way to go to the top from here!" she relays cheerily, then sets her phone down to reapply sunscreen. "We should get going. I'm excited to see the view!"

The boys tug their shirts back on and they're off within ten minutes, Takako counting heads to make sure they have everyone. The trek gets significantly steeper until eventually, they come to another fork in the path.

"This one's not marked," Tanba's notices. There's no sign indicating which way is the way to the top. Jun looks between their choices. One bend leads onto a forested trail with a steady incline. The other juts out onto a narrow, rocky outcropping that ascends in a sharp terraced formation, a precarious cliff that drops off back down towards the sharp rocks surrounding the cove.

"It means they both lead to the same place," Takako explains. "We can take either trail and we'll be okay."

"The forest path looks safer," Chris points out. "Plus, there's more shade."

"Yeah, but that looks like it'll take forever," Jun adds. "If we go the other way, we'll for sure get there faster."

Tetsu stands in the middle of the crossroads, looking pensive. "Hmm," he says. "Do we brave the cliffs or take on the forest?"

It's then that Takako notices the deer.

"Oh my gosh you guys, look!" She grabs Jun by the sleeve and points down the forest trail. Jun can just make out the silhouette of the animals between the trees. "Aw, c'mon you guys, let's go that way! I wanna take pictures."

The deer prove to be remarkably bold, not startling at all as their troupe approaches. "They must be used to people," Takako muses, holding her hand out to let one of the deer lick the salt along the back of her wrist.

To his left, Jun watches Masuko and Ryousuke offer one of the animals a leftover potato chip. It bites down aggressively, surprising Masuko into dropping the rest of the bag. Ryousuke laughs.

"Hi baby!"

Jun's pulled back to the deer he and Takako are facing by her high-pitched voice. It's losing interest in her as it realizes she doesn't have anything to offer, and it turns its head in Jun's direction. Before Jun can properly react, it lurches forward and nips at his face, snagging its teeth momentarily on his goatee.

"Oi!" Jun snaps, jerking back. "Knock it off!" The deer startles back at Jun's outburst, but it loops back around to clump towards Masuko's chip bag, where the other deer are clustering hungrily.

"You guys," Chris scolds as he notices the deer fighting over the wrapper. "You can't leave trash in the forest. That's how animals die from pollution." He steps forward to retrieve the bag.

"Chris, be careful man," Jun says, eying the deer that had bitten him earlier. "They're aggressive."

Chris goes for the empty bag anyways, and as soon as his fingers brush the plastic one of the deer's eyes flicker red, and it headbutts him, sending Chris tumbling backward, still clenching the bag in his hands.

"Chris!" Tanba shouts. Chris scrambles quickly to his feet as the deer realize just where the trash has disappeared to. Grabbing Chris by the forearm, Jun tugs him back down the trail towards the cove as the deer give furious chase after them.

"Well, there's no warning about the cliffs," Ryousuke points out. "It'll probably be faster, and a better test of our hiking skills."

"That's a good point," Takako says, clasping her hands together enthusiastically. "Let's go that way. It's always good to go with a challenge!"

Tanba's frowns. "I wouldn't say always," he argues, but he follows after the others anyways.

The cliffs don't end up as tricky as Jun had expected them to be for their motley crew of mostly-amateur climbers. Unlike the forest, there's little cover from the harsh light of the sun, but there's something encouraging about the familiar feeling of being gross and sweaty in heat like this. He'd complained earlier, but it's oddly nostalgic, even if the lush green of the baseball field has been replaced by the brittle, sparse yellow-green hue of the mountain plants clinging to life up the side of the mountain.

They make it to the top of the mountain in no time. There's a large, flat space marked with a friendly, congratulatory sign in the middle, and an entrance on the other side that must come from the forest path. The couple who'd also parked their car at the base of the mountain is also there, looking out at the view from a lookout point. Everyone high fives while Takako has Chris help her pass out water bottles again.

"This was fun!" she cheers to Jun as she hands him a bottle. "We should take a photo to commemorate this experience!"

"That's a great idea," Tetsu agrees, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Who's gonna take it?"

"I can take it," Takako offers automatically. Tetsu offers her the camera. Jun starts to protest, because she's the one who practically organized their hike—shouldn't she be in the photo? But then he's being herded along to the lookout point and Takako's counting down, and then she clicks the button and the shutter goes off.

In that moment, the skies open up and a great yellow lightning bolt comes down to smite the group of boys with a coincidentally non-lethal amount of electricity as the gods offer divine intervention for the tragic mistake of leaving Takako out of the photo.

"We can ask one of them," Ryousuke suggests, pointing at the couple by the lookout point.

"Good idea," Chris agrees, and he and Tetsu lead the way over, then help show the older woman how to operate the camera as the rest of them set up for the photo.

Masuko makes a comment on the late afternoon lighting and suggests they face more toward the sun so their faces don't disappear into shadow. The orange sun bathes the scenery around them in golden hues. The view from the top is breathtaking.

"Make sure you can see Ryousuke," Jun jokes, earning a sharp glare from the other but thankfully nothing of further consequence.

The woman counts off for them before snapping the photo.