Akari's POV

"So where do you think you left your phone exactly??"

"I don't know, that's why I said I would have to search for it?" I said and slip my hand out of his.

"Ah, sorry." I began searching for my phone and kept going further up into the mountains again. Ken also helped me search for the phone. It's been quite a while now and we're almost at the viewpoint now, maybe I left it there after all.

"Ah, is it that??" Ken pointed over, near a tree. I squinted my eyes and saw my phone lying on the ground, all dusty.

"It is!" Just as I said that I heard a clap of thunder which made me stop my tracks from getting my phone.

A felt something cold on my shoulders and looked up at the sky. A few raindrops hit me, then came another clap of thunder.

"Elephant girl! Hurry!" Ken yelled as he tried to cover his face from the rain with his hands.

I immediately ran towards my phone and grabbed it. Next, I dashed back to where Ken was and we both walked back fastly since running would only make us fall. I wiped off the droplets of water on my face and continued forward.

"Let's find a shelter first! The rain's going to get heavier soon," Ken suggested.

"No, we have to get back to the inn now or else it'll get dark!" I unintentionally raised my voice. 'I really hate rain. Way to ruin our way back to the inn.'

Ken opened his mouth to encounter back but then closed it. He opened again just to say, "Wait...are you mad at me?"

"No.. I was just mad at the rain.."

"Hmm...okay. But away, aren't you going to thank me for finding your phone," He smirked.

"Was that what you were aiming for the whole time?" I picked up my pace. "A gratitude from me?"

"What? No! But it's a normal thing to say when someone helps you out!"

"Not if I didn't ask for it."

"Why are you always like that??"

"Like what?"

"Being mean to me, it hurts sometimes you know?" He kept up with me.

"Oh? Well, that's a wonderful thing to hear."

"See??" Soon more droplets start to fall.

"At this rate, we might get sick! Let's find a shelter now before the rain gets worse!"

"Go find a shelter yourself."

"Wait!" He went in front of me. "Are you sure this is the right way?"

"Huh?" I looked around. This place did look a bit unfamiliar.

"I think we're on the wrong track. I think we're lost.."

"What?!"

"Seriously...what are we gonna do now?" He let out a breath.

"That's because you were being too persistent on finding a shelter!"

"Are you saying this is my fault?"

"Well, basically."

"Look, I just came to help you find your phone and you just started an argument with me for no reason and now you're blaming that we're lost because of me??"

"Didn't I just said that? And I already told you I didn't ask you to come! You should've just gone back with the others."

"If I didn't you would be lost and alone in the rain by now!" I opened my mouth to say something back but I couldn't. He's right. If he didn't come I would be alone by now. Everything's so frustrating, this is all my fault but I'm even blaming it on him and lashing my anger out at him.

"Well, at least it's better than being with you!" I saw him grit his teeth. "Why did you even follow anyway?" He didn't reply. I clicked my tongue and turned to the place we came from. "I'll return on my own, don't follow me." I started to walk away.

"I was worried about you! Goddamit! Take a clue, elephant girl!" He shouted from behind. I stopped walking when I heard what he said. 'Worried...? About me?' The rain starts to get heavier. "You can't go anywhere as it's raining harder now. Let's find a shelter and move on when the rain stops!"

>>>>>>>>>>>

We managed to find a small cave that could protect us from the rain. I sighed, now we won't be able to go back to the inn and we're lost. "We should call the others," I told Ken. I opened my phone and pressed the power button but it didn't come on. 'Ah I was holding my phone the entire time, maybe the water got into the phone.'

Ken noticed it and said, "Let's call with my phone?" I nodded. He called Shou's number.

"Hey Shou."

"Ken. Where are you guys?"

"Yeah, don't worry about us. It's raining right now so we'll come back as soon as the rain stops."

"We just got back to the inn."

"Oh okay."

"KEN?? HOW'S AKI-CHAN?!!" I heard Natsumi shouting from the other side of the phone.

"Hey, Natsumi... I'm fine." I answered.

"Akari-chan, if the rain doesn't stop tonight, just come back tomorrow okayy~?" Mari teased. "Ken-kun, keep her warm!!" 'What is she saying!!'

"Don't worry, leave it to me!" Ken answered. His phone beeped and showed the low battery warning. "Ah, my battery's dying, I'll hang up now!" He closed his phone. "Now what do we do?" He looked at me but I was too busy trying to warm myself up.

Ken's POV

She pulled her legs close to her body and hugged it. She kept rubbing her palms rapidly. I took off my jacket and threw it on her. "Wear it."

She threw the jacket back at me. "No."

"I said to wear it!" I threw the jacket onto her again.

"And I said no!" She threw it back to me. I sighed I went near her and place the jacket on her.

"Just wear it. I know you're cold."

"It's wet anyway, what good is it gonna do?"

"At least you'll have something covering you from the cold."

"....What about you?"

"Me? My body is tolerant to coldness." 'Not really, I'm actually about to die since it's so cold.'

Finally, she agreed. I looked outside and saw that it was getting darker. "It's about to get dark, we have to make a fire."

"Fire? Right...but we don't have any wood. It's raining so we can't use it too."

"Yeah, let's think of something for now..." I tried to think of ways to have a source of light. It'd be bad if we don't have it by 30 minutes, then the whole place will be consumed by the darkness. We can't possibly stay in the dark the whole time...

"Hey, what's that?" Elephant Girl speaks up, pointing to the dark corner of the cave.

"H-huh??" I saw a shadow of something and I was near the corner which made me nervous. It can't be an animal or anything right?? But it's dark and it's in a cave!

I heard Elephant Girl got back up on her feet and came closer. "Gimme your phone."

"Huh? Why? It's almost out of battery."

She clicked her tongue, "Just give." I slowly handed her my phone and she turned on the flashlight. Then she slowly approached towards the corner. Wow, she's not even scared at all. Well, she is Elephant Girl after all. I also stood up and followed behind her.

When she flashed the light to the corner, our eyes widened in surprise. There were bundles of sticks of wood piled there!

"Wood..." I said the word out loud. She picked up a folded piece of paper on top of the wood and opened it.

"To future travelers," she read out, "we've gathered a lot of wood during our stay here so please feel free to use it."

"Woah..."

"That's kind of them to give it to us."

"Yeah, in fact, they saved our lives," I sighed in relieve. "We don't have to stay in the dark anymore." Thank you whoever left the this!!!

"Let's try to make a fire now," Elephant Girl picked up some of the wood and placed it in the middle of the cave.

"Oh wait, I have a match!" I went back to my bag and took out a box of matches. I took a match and light up the wood. Next, the fire came to life. "We did it!"

Elephant girl just nodded and went back sitting in her place in the same position.

It got quiet and awkward so I decided to start a conversation. "The rain has calmed down a bit and the lightning has stopped now."

"...yeah."

"But it would still be a bad idea to go back now since it's dark and the place would be all muddy and slippery."

"I guess so..." she doesn't even seem to care about what I was saying. Plus, she sounded tired, we had a long day. As I thought about what else to say, her voice cuts my thoughts off.

"Sorry."

"Huh?"

"I said sorry! Okay? For blaming everything on you cuz I didn't know what to do," she looked away.

I couldn't believe that she's apologizing to me. A grin helplessly appeared on my face. "Don't worry about it~ and say, it's the first time you apologized to me. Ahah you got me there for a sec."

"I'm just saying it cuz I'll feel guilty afterward if I don't say it now," she huffed.

I chuckled at that, "Whatever you say~ Elephant girl,"

"What?"

"You're actually quite cute when you're being honest," I said teasingly.

She blinked a few times before realizing what I just told her. "...HA? What are you even saying??"

"Haha, I mean it. You're very blunt but when it comes to your feelings and such, you're really bad at expressing them. So when you do, I think it's cute," I explained.

"What do you even mean by I'm bad at expressing my feelings?? I can totally express myself clearly."

I scoffed when she said that, "You don't know really say thank you or apologize to others that much. Plus, you're very quiet, especially before you met Natsumi and Mari-chan. Even now, you go along with what others are talking and don't say what you want."

"I only say those stuff when I want to. It's annoying to talk all the time. But I still say thanks when I appreciate something and apologize like a normal person."

"No, that's so not true, you don't even thank me-"

"That's because I don't like you," she said monotonously.

I felt like I just got stabbed, "That's cruel, Elephant girl," I cried.

She ignored me but a few moments later, I heard a growl from her stomach. I turned to her as her face flushed and looked away.

"Oh right... we didn't bring any other food or snacks other than our lunches. And looks like we won't be eating dinner tonight," I let out a breath.

"Y-yeah."

"Well, then we should sleep early and eat a lot when we get back to the inn in the morning," I reassured her, she nodded back.

It's really hard to keep up a conversation with her. I wonder her Natsumi even do that. Wait, never mind, that girl just says all the things that come to her mind. I leaned my back against the icy cold wall of the small cave and glanced outside, thinking of what to do next.

Outside. I slowly got back up on my feet and stepped outside the cave. There stood the most stunning view I've ever seen. It was not like the sunset and mountains sceneries we saw during this trip. This was way more than that. I could hear the crickets, the wind and the leaves rustling as it brushes against them, and the flow of the water from afar. Hundreds of little stars filled and brightened up the whole dark, midnight blue sky. The whole scenery that laid in front of me was priceless. I stood there for a whole minute, staring speechlessly. I guess it's true that you can see more stars in the countrysides and mountains than in the cities. In fact, there are barely any stars in the city.

"What are you even doing outside? It's cold," I finally snapped out of my awe and turned back to Elephant girl, who was inside the cave, wrapped around my jacket, near the warm fire.

"Come here for a bit," I called over.

"Huh? Why should I?"

"Just come," I waved. She finally stood up then and walked out.

"It's freezing, what do you wan—" she stops as soon as she saw the picturesque landscape that surrounded her.

"Amazing, right?" I grinned, looking up once more at the night sky.

"...Woah."

I smiled at her reaction and carefully sat down on the cold ground. "Let's sit out here for a while and look at the stars," I gestured her to sit beside me.

She turned to me with a frown as if she didn't want to sit with me but let out a sigh and seated beside me, looking up back at the night sky.

"So many stars....." She gaped at the sight of the sky full of stars. Her eyes were glistening so brightly and she looked like a little kid who just saw their favorite superhero. I place my chin on my palm and without realizing, I found myself staring at her. Now that I look at her properly, she seems really innocent. I chuckled quietly, I wanna mess her up. Ah! This might be the reason why I want to keep teasing her. How does a girl that looks this cute has an enormous amount of strength inside her? I kept on staring at her, she really is cute.

"I wish time could stop right now." Her smile faded away immediately. She flushed all the way from her face to her ears and to her neck. She turned to me with a flustered face. I stared back at her dumbfounded.

"W-What did you just say..???" Her words started to stutter.

"What do you mean? What did I just--" 'OMG, don't tell me I actually said those words out loud.' I backed away instantly and cover my mouth with my hand. I'm so embarrassed I could die right now. "N-no no no, it's nothing! I-I didn't mean it, pretend you didn't hear it," I waved my hands in denial.

"Whatever you were thinking of, forget it alright?" she glared at me.

"I wasn't thinking of anything!!" 'I take back everything I said earlier, this girl.....she's not cute in the slightest bit!

I noticed how her eyes started to narrow and her head swaying a bit from side to side. "We had a long day. We should sleep now," I suggested.

"Right," she agreed, not even trying to argue back or anything. She must be really tired. Both of us got back inside near the fire, getting ready to sleep. "Oh, and just in case, I suggest you don't do anything to me while I'm sleeping. Unless you wanna die," she glared.

I gulped, "No! Of course not, why would I do that?"

"As long as you get it, then it's fine," she shifted from her seat and laid down. When I just stared she reminded, "By the way, you better sleep now. I'm going to burn out the fire soon."

"Eh?" Is she going as far as for me to go to sleep since if the fire goes out I'll be scared?

"Just so you know, I'm only doing this cuz I can't sleep unless it's dark. Plus it's dangerous to just leave the fire burning," she spoke as if she read my mind.

"Ah, right," my voice a bit shaky as I replied. "But you don't have to do this for me. I know you're already tired so just die down the fire and go to sleep." It's gonna be terrifying sleeping in the dark but it's the best choice to do. We had a long day and I shouldn't make her do something stupid such as waiting for me to go to sleep.

She stared at me as if she doesn't trust me with this. I nodded, gesturing that I'll be fine. "Okay then," she stood back up and soon, I couldn't see a thing. I lied down fast on the cold ground, using my arm as a pillow. My eyes are closed shut, but I could still hear Elephant girl going back to her spot.

It was as expected, hard to sleep. I tried my best not to open my eyes and keep telling myself that it's not dark outside. As I was busy doing that, I heard a voice.

"Hey, Ken," I heard her call. I guess she's still awake. The fact made me relax a bit. Then, she continued, "Are you still awake?"

Should I answer? I wonder what she's going to say. I was about to answer when she got the idea of me already sleeping since I didn't answer her. But she still continued to talk.

"Well, whatever. It'd be great if you're already asleep though. It's easier for me to say this." Huh? What is she even talking about? Next, a long pause came after.

"Thank you." My eyes were wide open now. I couldn't believe this. Am I hearing things? Wait, she's been kind and she even apologized and thanked me. Is this even Elephant girl?!?? I was in the middle of freaking out when I heard her voice again. "I know it's very weird for me to be saying this but I feel like I should say this cuz I know that I've been really stubborn and hard to deal with which has also caused a lot of problems like what happens today, so thanks for withstanding that and not getting mad. That's all I wanted to say..." her voice died out.

It took me a lot to not say anything back or laugh out loud. I can feel a smile stuck on my face while her voice repeated in my head. I totally didn't expect this. But that was all I remembered as my eyes closed and my mind drifted into elsewhere.