I put out a new cover! What do you all think?

Anyway, new chapter, let's go! ...What're you doing here at this beginning message? Go read. Also, sorry if it's kinda short, but this was the scenario I was able to come up with.

---

If it weren't obvious, Y/N could tell that the bus ride to the campsite they were going to was awkward. Very awkward.

During the whole ride, neither both Itsuki or Y/N spoke to one another. The girl with star pins would make awkward side glances, most of them would be Y/N catching them, causing him to look at her. Once he was about to open up his mouth and speak, however, Itsuki would return to face the front and blush a deep red. This only added on to more of his confusion, his head being tilted in the process.

Soon enough, the hours would pass and they would all arrive on the campsite. Because their trip was delayed due to the snowstorm, causing them to be snowed in at the nearby inn, they began with day two activities.

And that was... Curry making.

--: Chapter 13| Test of Courage :--

The students had been split up into groups, depending on their classes. Of course, Y/N, Fuutarou, and Itsuki were in one group, and the rest of the Nakano siblings were in their own respective groups.

On Nino's end, she ended up becoming the team leader of the group, ordering and giving instructions to her group mates.

"Then, we'll handle the curry," Nino says with a smile, facing the boys in her group, "while you boys take care of the rice."

The boys hobbled away as the nonchalantly replied, "'Kaay.~"

After that was done, Nino returned to her station and began cutting up the necessary items meant for the curry. Cutting up some carrots was easy, due to her mostly being the one that cooked their dinner at home for her and her sisters.

The other girls huddled around her, amazed at her cooking skills.

"Wow, Nino, you're so fast at chopping vegetables," one girl said.

Nino continued to cut with ease. "Heh. I do take care of the housework at home. This is nothing." 'Our field trip has finally begun. I wonder how everyone else is getting along...'

On Ichika's end...

The eldest Nakano picked up a measuring cup. "This has already been used, right? I'll clean it up."

"R-Right!"

Humming to herself, Ichika walks off with the cup in hand to clean it. The two boys she was just talking to then began to daydream. Soon, a content look on their faces began to appear.

"Nakano-san is so beautiful and thoughtful. She must be some kind of perfect woman."

"Man, I want her to clean my room," the other responded.

Nearby, Yotsuba's grunts could be heard. The girl was currently working herself to death, at least in the eyes of the others. But to her, this was very enjoyable. The dumbest sister of the five, and at this point being Y/N's actual best friend, was raising an axe over her head and chopping firewood, bringing it down as it was easily split into two.

The girl with the green ribbon then wiped the sweat off her brow, which had accumulated while she was doing this hard work. She then set the axe at her side, turning to look at the boys with a sheepish look.

"Enough already! You don't need to chop any more!" They all exclaimed.

Yotsuba simply laughed heartily, "This is fun!"

On Itsuki's end...

"I think these are about done cooking?" One girl asked.

Itsuki's hand was shaking as she was visibly sweating. In her hand was her phone.

"Please, wait," she said, her intense gaze on her phone increasing. "There is still three more seconds before it has been fifteen minutes."

One of Itsuki's friends deadpanned at her. "Aren't you being too precise...?"

"Miku-chan! What are you trying to add!?" A girl exclaimed.

In Miku's group, said girl was cooking the curry. However, all the girls were clamoring over her, trying to stop her from putting in something.

"Miso. Secret ingredient," she nonchalantly replied.

"Put that in your own portion!"

"Hahaha!" The boys in their group laughed.

Off to the side, Fuutarou and Y/N simply sweat dropped while sighing. Though Y/N couldn't help but wonder. When did things get this chaotic?

Sighing once more, the two went back to their stations to check on their rice that had been cooking. A boy was already there at his own station. He had slicked-back brown hair, his eyes a bit slanted that were distinctive to that of a delinquent.

"Now then, I wonder if the rice is done," Fuutarou says as he sits down."

"I wonder too..."

The boy with brown hair then looks at the Uesugi teen. "Oi, punk. Don't fuckin' act like you don't know me. You ain't getting away with saying you've forgotten me."

"Of course not. I remember your name."

"I haven't even told you my name yet, asshole!"

"Umm..." Y/N raised his hand as he looked at the delinquent boy. "...Who are you again?"

"Huh!? We're in the same gym class, how could you forget!?"

"Ah, Kamaboko-kun!"

"That's not even close," he retorted. "How the hell didja think that's my name!?"

"Then... Kawada-kun!"

"My name doesn't start with a 'K,' god dammit!" The brown-haired teen exploded in anger. He then calmed down, sighing as he resumed looking at his rice. "Things been going well with Ichi--Nakano-san, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Fuutarou stuttered, scratching his cheek.

Y/N payed no attention to them, casually rocking back and forth in his spot as he closely watched the rice being cooked. He soon put his hands up near the fire, just a good amount of distance away so he could feel the heat.

"Ahh.~ Warmth.~" Y/N cooed.

The brown-haired continued talking to Fuutarou, "Any who, I still haven't been able to find a partner for the folk dance after Nakano-san rejected me. Man, you've got it good being able to dance with Nakano-san! It's no surprise people are afraid of me. Though since I've always been getting into fights, but even I want..."

Fuutarou tuned out his voice as he looked toward Y/N to try and talk to him. But he sees Y/N not paying attention at all, simply rocking back and forth as he enjoyed the warmth of the fire. 

It looked like he was acting like a child.

Though at the the thought of dancing with Ichika kind of irked him a little. They weren't necessarily particularly close, to him at least. He simply thought they had a teacher student relationship, that kind of deal. If anything, the one who made the agreement was actually Miku, who was disguised as Ichika at the time. Just thinking about it made him want to puke and think about something else.

'Can the curry hurry up and be done already?' He thought while grinding his teeth.

"Why did you guys burn the rice!?"

The three boys then looked to the commotion. The girls in Nino's group were currently scolding and berating the boys in their group. Their rice had turned into ashes at this point.

One of the girls jabs the fingers onto one of the aggravated boy's chest, clearly angry. However, this only incited anger onto the boys as well.

"I bet you guys were goofing off and didn't keep an eye on the rice, huh!?"

The boy shook his head. "N-No, we didn't! And plus, it was only a little burnt, so it's still edible!"

"But we made the most amazing curry ever!" The girl retorted back.

"This sort of thing would happen to anyone who hasn't done it before!"

The girl looked at him surprised before she gritted her teeth. While still keeping her teeth clenched, she turned to Nino, the boys now beginning to sulk and pout.

"What should we do, Nino?"

"We'll handle this by ourselves. So could you guys go check up on the curry?" She asked.

Though with the expression Nino was giving them, it scared the living shit out of them apparently. Hell, her face said it all. It was basically like, "If you don't do it, I'll fucking kill you," type of stare. Needless to say, the boys were terrified and scampered off, obeying the order.

"S-Sure..." One boy muttered as they scurried off.

Y/N felt terrified. Just a little. Though this was nothing compared to the anger and wrath of Itsuki or his mother. Now that he thought about it, his mother was on a whole other level of anger. 

Fuutarou sweat dropped as he stared at the scene. "Boy, she's pretty pissed."

The brown-haired teen next to him rose a brow. "Really?" He then cleared his throat, "As I was saying... How do I go about getting a girlfriend...?"

"You're still going on about that!?" Fuutarou sighed, "Gimme a break. I don't have the leisure to be worry about other people's problems. I've got my hands full trying to pull of the Test of Courage by myself tonight. I hate this kind of thing," he said, grinding his teeth.

"Oh, I can help, Uesugi-san!"

"No, you can't, dumbass. You're afraid of scary stuff."

"...Oh, right. I forgot about that," Y/N says, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

'This idiot...'

Jogging past the trio was Yotsuba. She then turned her head to Fuutarou's way, calling out to him. She was carrying the items and other props for the Test of Courage.

"Uesugi-san, I'll move the props for the Test of Courage for you," Yotsuba says.

He looked at her surprise. "Yotsuba... Aren't you in charge of the bonfire?"

"Yep!" She beamed a smile. "But I figured this much would be too much for you to handle by yourself, so I talked to my classmates about it. Uesugi-san the study-alien has finally made it to the field trip. So I'm going to do my best to support you!"

The yellow-eyed teen stared at her for a moment before he let out an amused scoff. Standing up, he dusted off his pants as he began making his way over to her. He turned his back slightly to look at the two behind him.

"Alright, Maeda, Y/N. Take care of the rice for my team."

"You got it, Uesugi-san!" The glasses wearing teen flashed his friend a thumbs up.

The brown-haired teen, now known as Maeda, gives Fuutarou an annoyed look. "Hah? Where do you get off ordering me around!? And I ain't finished talking by the wa--"

"Participation of the Test of Courage is voluntary. So try inviting the girls in your class," Fuutarou says, grabbing a mask off the box Yotsuba was holding. He then looked at Maeda with a grin. "But you better not chicken out because I'm gonna go all out."

The two boys were confused as to what he meant, but Maeda seemed to be inspired by his words. Confidence began to overflow within him. 

The two then walked off, Y/N going back to what he was doing. He was fiddling around with a few sticks he had picked up off the ground, using it to poke and stoke the fire in front of him. To add on to this sort of childish behavior, Y/N kept muttering "poke poke" to himself. However, Maeda's question then made him pause.

"Hey. Are you dating Nakano-san's sister? What's her name again... Itsuki?"

"...Huh!?" Y/N looked at him with his jaw agape.

Maeda scratched the back of his head, "I mean, everyone seems to think so. You two look like you get along great, or something."

"N-No! Nakano-san and I aren't going out! We're just friends! Yeah, that's it! Yeah, just friends!" Y/N exclaims, frantically.

Maeda seemed to be skeptical of Y/N's response, narrowing his eyes at him. Y/N on the other hand was nervous. Although, he wasn't sure why he was nervous in the first place. He shouldn't be. After all, him and Itsuki weren't dating in the first place... Right? The more he thought about it, those bubbling feelings he had felt weeks and weeks ago began to surmise again. Why was he feeling such things? It was strange to him.

The brown-haired teen then sighed. He then returned to looking at his rice, as well as Fuutarou's.

"Well, I guess I'll take your word for it. ...You know, you're not creepy at all."

"Eh?" Y/N was confused. "Well... I guess so..."

"Most people said you were creepy. Guess they were wrong," Maeda nonchalantly says. "Guess you can't judge a book by it's cover."

"...Thanks," Y/N mutters.

Maeda began to laugh a little. "You know, you're actually a nice guy. You're pretty cool, you know that?"

"R-Really? Th-Thanks, Maeda-kun!"

At the end of that afternoon, Y/N ended up making a new friend. He felt like he was finally beginning to open up to people.

---

Later that night, Maeda took Fuutarou's advice. He did end up asking a girl to the Test of Courage, albeit the girl was a bit revolted at first. But she too didn't have anyone to go with, so in the end, she obliged.

As the two were walking through the dark forest, only the moonlight lighting the pathway, Maeda couldn't help but think of what Fuutarou had said. "Going all out?" What did he mean exactly?

Well...

"Like this!" Fuutarou exclaimed, jumping out of the bushes with his mask on.

Both Maeda and the girl he was with screamed in fright. They quickly hurried and rushed off, fear having completely taken them over. However, Fuutarou was not alone in doing the scares for the Test of Courage.

Yotsuba was there, assisting him.

The girl with the green ribbon laughed as their two victims scurried off. She then looked to Fuutarou with a triumphant look.

"I'm so happy right now! I can sense the life from your usually dead eyes!"

He deadpanned at her. "I see. Well, I'm glad they've been resurrected."

Yotsuba smiled lightly, "Maybe it's because I thought you weren't going to come."

Hearing that come from her mouth made him scoff, but he smiled under his mask. The two then began to snicker as they planned their next scare on their next victims.

"Let's make this field trip without regrets. Shi shi shi,~" Yotsuba says.

Fuutarou perks up. "Ah! The next group is here!"

The two then receded into the bushes. In the distance, two figures could be seen walking toward the unsuspecting places of Fuutarou and Yotsuba. Lighting the way in front of them, the figures revealed to be Ichika and Miku. The costumes Fuutarou had on was supposed to be some sort of scary clown, while Yotsuba had wrapped bandages and cloth all over herself to resemble a mummy of sorts. 

Once Ichika and Miku drew close, the two jumped out.

"I'm gonna get ya!"

"Yer gonna get eaten!"

However, the two girls were unfazed.

Miku was the first to speak up. "Fuutarou."

"And Yotsuba too," Ichika finishes.

"Ichika, Miku!"

Fuutarou deflated in mood a little, "Oh, great. It's the pair who already know everything. No point in trying to scare you two."

"Ah, sorry," Miku apologizes, bowing her head.

Ichika waves her hand in an apologetic notion. "Waah.~ How unexpected.~ I'm shocked.~"

She tried to play it off that she was scared, trying to lighten up Fuutarou's mood. While it really didn't, the black-haired teen sighed in an appreciative way.

"Yeah, thanks for playing along."

"But I was though.~"

"Stop lying," Fuutarou deadpans at her.

Now that Miku noticed the wig Fuutarou was wearing, she looked down with a slight blush. She thought he looked good in it. Ichika then noticed the blonde wig as well. Gaining a slight grin and blush, she moved a hand to cover a bit of her mouth.

"Did you dye your hair?"

"It's just a wig," Fuutarou sweat dropped. 

He then began to explain some things, mostly on how to get through the forest safely through the indicated signs that had been posted up. However, Miku wasn't listening. She was still blushing over the fact that Fuutarou looked good in the blonde wig. But she was soon knocked out of her thoughts when Fuutarou snapped his fingers in front of her.

"Miku, are you listening?"

She blinked a few times. "Huh? What?"

"There are signs, so I'm sure you'll be fine. But there's a cliff up ahead," he advises, "so make sure you follow the route."

"We know. Let's go, Ichika."

"Huh? Okay," Ichika says, confused as to how cold Miku was as she turned in the direction of the signs.

Fuutarou raised an eyebrow under his mask, "What's with her? A little cold, don't you think?"

"But Miku's always like that, isn't she?" Yotsuba piped up.

"More importantly," Fuutarou began to lecture the girl, "you're still hesitant when you're trying to scare people. You need a little bit more of an elaborate entrance!"

---

More time went by and the next group went into the forest. It was Nino and Itsuki. 

Being the person to be easily scared, Itsuki was hugging onto her older sister tightly. Although Nino was fine with offering emotional support to her, she was a bit annoyed by how she was clinging onto her fairly tightly.

Itsuki let out a low squeal. "I really shouldn't have participated in this..."

"Hey, don't cling to me so much..." Nino then sighed as she looked behind her. "Well... At least you're better off than him."

"Uwah...! This place is so scary! Uesugi-san, why did you leave me!?"

Apparently, no one wanted to partner up with Y/N. Mostly because he was known to be a scardy cat, so no one really wanted to take care of him. Therefore, this left Nino and Itsuki to be left with him. The glasses wearing teen was trailing behind the pair, slowly and shivering in fear.

Like Y/N, Itsuki shook in fear, "My classmates were saying that this forest is haunted... Apparently, many people have entered, never to leave again."

"That's obviously a false rumor," Nino says with a scoff. "The so-called legend is also false but this just has no credibility whatsoever. Just who is cheap toy supposed to scare?"

There was a very non-scary looking lantern hanging from the tree branch. However...

"Aaahhh! Scary tree lamp!" Y/N shrieked.

Nino deadpanned. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." She then sighed in boredom, "I thought the field trip was supposed to be a lot more fun than this."

"But it has only just gotten started, has it not?" Itsuki asked her sister. She was still a bit scared.

"Yeah, but it's been ruined from the get-go! Don't tell me you forgot what happened yesterday!"

"Well... That's..."

Nino huffed. "The only good thing about it was that nothing happened--"

"So that means it wasn't Nino, then," Itsuki says in relief. She still remembered about what she saw this morning.

"Huh? What wasn't?" Nino asks, confused. She really was.

"Ahh, this place is so scary. Let's hurry and go!" Y/N urges the two.

Just as they kept walking a bit more, they heard some sort of scratching noise. Already, the three instantly became nervous, huddling close to each other. In an instant, someone dropped from the trees.

Hanging by a rope tied to his leg and tied to a tree branch was Fuutarou. He was donning his mask as he gazed at the three menacingly.

"Wwwwaaaaaaaahhhhh! I can't take this anymore!" Itsuki screamed to the top of her lungs as she ran off!

"W-Wait for me, Nakano-san! Aaaaahhhh! We're going to diiiieeee!" Y/N howled as he chased after her.

"Itsuki! L/N-kun! Wait!" Nino called out to them.

But it was too late. They were already long gone.

"She's really not too good with this kind of thing, huh...? Come to think of it, Y/N wasn't either..."

Yotsuba pops out from the side of a tree. "Uh-oh... I think we over did it..."

Fuutarou then lifted his mask off his face. "Where did those guys go?"

Nino had chased after the two. Now the three of them were nowhere in sight. This was a problem.

Very much so, indeed.

---

"Waaah! Nino! Yotsuba! Miku! Ichika! Uesugi-kun! L/N-kun! Anyone! Help me!"

"N-Nakano-san, slow down! You'll trip!"

"Aaahhh!"

"Nakano-san!"

A thud could be heard as two figures crashed to the ground. Itsuki groaned as she began to open her eyes. But she soon blushed, realizing the predicament of her situation that she was in.

Her hands were on Y/N's chest, both of them close to each other. And better yet, their faces were quite close. And their lips were just merely a few inches away.

Oh, how convenient it was.