Chapter 38 – Camp near a River

Third person POV

 Later, at 11:50 a.m., despite their slowness in walking, they arrived at a spot near a river. 

 "Yup, this is it, guys," Kiyoshi said to them. 

He and his group then unloaded their stuff and began unpacking and preparing their tents before sundown. 

Daku luckily have his own foldable and easy-to-assemble tent bought by Kiyoshi, but he barely knows how to do it despite the instructions included with the product. 

But Senichi gave him a helping hand by holding the tent so Daku would nail the pegs into the earth. 

Atsushi and Sachio are setting up each other's tents while Kiyoshi set up his. 

 By just 10 minutes, they had set a camp on that spot. It's also lunch time, so they eat up. Their food mostly consisted of store-bought, ready-to-eat ones, but they did bring some raw meat so they would cook it over the campfire tonight. Kiyoshi and Daku loved potatoes so they brought a bag of that stuff, much to their friends' chagrin. Kiyoshi's friends, who had known about Daku's backstory from him, are very sympathetic to Daku, and they shared their own life stories. Atsushi is revealed to be living with his aunt because his parents are working abroad, and his aunt was pretty strict about time, so he had to be punctual. For Senichi, he was abandoned by his mother when he was only 6 years old, leaving him with his father, who had been working hard to provide for him. 

 Sachio, meanwhile, had a happy childhood. This makes Daku a bit envious, but he resisted that thanks to Kiyoshi's advice and influence. But towards Atsushi's and Senichi's upbringings, Daku was sympathetic towards them back. 

 Later after lunch, they left the campsite to explore the beauty of nature around them. They won't be going too far from the campsite or else they would get lost without any food. They brought some water just in case.