The Adventure of Taiga and Tatsuya part 4

After that, the same situation would constantly appear, they were always eyed by the police nearby. Except that this time, even pedestrian would set their eyes on them. The pair are being alert and cautious. If they are to find anything amiss, they would pretend that they are going home, and make a detour before continuing their journey. Their act has repeated for several times. Not only did it stretch the distance, it was also time-consuming.

As they were too busy watching out for the police, unknowing to them, they had deviated from their original goal of going west by going north.

"This is beyond my expectations…" said Himuro wearily as he sat on a chair at a park.

Beside Himuro is Kagami, whose mouth is full of hotdogs. He nodded his head to show his support. The journey had finally tired down the pair, and they bought food from the park's food vendor for a late lunch.

"If this goes on, it'll be dark before we could even reach there."

Himuro looks up at the sky and shut his eyes to block the sun's rays.

"Maybe we should avoid contact with other people and continue on?"

"… Should we hide?" Kagami, who had finished his first hotdog quickly and is already starting on the second hotdog, unintentionally asked.

"Eh?" Himuro opens his eyes and looks at Kagami, puzzled. "Hide? Where?"

"The forest!"

"Forest? Which forest?"

"Look, it's just there." Kagami stuffed the hotdog into his mouth and pointed towards the north.

Situated on the opposite of the housing area, lay a hill stretching from east to west

"That hill has many trees, so there should be many hiding spots," Kagami laughed as he swallows the hotdog.

"Hill, huh…" Himuro is a bit surprise. "Anyway, that should be a park… Its called the National Forest Park."

"Ehhh?! That huge area is actually a park?! I thought it was a hill! As expected of America, everything has to be big…" Amazed, Kagami looks northwards.

If they were to hide within the forested area, they would be able to evade the huge number of police's and moves towards their destination. Even though the idea of evading other people is interesting, Kagami was already tired. Reacting and changes accordingly when problems occur does not suit Kagami's character at all. Rather than taking the roundabout method, he would rather rush towards his destination.

"Hey, Tatsuya, lets go to the park and have a look."

"Un."

Himuro looked northwards towards the park. Then, as if wanting to sort out his thoughts, he looked up at the sky again, and closed his eyes. Kagami follows Himuro's actions, and turns his head upwards and closing his eyes too. Their eyelids could feel the glare of the sun, and the background noises starts to get louder.

Even though Himuro had always wanted Kagami to 'cool his head', what conclusions could he get if he were to do so?

Kagami, who had experienced this for the first time, relaxed. After awhile, the surrounding noise gradually becomes quieter and quieter…

"…Taiga… Taiga!"

As his shoulder was shook and being called by his name, Kagami wakes up. Looking at Himuro who is staring at him, Kagami blink.

"Eh… Tatsuya?"

"Taiga, don't fall asleep suddenly!"

"Eh? I… I fell asleep?!" Kagami hurried rubbed his eyes. "I originally wanted to think alongside with Tatsuya…"

"Don't tell me… You were copying me just now?"

Kagami turns his head to the side, attempting to avoids meeting the line of vision that Himuro stared at him. It was very awkward since he had actually fallen asleep when he was supposed to be thinking. Himuro was stunned for a moment, but he quickly laughed it off.

"Hahaha… You actually fell asleep while thinking?!"

"W-whats so funny?! And this is what you told me to do. You wanted to make me use my brain more!"

Himuro laugh even more when he sees how grumpy Kagami becomes.

"Alright, alright… Thinking certainly is a good thing. But I finally realized that to make you sit down and properly think is an impossible task."

"What is that suppose to mean?!"

Gently ruffling Kagami's head, Himuro stood up.

"Lets go to the park and try it out."

"Eh? Really?" Kagami's annoyance earlier seems to have evaporated, he jumps up in excitement. Himuro laugh and nods his head.

"Un. well we've already went past our schedule time, taking a slight risk that might consume us more time is not a bad idea/ Considerable . But there are many inclines there. You'd better not complain being tired later!"

"I won't - !"

As what Kagami had promised, he did not complain when they were riding up the inclines. Be it on the ramp of the National Forest Park, in the woods, or on the lush mountain trail, Kagami happily and enthusiastically moved forward.

On the other hand, it was their bicycles that protested. While they were riding towards the west through the National Forest Park, Kagami's and Himuro's bicycles' tires punctured. their tires punctured as they had decided to take a bumpier route to avoid meeting people.

In the natural bright tunnel that is formed by the lined of woods, the pair sat down in front of their respective bicycles.

"What should we do…?" Kagami held up the completely deflated tire.

There is no other use for the deflated tire, the only thing they could do is to walk.

"Looks like we'll have to leave our bikes here…" Himuro looks at the bicycle, and straightened himself up as he had given up hope of patching it up.

"Isn't it too tiring if we put our bicycles aside and walks there?"

"Un, it will be difficult… But we don't have a choice."

"So we'll leave it here?"

"Haa?"

Kagami's sudden remarks made Himuro slightly confused.

"Kagami, what did you said earlier? Leave our bikes here…?"

"Un, that's right. We'll leave our bikes here and go on."

"Are you for real? Leave our bikes here and move on? What are you thinking?"

"But these bikes would only cause us problems since its tries are punctured, right? Even though it'll be difficult for us to bring the basketballs back, I'm sure we'll think of a way when we get there."

Kagami noticed Himuro's shock expression, but he did not care , and walked towards the side of the forest.

"Taiga?!" Himuro hurriedly tries to catch up.

Kagami looks around, and found a huge rock.

"Lets just leave it there," saying this, he went towards the rock.

"If we hide it here, we won't have to worry about it being stolen, right?" Kagami locks his bicycle.

Himuro looks back at the trail. Indeed, if they were to hide their bicycles underneath the huge rock, it would be on the blind spot to those passersby, so they would not notice the bicycles.

"We'll just bring our tools back to repair them next time. What do you think, Tatsuya?" Kagami asked for Himuro's opinion.

Himuro turn his eyes onto Kagami and stare intently at him, before sighing gently.

"... Taiga, you really are a miraculous big idiot…''

"What?!"

After giving Kagami a huge blow, he walks towards the trail.

"T-Tatsuya?! Wouldn't this method work?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with this method. We'll do as you said and hide the bikes here. But we need to leave some marks so we can find them next time."

"Oh, is that so? Well leave it to me!"

Himuro placed his bicycle inside the rocky crevice, while Kagami set to work, he picked up some dead branches to use as a marker, and later plant it in the soil on the side of the road near to the hiding place of their bicycle. After doing so, Kagami pats the ground with his hands, and ask Himuro, "How's this?", to which Himuro nods his head in approval.

Stepping on the soft soil, the pair hurriedly continue to go on their way. However, the difference between walking and cycling is huge. Time trick by slowly, with the sun setting in the west bit by bit. Thanks to Himuro bringing the torchlight in his haversack, they were able to navigate through the dark forest.