The Adventure of Taiga and Tatsuya part 5

"Should we stop here for today?" Himuro finally stopped walking.

"Shouldn't we go a little further?" Kagami stared at the path in front of him, as if to trail the path in front of him by making it smaller it his mind.

However, since the torchlight can only shone a limited range of distance, so it was difficult to find out where they were going.

Himuro replied, "No, this is enough."  He shone his torchlight onto the pavilion at the side. When he read the park's map, it did shows that there was a pavilion at that area.  "Since we are already at the pavilion, it means that we no longer need to go west. Today we'll just stop here and rest. Tomorrow, we'll head towards south and leave this park."

Regarding Himuro's suggestion, kagami had no objection at all, and the pair walked into the pavilion and found nothing in it except stools, the stool are designated in a U-shape. Sitting on a stool, Kagami took out two rice balls he had made that morning from his haversack. If he were to bring food during peak of summer, it would have already turned bad. However, they came during a colder season, it was not a problem.

"As expected, Japanese people should eat rice! This is yours. I prepared some for you too!

"Uwa! Thanks… Eh?"

Looking at the rice ball he had taken from Kagami, Himuro's eyes widened.

"It's really big…"

Even though Himuro was holding the plastic-wrapped rice ball with two hands, it was still considered big. Since the rice ball was completely covered with seaweed, it looked like a black ball at first glance.

"Its alright. I used a lot of ingredients to make these. Its taste fantastic!"

Looking at Kagami starting to take big bites out of his rice ball, Himuro laughed.

"No, I'm not worried about that… But to think that you would be able to make such huge rice balls!"

"I used a bowl to make its shape. Won't it be cooler if we ate a huge rice ball than small ones?"

"Taiga you.. ..are really a surprising guy."

"Itadakimasu!" Himuro said to Kagami, and took a bite out of the rice ball. "Un, its delicious! Ah – I ate some beef jerky!"

Hearing Himuro's praise, Kagami grinned.

"Other than beef jerky, I also added tuna, canned beef, dried bonito and cheese, and…" In one hand Kagami held up his rice ball, on the other hand he held the ingredients used to make the rice balls.

At first, Himuro laughed when he saw how serious Kagami was. Suddenly, he turned away, surprised. His expression became grim as he stared into the darkness. Seeing how nervous Himuro was, Kagami too looked into the darkness.

"…What's over there?" Himuro whispered, as he put his rice ball on a stool.

"What's that?" Kagami also put his rice ball down, and looked there carefully. Wondering where it is. It is impossible for them to see clearly in the dark "I'm guessing… It's not human."

Warily, the two of them stood up from their seats and moved towards the center of the pavilion.  Himuro had made the decision to flash his torchlight towards to the direction of the unidentified objects

PITTER PATTER PITTER PATTER

Noises that sounded like something stamping on the ground echoed. A sound that seemed to be something stamping on the ground rang out. At the same time, the image of the creature unlike a human appeared on the spot that Himuro shone with his torchlight. Its body was crouching as it ran out. Himuro placed himself in front of Kagami to protect him.

"Tatsuya!" Kagami called out.

The creature rushed out at Himuro.

"Uwaaaa!"

Overwhelmed by its tremendous strength, Himuro got pushed by that creature and ends up pushing kagami who are at the back of him, in the ground too.

The two of them fell to the ground with a loud 'THUD'.

"Uuuuu… Tatsuya?!"

Kagami scrunched up his face in pain. It appears that he had hurt his waist. He sat up, and looked at Himuro.

"Tatsuya…! Are you alright?.. EEEEKKKKKkkkkk!!!!" Kagami shriek before Himuro  could even answer him.

Looking at the situation in front of him, Kagami moved backwards rapidly, using his hands and legs like a spider.

"Ta- Tatsuya!" Kagami cried out in fear, with his face all white. 

 Through the light emitted from the torchlight that was lying on the ground, Kagami could see Himuro keeping the same posture and lies on the ground.

"Wait – don't! Stop, it itches!"

Taking a closer look, the attacker was a golden retriever licking Himuro's face.

"Hey, calm down…" Himuro rubbed the dog's ears to appease it; it finally got off Himuro's body and sat down.

"Haaah, that really scared me…"

"The person who got scared should be me!" Looking at them with his back on the walls of the pavilion, Kagami cried out. "Why is there a dog in such a place?!"

"…Why?" Himuro turned his head towards the golden retriever.

The golden retriever was sitting on the floor obediently, wagging its tail as if it were cleaning the floor. Himuro patted its head, and its tail started wagging even more.

"This dog seems to be used to humans… Ah. A collar." Himuro noticed the collar, and fiddled. It appears to have a dog tag beneath the collar.