Treasure

"Speaking of which, do you think there would be food?" a girl's voice asked, sounding mature but young at the same time.

It was Arai Reiko, born into a rich family, and she had that etiquette that kept her attitude. And her kind nature, which can be nagging like a mother sometimes, makes her more charming among the people who love her.

With her tall and slim figure and her clothes that follow the trend, Takeuchi once heard that she is getting recruited to become a voice actress and model.

Fukaya held her cheeks with a worried expression. "Yes, we haven't eaten for at least four days, it would be great if there was food soon."

Yoshihama replied with a worried look. "We still don't know, we don't meet any animals like rabbits, just wait a little bit, maybe we'll find it soon."

"You're right! The food would be great, my stomach was already growling when we arrived here," Uchimura said, joining the conversation.

"We have to believe that there was a village near the river," Yoshihama said, convincing himself and the others.

"Don't worry too much, there must be a way to solve the food problems, we have to concentrate," Oyakawa said.

"Must be patience to endure," Fukaya muttered to herself.

"That's right, we can still hold out with fresh water. I think we would find something to eat soon enough," Arai said smiling.

"Let's try if the river here is different from the outside," Uchimura said while he stretched, hoping to raise his spirits by doing so.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea! I hope you succeed Uchimura," Fukaya said, trying to be cheerful.

Uchimura raised his hands as he shouted. "Hell yeah! I'm going to find that fish even if we have to destroy the world!"

Yeah, good luck with that, sigh, I meant, we try that before and we don't have any luck so far... Takeuchi thought.

"Wait! What if we eat the light mushrooms?" exclaimed Fukaya, her eyes shining as she looked at the light mushrooms. "Our problems will be solved!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Fukaya! Who knows if the mushroom is poisonous or not," Arai almost scolded her. "There's no one here to help you if you get sick."

"Don't worry, ma'am," Hatano said out of nowhere while he was posing. "I'm some kind of doctor, you know."

Arai replied with a friendly smile. "Thank you, but I hope we don't have to get sick in the first place."

"Soup mushrooms would be delicious, let's try that when we rest," Uchimura said, ignoring what she just said.

An excited Fukaya said. "Soup mushrooms, umm, yeah, it reminds me of miso soup," then she dropped her shoulder, seemingly sad about the situation she found herself in. "Sigh, oh God, I missed home so much,"

"If we get back somehow, I will try to cook you miso soup, Fukaya," Adachi said suddenly, trying to cheer her up.

"Woah! This is a rare opportunity, Adachi! We should make a promise about it!" exclaimed Fukaya.

"Yes, I promise you," Adachi replied with a thumbs up.

"Let's try it another time," Yoshihama interrupted.

They keep walked deeper and deeper into the gigantic forest, there weren't any animals to be seen, only the light mushrooms that kept appearing. As if there wasn't any living being inside of the forest.

As they walked silently, they suddenly heard the sound of a howl from far away.

Shocked, Fukaya shouted and asked. "What was that?"

Yoshihama looked at the sources for a while. "Just keep moving. The more distance we put between us and that noise, the better."

They lined up as they walked following the river as always they does, walking between the gap of the gigantic trees.

Looking around her as if wary of something, Fukaya said. "This place is like a haunted forest,"

"Don't worry, it seems the sound was far away," Adachi assured her.

"It still bothers me, I thought the forest was a quiet place," Fukaya said, dropping her shoulders.

"Not every forest was the same, but what kind of animal was it? The howl sounded like a wolf," Adachi said.

"Don't know, let's just pretend it's not there," Fukaya said, looking away from the darkness of the forest.

"Stay close, everyone! We don't want to leave anyone behind," Yoshihama shouted.

I have a bad feeling about this... Takeuchi thought as fear began to fill his heart.

Looking to his side was Asaka, she seemed to be wary about something too. As he looked at her, he remembered her strange behavior before. But still, he decided not to pry about it.

They marched along the river for a long time, still talking and pretending not to look at the darkness of the forest that kept staring at them all the time. They stopped to rest whenever anyone got tired, the journey was unsettling and tiring.

Since they doesn't know if it was day or night, they just counted the time they take rest as a day. And it was already the third rest when they decided to split up to guard the other half who was going to sleep.

The practice from before seemed to be effective, as they smoothly took turns to keep watching the other who was sleeping.

As the list of tasks became smaller the more they entered the forest, they divided themselves into small teams to keep watch and guard them when they walked, hoping to be able to defend themselves if something came out of the darkness of the forest.

Now it was Takeuchi's group who take turns to keep watch while the others slept, even though he wasn't that strong. They still tried their best to maximize their resources.

His group was a few steps away from the others and so Takeuchi decided to lean against the giant tree while he watched the others, they still slept on the ground with grass as a mattress nearby the river.

There were many terrains like that near the river making it easy for them to continue their journey, as they doesn't need to move too much to find a river or get lost on the way to find it. It still wasn't as comfortable as a bed, but it was good enough for them to sleep on.