Time passed, and two hours later.
After putting their belongings in the room and enjoying the lunch buffet, Saito, along with the members of his group, was currently walking through the forest.
“Doesn’t that mushroom look edible?”
“Wait. That’s the Stinkhorn mushroom, so it’s a no-go. You can eat it if you don’t mind having an upset stomach.”
“Ugh, seriously? I thought it could be used for dinner.”
At that moment, Saito, who happened to find a mushroom, tried to pick it, but Lily immediately intervened with a warning.
In her memory, this mushroom seemed to be poisonous and not edible.
The moment Saito heard that, he hastily withdrew the hand he had been reaching out.
“Amazing, Lilycchi. You’re knowledgeable. How can you identify mushrooms so well?”
“I saw it in a picture book when I was a kid. Well, at that time, I barely remembered it, but thanks to someone, I ended up memorizing it. Someone who wanted to eat nuts and mushrooms without thinking.”
Praising Lily for correctly identifying the mushroom that none of the team members knew, Shuri admired her, and she gave Saito a slightly annoyed look.
“Don’t cause trouble for Lily, you foolish moon.”
“Ouch. Why am I getting scolded when my name wasn’t even mentioned?”
“Because you’re the only one who would do something like that.”
“Yeah, Saito is an idiot, so he’d eat anything.”
” For now, I’ll eat anything that’s put in front of me.”
” I get it, I know exactly what you guys are thinking. Remember it for later, seriously.”
Although Saito thought he could keep it a secret from the other team members, it was evident to everyone as soon as they heard the story, and he ended up being beaten up.
Saito had taken action, thinking it would make dinner more luxurious, but he hadn’t expected to be beaten up like this. In retaliation, he decided to do something to the other team members during dinner.
Now, the reason Saito and the others are in the mountains is not for gathering ingredients,
but rather as part of the orientation for the forest school.
It’s a typical activity where teachers set up mysteries in various parts of the mountain. The students solve these mysteries, collect keywords, and finally come up with an answer. It’s commonly known as a treasure hunt game.
The time limit is two hours, and the area is reasonably extensive.
If they fail to answer the last question, the curry they make for dinner will be without any ingredients.
However, since the main theme is to deepen the interaction with team members, the school has designed it to be easily cleared by the students, like a light hiking activity.
“Wow.”
“Dangerous!”
However, being in the mountain, even if it’s managed, there are more risks due to uneven terrain.
Saito and the others had to be careful to avoid accidents.
Lily, whose attention was distracted by the surroundings, stumbled over a tree branch.
Just as she was about to fall, Haruki caught her in the nick of time.
“Are you okay?”
“…Thanks. I’m fine now. Can you let go?”
“Sorry. I’ll let go right away.”
Haruki, worried about whether Lily was injured, looked into her face.
Lily, showing a hint of disgust as their faces were uncomfortably close, asked him to let go, and Haruki immediately apologized and released her.
“It’s like a manga.”
(That’s true.)
Saito internally agreed with Minaka’s statement.
The series of events between the two could have been the beginning of a love story in a beautifully fictional world.
However, just as Saito was starting to think about it, he felt a dull pain in his chest.
“Lilycchi, are you okay? Be careful where you step!”
“Did you twist your ankle?”
(What’s this? I have to go to Lily first.)
Although it was a type of pain he had never felt before, Saito quickly headed towards Lily, but his foot slipped when he tried to stand up.
“Ah!”
In the tilting world, he caught sight of wet leaves on the spot he had stepped on earlier.
“Ugh!?”
That was the root of all evil. Unforgivable. With that thought, Saito kissed the ground.
As a review of the kiss, let’s just say sand got into his mouth, and it was awful.
“Saito!?”
“Wow, a magnificent fall. Saito, is your nose okay?”
“Pff, pff! My nose hurts like hell, but probably no major injuries.”
Having fallen on his face, his nose hurt quite a bit, but it didn’t feel like it was broken. There didn’t seem to be any significant injuries.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
///
scene transition
///
As if to reassure the worried team members, Saito waved his hands lightly and then stood up.
“Ugh, the worst. My jersey is all dirty.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
As Saito looked around his body, the ground was muddy due to the slight wetness, and he was completely covered in mud.
He let out a heavy sigh.
“Saito, are you okay?”
Looking up, in front of him was a childhood friend extending her hand with a worried expression.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Other than a hurting nose, it’s nothing serious. By the way, are you okay over there?”
“Yeah… thanks to Nishizono-kun, I’m perfectly fine.”
Saito, whose hands are dirty because he touched the ground when he stood up, stands up without any help from Lily.
When Saito looked at her worriedly, she told him that she was okay while looking a bit dissatisfied.
“Good then. …Hey, it’s more of a coincidence that both of us fell, right? We’re childhood friends, so we don’t need to be this similar.”
“Hehe, that’s true.”
Saito laughed at Lily’s agreement. Both of them laughed as if it were an unfortunate day.
“Okay, so that’s how it is. Since both of us fell, you have to be careful on the mountain. Walk with caution~”
Saito, who confirmed that all the members of the group can move without any problems, uses his own fall as a pretext to warn the group members to be careful as a group leader.
“Roger.”
“Be careful.”
“Watch your step.”
“It’s more convincing when someone covered in mud says it.”
“True.”
“Why are you so proud? I don’t get it.”
“Well, don’t sweat the small stuff. Anyway, let’s head for the next riddle and depart!”
“Ooh!”
With responses coming from each member, Saito gave the signal to start the journey, and some members responded with cheers.
Then, the members of Team Five, each paying attention to their steps, solved the riddles, and successfully cleared the treasure hunt.
They managed to avoid the curry without ingredients for dinner.
By the way, the gathered keywords hinted at solving the mystery, but it turned out to be curry rice. I thought it could have been something a bit more creative, but that’s just my secret opinion.
“Sensei, if there’s still time, can I change into regular clothes? This is getting uncomfortable.”
“It would be better to change. Sure, go ahead. But please come back as soon as possible.”
“Got it.”
Returning earlier than planned, Saito asks if he can change into his jersey.
After seeing the state he’s in, Chiee readily agrees, and Saito is allowed to return to the dormitory by himself.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Take care, Saito.”
“See you.”
After informing his team members, Saito quickly returns to their room and changes into his jersey.
As he packs the jersey into a plastic bag, it’s not even 2:30 yet.
With plenty of time left, Saito decides to wash the dirty jersey.
“Hangers, hangers… Huh? What’s this picture?”
While searching for hangers to hang the jersey to dry, Saito discovers a photo falling out of someone’s bag.
Curious, he picks up the photo.
“This is a photo of Lily that I took when I joined the club. I did a good job on this one. …But why is it here? I don’t remember printing this photo.”
Without a doubt, it’s a photo Saito took when he joined the club.
Since it turned out well, he asked a senior to send the data to his phone, but he didn’t print it.
(Wait a minute. Maybe I made one printout for the day we review the photos. So, maybe Kai brought this? Could it be that he likes Lily? Oh no, this is bad. He’s definitely someone who didn’t want this to be noticed. What should I do?)
After activating his brain’s internal computer and deducing the possibilities, Saito realizes that Kai might have feelings for Lily.
Otherwise, there’s no explanation for why he brought a photo of her.
He never thought that his friend is in love with his childhood friend.
Saito had not noticed it at all since there was no sign of it in Kai usual behavior.
It’s an abnormal situation for sure since Kai hasn’t confided in Saito about this.
(…Let’s just pretend I didn’t see anything.)
After careful consideration, Saito decides to act as if he didn’t see anything and forget everything he saw.
He puts the photo back into Kai’s bag and takes the hanger from the drawer to go to the washroom, as planned,
He washes the jersey with soap and scrubbing it with no care.
“…Can I really do that? Pretend I didn’t see such big news? It’s impossible for me!”
However, that determination doesn’t last long, and Saito slams his hand on the washstand after washing the jersey.
Given the circumstances, no matter how much Saito tries to clear his mind, the image he saw earlier clings stubbornly and refuses to let go.
Returning like this would undoubtedly result in awkward behavior.
The thought of it is giving him a headache.
“Wait a minute. Maybe, just maybe, there’s a chance I misunderstood, and it might not be related at all?”
Upon closer reflection, Saito has only discovered that Kai has Lily’s photo.
He hasn’t heard from him directly about having feelings for her.
While he believes Kai does, there’s still another possibility.
“Yeah, that’s right. Now that I think about it, it’s unlikely to develop feelings in such a short time since entering school.”
Convincing himself and repeating those thoughts, Saito returns to the balcony after hanging the washed jersey.
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated.
Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 2-10 additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
