It's okay if it's too early to speculate! More will be revealed in this chapter and onward, and yes rndm, I certainly do plan to continue this! And although I always do
I have motivation this time! I hope some other readers out there as well *looks at grac who I know is lurking* catch up soon as well. ^^
Chapter 3: Into the Jungle Ai woke the next morning to the light blooming all around her. She tried to roll over but found she couldn’t, and looked down to see Risa clinging to her arm, huddled up against her side. On her arm she could feel the small spot of drool in front of the girl’s mouth. She smiled before gently pulling her arm out, the girl curling into an even tighter ball, and wiped it dry.
When she rose she heard a murmur behind her, but called back softly, “I’ll be right back, okay?” and pulled a yukata around her before ducking out.
The native villagers in the huts farther down the beach were already up and about, tending cook fires or tending clothes, and those who noticed her raised a hand in greeting. Most of them saw her; they were a very observant people.
There wasn’t a stir in the girls’ camp however, and she headed straight for Reina’s hut, quite sure what she’d find and intending to rouse the yankii so she’d have time to shower before leaving. When she pulled the door open though, the scene before her was certainly not quite what she’d expected.
Reina was asleep in her futon of course, the covering kicked nearly down to her feet to show the sweats and slightly pulled-up t-shirt she slept with, but Aika was right beside her, arms wrapped around Reina’s waist perhaps even tighter than Risa’s had been around Ai’s arm.
Ai opened her mouth to give a wake-up call, but was pre-empted by perhaps the loudest shriek she had ever heard. Her mouth fell the rest of the way open as Reina bolted up into a sitting position. She might have moved more after a second if Aika hadn’t been holding her down like a vice. Still, the younger girl seemed to be coming slowly awake as well. The screaming stopped after a few seconds, and Reina looked up from staring at the girl clutching her to Ai’s face.
“She didn’t wanna sleep alone,” Reina protested, as if defending herself from something. “Said she got scared. It happens to kids. She’s still young, you know.”
Ai raised her eyebrows at the priceless look from the rebellious young lady, but she now had apparently more pressing matters to attend to. Darting out of the hut, she looked around to see Sayu burst out of her own in just her long nightgown, take one look at Ai, and scream again as if she beheld Hell’s fire itself.
Ai rushed over to her, putting an arm around the girl to hopefully calm her down. She glanced nervously over her shoulder at the village, where people were running toward them, many with spears in hand, although obviously a bit confused as to what was going on. Spears! Maybe the others weren’t too far off about cannibals…
“Shh, Sayu,” she soothed, “Shh. It’s okay. Tell me what happened.”
“Ai-chan, it’s horrible!” the girl whimpered, wide-eyed. “In my tent…!”
“Ok,” Ai said. “I’ll have a look. All right? Just…” She glanced over her shoulder again, catching sight of Gaki-san stepping curiously out of her hut before turning toward the village, though the people were now slowing down. She breathed a large sigh of relief. It seemed she wasn’t destined to have a spear through her yet today.
…That was certainly not a thought she’d planned on having first thing this morning.
Opening the hut door, she peered inside. It looked relatively the same as hers, though perhaps with more luggage. The covers were ruffled, indicating Sayu had definitely jumped out of them quickly. She stepped slowly closer to them. And then…
Long black legs peeked out from underneath where they’d been apparently tossed off the bed, followed by easily the largest spider Ai had ever seen. She couldn’t help but freeze, although she was proud she didn’t just scream out loud like Sayu had. She wanted adventures after all, and this was certainly a new experience! This was just the first wildlife she’d found on this island, not to mention they hadn’t even made it into the jungle yet.
“That is... SO COOL!” came a sudden voice from behind her, which this time actually did make her jump.
She spun around to see Aika coming up just behind her, any drowsiness apparently quickly fading. Reina stood back at the door, rubbing her eyes as if trying to see what they were looking at without getting too close.
“Aika…” she said. “You’ll have to learn not to creep up behind people like that! If we’re going to be traveling together here…”
The young girl completely ignored her, her full attention focused on the spider. “You know what that is?” she asked.
“I don’t give a damn what it is,” Reina said, now coming slowly closer as well. “If you need to kill it, I’d be happy to oblige though.”
The next thing Ai knew, Aika had spun around and slapped Reina full on the face. Reina flinched, stunned, her mouth hanging open.
“You can’t just go around killing things like that!” Aika warned her. “They might be endangered!”
“It’s just a spider…” Reina murmured, still shocked. Ai sympathized with her. The girl was a firecracker at the best of times, but she certainly didn’t expect Aika to so seriously go after her like that. Maybe what Reina said about what happened last night was the truth. Then again…
Aika turned back around, doing her best to ignore her friend. “If I’m not mistaken…” she said, and walked closer to the spider. It had also stopped moving after having apparently sensed the commotion in the room, and stayed where it was just outside the blanket. Aika moved toward it very slowly, Ai’s breath catching the closer she got, and carefully reached out to it, cupping both hands just in front of it.
Ai wondered if she shouldn’t call out to the girl to stop whatever she was doing, but also couldn’t help but stare in fascination. When Aika slightly nudged its front leg, the leg jerked back a little, but Aika moved her hands further in until it started crawling onto her palm. It was so large it spanned both her hands, but she lifted it up and turned around, smiling triumphantly.
Ai noticed the girl’s eyes glance just to her side, and looked down before jumping a little herself. Reina had a death grip on her arm, staring hard at the spider in Aika’s hands as if nothing else existed. The girl obviously had a lot of work to do to establish that “street cred” she desired. This certainly added strength what she’d heard of Aika’s skills, however.
They heard a dull thud behind them, and Ai craned her neck to see that Sayu had apparently attempted to re-enter her hut, but having seen Aika and the spider, fainted dead away. Gazing down at Reina still tense as a cat ready to spring – or more likely, flee – and staring at Aika, Ai sighed.
“Sayu!” Aika called out. “Sayu! There’s nothing to worry about. See? It’s just an orb weaver. They’re harmless!” Her words fell on deaf, or at least unconscious, ears.
It was certainly an ominous start to their grand adventure.
Eventually Aika released the spider regretfully into a tree, urged on by Ai’s promises that they’d see much more very soon, although that certainly didn’t comfort Sayumi when she came to. Reina was being very quiet, which Gaki of all people kept giving odd looks at, but before long they were showered, ate a light breakfast, and ready to go.
Tu had come up once they left Sayu’s hut and asked if everything was all right. He eyed the spider Aika carried, looking at her as if he was rather impressed, but Ai said they were fine while she and Reina fanned Sayu who had just managed to revive herself.
Ai was excited to pull out their gear, including the exquisite
Montecristo superfino hats she’d bought for this occasion. After unfolding them, they looked no different than they had new. Definitely worth the five hundred thousand yen each she’d paid for them.
“How do I look?” Risa asked, walking up to her and grinning before checking herself out a little. She wore one of the hats, as well as the same tidy button-up shirt and khaki shorts and jacket they all wore. They would be hiking a good part of the morning around the beaches until they got to the villa – they could see it sparkling in the distance across the inlet – and there they would change into thicker pants to trek into the forest.
“You look like you’re ready to begin an adventure,” Ai laughed.
When Sayu walked up, the two of them rolled their eyes at the ribbon she had wrapped around her collar. She also had found a flower somewhere for her hat. Ai wondered if the girl could go anywhere without accessorizing at least a little bit.
“Well, at least you look a bit more the adventurer than you did the past couple days,” Gaki said skeptically, and Sayu stuck her tongue out at her.
Reina and Aika actually both looked the most natural in the gear, though Reina of course wore the shirt untucked and the shorts rather baggy. She also had a spiked belt with a skull buckle. Aika’s was a roaring tiger.
“Well if we have to, let’s go ahead and get this started,” Reina grumbled, eyeing the shoreline and the sparkling in the distance while running her thumb up and down the buckle.
“You would have thought she didn’t want to come,” Sayu grumbled, before lifting her pack to her shoulders. It had been about twice the size half an hour ago, but she soon realized she couldn’t carry her wardrobe for five steps, much less days through the forest.
“It looks like about three kilos to reach the villa,” Aika said, peering at a map she spread out in front of her. “Of course, it won’t all be walking along the beach, so…”
“So it’ll take a little longer than you’d think,” Ai finished for her. She smiled at the girl, visualizing the map in her head. She’d basically memorized their route before coming, at least to the villa.
Ai wasn’t completely wrong.
They made decent progress around the beach edges, if a tad slow from the deep sand. It was quite a pleasant trip. They enjoyed the warmth of the breeze, and before long took off their shoes to feel the sand flow around their bare feet. They even paused to stop a few minutes for Reina and Aika to go play in the water a bit.
During that time, Ai and Risa took the opportunity to sit down and cuddle a bit watching the others play, as well as just the sea and beauty surrounding them.
“Well I must say,” Risa said, their heads leaning gently against each other’s, “With all your talk of grand adventure, I didn’t imagine a whole lot of relaxing romantic time like this on the beach.”
“I thought I’d give you a little tease of what’s to come,” Ai said, a sparkle in her eye. “Once we’re finished exploring, perhaps dependent on what we find, and once the villa’s finished, this is what will fill our days.”
After having already served Sayu, who sat huddling under a large parasol since she seemed deathly afraid the tropical sun would ruin her complexion, one of the native serving staff joined them and proffered a wooden pitcher of something along with some cups. They’d found out that aside from Tu, none of the rest spoke understandable English, but his gestures were plenty suitable to get the offer across.
Smiling in gratitude, Ai took one of the cups and Risa the other, and the young man poured out a brew that smelled faintly like coconut and mango. Almost right after she took a sip, Ai felt her head spin.
“Wow,” Risa said, reacting to her own experimental taste. “I think this is something I could get used to as well.”
The young man’s grin, whether he understood or not, split his face from end to end.
Though they did have to enter the woods, it was only sparsely treed this close to the shore, and there was a well-defined trail which Tu led them along. A still quite wet Aika peered around constantly to catch sight of any wildlife they might pass, occasionally pointing something or other out to Reina who hardly even seemed to notice as she slashed at tall grasses with a switch. However, Ai and Risa almost clung to each other as if that was the only way they’d stay upright. Whatever brew the natives had mixed up for them, it was sure not lacking in strength. Even so, Ai knew she couldn’t have had more than two glasses…
Even Sayu, though not having the same issue in mobility as them, certainly appeared more pink-cheeked than what her blush had done for her earlier in the morning.
It was near midday when they reached the villa, hats pulled low over their brows, and even then Ai had to hold a hand in front of her eyes to shield from the glare off the building. It was mostly being constructed of bamboo and other local island woods, but they’d imported marble and granite as well. Ai had wanted nothing but the best to begin with, but seeing it in person, she wondered if the materials were really appropriate. Maybe if nothing else, they’d cool off the interior a bit.
As they neared the looming structure, Mako-chan came up smiling to them along with some of the other imported contractors. Not tired from traveling as they had been last night, she had made the trek then to get back to her own shelter and be ready for the morning. Ai thought it surely must have been cooler for her in the middle of the night instead of their own trip in the middle of the morning. She was already dripping with sweat. However, it also seemed to have the effect of sobering her up fairly quickly.
“Hello again!” the woman said as they met, and Ai hugged her. “How was your trip?”
“Really damn hot,” Reina said, studying Sayu, who despite having one of the servants hold a parasol above her the whole time, also had hair slicked and bunched down against her face. Ai was looking at Reina, though. The girl was one to talk – she looked like she hadn’t sweated at all! “I don’t know whose bright idea it was to come here right under the blazing sun.”
Aika coughed, hiding a smile behind her fist, as she glanced over at Ai. Ai just rolled her eyes. “Come now, people would kill to be able to get a tan like we can here. Right, Sayu?”
The girl under the parasol gave her a meaningful, though cute, glare in return.
“There’s shelter enough here if you want to get out of the sun for a little while,” Mako-chan said, studying the other girls. “Though you might have to share them with a few smelly construction workers.” The men behind her grinned toothily, and Sayu seemed to choke on something.
“Thanks for the offer,” Ai said, the corner of her lip twitching, “But we’ll be off and under the jungle canopy soon enough. We just need to change into pants and add the rest of our supplies.”
The remaining supplies included more bug repellent and enough food to last an indeterminate number of days, since Ai wasn’t exactly sure how long they would be gone, and some other items handled carefully as they were placed into the girls’ backpacks. Speaking of which…
At the edge of the forest, the half-completed villa somewhat in the distance again, Ai gathered everyone together and met each of their eyes before speaking. This was a moment they’d been waiting for, after all.
“Now, some of you may have guessed,” she began, “But there’s a reason Father and I went to so much effort to acquire parts of this specific island, aside from its beautiful scenery and the jamba juice.” That certainly wasn’t the original name of the drink they had on the beach earlier, but Mako-chan told her that’s what the foreigners to the island called it. It was certainly sweet and appealing… She warned not to take too much of it on their trip. Ai wondered how long it would take for her to notice the additional missing bottles from their store. After all, going deep into the forest or not, she still wanted her tropical retreat. Maybe she’d even let Aika have a cup or two. No more, of course. If she turned her into a juvenile delinquent alcoholic, her father would kill her.
Everyone was looking at her intently, except for Sayu who appeared bored and perhaps trying to hide the fact she was searching for more of the giant spiders in the surrounding trees.
“This is the largest tract of land on the Solomon Islands Commonwealth ever bought by a private party,” she continued. “There was a small expedition made a few years back by a team of Company researchers who discovered signs of an ancient civilization deep in the forests – a civilization much older than recorded in the oral histories of the island’s current inhabitants.”
“Spare us the history lesson,” Reina grumbled, rubbing at her buckle again and staring into the depth of the trees. “I hated it enough when I was in school. Unless you mean there’s some lost treasure or something.”
“Maybe,” Ai said, holding a smile. Reina turned toward her, her fingers falling still. “We don’t know what we’re going to find. That’s part of the mystery, and the excitement! The adventure!”
“Ehh,” Reina said, turning back to the trees. “You can have your adventure. Treasure on the other hand…” Despite the girls words though, Ai thought she knew her yankii friend a bit better than that. She wasn’t one to turn down an adventure, though Ai was unsure if she’d ever had a real one before. After all, it’s not like she needs the treasure…
“Oh come on,” Aika said, rolling her eyes. “The real treasure is in the animal and plant life we could discover. I read about that expedition Ai-chan talked about – don’t look at me that way Ai-chan, you know very well my family has connections within your Company to learn things they don’t want released publically! – and they discovered three new species of lizard, and five new plants! Too bad there aren’t any lions or tigers though…”
“Lizards?” Sayu asked, glancing at Aika. It was the first time she seemed to even take an interest in the conversation, but Ai knew she’d really been listening carefully to everything that was said. “What kinds of lizards?”
“Well,” Aika said, adopting a lecturing tone herself, “There was a new strain of monkey skink that was the largest ever found! The one they found was a full meter long!”
“Eep,” Sayu squeaked cutely, holding a hand in front of her mouth daintily. Then there was a crash, and Aika lay stunned where she’d fallen in a bush. Or not exactly
fallen…
Reina stood next to where she’d been standing, arms crossed and a glower on her face. “If I have to tell you again not to be a nerd…”
“Well, shall we go?” Ai said, now with a big smile as she turned to offer an arm to Risa. She took it with a grin of her own.
“Do we have to?” Sayu asked, fanning herself slowly. Even though they were about to enter the woods, and she had her five hundred thousand yen hat, she still held the parasol carefully above her.
“Ah come on,” Aika said, brushing her clothes off after pulling herself out of the bush, sparing only a light glower at Reina from under her lashes. “You’ll love it once we get in there. The flowers will be some of the prettiest you’ve ever seen.”
“Ooh,” Sayu cooed, though made no move to enter the trees until Ai and Risa led the way. Yes, this would be a very pleasant trip, Ai thought, as she absently patted the part of her bag where she’d carefully stuffed the pistol she picked up at the villa.
Topic: Vanikoro {Chapter 3: Into the Jungle} (Read 5740 times)