Stop It Shinnosuke!

Chapter 12

After school, the group had gone down in the gardens to search for the rock Bo wasn't able to draw. It was a sunny afternoon and under the scorching sun were 5 very tired and thirsty teenagers, on the verge of giving up the search because they couldn't find the rock anywhere. Everytime time someone thought they had finally found THE rock, Bo proved them wrong by giving a look of disapproval. And this went on for a pretty generous amount of time before Nene sighed and sat down in the grass with a thump.

"Are you even sure that the rock was here?" She asked, eyes squinted below her furrowed brows, her hand fanning herself.

"I'm absolutely sure I sat at that very place and spent a whole hour drawing that rock." Bo said, pointing at the ground under a big tree, where the shade was the strongest. "The rock I drew was exactly 2 meters away from there." He moved his arm to point at what seemed like exactly 2 meters away.

"It could've been replaced!" Nene sighed yet again, a big one at that.

"It was a heavy rock, and it was embedded into the ground, hence the rare texture, also it was one of th-"

"No." Nene cut Bo off, "I really don't want to hear about what breed the rock was. All I'm saying is that it's not here, so maybe it was replaced."

"It obviously doesn't have any legs though, so it didn't move on its own." Shinnosuke said, regretting it afterwards when he received the iconic angry look from Nene.

"Or Maybe... It really had legs?" He mumbled nervously, trying to save himself from her wrath.

"But Nene-chan is right. The rock could've been moved from its place by animals, students or the school gardener." Kazama spoke, his quick thinking on display, "It was in an inconvenient place after all. It would be no surprise if they decided to remove it in order to prevent students from getting injured."

"Ohh my smart Toru-ku-"

"Nope, don't start." Kazama cut off Shinnosuke as he was about repeat how smart Kazama was, again.

Bo nodded sadly, understanding that what Kazama was saying made sense, and in that case, they wouldn't find the rock anytime soon. Shinnosuke and Nene looked pitifully at Bo, feeling bad for him. So did Kazama.

"But... we can try and look for it someplace else?" Kazama urged, seeing his friend sad, "If it was moved by an animal it couldn't be too far away!"

Bo's eyes regained their sparkle as he asked, "Really?"

Both Kazama and Shinnosuke nodded, looking back at Nene for approval. She looked at them and then at Bo.

"Ugh, fine." She sighed, for the nth time, "But it's the final search. If we don't find it we're going straight home."

"Okay! Then we better find it this time." Shinnosuke grinned as he energetically wiped his sweat off his forehead, making others smile at his energy.

"Your cold really rebooted you in a way." Kazama said to Shinnosuke, amazed by the fact that he was the same boy who had been sick till yesterday.

"Oh what to say about me! I'm the best after all, aren't I?" He teased, nudging Kazama against his arm.

"Still not gonna win the bet, Shinnosuke." He smiled slyly, moving away from him with others to search for the rock. Shinnosuke followed afterwards, smiling at the reminder of the exciting bet between them.

"What is Masao-kun doing there?" Nene questioned, being the first to notice his absence and also the first to spot him in a bush, apparently spying on something ahead of him.

"Seems like he is prying on someone." Shinnosuke said, yet again amazed at his own genius.

"It's spying, idiot." Kazama whispered, trying not to disturb Masao by speaking too loud while Nene approached him on her tiptoes.